July 4th weekend and more

We were so happy to have our friends Katie and Craig VanTornhout visit us this year for July 4th. Katie has been one of my best friends for the past 9 years (met in college) and it has just been too long since we've seen each other. We decided to take part in the country music concert downtown Lexington called Red, White and Boom! It featured the artists Bucky Covington (American Idol finalist), Sarah Johns, Tracy Lawrence, Billy Currington John Michael Montgomery and more! Grace's friend Abigail came to watch the fireworks too! The kids really enjoyed themselves! We went to one of the local pools for the first time last week. It was more like a water park! Creatures to sit on, toddler water slides, fountains, bubbles, etc! Other than Grace being really cold (brrrrr), I know she had fun. We went with Grace's friends Megan and Abigail (and their mommy's of course).

We've also been going to Polo in the Park at the Kentucky Horse Park. Polo matches are played every Friday and Sunday for about 5 weeks and so far, we've been both times they've had it. We bring a blanket and some treats for Grace and watch the horses run back and forth. We even help stomp the divots at half time.

Last weekend, Grammie came to watch Grace so Evan and I could go to a bachelor/ bachelorette party. Grammie really enjoyed herself and really enjoyed being with Grace. She was so amazed with how much she has changed since the last time she saw her. Grace got her first black eye right before Grammie came- poor thing. She ran right into a chair- Ouch!

Grace and I also went to storytime at the library for the first time today with Megan (and Michelle). I am so happy that I've met Michelle and Nella because they always have something fun in mind to do with the girls.

Growing up so fast

Well- we've had a really big week here. We've been very fortunate recently to have met some really nice families in our neighborhood. We have started spending a lot of time with two different families: Justin, Michelle and Megan (almost 2 years old) and Greg, Nella and Abigail (also almost 2 years old). We also still spend a lot of time with our friends Megan, Chris and Owen also. We've had so much fun getting to know them and letting our little ones play. I feel very lucky to have met them because they have lived in Lexington longer than me and they know about things for children to do around town. Grace and I have been going to Megan and Abigail's houses for playdates mid week also which has been great fun! It's nice that they live only a block away- we are so lucky!


Last weekend, we went to a blueberry farm with Greg, Nella and Abigail. They were having special weekend events the day that we went. We started off with a blueberry pancake breakfast. Delicious! Then we went on a horse drawn wagon ride around the farm. The girls really enjoyed this. Next, we picked blueberries and rasberries and finally, while the guys paid for our new fruit, we girls had a little picnic in the shade.



Monday morning, Evan and I decided that Grace was ready for her big girl bed. As soon as she woke up, we transitioned her crib into a toddler bed. We watched her on the monitor during her nap on Monday and gosh was that funny! She was getting in and out of her bed- new found freedom! She was pulling books off of her shelf and then going back to her bed to read them. I had to go in twice to remind her that it was nap time and both times, she ran to her bed, put her head on her pillow, and closed her eyes- how does she know to pretend like she is asleep- what a hoot! Since that nap- she has stayed in her bed for all of her naps and for bedtime. We have been pleasantly surprised about how easy it has been to make the transition. We also have started her drinking out of a big girl cup during meal times. For the most part- she's done really well.

Tuesday morning, Grace and I went to the movie theatre for the first time to watch The Bee Movie. We went with Michelle and Megan and Nella and Abigail. Again- we are very lucky to have met them!!! There was a film festival in town so the movie was completely free for us to attend. The girls did a great job and really seemed to enjoy themselves. At the end of the movie the girls started to get a little antsy so we did leave slightly early but we were proud of how well behaved they were.



Tonight we took Grace outside for the first time to ride her tricycle. She has been riding it inside for the past week or two but we figured it was time to let her try out her new found skill out on the sidewalk. She again, did surprisingly well. She really is growing up so fast and we've noticed such big changes in her personality since we potty trained. She has become much more independent, "Me do it". We are really pleased with how well she follows direction and are thankful that she is well behaved...good parenting (grin).

Hope you enjoyed todays blog- we certainly have been busy. We really are living up and loving life. Love, A Very Busy Mommy

Trip to Wabash and Friends in Town

Hello there- we've had a really great couple of weeks. We travelled to Wabash several weeks ago to help celebrate the 70th anniversary of Evan's grandparents. What a fun time. It's been since Christmas since we've stayed in Wabash and we are glad that we made it a long weekend. We got to see almost everybody when we were there. We missed seeing Carl and Katie but hopefully we'll see them soon.

The strawberry festival was being held in Wabash the weekend we were there. Grace really enjoyed taking train rides around the block. She was a little young for the kid activities but got a strawberry tattoo on her arm! Dinner in honor of Bob and Verna Margaret was held at the Honeywell House. It was a really nice dinner and was a lot of fun to get together. I think it's safe to say that everyone was impressed with how big of a girl Grace is. It was neat that she was mostly potty trained too. While in Wabash, we also went down to the barn to see the new baby horses. So cute!

Several days after we returned to Lexington, we had a massive cookout at our house. We've met so many people in town and decided to get everyone together for dinner and fun. We are lucky because the friends that we are meeting have kids Grace's age. It's adorable watching them play and learn together. I think we had a grand total of 21 people at our house. We feel so lucky to have met such nice couples in our neighborhood and in town. We are feeling more at home every day.

Last weekend we also had two friends from Muncie come down (one with her little girl Lauren- also Grace's age). Evan's mom and sister-n-law were also in town for a horse show. We unfortunately weren't able to see Alisa but we did get to spend some time with Mimi. We also had a lot of fun. We again feel so lucky that our friends would make that drive down to see us...especially with gas prices so high. We went to a really neat resturant called Halls on the river. It was a beautiful drive there (and a little scary b/c it was really twisty turny) and the resturant had a great atmosphere and good food. Then on Sunday, we went to the art show called Fransisco Farms. It's held yearly on the Midway college campus and is an outside art exhibit. It was really neat and I bought several pieces of pottery. I can't wait to have another cookout so I can use it.

Party at Chuck E Cheese and look who can wink!

Oh my- look at this silly face! Grace and I have been working really hard on facial expressions last week. She can now make a happy face, sad face, mad face, and I'm not sure what face this is...except for a really silly face! What a character!

She's even learned how to wink- check out the picture below!

We've been continuing to work on potty training. So far, she's doing really well. We've had some accidents but overall, I think she's adapting really well. She wakes up dry from her naps- makes mommy and daddy very happy and proud. She's been in big girl underpants now for 3 days and Evan and I have decided that we are completely finished with diapers. Woo hoo! She generally is accident free throughout the day as long as I remind her to potty every 30-60 minutes. If I don't remind her, she forgets to use her potty chair but she is going longer and longer with no accidents. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. She seems so much older than 2 now that she no longer wears a diaper.

Grace's little friend Owen turned two last week and we were invited to his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese- what fun! Grace loved riding on the rides. Hard to tell from the pictures but she really enjoyed it. She wasn't sure of Chuck E Cheese when he/she came out to dance. Or of the mouse dancing up on the stage- mainly stayed right next to Evan. I would say that Owen had a really nice party and we were happy to be invited and take part.

Oh- here's the wink picture...ha ha ha. I can't believe she can wink! Hilarous!

We are really looking forward to our trip to Wabash this Wednesday to help Grandmother and Grandad Beauchamp celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary. What an admirable milestone!

We also did a lot of finger painting last week. Grace finally is starting to let her hands get dirty. She's quite the budding artist. Hopefully Grandma Pauline passed along her art genes- I also let Grace use scissors for the first time. She really liked the ones that made a jagged cut. She did surprisingly well also-

Love, Jen

It's Potty Time

As you have already heard, Grace has started to potty train. She first went on the potty last Friday, May 30th while Evan was sitting on the floor with her and we've been going strong since. It's quite amazing- she uses her potty and even empties it after she is finished. She still hasn't been able to do a #2 on the potty but we are trying. This is a frequent problem with training but hope that she will do it soon. Before today- we had her wearing training pants to catch any accidents but today, she's been in big girl undies all day. We are 4 days in to training and today she has only had one accident! I think she is doing really well. She can pull her undies up and down all by herself and knows to flush the big potty after she empties hers into it. After she puts her potty back in the potty chair, she washes her hands and then it's back to playing until nature calls again.


She really likes to teach her doll (aka Dolly) to use the potty as well. Since mommy reads Grace stories while she is trying to potty, Grace reads Dolly stories also. What a big girl! She's a very good mommy already.




Over the weekend we made a trip up to Lawrenceburg, IN to visit our friends Jeremy and Shannon. They live right next to Hidden Valley Lake and are lucky to have a beach. Grace didn't really like to get her feet in the sand (as you can see in the picture) or the water, but after some coaxing, she was a natural beach baby. She really enjoyed shoveling sand in the bucket full of water and throwing rocks in the water to see the splash. Later in the day we were able to get her in the water (about thigh height). We are going to try to take her there more often so we can, of course, visit our friends but also so we can get her around water. We don't want her to be scared of water and are lucky to have something so close.

While visiting our friends, we got to play and pet a brand new baby deer. It was several days old and was brought to Jeremy and Shannon's neighbor (some random person thought they were rescuing it). The neighbor just so happened to bring it outside to use the restroom when we were heading to the beach! It was so tiny and Grace prefered to look at it rather than touch it. They said that we coul dtake it home but Evan said no. What a party pooper! Ha ha- Just kidding...that's the last thing that we need.

I guess that is all for now- we had a busy week last week with lots of good news so we'll hope that it will continue in to this week.

Memorial Day Weekend

Greetings from Lexington.

We had a very nice holiday weekend and hope you all did also. Last week, I gave Grace a haircut for the first time. And, surprisingly, it came out pretty well! I decided to trim the back of her hair after she took a bath so I snipped away while she was playing with her bath toys. After we were finished, I rinsed her off and whalah! A nice free haircut! Here she is not only showing off her new hair do but also showing off her new suit!

We finished landscaping our front yard Saturday morning and then just relaxed the rest of the day. Sunday, we watched the Indy 500 at our house and then headed to Dylan's house to have a cookout. We dressed the kids in suits to see if they would play in the sprinklers but they mostly preferred to stay out of the cold water.




Grace insisted on wearing her rain coat and boots over to Dylan's house. It's especailly funny because it was sunny and 80 degrees outside!

Daddy was able to get Grace into the sprinkler but she sure wasn't having fun. She mostly spent the afternoon playing on Dylan's slide. Hope you enjoy the pictures- Love, Jen

And again- sorry for the delay

Gosh, a lot has happened since the last blog. We have most of the painting finished inside and have landscaped our front yard. And yes, we even have grass! We will plant trees in the back yard a little later this year. The front looks amazing- we've planted a weeping cherry in the front yard and then a patio lilac tree, a bonanza patio peach tree, and a japanese maple in our front flower beds. Then lots of add'l bushes, grasses, flowers, etc. to finish it off. Looks wonderful!

Grace's 2nd birthday party was a hit! We were so blessed to have so many family members make the drive down to help us celebrate! We really hope everyone enjoyed themselves! Grace is so lucky to have so many people that love her.

We've finally found a pediatrician here for her so her 2 year appt. was in Lexington! She weighed 23 lbs (8th %) and is 33" long (23rd %). Basically there are only 8% of kids smaller than she is for her age and 23% shorter than her. She is one petite little girl but is very healthy. At this appt. we again expressed our concerns about a possible language delay. Here's what we found out...

If a language delay is suspected, there are two steps to take. One is to go to an ear nose and throat doctor to test her hearing and the next is to have a language evaluator evaluate her. As of today, we've done both. After the ENT doctor, we've discovered that Grace has conductive hearing loss. Luckily, this is temporary. Basically she has fluid behind her eardrums so everything she hears sounds like she is hearing it under water. Our two options are to put tubes in her ears or let her outgrow it. Right now, we are leaning toward just letting her outgrow it but we are still gathering information about it.

The language therapist came to our house this morning and says that Grace is 6 months behind in her language development. She was kind-of surprised though because what Grace is doing is very strange and uncommon. She can say and pronounce letters when it's just the letter but when she tries to say a word with that letter in it, she can't say it. Very uncommon so she is going to do some checking tonight and talk with some other people and let us know tomorrow what we need to do. We also found out that although she is 6 months behind in her language, she is one year ahead in her gross motor skills. We've always known she was advanced in her motor skills but to find out that she can do things that a three year old can't do is pretty amazing!

Grace still loves to read books and play with her kitchen set. She also really likes pushing her doll stroller around the neighborhood (what a big girl)! She's busy doing puzzles too! She has three little buddies here- their names are Owen (2 years old), Dylan (1 year old), and Abigail (almost 2 years old). What fun to get them together! This is a picture of Grace and Owen at the soccer field. Adorable.

I'm going to try to update this blog once a week so give me a hard time if I miss a week- I always seem to get sidetracked! Love- Jen