Eve, mother of all the living

Our Little Sitter



For those of you who follow my blog just for Eve Updates, this post's for you!


Evie Poo-Poo (as we so affectionately call her) is 5 1/2 months old. She's the sweetest, goofiest, happiest baby ever! She's sitting like a pro! She loves playing in her exasaucer & rolling around on the floor. As I mentioned in my last post, she's trying her hardest to crawl. She gets more sturdy on her hands & knees every day.



I taught her how to read last week.


She's loves her bed! Sometimes I'll hear her playing in there for up to 30 minutes when I put her down. I know "they" say you shouldn't let babies play in their beds, but who cares! She's a dynamite sleeper so I let her play away! She's been sleeping 12+ hours every night. She's always been such a good sleeper. When she wakes up she just plays & lays in her bed til I come get her.

Her morning chore is to make the coffee.


Her favorite toys are her froggy paci, a giraffe, Daddy & a whisk I let her play with when I'm cooking. She loves faces! It cracks Grandaddy up that she's always trying to put his nose in her mouth. She's such a people baby! She loves her Jo-Jo & Grandaddy & even reaches out to go to them over Momma. Daddy, of course, is one of her favorites. He wrestles with her & she just laughs & laughs! She loves two of my "baby brothers," Parrish & Samuel. They were so interested in her all during my pregnancy & were always the first people to run up & talk to my belly. Now, she's one of their favorite little people!

Tickle time with Daddy.

Right before I took this picture she was hitting the chest with her toy there on the floor. I think she was trying to open it. lol She's going to be a mess when she finally starts crawling!

Rain, Projects, & Grandparents

Today was such a lazy, snugly, shnuckums-wuckums day! Eve & I were up early enough to be on our way to my mom's by 9:15 to work on a sewing project. I knew it'd been pouring down rain all night (such a sweet lullaby!), but I was surprised to see how hard it was still coming down when I opened the garage door. But with Eve securely strapped in her "bucket" (that's what my dad calls her car seat ... I like it!) & her & all of our tote-alongs in the car, we were committed. We waded in safely & I was glad we braved the weather.

While Granny Jo-Jo (my mom) & I worked on our projects, Grandaddy (my dad) minded Eve. By this I mean he rolled around with her on the floor & almost wet his britches laughing at watching her play with & try to fit his entire watch in her mouth (their most favorite pastime). She wants to crawl soooo badly! Won't be long! It looks like she's saying "I'm trying to crawl here, what of it?!"

My mom organizes a Round Robin Quilt-A-Thon with some of her friends from time to time & this is the first one I'll participate it. It's amazing how being a full-time nursing student while planning a wedding & having a baby can keep you from sewing! Go figure! So mom was helping me finish up my starter square. I lovers it! It will eventually be a bedspread for Justin's & my bed when it's done. Our bedroom is painted red & right now it's decorated in blacks, grays & browns. I wanted to keep that color scheme going but added some blue cuz it's the hubby's favorite color. I wanted the design to be kind of mellow & tranquil & something that invited you to crawl underneath & snuggle down. The borders are going to be done in a Japanese theme but in keeping with my colors. I can't wait to see the finished product!!

Yesterday I filled up the fridge (literally!) with fresh pureed fruits & veggies for Eve. I love baby food making day! So another project mom & I accomplished today was milling some rice for Evie's cereal. Up til now I've been grinding a little bit at a time in my handy dandy coffee grinder. Which has worked okay but gives it more of a sandy consistency instead of something creamy. So my mom got the idea to run the brown rice through her wheat grinder. It worked like magic!! It's now the consistency of flour & cooks up very creamy & smooth. The very best part is that I spent a whopping $2 on the rice & it's enough cereal to last Eve at least 3 months!

A Hairy Ordeal

My mind's going crazy with post ideas tonight!

So for the last yearish or so I've been contemplating dreadlocks. I completely dismissed the idea earlier this year when I watched a woman get 10-year-old dreads cut out on a makeover show. She did not maintain them well at all. They were completely nasty, stinky & full of 10 years of ... well, crap that gets in your hair & stays there when you don't wash it.

Not to long ago I discovered Sara's blog, Walk Slowly, Live Wildly. She inspired me to reconsider. Her dreads are lovely! She does a great job at maintaining them & keeping them clean & neat. I emailed her to ask her some questions & see if she could clear up some rumors that go along with dreads. Anywho ...

So this week I've been having a mental debate with myself ~ grow my hair back out or put dreads in. I thought it'd be fun to put a poll up & see what you thought (whoever "you" is). Plus, it'd let me know if people are actually reading this thing.

Now for the big people food ...

Hello, I'm Abby & I'm addicted to the Food Network. It's true. I love it, love it! I even have the Food Network Wii game, Chop or be Chopped. I love cooking/baking & the Food Network completely inspires me (to either cook or eat). My friend Sarah shares my sentiments ... sorta. It's safe to say she's not as crazy as I am. But because Justin refuses to watch cooking shows with me, Sarah is my foodie buddie. I ask her on a regular basis to tell me why we're not trying to get on the show, 24 Hour Restaurant. She very calmly brings me back to reality. Okay, so a restaurant may not be in my future, but that won't stop me from expiramenting & creating in my own kitchen.

The other night, mashed potatoes were on my menu. My muy carniverous husband pretty much insists on eating bacon on or in everything. He's very easy to please! I'm going back to my vegetarian diet so I made His & Hers potatoes. Justin's ended up with bacon (of course!), cheddar cheese, butter & Cacique Crema Mexicana. Yummmmm! I went Greek with mine ~ basically because it's what I had in the fridge. So mine consisted of tzatziki (a Greek yogurt dip), herbed feta & garlic infused olive oil (something I learned how to do from watching the Food Network). Mmmmmm! To go along with my taters, I decided to try a Greek salmon flatbread sandwich. Thank God for CostCo! They have these amazing salmon patties that are to die for! I threw one in the oven then put it on flatbread with tzatziki, kalamata olives & herbed feta. It was all so easy & so delicious!


So I try my hardest not to jump on band wagons ... of any kind! However, I've taken a huge leap onto the cupcake wagon! I love em! I watch shows about them. I drive a 1/2 hour away to buy them. They're just so adorable & creamy & eccentric! So I've decided I'm going to make cupcakes for Eve's 1st birthday (yes, she's only 5 months old & I'm already thinking about it). I've decided to play with different recipes between now & then. I want to make them flavorful but healthy. So I found this recipe for agave nectar cupcakes. SCORE! They turned out soooooo delicious! It was a generic vanilla flavor but I'm going to expirament with a different flavor and also with wheat flour. I ran across an agave nectar frosting recipe as well. It tasted a little bit like what you'd think bad morning breath tastes like. So my search continues ...


Here's the link to the recipes I used. This chick agrees that the frosting recipe is bad, so attempt at your own risk! My Achy Bakey Heart