Here is my 7 month old baby girl in her pretty Christmas dress. I'll post more about her updates later but just wanted to wish all of you a Merry Christmas! We hope you have a great holiday celebrating the birth of our Savior! We are so thankful for all of you this season and hope you enjoy this time together with family and friends! Love, Sam, Kat, and Ivy
PS- Thanks to Tyson for taking these adorable photos. My bro is awesome. :)
SO I was originally waiting to write this post until I made a movie of some videos I took down there but with the holidays and what not, it might be a while before i get around to making the movie lol.. I mainly wanted to do the movie because I'm not sure the pictures do the trip justice as to how much fun we had laughing and being the completely obnoxious sisters we are. OK, maybe they do a little bit. haha!
Anyways, Ivy and I flew down to Houston a few weekends ago for my sister Kelli's 30th birthday on Dec. 2nd. My mom watched Ivy overnight for me while us sisters took off to go shopping and to stay the night in a hotel. Kari and Kristin flew in the same day I did, and Meghan already lives in Houston.. Valerie even came into town to hang with us too, which was awesome! She rode a greyhound bus from San Antonio to meet us, while pregnant. Crazy girl. ;-) We were just missing Sarah.. maybe next time, right Sarah? :)
The weekend was the most fun I've had in a long time. And I've never done that much shopping in my life, haha.. Pretty sure we shopped from 10am all the way til 9pm at 3 different shopping areas (plus another mall the next day!) What is wrong with us?? LOL! well, most of it was us just being goofs, really.. And then you bring Christmas shopping into the mix, and not to mention, Kelli wanting to get some good shopping in for her birthday... So yes. I guess you can say we did some shopping.. some eating, and a whole lot of giggling, lol. I love my sisters and miss them already. And now for picture overload:
First stop-Katy Mills outlet mall (the best!).. Then we headed up to Harwin for some bling and knock-off stuff. Had to stop at 20 Forever, of course. ;)
Next was Kelli's Birthday dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and then we headed out for some REAL fun, hehehe............. ooorr maybe we just ran into a teeny bopper bra store named Gilly Hicks in the galleria with little boy models standing outside their store. haha! it was hilarious. pretty sure they were all only 18 years old. They got a kick out of us (we obviously weren't one of the shy little 15 year old girls standing in line, lol) They asked Kelli if she was finally legal and if that's why we were out partying. Nice. Hope that made ya feel good, Kel. ;D After the Galleria closed, we headed off to our hotel right next door and enjoyed the rest of the night sitting in the hotel jacuzzi and eating Magnum ice cream bars. yum..
The next morning, we had to make one more stop at Memorial City Mall before heading back home to Kelli's house. After all was said and done, it was a pretty hilarious site to see. Like I said, I think there is something wrong with us. haha......
That day we were able to go watch Alexa in her first clogging performance (way to go Alexa! she rocked!) and then went to Pappasito's for dinner. It had been a while since I'd been to Pappasito's and it was ah-ma-zing. seriously. so. good. Later that night, Tyson drove into town and it was so fun to see him! We all went hot-tubbing in Kelli and Shaun's backyard. It was a blast. Then the next day we went to church, celebrated Kelli's birthday with family and just relaxed. (I did make it to Sam's niece, Whitney's choir concert at UofH where she had a solo! She was sooawesome!! Great job Whit!) Kari and Kristin flew home the next morning and I drove down with my mom to stay one more day with my parents. Mom Robinson came to visit Monday evening (and so did Tiffany later that night! love you, girl!). Then I hung out with my parents in the morning, went to lunch together, then I flew home.. back to reality.
It was quite a jam packed weekend but it was sure fun! I'm so glad I got to go visit because I knew I wasn't going to see anyone for Christmas. And it was nice that my mom was able to watch Ivy overnight for me so I could go have fun with my sisters. Thanks mom! It was my first night away from her, ever, and luckily she did great. Until next time, sisters! ;-)
Just had to include a couple final pics with some of my favorite people:
This year, we decided to go spend a few days up in Idaho with Sam's sister Amy and her family. We picked up Mom Robinson from the airport in SLC on our way up so she could spend Thanksgiving up there too. Then Joe and Emily joined us for a couple days somewhere in there (didn't get any pics with them). It was a continuous party all week long. And we had such an awesome time!
Ivy in her cute Turkey shirt (thank you pinterest, lol) on Thanksgiving.. Yes we take way too many pics of her. It's hard not to though. I'm sure you other mom's can relate...
I was a little nervous about how Ivy would do considering this was our first real trip since she was a newborn.. Other than driving in a bit late on that first night and Ivy thinking it's time to play at 11:30pm after her 3 hour nap in the car, she did great! Matt and Amy's house must have awesome insulation because she slept like a champ for almost every nap and during the night, despite there being lots of people around the house.. The only adjustment for us was sleeping the same room as her. I'm grateful we had a bedroom to ourselves but goodness, she is one noisy sleeper lol! Rolling around, scratching the side of the pack n play, grunting, farting.. her little noises went on all night long, haha! Make's me grateful we live in a 2 bedroom apartment.
Anywho, it was so fun to visit with Matt and Amy. The last time we had been up there was back in March so we definitely had some catching up to do. It was also fun to visit with Matt's family when they came to hang out.. Thanks Matt and Amy for having us!! I'm sure we will be back up to visit soon. :)
Just a few pics of Thanksgiving day- Matt stitching up the turkey in the morning (we let the doctor handle that one, of course).. Then the other pics are just from hanging out after dinner...
I just love her gummy smile.
And again, because she's cute- more random pics of baby girl from the trip.. She's discovered her shoelaces lately. oh and perfecting the army crawl. She is hilarious.
This year I am so grateful for families, especially our own little family. I think having a baby has really helped us realize what is most important in life and how blessed we truly are. I'm grateful that the Lord trusts us enough with caring for one of his special daughters and couldn't be happier in my life because of this... I'm also grateful for each of our own families- our brothers, sisters, moms, and dads with whom we feel such love and support from. I know that the Lord sends each of us to our own families for a reason and I'm grateful for the family that was chosen for me, and for Sam. I know this post was a little late but hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!
Just a cheap little lunch date with daddy at the mall a few weeks ago. Gotta love Chic-fil-a around this time of year with their peppermint milkshakes. Mmm. Even Ivy got in on that action a little. ;)
Baby girl is now a whopping 6 months old as of Wednesday! To celebrate, we graduated to the Level 3 bottle nipples and tried some peaches with our rice cereal for the first time, haha.. She must be like her mom because she absolutely loved those peaches.
Here are her stats because I've been kinda bad about recording it in the past. We just went to the dr. yesterday so it's still fresh in my mind:
Height: 251/2 in. (42 percentile)
Weight: 15 lb. 8 oz. (41 percentile)
Head: (I don't remember the measurement but it was 43 percentile)
So we know she is growing! Hooray! She sure is starting to chunk out in all the right places and I love it. There is just something so darn cute about chubby baby thighs that are so fun to squeeze and tickle.
I think it's getting kinda funny how often I say "gosh, I just love the age Ivy is at!" I think say it every time she turns a month older and this time is no different. It's just so fun to watch her grow and develop so I find myself loving each new stage. I don't think I'm one of those mom's who wants her to stay little forever or who doesn't want her to get bigger too fast. I find that the older she gets, the more fun she becomes! I love to see how her little personality develops more each and every day.
I guess the biggest news is that she is FINALLY starting to be pretty consistent with the nighttime now. She goes to bed around 7:30 pm and will sleep til about 7 or 7:30 am (usually only waking up in the night for her binky or bc she rolled to a corner and got stuck haha). YES. best. age. ever. And I hear it only gets better from here. Now we just gotta work on her finding her own binky in the night and we are set! LOL.. I usually don't mind waking up to help her though, as long as she just rolls over and goes back to sleep so I can go back to bed, we are usually both happy people. :)
So I've always thought she was going to be quite a little social bug.. but just lately, when a stranger (to her) holds her, she has started looking back at us and gets the saddest little frown you've ever seen. Then starts to wimper and cry a little. She doesn't do it every time, but when she does, it's actually sort of hilarious to us (I know, we are mean) but only because she hasn't really been like that in the past. I'm sure it's just a phase that she will grow out of..
Ivy is a mover. Always has been. Scooting on her back, tummy, rolling everywhere.. If you can't tell from the pictures, she manages to find herself in the most interesting places. Not sure how she managed the office chair one haha. The funniest is when she scoots or rolls to the kitchen floor. She is mesmerized by the feeling of it and the sound it makes when she kicks it, that she will end up laying there for like 20 mins or so. It's funny to watch her explore. I love playing with her but she is such an explorer that it is almost just more fun to watch her play and discover things on her own. She is a pretty independent little person already.
Ivy is really discovering her voice these days. She has become quite the talker/loud screecher lately, lol.. Sometimes I will think she is upset or something but then I'll turn around to see that she's just looking around, grabbing her toes, and screeching haha. Other times she'll go on and on with a repeated ahh's like she know's exactly what she is saying and has to tell us everything.
Not only has she been discovering her loudness but also the different sounds she can make. The most recent ones are making funny sounds while breathing through her nose (you'll see that one in the video below) and spitting with her lips. This particular one is especially enjoyable when she is sitting on my lap facing me and decides to just go for it. I end up covered in slobber within seconds haha.. Let's just say I've gotten used to that feeling...
There are many reason's why I love this age. I love that Ivy wakes up in the mornings and from naps just talking away in her crib until I get her out. And how her face lights up when I walk into the room. That she finally laughs when we tickle her. How her own funny personality is starting to show. I just know she is going to be one funny kid..
Here she is, pushing dad out of the way so she can check her email. or stocks on etrade. or something. lol!
AND FINALLY, the video you've all been waiting for (might have to click on the title link to watch it full screen):
November 5th was Sam's 26th birthday! Man we are getting old! ;) Sam has really gotten into running lately so Mom Robinson and I decided to get him some good running shoes, especially considering he has just been using his basketball shoes all this time. Sam and I went to the Runner's Corner where they watch you run and tell you what kind of shoes you need according to your run (and even let you test them out outside around their store). It came down to these shoes and some RED ones. Considering red is the color of UofU, Sam said he could never buy those (they didn't come in a different color, lol) and chose the blue ones instead! haha! Anyways, I went back and got them a few days later for his birthday. Don't you just love his surprised look in the picture? He had no idea! ;) On his actual birthday, Joe and Emily had us over and even bought Sam a German chocolate cake. Yum! (oh and I did make him a cake of his choice the next day, too. he wanted a better than sex cake and I did not complain one bit. I think it has turned into both our favorites..)
Sam decided that since it was his birthday, he could wear whatever he wanted, so he chose his Hawaiian Tommy Bahama shirt. What a stud. ;) Happy Birthday Babe! Thanks for everything you do for us! Especially how much you make us smile and laugh everyday! Love you!
Just wanted to include a few pics from our walk a couple weeks ago. Fall is certainly here!
Sam and I aren't your typical dressing-up sort of people when it comes to Halloween. That's why it's so much more fun now that we have a baby to dress up instead! hehe.. Ivy was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and it was sort of destined to happen, I think. She got the dress as a gift during the summer but it was a bit big until just the past couple months (Ivy has always been a little petite). From the moment I saw the dress, it was all I could think about, that it was such a perfect Dorothy dress. So for Halloween, I decided if I could find some decent priced shoes to match, that she would be Dorothy. Then, low and behold, for $3 at a shop here called Kid to Kid, I found some gently used red velvet shoes that would be so easy to paint with red glitter glue. It was awesome how everything just fell right into place. and she was the cutest Dorothy in the world. But I guess I am a little biased. ;) (btw, did you spot "Toto" in the first pic at the top? lol! I would have taken some with him but he was a little too hyper right then)
Sorry it's sort of a picture overload, I just couldn't leave any out because she looked so gosh darn cute in her costume! hehe.. Anywho, since Ivy is a bit young for trick-or-treating, my neighbor Katie and I decided to take our baby girls out to the park in their costumes (we have to go somehwhere, right?) This was Ivy's first time on the swing and she was LOVING it. The picture you see is of her smiling so big that it almost looks like she is crying haha! Katie's little girl Emmalyn was a ladybug. She was so cute! After the swings we let the girls play in the leaves a little. Emmalyn just loved the leaves but Ivy wasn't a big fan, lol.. No worries though, at least we got a few cute pictures..
Last week my mom came out to visit for a few days and it was so nice to have her in town. I'm know Ivy appreciated having a different play buddy around than just boring ol' mom or dad, too. ;) She just loved her Mema and had so much fun with her every day. She even loved her enough to eat rice cereal for her! successfully! lol. All she needed was one little lesson from Mema on how to swallow it and now she is a pro! Thanks mom! hehe.. We were also able to visit some close family and friends while my mom was here, which was nice..
Ivy sitting with with Aunt Susan at lunch..
While my mom was here Sam and I were able to go out on an actual date. alone. for the first time ever. I'm not sure why we've never done it before. I think it's just a combination of not wanting to find a babysitter and Ivy still being pretty well behaved where ever we do take her with us (which is starting to change I think, lol). In either case, I do think this event was long overdue and we were so grateful to be able to have a night to ourselves. I didn't even have any feelings of anxiety while being away from Ivy, maybe it's just because she is a little older now. We went out to eat and then to Color Me Mine (pottery place). We were thinking of going to a late dollar movie afterwards but we ended up staying there allllll evening (mainly so Sam could finish his mural, hehe). It was so fun! We painted mugs so we have something to drink our hot chocolate in this coming winter. It was also nice to hear that Ivy did just fine with my mom so maybe we will have to do this more often in the future. Thanks mom!
I know this is just a tad late but a good friend of ours gave us their tickets to the BYU football game vs. Idaho St. a couple weeks ago because they weren't able to go. Lucky us! And thanks Andy! ;) It was Ivy's first live football game and probably her last one for a while considering this is our last year here, lol.. We had so much fun together and Ivy was such a good girl just sitting and watching, or sucking on her toys (or cup!) the whole time. We were able to stay for the entire first half before it was about time we headed home to put our worn out baby down for a nap.. Not to worry though- BYU creamed 'em just as bad, if not worse, during the second half as they did in the first half.. so we didn't miss much, hehe..
We got a Powerade and I let Ivy try the straw. She didn't know what to do with that so we started to take it away. That's when she reached for cup and started sucking on the side.... and wouldn't let go, lol:
My sweet girl is 5 months old already! I just love this stage she is at right now (I'm sure I say that every month, lol). And now that those ugly ear infections are out of the way, she is one a happy little girl. Aand finally back to sleeping at night, which is a relief. She takes about 2 naps a day now (with an occasional evening cat nap if she is really tired) and goes to bed around 8 every night. She will wake up around 6 for an early morning feeding and then I put her back in her bed and she usually sleeps a little longer until between 7:30 and 8:30.. She always wakes up talking to herself and playing, nowadays. That is my favorite sound. :)
Still not a very big eater and even though we've been doing rice cereal pretty often these days, can't say she is a big fan yet. I really think she just isn't interested in eating, haha.. But she sure is growing! Finally fits in to almost all of her 3-6 month sized stuff. Yay!
She loves to play on the floor and explore her toys, especially while on her tummy. Oh and I FINALLY heard her laugh!! This is big news! It was her first time ever just a couple days ago! It was just a few giggles but it was so cute. And she hasn't done it since then. haha! It is seriously soo hard to get this girl to laugh. She will smile at just about anything but laughs are a different story. I'm sure in time, this will change.
Anyways, everyday brings something new and it is so fun to watch her grow..
My two favorite people in the whole world:
Learning new noises, hehe. I think this video shows her cute personality really well:
Practicing sitting up. Not too good at this one yet. Still learning:
New kicks! My neighbor recently introduced me to the resale store Kid to Kid and this was one of my great finds from there. Ivy looks adorable in them but not sure she is a fan of this new thing called shoes. She always kicks at them, lol:
She has started scooting around a ton lately. Sort of Army-scooting, really. Here is a video clip of her in action:
Happy girl!!
Another recent development is how Ivy has been with Max these past couple weeks. She talks to him and grabs at him and he just loves it. They are hilarious together. I put this video together from a couple of different videos that Sam took the other day. It's the first video I've ever made so it's pretty basic. Hopefully I'll get better at it so I can make more in the future...
Last weekend Sam's brothers came down to Provo to hike the Y. I was originally just gonna let Sam hike it while I stayed home to watch Ivy but I thought, what the hey.. I'll give it a try. And although I wanted to quit after the about the 3rd or 4th switchback, I pushed through and made it all the way to the Y. This was quite a feat given how out of shape I am these days (it actually is a pretty tricky hike because the whole thing is on an incline). I'm glad I did it though. It showed me that I can do more than I think... Sam was also super patient, which I appreciated. I'm sure he could've been the first one up there if he wasn't been with me. But he stayed with me and kept telling me I could do it, which was very helpful. And of course it was fun to have Baby girl with us, smiling at me every time I turned to look at her....
Thank you self-timer, lol.. the rest of the family had gone to the top of the Y so we were pretty much on our own when we got there (hey, the bottom of the Y still counts tho!):
...and as to be expected, Ivy passed out on the way down, haha. She had started getting fussy so Sam turned her around and a little while later, she was out, lol:
Last week was Homecoming for BYU and we actually went to the parade! It was our first time ever and probably the last considering this is our last year here, lol.. It was pretty fun but freezing! Luckily Ivy fell asleep in her seat right before we got there so she was able to stay bundled up for a good portion of it. That is, until the Army group came through... We were right near some bleachers set up for people to watch and they stopped right in front of them to fire off a cannon. She definitely woke up from that one.. When we checked on her, she had the biggest glare on her face, haha...
The game was scheduled for 8:15pm that night, right around Ivy's bedtime so we didn't think we were going to be able to watch it (we've been watching it up on campus, lately when it's not shown online). Luckily, we have some awesome friends close by who said we could watch it at their place and put Ivy to bed in the crib they have (they're expecting a baby boy in about a month). After the first few minutes of game, I looked over and saw this:
She was totally glued the game, hehe.. Guess we have a future football fan on our hands. ;) Ooor maybe it was just the bright colors... Either way, she was pretty glued, lol. (I'd like to think she's just an early cougars fan though..)
This was taken next to our neighbors fence down in the car port. Both the neighbors in our complex AND the neighbors in the house next door to our building have amazing gardens. Our neighbors in our complex have graciously shared yummy zucchini, tomatoes, and cucumbers with us, and I've even spotted some beautiful peppers and artichokes down there at some point or another.. The neighbors next door to us grow these grapes and they smell wonderful! They also have a fabulous plum tree and moderately sized pumpkin patch. It's so much fun to see all the cool stuff people are able to grow. I've never been one for gardening but living next to both these neighbors has been pretty inspiring (as well as seeing Mom R.'s and Kelli's awesome gardens back home in Houston). It definitely motivates me to try gardening out on my own some day. Maybe when I have a yard to do so, hehe.....
