Catching Up

Hm. It has been a while. And more than a few people have asked me if we're going to continue with the blog. The intention was "yes" - the execution, a little less so. So we're back and catching up! A lot has happened since I last posted in mid-August - Evie has gotten stronger and stronger, celebrated her first birthday, been able to stand up for short moments by herself, and today even took one step by herself. We have had my sister & her family living with us for most of this month (her husband had his leg amputated last month - his story here: www.kevincowart.com) ... oh, and we found out we're expecting baby #2 in about 6 months (actually - six months from today is the semi-official due-date!). So that's put a bit of a hold on many parts of life, including the blog, for the last couple months :)

But ... here's the review of September and October so far ...

By early September, she had mastered the art of standing at the refrigerator (or anywhere else she could hold on) ... and apparently of getting out of pajamas, too. 

For Aunt Elizabeth's birthday, we went to Henry's Ark, our favorite local semi-gross mini-zoo.

 And spent lots of time with the Cowarts before they headed off to Nashville for Kev's surgery ...

 And we traveled down to Middlesboro, Kentucky, to see my dad's family & celebrate his sister's wedding. Evie had a lot of fun with Grandma Matthews.

 We had our moments of craziness ...

We went down to Nashville to visit the Cowarts there - here's our circus of a gang after having lunch with Kevin at the rehab facility.

 And then we came back - and got the Cowarts back to us too - and celebrated Evie's first birthday with super fun party with lots of family and friends. She had a blast!!

We got her a mini-piano, which she loved from the moment she saw it ...

And she got a stroller, which she and Audrey have been walking with like crazy (well, Audrey more so than Ev, because that girl is actually walking walking ... but check Evie out here!!) ...

Then it quickly turned into Halloween-week (which we're obviously still in the middle of). Here's a glimpse of Evie's costume from her music class party this past week. She loved it.

 And, as it happens, little babies start growing up and before we know it, we've taken the infant seat out of the car and replaced it with a convertible! For a couple days, it was a major novelty that her carseat was sitting in the kitchen, so she enjoyed playing in it ... until I realized that we have to use that thing in six months and I don't want her to break it :) So into storage it is, until we have this new kiddo to put in it!

And here's a funny video from just yesterday ... Evie the green-bean inhaler ...

 So that's our world these days. It's been a crazy but awesome fall so far!

Already?!

When Ev got her cast off, I was mentally prepared for a pretty long road of getting stronger before she hit milestones like crawling, pulling up, and standing. Turns out I have been very pleasantly surprised :) Every day for the last week or so, Ev has gotten noticeably stronger and able to do things with much more ease or has added new physical skills to her repertoire (a separate post will come sometime soon about the verbal skills, but suffice it to say that we know she really, really, really likes dogs).

But today we had major excitement when she was able to pull herself up to a standing position!! She did it earlier in the day on the dishwasher door, so I set up a couple cushions that were about the same height. Here she is!

Learning more every day ...

It has been 3 1/2 weeks and I can hardly remember her having the cast on. It should go without saying that we are really enjoying Evie being free from her cast - but the verdict was still out for a while because the sleeping was. so. bad. After a few she's-just-going-to-have-to-figure-it-out-nights of a lot of crying, things are on the upswing (finally) and we're getting longer stretches of sleep each night. Thank goodness - because to go from her sleeping 11-12 hours a night to 2-3 hours at a time was no fun. So now we're almost back to normal (only took almost a month!).

Every day, Evie's legs get stronger and she is able to move more and more like a kid her age should be. She crawls pretty normally sometimes - and other times still pulls her body along with her arms like she is in the cast. She is starting to crawl up and over things - pillows, mom and dad ... and also has figured out how to get off a mattress onto the floor without hurting herself (the mattress is on the floor, people, not on the bed. Ev is great but not that talented). In the last week, she has figured out how to sit up completely by herself, and can get from lying down to sitting up and vice versa. Just in the last 3-4 days she has been able to put most of her weight on her legs when we hold her up, which is great progress. Right after she got the cast off, her legs were like jello, and so it has taken quite a while for her to build up the muscles there.

We are in Knoxville visiting my parents right now, so here are some pics and videos from this week!

Obviously not the correct way to be in the float, but Ev thought it was fun anyway ... 

Just barely caught her waving at the camera ...

Sitting up in the bath!

We went to visit Granddaddy at work :)

And we went out on the boat. The life jacket was not Ev's favorite part of it :)

Putting weight on her legs ...

Perfect weekend with Grandma and Granddaddy!

Every baby's cuter with a 'stache

We had a surprise party for my friend Emily last weekend. The theme? Mustaches. 

Babies with mustaches = too funny not to share.

Ev's friend Tyson - he is 6 days older than her but is going grey already ;)

And Judah really, really, really did not like his 'stache.

Movin', movin', movin'

Ev is very happy to be out of the cast. I know that should go without saying, but when she basically did not sleep for the first 36 hours of being cast-free, I was more than a little concerned! She seemed really, really sore and was just plain cranky.

However, after a great night of sleep last night, she is infinitely happier and has seemed to have greater range of motion and ability to use her hips & knees today. She is starting to bend her knees and put weight on her legs to try to crawl or move her body. It is so fun to see her really use her legs. 

She is also really happy to be back in her high chair. Meals are way easier now!

Every minute gets better ...

We went to the pool - Ev loved it. She kicked like crazy. Sweet girl is having so much fun.

You may remember that before Ev got her cast on, she loved playing with her toes. Check out her giggle when she figures out how to get them back.

It felt so good ...

to look at the remnants of the cast in the trash can at the doctor's office! I was considering keeping part of it, but then there was just so. much. nastiness. inside. It'd be a health hazard anywhere but in the trash.

Getting the cast off was a pretty simple process, and Ev was great for it. She didn't seem bothered by the cast-cutter at all. She had Mr. Monkey to keep her company, and everything's better when he (and dad) are around. As soon as the cast was actually off, she stretched out her legs and was obviously excited by the prospect of moving her legs again. She clapped a lot during all of this. Pretty cute.

We were thrilled to see that her thighs still have their trademark rolls, and that her skin, besides being incredibly flaky and nasty (it so, so, so gross), doesn't have any major irritation. And she is moving her legs a lot. She scooted around on the floor when we got home, kicked water in the bathtub, and has definitely loosened up her joints up in her crib, where she is supposed to be sleeping.

All in all, a great day so far. We will go to the pool later and I'm sure Ev will be thrilled with it!

Also, I took a video of the whole cast removal process as well as a couple once we were home. You can find them on my youtube channel.