Christmas Clip

Here is a clip from Christmas Day - Delanie opening one of her many presents under the tree! For us, Christmas began a little after 6 am, when Delanie woke up. She was quickly fed, then we began opening presents. First off, let me say, being able to experience our first Christmas as parents was truely a wonderful, memorable experience. There was nothing like the feeling of watching Delanie's excitement and wonder as she progressed through the day. And, although she doesn't quite "get it" yet, Dave and I were still very excited to sneak around and play Santa after she went to sleep the night before.

Of all the gifts she opened, Delanie was most drawn to the books. She loves all books! She is so funny now, because she actually will sit down and "read" books, only occasionally nibbling on the binding. She uses lots of inflection in her voice and just talks nonstop, glances at pictures before turning pages. She is so fun to watch when she really gets into a book (this trait she gets from her Dad, not her mother!!).

After presents, we were able to take a nice walk with the dogs at some trails at the high school. Those poor dogs! The walk was their only gift this year, other than what Mamo sent them! But, they were as content as ever. We had pot roast for an early dinner, played with toys some more. We drove out to a cool light display - the homeowner synchronized all his lights to a local Christmas radio station. We sat out on the grass and got lost in the beauty of the Christmas lights for a while. Once we got home, it was an early bedtime for all.

A big thank you to all our generous friends and family - it took until mid-afternoon to open all of the presents we received! We had such a wonderful Christmas as a family, but missed everyone we did not get to see. Christmas celebrations will continue until mid-January, as our plans to see family spans over several weekends.

We hope everyone was as blessed with a wonderful Christmas Day! We look forward to catching up with so many people in the coming days!

Christmas Day

A picture of me in front of the Christmas Tree

A picture of me crawling AWAY from the Christmas tree! Thank you Caleb for the bib!

Here I am reading one of the many great books I received... I love books!

I enjoy playing with my new Care Bear's nose! He is as big as me!

Christmas Morning

Here is a picture of Daddy and I coming down the stairs on Christmas morning.

I started the morning by exploring in my stocking of course!

Dancing with Daddy in our pajamas!

This is my face upon opening the gift from Great Aunt Kathleen!! The stuffed dog did not make the best first impression, but has since grown on me!

First Presents!

The first of what will likely be a string of posts of Delanie's first Christmas! We opened gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Blatchford and Aunt Kate on Dec 22. Delanie loves paper - newspaper, tissues, etc - so opening gifts wasn't a huge stretch for her!

Dancing Queen

On Friday, we had a small open house for close friends and family. Here is some video of Delanie and Mommy warming up before guests arrived!

How Time Flies!

December has been a busy month for us, thus far. We have been rushing to get Christmas shopping done when we are not getting the house ready for some renovations or attending one of many events we seem to have this month.

That said, this will be another "short but sweet" post from us! As you saw in our last post, Delanie is crawling! And, as you can tell by the pictures, every piece of furniture, every pillow, every storage bin has now become a barricade to keep her in one area. The whole "open floor plan" idea was obviously not developed by a stay-at-home mom of an 8.5 month old!

Delanie is really developing a humorous personality now! She makes silly faces all the time. She is currently enthralled with sticking out her tongue and making mumbling sounds. She also loves to make the messy motorboat sounds that result in peas all over the person feeding her - usually Mommy. She takes her socks off EVERY time she is in her carseat, and proceeds to chew on them and make noises through the material. Just today, she has learned how to click her tongue, so laughs at the noise it makes.

Last weekend, we went to a beautiful wedding. Delanie did lots of dancing with family, and outlasted most of us by going the whole day without a nap! She loved watching the other kids play on the dance floor!

We are turning the bonus room into a more kid-friendly playroom. We have been
clearing out the room and painting before a contractor could put in some built ins. The room is starting to come together now, but I think our timing was off, because we still don't have the tree up!

On The Move!

Delanie began crawling on Friday! And boy, can she move! She is fascinated with a floor lamp in the family room, which she grabs hold of and tries to drag across the wood floors. She also loves Daddy's toys - electronics, remotes, newspapers, etc.

8 Months Old!

As I stand here typing this blog update, I think about how many new things I can do since I last updated my blog...

I am really really close to crawling now! I am very excited about the prospect of moving FORWARD, as I seem to be able to go sideways, backward, and even do a 360. Mommy and Daddy keep demonstrating for me. But, part of me also would just rather start walking, as I have learned how to balance on my feet and hands, I just can't get fully upright yet.

Mamo sent me a beautiful quilt she made for me. It has all these brain-boosting colors that are fun to look at! This weekend was a busy one, though, so the quilt didn't get too much use. We had lots of errands and chores to do - apparently Daddy thought it was time to baby-proof the house (and ruin all the possible fun I could have with the contents of the kitchen cabinets).

I am starting to get the hang of chewing food, so Mommy makes me try practically everything on her plate. The past two weeks have included blueberries, asparagus, bread, bananas, cherries, peas and graham crackers.

Mommy and Daddy told me I had to put new bath towels on my Santa list - this picture is evidence why. I am just too big for the infant towels, and it is too cold in December to air dry! I still enjoy my naked time, its just shorter than it was in the summer. As far as my Santa list, I keep trying to think of stuff I want besides newspaper.

Another new trick I have learned is taking off my socks. I especially like to take both of them off and chew on them in the car. The other day, when Mommy and I went grocery shopping, I pulled one off in the parking lot and threw it on the ground (I figured we could pick it up later). Well, Mommy didn't notice until we got to the Bakery. So, we put all the groceries back, ran out to the parking lot and retrieved my pink sock. We went back into the store. By the time we got back to Bakery, I was back down to one sock
again. Mommy should have learned the first time!

Its almost time for me to go to bed (which is a whole new experience now that I can sit up on my own, btw). I want to close out with this picture of me in the sweater Granny bought me. I love how warm and cuddly this pink sweater is, and I really like the extra room at the top of the hood, it makes me look like one of Santa's elves (or a baby unicorn)!

Love to all and happy holidays!

Laniebug

Gobble Gobble!

After a very short work/daycare week, we were happy to spend a long Thanksgiving weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Blatchford, along with Aunt Kate and Tristan.

Thanksgiving Day was wonderful, we enjoyed spending time with family. Delanie was able to eat some of the foods we were eating for Thanksgiving dinner - sweet potatoes and green beans!

In terms of development, Delanie is on the verge of crawling. She is able to lunge forward to grab something, land on her knees then scoot back into a sitting position. She makes her way around the entire room by doing this, but never actually crawls on her hands and knees. It reminds me of a weeble wobble - she won't fall down!!

Over the weekend, Dave and I also got some time to ourselves. We went to the movies and the mall for a little shopping. It was great to have the help with the baby!

We have so much to be thankful for this year - with the addition of Delanie Ann Blatchford to our lives being #1 on our list! But also, our health and our supportive and loving families and friends.

Holiday Photo Shoot

We had our family photos done yesterday, so I am sharing the ones of Delanie by herself. The family photos will be in our Christmas card, so we can't share those yet!

It has been a few weeks since we have recorded anything of substance, but life just got in the way! We have had some ups and downs over the past two weeks, but are excited to have some time together as we celebrate Thanksgiving.

Last week, Delanie and I went to our first aqua babies class. It was so much fun! It is a water aerobics workout for mom, set to nursery rhymes and songs, with interactions with baby to match both. Delanie went under water for the first time and did fantastic! Some of the infants were even swimming several feet underwater, but we're not quite ready for that!

Delanie has also become VERY vocal over the past two weeks. Daily reports from daycare now include comments such as, "Does Delanie growl like a monster at home?" Dead serious. She says dadada when she looks at Dave, although she doesn't stop at two syllables. And she also calls me dadadada!

Delanie has 6 large teeth and her hair is starting to grow out. She doesn't crawl yet, but she can type:7i8 kiul uikmo;pmo lnp,p' iopko0,p

She does go from sitting to kneeling, which is what she did just now to lunge
for the laptop.

As for Dave and I, we are doing great! Dave turned 30, and we celebrated with a dinner date out. LAst weekend, we got some time out for a dinner date and drinks with friends.

We hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving! Enjoy the pics of our little elf!

Extra Extra!

Read all about it! Some video of Delanie reading today's paper!

Happy Halloween!

Here are some pictures of our 'lil pumpkin on Halloween! She had two costumes, and it is a toss up as to which one she was cuter in!


The first picture is of Delanie, dressed as Tinkerbell. She had a lot of fun chewing on the wings of this costume!

Then, we switched her up and put her in a pumpkin costume.

Now, Delanie's first Halloween was pretty uneventful for us. She has been sick since mid-Oct. We kept thinking she was returning to her ol' self, but then her fever would spike again or she would get sick and we would start all over. So, we had to cancel our Halloween celebration with friends and our plans to go Trick Or Treating with Delanie's cousins, Skylar and Jayson.
Instead we stayed home and handed out candy to only about five groups of kids. But, the highlight of our evening is when I said "kid" Delanie parroted the word back to me! She did it two seperate times, but of course, would not do it on cue.

We hope everyone had a wonderful, safe Halloween! To all the people we canceled plans on - we'll see you next year!

7 Months Old!

Here is some footage of me at 7 months!

DOG!

That's right - Delanie said DOG! It became indistinguishable from all other dadada babble on Friday!! And she has said DOG several times a day since, all in reference to, well, dogs! I feel like I have to capitalize the word, since when she says DOG she puts so much effort and concentration into the OG sound and it only comes out perfect (well perfect to people hung up on pronouncing words correctly)after a few tries!

Below, possible evidence as to why DOG was the first word - she loves her furry friends! She was getting whipped by Kona's tail. We started to move the dog, but realized that she has giggling uncontrollably every time the tail landed on her face. So, like any other good parents, we grabbed the camera instead of the dog!

Fun at the Museum!

Last week, Delanie had a playdate at Marble Children's Museum (the merger of former Playspace and Exploris). Delanie's three friends came - Caleb (5 mo), Charlie (3 mo) and Elizabeth (2 mo). Incedentally, all 4 babies were born over 9 pounds!

The babies had the non-walker section of the museum all to themselves (they may have intimidated all other babies with their size)! Delanie and Caleb did most of the playing, while Charlie enjoyed the fishtank and Elizabeth enjoyed Momma's arms.
After the museum, we had some (limited) adult time over lunch. It
was a nice day for both babies and moms!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

A growing number of people - family AND strangers - have commented on how similar Delanie and I look. Here are a few comparison shots.

6 Months Old!

I am 6 months old now! I spent that milestone on an airplane, so I am just now getting time to give you an update.

I had my 6 month appointment on Tuesday (my parents' 3 year anniversary BTW). The nurse measured me at 28 inches and 20 lbs. The doctor confirmed that I am still above the 97th percentile. She said that Mommy is raising a ginormous baby and that at this point, they can pretty much predict that I will always fall above the 50th percentile for height. Seeing as both my parents are vertically challenged, this is welcome news for me. The doctor also said I continue to be very proportionate, despite the fact that a Spanish-speaking woman in the waiting area referred to me as "gordita."

I have been dealing with some eczema, so the doctor took another look and can't quite tell why I am all bumpy. So, I will need to see an allergy specialist to run some tests.

So far, I am enjoying my 6 month mark. I got my two top teeth at the same time right around Oct 1. I have started chewing on Cheerios, once I can get those little guys in my mouth!

Sitting up is still my favorite, although I don't resist tummy time quite so much anymore. I am so good at flipping from back to tummy that I do it in my sleep 3-4 times each night, but wake up screaming and confused. I have increased my vocabulary to lots of fun consonant sounds, like "dadadadada" and "bababababa" and "dodododo." Most fun for me though is the motorboat sounds I make with my lips and tongue. I can now do them with food in my mouth or when crying!

Well, thats it from me this month!