Bedtime

Over Thanksgiving Break I tackled the task of weaning Evie off the pacifier at nap time and bedtime. I just did it cold turkey. No pun intended! She barely fussed. Since she no longer has the pacifier to soothe her, she has replaced it with books! She doesn't want stuffed animals at bedtime, but the nearest book. Once she has that, she's content to fall asleep on her own in the crib. Whatever works!

Before I went to bed for the night, I snuck into Evie's room to snap a picture of her sleeping with her book, My First Christmas.

16 Month Birthday

We spent our 16 month birthday home sick. After several days of extreme fussiness, I finally took Evie to the doctor. Poor baby girl had an ear infection! I took the next day off to stay home with her. Thanks to antibiotics and a decongestant, Evie started feelling so much better! On my day off with her, I bought her a special treat, juice boxes. She's taken a new interest in them and seems to be able to handle the straw quite well.

Slippers and Ornaments

My parents sent a package with the cutest things: slippers and mommy - daughter matching aprons. Evie instantly fell in love with the little bunny slippers. She carries them around and tries to put them on over her shoes! Another favorite thing of Evie's is to pull ornaments off of the Christmas tree. Because of that, most of our ornaments start at three feet above the ground! Evie's favorite ornaments are jingle bells, picture frame ornaments, and her very own handprint ornament I made with her last Christmas.

Tyring out her new slippers

Reaching for her handprint. She loves to place her hand on top off it, just like she's making another handprint. At school she makes lost of handprint crafts, so she tries to do the same with her ornament.

Proudly carrying around her handprint snowflake ornament and "Baby's First Christmas" jingle bell!

Shaking the jingle bell!

Santa

Bass Pro has a great Winder Wonderland and Santa! They were having a special grand opening with free pictures with Santa! We had to go. Even though Evie was feeling a little under the weather, she had a great time exploring all things Christmas.

Birthday Party Fun

Our neighbor, Chase, turned one last week. We had fun celebrating.

The birthday boy!

Can you believe that Evie is the youngest one in the picture?

Look out! It's Evie the shark!

Trying on a new nose

Dress Up

I think Santa needs to bring Evie some dressup clothes and shoes....

mommy's belt and shoes

Thanksgiving Day

We woke up to a cold, misty, and overcast Thanksgiving with Evie waking up bright and early at 6am. Later that morning I left to participate in our annual tradition, the "Thomas Trot". the small scale version of the Turkey Trot. It all started with my mom and I joining Lindy, Abbey, and Dane for the 5K Dallas Turkey Trot through the streets of downtown Dallas. Two years ago the Turkey Trot was so crowded, it took us about twenty minutes to start walking. We decided it was way to crowded, so Lindy and Lindsay (Abbey's parents) decided to host their very own "Thomas Trot", which is a 5K walk from their house through Andy Brown Park (right behind their house). Last year we took Evie, but this year it was too cold. Judd stayed home with Evie, while I went to the park. Since I am training to run a 5K in December, I ran a good 2 1/2 miles. Despite the misty 40 degree weather, it wasn't too bad.

While I was gone, Judd and Evie read her Thanksgiving Parade book. Then they watched the Macy's Parade. Evie really enjoyed watching the floats and balloons. Now Evie loves reading her Thanksgiving book to herself.

After Evie woke up from her nap, we started decorating our Christmas tree. Judd had fun "decorating" Evie with stringed beads. Unfortunately, Evie liked the beads so much, she pulled most of them off the tree!

Every time Evie notices the Christmas tree she responds with a "wow" or "ooh". She then rushes up to the tree, grabs an ornament, and eagerly gives the ornament to Judd or me. One time she pulled off a picture frame ornament of Judd and I, pointing to Judd saying "Dada, Da!" Then she put the ornament down and kissed it! (She doesn't really say "mama" yet. : (

Later that evening, we ate Thanksgiving dinner at Gwen's house. You'll notice that Evie is holding grapes in the picture. She was obsessed with those grapes and carried them around the house all night.