March Goes Out Like a Lamb

My favorite toy when I was a baby was a stuffed lamb I called "Baa."  (When its life was over, I got "Baa 2.")  Evie got a stuffed lamb from Glen and Sharman Armstrong, so I took some pictures of her with it in her crib.  It's a beautiful sunny day for our very eventful March to go out like a lamb on.

Because this is our first Spring in our new house, it is fun to wake up each morning and see the new flowers that are blooming.  We never know what will pop up next in our garden.  I'm excited for warmer days so Evelynd can come outside with me while we weed, walk, and wander through the garden.

Next to our back door.

The view from our back door.

Evie's pink tulips Nana Evans planted for her.

These three pictures are from different blooms along the path up to the back gate.

Purple flowers starting to bloom by our front steps.

We planted this pink azalea Leta Edwards got for Evelynd right out front.

Some of the many daffodils in bloom in our yard (these are next to our driveway).

March 2011 was a good month.  It may have started like a lion with some snow and hail, but is leaving like a lamb.  We had Peter's birthday, our 6th anniversary, and, of course, the birth of our beautiful baby daughter.  There's a lot to be grateful for this month and we're looking forward to good things in April, too. 

This Little Piggy Turned Two Weeks Old

Dassow Daddy calls Ev his "Pookie Bear," but this panda bear outfit (from my student Jana Shike) is as close as we come to a Pookie Bear.

Two weeks later and the baby belly is starting to go away, but is being replaced by all sorts of messes on my clothes.

A beautiful girl in a beautiful blanket.  The Murrell family's grandmother made this one and a blue one so they were prepared if the baby was a boy or a girl.  We're glad she's a girl, though.  P.S. I read today that recent studies say that baby smiles are real and not just gas.  She loves sleeping in her car seat, so this is probably a real smile.

Celebrating her birthday by pulling out her fancy LBD that Aunt Paige gave her for Christmas.  It doesn't show up in the picture, but the dress has sparkles in it!

We went to the doctor today for Evelynd's two week checkup.  She's grown!  She's now 21 inches, which puts her in the 75th percentile for girls.  She's 8 pounds 5.5 ounces, which is almost a full pound over her birth weight.  She was in the 25th percentile and now she's in the 50th for weight.  Her head circumference is 36 cm (35 at birth), which is also the 50th percentile.  She's got a little diaper rash, but everything else is going well.  Two weeks old already! 

Visitors since last week have included Sue Wynn, Janet Schneider, and the entire Greaves family.  Thanks for coming everyone.

How Evelynd Got Her Name

Evelynd Jung Dassow.

I think the Dassow part is pretty self-explanatory, but if not you can email me and I can explain it.

Jung is Peter's Korean family name, so we decided to honor that heritage in Evie's middle name.

As for Evelynd, my last name is Evans and Lynd is a family name on my mother's side (for example, it is my middle name and my aunt is Marilynd).  We combined those two and thus, Evelynd. 

We were able to get all three of our last names into one name!

According to babynames.com, Evelyn means "beautiful bird."  The three handmade gifts we got that involved animals all had birds!  Did people look up the meaning of her name?  It's also funny because Peter thought she sounded like a seagull before she cried.  We're still trying to get a video of that.

Melanie made this mobile that is above Evelynd's crib.  It has owls that Samson discovered yesterday -- he was growling and barking at them -- he needs to protect his baby.



Gail stitched this bird onto a onesie.



Our old neighbor Anna made Evelynd this plate (by the way, you can buy Anna's pottery at: http://avrdesigns.com/store.php).

Pretty cool.  Pretty bird.  Pretty girl.

Photo Shoot with Daddy

Evelynd likes to make a lot of funny faces and Peter was able to capture a bunch of them this morning.

We had a tough night last night with a lot of throw up, but she seemed to feel better immediately and everything seems okay today.  We're just tired now.

10 Days Old

Little Evie has deep thoughts in her sleep.

Daisy matched the nursery very well until Peter took the dogs for a walk -- even though it was sunny, Daisy made herself all brown by the time she got home.

To celebrate Evelynd being 10 days old, I finished our taxes.  Yay!  Unfortunately, our Arizona Wildcats lost by two. 

The big news is that Ev's umbilical cord fell off today so tomorrow's bath can be in her jacuzzi tub my piano teacher, Linda Wallmark, got for her.  We also had a visit from the entire Greaves family (they brought us some yummy Thai food).  She's wide awake right now and her Daddy is playing with her.

On Our Own

Nana left today.  I can't say how much we appreciated all her help and how much we could have gotten done if Grandpa Evans hadn't been so desparate to have her back.  Evie has been awake for almost five hours this afternoon, so her Daddy took her out to see the garden and her new tulips.  Hopefully, that means another pretty good night of sleep (last night she got me up at 3:30 and 6:30 -- not bad).

We gave her a sponge bath today all by ourselves (although these pictures are from her first bath at home) and she still loves getting her hair washed, but not the rest of the bath.  Evie's Aunt Cami made the "Cuteness" towel and Aunt Ami gave her the blanket -- the very first present we got when we found out Evie was coming.



She's still alive even though she misses her Nana.  Thanks for the cute outfit Greaves family.

As I type this, Peter is saying, "Margi I need you to make food.  Margi come back."

One Week of Evie

Samson has been a wonderful big brother.  This is a picture of where he sits when Evelynd is feeding -- he's right in front of us with his eyes on the door.

Evelynd was born a week ago yesterday.  Since then, we've all been getting to know each other and she has been getting a lot of sleep.  Nana has been here working so hard getting our house clean and organized.  She has also been getting lots of meals ready for us and this morning planted some pink tulips in our garden.  I was her pink rose girl, so Ev is now her pink tulip girl.

Our first outing was on Monday to visit our friend Kacky Hayes, who had knee surgery recently.  She wants to be our primary babysitter and we are okay with that!  We have had visits from my friend since Kindergarten, Gail Schneider, my high school neighbor and current piano student, Leta Edwards, my Uncle Denny and Robin, our Judson Street neighbors Katey and Kayla Axtell, and Peter's friends from Rotary, Glen and Sharman Armstrong.  Of course our angel Melanie came on Friday with dinner for our first night home from the hospital.  Thank you Melanie!  You have been amazingly thoughtful and caring.  Maddy, Isa, and Ally came down again yesterday to celebrate Evie's one week, too. 

Today we went furniture shopping so when we have visitors we will actually have a place for them to sit.  Evelynd slept the whole time and might be disappointed to know that the couch we picked out has tacked cushions so she won't be able to build forts with them.

My mom heads home tomorrow, so we'll be on our own.  Let's see if we can survive without all the fabulous help.


P.S. A very happy 29th birthday to my brother, Andy.





One week old!

A big yawn in Nana Evans' arms in the warm and comfy sleeper sack Nana bought for her.

Generations

GG'ma Evans, Nana Evans, and baby Evelynd in a cute sweater her Daddy picked out.

4 generations.

The last post was not working well with these two pictures, so I'm trying them as a separate post.

I'm a new blogger!

Minutes before leaving for the hospital.

We went to Salem Hospital at about 6 p.m. and were shocked to find out that I was already dialated to a 4.  They had me move to a delivery room where I quickly got hit by the pain.  The nurse couldn't believe how much I had changed in seconds, from joking and grading law papers to shaking uncontrollably and throwing up.  By the time I got the epidural, I was already fully dialated and ready to push.  After 2 1/2 hours (and the NICU team showing up), We finally got to see and hold Evelynd Jung Dassow. 

Evelynd was 19.5 inches and 7 pounds 6.6 ounces (the hospital rounded it up to 7 lbs. 7 oz.).  She was born at 11:36 p.m. (11:37 on Peter's watch) on March 16, 2011.

Still a little puffy and with vitamin K in her eyes, but beautiful already.

First picture of the family of 3.

Evelynd's first bath, thanks to our CNA Berta.  She enjoyed the warm water.

Clean baby with a lot of black hair.

Our first visitors came on Thursday afternoon.  My cousin, Maddy, and her daughters Isa (holding Evelynd) and Ally came.  Later that day we saw our friend Melanie and her daughter Thalia and then Debbie Meek came that evening.

Open eyes!

Dassow Daddy loves his baby girl.

First clothes as we are getting ready to go home.

Nana Evans arrived on Friday to be a maid, cook, gardener, and nanny.  (Samson and Daisy love the new baby and Sam stands guard whenever Evelynd is being fed.)

Sleeping Beauty at home.

Evelynd's Uncle Jay was working in Oregon this week and stopped by to visit on Sunday, March 20.

First bath at home.  She loved getting her hair washed, but not the rest of it.

On Tuesday, March 22 (our 6th anniversary), Evelynd went to the doctor for a retest of the lactation test that we failed at the hospital.  This time, we passed with flying colors.  Then, we drove up to Lake Oswego to visit the greatgrandparents.  GG'pa held her and rubbed her feet.

Because most of our family members are out-of-state, we thought it would be a good idea to start a blog and keep you updated on us.  Although it will mostly be about baby Evelynd.  Yes, Jay, I'll be one of those people who blogs about her baby all the time.