October in December

Humor me while we take a Chicken step back to Halloween - I finally uploaded the Oak Park parade video and wanted to share 7 minutes of pure, innocent, unhindered fun!

Evelyn's 1st Hair Chop

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Click on the pics in order at the bottom of the slideshow to see how deeply Evelyn enjoyed her 1st haircut! Hopefully, all cuts from this point forward won't be so traumatic. Then again, her mommy and daddy still act this way when they go to the barber ;-)

Halloween Bummin'

I attempted to exert my long lost dream of being a KU Cheerleader through my child's Halloween costume. And yes, undoubtedly Evelyn is a spitting image of Bobby. However, I do lay full claim on her extra long torso and her cute tush. Which inevitably led us to an irreversible wardrobe malfunction.

Since we would have been arrested for taking our daughter in public as a fully exposed Cheerleader,

we went to the other extreme by tossing her in an extra large Chicken outfit (just to be safe). She played the role beautifully - waddled, and clucked all over town - even laid a few "eggs" - which ended up smelling like eggs, but weren't quite as neat and orderly as one - Which is my fault for stepping up her daily veggie intake within the last month. Oh well, the price of being 'healthy' I suppose.

Happy Halloween!

Love,

Chicken Little &

Her Two Adoring Parents

October-licious Days

Hi - This is Evelyn speaking here. My mom surprised me today with an impromptu visit to the Lincoln Park Zoo. She told me our day's destiny at breakfast which is why I look so wigged out happy-crazy in my high chair.

I spent most of the day fleeing from her and her incessant
picture taking...I am not just a pretty face ya know!!!
You will see that I was a difficult one to catch.

She's bigger of course and captured me head on a few times when I wasn't running circles around her.

Take notice - in her photo fury, she plopped me down into a bed of flowers - which HURT!!!...My bare legs got all pricked up.

Don't worry, I cried and cried and cried and she finally gave in, let me run free and stopped being all paparazzi-like. Hope you enjoy these photos since she worked so darn hard to get these shots......we'll give her an 'A' for effort shall we?

Love, Big E

P.S. The next day I got her back big time by swiping her Pumpkin Latte, never to be returned.

Ev's Bday to Dedication to Italy

It was a whirlwind beginning of September for us. We had Evelyn's 1st bday up at Lake Geneva. Right before her celebration her daddy had some crampage, ended up doubled over in the hospital with an I.V. and we made it back home just in time

for Evelyn to blow out her candles, snarf down her cupcake, go to bed and wake up to be dedicated at church the next morning. Our gift to her was leaving her for 10 days to go to Italy!!! Although it was beautiful, delicious and a gorgeous trip overall there is no way we can leave our girl for that long again! Not that she really minded since she was spoiled rotten by her grandparents. But there's only so much Italian cuisine you can eat, so much chianti you can drink, so much architecutural beauty you can digest before we realized without Evelyn it was all meaningless....at least by the 7th day it was. Anyway - here are the party girl pics and some from Tuscany & Capri.

Letter to Evelyn & 1st Bday Slideshow

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My sweetest Evelyn -

Your first birthday has arrived! I cannot believe it. Words definitely escape the amount of joy you have brought to our lives. I can remember 13 months ago having daily anxiety attacks about the unknown of having a baby. What if I'm not good at being a mom? What if we don't like eachother? What if I don't catch on to how to change diapers? What are we possibly going to do with one another all day long?!...

The minute you were born every fear vanished. I still don't know what I am doing most of the time, but you are so incredibly patient with me as I wing it - and when I'm at a loss for the right solutions...what do we do? We dance!... like we did this morning, like we do every morning to start the day off right. In my mind and heart I frame the moments I am swinging you around the room to some groove and you put your head in the nook of my shoulder, hold on tight and give me your infamous gut giggle.

Your father cannot stop telling you how beautiful you are every day. Some days I worry he is going to explode from emotion overload when he looks at you. Which is not a mess I am prepared to clean up!

I am convinced that you have special powers to melt the most hardened of criminals. We could be passing a Hell's Angel, you would lock eyes, as you do, and give your sweetest -to die for- smirk, then your eyes open wide as if you are seeing in them the most amazing thing in the world, your mouth drops open, and before you know it this Hell's Angel is laughing and giggling and goo gooing all over you..... - this scene happens daily. I catch people all around softening and smiling, not fully knowing why until I see that it is becuase of you engaging them in some special way.

You are a ray of sunshine that passes by gently and makes others sigh, relax, slow down and smile at the treasures of innocence, babyhood and life in general. For a brief moment your smile makes everyone's daily stressors disappear.

One day after your birthday we are dedicating you (baptizing) which I find so appropriate after reflecting on your past year of life. I truly feel helpless in wanting to protect you from everything in this world. I want to wrap you up in a bubble and have you continue being unphased by our world's tragedies - merely living for the moment with lightheartedness and laughter. Since that is not reality - the best thing I can do is give you back to the one who created you - God. I cannot fathom it, but he knows you deeper and loves you even more then I or your daddy are able to. He is the one who shows me how you need to be loved daily and He is the one that I hope you pour your dependance on from a young age.

Like I said, I don't have the answers but I do promise to raise you with a trust in God/Jesus so that you can have confidence in who He created you to be and so you can thrive in all that He created you to be. Which right now seems like a dancer or a veterinarian, but we'll see how that changes ;-)

I gave your daddy a card that said "If I know what love is it is because of you." And I say that wholeheartedly to you as well. You have shown us both a deeper, more selfless, abandoning way to love and we thank you for all that you are and all that you are becoming!

We love you Sweet Girl! Happy Birthday!!!


Love, Mommy & Daddy

Fins to the Left!

My how times have changed! We packed up the cooler for the adults, warned them the dangers of drinking and driving, told them not to talk to strangers and sent them on their way to the Jimmy Buffet concert at Alpine Valley - While we all stayed home and went to bed early with our kids! When did this major change take place?!

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Progressive Dance Party

Evelyn becomes more multi-talented as the days progress. The first 4 minutes or so of this video is of her new favorite dance. She sticks her proud belly out and moves her knees ever so slightly. One day she will learn that it's all about swingin' the hips like Shakira, but until then we will let her patent her own dance moves.

The next couple of minutes in the video is of our family pool day and her exploring the Morton Arboretum. The simplest things fascinate her such as her feet crunching on the rocks below her. It's so enlightening to observe her discover all the wonders of life each new day with a squeal at every exciting sight. She helps us to rediscover those things we often see as mundane and overlook. Enjoy....

These Feet are Made for Walkin'....

MONUMENTAL MOM MOMENT -

Okay, so it actually was a monumental moment for Evelyn, but if felt much more like MY moment so please humor me for a moment.

I was at the stove cooking up some grub for Evelyn. Out of the corner of my eye I see Evelyn stand up, which she has done a million times before, no biggie, and THEN I see movement....lots of movement, lots of standing, walking continuous movement without falling over, and it continued and continued and continued on.

My precious babe walked the whole length of the kitchen and into the hallway!!!.....I was speechless, she didn't even know I was watching her.

She paused in the hallway after her marathon walk, still standing, with her back to me and she congragulated herself by clapping, giggling and walking right out of my sight.

What?! I didnt' know what to do with this first 'moment' of walking.....so I laughed and cried and swooped her up, fed her dinner.....and kept telling her how proud I was of her over and over and over again. She just stared at me, poised so properly from her highchair with this perplexed look like "ooooooooooooookkkkkkkkkkkaaaaaaaaaaayyyy already lady, you've made your point, let me just get on with my corn and avocado if you don't mind."

Much Love - and Happy Walking! ;-)

Happy 4th of July!!! Miss Evelyn is now standing on her own two feet for minutes on end and even taking cha-cha steps. My guess is that she will take to dancing way before walking! This past holiday was spent up at Lake Geneva sun bathing, swimming, and hanging with Ev's cousins - who seem to hold her attention and occupy her time a lot better then her mommy and daddy can.

Her personality is sweet and spicy. She will go in for kisses one second and swipe at your face the next - She LOVES to tease us by offering us food. Just when we think it's a sweet gesture, we ewwwwwww and ahhhhh, lean in to take a bite and she quickly takes it back and pops it in her mouth, laughs a sinister giggle, squints her eyes, wrinkles her nose and finishes us off with a sly suspicious smile.

Evelyn's New Friends and Pool Time!

9 Months and Counting

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PROOF!

My Little Flower

I love watching Evelyn discover fresh, warm air for the first time. When she knows we are on our way outside she kicks her legs up and down all hyper like a bunny rabbit. Then when we get outside she closes her eyes slightly and keeps her mouth wide open to taste the freshness of the breeze.

She couldn't be happier then when we are on a walk in the park. It's the simple things in life. She is blossoming just as beautifully and simultaneously as the trees and flowers are blooming. Ev is starting to creep and crawl and her first tooth is budding through. She reminds me to slow down, to breathe in the air. When I feel overwhelmed and hurried I close my eyes and picture her fully surrendered to the breeze and soaking up the sun, her eyes closed, her smile as big as they come.......

Happy Easter

Nothing profound, just wanted to post some Easter family photos.

St. Patty Wedding

Chris and Annie get married! Our family circle is now complete. Annie couldn't have been a more breathtaking bride, and Chris couldn't have been a more excited and handsome groom. What a party! Irish dancers, bagpipes it was a true O'Hara - McPartlin Irish extravaganza. Here are just a few snippets of the weekend.

After coming off of a highly intense weekend of seeing two people so utterly in love, I also want to share something I read about C.S. Lewis which helps put love into perspective. It may sound like a downer, but if we look beyond the disillusionment that t.v. and hollywood feeds us, then we see the deeper sense of what love is truly all about.

"Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensitiy, or even to last at all. Knowledge can last, principles can last, habits can last; but feelings come and go. And in fact, whatever people say, the state called 'being in love' usually does not last.

If the old fairy tale ending 'They lived happily ever after' is taken to mean 'They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married', then it says what probably never was nor ever would be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships? But, of course, ceasing to be 'in love' need not mean ceasing to love.

Love in this second sense - love as distinct from 'being in love' - is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strenghthened by habit; reinforced by the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other; as you love yourself even when you do not like yourself.

Being in love' first moved them to promise fidelity; this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love the the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it."