Dear Eva follow-up

Apparently writing a letter on one's blog to one's illiterate child who can't even speak is the way to get things done. The very day after I wrote this entry, Eva embarked on a veritable sleeping frenzy. Since that day, she has slept for 13 hours every night, with 2 one to two hour naps during the day. I defy anyone to find me a mother of an almost 10 month old who is so well rested as I am!

Want to know my secret? Well, there really isn't one. But I've always been a firm believer in routine so Eva's nap/bed times are sacred. Nothing interferes. Also, I believe that the better rested a baby is, the more they will sleep. Eva goes to bed at 6, even if this means that she doesn't get to see Daddy if he's late coming home. If your baby isn't sleeping well or long at night, I'd suggest putting them down earlier. They're bound to cry, probably really hard for awhile. But if you're strong, they'll give in. And a baby who is well rested has a much easier time falling asleep then one who isn't. Good luck!

Eva likes iphones

the lighting on this video is pretty grim... but I figured it's good enough for Grandma's who want to see a bit of their baby.

Dear Eva,

My darling girl. I realize that I have never explicitly told you this so you can be forgiven for not knowing. And this will in no way belittle your already substantial and fantastic achievement of regularly sleeping through the night. But you must understand that in this house, naps are NOT optional. You will take the naps you need, whether you think you need them or not. Do not test me on this, my sweet. I have nerves of steel and plenty of earplugs.

New Year

I've been meaning to post now for ages, or at least since the last time I posted. Christmas break just flew by and I hardly took a single picture! Rob's sister Kathryn came for Christmas and luckily she was a bit more on the ball with her camera. We still missed out on a lot of stuff though. Christmas Eve and Christmas were tons o fun. We took Kathryn to downtown Spokane to see a Christmas flick at the IMAX that was pretty cool especially because it was done by James Christensen whose art I love. Then we took a ride on the Riverfront Park gondola's which take you down over the falls and gets so pretty cool views of the city.

Here's Rob and Grace in the gondola. You can see in the background what they look like on the outside.

Sam, with his customary silly face and the head of the falls in the background:

Christmas Eve brought the traditional Christmas Eve gift of pjs for the kids. I decided to add to it and made flannel pillowcases for Rob, Sam, and Grace. Then, of course, they all needed new pillows to go with the new cases. No pictures of these, but here is Eva after opening her pjs. Doesn't she look thrilled?

Christmas morning was fabulous. Sam and Grace both got legos from Santa and it didn't take long to spread them out across the entire floor.

Here's Eva modeling her pjs.

I believe everyone was happy with their presents, though Sam and Grace informed me tonight that, while they really like all their Christmas presents, Santa did not bring them what they had asked for. Oh well. Can't win them all.

Monday after Christmas we headed down to Pullman to visit some friends. We spend the night with the Barnetts and played some intense games of Catan, Ticket to Ride and Blokus. We had a great time with them and are only slightly disgruntled that we now have to wait for Maren to have her baby and then get settle from having a baby before we can start up our game nights again! Sam and Grace got to spend Tuesday morning with the best friends in the whole world which was great on the one hand, but on the other I've had to endure complaints ever since then that we live too far from Garrick and Alexsia. I agree!

Tuesday afternoon we got back home, ran a quick load of laundry and then packed back up to go over to the west side to be with Rob's family for New Years. We had a really fun time playing games, watch movies, and eating way too much good food! Its a good thing my new ipod nano has a pedometer, because I need it after this last week.

So now the whirl of the holiday's are over. We got the decorations taken down on Sunday and almost all our new possessions have found a home. I'm all caught up on the laundry and the New Year's resolutions lists have been made. Eva is back on an acceptable sleeping schedule, Sam and Grace are happy to be back at school (how many more years will that last I wonder) and I have lots of projects to fill my time. Oh wait. I'm a stay at home mom with three young children and a house full of keeping to be done. My time is already filled!