Buggy has a new chair!

My dad and step mom bought Delaney this chair for her birthday:

And Buggy very much enjoys it...
Especially when she and her sister play on it together

They climb all over it and each other

But even alone she snugs in it
Making room for sis
Sister lovin'
Relaxing
And if you can remember when Izzy got hers for her 1st birthday from Grandpa Tom and Grandma Anna:

Thanks so much for the fun new chair!

Neither here nor there...

A few of my closest friends (JZF & BA) and I have a small obsession with reading blogs. Other peoples' blogs. Perfect strangers' blogs, in fact. It has been going on since early 2007 when I first discovered the blog-o-sphere. Reading random blogs while pregnant does not make a happy wife. Or friend. It made tears stream and phone calls made and blogs shared. Husbands had to intervene. I had to go on a minor hiatus from reading blogs that would tell me about horrible pregnancy stories or birth stories or diseased children stories. Now that I'm no longer pregnant, I find myself still reading these blogs (I have to know how the stories end) and following new ones.

I have recently found one about a girl who wasn't even 2 years old yet and she drowned in a freak accident. Her mother (my age-ish) has been blogging about her days since the accident and she says the one thing she'd do differently is video her daughter more, take note of the every day more and remember all the details. This made me think I need to be doing the same.

I mean, I do blog weekly. But am I really blogging about the mundane, the everyday activities? No, as I'm sure that would bore my readers (all 7 of them). But I suppose I do blog about what we do together as a family. How we spend our coveted weekends together. Together. We take every opportunity to be a family and create our own traditions and special moments. I just don't want to forget one thing. Ever. Without a blog, would I really remember the random weekend we spent together at the pool doing absolutely nothing? Probably not. But here I have it all documented. At my fingertips. To remember how precious this little Bug was at her first birthday party:

To remember what her little face looked like scrunched up taking the first bite of her cake.
And what a clown she looked like after she demolished it.

I don't want to forget any of this. Ever.

(Special thanks to Jill, our great new neighbor, for sharing these pictures with me.)

Family Camp

This past holiday weekend we spent some time up north in Three Rivers, Michigan at Family camp with some friends. We'd been planning this weekend for months and months, so the anticipation has been building. We went up to Fort Wayne on Friday so I could get my 19 miles in on Saturday morning before we left for camp (cannot believe I'm at this mileage...and surviving to talk about it! It was a runner's dream at 54 degrees; I finished in 2:58 and am thrilled with this time!). We got into camp Saturday right after lunch and it was quite nostalgic driving in, as it reminded me of my own camp experiences as a kid.

Most of the people we went with were past campers and previous counselors here.
As soon as we arrived we unpacked, got our beds situated and put Delaney down for a nap. While Mike stayed back at camp with a few others, Izzy and I went on a nature hike.
Girl got tired so a shoulder ride was necessary

Saturday night we walked to a local restaurant for dinner. Here's a pic of us with Maggie & Myers. We headed back a little early to put the littles down.

Once the littles were down we brought the bigs to a community campfire for some traditional camp songs and s'mores. Here's Izzy & Jackson enjoying a treat...

We then headed back to our cabin for our own campfire

Sunday morning was a little crisp, so we had breakfast with our fleece accessories (btw-we had the option to eat all meals at the mess hall but opted to eat most at our cabin).

G.ang sign?

Sunday morning we went for a little walk...

...and stopped to pick some wildflowers. You can get an idea of what our cabin looked like in the background. One word: rustic.

Buggie hanging out with Clay and daddy

Sunday morning we also took Izzy to do a little horseback riding. We thought she was too little for the trail rides so we simply kept her in the ring for some laps. Both Mike and I were nervous about Izzy being up on "Major" as she was not strapped in, but she did a great job balancing and was a trooper! So much fun. I especially liked this activity b/c I went to overnight horse camp as a kid and this brought back memories for me!

Big girl!

The helmet was a touch too big but you can see how much Izzy was enjoying herself!

Relaxing in the sun

My favorite part about camp was always arts & crafts and I was tickled to know this was open all day long for us! We tie-dyed and made some necklaces with Maggie & Jackson:

I had to keep on checking Izzy's mouth for her smuggled beads :)

The end results...love how these turned out (although they won't be able to wear them for a few years - ha! Camp E.'s youngest campers are 7 years old...so this was as small as they had).

The weather got VERY nice on Sunday so we rented three pontoon boats and spent the entire day down by the water. Izzy loved the giant slide

She kept telling me she'd see me at the bottom

Big swimmer

We docked our boat near an island that had a sand bar...so Laney and I had to do a little swimming. The water was chilly so we didn't get too far in :)

Mags and Myers (and the b.e.s.t. beer in the world!!!)

Jackson & Owen

The ages of the kids ranged widely...the bigger kids did a lot of frog and turtle hunting (our cabin's front yard was RIGHT on the shore). Monday morning Cameron caught his third frog and I just had to get a picture of some of the kiddos with him. He was so darn proud...too cute!

We had a great time at Family Camp and are happy to be home and in our own beds. Thank you to the Bowdens for the invite!!!

And I just had to get this pic...we stopped back through Ft. Wayne on the way home and Laney was ALL about Rodey Poney. She has one at home that she got from her Bobo & Grandma; however, I think she was wanting to do some horseback riding of her own and just wouldn't stop bouncing on this one!

PS-Doesn't she look so grown up with jeans and big kid shoes on? I just can't get over how big she's getting!!!

Last weekend at the pool...

Since we will be out of town (camping!) next weekend, this was our last weekend to enjoy the pool. And enjoy it we DID! Spent both Saturday and Sunday there and I seriously didn't want to leave today. Just had so much fun. Delaney absolutely loves the water (and has no fear of crawling into all depths!) and Izzy is becoming quite the fish. I do not want to wait another 9 months to get back there - makes me sad the summer is coming to an end.

Have I told you how much I just LOVE this age? Months 12-24 have to be my absolute fave. So many new things happening: teeth (all 4 top front at once!), standing on her own, taking steps on her own (!!!) and mimicking most of our sounds and words. Love. It.
Mommy & Bug (Jaim...thanks for taking this pic, as I rarely have any of myself and the girls!)

Yep, you're seeing this pic correctly...it's nanny Elissa & Tyler! Elissa emailed me on Friday to see if we wanted to get together for a playdate. Um, yes please! They came up early Saturday morning and spent about 4 hours with us. The girls were in giggle heaven with these two. I hadn't spent this much time with Elissa and the girls EVER and it was just so evident how much fun they have together and how much they all love each other. Melts my heart.

Sunday Delaney was very brave crawling and standing (on her own - nearly gave me a heart attack!) under the water fountains on the side of the pool. She was giggling at herself...she sure is building some confidence!

Loving the water

Cruising on the side of the pool

We decided since Izzy loved swimming in the lake so much that we'd grab a life jacket and head for the "big kid" pool. As soon as we walked into the water we saw the Morses! What a fun surprise! Izzy immediately wanted to do everything Ben was doing...so that meant up and down the enclosed loop slide about 100 times! We had to drag them away so Iz could do some jumping and swimming...and some relaxing on the lazy river, too!

Like I said, Iz has become quite the fish and was swimming all over the pool. She'd jump in to daddy, swim a ways out, then swim back to the side. Repeat. Loved it.

Laney's turn to swim with daddy!

And float on daddy, too!

We're sad the summer is coming to a close, but are looking forward to some nice crisp Fall weather and hanging out in our backyard (water station and play set haven't seen too much of the girls recently as it's been too darn hot!).

Happy Birthday Bug!

Well today is Laney Bug's first birthday. I can hardly believe it. I no longer have a baby. We survived the first year. Thank goodness that's behind us. These are all the things running through my head right now. Don't get me wrong, I love her still being so little and snuggly. But I am just NOT a fan of the baby stage(s). Yes, I miss nursing. But I can tell you I do not miss about 100 other things: feedings every 2-3 hours, night waking, colic, naps in swings, blowouts that stain clothes yellow, etc. I get nostalgic for the hospital and our birth story whenever my thoughts go back to one year ago today.

It's just so hard to believe that 12 months and 1 day ago I was a big, waddling prego and today I'm up to running 18 miles. Sometimes when I'm running those longs miles and playing games in my head on how to keep running, I remember how much pain my little body was carrying around a 10 month fetus in my belly. Now THAT was pain. Running 18 miles is a cakewalk in comparison. With running I know there is an end in sight and it's only a few hours away. But carrying a baby...that felt like it would never end. But, alas, it did. I had a long labor but little Laney Bug came out after just a few quick pushes. She was ready for the world and still is.

Laney has quite an outgoing and relaxed personality. She has just as many facial expressions as her big sis and just as loud of a voice! Delaney has found her place in our family and holds our hearts in her hands. We have loved getting to know her and cannot wait for what the future holds for her!

Her pediatrician appointment today went very well; Delaney is growing & progressing both physically and cognitively. Her 1 year stats are:

Height: 28 5/8 in - 50% percentile

Weight: 19 lbs - 25% percentile

Head: 46.5 cm - 75% percentile

How did this little bugger become this...

Happy Birthday Laney Bug!