The Blandford Family: December 2012

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas 2012 Highlights

We had an amazing Christmas this year - starting with the Lacny family party on Saturday night, Christmas eve with my side (and a visit from Bill and Chris) and Christmas morning as a family, following by dinner with Bill, Chris and Grandma Grace. I have tons of photos from the busy weekend but am just posting a few favorites. As always it seems to busy when it is all happening at once, but that is also what makes it so much fun. Luckily, the holidays aren't ending for us as we are celebrating with Jake and Jill after the big upcoming nuptials. Merry Christmas!!!!

The Lacny family - and still growing with 2 more babies on the way in 2013

A family pic with Aunt Pat

Lucy and Amy, her go-to-girl at every family party

Lucy on her pile of gifts

Riding in Ashley's new Mercedes

The three "older" girls...so cute!!!!

And the newest addition doing what she does best

And with Aunt Katie

Lucy's new Bitty Baby - named Janie

Checking out Lucy's new princess castle from the Wennerstroms

Hugs with Papa Joe and Libby

Christmas morning - Santa was here!

Lucy ran down and said "I have the same bed as Abigail and Caitlin!"

A big deal in her world.

So much fun!

Joe's one request was another Hot Doug's t-shirt. Very easy to please in our house.

Lucy's new apron from Aunt Katie

A forgotten gift that I found hidden when I went to get our broom. We also remembered later tonight (Christmas) that we never put together one of Lucy's main gifts. A basketball hoop. It is still boxed up in garage. Woops!

Christmas Dinner

Love these photos with Great Grandma Grace

Last Christmas as a family of 3 :)

Happy 5th Birthday Abigail!

On Saturday we celebrated Abigail's 5th bday, and although we couldn't be there for very long, we wouldn't have missed Abigail's big day!!! We will be celebrating again in January with a trip downtown to the American Girl Doll store for a tea party :) Which sounds like a dream bday party for anyone turning 5. I can't wait to see the three girls together at the AD store for a tea party. Happy Birthday Miss Abigail!!!!!! Hope your day was the most amazing bday yet!

Happy Happy Birthday!!!!

Bday hugs

Saturday, December 15, 2012

What Lucy has been up to...

Lucy is up to so much these days! Figured it was a good time to share a few of them.

Lucy just recently learned all of her letters - not sure when this happened! Just this week, I have found her picking up letters (she has ones that stick to her bath wall) and her flashcards and she will tell me all the letters. She is really good at recognizing letters - and can tell me that L is for Lucy, M is for mommy, etc. She likes me to help her spell her name in the bath as well as spell Lauren, so I guess she is still hoping for a sister Lauren. She also knows all of her numbers, 1- 10. She has little number blocks and can find the number I ask for. She has also starting to master counting items in a picture. It used to be that she would skip all around the page and even when I would let her know there were 10, she would find 12 in the picture. She has started counting right to left, pointing to each item.

She also recently started singing along to songs - .not just singing a word or two, but entire verses. She can sing all of her school songs for me, sings nice and loud in music class or listens to my ipod in the car and sings along to her music. One day I asked her about school and she said "Luke said stop doing that!" I asked her what she was doing and she said "I was singing too loud."

She has this crazy memory and will bring things up that happened in the past - and it always happened "yesterday" so yesterday is general for the past in her world. She still brings up the skeletons from Halloween and that she didn't like walking on the rope at school. The other day we were walking downstairs and I had a bunch of bags on my arm and one knocked Lucy over. Every day she brings up how I kicked her down the stairs. I have to remind her it was an accident and that I didn't kick her down the stairs because I am sure she will tell her teachers that. She recalls every little event and person in her life - it amazes us.

Her favorite book is anything Curious George - especially Curious George Goes to the Hospital. We read it so much that I have it memorized and she does too because sometimes she will say the next sentence before I turn the page :)

One of her favorite things to do is ride her scooter these days. - She got her scooter for her 2nd birthday and never wanted to wear her helmet so we didn't venture outside. Once we got her to wear her helmet, she wants to go out every night on her scooter, take it to the park...everywhere We took it to the zoo for Zoo Lights last Friday and Joe and Lucy go around the blocks when he gets home from work and look at all the holiday lights.

She says the funniest things - like any 2-year-old.

- She will tell Joe and me "Good Job!" whenever we do something (like tell her a story, or finish a puzzle with her, etc.).

- She always suggests "how about we do this first, and that second," and will say "we made a terrible mess" if something spills or if she makes a mess. I am not sure where that comes from, because I have never said that to her. (She tells me it is from Super Why.)

- If I ask her a question, she will sometimes say "let me think about that."

She is still very much in her independence stage, which I am sure will last for a long time. She has to turn all the lights on, pick her own cereal box, pour her own milk, brush her teeth, get in the car seat herself, open the garage door, and on and on. Another new stage that I hope ends quickly is that she has the need to bring the most random toys/dolls with her when we leave a room or the house. She will NEED to bring her piggy bank in the car to go to school or carry a bag filled with the most random selection of toys up from her toy room for dinner, or will decide she needs a toy she hasn't seen in a year in her bed at night. She still likes to pick out her own clothes, but getting dressed has gotten much easier and I can usually do her hair these days too - so mornings are typically free of battles!

She loves school (really is the highlight of her entire week) and all of her classes. In addition to music class and gymnastics, she will be starting swimming in January. We have a new indoor swim school near our house that has 90 degree air and water, and kids go in without parents, which is a plus being pregnant! I am excited for her to start.

Lucy has a great group of friends at school - it is a small class of about 16 kids and not only do the kids get along great, but all of us parents do too. We had a potluck at her school last week (Lucy thought it was so cool to be at her school for dinner) and two birthday parties this weekend with her class. She will have many of the same kids in her class next year which makes us happy. We really love the small community of her school and how comfortable she feels. Luckily, she missed the cut-off to move to an elementary school at age 3, so she will go at age 4 and we just started our tours of schools and it is completely overwhelming. I might just have to home-school her.

St. Nick visited our house - and Lucy took one look and kept walking.

St. Nick should bring toys, not pjs!

New her pjs!

And snowman towel

Scooter-ing around the zoo

And the park

And, with about 13 weeks to go, Baby "Lauren" as I guess we can call her according to Lucy, is doing great. Although I know it will get harder in the next few months, I still really love being pregnant and will miss it. I am so used to feeling her moving and waking up to a bigger stomach every morning. She moves a ton and all of my doctor appts are as usual as can be, to the point that my doctor said I could come in less than they usually recommend for appointments. I guess that was until I look my glucose test last week, didn't exactly follow the fasting directions, failed the test and now need to see a nutritionist and go in for weekly tests :) OH LORD.

We are pretty much decided on a name, the baby's furniture is being delivered next week, and I feel very prepared for her arrival. We still need to buy a few big things - like a double stroller - and need to paint her room, but I am waiting until after the holidays to do anything baby-related. I am scheduled to deliver her on March 13th (on the waitlist) or March 11th, unless she decides to come earlier on her own. So everyone can plan accordingly :)

Have a great rest of the weekend!!!

Monday, December 10, 2012

More Libby Pics

Baby Libby (as she will be referred to in our house until she is about 2) is already 2 weeks old! We were excited to visit her this weekend, and she is still as tiny as ever and making life very easy for Beth and Rob :) For some reason I was expecting her to have grown so much in two weeks. Although I know Lucy was once about that size, I really don't remember it. Libby is so sweet, easy-going and pretty much perfect. Hopefully she is channeling all of her sweetness to her soon-to-be-cousin!

Sisters

Cousins - and learning to be gentle

I love that Lucy is smiling at Libby

Abigail has this big sister thing DOWN

And I guess Beth has this mom thing down too! And I envy her because she already lost most of her baby weight and I get to put it on for about 15 more weeks

And Lucy's first time holding another baby - she looks like she will enjoy helping me

Monday, December 3, 2012

Disney 2012!

We just got home from an AMAZING long weekend trip with my parents in Disney World. Being in Disney World with the grandparents is always going to be a special trip, but then you add all the Christmas decorations, Christmas music, a breakfast with the princesses, both sets of grandparents and Aunt Pam and Uncle Joe, amazing weather and our hotel room being right on the Boardwalk, and it was one of the most memorable trips we have ever taken. Thanks to my parents for EVERYTHING - we had so many great meals and Lucy was spoiled with attention and of course souvenirs over the weekend.

There is so much to share but highlights of the trip were:

- Our gorgeous room on the Boardwalk - we were able to walk to Epcot for dinner both nights and it made the weekend so relaxing having the restaurants, bakery and shops right below us. We had a great lake view and huge balcony so we were able to have Pam and Joe/Bill and Chris over each night (although I slept through the events of the last night which included a car tour of the resorts). The resort was one of the best we have stayed at.

- Our first day in Magic Kingdom was a highlight. We really haven't done much at MK since Lucy is just getting into rides, so it was so sweet to see her enjoy it. Lucy went on Dumbo with daddy and again with Papa, and LOVED "Its a Small World" ride. I think we did it two times that day. We also checked out the new Little Mermaid ride and Lucy of course loved it. So did my parents (see pic below, keep in mind it was just the two of them riding together.) We rode the carousel, Lucy got to meet Snow White, and my parents did the Haunted Mansion. I am sure my dad teared up a bit as that was always a first and last "ride" for our family as kids. He can get pretty sappy but now that I have Lucy I know why.

- Our Princess brunch on day 2 was THE highlight for Joe and me. Lucy not only got to meet her favorite princesses, she got to go on a "Princess Procession" two times and I think we all had tears in our eyes seeing how much she was looking up to the princesses and smiling. She couldn't believe she was holding Cinderella's hand :) Lucy got to hug and kiss the princesses and even left the brunch with a souvenir photo and kiss from Snow White that stayed on her face all day. Maybe the early brunch was a bit overwhelming, and maybe we did have a huge meltdown later that afternoon from all the excitement, but it was worth it.

- Our first night (Thursday) we visited Downtown Disney and Lucy napped, so we had a fun night just wandering around, shopping and had one of the best dinners at Bongo's. All of our meals were great on the trip, but that first night was my favorite because we had just started our trip and knew there was so much to look forward to.

- Lucy's love of Le Boufena, a live show we saw after our Italy dinner

- Riding Nemo four times over 2 days - it was a favorite of Lucy's

- Joe, Lucy and me watching the fireworks on our balcony the last night

- Watching Lucy spend time with her Nanas and Papas over the weekend. It meant so much to me!

Really, when I think about the wonderful weekend one of the first words that comes to me is relaxing, which really doesn't fit with a Disney vacation as they are usually pretty hectic. But, we really didn't try to fit too much in, never waited in lines, had a nice long break every afternoon during Lucy's nap, walked everywhere, and had nice dinners each night - Italy and France the last two nights. (Lucy and I missed France but I am sure having Pam/Joe and Bill/Chris at dinner was a highlight for my parents and Joe.)

Lucy, Nana and Papa at our hotel - first pic of the weekend

First ride - the carousel at Downtown. We opted for a seat, but Lucy moved up to a horse on day 2.

Drinks at Bongo's!

Lucy got this great souvenir from Beth, Rob and girls. These Snow White figurines were a staple at all 3 dinners and on the plane. I highly recommend figurines for kids on future trips. She had them singing, walking in lines, going to school, etc. Thanks Beth and Rob!