army crawl

Ev gave us some bona fide crawling this evening for the very first time. (Mama appreciates that she waited until she was home, however daddy missed it!)
Of course, when I went to get my iPhone camera, all I could capture was her doing her army crawl that she's been doing for a couple of weeks. Which is adorable, in itself, but *not* the real crawling I was hoping to capture. Oh well.
Regardless, I realized you all had never seen the army crawl, despite us having numerous videos of it, so I thought I'd post it anyways. She always leads and pulls with her right arm... we're wondering if the handedness is revealing itself?

Fall in Nashville

Little Miss Ev is dressing a bit warmer these days. Here she is ready for cooler weather: orange smock top (thanks, Grandma Lucas), jeans, knitted hat (thanks, Jill) and hippopotamus Robeez.

After seeing this picture that Brendon took, I had one of those moments where I thought that our daughter surely is *the* cutest nearly 8 month old around. A notion I used to roll my eyes at before I was a mom. Today I am convinced there are none cuter than Miss Ev. :-)

Parenting follies

Parenting is a constant learning experience.
Example #1:
On our recent trip to Baltimore, we laid Ev down on the green blanket to the left of the orange blanket to go to sleep. We checked on her an hour later and she was where you see her now. Whoops. Time for some sort of traveling crib.

Example #2:

This morning, I was working on my computer while Ev was playing on the ground. I set my coffee cup down far out of reach. She's perfected the art of extreme scooting mixed with a couple of moves that one might recognize as crawling. She made her way over to my half full (but now cold) coffee cup and tipped it over towards her. I picked up the cup and set it yet again just out of her reach. She then dragged herself through the spilled coffee to get to said cup. Oye. Time to babyproof!

Visit to Baltimore and DC

We flew to Baltimore last weekend to see some of our Portland friends. Some now live in Baltimore and another couple flew up from Raleigh, NC and met us there. It was awesome.

I ran an inaugural 1/2 marathon with my running buddy from Portland (if I can brag, it was my 2nd fastest one yet! 2:01:55. Feeling really great about that since Evelyn's only 7.5 months old! WOOT!). The race started at George and Martha Washington's home in Mount Vernon, VA and we ran our 13.1 miles along the Potomac River, ending in sight of the Washington Monument in National Harbor, Maryland. The race was amazing. While running the race was a reason for the trip, we also took in some of the sights and sounds of DC. Having never been to the Northeast before (like really. never. anywhere.), Brendon and I really enjoyed touring the Washington Mall and taking the water taxis around Baltimore. We can't thank our friends enough for their hospitality. And we CANNOT wait to do it again! Here are some pics from the trip.

Awaiting the water taxi on the harbor in Baltimore

Fort McHenry, the birthplace of the National Anthem

O say can you see, by the dawns early light, a large red, white and blue banner? Whose broad stripes and bright stars . . . were so gallantly streaming! over the star-shaped Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore, September 13-14, 1814. The valiant defense of the fort inspired Francis Scott Key to write The Star-Spangled Banner.

Ev and Abe.

Ev and the Washington Monument looming over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

The Powells and the White House. Moments later we were hurriedly told to leave the immediate premises. We scurried away and a few minutes after that a very tall child came to play on the back lawn of the White House. We think it was one of the president's daughters but we can't say for certain.

The Powells and Abe

Verheins and Powells have done Mexico, so why not DC too??

Ev "swims" for the first time! She loved it!

The whole gang right before our pre-race dinner.

We stayed here in National Harbor.

V looking strong at mile 11.5ish!

Me attempting to look strong at 11.5. Little did we both know that there was large hill around the corner from this pic! Boooo!

We crossed this- the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac!

Whew! Race is over! Time for pics with a parrot!

We were exhausted from our journey. Ev and B took a little nap on the way home.

Fun with jumping.

Evelyn Anne, future yoga instructor.

You'll note the plank pose as well as some semblance of downward facing dog!

7 months!

Evelyn is 7 months on September 8th! We can't believe it!

Happy 7 months, Miss Ma'am!

Green beans.

Mashed up some green beans for Ev.
We have the rice cereal down-pat, but she's a little unsure of this latest development.

New favorite place to play...

B bought Ev a new play area this week.

From what we can tell, she loves it.

(Also- new in the last 2 weeks: scooting backwards! We think crawling is pretty much any moment now!)

Nashvillian Ways

Now in Nashville nearly 3 months, we've had some time to absorb some life, culture, climate and perspective. We came here with an adventurous mindset and have found that to be easily achievable. Nashville has so many options and having Evelyn makes anything that was ordinary last year, new this year. I thought I might share some highlights with you, things we've found that have become part of our life that are new.

In Portland, I was baking often and enjoying the warm bread on cool winter days. In Nashville it has been over 90 degrees nearly every day so the notion of baking seemed contrary to the notion of staying cool and thus, baking has taken a hiatus. Enter fish tacos, we found this recipe online and have enjoyed these near weekly. A definite recommendation. Similarly, we have found a taco serving Winnebago that comes through a nearby neighborhood on Thursday evenings and have made this a weekly tradition. The food is stellar and leaves us drooling all week until "Mas Tacos" comes back around. The other food we are loving here in Nashville or the greater South for that matter is what is called "Meat and 3's". You choose your meat (meatloaf, fried chicken, chicken fried steak, fish, pork...) and choose up to 3 sides (fried okra, collard greens, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans, cauliflower and cheese...). This is some good eating my friends, too good and you have to be careful with this (see running section below). The restaurants that specialize in this menu are usually fairly minimal in their decorations and accommodations, fairly inexpensive and open odd hours but once you get the idea of the whole "Meat and 3" figured out, they are amazing.

Running is for sure not new but I think our little family has a renewed purpose in running. Annie is currently training for a 1/2 marathon in Washington DC at the end of the month and next up is the Nashville marathon in the spring for both of us. This will be Annie's 2nd marathon and my 1st. Training in Nashville is different; hills are everywhere, humidity saps your energy, sidewalks don't exist, running trails are less continuous and running strollers slow you down. That said, you can run everyday and according to the locals, can keep it up nearly all year. We've been surprised at how common it is to see runners out and about. For Ev, she will have many miles strolled by the time she can put her own feet on the ground and she is definitely increasing the "training effect". Khaya has yet to become a long distance runner, I think when the weather cools a bit, I'll take her out for the last couple miles of my runs to keep her girlish figure in check and youthful spring in her steps. On the weekends, we like to run all together at Percy Warner Park. Within the park is a 5.8 mile loop that provides thick woods, grueling hills, many fellow runners and a relief from autos (it is open to cars, but on the weekend mornings they seem to know better than to drive through the park). We love what running does for us physically and mentally.

Vanderbilt has become part of our life now that Annie works there and is privy to the activities that take place. This weekend for instance, there is an appreciation for all employees that provides a "tailgating" lunch and free tickets to the football season opener against Northwestern. We are very excited to go to the event. Ev even has a new Vanderbilt onesy to show her support of the Commodores. We will be sure to post a picture of the little miss. In His mercy, the weather forecast for gameday is a high of 79 degrees.

With all the above and with a calendar full of things to do and places to go, we are thoroughly enjoying this Nashville life. We are loving our new friends and appreciating the ability to stay close and active with our old friends. Our family is more distant on the map, but closer in communication and heart. Above all, our sense of home is becoming more defined by who we are as a family and less by where we reside.

Our love to you all, B