ode to the 10 month old

today evelyn is 10 months old. TEN.MONTHS.OLD. WhhhhAAAAtttTTTT????!!!!
and per her request to celebrate her 10 month birthday day we...woke up, had a big breakfast, went ice skating, worked on cutting a tooth, went bungee jumping, chickened out, went to the opera instead, had a snack, worked on cutting another tooth, had a good poop, a good cry, a reeeeeeal good nap and then had a photo shoot.  we had a big day.

what? i didn't hear you.

why, yes, i do in deed like mashed up banana. do you happen to have some?

really, REALLY, mom.

look, ma, ONE HAND!

i luv my smokey!

did you HEAR ME, SMOKEY?!!

these are my toys, my favorite toys

did ya get it?

come on, chase me!

up close and personal

get outa my shot!

modern day rattle.

new year...happy birthday, sam!

welcome to the new year! did you make any resolutions? evelyn did. she resolved to stop talking in gibberish and use "big girl" words. well, not really. but she did say the word "bye" and wave a few days ago!

she cheered till she passed out

today is my wonderful husband's birthday and this post is really all about him. the intro was just about evelyn to getcha hooked. shameless, i know.


some of the things i love about sam, or vintage sam-isms....

even though he wanted to go see sea biscuit, i mean war horse, he chose a movie i was wanting to see as his birthday movie. nice. if you are wondering, we saw sherlock holmes. AH-mazeing! worth it!

he selflessly helps me in the middle of the night even though he has to get up and go to work very early the next day.

he knows bob dylan is truly the best songwriter there ever was.

he wants pizza every friday, hamburgers every saturday...tradition, TRADITION! 

he says things like, "its tradition to watch football on new years day," with renewed gusto and enthusiasm. when really, to him, it is tradition to watch football whenever it happens to be on the television.

he will wear a tie, button down shirt and sweater at every opportunity. he has more ties than i have shirts. truth.

he's never very found of nick names i give our pets or daughter at first but ends up using them more consistently than their given names. for example we call evelyn "mo" or "mo-mo" short for her middle name, montgomery. she is more fondly known to him as mo.

he talks about his muscle car as if it is already paid for and parked in our driveway. he dreams big, people. 

he always answers, responds, listens and cares for me and for evelyn with unfailing passion.

when out to breakfast, his most favored meal, it always comes down to the pancakes or the french toast. nothing else on the menu stands a chance. 

he encourages my dreams even when i feel like they have been dormant so long they may never see the light of day.

he is a wonderful provider and leader...and today we celebrate the 27 years of his life. and i can say my life is richer, brighter and better because of he is mine.

happy birthday, sam. i just luv ya.

our little expert

evelyn's first christmas was a success....we managed to get every non-food related item she shoved into her mouth OUT of her mouth before she swallowed it. i call that success! she is an expert crawler, puller-upper and is now jabbering on saying "mama" just as much as "dada." walking may be in our near future. yikes-a-bee!

evelyn knows the word fan, water, and our names and can locate each thing/person when you ask by looking toward the thing/person being asked for. she LOVES to eat and waves her arms and kicks her legs for things like blueberries, sweet potatoes and green beans. the poo changes that have come with the food have been, well, less than desirable but hey, whatcanyado?

 here are a few pics from christmas and today. ennnnnnjoy.

merry christmas, i luv my thumb.

heeeeyyyyyy, gimmmme that camera.

pulling up...

and up....

puuurty in pink

I LUV UR FACE!

lemme outa here!

almost free

peek a boo?

i'm a pro

you're just going to leave me in here? really?

9 months, tim tebow and snowmaggedon. oh.my!

i don't know what to think of my little pea pod turning 9 months yesterday. it just seems like a week ago we brought her home and now she is crawling, eating solids and pulling up on things that slide out from underneath her. i almost feel like i don't have a baby anymore because shes grown just so gosh darn fast.

we held nothing back this week in the way of food. she has tried everything from sweet potatoes to red bell pepper to prunes, and has liked it all! yes, even the red bell pepper! the faces she makes are priceless and comical to say the least.

a first for me... i heard myself say this today: i think tim tebow has made me want to watch a football game. did you fall on the ground? so did sam...practically. i really couldn't believe i heard the words roll so easily off my tongue either. like him or not, you just can't argue there is something about him that is different...and we like him!

last night sam and i watched approximately 22 minutes of a movie called Snowmaggeddon on Syfy. ohmydearsweetlordjesus! how do we get those 22 minutes back? well, we don't. the tragic mental images of poorly crafted film is forever blazoned upon our brains.  Snowmaggeddon makes movies like Twilight, Troll 2, and Scanners look like works of freekin' art! i realize i will probably get some back-lash for the Twilight reference but COMEON, people! vampires that sparkle with diamond skin in the day-light?! PUH-lease.

for the last 7 days i have felt a bit "under the weather." when you are a mother "under the weather" is a nonexistent term. and i thought parts of college were challenging. nope. does not even hold a candle to trying to care for a baby and the ailing self simultaneously. i have a whole new respect for my mother these days.

we went driving around to see christmas lights tonight. isn't there something just so charming about christmas lights? they make life feel simpler somehow.

we've had so many changes this year and i often wonder if we have learned the lessons meant for us. i hope we have.  we've also been so blessed this year in so many ways. God is good to us even when we don't see or feel Him, even when our circumstances aren't what we wished they would be - He is still good and i am still thankful.

and go tebow! haHA! (that was for you, sam)

merry december

here are some festive pics of evelyn to cheer you and warm your spirits.

vintage mo

i can't get out of these things!

cheeeeezzzzze

what is that i see? a speck on the carpet?

can we say Ah-dor-ABLE?

so over it, mom.

you know, my back has been a little sore...

proud papa

deer in the headlights

slapsgiving recap

we survived slapsgiving! and by survived i mean evelyn was so affected by the altitude up in breckenridge that she woke up the 4 nights we were there just about every hour and a half. it.was.rough. and really rough doesn't even touch how rough it was. and not just on us, though we got the brunt of it because we were in her room, but the rest of the family whose sleep patterns were a bit disturbed. i felt like a walking zombie the entire weekend and poor sam, who had to work a full day on black friday and a half day on saturday, is my hero for being so gracious and working so hard for us. he even drove back through and into a blizzard from evergreen (where he works) to breckenridge on friday night JUST to go back to work saturday morning. he's awesome and now a veteran of snow driving. nothing like trial by fire....or by a whiteout! 

so here is a slapsgiving recap in pictures. i somehow did not make it into any of them...and also forgot to turn the flash on so many of them look pretty grainy. but evelyn is still cute. grainy or not.

pouty

this is my box

evelyn and her honey

just some of the girls

daddy and mo in the early morn

the girl loves her iphone

honey, papa and mo

slapsgiving

tomorrow is thanksgiving or, as it is more fondly known, slapsgiving ... to us. the term comes from the show how i met your mother. it is one that gives us belly laughs and inside jokes that we like to toss around quite frequently...aren't we so cool?! if you haven't ever seen an episode you probably should.

evelyn just cut her top, right tooth. to say the least it has been a challenging go around with these top two teeth. there have been many sleepless nights, hazy days and grumpy people as of late. but we may be turning a corner, at least i hope we are.

we are killing some time before we head to breckenridge for slapsgiving with the fam. evelyn is crawling around on the floor, wapping things with a baby bottle, trying to put specks of whatever she can find into her mouth all while chanting "da-da." a typical afternoon.

to me it goes without saying that there are many things to be thankful for. however, i don't think everyone shares that sentiment. i think for some it is a challenge to name just one thing they are thankful for. and i know in times like this, where many are struggling in many ways, finding something to be thankful for can be, well, tough. truthfully, and this forthcoming statement will make me sound a bit perfect - i am far from it - but i often list off that which i am thankful for. i tend to be pessimistic: the glass is half full with a hole in the bottom of the cup and all the liquid is rapidly draining out type person. so i find it helps me to re-center myself by making a list. yes, a list. i am a list maker. so here is my slapsgiving day list of what i am thankful for....the abridged version.

faith
sam - because he gets me
evelyn - who has about 15 nick names...and will respond to them all.
family
friends - new and old
coffee every morning...and sometimes throughout the day
lotion - cuz DANG its dry here!
getting to rock my baby to sleep at any given hour of the day or night
good music
pumpkin EVERYTHING
the ability to exercise
my boots
pacifiers
my bed
my memories - good and bad (and that has taken time)
games
going to a movie
pasta - carbs. nuff said.
kitties who sit in your lap and bite your hand when you pet them
mascara - because without it i look like the lady in the water. no joke.
inside jokes with my husband, brother, kalani - and a few others
books - how they've shaped my past, taunt me in my present, and call to me in my future

happy slapsgiving!