It's All a Blur (Part Three: Summary)

Like I said, the past few weeks have been exhausting. And, like I said, Mama didn't hold up too well at the end of it. What I didn't say is that I not only passed out on the sofa, but I passed out on the sofa holding a baby doll!

 
But I don't mean to complain. After all, these past weeks have all been about celebrating the past year and, let's face it, this past year was exhaustion-worthy. My grandmother sent me home with a handful of newspaper clippings in which a new mom / journalist talks about life with baby. I don't have the article in front of me, but I do remember this basic sentiment: Before having a baby, people tell you how it will be. They tell you that you won't sleep, that you'll be tired. And you think you've got it. You think to yourself, 'I bet I'll be tired.' But you just don't get it until you live it.

Evelyn's grown up a lot this past year, which seems like a silly and basic thing to say. An understatement of a fact that everyone already knows. But she grew up most just in these past couple weeks that whirled by. Before her California party, Evelyn could take a few steps--could walk across a room at most. Before we even left Kansas to return home, she walked everywhere--crawling is a thing of the past. She said her first sentence in Kansas: "There's Daddy." And her second sentence: "All done" (and with half of her chocolate ice cream still left!). When we flew to Colorado in February, we tried to get her excited about looking out the plane window and seeing clouds beneath us; she didn't care. This time, we couldn't get her to stop looking out the plane window! She pressed her face and hands against the glass and laughed and babbled for most of the flight. Her face has suddenly thinned out and gotten definition. Last night when I told her, "Don't touch or I'll put you in time out," she said, "K" and walked away from the glass vase--even though I've never put her in time out before!

But I know that, even with these weak examples of my little girl's remarkable growth, most of you just won't get it. So here are a few highlight pictures from the past year--a feeble attempt to try to force the point.

 

(Okay, yes that last one is cheating--it's from a year and nine months ago--but still!)

Here. One year ago.

 

June 2010.

 

July 2010.

 

August 2010.

September 2010.

October 2010.

November 2010.

December 2010.

January 2011.

February 2011.

March 2011.

April 2011.

May 2011.

It's All a Blur (Part Two: Kansas)

After our marathon weekend of single parenthood and California-sized parties, we took a couple days to regroup, clean, pack, and otherwise prepare for our trip to Kansas where a prairie-sized celebration was shaping up into a storm...literally. A tornado touched down a few miles away from the Kansas City airport just hours before we arrived. But then again, that probably had nothing to do with Evelyn's party.

Despite predictions of thunderstorms, heat, and humidity every day we were back, the day of the party was blue, sunny, and delightfully cool.

Evelyn loved helping her great aunts Susan and Shelley with the balloons. Or maybe they were just posing. Either way.

 

The same family friend who did our wedding cake almost 10 years ago also did Evelyn's birthday cake and smash cake. As always, her cakes were delicious! And Evelyn LOVED the little fondant ladybugs!

 

In fact, she liked them so much, they were the only thing she wanted to eat at first!

But she soon figured out that the cake itself tasted much better!

 

Great Grandpa and Grandma Trautwein loved on her.

Nana gave her candy bags to rattle. 

She played with her cousins.

And, since the park is right next door to a farm, Great Aunt Shelley got to introduce Evelyn to cows.

And at the end of it all, Evelyn just HAD to model her cool new headband, shoes, full-body bib, and owl backpack!

It's All a Blur (Part One: California)

The past three weeks have seen an all-girl's weekend, two big birthday celebrations, a trans-state trip, the onset of a big freelance project, and Mama (yes, that'd be me) passed out on the sofa. No joke. After all that ruckus, there finally came a night when I literally could not be on my feet another second. I promptly hit the sofa the moment Evelyn hit her crib. Some couple hours later, I woke just enough to realize that my husband was literally carrying me into bed.

All the hustle and bustle has been about (primarily) one thing: our little baby bird is now a semi-grownup toddler bird! It started the weekend of May 20-22, when Craig headed to the mountains of southern California for a men's retreat and I got busy (with the overwhelming help of several friends) getting things set up for Evelyn's California birthday party, which happened on May 22 right after Craig came down from the mountains.

Here's a picture of the cake from that party--which I'm proud to say I helped decorate! (Just don't ask me how much I helped!!) Mmm. Lemon cake with lemon cream cheese frosting.

Here we are at the start of the party. Look how chipper we all are! You can't even tell I just spent the past 48 hours as a single mom--or that Craig just spent those same 48 hours on hardly any sleep. We are bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and have no idea how tired we will be in another 2-3 weeks!

Evelyn enjoyed her cake...

and her presents ...

and her friends.

She had a lot of fun!

Our Easter "Weekend"

I guess you could say our "Easter weekend" really started the weekend before Easter on Palm Sunday. The weather was great, the company amazing, and the park beautiful. Well, okay, the park left a few things to be desired. Set in "the big city," it was a bit dirty. But it's the great outdoors--there's supposed to be dirt! What were we doing in "the city," you ask? Our friends Richard and Sarah took us on a surprise road trip to this place: Galco's Soda Pop Stop! Over 500 different kinds of soda pop--many that can't be found anywhere else in the country! In this picture, I've got a botanically brewed Fentiman's Curiosity Cola with a good ginger taste. Sarah's enjoying a lavender soda and both the guys have fancy root beers. (And yes, as you can see, Evelyn enjoyed her "drink" too much to join us for the photo!)

 

After lunch, Craig got down and dirty with Little Bird. They tried the swings at the playground, but what can I say--they were too far away from Mama to suit her taste!

 My sister and her husband joined us for Easter weekend, proper. Their first night in town, we took them to the nearby dog beach.

 It was pretty overcast, but made for a nice sunset. Once you got upwind of the sea lion carcass, that is.

 

Saturday was Evelyn's first ever swim lesson! I wish I could find her suit in my size! I also wish she would have enjoyed her class more. She didn't like getting water in her face and ears--which was unexpected because she likes splashing bath and sea water.

 

 Swim class (which she did NOT like) was followed by her first ever trip to the aquarium (which she DID like). It took her awhile to get over her fear, but once she realized the big scary fishes were locked behind impenetrable glass, she warmed right up to them!

  

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this would be the big scary fish that freaked her out by making eye contact. I was a little creeped out myself!

At the sea lion observation area. Thankfully, they were all alive! They liked swimming right past Evelyn put were too quick for the camera.

 Sea horses.

 And of course, a shot from Easter morning. We went to the sunrise service, which also meant we got stuck in a rain shower! But an Easter basket with a brand new baby doll was waiting for Evelyn when we got home. I think it made up for getting her face wet at the swim class.