Still blogging...barely!

It is silly to even explain the long long absence at this point! I can't even remember the last time I posted, a mix of bad memory and because it has been so damn long! I thought about it often (I wonder if that will make Ivy feel better when she gets older and asks why I was so bad at keeping up and writing about her amazing life!) but then after it had been so long between posts I started wondering what would I even write at this point because there is SO much! And then I wondered if Blogger kicked me off for inactivity! But alas...here I am!

There have been many events, changes, firsts, hopefully lasts (like her waking up in the middle of the night for three weeks straight)and so much more to write about. Mostly I just want to write about what an amazing little 'toddler' Ivy has become! Ha Toddler! That is so funny to say that I am a mom to a toddler! Who would have thought it?!

She is speaking a ton, even said a two word sentence the other day...'bye-bye dada!' Pretty amazing. She is 17 months now going on about 28 months at least! She seems so smart to us, but of course we are a tad biased.

Her favorite activities right now include but are not at all limited to: blowing
kisses, shaking hands, giving fives to living and non-living people and animals (like our cat Lilo, and her dolls!) she loves waving to anyone she sees on the streets and then immediately blows them a kiss, and I do mean ANYONE!! she loves dancing! she learned how to hop like a frog and loves it, she even yells 'rrrrittttt' for ribbit each time she hops! She loves walking, but once you put her down do not even think about picking her back up (unless you have a cracker in your pocket!). She loves coloring but kind of like walking, do not even think of trying to stop her once you hand her a crayon! There is so much more but, unfortunately, I can't type forever!

Some firsts include:
Christmas...she was not so sure! Ok not officially 'first' but she was way to young the first year to understand or participate so we count this her first! She was overwhelmed I think because she kept disappearing into her room to play with her 'old toys!' And all the pictures were the same face with no emotion on it, just a look of utter confusion no matter how much enthusiasm daddy and I put into it! I will upload Christmas pictures soon...they are still on my camera...man how long ago was Christmas? I am so bad at this huh!?
Zoo...loved it! But like good first time parents we forgot our camera, the pictures would have looked exactly like the Christmas photos (which I will upload someday!) She was overwhelmed again, and had the same emotionless face! She did have a ton of fun and enjoyed seeing animals that can actually move not like the pictures in her books! Oh and not officially the first, but dad of Ivy was not there the first time and is a little bitter about it(just kidding!) so we don't talk about that trip to the zoo!
Swimming...hated it! Actually she started to warm up to it a little bit at the end, but if I or dad went under the water she screamed! But towards the end she was actually kind of giving very faint half smiles and splashing! So we will have to keep trying with that one. I did take the camera here, but then wondered if I could take pictures at a public pool where little kids were in their swimming suits, I thought there might be some sort of line that was crossing so....

She goes to daycare two days a week, something none of us like very much, Ivy the most! It is about to be four days a week something we are all sure to hate even more. We are currently searching for a new caregiver and none of us like that very much either, it's stressful, time consuming, depressing (seriously some of these places have no business caring for children). I am back in school.... yuck, and daddy is still working hard to provide! Which he does an amazing job of, and I think I need to let him know that more often! Thank you daddy!

Anyway....Like I said she is amazing and everyday does something new that astounds us both! We truly are so in love with that little girl we both loose our ability to breath sometimes! You know the feeling!

Long Time No See...or write!!

Hiya!
It has been so so so long...school is just kicking me...kicking me hard lately! I have thought about blogging a lot, but then just too much time seemed to pass and I was like...'where do I even start!???' and Ivy was like 'well I am just going to grow and grow and become funnier and funnier and keep you busier and busier!!' so I have not blogged for awhile!
Seriously she has become SO funny, like she makes jokes to herself! You know most babies will do something, somtehing all baby-like, like the ol'fall on their bums, and adults in the room will laugh, so the baby will keep doing it and doing it just for the laughs, sometimes it almost gets to be annoying to keep fake laughing at a baby falling on their bum?! Ivy does that, BUT she humors herself too! She will be sitting by herself and not know I am watching her, (my favorite thing to just watch her when she doesn't know!), but I will witness her doing something like dropping a toy or contorting her body in odd positions and she will just laugh and laugh at herself! It is so funny! She seriously seems to understand humor, she definitely gets that from her dad!
Anyway...I really just wanted to upload some pictures! Got a new camera and I am pretty excited. It's a Cannon, Dad of Ivy's cousin takes the MOST amazing pictures and she has a Cannon, (way better than mine) but I thought if she has a Cannon, maybe if I get a Cannon I will take half as good of pictures as she takes...but no...she is just a REALLY good photographer, but I do love the camera so far! I have only had it all of about 9 hours...but I determined to like this camera!!






Ok...so I don't know a few things about blogging...like how do I make the pictures go the right way?? and why do the BEST three pictures go sideways!
In those pictures...it is SO funny because she is really really into saying BOO...she says it around every corner, or pole! and that is what she is doing in those pictures...she is leaning her head over and saying...'boo!' Really it is so cute, maybe one of those 'you have to be there' types of situations, but I was there so I can tell you IT WAS SO CUTE!!! Maybe just turn your computer monitor since I don't know how to turn the picture...because it is so cute! :)

Ivy update!

Ivy is walking...will not even consider crawling for a minute these days! She is a walker now!
God help us all!

Sorry for the blurry picture, still trying to figure out my new camera! And that is a piece of toast in her mouth that I am pretty sure she just picked up off the floor! (read post below to understand the "humor" behind that!) Oh and Dad of Ivy, just to let everyone know, is the best man and father in the entire universe! I will shout it from a mountain top next time I am on one!

Does toast taste better off the floor?

For any mother out there, I must ask, did your child/children prefer food off the floor to food on their tray? I really believe, my beautiful amazing daughter wishes she was 'born in a barn' as they say, so she could just eat off the floor.

There are three meals a day, and usually two or three snacks that Ivy and I sit down and eat at the table, so that is five or six times a day that Ivy eats a bite or two, just enough to get me excited she is going to eat it, YAY! I think, sometimes she takes it just long enough and far enough for me to jump up and get the camera, I want to capture her actually eating at the table, and then, EVERY TIME (no Joke) every time, she starts throwing food on the floor. And it is not just a simple toss it over the tray where you almost wonder if it was an accident or not, usually followed by a cute "Uh-oh."
No, No, Ivy waits to make full eye contact with you, almost gives you a little smirk, and then with a full swing of her arm CHUCKS the toast I slaved over (yes even buttering toast is like slave work to me!) across the kitchen, a carrot actually stuck to the sliding glass door the other day so it not just toast. It is fruit, veggies, pasta (what child doesn't like spaghetti....oh yea Mine doesn't), pretty much anything and everything, especially if it is: sticky, will harden into some unknown substance that could hold rocket ships together, or will be stepped on and smash into a million pieces.

It is not just the throwing though... I can handle that, well obviously barely handle that. But it is the fact that twenty minutes later she is crawling back to the kitchen and eating the food she just so disdainfully rejected and threw.
Now, you might wonder here: Whitney, why is there food still on the floor twenty minutes later? Well the best way for me to explain that is... Usually, after these major league pitching sessions called mealtimes, are followed by me struggling to wipe her hands and face (why do all kids hate having their face cleaned? How do I explain to her, 'Ivy, you are a mess and we can't possibly leave this house with you looking like that and if you saw yourself right now it would probably make you scream and cry, even give you nightmares!') I am so exasperated and tired I come sit on the couch, sigh deeply, and look from the food on the floor to the front door and wonder; 'When the *&%#! is dad-of-ivy going to come home and clean this mess up?'

Yea I know he is working, and working hard, but PUH_LEEZ, I just SLAVED over the toaster or microwave (yes slaved and notice not the stove:)) then did some ridiculous song and dance so I could distract her from the "torture" that is a wet cloth on her face, and now I have to sweep and usually mop too? What?
Besides I realized the other day as Ivy was eating the corn off the floor she had just thrown off her tray, why clean when I seem to have given birth to the worlds greatest vacuum/mop?! They say dogs are great vacuums, they should see Ivy.

But my cleaning habits, or lack of, are distracting from the main point...Does toast or any other food taste better off the floor?
So tonight I think I am just going to serve us all dinner on the floor, Ivy seems to think it tastes better that way, I want to give it a try. And tomorrow I am going to talk to Jonathan's boss about giving him some flex time so he can come home and clean.

What have I done...

So school is starting this week, and today I had to take Ivy with me to a mandatory meeting about a bunch of stuff I already have forgotten. But afterwards I thought to myself what have I done?...I have chosen to go to school for a degree that will make me be in school for the REST of my life? What was I possibly thinking when I decided to be a teacher? I am sure I thought, hey I love kids, I am pretty good with kids, I can teach...but I wonder why I didn't think....wait...I hate school! I also hate long long hours, and no money, so again, what was I thinking when I decided to be a teacher?

Oh-well, hopefully my love of kids will outweigh the fact that I am perpetually going to be in elementary school! Ugh...Do you remember elementary? The smell of rotten milk and soggy green beans?
I do love kids though, but then I had one and I now realize I really love only one kid, and I want to be with her 24/7 not other peoples...but hey at least I will be exceptionally reimbursed for my love and commitment to other peoples children with my wonderful teacher's salary :)

So a side note....actually that whole beginning was the side note, now for the real stuff...
I just turned 358 months old, and on Friday Jonathan will be 420 months (ya old fart!)and Ivy will soon be a big 13 month old!! My birthday was picture perfect thanx to my wonderful husband to be! We just hung out, all together, and I got gifts which is really all I care about! Jonathan got me a camera that is amazing, almost intimidating really, but I love it! He said he didn't spend too much money on it, but I am now afraid we won't be eating for the rest of the month, (that is how nice the camera is!) But we will have wonderful pictures and video's of our deprivation!

Ivy is just becoming such a little person! She plays 'Boo', she doesn't concern herself with the 'Peek-a' part, just goes straight for the BOO! She has decided her main form of communication is now going to be in the form of EARSPLITTING screams, which is fun for us! She is being kind of finicky eating, she will gobble something up one minute, and two minutes later totally throw it across the kitchen, which is also fun! Our house is filled with screams and projectile toast or noodles! How could that not be fun!?
So...that is all for now...wish me luck on school...for the rest of my life! Jonathan is also having a stressful week at work so we all might decide to communicate in earsplitting screams this week and throw our food! Anybody wanna come over for dinner? It will be fun, I promise! :)

To Blog or Not to Blog...

I really enjoy blogging....or at least the seven posts or so I have thus far finished...but I can't seem to give it the time and dedication a blog devoted to Ivy deserves. And soon school is going to start and I will have even less time and energy to devote to this...so sorry to my faithful readers...haha all two of you...I think I have to maybe quit the blogging business, but we will see!

So...Ivy is becoming the most amazing little girl...I mean she, of course always has been :)), but lately she has just developed this personality that is SO hilarious. She makes jokes, makes herself laugh (and her parents!), she is so independent but always looks back over her shoulder to see if mom or dad are there!

The other night she was being so funny! We don't live in the largest place, but she just loves exploring all of it! I was getting ready to go to the gym, and her dad was getting her dinner ready, so we were both kind of preoccupied (not the best parenting, I know) usually she just crawls into the room that I am and "chats" and explores, but it took me a minute to realize what she was doing; tonight she was just crawling from room to room, she would crawl into our room and pet the kitty, then she would come back into the bathroom where I was, and wave to her bath froggy, then crawl back out and go to the next room, then crawl back into the bathroom, and she just kept crawling from room to room at this ferocious pace! A few times the cat would jump or run down the hall and she would just start giggling, and keep crawling instead of following the cat...which never has happened before, her cat is her favorite thing to crawl after! When I realized what she was doing, I started quietly following her, and it was just so funny. She would crawl into one room, do something...pick something off the floor, wave to the window, pat the cat....and then turn around and crawl out and just keep going. Pretty soon it became a game of me crawling behind her, and she would go a few paces, and stop and look back, when she saw me behind her she would squeal and hurry and crawl away, and when she would go around a corner and out of sight, I would stop, wait a few moments, and she would always turn back around and peek her head around to see if I was still there! When she saw that I was she would laugh so hard, and hurry and crawl away! One time she started laughing so hard when she saw me, her arms gave way and she couldn't crawl she was laughing so hard!

So...that is a silly story, but one of those that I just want to remember forever and ever!

She is just so funny! It's hard to capture in words or even images...just amazing!
Oh and we started daycare...I am too emotional to talk or blog about it! But Ivy loved it, in fact she, I am starting to worry, might love it a little too much!

Ivy is One Year Old Today!!

That's it...Ivy is one! Wow!!

This time last year I was probably cursing, bouncing on a yoga ball, and squeezing the sh*t outta poor Jonathan's hand every 3-5 minutes! In almost two more hours (this time last year) she made her debut, and life has only gotten better every day since!