{Letter to Ivy}

My sweet Ivy,

My oh my how time has flown by these last two years. I cannot believe I have a two year old now. You are the most intelligent, affectionate, and strong willed little toddler I have ever met! You are learning new things every single day and I am amazed at how fast you pick up things. Just like the other day you where playing with your new learning pad your Papa Ru gave you and you were on a game where you make smoothies. There's a part on the game where you have to tilt the pad to the left to pour in the ice cubes. I had to show you once and you had it down pat! You're a very fast learner. And you never forget anything!

                                                        

                                


This past Friday was your birthday and we did what we did last year and celebrated Thanksgiving with both sides of our family and then afterwards we had a birthday party for you. You didn't touch your little smash cake Grams made you but you demolished a cupcake! You got so many fun toys to play with but I believe your favorite present was the rocking horse Papa & Granny Cannon made for you!

Ivy Victoria you are my sunshine! Whenever I am feeling gloomy I can just look at you and my whole day is made. You make life so much brighter and sweeter. Even though sometimes you make me wanna pull my hair out (I still blame either lack of sleep or teething... ) I still think you are the most amazing gift God has ever given me.

I can't wait to see you as a big sister in a few short months. I know you are going to love on your brother all the time and wanna help Mama any chance you get. I am so excited to see your reaction to our new addition.

I love you Booger!!!! You are my everything!!!

Mama

{Dear Little Mister}

Hey Little Mister!

This is my very first letter to you and I am super excited to finally be writing you! We will be 22 weeks along this pregnancy tomorrow and that means one more week closer to meeting you. Your Daddy, Ivy, and I are so ready!!! I have already seen you about 4 or 5 times and you are growing so much so fast! I am amazed at the whole pregnancy process all over again! The way God created the woman's body and her ability to grow a baby is just perfect to me!! Right now I am laying on the couch with your sister asleep beside me and I am trying to imagine what my life is going to be like in about four months with you added to our family. It might be chaos at first but I know once we establish a good routine, we will be good to go! I am so excited about having you, SON! When we went to see what we were having a few weeks ago, I was so hoping and praying for a little boy and I know your Daddy was too. When we saw that you were indeed a little mister, your Dad didn't even believe it at first but there was no denying what we saw on the screen...If you know what I mean! :) I still can't believe God choose me to be your Mama! I am so blessed to have one of each! I do hope that you and Ivy have a good relationship like I have with my little brothers. We may have fought a lot when we were younger but now that we are older, we are like best friends! I know Ivy is going to love having you around! She loves babies and is always kissing my round belly and saying "baby" and loving on you. She treats her babydoll with such love and makes sure that they are ok. I know she will be that loving towards you as well. Our entire family is excited to have you along! Just 4 more months and I can hold you in my arms!! I love you so much already!

Love,

Your Mama

HUGE Announcement!!!

This is a BIG announcement for our family and a long overdue one at that... But we are expecting our second bundle of JOY around the beginning of March 2016!!!  

This is me at around 17 and a half weeks! 

And to make things even more EXCITING..... (if that's possible, right??) We are expecting a baby BOY!!!!

We are more than thrilled that we are adding a BOY to the family!! I didn't care what we were having as long as he/she was healthy, but we were really hoping it was going to be a boy since this might be our last time having a baby. I don't believe Ivy is old enough yet to really understand what is coming in the near future but I do know that she loves kissing my belly and she loves babies!! I know she will be excited when her little brother comes! 

Here is me and baby boy at about 18 Weeks! 

You can't deny that one!!! HA! He wasn't shy that's for sure!!! 

Just for fun, here is our announcement to the world about Ivy Ru!

Wow that seems like a long time ago! 

Anyways, we are super excited to be telling the world this awesome news! Our family just keeps growing and growing and I love it! The Lord is GOOD!!!! God bless! 

XO Meagan

P.S. I hope to start blogging more often again... I have slacked A LOT lately but wanna get back into again! So keep coming back for updates of Baby Ru #2!!! 

{Dear Ivy}

My sweet Ivy,

I haven't made the time to write to you in a while. I am sorry I have been too busy. Mainly chasing you around the house and playing with your Little People and watching TinkerBell with you. Our days at home are exhausting, hilarious, enjoyable, and rewarding. I am blessed to have the ability to be a mom who gets to stay home all day everyday with her little girl. I couldn't imagine having to drop you off at someones house or daycare and go to work. I would be so devastated. I love spending all my time with you Booger!

We don't have to do much to have fun! We got you a toddler swimming pool a few weeks ago and you absolutely love playing in the water! It's super fun to watch you get more and more brave each day. You put one ear in the water at a time. Then you lower your face into the water to blow and make bubbles. BUBBLES are your favorite! Sometimes we go to the park and let you slide and swing. It's been a little too hot to do much outside. I took you to MegaPlay the other day and you loved the ball pit more than anything. Painting has become a very messy but fun project for us to do. You love mixing the colors together! You love playing with E. Ellie will get one of her toys and get you to chase her around the house. Y'all are best friends.

You have learned how to do some new things here lately. You are a very good climber.  Unfortunately. You are definitely right handed. You have went poopy in your potty once! You can almost put your shoes on by yourself. You think anything in a cup is either tea or coffee. You LOVE coffeeeee.  Just like your Mama.

It amazes me how much you have grown the past few months. You are such a smart girl, Ivy. You surprise me everyday with the little bits of knowledge you pick up. I watch you sometimes when you are in deep thought or you're concentrating really hard on something. Your facial expressions crack me up! You are a character.

The last two weeks we have been weaning you from breastfeeding AND crib training you. Both have been difficult but you have done so well!!! We are down to only one nursing sesh right before I put you in your crib. You take naps in your crib as well. Daddy or I have to be right next to you holding your hand before you fall asleep. We have even had to adjust not having you to cuddle up to at night. It's a sad transition for all of us I believe. You still wake up around 1-3AM and I go and get you out of the crib and bring you into own bed most days. You curl up right next to me and makes my heart smile! I love waking up to your big green eyes and sweet smile!

Ivy you are my everything. I can't imagine my life without you. You are one of God's greatest blessings to me. He created you so perfectly. So smart. So sweet. You're perfect. Even on our rough days you are perfect to me. (Usually I just blame it on teething.) I hate that you are getting so independent now. You rely on me less and less, but you are still a Mama's girl.

The last few days you have been extra clingy (due to teething...I think...) and at times I just get annoyed by it but most of the time I soak it up because I know it won't last long. There will come a time when you won't want to be held and cuddled... BUT until then I will LOVE on you every second I can! You will always be my little girl.

Ivy I love you with all of my heart.

XO

Mama

{Ivy's 18 Month's Old!}

She is almost 19 months now but you get the gist!

My Ivy Ru is a character.

She is a very intelligent little girl. Too smart for her own good most days.

Her favorites things lately....

Bubbles in her bath
Taco soup
Pool & the beach or any body of water
Ice cream cones
Spiders......bugs in general.....
Taking E (Ellie) outside to potty
Tinker Bell
Being read to
Dancing to music
Climbing EVERYTHING

Her new words!

Cow
Please
Coffee
Bath
Outside
Cracker (sounds more like crack.... )
Apple is abble to her...
Poop

Ivy has been learning so many new things the past few months. I watch her do things that I never really taught her but she has seen me do it. For instance...

Anytime we go to Target or the Commissary we always wipe down the shopping cart with a lysol wipe. Well Ivy has a toy shopping cart that she just LOVES! Well the other day (or a few weeks ago..) she went and got a wipe out of the box and headed for her cart. She wiped her cart down before she went "shopping" and this was so amazing to Richard and I! She watches us even when we don't think she is! Kind of scary huh!?

Ivy loves to help me take the clothes out of the washing machine and put them into the dryer. She loves rewarding E with a treat if she went potty outside. She loves helping me cook. She loves watching her daddy mow the yard. She loves finger painting. She is very artistic like her Mama! I could go on and on and on about Ivy Ru!

The last week we have been putting her in her crib for nap time and she has been doing AWESOME with this transition! She normally nurses to sleep so this is a HUGE change for her. Along with "crib training" I am also weaning her.... This is a very hard thing for both Ivy and myself. Ivy has slept beside me and has nursed to sleep since we brought her home from the birthing center. She has slept like a champ because of it and so have I! And waking up to her smiling face every single morning has been such a blessing to me and it's something that I am going to miss sooooooo much!

The crib training isn't as hard as the weaning for me. My milk supply has always been very abundant and now that I am not nursing her to sleep anymore my milk comes in without her needing it and then I am full of milk and miserable! I get so full my boobs are hard as rocks and have knots in them from being engorged. So I have done LOTS of research and asked my mama friends and they all suggested peppermint and cabbage leaves. Well I have had one cup of tea so far and hated it but I drank it anyway. And yesterday I put cabbage leaves into my sports bra and it felt awesome! I didn't even feel engorged until it was time to feed Ivy right before I put her in her crib and my milk came in.

This week will probably be when I take away that last feeding before we put her to bed. Last night when I was nursing her I looked at her and almost started crying because she loves nursing so much. It's a bond that only mother and child get to experience. It's something that only Ivy and I share. Nobody else has the kind of bond that we share. Nursing has been such an amazing experience for us both.

I have nursed almost 19 months and I can say I love it 99% of the time. The 1% was the first few days when my supply wasn't in yet and she nursed sooooo often and my boobs were just raw. ((TMI?)) Anyways I am sad that this chapter is coming to an end but I am looking forward to the memories ahead!

Now for the fun part of pictures of Ivy the last few weeks! :) ENJOY!

XO Meagan

{Ivy's Happy Place Board}

This has been a busy week full of surprises for Miss Ivy! First it was her fabulous & glamorous kitchen and now her new busy/sensory board called "Ivy's Happy Place". She absolutely LOVES it!!!

After many of you wanting to know what all I put on the board, I decided to make a list of all the things that are shown along with close up pictures! Hope y'all get inspired to make your little their own happy place!!! :)

Toilet paper holder & painted roll.

Notepad and pen

Clock

Door Stopper

Tinker Bell Light Switch

Wooden door with picture inside

Lock

Lipstick holder

Pill box

Night Light

Wooden door with pic

Lock

Door knocker

Calculator

Mirror

Pill box

Wooden door with picture inside

Retractable ID holder

Metal cup for chalk

Door stopper

2nd Wooden door with pic.

Lock

Eye hook for flower

Hook for lanyard

Chalkboard

Lock

Wheel

That's it!!! (That's enough RIGHT?!?!)

;)

All items where put on with either heavy duty double sided tape or screws. 

Ivy absolutely LOVES her board!! It was well worth the time to make it for her! She now has fun things to do when it rains, which is what inspired me to make her something FUN for cloudy days! 

Have fun making your littles a "happy place" haha 

Meagan

{Play Kitchen Makeover}

Hello all!

So after getting over a thousand likes on Facebook, I thought I might need to make a blog post about my daughter's play kitchen makeover! Here we go!!!

This is what I started with! It was a gift from Ivy's aunt and grandma.

As you can see it was missing a door, two drawers and a shelf under the window. 

After getting inspiration from different pictures from Pinterest, I made a shopping list of all the supplies I would need and off to the store I went! I spent about $25 on the whole project but you could spend a lot less OR a lot more! Just depends of what you wanna do with the kitchen! 

Here was my supply list and where I purchased them.

3 Cans of Krylon Spray Paint in Sea Glass (Wal-Mart)

1 Can of Krylon Spray paint in Gold (Wal-Mart)

Painter's tape (Already had)

2 bouquets of flowers (dollar store)

1/2 yard of fabric (Hobby Lobby)

Mirror (Hobby Lobby)

Vase w/ little flowers (Michaels)

Gold tap (Dollar General)

White paint (already had)

Velcro (already had)

Donuts (Hobby Lobby)

Hot glue gun & glue sticks (already had)

Unfortunately I didn't take pictures throughout the process but the steps are pretty easy to follow! :)

Steps:

1. Peel off all stickers. Some of them were kind of hard to get off so I just got my hairdryer and got them warm and they peeled right off. 

2. I took the kitchen apart by unscrewing the four screws that were holding the whole thing together. 

3. I taped up the microwave, oven, and fridge door.

4. Let the spray paint begin!!! I put two coats of paint on the top and bottom part but only needed one coat of the gold. 

5. I let them dry then put the kitchen back together. 

6. After getting the 4 screws in, I untaped the doors and painted them with white acrylic paint. 

7. Then after everything was good and dry I started putting the gold tape on the door handles and the top part of the kitchen. 

8. I used velcro to attach the mirror and curtains, which my Aunt Jacque made because I stink at sewing!

9. Where the window was, was a cardboard piece that screwed to the back of the kitchen and I took that off and put the black and white fabric on there and screwed it back on. I LOVE how this fabric has many names for our Lord on it!!! :)

10. Then I took flowers from a cheap bouquet and hot glued them to the top and midsection of the kitchen. 

11. Placed the little vase of flowers on there and put the donuts behind the curtain and voila! 

You now have a GLAMOROUS new kitchen!!! :) 

Ivy LOVES her Glam kitchen and plays with it all day long now!!! 

This was a pretty cheap project and it was SUPER FUN! 

{Ivy's 15 Months Old!}

My sweet Ivy Victoria is already 15 months old!? I am in awe of how much she has grown in the last few months. After she turned one, I decided to do chalkboard updates every 3 months. I got this cute little chalkboard at the dollar bins at Target one day! SCORE!

Anyways....

Ivy had her 15 month checkup yesterday and besides having eczema she is doing great!!! Thank you Lord!

She is growing like a weed and getting smarter every single day. Richard wanted me to write up a list of all the words she can say soon here goes nothing!

Mama
Dadddy (Da-eeee)
Papa
Ellie (EEeeeeee)
Bird
Ball
No
Banana (Ba-nun)
Hi
Hey
Apple
Yes
Eggs
Water (waaa)
Fish (Ish)
Daniel (Off Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood) (Dan)
Dog
Baby
Hot
Bath
Puff (Puff snacks)
Olaf (laf)
Eyes
Nose
Mouth
Pretty (Preee)
That
What

Annnnnnd that is all we can think of right now... haha I can't believe the things she knows and can understand.

She loves baths and if she hears anyone saying BATH she runs straight to the bathroom!! And if she is ready to go to bed she will let you know and heads right to the bedroom. She is taking one, sometimes two naps a day. She eats anything and EVERYTHING! Her new fave is strawberries! MMM! She still wears 12 months clothes but they are getting pretty tight and short but her 18 month clothes are way to big... They need to make a 14-16 month size.... She loves to play with her baby doll and gives the BEST hugs! Ivy loves music, dogs, babies, and pretending to clean. She gets into EVERYTHING including the junk drawer, kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, dresser drawers....

Ivy is nothing but amazing in our eyes! She is so smart and so sweet but she's got a temper on her though haha.  She is my best friend without a doubt! We do everything together everyday! She is my little blessing from the Lord. I love my little girl!

XO

Meg