Ivy-isms

   I always forget to write down all of the crazy kooky things my kids say or the adorable way they pronounce different words.  Here are a few "Ivy-isms," but only a few because it's late and I can't remember all of them...

"Leeya!" - Lilia
"eyesore" - dinosaur
"gunky" - monkey
"manas" - bananas (it used to be just "mas.")
"hold you!"  - pick me up/ hold me
"punkin" - pumpkin
"all done ___" - No more/ I'm done with this   ex:  All done diaper cream!!!  (She had a bad rash and didn't want anything else down there."
"nibbles" - *points to Lilia's nipples in the bath tub.  Lilia - "Mom!  Ivy just called my nipples, NIBBLES!!"  (She then giggled and giggled...)
"A spittup" - any time Joel even drools a little
"Onions" - Minions from "Despicable Me."


  I will try to add more when I remember them.  She is such a funny kid. 

Ivy is Two!

   Another year has passed and our Ivy girl has completed her second year in this world.  I haven't been great at documenting this past year and I honestly can't remember the last time she had an update...  Poor girl is a middle child through and through!  Not really, though.  I may not document her life the way I would like to, but I could NEVER forget this kid even for a minute.  She wouldn't let me!  Ivy is our crazy DRAMATIC rambunctious MANIACAL goofy girl.  She has developed so much personality this past year and it floods our home with laughter and tears on a very regular basis. 

  I know you should never compare your children, but I just can't help but wonder at the amazing differences between my daughters.  Lilia is thoughtful and gentle and social.  Ivy is wild and energetic and sooooo so curious.  She wants to study the bugs on the sidewalk and poke them.  She collects rocks and I find them all over the house.

  She wants to run headlong into the street or the woods or your arms.  If she wants to do something she does it all the way.  If she doesn't want to do something - good luck trying to change her mind! 

She LOVES her older sister... most of the time.  She copies her every move.  It is adorable to watch them play together.  Ivy is pretty good to take on the roles that Lilia gives her, (sick patient, baby, student, puppy, etc) but she can also hold her own with big sis.  Ivy likes to tackle Lilia and climb all over her.  She is feisty and quick and I sometimes feel a little bad for Lilia, when the Ivy tornado is on the loose!

 She had swim lessons this summer and she was great.  While she didn't absolutely love getting her face wet, it didn't bother her the way it did most of the kids in the class.  She would take off into the water until it swallowed her up and I had to scoop her out!  You would think tumbling under would frighten a toddler, but obviously not or not enough, because she would just do it all over again.  Not content to sit and float with the other kids, she wanted to be on the move.  That is pretty much Ivy.  She doesn't want to stop and smell the roses.  She wants to go and go and go. 

 She has a wonderful laugh.  It's both hilarious and a little maniacal.  It's totally infectious.  I think she should voice a villain in a movie.  Maniacal cackle like you've never heard before.  She is also talking up a storm, but we only understand about a third of what she says.  SHE knows what she is saying... we just haven't caught up.  We are trying, though, and I KNOW when we finally catch up it will be hilarious.   She loves to sing and has wonderful recall.  She is memorizing the words to songs that she has only heard a couple of times.  It's adorable to watch and listen to her sing.  Her favorite song at the moment is "I love to see the temple" followed closely by "Down by the bay." 

   Ivy is a pretty good little eater.  She is no where near Lilia as far as adventurous eating goes, but then Lilia is more adventurous than a lot of the adults I know, so it's not a fair comparison.  For a toddler, we think Ivy is eating well.  She LOVES green smoothies and it doesn't seem to matter what I put in them - kale, spinach, avocado, etc.  She will eat any fruit, but only a few veggies that aren't in smoothie form.  All berries are called "strawbees."  As for veggies, carrots and bell pepper are usually safe.  She rarely eats meat.  She LOVES hummus and re-fried beans.  She calls hummus "humpins."  She also love guacamole.  She will eat any kind of cheese - even Gorgonzola.  She loves the palak paneer (creamed spinach,) at our favorite Indian restaurant.  She loves cashews and peanuts too. 

   Ivy is a great sleeper.  She naps for two hours every day and she goes to bed so easily every night.  She never seems to wake up during the night which is also very different from Lilia.  Ivy stays in almost the exact same position all night long.  We find her just the way we left her - on her tummy with her stuffed dragon clutched tight.  She used to keep her legs bunched underneath her with her bottom sticking up in the air, but now she's just a straight stick.  Her bedtime routine includes a story or two, prayer, a song and quick "rock" before she says "bed?" "sleep?" and kisses me and leaps out of my arms into her crib.  I'm grateful that she sleeps well right now and hope it lasts.  It's good for her and it's good for me! 

   Ivy loves her grandparents and talks about them all the time.  She was so cute when everyone came up to visit for Joel's blessing.  She was like a little ping pong ball bouncing from lap to lap. 

  Ivy loves technology so we got her a toy phone for one of her birthday presents.  She likes it alright, but knows it's not the real thing.  No i-pad or smartphone is safe when she is near.  She knows how to unlock just about any device and will call the Himalayas before you know what hit you.  It's better to keep your devices hidden when she is around.  Kindly people at church let her look or play with their phones even after we try to warn them and before they can turn around she has deleted their calendars and scrambled their address books.  

  We also got Ivy a plush "toothless" doll from the movie "How to Train Your Dragon."  Ivy LOVES this movie, which is kind of funny to us as Lilia did at this age too.  I would think it would be frightening to a small child, but not so!  She LOVES the "dragon movie" and we watch it all. the. time.  I actually went out and bought the T.V. series after Joel was born and it has been a fantastic trick to have up my sleeve on tough days with our new baby.  Ivy loves to chase Lilia around the house with her dragon, roaring all the way.  Sometimes she chases without the dragon.  Sometimes we just think she likes to hear herself roar. 

eating a container of "humpins." 

  I am sure I am forgetting a millions things I wanted to write about Ivy, but I am tired.  Those things will have to wait.  We love her so much, though.  Ivy is a handful, but I wouldn't trade her laughter or feisty little spirit for anything.  She has made our lives so much more interesting. 

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!!

Ivy's Birthday in Florida

   I have been sooooo behind in blogging that even thinking about catching up is almost too much effort.  Ivy deserves a birthday post and update, though, don't you think?  I must really love her! 

  We had a birthday party for Ivy when we went to Florida to visit family and friends.   One of my very best friends, Chrissy, met us in Florida and we celebrated our babies' first birthdays together!  The theme was "Thing 1 and Thing 2" and it was pretty stinkin' adorable.   Many of our friends from Japan are now living in P-cola and they were kind enough to join us in celebrating Ivy and Liam's first year.  It was an impromptu reunion of sorts and it was so much fun!  I got to see some truly amazing women again AND the babies that they've had since we last saw each other.  So cool!  

  Ivy and her Mimi

Ivy and her daddy.  Don't let the look of terror fool you.  He had a great time with all of the girls and babies.  

   The kids were instant besties  :)

 Ivy opening gifts.  She dove right in and knew just what to do.

 Woohoo!

Thing 1 and Thing 2.  Aren't they cute!

  

   All of the mamas and their babies!  Japan/ Florida Reunion 2012!  These were some of my very best friends in Japan.  I feel very blessed to know them and hope we can get together again soon!

The cakes

 Ivy THOROUGHLY enjoyed her first cake. 

 So much so that she didn't even bother with hands! 

  

Ivy 9 months

  Ivy is 9 months old!  She has now been out of me longer than she was in me! 

  Ivy, Ivy, Ivy... crazy girl.  She is my busy little bee.  She never stops MOVING!  She has been cruising for a couple of months now and she gets around quickly.  She loves to climb up on walls, chairs, sisters, garbage cans, legs, dogs, and everything in between.  She also loves to pick up anything and everything and put it in her mouth.  Sippy cup?  Sure!  Cheerio?  Yes!  Hair ball, insect, grain of sand, dirty band-aid,  piece of glass?  Of course!  My floors have never been so clean.  When I say that they are so clean that you can eat off of them - I actually mean it most of the time.  Between the sweeping and the mopping and the Lysol, Ivy is very good for a clean and sanitary house.  Anything that escapes me and doesn't kill her, I just have to figure is good for her immune system!

  She is also chattering up a storm.  "Dadada" is still her favorite phrase, but she occasionally throws in some other sounds and consonants.  She also likes to growl.  At least that is the closes thing I can compare her strange and often guttural sounds to.  They raise more than a few eye brows at church, that's for sure.  She is so much fun, though.  While she is a little clingy, as long as I am in the room she is happy as a clam.  She follows me around like a little puppy with a *slap* *slap* *slap* of her hands and knees on the floors panting all the way.  She LOVES to "play" with Lilia and most of the time Lilia tolerates her well.  Oh, tolerate sounds so harsh.  Lilia loves her baby Ivy and thanks Heavenly Father for her every night in her prayers.  Lilia even made up a song about how much she loves her the other day.... Anyway, that's another post.  Here are Ivy's latest stats:

She is 26 3/4 inches and 18lbs 11 oz.  20th-25th percentile for height and 50th for weight.  She is so SMALL to us!  I think she seems so tiny because she is a little on the short side, but also because Lilia was never less than the 98th percentile.  I just love it, though.  She is so EASY to carry!!!  Man!  I can carry her around all day long if need be.  That usually doesn't happen, though.  She is a girl on the go and very squirmy.  She is a pistol when it comes to diaper changes.  I'm lucky if I get both tabs on.

  Cliff describes her as "vocal and active.  She is tenacious.  She sees something and goes for it."  She makes things happen.  Lilia might have been content to sit and observe the world around her, but Ivy is not.  She is all about exploration and discovery.  She is also very smiley and laughs easily.  She has Cliff's hair.  She climbed up two steps the other day....

   Her hemangioma is fading.  I think it will be completely gone in 6 months.  Maybe less.  I won't say that I will miss it exactly, but it will be a little strange not to see it anymore.  It's just been part of the package, you know?

 She is still mostly breastfed.  She is super interested in food, the problem is once you start feeding her you can do NOTHING else because she melts down if you aren't 100% devoted to her feeding.  She yells and screams and bangs her tray.  Our solution for this has been mostly finger food.  This allows us to eat as a family.  She is doing ok with the sippy cup.  Mostly she chews on it, but she gets a little water down.  She still hasn't really every had a bottle.  No point in starting one of those now!  She is finally sleeping through the night like for real sleeping through the night.  12 hrs sometimes.  I do still feed her at least once because I am a sucker and because I like my sleep.  She knows this and "milks" it for all it's worth.  Ha ha...

  We just love our little baby Ivy, though.  She is so much fun.  She fits right into our family in a way we could never have imagined!

Ivy Pushes up on a Chair

This video was taken a day or so after Ivy hit 7 months. Just wanted to show my mother what this crazy girl is up to. Lilia is pretty funny too. She is singing "I am a Child of God" and putting her toys to bed.

Baby IVY

I have the two cutest girls in the world, but this post is devoted to Ivy. "Baby Ivy" as we all still call her and probably forever will. I'm sure she will love that at 16! Anyhoo... I don't write enough about Ivy. I think it is because I am afraid it might sound like I am bragging all the time so instead I just don't say anything at all. That's not right. The fact is, Ivy is truly an amazing kiddo and she deserves some love. You know that she has been crawling for months now. That's old hat. What is really crazy is that she is now trying to stand. She is pulling herself up onto furniture and cruising is just around the corner. CRAZY! She is so so strong. She pulled herself up on Cliff's tool box the other day and just hung out for a while half standing/ half squatting and THEN she let go! And DIDN'T FALL! Ahhh!!! I know you all heard me say how excited I was for her to crawl and to sit up on her own, and truly I was! STANDING, though??? I'm not ready for that. She is soooo little! Little babies can't do that can they??? Well, yes, apparently they can. I know that Cliff walked early. I think Ivy might walk early too. Keepin' up with Big Sis I guess. Speaking of which, Ivy still thinks Lilia is the best thing since sliced bread. We were at the playground the other day and I had Ivy in the carrier. I was blowing bubbles for Lilia who was running around like a mad hatter trying to pop every bubble she could and Ivy was hysterically laughing. I have never heard her laugh so much. It was just so... joyful! I love to see her watch her sister with such adoration and joy. If Lilia is laying on the floor playing with toys or watching a movie and I put Ivy down on the floor too, the first thing she does in beeline for Lilia. She LOVES to touch Lilia and Lilia in turn loves to kiss and cuddle her. I just love watching the girls interact. I don't think there is anything better as a mother than watching your children play together. I hope this last for a few years.
Because Ivy is so mobile she is also quite the explorer. I thought we had our house pretty "baby proofed" from Lilia's baby years. Turns out that Lilia was a super sedate kidddo. She was content to just sit most of the time and didn't really start getting into things until she was well over a year old. "Sedate" is the last word I would use to describe baby Ivy. She is rather daring and adventurous. I'm sure she will be a real climber. I mean, she already is! She likes to drum on toys, climb on toys, chew on toys, chew on fingers, chew on toys, chew on me...
She has huge smiley eyes. Cliff and I always comment on how happy her eyes are. Sometimes you only see her eyes peeking around the corner of a chair or over the top of a stuffed animal, but you can still tell that she is smiling.
In other news, she is now sleeping in her own room! She has taken too it swimmingly. Much better than Lilia did at first. Or, maybe not, but we've been through it before and are old pros now. Cliff puts her to bed now around 6:30pm and she goes right to sleep. She wakes up once or twice a night. I only feed her once, though. Usually if she wakes up, we hear her and she has fallen back to sleep before we even get to her. Cliff brings her in to me in bed in the morning when he leaves for work and we usually go back to sleep for another hour or two or until Lilia gets up. It's pretty great considering what the first few months were like. I'm all for co-sleeping when it works, but after coming back from Oregon we just never again achieved the harmony we had before the trip. I think all of us are enjoying our own beds. Especially mom and dad.
Ivy is really smiley, but it is usually a closed mouth pursed lip smile, (as pictured above.) Pretty cute.

So Ivy is also quite a mama's girl. She is content to play by herself while I cook or clean until she sees me... and then she isn't. In the evening if she is fussy there is only me to console her... usually with the boob. Pacifiers don't do it. Daddy doesn't do it. My milk is like crack. It was with Lilia too. Kid can't get enough! It's actually a little frightening the way she attacks me with her voracious appetite. I'm a little wary of those teeth that are on their way in. We shall cross that bridge when we have to...

Ivy is also still plowing through the solid foods. I will admit that I am a little lazy and don't feed her solids all the time because she still nurses frequently, but when I do she is all about it. Veggies, fruits, yogurt melts, rice crackers, it really doesn't matter. She loves it all and is devastated when the food it gone. I mean full on nuclear meltdown devastated. We will have to work on that. She is growing like a champ, though, and hanging out in the 70th percentile for weight. The May girls don't starve, that's for sure.


I just love my little girls. The days are getting warmer here in beautiful Crozet, Virginia and I am so excited to get out and do things with my two little sweeties. Add Cliff to the mix and life is truly grand :)

Ivy's 6 Month Update

My poor forgotten child. Well, forgotten as far as this blog goes. Let's remedy that, shall we? Ivy is 6 months old today! We have updates! Kid is OUT OF CONTROL! We call her Super Baby Ivy, because - no joke - she is! Here is what she is up to:

Ivy started scooting around over a month ago and is now full on crawling on her hands and knees and getting faster every day. She can get to just about any object that she wants as long as it is on the floor. No distance is too great when girlfriend has her eye on something. Favorite toys and objects right now are Lilia's shoes, Lilia's blocks, and Lilia's sippy cups. Lilia of course is not as impressed as we are. She (Lilia,) is taking more interest in Ivy, though. She absolutely loves to play with Ivy now and calls her her little "sugar plum." I love to see them interact.

Just last week Ivy started sitting up from her tummy. She pushes herself into sitting like she has been doing it for years! She is such a pro. I never even showed her what to do! She just figures things out for herself. Very independent. She and Lilia are complete opposites in that respect. She spends all of her time sitting now when she isn't crawling to get something.

Ivy also had her first solid foods last week. We didn't bother with rice cereal. I didn't have any on hand and I have always thought that it looks and sounds gross so we skipped ahead to avocado. Ivy had been reaching for food for the last two months and she about jumped out of our arms with excitement at actually getting food this time. So the verdict? LOVE. Ivy LOVES solid foods. She ate a quarter of mushed avocado on her first go and was begging for more. We had to physically remove her from the kitchen when it was all gone so that she didn't have a complete meltdown. I think I am going to be making most of her food from now on, so it should be interesting to see what else she likes.

Lastly, for now she is talking up a storm. Her favorite thing to say is "dada" of course, but she has other sounds in the works too. I am impressed with her diction, though. She pronounces her consonants very clearly. We love to hear her sweet little voice. She is so serious when she speaks to us. We try to listen very carefully and make sure that she knows that she has our attention. She is also quick to laugh and smile. We just love our little baby Ivy. I just hope she waits a little while before she starts WALKING!

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!