First Swimming Lesson!!!

Today Ben and I went to Babies R Us on a mission to find Ivy some swim pants and a little suit.

We found both. YAY.

Ivy woke up from her nap at 6:45 this evening so we decided to take her to Columbia Pool near our house. This pool is a warm water pool, 85 degrees, so it's better for her tiny self right now.

The air at the pool was nice and warm so it was a good night to take her swimming.

When she first got in the water with Ben she fussed a bit and was a little unsure. However, after Ben got her wet and started moving around she seemed to have a great time. She is a buoyant little bean. Ben put her on her back and held her head up, but the rest of the floating was all Ivy. She's a strong one! Ben would move her around and she kicked her little feet. She 'swam' for about 25 minutes. It was so amazing and so wonderful to watch! Can't wait til next time.

I took a TON of pictures. I hope you enjoy them ALL.

And heres a picture of Ben with the 'kids'.

Family Time

Great Grandpa and Ivy.

Last week Ivy spent a lot of time with family. She met cousins she hadn't met before and spent time with Grandma Joanne, Auntie Andrea, Uncle Brock and Gigi and Great Grandpa. It was a fun filled week.

Rachel and Preston introducing Jamie to baby Ivy.

Rachel and Aunt Marilyn watching Preston hold Ivy. Ivy loved watching Preston. She spent a lot of time smiling at him.

Bonnie calming Ivy down. She was a bit fussy during part of our visit.

First we went to Brian and Marilyn's gorgeous house in Sherwood to visit Ben's cousins who live in Utah and were here visiting. They have 5 kids!!! They are all super cute and loved holding and looking at Ivy.

Rachel holding Ivy.

Preston holding Ivy.

Aunt Marilyn and Ivy

Bonnie and Ivy. So cute!!!

Jamie trying to avoid the camera. I got a picture anyway. :-)

Friday Brock and I took Ivy to Redmond to visit the great grands. It was a nice weekend, full of smiles and giggles. Ivy has changed so much since her last visit to Redmond. We got some great pics of that visit as well.

Ivy and Gigi deep in conversation.

Sitting with Great Grandpa and smiling for the camera.

Chowing down with Uncle Brock.

Gigi, Great Grandpa and Ivy.

8 Weeks Old

Today marked Ivy's 8 week birthday!!!

She loves to smile and watch the world. And she LOVES her mobile. She will lay in her crib for up to an hour just watching and listening to her mobile. Of course, that is if someone is around to wind it every 2 minutes. Why can't it just have an on button?

Today Ivy found her Whale painting. I was sitting with her in her rocker in the nursery and she saw the whale and just stared at it. She put her head on my chest and stared at the whale and had a short 'conversation' with it. I loved it!!!

We have now resigned ourselves to the fact that she loves her swing. We decided why fight it when we can continue to get 10 hours of sleep each night. So, in 2 weeks when we go to Ben's parent's cabin, we will be taking a swing with us. :-)

Ivy is becoming more and more alert. Her awake time is starting to out number her asleep time and she is getting to be more fun and less cranky. Today she sat in her high chair while Ben and I played scrabble and ate breakfast. She just watched us, watched the game and looked around the kitchen with wide eyes. We played with her and she would smile and giggle. It's just so much fun. These times used to be infrequent, but now we get them more often.

It turned out to be a gorgeous day so we decided to take Ivy for a walk in the neighborhood because she was just refusing to nap and a nice walk in the baby bjorn usually does the trick. Not today. She was wide-eyed and looking around. She had a great time, but eventually fell asleep just as we turned the corner to home. Of course, she woke up shortly after Ben put her in the swing. That was her M.O. today.

Charlie-Bill, while seriously annoying at times, has turned out to be a great big brother. He sleeps right outside Ivy's room every night and is very protective of her. When she cries he paces until she is calm again. It can be quite cute.

Next weekend Brock and I are taking Ivy to visit GiGi and Great Grandpa. They will be amazed at how big she's gotten. Watch for another blog and more pics after that visit.

7 Weeks and Growing

Ivy enjoying time in her Bumbo seat that she got from Auntie Morgan and Uncle Keegan.

It's been a while since our last post and Ivy has been very active.

Ivy and her Auntie Andrea.

She's growing like a weed and eating like one too! :-)

Ivy and Pam enjoying some time together before a Blazer game.

She is extremely aware of her surroundings and loves to look around and take everything in. A few days ago she woke up super happy one morning. I greeted her with my usual Good Morning and a smile. She looked at me and smiled back. It melted my heart. I was so excited that she recognized me and smiled in return. It doesn't happen everytime yet, but when it does it's wonderful.

Ivy and Grandma Joanne

She has also started to giggle a bit. She loves to giggle and smile while she's feeding on me. It's quite funny actually. I'll think she's falling asleep and then I'll hear a little giggle and look down to see her smiling at my boob! Makes me laugh everytime.

More Bumbo time

Ivy and Ben are still figuring out their relationship, but it's getting better each day. It's difficult for Ben since he has nothing she wants these days...but he does have strong arms to hold her and amazing love in his heart for her. She doesn't scream in his face EVERYTIME he holds her so thats good. In fact, they have been having a lot of good time together lately.

Ivy and Daddy having a chat

Ivy and Daddy enjoying each other's company

Ivy and I continue to take daily field trips to grammy's or lunch with friends. Anything to get out of the house for a bit and be social. Today was a GORGEOUS day in Ptown so we took a walk to pick Charlie-Bill up from the groomers. Then Ivy spent a few hours with grammy while Ben and I enjoyed lunch with friends. From there, Ivy and I visited a bit with my friend Megan in John's Landing. Now Ben and I are quietly geeking out while Ivy sleeps in her swing.

The swing...Ah the swing. I am having a love hate relationship with that thing. I love it because Ivy sleeps for hours at a time. I hate it because she loves her swing more than her crib. Each time she falls asleep and we put her in her crib, she sleeps for about 10 minutes and wakes up wailing. When we put her in her swing, she'll sleep for 4-6 hours at a time. Swings aren't readily available everywhere we go, so I know eventually I'll have to fight the crib fight, but for now, I'm really enjoying my full night's sleep!

No words can describe this!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!!

Random

Just had a few CUTE pictures we took Friday night and thought I'd post them.

Yesterday was ROUGH. Ivy woke up at 6:45 and NEVER went back to sleep. Thankfully we had a blazer game and grammy and gramps were up for watching Miss Ivy so Ben and I got to have a date night. I needed that BIG TIME.

Today I am going to make some homemade soup and hope that we have some company to play games with. :-) Then we can take some pictures of Ivy with her uncles and aunts.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!