April Showers

Sophie and I went for a little walk last week after it had drizzled. She'd never used the umbrella grandma had given her -- probably because mom (mom's hair) hates going outside when it's raining.

Aw, look at how she loves her mom! (Actually an airplane flew by. Mom's not nearly that cool.)

A little nose-picking stop.

My Favorite Time of Day

The last couple of days have been rough - especially on the kitchen floor. The poor thing has been scribbled on with black crayon not once, but twice and last night had the honor of being christened by Sophie, who is in the very early stages of potty training. Luckily it was number one. And it didn't get on the carpet.

Sophie's getting her two-year molars, too, so she's extra pleasant to be around. Ivy seems to be showing some sympathy crankiness because I swear I hold her all of her waking moments.

I love naptimes.

I have a lot more photos that I may nor may not post about. Just click on the slide show if you want to see them close up. Easter updates are probably coming - hopefully before Mother's Day - if I don't have to keep mopping the floor.

Eye-vy

Sometimes we call her "Big Eyes" or just "Eyes". They're awfully hard to miss when they take up 1/3 of her face.

I haven't posted anything about my smiley, slobbery, 4-month-old Ivy latey. It's hard to get good shots of her because 1) she's always wiggly and 2) like her sister, she becomes intent on staring a hole through the camera whenever it makes itself seen. I had to resort to using the mirror to get her to smile. This one never fails. If she's throwing a fit -- it will calm her every time.

I absolutely love her mouth-wide-open smile. She's such an expressive little one, and her whole face lights up when she's happy. The poor thing still doesn't have much hair on her head, but her eyelashes are coming in fast, long, and thick. They'll probably be just like Sophie's.

Ivy sucks on her hands all the time and now she's pretty good at grabbing things (much to the distress of my earlobe the other day). She rolls from side to side, but hasn't been consistently rolling back to front since she first did it over a month ago. Sleeping is . . . improving. I think. Her nap schedule is beginning to be more regular, and she goes to sleep easily, but still wakes up 2, 3, 4 times a night. I just wish I was as coherent in the middle of the night as I was with Sophie. Sometimes I wake up with her in my lap, still halfway attached with milk dripping from her chin, and I don't remember when I fed her last, which side it was, how long I was asleep sitting up, and can barely read the clock because I'm blind at night. I think I need a nap, too.

Getting Out of the House

First I want to show you something. In light of our economy right now and how our government is sinking us further and further into debt, I want you all to click HERE. It's a little graphic that puts a trillion dollars into perspective. Times that by 10.7 and that's what our national debt looks like. Pretty crazy.

With the warm weather last week and 79 degree weather yesterday. We made lots of trips to the park. Before I had Ivy I figured I'd be staying at home a lot because I wouldn't want to juggle both kids in public, but it's the complete opposite. I love shopping trips (because Sophie still stays in the cart) and mornings at the park! It breaks up our day, gives us lots of fresh air (and vitamin D per Steve's request) and wears Sophie out so she naps 3-4 hours when we get back. Then all of us are relatively happy when Steve gets home from school.

Anyway, we went to the park by the marina which is only a few minutes from home. They have a mile-long loop you can walk around, so I pushed the kiddos along the path at a pretty good speed and actually broke a sweat. Go me.

Sophie's finally warmed up to play structures. I'm so glad. She used to stick to me like glue, dig around for snacks in my bag and throw bark around. She still throws bark around (yes, she's THAT kid), but at least she ventures up to go down the slide a few times.

When there's no one else around to throw it at, she throws it on herself. Her mother must be so proud.

She loves the swings.

A lot more than she used to.

Ivy? Oh yeah, I have two now. Sometimes I forget because she sleeps most of the time we go out. Add that to my list of "why I love going out of the house." More on her in a bit.

I Can't Think of a Tactful Title

So . . . we're at the park this afternoon and Sophie wanders over to a women on the grass who's playing with a puppy. I follow her over and make small talk with the lady as Sophie warily eyes the dog.

Suddenly Sophie points at the lady and says, "Mock." (milk)

"Milk?" I say, a little confused.

The lady motions to the picnic basket behind her and says, "Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie. I don't have any milk."

Meanwhile I'm trying to figure out why she would say that because the container in her picnic basket doesn't look anything like a milk carton. Then I look back at the woman and notice that she's very well endowed.

And showing a lot of cleavage.