The Rejects....

Here are some of the "reject" pictures that will not be appearing on Evelyn's birth announcement. By the way, I have come to a partial decision as to where her birth announcement will come from. I don't quite know why I have turned such a simple thing as selecting a birth announcement into a major ordeal. Most likely, the announcement I choose will not affect Evelyn's choice of college, her potential salary earnings, or her ability to purchase her own home one day. Yet, this is the thing I find haunting me at 3am while I wonder why Nick at Night is showing another episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air....

We took these pictures in Isaac's room by his window. He was quite excited over the fact that some of his things had been placed on his big boy bed to make room for the photo shoot. Here he is happily perched on his chair "Ribbit" on top of his bed....
Look at that double chin!

If you haven't noticed, Evelyn has "stork bites" at the corners of her eyes and one in the center of her forehead. I know there is a technical term for "stork bites" but I was in a bit of post-birth haze when the nurse told me. Lots of kids have these little markings and they usually fade by the end of toddlerhood. I am not sure why...but I love these little markings on Evelyn.

Yes, I had to bribe Isaac in order to get him to sit and have his picture taken with the baby. However, he is currently quite easy to bribe. I told him he could sit in his ribbit chair on his big boy bed if he would just take a few pictures. I might not be so lucky with easy bribes in a few years...

Isaac loves to clean...here he is cleaning his window ledge with a wet wipe
Isaac has become quite the puzzle fanatic. He has quickly moved from basic wooden shape puzzles into jigsaw puzzles. Here he is working his nine piece tiger jigsaw puzzle that is quite difficult. We are on a constant search for challenging puzzles for him.

Obviously this puzzle session was after nap time , thus the reason for the nice bedhead

We had a lovely Memorial Day weekend that included a family trip to Target where we purchased Isaac a super cool pool for the summer, super cool work news for Tobe, breakfast at the Cracker Barrel where I consumed no less than four cups of coffee, two movie nights once the kids were in bed (films viewed were "Shut Up and Sing" and "Children of Men"...both great flicks), a shopping trip alone in search of clothes that fit, Tobe surprising me with super cool new tennis shoes (even Isaac thinks they are cool), our first batch of fruit salsa for the summer (I will post this recipe soon--it is a great summer treat!), and a grocery store trip to Central Market involving just Isaac and me in which every customer felt the need to talk to Isaac about the apple he was eating quite adorably (Central Market has a kids fruit stand where you can purchase pre-washed fruit for your child to munch while you shop). I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend as much as we did here at casa de phillips!

A Girl Needs Shoes

Aren't these shoes the most precious thing you have ever seen? Regardless of the fact that there were tears shed over the wearing of these shoes (Evelyn's, not mine), I have to say that I love everything about these tiny shoes...the pink color, the satin bows, the fact that someone created ballerina flats for a newborn.

The above picture was one of 108 that I shot yesterday attempting to get a usable picture for birth announcements. The photo shoot was a success....so much so that I am now scouring the Internet to find cheap birth announcements that allow you to use more than one image. Not an easy task, my friend, especially considering I refuse to pay $2.00 or more per announcement. I want people to know about our new baby girl...but not for two bucks a card.

I will post more pictures from yesterday's photo shoot once I decide on exactly which pictures are announcement worthy (and find cheap birth announcements....any suggestions?). Until then, I will let you share in the preciousness that is newborn ballerina slippers....

A Walk on the Wild Side

Today I felt adventurous and thought it would be a great idea to take the children for a walk around our neighborhood. Knowing that rain has been predicted for the remainder of the day through the weekend, I wanted to give Isaac the chance to play outside for awhile before we were confined to the house. Yesterday we cleaned up the double stroller that I bought months ago at a consignment sale (it is in great condition--just dusty from sitting in the garage for nine months), only to discover that it is missing the snack tray for the back seat. This is a big deal because it is the back seat where the baby carrier goes and the snack tray is the main hooking component for the baby carrier. I jumped on the Graco website last night to see if I could order a replacement part. I discovered that I could, however I needed the model number and serial number of the stroller which is conveniently located on the rear left leg on a white sticker. Uh...our little white sticker is missing. I emailed Graco and they think they can replace the part but I now feel as if we purchased this stroller on the baby black market and it's serial number has been filed off.

Because our double stroller is not in working condition as of yet, I opted to put Evelyn in our single stroller and let Isaac walk beside me and the three of us take a mere stroll around the neighborhood rather than on a longer, more scenic route. Our neighbor is quite quaint, only having three small streets that make a circle. In thirty minutes we had only made it to the end of one street. Isaac wanted to push the stroller, smell every flower, and look for "cir-cells" (circles). Not quite the cardiovascular event I hoped for, but it was a fun time. The fun came to an end when a light mist of rain turned into a heavier rain, which meant I had to carry Isaac while pushing the stroller and make a dash for the house. This was also not the type of cardiovascular event I had planned on, but Isaac was laughing hysterically by the time we made it to the safety of our garage.

Here are some latest pictures because I know that is why the majority of you check this blog...

Evelyn after her second PKU test yesterday

(A little bit of a traumatic event because the lab tech could not get Evelyn to bleed enough for the test and had to stick both heels. Apparently she clots very quickly. This led the tech to think that Evelyn did not need a band-aid, which resulted in her heel prick bleeding all over my jeans. I would demand payment from the hospital for these jeans, except for it happens to be Tobe's employer....and the jeans were actually maternity jeans anyway that I am ready to burn.)

Isaac peeking into the co-sleeper to see what Evelyn is doing.

Yes, there is video of this but I am having a hard time loading it. Perhaps tonight I can get to that. Isaac has wet hair in this picture because he decided at breakfast that yogurt makes a lovely hair gel.One behavior that Isaac has been exhibiting the past few days is to do things that the baby is doing. She started fussing in the car and he let out a fake cry (but quickly stopped when reprimanded and now when she cries, Isaac and I sing a song called "Be happy...not sad"). He also wants to sit in the Boppy like she does (see below picture) and wants a blanket laid on the floor to lay on as well. However, he quickly gets bored of resting in the Boppy or lying on a blanket and sets off for more "mature" things such as puzzles and Little People.Here are some shots I took of Evelyn this morning. I attempted to re-create a picture we had taken of Isaac to see how similar (and how different) they look. Isaac's picture is at the bottom. I think in these shots their mouths are similar.

Sunday night a college friend of ours stopped by to see Evelyn and Isaac and eat dinner at casa de Phillips. We ordered pizza and had a lovely feast at the coffee table. After everyone was done eating and we were sitting around chatting, Isaac picked up the phone, pressed a few buttons and had the following conversation with someone on the other end:

Isaac: "Hello? Pee-pa (Pizza)! Bye-Bye!"

Smart boy---he knew to order us more pizza because the box was empty!

Taking "Ev-in" to the Park

Friday my mother and I loaded up both children and set out for our local park. Isaac was quite excited about having company in the backseat (despite the fact that his company cried the entire way to the park--it was time to eat again after the long task of preparing and loading up two children to leave the house). I can say that this first outing was a success....mainly because I had another adult with me to help Isaac negotiate the playground equipment while I fed and watched the baby.

Here are a few snapshots of this first brother/sister outing:

Obviously, this is my child because he shares a love of Sonic drinks

(No fears--it is simply apple juice and not one of the 42,000 drink combinations that Sonic offers)

Isaac loves to sit on the "big rock"

Evelyn was obviously impressed by our local park/botanical gardens

Here are a few snapshots I stole off my mother's camera before she returned home.

This morning was my first attempt as a mommy of two on my own. 7:15am found me making one bottle and one apple juice, holding one ten day old baby, and keeping a pacifier in with my pinkie....all at the same time. We survived this first day with minimal tears, naps were taken by everyone, and Isaac only hit his head twice on our wrought iron sofa table/coffee table legs (this actually happened once Tobe was home).

Isaac's new word for the day was "Fantastic!" which is quite hilarious. I am trying to teach him how to use it appropriately in the course of a conversation. Isaac continues to enjoy the baby, often wanting to pat his sister "Ev-in." I took a great video of him today attempting to climb into the baby's co-sleeper so he could "pay" with her and found him yesterday starting to put a piece of paper into her bed (which she was in at the time). Obviously brother/sister play time is highly monitored.

As I proofread this post, I can tell it is time for this mommy to go to bed. Many sentences that I typed above had words or complete thoughts left out of them (I think I remedied the problem, but no need to mention if my ramblings are more scattered than usual) and are indicative of my lack of a solid eight hours of sleep at night. Thanks for making it to the end of this post---good night, dear reader!

I have to admitt that I am overjoyed with the fact that I am raising children in the era of digital cameras. I think we would have spent $300 on film alone in the past week if it weren't for our lovely digital camera. I shudder to think of what new parents did during those few years when the polaroid camera was the big deal, along with its ten dollar box of cartridges....

Here are some latest snapshots of life at casa de phillips:

Surrounded by pink...

Who would have thought I would go so overboard with the pink? However, it compliments the hair nicely I think.

First Bath

(Much better experience than Isaac's first tub time. For some reason, we felt like it was a good idea to bath him in his baby bath tub in the middle of our large, air conditioned living room. This decision was made by four intelligent adults--two of whom had raised three children together. However, we wised up with Miss Evelyn and performed her first home bath in the warmth of the bathroom. She had quite the spa experience!)

Picnic in the Backyard

(In case you haven't figured out, Isaac's "big brother" job is to push the music button on the swing. He takes this responsibility quite seriously.)

Post-doctor's appointment pictures

(Evelyn weighed in at 8 pounds 1 ounce and is now 22 inches long!)

Our Little Secret...

We have a little secret over here at casa de Phillips....

Miss Evelyn Kathleen has BROWN hair! I don't think we mentioned it in any of our posts on Friday, but we were shocked to see such lovely amounts of brown hair on her head. She also seems to have the same skin tone as Tobe....which means Isaac and I will be slathering on the SPF 80 while Tobe and Evelyn will be applying a mere SPF 15 while the family lounges at the pool.

Many have asked how Isaac has reacted to the baby. Tobe brought Isaac to the hospital around 10am on Saturday morning. Isaac simply laid all curled up on my shoulder for a good ten minutes before even looking at his surroundings. He peeked at the baby, but was more interested in the crushed ice provided by the hospital rather than Evelyn. He returned that afternoon after his nap and again was more interested in the ice than the baby. Both times he left the hospital with a simple "Bye Mommy!" rather than tears---which was nice, but I think a little sadness over the fact that he was leaving without me would have been a boost to this Mommy's ego. He has been running a low-grade fever since Friday evening, which is my personal excuse as to why he was not more heart-broken over leaving me behind.

Yesterday baby and I returned home after waiting forever to be discharged from the hospital (I was discharged at 9am.....Evelyn at 1am when the pediatrician who was on-call for our normal doctor decided to make her way to the hospital and round). Isaac was napping when we got home so he didn't see the baby until later in the afternoon. That was not exactly a joyful brother/sister reunion and there were many tears shed at first over the appearance of Evelyn in the room or anywhere near me. However, he did warm up as the night went on and today he is quite interested in her. He can say her name, which is sweet (and sounds much like his words for Elmo, Elbow, and Elephant but it is still sweet). Right now both of my babies are napping and I am about to join them. Although Miss Evelyn is a champion eater, it appears that her awake time is in the middle of the night. This does not sync up with my idea of "awake time" so I am struggling today!

Here are some more pictures! Enjoy!

Isaac's favorite part of the hospital--the large cup of crushed "Sonic" ice

I love this picture because Tobe is sitting in my hospital bed with a boppy and newborn daughter....They are watching basketball together for the first time!

Waiting (and waiting some more) to go home

Evelyn in her going home outfit

(Isaac wore the same outfit, but the boy version, when we took him home)

Isaac showing Evelyn his barn and all of his "people"
Isaac and Evelyn hanging out with Daddy this morning while Mommy slept

9:40pm

Lynley here...

Okay so six hours ago little Miss Evelyn arrived into this world! I have to say that this day was just absolutely wonderful--a bit painful at times, but wonderful! We feel so blessed by the comments left by all of you. It is nice to know that we have many friends and family who love us enough to even be interested and genuinely excited about the birth of our precious daughter. Thank you, thank you, Thank you!

We are getting settled in for the evening and I am about to take a lovely little sleeping pill. Miss Evelyn is going to attend the slumber party in the nursery for the evening.

The birth went beautifully, with only an hour of actual pushing. Tobe is an excellent labor coach and knows exactly how to encourage me without being too harsh or too "sissy." If his whole PhD thing doesn't work out, he might have a future career as a doula. Unfortunately our doctor did not make it for the actual delivery--Evelyn just decided to come out quickly at the end and another doctor who happened to be standing in the hall jumped in to assist our nurse. The baby looked great and has already proven to be a champion eater. At this time, I feel great (could be the pain medicine speaking or perhaps the vast amount of food I have consumed in the past six hours--yes I did get my Jason's deli!) and feel a bit more prepared for the rollarcoaster of hormone-induced emotions that will surely come in these first few days of Mommyhood.

Isaac has yet to meet his beautiful little sister. We decided that it would be best for him to come visit her in the morning when he is rested and happy. However, we have already been telling Evelyn all the things that Isaac will soon teach her--such as how to order at restaurants, how to "keen" (clean--one of his favorite pastimes), and how to get Mommy and Daddy to do anything you want with just a simple "peas" (please). Although Isaac has been in excellent hands all day and likely hasn't noticed that Tobe and I were not around, the mommy in me missed him dearly today. I think my heart might just explode now that I have another sweet baby to love to pieces.

Thanks again, dear readers, for taking the time to think of us today. We know the Lord has greatly blessed us with the best friends, family, and co-workers. We love you all!

Lynley

PS. I am sure Tobe will add new pictures tomorrow--so check back in!

PPS. Rest assured that never again will I dictate a blog post after the initial injection of epidural medicine. I just read over that post and all I can say is YIKES!

Evelyn Kathleen Phillips

She has arrived!!!
She was born at 3:40 PM on Friday, May 11th, 2007. She weighs 7 lbs. 9 oz., is perfect in every way, and is currently lying in Lynley's arms eating.