dentist day!

i have to preface this post with just how "lucy heavy'" it is. eloise lives in the moby, and therefore doesn't have nearly as many photos taken of her as her wild & crazy sister does! just the season that we're in...

a great weekend came & went. jon insisted that i had to see just how excited lucy gets to watch the "choo-choos" delivering her food at fritz's- and boy does she ever! such a fun family date- i don't know if jon & i had more fun watching lucy's excitement, or if lucy was the one to max out the fun factor. the last time i had been to fritz's with lucy was when she was 15 months- so much has changed in that short amount of time! she's getting to be such a little girl with the biggest imagination. miss eloise was happy to snooze the excitement away :)

lucille turns 2 next month. i really can't believe i'm going to have a 2 year old!!! we held a little photo shoot in the backyard for her upcoming birthday party invites- lucy's luau! have to add one of these hysterical photos of our hulaing lu. 

lucy's newest lucyism is "hmmm... let's see... i know!" [think multiple times per day]. nothing like your children making you aware of the sayings you were previously unaware you overused!

like mother, like daughter in our itsy bitsy polka-dot bikinis :) snapped this pic of lu over the weekend in my mom's backyard. lucy loves few things more than playing in meme's minnie mouse pool & throwing rocks in her fish pond [epitome of childhood right there]. the photo of me is from my first dance recital. so fun to have girls i get to do dance recitals with! 

today was lucy's 2nd ever dentist appointment. i honestly had quite a bit of anxiety leading up to it, as jon's out of town for work & my mom is back to school, so i knew i'd be handling the trip on my own- i just wasn't sure how lucy was going to react to the dentist looking inside her mouth, and i was having nightmares of eloise in the moby with lucy screaming, insisting on me holding her & refusing to cooperate [note: i actually hold both girls at the same time quite well if need be :)] we prepped lu for what was going to happen at the dentist since i knew she would't remember her last appointment 9 months ago. she practiced opening her mouth & saying "ahhhhh!" all yesterday and this morning. 

today's appointment and our 1st appointment last november when lucy was 13 months. same elevator :) i can hardly believe how much she's grown. i was pregnant & so sick in the first trimester the last time we were here [i actually get a little nauseous looking at the side-by-side remembering how horribly awful i felt!]

very happy to say that i am one PROUD mommy- lucy did amazing! she was outgoing and polite to the dentist and his assistants, she let the dentist check out her teeth [which he called "beautiful":)], and she was quite pleased with herself to earn a "sophia the 1st" sticker afterwards :) eloise was a moby rockstar- the whole trip couldn't have gone smoother. thank you Baby Jesus! [for both the successful visit & the coffee drive-thru afterwards...]

also a fun note that the receptionist went crazy over the girls' names! she pulled out a piece of paper and jotted down "lucille" and "eloise" as a reminder to tell her daughter, whom she's hopeful will provide her a grandchild one of these days :) very sweet. 

did i mention mickey mouse was on a ceiling tv? this may or may not have been the ticket to lucy's willingness to participate...

we celebrated with rainbow sherbet. because that goes along with the whole keeping your teeth healthy thing...

in el belle news... we're still working on that bottle [bottle bootcamp as we think of it around here]. we're definitely making some strides! last night she suck/swallowed 84 times in a row before refusing to take anymore. wahoo! smart little lady. we'll see what comes of it :) love her sweet spirit and warm eyes. 

-ivy

a visit from aunt jane

aunt jane [lucy's namesake] and uncle robin visited yesterday from wichita. so so wonderful to see them!

lucy jane & aunt jane

the whole gang with daddy behind the camera

a happy lucy jane :)

happy week to you!

-ivy

so pumped about lucy's upcoming birthday! you only turn two once! 

we've been throwing around ideas for what to get her, and think we've come up with what we're going to do :)

the girls will only be one grade apart in school, so we figure we're going to have a house full of girls for many years ahead, as i'm sure they'll share many of the same friends + with out-of-state cousins traveling to KC for long weekends, we need a place for the kids to have as their own. we have the perfect nook in our basement [uhhh more like, the playroom :)] for in-wall bunk beds/a loft. jon's conceptualizing what exactly he's going to build- it'll be something along these lines:

pretty sweet, right?! i'll post pics throughout the building process. so much childhood magic to be made!

little slice of heaven that'll be ready for sleepovers before we know it...

love my kids :) so lucky to be a mommy!

-ivy

friday friday!

i love friday afternoons! the laundry is done, both girls are napping, and the prospect of a fun weekend is on the horizon! tonight is pool, pizza & movie night. lucy's been asking to watch frozen for the past few days, so we figured we might as well make a fun event of it :)

i snapped this picture as i read to the girls on the deck the other morning. i hope eloise turns out to be the bookworm her sister is! lucy LOVES books more than any toy. so fun to see her love of books increase the older she gets :)

we walked 2 miles [each way!] to the ice cream shoppe one night this past week- eloise in the moby, lucy in her "pink car" & charlie by our side. we've been super spoiled by this amazing august weather! 

in eloise news, she still isn't having the bottle. i talked to a feeding therapist at work [well, my old job now...], who is also a lactation consultant to get some bottle hints. my mom's been helping me research, too, but like me- she doesn't know much about bottles. she nursed all 3 of us, never used a bottle, and was a la leche league leader back in the 1980's when she was living in alabama & breastfeeding certainly wasn't trendy or popular. she's served as my own personal lactation consultant for the past 2 years! we have 2 new types of bottles that we're trying, designed specifically for nursing babies, so i'm hopeful :) feeling much less anxious about it though. the only foreseeable times i'll be away from eloise are lucy's ballet classes, where eloise will be in the lobby with either my mom or jon, so really no worries there, and my best friend's [lucy's Godmother's] wedding in november. i'll still be able to nurse her throughout that day- there will just be a couple of hours during the ceremony & pictures where my mom will have her with a bottle on hand. 

in all of lucy's 22.5 months, i've been away from her overnight twice- once when i was hospitalized during my eloise pregnancy for kidney stones [horror], and once when i delivered her sister. i just don't like leaving my babies :) this precious season of my life is so fleeting, and i'm very grateful to have such a supportive husband [who doesn't make me feel crazy for "attachment parenting" the way that feels right to me, but rather, shares in this parenting style]. whatever style a couple parents in, i've definitely felt first-hand the importance of being on the same page. knowing that jon is my teammate is what gets me through many of the messy days i've experienced this summer as a mom to a new baby & a new toddler!

sweet lucy jane 

me & my minis :)

xoxo,

-ivy

i can't believe how quickly these girls are growing! i feel like we're really in a rhythm now & am truly enjoying our days together. weekends with jon home are the best though :)

lucy lives for watching her daddy mow the lawn. it's SO exciting, you know :)

my mom & eloise joined me for my hair appointment on saturday [slowly going darker!]

while jon & lucy had a date to the pool, fritz's for lunch [lucy is STILL talking about the "choo-choo" bringing her grilled cheese to the table...] & the hardware store to buy wood for new garage shelving jon built.

[the shelves were built to make room for the newest addition...]

which has made lucy pretty popular amongst the neighborhood boys. OH boy.

lucy's sunday morning breakfast of choice...

hung with this girl while jon & lucy made the donut & coffee run. nothing better on a rainy weekend morning!

miss dimple-

& miss sass-

happy week to you!

-ivy

a quick update of our life over the past week! [love that i'm able to print this blog, so that the girls can have these posts as a keepsake:)]

my grand idea of using this sign to ward off the ups man during naptime has now failed me. twice.

daddy's nail salon is in full-swing. this week, lucy requested "peeent!" [also known as pink]

we had wonderful family in town from pennsylvania visiting the girls- aunt kim, uncle doug & zack ["sack!" according to lu] so great to see them, and lucy was thrilled at the opportunity to share a popsicle with her Gdad :)

lucy tried on some barbecue sauce as lipstick for the festivities...

lucy and kaitlyn had their monthly princess tea party playdate, while christina & i drank coffee & held our younger babies. the girls play pretty well together, although it's definitely apparent that kaitlyn has a few months on lu + a year of preschool! lucy's just entering the stage where she's able to play "with" other kids, as opposed to parallel play "next" to them, and kaitlyn is full on able to pretend play with others. it's great for lucy to see this, and begin learning how to interact and play with her friends. kaitlyn is super sweet & patient with my little snow white :)

lucy's starting dance class in a few weeks & i am beyond excited! we're taking a mommy & me dance class called "twinkle toes" at a fairytale ballet studio. it's once a week for 30 minutes, and the plan is for my mom to come with [she insisted, and jon wasn't going to fight it :)] and hold eloise in the lobby [i'm sure she'll be peeking in...] i'm thrilled for our saturday mornings this fall!

miss eloise is as sweet as sweet can be- a true dollie. current news with her is that she's started refusing the bottle [grrrrr.....] i've ordered some new bottle nipples to try & we're attempting a practice bottle of my pumped milk each day. i'm hardly ever away from her [actually never have been away from her to be honest], but i do think that being able to take a bottle is an important skill in case there's ever an emergency & i need to be away. as a side note, i'm in my best friend's wedding this november, and will be much more at peace throughout the wedding day if i know she's calmly taking a bottle when i'm unable to nurse.

newest "baby" in the family is this 1972 blazer. it's living in my garage, with jon & his dad having big plans for her. lucy's just thrilled to have her own personal jungle gym :)

so special to have a sister- and with jon out of town this week & me doing bedtime routine on my own with both girls for the first time [my mom's out of town, too], i told him this may be all they'll ever get siblings-wise ... of course, i immediately took it back once they were both peacefully sleeping :)

-ivy