talking tula

i would not go so far as to say we have a "talking tula" but we have definitely had our first language explosion this month and i love it! she has started wanting to repeat everything that we say and is trying to communicate more than ever. i captured some pictures to show her favorite words.... because let's face it, when talking about babies, pictures make everything better!

"Mommy"
this is tula's clearest word and she says it all day long.... it melts my heart... every time! she also says "Daddy" and "Iby" but of course hearing "Mommy" is my absolute favorite. we are enjoying a snuggle this past weekend and had to capture her being so calm. those calm, still moments are few and far between.

"Bite"
tula loves food and wants to eat fast- just like everything she does! she will say "bite" over and over while rubbing her chest to sign "please" throughout a meal time. she has started saying "peeze" also but it is more time efficient for her to communicate both words at the same time!

"Cack" & "Eye"
don't you love my neighbor's yard art? tula sure does! this caught two words in one. tula loves to read animal books and point to the animals and say their sounds- explaining why duck would clearly be called a "cack." her favorite animals are- ducks (cack), chickens (bock), cows (moo), and doggies (clear as day)!
she also loves to say body parts but watch out or she will violently poke your eye out, pick your nose, or grab your mouth looking for your teeth and tongue. her favorite of all- belly buttons!

"Jump"
as i have said before tula is WILD! she loves to jump and run. she jumps in her bed and is quick to give this plastic doll bed a jump any time she gets the chance.

"Wowm"
playing outside after a good rain leads to lots of fun for tula and ivy nearly puking! tula is already pestering her girly big sister by picking up bugs and taking them to her. tula cackles when ivy screams and this just motivates her to keep on doing it! i love the way she said worm without the "r" sound and she calls anything long and brown a "wowm."

"Up, peeze!"
tula will adamantly yell, "up, peeze" about many things! she wants up in the high chair, up on the couch, up on the bed, up on the sink, up in the swing, up on the bike, and up in our arms. our girl likes to be exploring and be right with us so usually that requires being "up!"

i love hearing tula's little voice forming. that is one of the things i always day-dreamt about as i held sweet little newborn tula in my arms... what would she sound like? i am getting to hear the unique qualities that make tula's voice uniquely hers!

mornings

Tula sharing my coffee one dip at a time!

I love mornings. Not all mornings. I just love chill out mornings that drag on for as long as I please. Right now I can't wait for my relaxing Saturday morning...... in about 14 hours it will be here. I seriously start dreaming of a lazy weekend morning by Thursday.

I love being in my pajamas until way too late.
I love eating my breakfast SLOWLY.... at a kitchen table or snuggled on the couch.
I love watching little girls play in footed pajamas that are sometimes layered with dress up clothes.
I love getting to catch up with my husband over too many cups of coffee.
And last, I love sharing little "bips" of coffee with my sweet girl.

Yep, Tula loves to dip her paci in my coffee and begs for a "bip" over and over.
And of course, I oblige.

My Valentine's

These are my little Valentines hugging my big Valentine.
This is how my girls greet their daddy every evening when he comes home from work. And I stare from across the room and think about how lucky we are to have such a good man to call Daddy and Husband. And I think about how special he must feel to hear people cheer his name and then be tackled with hugs EVERY day when he walks in the door.
<3 Love It! <3

Ivy and I had so much fun decorating Valentine's Cards. She choose "Hello Kitty" store bought ones for all of her friends at school and then we perfectly placed some m&m's to each one. But then we used glitter, glue, and construction paper to hand make each one for her teachers and she even made one for Kristy from Tula! She loved all the glitter :)

One of my many pinteresty friends told me about these PERFECT smores Valentines from Mrs. Smorstad. So we put graham crackers, a jumbo marshmallow, and Hershey kisses into little heart bags for all my students and attached a little card that said "Everyday I love you smore!" They were a huge hit!

Ivy was so proud of herself for helping on the assembly line! Then she decided she wanted to make these Valentines for her teachers :) So we did!

One of the best parts about Valentine's Day was a special weekend away that I had with this man! We had a great overnight date in Louisville last weekend. We went shopping, saw a movie, got dressed up for a nice dinner, stayed at the Galt House, and got to relax on Sunday morning! It was the perfect little get away and time to reconnect :) The little ones were perfectly taken care of at Nana and Pops' house but this was Ivy's comment about our mini vacation:

"Well, Nana. I guess Mommy and Daddy love each other more than they love their very own daughters!"
Geez Louise, what are we going to do with that little stinker!

Hope you all had a special day with your own Valentines.... little and big!

The Ivy Times

So, what is going on with my big girl? I present to you...
The Ivy Times

Ivy is doing great! To be honest, we have had a stretch of some awesome days at home. My girl has been pleasant, helpful, and sweet. Now does she bother her sister from time to time, most definitely! Does she still make quick witted comments that make me think she is 12- for sure! But overall, we are soaking in these sweet memories with our big 4 year old!

Ivy expressed interest in gymnastics over the summer. We took a break from activity this fall with the switch to 5 day a week preschool but in January we started a gymnastics class through the Y. I have been impressed at what you get for the price- it is eight 30 minute classes with 5 kids and 3 teachers. The have a little beam, little bars, and a little wedge mat for these little ladies to flip around on. Then they have a big blue mat for series of forward rolls and lines of "cart wheels." Lots of one on one time is given.... but the verdict! Ivy doesn't love it!

She is very kind to her teachers and she will try something the first time and then the request to try it again usually results in shaking her head "no" while giving them a "Sorry! No thanks!" smile :) They can usually coax her to try again, but overall she can probably walk away from gymnastics for now and not think much about it. She has asked a lot about why they aren't doing the ballet moves she learned at dance and why she can't wear her ballet shoes- and finally, she understands it isn't dance class! So last night, she asked about when she can go back to Miss Mindy's for dance :) So that is probably the plan for this fall!

At this age, my goal is to expose her to some different activities in the hopes that she will find something she really enjoys! We have pushed for soccer several times (for Daddy's heart) but Ivy continues to favor the girly sports- are you surprised? So for now, it looks like we may have a ballerina in the making!

Other snapshots of my sweet Ivy Girl!

"Are big lips fancy?"
"I don't know, Ivy. I guess so....."
(Not really paying attention to the conversation- obviously.)
"I think these look pretty with my dress. Do you?"
Wow! I caught a glimpse and lost it! So now, the potato head lips are a dress up accessory! Hopefully that doesn't mean lip injections are in Ivy's future :) I will have to convince her that natural is better!

Right now, Ivy aspires to be a hair dresser when she grows up!
And you know, Mommy is the best to practice on :) Even if I do only have 2 inches of hair!
Thankful that Ivy's new fear of lice (Thanks to Mama and Nana) and bribery to play with my hair at home has kept Ivy's little fingers out of the hair of her playmates at school- yes, we had an issue with this a couple of weeks ago!

The new 4 year old way of playing in her kitchen seems to play "restaurant"-
She takes orders and writes them down on a chalk board (Mommy spelling EVERY word) she doesn't go for "sound it out!" (I apologize to her future teachers!)
Then she makes everything and sets it out, always including a birthday cake and song for a special birthday girl :)

And that is all for
The Ivy Times!

****By the way****
I am convinced that Ivy has a "time of the month." I am really curious to if these hormonal changes start so young.... we usually have 3 wonderful weeks followed by a week from you know where! I can totally relate to this but geez, I didn't expect it from my 4 year old!

Any other Mama's of little ladies feel like they experience this same thing or am I crazy???

stretched

I want to enjoy the little moments.
I want to have balance to be able to really enjoy the little moments.
And being totally honest, totally raw.... lately I feel stretched.

Playing outside one pretty evening.... and soaking it ALL up!

Some days I have felt that "tight in my chest, really can't breathe" kind of stretched and it is hard. Being a working mommy is difficult and as much as I wake up, attempt to put on my rose colored glasses, and choose joy- it isn't every day that this routine is successful. There are days that I go to work dragging with a heart that feels like it must be breaking as I leave it with my family at home. There are days when I have to stay home a little longer to eat breakfast with my girls and cuddle an extra minute just so that I can make it for the next 8 hours. Then some mornings I think I have it figured out and I walk into work only to find defeat waiting at my classroom door. It has been one of those months.

A spontaneous birthday breakfast celebration.... on a Monday!

So I can mope around, and be sad- but friends, I tried that for the ENTIRE first year of Ivy's life and it proved to be a total FAIL! I was sad at home because I had to go to work the next day, I was sad at work because I had left Ivy at home, and every weekend I spent dreading Sunday night and every work week I spent longing for Friday afternoon. So it was a lot of time wasted away being anything but happy. And while I wish I could say I was enjoying the little moments, I wasn't doing that at all.

So now, my life situation has not changed. My work schedule cannot change. And on most days, I love my job. I take that back, everyday I love teaching and most days I do so without defeat. But there are a lot of other things about working that cause distraction and disruption in my time at home, my summer's off, and add that to the ever accessible internet and I am stretched too thin.

It is these little moments but BIG memories that I long for more of.

So I am going to do something different. I am going to guard my time like it is a prized possession- which it is. I am not engaging in time wasters since my time for family feels like it has been robbed from me when I put my babies to bed at the end of a "too quick, too busy" day. I am working to prioritize things at school so that I can get home and feel good about the condition of my plans and my classroom- but know that there is always going to be more that I can do, no matter how long I stay the list will keep growing. And last, I am putting on my armor and shouting it from the roof tops "I am MOMMY first." My children are little once and there will be time for extras, but for now, I am learning to say no. No, I won't be able to make it to that event that I am just feeling obligated to attend. No, I won't be able to take on the extra work responsibility. No, I won't be able to cook for this or join you for that. I want to be polite, I want to have tact, and I want to quit having to stretch my way through life.

This is what I am fighting for....

Goodbye January, you have been a tough one for me.
Hoping for more balance and a lot more time to enjoy the little moments with my family.

It's these moments....

"The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."
~ Dr. Suess

Little Mover

Tula Belle
Weight: 19 lbs 14 oz
They have released us from the need for weight checks as recommended at her 15 month check up!
Height: 29 inches
As I thought, she shrunk 2 inches from her 15 month height! Mama was right about the inaccurate measurement!
****
I finally was able to catch this little mover for some new pictures! She is nearly impossible to photograph any more because they always turn out blurry as she is dancing, waving, clapping, or simply running away.

Tula's favorite go to spot is the bathroom. She loves to stand on this little stool, look in the mirror, and brush her teeth! Climbing on things helps our vertically challenged girl to see things a little differently :)

Look how big she is getting! She is starting to have knack for playing~ but her attention span is just about 5 minutes so in an hours time our play area looks like a bomb went off!
* Cooks in the kitchen- 5 minutes
* Color Wonder markers- 5 minutes
* Little farm animals- 5 minutes
* Lots of books off the shelf- 8 minutes
* Little play house- 5 minutes (YAY no mess!)
* Feeds baby doll- 5 minutes
* Runs with baby stroller- 1 minute..... icing the new goose egg from hitting a wall- 4 minutes!!
* Dancing diva- 5 minutes
* Tea party- 5 minutes
SHOOOOO.... Mommy is tired!

Tula does love books! (The only thing that she will do for more than 5 minutes!) I have been reading to her each evening and FINALLY she enjoys being read to instead of trying to eat the books. She loves peek a boo books the best! And she always finishes and goes back to her favorite page to read again once it is over.

Peek- a- boo!! Tula's blankie and paci are her very best friends!

Night-night! Our busy little girl will go get her blankie and paci and lay down anywhere when she is ready for a nap or bed time!

Tula still requires A LOT of sleep! Just a little down time for Mommy to rest a moment to have enough energy to move, move, move when she is up to play again!