7 Weeks

My sweet angel baby lived up to the meaning of her name, Evangeline - one who brings good news - on her 7 week birthday.  It was, of course, sad news for my family, but ultimately good news for my grandfather that he was able to pass on to his glorious reward on Friday.
He had suffered from metastatic prostate cancer for months, and from the moment he knew that his time with us was drawing to a close one of his final wishes was to meet Evie, his third great-granddaughter.  I'd had a trip to Waco planned for several weeks, and I was originally going to arrive on January 28th.  However, on Wednesday night my mom let me know that he would certainly not make it until then.  This time Nick's crazy work schedule worked to our advantage, as he was able to drive me home on Thursday and fly back on Friday without having to take off any time.
We drove through the night on Thursday after Nick finished work, arriving in Waco shortly after 4am.  Evie did fabulously in the car - what a blessing!  We woke up as early as possible on Friday and headed to my grandparents' house.  Although he couldn't open his eyes or communicate with us, we brought Evie in to meet my granddad.  Mom helped him touch her precious little feet, and we made her cry so that he could hear her (this sweet baby is not a big crier so it was actually quite a task).  Mark, Nick, and I all got to speak to him, and then about an hour and a half later he peacefully passed away.  At the very end he was surrounded by 4 generations of Colvin women who loved him - my grandmother, mother, myself, and Evie were all there in the room when he left us. 
We all believe that he was just waiting to meet Evie before he let go.  When Mom told him on Thursday that we were on our way he miraculously moved an arm and a leg.  He'd stopped taking fluids on Tuesday so making it to Friday was a miracle in itself.  We all miss him terribly, but are so glad that his suffering is over.  Our sweet Evie angel baby released him. 

6 Weeks

On Friday Evie turned 6 weeks old.  In case we might have forgotten her age, we've been constantly reminded of it since her 6 week growth spurt has been in full swing the past several days!  She has been eating every 2 hours on the dot during the daytime but stuck to her four hour schedule during every night except Saturday when she slept really reslessly and woke up every 3 hours to eat.  Frankly, she's been pretty cranky this week, which means we haven't had much playtime.  Since she's spent most of her awake time fussing and crying, we have spent it trying to help her calm down and get comfortable.  And don't even get me started on the spit-up!  Yesterday she spit up 7 times before she was even dressed for the day!!!  I think that her hungry, growing tummy has just been demanding more than it can actually process, thus the spit up problems. 
Last night, when I had really reached my breaking point (Nick was at work from 2am-midnight) everything re-set to normal!  Phew!  Evie went right to sleep after I fed her at midnight and slept soundly until I woke her at 4am.  I let her sleep as long as she wanted after that, and she went until almost 9am!!!  Thank you Evie!  This morning she has been very happy, smiling and cooing and playing with her rattle.
Still, I don't have a great 6 week picture because, as you can imagine, capturing one this week was a challenge. 
Here's hoping that we have a happier baby this week!

5 Weeks

Yea!  We made it to 5 weeks!



Trying really hard to smile.  She finally did it this morning, but of course I didn't have the camera handy.



We are battling a case of baby acne.  I guess Evie is embarassed and trying to cover it up!

As far as Evie's routine goes, not much has changed since last week.  She is awake a lot during the day and sleeps great at night.  My iPhone alarm didn't work one night this week, and she made it 5 hours without a peep between feedings.  I can't wait until we get the okay from the doctor to let her go completely on-demand at night!  She is starting to grasp a lot - reaching out for Finlay's fur, grabbing my shirt while she's eating, and trying to hold onto toys while we're having play time.  She can also hold her head up on her own really well if you just sit her up.  I packed away all her newborn clothes a few days ago.  They still fit circumference-wise, but were too short in the legs and sleeves.  Some of the 0-3 months clothes still swallow her, but they are much easier to get on and off, and at least she can stretch her legs out in them. 

This week we had a few more firsts.  Evie made her first trip to the grocery store.  She hung out in her Moby wrap and helped me with a quick shopping trip.  I talked to her the whole time we were in the store, and we got a few crazy looks!  My mom did the constant narration thing with me, and she attributes my prodigious childhood vocabulary to it so bring on those crazy looks!  Evie also had her first playdate.  A friend here, Danielle, arranged it at her house.  Evie got to hang out with Danielle's daughter, Sophia, who was born 2 days before Evie in the exact same LDR room.  I'm hosting the playdate Monday at our house.  Of course it's more for the moms at this point, but I hope that as the kids grow they'll become good friends.