A Belated 17 Weeks post

King Me!

My 30th b-day cake

Zeke guarding the Switchback

With Labor Day marking the unofficial end of summer, we celebrated with a big family party over the weekend!  Matt played drums with King Me, and we all had a great time despite the heat and humidity.  Good thing we had a kegerator and several kegs of Switchback to keep us cool!  I was surprised by a birthday cake and everyone singing Happy Birthday to me!  Last year at this party, we announced to the extended family that we were expecting a baby and we danced with Grandpa Hank on the deck.  This year, we danced with our precious little girl on the deck while Grandpa Hank smiled down on us from heaven.  His spirit was definitely present.

Cute dress, Evie!

All partied out

I also had the chance to play my flute at church again over the weekend - yippee!  My mom was brave enough to babysit Evelyn AND bring her to church.  Evelyn cried at church for the first time since she was born (yup, it took her almost 4 months!), so I had to take a quick break from playing, go feed her, and then resume playing, and I only missed 1 song!

On Monday night, Matt treated me to a fabulous birthday dinner date at Caroline's restaurant.  For anyone in Vermont, I HIGHLY recommend you go there for a nice dinner!  Then, we had a nice family day on my birthday, going out to lunch and going for a hike (our first family hike with Evelyn!) before having a delicious dinner at my parents' house in the evening.

Eagle Mountain

This is where we got engaged!  Who would have guessed we'd be back with our baby and dog 6 years later!

Roscoe, pondering how his life has changed since May

Homemade b-day pizzas

B-day wine!

Enough about me!  Evelyn and been going with the flow of all the activities this week, and we also think she's close to getting her first tooth.  We think we can see a little white starting to poke through the surface of her gums, but we're not 100% sure yet.  She is becoming more vocal, and sometimes she sounds like a cross between a tropical bird and a creaky door hinge.  As her mommy, of course I think it's adorable, but other people probably think it's awful!  Day-to-day, Evelyn loves her play gym, and she also really likes me to read her books when she's feeling more mellow.  She LOVES Roscoe, and she also seems to really enjoy listening to music and being sung to.

Our new fun thing this week is a Moby wrap, which we borrowed from a friend to try out.  I look like tarzan when I wear it, but Evelyn enjoys being carried around in it, it's comfortable, and it allows me to have both hands free.  I think we may be investing in one soon!

Moby wrap

We also had a very fun baby playdate today with 4 babies!  All the moms are Essex High School classmates of mine, and we all had baby girls between May and July.  In fact, 3 of the 4 babies were born within a week of each other!  I never thought I'd be into playdates, but it's such a nice way to support one another as we raise our babies.

3 of the 4 EHS babies

I go back to work on Tuesday, but I stopped in to drop off my laptop today, and I think that was good.  It reminded me of all the fun people that I'll get to see again, so I'm feeling okay about it at this point.  Monday, it may be another story!