Ivy Lu, 21 months

My baby girl is growing so fast! Can't believe it's almost time for her second birthday! She has changed a lot in even the past few months. She talks like crazy, understands almost everything I say to her and has definitely become a lot more vocal about her opinions. Haha! Just some updates...

She has started talking a ton lately.. Her words aren't pronounced exactly right so it's still her own language but I can understand most of it. :) Some of her everyday words include: ya, no, hello, thank you, yummy, help (hap), uh oh, block, snack (nacks), water (wabuh), star, moon, sock, shoe, yellow, fishy (sishy), cracker, bubble, balloon, drink (dink), coat, bye bye water (in the bathtub), night night, i love you, and most animal noises.

Still not a very good eater but I've accepted the fact that she is probably going to live on fruit, yogurt, snacks, and puree pouches for a while longer. She still won't touch cheese, eggs, rice, any greens, or pbj on her plate (or any bread type food). Occasionally she will eat ramen or chicken rice type dinners. And she loves macaroni or chicken nuggets so at least she isn't completely picky to just sweet things. 

She has been a great sleeper these past few months. Knock on wood! Even sleeps til 8am some days (even if she goes down at 7pm). It is awesome. Only have a little trouble when we are traveling. 

Dance class! A girl I know gives dance classes and we've been going to her toddler class lately. Ivy did not want anything to do with it the first two weeks but I knew she just had to get used to it before wanting to participate. Sure enough, this past week, she was out there doing almost every activity with the girls! She had a blast. And I just can't get over how cute she looks in her leotard and teeny tiny ballet shoes. And so grown up with those pigtails!

Some favorites lately:

-blocks, asks to play with them every day
-puzzles
-STICKERS (she's obsessed)
-little people stuff, but not as much as her blocks
-BALLOONS
-bubbles
-Little Einsteins (obsessed would be an understatement, she asks to watch it every single morning)
-Elephants, it's her favorite animal noise lately
-singing songs together- popcorn popping, if you're happy and you know it
-Hot Dog dance on Mickey Mouse

Funny things:
-Loves to say her own name and loves when people call her name to her
-Learned to do summersaults on her own. Now she knows how to do it on command, haha
-could not say "yeah" or "yes" for a very long time so her answer to every question was "no." Fortunately this has changed lately and communication is so much easier now, lol..
-Says "I love you" or "love you" before anyone leaves or before bedtime
-Pretends to put on mommy's makeup while I do her hair. And tries to put our shoes on all the time.
-Carries her leapfrog table around the house. It's back in her bedroom normally
-Sometimes will walk around the house saying "Daddy, where are you?"

Now for some fun videos.. If you don't have time to watch all 3, at least watch the last one. It's so funny. She thought something on tv was hilarious so I kept rewinding it haha.. I just think it shows off her personality so well. :)

Talking:

Ivy's summersaults

Laughing:

Instagram Update

So I haven't felt the desire to post as much on my blog lately because I've gotten pretty into the Instagram app on my iphone. It's been so fun to post a picture every few days about our daily life and to know that only people I approve of can see it (my account is private so people have to request to be my friend, so NO spam. yeah!). Anyways, just wanted to include some fun ones, along with their captions from the past few weeks... I feel like it is a nice little peek into our daily life. :) Sorry if you already follow me on Instagram.. these will be redundant, haha. And if you don't have Instagram, get it! lol.

This girl decided she didn't need a nap today. Sat in her crib and talked for 2 hrs without going to sleep. Lovely. #earlybedtimetonight! #toddlerproblems 

That tongue!! Silly girl inherited dad's concentration face. haha. #didntknowthatonewasgenetic #likefatherlikedaughter

Apparently organization is very important in this family.

Spur of the moment trips are always the best. Decided to head down to Knoxville today and ended up reuniting with my old BYU roomie! The stars finally aligned for us to spend some time together. It was long overdue. Thanks for having us, Mindy and Ryan!

Guess it's a full bed tonight. #littlepeopleadventures #beastdoesntlooktoothrilled

Practicing her scales and arpeggios, of course. Starting her early. :)

Ok. I'm not even going to admit how long I was looking for these remotes. #toddlerproblems

...just doing some morning reading...

 Had so much fun shopping with friends today! Much needed trip away from Harrogate. #nohusbandstoday #weekendbeforetestday

Finally got my hands on one of these bad boys. #chocolateheartattack #magnumbarsforthewin

 Woo!! All pairs matched. #rareoccasion #itsthelittlethings

Woke up with a sty this morning. No contacts no makeup for the next day or so. Lame. #atleastmyhairlooksdecent #otherwisewedbeintrouble #iam12again

Nice day for a hike. #cumberlandgap #tristatepeak

Official!

We found out recently that Sam will officially be starting medical school this coming fall at DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine and we are SO excited!! He had been doing very well in his post-bac program (first in his class, actually) and scored a significantly better score on the MCAT last fall.. So we had a good idea of his chances but just had to wait for the official word. He finally had his interview a couple weeks ago and the following weekend, the dean called to tell him that he was accepted! WAHOO! It's so nice to have a plan and to know that we are staying put for the next 2 years (at least until rotations in his last 2 years). Way to go babe!! I think Sam is such a hard worker and has really shown what he is truly capable of in this past year. I know we have a long road ahead but we are very excited.  Sam has always loved school and has always been so eager to learn so I think he is going to do great. And I know we will have to live pretty frugal for a few more years but it will be so worth it. SO it looks like we are here to stay in our little town of Harrogate and we couldn't be happier. We've made some great friends and love how beautiful the countryside is.

Snowstorm!

I had no idea how much I actually missed the Utah snow until we were in the midst of this TN winter, surrounded by leafless trees and colorless hills, no snow in sight to cover up the once vibrant and picturesque landscapes. Somehow, the snow just always had a way of making everything look so beautiful and refreshed during the winter and I was missing it dearly. It had snowed just little flurries every now and again all season so far, maybe getting some tiny patches in the grass here and there.  Finally, we had a legitimate snow storm blow through and it did not disappoint! The nice thing about our area is they don't have the equipment to plow everywhere so they just close everything down and send everyone home (mainly so people don't get stuck everywhere). With Sam home from school, we had nothing better to do than sit by the window together, sip some hot chocolate, and just watch the storm blow and blow. *ohh shucks.* ;) It was a wonderful afternoon. After it started to slow, we got out our snow gear, bundled everyone up, and ventured out to play! Unfortunately a lot of it melted by the next afternoon but it was beautiful while it lasted. 

Snoooow! I think Ivy just wasn't quite sure what to make of it. She was kinda timid about walking in it, But she still had a smile on her face the whole time. :)

The snow was nice and moist (big difference than Utah's dry powder) so it was perfect for a giant snowman:

 Yes, this is my backyard. L-O-V-E:

These two pics were actually taken one right after the other, without even meaning to catch their faces on purpose. They are twins, lol:

 

 The storm finally lifted... Our beautiful little town of Harrogate:

Sam's DCOM buildings:

 Our yard!

Our snowman friends... These were probably the best snowmen I've ever helped make in my life, haha:

 Backyard:

Is it bad that I'm praying for another snowstorm?? I can't get over how beautiful everything was! Or the fact that every time a storm is on the forecast, they shut down the schools (some were even notified a full 24 hrs in advance, when there wasn't a single snowflake in sight, lol).. Who woulda thought I'd be one to fall in love with the snow! ;)

New Year's

We played it pretty low key this year.. Took a trip to Middlesboro, picked up some sparkling grape juice and some stuff to have a yummy BBQ, then chilled most of the day at home. So eventful. We are big partiers in this family, as you can clearly tell. ;-) The good news is, I finally decided to find my camera and take a couple shots of the babe. She's so cute. Still got some phone pics mingled in there but I was glad to get a few good shots of my pretty girl... 

 Ivy enjoying an oreo for dessert while Mommy and Daddy's dinner was being grilled:

BBQ bacon wrapped shrimp. Dinner for champions. If you've never had this before, I just have to say, it's one of the easiest and tastiest things to grill. Just take shrimp, wrap it in bacon pieces, stick it on the skewer and dowse the skewers with your favorite bbq sauce and grill. You will never be disappointed. I promise. We've been making it for years and it never fails. :)

OH and we finally got this girl some new after-Christmas Christmas jammies. Thank you JCPenney's clearance rack. hehe.. She needed a new pair anyways and we never got a chance to take her pic in front of the tree so I figured better late than never. :)

After baby bug was in bed, we relaxed and finished watching the Patrick Swayze episodes of North and South and enjoyed our sparkling grape juice. Party people, I tell ya. It was wonderful. 

I'm terrible at making goals. Mainly because I'm not very good at following up on them. It doesn't really bother me; I just know I'm not a very motivated kind of person when it comes to specific goal-keeping. SO this year, instead of making a list of specific things I'd like to do (which I have tried to do every year in the past haha), my resolution is just to strive to be better. A better me. That might include spiritual things, as well as just a better housekeeper and mom. That might include becoming healthier, being more positive, or just always trying to find joy in everyday things. So far, I think it's going well. I like this better me. Hopefully she sticks around for a while. :) As for Sam, he is pretty much the opposite of me when it comes to being motivated. Anything he decides he wants to change, gets changed within the week and he never looks back. And that goes for any time of the year. He's not so much a new years's resolution type of person as he is goal-oriented all year long. So here's to you my love- may your resolution be to achieve every goal you set throughout the year. :)