18 months old

Stats

Height: 30 1/2 inches (19%)
Weight: 23 lbs 1 oz (31%)

Our sweet little Evie is now 18 months old. I think that means she is officially a toddler, and we have certainly begun to experience it. She definitely tests her boundaries but the majority of the time will listen and obey.

Evie still enjoys reading books. Her favorite books at the moment include Peek-a-Boo I Love You by Sandra Magsamen, Abigale the Happy Whale by Peter Farrelly, and Time for Bed by Mem Fox. She has started drawing or coloring a bit more and is now fond of The Wiggles. We only have one Wiggles DVD - it's Wiggly Safari with the late Steve Irwin. I don't mind watching it because it was filmed at The Australia Zoo, one of my favorite places. But it's hard to get the songs out of your head!

Evie loves to be outside. She likes to go to the park and swing or slide. She recently discovered that the dead leaves on the ground make noise and likes to stomp on them. When we are outside she always comments on the sounds we hear: airplane, train, car, dog, bird, etc. She's very observant.

Her vocabulary is growing more and more every day. She has started saying a few two syllable words such as her middle name, Charmaine. She can now say her full name! She really picks up on things we say. For example, when the phone rings Mat always shouts out "Phone!" And just the other day, when the phone rang Evie said "Phone". It really cracked us up. She has also learned some Hungarian from Mat. She recognizes the words and can even say a few of them. (Mat's dad is from Hungary.)

At school she has been working on her colors and shapes. If you ask her what color something is, her first answer is either red or green. Maybe those are her favorites? She can recognize a circle, square and star. She calls the star "up above" from the song "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". I think it's cute.

Evie still loves to eat and will eat whatever we put in front of her, most of the time. She loves sauce (ketchup) and usually will ask for it even on her fruit. She drinks from a cup really well and can eat with a fork and spoon but will use her hands if she is really hungry and couldn't be bothered by eating that slow. She loves bananas, pineapple, mandarin oranges, corn, carrots, crackers and Cheerios.

Just polished off some chocolate cake at school on Pajama Day. She's also wearing a badge from the Fire Department. They came to school that day as well.

She got to sit up in the fire truck.

Evie has changed from a baby into a little girl in such a short time. We enjoy and cherish every moment God has given us. We are blessed!

A Trip Down Under

On September 1, we, along with Papa and Gran, hopped on a plane bound for Brisbane, Australia. This was Evie's first trip on an airplane so we had no idea how it would go. We packed lots of books, toys and snacks for the trip and prayed for smooth flying. Guess what? Evie did awesome! I think it helped that we were flying at night so she slept most of the flight. When we landed in Brisbane she even said, "More, please."



Mat's parents met us at the airport - Bill sporting a Texas flag! Evie was happy to see her Nanny and Poppy. After we loaded up in the cars, we headed up the highway to Caloundra. It was really nice to see the Australia sky and trees again, not to mention the beach! Mat was itching to get a meat pie so that was our first Aussie meal - at brunch no less. Evie enjoyed the pie - she ate practically all of Nanny's.




So for the first 10 days of our visit we stayed at an awesome 3 bedroom condo on the beach. It was perfect for all 7 of us. We took many trips down to the beach and received a lot of visitors. We really enjoyed seeing family and old friends and introducing them to Evie. And I just had to make another trip to the Australia Zoo - love that place!





After our stay in Caloundra, Mat and I headed to Hervey Bay for a few days while Evie headed to Toowoomba with the grandparents. I was very sad to leave her but knew that we needed the time away. Once we arrived at our hotel I knew that we had made a good decision. We were able to relax and reconnect, and boy was it quiet! I never knew what time it was or much cared when we ate. But I sure did miss my sweet girl. Now Evie, I'm not sure she knew we were gone. She had a ball with the grandparents!


We spent several days in Toowoomba catching up with people and then caught a flight to Melbourne to visit Mat's brother and his family for a few days. We really enjoyed catching up with Ken and Asha and finally meeting our nephew, Arjan. We strolled around the city and took a drive down the Great Ocean Road to see the Twelve Apostles. It was beautiful! Sadly, these structures are slowly being washed away.



We flew back in to Brisbane and stayed with the Coker family until it was time to return to the US. We had an amazing trip and enjoyed catching up with everyone. It was fun introducing Evie to everyone - she was a big hit! We hope and pray that it will not be another 5 years until we return. We love and miss you all!