Milestones: Evelyne is 9 Months old!

Our little beauty on her 9 month birthday :)!

Always so happy!!

We have to keep a close eye on this girl because she's so sneaky when it comes to getting into things she shouldn't be. Notice how interested she is in that electrical outlet?

Her hair just keeps growing in beautiful black curls! Her black hair, super dark (almost black) eyes, and olive skin have everybody swooning over her. It's true! I can't go anywhere without random strangers asking to see my beautiful baby! I normally don't mind, but it can get slightly annoying when I am in a hurry.  

I never thought Evelyne would beat Austin in the amount of emergency room visits she's had in just her short 9 month life, but she did! :( I was getting ready for the day and suddenly heard her gagging on something. I opened her mouth and saw what I thought was a bobby pin! I tried my best to get it out but she swallowed it in the process... So off to the Emergency Room we went! They did an X-Ray and we learned that it wasn't a bobby pin after all.... it was a giant staple, like the kind they use in construction. At this point I was wishing it HAD been a bobby pin! A pediatric GI specialist had to get involved at this point and we talked about emergency surgery. However, the risks of doing surgery on such a little baby far outweighed the benefits so we decided to wait a week for the staple to pass and keep our fingers crossed! In the meantime, I was instructed to sift through every poopy diaper in search of the staple and if it hadn't passed within a week, or if she suddenly developed a fever or started acting abnormal, to bring her back to the ER. So after 6 days of poop searching, I never saw the staple AND she developed a bad fever and was extremely lethargic and seemed to be in pain. So back to the ER she and I went! The good news is they did another X-Ray and the staple was nowhere to be seen! The bad news was they now had no idea why she was so sick, and we decided it was probably a bug she picked up from the hospital....grrrrrr! So now we are home, taking care of our poor sick baby, awaiting the massive medical bills that are sure to soon appear. We are just so happy the staple is gone! Either it dissolved, or she passed it without me noticing. Either way, I can breathe a sigh of relief that surgery is no longer a possibility!

Also over the past month, Evelyne:

- Is crawling! We had been trying to work with her on this because she would get in the crawling position and then just decide to give up and flop over. So we were pretty excited for her when she finally did it!

- Is standing! She had only been crawling for 1 week when she was suddenly standing too!! Now she stands constantly. She is scared to sit back down after standing though so after standing for a while she starts whining for someone to come set her down on the floor. Just yesterday I walked in her room and got the shock of having her standing there staring right at me! She hasn't even been doing that for a week and she is already trying to stand independently and is walking sideways while holding onto the couch. I know, like Austin, she is going to be an early walker!

- Has her two bottom teeth! She was pretty miserable there for a while with both teeth coming in at the same time and I'm almost wondering if those top two are going to show themselves soon because of her fussiness. She is such a girl! She is either laughing hysterically or crying. And whenever she is in that happy in between stage, Austin goes over and bothers her until she is laughing or crying again. So I am either watching and smiling in pride at them, or yelling and ripping my hair out....

- Is still not sleeping throughout the night. For most of this past month she was waking me up at least 8 times a night! I've been chalking that up to teething though because now she only wakes up about 2-3 times per night.

- She says Mama all day long in all different forms. All throughout the day I am hearing "mamamamamamama" or "Maaammmmm!!" or "Mummm Mummm Mummm." All are absolutely adorable and all make me smile, even if she picks the worst time to call for me. She also says Dada whenever her dad is around or if she hears his voice. She is one smart cookie!

- She LOVES kisses and has started making the lip smacking kissing noise with her lips! It's so cute! We play this little game where we make kissing noises and she gives everyone kisses. Last night was the perfect example of this. I was rocking her to sleep and enjoying her sweet breath in my ear and her warmth in my arms. When suddenly she made a loud lip smacking noise and gave me a big, wet, open mouthed smooch! Tongue and all hahaha! I knew if I laughed she would think it was game time and wouldn't go to sleep but I couldn't help myself! So she started giggling too and pretty soon we were playing the kissing game :).

- LOVES bath time and baby food! It is amazing because those are two things she once hated (especially bath time). Now she devours her food (even the peas) with gusto and she gets super excited and starts screaming with joy when she hears the bath water running! She even crawls into the bathroom throughout the day and stands up against the bath tub, looking in and squealing, like she is wishing she could be in there playing! She loves to splash and has fun playing with Austin in the water. Having two kids so close in age is REALLY hard but it is moments like bath time that make it so rewarding!

More Fun Moments From This Month!

Standing for the first time!! Whenever she concentrates hard, she does the fish face! hahaha

All bundled up like a Russian baby to play outside with Austin and Grandma Porter :).

Playing at Grandma Porter's house. She is intrigued by Buster!

Flying!!!

Wrestling with brother...

She loves her Auntie Sadie!

A picture of the staple she swallowed...grrrr!

Hanging out in the ER for our first hospital trip. She was so happy, you would never know she had just swallowed a giant, sharp, metal object!

Trying to keep a baby entertained for 6 hours in a tiny room without the option to feed her was interesting to say the least!

Her second hospital trip... She was definitely not as happy as the first time, but still managed to flash me a little grin.

Poor sick baby :(.... Poor tired Mama.

The next day she still had a fever but that didn't stop her from wrestling in her crib with Austin!

These two LOVE to push buttons! Literally and figuratively haha.

Surprising Mom in the morning by standing up in her crib!

She gives the cutest little faces! I can't stop taking pictures!

"Oh yes I did!"

Reading stories with Mama.

Making smoothies in the morning.

She couldn't have a smoothie so Austin shared his straws with her :).

Hanging out on the kitchen floor with  my babies. I love mornings like these!

Modeling her new shirt she got for Christmas! Makes me laugh every time because it's so true!

The thinking face....

Okay, thinking time is over! Time to smile again!

Evelyne, I don't know how we got so lucky to be "Graced" with your little presence but I sure don't know what we ever did without you! Happy 9 month birthday baby girl!