At Home with Daddy

Now that I am back at work, Mat is taking paternity leave and staying at home with Evie. They have been having a great time. I asked Mat to share with everyone two of their recent activities.

Shredda! To introduce Evie to a unique experience, and to do some much needed shredding of papers, I filled Evie’s splash pool full of shredded paper with her in it. I placed Evie on her stomach, and placed handfuls of shredded paper in front of her. At first, she looked at it, then reached out to investigate the material before her. Before long she was scrunching it in her hands and trying to put it in her mouth but didn’t do that much after the first time. To further stimulate her senses, I "rained" the shredded paper on her head. Upon doing this, Evie would screw her face up in a pose that she was going to sneeze and then shake her head from side to side. It seemed like it was tickling her, but she didn’t mind it too much. This experience introduced her to a different material she had not investigated before. It enabled her to touch, taste and see further developing her sensory skills, creating awareness of sense of self, concreting a foundation for hand eye coordination and having fun doing it all at the same time.

Cold Spaghetti! Cold Spaghetti! We introduced Evie to a unique sensory experience. We placed Evie in her splash pool dressed down to the nappy, then filled her splash pool with spaghetti. This experience felt really weird to her and she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Most of the activity was spent in quiet contemplation, watching all of us (mum, dad and friends Steve and Christie) watch her. We placed the spaghetti on her body and let her feel it on her hands and head. It weighed heavy on her head, that worked her neck and back muscles to keep her head up. It didn’t take long for the spaghetti to get cold so when we placed it on her back she became a little upset with that. When she was placed on her back, Evie’s attention was focused when I would compress the spaghetti on my hand, hold my hand above her and the spaghetti would slowly wiggle off. This playful activity stimulated Evie’s sensory discovery, sense of self, gross, fine motor and language development with the cold, squishy, wiggly and slimy spaghetti.

Back to work

Maternity leave ended last week. I started back to work last Wednesday. I was a bit weepy the night before and on my way to work, but the transition has gone well. I am plenty busy so that has helped a great deal. Evie is now staying home with Daddy while he is on paternity leave. Yep, he is taking leave until September. His parents, brother and nephew are coming to visit us next month so it works out nicely.

The last week of my maternity leave we took a trip to San Antonio and Victoria. Mat had a meeting in SA so Evie and I went with him. We did some shopping, had lunch with cousin Laura, and all of us had dinner on the Riverwalk. We visited my parents over the weekend and had a good visit. Evie had her first experience in a "big" pool. We went to Aunt Linda and Uncle Gary's house to go swimming. She loves the water but hates to get out and dry off.

Some new things Evie is doing at 3 months old:

She is a WILD sleeper. She is all over her bed. Recently she has started rolling over onto her tummy to sleep...with thumb in her mouth.

She smiles and "talks" alot. I think she has the prettiest smile in the whole world. Complete with two dimples like her Daddy.

We have cut back to 5 feedings in a day. She usually takes about 5 oz. Her last meal is around 7:45pm and usually goes to bed by 9:00pm and sleeps until 6-ish. She then patiently waits for her breakfast at 7am. This child is pretty laid back...definitely has some Aussie in her!


Dinner on the Riverwalk with our friends the Valadez family
(Michelle used to be Mat's boss and her daughter Sammy LOVES Mr. Mat)



Enjoying a swim at Aunt Linda and Uncle Gary's pool. We caught her trying to drink the water.

Evie the jet boat




Lounging in her splash pool in the backyard

She has also started grabbing and pulling things to her mouth

Pic of the week

I just love this picture! She is looking up at Daddy while in the splash pool at cousin Austin's house for 4th of July. She seems to enjoy the water especially when Daddy pours the water on her.

Just some pics

Taking a rest during tummy time


Representin' !!!

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Daddy and Evie singing

2 Months Old

Evie had her 2 month check up today. The doctor told Evie "you get an A+". Already making good grades! And the nurse called her a "tough girl" after getting her shots. She screamed once and cried for less than a minute. I was so proud of her. She does have a case of eczema that we have to treat but overall it was a good doctor's visit.

Her size is very average for her age...11 lbs and 22 1/4 inches. I was surprised at how much weight she has gained. I haven't noticed that she felt any heavier but was sure that she had grown by the rolls she is developing on her legs, arms, back of the neck and her double chin. :) Her newborn clothes are definitely getting snug. They just swallowed her up when she was born.

She is very strong...she has great head control. Not only has she rolled onto her back during tummy time, but this morning she rolled from her back to her tummy while I wasn't looking. I heard her cry from across the room, looked up and she had rolled off of her mat and onto the wood floor. How did she do that?!

She slept 7 hours last night! We've been working on getting her to sleep through the night for the past week. Her last feeding is around 10:30pm (she is half asleep already) and her morning feeding is around 7am. During the day she is still eating 4 oz every 3 hours.

Evie has also gained a little more control of her hands. She is able to find her mouth with her fist (most of the time) and likes to suck her thumb. She grabs or swats at the toys above her but doesn't know how to release quite yet. There is this ball with holes in it (picture #2) and she's become upset a few times because the ball won't let go of her hand!

She is smiling and "talking" alot when we play with her. My heart just melts when she looks me in the eye and smiles. I think she has the most beautiful smile in the world! (It is hard to get on camera though.)

On a sad note, Evie has been congested for the past several days. I make Mat use the saline drops and suction out her nose because she gets very upset. But she is just fine as soon as he stops as she realizes she can breathe much easier. She hasn't had a fever or anything so we're glad about that.

And now here are some recent pics...

Peering over the end of the couch (this is also her poopy pants face - Mat wanted you to know)

Lounging on her Boppy in the morning sunlight (looks like she is posing)

Such a sweet face. Look at those cheeks!

An attempt at getting a smile on camera

Playing with her favorite rattle. She loves to stare at it and swat at it.

I'm still not sure who she looks like more...me or Mat. What do you think?

Is she relaxed or what? (see those fat rolls developing on her legs!)

2 Busy Weekends

For Memorial Day weekend, we drove down to Victoria to spend time with Gran & Papa (my parents) and the rest of the family. We left Dallas after her early morning feeding which means we were on the road at 3:30am. It was nice not to have the holiday traffic that we encountered on the way back...ugh! Evie traveled really well on her first road trip by sleeping most of the way. We only had to stop once to feed and change her.

My brother, sister-in-law and nephew drove down too. Uncle Shane is feeding Evie while Austin reads a book. Austin was very interested in Evie...well her toys anyway.

Daddy and Evie enjoying the pool. She wasn't too sure about it at first but ended up having a good time with Daddy.


The family came over on Saturday evening for dessert...homemade chocolate ice cream. Yummy! Everyone was excited to see Evie.

Gran and Paw-Paw (her great grandfather)

Looking around over Mommy's shoulder

With cousin Courtney

With Mommy's best friend Kendra

4 Generations - Gran, Maw-Maw and Mommy

With Great Grandma and Great Grandpa

This past weekend Evie attended her first wedding. Daddy was a groomsman in our friend Jason Duff's wedding. (Mat even got a haircut for the occasion.) Daddy and Duff are good mates. Congratulations Duff and Ashlee!





Family Photo - Isn't Daddy handsome?!