10 Months

Evie turned 10 months on Saturday, August 2 and I have been very tardy in writing her monthly update. She continues to grow and change on a daily basis and it really is amazing to watch how she absorbs information.

Some of the highlights of Evie's development right now:

• She is completely mobile now with her crawling. When possible though, she does prefer to stand. She is able to walk when holding fingers and cruises around the furniture. She is now able to hold a standing position for 15 to 20 seconds without assistance but does need to push herself up with something to get into her standing position (started on July 22).
  
• Evie is very independent. She enjoys playing with toys that she has in the living room and when she tires of those, she will just crawl down the hall into her room to play with different toys. She likes to have people around her but is also happy playing by herself when she needs to. Right now she is especially fond of playing near the fireplaces, more specifically, on the hearths. The brick hearths are about three inches off the ground and she just gets herself up there and sits, very proudly. 
• Evie is a great eater. She does a lot of self feeding as well as some purees. We have not really met a food item that she does not like yet but, just like her brother, she really enjoys yogurt. She has had beef, chicken, and pork along with pretty much every fruit and vegetable. She LOVES garden vegetable puffs and could easily eat the whole canister in one sitting if I would allow her to. 

  

  Do I have something on my face (blueberries)?

• Evie has gotten her third tooth! The top left tooth made its appearance through the gum line on July 29th. It has been very slow to come through but it is making its way. I would imagine that the right top will not be far behind. 
• As she has been since birth, Evie is infatuated with Drake. She always wants to play with  him, climb on him, watch him, laugh at him, and have everything to do with him. Drake really is a great sport and always wants to know where she is as well. He does not really like her playing with his toys, but then again, he also does not really want her playing with her toys either.
  
• Evie is starting to intimidate what she sees. If Drake is dancing, she will start dancing. If you bang on a table, she will bang on the table. 
• Sleeping is still an area that we continue to work on. Many nights she will sleep from 8:00 to 5:30 or 6:00 but there are also many nights when she wakes up in the middle of the night (just like Drake did). Also just like Drake, we slip her into bed with us and she immediately fall asleep...somehow taking up about half of the bed.
• Evie is generally one of the happiest babies that I have ever seen. We always thought that Drake was so laid back and easy, but Evie has trumped his ways. Now is the time that she is really starting to develop her personality and really is so much fun.
  
  
  
  
  

Yankee Doodle

The Fourth of July is a holiday that is always best spent with family, friends, and being outside. This year did not disappoint; plenty of outside, family, food, and fireworks. Drake had spent the week at his vacation lake home (David's parent's house), so Friday afternoon we went to join him. After a nice dinner, we drove to Seneca for fireworks.

After a late night of fireworks and moon bounce fun, we returned to the lake on Saturday for more cousin time. Drake spent a few hours floating around in the lake with his cousins and we got them out just in time for the neighborhood fireworks show to begin. This was my first experience with a neighborhood fireworks display and I must say, I was impressed.

 

No nap on Saturday made for an exhausted Drake by the time he got out of the water, which is why he refused to be in the cousin picture. He did perk up for the fireworks and enjoyed the show also. On the way home that night, Drake was having a full conversation with us one minute and the next, he was sound asleep. Kids are amazing...

Sunday was a day around the house. In the afternoon, Drake and I walked to the park so he could get out of the house and run around.

9 Months

Evie turned 9 months old on Wednesday, July 2 and continues to grow and change almost on a daily basis. This past month was very busy in terms of her motor development.

• On Sunday, June 8th Evie really started to move with her crawling. She had been going backwards and move forward a little prior to that, but that day something clicked and she started really moving
• On Saturday, June 14 Evie started to pull up on her own and stand. 
• She is able to go from belly to sitting and belly to pulling up and from standing up to sitting back down 
  
• In the last week, Evie has not been interested in us feeding her and only wants to self-feed. So she has been eating a lot of soft foods that she is able to pick up and eat herself. New foods this month are: prok, toast, crackers, pancakes, grapes, blueberries, cherrios, and yogurt (I'm sure there is more but this is what I can remmeber)
  
  
• Evie has been swimming a couple times now and somewhat enjoys the water. She pretty much just sits in her float with her serious face
• Evie has a great personality and is really happy about 98% of the time. She loves to talk and make noises with her tounge. She is starting to be a lot more playful, both with toys and with us.

• Evie absolutly loves Drake and everything that he does. If she is crying, he will make her laugh. She searches him out in a room and will not take her eyes off him. She always wants to be close to him and this weekend we dropped him off at his grandparents house and the whole way home she cried. She is just not used to being the only person in the backseat and missed her buddy!
• Evie's sleep gets better everyday. This week has been amazing with her sleeping until anywhere from 5:15-6:45. It is so nice to have a night of uninterrupted sleep again!

Her nine month doctor's appointment is next Wednesday, so we will have the growth stats then. I think she is continuing to grow at a steady pace, and it has picked up some since introducing foods at 6 months. She is still in 9 month clothes, although I think it could be time to move into 12 months soon.