More Daily Evelina

Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle James are away for a week so I will be adding a photo to the Daily Evelina page for every day they are away.  Yesterday’s photo is a doozy!

Your ninth month

Evelina

Wearing her fleece from Uncle Matthew

As your daddy and I celebrated our birthdays at the end of July, we left you for the night with your Grandma and Grandpa – our first night without you! While we went for a curry and a film at the Birmingham IMAX, you were a perfect angel and slept well for your grandparents. In fact, August was a busy month for us with both your daddy and I having weekends away without you. My weekend away in London celebrating our friend Liz’s hen night was your first night being looked after by just Daddy.  Although I had a great time, I still missed you and was very excited to see you.  When I arrived home, I was greeted with your smiling face and a bandage wrapped around your head – Daddy was playing a joke on me!  It was such a cute sight and might have worked a little more had you not been smiling so widely!

Splash!

More good weather meant you got to have some paddling pool fun.  One of the days, you were joined by your two cousins Millie and Daisy in their cuter-than-cute matching Hello Kitty bikinis!  As the eldest, Millie was careful to look after you and make sure you didn’t fall head-first into the water, despite your attempts to drink it!

Among this month’s firsts are:

• pulling yourself up onto first your knees and then your feet to a full stand
• waving
• proper clapping
• low fiving (the high five is still too advanced)

Oh lordy. Evelina pulled herself up to her feet today unaided.—
Mama Kate (@raisingevelina) August 22, 2011

At your baby clinic visit this month, you weighed in at 21 pounds and 2 ozs which is a good size.  Your nine months check is soon so we will also be able to see how tall you are as well as making sure you are doing all the things that you should be – I know that you are!

Evelina, no!

You are as mobile as ever now – your crawl is very fast and we have had to buy a fireguard to keep you away from playing with (read as: eating) the coal bricks.  Your other obsession is the audio-visual equipment in the lounge. This picture shows you being told “Evelina, no!” and turning back to smile impishly before continuing on!

Looks like we need to lower the cot again...

With your next development of wanting to stand up at the furniture, we have to be extra vigilant and unfortunately, you had taken a few knocks with your unsteady legs failing you on occasion. It is especially difficult to prevent these knocks when you are in your cot – you are now able to stand up at the side and this has meant that your naps sometimes don’t get started as easily as they should.

I am so happy that you love your books.

Something has happened this month and your face is starting to really change – your are less babyish and looking more and more grown up.  You have always had the most expressive face but your are so alert with it that it is hard to remember that you are still so young.  You seem to be taking so much in.  You are also starting to get just a little but more clingy – especially for your father.  Yes, you are definitely a daddy’s girl!  When he comes home, you beam with delight only to express your distress when he decides he needs to leave the room to go and get changed!

I have noticed you getting just a bit warier of people you don’t know well – you hold on to my arm a bit tighter.  We aren’t encouraging this behaviour but it is a nice feeling to think that you want to hold on to me. I will hold on to you for as long as you need it – even when you are big and grown.

Love, Mama.

Nine months today!

Water baby

Evelina with her cousins Millie and Daisy*

The paddling pool in Italy was such a hit that we bought one for the back garden, which went down just as well. In the sea in Italy, the salt-water didn’t faze her – she was still happy to splash about (and sample some – she does love to drink the water she is in – euw!).  And if the monster splashes at bathtime are anything to go by, I can safely say that Evelina is very happy when she is in the water. Unlike her silly mama, she copes very well with being splashed in the face (I still have an aversion to the shower on my face although I am fine if I am swimming – weird).

So it was high time that I took Evelina swimming again and on Tuesday we did just that along with her little friend Arthur (and my friend Gill!).  I am so glad I made the effort – we were at the pool by 8am – because she clearly loves the water.  I had not managed to get there before now mainly because I find it so hard to get out and back in time for her next nap which is only ever a maximum of two hours away.  This time, I thought I would bite the bullet and see how she managed with a delay before her first nap of the day which usually comes no more than an hour after waking up at around 7am.  She coped fine and although she was tuckered out by the time we got home, it was definitely worth it.  Hopefully, we will be back there next Tuesday.

*unrelated: Evelina looks so much like me as a baby in that photo at the top, it’s not even funny…

Evelina’s Nursery

Tags

bunting, craft, fairy tale, nursery, sewing, vintage

It has taken longer than we had planned but at last, the nursery is how we want it.  I am so pleased with how it turned out.  My favourite part is definitely the bunting made by me and my sew make believe (with a special shout-out to Lysy who did a lot of cutting and sewing together of the triangles).

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Your eighth month

Evelina

The biggest deal this month was our family holiday to Italy – your first time abroad, on a plane and staying away from home for more than one night.  As expected, you were a total star, sleeping through the night and coping with the heat remarkably well.  It was such a fun week although it was more tiring than holidays usually are – I can only imagine how it would have been though if you were less reliable!

Evelina crawled properly today but only for Grandma and Grandpa. I saw a later effort but it was only half a job.—
Mama Kate (@raisingevelina) July 10, 2011

This month was also a month of firsts:

• first crawl
• first tooth
• first trip in a shopping trolley!

As I said, this month you started to crawl and you have already come on so much.  You are so mobile now – you get about in a commando-style crawl which is just getting going.  It is only a matter of time before you are speeding all over the place.  We noticed on holiday how much sturdier you were when sitting and you are still able to play with your toys with your feet with great dexterity!

We took a visit to my old hometown of Southend to visit old friends who were impressed with your ability to use your feet.

Evelina starting cutting her 1st tooth while we were in Italy & the 2nd is on its way too! Neither one is really a 'tooth' yet! More a nub!—
Mama Kate (@raisingevelina) July 20, 2011

So, your first tooth..! We were very excited to feel a sharp point on your bottom gum and sure enough, a few days later, a tooth started to poke through, with your second following a couple of weeks later.

You have started a really funny habit of putting your leg up in your high chair – you clearly feel more comfortable this way.  With the better weather, it has been so good to get outside with you even if I am paranoid about the sun on your ever-so pale skin.

I managed to catch your face with my nail leaving you with a gouge on your forehead! I felt awful but you have unfortunately inherited my delicate skin.  I just hope you aren’t as clumsy as me too!

One of the most exciting developments for my given my background in Linguistics is your language acquisition.  You are already making a whole host of sounds – you are quite vocal!

This week, we have had lots of guhs and duhs… Ridiculously excited by the cuteness of these sounds.—
Mama Kate (@raisingevelina) June 29, 2011

Your routine is changing now with less milk and more solid food (but just the same amount of sleep as you have enjoyed for the past 6 months, it seems!).  Right now, you tend to wake up around 7am, have a quick play while I make up your bottle, gulp that down then play some more before going back to sleep within an hour max.  After an hour’s nap, you are up for breakfast, another bottle around 10.45am with more sleep 11am-12pm.  After your lunch, there is more play and then another sleep at 2pm which can sometime be up to 2 hours.  You have dropped your afternoon bottle, instead having some water and a snack before your last nap of the day around 4pm.  You have tea, play, bath and then your last bottle tends to start around 7pm meaning you are usually fast asleep by 8pm.  A lot of eating, playing and sleeping, then!

And you want to know something really silly, when you are asleep, I kind of miss you!

Love, Mama

For the love of Octonauts…

Tags

Evelina, Octonauts, videos