10 Months

I'm a little late getting this up, but we had a lots going on last week! Lucy is 10 months now, and too close to a year for comfort! She continues to grow and change every day and seems to be a whole new person every week. This month she worked on mastering walking - which she now is great at, has been working on her sign language - getting better at "more" and "all done", and has picked up some new dance moves...


We just got a blu ray player in the family room and so most days we crank up the music and get down to the Sesame Street channel... I'm glad Lucy doesn't judge her mom's dancing skills yet.

Sleep has been great this month, Lucy had a minor cold that kept her up a little more than usual, but other than that she has been sleeping 12-13 hours at night and still take two 1-2 hour naps during the day (or more! today she slept for 3.5 hours in the afternoon... it was AMAZING!)

She is still nursing 4 times a day, but I can tell she is really uninterested in the lunch and dinner time nursing sessions, so I think those might be the first to go... it's crazy to think that I am going to be weaning her soon, it really feels like this year has gone by way too fast!

As mentioned before her personality has really began to blossom, Lucy has been so much fun to play with this month. She loves to walk around babbling and screaming, and laughs all the time now. She has started showing more preference for me, but likes to scream and yell for her daddy to come play with us if he's not in the same room. Despite her preference for me (which again usually shows up when she's tired or hungry) she still has been great to drop of at the nursery and with family, and everyone says she is such a happy baby while we are away. She loves to nod her head yes and shake her head no when I say "yes" or "no", and is still working on words - I think she is saying mama and dada about us, but again, not totally sure here... also, I think she is making out dog and woof sometimes... but other days not, so who knows!

And besides dancing, another one of my favorite things Lucy developed this month was a love for reading... up until this point, we have tried to read to Lucy and she has wanted nothing to do with it- wanting to get out of our laps and be on the move. But this month she has started to actually bring books over to us and will sit in Ben's lap while he reads her several books at a time. It is absolutely precious.


Lastly, another favorite (I have a lot of favorites this month!) Lucy has started giving kisses, she first would only give them to her baby doll, but now Mommy and Daddy sometimes get a kiss every once in a while too- I love those sloppy wet lips on my cheek! Speaking of baby dolls, they are still probably her favorite to play with and get drug around the house with her, get lots of kisses, and sometimes get rocked and hugged while we are dancing... precious.

A few more 10 month pictures...


Such a ham


Looking for books while we were taking pictures


This is a popular face... Lucy loves to growl and scream all day long... such an intense little baby (wonder where she gets that from???)

2010 Recap

I have the worst memory, so a big reason for me keeping this blog is to remember. That way, if someone says to me 10 years from now "Remember when..." I can physically come back to this blog and say... "Oh yes! I do!" In keeping with that idea, I wanted to do a 2010 recap, so I can remember the highlights from last year (in case I don't have time to read the entire blog to jog my memory)... so without further ado, here are the top things that stood out to me about last year:

1. Our first baby was born! Almost everything else on the list is a result of this happening, so obviously this was a huge, life changing thing. This probably won't be something I'll forget, but it wasn't something I could leave off the list either!

2. I quit my job to stay at home with Lucy - after 2 years at Ipsos and 1.5 years at Compendium, this was my first time not working since college and I love it! This is the best "job" I've had, by far!

3. I quit volunteering with the youth group - after 2.5 years serving the high school students of our church, I followed a tug on my heart to serve with an inner city ministry. God led me to Shepard Community Center where I am currently getting plugged in. Ben continues to volunteer... he will be coming up on his 3 year anniversary this February!

4. EVERYONE MOVED! I think this was God's train of thought on this one... hmm, let's see, Jess is going to have a baby, quit her job, and quit volunteering this year, that doesn't seem like enough change... let's have all of her community leave her as well. Well, I guess I can't be certain of what the reasoning is, but this was literally the year of friends moving away. 12 of our close friends moved this year, which obviously impacted us a lot. Of course we have missed them all dearly, but I do believe God has been using this time to help us grow closer as a family, connect deeper with our extended family and give more to our church and community... but I can't say that I've had that positive perspective the whole time!

5. The above also led to the end of a Bible study that we had been in for a little over 2 years (7 of the 15 members moved) which opened a door for me to be in a Bible Study with other mothers with young children and Ben to be in a Bible Study with other young business men.

6. Family changes - Ross got married in Vail and our first niece on the Wehner side was born, Addy Jo

And because no post would be complete without a picture of Lucy...

We're speeding in to the new year!

A Mother's Love

I was nursing Lucy and had her all snuggled in to my chest and I started thinking what I would do if I had 24 hours left to live... depressing, I know, but the author of a book I am reading mentioned the topic and so it got me thinking. At first I tried to think of what activities I would do - go to a beach, go boating, go skiing, etc, but then I realized if I really truly only had 24 hours left I'd want to see and spend time with all of my family and friends - forget trying to go anywhere! And that made me realize I'd especially want to hold and snuggle the little bundle that was currently in my lap. In fact, I decided no matter what I did in my last 24 hours, I'd want to hold Lucy as many of those 24 as I could.

At that very minute, as I was lost in thought, Lucy swung her arm back and slapped me on the cheek... I guess that's just how she says I love you too mom.

A parent's love for their child is such a crazy thing to me, and something I don't think I really understood until becoming a mother myself. How many other people would I be willing to give up my life for the minute I meet them, or give my life savings to after only knowing them for a couple seconds? Not very many... but for this smiling face, I think I'd do just about anything.

Play Date with Drew

I went up to visit my good friend Drew a couple weeks ago. He is much older and wiser than I, but I'm slowing picking up some things from him.

Awhile ago, we could barely even play together... (Lucy 4 months, Drew 10 months)


But now we share and sometimes even fight over toys. Drew even shared his new Christmas present! Although it took some explaining from him for me to understand.


He and Katy thought me a new trick. When you bring your hands together everyone seems to gets really, really excited... I think I'll keep doing that a lot.

Wrestling with Dad

Christmas Day

Now for even more Christmas! Ben and I opened presents just the two of us on Christmas Eve... I want the tradition to be for us to open presents as a family on Christmas morning, but Ben was really eager to open presents (am I married to a 5 year old?) and we had to go straight to the Wehner's Christmas morning, so I figured it was ok to open presents a little early until Lucy is more aware of what's going on.

Ruthie got to open a present too!


Christmas morning we woke up and headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house for MORE presents... as if this girls needs anything at all! I take a breakfast casserole over every year and Grandma Wehner made some pancakes.

We re-did the Wehner family high chair for Mom Wehner's present - crazy to think that Lucy is sitting in the same chair that her daddy sat in 25+ years ago!

Lucy and Addy Jo played for a bit while we got the presents organized. I just loved watching the girls play together - they would climb all over each other, "chase" each other through the kitchen, and "share" toys.


This is the closest I could get to the two of them looking... there were much more interesting things going on that morning!


Lucy loved the boxes and wrapping paper - I didn't think she'd really know what to do, but she actually helped unwrap the presents a bit, and even got excited about a couple toys.






One of her favorite presents was a baby doll... I think she liked that there was someone else out in the world who was just as bald as she is :)


After presents, Lucy took a nap and some of us went for a Christmas morning walk. Lucy napped so well, we actually ended up having to leave as soon as she woke up to make it to Papa Duke and Grandma Roxanne's house for even more presents (can you see why I was so exhausted!)


Waiting patiently with Daddy while others open presents...


My very own race car! Watch out Danica Patrick...


More cousins to play with - Lucy loves playing with other kids... it's funny, if we're in a room with adults and children, she automatically goes to play with the other kids... like she knows they'll be more fun to play with


After Papa Duke's we headed back to the Wehner's for dessert and to visit with Ben's grandparents... then finally home, exhausted, and thankful for so much family and so much love!

Merry Christmas, Again!
(from the pirate santa?)

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas!


Christmas was busy as usual this year - we spent Christmas eve with my mom and her family, then Christmas day visiting with Ben's family and my dad. All in all Lucy did great, maybe even better than me! By the end of the two days I was exhausted and didn't want to even think about strapping Lucy in the car seat one more time or setting up the pack n play again... but alas, we recovered! Some highlights from Christmas Eve...

Lucy woke up and we headed to Mimi's to open presents in our Christmas PJ's. Lucy got a new sled (and lots of toys) from Mimi! Which we unfortunately didn't get to use before all the snow melted... so hoping we get more snow soon.


Mimi putting a little christmas decoration on Lucy's (still bald) head...


Someone didn't get the memo that you were supposed to wear CHRISTMAS pj's :)


After opening presents we took Jadyn and Jordyn to my grandparents for the annual grandkids lunch, but we headed home with Lucy instead of going to lunch because it just seemed like too much to fit in with a baby. We also wanted to make it to church so we headed home for a nap and got ready for the 1pm church service. After church we headed to Nanni's and Poppi's for dinner and more presents!

Lucy - all dressed up in her Christmas dress from Mimi!




Quick change into PJ's (can you tell we had lots of Christmas outfits to get through in two days) and time to open presents! Lucy got books and a blanket from her cousins... and money for college from Nanni and Poppi... glad we can start saving early!