Her hair has really grown, and it curls all the time. I like to put it in little clips.
No matter what she wears, she's just about the prettiest, sweetest, dearest baby.
Some of these pictures are from so long ago! Ivy doesn't even fit into
these shoes anymore! We are at the TAMU organic gardens for their open
house. We mostly walked around. Ivy climbed to the top of the sand
pile, and got a boost up from her daddy. Now, she can SAY boost!
Yes, Virginia, it does get cold in Texas, or at least cool. Ivy has a few jackets and a few pairs of sweat pants. They work for chilly mornings. She can climb the stairs and go down the little slides all by herself now. She is so big!
Hilary, Josh, and I took the girls to a "world fest" in Bryan on Saturday afternoon. There wasn't much going on, but we had a ball walking around and playing peek in store doorways.
They really are such friends -- I love this picture of them sitting so sweetly. And thanks to Nini, Ivy has a really snazzy sweater coat. She looked great and fit right in with the arts and crafts.
Ivy is an excellent splasher, and she is helping Claire reach her full potential.
Who knew Home Depot could be so much fun!
Grampy! He loves five-gallon buckets! Now, if only I could find glue for $9.99!
Ivy fits right inside!When Grammy and Grampy came for Thanksgiving, they brought all kinds of fun stuff for Ivy to climb on and push around.
She loves to wash her hands. She can do it over and over again.
We
had Thanksgiving dinner with the Pikes (big surprise). Hilary's mom was
there, and so were my folks. We ate and watched the girls play
together. Ivy is wearing a new dress from Target. Claire is wearing one
of Hilary's dresses!
They put on their pajamas, kissed the giant giraffe goodnight, and then ran around some more.
We
got Ivy a chair at Target. I had been looking for one, and hoped to
find something that wasn't branded. Leo had one very similar, so I knew
they were out there. Ivy sits in it and reads her books while I sit in
the Lazyboy and read mine.
Ivy was a big help to me at the end of term. She did some of my reading for me, and then typed a summary up on the computer. She's nearly as good a research assistant as Erin was (and that's high praise indeed!).
We
all had dinner at Abuelo's a few weeks ago. Can you believe this
grown-up girl (who gets her own order!) is the same baby who had to be
strapped in with extra menus for support just last year? We can't.
What a feeling! Dishes believing! I can have it all, now I'm unloading for my life. Take your passion, and make it happen. Silverware comes alive, you can unload all through your life!
We discovered The Children's Museum in Bryan. It's not much of a museum, but it is a great indoor playspace. Ivy painted,
played in "tiny town," a spot with climbing areas for littlest kids,
and drank from the water fountain.
Ivy has had too many trips to the doctor's. She has had a cold of some kind or another since Halloween. She's currently got an ear infection, and she's working on three teeth (at least). All she wants for Christmas is to be well, and her Hanukkah miracle would be to be phlegm free. Here she is looking too pretty to be sick back in early December.
We love this outfit on Ivy. She got the shirt from Sophie, and her daddy dresses her in it about once a week.
Jenna took her outside and took these artsy autumn shots for us.
We think she's a sprite (Tiny Ivy the Wood Sprite returns!)
Ivy loves Jenna. Jenna loves Ivy.We went back to the Children's Museum to meet Santa and Elmo with Claire and her parents. It was a fun day. Ivy was a little wary of Santa (she needed the Claire buffer),
but enjoyed decorating cookies. Her daddy taught her how. Apparently, you put a whole bunch of frosting on your plate and then dip your cookie into it. Who knew?
Elmo is just to the left of the frame. Claire was pretty excited to meet him (she has an Elmo chair), but Ivy was not. Elmo was 7 feet tall! She did get a little closer to him, but wouldn't let her daddy put her down. (She is loving her daddy these days -- he's her favorite right now, and he's so sweet and patient with her.)
As
many of you know, I love eggnog lattes more than I love lots of things.
Ivy has begun to love eggnog milkies. The barista gives her a
half-nog/half-milk concoction in her own special Starbucks cup. She is
so proud!When Ivy went to Canada, she came back with warm clothes. This fabulous fleece came from Leo. It is warm, and it is green. It couldn't be better.
I took these pictures because Ivy was so happy to be going outside. She loves to play.
She
also loves to play with her baby doll. She puts its diaper on all day,
and feeds it cheerios. She also carries it by one leg and throws it in
the air and laughs. I'm not sure where she got her mothering skills.
Thank you for my arts and crafts table, Grampy. Now, if only I had a tea set...
We had Christmas in Iowa. Ivy really enjoyed herself, and I think Grammy and Grampy had a good time, too. Like all kids, she was as interested in the packaging as the presents.
She gave Grammy this Father Christmas, and then cradled it like a baby. She is such a dear!
Look! A tea set! I can party with Grammy!
Grammy
threw Ivy a party, again. Lots of our friends and family were there,
and we had plenty of delicious food. Ivy loves Grammy's cinnamon rolls.
She wore her pretty party dress from Jackie, and looked just like the
sugarplum fairy.
Ivy and I had a great trip to Iowa. I enjoyed seeing her all bundled up, but she really wasn't crazy about the snow and blowing cold. Grammy made her wear her hat and mittens (thanks, Sophie, for the warm clothes!).
Grammy and Grampy were so excited to see her sled. She hated it. Cried all the way down. Begged to go home. Maybe next year she'll be braver (and not sick -- I think that had something to do with it).
Heidi
sent me a gift certificate to JCrew for my birthday (I can't believe
how old I am!). I used it to get the swank "metallic guava" purse. Ivy
likes to carry it around. Thank you, Heidi!More Ivy and Claire -- we had a pre-holiday dinner with them, and they made chocolate cake!
We
finally put up our Christmas tree this weekend. Ivy and Daddy
supervised the decorations (Ivy and I had supervised the set-up). It's
exciting to have a baby to celebrate Christmas!
