Bath Time

Ivy is still small enough to bathe in the baby tub, but that's not much fun for her, so I've let her graduate to the regular tub so she can play. Millie joins her occasionally and they play so cute together.

Millie looks pretty funny, but I just loved Ivy's expression.

A "Reel" Lawnmower

We received our utilities bill from the City this week. And our water overages (yikes!) reminded me to blog about Mark's nifty lawnmower.
Mark loves to take care of the yard . . . or the grass anyway (that's all we have at the moment). I'm sure eventually we'll fill the planter areas and garden spot with something more than dirt. He put in the sprinkler system last fall and put down sod at the beginning of the summer. Mark purchased this lawnmower shortly thereafter (I think it was his Father's Day "gift" to himself). Anyway, it's an environmentally friendly Brill 38 Push Reel Mower -- meaning it has no motor. It's cheaper, lighter and quieter (much quieter) than a regular mower and it also saves money because it doesn't use gasoline nor need its blades sharpened as often. Also it keeps the grass healthier because it cuts differently. Brill is a German company and is known as "the Mercedes of reel lawnmowers." True it may take a little more elbow grease than your average lawnmower, but it's a million times easier to use than the hunk-of-junk mower I grew up pushing. Cutting the grass would be easier now, but I'm glad Mark loves it so much I'll never have to! Mark has gotten tons of compliments on his well-groomed grass, one woman in particular said that our grass looked better than her carpet :) I hope those compliments will buoy him up when he's writing out that check to the City.

A Fairytale Halloween

Princess Millie:
And the dragon who guards her castle:

Joined by the Prince and a wicked fairy:

A close up of the characters:

And a change of costumes for the princess (at the Pumpkin walk):

Yellow Bucket

My sister-in-law Katie is so talented! She makes the prettiest jewelry ever. I own at least a dozen pairs of her earrings (don't tell Mark that). Anyway, I noticed today that she named a pair of earrings after me on her website. You should all check them out at www.yellowbucket.etsy.com but I warn you, you'll be tempted to buy everything you see :) Talk about great Christmas presents! Enjoy!

Scare hair

OK, so I know I should be blogging about Halloween, but that film is far from being developed so we'll just have to wait on that. Instead I thought I'd post about some scare hair! Miss Ivy always has some crazy thing going on with her hair. I love that she has hair, but sometimes I think it would be a lot easier to get out the door with a bald baby. When your baby doesn't have hair you can just throw on a headband and you're out the door, but hair is a whole other story.
No scare hair here. I just love this picture of Ivy; she looks so grown up. I took it while she was looking at her sister. And since I shared 5 things about Millie I wanted to do the same for Ivy.

1. She is a such a good baby! After Millie I'm sure any baby would seem easy, but Ivy really is such an easy-going kid, but watch out . . .

2. She does have a mean streak. There are a few things that Ivy won't tolerate, one of them is my being on the computer. I have to blog while she is napping :)

3. She is learning baby sign language but only uses it in dire circumstances, i.e. when I gave her to her Aunt Katie and she wanted me, she did the sign for "father" but I know she meant me. She can also wave "bye-bye" but only does that one for daddy.

4. She's a smiley baby but rarely laughs. I guess that goes along with her even-kill attitude. It takes a lot to upset her but it also takes a lot to impress her (unlike her sister who has always laughed a lot but gets upset easily too).

5. Ivy will be 11 months old on the 11th. I can't believe she is nearly a year old!

Tag: Millie's it!

Five things you may not know about Millie:

1. Millie has two sides to her. She's either ultra-sweet and ultra-happy or quite the opposite . . . a demon of sorts :) Most people only know one side or the other. It's funny when people who have only known Mr. Hyde, finally meet Dr. Jekyll and comment in amazement, "Millie was so nice today!"

2. Millie is obsessed with being a princess. And lucky me -- I get to play the prince all day, at least until daddy gets home.

3. She's a fashionista. I'm not allowed to help her pick out her clothes. She's also picky about whether or not I can do her hair.

4. One of her legs is longer than the other (by a few centimeters). I only noticed because she has had unexplained knee pain for a year now. So our best theory is the mismatched length.

5. She's a mama's girl. Ever since she was a teeny-tiny baby Millie has preferred her mommy to anyone else. She's getting better now, but I am so thankful that Ivy loves her daddy; it sure makes my life a lot easier!

"Millie" now tags: Jaden, Marcus, Ellanie, Grace, and Paige.

Birthday bed

I'm finally getting around to blogging about Millie's "birthday bed."Mark built me a bed for Christmas last year and Millie named it the "Christmas bed" (and no it's not a sleigh bed). So when he built this bed for her birthday in July we named it after the occasion. You probably can't see it very well, but it's a pretty intricate bed, modeled after the Pottery Barn's Tristan Platform bed. They don't sell a twin size, but since Millie's was "custom made" that wasn't a problem :)
We had the bed against the wall at first and I think Millie fell out a few times but now she doesn't have a problem. The platform is a great step stool to help her get in and out and it's the perfect height for her to kneel and pray (knees on platform, arms on mattress).
Just as a side note: The green color of Millie's walls is much prettier in person!