Ikea Visit!

After my Chicago girls weekend a couple weeks ago, Ben and I headed over to Cincinnati for the day to meet up with our good friends the Kruithof's, who were in town from Grand Cayman, and to make a quick stop at Ikea for a couple baby boy items.

It was so nice to see the Kruithof's, even if it was just for a couple hours - we miss them a lot!


After lunch, we headed over to Ikea and Lucy fell asleep in the car - we were hoping she would transition into the stroller and sleep a little while we shopped, but no such luck, she popped right up when I picked her up. All in all she did great, she loved shopping and trying out all of the home items. Although sometimes Ben and I were ready to move on and she wanted to stay and play with the furniture...


As you can tell from below, she knows who is boss!


We didn't get a ton of stuff, I was a little disappointed with the amount of time we spent there given that we ended up only getting a few items I had already staked out online... next time we'll know not to get sucked into walking through the entire store! The best item was a new cube book shelf for baby boys room - I'm excited to get this set up and get his room pulled together (more to come on that).

Last stop - the cafeteria. We couldn't leave without at least getting some french fries!

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!

Indoor Playground With Drew

Mom took me to the indoor playground this past week... it was a blast!


My friend Drew came to play at the park as well. He was down visiting me from West Lafayette... again... I think he has the hots for me or something... at least that's what I thought after he kept trying to hold my hand!


He was quite the gentleman though, and let me drive... even though I think my driving skills made him kind of nervous!


I hope he comes to visit again soon... I miss him already!

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.

On the Road Again - Blacksburg

We just returned from a 3 day trip in Virginia to visit Katy. Erin, Kristy and I made the 8-hr drive last Wednesday night - great for Lucy so she could sleep the whole way, not so great for the adults who stayed up most of the drive only to get 2-3 more hours of sleep upon arrival. Lucy did great most of the drive there and on the way back, reaffirming my stance that we will only travel 4+ hours if it is in the middle of the night. She fussed every once in a while, but luckily it was never more than a couple minutes.

I was a little apprehensive about going on vacation again because we were on a 2 week streak of amazing sleep in our home (rarely having tears when laying down for bed, and only one night time waking at 5am to eat) and I did not want to ruin this schedule! Fortunately, Lucy slept amazing while we stayed with the Miller's and besides being pretty fussy our first Monday back, has seemed to ease back in to her great sleeping schedule already (praise the Lord!)

We had a blast- saw Katy's school, where she works, drove through the hills of Blacksburg, saw where Dirty Dancing was filmed, ate at some amazing local restaurants and best of all laid around, watched friends and read gossip magazines... absolutely perfect. Katy also made us some amazing meals and was the perfect hostess! Again, Lucy went with the flow through all these plans and stayed flexible... she even stayed up till 9:30 one night, dancing the night away with Uncle Bbop:

A few other highlights from our trip:


Out on the town with all the girls:


Beautiful mountains! Beautiful girls :)


Snuggling with Aunt Katy in my adorable pea coat (a gift from Aunt Katy)!


Having fun with the camera by the New River...


When we drove to see where Dirty Dancing was filmed, it was snowing on top of the mountain! Lucy got all bundled up... (this is my favorite picture!)


We tucked the baby bjorn under my fleece for extra warmth!

IU Homecoming

This was my second trip to IU - there was a lot less people this time and a lot less spandex, but I still loved it! Mom forgot to take pictures of us tailgating, but we had a blast grilling out, playing corn hole and chatting with our neighbors... everyone thought I was soooo cute.

We didn't make it in for the football game, but I was OK with that... sounded kind of boring anyway.

On our way home, we stopped by Dad's fraternity house. Here I am with Rob and Ellen... they were a lot of fun to hang out with...


My first (and mom said my last) time in a frat house!


I didn't recognize a much hairier version of dad in this picture on the wall...


Mom and dad are grooming me to be a Hoosier some day... I'm ok with that..

Dedication Day

This past weekend, we dedicated Lucy at Grace. It was an amazing and special thing, Ben and I were both so thankful to be surrounded by family and friends who love Lucy so much.

From before Lucy was born, Ben and I have prayed that she would have a desire to know Jesus and learn to love him with all of her heart. This weekend was a chance for us to stand in front of our church to commit to doing our best at leading her in this direction. Cindy Parkman, the pastor of childrens ministry, emphasized that it will be much more about what Ben and I DO as parents, rather than what we say, which was a good reminder for me to focus on my relationship with Christ first... and then worry about being a good mom second. It can be easy to switch up that order when I want so much for everything to be perfect for my little baby girl.

Both of our families came to the service to watch Lucy get dedicated. It was amazing to have all of our loved ones, under one roof, worshiping together (something I don't think has happened since the wedding?!?!) - Ben and I both felt humbled that our precious little angel could do so much (bringing everyone together) without even knowing it.

As a reminder to ourselves... here is what Ben and I committed to that day:
1. We acknowledge that Lucy is a gift of God's love and grace to our family
2. We intend to prepare her for a lifelong relationship with Jesus Christ
3. We commit to model a compelled life that reveals God to this world and to Lucy

A few pics from the evening:

On stage with the other families


Praying for Lucy




Celebration back at our house!


So much love for such a tiny little girl!


Foot in Mimi's pocket


Love...

More great pictures and great friends

We traveled out to Cincinnati to visit Katie and Brent one last time before they move to Grand Cayman. We are so excited for Katie and Brent, but will miss them a lot! Even though they live 2 hours away now, we still visit with them on a regular basis, so we'll miss getting to see them as often. Fortunately, as soon as we heard the news, we booked a trip to visit them, so it won't be long before we get to see them again - in the Caymans! But unfortunately, that might be the last time we get to see them for over a year... sad.

We spent the day hanging out, eating at La Rosa's, watching the IU/Michigan football game, and going to Katie and Brent's going away party. Katie also just got a new camera so she got a ton of great shots of Lucy... so excited to have 2 good friends who can take awesome shots of the baby.

Eating at La Rosa's


Hey... that's not ruthie...


But, I'll still let him lick my face...


Wanting to explore...


Love this picture of her eyes!


And this one too!


Lucy was a little sleepy because she didn't nap that well so we didn't get many of her smiling, but Katie still got some great shots! Can't wait for her to take some good ones in the Caymans!

Haubstadt

A few weekends ago we traveled down to visit Kristy and see her new home (I'm a bit late getting these pictures up... been extra tired as Lucy's first teeth come in). We had a wonderful time visiting with Kristy, catching up, touring around Haubstadt, eating at Indiana's oldest restaurant - The Log Inn (family style, all you can eat fried chicken and sides... let's just say it was Ben's dream come true) and visiting with Rhonda, Nate and one of Lucy's future bf's - Matt.

A few highlights from the trip:

Getting ready to head out on the town


Snuggle time with my first baby


Play date with Matt! Trying to get them both to look at the camera...


Nope, not yet...


Almost...


There we go!