10 Months Already?!

I really can't believe that Eve already turned 10 months! I know I say that every month as she gets older, but it just seems impossible that time is going so fast! Well, I guess I am wrong because she keeps getting older and doing new things! Here is what she is doing at 10 months:

** Pointing at everything!!!
** Grunting as she points, as if to say, "Hey, I want to see that!"
** When we say "Hi" she says something that sounds like "Hi" back to us.
** Pulling up and climbing on everything in sight.
** Crawling super fast and loving it.
** Finding all sorts of treasures on the floor to explore with her mouth.
** Loves to look through books - especially ones with something to touch on the picture.
** Still a bit dramatic - she lets you know if she is not happy.
** Has 4 teeth! Well, her top 2 teeth have broken the skin. (Top L broke 10/19. Top R broke 10/ 22). Teething seems to be much harder on her than I remember it being on Reed.
** Loves to do things by herself! She definitely has an independent streak when it comes to eating food. She loves to eat finger foods!! I have not found many foods that she does not enjoy. She is willing to try almost anything!
** Has stranger anxiety! She has always been a mama's girl, but it's even worse now with new people. She clings on to me for dear life!
** Loves pointing at daddy. I ask her where daddy is and she looks at Tyson, points, and usually grunts! So smart :)
** Loves Reed (most of the time). In the mornings when she first wakes up, Reed is one of the first people that she sees. She always has a huge smile on his face when he comes to hug her! Ah, sibling love :)
** Loves playing the piano. She always wants a turn pushing the keys down.
** Loves to bounce. This is a bit harder to explain not on camera. She does love to be bounced by other people and loves to bounce in her bouncy chair, but she also loves to bounce when she is just sitting somewhere. She will sit there and move her upper body in a bouncing motion. She does this everywhere: in her chair, sitting on the ground, when someone is holding her. She is always smiling when she does it and just giggles at herself.
** Loves to laugh. She really has an infectious laugh.
** Has a smile that lights up the room.
** Still loves to talk and can be pretty loud when she wants to be.
** Very girlie - when someone she likes starts talking to her while someone else is holding her, she will act all coy and bury her head into the person's shoulder while smiling.
** Knows her name! (see video below)

The Many Faces of Eve!

Just eating my grapes...

Hmmmm, that looks interesting and fun.

Uninterested? Annoyed? Confused? Observing? I am not sure what this face means.

Ah, there's that cute smile.



Eve loves these things!

Tuesdays

Tuesdays are always a fun day at our house. Normally, Reed, Eve, and I go to story time at the library. If you know Reed, you know that he LOVES books and LOVES going to the library. But, Tuesday the 12th was fun for a different reason -- daddy was home!

Tyson was preparing for his pheasant hunting trip (I will see if he will post about the trip later -- I may have to twist his arm or something :) ) and decided to take off Monday and Tuesday to hang out with us before he left! Reed was in heaven! Eve just kept pointing at him and grunting.

Tuesday was also special and fun because we went downtown to the Natural History Museum. Originally, we wanted to go to the top of the Washington Monument since our plans are always foiled when we try to go up there (most recently, we planned to go on December 23rd before the baby was due. Well, Eve had other plans.). But, tickets for the times we wanted were sold out (well, they are free, but there were no more) by the time we got there. Foiled again! So, we had also planned to go to the Natural History Museum, if time allowed.

Tuesday the live Butterfly Exhibit is free instead of $6/person. So, we only go there on Tuesdays. We made it to the museum just in time to see the tarantula feeding (Reed was not scared at all! He was just so interested in the whole thing)! Then, we looked at the other insect cages. Reed has loved this since he was younger than Eve. Eve loved it as well! I think it's because the insects/bugs are alive, so they move around. Also, they make the displays/cages so that little kids can see them. They have one that is under the water so the part that you can see is low enough to the ground that Eve can stand on the ground and see what is going on. Kids and bugs - it always seems to be a big hit. :)

Then, we went in to see the butterflies. There were so many this time! I guess a lot have hatched (is that the proper word?) since the last time that we went. They were flying everywhere, landing on everyone, and just beautiful. Eve was so intrigued! She kept watching the butterflies fly around the room. She would move her head back and forth, point at one and grunt. She was amazed. Reed was a little nervous at first, but got over that when he saw they weren't going to hurt him.

I could stay in for a long time, but it was time to go. We said bye to the butterflies and went over to the dinosaurs. Reed has a dinosaur book, so lately he has really liked dinosaurs. Really, he likes almost everything that you can find in a book, outside, or something you can sing. I have not found too many things that he does not like. Anyways, we wanted to show him the dinosaur skeletons, especially because in the book they go to a museum to see the dinosaur bones. He loves making the dinosaur noises and seeing all the different types. We are working on the names, which he can pretty much say.

Before we knew it, it was time to start going towards the car. So, we said bye to the dinosaurs, Reed and daddy rode the escalator one time, and then we were off. Eve was so exhausted that she fell asleep on the walk to the car. Reed and daddy chased the pigeons through the grass all along our way. (Yuck, I hate pigeons. Rats with wings. But, Reed loves chasing them.) We also stopped by these random fountains of water that we found one day. Reed loves to play in the water. So, he played and played until his pants were soaked and he wanted to take them off. We made it to the car, got our seat belts on, and headed home.

Tuesdays are good days at our house. :) This was a fabulous Tuesday!

The tarantula

This is one of Reed's all-time favorites - watching the water bugs. This is now Eve's favorite as well. Like brother, like sister. :)

Some of my favorites....

I love the colors in this one. :)

Eve was just about pointing when I took the picture, but it turned into "Talk to the hand." She was simply amazed at everything going on when we saw the butterflies.

Reed loving the butterflies.

Chasing the pigeons!

Reed telling Tyson what he should be doing with the water. He can be kind of particular.


So sleepy....

She is really getting so big!

Random water fountains that we found.

The scenery was awesome!

It looked a little tilted to me. Funny how the way you hold a camera can completely change what something looks like.

Ah, that's better!

So Big

Reed is getting so big! It's crazy to me that he has grown up so much! I guess I knew it would happen, and no, he's not starting Kindergarten or anything, but it just seems like time is flying by. My first little baby is not even close to being a baby anymore. Sad and good at the same time.

Recently, I had been thinking about preschool/joyschool. I did not want to do anything super intense because it is not really age-appropriate for Reed yet. He needs time to just play and be social with other kids, not just do work all the time. But, I had wanted something a little more structured and predictable than going to a friend's house every once in a while. So, we started a little preschool (I don't really know the difference between joyschool and preschool) with 6 kids.

I emailed the mom's of the kids that would eventually be in Reed's kindergarten class. Most of them loved the idea of doing something like that, so we planned everything out. The kids meet once a week from 9:30-11:30 at a different mom's house. We came up with themes for each week, realizing that it would mostly be a more structure play time, a time to work on those social skills! :)

So, each of us plans a little lesson, a craft/activity, maybe even sings some songs (depending on which mom it is). The kids have a little snack and then they play for the rest of the time. We have done this for two weeks and it seems to be going really well! Reed was a little hesitant for me to go the first week (oh, I forgot to mention, we drop the kids off at each house), but did fine after about 30 seconds. The second week (today) he didn't whine at all. :) He seems to really love playing with his friends and doing the activities. He talks about the kids and what they did. He is proud of his craft. Man, my little buddy is growing up! But, I wouldn't change a thing. This has been great so far! I am in charge next week and my theme is Halloween! I know I already have too much planned, but it should be fun!

Week 1: Reed made a rocket ship and learned aboud Astronauts! It is now hanging on his wall.

Week 2: Reed learned about bugs and make a butterfly mask. Don't tell, but I accidentally left it on top of the car! I remembered a little while later, but it had been rained on. :( It is in the process of drying. Hopefully it will be ok. :)

5k and Frying Pan Farm

Saturday, October 9th was busy, busy, busy! But, it was awesome! It all started early in the morning in Reston, VA. I had signed up for the Anthem Great Pumpkin 5k. Originally, my mom was supposed to be jogging it, but she ended up not being able to go. Since I had already paid for it, I figured this race could be about trying to finish as fast as I can.

A 5k is 3.1 miles, so I was hoping to finish with about an 8-minute mile. The race started at 8:30 a.m., which ended up being a perfect time to start. We didn't even have to leave the house until 7:30, so no body was too cranky. :) As we arrived at Reston Town Center, I realized that this race was going to be huge! Turns out, there were over 3,000 people running/walking this race! Yeah, it was a little crazy.

When the first wave went, I was with them. They had all the timed runners go in the first wave. It was a little crazy as everyone started running. You could feel the intensity of some of these people. People were almost pushing each other to pass them. Yeah, a little intense. Luckily, I was able to stay with the pack and ended strong.

It really was a fast race. It felt like I started, ran for a few minutes, and then it was all over. My final time was 24:26! I was elated - a 7:52-minute mile! That is definitely a record for me. I have just never pictured myself as a competitive runner, but I guess I need to stop saying that. Running is becoming part of me. It is something that I can do wherever I am at. And honestly, I feel really good when I accomplish my goals. So, I guess I am a runner - maybe not the fastest in the bunch, but I am a runner. :)

After my race was over, Reed participated in a pumpkin dash. He was in the 4 years and under category and got to run with Tyson. It was so cute seeing all the little kids running. Reed did such a good job! He actually started weaving in between kids to be able to run faster! Looks like he may like running. :) He even got a little ribbon. So cute!

After the races were done, we headed to Herndon, VA to Frying Pan Farm. Reed and I have been here a few times, but have never gone on a tractor ride. Well, we had one half-price ticket, so we decided that a tractor ride would be so much fun! We were right! Reed loved every minute of the tractor ride. We rode through Frying Pan Farm and learned that it was the only working farm in Fairfax County. It is 160+ acres, which is not super big for a farm, but they do grow a lot of food. They have cows, horses, pigs, goats, chickens, rabbits, turkeys, ducks, peacocks, lambs, and some random Canadian geese that just happen to show up sometime.

After our tractor ride, we went to look at the farm animals. Pigs, geese, cows, horses, peacocks, ducks in a bath tub, you know, the fun stuff. Reed enjoyed running, looking at the animals, and hunting for a pumpkin. Yes, we got our pumpkin at their pumpkin patch. It was pretty "mushy" as I told Reed, but he didn't seem to care. Tyson and Reed found an awesome pumpkin for $5, so we were all happy.

We ate lunch on the picnic benches and then headed home for nap time. Yeah for fun days!

Pre-race picture

"On your marks (except for we didn't have any), get set,......

Go!!"

Tyson didn't get a picture of me at the end because I was just that fast. :)

It was a great race. I felt really good after it was all over.

Eve watching all the races.

Tyson and Reed - they are quite a running pair.

Reed was literally pulling Tyson forward to run faster! He was into it :)

On the tractor....

There is our fun tractor driver!

The chickens and roosters

The bunny

The lambs

Reed loved runing wherever he could!

Butler's Orchard

I cannot believe that Halloween is this month! Where has the time gone? I also can't believe that Christmas is right around the corner. I really do think it's true that time speeds up the older you get. Or maybe it's because you have more things to do. I don't know. Either way I know that we took our yearly trip to Butler's Orchard to get a pumpkin and ride on the slides.

This is the third time the we have gone to Butler's Orchard. I remember the first two times being cold and not wanting to stay very long because I had not prepared for the cold. This time it was not that way. We all had jackets and I was ready for a least a little bit of cold. The day turned out to be sunny and quite warm! I am not complaining, I will take heat over cold any day. But, it was just funny that the day I had prepared for it, the weather was the opposite. Ah well. It was gorgeous, sunny, and of course, windy.

We were supposed to go with Reed's little joy school that we just started, but only one other girl showed up. So, we had a good time together. We started off picking our apples, and then moved on to the slides. Those were an absolute hit with Reed and Gwyn. Reed was even brave and went down the slides all by himself, followed by Eve and me.

Then, Reed decided that it was time for the tractor hay ride. They took us through the woods where there were a bunch of Halloween decorations. The hay ride was by far Reed's favorite part. He loved being pulled by a tractor. Eve loved the hay. So really, it was a hit!

Then, they dropped us off at the pumpkin patch where we could choose two pumpkins. Reed was actually more concerned with getting back on the tractor, so he choose his pumpkin extremely fast. He sort of ran around for a little bit and then we got back in the hay.

All too soon our ride came to an end and it was time for lunch. We had a little picnic on our blanket and then headed home for the rest of the afternoon. A great day at Butler's Orchard!

The Slides - you had to sit on these sacks so that you could slide down. It was awesome!

The hay ride

Gwynne and Heather - our joy school buddies!

Reed and Eve with the pumpkins.

Reed had a hard time leaving the hay ride. He stood there and watched a few come and go. He finally walked away, but started crying because he wanted to go again. Poor buddy!

National Museum of African Art

Tyson and I are always looking to go to museums and other free things on Saturdays. We have been to almost every one now! I can almost check that off my imaginary list :) Well, one museum we had not visited was the National Museum of African Art. I don't think Tyson was super excited about this, but I was very interested to see what they had.

We could not take pictures inside the museum, so this outside shot will have to do, but the museum was actually cooler than we both thought it would be and a lot bigger than it looks from the outside. Almost the whole museum is underground (I thought that was awesome!) so you had to take stairs/elevators to get there. There were lots of rooms and it got kind of confusing at one point as to which way we were going, but we did make it through the maze (a lot of art museums do that - at least I think they do).

They had a bunch of different sculptures, sketches, short films, and even a couple of water fountains! I was intrigued by a number things. First, they had a section that had an Asian exhibit with sculptures from mostly Cambodia (random). Tyson almost thought it was Thai, but then looked closer. There were lots of elephants, buddhas, and Buddhist images.

Secondly, they had a whole display of Walt Disney's personal African Art collection. This had lots of animals (he loved animals....) and some amazing pieces. I don't remember if my favorite piece was found here or elsewhere, but I think it was here. My favorite piece was this ivory bracelet. It was so gorgeous! It was very intricately carved and just amazing to me. (No pictures, sorry!)

Thirdly, they had some random things, for example, water fountains! We all love water, but I think Reed loves water the most in our house. We found a few different fountains of water and Reed was in heaven! They also had this huge sculpture from the top of the the 1st floor to the bottom of the museum (I believe it was 3 floors underground). It was the word "monkey" is a bunch of different languages (I think 21?). Thai was on there, so that was exciting. I was also excited that German was on there.

Lastly, they had a huge exhibit of baskets! There are lots of people in North Carolina that practice basket weaving and make some amazing stuff! They use the techniques that have been passed down from their forefathers and are able to sell and use these baskets. It made me want to take a basket weaving class - they were beautiful!

So, I give a thumbs up to this museum! I didn't know if it would be a family pleaser, but everyone seemed to like it. :)

Looks small, right? Not so.

9 Months

My little miss turned 9 months old on September 23rd! I can't believe it! The time really does fly by faster each year. It is amazing to think that 9 months ago it was the beginning of the Snowpocalypse. Little Eve decided she needed to be here for Christmas and for all the snow. Brrrrrr.....

Eve seems to be doing everything about 2 months faster than Reed did. I think it is partly because she has an older brother to chase after and partly because she is a girl. I really don't know if it's true that girls develop faster than boys, but in my experience it has proven true.

Here are the stats of little Eve at 9 months:

Weight: 19 lbs., 13 oz. - 70%
Height: 28 in. - 55%
Head Circumferece: 17 1/2 in. - 50%

She is also doing lots of fun stuff: crawling up a storm, pulling up on everything, picking grubs up all over the floor (I always think the floor is clean until Eve finds all these grubs), babbling like crazy, laughing all the time, teething (at least 2 teeth, but I think 4), loves to fed herself, and loves bath time with Reed.

She is such a sweet little baby. I guess she is almost not a baby anymore. I feel like she is looking more and more like a little girl. Aaaahhhh! It's all happening so fast!

I have really loved getting to know her little personality. She is naturally such a happy and positive person. It's interesting to compare Reed and Eve - both have such good natures, just different. Reed was such a calm, contented, and happy baby. Eve is so spirited, giggly, and happy. It really is a nice combination to have both of these personalities together. They get along famously!

Eve in her favorite spot - the music!

She loves feeling all the books and pages with her fingers.

What? I just love playing in all the music!

In other news, we went to Old Navy recently to get another white church shirt (I had a coupon....yahoo!) and also ended up with a pair of cheap sun glasses. Sadly, my sun glasses from NY have broken a few times and just seem to keep breaking. So, we picked up a pair and, of course, had to take some modeling shots! Enjoy :)

Cheese!

Wanting more pictures.

The more serious look.

Eve checking out the glasses.

She pulled them off as soon as we got them on her.

We finally got the glasses on - for at least a second.

I do think I look a little like a bug, but it is better than not having anything to cover my eyes.

I really should be a model :) J/K