Home for Christmas

I'm so excited to go home for the holidays🎄🎅

The last time we were home for Christmas was 2013! That's crazy. 

I know time will fly while we're home. It will be over before we know it, but it's going to be so fun with three babes running/crawling around. Unfortunately, there's no snow in Iowa. I was really hoping for white Christmas. 

See you soon, Iowa!

Here's where we've been the last few years for Christmas: 2016, 2015, 2014

Ten Months

How is it December? This has been the fastest year of my life...

Evie is the sweetest little thing. She's a social butterfly. She loves smiling and chatting to anyone who looks at her. Everyone always comments on how happy she is. 

She loves playing cat and mouse with Brady. She prefers to be in my arms and have Brady slowly sneak up on her. She squeals with excitement. We do this every day and it never gets old. Is there any sound better than your baby laughing? 

There hasn't been much change with her sleeping habits. She still goes to bed around 6:30. She has started waking up around 5:00😒 but usually goes back to sleep for a couple hours after I nurse her. She's still boycotting naps at daycare, but fortunately she naps well at home. 

Evie is obsessed with sweet potatoes. By far, her favorite food at the moment. If we put an other food on her tray she will eat all of the sweet potatoes first. She also likes spaghetti, salmon, pancakes (made with eggs, banana, oatmeal). She's not crazy about broccoli or avocado anymore. Maybe I overdid it? She had her first taste of apple crisp a couple weeks and she loved it. 

She is now saying "mama" and "dada.". Sometimes it seems to be in reference to Brady and I, but other times it's just chatter. She babbles to herself (and her toys) all the time. She also claps constantly. It's so cute. She's just started waving in the past week.

Evie had her first illness this month. She had croup right before Thanksgiving. The seal cough was awful and she vomited for the first time which was terrifying. Apparently it was a mild case and she didn't require any medication, but it shook Brady and I.

She also got two more bottom teeth bringing the grand total to eight (four on bottom and four on top). It feels like she's going to get molars soon. 

Previous posts: Nine Months, Eight Months, Seven Months, Six Months, Five Months, Four Months, Three Months, Two Months, One Month

Weekend Update

This weekend was a blogging fail.

I only took one picture...

We're heading back to Iowa on Saturday. This was my last weekend to get shiz done. I've had a ton of errands on my to-do list. I finally finished my Christmas shopping. I started packing. I also had to do the usual like workout, meal-prep, clean the condo. 

Is it Saturday yet?

Weekly Wardrobe

Loving these Ann Taylor sweaters and Rothy's...

Tuesday

GAP Tee

Helmut Lang Sweater (old, similar)

Paige Denim

Rothy's

Thursday

Ann Taylor Sweater

Frame Denim

Rothy's

Friday

GAP Tee

Ann Taylor Cardigan

Frame Denim

Tieks

Weekend Update

This weekend looked a lot like last weekend...

We made a pear and prosciutto salad on Friday night. It was so good! We followed this recipe, but added the prosciutto and a little brown sugar to the walnuts😋 Yum. We also watched Catastrophe for the tenth time.

 Evie eating dinner and clapping😂  I love this stage

Saturday was a shopping day. We went to U Village, but left empty-handed... just like last weekend. The weather was great and we had a delicious lunch at Ba Bar so it wasn't all bad. I've realized I can only shop online. 

 A busy bee

 She loves watching everyone around her

 Pork belly and pho - Evie loved both!

 Sunshine

 Add this to the list of things only a dad would do

Sunday was the usual... meal-prep, workout, family walk. I also started watching season 2 of The Crown on Netflix👌

Friday

We're going home for Christmas!! I'm so excited! We haven't been home in two years😳 I don't know how that happened, but we need to do better. It will be great to spend Evie's first Christmas with our families. We'll be home the entire week so hopefully we'll get to catch up with everyone and still have time to relax. The holidays are going to be so much more fun with this babe! 

Random (Baby) Snaps

My entire camera roll is Evie...

 New toys!

 I love these thighs 

 Blair & Ev on the swings

 Not so impressed with the slide 

 Eating by herself.... so grown up

 This face😍

 Early mornings with dada

 Sophie for a hat... fair trade

 She did have her face pressed against the window right before this pic💛

Brady and Evie are twins 

Weekend Update

Sorry for the lack of posts last week. I felt awful. It's been a very slow recovery since Vancouver. 

We took it easy this weekend. Friday night was festive. We watched Home Alone and put up the Christmas tree🎄 We got an artificial tree this year. It makes me a little sad, but I didn't want Evie crawling around on pine needles. So far, she's been really good with the tree. It's the presents that she's after. She wants to chew on every wrapped present. 

We went shopping in Bellevue on Saturday, but the mall was crazy. We didn't last long. The line to see Santa was endless. We'll have to do that another time. We also didn't buy anything lol. There were just too many people. I made some returns, we ate an early dinner then headed home. 

 The Bellevue mall does Christmas well

 Loved the decor outside

Sunday was chill. A walk with Evie, a (painfully slow) run, meal-prepping... the usual. 

 Look at that bedhead

 Admiring the Christmas tree(s)

 Chilly walk

Vancouver, B.C.

We spent another Thanksgiving in Canada! 

Last year we went to Victoria (post linked here) and this year we visited Vancouver. Evie's first time in Canada😊

To be honest, it wasn't the best trip. We probably shouldn't have gone since we were all sick. Brady and I felt awful the entire time. We were living on coffee and pseudoephedrine. Evie was actually the healthiest out of the three of us after having croup last week.

We cut the trip short by one day. We drove up on Wednesday night and came back Friday night. It's so much better to travel with a baby at night! Evie did great - slept nearly the entire time. 

We visited our favorite brunch spots - Jam Cafe and Twisted Fork. This is what we look forward to most when we visit Vancouver. Is that sad? 

 First things first

 Brunch buddies

 First time in a booster seat

 She's so grown up (she was stalking the ladies next to us)

We lucked out with the weather on Thursday - no rain and even a bit of sunshine! We strolled the downtown area, shopped, walked along the water. Then we went back to the hotel so Evie all three of us could nap😴

 We're in a clapping phase

 Beautiful walk

 Stroll through the marina

The Capilano Suspension Bridge Park was celebrating their Winter Lights Festival. Brady and I visited Capilano in the summer of 2015 (post linked here) so we had an idea of what to expect. This was crazy. I couldn't believe how many lights there were - they covered so much ground and reached the tallest trees. It was impressive. Definitely the highlight of the trip!

 Little bear is ready to see some lights

 Picking out Christmas ornaments

 I loved how the lights reflected off the water

 The suspension bridge

 These cuties

 Family photo

 Canopy walk

 They didn't skimp

 My girl