Dear Ingrid Cate,
Personality! Personality! Personality! You are full of it. You crack me up from sun-up to sun-down. When you wake up in the mornings, you stand up in your crib and start naming everything you see. "I see Sparkles. I see giraffe. I see legos. I see bird. I see owls. I see Liv's bed. I see me books." It is so funny. You get louder and louder as the minutes pass hoping your dad or I will hear you and come get you. You love talking and telling big stories. We play pretend with your dollhouse, barn, blocks, and legos for a big part of the day. You make up all kinds of trouble for your "guys" to get in. Most of the time they end up crying and we have to make them feel better. In fact, your babies, stuffed animals, and just about everything in your room cries a lot these days. Good thing you know how to hold and rock them, give them kisses and hugs, and tell them it will all be okay. You love this game. And when we actually do hear real crying from Baby Liv, you always help Mommy know how to make her better. You start rattling off things she might need: "mama's milk, paci, sheep, pig night-night, cat night-night, bouncy seat, pillow, swing." You are such a good helper to me. You still love reading too. You like for "Ingy read it. Myself. Ing ing's chair," and you like "Mama read it" too. You interchangeably call me Mama, Mommy, and Mom and the same for Dada, Daddy, and Dad. It makes you sound so big. You are still going to the church nursery on Sunday mornings. You are getting better and better at not being sad when I drop you off. This past Sunday you didn't cry one tear the whole time. Mommy was so very proud of you for being brave. In fact, I was so proud that I was the one who got teary-eyed! You love going on stroller rides and running around outside. It has been a very warm winter and we've been able to go outside at least 3 times a week most weeks. I love watching you run and play and grow. You are my precious angel!
Love,
Mommy
Daddy took these photos of you in the field behind our house. You were having so much fun running free!
I'll admit, it's been hard going back. I got so spoiled spending every hour of the day with my girls. To go from that to just a few hours with them is rough. Not to mention the additional physical and emotional drain a school day takes out of you. But I'm happy to report that it's just three weeks until spring break. Yay!!! I have one million pictures I want to post, but that will have to be another day. It's almost midnight and I need to get a couple hours sleep before Liv wakes up. I'm so happy to have derek back. He's been gone on two overnight work trips since I started back to school and we have been missing him. Ingrid was thrilled to have her daddy push her on the swing this afternoon.
We also took a stroller ride this afternoon, soaking up some sun. These pics are from a different day, but I had forgotten about them. Imagine that.
I love how you can see our house in the background on this one.
Dear Liv Riley,
Week 2
Week 3
Liv chilling with Gam
Elise bringing me a magnet 
Ingrid wanting to be in Ross's pocket
Beautiful house
Laughing and games
Friends
WINNING!!!!!!
I paired them with a sketch pad and some Disney stickers for instant creative possiblities.
Ingrid made her own valentine cards this year with a little help from....you guessed it...
Ingrid had fun stamping away. And she even took the artistic liberty to add a little finger painting to a few. I added some black Sharpie accents on some. A cute message inside and her v-day cards are finished!
