What Will Baby Bee?

12/31/11

Since we live several states away we have never been able to tell our families in person that we are expecting. My sister-in-law Caley suggested that we have a gender reveal party when we were in Texas and we decided it would be a great way to include our family in this exciting season.

Caley and John visited a couple of weeks before we went to Amarillo for Thanksgiving. I am not crafty but I was so inspired by pinterest! We decided on the theme, What Will Baby Bee?, based on lots of cute pictures of other gender reveal parties. Caley and I created most of the decor for the party. I was impressed with our work and it was a fun adventure for us to work on together.

We actually had our sonogram the day Caley and John came into town, so we knew we couldn't find out baby's gender and not spill the beans while they were there. The tech wrote the gender on a card that we tucked away once we got home. (We did end up peaking before the party. We wanted to celebrate together before we celebrated with everyone else. We were very impressed that we never let baby's gender slip, even while spending the entire weekend with my family for Jeffrey's wedding.)

Now on to the pictures...

The Banner that we made. LOVED it!!!

Our table.

The theme was pregnancy cravings so we had sweet, salty, sour and crunchy treats.

Our drink station.

The adorable cake!

The Big Sister to Be! She's so cute!

The Boy Votes

The Girl Votes

The votes. We had everyone write their name suggestion under their vote.

Very Entertaining!

We wanted Caley to cut the cake since she was so instrumental in helping me plan and execute all the party details.

The cake is BLUE!!!!!

We are thrilled to announce that Bennett Edwin Blandford will be joining our little family in March. We are so excited to be having a little boy and can not wait to meet him! Only three months from today! The time is flying by!

More thoughts on the season

Precious Friends,

Thank you so much for so many words of encouragement about my thoughts on Christmas post. It always feels good to know that you aren't alone and I was amazed at how many other Mommas are struggling with finding balance when celebrating the holidays.

Since I got so much feedback, I thought that I would share my thoughts thus far...

I don't remember where I first heard the idea but we are keeping all of our Christmas cards this year. We are going to keep them in a small bucket in Blythe's room and use them to pray with Blythe. She LOVES pictures and we thought it would be a great way to introduce praying for others.
My sister-in-law, Megan, shared this post. I love this idea! Blythe may need to be a little bigger but I love the concept.
I have seen this Advent Book idea on several sites. I'll be collecting books this year to do with Blythe next year.
Ashley posted this idea which I also plan on using. (Her blog is worth reading in general. You always leave being encouraged and challenged!)

I realize that we will probably take pieces of all of these ideas to fit our families needs. I'm already looking forward to next year as we celebrate the season with 2 little ones! We are making great memories this season and hope that you too are enjoying time spent with your families!

Ramblings

12/7/11

If I ever figure out how to telepathically send blogs you will be blown away but how many times I post a day! :) I write what feels like millions of blog posts in my head but getting them written out seems to happen less frequently.

Here are a few of the crazy things rolling around in my head....

Are you currently involved in a Bible Study? If the answer is no, please look into BSF. I've just finished my lesson from this week and I love it. A hot cup of coffee, God's word and a sleeping Peanut! I really should begin every day like this.

I started BSF 5 years ago and took a year off when I was working foster care. My mom has done BSF most of my life and I totally understand why she loves it. I am challenged, I grow, I meet new friends and get to spend every week with other women studying God's word. It's such a blessing! And Peanut gets to come too. She hears scripture, spends time with other kids and learns songs about God. It brings joy to my heart to hear her sweet voice singing!

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I can not believe that Amarillo has now had snow TWICE!!! We've yet to have any and I'm ready to experience snow. Please remind me of this when it's mid February and the snow has been around for a month! I'm hoping that we have snow by Christmas. Always makes the holidays feel more festive.

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Since we are all friends here, I'm going to admit that I'm really struggling with how to celebrate Christmas well with Blythe. She still doesn't really "get" Christmas but I know that next year will be here before I know it. I was really encouraged and challenged by this post. I found some ideas to keep and others that weren't a fit for us. I know that what we decide for our family won't be for all families and I love that.

We are spending a lot of time in prayer and just talking through how we want to celebrate as a family. It's a new season of life. I long for Blythe to know and understand the true meaning of Christmas but I also grew up with great celebrations and traditions that I want to continue as well. I know that we will find a way to incorporate it all and I look forward to growing as a parent.

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I loaded tons of pictures from our Thanksgiving trip to Texas onto Facebook. We are trying to be much more intentional with our picture taking while with family. Already, we are so glad that we challenged ourselves! We have loved looking back at our most recent trips and Peanut loves to look at pictures of herself. :) The child has very healthy self esteem!

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Because no post is complete without a picture...

Blythe was an adorable flower girl. We were thrilled that she walked down the isle! My brillant mom had an Amarillo girl who is at Baylor watch Blythe during the actual ceremony so we could enjoy the wedding. Blythe stayed at the reception dancing until the Bride and Groom Left at 10. She enjoyed herself! And all the cupcakes that she snagged my flashing that smile.

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Blythe and I went to the doctor today and got to hear Baby's heartbeat. I hope to do a post soon about our gender reveal party! Baby is growing and is healthy with a storng heartbeat. We are so grateful for a healthy baby!

Hope that you are all doing well on this Wednesday! Enjoy the rest of your week and the joy of this holiday season!

Hello Blog land!

11/7/11

Greetings Blog land! Clearly we've been missing from the blogoshpere but hope to get back on track. Here's some random snippets of life lately!

Lots has been going on but first off, I'd like to introduce you to Blandford Baby #2!

This is at 18 weeks. It was taken after a wedding rehearsal and I was tired! :) But we had yet to get a belly shot and felt it was necessary. I was horrible at taking regular pictures with Blythe and believe I'll be even worse this time around!

It's been a very different pregnancy than I had with Blythe. I've been much sicker and my sickness lasted several weeks longer. We are thankful that everything is going smoothly at this point and thrilled that we will soon be finding out the gender of this baby. We are at the half way point with this pregnancy and can't believe how fast the time is flying by! Baby is due at the end of March and we could not be more thrilled to be expanding our little family!

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Blythe is a BLAST! She's at such a fun age. She talks all the time, loves to sing and enjoys spending time with other kids (as long as Mommy isn't holding another kid!) She often points to my belly and her belly and says "Baby!" She is in for quite the shock when there's actually a baby at home! Initially she would say that the new baby was a girl not a boy. Now when asked she says that Mommy is not having a baby. :)

Here's a picture of her from Halloween.

She was so adorable as Elmo!

She didn't really understand the whole concept of Halloween. We enjoyed being in Amarillo to celebrate this year and our families enjoyed showing off their little Elmo as well.

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We are loving our new house and are finally starting to feel settled. We are slowly working on the house and if we ever get a room finished I'll get some pictures up. We had no idea how slow of a process it would be but we are really enjoying this new journey!

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I have started another job working at a local hospital in the ER. It's only a couple of shifts a month but it keeps the social work part of my brain engaged. It's a great place to work and I'm thrilled with the opportunity to use my social work skills. And it doesn't take me way from my family to do it. It's a win win situation!

29 by 29 Update

As with most lists that I make, I'm always great at checking things off the list in the beginning. That's already the case with my 29 by 29 list. This month we had a new friend over for dinner (check one) and made homemade ice-cream for dessert (check 2). The ice cream was HORRIBLE, as in, I didn't even eat it, bad. I'm reworking the recipe and if I get a good solution I'll pass it on to you. It has SO much potential so I'm hoping i can salvage it.

The biggest thing checked off my list was a concert in Chicago. Currey is a great gift giver! He listens to random things I say and always gives me thoughtful and fun gifts. I knew that my parents were coming to town so I just got on Ticketmaster to see what might be happening when they were here. I was thrilled when I saw Matisyahu would be in town. Matisyahu is one of Currey's favorites so I gave him tickets for Father's Day.

I am not as big of him as Currey is but it was a fantastic show! Since my parents were here we got to stay the night in the city. It was a great get away as we were celebrating our anniversary a couple of days later. I'll leave you with a little Matisyahu....

Dancing Queen

7/18/11

My parents were here this weekend. Their trip was planned so that they could come and help us get settled in our new house. None of us ever dreamed we wouldn't be in a house yet!

Thankfully, we were able to get a showing so they got to see our house. I don't think that they minded getting extra time with Miss Blythe. Unfortunately I had to work on Saturday but Currey, Blythe and my parents made a trip to the pool. Blythe loves music and dancing. Apparently she was entertaining the masses with her moves at the pool. I can't stop watching this video as it makes me giggle every time! She's one funny Peanut.

Dressing Up

7-9-11

Blythe loves to wear our clothes. Most mornings while I get ready she follows me around putting anything around her neck that she can find. Shorts, t-shirts, jewelry and shoes she loves to put on all our things!

These are some pictures I snapped of her when she had put on one of my camisoles. She kept putting this necklace around her neck so I tied it on for her.

Yes...she is that cute!!

Love her sweet smiles!

She is always so proud of herself when she "gets dressed"

29 by 29

7-2-11

I recently celebrated a birthday and I have been waiting to do this for several months! Several of the blogs I read have a these lists and I love the idea. So I made my own list. 29 things to do before my 29th birthday. I hope to update you all along the way. It should be fun!

So...here's my list.

1. Take a sewing class

2. Read a book a month

3. Write a recipe a month

4. Host a swap party

5. Have a new friend or a family over once a month for dinner

6. Send one piece of “snail mail” a month

7. Plant a garden

8. Make a bow board for all of Blythe’s hair bows

9. Take Blythe to the Zoo

10. Go away for an entire weekend with just Currey (and Youth Retreats Don’t Count!)

11. Take a cooking class with Currey

12. Update my blog weekly

13. Have dinner at Meson Sebeka

14. Take cookies to a neighbor

15. Purge my cookbook collection

16. Put pictures in the frame that I got for all of Blythe’s first year photo sessions

17. Cook a recipe out of every cookbook I own

18. Take Blythe to pick fruit/vegetables at a farm

19. See a concert in Chicago

20. Make cloth napkins

21. Cook a meal for friend just because

22. Go to the Kane County Flea Market

23. Make Tiramisu

24. Take Blythe to the Children’s Museum

25. Spend a Girls afternoon in Downtown Geneva

26. Learn to Grill

27. Use my ice cream maker at least 6 times

28. Spend intentional time with 1 life giving friend monthly

29. Upload all of our pictures to a storage site/organize our pictures

Happy Long Weekend!

Our New Hobby

6-24-11

As always, there's lots going on at the Blandford House! Currey and I have a new hobby. Some couples play sports. Others work out or go antiquing. Still others enjoy concerts or maybe even gardening. But not us! Our new hobby is putting offers on houses.

Many of you know that we had an offer on a house but unfortunately that deal feel through after 6 weeks of negotiation. At first we were very disappointed but as always, we have been amazed by the goodness of God. Two weeks ago we found another house and put in an offer. We weren't the only ones putting in an offer and our realtor encouraged us to keep looking as we would not hear about the house for awhile. (It's a bank owned property.) A week later, much to our surprise, we saw another even better house. At this point in time we are cautiously optimistic about this home purchase. The whole process has been an major learning experience. We are ready to feel settled (our house has been half packed for over a month as our first deal was supposed to close 5 weeks ago. It's getting a little old!)

We are thrilled that we have been provided this opportunity and feel so blessed that God has been protecting and guiding us each step of the way. We can't wait to report that something has finalized. We are looking forward to having our own place that we can do anything with. So excited about what our future holds!

Happy Weekend!

Mini Me

6/13/11

It's amazing to me how much Blythe picks up on these days! Although she still does not make many audible words she mimics so many things that we do. She overheard me scolding moose and giving him a swat. The next time he walked by her she swatted him too. Not a behavior we want to encourage!

She holds my or Currey's phone all the time and jabbers away. It's hilarious! And she always curls it under like that.

Apparently I must talk on the phone while at the grocery store!

Blythe has a cart from her Aunt Caley and Uncle John. She loves to push it around. She likes to push it around, put books on it and talk on the phone.

She's one cute Peanut!

Miss Priss

6/5/11

My mom, Blythe's Lulu, has a love of all things Mudpie. And you can see why!!

They make absolutely adorable children's clothing. But this over the top outfit was picture perfect this morning. Before we headed out the door to church Blythe was in a great mood so I snapped some pictures. She was being a little ham but I LOVE the shots that I got.

Oh how we love our little Peanut!

Blythe Walking

6/5/2011

If you've followed my blog long at all, you've realzied it's not much to follow! :)

Blogging is not my passion. (I know, I know! This revelation SHOCKS you all!) But I've been thinking. Initally, I started this blog as a place to share recipes. There aren't words that express my love of cooking. And feeding people. I do hope to share some really amazing recipes soon. (And yes, I realize I always say that.)

Once Blythe was born, I thought this could be a place where we could share pictures and stories so that our friends and family could watch our Peanut grow. Texas is just too far away! I feel as though Currey and I have spent the last few weeks marveling at Blythe. She's walking, talking (mostly babbling) and just changing before our eyes. I've been inspired to work at blogging. I know that our families especially will enjoy seeing more pictures and stories. And I love looking back at old posts and stories. We are living a very full life but the memories we are making are memories I want to hang on to. To look back and read and remember this season. It's a precious season that is flying by faster than I would like!

We'll see how I do. I'm not promising daily posts or anything but maybe you'll here from me once a week. We'll see how it goes.

Now, what you are all really here for. Sweet Peanut showing off her newest skill. Yes, she's adorable. And Oh.So.Proud. It's a joy to watch. You might just hear a little excitement in my voice too!

Worth Reading

2-21-11

When we were at Moody, I met my friend Kelly. We often joke that she was my only friend at Moody. She's a pretty precious soul and we loved when we were living in the city at the same time she and Ray were.

She is a person of depth and wisdom. Shortly after Currey started Wheaton they moved to Portland and now live in Wisconsin. I got to spend several hours with her last spring when they were in town to shoot a wedding. (Ray is a phenomenal Photographer!) We picked right up where we left off. I think any friend you can do that with is a very special friend. We are facebook friends and she often has pearls of wisdom to share that she finds all sorts of places. (I still regularly make a granola bar recipe I got off her blog several years ago. They've become famous among the youth group kids!)

She posted a post from another blog on facebook and I thought this post was worth passing along. It takes 2 minutes to read. And if you are a mother, I promise it's worth 2 minutes of your time.

Happy Monday!

Valentines Day

2-14-11

I just wanted to share a picture of the 2 people that I love the most on this Valentines Day.

I know. They are absolutely precious!

Can you tell that she loves her Daddy?

To my two Lovies,

Happy Valentines Day!

I love you both like crazy!

11 Months

1-24-11

Although I'd been told countless times, I did not truly understand how fast time flies! There is NO WAY that in one short month my precious peanut will be 1!!! If I could stop time I would. You continue to keep up busy. Here's what we've been up to this month:

You eat like a champ. Your daddy and I joke that you are going to eat us out of house and home. You continue to eat whatever we put in front of you. At this point you are following in daddy's footsteps as you are quite the adventurous eater. You want whatever it is Daddy and I are eating so you've had chorizo (which you ate an ENTIRE bowl full of!), hamburger, and spicy salami.
My love of hot food has rubbed off on you as well. We had macaroni and cheese for Christmas that had cayenne pepper in it. Everyone was blown away as you ate an entire helping, never seeming to notice the heat.
You have started on whole milk as well. You are a BIG fan!
My new favorite is morning snuggles. After about 6 weeks you decided you were not acuddler but over the last month that has really changed. After you eat in the morning you like to snuggle for awhile. I'm assuming this phase will pass so I'm soaking up every last minute with you!
You continue to experience some separation anxiety. I think everyone we go to church with are most disappointed by this. You no longer allow just anyone to hold you if you can see me. I worked in the nursery a couple of weeks ago and held another baby. You made it incredibly clear that I'm your Mommy and it's not acceptable for me to hold anyone else in your presence.
Even though you prefer Daddy or I to hold you, you are still a people person. We've had lots of people at the house recently and you do not like going to sleep if you know people are here.
Although you still prefer 3 naps a day, you can get by with only 2. You sleep for incredibly long stretches at night, sometimes even 12-13 hours. Again, you are Daddy's girl and you LOVE your sleep.
You love to pull up on things and then let go to see what happens. You think it's hilariouswhen you fall down and sometimes do it repeatedly.
You "walk" around furniture and proudly smile at us the entire time.
You also love to stand. You can't stay up for very long and every time that you do you giggle uncontroably. It's pretty cute!
One of your new favorite activities is to feed Moose. You love to drop food for him from your high chair and you get really upset when I tell you not to do it. Moose is one of your favorite pals and you have gotten really good at petting him. I know he is really glad that you have gotten past the ear pulling phase!

Peanut,

It seems like you are growing and changing every day. You continue to be more and more fun as you become increasing interactive. I love our trips to the grocery store. You sit in the cart and "talk" to me the entire time that I shop. We are frequently stopped because you smile at everyone. One of my favorite things is to watch people smile at you as we walk by. I love that at only 11 months you already bring joy to those around you. It's a privilege to be your Mommy and I treasure all of my sweet memories with you in my heart.

We love you dearly!

Mommy and Daddy

10 Months!

12/24/10

It's hard for me to fathom that 10 months have already passed. Blythe has been outside the womb longer than she was inside. And that is strange to me. Strange because the time has flown and because I honestly don't remember what life was like before she came. She has grown and changed so much (which I know I say every post!) I love each stage and the newness it brings. Here's her current stats...

(It was Chirstmas Eve so yes, she had to wear a Santa Hat. The best part was that it was actually my dad's idea to have her wear it. So cute! And yes Dad, it was a great idea!)

You eat like a champ! It's absolutely amazing the amount of food that you can put away. Most recently you ate an entire hot dog for dinner, bun and all. You are still incredibly petite and we just aren't sure where all the food goes. You will eat anything we put in front of you which has brought your Daddy and I much entertainment.
You're love for your daddy is so strong! You light up every time you see him and are constantly saying Dada. You love to wave to him in the morning.
On that note, waving is your new favorite past time. You love to wave at everyone and make a high pitched sound that we are convinced is "Hi". It melts me every time.
You have started being more shy. You still love people but sometimes choose to bury your face in my neck when people talk to you.
You are pulling up on everything. You are more interested in toys but prefer to chew on them or wave them in the air.
You are snuggling! Your Daddy says that I'm indoctrinating you early which is probably true. Every morning after I feed you, you want to snuggle for awhile. It has become the highlight of my day. You haven't been much of a snuggler since you were around 6 weeks old so this is a very welcomed surprise! I treasure each morning because I'm sure you'll be out of this phase as soon as you entered it!
You have a big personality! You are still such a sweet, happy baby but it's becoming more and more apparent that you have an idea about how the world should work. We when do not act in the way you desire you scream. I'll be honest...it's hard not to laugh because you are very serious. This normally happens when we are feeding you at a rate you do not feel is fast enough. We are working on saying please instead of screaming but I think it's a long road ahead. :)
You have really found your voice. In general, you like to scream but it's not because you are upset. You appear very proud that you can make such a noise and once you've done it, you like to repeat it over and over. I love that you are such a confident little one!

Sweet Peanut,
Oh how we love you! We love your giggles and your screams. We love that your personality continues to develop. We await with great anticipation to see the kind of person you become. You are a precious gift and we continue to praise the Lord that he blessed us with you.
We love you like crazy! Mommy and Daddy

9 Months

11/24/10

Oh Peanut! What a month we've had. Life continues to be an adventure and you are getting to experience a lot of fun events with so many people that love you dearly.

You attended your first musical, Sound of Music. Emily, from youth group, was in this production and you really enjoyed it.
You then saw Maddie in Flowers for Algernon. This story was very dark and past your bed time. Even though Maddie is one of your favorites we decided to leave early as you were a little distracting during the show. :)
You are crawling like crazy! You have places to go and people to see. You move non-stop.
You said Momma but have not said it since. Your Daddy and I both heard it crystal clear. It was a very special treat!
We've had to move your bed down because you are a master of pulling up! You eagerly greet us each morning standing in your crib with a giant smile. Like everything you do, it's pretty cute!
Your transitioning to table food and you LOVE it. You are a fearless eater and literally eat whatever we put in front of you. You have a huge appetite and literally shovel your food into your mouth. I'll admit, it really makes me giggle!

Sweet Little One,

You are an absolute JOY! I can't tell you how you daily warm my heart and make me praise God that he blessed our lives with you. You have such a sweet spirit and I anxiously await seeing how the Lord uses that to grow his kingdom. You are amazing and we just can't get enough of you!

We love you all there is!

Momma and Daddy

Here we go....

2-14-11

Hello Blog Friends!

I've had some down time recently and have been blogging A LOT.

And I know what you are thinking, "JJ, you haven't posted anything in FOREVER! You aren't blogging!" But I've got a little secret. I blog often. It's just uploading pictures and putting them in that gets me behind. I can write all day but I'm thinking the pictures of Peanut are what keeps most of you reading!

So you are about to experience a blog overload this week. I'm working on pictures and finishing up some things that I've written. If I really want this blog to be a family journal of sorts then I need to be updating our life events more regularly.

We will be venturing back to November this week. I've been having so much fun looking through all of our old pictures and remembering sweet moments.

Hope you enjoy my random rambling!

Breakfast with the Blandfords

What Will Baby Bee?

More thoughts on the season

Ramblings

Hello Blog land!

29 by 29 Update

Dancing Queen

Dressing Up

29 by 29

Our New Hobby

Mini Me

Miss Priss

Blythe Walking

Worth Reading

Valentines Day

11 Months

10 Months!

9 Months

Here we go....

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