Bedtime Stories

Blake and I have a great passion for books and reading. So naturally it is important to us to try to instill this same love for literature in our little girl. With that in mind, we make it a point to read her a story every night before bed. My absolute favorites at the moment are:

Really anything by Dr. Suess is fun to read, but this one is a particular favorite of mine. All the rhyming holds Evie's attention (at least momentarily), and I like the message of the book that the world is full of amazing things just waiting to be explored.

This one was a gift from my good friend Thadra, and I had never heard of it before she gave it to me at our shower. The first time I read it to Evie, I fell in love. I now have the whole set (Llama Llama Mad at Mama, Llama Llama Misses Mama) and read them at least once a week to Miss Evie. Favorite line: "Little Llama don't you know, Mama Llama love you so. Mama Llama's always near, even if she's not right here."

9 Month Portraits

Blake took Evie to JCPenney to have her 9 month portraits done on Monday afternoon. The two photos above are from that shoot. For more, visit http://www.smilesbywire.com/ and enter Customer Name: Kiley Mallard; Access Code: LTPP0637102147JCP.

Crawl and Cruise

This is Evie's new favorite toy. My mother bought it for my nieces Ashley and Chloe when they were babies and thankfully hung onto it.

9 Months

Evie turned 9 months on April 30! At her check up, she weighed 16 pounds, 7 ounces and was 27 inches long. Dr. Martin said that her weight, though on the low side of average, was still perfectly in line for her. She's just an itty bitty I guess.

Her latest milestones include a sort of "Army crawl," though she has been getting up on her hands and knees and rocking so we'll see; pulling up to her knees and most recently all the way to standing on the coffee table, chairs, me, pretty much everything; eating Gerber puffs and Cheerios by herself; babbling away; sleeping through the night (Mommy crosses her fingers); and I'm sure there will be much more to come!

The New "Tummy Time"

Evelyn has taken to sleeping on her tummy with her butt stuck up in the air. So precious!

The Move

The move to the new house was quite an ordeal. We hired movers, but packed everything ourselves to save money. That meant every weekend for a month spending at least a few hours packing up. Evie did very well, but on this particular morning, she did not feel like entertaining herself. I ended up putting her in her Baby Bjorn so I could continue packing, but oh! my back.

The movers showed up bright and early on April 16th. It took 5 hours for them to empty our old house. We closed on both homes the next afternoon and then moved into the new house that evening (3 p.m. to 6 p.m.). We were surprising quick with unpacking, having pretty much everything in it's place by the next weekend. Now all we have to do is decorate!

Couldn't resist...

I'll do it myself, thankyouverymuch!

Evie started holding her own bottle in March! Now, this doesn't have a huge impact on my life, as I still nurse her when I am with her, but I know her babysitter was relieved when she reached this milestone!

Fussy Baby

We shot this video on a Sunday evening at the end of March. Evie had refused (despite several attempts from both her parents) to take her afternoon nap. Predictably, about 5:30 p.m. she started to crash...

Long Time, No Posts

So I know we haven't posted anything in over a month. We have been just a tad busy, what with selling our old house, packing up and moving into the new house and a nasty cold that went from Evie to Blake to me. Things finally seem to be settling down so I will try to get back into my old routine of updating the blog at least once a week. Following this post will be a series to bring everyone up-to-date. Enjoy!