This is a 3D ultrasound photo taken a week before Evie was born. She looked just like this when she came out, much to our amazement. I just remember thinking, “I’m so glad she’s actually cute. People won’t have to lie and say ‘Oh, what a pretty baby!’ when they really mean, “Start the car, Harold. Let’s bounce!’”

I took this picture of Evie only a few minutes after she was born. The only words I have ever thought of when I have seen this photo are “alien” and “wow.” I also think she reminds me vaguely of J. R. R. Tolkien’s character Gollum in this photo with those big, luminous eyes.

Evie was maybe a week old here, and she’s wearing the onesie that Millie Minor-Gibson made, using a design by husband Danny J. Gibson to help impart aesthetic appreciation in infants (I assume that is their goal for these adorable outfits.).

I have always loved baby feet. They are so small, yet so detailed. There are those crinkly lines, like cracks in the Earth, and those prehensile toes. Then, of course, in Evie’s case there is the Johnny Cash T-shirt she is wearing. I wanted her feet to dwarf the rest of her for this photo, making our little alien seem even more alien.

Becki took this one with her iPad, so the quality is decidedly grainier. But the clenched fists and the set brow all say, “I am about to fill my pants with leaded, Mom.” Taken just before bath-time, which Evie loves.

I love this car-seat photo. The shadow and light (Yes, just like they teach you in photography class). The outstretched, expressive baby fingers. The monkey blanket, keeping our monkey warm. The denim jean jacket that seems to say, “Watch out, denim. Evie’s wearing you.”

Another pixelated iPad photo, and one that shows off Evie’s expressive little face.

And the lion and the lamb shall lay down together.

“Which way to your dojo, Sensei?”

My all-time favorite Evie photo.

Evie at two months.