Another Week in Eva Land

Note to self: Never leave baby unattended with Devin's classmates at a Superbowl party. Baby will attack beer mug. Got your attention? Welcome to the weekly musings of a new mom.

You know how when you're in the moment you're thinking, I need to blog this. Then it comes time to blog and you're thinking, "that was totally not blog-worthy". Well today, I decided to blog it anyway, so here it is: how I start my day 3 or 4 days of the week.

On a normal night Eva will sleep from 9pm to 4:30 or 5am. I'll go get her and feed her in our bed then she'll sleep between us for the remainder of the night. About 7 she'll start chirping and flapping her limbs like a turtle flipped over on its shell. I'm not ready to get up so I'll roll her onto my chest to try to lull her back to sleep. It won't work so I'll stand her up on my tummy. She'll spring up, look around the room then back at me with a big, proud grin on her face. Then I'll lay her back down on my chest, propped up by her arms, her face about 6 inches from mine. She'll stare at me while contemplating which of my facial features to attack. 3-2-1. Slime Time! Then she'll pull back- "burp" (oh no, OH NO) BARF (ok, I'm up, I'm up). And that's how my day begins.

Babies change so much. It really is astonishing. She has finally discovered her toes, she's starting to sit on her own, she'll chew on anything and everything (loves ice in her mesh teether), and she makes a sound similar to Muccully Culkin when he yells in Home Alone- especially during American Idol. I think it is her version of singing. The contestant will start singing, she'll sing back, we turn up the volume to hear the tv, she'll turn up the volume in retaliation and on it goes until the cops show up. Last night we gave Eva her first taste of "real" food. Rice cereal is hardly my idea of a good meal but to this baby is tasted like Paula Deen's fried chicken. Here is the video of her first bites and the battle that ensues over who gets to hold the spoon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXah2_X_vEU

And 3 bonus videos for the Eva fan club.

1. Baby talk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUPqmL_MGGs

2. Sitting and tipping. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI26eVLxxUA

3. Now don't call UARMTI (Unemployed Attorneys for the Really Mean Treatment of Infants) on me-note she is smiling, not crying when we clap at her. Just one more thing I find really funny. (This is totally off the subject but a couple nights ago she bounced in this thing for about an hour and a half. When I took her out her cheeks were bright red and she was all sweaty. Ok, here's the clip.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xUadRHO5OE

Katie Qualifies for Nationals!

This weekend my youngest sister Katie (#45 on the right) qualified for the NCAA Indoor Track Championship (coming up in March) while competing in Washington State (the Distance Medley Relay). Then she went on to win the 800 meter run in a personal record of about 2:05 minutes...about 0.03 seconds off the current BYU record. This also qualified Katie for Nationals in a second event. For family/ almost-family friends who want to join in on my Katie-the-Cougar-Mania, feel free to check out this awesome article:http://www.byucougars.com/Filing.jsp?ID=11737

5 months, Oh my!

So yesterday I woke up, sat straight up in bed remembering it was the 27th, counted out all 5 fingers on my hand and realized Eva was 5 months old. I hyperventilated then spent a solid hour kissing baby cheeks. She is growing up SO fast. I'm having 9 more babies- that's the only solution. She is now in her 6-12 month clothes which opens up a whole new world of possibilities- jeans, cardigans, running shoes, leopard prints. I can't help but take pictures of her in every outfit. Little girls are so fun. I have an appt. for her on Friday so I'll update this with her measurements for the grandparents.

Here's a picture of Eva's Dr. Evil pose- just after she screamed her way out of the last half of church. She knows how to get what she wants.

On a side note, I am very proud of Devin for watching Miss America AND Bachelor with me this week. Don't take away his man card just yet, in exchange he made me watch Death Wish III with Charles Bronson (ask a guy about it and watch the laughter ensue).

We're terrible...

New Year, New Blog

I’m starting a new blog. The motivation for this is many-fold but it started when I realized that my blog actually has decent PageRank. This is the ranking system that Google uses to index sites. What this means is that my blog pops up fairly high under some search words. (try “clubbed toe” or “Chinese chicken costume” for example.) I’m not quite ready to go private with the blog. I think blog lurkers deserve a place in this world. As long as it is a friend of a friend of a friend, I’m ok with it. I kind of like it when my sister finds out about something that happened to me recently from her roommate (Hi, Shandi!) Or when a long lost friend somehow connects the dots from blog to blog to find us. So I decided that I would for now keep my blog open but park "all y’all's" links on a private site.

One of my friends started a food blog and I loved the idea so that’ll be the subject of mine. I realize it is mainly for my benefit (I’m hoping it will motivate me to cook more if nothing else) but if you would like an invite just email me at palmer.sarah@gmail.com and I’ll send you an invite to... drum roll, please... Sarah's Ultimate-Food and Friends (Not my best work but you'll get the point.) Happy surfing!

Jumping Bean

The FisherPrice Jumparoo is the best thing invented for babies this age. Eva could spend hours a day in it if we let her. My dad bought it for her for Christmas after a visit to Canada where he saw that my cousin, Jared, took it everywhere the baby went. Now I know why. She'll bounce and bounce while she smiles and laughs. It is so fun to watch. I think every baby under the age of one on the Palmer side has one now.

And why try to deny it, this blog is turning into a blog that only grandparents could love, here's 5 new videos of baby girl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxZBOhhm3Eg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEj09pnU6q8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggwOxj7PjZo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts5Symm8EU0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmPLvHlnfCM (I keep folding her in half b/c I'm helping her get her toots out.)

Christmas II- Rose Parade

Going to the Rose Parade is something that has always been on my dad's "bucket list"- something he wants to do before he kicks the bucket. So New Year's Eve day, the Palmers remaining from the Christmas bash piled in the van and made the trek to Pasadena. We headed straight to the parade route to be there at noon in order to claim our spot on the street. Lucky for us, there was a nice piece of real estate open in front of the famous Yasuko's Bra and Lingerie Salon.

We took turns holding down the fort through the afternoon. During that time, some of us went over to see the Rose Bowl and check out the float building.

My parents insisted that all the kids stay in the hotel for the night so we left mom and dad to sleep on the streets with their mostly-Mexican friends. We then drove around Hollywood and Beverly Hills with a stop at Rodeo Drive.

Then off to the hotel to bring in the New Year. We opted for sleep over the countdown. Lame, I know. Back to the parade route by seven where we found mom and dad still partying with the masses. Their tales from the night before were never-ending as they talked about the food fights, drag racers, honking tow trucks, 24-hour Greek food and and almost-real fight between my mom and the poor souls trying to move in on her territory.

By ten the parade finally reached us. The floats are incredible up close. It is evident that they spend and entire year constructing them. For two and a half hours we basked in the floral goodness of the ultimate parade experience. Eva enjoyed the parade from her shaded spot on the sleeping bags while mom and dad enjoyed their well-deserved front row seats. It is something my parents thought they would only do once but now that their stories have spread, they have a waiting list of family and friends that want to go with them next year. As for us, as long as we can sleep in the hotel, we're there any year.

Christmas I

This Christmas was amazing and we are totally suffering the January blues, not to mention jet-lag. My parents did a wonderful job of making every day special and fun. Here's a photo summary.
Left to Right, Top to Bottom: Devin and Eva enjoying the Christmas tree lights, Eva climbing up over grandma's back to catch the game when she tried to pull her away, Auntie Nat and Babe at the Sam's Town Christmasy thingy we saw featured on the Travel Channel, Christmas morning line-up, poopy mess on Auntie Katie, Christmas Eve talent show- All the Single Ladies, baby wants to drive, almost time for bed, Baby's First Christmas!, Christmas morning, Auntie Teresa.

This is from Teresa's blog and it made me laugh: Can't do a Christmas without the matching p.j.s and lining up youngest to oldest. Guys were especially happy that this year's pjs were "men's." They had a hard time adjusting to the previous women's pj's with pink polar bears. As we woke up, I heard one sister call down the hall, "We're doing minimal make-up! No more than Minimal make-up this year!" This was the cue that no one could go overboard, or the whole group would have to raise to the same standard of primping. Checks and balances folks. How many families have peer pressure that results in "minimal make-up" on Christmas morning? Answer: only families of all girls despite the addition of husbands!

With Eva's new found talent of giggling, the adults in the house were relentless with tickling the little thing. Here's a new video of her attacking Devin. She gives him a zerbert towards the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRFIRAGYPdU

Gracie's Gift

We're now back in South Carolina after spending Christmas break in Vegas with the Palmers. It was great to be with all my sisters again (plus a bunch of extras). I was really bad about visiting friends this time around. (Sorry, Vegas friends.) Now begins the unrelenting task of recapping it all for the blog. I'll start posting bit by bit as I have time. I have 10 minutes before I leave for the gym to start off my year like I always do. So real quick, I was unpacking my stuff today and I came across my 5-year-old niece's going-away present for Eva. This note, spelled phonetically, and a Christmas bell. See if you can sound it out. It made me miss that sweet little girl but most of all I'm sad that she can't be with Eva all the time. I've never seen a child so excited about a baby. She was so helpful and loving. I'm happy that Eva will have wonderful Frousins (friend-cousins) in her life like I do.

Three-Month Check-up

So the Vegas Bowl is about to start and I promised Devin that I would actually watch it with him. Usually "watching" a game for me means playing on the computer, doing the dishes, playing with baby, etc. So this entry will be short but I wanted to post something before we leave for Vegas and PalmerGal madness ensues. Eva's 3-month check-up put Eva off the charts for her height and weight. 26 inches long, 15 lbs. 8 oz. She is quite a little chunk now. We visited my friends last night that just had a baby. I almost had a meltdown when I saw Eva in comparison to that little thing. What happened to my baby?!? I've almost filled an entire hard drive with pics of her by now so here are a few from this month.

Baby T-Rex

About half-way through this video Eva turns into a little T-Rex. This is her favorite game. Sit up, Stand up, bite on Dad's finger, Sit down, Lay down. Endless fun.


This video was taken yesterday and was the first time we heard Eva laugh. I like these videos because you can see her smile-- since she goes stone face every time the camera comes out.

Here are a few of the Christmas outfits I have for Eva. Told you she goes stone face when the camera comes out.

This one I caught her in her own little world, smiling at the china cabinet during a party for Devin's program. I had an even bigger flower to go with the outfit that Devin vetoed. What's wrong with a flower that's bigger than her head?

3 babies born right in a row--Eva, Gus, and Jack. Their dads, Steve and Greg, joined Devin's program this year and we were able to talk the two new couples into moving into our complex. It's so fun to have the 3 babies all born within 3 months. This was taken at the program party where we brought the house down with our white elephant gift, the book The Fastest Way to Get Pregnant Naturally. A close second was a six-pack of Zima. I think Devin and I were the only ones in the room not laughing. Does anyone know why that's funny?

Thanksgiving!!

This Thanksgiving was a blast. Devin's entire family came out to South Carolina for a week-long party. We took day-trips to Asheville, Gaffney outlet mall and White Water Falls. We ate out at all my favorite restaurants here including 5 Guys Burgers, Mellow Mushroom, Early Girl Cafe, Waffle House, Mutt's, Sardi's and a new favorite, Eddie Spaghetti. It was my first try at cooking a big Thanksgiving dinner and thankfully I had a lot of help. It was perfect except for the fact that we lit the oven on fire with turkey grease and smoked the rolls. I should have known better than to try to make my mom's famous buns. Eva's cousin, Lucy, was there to meet the little babe. She was such a good "helper" and was so nice to the Eva. Usually 2-year-olds are trying to poke her eyes out. They are going to be great frousins as they grow up. (frousin= friend+cousin) Here are a few pics from the week.

"I'm a Turkey" Eva and Grandma Thanksgiving morning ready to go to the Pie for Breakfast party at our friends' house.

Picnic at Issaqueena Falls and Stumphouse Tunnel. Below is Eva in her happiest place. On her back kicking and flapping her arms.

Lucy reading to Eva. Below: Luce and Eva in one of their many matching outfits.

Girls at the Pendleton tree-lighting... 1 hour before Twilight.
Waffle House!!!

Little piggys.

Eva's latest poop-capades

This is what happens when you leave a baby unattended for 3 minutes. She was very quiet, happily enjoying her Baby Einstein video. I peeked over to see how she was doing and this is the incredible mess we found.

This little number happened over Thanksgiving during a waterfall hike. Poor thing had to be stripped down and given a wet wipe bath right there in the parking lot.

Does anyone know where I can get a blog book made? Blurb.com stopped working with blogger so now I'm out of luck.