E L E V E N

Seriously. My sweet Ivy is now 11 months old. Time has flown and here we are, staring in the face of a first birthday party. As hard as it is to believe that we have surpassed another month, this month has been a fun one. Ivy is really at a wonderful stage!

Ivy continues to be super sweet and just plain adorable. Her personality is fantastic and she is pretty chill most of the time. The only times we hear her is when she protests her car seat, when she is tired, when she is hungry, or when her siblings are bothering her. And even then, her whines are more squeals (which can get pretty shrill) and can be easily tamed with attention from Mommy. Speaking of, Ivy is super attached to me. And I am A-okay with this! She is getting better about letting others hold her, but she may fuss a minute at first, and then she keeps her baby eyes on me the whole time.

Ivy is super mobile theses days. She crawls everywhere and will get into everything. She finds any open door and starts exploring (bathroom, pantry, Maclyn's room...) and she seems to be able to reach everything too! In bed she pulls up to tall-kneeling and chews on the rail of the crib. That doesn't make me happy, but there are already teeth marks on the crib from Keagan. I used to think Ivy would be walking by her first birthday, but I don't think so anymore. She doesn't really seem that interested in pulling up to her feet or attempting to walk, unless she is in her walker.

Ivy has been taking bottles like a champ during the day, but from Mommy only. HOWEVER! She takes breast milk from a straw cup like a champ when she is at MeeMee's! So this has been a game changer! Also, she just started eating finger foods and is starting to prefer this over baby food, but she still isn't great at chewing and swallowing. There is still a lot of gagging (and occasional full-on stomach contents emptying). On the same topic of food, Ivy is now only nursing mornings and nights. And it is a wonderful change for me. I know I am going to miss nursing my baby when we are completely said and done, but it has been nice to get back to normalcy during the day.

The best thing that has happened over the last month is Ivy is now -dare I say it?!- SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!! We had taken her off all of her reflux meds several weeks ago and she just wouldn't go down for the night easy and then was still waking once. I didn't really put it together but out of desperation decided to give her a nighttime dose of one of the reflux meds and, wouldn't you know, Ivy went down without a fuss and slept all night long!

As you can see, Ivy is beautiful. Yeah, yeah, she is mine. But she really is a gorgeous baby. Her hair has thickened up quite a bit and may even be starting to show some curl! Wouldn't that be funny?! Ivy's eyes are strikingly blue like her daddy's, and people comment on them everywhere we go. And in the last month she has gained two more teeth! Her two top front teeth. And when she gives us a big smile you can see them! Most of the time, as you can see, she still keeps her tongue out! That's her trademark!


EDIT: so I completed this blog last night and I should have just kept my mouth shut! Ivy didn't sleep through the night last night. (insert eye roll)

6 and 9 month milestones

For all of my kids I have done the "grow with me pictures" at 3-6-9-12 months. I have stayed pretty on top of things with the first three, but number 4 has thrown me over the edge. Luckily, I have remembered to take the pictures, but I have not posted them (or printed them) for people who want to see! Remember, these are super amateur!!!

So here are some of the pictures of Ivy at 6 months! Good grief she has changed so much!!

Ivy's 9 month "photo shoot" was actually multiple shoots over a couple of days in many different settings. She wasn't feeling it and/or the sun was too bright and so I didn't really get the "money shot" for this series of pictures. She just isn't as smiley in these pictures. But I think they are cute and they are who she is at 9 months!

Keagan took these pictures. I was trying to get him to just get Ivy up in the pretty pink tree. He didn't quite get my vision (it also doesn't help that he is too short!) but I love these pictures of my baby girl and me.

A last-ditch effort to get some pictures of my sweet Ivy to document 9 months. She still refused to give me a big smile. I called it a day. 

 I will be right back. Gonna go cry in the corner. 12 months is next.

Ivy Mae - 9 and 10 months

Oh My Heart. Time just seems to pass faster and faster and I cannot keep up with how quickly all my babies are growing. But the quick passage of time is the most apparent in Ivy. She changes daily. And I am so incredibly busy that my documentation of her fun changes suffers. 

So here is a mash-up of Ivy at 9 months and 10 months! 

9 months: Ivy loves to wave, sometimes with both hands. She became more mobile but in the form of a scoot where she would rock on her hands and then rock back. It was slow so we could leave her with her toys in the living room and she would only travel a couple feet in 30 minutes' time. She started saying Mama but it was typically when she was unhappy and fussing. Or if someone other than her Mama was holding her. I won't lie, I might have enjoyed hearing my name even if it was during a fuss. Ivy doesn't fuss too much, she really continues to be the happiest baby.

10 Months: so, yea. We are only two months from her first birthday. I can't. I have planned nothing, I just don't want to acknowledge that my last baby will be a year old. It really feels like she was just born. Really.

This baby! She is beautiful. Her eyes. Her complexion. Her hair, which has thickened up substantially and even has a little wavy wisp to it! Be still my heart. While we still get a lot of comments on how Ivy is identical to her big sister, we no longer feel like this is so. We do think they favor, but they are sisters. And in reality, all 4 of my kids could be "identical," but we are definitely starting to notice Ivy becoming her own little person in both personality and appearance.

Ivy has been a tad more fussy over the past month. But I am 100% certain she is about to have an explosion of teeth in her mouth. I can actually see the top two right at the gumline so I know those are about to break through. (Josh likes to make fun of me for blaming the kids fussy periods on teething. We laugh...but in reality I have so many little kids that I feel like there is always someone teething over the last 8 years!)

At this point, Ivy is still not consistently sleeping through the night. She generally wakes once but every so often we get a wonderful full night (even better when Mac sleeps through the night - yes, she still wakes up). Ivy is nursing in the morning, then late afternoon and at bedtime. And when she wakes at night. I am trying to get her to ween down but she really doesn't take milk from a sippy cup very well yet (we have invested a small fortune in trying to find one she likes) and is still super finicky with a bottle. She doesn't love baby food anymore either. But she struggles with finger foods and gags and carries on, sometimes to the point of throwing up. This is getting better, but she is certainly my worst eater. And has been this way since the very beginning!! Nothing like stressing over her poor eating habits for the last 10 months. All that to say, she is actually growing and thriving beautifully so I really have no need to worry.

Ivy is still the light of everyone's eyes. Including her siblings. The boys still want to hold her (she is super wiggly and doesn't want to be held anymore) and constantly rub her head or smother her with hugs and kisses. Maclyn loves to play doctor with her or dress her up. One thing that has changed with Mac and Ivy over the last month as Ivy has increased in her mobility is Maclyn gets super mad when Ivy has a toy of hers. So she grabs it out of Ivy's hand then Ivy is fighting mad. On one hand it is funny but on the other it is loud and we realize there is no going back. And so the sister fights begin. We have also had to keep a closer eye on Maclyn with Ivy because she is ROUGH. Like, purposefully rough! This has just started and it is probably an aggression due to her baby sister getting into her stuff so Mac is having to display some dominance. Despite this, Mac still loves her baby and wants to know where she is at all times. 

As you can see from her 10 month pictures she isn't as smiley as her 9-month pictures. I really think her little mouth bothers her. And she still sticks her tongue out a lot!! Despite the mouth/teeth pain, she can be very giggly, and cackles and squeals when you tickle her!

I recently realized that I haven't shared the "professional" amateur pictures I took of Ivy at 6 months. So I will try and post those and her 9 month "professional" amateur pictures soon. And by soon maybe tomorrow! Maybe...