San Fran

Today we spent the day in San Francisco with my parents and sister Katy.  We drove to the ferry building and enjoyed the shops, farmers market and street food. It was so fun to do something out of the ordinary. For living so close to SF we very rarely go and explore.  After a fun lunch on the pier we drove over the golden gate and explored some of Marin.  We found a cute beach and chased waves all afternoon.  We had such a great time playing with my fam-thanks guys!

Danny with his new glasses-spiffy huh?! I need to post a pic of his awesome curly hair. I LOVE IT.

The first time Lucy has sat in a regular stroller in...ages

Katy sipping the most delicious hot chocolate ever. She tells me it was like the chocolate she loved in Spain.(I made her show get a cream mustache:)

At the Beach

Two Lucys

Next week our Relief Society is having a social and we're talking about the lessons learned from our Grandmas.  They asked us to bring in some pics of us and our grandmothers. On Sunday my mom brought this pic in:

My mom started pointing out the images to Lucy. A minute later she excitedly brought the picture over to me and showed me Gma Karen and Mommy as a baby.  When I pointed to Grandma Lucy and asked her who it was she pointed to herself and said "Me! When I'm a big kid!". Way to accept the aging process Lucy-I'm not quite there yet. 
I love this picture of my mom and great-grandma. I was lucky enough to have met several great grandparents, but I've always been sad I didn't get to know Grandma Lucy. She was one of my moms favorite people-I love the expression on her face here. 
(by the way-how weird is my head shape? I still have a huge head-lucky I wasn't the one bald this year)

Pics

So after my last post I was all geared up to start blogging again...but then, nothing happened. Seriously, nothing exciting is going on. Danny goes to work, Lucy and I play, Danny comes home and we paint the bathrooms, that's about it.  Pretty soon some VERY exciting events will start. For one thing, Bryce is coming home.

His mission felt fast for me (just like other people's pregnancies-I'm sure for the people involved time has passed-but for me it whizzed by!), but as I look back through the events in my photo library-a lot has changed.  The whole Leininger family will gather to meet him at the airport and then we're off on a family reunion.  Lucy is beside her self waiting to see all of her cousins. It will be a blast. While everyone is here we're having Denae take some family pics. I'm really excited about this picture. Marilyn got the girls some GORGEOUS little outfits and I am in the market for a new shirt.  I am borderline obsessing over this purchase because we  haven't taken an "official" family photo...ever.  Actually I lied. Denae took some of the fam when Bryce left-and who knows what I was thinking but I wore this hideous brown shirt (brown? on me?-it was weird.)  I have no clue where my mind was. maybe I put on some lip gloss? anyway, I don't look great.  I was talking to Danny about shopping for this pic and he said I was sounding like Claire on Modern Family. Claire and I do have some similarities I guess... Hopefully our pic doesn't turn out like this:

For me a family picture somehow symbolizes that my little family is healthy and happy.  I think I need to see the framed result to remind me that we are.  So I'm off shopping, I may not be able to control if my girl smiles (although that is what M&Ms are for) but hopefully I can at least find an outfit to make me feel cute.

Sum up

So I've been experiencing bloggers guilt for awhile. I have had no desire to blog-but so many important things have been happening! That has made it worse because now I am so behind I don't know how to catch up. Instead I will summarize said events so that I can start fresh.

Grad school decision
I left everyone in suspence after my last post. After attending Cal Poly's open house Danny decided to go to UC Irvine. I am thrilled just to have the decision made-I always hoped only one school would accept us so we wouldn't have to make the choice-but I'm relieved it was such an easy decision anyway. It helps that Disneyland is only 20 minutes away from our chosen location:)

Lucy turns THREE!
Yes, my baby is three. I am in shock. I don't remember life without her, but am still surprised she is such a big girl. She had three parties, which is only fitting. We got to celebrate with her Blodgett cousins which was incredibly fun. She got a Princess potty seat, a singing Belle doll, princess clothes, princess books and many more miscellaneous princess items. Notice the theme.

Surfing!
On Lucy's birthday we met Grandma and Grandpa Leininger and the Blodgett boys in Santa Cruz for a beach day. It was quite an event because it was Danny's first surfing trip since he was diagnosed.  As he recovers he has been swimming at the gym to try and get back in shape and he did great out in the water.  We were at Pleasure point so he could surf right in front of us. It was fun to see him so close.

Potty Training
As awful as everyone said. I went into it with so much confidence-Lucy was fully 3, a girl, super excited about Princess panties-it should be easy right? Wrong.  I felt like failure was not an option and stuck with it only five days when my mom said I was allowed to stop. Lucy and I were having a power struggle-so I'm waiting until she asks to be a big kid and go on the potty. Hopefully we'll get some peer pressure. I hope we're not waiting until kindergarten!

Job
Danny got a job for the summer! He started two weeks ago as the intern for the Walnut Creek Planning Department.  He is learning a ton and the experience is invaluable for his resume. He is really enjoying the work and because it is unpaid he gets to set his own hours and stay home with me on Fridays.  He loves working downtown and it is fun to come eat lunch with him.  I am not enjoying him being gone. I have been spoiled to have him home with me for so long, and I miss him.

Good bye Binkie
I think I have already publically admitted that I let Lucy keep her binkie this long. Yes I am slightly ashamed.  Last week the "Binkie Fairy" came and took her binkie (because little babies need them not big girls).  We placed the binkie in an envelope and put it in the mailbox. When she got back to her room there was a big princess present in her bed-a new soft Snow White doll to sleep with instead! There was also the promise of another present when she successfully slept through the night. When she woke up the next morning she dashed to the mailbox and found an Ariel Jewlry box inside (mine for high school-yes, a love of princesses runs in the family).

She was thrilled with her new doll and music box and happy to get rid of the binkie. The rest of the week hasn't gone so smoothly. She stays awake for about two hours after we put her to bed thinking of new excuses to call for mom or dad.  She has cried about her binkie but I think just to get me to hug her when she should be in bed.  The sad thing is that she isn't napping. I have loved the three hour naps she was taking, and now she just can't settle down to sleep. I'm still enforcing "quiet time" so hopefully it will become "nap time" again soon.
On the night I took her binkie I had a mom breakdown. Marilyn tells me that this is normal and all moms experience the horrible moment when they realize their baby isn't a baby anymore. In Lucy's bedtime routine I sing her "I am a Child of God" while holding her. I always ask if she want me to hold her like a baby (cradled) or a big kid-she ALWAYS says baby. That night she said big kid. I couldn't get this image out of my head:

Anyway, after a long cry I guess I've accepted it.

Misc.
So to sum up, life is good. We're almost like normal people now. Danny goes of to work every day. Lucy and I watch princess shows, play princess games and try to go on one outing a day. We're incredibly excited to have a fresh start in Irvine where life will start progressing.  We are super excited for June when we have two family reunions and our post-cancer trip to look forward to.  How could I not be happy with this starting soon!

Events

We have had so much going on lately and I have started feeling guilty for not blogging about it.  I feel enough mom guilt, I should not feel guilty about blogging! So I tried talking myself out of it and finally decided to just post so I can feel better. After Easter we drove to UT to visit my sisters, Julie's family and see all of Danny's friends.  We had a great time visiting and got to spend a lot of time with some of our favorite people. The highlight of the trip was taking Becca to her first sonogram appointment.  Some doctors think that my incompetent cervix could be genetic, so Becca was a little worried about it and had the sonogram at 16 weeks rather than a little later.  We didn't think they'd be able to determine the gender with any accuracy and  tried not to get our hopes up-but we were pleasantly surprised! She is having a little girl! We were all pretty shocked. It was so fun to see her little baby kicking and moving around.  I was lucky and got an ultrasound every two weeks with Lucy (well, if a high risk baby is considered "lucky") and could never really see anything. Just looked like an alien to me. The perspective i had watching Becca's baby was totally different-weird huh.  The nice technician pointed out the feet etc and I could totally see it!  Mmm, must have been my lame technician, he really was a jerk. Anwyay, it was really fun to be there for that exciting event. We immediately went out and bought the cutest pink outfit we could find. The only picture I have of that trip:

Becca decided to drive home with us and we had a fun time seeing her last week.  On the 16th we drove down to San Luis Obispo for the day for an open house at Cal Poly.  We got to walk around the city for awhile (and bought the LAST iPad in the apple store for Steve's birthday-victory!). It is an incredibly cute town. They have all the big retailers, but with this cute little downtown feel.  My favorite thing was this little stream running through town, in front of the mission. Restaurants have little patios over it and there is a nice walking path that winds around the stream.  Lucy had a riot jumping on the rocks with Danny. 

Danny went off to the open house and Lucy and I had special girl time. We ate cookies on the riverbank and threw pebbles into the stream. We had a great time.

I expected Danny to be gone awhile,
to be continued....

Easter and Revenge

I haven't been blogging much lately-but here I am blogging about Easter on Easter itself! On Tuesday we drive to Utah (the first of two UT trips this month), so I thought I should get the Easter pictures out there early. Easter relaly took me by surprise this year.  We put up our chickie and egg window decals a couple weeks ago in anticipation and then it snuck up on me.  The easter bunny was stuffing eggs (all eight of them) two minutes before our impromptu hunt this afternoon.  Last year Lucy dressed up in a beautiful easter dress with adorable pig tails and hunted for eggs. Since conference falls on Easter sunday this year Lucy drove to Grandma Karen's house with hair in her eyes in jammies and a Cinderella dress.  (I started out in a comfy skirt, changed to jeans and ended up in sweats and a hoodie. I love Conference Sunday.)  Instead of a hundred pictures like last year I have about five from Danny's phone. I just didn't get it together. Oh well. Lucy still had fun.
She ate her first "Peep"(and hopefully her last. I think those things are nasty!)

and was lucky enough to hunt for candy at both G-ma's houses. (She switched to Tinkerbell before the next hunt).

Now for Revenge. I just want to document this anecdote for posterity. Backstory: Several days ago Lucy got a time out for not doing what Danny said.  So, Danny and Lucy were playing catch and Lucy told Danny to put his shoes on. Danny told her that he didn't want to and wanted to play in his socks. Lucy put her hands on her hips and said, "Daddy, when you two and I'm Daddy I will give you a time out and put you in that chair." Later she added, "I will be mad at you for not putting you shoes on."  Ouch.

Hobbies

Yesterday Danny parted with his beloved drum set.  When he got home off his mission he was so excited to buy a new set of drums and "jam" with his best friend and roommate Jared. I came along and distracted him from that a lot, but we went to guitar center as soon as we got to school that fall and bought him some drums. I remember being hopelessly in love with Danny and wanting him to have whatever her wanted, but the logical side of my brain asked me why I should encourage him to buy drums when I was hoping he would be marrying me soon, and how practical is a set of drums in a small college apartment?  Well he LOVED those drums and played them often with Jared for a good six months. Then he played them slightly less. Then we moved to CA and had a baby and stored them in my dad's office for a few years.  We just didn't have the space for them and our neighbors wouldn't have had the patience for them.  When Danny got cancer we moved them over to the garage so he could play them when he had the energy.

He played them a couple times these past eight months, but yesterday Danny decided to sell them. Isn't that sad? I may not have always been in love with those drums, but now that they're gone I'm kinda bummed. Fortunately Danny wasted no tears and on the day he sold the drums he got his new wetsuit in the mail-part Christmas present from Grandma Joyce and my parents.  Danny has always used garage sale wetsuits, so a brand new O'Neill wetsuit is heavenly. We are incredibly excited to be going to a school (UC IRvine or Cal Poly) within minutes of great surfing beaches. That has been Danny's dream for a long time.  He is now all set to fully enjoy his favorite hobby. Out with the old and in with the new!