Here she is -- my 7 month old little girl!! It is getting harder and harder to keep her still for these pictures... It is easy to get her to laugh and smile -- but hard to keep her from grabbing the teddy bear, grabbing the sign, sucking on her toes, etc.. :)

Evelyn is doing great these days. I think we took care of her little digestion problem. She was having issues eating cereal. I know -- she is probably one of the only babies around that had issues with rice cereal. She was fine the first few days we gave it to her --- but after that, every time we would feed her, she would vomit within the next few hours. Vomit -- not just a lot of spit up. She would actually empty out her stomach and dry heave a little bit afterwards. It was so horrible to watch. It just broke mine and Trav's heart. :(

So, the pediatrician advised us to stop the cereal (obviously), take her off her reflux medicine (Prevacid) for 5 days, see if she is okay without the medication, and then introduce something other than cereal. We took her off Prevacid and thankfully didn't have the fussiness and painful spit-ups that she had when she was smaller. We introduced sweet potatoes and she loved them!! She has been eating sweet potatoes for about a week now, and we introduced pears tonight. She loves them too!! She is becoming such a good eater. It is so cute --- when she sees the spoon in front of her face she opens up her mouth like a little bird waiting for food :) She doesn't seem to have issues with digestion so far --- we are hoping the feedings continue to go well.

Not much else going on here... we went to a friend's daugher's 1st birthday party on Saturday. It was quite the event! I think moms are under a lot of pressure to have these "perfect" parties these days... I mean -- there was a theme, all the kids got a big age-appropriate gift bags, there were party favors for all the guests, etc... and it was a party for a 1 year old!! I know the first birthday is a big deal -- but is each party expected to be better than the one before? Don't get me wrong, it was a great party -- everyone had a fun time. But, what will she have to do when her daughter turns 5, 10, or 16?? I can see it now... she'll be on MTV's Sw**t Sixteen show! Has anyone else besides me actually seen that show? It is ridiculous! Sixteen year olds getting BMW SUV's for their birthday... throwing parties that cost a lot more than a wedding... Ugh! I'm glad the 1st birthday is still 5 months away!! Ha ha ha

New Blinds & More Evelyn Pics

Well -- after living in our house for over two years, we finally got window treatments for our dining room. It took us until last spring to purchase the dining room table, until then the room was empty. I ended up purchasing room darkening roman shades. We get a ton of light through the window all day long --- and as much as I love the sun, I don't love what it will do to damage furniture. I figure we can open the blinds when we want to see outside -- but when we aren't in there, they can do their job and keep the sunlight (and heat) out of our house.

I like the way they turned out. I wanted to go with something very neutral -- so they won't interfere if we decide to paint. They also won't clash with different table linens. You can't really tell from the picture --- but there is a slight design on them (basically almost the same color) but just a fabric variation.

Here are a couple of new pics of Evelyn. I decided that I really like her in blue. I constantly have her wearing pink -- and people still mistake her for a boy (I think it is the lack of hair!!) ha ha ha But when she wears blue it really makes her blue eyes pop. I hope she keeps her baby blues --- they are so pretty. Travis has blue eyes -- so hers might just stick around. :)


I can't remember who we got this shirt from -- but she seems to like it!!

Michigan vacation continued

So we ended up staying for a couple of nights at a friend's cabin in Paradise, Michigan. It was great -- it was right on Lake Superior. One of the mornings we took a drive to the Whitefish Point Lighthouse. It was really neat. We got a private tour of the lighthouse before it opened to the public. We met one of the local people that works there the night before and she offered to show us around :) We were able to go up these narrow windy stairs all the way to the top! We also went into the museum where they have a lot of memorials and things. They even have the bell that was recovered from the Edmund Fitzgerald. I guess the Edmund Fitzgerald went down close to Whitefish Point. It is apparently one of the roughest areas of Lake Superior during storms. Here is a picture of Travis and I up in the lighthouse:


While staying on Lake Superior, my dad was very excited to give Evelyn her first 4-wheeler ride. As kids, my brother and I were always riding on 4-wheelers, snowmobiles, etc --- so he wants Evelyn to experience that too.
Notice the hat in the picture --- Evelyn got her first baseball hat in Mackinac Island. My dad thought it looked better backwards :) Ha ha ha

Once back in Saginaw, we were able to visit with more family and friends. It was a great vacation. I was extremely glad that we were able to stay as long as we did. We didn't feel rushed the entire vacation --- we had enough time to visit with everyone and also get in some relaxing, too. It was perfect. :)

Mackinac Island

While we were in Michigan, we decided to take a trip to Mackinac Island. (we were headed up across the bridge to Paradise, MI anyway)

It was me, Travis, Evelyn, my mom, and my brother. (the picture above is from the ferry ride on the way to the island) My dad ended up taking the two dogs to the cabin we were going to be staying at in Paradise. He didn't have much interest in sight-seeing on the island. We went there as a family when I was little -- and I guess once was enough!

The weather was absolutely beautiful -- not too hot or too cold. Evelyn was great -- she pretty much slept in her stroller off and on all day long. While on the island we went into numerous t-shirt shops, bought some fudge, had lunch, ate some ice cream, and walked along the boardwalk. We also saw (and smelled) a lot of horses. Oh -- I almost forgot -- we also got one of those old-time photos. It turned out really cute! If I remember, I will scan it in and post it. :)

If you look closely at the picture of Travis and I, you can see the bridge in the background. I love the Mackinac Bridge!! I'll always be a Michigan girl at heart :)

Evelyn meets Brynley and Makena

Well -- we are back from our trip to Michigan. We had such a great time -- I didn't want to leave! I might break up our vacation into a few different posts...

We got in Friday night. When we got to my parent's house, my dad, brother, and my brother's new girlfriend Emily were there to greet us. It was the first time that Gary had met his new niece. We hung out, had dinner, and then crashed for the night... it was a very long day.

Saturday morning Kara, Josh, Brynley & Makena came over. It was so great to see the three girls together --- they were adorable!! I wish we lived closer so they could grow up and play together. It was neat to see Kara's girls crawling around --- it was getting me excited for what Evelyn should be able to do in a few months!
This picture cracks me up... Kara and I are looking at the camera, and the girls are looking at my dad off to the side. He was talking and making faces and was much more fun to look at than the camera!! Ha ha ha
After everyone left, Evelyn was exhausted. She relaxed and lounged on the hammock for a while.