Ivy and Mommy take Daddy shopping

This photo is for Jeannie and Roxane and the others who requested that I get in front of the camera rather than hide behind it.  It seems as if I'm wearing the same LaCrosse Oktoberfest sweatshirt from 1991 and "pritty kitty" pajama bottoms in most of the photos of Ivy and me and, believe me, no one besides my immediate family wants to see that sight.  Poor Ivy.  She must think that I have no taste.

Kevin, Ivy and I ventured outside the house today and went to... Target!  We started planning for the outing yesterday afternoon and last night I made a detailed chart of potential oufits for her before settling on a gorgeous little red velour jumpsuit and black mushroom hat.  I packed up a diaper bag containing approximately 3 dozen diapers, 3 books, 2 toys, 1 flannel blanket, 1 pacifier (which she doesn't use, but just in case she decided to use one in the middle of Target), a quart of hand sanitizer and a jumbo tube of Desitin (thanks, Char!) for our half-hour expedition.  I decided at the last minute to leave a change of clothes at home.  We dressed her in new adorable baby boots and a sub-zero baby parka and I wrapped a shawl around her face before we dashed outside into the cold December afternoon.   I sat in the backseat with Ivy and observed all her moves, which were very few because she was so overdressed and securely fastened in her car seat.

An aside: going to Target in the middle of a weekend day or at noon on any weekday is my definition of agony.  I often seem to be in the same aisle with a mother who always seems to be screaming, "Jakey, do you need to go POOP?" or a parent who reminds his/her child that s/he has already received one spanking today and that s/he is going to get another one when they get back to the car or a mother who finds her child to be even more adorable when the urchin continually throws the holiday-themed cookie jars in aisle 11 to the floor.  I become very uppity & pretentious during these moments and often call my sister on my cell phone and hiss, "guessssss where I am?  Just listen to this..."  And she always humors me and tells me that I'm right because that's what sisters do.  I'm sure that I'll pay for my impatience ten-fold and will probably have my own breakdowns in the middle of Target in the years to come.

Ivy fell asleep the minute we got to Target and was an absolute lamb.  She woke up enough for us to snap a few photos of her (yes, we brought the camera to document the trip), and totally made us look like pros.  What a good sport - what a good girl:

Some of you might be wondering why I have so much time to write this very long blog post.  Because she's sleeping!   For the 2nd night in a row Ivy has fallen asleep at 7:00 pm.  She woke up only once for a bottle last night and then slept until nearly 8:00 am this morning.  We hope that this is the beginning of her transition to Madison time and Kevin and I are especially thankful that we were able to get a little more sleep last night.  She continues to amaze us and we marvel at everything she does.