Ivy is Five Months

How many of us wish we could still grab our toes and fold in half? Five-month-old Ivy is a big fan. In fact, if you lay her down, you can bet that's the first thing she does.

Even with all those rolls, it's easy as pie for Ivy.

Ivy also is getting good at babbling "mamama" and otherwise belting "aaaaa". In fact, she's disturbed more than one Sacrament Meeting by her talking to us with her "aaaa's".

That bright pink baby bouncing around in her chair brings me so much joy. As well as watching her discover new things, like when we attached a toy bracelet to her arm.

Ivy tried solids for the first time, and we're still working to convince her they are something she will enjoy.

She's been ready to eat solids for a while and did amazing actually eating from a spoon. However, I don't know if it's taste or a texture issue, but Ivy sure did not enjoy the oatmeal once it entered her mouth. Despite what Kendrick says.

She's tried a couple more foods since her first baby-oatmeal experience, all with pretty much the same results: a scrunched up face and sudden loss of appetite. She should come around, right?

Those blue eyes and chubby cheeks! They make my heart melt.

Ivy also experiments with escaping the bumbo now that she is getting stronger and more mobile.

Luckily, she hasn't mastered the technique and remains safely seated, however hard she may try.

Snuggling this girl is my favorite and her baby smells and smooth, soft skin warm against my neck is probably the best feeling in the world.

She weaned from the swaddle like a champ and she's getting too big for me too fast. Five months seems so old, and it went by way too quickly. All these milestones of rolling over and eating solids, swaddle-weaning and babbling, are exciting and wonderful! I just wish I could take a little more time in each stage to soak it up even more now that I know how fast it'll really go.

Keep growing baby girl, you're the sweetest baby and we love you!

Tappana Times: September in a Flash

Well, I'm catching up September and it's the first of November. So we're going to do a quick drive-by so that I can record everything properly. I think I need to pick a day of the week to blog so that I don't fall so far behind.

School officially started and these two are getting too big for me. Lydia started fourth grade with Mr. Martinez and was excited to have a different teacher than last year. Ammon started second grade with Mr. Brennan and was excited to see what a male teacher would be like.

Grandma Nonie provided them with their first-day-of-school outfits and Grandma Becky provided them with new backpacks and lunch boxes. We're spoiled around here with good grandmas.

Ivy was so cute in this strawberry outfit, I almost died. The chunkiness, the pink stripes, the blue dress and eyes;I love it all. Lydia also wore this dress when she was a baby so some of those memories probably endear this to me even more.

While Lydia and Ammon started school, I settled into a routine at home with Kendrick and Ivy. Morning, exercise, chores, lunch, and naps.

Ivy adores Kendrick, and Kendrick always "translates" what Ivy's thinking or saying.

Poor Ivy gets left behind at times.

We went to an end-of-summer BBQ and concert at our friends' house. Brigham was finally coerced to go up on stage and perform. He's a bit rusty, but he's still pretty good.

Another exciting opportunity occurred when our prophet came to Safeco Field in Seattle to talk to the members of our church. This is the first time this has happened and we were excited to hear his words.

We arrived extra early to get good seats and to beat traffic, and though we had to wait for a couple hours in our seats, we had an awesome view and snacked and had fun while we waited.

President Eyring and President Nelson's words were inspiring. Being gathered with other members to listen to the prophet filled the air with a spirit of unity and gratitude.

My favorite part was singing, "We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet" as President Nelson and Sister Nelson left the field. We were close enough that we could see them waving to us. I had Ammon climb onto his chair and the interest and excitement in his eyes as the prophet looked at us and waved will be something to always remember.

Besides the wonderful event of the prophet coming, a couple not so good things happened. Not only did plants die, but the engine in our car started to spew white exhaust - lots of it. It turned out that our engine was about to give up the ghost any second. After researching our options, we decided to replace the engine in our Honda. A lot of money later, we had our same car with a new-used engine in it.






The BYU Cougars came to Washington to play the Huskies and we were lucky enough to score tickets from Brigham's boss. It was a beautiful day and we prepped our excitement with my parents at the tailgating party before the game.

After eating Cafe Rio and singing the fight song with Cosmo, we walked to the stadium and proceeded to get our booties handed to us by the Huskies. It was painful. But still, fun to go to a football game.

After the game, we ran to see the players sing the fight song, lost Dad who lost his cell phone which Brigham had actually picked up for him, and eventually rendezvoused back at the car to sit in traffic trying to get home to the kids.

I have to admit that most of my pictures/videos are of Ivy as she's growing and changing. So bear with me. Or soak in the cuteness - whatever your attitude leans towards.

I mean falling asleep with her hand on her cheek and the other resting on her tummy, and then changing to an exasperated look within five minutes?! Adorable.

She also went through a short fake-chewing phase that was pretty hilarious.

Ivy also learned how to roll over in September.

Only from her stomach to her back and only one direction, but progress!

While Kendrick is napping in the afternoons and I get some one-on-one time with Ivy, we work on her skills.

And we also work on her spitting. Not that she needs any help.

She soaked through many shirts, bibs, and burp rags.

I dried boxes and boxes of apples and I decided to let Ivy try sucking on some apple peels.

We moved to apple slices and she was a big fan. So was Kendrick.

Ivy may have taken over our house in chairs, pictures, and attention, but we all can't help ourselves as she's wiggled into our hearts with her blue eyes and sweet personality.