Alien Spouse

Kinetic Art.

Having moved from a one-bedroomed shoe box to a palatial two-bedroom-and-a-dining-room bread box we find ourselves suddenly feeling that the space is a touch spartan.  I mean we want it to be fairly minimalist, and we certainly don't want clutter - but Eva's room echoes because there are only three small pieces of furniture in there right now!

We are going to by a sofa/bed to go in there at some point in the next month, because otherwise where will Moth sleep when she comes to visit? (squeeee!) Before then though we have to do something to make the space feel a touch more inviting and fun for Eva; I especially thought she needed somethinbg entertaining to look at whilst lying in her crib.

So we bought her a mobile.  Not one of those sugary sweet nursery mobiles though, oh no, we went with a design classic that also happens to depict one of my favourite birds.

It's a Flensted Swallow mobile, and the minute I saw it I was like "Oh,  of course!  That!"

The shop we bought it from was the rather lovely Mod Sprog, and they had all of their Flensted mobiles on sale - So we also got this one for the living room.

 

This is the Flowing Rhythym mobile in red, which was originally designed in 1955 so, of course, it goes nicely with our current mid-century modern look AND our love of red home furnishings.

I knew exactly where this one was going to hang, because there was an ugly hook screwed into the ceiling in th ecorner of the living room, so I knew I had to put something there to at least excuse the damn thing.  The trick was going to be how to hang up the one in Eva's room, but the mobile is extremely light so I thought that I'd take the advice of the manufacturers and use a drawing pin (US Translation: Thumb Tack).  I got out the step ladder, grabbed a drawing pin and unpacked my new avian friends.

When I looked at the ceiling above Eva's crib I was surprised to find that there was already a drawing pin there in almost exactly the right position.  Dude, that's just spooky.  I mean it's not like there are drawing pins all over the ceiling here; there is just that one precisely where I wanted it to be.  Asheville just provides everything... (or, and this is just a crazy theory, that room has been a baby's room before and the crib is in the most logical place for it).

Fake Grass Drying Rack.

This new drying rack is great!

We found it in the baby section, and bought it just for Eva's bottles and pumping stuff, because those things will fall over if you look at them too hard.  Now that we've got a dishwasher again (The LUXURY!), we're obviously not hand washing as many dishes and so we don't need to use the larger dish rack - Besides, when Mum stayed with us she described that rack as "lethal".  The larger plates wouldn't stand up in it, unless they were propped up with a small plate; and all of the cutlery would slide out; and if the mugs or glasses were a bit too short, they looked like they might fall out of the side.

So we've stopped using that one, and we're just using the fake grass now, which is much more efficient at holding things AND looks better.  Love it!

Evalyn and Hobbes.

I was thrilled to find a soft toy tiger that looks almost exactly like Hobbes for $10; but I must admit I am feeling slightly guilty too.  This isn't an official Hobbes, and has no mention of Bill Waterson on it's tag... But on the other hand there don't appear to be any official Hobbes available... So...

Doc C pointed out that this tiger has a beard, Hobbes doesn't, and I then noticed that this tiger has a white tip to his tail, instead of black.  I suppose that is enough of a difference to not be a copyright infringement? Really?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, Eva has a Hobbes to get into scrapes with so let's not over analyse, eh?

 

Speed Mobility System - From Milan.

It is utterly bizarre to me that I have somehow stumbled into a life in which I am shopping for motorcycle accessories.  How the hell did that happen?

I bought a SMS Visione in pearl white with black stripes, and it arrived yesterday.  I am very happy with it; it fits snuggly whilst still being nice and light, and I love how it looks.  There is a definite hint of Princess from G-Force about it, now all I need is a pink dress, a white cloak and some high white boots.

Originally I was heavily leaning towards a sliver glitter helmet, which was rather stunning, but that didn't have a face visor and I decided that whilst looking like a mirror ball might be fun, it might also be a little over the top.  So I went with something classic (and a good $50 cheaper...).

The SMS website has the following information about their designers:

"SMS is an Italian designed helmet line.  Mr. Landi is the main designer behind these exclusive scooter helmets.  Mr. Landi lives and works in Milan, where he finds much of his design inspiration in this beautiful old European city in the heart of Italy.  Guiseppe is the other Italian designer, responsible for building high quality, safe helmets with a stylish look.  Together they have created this elite line of scooter helmets with a distinct European retro feel."

I love that!  Mr Landi and Guiseppe!  

Drops of Water.

Eva is still very happy about baths, even if she always forgets that the baby bath stuff doesn't taste very nice.  She particularly likes when we squeeze the flannel out to let drops of water fall on her and catch the light.

Eva's reaction is always "Duuuuuudddddddddddddeeeeeeeeeee! That is amazing! I must catch it!"

 

Nice Cup of Tea.

Every time we have a cup of tea within her sight Eva r-e-a-c-h-e-s for our mugs.  Whilst there is any hot tea left we keep it well out if her reach, but, once the mug is empty, we sometimes let her touch it.

Usually she'll pull the mug to her mouth and start licking the the rim in a very determined manner.

Awww! Look at her!

She thinks she's people!

A Cat and Her Girl.

When we're getting Eva ready for bed last night she was already pretty much zonked out, so we put her down on our bed for a bit whilst we got the crib ready.  Edith took the opportunity to snuggle with her for a few minutes.

Edith is so besotted with this child.  She doesn't complain when Eva grabs fistfulls of her fur or pats her a bit too hard; all Edith wants is some of Eva's attention and she seems to understand that Eva doesn't yet know quite how to behave with cats (or parents for that matter - My nose was bitten quite hard yesterday!)

"Whadda You Got?"

Saturday is my only day off at the moment (which sounds worse than it is!), and we have a nice little routine going.  I love listening to NPR's "Car Talk", "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" and "The Splendid Table" with Doc C and Eva whilst we eat a leisurely breakfast, play silly baby games and generally sit around in our pyjamas.  It's very civilised.

The afternoon varies depending on our mood; so today we got out the scooter for a short scoot and a short photo shoot.

The weather wasn't very nice today so I really didn't do much more than ride up and down in front of the house at a top speed of about 12 miles an hour.  It was exactly like something out of "The Wild One".

After that we went out for a lunch of burritos, a walk around the UNCA Botanical Gardens (Eva loves it there!) and then we went to three different motorcycle dealers to look at helmets.  A helmet was included with the scooter - but the previous owner was quite a heavy smoker, so it does smell of cigarettes and besides I have no idea how old it is and therefore how sound it still it is.  So I want a new one.  No luck today, but there's no rush.  I want to buy something that I really like the look of, co-ordinates with the scooter (obviously!) and that keeps me safe.

Today has been fun and we even have some frozen yogurt for desert.  Yum!

Cribbed.

Saturday night was Eva's first night in her new crib, and she slept like a little tiny snoring log.  It was most satisfactory.

Of course on Sunday night she woke up a couple of times to be fed, but it really wasn't anything to do with the crib.  I'm fairly sure she just wanted to illustrate her awe inspiring baby powers of control over her subservient parents.

A Logical Place to Sleep.

Well, the crib was quite easy to put together (as far as I could see anyway - Doc C actually built the crib, because I had built the changing table/chest of drawers earlier in the afternoon).  Eva doesn't seem to hate it or anything, but we will see what she makes of sleeping in it.  Please keep your fingers crossed that our little science officer decides this is a good place to take her r-and-r of a night.

Puree of Pea.

Eva, like her dad, is a big fan of mushy peas.

Me?  I'm not so keen, but then that was exactly the colour of my school uniform.

Warm Colour, Cold Shape.

I started off the week helping to build my new desk at work; it is a gorgeous glossy white, it looks like the desk that Apple would make if they made furniture.  It looks lovely with jusy my Mac on it, so I'm going to try and keep it that way, but I did need a coaster (this office is mostly fuelled by coffee) and my lovely Mum happened to have sent the ideal thing for Christmas.

It's a red felt snowflake, and it is exactly the pop of warmth my desk needed.  Perfect for a snowy day in January.

Theraputic Bruising.

Today we were out on a video shoot that involved local spas, which made for a lovely day of filming which I very much enjoyed.  It's rather pleasent to have a nice relaxing day at work essentially touring spas.

The last filming location was an acupuncture and pilates studio (which has extremely reasonably priced classes - I'm making a nite of that!), and once we'd filmed the interview and footage of acupuncture, I volunteered to be the guinea pig for a quick demonstration of cupping therapy.  It wasn't actually filmed, but we did take some stills and I have some pretty impressive bruises.

It looks awful, doesn't it?  Which is weird because it felt really nice, like a particularly in-depth massage.  Still, I suppose that it means I shouldn't wear anything strappy for a few days!

Baby Noms.

 Eva has become very interested in food recently, she watches us very closely when we eat and gets really excited.  That's apparently a good sign that she's ready to try eating herself - So we decided to try her some baby food, even though she's only four months old.

For some reason Americans tend to start feeding babies on rice cereal, but that didn't sound very appetising, so we kicked off with a butternut squash puree.  Eva wasn't particularly excited by that, and I suspect it was quite bland.

When Doc C went shopping this week he bought a sweet potato puree instead and that has been going down an absolute storm with our diminutive gourmand.

Ah nom nom nom!  Tasty orange gloop!  She's actually only eating a teaspoon or so at a time, but it's clearly very satisfying for her (and Doc C!)

 

Afternoon Snooze.

 

Today was a pleasantly stark contrast to yesterday, and Evalyn Alice was in a bloody lovely mood all day.

Ok, as far as Eva was concerned, the day did start promptly at 5:30, but it was all smiles and delightful cooing noises right from the start.

We took her for a walk to the Botanical Gardens at UNC Asheville this afternoon.  We hadn't taken her there before and the novelty of it was clearly rather exciting; she was smiling and doing her happy wriggles (these are very very different to her angry wriggles, beleive you me).  Several people said hello to us, and Eva gave them all a nice big gummy grin.

When we got home she had a lovely snooze, and was extremely photogenic about it.

All in all - Adorable.  That's what I signed up for!

Sleep Eating.

Due to popular demand (Hi Mum!), here is another video of Eva!  

I filmed this one this afternoon, when she fell asleep on me after eating her afternoon tea.  Whenever she does this she tends to try to carry on eating even as she naps, babies are very single minded

 

Eva Naps on Doc C.

Eva sleeping in Doc C's arms.  

Cute. Cute. Cute!

Sound of Laughter

Today was pretty good actually - I got a call to set up a job interview, and it's somewhere I think I'd really enjoy working.  I was so excited by the phone call that I was dancing around the living room in a fairly silly manner, and that made Eva laugh for the first time!

Doc and I have been in friendly competition over this and I won. According to Eva I am hilarious, or at least my dancing is. We then discovered that if we put Eva on her play-mat and rocked her gently from side to side she laughed again, and we have video of that.

Please enjoy!

 

 

Woolly Amsterdams.

Having been at home for most of the past few months I've come to know the routine of the house fairly well, so I usually expect the post (American translation : Mail - Reminder of my observation that the US has a Postal Service, whilst the UK has a Royal Mail) to arrive at 2:30 and I listen out for it.  If our post-lady (Same as a "mail-woman" Americans!) climbs the stairs then either we or our neighbour, Jack (he's a very polite musician), have got a parcel.  Exciting!

Today we got the knock on the door, and when I saw the stamps were from Germany I knew my Christmas present from Moth had arrived (she's not in Germany though, just the company she bought my present from!).  You see, rather than going the driftwood route, my Mum decided to do something really avant garde: She bought something that she knew I wanted.

I have been eyeing up these felted wool Birkenstock clogs for years, but never felt justified in buying them when I already had slippers.  Of course those slippers, including my most recent bunny slippers, had a foam sole and so offered no support whatsoever.  After an hour or so of carrying a crying baby up and down the hallway you begin to really begrudge that lack of support, believe you me.

The Amsterdam Birkenstocks did not disappoint, they are comfortable and warm, AND they have the trademark Birkenstock footbed.  So the arch support is fantastic, and it has extremely good shock absorption.

My feet are just revelling in their new petrol blue homes - All the more so for my noticing that colour seems to have been discontinued, so Moth got them for me just in time!  Squee!

Thank you Moth!

Driftwood for Christmas.

I mis-spoke when I said that Eva hadn't had a Christmas gift from my Father-in-Law - He actually sent her a lovely illustrated book of fairy tales last week.  I regret the error (Additionally I note that my own Dad has yet to acknowledge her existence, much less sent her anything for Christmas. So. Father-in-Law is ahead on points here.)

Doc C and I got our presents yesterday:

That's one rather nice piece of driftwood, and a bit of palm tree that has had a glittery green pompom and a pipe cleaner glued to it.  Both of these were given to us along with very specific details of where they were found.  I think we're going to keep the driftwood but maybe we can return the bit of palm tree.  Of course we don't have a receipt for that, so maybe we can get credit instead of a refund.

A Teeny Tiny Napoleon.

It's been quite cold today, so I decided to dress Eva in this fleecey footy jumpsuit that Doc's sister sent us; which was good because it'll be too small for her in the next few days.

Doesn't Eva look adorable in these pictures?  Almost angelic in that full length one, right?  In fact this was a brief respite in a day of shouting, not crying or grizzling, just really loud yelling at us.  It felt like we were being berated by a very small dictator.

She has been a horror today, a HORROR.  Still, she's asleep now and tomorrow is another day.

 

Under The Tree.

"A present?  Is for Edith?"

Happy Mothday!

Today is my lovely Mum's birthday - So I'm boxing up Eva and sending her via airmail!

Happy Birthday Moth!

I'm joking, obviously I'd never put a baby in a large cardboard box with a bunch of packing peanuts and then tape the lid shut.

Edith on the other hand...

That is her idea of heaven, plus she loves to travel and meet new people!

Again, I'm kidding!  Please don't put either babies or cats in a cardboard box and ship them internationally.  I'm pretty sure there would be some shipping tax issues for starters.

(In all seriousness the baby was never let out of my sight whilst lying on the packing peanuts, because I wouldn't trust her not to choke on one and that would be so awful - Edith knows better then that and simply bats the packing peanuts around with her paws.)

Chilli Sauce and Milk.

This week I discovered Sriracha sauce.  It is AMAZING.  I know you probably already know this, because I seem to be extremely late to this party, but if you haven't had it before I highly recomend just spending the $4 on a bottle to try it.

Since buying this bottle I have so far added it to:

• A slice of fake bacon (my first taste)
• Chickpeas and rice
• A bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon
• Mushroom risotto.

It was delicious with all of that, and I find myself planning what I want to try it with next.  Scrambled eggs on toast is a definite.

By the way I did stage this photo specifically to include the breast milk next to the sriracha in the photo; the milk is not usually kept in the door like that so there is no possibility of a comedy mix-up I promise.  I;m just super-proud of myself for thinking of getting those really small post-it notes and using them to put the date of pumping on the bottles.  It should make it a lot easier to keep track of the milk and that's just one less thing to think about when Eva is screaming for her next meal.  

The girl has no patience what so ever

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Faux-Hawk!

Doc C dressed Eva today, but he was shamelessly pandering to my taste and I was particularly smitten with this outfit.  Look at that faux-fur faux-hawk!  Ridiculous AND Adorable!

We actually had to go out this morning to get blood taken for some blood tests (nothing interesting, just standard tests for the medical we had with our new doctor yesterday) and we weren't supposed to eat before hand - So we were very motivated to leave the house early today.  

Eva slept through the whole thing, and only really woke up when we went out for breakfast, and even then she was really good.  There was a bit of crying, but only because she wanted to get out of her pram and STARE around the restaurant at people.  She is definitely getting really interested in other people and what they are doing, which is really fun to see.

She wasn't quite so good when we later had to go to the chemists to pick up our prescriptions, but who can blame her?  Walgreens is really not as much fun as the Early Girl Eatery!

ARG! Milk!

It's Thursday?  Really?  How the hell did that happen?  Babies really are the most incredible time drain, who knew? (I know that really everyone including myself and Doc C "knew" that but we didn't really know that, you know?)

Anyway...

Today Doc and I went for our initial check-up with our new doctor, who seems very nice and we both got flu shots whilst we were there.  Obviously we had to take Eva with us, because Edith and Nancy are really not stepping up to the task of baby sitting in quite the way one would hope.  I prefer to take a bottle of milk with us to this sort of thing, so that if Eva gets hungry she can eat immediately.  To keep the milk cool I like to use the coozy we got at the first Appalachian Rollergirl exhibition we went to see.

So useful! So cool! Love it!

Christmas 2012.

Here is our Christmas!

Our (clearly fake!) tree is the tree from "A Charlie Brown Christmas", which we've had for a couple of years now.  It fits in nicely with the very simple decorations for this year, and I also like the juxtaposition of the sad little tree with the Queen's portrait in that corner.

One of the inspirations for the ornaments was our atomic clock, and I am pretty happy with how that wall looks as well.  I do sort of wish that first green ball in the photo was a touch more over to the right, but I'm not bothered enough by that to get the steps out again.

Silent Laughter.

How is this child not laughing yet?

Look at those expressions, damn it, obviously I was being HILARIOUS at this point - but still no audible laughter.  Evalyn Alice is a tough crowd.

Still, I did get some very nice photos of Eva, in fact I posted this one on Doc C's Facebook wall and he called me from work to say how lovely he thought it was.  The next time we spoke he said he had just kept opening Facebook to look at it, and wanted a framed copy of it.  I laughed and asked if that would be going on his desk next to our wedding photo.  Doc was like "Yes.  What of it!?!"

I suspect he quite likes being a dad.

 

Points of Articulation.

I am particularly fond of Eva's chubby little wrists, they are a nice clear visual that she is pleasantly well upholstered and I am therefore feeding her properly.  It is very gratifying.

Also, they look like the joints on an action figure.  If the Eva doll ever goes into production, it would come with accessories: a cloth nappy, a fluffy grey cat (with tongue sticking out so she can determinedly try to wash Eva's hair - particularly whenever the baby is crying) and several different hats.

Cubes of Milk.

In preperation for going back to work at some point (Hello employers of Asheville! Call me! I'm still looking!), I've been pumping milk and freezing it, so that Doc C can feed Eva whilst I'm out of the house.

It is so weird to be storing my own bodily secretions.  I mean that is usually serial killer territory, isn't it?

 

Pragmatic Fashion.

When I went home to visit Moth last year I bought a duffel coat from Marks and Spencer's, it was the last one in the sale and I almost didn't buy it because it's five sizes larger than I usually wear.  It's quite a generous fit as you may imagine, which is proving to be really quite useful because, when I'm carrying Eva in her moby sling, I can actually button it up over the top of both of us and keep us toasty.  I'm sure it must look ridiculous, but as long as Eva is comfortable I don't much care.

Eva, meanwhile, is dressing like a rockstar these days.  Look at those leopard print leggings!

Edith is Her Robin.

I'm Bat Baby!

My hands are my weapons and they are so fast they are a BLUR!

And yes, Bat Baby wears an adorable chicky hat. It is surprisingly comfortable, ok?

 

It snowed here last week, but tody has been quite pleasant so I was able to open the door to the balcony for a while.  

This good, indeed necessary, because the cats need to go outside occaisionally, or they go a bit nuts.  Edith in particular races from one end of the hall to the other, chasing Nancy or phantoms as the mood takes her.  Nancy is less frenetic, but instead she curls up on top of the cat condo looking put upon.

Today Nancy got to roll around outside and enjoy a bit of sunshine.  I hope she savoured every moment because there is a distinct chance we'll be getting snow again tomorrow.

 

Tummy Button.

Ok fine.  I'm smitten by this kid, but I can't help it! She's just ridiculously sweet in a number of ways that I wasn't expecting. A good example of this would be her tummy; how cute is this tummy button?   I didn't know tummy buttons came in a perfect swirl like that! It's adorable, damn it!

Also pictured here is the top of her nappy (American Translation : Diaper), we are really happy with the cloth nappies and the delivery service we use is great, so the whole thing is incredibly simple and convinient.  Of course the most important thing is that Eva seems very comfortable and, when Doc C decided to use the last of the disposable nappies we had left over from the hospital, she actually seemed quite unhappy about the disposable nappy.  Doc C told her she was being ideological, but that didn't appear to sway her opinion and she wouldn't settle down until he put a cloth nappy on her instead.

A Quiet Halloween.

This is the first halloween since I moved to the States that I haven't had a costume, but I just didn't have time to make anything for myself this year because Eva's costume took priority!

It's a very very simple costume, just a brown hoody with ears (Thanks Moth!) with a little blue fez and a pair of tiny wings tacked onto it. I crocheted the fez and wings, and I'm really pleased with how the fez turned out but the wings really aren't as good as I'd like.  Fortunately Eva is carrying the costume off with charming aplomb, so I don't think the wings are too glaring an issue.

As for Trick-or-Treaters, we haven't had any so far.  I was looking out of the kitchen window as did the washing up earlier and I saw a lone Egyptian Mummy with a plastic pumpkin walking down our street, but that seems to be it, no other diminutive ghosts, ghouls or goblins have made an appearance unfortunately.

With Doc C being away this evening I don't want to watch anything too scary, so I chose to spend the evening in the company of Vincent Price.  I decided on watching "Theatre of Blood" because it's got such a ridiculously camp plot, with such a fabulous cast, that I don't think I'll be scared too badly by it.  One of the central roles is played by a young Diana Rigg, and I do wish I'd seen the stage version which was on a few years ago with Miss Rigg's daughter, Rachel Sterling, in the same role and Jim Broadbent in the lead.  Damn it, that looked like it was SO much fun!  Oh well!

Eva's Cat Mother.

As you may know Edith has had kittens herself, and she also fostered two other litters, so she is an expert on mothering.

She likes to keep a close eye on Eva, and will come running if the baby cries to see what is going on with the human kitten.  This morning Edith was quite literally looking over my shoulder as I put Eva's socks on for her.

It's actually not as helpful as you might think.

Eight Weeks of Eva.

Evalyn Alice is 8 weeks old today - And look how much bigger and happier she is!

Also, you can tell that Doc C is out of town because there is no way he would allow her to be dressed in a black/grey striped onesie with black/grey leopard print leggings and hot pink socks (It's probably a good thing that you can't see her nappy cover, which is lime green).

I think she looks very fashion forward and adorable myself.

*** Post Script - I just spoke to Doc C, he said he saw today's photo of Eva and actually the outfit was kind of punk rock and cool! So maybe she will wear this ensemble a few more times! ***

Queen Edith's Throne.

Edith has adopted the rocking chair as her special seat.

As you can see she finds it extremely comfortable.

My Coney Clogs.

Bunny slippers!

These are clearly fabulous, but they were chosen for practical reason honestly.  When none of the lamps are switched on our bedroom still has enough ambient light that I can see pale objects on the floor, so I picked these specifically so I can find them quickly at night without having to switch a light on.

I mean, ok, technically as long as the slippers were pale they didn't need to also be bunny slippers, but, given the choice between bunny or none bunny, why wouldn't you go with the rabit option?

The Cutest Zombie.

My friend Kirsten was in town today viewing some studio space, so she came to visit Evalyn and have a cup of tea with me.  I was very proud to be able to offer some of the butter cookies I made yesterday to go with that cup of tea; and whilst Eva did occasionally fuss a little bit (she is baby after all!) she did put on a good show of grinning and cooing as well.  She's a good baby!

It was lovely to see Kirsten, because she is a good egg, and she also brought me a mug with it's very own soft toy zombie.  It is adorably creepy and I love it!

The Halloween Tree.

We got the Halloween decorations out of storage last weekend, which is always a treat for me.

My favourite of the decorations is my minature black christmas tree with the small faux-vintage Halloween ornaments.

This year I haven't put up as many spooky frills and flourishes as I've done in other years - Mostly because when I tried to Miss Eva objected quite vocally, I suspect that it was more to do with my timing than her dislike of festive spangles.  At least that is what I hope, because a daughter of Doc C and I cannot possibly dislike Halloween!  It's genetically impossible!

 

Kissing Birds and Stripy Stripes.

We bought Eva some long sleeved tops and leggings to keep her warm as the weather turns a little bit chillier.  

Doc C chose this super cute onesie, and I selected the ridiculous stripy leggings; the resulting outfit could only be pulled off by a pretty baby with a sweet smile.

By the way when I took this picture Eva was in her car seat because we were about to go to the supermarket and pick up a few things for dinner.  Whilst we were there she got a bit restless, so I took her out of the pram and carried her instead.  She quieted down immediately and was perfectly happy for the rest of the shopping trip; as was I until I put her back into the pram and saw that my t-shirt now looked as though a tub of cottage cheese had been tipped down the front of it.  Thank you Evalyn Alice!  Good thing you are a pretty baby with a sweet smile!

The Most Comfortable Thing in the Apartment.

This is a point of view shot of how I seem to be spending a lot of my time at the moment.  

What happens is that Eva falls asleep on me, usually after tiring herself out with a screaming fit, so I'm reluctant to wake her by moving; Edith then senses her opportunity and jams herself onto the available remaining lap space. Thus I am pinned down for hours at a time.

I have taken to arranging everything I could possibly want within reach of the sofa, but there is always something that I've left *just* slightly too far away.  This morning it was my water bottle, and that was really quite tantalising.

Oh, also I spoke too soon yesterday about my small victory.  Shortly after writing that Eva turned into a human milk fountain and covered me, herself and the floor in milk.  She managed to get both the front AND the back of my khakis, I have no idea how she did that.

Ducky Nighty.

This nightgown with the embroidered ducks on it is particularly amusing to me because there is a loose thread on the Mother Duck's face which makes it look like she's giving her Duckling some wicked side-eye.

That loose thread, and the resulting slight change in facial expression, completely inverts the embroidery slogan underneath it - as if the Duck-Baby is complacently saying "Mommy loves me", and the Duck-Mum is all "I suppose..."

Pink Baby and Tasty Raw Fish. Heaven.

Doc C's sister sent a crocheted pink hat with a pink ribbon and feather rosette.  The rosette is RIDICULOUS and takes the hat completely over-the-top from cute to infant drag.  It was already so pink that we couldn't resist pairing it with the sugary sweet white and pink dress(with embroidered pink ladybirds on it) and, finally, pink socks.  Eva was very possibly the pinkest baby in Asheville, which was in honour of our going out for sushi with our friend Laura.

This was the first time I've had proper sushi since I found out I was pregnant (I did have crab stick sushi, which is a mediocre counterfeit).  I had the sushi deluxe plate, which has several different types of sushi and rolls, and a special order of crispy salmon skin rolls.  Crispy salmon skin is my favourite type of sushi and I have been thinking about it for months.  It was utterly delicious.

All in all a very fun evening.

 

Comic Book Baby.

Based on her pose here, I think Eva is confusing Wonder Woman with Superman.

She's only 3 weeks and 6 days old though, she's got a lot of stuff to learn still.

(By the way, she wore this for about 4 hours before getting milk all down the front and then also peeing on it whilst I was changing her nappy.  Babies!)

Baby Bath.

I've given Eva sponge baths since we brought her home, but we had to wait until her umbilical stump fell off before we could give her a bath.  Once that happened and we were cleared to actually give her a proper bath, frankly I was nervous about actually putting her in the water because I expected there would be a lot of screaming.

Today we bit the bullet, and Doc C gave Eva a bath in the kitchen sink, whilst I hovered anxiously and took photos.  Because, hello, what else are we going to embarrass her with when she's 17 and brings friends home?

We were pretty delighted to discover that she seems to actually like the water.  There were no tears until the very end of the bath when it suddenly all got a bit overwhelming, and by then we already had a clean baby.  

A successfull mission! Well done Doc C!

 

Physic.

This are my morning vitamins, supplements and pills as prescribed by my doctor after the birth.

I practically rattle.

My Favourite PJs.

Batgirl pyjama bottoms!* Squee!

Evalyn, your Mummy is a total nerd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Purchased from Old Navy several months ago.  I don't know if they still have them, I sort of wish I'd stocked up on a few pairs now!

Beam Her Up Scotty!

Oh!  I keep forgetting to blog about Eva's pointy ears!  Look how cute they are - My daughter is a Vulcan!

Evalyn does actually have a Star Trek Science Officer (the blue uniforms) onesie that our friend Danny gave her, but she's a bit small for it right now.  Naturally when it fits her I will draw on some Spock like eyebrows with an eyeliner pencil and take some more photos.