The LaBombards

This seems to happen to me all the time. I think of something I want to write about regarding Eva's development and then once I finally sit down to write about it I can't remember what it was. That happened yesterday. This morning I remembered what I really wanted to write about.



I am very biased when it comes to the intellectual evaluation of my daughter. I have not researched developmental progress and where she falls with respect to her peers however, I think she is brilliant. :) Parents out there, I know you know what I'm talking about. Lately Eva has begun to express herself more and more and prove to us that she knows what's going on around her. When we're feeding her she points at the food she wants to eat. For example, we line up her oatmeal, banana and drink and she indicates what she'd like next. This has eliminated a considerable amount of whining and frustration for both parties involved. She's also starting to learn where her facial features are. She can successfully locate her ears and sometimes her nose. The knowledge seems to be transferable because she can also locate Mommy and Daddy's ears as well. The other night I was getting her ready for bed and we were having some play time in her room. I said if she'd like to read a book she could bring one to me and I'd read it to her. She promptly crawled over to her stack of books, chose one, handed it to me and then crawled into my lap. I was stunned. Once we finished reading I asked her if she'd like to read another one. I thought she might just grab the book we'd been reading and try to get me to read it again but she didn't. She crawled out of my lap over to her stack of books, grabbed a different book and brought it to me. We did this three or four times and I was just so proud of my bright little one. I am constantly amazed at the recognition she exhibits.



For the record, I don't intend for any of this to come off as bragging. So I'm sorry if that's how it seems. Like I said, I'm not really sure if Eva's peers are doing the same thing or not. I am just so amazed at her development and thankful that I see her learning every day. God is so good to have given Eddie and I a healthy, intelligent daughter.

Posted in: on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at at 9:19 AM 1 comments  

Teeth are very mysterious things. I could have sworn to you almost 8 months ago that Eva was getting teeth. Nope. Then several months after that...surely! Wrong again. There have been several times when this has happened and the past couple months have been no different. Last month she had a day where there was a 'present' in every diaper, I kid you not. As a result she got the worst diaper rash ever and the poor girl was in quite a bit of pain. As tortured as the girl was I secretly thought 'this is it!' Of course the agony of my babe didn't result in a pearly reward. Now, yet again, Eva had some terrible diaper rash and a day of 'presents'. We'll see what happens but I'm starting to be more and more convinced that this little girl will usher in her first birthday with a toothless smile.


Mom and Dad L. came for a visit a few weekends ago. Thinking the timing would be great for a reprieve from the cold NY weather they headed down here. There was promise of a gorgeous weekend complete with sunshine and some father/son golfing. Wouldn't you know it that the weekend they were here we had a dip in our temps and upstate NY was unusually warm? Nonetheless we had a great time visiting and spending time together. We got to go to Chipotle (YUM!). Mom L's tongue was singed by the super spicy chicken but she was a trooper. Eva loved spending time with her grandparents and is looking forward to seeing them again for her birthday.

OH! Drum roll please.... We successfully purchased AND installed a baby gate. Hurray! It was a team effort. I went and bought the gate and Eddie installed it in record time. So far so good. It is fully functional and there is no railing interference. Sweeeeeet. Eva likes to stand at it and look down the stairs. Thanks for the offer to help Uncle Paul! We are so blessed to have family in the area to care for us.

Just wanted to share a picture of my shopping trainee. Yes, she's checking the price!! YAY, bargain shopper in the making.

Posted in: on Monday, March 30, 2009 at at 7:55 PM 0 comments  

The time is almost here for my sweet little baby girl to turn one. I love her more today than I ever have and I'm so incredibly thankful that God saw fit to bless Eddie and I with such a gift. More and more of her personality is beginning to show each day. She loves making people smile and laugh. Kisses are freely distributed to almost everyone (she doesn't care much for a stubbly cheek). I never realized that the feeling of a soft baby draped on my shoulder would bring so much joy and warmth to my heart. Each day I am reminded anew what a blessing Eva is. I pray that as time whizzes by I will be able to cling to each passing moment and cherish them with all my heart.

Ok, enough mushy stuff. On with the stats. Eva started clapping her hands the day after I last posted, February 21st I guess. Any time she does something that she knows we approve of, such as putting food in her mouth and not on the floor, she breaks into a huge smile an claps her hands. Around that time she also started to imitate our laughter. If Eddie and I are having a conversation and one of us laughs she breaks into a really fake but incredibly adorable "AH-ha-ha-ha-ha." Of course that just makes us laugh more and the cycle of laughter continues. I love that we are a lighthearted family (for the most part) that loves to laugh and smile. Some have observed that Eva has also developed a snort. I guess there's no denying that she's my daughter now! Just this week she started climbing stairs and has become quite proficient at it. When she goes up for naps or bedtime we let her climb up herself. I trying to decide whether to get a gate for upstairs or not.

For those of you who were concerned about us having a gate for the stairs going to the basement I would like to report that we actually purchased one within the time I committed to. Unfortunately, there's not one installed right now. Hmmm, are you confused? Well we went to the sweltering BabiesRUs store and got a gate in record time. It was nice! Extra tall for our string bean girl, three panels to use for wider spaces if need be, single hand opening mechanism, it seemed good. We got it home and managed to hold off installing it for a couple days; there's that procrastination again. After we had drilled holes in our railing and mounted everything except the catch to secure the gate we realized that the hand rail going into the basement was going to interfere with mounting the catch. We are fairly intelligent people and tried to come up with some kind of solution that would not involve us taking the whole gate down and returning it to the store. We could not do that. Sooooooo we took the gate down and Eddie braved the tropical weather at the store to return it. Geepers. Back to square one. My guess is that we won't ever successfully get a gate and have it installed. Hopefully my prediction is incorrect. Only time will tell.

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for Eddie's job situation. Things are still pretty slow but according to Eddie there have been some good jobs available lately. This coming Monday he has an interview and there's the promise of another one that was supposed to be scheduled for the end of this week (obviously not) or the beginning of next week. We're still optimistic and are confident that the Lord will provide. In the mean time I've been working and trying to figure out how to balance this working from home thing and everything else. Balance has been a struggle for me but I know that God will help me to work things out. I just need to rely on Him and not my own strength which for me seems so much easier said than done.

Posted in: on Friday, March 20, 2009 at at 3:38 PM 1 comments  

Is it really almost the end of February?? Sigh, wow. Today is my brother JD's birthday, Happy Birthday J!! I can hardly believe he's 21 already. That, along with the fact that lately everyone else seems to be younger than me, is making me feel oooold. And yes, that's right, I officially (temporarily) forgot how old I was last night when someone asked. Oh life.

Let's see what I can share that's happened in the last month. Hmmm. Well. I've gotten over my cold and it was thankfully mostly gone by the time my parents arrived for their visit. We had a great time just hanging out. Dad was Mr. Fix-it and helped us to get the fan/light up in the living room. It looks great and we were so grateful to have him in town. He also looked into some wiring issues in our 25ish year old home. Mom was a dish wiz and kept our sink pretty much empty the whole time she was here. She did some cooking too which was a nice break for me. Eva loved spending time with her Grandparents. I was bad about taking pictures (as I usually am) so I'm bummed about that but otherwise I'm really happy with how everything went.

The week after my parents left I started training to work from home. As I mentioned previously, it was six days of full time training. In my opinion, it could have been cut down to half, if not less, that amount of time. I guess they have to accomodate for people who are not super familiar with computers and programs we've been using for a couple years. WHAT!? I'm not being sarcastic...ok yes I am. My and Krista's goal for the training was to try and learn what we could and have a good attitude. I can't say that I succeeded but at least I tried. My training ended last week and this is officially my first week of working from home. It has been great so far and I hope it stays this way. God is so kind to present me with this opportunity.

In a funny and yet somehow unfunny way childcare worked itself all out for those six days. I had probably 2/3 of the days covered through different friends but as it turned out, we didn't wind up needing them after all. The Monday before I was supposed to start training Eddie arrived home early unexpectedly and informed me that his company had some layoffs. Ouch. Well, I can hardly say we've never been in this situation before. We moved down here for my job right after we got married in 2005. Eddie and I agreed that this is where God seemed to be leading us in our newly married life. For a time Eddie worked at a temporary job at a driving range but it didn't really allow him much time to focus on looking for a 'real' job. So, he stopped working there and for the following year, give or take, he tried to find this so-called 'real' job. He had a temp job which gave him a little experience to put on his resume and then finally the poor guy caught a break. He worked for a little over a year and then lost his job. God graciously provided him with a job only a little over a month after he lost it though and during that time encouraged us and grew our faith. Well now we're back in the same boat and I can honestly say that I feel really peaceful about it all. I know there are not that many jobs out there but I also know and have experienced God's grace, faithfulness and kindness first hand, multiple times. I am proud of my husband and the way he cares for our family. He is super smart and his next employer is a very lucky one.


Eva is just a ball of energy. She's been cruising all over everything that's low enough for her to hang onto. We have yet to install gates, much to many peoples' chargrin, because we are notoriously bad procrastinators. I think it's essential though and must happen soon. I promise we will have at least ordered gates by the end of next week. I am so blessed that she is still a really happy little girl. Granted, she's been having some grumpy times lately (mainly in the midnight hours) due to her nonexistent teeth. Yes, that's right, the girl still has no teeth. Other than that, she's a joy. I've been trying to keep her menu varied and throw new stuff into the mix but as of late she's mainly been interested in bread. She really is a girl.

We have lots of visits planned for the coming months. I need to contact a few people to make arrangements for some and others we have the priviledge of hosting. I'm starting to get excited about Eva's upcoming first birthday!! (It's April 11 Dad) :oP I also feel a little sad that the time is already going by so quickly. My goal is to stay focused on the present and not try to rush her through any stages or wish they were over.

Posted in: on Friday, February 20, 2009 at at 4:25 PM 1 comments  

I think I've decided that I'm a pretty lousy blogger. I have no idea how some of you out there post every day and sometimes multiple times per day. You are amazing! I've found it easy enough to think of ideas for posts but somehow by the time I get around to writing one it become a massive catch up list. Sheesh.

Well, anyway, Eva had her 9 month doctors appointment last week and is doing just fine. She maintains her string bean status at 90% for height and around 25% for weight. She's super cute (biased) and an incredibly happy girl. She is an amazing gift from God. We actually had her visit with one of the nurse practitioners and she was pleasant enough aside from the fact that she made me feel pressured about vaccinations. I guess this is just something that I'll have to get used to. The naturopathic doctor we see pointed out that so many doctors out there forget that we're hiring them to do a job for us, not the other way around. I guess that means that we can fire them too...I think they should be a little nicer.

For the past week I've had a pretty terrible head cold. I don't remember the last time I was this sick. It's no fun but I'm feeling 10 times better now than I felt at the beginning of the week. I think Eva had this too to a lesser extent. Her poor little nose has never been so crusty before. Eddie stayed home from work yesterday to rest up since he felt like it might be attacking him too. He went to work today even though he wasn't feeling 100%; don't I have a great husband? Hopefully, we'll all get lots of rest tonight and through the day tomorrow because tomorrow night is the long awaited arrival of Mom and Dadler!

If I know them, and I think I do, they'll probably get up in the wee hours of the morning to get an early start on the trip. Maybe we will all be able to have dinner together. I'll have to make sure it's something special to warm and relax them after many hours in an automobile. I think one positive thing about having a cold the week before you're supposed to have house guests is that it forces you to take it easy. So often I can get overly wrapped up in creating a good impression for whoever is coming over and I think that stems from my pride. I'm glad that my parents will be arriving before I have had time to finish painting the kitchen or cleaning up the basement (that means they can do it for me...just kidding). The reason I'm glad is because they'll arrive into our home as we live in it, not some perfect, pristine(HA!) place that doesn't really exist. And let's get real, if you can't show your home to your parents, who can you show it to? Don't worry Mom and Dad, I at least made sure your bathroom was clean.

I just found out yesterday that our home is going to become my workplace in a few weeks. I got an email saying I was accepted into the hotelling program at work and I'll be starting training for that on February 4th. Now I just need to come up with six days worth of child care while I'm in training full time. Yuck. Why do they want to train me on filling out my time sheet online when I've been doing that since the implementation of the online time sheet a couple years ago? Yes, I'm serious. What a waste of time. At least I'll be in training with my good friend Krista so we can pass notes like junior high. I'm also really excited to have my wonderful ipod touch which I will be sure to load with games.

Here's a little throw back picture. Eva on her second day of life. All together now, awwwwwwwwwww.


I'm sure there is more that I've thought of writing over the past two weeks but I can't remember. Hopefully, I'll get some posts out more frequently but don't count on it. :)

Posted in: on Friday, January 23, 2009 at at 2:41 PM 0 comments  

Well, the Contours lite stroller came and went in a matter of a couple hours on Sunday. To those of you who really like that stroller, I'm sorry. I don't want to offend you but I was thoroughly unimpressed by it. The construction was flimsy. The canopy made the most horrendous clicking noise when you moved it to its one position. The snack tray was in Eva's face and the seat could not sit fully upright. Good luck opening the snack tray too...poor design there. What's more, the seat back was held up by nothing more than an adjustable strap. The only thing it really had going for it was an awesome red color...I wish I could have kept that. Glad we didn't have to pay for shipping and that Walmart took it back easily.


I ordered the Graco Metrolite three days ago, received it today and just finished putting it together. We test drove the Metrolite at BabiesRUs and liked it so I was pretty confident that it would be a keeper. I can tell already that Eva and I are going to have some long walks when it gets a little warmer out. Among some of the perks are an adjustable handle (really very helpful when the adults are 5'4" and 6'2", everyone's comfortable this way), a drop back on the cargo basket which makes it really easy to get things in and out, two adult cup holders and a great kids tray, with a cup holder, that is really easy to open. It's got a peekaboo window on the top of the canopy and one on the rear if you have a tiny one laying down. The only thing I have a problem with is that when you fold it you have to really squeeze the body to get the latch hooked. I'm fairly confident that this will remedy itself after a short time once the fabric loosens up though. It looks sleek and seems well made. It only cost about $20 more and I think it will be money well spent.

Posted in: on at at 2:22 PM 3 comments  

You're in for a long day when you are sorting laundry and check your 9 month old's pants pockets before putting them in the washer... Oh boy.

I was planning on working today but I guess it wasn't God's plan. I feel like there are many times when my plan and God's plan do not align. I'm hoping that throughout the day God will reveal himself to me in new ways and that I will seek to serve him instead of myself. It is just so hard sometimes, to lead a Christ centered life. (I'm praying for you RF.)

Eva has been continuing to grow and change rapidly. Yesterday she hit her 9 month mark and I just can't believe it will be only 3 short months before I have a one year old. Where have the months gone? She is such a sweet baby and she has such a good nature. People at church come up to Eddie and me all the time and comment about her. Yesterday during worship Eva was singing in her own way and dancing. She was just as happy as could be, in her own little world praising God. I think it's so awe inspiring how connected little kids are to God. Anyway, after church an older gentleman came up to us and seemed so touched by Eva and her happy spirit. How good to know that Eva affects people in such a positive way. She is so friendly and smiles at EVERYONE. It's a blessing to see the smiles that she brings to other peoples' faces. I pray that as she grows she will continue to be a friendly and happy person and that she will live up to the name Evangeline - bearer of good news.

In other news Mom and Dad A. are officially coming to visit for the last week in January!! I'm so excited that they will get to spend a good chunk of time with their granddaughter, and Eddie and me too. They are deserving of a good long break and hopefully Dad will find all the household projects we have lined up for him relaxing!! ;-) If I'm chosen for hotelling at work there's a 6 day long training involved and one of the potential weeks for that is the week that Mom and Dad will be here. I'm toying with the idea of training that week since child care would be all lined up but at the same time I want to spend time with my parents... what to do, what to do.

I guess I should mention that I applied to work from home last week. For those of you who don't know, the Patent Office has really been pushing a program called 'hotelling' which is basically working from home. Until recently it was not available to part-timers but our union negotiated with management and now it's allowed. The only downside to this is that you have to work a minimum of 60 hours per biweek. I currently only work about 40. What this would mean is an increase in work that I would have to do; however, I could eliminate close to two hours worth of commute per day and $8 for the parking garage. Another bonus is that the PTO would reimburse us for our internet. Seems like it's a no brainer, right? I will continue to pray that if this is what God has for me that I will be selected. Please pray that I would seek God's will in this situation.

Last week I ordered the Kolcraft stroller from Walmart. Since I can return it to the store and got free site to store shipping I figured we could test it out that way. If we like it, we'll keep it. If not, I guess I'll be looking for a good deal on one of the other strollers.

Posted in: on Monday, January 12, 2009 at at 9:25 AM 2 comments