Our 3rd Anniversary! And updates...

Well, I think it is official. Our computer has been plagued by a virus or a worm, so my cute little laptop has been out of commission for a few weeks. I checked online, and found out that my very cool laptop which I purchased in 2001 for over $1600 is now worth around $300 on Ebay. That's depressing. So, I am putting it in the hands of my techie friends in hopes they can fix it. If not, we are going to have to seek out alternatives because I truly believe that the cost of professional tech help will be more than what I could sell it for on Ebay.

Today is our 3rd Anniversary!! How exciting, with a very cool new addition who is in literal CONSTANT DISCOVERY. It's like watching the Discovery Channel on Cable, but it's happening all the time. Some things that Evie is doing now: she is on hands and knees now, rocking a LOT. She is on the brink of crawling, she can pick up her hands and pick up her knees, just hasn't coordinated the effort yet. Despite her frustration, she can kinda "swim" her way backward (how frustrating that must be, to move farther and farther away from your goal), and she can belly scoot towards an object. And please watch out for her reach! She has developed Go-Go Gadget Arms.

She is doing alot of spitting, or some people call it blowing raspberries, or razzing. Whatever it is called, it involves alot of spit in the air, and she loves it even more when you do it back to her. She can also do a few facial imitations, or imitate you if you bang on the floor. If I pop my lips, you can hear her make a soft "puh" sound, or if I snap my fingers, you can watch her put her fingers together.

She is also babbling a lot more, knowing that she can hold conversations with us.
We are trying out baby sign language, just started. Evie just stares alot, so we will let you know how it goes.

Also, her growth in the eating department is exponential. Aside from regular pureed baby food, she has tried (and loved) hummus, Mexican rice and regular white rice and rice from a wonderful dish at the Persian Grill, ricotta cheese, bread (white and wheat), nectarines, cantaloupe, and avocado. No teeth yet, though.

She has begun a love relationship with our cat, Smokey. Poor guy, he is just trying to keep his fur and his sanity. He has no idea why Evie loves to talk to him, watch his every move, and try to swipe at his whiskers when he tries to come near for a love sniff.

This is a picture of the three of us pre-Evie. Young, innocent, naive humans and cat that we are.


And now, we have this gorgeous being in our midst. Life is amazing, every day.

UPDATES: We are still alive and Joyful

Hi all,

We are still alive. No updates recently because we have been tired and have been begging for time. Now that we have energy and time, our computer is beginning to fail us, so this entry has no pictures, no video, etc.

So here is an abbreviated and pictureless version of the post I was going to put up. I would have called it "The Three Joys"--very Chinese-like and, some might think, very Chairman Mao sounding. No no, this is about Mr. Mao, just about Joy.

The First Joy: The Joy of Speech. So, about a month ago, Evie started saying "da da da da da". I would try to teach her "ma ma ma" but to no avail. The girl loved to say "da da da", which Tim also loved. I didn't mind because I know she has no idea what she is saying, it's just sounds for right now. Then she started with the "wa wa"s and the "ta ta"s and the "na na"s. One day two weeks ago, she said "a-ma ma ma", but it was mixed in with everything else. Now, her preferred sound is "ma ma ma", and I think it is lovely.

The Second Joy: The Joy of Mobility. I have these hilarious pictures of Evie trying to crawl. A few weeks ago, she would practice her skills by jamming her head into the ground but sticking her bottom way up in the air. And then she would reverse it, but putting her bottom down on the ground, and pushing her chest up as high as she could. She looked like a see-saw. Now, she is on her hands and knees rocking. A lot. Crawling is coming and we haven't babyproofed a durn thing. She is also sitting for long periods of time, and reaching for everything. Which brings me to the third joy...

The Third Joy: The Joy of Eating. Yes, Evie is eating now. I don't know why they call it solids, it's more like softs, because everything she is ingesting is pureed. We have video of her first taste of food--rice cereal, and it was hilarious. We also have countless pictures of her with food all over her face, hands and arms, and one of her with her fingers in mashed bananas. Her favorite foods are bananas, pears and peaches. She is okay with sweet potatoes, and happens to like green peas too. She has a preference for rice cereal over oatmeal but will eat it anyway. Also, she likes apple juice, but can only drink it if you hold the sippy cup for her, she hasn't figured out how to hold the cup in place yet. My favorite eating antics are when she starts to yell in short bursts because you aren't fast enough with the food, and when she sees the spoon coming, she will grab the spoon handle and guide the spoon into her mouth. And take the spoon from you. She has also tried to lower her mouth into the bowl to slurp the food up, but that wasn't so successful. Mealtimes are becoming my favorite times, followed by bathtimes when we can rinse the food out of her hair, her ears, around her eyes, in the folds of her neck, on her legs and from her little nostrils.

We hope to get our home computer back in working order soon. In the meantime, you can celebrate with us and our Three Joys!