Evelynd ABCs

Aa - Apple Juice.  She loves it and you won't get her to eat anything else once the juice comes out so we have to save it for last.
Bb - Beans.  She ate them instead of cookies!  Is she crazy?
        Boys.  My girl is a terrible flirt.
        Bubbles and Balloons.  Interchangeable and a couple of her favorite things.
Cc - Cat!  Love to say the word, but not always so sure of the real thing.

        Cheese.  Loves it.  All flavors.
        Clocks.  She says this word now and clicks her tongue when she sees one.  "Tick tock."
Dd - Dogs.  Loves them.  Daisy especially makes her laugh all the time.
        Dimple.  She has one on her right cheek and it's adorable.
Ee - Evelynd, of course.  Our one-of-a-kind bundle of joy.

Ff - Fish.  She doesn't know how to say it, but she loves watching them.
Gg - Gorgeous.  Everyday she gets prettier.
Hh - Hairy.  When she was born she had hairy ears and shoulders.  It's gone now, though.
Ii - Independent.  She loves to do everything herself: brush her teeth, feed herself, walk, talk, anything.
Jj - Jung.  Her middle name.
      Joy.  Her stocking holder and the word that I think most encapsulates Evelynd.
Kk - Kick.  Loves it.  She kicks in the water, when she's excited, and when she tries to pet cats (she pets dogs with her hands, but uses her feet for cats).
Ll - Laugh.  She likes to snort when she laughs now.
Mm - Mommy.  She's still a Mommy's girl.  This has gone on a long time and although my back sometimes gets tired from the extra 20+ pounds I carry around all the time and I have to stay up late getting everything done, I enjoy it.
         Music.  Singing, playing, and even keeping a beat.
         Mongolian Spots.  She was born with one.  The picture isn't hers, but she's got a small one like it.

Nn - Nuts.  Not allowed.
Oo - Outdoors.  Just stepping over the threshold still gets her to stop crying.
Pp - Peanuts.  See Nn.
Qq - Quadruplets.  Too much for this Dassow Mommy.  Thankfully, Evelynd was a singleton.
Rr - Reading.  She loves it.  Hours of it.  She has her favorite books and they include music, lights, things to touch, finger puppets, and lots of dogs and cats.

       Round and Round.  The sound we make and fingers go around when she sees ceiling fans -- she spots them immediately.
Ss - Samson.  She loves him and won't remember him, but we have pictures and videos.
       Smiles.  She's full of them and people always comment on how cute her smile is.
Tt - Teething.  Evelynd does not enjoy it and does not sleep well when a tooth is about to break through.  Number four is the culprit that is driving her crazy right now.
       Television.  Evelynd is not allowed to watch anything until she's 2.  How are we doing with that?  Pretty well.  She "watches" Toddler Tunes, a music channel that has images of baby toys, but doesn't change the picture until after about 20+ seconds and once I let her watch 15 minutes of the Wiggles and Word World  when she felt especially sad.
Uu - Ultrasound.  During our final ultrasound, our doctor said, "Sometimes you can see babies practice breathing.  Oh.  Like that.  And sometimes you can see them sucking.  Oh.  Like that."  What a cooperative little girl!
Vv - Vegetarian.  She don't eat no meat.  (My Big Fat Greek Wedding.)  Well, not exactly, but she doesn't seem to like any meat.
        Vegetables.  She loves them.  She chose a green bean over a sugar cookie last night.
Ww - Walking.  She wants to so badly.
Xx - X chromosome.  Evelynd has two of them.
Yy - Yackety-yak.  She loves to talk and spends a lot of the day talking.  When she wakes up she talks to herself, her stuffed animals, her mobile, anything.
Zz - Zippers.  One of her favorite things to see people wearing.

P.S. A very happy birthday to Evelynd's only girl cousin, Avery!

January 2011

Last January was full of baby preparation.  This January was filled with actual baby.

On January 19, I had my first of three baby showers.  Dianne Lathen, Kacky Hayes, and Angie Harker hosted.  It included family and family friends.  I got so many great gifts including our crib, monitors, and Evelynd's jacuzzi tub.  It was a fun night.

January 29 was my second baby shower.  This one was hosted by Melanie Jipping and was for friends.  I got a lot of great homemade gifts like Evie's mobile, bird plate and onesie, and an adorable diaper changing clutch.  We played fun games and had a huge spread of delicious goodies.  I had really looked forward to the showers and can't say how much I appreciated everyone for planning, hosting, and attending.

The other big thing last January was child birth classes at Salem Hospital.  We spent one LONG weekend in classes.  We sat next to a couple from Sweden who had been trying to have a baby for 13 years and finally were going to become parents.  On other side was a couple who work at Cafe 22 and told us about their delicious milkshakes, which we got to try in May for free!  The birth classes completely freaked me out and made me want to skip everything and just get a one-year-old.  I'm glad that didn't happen, though.  Now, just FYI, two things they didn't tell me:
1. Labor pains can cause your body to shake uncontrollably.  I didn't know about this and seriously thought I was going to die.
2. You will bleed copiously for weeks afterwards.

Dinner Party

We were invited to a dinner party with the Thompsons and Lashmetts today.  I teach piano to both families and Lucy and Ed are working on a duet that they practiced together for the first time tonight.  After Ed played, he took off, so Evelynd sat in for him and practiced with Lucy.

I often end up wearing Evie's hair bows because she almost always immediately pulls them out.

Evelynd wanted to play with all the big kids during the party.  Sometimes it's so hard to be a baby!

Nana Evans especially loves the poodle dress.  Thanks Jana Gunn!

Sing a Song of Samson

First, the fun news.  Evelynd loves music.  She sings and dances every time she hears music.  She can even match pitch now.  She still gets excited when she see pianos and harps and likes playing the piano with her feet.  She has four books that play music and she loves to read them all multiple times per day (thank you Nana and Grandpa Evans, Nana and Papa Dassow, and Jipping family).

Now, the sad news.  Samson has cancer.

Finally, the whole story.  Yesterday was beautiful.  Clear and pretty mild temperatures.  So I took the whole crew out for a walk.

Every time I have ventured out with all three, people stop, stare, and say something along the lines of, "That's a lot for one person to handle."  Yesterday was no exception.  And I was thinking the same thing.  I thought of how any combination of two is fine, but the third makes it very difficult.  Unfortunately, later that day I found that I may end up with two sooner than I would like.  I had called the vet that morning because Samson was straining every time he tried to poo, he kept biting at his bum, and there was blood left under where he had been sitting for a couple days.

Thursday afternoon was our vet appointment.  Evelynd immediately said, "Cat!" when we walked into the exam room and she saw pictures of cats.  The vet tech was surprised and asked how old Ev was.  When I told her, she said, "Wow!  My daughter's 19 months and not talking yet."  Yes, I have a little chatterbox.

Then, the doctor came in and examined Sam.  There was a very large tumor that was visible to the naked eye and hadn't been visible at his last exam three weeks earlier.  He had also lost another pound and was leaving blood on the vet's floor.  Poor guy.  She said that this was almost certainly malignant and that we could talk about surgery/radiation/chemo with the animal hospital in Portland or consider euthanasia.  I told her we would take him to Portland to get a better idea of our options, but had very little hope.  I called Peter and he took Friday off so he could be there with Sam on what we thought would be his last day.  The vet gave us some antibiotics and stool softeners to help Sam until we could get more information.

We left to head to lessons.  I cried and tried to call my Friday students to cancel between sobs.  I also called a few of Sam's special friends to let them know and give them a chance to say goodbye.  Lessons were hard, but Evelynd always loves to play with Talia Tuggy.

  When we got home, the Jippings came by and brought ice cream.  I got Evie in her pajamas silently.  I usually sing to her, but I was too close to tears.  She looked at me and said, "Ee-i-ee-i-o."  I smiled and sang "Old MacDonald" for her.  It was very sweet of her since the Jippings were there and had given her that book!  She's been singing "Ee-i-ee-i-o" a lot since then.

Today started with a visit from Ed and Lowell Thompson who wanted to say goodbye and get pictures.  Then Carolyn Fu came for her lesson with dog toys, but only pet the dogs instead of playing harp.  Then she took Daisy for a run as we got ready to head to Portland.

We arrived at the vet around 12:30 p.m. and checked Sam in.  It was the same vet where Gino had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died.  Sad memories there.

We met with the vet who did an exam, agreed that it was malignant and said it was a bigger tumor than she had ever operated on.  We discussed our options and decided to have x-rays and an ultrasound to see if the cancer had spread.

While they did this, the humans went out to lunch.  We sat next to a nice man and his 1- and 4-year-old children.  He told us that parenthood only got easier and more fun.  I believe it, although he hasn't hit the teenage years yet.  As soon as we got in the car, we got the phone call.  The good news: the cancer has not spread to Samson's lungs.  The bad news: it has spread to his lymph nodes.  The question we have now is whether we want to have surgery to extend his life a few months, go the full treatment for about 1 1/2 years, or do nothing until his quality of life is really suffering.  We sure love this little guy.  He is incredibly patient and sweet.  We'll have to pray and keep thinking.

Picture Post

Sucking on a Straw

That's the new skill Evelynd figured out today.  I see lots of juice boxes in her future.

When we were at GG'ma and GG'pa's house, GG'ma had a talk with me about dementia.  We all pray for her and hope she can find peace and comfort and know that we all love her.  Evelynd included.

No News

Nothing to report today, so just some pictures of Evelynd playing at the Kids Club again.  We're getting our money's worth on that membership!

So That's (Almost) What It Feels Like

I haven't had eight hours of uninterrupted sleep in over a year and last night was as close as I've ever come.  We woke Evelynd up as we got ready for bed, but then she slept from about 11:30 p.m. until 6 a.m.  I heard her on the monitor, but she went back to sleep (and so did I) until 8 a.m.  Peter even got up with her so I got another hour of sleep!  Yee-haw!  (We're watching Oklahoma right now.)

In other news, Evelynd got her first tooth on top.  It's the front right.

Her adorable dress is from Nana and Papa Dassow.

Weekend Update

Yesterday was very busy and I was up until about midnight getting the handouts ready for my master class on Harp in the Impressionist Era today.  So no post.

Evelynd pulled herself up to standing in her crib yesterday.  She's able, but not that interested in it, so I forced the issue by throwing her giraffe out of her reach and then stepping back so she couldn't grab my hand.  She then used the crib to get herself to stand.  Looks like Dassow Daddy and Mommy need to lower the crib now.

Totally blurry, but the smile's worth posting anyway.

I think I'm starting to get the hang of this meal planning thing.  When there was no baby in the picture, I didn't think that much about what I was eating.  (Peter is always thinking about food, however, and is asking about dinner as soon as he puts down his lunch fork.)  Since Evelynd, I've been much more conscious of things and, with the help of Annabelle and her book, have gotten better meals going for us.  For example, yesterday's breakfast:  rice cereal with an apple, banana, apricot pear puree.  (My meal was similar.)  Lunch was egg, cheese, and tuna quesadillas with carrot sticks and dried mangoes.  For dinner, we had a vegetable orzo with apricot oat cookies for dessert.  It was all good (except the tuna, which I still cannot stomach since pregnancy) and hit all the food groups.  Pretty proud of myself.

Evelynd liked picking the peas out and eating them the most.

The cookies blend in with the counter tops.

Today started with a lot of being a harp teacher.  I taught, held the master class, and helped Micaela record a piece for a concerto competition.  When I returned home, Evelynd and I went out to meet the Jipping girls at the NW Kids Club.  She still loves it there.  Then Melanie got some Mexican from La Hacienda Real (their homemade tortillas are delicious!) and brought it back to our house.  We ate and played and after Evelynd went to bed, we read lots of stories.  Then we told lots of stories.  It was a fun and busy day.

 Sylvia and Evelynd had matching pj's unbeknownst to their mothers.

 Sylvia enjoyed the swing (especially the "Home on the Range" song setting).

 So tired, but always asking for another story.

Flooded (With New Words)

We got over six inches of rain in the last 48 hours.  Thankfully, we had a very dry December and there's no water in our basement.  The rivers and creeks are either already at flood stage or are expected to hit it tomorrow.  Someone can make their millions by figuring out how to get all our extra water efficiently to places like Arizona.

Evelynd has been working on her new words and can now say "uh-oh," "star," and "right there!"  During my first lessons today (yes, we traveled to Portland), she entertained herself by rolling around under the piano bench and "reading" the music books.

P.S. In the TMI department, but because I need this for my own records, today marked the end of my 1 1/2 of freedom from visits from Aunt Flo.

Dassow Family Dinners

Miss Independent likes to feed herself so much Dassow Mommy had to come up with some new finger foods that would work for the whole family so Dassow Mommy doesn't have to prepare two meals.  To help with this, I turned to the trusty book from Annabelle (the gift that just keeps on giving) and have been trying a bunch of the recipes.  Tonight was Mini Chicken-Apple Burgers.  It was the first time Evelynd had liked any meat and she loved that she could feed herself.

Cheese in her hair and making sure Samson gets some dinner, too.

One picture without food all over her

This has been fun to try new meals that we all can eat.  Breakfast (Banana-Raisin muffins) is in the oven right now.

Just FYI, it warmed up a lot today and all the snow is gone.  Ev and I seem to be on the mend, but are still a little congested.

P.S. A very happy birthday to Evelynd's Uncle Michael and a happy 1st birthday to Evie's BFF, Bridget!

Sick/Snow Day

More snow today, so no lessons in Portland.  Evelynd and I stayed home to rest up and not cause any car accidents due to Dassow Mommy's lack of snow driving experience.  I gave her her first doll to play with today and she was fascinated by its eyes.

She tried her first cucumbers today and was not a fan.  She liked her cream cheese and banana sandwiches, though.

Happy Ten Month Birthday, Baby Girl!

We woke up to a good amount (for Oregon) of snow on the ground.
And she has a cold.  Bummer.  So, not the most fun birthday we could have had.

Here's what's new:
She's getting faster at army crawling, but vastly prefers to have someone help her walk.
She can say cat (her favorite word), dog, duck, cow, and that.  She has occasionally said hi and bubbles (to refer to either bubbles or balloons).
She loves to do everything herself.  She wants to feed herself, brush her own teeth, and walk.
She could spend all day reading.  She will pull out books and turn the pages.  She points to things and says, "That!"  or, if appropriate, "A cat!"  The only reason we stop reading is because I get tired of the same books over and over.  (And yes, she definitely has her favorites.)
She can pull herself into a standing position occasionally.
She ate farfalle tonight all by herself.  That was her first pasta and she was pretty good at chewing it.
She's a total mommy's girl.  I call her my little spider monkey because she is constantly attached to me.  She likes to play with Peter as long as Dassow Mommy is the one holding her.
Her hair is getting much longer and thicker.  It's almost into her eyes.
We still like her.

Evelynd was laughing hysterically, but slowed down once the camera came out.  So, this is just a small taste of her playing today: