Wow it has been a month

I can't believe it has been a month since I posted last. It has been crazy for sure. Thanksgiving was good but we all got sick from a virus afterwards. :( Greg then flew down to California and helped load the moving truck for Steve and Jess. He and Corey then helped drive them up....since they are moving back to Washington. It is great to have them home. PJ is growing so much and it is fun to see Ivy and him play. They are the same size :) They play well and every so often just give each other hugs.

Clinton threw our friend Andrea a surprise party for her birthday. We went out to Karaoke. Greg was up singing and it was so great, I was laughing and crying. He is so animated. :)





We went to Molbok's and had a friend take our Christmas card pictures on Dec. 15th. Ivy wouldn't seem to smile but you can still see how big she is getting.




I think I forgot to post Ivy's Halloween picture we had taken...


Ivy was sporting the Mars Hill shirt of our friend Kathy. I think she has some time to grow into it.


Tomorrow we are having Grandma Robin and Great Aunt Gail over with Steve, Jess and PJ Mulkey to have a little early family Christmas party. On Christmas morning we are going over to PA and Grandma Dorothy's house to celebrate with the rest of the family and have traditional Christmas morning breakfast. We will probably go home for Ivy's nap then come back to Christmas dinner.

We hope that you all are doing well and have a wonderful holiday season.

1 Peter 1:3-5
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Ivy and dad

Here is a picture of Ivy and Greg playing video games together. Greg gave Ivy her own controller while he was playing.:)

Cuteness

I took some pictures of Ivy with her Trogdor shirt from her "Uncle Los". In the first one she is signing Please for something. :) In the 2nd one she is talking.

Halloween and Updates

I know I haven't updated in a while so I needed to get you all up to date. Halloween was great. Ivy was a Lady Bug. She went with Dorothy and Corey's family to Kya's school to go trick or treating while Greg and I took a night away at the Salish Lodge. He is now officially done with his crunch on the project Mass Effect. He has worked so vary hard that we both needed some relaxing time away...it was wonderful. Ivy and the girls had a great time at the school as well. Here are some pics of her in her costume before we took her to Dorothy.



Her hair is finally getting longer where it doesn't always stand straight up in the back but I needed to take a picture so you could see the resemblance to her ducky.



Her are her first pony tails that I made for her.

Playing

At Aliyah and Kya's birthday I took a picture of Ivy with her Great Grandparents. She is so happy to see them. I am so glad when they come into town when she can see them as they live in Arizona and don't get to see her very often except via this blog.


Here are some pictures of her playing in a new outfit. She would climb onto her chair and sit and read a book. It was so cute.



More playing...


Here she is on daddy's shoulders for the first time.

Dad is home

As many of you know Greg has been working crazy hours lately. He usually is getting home after midnight now. Some nights I can stay up, but most I am asleep. Today his boss sent out a mail that said everyone needed to leave by 5pm and go spend some time with their families. I was so excited. He was home for a real dinner and I even made dessert.

Here are some pictures of him and ivy playing on the computer. Greg was showing her this website which Ivy and I play on often. www.starfall.com

Training for Roller Coasters

Our new fun game is to drive on the freeway going 60+ and roll all the windows down. The wind blowing in our faces and hair everywhere. (I have much more hair then Ivy so this isn't the fun part) I say....Weeeeeee, Then Ivy puts her hands in the air and says Weeeeeee. She waves her arms around, blinks alot cause of the wind and smiles from ear to ear. I wish I had a video I could share but remember I am driving and that would be unsafe. :)

Update

Due to finances we will not be going to Bora Bora next year. :( But, we are thinking about going to Kauai....Has anyone ever gone? If so, I would love to talk to you about your trip. What did you like, where did you stay, what didn't you like....

On another note: Natasha Dulcinea Covi was born yesterday at 4:02am. She is 7lbs and 19.5 inches long. What a cutie. :) Here are some pictures of Ivy and I meeting her at the hospital.

What will they be scared of?

Each child is different and at different times in their life they are scared of different things....

Ivy is not scared of the vacuum cleaner but scared of the electric screwdriver. She is also not scared of the lawn mower, as she sat happily and played for over an hour yesterday while I mowed the front and most of the back yard. But, I put on gardening gloves to move a few rocks and she had a melt down. Big alligator tears and all.

She always seems to amaze me at what she likes and doesn't like from day to day. :)

Ravioli

Here are some cute pictures of today's lunch :)

Labor Day

Greg is now working 7 days a week, 12+ hours each day. His drive to work is about 45 minutes each way so needless to say he is out of the house 14+ hours a day. Ivy still sleeps from 8pm till 8am. This being said Greg gets up and feeds her her morning bottle then walks out the door for work. It is the only time they get to see each other each day. This will last until October.

On Labor Day Greg took the day off so we spent it as a family. Most of the day was normal routine stuff but the last 3 hours we just played in the living room upstairs. She got all the daddy time she needed. She decided it was her new game to hold his finger and walk him around the house.

Down the hall


Back down the hall


In the dining room


In the kitchen


And it starts all over again.


It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. She really isn't interested in holding my finger for long. It is definitely a special father-daughter game she made up.

Later that evening after she was changed into her jammies and ready for bed...she had to play some more...

We went to the Fair

I didn't take many picture but Ivy, Janice and Alexander went to the fair last week. Jance is due with their 2nd child on September 12th....walking at the fair didn't induce labor. :(

Anyways here are 2 picture of Ivy petting a horse. She wasn't scared at all. The horse was VERY tall. When he would raise his head, Ivy still wanted to pet him but it would have been right at his mouth. Horrible pictures of the horse getting spooked and bitting off Ivy's hand ran through my mind....so needless to say we waited till he lowered his head again. :)

Clarification

I have had many family members ask me who "Uncle Los" is. Carlos is a good friend of ours who lives in Florida. We met him on the internet quite a few years ago and have become good friends. He has adopted Ivy as his niece. He is a wonderful guy and we sure do wish he would move out to Seattle.....(hint hint Carlos)

Here is a picture of him on the Star Wars website (he is in the picture on the bottom of the post on the right. He is the bald guy in the back row of the group picture.) http://www.starwars.com/community/news/family/news20070828.html

Hope this helps for those family members who were confused. :)

Our little R2-D2

Ivy's Uncle Los sent her this outfit for her birthday. Is she not just the cutest little R2-D2 you have ever seen? (Look at the little chunky thighs :)






Is it ok to taste your lightsaber?


Forget the toys, she just likes to climb inside the box and then outside again.

Bora Bora

As some of you may have noticed to the right there is a new website link. I have created a blog with some pictures from our trip to Bora Bora in 2005. We will be going again in August of 2008. Hard to believe considering our trip was such an adventure. :)

Wow she is amazing

Ivy is a year and we are so excited at how happy of a baby she is. She has sure turned into a toddler for sure. Yesterday she pulled all of her toys out of her box and climbed into the box. It was so cute. She is walking, trying to run, talking and signing. We continue to teach her sign so that she can communicate with us those words she can not say yet.



Last night she spent her first night away. She stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Mulkey's house. Apparently she did very well and slept good all night. It was weird to not have her at home but we are excited that she did so well. She will be staying the whole weekend with them the last weekend in August while Greg and I attend PAX. Greg will be speaking on multiple panels and then when the weekend is over we have the annual "After PAX Taco's" at our home. Usually that brings 15-20 people excited for the World Famous Greg Tacos. We figure it is best for her to get used to staying there so for now, every Saturday night she will be sleeping at their home.

Today we have church at 5pm at Mars Hill where she will move up to the toddler room for child care because she is walking so well now. It is so amazing to watch her grow. We are excited for the possibility of another child in years to come.

Speaking of that many people are asking us about our "plan".... We will be going back to BoraBora in August of 2008. There, or just after we will be trying for a little brother or sister for Ivy. If I get pregnant as fast as before this means that in May of 2009 we should have another little one. (God willing of course)

For those of you who are out of town and many who are out of the country we hope that you enjoy this blog where you can watch her grow from afar.

May God bless your families,
Stephanie

What a crazy week!!!

Well we have had a crazy week for sure. Ivy turned 1 on June 29th and I turned 30 on July 6th. We celebrated both our birthdays at St. Edward Park on June 30th. It was a gorgeous day and we all had a great time. Ivy's god-parents Steve and Jessica Mulkey were in town for a week. It was great cause we all got to spend time with them and their son PJ who is 6 months younger then Ivy. They live in California so we don't get to see them much. We really enjoyed our time with all of them and for Ivy and PJ to get to know each other a little. Since they are cousins and all. :)

This week was also the 4th of July. Ivy had a hard time getting to sleep in a strange place but once she did....she didn't have any problem sleeping through the fireworks. Praise God!!!

Here are some pictures from her birthday...





















Here is Ivy and PJ playing on a blanket under an umbrella.


Here is the best family picture we could seem to come up with :(


Here is the picture of the family women and children
(not sure why we didn't do a mens picture)


Here is when the long awaited cake experience began....






Ohhhh there it goes on the ground :)


"All Done" she says in sign language


Sorry it took me so long to get the pictures up but I had about 650 to go through. I hope you all enjoy the pictures....and I hope this week isn't so crazy :)