Book Nook | Thanksgiving Theme

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and all of the books we've been enjoying for the last month will be tucked away and replaced with Christmas books! I can't believe how fast this month went. Add some of these to your wish list for next year.

My favorite book from the bunch is Sharing the Bread. I love a book that is a quick read with a rhythm and rhyme and this one hits it! I also love Balloons of Broadway. It's a bit text heavy for a kid Kip's age but it's a fun non-fiction book about the creator of the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. And Cranberry Thanksgiving is a classic!

Leaves, A Pumpkin for Peter, and Hedgehugs Autumn Hide-and-Seek are more generally fall themed as opposed to Thanksgiving but still fun. Sweep is also fall themed and makes for an impactful addition to a fall themed book shelf (look at that cover!). It has amazing illustrations but the book plot is confusing. Personally, a great kid's book needs to have great illustrations but the text has to be able to stand on its own as well. Sweep is lacking in that area. The gist is a boy with a bad mood who lets his mood get caught up in everything. That's a good theme but without the illustrations it's hard to understand what the text is getting at. In my opinion, it's way above the head for any child under the age of five unless the adult accompanies the read with a conversation about the plot and what it means. 

Share your fall/Thanksgiving books in the comments if I missed any favorites!

Sweet Scenes

 More scenes around the house.

Mandy found this little car parked under her toilet. Of course, whatever else is that little spot for?

Couch picnic

Cooney driving the dump truck!

Trying to squeeze into his sister's 3 month size sweater.

Pumpkin tunnel

Kip gets very camera shy, candid shots are fine but if you ask him to sit and smile. Forget it!! Bribery and/or photos with his hand in his mouth are guaranteed. But, he actually requested and posed for this photo.

This is a "fire box" if you couldn't tell. You know, where the coal is shoveled to make a steam engine move? And, as you can see, all the toys were thrown into the fire box for fuel.

House Tour - Laundry Room

Okay, so for most people they are probably rolling their eyes. Laundry room tour??? LAME. I get it. BUT, in my entire adult life I have never had a laundry room. City living means laundromat life. It means hauling your dirty clothes down the block in the granny cart and losing some socks or undies along the way. It means using coins or a laundry card to pay for your washing. It means waiting for enough machines or extending the amount of time it takes to do your loads while you wait for an available dryer. It means timing your laundry duty for hours when you're off work and the laundromat is open and then hoping it's not too crowded. It means folding your drawers next to a stranger. It is not fun.

Even in our most recent apartment where we had a laundry room in the building, it was not convenient. Mandy would do Kip's laundry on Friday morning, early. Dan would do our laundry on Sunday night after Kip was asleep. It was multiple elevator rides to the basement, back and forth and sometimes not being able to do it all at once if some of the machines were in use or broken. Then during the pandemic it got even more complicated with the added layer of using shared spaces, wiping down machines with Lysol wipes, and wearing masks. 

So, the laundry room in this house is a true blessing. 

Mandy replaced the machines when we moved in with Speed Queens. They are the most similar to the laundromat machines us city dwellers were used to and Mandy wanted to avoid the 'smart' machines with loads of settings. They are amazing. So simple and efficient. 

I do the laundry now. On Mondays while at work. And I love the ability to run a load whenever...like after a spill or blowout. No more waiting until Sunday. We love it. 

Now, for the reveal. This tiny laundry closet is upstairs by the kid's bedrooms so it's super convenient. The cabinets and shelves were already in place when we moved. Mandy painted the room a fresh white and added the gingham wallpaper and wall decor. It's a happy place. She did such a great job with it.

There is even a mini closet inside the laundry room where we are storing some cleaning supplies and the vacuum. 

Ivy || 6 Months Old

Ivy May is halfway to one year old!!! Is anyone stunningly shocked by that? I am. I cannot believe she was born six months ago and we are on the downward slide out of babyhood and into toddler years. I truly...I really can't even put words to it other than shock! Maybe it's because she is a tiny little lady or more than likely it's the time warp nature of 2020 in general, but I don't believe it.

Ivy at Six Months

Weight: 15 lbs. 4 oz. (13 lbs. at four months)

Height: 27.4 inches (25 inches four months)

Personality: sensitive and sweet

 

 

Likes

Being held - always

Bath time

Splashing

Teether toys or anything she can stick in her mouth

Naps in the stroller

Nursing all hours of the night

Music

Getting to lay in Kip's bed

Sitting up

Watching Kip's Lego train 

Being held so she can stand on her feet

Dislikes

If you set her down immediately after she gets up

Diaper changes

Being scolded for grabbing hair

Hearing you but not seeing you at the same time 

Being awake for more than two hours

 

Wearing

Size 3 diapers

6 months or 6-9 month clothing

Nested Bean sleep sack

 

Things I want to remember about Ivy at 6 months old:

How she sucks on her lower lip

The way she acts like she is chewing when she watches us eat

How eager she is to get something...anything...into her mouth

The way she pushes into my shoulder and almost hugs me when I'm taking her up to go to bed at night

How chatty she is

Our little "girl party" when I slept over in her room while we had visitors here

Chicken hair!

How she thumps her legs/feet against the crib mattress

How flexible she is and the way she gets herself into a ball to try and eat her feet

Her gummy grin

How excited she is to see me in the early, early morning when I have to change her diaper from a mid-night leakage

The way she looks out the windows

The way she spins her ankles around and around

Sleep

This girl is a sleep mystery to me. I just really need a spare day (or week) to figure out a game plan for her sleep. She seems to be a "high needs" baby when it comes to sleep, in that she needs a lot of it. It seems like she is constantly showing signs of sleepiness (yawing, fussing, rubbing eyes) even if she has only been awake for an hour or so. But then she only naps for 30-40 minutes. She is inconsistent with napping and although, at her age, they say she should be able to go 3 hours between naps, we can't get her much past two hours and fifteen minutes. This month she seemed to be dropping her third nap but because she can't hang for long, she was ready to go to bed at like 4:30 PM and sleeping close to six hours before waking up. We need her on a schedule but we can't get her on a schedule. Ugh. At night she picks up bad habits quick! I made the mistake of going to her at 10 pm one night when she woke up and now she gets up every night at 10 pm. She is now nursing between 3-4 times at night which is more than she EVER did as a newborn. Gaaaaa!!! This month it's game time. I will have a sleep trained baby by the next time I post a monthly update. The universe can hold me to that! It's all I asked for Christmas from Santa this year. In the meantime, I try to remind myself to treasure the midnight snuggles because they will be over soon.

Eat

We started trying solids this month because Ivy is showing SO much interest in eating food. She even mimics chewing when she watches us eat. First she tried applesauce and then sweet potato. She enjoyed both. Then we got the highchair all set-up and gave her banana which she LOVED and went face first into it. Then she had a bad reaction to the banana and got a rash all over her face and body. It took two weeks for the rash to clear and I've been terrified to try anything else. Apparently a banana allergy isn't entirely uncommon but it could be linked to a latex allergy which is linked to a TON of other foods like avocado, tomatoes, nuts, kiwi, mango, etc. She has a well check next week so I'm hoping to get some guidance there and move forward cautiously. Food allergies terrify me and I've even questioned whether she has reflux at all and maybe its' been reactions to my diet via the breast milk all along. 

Play

Ivy is finally beginning to play. She still loves all her teether toys and is starting to enjoy her jumperoo and activity stander. She adores when Kip engages with her and is constantly trying to grab at his toys in her reach. She loves eating her toes and is a big fan of stuffed toys.

This month Ivy had her first Halloween and FINALLY got to meet both sets of grandparents. I often feel bad that she is a pandemic baby and we have to delay so many first traditions and experiences because of the circumstances. But, I know she doesn't understand the difference or what she is missing and I hope she just enjoys spending time with us and getting used to her little world. In the next couple of months I'm excited for Ivy's first holiday season and the next six months when she really starts to explore her world and become mobile.

Weekending it

This weekend we had Grandma and Grandpa visit!!! Or, Grama and Grampa as Kip calls them. 

It was slightly scary timing since the pandemic is spiking in our area again but the plans were made well before spiking and it was a now or not for a LONG time type of decision. It had been nearly a year since we'd seen them and it was long overdue. 

After Dan picked them up at the airport we spent 100% of our time at the house. We didn't go anywhere. We did all the cooking in the house (including an early Thanksgiving!). We took every precaution to be safe and we expect those decisions were effective. 

Overall, it was a wonderful visit and we all filled our tanks with memories. Photo dump!

Grama was the MVP of playtime. Kip is at a real loss without someone willing to play with him non-stop. 

Thanks for coming Terri Mom and Allen Dad! We love you and miss you! Thank goodness for video calls so we will see you again soon.