School pride

WELL. Let's just say after last Saturday's game, I was slightly embarrassed to be associated with BYU. (only half kidding, lol)..... Until I saw this little number from Monday night's show called The Sing Off:

I've heard Vocal Point in the past and seen them in concert a few times and thought they were good but this performance was pretty awesome. And the judges and crowd seemed to really like them too. Great job guys! So proud to say I'm from BYU again. Thanks for restoring my alumnus dignity. haha! Good luck in the rest of the competition! Oh and if you haven't seen this show yet, I highly recommend it. There are some great groups this year.

I have a 4 month old.

It's true. Baby girl turns 4 months old today. Crazy how time really takes off once school starts. Even though she may not quite be as big as most 4 month olds yet (only 11 lbs 14 oz as of a week ago), Ivy is so darn smart and so much more wiggly these days. It is so fun to watch the new things she does and discovers each day..

No giggles yet but she is such a cheese ball when it comes to smiling. Her big grins just melt my heart! It's kinda funny though because usually when she smiles this big, it's completely silent, lol. However, she has started cooing and talking a lot more. The other day at church it even sounded like she was trying to sing along with us during the hymn. It was hilarious. 

Just had to include this next picture. It's really the only time this girl has fallen asleep in a random place bc she was so wiped out haha. It was the day we got into Provo and she was crying on the bed but Sam and I were both busy doing something. Plus we didn't have a porta crib or anything yet so I had nowhere to put her for a nap. a few minutes later, I didn't hear her crying anymore and went to check on her. She was completely passed out. It just cracked me up:

Ivy is doing much better with naps these days and will even nap in her carseat when we are out! yay! When at home, she really only cries for about 5-10 minutes in her crib before falling asleep each time (it must be just her way of winding down I guess) and stays asleep for at least an hour or two. If we are out running errands, she has gotten much better about falling asleep in her seat and staying asleep. Before, the littlest bump would wake her up but she doesn't really care about things like that anymore. She just stays asleep now which makes things soo much easier for me. 

She has recently discovered her toes. They are probably her most favorite thing right now. She is always grabbing them and just lately started sucking on them, hehe.. It is the cutest thing to watch. Oh and she is a constant wiggler. No longer are the days when she can just sit quietly on my lap looking around. She has to be standing or wiggling around. all. the. time.

We are slowly getting better at nighttime.  She will now go all the way from 9pm til 5 or 5:30am before I have to feed her again (with the usual few wake ups for her binky before then) and then go back down til around 7:30 or 8. I'm starting to put her down in the evenings around 7:30 or 8pm and making that last feeding sort of a dream feed, really. That way, I can eventually just stop the dream feed. I just wanna wait til she gains a little more weight though... 

Ivy can now roll over both ways although she isn't very good about tummy to back yet. She has done it a number of times but I dont think she gets the correlation between not liking being on her tummy for very long and being able to push herself back over. It's almost impossible to keep her from flipping over from her back to tummy lately though so she will have to learn pretty quick, lol..

She really has turned into Miss grabby-hands lately. She constantly goes for my watch or bracelet, and is really good about holding and looking at her toys. And then shaking them so hard that she startles herself hehe..

Little miss has sort of started doing this little army scoot lately. Because she isn't very good about flipping back over, she squirms and squirms out of frustration til she reaches her toys nearby. Then she usually just looks at them. But I have seen her reach for her binky on the floor and try to pull it closer to her face to try and get it with her mouth. That's when I really realized I have a smarty pants on my hands! 

Just a funny quirk, Ivy loves scratching on fabric. loves it. she does it every time she is next to some sort of thicker fabric. like the sheets in our bed, the sides of her changing table, the sides of her carseat, my jeans.. This actually doesn't surprise me bc I remember when I was pregnant, there were some times that I swore I could feel her little fingers sort of scratching my tummy on the inside lol..

We are so grateful that Ivy is such a happy baby and have so much fun with her every single day! This was a couple days ago when we met Sam for lunch on campus by the duck pond. She loves her daddy! He can make her smile no matter how cranky or tired she is...

And here is our little cheese-ball. I just love her scrunched up nose. 

Football Season! Woo! (and a note on breastfeeding)

It's finally here. Football season has begun and we are so excited. BYU's first game was on Saturday and it was so much fun getting all dressed up in our football shirts, Ivy included! The game was awesome. Little bit of a rough start but we came out on top. against Ole Miss. as an independent team. yess. It's going to be a great season. College Football is so awesome.

Also, this is my first year to compete in Fantasy Football for NFL which is pretty exciting as well. Sam has done it the past few years with his brothers/wives and last year I got pretty into it with him so I decided to give it a shot this year. Although I don't have an excellent knowledge of which players are good or bad, last night were the drafts for both of our leagues and I think I have ok teams so far. We will just have to wait and see!  For some reason, we get more and more excited every year for football season and I'm sure this year won't disappoint.

In other news, I finally did it. I weaned Ivy from breastfeeding. She hasn't really been a fan even since she was a newborn and I just got sick of fighting with her every day during feedings trying to get her to eat. I tried to hold out as long as I could but I think my milk supply started to diminish in the evening time and that made things even trickier. Then one night I supplemented a little after trying to breastfeed (because I could tell she was still hungry) and she slept til 5:45 in the morning from 10 pm!(then went back to sleep til 8 ish) Hallelujah! That's when I started thinking it might be a good idea to just switch over altogether. I'm still pumping a little until my milk goes down but other than that, we are to formula now. Ivy doesn't seem to care which it is as long as it's in a bottle and not me haha. Oh well. She is close to 4 months now so I didnt think it was that big of a deal. Baby is happier, Mommy is happier, and I don't regret it one bit. :) Let's hope this little girl starts to chunk up a little! She's not anywhere near fitting into her 3-6 month clothes yet...

Back in Utah!

After what seemed like the longest car ride of our lives, we are now back in Provo now for Sam's last year of prerequisite classes. It was a nice summer down in Texas but boy are we glad to be back (never thought I'd say that, hehe).. We left all our furniture and our tv up here so it is definitely nice having our own stuff back. and our apartment is bigger up here (yay for 2 bedrooms!). ANNDD there is NO humidity! Hallelujah! That was our first summer living back in Houston in over 5 years and it was tough. It was nice to be around so much family but I think we forgot how hot and sweaty it can be. Guess we are just much more accustomed to Utah these days (gasp!).

Anyways, a great big thanks goes to my wonderful mom who helped us get packed and my apartment all cleaned. Couldn't have done it without her. And to all my Texas friends and family, thanks for a great summer! It was awesome to be able to spend some time with all of you! I wish we hadn't lived so far north so it would of been easier to see people more often but such is life! I'm grateful for the time we did get to spend together. :) Miss you all! And just because she's cute, here are some fun photos of Ivy from our last few weeks down there..

Photos by Jeff

It has been so nice living around family lately who are also such great photographers.. Between Sam's brothers Jeff and Steve, and my sister Kristin who came for a visit, we are fortunate enough to have amazing photos of Ivy in her first few months of life. (Thank you so much to yall!) Hopefully we can figure out a way to still get wonderful photos of her once we move to utah.. Anyways, I never posted the photos that Jeff took of Ivy on her actual birth day or the ones he took when she was about 3 weeks old. Just wanted to post those along with some he took a couple weeks ago for fun. Sorry if it's sort of picture overload but just wanted to include them for my own records. :) Enjoy!

3 weeks old:

almost 3 months:

Rolling Over!

Yesterday was a day of many firsts! I cooked my first pork loin (yummy!), I went to my first bunco party (so fun!!), and Ivy rolled over from her back to her tummy for the first time! It was a good day. Wednesday evening she started moving around a lot more than normal and so I knew it would happen soon but wasn't expecting it to happen so fast! Last night was the first time and then by this morning, she pretty much had it mastered. Can't believe how strong this little girl is already. She is gonna be mobile in no time! eek!

Won't ever smile very big for the camera but here is a cute closer up video of her...

In other news, Kelli and I were able to visit our cousin Cami and her newly adopted baby boy Payton on Wednesday evening.. It was sooo so good to be able to visit with her considering I'm pretty sure it's been over 5 years since I last saw her! Payton is just perfect in every way and we are so happy for her and Geoff! I think Ivy is already a fan of her extended cousin, hehe:

Baby Girl turns 3 months

Happy 3 months to my baby girl as of yesterday! Time is really flying by these days. I recently visited a friend with a newborn and I could not believe Ivy was ever that small! hehe.. I just think that as she keeps getting bigger and smarter, our life with her keeps getting more and more fun. Anyways, sorry it's kind of a long post but just wanted to record some memories...

-I never recorded her stats for 2 months so just wanted to include that.. She only weighed 10 lbs exactly (23%) and was 21.75 inches tall (20%). So she's just a little thing! But so am I so it's all good, haha. The doc said she is gaining weight just fine and is pretty proportional so she is probably just going to be petit.. Guess she got the Brown genes lol. I do think she has gained at least 2 lb's since then so I'm guessing she weighs at least 12 by now.. 

(Late night ice cream date with daddy)

-Although she may have short tiny legs, she does have a pretty hefty chest and broad shoulders. I LOVE this about her. Pretty sure she gets it from her big barrel chested daddy. :) We've decided that if she wanted to, she could be a pretty awesome gymnast, hehe. 

-Ivy can now hold her head up pretty well which I love because now we can carry her in the Bjorn facing forward (She hated it the other way). She loves to stand up and sit upright so she can look around.. when she is on her tummy, she already pulls her knees up under her chest! (future crawler for sure) She even did this for the doctor at her 2 month checkup, practically scooted off the table, lol..

(On an evening walk, in the Bjorn)

-She is definitely no night owl.. Always ready for bed by her last feeding around 10, 10:30 and although she still wakes up about 4:30 am for an early feeding, she immediatly falls back to sleep till around 8-ish (occasionally will wake up a couple times before that early feeding to poop or with gas but usually falls back asleep after I put her bink back in her mouth). As long as it's still dark, she will go back to sleep. Hopefully over this next month we can either cut out that last evening feeding or work on actually getting through the entire night with no early feeding.. Maybe once she gains a little more weight. Crossing our fingers! ;)

(The infamous scowl.. and first ponytail-ish with a clip, hehe)

-This girl hates naptime. Hates it. She has hated naps since she was first born. She will fight it every single time I put her down or try to rock her to sleep. Just within the past couple days has she started to only cry for about 5-10 mins in her bed before falling asleep. Guess that is just her way to wind down. I'm just happy she doesn't do that at nighttime..

-She is just now starting to talk and coo more these days.. we'll have fun little conversations together with squawking noises or short little coo's. she is also starting to imitate which is way fun. Sticks out her tongue, sometimes makes a whisper noise back if you whisper to her, and ah's if you do la's and ah sounds with her..

(playtime! fingers and toys are always in her mouth these days, hehe)

-Little Bug is a pretty social thing. As long as she isn't super tired or hungry, she is not afraid to be around lots of people or to be held by others.. She especially loves it when her cousins play with her during her waketime. She gets a kick out of them talking and cooing with her. It has also made it pretty easy to take her places. As long as she is sitting upright, looking around at everyone and everything, either on our laps or in the Bjorn, she is usually pretty happy.

-A friend of mine recently wrote all the nicknames they have for their baby and I thought it was cute so wanted to include a few. This is actually kinda funny because when I was out running errands with her in the Bjorn yesterday, someone asked her name and I almost didn't respond right away bc I was about to say Baby Girl or Bug haha.. other nicknames have been Baby Bug, Baby Boo, just straight Baby, Drool Monster, Slobber Monster, Miss Boo, Miss Ivy, and of course Ivy Lu..

Can't get enough of our sweet girl!! It is crazy how much joy she brings into our lives. I love that our family is so complete now. We feel so lucky and blessed to have such a strong, healthy, beautiful baby girl and just love watching her learn and grow so much every day!

(PS- I discovered how to make these collages on Picasa recently and am loving it! This way I don't take up so much dang space or bore you with all these pictures! Maybe it's just my first baby or maybe it's just that my iphone makes it super easy but taking pictures of this girl is super addicting, lol. I have too many.)

Galveston via instagram

Last Saturday we made a trip down to Galveston to spend the afternoon at The Strand and then head to the beach afterwards. I was hoping Ivy would be awake for some of our shopping but right after we got there and I fed her, she feel right to sleep in her stroller. Oh well. Baby bug needs her beauty sleep I guess, hehe..

Eating our yummy shake at the old candy shop. our favorite place there! too bad we couldn't drink it inside-no pets allowed...

After the Strand, we headed out to hit the beach. Baby girl decided to wake up in the car and give us a little smile show on the way there. I just love this girl.

Except for Ivy throwing a huge fit right after we got there and then passing out for the rest of evening (again, I was hoping she'd stay awake to play with a little on the beach but oh well lol), we had a great time. Building sand pyramids, body surfing, and watching the sun set made for the perfect evening on the beach. 

Now if we can just get this girl to nap that much at home! haha... 

Bathing Beauty

We met some friends at the pool and weren't gonna be there for very long so instead of swimming, we just did a little sunbathing. :) It was pretty bright for Ivy's sensitive little eyes, though...

before sunglasses..

after sunglasses... she loved them. she stopped squirming and just started to look around after I put them on her, hehe:

 Oh yeah. ;)

First time swimming for real

We finally took this little girl swimming for real last week here at our complex (before, I had only dipped her feet in). It had been a blistering hot day and was a nice evening so we knew the water would be plenty warm. And it definitely was. :) It was so funny to see her reaction to the water. She didn't quite know what to think of it at first.. Her scowl just cracks me up in that first pic. But, I'm pretty sure she liked this new strange thing called swimming after adjusting to it for a few mins. We will definitely be taking her more before we leave Texas because I just know she will not approve of the water temperatures in Utah. Her mom sure doesnt, hehe...

uhhhh.... mom? this is weird.

ok. maybe it's not so bad...