so thankful for jon, who's hanging at home with the girls while i take a little bit of time for myself at a coffee shop this afternoon. both girls caught bad colds this past week & we've had a few long nights because of it. this mama is exhausted!
this week has also been a bit of a turning point for lucy & eloise, who have started to do everything together. the other day i was cleaning up after breakfast & the girls walked into the kitchen, hand-in-hand, & lucy [speaking for both] informed me, "we're hungry". eloise has been imitating all that she sees lucy do [think a 5-10 second delay] & it's a true blessing to see their friendship developing. of course, there are lots of cat-fights as well :) let's be real.
this week when lucy woke during the night [it's tricky breathing through a stuffed-up nose!] she told me, "i can't wait to give you the biggest hug in the morning!" she's been saying that each time she parts with someone. she has the biggest heart in that teensy little body.
& eloise has been cracking us up with the way she struts around like she rules the world. her favorite thing to do is take a bite of food from jon or me, then do laps around the main floor before coming back for more. she eats apple slices like you would eat an orange slice, and after dance class yesterday [which she screamed throughout because she wanted to be in the studio dancing with the big girls & admiring herself in the mirror], raced into that room as fast as her little booty would carry her, screeching for lucy & promptly stopped in front of her big sis, giving her a huge smooch :)
last monday marked 3 big milestones for us! it was the halfway point in my pregnancy [wow!], eloise had her 15 month check-up & lu had her 3 year check-up. it was also the 2 year anniversary of finding out we were expecting eloise [& it was my gramma's birthday!] both girls are growing & developing great- i never take their health for granted. i know how fortunate we are to have healthy, thriving children! both girls got their flu shots & i couldn't believe how brave lucy was! she wanted to cry [i could see it in her eyes], but she held it together & was so strong. now she's decided she wants her ears pierced if it won't hurt anymore than her shot did :) & jon's decided that's happening on an upcoming daddy/daughter date :) eloise wasn't such a big fan of the shots [flu + chicken pox] & was pretty miserable the rest of the day, although not nearly as miserable as she would be if she were to catch either the flu or chicken pox, right!? i actually am pretty certain the girls caught their colds from the pediatrician's office- the timing makes sense + they've caught colds from there before. par for the course!
aunt kim sent lucy early birthday gifts of the movie "legends of oz" & 2 dorothy dollies. this is totally lu's love language :)
we had a windy picnic at the park one day this past week- eloise had an absolute ball running & running & running!
& lucy & i whipped up some pumpkin pie play dough during eloise's nap one afternoon. sunflower cookie cutters were the perfect ingredient :)
baking peanut butter chocolate chip cookies with the prettiest chefs i know- [which my gestational diabetes diet surprisingly handles! i think it's because the recipe calls for quite a bit of peanut butter, my go-t0 protein these days]
& we had our anatomy scan, confirming that this gift is, indeed, a girl [even though we had had an early blood test, it's still nice to see the "three lines" with our own eyes :)] & all is looking great! here she is doing her high-kicks :) we loved seeing her all curled up with her legs over her head most of the scan. her kicks have started getting quite a bit stronger & she's most active in the early hours of the morning [when, of course, the other girls are sleeping:)]
20 week bump! 21 tomorrow :)
the first art piece for lucy's new room came & i love how it turned out! jon's finishing up building a barn door for our bedroom today, next weekend is lucy's birthday party & after that we plan to start tackling the room projects! october is a crazy busy month with a trip to visit my gramma in the rural blue ridge mountains of virginia in there as well- looking forward to it all!
headed to dance yesterday morning. lucy says her favorite part of dance class is "the shuffle & the sucker" - she learned the shuffle in tap yesterday & she always gets a sucker at the end of class [& subsequently, so does kid sister :)]
we finally switched eloise to her new big girl carseat! she's small enough that the other carseat was still okay, but it's nice to have her moved & comfy in the new one. of course it coordinates with lucy's pink & grey floral :)
& yesterday afternoon was one we had been looking forward to! lucy got a special birthday date to the spa with her best friend, kaitlyn!
hot cocoa & a soaking tub :)
kaitlyn chose a "frozen" theme for her manicure :)
& lucy went with minnie mouse tootsies! she wanted to match the picture auntie amy sent of her own minnie pedicure :)
such a fun afternoon! the girls felt like pampered princesses :)
last night was jon's 10 year high school reunion! we ended up showing up super late because sweet e had a hard time falling asleep with her cold & we didn't want to leave until we knew she was down. jon had spent friday night & saturday afternoon at reunion events [he had coordinated it because, if you know my husband, of course he's class captain :)], so we stayed for a bit visiting with people [really nice to see girls i went to high school with who are married to jon's classmates] & then we walked around the school- i hadn't been in years. i did choir & theatre at the boys' school, so it was fun to be back & see the theatre. we went backstage where there's a wall that seniors sign, and jon & i had written love notes to each other [which i did NOT remember]- pretty funny [& embarrassing!] to see 'em still there :) afterwards, we skipped the after-party & went to a late dinner at a steakhouse. we were seriously overdue for a date night. so happy to have had that time together! we're tentatively planning a tropical trip for three years from now sans-children [if, of course, there isn't another crew member at that point!]
we're entering birthday week- aunt alli's tomorrow, meme's wednesday & lucy's friday! we have family coming in town & we're super excited for all that's planned! fingers crossed for beautiful weather! 75 & sunny as i sit outside at the coffee shop :)
xoxo,
-ivy
