My Dearest Ivy Lorraine...

Monday, February 13, 2012

Happy birthday to YOU!

Last weekend we celebrated my Dad’s birthday and Ivy hammed it up by exclaiming “Happy Birthday to YOU” over and over, much to Papa’s delight. He was loving every minute of it. So, this weekend we had our good friends Kelly and Derek over for dinner. Apparently Ivy thinks that whenever we get together with other people, it must be someone’s birthday. Kelly was the lucky “birthday recipient” this week and Ivy wished her a happy birthday about a half a dozen times. What was even cuter was when she woke up Sunday morning and over the baby monitor I heard her say, “Happy birthday Kelly”. What a little sweetie.

This picture is a little blurry but here’s Ivy celebrating Papa’s birthday with him. Hope you had a happy birthday Dad! We love you!

Piggy Tails!

Seriously, how cute is this? Ivy’s first piggy tails! Yes, the outcome is absolutely adorable but the process was a bit of a nightmare. It’s hard enough for me to get her to sit still for one pony every morning, let alone two. Ultimately, I bribed her with fruit snacks and that ended up doing the trick. After I was done, she looked at herself in the mirror, reached up and touched one of the pigtails and said, “I like ‘em”. Apparently she didn’t like 'em that much because she wouldn’t let me do them again this morning and I didn’t think it was appropriate to give her fruit snacks for breakfast.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Sleigh Ride

Okay, so now that winter is almost over, I suppose it’s appropriate that I finally get around to posting an account of Ivy’s first sleigh riding experience. Yes, this took place a few weeks ago (or maybe a month ago) so I apologize in advance for my delinquency. So far, I’m not doing so hot with my resolution to keep up with my blogging and therefore, you’ll probably be inundated with posts for the next few days. Anyways, snow has been in short supply this year so when we finally had a significant snowfall we decided we better get out and have some fun in it! Santa brought Ivy a sled for Christmas and Gamma and Papa gave her a new pair of snow pants so all she was waiting on was the snow! The smile on her face and her shrieks of delight as we glided across the snow were music to my ears. She absolutely loved it. After each lap through the yard I would turn around and she would look up at me and say, “gin?” as in “again?”. Of course I obliged but it didn’t take me too long to realize how grossly out of shape I’m in. That was quite the work out. Is it spring yet??

Sunday, January 8, 2012

I Love You Pizza!

Little things like this are the reason I revived my blog. This afternoon while we were at Gamma and Papa's, Gamma let Ivy help her put the toppings on the pizza she was making for dinner. Ivy started off by taking one mushroom at a time and placing it neatly on the pizza. Just when we all were discussing what a great job she was doing, she proceeded to dump the entire bowl of mushrooms in a heap on one section of the pizza. She shrieked with delight and was so proud of herself for helping. Shortly thereafter, we got our coats on to head home and Ivy said her goodbyes and I love yous to everyone individually (Gamma, Papa and of course the puppies, Mya and Bella). And then, she turned around, looked at the pizza sitting on the counter and said, "I love you pizza!"

Note the clump of mushrooms directly in front of my little Betty.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Play Time!

Having been off work for almost two weeks, my four day week was a very LONG, short week. Needless to say, I was looking forward to a low key weekend. We slept in this morning and didn't leave the house all day even though it was a pretty mild January day. After dinner, we started getting a little stir crazy and decided to venture out to the mall so Ivy could expel some energy and have some fun in the play area. She had a blast! She makes me so proud. She is so outgoing with other children and she isn't afraid to try new things. She also likes to claim ownership over any playground apparatus that she may have touched for more than ten seconds and doesn't take kindly to other kids wanting to play with it too. We're working on that one...

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Resurrection!!

It's hard to believe how much time has passed since I last blogged. Ivy is growing up so quickly (19 months already!) and my New Year's Resolution is to resurrect my blog so I can keep a diary of all of our special memories. I really don't know where to begin so I'll just go over some of the highlights!

We had a wonderful holiday season in large part because of Ivy's awareness and enthusiasm this year. She really got into things and loved driving around town to see the holiday lights and would exclaim, "Ooooh, look at the liiiights!" She referred to Santa as "Sinta" and "Ho Ho". Yes, she really is talking that much. And WAY more. We are just amazed every day by how smart she is. And here is where I will go into braggy mommy mode and tell you all about how just how smart she is and some of the more memorable things that have come out of her mouth.

She used to refer to Dave as "Da da" or "Daddy" but now in the past month or so has begun referring to him as "Dee-dah". No idea where that came from but we have all grown quite fond of it!

Ivy is very independent and wants to do everything herself. When we try to help her, she'll push our hand away and say, "No, Sorry!" This phrase will even be uttered when she is doing something dangerous such as trying to climb up on a barstool and is intercepted by Mommy or Daddy. Um no Ivy, "I'M SORRY!"

"Boogas." Yes, she loves that word. "Mommy got boogas." Somehow she manages to make even boogers seem cute. Not exactly the word of choice for a toddler's vocabulary when out in public and she yells it at the top of her lungs but still, kinda cute.

Another semi-inappropriate thing she likes to do is to check all of us for "poopy". She likes to do this to the kids at daycare as well. We'll say, "Is Mommy poopy?" to which she will respond by pulling out the back of our pants and looking inside. She's such a sponge.

Ivy is a little social butterfly and makes people smile everywhere we go. She loves saying "hi" to people and will draw smiles from even the most unlikely people, i.e. 16 to 20 year old boys who surely have no desire to make googly eyes with a little toddler. She also has enamored our babysitter's 25ish year old son. From the time Ivy was a couple of months old, he was smitten with her. To this day, he still stops down to his mom's daycare in the basement of their house just to see Ivy. Aaaaah yes, melt my heart.

Ivy is becoming more and more affectionate with every day. It's music to my ears when I hear her say, "I la you" and "I miss you". She has recently started following these proclamations up with, "k?" which just seems extra sweet to me because it's like she wants us to know she really means it.

"I wanna meal." This is her way of telling us that she wants oatmeal, not that we don't feed her. I swear.

On Christmas Eve, we were heading home after church and we asked Ivy what she wanted for dinner. Her response? "I wanna pizza!" I was quite pleased with this response because it was just what I was in the mood for and "Dee-dah" was not but after hearing that, he couldn't refuse!

Auntie Lindsay and Uncle John gave Ivy a kitchen set for Christmas. She's been spending hours cooking for us and loves to say, "I cook it" and "bite it" when she wants us to try her "recipes". The other night we asked her what she was making and out of the blue, she replied, "I makin' a salad!" Ummm...okay??!!

She is obsessed with gum and NO, she's never had it before. She will go around to every person in the room and repeatedly ask, "Gum?" until they open their mouth and show her if they have any gum or not.

Tonight we were at "Gamma" and "Papa's" house and I was perusing Baby Gap's website for some end of the season deals. I clicked on winter coats, and a picture of Ivy's winter coat appeared on the screen. This was not lost on her and she shouted, "My coat!" She then was getting a little rough with the iPad so I decided it would probably be best to shut it off. I pushed the button on the side of the iPad and within seconds, Ivy pushed the button on the top of the iPad and fired it back up. No clue how she knew how to do that. Just a quick study I guess.

Dave and I have been off work for the Christmas holiday and have enjoyed spending some extra quality time with our little princess. Earlier in the week we took her to Jumpin' Janes for the first time. She was a little afraid of the bounce houses, mainly because the bigger kids were so rough which didn't allow her any time to get acclimated without being violently tossed around. She did however enjoy playing on the slides and in the little playhouse and riding on the mini carousel. I am sure that was the first of many trips we will take there!

Last night was New Year's Eve and we had our friends The Walsh's over. They have two little girls, Luci and Stella. Stella is 15 months old and is the perfect playmate for Ivy. It was so much fun watching them together and hearing Ivy yell from her room, "Stella, come here!" in her sweet little voice. I have no doubt they will have many fun times together in the coming years!

And finally, I will leave you with some of my favorite photos of Ivy from the past year. I start 2012 with a new resolution and a new camera so I will do my best to keep up with this page and not bombard you with a year's worth of pictures at this time next year!! Happy New Year!!

January 2011 - It's amazing to me how Ivy has transformed from a baby to a little girl in the past year.

February or March 2011 - I love how wide eyed and happy she looks even when she's not actually smiling.

Easter 2011 - Ivy wore an adorable bubble dress from Target and was a hit with all of the relatives.

May 2011 - Apparently Ivy has no fear of heights. Here she is scaling the walls at Lindsay and John's apartment when Ivy and I made a girl's trip out to NYC, the first of many, I'm sure. That is, unless Lindsay decides to move closer to home! Hint. Hint.

May 2011 - Here is Ivy and I again in NYC at the famous FAO Schwartz piano from the movie Big.

May 2011 - Ivy and Mommy at her 1st birthday party held at Gamma amd Papa McAllister's house.

June 2012 (I think) - Posing on Gamma and Papa's deck. Cuteness personified.

July 2011 - Her first fireworks show. She didn't stay awake to see the fireworks but she loved watching the planes go by and yelling "GOOOOO" as they passed!

August 2011 - while trying to capture a photo for Hoda & Kathie Lee's cutest baby contest, Ivy decided to cop some serious attitude.

August 2011 - primping for her first trip to Flora Pool!

September 2011 - Ivy & Mommy on the slide at the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, WI. She had a great time that day! We all did actually.

October 2011 - Ivy and her Deedah on a visit to May's Pumpkin Farm in East Dubuque.

October 2011 - Trick or Treating at the Kennedy Mall. One of three trick or treating outings this year. We also went to Hy-Vee trick or treat and to a few houses in Gamma and Papa's neighborhood.