A bag of tricks.

So the first week Ivy turned 10 months she said her first word.

DOG.

My heart seriously just exploded!

It was so sweet & I was seriously caught off guard!

We were leaving the house for a walk and my mom's dog ran up to us & she said "Dog! Dog!" It sounds more like "Daw! Daw!"

But still, she totally has a name for the dog and oh my gosh. I'm really proud of her!

She also says da-da for Weston.

And she says Papa for my dad.

Crazy cool stuff.

I always wondered how babies learn stuff and I worry because I don't practice words with her or anything, but apparently they pick up on that stuff on their own? Or at least she did despite her mom's lack of word teaching!

It's just really neat to watch Ivy grow & learn.

She is so fun & has the spunkiest personality.

She has her thoughts written straight across her face all the time & is really chatty.

Those Chewy bar commercials are going to be my life soon, I'm pretty sure.

I seriously LOL at Ivy every day.

One day I was feeding her goldfish out of a little tupperware.

She ate the snacks from the tupperware and the bag was totally empty, but she kept looking behind my back for the bag, so she crawled over to the bag picked it up, looked inside it, and then looked at the outside & tried picking the little gold fish off of the packaging label. It took me ten minutes before I was done laughing. After she couldn't pluck them off of the package she handed me the bag and motioned for "more." Oh my gosh. I laughed so hard over the whole thing.

This is how Weston & I eat dinner together. Except it's a lie, because I hardly ever facetime with him over dinner, but still, I miss eating dinner together! (Except, I can eat cereal for dinner guilt free now!)

Ivy also likes to take her clothes off.

HELP! I am so in trouble.

Blowing kisses.

Even the coldest person should smile over that.

It's too sweet.

Sometimes my mind sees things & then translates it to its cartoon counterpart.

How I slept Monday. I do what I want.

Seriously, I have 100 pictures of how this child sleeps. Some look more comfortable than others.

Some look like you should only be dead to be comfortable in that position.

There's a light switch above her bed that she always turns on to play before her naps. So I go up after I'm sure she's passed out & turn it off.

So my brother texted me tonight helping clarify my use of Sudan was incorrect & what I really meant was sedan. Please forgive my confusion between the country & the car.

I've never been good at geography or car-ography.

More importantly, my brother reads my blog?

I feel like I just reached celebrity status.

hashtagthanksspence

hashtagyougotmygrammaticalback

Last week was fun.

Our new bedding that Weston got me over the past few months.
Oh, I love him!
(completely unrelated statements.)

Weston was out of town in Chattanooga taking his GRE exam. Which he rocked, but being the man he is, he wants to retake it to just keep improving his score. But I was happy about it!

My Uncle James was in town & so we all went to lunch.

& then Goodwill, as you always should.

::xx::thrifty4lfe::xx::

Ivy getting rare time with Pop-pop!

She helped him pick out new shirts at Goodwill!

And even smacked & clawed his face to tell him she was done & ready to go.

She's such a lady.

I can't argue that she's not a clear communicator though.

Smile explosion at Gigi in the car!

Ivy loves sushi.

Seriously, though.
If you live near Franklin, TN, go to Sakura in Independence square for lunch. Sushi is half off.
& AMAZING.
I love that place.
Hoorah for supporting local businesses!

None of my pictures of this girl are clear anymore.
She is a constant blur of motion.
I love this busy bee!

I take that back, here's a mostly clear picture.

Snoozing in church, along with Caden, too, apparently!
Also, who's digging those thigh rolls?

A little zoo action on the back door.

Check her out trying to pinch & rip out Chase's eyelashes.

She always develops some painful tricks along with other cute ones.

I literally discovered the Matilda Cake.

I was on the hunt for THE perfect homemade chocolate cake.
Nailed it.
my mom made the cake, I  made the icing & constructed it.
We're all about distribution of labor around here.
My grandmother clearly turned 3 this week.

Sunday drive with my peeps.
Aka my baby & my baby daddy.
Happiness in a sedan.
BTW, the beauty of where I live is unbeatable.

Tender Baby.

Gigi gave Ivy this toy before she was born & she seriously is obsessed with this doll.

She drags it wherever she crawls.  It's awesome.

Especially considering she has the attention span of a gnat.

Ivy is a very sweet & considerate baby. I am seriously so in love with her sweet personality. (except she swats at my face & I'm hoping it's not hitting...but deep down, I'm pretty sure it is).

This morning she was really sad when I laid her down to change her diaper. So I let her play with my locked phone.  She played with it for a minute and then threw it behind the dresser (her changing pad is on a dresser). I yelled, "NO!" Not to her, but just in general because I wasn't sure if I would be able to move the dresser to get it.

I continue changing her diaper & notice she's playing with her hair & when I look at her face she was silent crying, as in she hadn't taken the sobbing breath yet.

It took me a solid 5 minutes to calm her down. She also gets upset like that when she accidentally hurts me when she's playing with my face. She feels SO bad when she does things like that. It is so sweet & pathetic. What a considerate & loving child I was blessed with.

Her scabby toes are healing. Whoops.

My mom is AWESOME!

Want to know who saves my sanity? My amazing mom.

Pretty much every Saturday night we put Ivy to bed & GO ON A DATE.

Literally, it's life saving.

Sunday night is the last time I SEE Weston until Saturday morning.

Honestly, it's been really challenging. We share a car, so Saturday's are the jet out & get errands & grocery shopping & Sundays are church filled. We spend Sunday nights together & Saturday nights out on the town thanks to my mom (& dad & grandmother and little brother who have all also helped at different times, too.)

Monday-Friday Weston is gone before I wake up in the mornings & gets home at night after I've gone to bed.

Bottom line, though, I live for the weekends when I get to see and talk to my hubby.

I mean, I guess I love spending time with him, & that's kind of why I married him... I miss that man!

THANK YOU MOM FOR MAKING IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO GO OUT!

AH. SHE'S A LIFE SAVER.

Just Another Day In Paradise

Ivy loves grocery shopping!

I love my little sidekick!

She also goes visiting teaching with me!

& pretty much every other thing I do!

I love this little lady!

Playing my  mom's beautiful grand piano!

Courtesy of the Uncle Chase bench!

My mom got her these jammies & they're the cutest things.

Little bear faces on the toes & the shirt is short and wide which her belly (or butt crack) hang out of just perfectly.g

She gave me the best mom ever award today because I let her crawl on pavement.

But I also earned worst mom ever award for that

Her foot is scabbed up.

Whoops!

She also loves waving to the dog, which just happens to melt my heart.

My name is Rachel. I am going to be a couponer.

I am going to become a couponer.

I will update you in the future on how I do.

Wish me luck as I dive into this "ultra-mom" & "ultra-frugal" learning experience.

My inner-nerd is excited for this new adventure.

My inner-OCD is stressed about not doing it correctly or effectively.

Cheers to trial & error.

There's going to be a lot of that.

Weekending

Poor Weston is near death.

I was sick a couple weeks ago & got Ivy sick & then Weston got sick.

I feel so bad for him. He grabs sleep & rest when he can, but is on the run 99.9% of the time during the week!

This morning Ivy got her smoothie all over her clothes. So she was naked for a bit. I usually keep her clothed because I feel too bad if she's a frozen little baby kabob!

But she's so cute naked!

Ivy & Weston had a little Return To Me moment yesterday. I love her.

I was feeding Ivy yogurt with her breakfast and along came Uncle Chase wanting to be part of the food line. I laughed so hard because she kept crossing her eyes to look at him. Hilarious.

Only because she absolutely melts my heart.

& I love that adorable cheeser grin!

Weston & I celebrated our anniversary Saturday night!

(Thanks Mom for watching the tot!)

We went to Outback & had amazing food. Gosh, I love that place.

I love her pot belly!

She's obsessed with stairs.

Always on the move.

My mini-me helper.

She is with me every second she's awake. I love my side-kick.

I love that she LOVES being out & about! Too bad she needs naps & too bad we only have 1 car. Otherwise we would be out  & about all day long!

& I love Target.

That's what we've been up to.

Oh, I also got new bedding.

Happy Anniversary to us!

I've been collecting the bedding pieces one at a time & finally it's complete & I'm loving it!

Ergo Teething Pads: DONE!

Ivy's path of destruction.

She had a horrible afternoon nap. I let her cry in her crib for a while & then brought her into my room while I kept sewing.

She read her books for a couple minutes & then one from one thing to the next & next & next & next.

But I was able to start & finish a project which I was very thrilled about!

Here they are!

I made ErgoBaby carrier teething pads.

I'm sooo happy about them. They will save my ergo & keep it slobber free!

I also am very pleased with myself for starting & finishing it in the same day, which now a days is very rare for me!

Here's my little orphan after the fact.
She is very good at entertaining herself as long as she's allowed to destroy everything.

 NOTHING is safe around this child!

That night my mom, grandmother & I all had a girls night. It was so fun.

Candy, popcorn, a movie & Reba. It doesn't get much better!