The Best Pet in the Whole Wide World.

Life has been busy for the May family. I guess it is always busy, but these last couple of months have just been crazy. I used to be really good at keeping a journal and then I switched to blogging and that became my journal. Now I just think about journaling/ and blogging, but thinking about something doesn't really count even if you think about it a lot.
The update for now is that the girls are growing. Growing and growing and growing. Lilia just amazes me with the things she says and does every single day. Two year old children can be trying, but most of the time they are fascinating and hilarious. Lilia has such a distinct personality with very strong likes and dislikes. She likes/ LOVES cashews. If I want her to do something I can almost always coax her with the promise of a nutty little treat. She likes to swing at the park and play "Hide and go Seek." She can count... a little. Usually counts to 10 by skipping numbers 4-7. She has all of the numbers in order... she is just in a hurry I guess. She likes to color and to play in her room. She LOVES to look at/ "read" books and her favorites at the moment are the "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" books and "Curious George." She is obsessed with "Bubble Guppies."
She dislikes dancing. What? What toddler dislikes DANCING? Lilia. That's who. I have tried EVERYTHING to get this kid to move. The pediatrician thinks that Lilia could use some more physical activity so in addition to going outside and to playing at the park I have tried to get Lilia to dance and wiggle around during the day. We turn up the music and I dance around like a lunatic with Ivy watching in awe from her bouncy seat. Lilia isn't impressed and doesn't want to join in. I try ribbons on sticks. What little girl doesn't want to dance around with a ribbon like a fairy or... a gymnast? Lilia. She really couldn't care less. I leap around the house like an idiot and she just watches or worse ignores me completely. I have tried kids' music, latin music, Lady Gaga, and the Scissor Sisters. Nope. No dancing. *Sigh.* If there are other kids around Lilia will at least run and chase around with them, but rainy days are killing us. What kid doesn't like to dance????
In other Lilia news, she is funny. We having been talking about "pets" lately after watching a Sesame Street episode about the "Best Pet in the Whole Wide World." Elmo thought that his goldfish was the best and Telly thought his hamster was the best and Zoe thought her rock was the best, etc, etc. The other day Lilia exclaimed, "Mommy! Baby Ivy is the best pet in the whole wide world!" I guess to a toddler a baby could seem like a pet... As long as she doesn't try to drag Ivy around by a leash.
Lilia has also figured out that we always repeat what she says to us, (just to be clear - sometimes it is difficult to decipher Lilia-speak.) She has taken advantage of this in a funny way. Ex:

Lilia: "Mommy and Lilia go play in my room?"
Me: "Oh, you want me to play with you in your room?"
Lilia: "What a good idea!"

Lilia: "Lilia have a cashew?"
Me: "You want a cashew?"
Lilia: "That's a good idea!"

Lilia: "Daddy hold Baby Ivy and Mommy play with Lilia?"
Me: "You want Daddy to hold Baby Ivy?:
Lilia: " That's a good idea, Mommy!"

Slightly manipulative, no? She's clever. Turn everything around so it's "my idea." I can see her trying this at 16 too.

And finally, the other day I was explaining Santa Claus to Lilia.

Me: He's a jolly old elf that travels around the world on Christmas Eve and delivers toys to good girls and boys!
Lilia: *Puts a finger on her chin in deep though* "Hmm... That's weird."

She keeps me busy and entertained. Lately we have been crafting together. We made a holiday collage the other day and we did experiments with milk and soap and food coloring today. I am always trying to think of new things to do with the kids during the day. It's tough with Ivy being so little and still so fussy, but I am optimistic about the future.
I've been spending waaaaay too much time on Pinterest lately, but I have made some things for the girls and Christmas gifts for friends, so that's not so bad, right??
I wish that Lilia likes to wear things in her hair, but she doesn't. This lasted 90 seconds.
Ivy is getting cuter and cuter, but she is a fussy little thing. She doesn't cry as often as she did a month ago and every month is getting better, but man, when she does cry it's a bloody murder scream. We're talking red in the face, foaming at the mouth, RAGE. Heaven forbid I have to go anywhere during the day. This child HATES her car seat and just bringing her near the thing induces screaming. It's tough to hear, but often I have to tune it out. She is not my only child and laundry and dishes have to be kept in the sanitary "health code" arena at the very least and grocery shopping has to take place eventually. So we strap her in the baby bjorn at home and hope for the best. I'm not going to lie, I am dreading our five hour plane ride to Portland this Holiday Season.

Speaking of Holidays, we went to Atlanta for Thanksgiving and spent some time with my family. It was so much fun! Ivy screamed for at least half of the driving time, but thankfully we split the trip up and stayed in Charlotte on the way down and the way back home to minimize chances of Cliff and I jumping out of our moving vehicle. (We are all alive and well, so I say it was worth it.)
We went to the Georgia Aquarium with my WHOLE family. It was great.
Ivy loved looking at the fish. She is actually pretty happy in the carrier as long as she is facing out and can see what is going on around her.
Speaking of Ivy, she is very attentive to the world around her and she wants to be a part of it! Girl has been wiggle scooting her way across the floor these past weeks and she is STRONG. Even the doctor was impressed with her strength and especially her grip at her check up the other day. She is a feisty little thing. She is in the 67% for weight and height. That's nothing compare to what Lilia was, so I always feel like Ivy is really tiny even though she is actually above average.
She loves to be around her big sister. I'm not sure that the feeling is entirely mutual, but alas, that can be the way of sisters for sometime.... Any time that Lilia shows Ivy any attention at all, though, Ivy's entire face lights up. She just adores Lilia.
Lilia does like be with Ivy for "tummy time." and that is always fun.
Even with all the screaming I just love this little noodle. She has the brightest eyes. So pretty :)


In other non-kid related news, Cliff was officially accepted as a student at UVA! He will begin his Master's Degree in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering in January. Even MORE exciting is that he applied for and GOT the Government Education Voucher (Scholarship.) and ALL of his tuition and books will be payed for! Way to go Cliff!! I am SUPER proud of him. He is such and awesome dad and husband. He is holding Ivy right now while I type this. Marriage is all about teamwork and I have to say he really goes above and beyond for this family. I take the girls during the day while he is at work, of course, but when he gets home he takes Ivy from me and lets me cook dinner and clean and just have some time to myself. I love him to pieces and am grateful that we found each other. Raising kids is the most amazing thing that we have ever done together, but it is also the hardest and I am grateful for his patience and selflessness.

I guess that about wraps up our lives for now. We are still loving Virginia and our neighborhood. We love our Church family and all of the friends we have made here. We had a bunch of people over last night to celebrate a friend's birthday and it was great. I feel really blessed that we have encountered so many wonderful people in our travels and moves.

Hopefully my next post will be sooner than later, but for now this will have to do!

A Post About... Ivy!

Our little Halloweeny Bee


Poor Ivy. I realized the other day that she has been rather neglected as far as blogging goes. The last post devoted to her was... her birth. Oh wait... There was also that rant about newborns...
Don't think for a second that she is forgotten outside of the blogosphere too. This is kid is either in the Baby Bjorn or held in our arms 20 hrs of the day - no joke. I guess it's just the way things go when you have your second baby. Your first child had a picture to document their every breath for the first year. Your second isn't loved any less - you just don't have the time. Ivy is also a super fussy baby and that makes it a little more challenging to get "cute" pictures. She just hit three months this past weekend, though, so I am feeling very hopeful about the future and the end of colic. Despite her colic she really is a charming little girl. She has TWO dimples when she smiles and she started laughing out loud this week! She has HUGE blue eyes that absolutely twinkle with that wonderful "just left heaven" light. She is super chatty and is always making the funniest facial expressions while she converses with you.
She is no where near the chunk of love that Lilia was/ is, but she is no slouch either. Sweet squeezable cheeks R us. We joke that my milk is mostly cream because she only nurses on one side every 3 to 4 hours during the day and she will go 6 hours at night sometimes. Speaking of which - she is a MUCH better sleeper than Lilia. That could just be our co-sleeping arrangement, though. We threw all of the books away with this kid and I am so glad that we did. They never helped much anyway.
Ivy is also very strong. She has been "army crawling" since day one. She will literally scoot herself across the floor at least a foot before she gives up just by pushing out with her feet. She started rolling over almost a week ago. No doubt she wants to keep up with her big sister. That or she wants to protect herself...

I'm sure you have noticed her strawberry hemangioma on her forehead. We are monitoring it with the pediatrician, but for now have decided to let it alone. It is very slow growing and should actually fade by the time she reaches school age. These hemangiomas are benign and are usually not treated unless they obstruct an airway or vision. Almost all of them resolve on their own. It doesn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would. In fact I think it is rather sweet how taken Lilia is with Ivy's "birthmark." When she kisses Ivy before heading off to bed she always aims for the "birthmark."
We thought that Ivy's dark hair would fall out a few days after she was born, but it hasn't. It has lightened up a little, but it is as thick as it ever was. She looks SO completely different than Lilia, but they are both just gorgeous to me. I had such a hard time the first couple of weeks when she cried around the clock, but as the colic gets better and better each day I am completely smitten with this little girl. She is super snuggly and she always looks at me while she nurses and usually cracks a smile or two as well. This of course causes milk to spray her in the face or pool in my lap, but we have both decided it is well worth it :)

ShenanDOYA!

"Shenandoya." That is how Lilia says Shenandoah. We currently live less than 25 min. from the South entrance to Shenandoah National Park via Skyline Drive. How amazing is that? I have never lived that close to a National Park before and I have to say it is pretty amazing. We only saw about a 5th of the 100 mile drive the day that we went, but rest assured we will be back. It was soooo breathtakingly beautiful with the fall leaves and dramatic mist over the mountains. Lilia LOVED the mountains. She talked about them all day long. Every scenic view that we stopped at for pictures she wanted to get out and run around.
I can't blame her. Even our cheap little camera took amazing pictures. You don't even have to try! Just point and "click!"


I really didn't know much about central Virginia before we moved to Charlottesville. I knew that many of the battle of the Civil War were fought in the area and I knew that Virginia in general is chock full of American History, but I didn't realize it was PARADISE. I am seriously in love. We have only been here a few months and I don't want to leave... ever.
We have less than three years to see and enjoy everything we can. We are hitting the ground running and have purchased our annual Shenandoah pass.

Seriously - this kid was all smiles during our stay.


Ivy enjoyed being carried. The car ride... not so much. It's funny how desensitized you become to screaming babies when it's not your first...


Here we are on part of the Appalachian trail.



Don't be deceived by Lilia's adorable hat. It really wasn't too cold. It was comfortable fall weather. My favorite.
Here is our new car! I never did a post about it. Isn't she a beauty? I really love this car. It reminds me of Japan and that is not a bad thing.






Yay for Shenandoah! Or ... SHENANDOYA!!






Come visit us and we'll take you there!