Then and Now

Blanden sporting his new embroidered giraffe shirt from Grandma on Christmas Day.

Hanging out with his new tall giraffe (and sitting on the old favorite).

And for fun: Christmas Day 2007, 17 weeks pregnant with Edward Blanden ...

And Christmas Day 2009, 17 weeks pregnant with ... ? Either Ellis Beach (Eli) or Madeleine Rozsa (Maddie). Hopefully Baby-to-Be will cooperate and we will find out on January 15!

But as Christmas Day comes to a close, there is one thing we would prefer not to repeat tonight. Two years ago we drove Ella to the emergency vet in the middle of a heavy snow storm when she got alcohol poisoning from accidentally eating too much uncooked bread dough, which she got into without our knowledge. Today both dogs snacked on some of our bison prime rib, which we gladly handed over. We figure that is a big cost savings over another trip to the hospital!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Coming down on Christmas morning: It looks like Santa Claus definitely found the Wensuc family household!

The biggest hit of the day: a new personalized Blanden-size chair from Grammy and Papa! Blanden loves it! While Ed and I were fixing breakfast beverages, before we had even begun to open gifts, Blanden was cozied up and reading in his new chair. :-)

Stuffed stockings! Ed's and mine were made by my Auntie Carolyn -- I've had mine since I was a baby, and Auntie C made one for Ed to match. We love them!

Checking out a "doodler" to draw on from Santa Claus.

Baby-to-Be's first Christmas gifts: a teddy bear and matching quilt from Grammy and Papa.

A drum from Grammy and Papa! This is a hit (literally)!

Checking out his first set of Lego's: Duplo blocks from Santa Claus. Mostly he likes to dump them out of the box, but I'm sure he'll learn how to build cars and airplanes soon enough.

New beads from Grammy and Papa for Mommy's Pandora bracelet...

A baby carriage...

And a giraffe, of course. One bead each to perfectly represent my little ones.

Blanden trying out his first set of crayons and markers...

A gift from Grammy and Papa.

Each year Blanden gets a new ornament, a tradition my parents had with Andrew and me and one we'd like to keep with Blanden. (Many from my collection, including old preschool photos, ballet slippers from elementary school, and a disco ball from college, ;) are now hanging here at our house.) Naturally this year it made perfect sense to add a giraffe to the ensemble. Blanden loves to point him out on the tree! Stay tuned for more photos from our very merry Christmas day!

Desserts with Santa at the Zoo!

I think it's safe to say that last night Blanden had one of his best nights ever in his 18 months. It was right up there with his birthday. He's old enough to know something special and exciting was going on. And Ed and I had a pretty fantastic time too. I think it's also safe to say that the Wensuc family has created a new holiday tradition: desserts with Santa Claus and seeing the holiday lights at the zoo!

Arriving...

Ed and I were amazed by how many lights were up! They were everywhere!

And we were amazed by how crowded the zoo was. It was well worth having our tickets for the separate Santa Claus event ahead of time.

AND a bonus: the giraffes! In addition to seeing so many awesome lights, we got to see quite a few animals, including Blanden's favorite. This was a surprise for all of us, as we thought they would all be tucked in for the night.

We ended up at the giraffe house first, and not even on purpose, as we didn't know they were open. Blanden's face just lit up when he saw the real, live animals. The whole family (seven) were inside, so we got to see them up close, which only happened once before, when Blanden and I happened to be at the zoo on a rainy day. He was awestruck.

Next we made our way to the event. The older kids sang songs and listened to Santa tell stories while we snacked on desserts and hot chocolate and other assorted adult beverages (for Ed only this time ;) ). Blanden selected these green Christmas tree cookies on his own...

And ate three of them!

There were other activities as well: cookie decorating in one room and live animal demonstrations in another. Blanden saw a snake, a lizard, and parakeets. He particularly liked the parakeets.

Blanden is too young to decorate cookies, but he was happy to simply eat the decorations, especially the M&Ms!

And then it was time to meet Santa Claus! This is as close as we were able to get -- but it was much better than we expected: Blanden is smiling!

Blanden really liked Santa's helper, a Santa Bear.

A moment after this photo was taken, Blanden gave the bear a big hug, but he turned his face away from the camera.

After visiting Santa, we were off to see more lights. Blanden spotted the carousel in the distance and asked for a ride.

Daddy was even able to snag one of Blanden's second favorite animals. He was pretty excited to sit on the zebra! (The giraffe on the carousel doesn't move up and down so that's not much fun at all.)

More lights -- a monkey hanging from a tree.

And some of Blanden's favorite animals in lights.

It turns out, Blanden is starting a giraffe family of his own. We planned on buying a backup giraffe, just in case, because he is Blanden's most beloved friend. But as I was paying for the new guy and Ed was wheeling Blanden through the gift shop in his wagon, Blanden reached out and grabbed another one from a bin (pictured on the left)! This one stands almost as tall as he does. So, yes, we ended up adopting him, too.

And finally, back in the car and thrilled to be taking his new friends home. Blanden is in there somewhere! We got home at quarter to ten, two hours past Blanden's bedtime. Of course he was sound asleep in the car by then, and didn't wake up one peep throughout carrying him upstairs, changing his diaper, and putting on his PJs. He was one happy, tired baby indeed. This morning we found him quietly and contentedly playing with his new friends in his crib. It's quite a sight to see him try to carry all three of them around the house! They all come down with us in the morning for playtime, and they all come back up with us later on for stories and nap/bedtime.

Wensuc Family Christmas

Yesterday afternoon we trekked to Colorado Springs for the Wensuc family Christmas celebration. We had a wonderful afternoon -- full of great food, fantastic gifts, and even better company. We'll miss all of you on Christmas, but we loved spending time together yesterday, and we wish you safe travels to St. Louis and Kansas City.

A little family time before the party got going. (Photo courtesy of Grandpa)

Gathered together for a delicious Italian dinner, complete with gelatto and sorbetto for dessert. Blanden said, "Mmm!" to all of that! (Photo courtesy of Grandpa)

Spending time with Grandma. (Photo courtesy of Grandpa)

All of the "kids" watching Grandma's dancing nutcrackers.

A little football outside after dinner. (Photo courtesy of Grandpa)

Time for the gifts! Gretchen and Jeremy show Blanden how it's done. (Photo courtesy of Grandpa)

"I know exactly what to do with these! Thanks, guys!" (Blanden has enjoyed playing with Jeremy and Gretchen's bricks since he first learned to roll across the floor and knock them down. Now he is excited to have a set of his own!)

Wondering what else might be in all of these packages.

Now he's starting to get the hang of this. (Photo courtesy of Grandpa)

Trying on some new football slippers (which came complete with matching jammies) with the help of Aunt Nancy. (Photo courtesy of Grandpa)

After we left the Springs, we stopped off at Uncle Jim and Aunt Nancy's house to pick up a few things. By then it was dinnertime, and so since we were in the neighborhood, Blanden, Ed, and I stopped at a yummy Cajun restaurant before finally heading home and calling it a night.

Some of Blanden's new goodies under the tree: a darling (personalized!) Thomas the Tank Engine backpack, just on time for school, full of new books, which of course Blanden loves, from Grandma and Grandpa; a long-sleeve shirt embroidered with a giraffe from Grandma -- Blanden actually hugged the shirt when he opened it, he loves giraffes so much!; a Little People dump truck from Uncle Nick; and Charlie Brown (with DVD) from cousins Gretchen and Jeremy.

For those of you who were curious (i.e., Mom and Dad) as to how we fit the tree into our foyer, which now doubles as Blanden's playroom, again this year, as you can see, it does all fit -- though it's a good thing we have a tall, skinny tree. :-) But it looks like Santa Claus has already come!

Gearing Up for School

Ed got me a (red!) Kitchen Aid MixMaster as a surprise for Christmas. Naturally I had to try it out by making a double batch of my favorite cookies last night: my great-grandmother's recipe for cutout sugar cookies. When Blanden sat down for breakfast this morning, saw them all drying on the counter, and wanted one, of course we couldn't resist. Seems like a good way to begin a holiday day "for a special treat." He took one bite and said, "Mmm!" Papa would be proud.

However, the cookie you see here is his second. He asked for it, but then decided to eat his banana and toast instead of the second treat. Good boy!

This morning Blanden and I visited his classroom-to-be. In the hour and a half we were there, the group had story time, did an art project, and then had free play time with books, balls, and stacking blocks. Blanden was clingy at first, as expected, but after about 15 minutes he was off investigating and exploring the room; soon he began to play on his own; and by the end he was interacting with the other children and the teachers and laughing and clapping. Understandably he kept coming back to me to check in, and he wasn't super keen on sharing my lap with a little girl who decided to plop down and read a story with us, but I feel confident he is going to be just fine. We're going back to visit again next week and the following week before he begins full time on his own after the new year.

He is in a room with eight other children, who can be from 12 to 24 months old, though everyone seems to be around 15 to 19 months right now. Two little girls seemed particularly friendly and interested in him, and after a while the teacher whispered to me, "I think Blanden and Joshua are going to be close." :-) Joshua is about Blanden's age and, according to the teacher, has a similar personality -- a little shy and reserved, but interested in getting to know other children. Blanden is in the same classroom as the assistant director's daughter (there are three classrooms in this age group), so that seems to bode well, and his lead teacher, Miss Pat, has been there for six years. I was impressed that she managed to corral eight toddlers for story time and then get them all to sit down together around the table for their art project! (Today: coloring cutout paper stars for Christmas.) We know the first few days (weeks? months?) are going to be tough, but we also know he's going to have fun and expand his education.