No Tuesday Update

The Mandura Family will be attending a Pastoral Retreat this week. Sadly we will not be posting on Tuesday. Check back Friday for lots of cute pictures of Miss Evalie.

To whet your appetite: There is a pool, so expect pictures of Evie in a swim suit!!!

Giving Up

Miss Evalie has never been a big fan of Tummy Time, but she generally deals with it. She plays for a few minutes and (as Uncle Robert says) does wierd push-ups until she starts fussing.

But a few days ago she learned to give up. Evie just laid her head down on the blanket. No fussing, no crying. Just laid there. It was a little sad, and super cute!

I love the progression of these pictures.

An Auntie and An Uncle

Miss Evalie loved spending time with Auntie Mellie and Uncle Robert!

More Sleepy Pictures

The other day, Evalie and Daddy took a nap together. How Cute! Daisy curls up next to Evalie whenever she can. The large black blob by Evie's head is Daisy dozing next to her friend!

First High Chair Experience

After not seeing each other for a week, Alex and I decided it needed to be date night. We headed to Applebees, thanks to Scott and Kari!!! I usually just hold Miss Evalie in the sling, but we decided to break out the floppy seat and try her in a highchair. She loved it! And she did very well.

I was not too thrilled with the waiter who walked by holding a hot skillet over her head!

This Crazy Computer!

It won't let me upload pictures again. So once again I will trot over to Walgreens and get a photo CD. We did lots of stuff these past few days, so lots to update. Stay tuned!

Great Grandma Kaylor

We are currently in Indiana spending time with my family. Evalie and I have had a great time with Grandma Joy and Grandpa Mel. Today we went to the elementary school to have lunch with Uncle Robert. Tonight we get to watch Auntie Mellie cheer at a basketball game.

Yesterday we went to see my Gramma, Evalie's Great Grandma, at the nursing home. Gramma was very excited to see us. Evalie sat with her for about a half an hour, just smiling at her, cooing at her, and laughing. She was being her usual, happy self. We all enjoyed ourselves, and I took about a million pictures, of course.

I will post more pictures of our time in Indiana on Friday.

A New Friend

Yesterday at La Leche League, Evalie got to play with a new friend. Even though there were lots of babies and kids there, Caleb seemed to want to play with Evie. At least with her toys. Caleb army crawled from his blanket to Evie's. I'm not sure that Evalie quite knew what to do about another baby in her space. I got some cute pictures of them together. (If you notice my hand on Evalie's sleeve...she is sitting up, but not quite by herself totally. I had to keep my hand on her to hold her up. She kept falling on top of Caleb. This is also why I only have one angle of them playing together.)

Peaceful Slumber

Little Miss Evalie can fall asleep almost anywhere.

Here she fell asleep on my lap at our La Leche League meeting yesterday. And again at dinner.
Here she is sacked out in her crib (which she slept in at night for the first time Thursday night. Well, until about 1 am. And I spent that part of the night on the floor in her room!)
Just to be consistent, she is sleeping on my lap as I type this!

Remember...

This blog will be By Invitation Only starting Monday. Remember to comment or e-mail me with your e-mail address so I can invite you!

Sad To Say

But my pictures would not upload to the computer again. So I am going to Walgreens to get them printed off. I will get a CD and post pictures tomorrow. There are some cute ones!

Cuteness!

Just Playing Around

We have spent the last few days just playing and having fun together. Alex and I have also made a huge effort on making our home livable again. It had gotten to be quite a mess after Christmas.

So here are some pictures of Miss Evalie playing around. This is Clarence the Cow. If you pull the red tail, the cow shakes. Miss Evalie actually knows hos to pull the tail. Smart girl, huh? One of us has to be on the other end of the cow, but she knows how to do it!
Evalie loves playing with her Daddy. (to be honest, this is not the picture I wanted here, but I can't find the other one! Oh, well) Here they just had breakfast together.
Momma Kisses!!!!
Talking on the phone to Grandma Kari.
This is one smiley princess. She is a joy and a blessing each and every day.

Our Pink, Furry, Sumo Wrestler

I think when Evalie is older, she is going to hate me for the things I say about her now. But she does kind of look like a sumo wrestler, right? With those huge cheeks and her shoulders all hunched up.

No matter what I say about her, I think she is adorable!

Who Is This?

Oh yeah, it's Alex!

Does Evalie look like her Daddy, or what???

Absolutely Incredible!

Remember this picture? Evalie's Great Grandma Dorothy is a watercolor artist. She does beautiful work. For Christmas, Grandma Dorothy painted Evalie a picture of herself. I have to say, I love this painting. It is definitely a treasured possession and a wonderful keepsake.

Play Time!

Evie and I have been spending a lot of time playing on the floor the past few days. We both love it! She has lots of fun toys, and is learning fast! Miss Evie is getting stronger too. Look at her sitting up! With help, of course.

Adventures In Poop 3

Read about another Adventure here.

Diapers!

Most of you all know that we are in the process of changing from disposable diapers to cloth. When we got home from Buffalo, there were a few diapers waiting for us. I still have about 15 on back order that hopefully will get here soon. I love the cloth diapers. They hold the poop in a lot better, are better for her baby skin, and she looks so cute!

Stinkin' Adorable

Christmas with the Warricks

That's right. We finally had our last family Christmas on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. Very low key and relaxing. Miss Evalie had a lot of fun playing with her cousins, her aunts and uncles, and Grandpa and Grandma. She was still a little cranky from her shots, but thankfully she is back to her cheerful self. Here are some pictures from our celebration.

Our family Christmas dinner: As you can see, we are all enjoying the time together. Mom is on the phone, Dad (and me too) is taking pictures, and Alex is choking my sister Julianne. Yes, we love spending time together! (I really don't know how I chose this specific time to take the picture. It honestly was a lovely dinner that my mom and sister made. And there was no checking of the blood sugar levels this time.)

Evie with her Grandpa Mel

Evie with her Grandma Joy. My mom got Miss Evalie a Precious Moments figurine for Christmas (one of many gifts). And the tag said "To Evalie Love Joy" No grandma, just Joy. I laughed because it seemed like my mom. Not very grandma-ish. But apparently my sister, Melanie wrote out the card. She didn't know what we called my mom for Evalie (we kind of want Evalie to decide, although it will probably be G G because that is what Jerzie, my niece calls her) So Mellie just wrote Joy on the tag. I'm keeping the tag because I think it is hilarious!Uncle Robert: Evie had lots of fun with him!Auntie Mellie: Every time I am with her, she hi-jacks my phone and takes about 10 or 20 pictures of herself. Well, this is how I am paying her back, by posting one! Ha! (Isn't she adorable!)Playing with Auntie Juls

Playing with Cousin Camden. Is she trying to steal his toy? It sure looks like it!

Getting loved on by Cousin Jerzie. Jerzie sure does love her "Ebie Baby"

All in all, we had a great day. We love our family, and it is hard being away from everyone most of the year. But it sure is wonderful when we have the opportunity to be together.

Decisions

I have been thinking about a few things concerning this blog over the past few weeks. And I have come to some conclusions. I have decided to change some things, and some of these things involve you. So I am letting you in on these decisions.

Decision #1

I decided to not let you all help me decide. I was going to put a poll on the blog to get some insight into my decision-making process. But I decided not to. I just made the decisions on my own. I'm sorry. Please do not cry!

Decision #2

A while ago I posted a thought on only posting 2 times a week on specific days. Well, I decided to do that. I am now only posting on 2 days each week.

Decision #3

Decsion #2 led to having to decide what days to post. I decided that I will post on Tuesdays and Fridays. Those are days that I am in the office where we have internet, so I think that will work for me. I am going to try that out for now, and change later if it doesn't work.

Decison #4

In 2 weeks, on January 21st, this blog will be "by invitation only." I decided to do that because I have many beautiful pictures of my precious girl on here, and there are lots of crazies in the internet world. While the purpose of this blog is to share Miss Evalie with friends and family, I do not want her precious pictures to wind up in the wrong hands. I hope this will not be a problem for our friends and family.

What this means for you: You will have to type in your e-mail address before entering our blog. Not too hard, right? I may need some of your e-mail addresses though. I don't know who all reads our blog. So, please e-mail (mandura325 @ hotmail . com (no spaces)) me or post a comment with your e-mail address so that I can invite you to view our blog. I would hate for anyone to be left out. (This is why I am waiting 2 weeks)

Decison #5

I have become more and more interested in the internet. I enjoy reading other blogs, and finding fun sites. So I have decided to open another blog. The Mandura Family blog will continue to be updates on our family and our Miss Evalie, complete with cutie pictures. The other blog will be mainly opinions about life, motherhood, breastfeeding, baby wearing, baby signs, cloth diapering, and anything else that I am interested in. I am excited to start it, and truly join the blogging world. I hope that you will visit (drum roll please) Adventures in Poop.

It is going to be fun. (Thanks Olivia, for teaching me how to link!!! It's easy, if you know how!)

Decision #6

I have decided to not say decided in this post any more!

4 Month Check Up

Miss Evalie was 4 months old on the 1st, and today was her well baby check up. We had a new doctor today, Dr. Haskell. And more shots (tear!).

So here are the current stats on Miss Evie.

19 lbs 7.5 oz

27 1/4 inches long

hat size is 17 inches

Miss Evalie is way off the charts in her height and weight! Does that surprise anyone?

Snow Foot!

Last night, Alex and I were at the church working. Evalie was just in a onesie while we were in the office. When we went out in the cold to go home, I decided to just put her snowsuit on instead of redressing her. After the short walk home, I put Miss Evalie down on the couch and about 30 seconds later, her little bare foot popped out. She stuck her foot out of the little hole that they put in for the carseat strap. She just sat there smiling at us, wiggling her little toes. It was way too cute!

The Long-Awaited Christmas Update

This is just a brief overview of Christmas at the Mandura home and our trip to New York. I have almost 200 pictures from the last week. Trust me, you don't want the unabridged version!

Christmas morning was quite relaxed. We got up, and spent the day in our pajamas. I love Evalie's Christmas pj's.

Look what I got in my stocking!

The Mandura Family on Christmas morning

The cutest present! I think by the time I took this picture, Evalie was sick and tired of me in her face with the camera.

Miss Evalie got this fun exersaucer. And a lot more!

In Buffalo Miss Evalie got to...

Meet Maggie

And Grandpa Scott (She loooooved playing with Grandpa Scott!)

She opened MORE presents


Met Great Grandma Dorothy and Great Grandma WilsonGot loved on by Grandma KariMet Auntie SaraAnd even got to see Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Phil

And a whole lot of other people too numerous to name and put pictures of. But we love them all just the same!

We all had an enjoyable time in Buffalo. Just hanging outPlaying Apples to Apples (looooove it)Playing Guitar HeroAnd more Guitar HeroAnd more Guitar Hero! I got this beautiful new coat from my wonderful mother-in-law! Thanks Kari! I loooooove it!

Here are a couple more cute pictures of Miss Evalie from the week