Last Day of Baby's Birth Year

Evie seems to be getting better at this talking thing.  She said "Cat" repeatedly when looking at a cat book.  She said "Dada" repeatedly when looking at her Daddy.  And in Denver she said "Horse" multiple times.  Where's the love for Dassow Mommy???

So how did we spend the last day of 2011?  Mostly running errands and trying to unpack.  We did, however, take Evelynd to the carousel.  She rode "Happy Holidays" first and then we drove the wagon the second time.  She loved looking at all the lights and patting the horses.

We'll miss the pretty Christmas horses, but we look forward to a lot more rides in 2012 (Dassow Mommy bought a punch card).

We finally delivered our Christmas Jar, too.  If you don't know what that it, check out Christmas Jars.  Then, Evelynd went to bed and Peter and I watched "State Fair."  Good ending to a life changing year.

9 Month Checkup

I forgot to take any pictures, but Evelynd had her 9-month checkup today.  She was a happy girl almost the entire time (no shots this visit!).  It was the first time, however, that we had to answer no to any of the developmental questions.  The doctor was not worried, though, since they all had to do with gross motor skills (no, she's not crawling, no, she doesn't walk along a table or similar object).  Here are her official stats:

Height: 28 1/2" (75th percentile)

Weight: 21 lbs. 2 oz. (78th percentile)

Head Circumference: 46 cm (92nd percentile)

She weighs enough to have a front-facing car seat, but she can't until she's a year old.  Poor girl!  I can't wait to turn that seat around.

P.S. A very happy birthday to Evelynd's Great Aunt Julie!

Evie in Utah

By Monday, the cold Nana and Grandpa were suffering from had started to hit me.  Bummer.  So, I wasn't very good with the pictures.  You should probably check out Paige's blog for pictures of Nick leaving.  We packed up in the morning, said goodbye to Uncle Jay, and then got in the car to drive.  All day.  We took one pit stop for dinner at Texas Roadhouse in Grand Junction.  Miss Evelynd was pretty popular.  Everyone commented on how cute she was and they asked if they could take her home with them.  Sorry, but I'd like to keep her around a little longer.  We arrived in Provo at about 10:30 p.m. and stayed with Paige's Taylor grandparents.  They have a beautiful home and were very nice to put up with seven people, two babies, and a dog.

On Tuesday, Peter, Evelynd and I visited our law school friends, the Briems.  Becki had made us breakfast and then we drove up to Sandy to have lunch with Jake.  I hadn't seen them since 2003 when they lived in D.C. and I was in a national appellate competition there.  After lunch, we met up with the rest of the family in Salt Lake City.  We wanted to see the lights at temple square, but it was too cold and everyone was too sick/tired to wait for that, so we had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory instead.  It was fun to play with Cousins Drew, Avery, and Luke.  Aunt Cami is looking pretty pregnant, too.  Then we drove back to Provo.

Wednesday morning started with breakfast at Paige's Warner grandparents' house.  It was delicious.  Then we drove Nick to the Missionary Training Center.  We said goodbye and look forward to seeing him again in 2013.  Then we got some ice cream, headed back to the Taylor's to pack, and drove to Salt Lake to check into our airport hotel.

Dassow Daddy and Mommy were both sick, but baby girl was still healthy.

We woke up early on Thursday, but missed the hotel shuttle to the airport.  Luckily, the taxi arrived without a minute to spare and we got on our plane home.  Evie was an angel on the flight.  I, unfortunately, had a shooting pain and extreme pressure into my right eye on the descent.  It was scary and I was praying that Evelynd would still have her mom around.  Once we landed, we called GG'ma and GG'pa and had lunch at their house.

It's nice to be home.

Merry Christmas, Baby Girl!

Merry Christmas!

We woke up early (of course -- have I mentioned that my baby doesn't sleep???) and played with Fox until Uncle Jay and Uncle Nick finally rolled out of bed.

I guess only Uncle Jay and Evelynd had been good this year because Santa only brought presents to them.  Evelynd got Kanani -- the American Girl doll of the year for 2011.  She was a little confused as to why there was a girl stuck in a box.

Opening (and tasting) her stocking stuffers

Fox opening the magnadoodle we got him

The present I requested from Aunt Paige.  I think it's going above Evelynd's bookshelf in her room.

After presents, we had the traditional Christmas breakfast of hot chocolate, cinnamon rolls, and egg casserolle.  It was delicious.  Then we went to church where Uncle Nick gave his farewell talk and we had a long Christmas program.  I spent most of the time walking Evelynd up and down the hallway and Fox fell asleep.

Uncle Nick will be gone for two years to serve a mission in Leon, Mexico.  He probably won't even recognize Ev when he gets back.

After church, some visitors came over, we ate dinner (Chris and Grandpa taught me how to make twice baked potatoes) and then played dominoes.  It was a good first Christmas.

Christmas Eve in the Stable

1 day to Christmas!

It's a Christmas Eve tradition to do a live Nativity.  Ever since my parents moved to Colorado, my mom has had horses, so the Nativity has become much more elaborate.  Grandpa is always the narrator and reads the Christmas story from Luke 2.  Nana is always the angel.  Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus all vary depending on people's ages and states of pregnancy.  This year it was Paige (who rode Hardy -- the Welsh pony -- from the house to the barn), Chris, and Fox.  Evelynd and the poodles were sheep.  Nick played the piano.  There were wise men, shepherds, and an audience supplied by my parents' friends and neighbors.

Evie was fascinated and terrified of the horses.

After the nativity, people had dessert and the babies went to bed.  We played our traditional bag game and won prizes by playing Pictionary with titles of Christmas Carols.  (Only Nana and I knew "The Friendly Beasts" was a real carol.  "Fum, Fum, Fum," "Bring a Torch Jeanette, Isabella," and "I Saw Three Ships" are also not so well known.  This game was easier for music teachers.)  Eventually, after a rousing game of dominoes, we all settled down for a long winter nap.  Would Santa come?

Christmas Eve Eve

2 days to Christmas!

The roads are still pretty bad, but we were all getting a little stir crazy, so Dassow Daddy, Ev, and I joined Grandpa, Chris, Paige and Fox on an excursion to Park Meadows.  It was packed!  I wanted to get Evelynd's photo taken with Santa, but I guess I was not the only procrastinator around -- the line was ridiculous!  There were a lot of patient kids willing to wait in that line.  Here is what she was going to be wearing to meet Santa.  (Thank you, Sara Wallace.)

Fox gave me the camera again.

The bad news is that now Nana Evans is officially sick, too.  Let's hope no one else catches this nasty cold.

Longer Out Than In

3 days to Christmas!

Evelynd has now been out of the womb longer than in it.  She is learning so much and getting so big!

Since there was so much snow, we all stayed in today.  Nana Evans had wanted to take the girls out to an English tea room, but we decided to stay in instead.  She made us some white chocolate raspberry scones and tea to eat at the table.  Evelynd got dressed in her poodle tights and dress, but missed the tea party in order to take a quick (rare) nap.  She was having a lot of fun playing with Cousin Fox, though.

Fox would often hand me the camera and then pose for his picture.

P.S. My grading is ALMOST done!

Zoo Lights

4 days to Christmas!

Freezing!  It was so cold!  Poor Evelynd had fallen asleep in the car on the way to the Zoo Lights and had to wake up to probably the coldest weather she's even been in.  What a rude awakening.  She screamed for a little bit, but then enjoyed looking at the lights and cuddling with Dassow Daddy.

Mary and Bridget

Dassow Daddy and his sad baby.

Wednesday was spent grading papers, hanging out with Uncle Jay, and then going to the airport to pick up Uncle Chris, Aunt Paige, and Cousin Fox.  That's when the snow started.  Yay!  Maybe a white Christmas?  Dassow Daddy got an early Christmas present: Uncle Jay got all the boys 4th row tickets to the Avalanche game.  They had fun.

Flying to Denver

5 days to Christmas!

Yesterday, we flew to Denver to spend Christmas with my family.  Dassow Daddy and I decided to get a late flight in the hopes that Evelynd would sleep through most of it.  It didn't happen.  She had to flirt with the man behind us the whole time instead.  When we finally landed and got our luggage, Nana Evans was there to pick us up.  Evelynd stayed awake until 1 a.m. playing piano and looking at all the Christmas decorations at Nana's house.  

Our neighbor, Susan, knit this adorable sweater and left it on our porch yesterday.  So cute!

We slept in, worked, and ran errands today.  Bad news: Uncle Nick has strep throat and Grandpa Evans is sick!  Oh well.  At least Nana is healthy and we get to meet Mike, Mary and Bridget for Zoo Lights at the Denver Zoo tonight so I'll post on that tomorrow.

Countdown Continues

6 days to Christmas!

I'm not sure I'll get to a computer again today, but I hope to have a good post tomorrow.

Final Christmas Concert

7 days to Christmas!

Last year my students' harp ensemble played a Christmas concert at a retirement community that is part of the city housing authority.  It was the best concert I had ever played.  People had made delicious desserts and passed around a collection to thank us for coming (it totaled $25).  When we left, we were hugged and told, "We really needed this here."  People even cried.  I'd never had such an appreciative audience.  It was amazing.

So this year we went back.  We played a new piece that the $25 had purchased and they remembered us.  They remembered that I was going to have a baby and thought I would name her Evelynd (which I did, as you might know).  A young girl was there and led the audience in singing "Jingle Bells" (she reminded them that it started with "Dashing Through the Snow").  It was a wonderful concert again.  I love my job.

Amanda and Mary warming up

Carolyn and Micaela before the concert.

Evelynd stayed home with Dassow Daddy since she was still napping when I had to leave.  Then, she stayed up until 9:45 p.m.  Augh!  We need to get back to our 8 p.m. bedtime.  At least she was happy.