First wobbly steps!

Her first steps were a few days before turning 9 months. And since then she just takes a few steps here and there when she is in the mood. 2 days ago I counted 10 steps....so that is her record! Today she has been trying to walk a lot, so I took a short video of those cute first baby steps!!

Miss Manners....

......she is not.

Ivy:
- Prefers to eat everything with her fingers now!
- Likes to put her feet up while eating.
- Babbles with her mouth full.
- Sometimes chews with her mouth open
- Gets food all of her face, and does not wipe it off.
- Drops a lot of food on the floor.
- Has very little interest in utensils.
- Licks her fingers clean at times.

However, Adorable.....she IS! :D

yum yum Broccoli!!

Zayden Funnies

Z: "I went to the doctor and she gave me a shot."
Me: "Where?"
Z: "On my foot, and it hurt really bad!" "The doctor said it is not possible."
Me: "What is not possible?"
Z: "It is not possible to...............hit your head on...................your back."

Lately when Zayden is playing with his guys he has a farmer and a girl, and he refers to the girl as the farmer's wife. He has them play together and the farmer is always calling his wife, "honey" and "sweetie" when he talks to her. This always makes me smile.

Just now as I started this blog post Zayden grabbed my cell phone put it up to his ear and said, "Dude, What are you doing, dude?" He then kept yelling "dude". Finally he looked at me and said, "I keep saying dude, be he won't answer me." Then a few seconds later asked, "Can I call dude?" I said sure, and called Brian. Brian answered, and Z said, "Is this dude? This is me." Then he and Brian had a little conversation. When Zadyen told him bye and hung up, he looked at me and said, "He is on facebook!" (even though facebook was never brought up in the conversation and I had no idea Z had ever heard that word anyway. haha)

Looking good! Zayden Funny!

I've been bad again about writing down Z's funnies, but I had to quick get on here and write this one before I forgot.
This weekend we were up at the lake. There are a lot of little girls up there a little older than Zayden. We were going for a ride on the golf cart, and getting ready to pass a couple of little girls, I told Z, "Tell those girl's 'hi', and tell them 'you look nice'."
So as we passed them Zayden smiled real big and yelled out, "Hi!!! I look nice!!" Brian and I laughed and laughed. So then of course Zayden said that to everyone we passed all weekend!! I still hear his little voice saying it! :D

Oh and he's rockin' the potty training!

10 month old Ivy

Ivy turned 10 months yesterday! As much as I am trying not to rush time, I admit I was eager for this age....10 months! I remember it was 10 months when I felt that Zayden really became Zayden, and not just my little baby. It was 10 months when his personality started to REALLY take over! We went on vacation to Virginia Beach when Zayden was 10 months old and I have such wonderful memories of him Walking down the boardwalk in his flip flops while waving and saying "Hi!" to Everyone we passed!!! Brian and I called him our little rockstar! Everyone seemed drawn to this very little friendly person strutting up and down the boardwalk, and he made a lot of friends and caused many smiles and chuckles! I couldn't have been prouder!!

Now I am witnessing Ivy's personality shining through as well, and it is awesome! If I had to describe her in one word, I couldn't. I would have to use several as she is so dynamic! Some of the few words I would use to describe her would be: Spunky, Happy, Independent, and Charismatic!

She is not quite as eager to walk as her brother was, and that is wonderful. She is still happy to mostly crawl to quickly get to whatever she wants. She also enjoys walking along furniture and with push toys or toys that she turns into "push" toys. When she is walking along furniture now she does it facing forward and one handed....she doesn't waste her time with the side to side shuffle anymore. She is starting to maneuver her little push toys around pretty well too. And she is pretty fast at times. She does take some independent steps here and there, when SHE wants to. I will sit in front of her when she is standing at something and tell her to walk to me. She laughs drops to her knees and crawls. Then 2 minutes later when I am barely paying attention to her, she will be walking along the furniture and just let go and take 3-5 steps on her own into the vast unknown. She won't ever walk to something or someone....only into the open space! I guess she wants to figure out this adventure on her own!

She is becoming a little bit of a baby bully it seems. Lately when we see other babies, she will happily crawl over to them and give them a kiss as the mother's of the other baby's oooh and ahhh and the sweetness. Then once she has made that first impression, she precedes to grab the baby and tackle him/her down. I pull her off and the other parent laughs and tells me it is okay...so I put Ivy back down on the ground a minute later, and the cycle continues until eventually I have to remove Ivy from the situation while the other mom is giving me the look. This has happened the last 3 times when we were around another baby.....our neighbor's baby Elijah, at story time with a one year old, and last weekend at the children's museum. When I removed Ivy from the baby at the children's museum Ivy was literally fighting to get out of my arms to get back at the baby and throwing a big fit!

I don't think she is trying to be a bully though. I believe this is her way of "playing" with others. She has learned this type of play from her big brother. He loves to wrestle everyone including baby sisters! She actually laughs now when he tries to wrestle with her, and will kind of wrestle back. She enjoys climbing on him or me. If I am lying on the floor she is sure to come up to me and crawl over me while laughing as she falls on her head. Yesterday Zayden and I were watching a little youtube video, and he was standing at the ottoman staring at the screen. Ivy came up to him and grabbed him and started pulling him down. He tried to brace himself and keep from falling, but he couldn't overcome the strength of Ivy and he actually tumbled to the ground! (I wanted to laugh and say paybacks are hell kid!) Zayden started to cry a little I think because it startled him and took him away from his video. For his benefit I told Ivy she was not allowed to knock down her brother and put her in timeout. I sat her on the couch for 30 seconds while holding her hand. Unfortunately she didn't learn her lesson though, and kept trying to pull him down again when she got out of time out! :) She is funny!

Later that night Zayden was reciting almost word for word one of his favorite books now "On the Moon" and I said to Brian, "I really could see Zayden becoming an Astronaut one day". Brian replied, "Yeah, and Ivy will join a roller derby team!" :D

She isn't all brute though! She is actually very affectionate and sweet most of the time! She hugs me EVERY time I get her out of her bed. She also is very giving with the kisses! She is always smiling and laughing and being a real joy to spend time with!

She also has decided that she loves to dance or bounce in place. If she hears music or just because, she will hold onto something and bounce in place! She does this A LOT now through out the day! I swear I think I have seen her feet clear the ground twice. Once even while she was pushing a push toy and mid-walk decided to bounce instead and jumped forward with her toy!

She babbles a lot now. I still hear mama often, but still not positive it is said AT me or TO me! The other day I thought she said "baby", but I'm not certain. She has taken more of a interest in books, and has a few favorites that she will look at for quite awhile!

Mostly though she just is always making ME smile and feel happy to be in her presence! When I was pregnant with Ivy I was a little worried about her coming into her family. I KNEW that I would love her soooo much! I knew that the love I had for her would be equal to the love I have for Zayden. But I was worried that I wouldn't like her as much. I couldn't imagine having a 2nd child who would have as much personality and quirkiness as Zayden. I was afraid that he would outshine her in my mind. Well, that is definitely NOT true at all!! I DO love them equally like I knew I would, but I also LIKE them equally! Z definitely does not outshine Ivy. They are a perfect duo. They have some similarities but also many differences. They both have tons of personality and I honestly don't think I could have created a more perfect son nor a more perfect daughter for me. I wouldn't change a thing! I feel so grateful for these wonderful little people I call my children!!!!

Pictures that need captions! (Just for Fun)

Here are some random pictures I took during the past couple of weeks. I thought it would be fun if people added a caption to one or some of these pictures. I'm just in the mood for some blog fun!

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Potty Training 101

For nearly a year now we have had a toilet or 2 in the house, and have asked Z if he wants to sit there. He would when he was younger, and every once in a blue moon pooped on the toilet. He did this more when my in-laws were watching him. He maybe pooped over there for THEM about 5 times in the past year. Lately, he has completely refused when I asked him if he wanted to sit on the toilet. So, I didn't push it! I have always heard that child-led potty training was most successful so I waited, and waited, and waited.

Yesterday we woke up and went to breakfast. When we got home Ivy and Brian took a nap. I checked Zayden's diaper to see if needed to be changed and noticed it was bone dry. He hadn't gone in over 2 hours.....I knew this was a sign of "readiness", so I thought hmmmm maybe.

I told him he could watch a tv show if he sat on the toilet, and he agreed. He watched tv for 30 minutes while sitting on the toilet but nothing happened. He then got up and started playing. I didn't put back on his diaper, and I decided right then and there that this was IT. I was going to start potty training right then and there! I'm over changing his diaper! Forget child-led, we are going to try naked training....just try. If it doesn't work and backfires, at least I tried.

I kept asking him to sit on the toilet like every 5 seconds. For the first time ever he seemed somewhat cooperative with this. Finally he sat down and squeezed a few drops out. I cheered and he seemed a little shocked. I kept cheering him on, and he squeezed out a few more drops. He stopped and looked at me as I jumped up and down and screamed (waking up the nappers), and he would squeeze out a few more drops. It was all very exciting! ;) That first time he probably got a good tablespoon or 2 out, but we went and flushed it down the toilet and I rewarded him with a new "guy". Last weekend I went garage sale shopping and bought a bunch of "guys" for a penny each! Perfect!! We woke up daddy and he cheered some more for us, and then I informed daddy of our new plan for the day.

About 30 minutes later I was in the kitchen getting lunch ready and on the phone taking a survey about vaccines. I then heard Brian say "Do you have to go? Hold on! Hold on! Let's sit on the toilet" *pause* And then "Yay, you are doing it! You are going pee pee on the potty!" And then when I went into the living room both boys were cheering and excited, and Z had really filled up the pot this time! Brian had said that he was looking at Zayden and a drop hit Zayden's leg, and then he looked at Brian all big eyed, and that's when Brian rushed him to the potty.

The rest of the day he did really well! He pottied 3 more times on there! One time he went over on his own while Brian and I were talking and just sat and went! That was super exciting! Before bed he pooped twice. I think he got so excited when he squeezed the first turd out that he stopped mid-poop to jump around and cheer and get his reward. He had to go back a little later and poop again....or maybe that was a tactic to get TWO guys for one poop! ;)

I had to make a run to the store to get some more prizes. Thank goodness for Target's dollar bins! I also found a 25 piece pirate thing for 12 dollars. So he can have one piece at a time of that for using the potty. This is working and overall I'll save money on diapers, so I am going with it!

Yesterday we had NO accidents at all! I was so thrilled, proud, excited, and mostly shocked by how well he did with it! I hope yesterday wasn't a fluke and he'll continue to impress!

Oddly, I kind of find this potty training fun. Maybe once I am cleaning up poop off the carpet or I am dealing with regression I will change my mind, but for now it's fun!