My Girl . . . Talkin' 'bout My girl

Ok, lets face it - Braden and I were blessed with the most beautiful little girl . . . EVER! I'm loving this stage of her life SO much! She cracks us up! I was going through my camera and a good portion of her pictures she's doing that "Cheese Face!" big time! I just love them!

Lately Evie:

• L.O.V.E.S. her Princess Mobile! She will sit on that thing for hours if we let her! She loves us to push her around on it and she will bob her head to the music that it plays! And just recently she started scooting around on it - her feet barely touch the ground when she's sitting on it, so she leans to one side and pushes with one foot! We're in love w/ her!
• Throws her amrs in the air and waits for us to say, "BBBIIIGGG GGGIIIRRRLLL!" I'm telling you, she can hear those two words from a mile away and her amrs shoot up in the air - she want's ALL to know she's a 'BIG GIRL'! ;)
• When we laugh at her she does this fake laugh back! I can look at her and go, "Ahh ha ha ha" and she will do the funniest fake laugh you've ever heard!
• Does SUPER great with her hearing aids! We're such proud parents! She doesn't even take them out {miracle}!
• Almost has the walking down! She's been sick for the past 2 weeks almost, so now that she's feeling better I think she's going to take right off!
• Points to herself and says, "Dada" then points to dada and says, "Dada"! I think 'Evie' is too hard to say! We'll have to come up w/ something easier for now!

I'm just loving my little Evie Grace to pieces! I wish I could jump inside her brain right now and see what she's thinking and hearing! She's trying so hard to say new words and do new things! It's so awesome to see them discover the world!

LOVE YOU EVIE GIRL!

Happy Birthday to Me

Yep, I turned 22 on Nov 23 . . . I FEEL LIKE A BABY! Braden got me those fancy boots {love them} and I also got some clothes/jewelry from my parents and in-laws. It was a great day! We ate at Cafe Rio for dinner then went to Farrs Fresh for ice cream {thanks for everyone who came and ate ice cream w/ us - I felt special!} That's about it! Birthdays aren't as exciting as they used to be - what's up with that!?

New Hearing Aids

{The first place we went after we got her hearing aids was Chili's for some lunch! She sat in her chair and listened to all the noises! She kept dancing to the music and bobbing her head to the beat! It was awesome :) }

Evie got her 1st set of hearing aids on Thursday, November 4th, 2010 (the day before her 1st birthday)! They are pink and have clear sparkly ear molds.
I'm going to be honest (don't think I'm awful) but I was not excited about this at all! I was only excited for Evie to hear better - hearing aids, not so much! I was nervous! Nervous they would make Evie look 'different', make her look 'weird', put a stamp on her that says, "I'm Deaf!" or "I have a problem". I also worried about her pulling at them, pulling them off, chewing on them, etc!
I tried to research the hearing aids that her audiologist had ordered so the appointment wouldn't be as overwhelming. I've talked to tons of other moms to get info as well. I HATE feeling overwhelmed and unprepared (which were the exact feelings I had when we found out about her hearing loss).
Braden and I took Evie on Thursday to pick up her hearing aids and try them out for the first time. IT WENT GREAT! Evie is still the same ole' Evie! To me, they don't make her look any different at all! It's obvious that they are there, but it's obvious that my Evie is still the same.
When we first turned the hearing aids on, Evie was sitting on her dad's lap. She just sat there and starred. She didn't move an inch or say a word for a good 5 minutes. THEN she started clapping! We loved it :) We went into the hearing booth where they play noises and see what Evie responds to. She responded multiple times at 10db . . . which is a whisper! Our audiologist said that she didn't think she could even get Braden to pass at that! Pretty awesome! I realized that these hearing aids aren't making her different, they are making her the same!
The even greater news is that she keeps them on ALL DAY LONG! She never even messes with them! I think she's enjoying being able to hear! It's been really cool! I sang happy birthday to her after I'd put them in and she bobbed her head as I sang. It was so cute.
I have noticed a lot of uncomfortably long starring eyes. I wish people would just ask instead of stare! It's awkward! BUT it's not like I don't get it - I was/am a starrer too! You can't blame people for wondering, it just makes for some awkward Wal-Mart shopping time. And I'm sure it will get better! Right now it's all I think about, so it's only natural that I would feel like EVERYONE is staring! And they should be, I have the most adorable daughter EVER! :)

Happy Evie = Happy Mom and Dad

(I forgot my camera for the appointment, but we have an awesome audiologist and she let me use hers - she's making me a CD - I'll post them soon)

THE 1st Party

My beautiful little baby girl turned 1 yesterday on November 5th, 2010! Extremely weird, VERY bittersweet! Have I absorbed every minute of this past year . . . I hope so! I love her so much! (When I say "I love her so much" I mean, EVERYONE loves her so much!) She is one loved little girl! She has the most addicting personality and she's crazy adorable!
Here are a few things about Evie, the 1 year old princess:

• 6 . . . S.I.X. teeth (4 of which came in at the same time!)
• Walking (she took her first steps on Nov. 1st, 2010)
• Jibber Jabbering all day
• Bobs her head to music
• LOVES (as always) her dad THE most; she looks SO forward to him coming home from work! It's become my favorite time of the day just to see Evie so excited :)
• Got her first (pink and sparkly) hearing aids on Nov. 4th, 2010, and is doing GREAT with them!
• Loves peanut butter and honey sandwiches with a sippy of 2% milk!
  OFF the bottle :) . . . working on the binky still . . .
• Loves attention! She'll gets SUPER hyper and shows everyone all her tricks @ once if she has an audience!
• (My favorite) She points @ everything! We say, "Where is ma ma?" "Where are the dogs?" "Where is grandma?" etc etc etc and she points to them!
• Likes to stand on her head and look @ you through her legs. She's even somersaulted a few times!

Now to the {overdone} PAR-TAY! My mom and I had so much fun planning and decorating Evie's 1st birthday party! We had a great turn out! Evie got SO MANY new toys/clothes/books/blankies/etc! She's spoiled rotten! Here are some picts from the party of the century!

{DeCorAtiOnS}

{Kai, Jaycee, Evie}

{Birthday toy from Grandma Morton}

{Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday dear Evie}

{1st birthday cake. . . . yummmmm}

{presents . . . THANKS EveRyOne!}

{my sweet mom! couldn't do it without her!}

Evie's 1st HaLLoWeeN :)

{I realize this picture is awful, but it's the only family picture we had}

My little pigglet Evie! I love this chubby little costume! I swear you just wanted to pick Evie up and love and squish her! She looked adorable in her piggy costume! Braden and I were decked out in our 'Grease Lightenin' attire. I couldn't take Braden seriously with his hair in a comb-over.

We didn't do anything too eventfull! We went 'trick or treating' to 4 people :) Each of our parents, my aunt, and my grandma! Whoo! And we didn't take any treats either - we told them we were bringing the treat; and it was Evie the pig!

If you can't tell by the pictures, Evie was so worn out! It had been a long day and she didn't get too excited about the whole Halloween thing this year!

Happy Halloween!