Lucy has discovered the joy of video taping herself via my iPhone. She loves to make videos of herself and then watch them... hmmm... maybe this is not the best thing to have taught her! Oh well, thought this video was pretty cute, it's long, so sorry - but I mostly post on her for myself anyway, and I liked the whole thing!
Showing posts with label 15 months. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 15 months. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Fourth of July - Holland (part 2)
On the actual Fourth of July we spent most of the morning packing up at the hotel. Lucy slept in till 9 so we had a late breakfast and then headed over to Ben's grandparents for their 60th anniversary party- a cook-out with Ben's aunts, uncles and cousins.
Our little firecracker, one year ago...
And now, all grown up! (but still just as bald... ok, ok, her hairs growing, you just can't see it in this picture!)
Thanks for my Fourth of July outfit Mimi! You got me one last year and this year... so I'm expecting something cute next year!)
Playing on the swing set at Great Grandma and Grandpa DeGraaf's.
Hanging out with two of my favorite guys at the cookout. Dad...
And Grandpa...
And let's not forget baby boy... he's hidden somewhere in there!
We headed home from the cookout, Lucy napped about 45 minutes in the car (even though she was exhausted and usually naps for 2 hours, I've found car naps never make it past the 45 minute mark). But instead of going straight home, we went over to Beth's for a Fourth of July cookout and to catch some fireworks. I forgot to snag any pictures there, but we had a blast and it was a great way to end our busy, fun filled, Fourth of July weekend!
Our little firecracker, one year ago...
And now, all grown up! (but still just as bald... ok, ok, her hairs growing, you just can't see it in this picture!)
Thanks for my Fourth of July outfit Mimi! You got me one last year and this year... so I'm expecting something cute next year!)
Playing on the swing set at Great Grandma and Grandpa DeGraaf's.
Hanging out with two of my favorite guys at the cookout. Dad...
And Grandpa...
And let's not forget baby boy... he's hidden somewhere in there!
We headed home from the cookout, Lucy napped about 45 minutes in the car (even though she was exhausted and usually naps for 2 hours, I've found car naps never make it past the 45 minute mark). But instead of going straight home, we went over to Beth's for a Fourth of July cookout and to catch some fireworks. I forgot to snag any pictures there, but we had a blast and it was a great way to end our busy, fun filled, Fourth of July weekend!
Fourth of July - Holland (part 1)
After picking cherries we continued on our way to Holland, where Ben's grandparent's cabin is. We had a great weekend hanging out with Ben's family, relaxing on the beach and touring Holland! Here are a few highlights from our trip...
After getting to Holland, we chatted with Ben's grandparents, met up with the family, and got to spend a little time on the beach. I was anxious to get back to the hotel to wash off all the camp gunk and I figured Lucy could use a nap, so we all took a shower/nap break back at the hotel. After the break we went to Russ's for dinner (a locally owned favorite of the Wehners) and then walked along the pier at the Holland State Park...
Lucy and Grandma watching the boats come in. This girl LOVES her grandma!
Uncle Nick showing Lucy around...
Walking on the pier with Dad...
Playing in the sand after we had just cleaned up at the hotel! Oh well, she had fun...
We spent most of the day on Sunday at the beach with a stop in the middle for a cook out with Ben's grandparents, aunt and cousins...
That night we walked around and ate dinner in downtown Holland. I have been to Holland several times but this was our first extended weekend and it was so neat to see other parts of the city besides the beach (don't get me wrong, I do love the beach!) It's an adorable town with lots of neat shops and lots of history too (Ben's parents met at college there so we got the scoop on all the places that were still around).
After dinner we toured Hope college, with Ben's dad, mom and brother Nick being our tour guides (all Hope Alumni). It was fun to learn about the campus and was especially nice for Luke as he will be going to Hope in the fall.
Of course, we made sure that Lucy didn't get a good look around - she will obviously be going to IU when she is ready for college.
After getting to Holland, we chatted with Ben's grandparents, met up with the family, and got to spend a little time on the beach. I was anxious to get back to the hotel to wash off all the camp gunk and I figured Lucy could use a nap, so we all took a shower/nap break back at the hotel. After the break we went to Russ's for dinner (a locally owned favorite of the Wehners) and then walked along the pier at the Holland State Park...
Lucy and Grandma watching the boats come in. This girl LOVES her grandma!
Uncle Nick showing Lucy around...
Walking on the pier with Dad...
Playing in the sand after we had just cleaned up at the hotel! Oh well, she had fun...
We spent most of the day on Sunday at the beach with a stop in the middle for a cook out with Ben's grandparents, aunt and cousins...
That night we walked around and ate dinner in downtown Holland. I have been to Holland several times but this was our first extended weekend and it was so neat to see other parts of the city besides the beach (don't get me wrong, I do love the beach!) It's an adorable town with lots of neat shops and lots of history too (Ben's parents met at college there so we got the scoop on all the places that were still around).
After dinner we toured Hope college, with Ben's dad, mom and brother Nick being our tour guides (all Hope Alumni). It was fun to learn about the campus and was especially nice for Luke as he will be going to Hope in the fall.
Of course, we made sure that Lucy didn't get a good look around - she will obviously be going to IU when she is ready for college.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Fourth Of July - Camping
We had planned a trip up to Holland, Michigan for the holiday weekend to hang out at the beach and see Ben's extended family. We weren't supposed to leave till Saturday morning, but since it's a 4 hour drive, I was eager to get up north and have as much down time as possible - so we decided to camp on Friday night!
Ben and I have enjoyed camping in the past, but this was our first time taking Lucy. She did great! All in all the camping experience was not that fun because it rained our entire trip up to the campsite so the campgrounds were extremely muddy and all of the wood was wet. Plus the actual campsite we stayed at was not that nice and the amenities were only so-so (i.e. no fire pit, not all sites had picnic benches, there was no gravel to drive on so cars kept getting stuck in the mud). Also, I think we will probably wait to try camping till Lucy is a little older next time - although she was a happy camper, it was a lot of work to get the tent set up, get the fire going and cook dinner and she couldn't really enjoy the things that make camping fun like roasting marshmallows and cooking hot dogs over the fire.
Here's Ben and Lucy setting up the tent...
Dinner! The fire took so long to make because of all the damp wood, but Ben worked hard and finally got some nice heat going!
Lucy and I spent a lot of time in the back of the car - it was much drier, less buggy and all in all a better place for mommy to sit
Especially after Lucy found the mud puddles...
That was fun to clean up.
We had planned on making breakfast the next morning but we didn't want to have to rebuild the fire and we were pretty ready to wash up and get out of the swamp, so we decided to go out for breakfast. This left us a little extra time in the morning before Ben's family got there so we made a pit stop to pick some fresh Michigan cherries..
This was a lot of fun and I loved the spontaneity of our morning, but I wouldn't recommend taking a 15 month old to pick cherries... she wanted to put each one in her mouth, which we normally wouldn't mind except the fact that these cherries had pits and we were nervous about her choking. Better to try a blueberry farm next time!
Ben and I have enjoyed camping in the past, but this was our first time taking Lucy. She did great! All in all the camping experience was not that fun because it rained our entire trip up to the campsite so the campgrounds were extremely muddy and all of the wood was wet. Plus the actual campsite we stayed at was not that nice and the amenities were only so-so (i.e. no fire pit, not all sites had picnic benches, there was no gravel to drive on so cars kept getting stuck in the mud). Also, I think we will probably wait to try camping till Lucy is a little older next time - although she was a happy camper, it was a lot of work to get the tent set up, get the fire going and cook dinner and she couldn't really enjoy the things that make camping fun like roasting marshmallows and cooking hot dogs over the fire.
Here's Ben and Lucy setting up the tent...
Dinner! The fire took so long to make because of all the damp wood, but Ben worked hard and finally got some nice heat going!
Lucy and I spent a lot of time in the back of the car - it was much drier, less buggy and all in all a better place for mommy to sit
Especially after Lucy found the mud puddles...
That was fun to clean up.
We had planned on making breakfast the next morning but we didn't want to have to rebuild the fire and we were pretty ready to wash up and get out of the swamp, so we decided to go out for breakfast. This left us a little extra time in the morning before Ben's family got there so we made a pit stop to pick some fresh Michigan cherries..
This was a lot of fun and I loved the spontaneity of our morning, but I wouldn't recommend taking a 15 month old to pick cherries... she wanted to put each one in her mouth, which we normally wouldn't mind except the fact that these cherries had pits and we were nervous about her choking. Better to try a blueberry farm next time!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Lucy 15 Months- Stats and Updates
Since I last posted an update on Lucy we've had a couple tumultuous weeks! Unfortunately Lucy had been sick for about a month and a half so we are just now entering a state of "normal" in our house. She went from having a cold/flu for almost two weeks to picking up another cold/flu, and somewhere in between got two ear infections! Poor girl! She spent most of those days with a paci, sleeping whenever she wanted, watching TV (something she normally isn't allowed to do) and hanging out in mom's arms. Anything to make my little girl feel better!
So as far as normal, I still don't have a good grasp on what a normal schedule looks like for us. With the weirdness of her schedule before the sickness, then the sickness, then two vacations after the sickness I have just been taking each day as they come and trying to watch Lucy's cues as much as possible. Some days she takes two naps, most days she takes one. Some days she seems cranky but doesn't want to sleep so she goes down for some much needed quiet time in her crib. Some days she sleeps a normal 7:30pm-7:30am schedule at night, some days we lay her down at 7:30 and she plays until 8:30 or 9. Hopefully within the next couple weeks (now that we are down with traveling for a bit) we'll get a better routine going.
Fortunately though much of the crankiness is gone and Lucy has been much less clingy to me. Although she still loves a decent amount of mommy time, it has been fun to see how she now also prefers her grandparents, Jadyn, Jordyn and Ben and will even sometimes choose them over me (something I'm very happy about!)
We have been working on a couple things I spoke with the doctor about in the past couple days. One problem I was having was Lucy's desire to snack all throughout the day and eat half her meal in the highchair and half her meals in my lap. Instead of this routine, I am now trying to have set meal times (difficult when her sleep is all over the map though) and only let her eat in her highchair or booster (difficult when we are on vacation though). So far we've had some success with this, but it has been taking a lot of reinforcement!
The other thing we've been working on is discipline. This is a whole new ball park for me and something I have been asking many of my other mommy friends about and reading lots of books about! It felt like such an abrupt change moving from baby-hood to toddler-hood, I definitely was not prepared. Fortunately, Lucy does not get into trouble a lot, and typically if she does do something bad I know it's time for a nap or bed time. My doctor suggested, and I agree, that at Lucy's age time outs can be somewhat difficult so if she does do something bad (i.e. hitting mommy out of anger) I get on her eye-level, tell her "NO NO NO" and then walk away from her for 30 seconds. So for right now, we are trying that - so far I've only had to do it once or twice, like I said Lucy just doesn't seem to be getting into too much trouble yet.
Two funny things that happened this past week that I want to remember are when Lucy sneezed and as Ben was reaching for a tissue, Lucy grabbed my shirt and wiped her nose with it (thanks luc! I wasn't trying to keep that clean or anything!) and when I was sitting in the family room I watched Lucy climb up the stairs. I thought it was funny she would leave a room that I was in (she usually likes to be close by) so I let her do her thing. A couple second later she came back down the stairs, and was running over to me with a paci in her mouth looking as happy as could be. Apparently she had snuck upstairs on a paci hunt and was proud of herself for finding one!
Other than that, Lucy's personality continues to blossom and I find myself laughing with her throughout the day. She is so adventurous and continues to love being outdoors. A few shots from the past couple weeks...
On our way home from a splash park day and visit to Mimi's
Playing in a box of oatmeal...
Splash park one evening with Jaydn and Jordyn...
15 month check up stats:
weight - 25.4 lbs, 85%
height - 32 in, 91%
head- 18.5in, 80%
So as far as normal, I still don't have a good grasp on what a normal schedule looks like for us. With the weirdness of her schedule before the sickness, then the sickness, then two vacations after the sickness I have just been taking each day as they come and trying to watch Lucy's cues as much as possible. Some days she takes two naps, most days she takes one. Some days she seems cranky but doesn't want to sleep so she goes down for some much needed quiet time in her crib. Some days she sleeps a normal 7:30pm-7:30am schedule at night, some days we lay her down at 7:30 and she plays until 8:30 or 9. Hopefully within the next couple weeks (now that we are down with traveling for a bit) we'll get a better routine going.
Fortunately though much of the crankiness is gone and Lucy has been much less clingy to me. Although she still loves a decent amount of mommy time, it has been fun to see how she now also prefers her grandparents, Jadyn, Jordyn and Ben and will even sometimes choose them over me (something I'm very happy about!)
We have been working on a couple things I spoke with the doctor about in the past couple days. One problem I was having was Lucy's desire to snack all throughout the day and eat half her meal in the highchair and half her meals in my lap. Instead of this routine, I am now trying to have set meal times (difficult when her sleep is all over the map though) and only let her eat in her highchair or booster (difficult when we are on vacation though). So far we've had some success with this, but it has been taking a lot of reinforcement!
The other thing we've been working on is discipline. This is a whole new ball park for me and something I have been asking many of my other mommy friends about and reading lots of books about! It felt like such an abrupt change moving from baby-hood to toddler-hood, I definitely was not prepared. Fortunately, Lucy does not get into trouble a lot, and typically if she does do something bad I know it's time for a nap or bed time. My doctor suggested, and I agree, that at Lucy's age time outs can be somewhat difficult so if she does do something bad (i.e. hitting mommy out of anger) I get on her eye-level, tell her "NO NO NO" and then walk away from her for 30 seconds. So for right now, we are trying that - so far I've only had to do it once or twice, like I said Lucy just doesn't seem to be getting into too much trouble yet.
Two funny things that happened this past week that I want to remember are when Lucy sneezed and as Ben was reaching for a tissue, Lucy grabbed my shirt and wiped her nose with it (thanks luc! I wasn't trying to keep that clean or anything!) and when I was sitting in the family room I watched Lucy climb up the stairs. I thought it was funny she would leave a room that I was in (she usually likes to be close by) so I let her do her thing. A couple second later she came back down the stairs, and was running over to me with a paci in her mouth looking as happy as could be. Apparently she had snuck upstairs on a paci hunt and was proud of herself for finding one!
Other than that, Lucy's personality continues to blossom and I find myself laughing with her throughout the day. She is so adventurous and continues to love being outdoors. A few shots from the past couple weeks...
On our way home from a splash park day and visit to Mimi's
Playing in a box of oatmeal...
Splash park one evening with Jaydn and Jordyn...
15 month check up stats:
weight - 25.4 lbs, 85%
height - 32 in, 91%
head- 18.5in, 80%
Blacksburg Virginia 2011
I have lots of catching up on the blog to do as we have been traveling the past two weekends, we went to Lucy's 15 month check up at the doctor and we find out the sex of the baby tomorrow! So lots of new posts to come... First up- we traveled to the great state of Virginia to visit with Katy and Brandon for a long weekend.
Lucy and I had been once before...
But this was Ben's first visit. I had to include the above picture from our last visit to not only show how little Lucy was when we visited last time but also to note how much she liked Brandon when we visited last time. Unfortunately, this time, she wanted nothing to do with him and was a little frightened every time he came in the room... sorry b-bop... maybe she'll turn around next time we see you!
Lucy did really great during the 7 hour drive, although we thought she'd sleep more, both times in the car she didn't fall asleep until 10pm (she normally goes to bed around 7:30 or 8pm). This made for a lot of entertaining on the way there since we left at 3:30, but fortunately, Lucy seemed pretty happy and only got a little cranky towards the very end when she was obviously over-tired.
We did make one pit stop for dinner at burger king on the way down...
Katy and Brandon had the perfect weekend planned, a lot of fun activities but a lot of down time as well. The first day we planned to do a hike, but while we were getting everything together we realized it might be best to lay Lucy down before leaving, so we walked around K/B's neighborhood and then had a picnic lunch on their front porch...
Lucy had fun trying to balance on their hilly neighborhood... she's not used to going up and down all the time!
I think one of my favorite things about K/B's house is their front porch. We happened to have amazing weather while we were there so we spent lots of hours sitting/eating/talking/relaxing on their front porch. It was perfect!
The boys also snuck in a quick tour of the Virginia Tech campus via the Miller's tandem bicycle. Love seeing these two grown men on a bike together...
After Lucy's nap we headed out for a hike. We hiked out for a mile to a gorgeous waterfall and then came back (although the out part took much longer because we took the scenic/rocky route). The waterfall was a perfect spot to take a break, for Lucy to play in (little pools in the rocks near the waterfall), and for the boys to swim... unfortunately our camera battery died so we only got a couple of shots on the way to the waterfall...
Ben carried Lucy the whole way!! I was impressed... although I did mention the fact that I was carrying baby 2 the whole time too :)
We ate at Cabo Fish Tacos that night, a short walk from K/B's house in dowtown Blacksburg and then I think everyone passed out pretty early since we had stayed up talking till 2 a.m. the night before!
The next morning we went tubing down the New River. This was one of my favorite activities because it was sunny and relaxing! And Lucy passed out on Ben's lap, making the ride even more relaxing!
That night we ate at Homeplace, an all you can eat, family style restaurant were the friend chicken, mashed potatoes, rolls, beans and corn are brought to your table until you say stop! This was a really neat place to visit, it was an old farm house turned into a restaurant and the food was great.
Our last day we just laid low, hanging around the K/B's apartment and packing up our things while Katy had to go to a baby shower for one of her friends. All in all we had a great time visiting and were so thankful for friends that enjoy having Lucy around as much as we do!
Lucy and I had been once before...
But this was Ben's first visit. I had to include the above picture from our last visit to not only show how little Lucy was when we visited last time but also to note how much she liked Brandon when we visited last time. Unfortunately, this time, she wanted nothing to do with him and was a little frightened every time he came in the room... sorry b-bop... maybe she'll turn around next time we see you!
Lucy did really great during the 7 hour drive, although we thought she'd sleep more, both times in the car she didn't fall asleep until 10pm (she normally goes to bed around 7:30 or 8pm). This made for a lot of entertaining on the way there since we left at 3:30, but fortunately, Lucy seemed pretty happy and only got a little cranky towards the very end when she was obviously over-tired.
We did make one pit stop for dinner at burger king on the way down...
Katy and Brandon had the perfect weekend planned, a lot of fun activities but a lot of down time as well. The first day we planned to do a hike, but while we were getting everything together we realized it might be best to lay Lucy down before leaving, so we walked around K/B's neighborhood and then had a picnic lunch on their front porch...
Lucy had fun trying to balance on their hilly neighborhood... she's not used to going up and down all the time!
I think one of my favorite things about K/B's house is their front porch. We happened to have amazing weather while we were there so we spent lots of hours sitting/eating/talking/relaxing on their front porch. It was perfect!
The boys also snuck in a quick tour of the Virginia Tech campus via the Miller's tandem bicycle. Love seeing these two grown men on a bike together...
After Lucy's nap we headed out for a hike. We hiked out for a mile to a gorgeous waterfall and then came back (although the out part took much longer because we took the scenic/rocky route). The waterfall was a perfect spot to take a break, for Lucy to play in (little pools in the rocks near the waterfall), and for the boys to swim... unfortunately our camera battery died so we only got a couple of shots on the way to the waterfall...
Ben carried Lucy the whole way!! I was impressed... although I did mention the fact that I was carrying baby 2 the whole time too :)
We ate at Cabo Fish Tacos that night, a short walk from K/B's house in dowtown Blacksburg and then I think everyone passed out pretty early since we had stayed up talking till 2 a.m. the night before!
The next morning we went tubing down the New River. This was one of my favorite activities because it was sunny and relaxing! And Lucy passed out on Ben's lap, making the ride even more relaxing!
That night we ate at Homeplace, an all you can eat, family style restaurant were the friend chicken, mashed potatoes, rolls, beans and corn are brought to your table until you say stop! This was a really neat place to visit, it was an old farm house turned into a restaurant and the food was great.
Our last day we just laid low, hanging around the K/B's apartment and packing up our things while Katy had to go to a baby shower for one of her friends. All in all we had a great time visiting and were so thankful for friends that enjoy having Lucy around as much as we do!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Happy Father's Day
We had a nice weekend celebrating Ben and both of our dads. We are always thankful that we live so close to family, but being able to see both of our dads on Fathers Day is a great reminder of how lucky we truly are. I'm so thankful Lucy will grow up knowing both of her grandfathers.
We did some shopping on Saturday and had planned on going for a picnic, but after a full day of rain we decided to stay in, so Ben picked KFC as his Father's Day Eve meal of choice. A few pics from us playing around this weekend:
Shopping at Target, Lucy decided to ride on the front of the cart...
Ben wanted to have a day of fun in a box leftover from a chair we bought...
Lucy did not like this idea...
So Ben had some fun on his own...
On Sunday we had Ben's family over for brunch and my family over for dinner. I forgot to snag a pic with Ben's dad, but here's a picture after dinner on Sunday night with my sister and my dad... not the best quality, but I'm still glad we grabbed it!
We did some shopping on Saturday and had planned on going for a picnic, but after a full day of rain we decided to stay in, so Ben picked KFC as his Father's Day Eve meal of choice. A few pics from us playing around this weekend:
Shopping at Target, Lucy decided to ride on the front of the cart...
Ben wanted to have a day of fun in a box leftover from a chair we bought...
Lucy did not like this idea...
So Ben had some fun on his own...
On Sunday we had Ben's family over for brunch and my family over for dinner. I forgot to snag a pic with Ben's dad, but here's a picture after dinner on Sunday night with my sister and my dad... not the best quality, but I'm still glad we grabbed it!
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