So Evie has officially been alive for half of a year! Wow time flies!

She is getting so big she weighed 16.6 lbs and was 25 1/2" long at her 6 month well-baby check up. She has two teeth on the bottom and just today I noticed one tooth on her top gums getting ready to push through. Which makes me think maybe I should go to bed now instead of posting a blog because if that little tooth decides to make its entrance tonight-it is gonna be a long night. Oh well, I am learning to live with 6 hrs of sleep a night. ( I used to need 8 hrs of sleep/night. -ha!) But once she goes to bed I try to get everything done and then have a little me time. She sleeps from about 7:30/8pm until 5:30/6 am which is wonderful! Sometimes on the weekends she is a good baby and sleeps until 7 am so mommy can sleep in too. I never thought I would consider 7am as sleeping in! She goes to bed really easily at night but fights sleep at naptime-she just has to know what is going on ALL the time.

She loves to play in her exersaucer and daddy loves to walk by her and pull/push every single toy on the darn thing that makes noise causing chaos and stimulation overload- but I have to admit she loves it and it is hilarious to see her flip her little head around to try and watch all the toys at once. She babbles all the time and discovers new noises daily. Today she was making this low pitch growling noise and so daddy said "let the demons out!" and she smiled and then made a sweet cooing noise as if to say "I am all better now daddy!" She loves her daddy and gets a big grin on her face even when she just hears his voice. She loved listening to him on speakerphone the other day when he called and jokingly yelled "help Evie I am stuck in this little box!(the phone) let me out!" She has got him wrapped around her little finger! I feel sorry for the young men that will one day come to the house to take her out- I am sure daddy will kindly show them his gun collection!

She rolls all around now sometimes this can be a problem-like when she rolled into her exersaucer and smacked her face. Ooops! She loves the animals and trys to reach out and pet them when she is sitting in her little bumbo seat. She laughs at everything Arnie (the dog) does-scratching, sniffing-it's all hilarious to her. She still loves daycare and tommorow will be the "big kid" in class when the older babies move up to the next class. Her teacher told her she could be the class president! Ha ha! She eats solids 2 times a day along with her bottles and is doing great with it and loves every food she has tried-she was not so sure about squash at first though.

This weekend we spent time with Grandma and Papa and Uncle Dan, Aunt Lea and cousins Dylan and Hanna-who is 3 wks younger than Evie. The girls had a blast. Evie pulled Hanna's hair-I guess she was jealous because she does not have very much but Hanna got her back by chewing on Evie's ear. It will be soo much fun watching the girls grow up together- I hope they are close like I am with my girl cousins.

In July she got to attend her first wedding-Aunt Shannon and Uncle Randy's and enjoyed seeing her relatives that came into town for the occassion. Aunt Erica still takes her picture all the time but for now she does not seem to mind. Grandpa Ken and Grandma Jo Ann are trying to make her into a cardinals fan and love to sit on the couch and watch the game with her when we come over-they even bought her a cardinals onesie!

Dennis and I are also doing well-although I will not post our current height and weight! Lol! I am still working as a cardiology nurse and Evie attends the daycare at the hospital that I work at. Dennis is still an auto body painter although he has moved to different shops a few times since Huey's Honda sold the shop he had been working at for 8 years. But God has always provided income and has provided work for him when he needs it. I think we make a pretty good team raising Evie and running a home although it has taken some adjustments on both parts. We try to spend time with each other once she is in bed and sometimes Den will pick up a movie and dinner while I am putting Evelyn to bed and then once she is down we have the rest of the evening to enjoy time together-unless of course I fall asleep during the movie. Some things never change-I have always fallen asleep during movies! We love life and enjoy our little family- Life is good!

So Evie is now 4 months old and growing up soo fast! She now weighs 13.6 lbs and is 24 inches long. Her doctor says she is in the 50th percentile for both heigth and weight-so she is right on track! She learned to roll over although she prefers to just lay on her belly and scream until mommy rolls her over! She "talks" all the time! Her daycare teacher says she will get louder when the other babies start to "talk" as if she is trying to talk over them. This may become a problem once she starts school! :-) She loves to smile and blow raspberries and coo. She also has a deep belly laugh whenever daddy makes silly faces at her. They are hilarious to watch together! She has already started teething and has had two little baby teeth on her bottom gums poke thru to show for all of the pain. Poor baby! We just started feeding her rice cereal, although I am not sure how much she is actually getting in as most of it just comes right back out of her mouth and runs down her chin! She has had her first "pool pary" at school 2 weeks ago and got in the "big" pool with mommy and daddy for the first time last week. She loves the water and seems really relaxed in it! She is a joy to be around and it is so fun to see her little personality develop. I am glad she is growing big and healthy but it is a little sad to see my baby grow up, which is why I try to enjoy every little moment with her and soak each stage of her life in because I will never get it back!

You know you are a mommy when....

So in honor of mothers day I would like to post my thoughts on being a new mommy. It goes something like this: You know you are a mommy when.................

- Every item of clothing you own has poo. pee or spit up stains on them

- You go out in public without even realizing you have spit up on your shirt (but it would not matter anyway because you have nothing else to wear-see point #1)

- You live your life in 3 hour segments ( time between feedings)

- You realize you have not eaten all day and it is now 2 pm (that is how new mommys must lose the baby weight-who has time for the gym?)

- You now refer to bowel movements as "poopies" and even make songs about "poopies" We have one titled "The poopy dance"

- Every word ends in "ies" for example- poopies (see previous point) tooties, burpies, footsies- do you see a trend? I swear you would not think I had a college education if you heard me talk.

- You no longer know what tired feels like because you live in a constant state of tired.

- Caffeine is your best friend (see previous point) -no offense Jessi! :-)

- A 6 hr stretch of sleep is what heaven must feel like!

- You constantly think/worry about your kid (s)

- You take 2 hrs to get ready to go anywhere and then another hour when the baby spits up or poos/pees herself and you have to change her all over again.

- You no longer carry a cute little handbag- nope huge diaper bag with my wallet/keys crammed in is the way to go.

- Everyone you know suddenly has an opinion on how to raise your child (ren)

- You become an expert at multi-tasking (soothing an infant, vaccuming and making dinner all at once is no big deal)

- Most importantly -you learn what unconditional love is and you can't imagine life without this little, sweet person in it.

My life will never be the same and I love it! Happy Mothers day to all the mommys -new and old out there!

Evelyn Grace Pape

So after a long nine months, 2 weeks of bed rest due to preterm contractions and 18 hrs of labor that ended in a c-section Evelyn Grace Pape made her appearance on February 23, 2009 at 12:49 pm. She weighed in at 7 lbs 9 oz and measured 20 3/4 inches long. She is now 5 weeks old and doing great! At her 3 wk appointment she weighed 8 lbs 6 oz. and I am sure she is way past that now!
So the birth story goes something like this. On Sunday Feb. 22 at about 5 pm my water broke and no it was not like a gushing waterfall that you always see in the movies. So after cleaning the kitchen (yes I am a neat freak and did not want to come home from the hospital to a messy house) I called the doctor and prepared to go to the hospital. By the time Dennis packed up the car I was starting to feel the contractions. By the time we got to the hospital they were 5 minutes apart but since I was only 2 cm dilated they started me on a pitocin drip to help labor progress. which is no fun because they make the contractions more intense and painful (as if they were not bad enough on their own!) Dennis was a good coach except for the fact that he actually asked if I wanted more kids while I was in the middle of a contraction-who does that?! So after about 7 hours from onset of labor I could hold out no longer and got the epidural- wow those things are nice! I think I may have told the anesthesiologist that I loved him. So life was great for a few hours until the epidural stopped working! So for 2 hours I had painful contractions and Dennis and my best friend Jessi took turns holding my hand. Apparently I am pretty strong when in pain and nearly broke both of their hands! Finally they took out the epidural and placed a new one. Such relief! Then at some point I started running a fever and Evie's heart was beating a little too fast because of the fever, so they gave me some antibiotics to ward off a possible infection. At about 5 am the doctor came and checked me and told me I was 6 cm dilated. By 10:30 am I was still 6 cm and still running a fever. By 11:30 am, no change so it was decided that I would need a c-section. I was a little upset after being in labor all night to have to go for a c-section but at that point I was tired and just wanted it to be over, so I did what any woman would- I sucked it up and then put on my makeup. I figured since no pushing would be involved and I would not be getting all sweaty and gross I might as well look cute in the pictures! At about 12:30 pm they took me to the OR and at 12:49 pm Evelyn Grace Pape came into the world. Daddy and Mommy were both in tears as they placed our little girl in Daddy's arms for the first time. It was a great moment! She was healthy and adorable. A few days after her birth she did develop jaundice and had to spend a day in the NICU to get IV fluids and be under the bili lights, but she was able to come home with us at discharge. We were adjusting to life at home with Evie when I came down with a stomach virus that caused me to become dehydrated. My doctor sent me to the ER where I spent an evening getting IV fluids. Daddy was great as he took care of Evie, the house the animals and me! I am now feeling much better. We have adjusted to the lack of sleep and are enjoying life with our little girl.