Dress Dilema

Ivy now has three dresses to chose from for her birthday parties this coming weekend. Being that she isn't going to make the choice, I suppose I will have to make it for her. Any opinions on which dress she should wear?




I just won this dress on ebay. I'm not sure it will arrive in time for the parties, but it should. Those flowers in the skirt aren't attached, they move around!

I got this dress at Once Upon A Child for $5. It's adorable on her, but she is really preoccupied with the ribbons. I'm not sure how that will end up working out.

I got this at OUAC for $5, too (the best part was that on my way out of the store, I won a $20 gift certificate, so they actually paid ME for these dresses... but I digress.) It's super poofy and has the matching hat (which won't stay on her head for more than 12 seconds) but I'm afraid it's too casual.

Shopping trip

We went to Savers today and I really made out good! It didn't seem like a ton of clothes until I started taking pictures of them!!! Here is what I got for about $16.....



Three pairs of jeans... from L to R - Little Legends ($.75), The Children's Place ($1.49) and Old Navy ($1.99)














Tops --- three longsleeved onsie; The Children's Place Red onsie ($.75), Two shades of purple Baby Gap onsies ($.75 and $.99), shortsleeved Baby Gap flowered onsie ($1.49), white Carter's top ($.75)











Overalls --- Baby Paris Jean overalls (big, but way too cute to pass up! $1.50), pink velour Disney baby overalls ($1.50), Gymboree jumper ($.75)

Here's a close up of the detailing on the jean overalls:














The Children's Place fleece sweats ($.75).... they have adorable heart detailing in the sides and little zippers on the back of the leg that open up to a mesh material.

Little Legends Jean Dress ($1.50)

Not too shabby for $16, eh? Ivy is quickly running out of clothes that fit her, though, so it was well worth it!!

New toy

Ivy got a new toy today.... Nathan says he's been wanting it for her, but I think he just felt bad because of her surgery today. So we went to K-Mart and purchased the new Fisher Price Baby Gymtastics Monkey Chase. It's a monkey that runs and wiggles it's arms and the baby is supposed to chase it... the monkey then turns around and looks at you, like it is waiting for you and when you touch it, it starts going again. We thought this was a great toy since Ivy loves to play this game with humans. Well, we got home and took it out of the box and showed her waht to do with it. She is completely afraid of this monkey. The girl who doesn't cry when left with people she barely know, dives off the couch head first, and climbs stairs at the speed of light is afraid of a plastic monkey. She insists on being on my lap or on Nathan's when the monkey is on the floor. We are hoping she will get used to it and eventually enjoy it, but for now I don't think it was $15 well spent.

Tubes

Ivy had her tubes put in today by Dr. VanderMeer. You have to love any doctor that says "crap" when describing what may come out of your daughter's ears. Anyway, we arrived at 6:55, ten minutes late (did you really expect anything different from me?) I filled out some paperwork and we got called back. A nurse took all of Ivy's vitals and gave us a cute little hospital gown to put her in. There were quite a few other babies there getting tubes, too. A doctor from anesthesia came to talk to us and told us they would put Ivy to sleep using a mask and as soon as the surgery was over, they would stop giving her the gas and as it left her system she would wake up. Then Dr. VanderMeer talked to us. He asked if there were any problems he should know about, like if she had a cough or anything. I said "Well, she has another ear infection," and he replied "Well, I can fix that." Funny man. At 7:45, right on schedule, a nurse came and took Ivy. Nathan and I went to the waiting room and I read maybe three pages of a magazine before they told us she was awake and we could come back. Ten minutes, tops, to put her to sleep, do the surgery and have her awake. Dr. VanderMeer talked to us once more and gave us a prescription for ear drops. We went back to see Ivy and she was so upset. Screaming, screaming, screaming. I held her, but it didn't help. Nathan tried, too. The nurse brought us a sippy cup of apple juice for her, thinking she was probably hungry (and as neglectful parents, we forgot a bottle!!) The juice helped for a second, but not long. They moved us to the other side of the recovery room so we didn't disturb the older people who had had surgery. They had all the kids on one side of the room. Anyway, once Ivy got her binky, she was good to go. We were home by 9am. Overall, she had a little bit of a fussy day, but nothing major at all.... it was probably just because she had to wake up at 6:15. Hopefully my little honeybear will be infection free now.

Eleven Months

Ivy,
You turned eleven months last week. Every day you grow and change, getting farther and farther away from the little baby you were and closer to a toddler. You are so smart. You can figure out how to work your toys.... your first word was "wow" and now you say "daddy" and I'm sure I've heard "mommy" once or twice. You are still a little cautious about standing on your own, but you pull up on anything you possibly can. You love to clap your hands, and take pleasure in clapping for yourself after every accomplishment. Andrea taught you how to give high fives last weekend when she visited and you are an expert of that, too. As far as eating, you are a piggy! You will eat just about everything we give you and it seems like you always want more! You love bananas, hot dogs, bologna, cheese, toast.... just about everything.
You are losing interest in your bottle, though.... just one more sign you are not just a baby anymore.
You know what you want and think you know how to get it. When Daddy tickles you and you aren't ready for the "game" to be over, you grab his hand and put it back on your belly, like you are saying "No Daddy, don't stop yet." Want to know a secret? You really can get whatever you want because your Daddy and I and everyone else love you so much.

I hope you stay as happy as you are now, Ivy. You find joy in everything you do, no matter how mundane. I love every minute I spend with you, and wish there were a million more minutes in every day so I could be with you that much more. I love you, honeybear.

Love,
Mommy

Eleven Month pictures

These are Ivy's 11 month portraits. The last one, where she is holding the shell, is what we bought the package of.