A year ago

Last year we got to tell all of our family over Thanksgiving that I was pregnant. Here are a couple of journal entries from our babysite last year:

Date: 11/26/2007
sharing the news
Well we've finally been able to tell all of our parents and siblings! What a great week for being able to share this news in person! And so much fun! All of the grandparents got a book on grandparenting and all of the aunts and uncles got onesies that said, "I love my aunt Michelle" or whatever name. It was so much fun to watch their reactions! This baby has 17 grandparents and great-grandparents, two uncles, five aunts, and five cousins :-). Now we're so excited to share the news with the rest of our wonderful friends and family!

happy news email
We're having a baby! Wahoo! We're only about 5 weeks along, so it's early, but neither of us are good at keeping secrets we're excited about. We know there are so many things that can happen to a little baby (currently the size of a sesame seed!), but we also know that this is a blessing from God and that he is in complete control, so it is wonderful to be able to trust His provision and faithfulness. Please join us in lifting up both mother and baby to the Lord in prayer. The baby is due July 26th. We should know a little more at the end of December or beginning of January. Thanks for sharing this exciting time with us! We were able to tell all of our parents and siblings in person this last week, so please share the news with whoever you'd like. You can stay updated on our baby news at babysites.com/sites/vaughnbaby. Love, Joshua and Rachel

i can swim!

Tompa and Nana have a big bathtub!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is nice here!

Watching Daddy hit some golf balls

Bocce ball





Thanksgiving buffet


They gave the kids a stuffed animal at the dinner, and I picked out the monkey. Maybe I liked that one because I also got to meet my Aunt Monkey (Jennifer) today.

I can fly!

Sitting around at home before we leave:

Ready to go on my first flight!

Waiting for the tram in Dallas (after a big diaper and clothing change):

Napping on the plane:

In Palm Springs, California!

First time experiencing laying in the grass:

Share the milk

About the first thing I do each morning is pump milk that Evalana will never drink. I generally get around 8-10 ounces, and I pour it into an ice cube tray, freeze it, and then dump it into a big freezer bag later in the day. This milk then goes to babies whose moms aren’t able to make any or enough milk. I currently work with milkshare.com, the Denver milk bank, and friends. Whether you need milk or want to give milk, those are great resources. I’ve found that milk sharing is much more common on the coasts and that most people around here have never heard of the idea. It seems funny to me that formula made from cows’ milk seems more natural to people than sharing human milk. If we had to feed Evalana formula, it would cost about $150/month to use organic formula, and she still wouldn't do well on it since all formulas seem to contain milk and/or soy, which Evalana doesn't like, so I can understand how important donated breastmilk would be for some babies. Evalana has been able to share her milk with an adopted baby in the KC area, and, because my diet is free of dairy, I’m working through the application process with the Denver milk bank since they need some milk free of cow’s milk protein. I am so thankful to be able to feed Evalana and still have leftovers to share. I would encourage any breastfeeding moms with extra frozen milk (or, even better, fresh breast milk if you can find someone close to share with) to look into sharing.
This makes me think of the Caedmon's Call song "Share the Well":
je ra, ji ra, ji ra, de ji ra, de ji, ji, ji
share the milk, share with your sister
share the milk my friend
it takes a lot of milk to feed all the babies
share the milk my friend
je ra, ji ra, ji ra, de ji ra, de ji, ji, ji

silly adults

The things people will do to try to get a baby to smile:

breastfed growth

I just guessed Evalana’s weight for the next year so that I could get her some clothes that might fit. I looked at the breastfed growth chart and just found the 90th percentile for each month since that's what she's always been. Then I got curious and plotted those against a normal weight chart. I have heard of doctors getting concerned when babies start dropping percentiles when they’re around six months old but that most doctors use an old growth chart which was made with formula-fed babies. Then, for babies who start out smaller, many doctors recommend supplementing with formula which can just make things worse because then the mom produces less milk. I’m sure there are times to be concerned about a baby’s low weight, but it makes me sad to see someone using formula for their baby when they didn’t want to. Besides, there are other options like donated breast milk and SNS, but I’ll write more about that later. Here’s the graph of the 90th percentile on the WHO’s breastfed chart plotted on a regular (CDC updated in 2000 formula and breastfed together) growth chart (Evalana would go from over 100% to around 80% on a regular growth chart).

Update: I know some people decide to use formula for various reasons. My frustration is with some medical professionals who don't give moms who are wanting to exclusively breastfeed all the information and options they should have and instead scare them about their baby's health when many times their small baby is growing normally.

scary creatures like birds and mice

When I was maybe four years old, a bird flew down our chimney, into our wood-burning stove. When my dad opened up the stove, a bird flew out, into the basement. The way I told the story was that “Mommy screamed, and Rachel cried.” Due to an attack chicken incident that my mom experienced when she was younger, my mom has never liked birds. She did a great job of passing her fear of birds on to my sister and me. While I think it might be nice for Evalana if she could not freak out when a bird flies by, I also sometimes think that maybe it could be good for her to learn that birds are scary and dangerous (you know, with their sharp beaks and claws and the way they fly right at you). I was reminded of the bird story when a couple nights ago I was feeding Evalana, and I saw a mouse run by. I did a backwards scream (or whatever it’s called when you take in a quick breath). I thought that was a fairly minor reaction, but as soon as I did it, Evalana stuck out her bottom lip and started crying. I calmed her down, and she got back to eating, but then Joshua was looking for the mouse and saw it, which made him jump, and I backwards screamed again, and Evalana cried again. It surprised me that she realized that I was scared. I hope I haven’t made Evalana scared of mice forever (at least they’re kind of cute and don’t have sharp beaks, but one did run up my grandma's pant leg once).

first snow

Last night Evalana slept about 10:00pm-9:00am. She and I both had a little bit of a cold, but we're feeling better, so apparently the sleep helped. Evalana woke up to her first snow and enjoyed looking out the window. Here she is laying on the floor with her doggie while Daddy made pancakes.

143 million orphans in the world

Sorry I haven't given updates this week. It's been a busy work week for me. Here are a couple of videos for you:

Miss Stuffy Nose says good morning after sleeping 9:30-7:30:

And here's a video on the estimated 143,000,000 orphans in the world:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6WEcrfCIwI

www.onelifechild.org

December 7th baby dedication

On December 7th at 1:30pm, Evalana will have her baby dedication at Westside Family Church, and we'd love for you to come if you want. A baby dedication is when Joshua and I promise that we'll raise Evalana in a Christian manner. Several of Evalana's friends will also be dedicated at the same time. We'll attend the 11:30 church service before the baby dedication.

walking?

Joshua's not holding her weight or leaning her, just helping her to balance. Silly baby.

(The walking and crawling reflexes that a baby is born with are supposed to disappear at about 1 week after birth, so any seen after that are skills the baby has developed).

3 months

Evalana’s getting to be such a big girl. We just took some at-home measurements and came up with weight between 15 and 17 pounds (Joshua’s scale kept switching), which keeps her at about 95% (91st percentile on breastfed charts). Her length is 24.5 inches, which is 92% (85th on the breastfed chart). And her head is 17 inches, which is, of course 100%.
Evalana had two more vaccinations yesterday, and she did great; she cries much worse in her carseat than she did when she got her shots. Her next actual checkup is the first week of December. Oh, and for anyone thinking about getting the flu shot, especially pregnant or breastfeeding moms, if you decide to get the flu shot, make sure you get the mercury-free kind, and check out the aluminum content as well.
It still amazes me that God created her just a year ago. She just keeps getting more aware and observant of things and communicative every day. Each day she discovers new sounds she can make. Here’s a video of her making her new noise today.

active little girl

Here are some videos and pictures from this week.

Evalana tells a story








Evalana goes to the dog park


Evalana goes for a stroller walk

Evalana exercises

giggle

i finally got a short little video clip of Evalana giggling.

grabbing

Evalana wanted to show how good she is getting at grabbing and getting things to her mouth now


We went for a walk at the dog park this afternoon, and she loved looking around at everything. She really enjoys being outside and especially looking at trees.

day with daddy

Today I went out with my friends, and Evalana spent the day at home with Daddy. They went to the bike store together so that Joshua could get some new things for his bike that he wants to ride to the bus stop. And they played together at home. Pete got picked up by the Lucky Dog program. I enjoyed my day with the girls (Marcy, Heather, Leah, and Mikaela), and it was nice to come home to a pete-less house. We’ll keep our eye out for another dog—one who’s a little more like Samson. Evalana had her three-month birthday today. She’s been “talking” a lot. I'll try to get a video of that, and I'm still working on getting a video of her laughing. Our next doctor’s visit is this Thursday.

We have lifegroup on Wednesdays, and here's a picture of the lifegroup babies:
Jack (7 months), Evalana (3 months), Jolie (5 months), Aaden (1 month)