Dad's Day

I truly have the privilege of knowing the greatest of fathers.

My dad, of course, who is also the greatest of granddads.

The father of my Ivy.  'You are the most important man in her life.'  [Meeker] ...and mine.

The father of the man of my dreams for which I am eternally grateful.

And, the father of the greatest nieces that ever lived.  [It is my sisterly duty to post incriminating photos of my brother.  Just look at that dedication toward entertaining my nieces.  That's love, right there.]

With love from Ivy, to family and to all of our friends who are fathers.

Quick Posts

Between tending to Ivy and trying to get somethings done around the house, I think it might be easier to do a 'quick post' per day rather than rally for a bit post once every couple of weeks.  So, here is the first installation.

Here we are getting ready to attend a wedding, which was a beautiful wedding, by the way.  The ambiance was very unique - fog over Lake Michigan - and I've never seen a wedding dress that was so gorgeous.  No bride could have worn it better.

Ivy is shown here in her dress and shrug (who knew they made strugs for babies?!?).  She is also shown sporting the 'tongue', which we have now determined to be in our DNA. 

 Mom (me) is shown sporting a necklace intended both for aesthetic function and for infant entertainment.

We had a lovely time at the ceremony and dinner.  Despite that we found our car battery dead when we left and had to rely on some very reliable and super kind people to jump us (We are very grateful!!!), we will definitely have fond memories of Ivy's first wedding.

A Month of Firsts

April was a month of many firsts.

My first Master's degree.  (And maybe last).  Ivy's in this picture.  Can you guess where?  As a hint, I walked in the ceremony last May.

Her first Easter.  (And first embarrassing costume.)

Her first time on a long enough road trip to stay at a hotel.

A first meeting between future friends.

Her first time getting around on her own.

 Whoops, need a little help here.

Her first taste of food other than milk or formula.  (This picture is crazy because I feel like I have a picture that looks just like this, but Jason has a ton of pictures that looks similar to this.)

Ok, I guess, May had a couple of firsts, too.

Her first stomach bug.  (And I'm not going to show pictures of that horrific affair.)

Our first apple tree.

My first Mother's Day.  (Ivy's wishing Grandma a happy day, too.)

First trip to the zoo.  (Albeit short lived.)

Her first birthday party.  (Shown modeling the yoda hat gift she made for her cousin.)

Sleeping Babes

Check this out.  I'm so proud.  She fell asleep for a nap in her own crib after only about 3-5 minutes of light fussing.  Yay!  Isn't she beautiful!?!

Almost 4 Months

Ivy's really growing up fast.  She took well to daycare and is quickly making friends.  Maybe a bit too close of friends - in four weeks, the household has already seen two colds.  That's just how it goes, I hear.

We've already broken out the saucer for her to play in.  Daycare graduated her to the 'exersaucer' so we decided to do the same.  (Sorry - these are blurry action shots - she doesn't like to take a break for a photo shoot).

She's eating solids.  Ha! Ha!  Just kidding - she's helping me cut the brownies in this picture by Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Don't worry, I was very careful not to leave her alone with the plastic knife....for too long.  (Or at all, for those of you who don't know me well enough to know I was kidding)

Today, I decided to set her in the rocker to see how long she might fuss before falling asleep.  And, - thanks to daycare, I'm sure - it took her 3 minutes of complaining and rubbing her eyes to fall asleep.  She abruptly stopped with fist still attached to eye lid.

My Pre-Pregnancy Jeans

I was able to comfortably button a pair of my pre-pregnancy pants the other day. They are not my 'skinny' jeans, but I'm happy to be making progress towards a pair of pants that do not have a large panel of elastic sewn into them. Granted, they were only one pair of the many that I hope to fit back into. My recent bout of stomach flu provided an unwelcome loss of another 5 pounds.

As much weight as I've lost, Ivy is starting to gain to become a grown up little 13 week old. This last week was both my first week back at work and Ivy's first at daycare.  She did great all week, despite my developing a stomach bug midweek and Ivy getting the sniffles at approximately the same time. 

I wanted to post some images last week, but got caught up in getting ready for the first work/daycare week.  Here are some photos pre-infirmary.

Mug Jacket

My postings have become fewer and fewer and my baby girl gets more and more active everyday.  I have several craft projects started and not progressing but I'd much rather be spending time with Ivy anyway.

I have been able to knit a little during her naptimes, which are short but frequent throughout the day.  I've knitted a new mug jacket during that time.  I had another cup jacket, one that fit nicely over the cafeteria cups, but I ruined it by stretching it around my water bottle in an attempt to keep my water cooler longer and keep the bottle from sweating.  It worked as an insulator, but requires me to knit a replacement that I can use on a mug that I can use around the office (when I go back....tear.)

I'm currently blocking the finished product (or for you non-knitters - I washed it and formed it to dry).

Mug jackets really do work.  Let me know if you want me to take any orders. :-)