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!

Halloween Cookies

I don't have a lot of time to bake or be creative during the day, but I do at night thanks to my WONDERFUL husband. Our routine lately has consisted of Daddy getting home from work, all of us eating dinner together, me putting Lilia to bed while Cliff holds Ivy, and then he continues to hold her while I craft for the remainder of the evening.





Gift buckets for the neighbors!



This past week I had it in my mind to make spectacular spider web cookies for Halloween. I had seen them on the "Our Best Bites" site (http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/10/tutorial-how-to-make-a-spider-web-design/) a long time ago and just never got around to making them myself. Well this week I did! I TOTALLY failed the first batch, but Cliff was a good cheerleader and I stuck with it. This is the final product with some other designs just for fun.

Lovely Lilia

Lilia just grows more and more dear to my heart with each passing day. I just love to watch her little personality grow. She is such a sweet sensitive little cutie. Everywhere we go she smiles and waves to strangers. At church she says "hi!" to EVERYONE and even grabbed some random childrens' hands in the hallway the other day for an impromptu round of "Ring Around the Rosy." She ADORES her baby sitter that lives behind us and any girl over the age of 4. She also loves Baby Ivy. She wants to make her smile and hold her hand. She always tells me when Ivy is sad and loves to point out when "Baby Ivy is looking at you!"
Two kids are no walk in the park, but Lilia really does make it easier on me. She has recently become very independent and loves to go and play by her self in her room. She will go lay on her BIG GIRL bed and read stories for 20 min or so and never make a peep. Sometimes I go sit in there with the baby and read with her because I miss being around her! (She will go for 15-20 min regularly throughout the day.)
She is so smart. She learns so many new words every day and REMEMBERS everything. The other day I said something about tuna... maybe I was talking about dinner - I really can't remember, but Lilia said to me " Mimi feed the black kitty tuna?" My mom used to leave a can of tuna out for the feral black cat that lives in her neighborhood. I couldn't believe that Lilia remembered that from like 6 months ago! She is very perceptive and we have to be careful what we say around her because she picks up on everything. I told Cliff one night after he had gotten home from work that that particular day "had really kicked my butt." Lilia without missing a beat said "I kick mommy's butt." Oops!
She is soooo beautiful to me too. Actually I think she is just beautiful to everyone. Everywhere we go people comment on her hair and her doll-like features. I hope that she grows up to know how beautiful she is. A few months ago she started calling herself "chubby" and it broke my heart. While the pediatrician is carefully monitoring Lilia's weight because she has always been on the bigger side, we don't want her to develop a complex. Lilia eats well and we try to get her lots of exercise, but I know that she picks up on the comments that are made in her presence. It was cute for her to be "chubby" as an infant, but we have had to politely ask that our friends and acquaintances steer away from that particular word as Lilia remembers. I don't think she fully understands the meaning, but I hate to see her use it to describe herself. Instead of talking about "chubby cheeks," we say that she has "peaches and creamy" skin. That is a big hit. Apparently mommy and daddy have "peaches and creamy" skin now too - I wish!!