John Steinbeck must have known about Evie.

I can't believe how quickly she's growing up. In less than six months, we've gone

from this:

to this:

I understand why people do this having babies thing more than once. It's because when babies are born, families enter a time warp and months seem like weeks, weeks seem like days, and days seem, you guessed it, like minutes.

We have had an incredible first six months of Evie's life. It has not been easy, especially restful or relaxing, or without physical or emotional challenges, but any meaningful time in life rarely is. As (one of my favorites) John Steinbeck says,

"For what good is color in perpetual green, 

or what good is warmth 

without cold to give it sweetness?"

A year ago, I was training in earnest for the 1st annual Next Step 5k, a 5k walk created to help raise ongoing support for stroke survivors. I was teaching half time and still working-working-working in physical and occupational therapy. Months of picking up wooden pins and placing them in a wooden block. Manipulating cotton balls up and down my palm. Tying ribbons above my head using both hands.  Pilates exercises to strengthen my shoulder girdle. Hopping from one foot to another around a square for balance and strength. All the while improving my left handed writing and relearning how to balance life, work, and family.

A year ago was definitely not the 'cold' of my life by any means, but I still felt an occasional chill.

This year, I'm training again for the 2nd annual Next Step 5k with other survivor stories on my mind. I'm teaching full time, I've taken on additional challenges at work this year, and though I'm still working on therapy, I've been discharged from both physical and occupational therapy. I can do things this year that I would have never imagined. A baby provides the best therapy possible: she's the physical challenge with the motivation built right in. Instead of wooden pins and cotton balls, I now have the challenges of changing a diaper at 3am on a squirmy baby, turning door locks and handles while holding a fifteen pound little lady in her car seat, lifting and carrying the cutest weight you have ever seen, twisting the tops of bottles and baby food jar lids, and manipulating a baby spoon and food with both hands. All the while still improving my left handed writing and still relearning how to balance life, work, and a growing family.

The biggest change in all of this, however, is a new reason to improve. It's all about Evie. And man, she is worth the hard work. One smile, and I'm willing to keep going. 

She is our warmth, made especially sweet with the cold our lives have known. Six months. A half of a year.

Six months have given us two teeth,

a lot of learning,

a lot of laugher,

a new extended family,

a family I once wondered if I would ever have. Brad and Evie are more than I could have ever asked for or imagined.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!" 
- Ephesians 3:20-21

Evie Will Be Applying to Colleges Soon

It's been several weeks since I wrote last, and in those weeks, Evie has practically grown up. Here are some recent Evie milestones:

1. Evie is laughing! Being a mom who works, I always worried that I would miss Evie's 'firsts' while hangin' with high school kiddos. Evie had a different idea. On Thanksgiving while changing her diaper, I got Evie's first laugh! It's like she waited to give her momma that special first! The funny part is that Evie's happy sounds are high-pitched, whimsical, airy, sighs. Evie's first laugh, though, was a low-pitched, guttural grunty giggle. It was so devious!

2. Also the week of Thanksgiving, Evie became mobile... kind of. My little super baby turned over for the first time! During her nap, she started crying loudly. I dashed in to check, and Evie was flipped over. She was so confused. Over these past few weeks, she has flipped over again and again and is working on flipping over the other way too.











3. On December 6, Evie became an official Baker! We finalized her adoption in an Athens Clarke County court. A few members of our 'extended' family met us at the courthouse to celebrate and my dear friend, Amanda Dean, served as our attorney.

4. Our latest Evie entertainment is her latest fascination with her own fingers. She holds her hands a few inches from her face and it makes her almost cross-eyed. She is just fascinated with hands! I can hold my hands in front of her and open and close my fingers and keep her enthralled for several minutes. (Thanks for helping me open and close my fingers, Occupational Therapists!!)

5. Evie has begun eating solid foods this last month. In addition to her formula, she has added oatmeal sweetened with bananas. She definitely needs a bath following oatmeal, but she has been getting better and better at eating. Soon, we will transition to veggies! Stay tuned for squash!

6. Evie had her 4 month check up at the beginning of December, and she is a healthy little girl! Weighing at about 14 pounds, she still registers in the 50th percentile of weight and the 80th percentile of length. Dr. Garrard was impressed with our little one, and he SHOULD be-- she's a baby champion!


7. We had Thanksgiving with Sally's brothers and sisters, and we had a great time! How I wish we could have more than a few hours every few years to be all together (and not in a hospital, thank you very much). Evie's cousins Carly and Will helped her take a bath, and I don't know who got wetter... Evie in the bath tub or Carly and Will from Evie's splashing! Evie loved being held, cooed over, and doted on by her aunts and uncles.

Evie with Uncle Brian or Uncle "Bubs"

8. Finally, we recently celebrated Christmas in Columbus with Daddad and Grandma Sharon on Sally's side and Gigi, Popsy, Aunt Pey Pey, Uncle Mark, Tia, and Uncle Owletts on Brad's side. We had a great time with family hanging out and Evie gave us a great gift-- she started sleeping all the way through the night! What a difference a little sleep makes. Pictures to come soon!

Christmas Is Coming!

And with this Christmas, I get one of my long time wishes...

Photo Christmas cards with my li'l one! Thank you, shutterfly!

They are on the way!!

Our first Hallow-Evie

Oh, Evie. Sweet Evie. She is such a happy baby.

We have really enjoyed watching Evie "grow up" into a 3 month old. Every time she does something cute or superbly amazing for a 3 month old to do, we ask ourselves, "What did we ever do before she could do THAT?"

The best part is that she keeps doing cute and superbly amazing things.





One of those cute and superbly amazing things was her Halloween debut. I know you're all waiting on pictures, so I will go ahead and share and THEN tell the story.

Sunday night, Evie made her costume debut as a hot dog! Brad had a youth Halloween costume party, so Evie thought she would grill the rest of the kids with her costume.  My teacher friends Mimi and Lynne bought this costume for Evie because of a long school-related hot dog story (it has to do with Shakespeare and integrating quotations... but that's not what this blog is about!), but Evie relished this costume like it was her dinner. She was so cute... it was hard for the rest of the kids to ketchup. She was so content in the costume. I thought she would fuss, but as soon as I got her dressed, she was happy as a sweet little bun!
(ok, puns stop now.)

On Halloween Monday night, we celebrated at our church's Trunk or Treat. Prepare yourself for more cute cleverness...
Brad and I dressed up as Bakers and Evie was a cupcake!! I have to admit-- I thought that was pretty cute. She was the cutest dern cupcake known to man.

(I know this picture isn't great, but we are working on getting a better one.)

As part of the evening, Evie entered the cake walk with one of her Athens-grandmas, Janice. She won a delicious red velvet cake!
Trunk or Treat lasted about a half an hour after Evie's normal bed time, but she did so great. She didn't put up a fuss at all, and when she was tired, she laid down in the back of the car and took a little rest.


We gave the rest of our candy to little princesses, ghosts, and UGA cheerleaders, buckled Evie in, and called it a night. It was a great first Halloween.

Our pumpkin, carved for St. James

The weekend before Halloween, Dad and Sharon came to Athens to visit us and meet Evie. We had a great time, just introducing them to the routine, doting on Evie, catching up on what's happening with adoption/work/church/friends/life and spending a beautiful weekend in our favorite city.

Dad says 'goodnight' to Goodnight Moon and Evie

At Bear Hollow seeing the animals

Evie mesmerized at the Halloween decor above

It was a great weekend and first Halloween!

Brad and I are so incredibly blessed to have Evie. She is such an easy baby to love.

An Evie-ning Update

These last few weeks in Evie's life have been exciting. She has begun smiling and 'talking' all the time and we are learning a lot about her little personality. We have come to one conclusion about Evie: she is a passionate child. She is a happy baby, cooing and smiling, looking and snuggling... until she's not. When Evie isn't happy, she screams. Like full gut, breathing from the diaphragm, wide mouthed shouting and screaming. That little lip pooches out, it trembles a little, and then the cry is unleashed. 

Brad and I can't hear what each other is saying if she's screaming. Now, she only screams if something is wrong-- she's hungry, needs changing, tired, whatever. That isn't very often at all, but when she's not happy and the bottom lip begins to pooch, watch out. Brace yourself. Keep her moving.

But Evie really is a happy baby. See?

A couple weeks ago, she had her 2 month check up, and she is a very healthy little lady! She measured 23 5/8 inches (she's grown over 4 inches!) and weighed 11 pounds. That placed her in the 88th percentile for length and the 50th percentile for weight. She's in the 100th percentile for cuteness. This child is so stinkin' cute.

Over the last few weeks, we have fallen into a regular schedule with Evie. On Mondays and Wednesdays, Evie stays with adopted grandparents from church Mary, Janie, Vivian, or Janice; on Tuesdays, she stays with adopted Aunt 'Apple' April, and on Thursdays and Fridays, she stays with daddy. It's our hope to keep her out of day care for as long as possible. We absolutely appreciate how many people show Evie love during the week and all the time. She is such a blessing to us, and lots of people are happy to share in the blessing with us! After all, Evie can say that 

She is a pretty big deal.

We love that big deal.

A Few of My Favorite Things

As Evie continues to grow up, she is starting to develop a little personality with her particular likes and dislikes. I don't think she remembers clothes, toys, or even people besides Brad or me yet, but there are things that she always smiles at and coos for. Some of her favorites include

A full bottle,

The stuffed musical butterfly with the light up cheeks and wings,

Walks in the stroller,

and the magical teal paci.

There aren't many things that Evie does not like, but one of them is loud barking from

The crazy Jackson.

Nobody's happy when his barking wakes Evie up from a nap. Nobody. She also hates sunshine in her eyes.

Evie doesn't really cry or fuss unless she is hungry or tired (much like me, actually), but there is one thing that Evie always loves, even if she's fussy. This miracle always gets a smile, a calm attitude, and a soothed baby:

A bath!

Evie loves a bath. From her very first days, she has always loved them.

She is always very interested in the good lookin' baby in the mirror. She 'laughs' at herself and delights in seeing Brad or me in the mirror. We could spend an hour a night in the bath. She loves them.

After her bath, Evie does 'Baby Spa' time complete with music, Aveeno lotion, baby hair brushing, books, prayers, and time with the special teal paci. She loves the evening routine.

In celebration, Evie thought she would share a musical number with you. Enjoy!

***

Evie's Musical Debut, Her 'Sound of Music' 

to be sung to "A Few of My Favorite Things"

Evenings with bath time and full yummy bottles, 

Splashing and laughing and playing in water. 

Plush butterflies with the lights in its wings... 

These are a few of my favorite things! 

Having my spa with Aveeno lotion, 

Walks in my stroller and soft rocking motion, 

Reading some books and the songs that we sing... 

These are a few of my favorite things!

When the dog barks,

When it's sunny,

When I'm fussy and mad, 

I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel so bad!

Times, They Are a Changin

In the past few weeks, Evie has grown so much! She has definitely moved out of the 'newborn' phase and into the baby phase. Take a look:

Evie as newborn, 4 days old

compared to this:

Evie as a baby!, 7 weeks old

What a difference! She has started looking around all the time, making eye contact, smiling at people and sounds, and cooing. One of the first times she cooed, she was taken back by it. She shook her head in surprise and looked around for that strange creature that made the sound. I cooed back at her and she did it again, smiling at her most recent accomplishment.

Evie is also sleeping much better. Though she hasn't slept through the night yet, she is getting close. (Wahoo!) Several nights, she has slept from 9pm- 4am solid. The first time she did that, Brad and I assumed that the other had been up for a 1am meal, but we were delighted to find that the Baby Champ had indeed slept that long. Regardless, we were all surprised! 

I slept HOW long??

Last weekend, we went down to Columbus for a shower with Brad's family and Columbus friends. Peyton, Brad's sister, and our friends Jeannie and Ashley really know how to throw a party! It was a beautiful spread with a great mix of people and a gorgeous day. 

Yumyums made with love by Peyton and Jeannie

My dear friends Katherine and Christina were able to come (I hadn't seen them at the same time since our wedding 3 years ago!). Katherine made the trek from Boston and Christina came from outside Montgomery, a recent move for she and her husband from the SF Bay Area. The three of us, all from GA and AL, met while working in the Bay Area for California Theatre Center. (I famously renamed Christina 'Tumps' because she is from Wetumpka, AL.) They were excited to meet Evie, and we loved having time to spend together.

Tumps, Sally, and Katherine

It was a great day overall. Both of our families have been very supportive of our adoption of Evie, and friends and care deeply for her. And us. We are blessed to be loved by so many.

Katherine and Tumps with Evie

Finally, I had a special treat this weekend. My sweet friend Ashley decided to come to Athens this weekend to treat me to a UGA game! Ashley, a friend from high school and a college roommate, has been an incredible friend through my pregnancy, stroke, and recovery, and she was excited to come to Athens to root on the Dawgs! Evie celebrated by wearing a UGA dress, custom made by Suzy Revell, a high school friend's mom. We hope it's the first of many days Evie celebrates a win in Athens!

With Evie, 9/17

With Ashley at the game

(Oh! And I got my hair cut.)

Tomorrow starts a new week. According to my baby books, this week, Evie's stomach will be big enough to hold enough food to sleep through the night. We'll keep our drowsy fingers crossed. Until then, goodnight!