Ivy Update (13 months)

Ivy is over a year old now!

I was a little late on getting Ivy's 12 month check up so we had it a little closer to 13 months, but she is healthy and doing well!  Her current stats are 28 and 3/4 inches for height and 20 lbs 12 oz for weight.  She has been consistently in the 20-25% for height and 50% for weight. 

   She has changed so much this summer.  No longer a baby, she is a full on walking toddler.  She started walking at 12 1/2 months and never stopped.  These days she rarely crawls and is getting faster and faster walking.  She keeps up with us around the house and her balance is fantastic with Lilia running around her and bumping into her all the time.  She's our goofball.  She has such a funny little personality.  She is super smiley and still makes her funny "duck" noises.  We don't notice them as much as strangers and friends do.  They always comment or laugh and we just say "yup, that's Ivy!"

  Ivy's has more than "duck" noises in her repertoire, though.  She is now saying quite a few words.  She loves to play with baby dolls and she says, "Baby," "Pat pat," and "Bye, bye" (for "rockabye.")  She carries her dolls around with her and rocks them and burps them.  If you ask her to kiss her baby she will.  She gives us delightful open mouth kisses upon request as well.  Ivy also waves and says "hello" and "bye bye."  She also says "Dada" whenever Cliff is within 50 feet of her or even when she sees his picture or hears his voice.  She says "mama" when she sees... my breasts...  *sigh.*   

  I think my favorite thing about Ivy right now is how well she plays with Lilia.  It is just the best thing in the world to see your kids play together.  Just heavenly.  In the picture above and below they were playing "magic carpet."  Lilia always leads the game, but Ivy is usually content to follow along.  Sisters are the best!!  I just hope this lasts a few years....

   It is increasingly difficult to get a good picture of Ivy.  She is a girl on the go.  She never has been one to sit still, but now that she walks she almost NEVER sits still.  In these pictures Lilia dressed her up and sent her "grocery shopping."  She is a cute little shopper if I do say so myself!

  In other Ivy news, she has 6 teeth and one more just broke the surface.  Her favorites foods right now are raspberries and blackberries.  She also loves banana and baked sweet potato.  If she doesn't like a food or is done eating, she systematically drops it over her tray and onto the floor.  I will leave the room for a second and come back to find a neat little pile of cheerios or beans on the floor and Ivy looking up at me as innocently as can be.  She has been drinking cows milk for almost two months now and loves it.  She is still breastfed three times a day, but middle of the day is about to go. Ivy never took a bottle so we never had to ween her of that. 

  Ivy is still a good sleeper too.  She sleeps about 12 hours at night, wakes up in the morning to eat and then goes back down for another hour or two.  She is soooo different than Lilia when it comes to her night routine.  Both girls I read to and sang to and then rocked them for a minute before laying them down.  Lilia LOVED this routine and would let me snuggle her and hold her and rock her to my heart's content.  Ivy... not so much.  When she is tired she doesn't want to be rocked or snuggled.  I barely get to sing one verse to her before she is bucking out of my arms and diving for the crib.  She leaps out of my arms every night and nose dives into the mattress to snuggle in on her tummy with her arms and knees tucked under her.  She does the same thing at nap time which unfortunately is only once a day now.  Still better than Lilia ever was!  Ivy will sleep for two hours most days!  Amazing!!  (It's all relative, right?)

  She is such a fun kid.  She amazes us with the things she does every single day.  I'm not glad I threw up for nine months, but I am soooooo glad that we made the decision to have another child because life would not be the same without Ivy here!!