After a long hard work week, Dana was also faced with an entire Saturday of work.  Since it was pouring rain, Eva, Rocky and I were left alone in the house for the entire day. We were bored silly and poor daddy didn't get home until midnight.  Needless to say, Sunday morning we were really excited to get out of the house and spend the day together.  We went out for breakfast, then headed to Escondido to visit the Wild Animal Park.  It was the perfect day to go, for there weren't many people.  Unfortunately, we forgot our camera...but it gave us an excuse to have fun in the photo booth

We let Eva walk around and guide the way, which was pretty entertaining.  She loved the ducks most of all and even developed her own duck call.  It is hilarious to listen to, for she seriously sounds exactly like a duck.  Every time she saw one, she started making her call.  Maybe this girl is going to be an animal whisperer? 

Since I've been back from my trip to Colorado, we have seen so many new things Eva has been entertaining us with.  Since I don't have the pictures to match the "new things", I am going to interchange between a story and a picture to keep you captivated ;)

1.  Eva has been walking backwards.  I can tell she thinks its super cool that she can do it.  She will create certain routines that require some backwards action and keep repeating it.  And, if she bumps into something she acts like it was part of the plan.  No question this girl is a funny one.

(Helping Mommy Dust while watching Daffy Duck--thats my little multi-tasker!)

2.  Eva enjoys putting her shoes on.  She is starting to understand the concept of putting shoes on to go somewhere.  Its one of the only times she will do what I ask instead of running in the opposite direction.  Most of her shoes all velcro, which she enjoys strapping, then she runs to the back door and waits until it opens to run out to my car.

(very interested in the concept of mittens...I think she thought they were hand puppets)

3.  Eva is very interested in her surroundings and now likes to point at just about everything, saying "Whatisthat?".  Yup, all one word.  Too cute!

("Let me see!")

4.  Since we've been working on 1 nap a day (which isn't as smooth of a transition as the first few days), Eva has been much more fussy.  She has developed this entire act of "throwing a fit", which only makes me laugh.  If she doesn't like what you do, she immediately turns to the ground, sprawls out and "pretend cries".  I usually pay no attention to it, but sometimes it is so obvious that she isn't even upset but trying to get a reaction that I will lay down next to her and cry right back.  She can't help but laugh at that point.

(Rediscovering one of her older toys)

5.  One of favorite new moves is her "pretend eating".  I started noticing in in the bathtub when she would use her pointer finger and thumb and pretend to pick up bubbles and put them in her mouth and smack her lips.  She started doing it when she has an empty snack cup, or even pretend to take something out of my empty hand and eat it.  When she's feeling tricky, she will come to me and pretend she has something already in her mouth, waiting for me to ask what's in her mouth, then she will run away, pretending to keep putting more things in her mouth, hoping I will chase her.  Seriously?  I just can't get enough.

(My favorite "O" face while checking out the washer)

6.  She has finally said "Momma".  Its only been a few times and she stumbles on saying it, so I have to help her...but she can say it!  I can usually get her to say it about twice, but then after that anytime I say "momma", she'll respond by saying "baby".

(Happy Girl)

7.  Lastly, Eva has become quite fond of the garbage.  She loves throwing garbage away, which most times isn't what mommy would consider garbage.  Many times, she will take what's in the recycling and transfer it into the garbage until I catch her doing it.  I've also found books, sippy cups, and socks in there.  I guess its time to buy a hi-tech baby-proof garbage.

(Eva's new 2T chihuahua pajamas.  She sure loves her puppies...and, after only 2 months of wearing her 18 month clothing, Eva has outgrown just about everything and has jumped into 2T...she's our fast growing little girl!)

Finally I find the time to blog about last weekend!  As Eva has started to grow and become more indepedant, I thought it was time to muster up the courage and see how I could handle a night away from her.  Its not that its what I wanted to do, but a perfect opportunity came my way that I just couldn't pass up.  My dearest friend, Natalie had a baby girl last November and I just had to get my hands on her.  So, with the support of Dana and my sis, Heather, I was able to make a trip to Colorado to do just that.  I introduce to you Miss Emma Claire:

I got there on a Thursday night and stayed until Sunday.  We had a fun-filled girls weekend.  While mommy and I juggled baby duty, we also got plenty of entertainment from Emma's big sister, Norah (whom I also flew to meet when she was a baby and hadn't seen since!).  She's 2 1/2 now and such a sweetie!  Her and I kept quite busy together...

But, the fun didn't stop there.  Daddy Wayne was gracious enough to  watch both girls one night, so Natalie and I could enjoy a night on the town. 

We enjoyed a delicious dinner and a bottle of wine and TOOK OUR TIME :)

On Saturday, Wayne joined us and we went to the New Belgium Brewery to get a tour.  I was so excited about this because Dana and I love Fat Tire (their most famous beer), but I else felt a little guilty that I was on the tour without him :(  I did bring him a special gift, though, so he knew I was thinking of him.

On the tour, we got to sample many of their beers and see where all the magic happens.  Toward the end, they even taught us how to poor the beer with the proper head.  I immediatly got excited to whip out my old beer pouring skills only to get schooled by Wayne who poured 2 beers at once with the proper head on both.  In the end, we both got to enjoy a delicious tasting beer...

Now I'm sure your wondering just how I did being away from Miss Eva?  Surprisingly well.  I knew she was in good hands, for on Friday she spent the day at school with Merrick and Aunt Heather and the evening with the entire family.  On Saturday and Sunday, she was with Daddy.  I called probably 5 times a day, and each time Daddy and Eva both sounded like they were having fun.  I got to skype and see my little girl twice, and she always had a smile on her face.  Despite the fact that Daddy fed her pizza (which wouldn't be my choice food)...

She was alive, happy, and well, so what more could I ask for, right?

Thank you Natalie and Wayne for being so hospitable, it was SO NICE to get some time together again.  Aunt Heather (and family) and Daddy, thank you for all the support and making this trip happen, I couldn't have done it without you.

Now, if you don't mind, I gotta get back to my ever changing darling little honey-pie!

Our little girl is officially down to one nap a day.  She started last Friday and is handling it quite well.  With that, we have been spending more time at the park in the morning (burning energy and keeping her awake longer).  She now acts like she owns the place, literally running the entire city block that encircles it every time we go.  She's made many new friends over the last week and so have I. Despite all the new things for Eva to do, though, she still loves just playing with the sand (which, of course, leads to throwing it over her head, over and over and over).

With her new big girl schedule, she has also been moving up to other big girls things.  I introduced a spoon to her last week, and she has taken to it quite well.  She loves feeding herself, partly because I think she thinks she is doing something wrong and getting away with it.  Regardless, the spoon lands in her mouth and the girl is fed.

Eva enjoyed some company over the weekend when our nephew, Merrick, slept over at our house (redeeming his birthday coupon, finally!).  We made pancakes in the morning, went shopping for his gift, took a walk to the park...

Then ended our big day by going back home to play with his fully charged remote controlled helicopter...

On Sunday, Dana, Eva, and myself went to visit the Botanical Gardens that we have visited a few times in the past.  Now that Eva is walking/running around by herself, this trip was more for her enjoyment.  They have a huge treehouse and kids play area where we spent most of our time.  They had rope ladders to climb up, which Eva had no problems figuring out on her own...

And a Children's garden where Eva got right to work watering the plants...

We ended the day with a scruptious lunch and a nice drive along the coast.  Now that the weekend is over, its time to catch up with some household chores and keep enjoying these sunny days :)

Our New Year's celebrating was pretty nonexistant this year, considering that we made no new resolutions and we didn't even make it until the countdown (we were in bed by 10pm), but we were honored to not-celebrate it with our friends, Joe and Diana, who were visiting through the week.  Joe brought a little bit of Michigan over (Bell's Oberon Beer and mom's homemade Buckeyes) for us to enjoy along with their adorable little puppy, Sheldon, for Eva and Rocky to play with.  Rocky was mostly jealous because he was so cute and getting all the attention, but Eva LOVED him.

And, when Eva wasn't playing with Sheldon, she was busy flirting with Joe, showing Diana just a little bit of competition.

(Yes, she still wears the flower collar from her halloween costume.  I don't know what it is about that thing, but she loves wearing it around the house)

We met for Brunch on New Year's day, which was mighty scrumptious, but I failed to take any pictures of the day :(

Even though Dana and I didn't make any resolutions, it hasn't stopped Eva from doing more new things.  She is so incredibly smart and quick, she is constantly amazing us with what goes on in her brain.  She's been giving kisses and hugs for a while now, but she will now volunteer giving kisses to people much much more.  She will take turns going around the room giving everyone a kiss, including Rocky.  It is so cute to watch and feels so loving when you get one planted on you.

Her new favorite words are "Oh!" and "Wow!", with the cutest face ever...

She understands alot of what you are saying or asking of her.  She is really good at finding a matching pair of shoes or socks in a pile and bringing them to you to put on her feet.  She has one favorite pair of shoes that she gets really excited about putting on, so she's been wearing them pretty much nonstop for the last few days.  Her hair is continuing to grow, but never at the speed that I want because I just can't wait to put it in braids, pigtails, whatever...but I have managed a little pigtail action.

She still loves putting things on her head, but its hard to get her to leave it once it's there.  Finally, the other day, she understood that her sunglasses should stay on her face, so they block the sun.  She really enjoyed wearing them and loved showing them off.

It may be hard to tell with the picture, but Eva got 2 more teeth in the last couple days, so she now has 4 on top and 3 on the bottom.

One of Eva's favorite things to do is give Rocky a treat.  No matter what she's doing, if I say "Do you want to give Rocky a treat?" She immediately stands up and runs over to where his treats are in the kitchen waiting for me to give one to her.  Since she has what Rocky wants, she takes full advantage and makes him chase her around the house for a while laughing the whole time, until she finally fumbles and the treats falls out of her hand and into Rocky's mouth. I might actually feel sorry for Rocky if he wasn't so grouchy with her all the time, haha.

What will Miss Eva do next?

We started celebrating the Holiday season a couple weeks ago with Web Design Solutions very first Christmas party.  One of the company's clients, Rockin' Baja, hosted the team and their significant others.  We were lucky enough to have Aunt Lorie (Dana's cousin) babysit Eva for the night, so we could have fun, relax, and not have to worry about leaving early.  Before we left, Lorie snuck in a few pics for us...

We had a blast and lucky for us, Eva let us sleep until 9am the next morning!

Since Dana contributed to the Christmas spirit this year with lights, we also decided to take a drive and check out the work that other people did.  There are a few different drives you can take where entire neighborhoods go all out with lights, which creates parades of cars through their streets the entire month of December.  Since we recently upgraded Eva's carseat to a forward facing big girl seat, we thought she might enjoy looking out the window and seeing the lights for herself.  And fun she definitely had, she was constantly "oooh"ing and "Ahhhh"ing and pointing.  There was just so much to look at...

Of course, all the drive did for Dana is help him brainstorm his new ideas for next year, haha. 

When we got home that night, Daddy unveiled a hidden surprise for Rocky and Eva to enjoy.  We commited to tortoise-sitting Donnie for a friend of ours while she was away for the holidays.  Daddy took him out to show the kids and gave him his daily 20 minute lettuce feeding.  They were so fascinated, it was fun to watch their faces :)

Christmas morning came just days later and we were all excited to open our gifts and play all morning before the gang came over.  Eva had fun learning how to rip the wrapping paper off her gifts.  But, in the end, all she really wanted was to be with mommy and daddy and be goofy...

Since it was a super sunny and warm day, we took a quick wagon ride before the sun went down.  Eva got her wagon from Granny for her birthday, but it had taken her a little while before she started to like it.  Now she just loves the thing....she could ride around in it all day long.  She yells at Rocky or to the neighbors or at anything that she passes by.  She is constantly smiling and just can't get enough of it...

Soon we had the family over for a delicious Christmas dinner.  Dana made a scrumptious ham, I made roast beef, and everyone else brougt sides, apps, and sweets to round out the meal.  We had all family for a fun day of sun, laughter, and yummy food!  And, when we were all stuffed the kids dove into their gifts....

And, then the adults did a gift exchange where we all showed off our new gift...Here's Matt with his beach lounge blanket, well, until someone stole it ;)

And, after everybody left, Dana and I reflected on how wonderful our christmas together was.  We went to bed exhausted, looking forward to the next day to go shopping for some deals.  But then, just a few hours later, our little girl awoke in loud screams and crying that just didn't want to stop and so the shopping trip never happened.  Eva ended up in bed with us, which means I don't think any of us really got any sleep...and then we discovered that it was because she got a new tooth!  She got a top tooth, which makes it her #5!  I have a feeling there are quite a few that are ready to follow real soon. 

And just a few updates on Eva's vocabulary and smart little brain...she is adding new words on a daily basis now.  She pays special attention to everything you say and tries real hard to repeat back.  Her cousin Rowan taught her how to say "Row Row", Daddy taught her how to ask for her favorite food, cheese, which sounds a little more like "Deee", and she also says "Hi!!" which she learned from me.  She became very fond of Donnie while he was here, so I would say "Do you want to see Donnie?" and she would run over to his aquarium and point at him, sometimes she would even wave at him.  She gets equally as excited to give Rocky his treats as he does recieving them.  Its about the only time he pretends to like her and boy does she take advantage.  She will make him chase her all around the house before she finally hands him that precious little morsel of food.  She has went from a wobbley walk to a run...she is on the move all over the place.  She loves being able to walk and quite frankly, I do too. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the new year :)

Over the weekend, Dana, Eva, and myself had 2 one-year birthday parties to attend.  We started with a party in the park with Mia Lee...

There was a fun playground to play on...

Great food, fun decorations, and wonderful entertainment.  They had a guy come with his guitar and play kids music while the kids all played with their own instruments.  Everyone was having so much fun!

But, we had to cut that party short to make it to the next one.  We made it just in time to sing Happy Birthday and watch Aiden tackle his dinosaur cake...

He didn't quite know what to make of it, but by the end, he managed to have frosting all over his face :)

Eva had alot of fun with everything going on.  They had a jumpy house, dogs running around, and of course, Aiden got a ton of toys that Eva helped herself to.  Luckily, Aiden was very willing to share.  And Before we left, I managed to get a quick shot of mommys with our little people:

While we're out and about, Eva is having a ton of fun exploring her new world on two feet.  She is no longer crawling at all, only walking, running, or falling.  So far, she has managed to catch her falls quite well.  We only have one fat lip to speak of, and she only cried for about 30 seconds for that one.  She has just been loving her little legs and everywhere that they can take her :)

Some other fun new things we've been noticing more of is how much love she has.  She really loves hugging and kissing her dolls.  She now has to sleep with a baby under her arms every night.  It is just too cute to watch.  She got a handmade doll that came with pillows and a blanket for the doll for her birthday (Thanks, Linders!).  I layed the doll on the pillows with blanket on our book shelf, and caught Eva trying to get under the blanket to lay with the baby.  I helped her out a little, and she layed there for a good 5 minutes...

Her dolls aren't the only ones getting the love either.  She now puckers up to give mommy and daddy kisses, too.  Its cute because we tend to want more than what she has to give, so after giving us several kisses (back and forth), she will finally push our faces away from her like "Enough Already!"  We just can't help it, though.  She is too darn adorable!

I think Rocky is starting to want in on some of the action, too.  Eva has conquered his name now and calls for him all day long.  It sounds a little more like "Ya-yee", but it is very obvious that she is saying his name.  If she can't see him walking in front of our stroller on walks, she will yell for him, or if she wakes up from a nap sometimes she will yell for him.  Or, if we are gone for the day, as soon as we walk into the house, she will yell for him.  And, when she is done eating what's on her tray and is ready to share, she looks around yelling "Ya-yee".  He's realizing if he wants any food other than dog food, he must learn to like his sister.

One of Eva's new things is putting things on her head.  Ever since her cousin, Taylor, was wearing a headband while visiting here, she has tried to put new things on her head.  Here are Daddy's sunglasses...

She also wants to sit on everything.  If she spots a blanket, or anything comfy on the ground, she will turn around and back up onto it and plop her butt down.  She also LOVES chairs.  She loves the challenge of trying to get onto it, then turning around and sitting.  Its just as cute to watch it the 20th time as it was the first.

And, lastly...she is getting very smart and understanding how to pick something up and put it into something else.  She has a couple buckets and a bowl that she will put other small toys in and carry it around, then stop, sit, take the small toy out, put it on the ground, then back into the bucket, then walk around with the bucket, and repeat. 

As you can tell, Eva is just too much fun to be around.  She really is always happy and goofy (unless she's tired--then watch out, she's just like her mommy...hahaha).  I just love watching her do everything she does.  She is a smart little girl who knows how to have a good time, and best yet, always knows how to make everyone around her smile.  If you are ever having a bad day, come visit Eva, she has the key to happiness and isn't afraid to share it with everyone around her.  :)

I have barely begun to even think about Christmas this year, for the last two months have just been crazy busy.  Dana, luckily, has been the exact opposite.  He has always talked about wanting to have crazy amounts of Christmas lights on his house, but never the house to decorate.  This year, as the neighbors started decorating their houses, Dana said "Alas!  I will have the brightest house on the block!"  Haha.  And, for those who know Dana well know he isn't joking.  So, off to Home Depot he goes, and days later, we got this:

But, when you mention how insane all of this is to Dana, his response is: "I'm just getting started, wait until next year."  Haha.  So, for the next two months, I simply refuse to look at our electric bill and try to get into the festive spirit that Dana is spreading to everyone who drives down our street at night.  :)  And, in fact, talk about cars driving down our street.  We are getting many people slowing down, checking things out, and honking their horns at us.  Our neighbor, Joshua, asks his dad every single night to take him for a wagon ride past our house to see the lights.  :)

On the flip side of all of this, we took Eva to meet Santa for the very first time.  I expected that she may be scared of him, but she also always surprises me with who she is scared of and who she likes, so I thought, why not try?  When she first spotted him, she was flirting and smiling and hiding into my shoulder, but didn't seem to mind him much...

We tried to keep her attention to get her to smile while on his lap...

She then wondered what this was all about and got a real good look at the big, white-haired man whose lap she was sitting on...

And decided she DID NOT LIKE HIM AT ALL!

The look of terror on her eyes made me feel so bad that I even attempted to introduce her to the big guy.  :(  And, as if that wasn't enough, I'm pretty sure it traumatized her more than I thought because that night, she woke up in sheer horror and would only sleep in my arms.  She is not a cuddler, so I knew she had to have been scared because she ended up sleeping in bed with us, clung to my arms the whole night.

Something tells me that once she realizes what Santa does for a job, she will begin to like him a little more in the future ;)

Over the last week, my mom, cousin Jennifer, and her daughter, Taylor came to visit us for 9 whole days.  We had a blast while they were here, managing to stay very busy and having way too much fun together.  Lucky for them, they were leaving the cold winter weather back in Wisconsin and flew in to have a beautiful sunny summer day on their first day here.  We took advantage by going to the Coronado Beach where Taylor got to see the ocean for the first time.  We played in the sand, ran around in the water, and soaked up the sunny rays before calling it a day.

We spent another day at the infamous San Diego Zoo where we got to see all kinds of fun animals and play in the kids areas...

Here they are at the Polar Bear Plunge...Brrrrr!

Of course, we had to take advantage of Granny coming to town so she could babysit as well.  We went about town shopping, checking out the downtown area, and hitting up a happy hour with friends.  It was nice to enjoy a few beers and not feel rushed to get home at any time (although we were still home by 9pm).

We spent a day at the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla.  Eva loved watching all the fish swim around.  She was pointing at everything and was very amused by the different colors and shapes...

And after we were done with that, we went to check out the seals.  Eva slept in the car with Granny as Jennifer, Taylor, and I went to walk and look around.  Taylor had fun checking out the cliffs overlooking the ocean...

On the last couple days, Taylor helped Dana put up Christmas lights and decorations outside.  (Finale pic will be posted soon)  They had a good time deciding where to put everything to get the optimal view...

Overall, we had a really, really good visit together.  It was sad to see them go.  And now, my favorite picture to end the post...

She is weighing in at 22 lbs 1.2oz (75%)

Measuring 29.5" (75%)

Tooth Total: 4

After getting her 1 year check up, her doctor posed for a quick picture with her...

I cannot believe the time has come, our baby girl has reached her 1 year mark.  A year ago, it was hard to imagine this point, but now that it's here I just love these moments and looking back to see everything that Eva has accomplished in such a short amount of time. 

As you may have read in the past blogs, Eva started walking a few weeks ago.  She is now walking about 75% of time, crawling just a little bit, and now even attempting to run.  She's still pretty wobbley, but she sure can move quick. 

Eva is also picking up on quite a bit.  She can understand a great deal of what I'm saying to her and has her own way of communicating with me to let me know she understands.  She definitely knows who her daddy is and loves to yell for him.  She says "Daddy" very clearly.  She says "Puppy", and tries to say "Rocky", she can ask for a "Book", she says "Thank you" when I say it to her, she says "Baby" when referring to herself, her dolls, or pictures of other babies.  She has a stuffed monkey and when I ask her where it is, she starts saying "Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!" to make the monkey noise, then goes over and sits on his lap. She says "Uh Oh" and "Nanana" for banana.

Eva is constantly pushing her limits and purposely does things to get in trouble.  She is always laughing or smiling or being goofy, she is so much fun to be around.  She has given up on eating most fruits and vegetables and isn't too big on sweets...her soft spot is for meat and cheese.  If she catches a glimpse of shredded cheese or cottage cheese and doesn't get any, be prepared for high pitched screaming until she gets some.  There are so many things that I'm sure she does, but I would be here forever if I thought of it all.  Bottom line, this baby girl is happy, smart, determined, and very much loved by Dana and myself.

We celebrated her birthday with a party at our house last Saturday.  It turned out to be a beautiful day, so we hung outside with close friends and family.  We sang happy birthday and presented Eva with her own mini cake (compliments of Granny) and candle.  She didn't quite understand the blowing out part, so I helped her a little...

She immediately stuck her finger in the frosting, but once she got to that point she didn't know what to do. 

After cake we opened gifts.  I think Eva had a fun time with all of it.  I know they say at this age that they like the box and paper more than the gift...but this girl was spoiled and I think she LOVES everything she got...she had fun looking at everything.

At her party, she had a few friends her age that came to see her, so she had a little time to spend with them.  They weren't sure what they made of each other, but it was cute to see them together...below we have Mia, Oliver, and Eva

But most of the time, Eva spent walking around and checking everything out.

It turned out to be the perfect day for Eva.  She was happy and very receptive to everything happening around her...but once 3 o'clock hit, she was out.  She couldn't even keep her eyes open long enough for me to get her into her crib.  I think our mission was accomplished.

Thank you to everyone who made it to celebrate Eva's 1st Birthday.  She is very appreciative, as are we, to have such wonderful friends and family in San Diego.

While we were in Wisconsin, we enjoyed a nice visit with everyone.  Eva got to spend time with lots of her second cousins. Maxwell and Lorelei (my cousin, Ashley's kids) were the first to greet her as soon as we got off the plane.  We slept at their house the first night where they played with toys, took over the living room, ate dinner, then they took a bath together...

This picture was so meaningful to get because I have one from when we were children doing the same thing!

(From left to right: Derek, Andrea, Ashley, me)

Eva got lots of attentions from all the family, but of course I didn't have my camera out the whole time because I was having too much fun with my family, too.  I did manage, however, to get one picture of Eva all bundled up with her fleece winter jacket and boots because she endured her first snow fall!

She was really fascinated with the huge snowflakes falling out of the sky.

When all the visiting was done and the snowfall was over it was time to head back home.  Traveling is never much fun, but with Eva it is so much more of a challenge.  Lucky for us, we had an empty seat on the plane both to and from Wisconsin, which gave us a whole row to ourselves.  That definitely helped keep Eva entertained and happy.  I managed to get a pic of her reading one of her books and super fascinated :)

Now we are all home safe and sound and getting ready to host our first Thanksgiving dinner at the house. And, just one day later...Eva will be 1 year old!!!