Happy Birthday Ivy!

Last night I was thinking about how fast this past year has gone, since Ivy was born. Although it seems like time has flown by, Ivy doesn't seem like a one-year-old to me just yet. Maybe because she's so little, doesn't have teeth or enough hair to do anything with, still nurses quite a bit, and wakes up 1-3 times a night. STILL.

Despite being SO much more difficult than Sophie was as a baby, we adore our little Ivy. Although it's tiring sometimes when the only one she wants is me, I love making her happy. I love seeing her gorgeous, gummy smile, and I love that she lets me cuddle with her. I could sit and stare at her all day -- just like when she was a newborn. The fact that she's close to walking makes it seem like she's growing up fast, but her petite-ness keeps me from getting baby hungry. (Oh, and that I haven't had more than 5 consecutive hours of sleep for the past year.)

Happy Birthday Little Bit! We love you!

Here are her latest stats:

Height: (coming Monday)
Weight: (coming Monday)
Number of Teeth: 0
Favorite Foods: Cheerios, Goldfish crackers, grapes, most melons, beans, soup, Mexican food, Indian curry (particularly this one)

Interests: dolls, books, putting on her jacket (for some reason that makes her really happy), being a tease, cuddling with/being held by mom

Sports: Climbs on the couch, up the stairs, into the refrigerator & dishwasher, out the front door, on mom's legs or anyone who's sitting on the floor, plays catch (sorta).

Latest tricks: Stood by herself for about 5 seconds, colors and holds crayons with pretty good form.

Communication: Points and says, "mmm- mmm-", recognizes the Cheerio box, makes it very clear when she want to nurse, understands when we say, "Where's Sophie/Mom/Dad?", "Put it back", "Sit down", "Turn the page", "Wanna bite/drink?", "Give the baby loves" (sometimes she hugs the baby and sometimes she throws it with a smirk on her face -- like I said, she's a tease :))

Gratitude

Warm fuzzies on a cold, rainy day . . .



Being grateful makes me happy. :)

Park Day

One of my favorite things about living in California (right after the variety of food) is being able to go to the park in the winter without bundling the kids up in snow clothes.

We were at the park a couple of weeks ago with some friends and thought it would be a cute idea to put the siblings in the swings together. It was, as you can see in the pic below. . .

until the time came to get Gavin out of the swing. He'd managed to wedge himself in there pretty tight and was NOT amused when Heather and I both struggled to get him out. I thought we might have to cut the swing apart at one point. It was one of those, "sorta funny, sorta sad" moments.

This is a little demonstration of how slow my camera is when taking successive pictures and how fast Ivy's getting at crawling. This was the first time she crawled around on the playground equipment. Luckily it was like a corridor on the way to the slide so she couldn't slip out.

Brace Yourself

. . . especially if you are a grandma because you might just die of cuteness. I almost did.

My mom gave Sophie this little cheetah (leopard? I can't tell them apart) print onesie that has a tutu sewn on. It was a little small for her, so it's been tucked away until Ivy was big enough to fit into it. I wasn't sure when to put it on her because I didn't want her to get food/snot/slobber/dirt/general baby grime all over it. It never occurred to me until last Sunday that she could wear it to church!

Are you ready for this?

Nope, she will NOT stand up

. . . unless she decides to on her own


or if there's a popsicle involved.

Holy cow this makes my insides turn to mush.

Sophie looked cute that day, too, but not quite as life-threatening cute.

If the tutu-onesie didn't do the job, then this definitely will. Probably the cutest video of them I have so far.

Sophie was taking a nap on the couch, and I brought Ivy down to wake her up. She usually just climbs on her and sticks her fingers in her face, but this time she gave up some love.

Oh, and um . . . watch where Ivy grabs Sophie in the middle of the clip. THAT's what Sophie was talking about. (Plus she gets her "mine" and "yours" mixed up.) That's the only sketchy anatomy word she knows. :)

Deja Vu

Look familiar?

October 2009

Need a reminder?

October 2008

I made these a couple of weeks ago and remembered that Sophie also helped me last year when I made them. Her little face hasn't changed that much -- she just has more hair. :)

This may become a yearly tradition.