The Hillebrands: two {Evangeline}

1 Samuel 1:27 "I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him."

Evangeline has taught us so much about parenting, about joy, and about cherishing the little things in life. She has also taught us how to live on little to no sleep. :) We have learned a whole new meaning to resting in Him and have learned that our strength doesn't come from sleep but only from God.

She is our "wild one". She is fearless and faces challenges head on. We also call her our hippy chick because often times we will find her with her eyes closed and bobbing her head to music (nobody else can hear).

Most people would say she is strong-willed, but I disagree. I call it opinionated. All children are strong-willed at some point, she just knows what she wants and will fight for what she wants. She wears her feelings on her shoulder and you never have to guess what she thinks about something.

You will either find her mothering a doll or accessorizing herself. When taking care of her dolls she will often go through the routine of feeding it (under her shirt), use a real wipe for the diaper change, and then put it "night, night".

She is very attentive to what Selah is doing and will keep me informed when she is "Awake!" or "Crying!"

Lots of things are "No, mine!" so we are learning to share.

This shirt is very fitting for her because we are always saying "Be happy, happy!" (in a Phil Robertson kind of way). Often times we will catch her saying "happy happy" and crying at the same time. And speaking of a girl who knows what she wants...she has worn this shirt 3 out of the last 5 days (sigh). We are also learning to pick our battles :)

Her vocabulary is expanding every day. She is now saying phrases and attempts to say anything. She can't say her S's so she calls her sister "Wee-lah". A frequent saying we hear is "Ok! Alrighty!"

She still puts herself to bed when she is tired during the day. She usually gets tired around 11:30 and I will find her random places. Sometimes I have to search diligently to find where she landed! She even sleep walks at night and doesn't usually wake up where we originally put her to bed at.

Swinging outside is her favorite thing to do but finding toe jam between her toes comes in a close second. She will search very diligently between each toe and if she doesn't find any "treasures" she will find someone else's toes to look between!