Thursday, October 28, 2010

Delaney's getting a baby cousin

Well, the cat's out of the bag now...Delaney is getting a little cousin this spring! Auntie Jess & Uncle Nick are expecting their first bundle of joy June 1st (Nick's birthday). We are all beyond excited for them! They have wanted a baby so much, we couldn't be happier for them! I'm so excited that our babies will be so close in age and be able to grow up together! D loves her other cousins, so I know she will love this one too!

In other news, we're gearing up for our first Halloween! We are planning to go to Boo at the Zoo tonight on a date with Parker, so we're looking forward to that. Delaney has a bit of a cold, so please think good thoughts for her that it doesn't evolve into the horrible pneumonia her cousins have been battling. So far, it appears to be just a cold!

I'm sure the camera will be on overdrive this weekend, so check back soon for pictures!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Playdate Picture Story

We had another super fun playdate last Sunday! Reed was kind enough to host, so we all traveled up north to Omaha for some brunch, football, and fun! It was a wonderful way to spend the day, and we got some great pictures too of the three amigos.
First, we attempted to get a couple pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes while they were all awake and relatively happy. Let's just say this photo shoot lasted all of 2 minutes.
Aren't they cute? Reed is Tigger, Delaney is a cow, and Parker is a dinosaur. Quite the little trio! I can't wait to watch these Halloween pictures change over the years!
After the pictures, the kids played. They get along really well. It's so fun to watch them interact. Obviously here, the boys are more into the football while Delaney is enjoying some big boy toys! She loved that thing, it may appear on her first Christmas list.
Then, Delaney discovered the game, and we all know how much that little girl loves to watch football! I love the boys' expressions in this picture. Priceless!
Isn't this funny! Reed was demonstrating his mad crawling skills, and Parker thoroughly enjoyed it! I can't imagine it will be like when all three of them are completely mobile. Parker is moving these days, but not quite up to Reed's speed. Delaney remains immobile, which is fine with us!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

7 Months

Our little stinker is 7 months old today! How is that even possible?!? She was even featured on KETV Channel 7 in Omaha this morning in honor of her 7 month birthday! Time seems to be just flying by these days, and I think she gets more fun all the time! Every new age is my favorite, and this one is no exception!
Delaney has developed quite the little personality. She has a great sense of humor and thinks it's pretty funny when we laugh at her. I have a feeling she may be an entertainer that thrives as the center of attention. Her favorite thing to do these days is to stick her tongue out and "zerbert". It's cute now, but I hope she grows out of it later in life or we will have some trouble! She loves to kick and squirm about, but and is very close to rolling to her tummy. I know she could roll all over the place, but for now she's content to stay immobile for a while. That's fine with us! She loves to splash in the bathtub, and is getting pretty good at it too! She still prefers to stand versus sit, but she will sit now on her own for several minutes. If she gets distracted or startled, she still tumbles over from time to time.
She's eating more and more all the time. She now eats cereal, fruit, and veggies twice a day! Right now her favorites are the veggies, especially peas and green beans. She also really enjoys pears. She absolutely hates peaches, and is not a big fan of bananas. She might be like me and prefer veggies to fruit, we'll see! With all this eating, she seems to be growing more and more every day.She's weighing in right around 20 pounds and by my measurements is about 26 inches long. She 's firmly in size 9 month (or 6-12 month, depending on the brand) clothes and size 3 diapers. I thought we'd be in the size 3s for a while, but now I'm not so sure!
She still has the bluest eyes in the world that just sparkle! I think they're a perfect combination of mine and Craig's. She's got his marble effect and the dark outline from me. Her hair is growing back so fast. It's coming in really nice right now. I'm still guess she may end up a strawberry blond, as I still shines a little toward the red side when out in the sun. It does seem to be lighter than her dark newborn hair. I'm still not holding out much hope for a full-on blond though. I think it will have some curl in it too, which I think will be adorable!
We've had many firsts this month, of course! A couple weeks ago, she had her first ride in the big girl carseat. We have moved on to the convertible carseat. Her infant carrier was just getting too heavy for me to maneuver. She went to her first live football game a couple weeks ago up in Tekamah! She handled the noise and commotion fairly well, but she may have been overstimulated as she didn't sleep that well that night. She made her first trip to the pumpkin patch last Friday, and of course loved it! She was on TV for the first time this morning! She's just a busy girl!
She's still a good sleeper. Last night she slept from 8:30pm to 7am, which is her record to date. I can't believe she slept that long. I hope that this might be a new trend, but it does make me sad as it shortens our evenings together. She has been consistently sleeping through the night for quite some time now, so on the rare occasion she gets up it really gets rough on us. She was starting to do that more often, and then we figured out that we weren't feeding her enough cereal and other stuff. Now, that she's eating more of that she's back to sleeping like an angel. We are so blessed!
Delaney loves her daddy and her puppy! She absolutely just lights up whenever she seems on of them and gets to excited! First thing in the morning is still her best time of day. She's usually laying in her crib talking and looking around, and we'll go in and tell her good morning. She gets a huge grin on her face and starts flailing about. It's the best moment of the day! We have loved the last 7 months, and we wouldn't change it for the world!

Friday, October 15, 2010

A day at the pumpkin patch

Delaney and I spent the beautiful fall morning at the Roca Berry Farms Pumpkin Patch with Delaney's daycare friends. Holly was planning to take all the kids today, and I decided I would be very sad if I missed Delaney's first trip to the pumpkin patch. I took the morning off work and tagged along. It was so much fun! We couldn't have asked for a better day, it was just gorgeous! Obviously, this was a trip to take pictures, so here are my favorites! The sun was really bright, so Delaney had a hard time finding me sometimes. I think they still turned out pretty cute! She loved the hay, and she was infatuated with the pumpkins! I can't wait to make a trip to the pumpkin patch an annual tradition. I won't even rule out another trip this year!

Delaney with her prized pumpkin!
D chilling in a pile of hay!
Big girl sitting on top of a hay bale, she thinks she's pretty cool!
Delaney & I sitting on a hay mountain. I really didn't try to pose, but it looks kinda cheesy!
\Looking pretty with some colorful mums!

Delaney in the pumpkin patch!

Delaney... 6 month pictures

Delaney... 6 months old

Monday, October 11, 2010

Fall Fun

We made another trip home last weekend to celebrate Grandma Jaccie's birthday. We took advantage of the beautiful weather, and took Delaney to her first football game Friday night. We attended the Tekamah-Herman Homecoming game against Fort Calhoun. Delaney must have been good luck because the Tiger won and more than likely clenched a playoff berth. Doesn't she look cute in purple?
Saturday night we all went out to dinner at the Olive Garden for Jaccie's birthday. I was so excited about the restaurant choice because I absolutely love Olive Garden's Black Tie Mousse Cake dessert. It is sooo yummy! I wanted a wedding cake made out of that stuff, but it wasn't exactly in our budget. Anyway, I introduced the entire Mencke family to the wonder that is Black Tie Mousse Cake. It might as well have been my birthday!
Sunday we spent some time with the Bryant family up in Tekamah. Grandma Les found this super fun contraption for Delaney at Once Upon a Child. I think it was money well spent, Delaney loved that thing. She has different "exersaucers" everywhere she goes, home, daycare, both grandparents house. She's a lucky girl!
Tonight was bath night, so I figured we were due for a couple bath pictures. She loves her bath these days. Squirming and splashing about. Daddy gets a bonus bath every time Delaney has a bath. It's pretty funny!
All of us are pretty exhausted for a fun weekend at home, so we are going to turn in early and hopefully catch up on some rest! Have a good week everybody!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Lots of Changes

Yikes, I didn't realize that I hadn't posted for such a long time! Whoops! We have been keeping ourselves busy lately with the usual things...work, yard work, cleaning, LAUNDRY. We did break down this week and replaced our BlackBerrys that haven't been working 100% for quite some time. We have both entered the DROID world, but with different models. I'm still trying to get used to this thing. I've only managed to delete all my contacts once! I think I'll really like it once I get the hang of it. I have figured out the basics.

Delaney is getting to be such a big girl. I swear I look at her at least once everyday and think "where did my little baby girl go?". She even looks big when Craig holds her now. It makes me sad--don't worry we aren't even thinking about number two yet! Ha! She is developing quite the personality. She definitely has a temper and a feisty side. Her newest trick is to yank off her hairbow and chew on it! She also loves to remove her socks and throw her toys. When she really gets to moving and shaking, she can do some damage! She has some serious strength in that little body. She has also taken a liking to grabbing and pulling at Izzy. So far, Izzy has tolerated it all perfectly, thank goodness!

She has been eating so much better for the last week or so. She is now eating cereal every evening like a champ. She is also really enjoying most of her veggies and fruit. So far, I think she likes pears best. She has now tasted all the varieties of the "1st foods". We got a feeding guide from our pediatrician, and apparently we have been starving our child. She is "supposed" to be eating so much more that she was, so we are slowly trying to work our way up to the guidelines. At least I've figured out why she has been waking up every night for the past few weeks starving...poor girl was just hungry! I think we're getting close to being good enough with the big girl food, so that she can have another "meal" while she's at Holly's for daycare.

We will be transitioning to formula within the next week or so. Up until this point I have been exclusively pumping and feeding her, but nature has stepped in and ended that era for us. My goal was to make it 6 months, and we achieved that. We have burned through the enormous freezer stash we had, so we will have to go with formula until her birthday. I'm definitely a little sad about it, but I know she will be fine. Babies thrive on formula every day. She's done so well with gaining and maintaining weight, I just hope that it continues with all the new foods.

Delaney will also be transitioning to her big girl carseat here very soon. We did a trial run last weekend in a shopping cart at HyVee. She sat in the car fairly well. Luckily, Auntie Jess had gotten us one of those shopping card/high chair covers, so it padded the sides a little big when Delaney would lose her balance and lean too far over. She got pretty fussy by the end of the shopping trip, but that could have been any combination of things. She did look funny sitting up like such a big girl in the big shopping card. Her little face made it just over the handle. It was pretty cute!

Oh, Izzy seems to be doing better. She doesn't seem to be having to go as often at least what we've noticed. She really seems to be enjoying this prescription food. She is eating it like it's going out of style. We think she's even put on a little weight, which is good because she was looking pretty scrawny. She's also gotten some of her spunk back. She goes back to the vet next Tuesday for a full day of observation, so hopefully we're close to having this all taken care of.

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