Happy Birthday, Sweet Ivy!

Dear Ivy,

Today marks the day of your second birthday! It is hard for me to believe that you are already two years old. I feel like just yesterday I was laying in a hospital bed, waiting on my c-section, so that I could meet you. Since the moment you were born, I've said that you look just like your daddy. You have his eyes and his facial expressions to a tee! But wow, it was clear the moment you started to talk....you sure do have your mommy's spit-fire personality! I hope that your strong willed personality will be used for the good. I want to teach you to be a strong woman someday. I want you to be bold to speak your mind when needed. I want you love with all your heart, even when it means you may hurt sometime. Daddy and I promise to continue to give you experiences and lessons to help you to grow and mature into a little lady that loves Jesus with all her heart!

In the last two years, you have brought endless joy to our lives. Loving you, only the way a parent can, has made me fall deeper in love with my Lord, Jesus. His love is so perfect. I can't imagine how our God put his son on the cross for our mistakes. Ivy, Jesus loves you too! I think you know that and are learning more about it each day. He created you just the way you are. He knows the plans of your life and it is our job as your parents, to encourage and support you. We will pray that you will allow His plan to guide you.

You are so much fun! Daddy and I are so glad you are here to provide non-stop entertainment for us. You are silly and at night we lay in bed laughing at all the things you did to make us smile that day. You have blessed us beyond belief and we can't wait to watch you grow each year (even if sometimes we do want to push pause)!

We love you so much and are so glad to be your Mommy and Daddy!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Little One!

* Sorry the video is dark!! This was right when I went in her room to wake her up! **

A Wedding Party

Our great friends, Aaron and Erica, got married last weekend! Greg was honored to be one of the groomsmen. Ivy didn't join us for the actual ceremony but she was so excited to attend her very first "wedding party." She was prepared for something really fancy... to get dressed up, to see a princess, and to dance dance dance! The whole way there she proclaimed that she was so excited and she definitely had a blast! Congrats to Aaron and Erica on a gorgeous wedding and thanks for letting us celebrate with you!

Erica looked fabulous.... she had a lasting impression on Ivy! We are still talking about Princess Erica :)

We got to hang out with Megan and Jake! We hope to get to go visit them in Minnesota next summer.



Ivy and Daddy doing the twist!

Ivy's First Trip to the Dentist

This week Ivy had her first dentist appointment. We have been talking about going to the dentist for about a month to get her ready. Mommy and Daddy had dentist appointments earlier in July.... she kept reminding us that it was soon going to be "Ivy's Turn!" Here are some photos to capture this Ivy first!

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We got several books from the library and read about the dentist religiously for two weeks!

Ivy walked in and opened her mouth wide for the receptionist... assuming that was the dentist. It was pediatric dentist office so she was entertained while we waited, and once they called her name she was done with the toys and ready for "Ivy's Turn!"

The brushed Ivy's teeth with a normal tooth brush and she did great! However, they then attempted x-rays and she was not okay with this. Then they showed her the tooth tickler (polisher) and she was not willing to lay down in the chair. She kept telling them "I sitting up."





Dr. Wheeler thought Ivy's teeth looked great... she has 4 more baby teeth to come in.
Such a big girl!

Ivy's least favorite part... having to lay back to get a glimpse of those top teeth chompers and her pretty little gap!

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Overall, I think that Ivy's first dentist trip was great! It wasn't scarring and I know that she will be comfortable returning in January. I hope that 6 months from now Dr. Wheeler will be able to check a few more things off of her "to do" list!

Have you ever seen such cuteness??

Ivy absolutely LOVES her Unc!!!

Dollywood Adventures

I had never been to Dollywood but this was most definitely the highlight of our trip. Ivy had no idea what to expect. In fact, when telling her about Dollywood- I think she envisioned a place with a bunch of babydolls. The morning of our Dollywood trip I asked her where we were going and she responded "Babywood" and then when corrected she said "Hold you, Dolly." When we entered Dollywood she was in awe by the bright colors, the large crowds, and she was sold on the place when we rode the tram/train through the parking lot. This was her first experience with rides or anything of the sort. She loved it to say the least and therefore she threw quite the tantrum when she had to get off after each ride ended. Then she would go back in line and yell-
"Ivy's turn"- until it was in fact her turn. She never once seemed scared. I wish I could have captured our whole Dollywood experience on video for Greg to be able to enjoy! I hope to take Ivy to another amusement park soon so that her Daddy can see her in her new found element!!

Absolutely priceless Dollywood comments from Ivy that I don't want to forget:

* When she rode on the first ride, a carousel, and her horse didn't move up as quickly as Nana's and Ivy began screaming "Giddy-up, horsey" and clicking her tongue. She was not smiling or waving, she was absolutely determined to make her horse move up and down like Nana's.

* She begged to ride the "peapots" (teacups) over and over! We only rode once because these are not Mommy's favorite.

* On her first ride on the flying elephants- she was demanding "on the floor" or "in the sky" over and over.... giving us quite the bouncy ride.

* Ivy enjoyed her first ring pop in Dollywood. She thought she had died and gone to heaven because she had a sucker that resembled a paci... TRUE LOVE! Then she whined "OH NO!!" I looked to her to try to see the problem, and she responded, "My suckers going away." She was not pleased that this new sweet, paci wasn't going to be a permanent fixture in her mouth.

Girls in Gatlinburg

I am blessed beyond belief!!! After this weekend, I am so thankful that I have a mom and sister in law that I can go away with and have so much fun. Add my baby girl into the mix to make it even more exciting! We hope to make this a yearly tradition of relaxation, fun, laughing, and great food. The only thing that we would have done different is stayed in Gatlinburg just a little bit longer. We enjoyed each others company and Ivy thought she was living the high life with the big girls.

The WONDERFUL girls in Gatlinburg!!!

Rocking in chairs at Apple Barn... with full tummies!!

Look who Ivy spotted~ Santa in July!

Singing "Happy Know I" so that Ivy remains tantrum free when the tunnel was over!!

Ivy and Nana in the pool~ mark your record books!! Nana got in the pool before mommy!

Esie teaching Ivy her swimming tricks- seriously, you all didn't know that our Esie is a pro-swimmer! (Basically....)

Getting a "sun man"

Mommy and Ivy rocking out our shades~ isn't that the girliest cabin you have ever seen??

Ivy and her "purse"- she had to have one if everyone else did!

Eating her breakfast on the couch after sleeping in a HUGE kingsize bed with Mommy and loving every minute of it! She said she slept "side ways" :)

Watching the ducks ~

Pretty girls!

The girls about to go to DOLLYWOOD!!
This adventure deserves it's own post.... COMING SOON!!!

Facebook Rejection....

We are home from our girls trip.... which I can't wait to blog about! But until then, I have important information that may effect those of you who are my friend on facebook. My account has been hacked or something. It will not let me log in. I can't get it to send me a new password. Therefore, do not respond to anything sent out from my account. I am hoping to get these kinks worked out so that I can feed my addiction with pictures, stalking, and status updates!! However, if I don't hear back from facebook this may be God's way of sending facebook packing straight out of my life!! So please.... please... give me some blog love so I don't feel totally lost from the internet community! :)

Girls Get-Away

Tomorrow all the girls in our family are going on a little get-away to Gatlinburg. I am so excited to hang out, relax, laugh, and just see some different scenery! We will have a blast... even though we will be missing our hubbies... and I will have pictures and stories to post when we return! I am so excited to go on our first girls trip and am even more excited that there will be many more to come!!!

Little Mama

This weekend Ivy got the pleasure of inheriting one of my favorite things as a little girl. This was my mom's doll cradle from when she was little. Ivy is in love. She has been rocking her babies and singing to them. She calls it her "rocking chair." She has been waking up out of a dead sleep and wanting to rock her babies, she hops out of the chair mid meal because her babies are crying, and she is off to rock. She is such a little mama! I enjoy seeing her jump into this phase of pretending.... it is so much fun!

July 4th Weekend

We had a fabulous weekend!! We had our first family get together at our house on Friday night. It was amazing! Anthony and Chelsea got here first... after getting lost and driving a complete circle around Nicholasville. Haha- who can manage the streets of downtown Cincinnati and get lost in Nicholasville.... leave it to Unc! Ivy was so sweet with them, giving them the tour of her new house and having lots of fun in the yard. We ordered pizza for dinner and shortly after we began our meal.... MY PARENTS CAME!!!! My parents had been in France all week and I really missed them. I couldn't wait to have them at our house! I know they were exhausted coming basically straight from the airport to our house and having such a big time change.... I hope it was worth it to come hang out on Lefty Loop!

Ivy and Nana playing with the toys she brought her from Paris!

Ivy and Aunt Chelsea taking a break from golf, by the "barm"!

(yes, we have progressed from Esie)

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On Saturday, we hung out at our house in the morning and then got to Nana and Pops house a little before lunch time. My mom made an amazing (nontraditional) 4th of July lunch. Instead of doing a cook out in the cold weather (seriously... on July 4th), we had fish tacos, corn on the cob, and yummy smores dessert! It was delicious. Afterwards the boys and Ivy took a nap while the girls went shopping. We all went to church and then hung out for a while before Unc and Aunt Chelsea headed home. Ivy was so comfortable with them this weekend! I loved it. It melted my heart to see her so enamoured with everything about Chelsea and to see her giggle and cackle at Unc's silliness! I can't wait until we see them again!

So silly!! (She is campaigning for IT!!!)


Rubbing noses :) Special Pops and Ivy kisses!

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That evening, we were bound and determined to see fireworks. But seriously, it was cold and rainy!!! We were troopers and we headed to the high school to watch RJ Corman's fireworks. I felt like a real "Nicholasvillian".... I don't know if that is what we are called??? Haha. We put Ivy in her pj's and threw some chairs in the car. Ivy was entertained by all the people and then the fireworks started. She enjoyed them momentarily until about 5 firetrucks came because the alarms inside the school had been set off. Ivy loved the loud trucks and sirens and could have cared less about the fireworks. Greg and I enjoyed them until we were so wet and cold it was time to go home. Overall, it was a great July 4th weekend!!

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Guess what time it is??? Almost time for Ivy's 2nd birthday! I can't believe that another year has flown by this fast. Today I had so much fun birthday shopping for her. Now I just have to wait 26 more days... wow that is a long time.... to keep her presents a secret!!!

Discovery Zone

Moving to a new city (well, kind of), a new neighborhood, and having a yard for the first time makes for a large discovery zone. This week was a week of familiarizing ourselves with our new territory. We had a couple of play dates, so Ivy got to show off her new room! We spent a ton of time outside... in the garden, the backyard, and at the neighborhood park. Greg and I have realized what "yard work" really means. We can't believe the amount of time it takes to weed the garden and water all the flowers and veggies! Overall, this was an excellent first week in our new house :)

(I promise I won't blog about our "new house" anymore... I have just been so excited!!!)