End o' January

Already 1/12 done with 2007 - hard to believe! I don't have much gumption for a long post...really just wanted to upload January photos before the month expired. So, check out our Flickr site for a big set of photographic Evelyn goodness from January! Meanwhile, here are a few charming shots to tide you over:






Can you tell she's started grabbing things and chewing on them? And, she's discovered her feet. Oh, yeah!

--Liz

Wheaton Whiles

Evelyn is a trouper! She was a simply outstanding traveller on the flights to Wheaton and back this past week, where we went to visit my family. We took a Monday mid-afternoon flight from Portland, which was nevertheless full, and she literally made not a peep the entire time. My mother Ewa -- henceforth known as Babcia -- met us at the airport (having battled for the honor!) and Mike successfully installed the car seat in my dad's Audi without too much swearing. That night we had a good time introducing Evelyn to her Babcia and Granddad John. She eventually went to sleep after midnight (Central time), bedding down in the cute travel crib Babcia set up in her study.




















My dad is doing quite well post-transplant, although a significant section of his incisions still needs to heal and close up fully; he's getting home care for his wounds from my mother and generally taking it easy. Nothing got in the way of my giving him some big, overdue hugs! On Tuesday, my grandmother Barbara -- AKA Evelyn's Great-Grandmother -- came over and was delighted to hold the baby. Later in the day, my brother Charles cruised on in from downtown, and that evening his wife Michele joined us as well.

Naturally, Evelyn delighted all and sundry with her 3-month old antics. She's beginning to reach out and grasp with both hands. When she succeeds in grabbing something, it goes right into her mouth -- pretty classic stuff! She also gets deeply engaged in books and all the myriad sights around her. And although she's still emitting remarkably long, warbling sentences composed entirely of vowels, she is already rather less verbal than she was a couple weeks ago. My latest source of information about early brain development, a tome called "What's Going On in There," indicates that she's transitioning from language produced by the limbic system (the emotional seat of the brain) to language produced by the true language centers. Soon we'll hear some new phonemes, I'm sure! We also were pleased to note that she has grown 3 inches in the past month, now measuring 24 & 1/2 inches! (Weight unknown, but somewhere around 13 pounds I'd say.)


Charles & Michele had just gotten a slew of new games of various sorts, mainly intricate board & card games of obscure German origins. We enjoyed playing several of them, although Mike was rather occupied with a work project much of the time while I frequently had to care for Evelyn. She got a nice bath in the kitchen sink on Wednesday evening, before we all went out to a local restaurant for some yummy Thai food. After a rocky start to the meal, Evelyn quieted down and eventually fell asleep in my arms. Later that evening, we whiled time away with more games, plus a massage for Evelyn and more feedings, of course. She seems to have been experiencing a bit of a growth spurt, not only mentally but physically too.


Generally, we all enjoyed an even more comfortable and homey rhythm than our typical Wheaton visit provides. The only sour note was that I had come down with a cold the night before departing, but happily, Evelyn never caught it and Mike only got himself a mild version. The visit ended all too quickly with a flight back to Portland Thursday afternoon. Evelyn was again remarkably compliant, despite it being a longer flight and having a mother suffering from a stuffy head & ear ache. We got her to sleep not too-too late that night, and now we're working on establishing a proper bedtime. This may be a bit rough! Previously, she was falling asleep easily at my breast, but going forward we need to instill the ability for her to fall asleep on her own. We'll stick with it, though, and I'm sure it will turn out OK. After all, we have succeeded at getting her to drink expressed breastmilk from a bottle! Babcia had a good feeding session with her....


Meanwhile, back in Portland, I'm busy preparing the house for the arrival of our Au Pair. I have almost finished re-painting the main bathroom vanity, just needing to apply some decorative touches. We have had our master bedroom closet improved by the Closet Factory folks, and I'm figuring out where to put all my clothes, shoes, and accessories being stored in the room that soon belongs to Anne-Sophie. I really enjoy organizing things, but it's a bit of a tall order. Good thing Evelyn doesn't need much of her own closet yet! :) Tomorrow, we have some contractors in to fix up our crawlspace, going to show that not every home improvement needs to be visible to be worthwhile.

--Liz