The Beachy Beach

We went to Destin and it was a-mazing!

I made sure to get an ocean front room so we could walk straight to the beach...no car required! This was our view from our room when we first got there.

And we even had a view on the side of our balcony - to the swimming pool! Which was the most exciting part of Eva's vacation. She would go out on the balcony and just sit in the corner and stare at the pool for MINUTES at a time! Like a lot of minutes...

But we had great weather the whole time, and it was just great!

Oh and we figured out how to get Eva to smile for pictures....she has this great fake laugh montage she does, and one-third of it involves smiling :)

Another third involves a big open mouth such as this

And then the other third is this darling face! Also notice her hand on her hip...I am teaching her all the tricks early!

And then she kissed me straight on the mouth!

And then she took the longest nap on the beach ever...three hours long and we had to wake her up when we were leaving...but I understand. The ocean sounds! (Her normal naps are 1.5-2 hrs)

While she slept we took turns swimming out to an embankment you could stand up on in the ocean maybe 100 yards out? It was SUPER cool, I went first and on my way back saw twenty jumping/flying fish! So I knew it was magical and then I made George do it. He made it out there, stayed there forever and then made it back and told me I'd have to try harder than that to kill him. He has a reeeeally dramatic story about his experience and how he wanted to flag down the boat behind him because he knew he'd drown if he tried to swim back to shore and a bunch of other details that he really wants to make into an episode of "I shouldn't be alive." He only saw one jumping/flying fish.

Oh and Eva would go out in the waves a little bit, but she much preferred the safety of her dirty warm little river...she really loved playing in this thing with all her shovels and buckets.

Don't mind all the re-used photos.

The second morning we were there Eva woke up ridiculously early (from the one hour jet lag time zone difference), but it ended up working out for us. We opened up our balcony and saw...DOLPHINS! Lots of dolphins swimming in small groups in between the embankment and the shore. And then a huge flock of pelicans flew right over our heads! And THEN we saw two giant shadows swimming right along the shore almost and decided they were sting rays. It was like animal planet right in front of us!!

On our last day we got our kite out and walked down for a last hurrah in the sand. We got a picture of a bird and fish together.

This girl loves sand. So much.

The end.

 

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Randoms...

Never published facts from about two weeks ago:

Eva says "excuse me" to people and also to inanimate objects such as her little rocking chair if it's in the way, things on the floor she's trying to walk around, things in her car seat cup holder she's taking out, etc.

Her favorite movie is frozen, or "snowman" as she calls it. I have the soundtrack on spotify and when she hears one of the opening songs, either the ice song or the opening credits song, she comes running in front of the tv to check if it's on.

She loves singing happy birthday to lots of different people in our extended family, to the baby boy a lot, but mostly to Rosalyn Bush, i.e. her middle and last name. She is reeeeally excited to have a birthday party. I told her we could have one when baby boy is born and she brings up party hats at least once a day. Big big big party hats for everyone and teeny tiny little little party hats for the baby. She also makes accompanying finger pinching motions when saying big or little.

Easter was the BEST. Apparently kids are awesome! Eva was SO excited to find her Easter basket on the coffee table after spinning in a few circles by the window looking all over for it. She also loved finding eggs outside in the backyard - as soon as she found one she had to sit down and open it up and play with whatever was inside. Thank goodness there was no candy in them and only her already owned toys and jewelry :)

She wakes up in the morning shouting out various things....today it was "fruit snacks! Buy some!"

 

 

 

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Eva loves....

Baby dolls. So much. But they can't have clothes on, they have to be naked. We were at the grocery store and she pulled two boxes of baby dolls out while I was getting her diapers on a near aisle and she had to take all of their hats off before she/we could put the boxes back They all started out their day with their hats on :) I'm positive

She also loves diapering babies and wrapping them in blankets, washcloths, glasses polishing cloths, necklaces...over and over everywhere throughout the house.

She loves to be changed in the sun because that's where the kitties lay. Consequently, her babies love to be changed in the sun as well.

Her next favorite things to do are painting (with water colors and nail polish), stamping, and putting on any clothes and shoes she can find.

 

She is becoming very independent and likes to do things all by herself. She is very much a Mama's girl but recently will walk away in a public setting and not turn around to check if I'm coming until much much later. Here is one example:

And she got that grocery cart off the shelf by herself, she loves getting out of her car cart while I'm still pushing it...usually I notice when she has one leg already out and is trying to get traction on the ground....

 

She's super smart, can count to ten, will surprise me with telling me the right colors of things, and loves animals just as much as her Mama. We pass several farms/houses with cows and goats right before we get to our neighborhood, and because I am such a sucker I'll pull over on the side/middle of the narrow road, turn my hazards on, and take her out of her car seat to see the animals grazing. Unfortunately our car is too low to the ground for her to see anything while still strapped in. I can't wait for a minivan someday!! Oh and she has beautiful curly hair when I put mousse in it! Which she also loves and asks for all the time...

 

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Eva and my Belly

Turns out there's a baby growing in my belly! We decided to find out the gender with this one, and I was hoping for another baby girl so so badly, for several reasons - for Eva to have a little best sister friend, so I don't have to buy any new baby clothes, and because we are settled on a girls name. But whenever we asked Eva if it was a boy or girl she would say baby boy, much to my dismay because I was sure she knew, plus that was my gut feeling as well. Sure enough she was right!

Anyway, as Eva can tell you there are four months left...she is soooo excited! She has loved this baby the most out of anyone in our family from the very beginning :) She makes sure the baby aka my belly gets plenty of food, water, phone calls, hugs, and a million kisses each day. She also likes to make sure the baby can see the pictures when I read her books, and at night she almost always falls asleep with one hand or foot on my belly.

We've been calling the baby by a few different names to try them out, but tonight she threw out her first name suggestion for him...applesauce! She told me first and then I made her tell George and she acted pretty embarrassed about it, but we think it's a good first idea on her end.

Sooo Eva still wakes up several times each night wanting her Mama to be there with her. Occasionally if I don't go in immediately she asks for her Dada, but the other night she woke up and immediately wanted her Baby to snuggle her back to sleep. I can't wait until they are very best friends! Sometimes when she puts her head to listen to my belly she starts laughing, and I'm sure baby boy is telling her some jokes.

 

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Our very own kitty cat

Eva and I were ready to go for a walk to the other side of our neighborhood, hoping to see one of the cats that lives over there, but right as we turned to leave we spotted one in our very own yard! And it was the friendliest cat ever! It stayed in our yard and played with us for over an hour. Eva was in heaven!

I brought it some food (spaghetti sauce and cheese) in hopes of making it stay a while. I think it worked! Plus Eva ate some off the ground too :)

 

It wanted to go in our house so bad! If George wasn't allergic for sure I would have succumbed to his meows.

Sharing her rocks

So the cat played for about thirty minutes in these bushes, and Eva had the best time shaking long sticks at the kitty and getting him to swat at them. Unbelievable giggles. But sometimes he retreated and she would have to go after him.

 

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Aquarium

For George's birthday we went to the aquarium! He got a free ticket for being born - hooray! Eva saw her very first dolphin show, and except for the lame story line she loved it. I know everyone hates sea world now because of blackfish but I haven't watched it yet so I still can't wait to take her to sea world someday!!!

 

 

 

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Eva updates

Here are some cute stories before I forget...

We went to feed the ducks the other day, and I ripped some bread up into tiny pieces and put them on the railing in front of her so she could throw them in the water to the ducks. This is what happened to about half of it.

I don't know how she knows she's supposed to like painting her nails but she does. She always points to nail polish and asks to paint her toes or her daddy's :) if she doesn't have nail polish she'll use whatever she does have at her disposal, usually markers or water colors.

For Christmas we went to Spokane, and Eva rode her very first city bus. She loooooved it! She still talks about her bus ride, and will point out city buses whenever she sees them (which isn't often unless we drive into Atlanta).

She also loves peeling anything and everything. Especially onions. And rotting tulip bulbs too apparently...blech! Even she looks disgusted!

All she needed for Christmas was multiple pairs of fuzzy socks. She seriously loves these things and is a pro at putting them on her little feet.

She loves stamps and asks to put them on all the time. Sometimes I wonder if the letters make it to their destination. And these letters really did need five stamps, they were heavy :)

We went to the ups store and while I was waiting in line she was walking around and ended up finding the candy machine...she checked just to be sure there was no candy in there, and next thing I know she comes running to me with one skittle and one peanut m&m in her hands...Ick! I could not get her to give them to me for anything! I really didn't want her to eat the peanut m&m cause I was afraid she'd choke so I went back to the candy machine and sure enough there was one more skittle waiting. Who leaves candy in that machine??!! Anyway, I was finally able to get her to trade me the peanut m&m for the other skittle I found. Gross gross gross but it was one of the best days of her life probably :)

 

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