It’s pretty darn special seeing your manly man of a husband just love on his little girl. He’s so sweet with her, I just love it. Thinking back to delivering her and how strong and helpful he was, and now seeing him with her, it’s just remarkable. I love John and I’m so so so lucky to have an exceptional husband and an even better father. Nailed it. #lucky #myhubbyrocks
Some of her first bites of real food!
Future JKC tag along
Dad! What’d you do to me?!
Half birthday already?! You know when you were a kid, you LOVED half birthdays! In fact, I still celebrate mine, surely, to myself, but I still acknowledge it. I brought it up to John once and pretty sure he was like, WTF, you’re not a kid. But, in Ivy’s case, a HALF YEAR! Come on! Seems like just yesterday I was pushing this stubborn little girl out of me. Ooo, flashback to my labor, let’s not go there…. back to 6 months. This month is FOOD month! I’ve been reading all about baby-led weaning which is RIGHT up my alley, so I’ve been trying it a little bit with Ivy, but I’m gonna really start this month, but I do still plan to nurse till 1 yr. More about that later. Back to 6 months again, kinda a space cadet today. She just had her 6 month appointment and she’s 26.5 inches (73rd percentile), and 16 lbs 3 oz (51st percentile). Will we have a tall skinny girl? Based on John’s height, you wouldn’t think so :) (sorry John, love you, but we know you didn’t get the height gene! What did you call it? A “half wad?” Oh snap, maybe I shouldn’t put that in here…) But that man does have some LEGS! So far, hers are pretty chubby. Well, not pretty, they ARE chubby. But she’s a strong girl that tries her hardest to stand on her own. One of my favorite things is when I change her diaper then pick her up from laying down and fly her onto the changing pad, she just stands up so proud and tall, I always laugh. The dresser is pretty tall, and she just thinks shes such a big girl when I do that. I just love it. It’s so damn cute. Speaking of cute, check out these pics
Big, cheesy, ole’ grin
I dream big, mama
Hmm, ok, well, that pose works too hunny
Ok, sooo maybe not the BEST at sitting up yet
This is too cute – she does the two finger thing when she’s stressed, just like her cousin Nora
Selfie
It’s just too hard being cute, Mom
Ok, well maybe not THAT hard
Grow, hair, grow
Thanks Grandma and Great Grandpa, for my big pretty blue/green eyes
Right before her shots… OUCH. She’s too sweet here, right before the pain. I hate that part!
Seeing your husband with your baby is one of the best sights. It’s just so sweet seeing a man with a baby girl. John often likes to kinda make Ivy his puppet. The poor girl, she’s just going to die over these photos when she’s 13. But, we get a kick out of it… hehe
Dad, REALLY?
Bobble head
O M G
Baby selfie
Dad, that’s not my food???
Family trips, ahhhh the memories. I remember the trips we took as children and how much fun they were. Being with Mommy and Daddy, my sisters (even though we were probably fighting), and enjoying our trips together were some great times. There is something about family bonding that just makes me all giddy inside. Maybe it’s partly because we were always somewhere fun and exciting, Disney World, the beach, grandma and grandpas house, but overall, it’s just a good family memory. When John and I booked our first family trip, we were quite excited for Ivy to take her first plan ride. I, of course had anxiety, reading every blog and article I could about how to NOT have a screaming baby on the plane, which I was terrified about, because I know I have been soooo annoyed with THAT screaming kid on the plane. But thankfully, Ivy wasn’t THAT baby, and we weren’t THOSE parents. We did JUST fine :) It made it a lot easier that it was a direct flight (best thing ever), straight from Sioux Falls to Phoenix. Little Ivy got some ooo’s and ahhhh’s because she did so well! Slept for most of it and then played for a while. Thank goodness. Fewf.
We stayed at the Fairmont Princess in Scottsdale. It was incredible. Pools, bars, 5 star restaurants, golf courses, walking trails, shops, everything in one place. We had a perfect location for our room, so while Ivy took her morning nap, John and I brought the monitor down to the pool and hottub with our Starbucks latte to soak in the water. SO NICE. We even brought Ivy down one morning to take a dip. Oops, she had to go in with her diaper, buuuut oh well. She wasn’t so sure about the water, it was funny!
The resort had a Christmas special so they had over a million lights around the resort and they even had a choo choo train to take peole around on the walking paths to see the lights at night. The kid in me HAD to do it. I LOVED it. Ivy loved it until it put her to sleep halfway :) Ha, but I really enjoyed it. We also got to meet Santa!
We had to go out and see the sights one day. We ended up hiking Camelback Mountain. With how inquisitive Ivy is, she LOVED looking at the views! We turned her facing forward halfway into the hike in the Baby Bjorn so she could see everything. John was a mountain man in that thing. He got some studly looks from other hikers as he was hiking with a baby. Way to go, dude.
Check out those views. Poor Ivy needed some sunglasses. Oops
Pit stop up at the top to nurse
We also did a bunch of shopping (too much to fit in our suitcases, of course), eating DELICIOUS food, and we had some nice nights around a fire at the resort with a bottle of wine. Pretttty relaxing. Goal met, check.
Enjoying a brewski under the heat lamp with Christmas Carols in the background at Bar North. Ivy just dooozed off under that nice warm heat lamp while Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a beer, or two, or three, and a glass of wine :) Oh and they have THE BEST BRUSCHETTA – it had prosciutto and asparagus on it. To die for.
This was maybe the best. It was raining out and somehow we scored this delightful spot – Real wood fire, snuggles with Daddy, and a bottle of wine. Amore, amore.
I absolutely LOVE Thanksgiving. The food, the food, the food. Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, scalloped corn, mmm, my mouth is salivating. I was even more excited this year because we took a trip out to the Black Hills to my husband’s brother’s (Jeff) cabin. He bought a cabin outside of Deadwood at the Gilded Mountain Lodge area. John and I had our rehearsal dinner when we got married at the clubhouse in the neighborhood, so it’s pretty special. It has the coolest homes – rustic, industrial, metal, and woodsy. Very unique. It was Ivy’s first big road trip, 6 hrs in the car. EEEEK. But, we managed survived. It was just fun to get the heck outta SuFu for a while! We went with all of John’s family, his mom Betsy, dad Dan, two brothers, Jim and Jeff, and Jimmy’s girlfriend Nancy. I turned into psycho mom because Dan had a cold, so I was like XXXXXXX to stay away from Ivy. But Grandma Betsy got in a lot of good snuggles. I’m totally a baby hog though because I always want her. I shared sometimes :) All in all, baby’s first Thanksgiving was full of hikes, good food, nice weather, and cozying by the fire. Made this Thanksgiving pretty darn good.
Jeff’s Cabin – Cash’s Sluice
Jeff, Grandma Betsy, and Ivy
Baby Buck, haha
Lucky girl got to sleep in bed with us
What’s Deadwood without a little gambling? Big money, big money! $$$$$
Spent some hours at the Mystic Mountain Ski Resort. Snow bunny