Christmas 2008

Our Christmas was a whirlwind of events! We wanted to start our family tradition of the girls opening their gifts at our house, and then after opening gifts head to Cincinnati. The girls slept in until about 8am (yeah, yeah, yeah) and then after opening gifts, we headed to Cincinnati.

Here sis, let me do your hair with the new Dora Vanity.

A thank you note to Liz and Le for the art easel (a huge hit with both girls).

Thanks Nguyens!

We had our evening meal with my side of the family in Cincinnati.
Here is a picture with Norma, U. Fred, A. Nancy and Grandma Jean.
The girls were so tired by the end of the dinner and became rather cranky (imagine that?).
But the Christmas celebration still wasn't over :)

Mom and Ella.
It seems to me my mom is explaining the flashlight to Ella.

Grandpa Mike and his girls

After a quick 15 minute power nap in the car, the girls woke up ready to go

and open gifts at Nana and Pappy Stan's.
By this time it was about 7pm and the girls are usually in bed by 6:30 pm so I was impressed they were so good at the
Willett's (definitely Santa's magic was involved).
Ella loved her Easy Bake Oven and her Littlest Pet Shop.

Nana and the bow wreath the girls made for them.

Laney and her new cottage.
She loves it even though most of the food doesn't end
up in the stove but in the washer instead.

Later on during our visit, we went to Chuck-E-Cheese to celebrate Jayden's 4th birthday (Jason's cousin's oldest son).

Laney driving

All smiles during the party

Ella, be careful! Precious cargo :)

Ella and a big mouse

Kevin and Lisa; Lisa is Jason's cousin

Nancy and Harry, Jason's aunt and uncle

Nana Dean and Laney having fun at Chuck-E-Cheese

Jason and his dad, Stan

Although it wasn't under the best circumstances,
Jason's Dad's whole side of the family was in town. Jason's Grandfather had emergency brain surgery the day after Christmas. A malignant tumor, the size of an orange, was removed and an MRI later showed that the surgeon was able to remove 85-90% of it! Grandpa Stan is such an amazing trooper and when we visited him the day after the surgery, he looked amazing. He had already been joking with family and the nursing staff. Our prayers for a successful surgery were certainly answered!
In this picture is Stan, his sister Shirley, Grandma Lil, his sister Nancy, Jason, his brother Clyde.

Stan and his sister, Shirley

Carol (Jason's Aunt) and Misty (Jason's cousin)

Stan, Lillie (Stan's Mom), Carol (Stan's sister) and Jason

Another day, another Elmo cake.
Since we were in town my mom was nice enough to get Laney an Elmo cake. It was so delicious! It was just us, my parents and my Grandma Jean but it was such a nice celebration of Laney's second birthday!
Thanks for the cake, Mom and Dad.

Do you think this girl likes cake?

Or does this girl like it??

Then Ella decided to show us her muscles...I love when she does this. She gets so intense!

It was such a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. We all got some wonderful gifts but the most important gift was spending time with our family; we are truly blessed to have each of you in our lives! Thanks for all you do for the girls and for us!

Christmas morning

My biggest gift? The girls both have been sleeping in past 8AM for the past week (the angels sing). I doubt it will last but it sure has been a nice little surprise.

The Willetts remix a Christmas classic!

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Our little Laney Leigh is two!

I just can't believe it but today is Laney's second birthday!

Although as parents we always say how quickly time goes, but really, it has just flown by. It seems like just yesterday you came into this world and now it's like you own the world. You run, jump (kind of), go up and down stairs, sing, dance, talk, hug, cry. Laney came into this world very quickly (less than 4 hours from the first contraction to delivery) and given that I was sick most of the pregnancy, I figured she would be a feisty kid. She has been far from it; she is fairly easy going and as long as there is a hug around, she is happy. Although she is a cuddlier she doesn't want to be on your hip or be carried around. She wants to be in charge of her world and be able to run around on her own schedule.

The past few months she has definitely given us a preview of what the twos will bring. She has become more independent and makes her opinions known. There have been timeouts but typically they are just calm down times. Once she calms down, she forgets what she was upset about.

A few things about Laney:

---At her 2 year appointment, she was 30# (75%). She continues to have a slight heart murmur but it remains of no concern. She is developmentally right on track with speech, motor skills and social skills. She remains in physical therapy once a week although the MD sees no concern with her W sitting. As he mentioned, the physical therapists are generally more aggressive with the W sitting than MDs are. All in all, a wonderful visit--with no shots needed.

---Her new favorite phrase: excuse me. Today she said "excuse me, dog" when she needed some room. She always likes to say, "bless you" and "sobbee" (aka, sorry). She is very polite.

---Laney is a daddy's girl. She can cry in my arms but still wants daddy. It's an adorable relationship that I LOVE to see!

--Yesterday she came upstairs and said big girl bed. Yes, she wanted a big girl bed. We thought we would give it a try so we converted her crib to the toddler bed. She took two naps in her big girl bed and slept all through the night. Although I was dreading this transition, she made it a breeze! --Her speech amazes me. Now you all know that given our past speech issues, we were tuned into this from the age of 6 months or so. She says well over 200 words, puts 4-5 words together and will repeat almost all words. I am so proud of her (and I think she has given Ella some motivation too...double bonus!)

---Today I was reading a book to Laney and at the end of it she said "I love you." She certainly knows a way to my heart!

I love my little Laney Leigh more than words can say. She has fit so perfectly into our family and made the transition from a family of three to a family of four, so easy. I love seeing her smiling face in the morning, getting her huge hugs in the middle of the day, and getting that all precious good night kiss!

Here are some of our favorite pics of the birthday girl!

Fresh out!
8# 4 oz and was born at 7:59 AM.
I love this picture because I don't look so worn out
(with Ella I look like a train ran over me)
but I also only pushed 4 times with Laney---gotta love that!!

Laney at 1 day old

She was a daddy's girl from the very beginning.

Ella meeting her new sister.
Wow, Ella really was a baby herself when Laney was born.
I never realize it until I look back at these older pictures.

Her birth announcement. This picture was taken the day she came home (2 days old).
I think this was certainly a smile and not just gas!

2 months old and Ella was 22 months

All smiles at 4 months

Laney at 7 months, sitting so pretty.

Rolling around

Our bathing beauty at 8 months--do you think she is malnourished?

Last year's Christmas card

On vacation in Tennessee this past September

I did not have the energy to throw Laney a full birthday party but our friends, Kristy and Joel, invited us over for dinner and cake for Laney's birthday. It was such a nice evening! Thank you so much for having us over, Worthington family. It was a wonderful atmosphere, the kids were great, the food was wonderful and the cake...mmmmmm!!!

Laney LOVES Elmo and when I mentioned this to Kristy she said without hesitation that she would be happy to make a cake for Laney. Really? I was just going to run to Target and get one. But the one Kristy and Joel made not only looked perfect it tasted great! Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into the cake!! I am amazed at how artsy you two are!

Look at the smile for her Elmo cake!

Then Joel had to determine how to cut up Elmo.

Blowing out the candle

But she wasn't doing it fast enough so she called for some reinforcement!
Thanks Ryan for helping out.

I "think" she liked the cake

I had great intentions of bringing crafts for the kids but it ended up being a glittery mess!

Thank you for understanding Worthingtons....my intentions were good.
I didn't want to cause you glitter for years to come :)

Ok kids, I am going to read you a book and then time for bed :)

Laney and the Mr. Potato Head from Auntie Cindy

I wonder who had more fun opening up Laney's gifts?

Laney and her planting basket from Nana Kay and Grandpa Mike!

I also want to say thank you those who called, e-mailed and sent gifts.
She is a very lucky girl to have so many wonderful people in her life!