DECEMBER 11, 2007

Well its official. On November 28th, 2007 Everly smiled for the first time. I (Abby) had taken her down to the bedroom to change her diaper and as she was laying on our bed and out of nowhere she just started to smile with this big "O" smile face. It was something new for her and it wasn't perfect by any means (as I would imagine most first smiles arent) but you could tell it was the real deal from her eyes. That was the difference. I started yelling at Dave and he came in from the other room and caught the tail end of the event. He confirmed that yes indeed he thought it was a smile. After that we spent about the next 2 weeks doing anything we could and acting totally goofy in attempts to make her smile but she chooses on her own when she wants to do it. Its only been in the last 2 days she has gotten into a routine of smiling and now, FINALLY, we can sometimes make her smile. yesterday I woke up with her in bed, completely bright eyed and bushy tailed and smiling at me. I was SO tired and really wanted her to go back to sleep for a few more hours but I couldnt ignore how happy she was. It made me laugh so I sat in bed and talked to her with my Patty and Selma Simpson's voice and fed her again and finally we went back to bed but it was such a fun experience. We now have been able to finally catch her smiling to take pictures. Dave even sent me one when I was at the dentist. It's been really fun.

Shes had a *really* good week (knock on wood). I dont know what it is but I think the apple juice we were told to give her has worked a miracle. Shes just so darn happy now. I dont know if its the juice or just growing older. A little back story on that, shes been really gassy and fussy and would just cry out randomly like she was in pain and her stomach CONSTANTLY gurggled for weeks now. We didnt know what was going on (even though a lot of peope tried to tell us what her problem was and how to fix it)... anyways at her 2 month well baby visit the doctor told us to try giving her 1oz of applejuice twice a day. He said there is something about the sugar in it that might help her stomach. Well ever since that we have had a happy baby. And she ABSOLUTELY loves the stuff. She will drink the 1oz without releasing any air back into the bottle. She sucks that thing dry - FAST. And she will even drink it cold right from the fridge. Its really funny to watch. I dont know if its the sugar, the sweet taste, or what but that kid downs that stuff like its going out of style. We consider it her treat but also she loves it and it helps her so we wont complain.

At her 2 month well baby visit on the 5th of December she was a real trooper and got 5 shots (3 needle stabs total). She was doing so well in the office and then the nurses "tag teamed" her and got a needle in each thigh and she went purple and started the cry of a lifetime. It broke my heart to watch her cry but we know its got to be done. We knew it would be a bad cry when she started the huge deep breath in. They told us to give her Tylenol for the rest of the day which we did to help her pain and keep her comfortable. For the rest of that day and then the next she would make this really sad cry I never heard before. It also broke my heart but I played mom best I could to my sad baby with band-aids on her thighs that were as wide as her thighs were. She was officially 9lbs 10oz and 21" long at this visit. She was in the 5th percentile for height, 10th for weight and 25th for head size. But of course they are not adjusted for her being 3 weeks early. She really has grown in the last couple of weeks. DEFINITELY a growth spurt. She seems so long to me now. We had to move her out of Pampers newborn diapers finally but the size 1's were to big so we went to Huggies Newborn diapers which are a tad bigger than the Pampers newborns and fit her better. We'll see how long she stays in those. Most newborn diapers are only up to 10 pounds which as I write this I am SURE she is over but shes got a longer torso and small legs so she can stay in the smaller ones for awhile longer.

Besides smiling we are now entering into the phase where when she gets tired, instead of sleeping, she fights it and cries... I dont know if babies do this from birth and we have just been lucky or what but its just kind of came out of nowhere with her. I still cant complain though because shes still a really good baby. It makes me sad for her more than anything to watch her fight it when you can tell shes so tired.

This week Dave started to strip the family baby crib we got. Its really really beautiful wood underneath the white paint but its going to take more work than I think Dave originally thought. This is the first project he has ever used paint stripper on so its been a learning experience. He started the headboard and the two slatted sides and by the time he called it a day they were each about half done and he was exhausted. The next two days he had a horrible backache and as I type this the boards still are not finished. I guess this is what happens when you get old and are bent over working on a crib for several hours! It will be really pretty when he is done though. He says that now that hes had some practice he knows what better to do to make it easier so hopefully that is the case and it flows smoothly. Otherwise Everly may be a teenager before its done!

I (Abby) am officially back at work. I had to go into the office the 6th and 7th and then started working from home the following Monday - the 10th. Its *SO* nice working from home but a little surreal. I miss my nice extremely expensive ergonomically correct office furniture at the office but the tradeoff is I get to see my husband and baby all night and I could even take a bubble bath on my lunch break if I wanted to!!! I have a feeling I will REALLY like this even more as time goes on but for right now I need to work on getting a better office chair at home. Still, I look forward to the day when I can play "mom" and watch my children grow up from tiny babies to at least school age while not working. That would be nice but that cant be for right now and I can deal with that. Dave has really stepped up and played "Mr. Mom" at nights. Tonight he bundled Everly up in this cute little fleece carseat blanket his step-sister (Suzanne) made for her and whisked Everly over to Krispy Kreme. It was comical to see him pack her up in the night for a doughnut run but this is just one of the joys I get to experience from the working from home that I would have totally missed if I was in the office. I am grateful I can support my family financially, provide insurance for everyone, and still be around to feel like I can watch her grow up. Time flies just so fast even already. I just want to spend every moment with her while shes small that I can. The good news is that I have to finish out this week and then next week and then after that we are off to Washington to visit my parents for two weeks and to spend Christmas with them. I am super excited to go back to Washington and I guess they just remodeled their living room, kitchen and bathroom so I am excited to see the changes and have Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years off finally for once! I think I might have had it off only one other time in the 7 years I have worked for Alaska Airlines.

Anyways this update is huge. Im tired. Everlys sleeping (shhhhhh dont wake her) and its now midnight so I will close but I hope you all enjoy the pictures and this update. Be sure to check out the pictures page because there are lots more pictures that you dont see on the front page located there. This will probably be my last update for 2007. Look for us again probably the first week of 2008!