Daddy's Girl

Georgia Claire is attached to her daddy as soon as he gets in the door in the evenings, whether he's on the phone, sitting in his recliner, eating supper, or even in the bathroom! Last week when he was mowing the yard she followed him back and forth. It was THE CUTEST thing and of course I didn't get a picture of it! BUT, I did snag a few pictures when Shelby took a phone call one evening as I was finishing up supper...

I think at this point she started getting bored but there was no way she was letting her daddy put her down!

The phone call was LONG...

She & Ivy Jane still love Momma, too! YAY! Tonight, as I was rocking Ivy Jane, Georgia said, "Momma Rock!" She climbed up into my lap & then said, "Sing songs!" I AM BLESSED...

Talking, Walking, & Teething

The girls are just so much fun right now. I'm loving this stage, even though there are times that I want to pull my hair out. Those times are definitely few & far between though & I am so thankful for these two little girls! Georgia saying, "Momma, hold you!" is probably THE BEST thing that she says. Oh, and don't forget the way she says, "One more time!" or "Cookie Monster" or "I be white back, OK?" or when she's cold after her bath & wants to wrap up in her towel and cuddle with her daddy and then me. She loves to sing songs with us...she sings in the car & she sings when she's going to sleep. She loves "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Jesus Loves Me". She also loves Granby's song "Black Cows"...we sing those three songs at LEAST three times a day! She always says, "Momma, hand!" when we are in the car, asking for me to hold her hand. Monday night she wanted to read the book, Just in Case You Ever Wonder (she calls it "God") and she sat on the edge of the bed, while I sat on the floor, held my hand, and listened intently to every word. Does she even know what an angel she is? I got tears in my eyes as she cuddled up closely to me. It's like she knew what the book was saying. If you have never read the book, you must! Georgia is a precious big sister to Ivy Jane. Whenever Ivy Jane cries, Georgia says, "What's wrong? I-bee hurt? She ok?" I love that little girl and her BIG heart.

Here are three of my favorite pictures from the last couple of weeks...

She ALWAYS puts her play glasses on upside down! Ha!

She LOVES to read (I love her little crossed ankles in this pic)...
And this picture makes me smile! Bubbles & milk, what else could a girl want?!
Sweet Ivy Jane has not been so sweet lately. Poor baby...she's cutting a LOT of teeth & is just not feeling well. This has been the face I've seen a lot the last few days...

Why play with the toys in the basket when YOU yourself can get in the basket?!

Mimi made this apron for Georgia & Shelby put it on Ivy Jane the other night while they were "cooking". Such a cutie in her pink gown & apron standing at the kitchen!

She is walking ALL over the place & doing so well. Shelby & I just smile & laugh at her "teeter tottering" around. Every day she goes a little farther & keeps her balance a little better. I can't wait until the day when she is running after her big sister! She's now saying "puh puh" for puzzles, "park", "pa" for paci, and when we ask her if she wants to do something she says, "myeah" for "yes". We realized last night that she is about the same age now that Georgia was when we brought Ivy Jane home from the hospital! What?! It's hard to believe that really. What a FABULOUS time we have had as a family of four. I love my little family.

AAANNNDDD she's walking!

Ivy Jane is officially walking! She has been so close for awhile, but in the past week she has gotten stronger and walked farther and more often each and every day!

We practiced a lot outside. She LOVES being outside & walking up and down the sidewalk!

Hanging on...about to take off (WITH her purse, of course!)...
And she LOVES to climb...up on chairs, on tables, beds, etc! She loves this little rocking chair...
And this chair in our living room...
SO determined...holding her mouth just right and her arms up!
I LOVE the beginning stages of walking! She is SO proud of herself & it is absolutely hilarious watching her take these little "granny" steps...
Looks like I just got a WHOLE LOT busier, but I love it! =)

Cooking & Sewing with Granby & Mimi

Shelby's parents, or Granby & Mimi as they are known nowadays, came to visit this past week. From the moment they walked in the door Georgia Claire did not want to leave their side. "Granby cook!"

Poor Granby didn't get a break. He would stop "cooking" and she would say, "Granby COOK!" It was like, what do you think you're doing?! He & Georgia cooked lots of great food for Mimi & Ivy Jane...
Lots of tower building...
AND, Mimi made BEAUTIFUL curtains for our living room, dining room, and master bedroom! I honestly cannot believe she was able to do it all with her little "helper"! Georgia LOVED being by Mimi's side helping her pin...
Helping her fold...
and then going to get her chair & actually sitting ON the fabric!
Granby & Ivy Jane got tired waiting for them to finish, so they napped together...
Taking a break from sewing to sing a few songs...
Georgia LOVED helping Mimi with the sewing machine!
Because Mimi was still busy sewing at bedtime, Granby got to read books & sing songs with Georgia. I THINK she enjoyed it!
We always LOVE our visits with Granby & Mimi! I'll post pictures of the curtains later! A HUGE THANK YOU to Paula (Mimi)!

"GrandmaPawpaw"

Although I miss my family tremendously, I love the fact that we are only a little over and hour away and we can tag along with Shelby when he has to go back to East Texas to work. Georgia always says, "GrandmaPawpaw's!" It's one compound word in her two-year-old vocabulary. We've seen them the last three Wednesdays in a row. Last week I remembered the camera.

Right in the door, Georgia goes to the play room, gets books, climbs up on the couch by Dad and says, "PawPaw read books!" SO, like a good PawPaw does, he read and he read and he read!

The hummingbirds have been migrating and Dad has nicknamed himself their "sugar daddy"! Ha! He has been filling up the feeders twice a day and has counted as many as 20 at a time! Every once in a while one will get disoriented and find it's way in his shop and he has to climb up on the ladder to rescue it. This time he brought one in to show Georgia & Ivy Jane...
Georgia didn't want to get too close & Ivy Jane didn't stop long enough to even see it!
Ivy Jane has started laughing at herself...becoming quite the little ham. Georgia was obviously not very amused when I took this picture!
"Momma tickle!"
Paw Paw & Ivy Jane going to feed pear scraps to the donkeys...
Nice relaxing day spent at "GrandmaPawPaw's"!

Success!

(Sorry about the blurry spot on the pictures...sticky fingers were touching my camera lens!)

Georgia had a successful night's sleep and nap time today! WOOHOO! When we went to bed I told Shelby that I expected her to fall off the bed and probably get disoriented and cry, but SHE DIDN'T! Shelby & I were talking about how well she does with transitions...giving up her paci, making the move to Louisiana, starting MDO, moving into her "big guh bed"...she has been such a champ with it all! =)

At 7:15 I checked on her and this is what I saw...

AND, she was awake about 30 minutes later, and SO happy! Momma was SO happy, too!

Big Guh Bed

Georgia sleeps FABULOUSLY in her crib, but we've known the time was coming for her to transition to a "big girl bed". I thought about making the transition when we moved but Shelby & I decided that we needed to make the move with some familiarity for her. So, we decided last night that it was time for her to make the change. We started talking it up with her last night and went to Target today and bought a wooden toddler bed that her crib mattress fits into. She was so excited to help her Daddy with her "big guh bed". She kept saying, "I help Daddy big guh bed"! Those last three words in the phrase she would say really quickly...so cute!

Here they are taking down the crib...I use the term "they" loosely!

And the assembly begins...
We watched her VERY closely with this screwdriver, but she was SO excited to help!
Even Ivy Jane got in on the action...
The last piece...the crib aquarium. We can't part with it just yet!
Ivy Jane climbed right up and had to check out the aquarium. Don't you just love that little Elmo booty?! She is squealing with excitement!
Georgia took a two hour nap in her new bed today! It was a little hard for her to go to sleep, but after her Daddy read books I went in and sang a few songs and she fell asleep! When she woke up she sat in her bed and stayed there until I went in to her room. When I opened the door she said, "Hi Momma!" and I said, "Hi Georgia! Are you ready to get out of bed?" and she said, "YES!" and hopped down. I don't know if she thought she couldn't get out or wasn't supposed to, but it was too cute! Fast forward to tonight at bedtime...again, it took longer to go to sleep than normal, but by 9:00 she was asleep. Here is our sweet girl snoring...

We are keeping our fingers crossed that our "big girl" has a good night's sleep in her new bed! I'll let you know!

Therapeutic Day

I feel guilty for saying it (OK, not THAT guilty), but today was FABULOUS! For the first time since Ivy Jane was born I had a day to myself (from 8:30-2:00)! The girls started Mom's Day Out today and they both did SO WELL! Shelby & I have been praying that they would have fun & WANT to go. We've been "talking it up" with Georgia telling her that she would have new friends to play with a whole room of new toys. She said this morning she was ready to "play new friends"!

Here they are with their bags--YES, they are as big as they are--ready to go! (These were the best pictures I could get!

Ivy Jane was the first to be dropped off and she did AWESOME! You would think she was going to her Grandma or Mimi! It was quick and painless! Yes! Ok, now to the 2 year old class. Georgia and I had been talking about what would be in her classroom and she said she wanted to "weed books" and "pay pupples" (puzzles). Guess what we went right to? The books and the puzzles! Yesss! I stayed a few minutes and then told her I was going to go for a bit. This is how our conversation went...

Me: "Are you going to have fun with your new friends?"

Georgia: "Yes!"

Me: "Are you going to be a good girl?"

Georgia "Yes! Bye bye Momma!" and she hugged my neck and did not look back!

Seriously?! I cannot believe how smooth it went. I tried not to run out of the church or smile too big when I was leaving, but it was such a relief that they were both happy! =) I shopped the WHOLE time by myself and had soup & salad at Jason's Deli by myself! It was DIVINE! It truly was like therapy for me.

I picked up Georgia first and she was helping fold the nap mats. Her teacher said she did not nap, however she laid quietly on her mat for and hour and a half. She had a great day and came home and wanted to go straight to bed! When we picked up Ivy Jane she was laughing and eating goldfish. Her teacher said, "You were right! She does love ALLLL kinds of food!" Apparently she ate her food and her friend's food to her left and her friend's food to the right, too! That girl can eat! =)

So, today I am very thankful for a great, kid-friendly, God-loving environment for my girls to go for a few hours two days a week!

I had to go back to East Texas on Wednesday for a doctor's appointment and I wanted to check on Mom. She had arthroscopic knee surgery but was home by 10:30! When Dad called Kathy to tell her that Mom was out of surgery at 7:45, Mary Katherine said, "MAN! Grandma is GOOD at surgery!" Hahaha! Hopefully this will help the knee swelling and pain Mom has been having. She's doing well and on the mend. She has her cell phone on her bed and is calling Dad when she needs something. Dad said he was about ready to take her phone away! =)

On our way there, Georgia read and read and read...I'm sure everyone that reads this knows about the wildfires going on around Texas. East Texas has been hit pretty hard. The smoke is awful. Here's a picture as I was heading into town.
It smells like one giant campfire. Thank goodness my family is ok, but we know a fire can happen at any time! Mom & Dad have even made a list of things they will grab if they have to evacuate. Dad spent Tuesday working on making sure the Christmas trees were ok. Using the tractor, he dug a ditch around the perimeter of the trees to hopefully stop a fire, if one should start. Scary times but it seems to be getting better! We all need rain SO bad!

We spent the day with Kathy and Caroline, since Mom was recuperating from her surgery. Ivy Jane thoroughly enjoyed jumping on the chair with Caroline! She was cackling!

Caroline & Georgia enjoyed cuddling on Caroline's bed and reading before naptime...

We had a great day, just hanging out with family and playing. Every night before I get in bed I HAVE to go in and check on both girls. I can't sleep until I look at them one last time. I was glad I checked on Ivy Jane last night because this is what I found...
Doesn't she look SO uncomfortable?! I pulled her around and straightened her pillow, blankets, etc. and she didn't flinch! I guess she wore herself out!

SO thankful for a good night's sleep, for comfy beds to come home to, and for cousin play time!