Evelyn June, 7 Months Old

Dear Evelyn,

I feel like I was posting the pictures from your 6 month mark just yesterday. Okay but really, it feels like I was having you, just yesterday. Actually, what did I do yesterday?

We have a weird bedtime routine going on right now. You fall asleep around the same time that I put your brother and sister to bed. You usually start to get really cranky right around the time that I'm reading them stories. This evening I nursed you while reading them a Sleeping Beauty book. You were mad, and I had to speak loudly enough for them to hear me over your cries. But we're all used to it.



After I put them to bed, I bring you down the stairs with me, and put you to bed in the bassinet down here. Yes, I know you have a crib in our room upstairs, but with the amount of fussing you do, and the lack of concentration that it gives me to not be able to hear you breathe- its just better that you stay down here until we call it a night.

And then I have to nurse you again upstairs.

And then you wake up in the middle of the night to nurse, and because I'm really no good to the world at 3am, you usually fall asleep on the breast, and we finish out the morning co sleeping.



I'm usually the one that brings you downstairs in the morning. The one time that I left you in the bedroom with Daddy, he slept right through your high pitched squeals of morning delight. So whether hes sleeping in, or hes out of bed before us, you usually walk down the steps in my arms, with your good morning outfit slung over my shoulder, your bink and giraffey in my free hand.



I suspect that you're allergic to bananas. After our attempt at eating them the other day (because you still refuse anything other than fresh warm milk from your Mama), you proceeded to give them right back to me in the most unpleasant of ways. Yet you did it with a smile on your face, so I thank you for that.

You still don't have any teeth.
I just thought you should know.

And its okay if we keep it that way. For now.



You kind of drift from arms to arms. Mine to Daddy's, Daddy's to mine. We set you down in your jumparoo or in your bouncer when we need to, but you usually let us know real quick if you're not havin' it.

You sit in our laps during meals, which is getting to be more and more difficult, since now all you want to do is reach for whatever it is that we're eating. Or even just the tools we use to eat it. Spoon, bowl- give it, says baby!



You're finally getting interested in your toys. They sat there in the laundry basket that we call your toy bin for months, collecting dust and paw prints from your siblings. But these days your hands are usually busy with Enaphent, your Tigger, or maybe a toy truck or two.



You're still pale. You still have red hair. And your eyes couldn't be any more blue.

You chew on paper.
Its gross.



Your big sister loves you. No matter what she says 10 years from now. She adores you. Sometimes she uses you as an excuse to attempt rule breaking. "But I just want to look at Evelyn!", she says, as if we'll fall for it. Some of the time its true though, she really does just want to be near you. She holds you in her lap, and you look at us as if we're crazy.

If Mommy isn't holding me, and Daddy isn't holding me, then who the hell is?

Did I mention you still have red hair? More and more of it every day.



I'm not going to lie to you here, baby. You're not developing as quickly as other babies your age. Especially when it comes to the use of your legs. You won't put your full weight on your legs. Not ever, for anything. And just the other day I noticed something very strange about your right knee. It scared me to near death, and I suspect it might have something to do with your failure to stand. We visit the doctor tomorrow. We'll see what he says.

You're just now getting good at laying on your tummy. You can hold your head up for longer lengths of time, but you still can't get up onto your arms. You certainly can't get up onto your knees. I doubt you'll be crawling before your 10th birthday.

Lazy legs and all though, we love you we love you we love you.



You're always happy. And that makes us happy.

As long as someone is lovin' on you, you're lovin' right back.

Daddy likes to hold you in his lap while he does homework. I like to hold you in my lap while I play with pictures. You're pretty familiar with the computer desk. I try to keep you bouncing, assuming it keeps you entertained for longer.

Hey. Could you do me a favor? Learn how to keep your binky in your mouth. K thanks.



When I look at you, I still see an itty bitty baby. When I look at other babies your age, I see toddlers. I'm slowing the time down in my mind, because you just can't grow up as fast as your brother and sister are. You can't.

Promise me you won't.

Love you, little one.
See you in an hour for your midnight snack.