December has been a busy month here, as it always is. We have had many fun visits with good friends and family. We had a very joyful Christmas here and are thankful for all our blessings. We received many generous gifts. We had a nice, quiet Christmas morning with just the three of us and then headed to my mom's in the afternoon. On Christmas Eve, we made a short visit to my Aunt Sandy's farm and visited with many cousins. We always used to go there for Christmas Eve and I was glad to make it this year, even if it was for a short bit.

The picture above is when my cousin, Amy, and her two girls, Maggie and Cecilia, came to visit. They brought coffee, treats and good company. It was fun to have them visit.

Lucy also started in the "toddler room" at daycare and has adjusted very well. She had many visits before transitioning there which really helped. She now naps two hours (compared to 30 minutes in the infant room) on a cot. She has brought home many art projects and seems to be learning a lot.

Lucy and Mike on Christmas Eve. Lucy seemed to like making stools out of anything these days.

Mike's boys, Dylan (13 & over 6' already) and Trevor were able to come down for a short visit. It was very nice to see both of them and Lucy seemed to enjoy their company. Mike took them to the Harlem Globetrotters game on Sunday which they liked. Unfortunately, I came down with the stomach flu on the last part of their visit and wasn't able to spend as much time as I would have liked.

Lucy on Christmas Day at Grandma Sue's. Her Grandma Mary sent her a pretty, festive dress to wear. Lucky girl, she had two Christmas dresses (the other on Christmas Eve & our celebration with my dad was from her Grandma Sue-both very adorable).

We got Lucy a play kitchen that has adjustable heights, one for toddlers and one for preschoolers. She has been playing a lot with it. She got many new toys that she's been enjoying. Mike said we should move out our furniture to make room for her stuff. A little extreme but she does have many toys. She is a blessed little girl and has made good use of the generous gifts she received.

A family picture on Christmas Day.

The weekend before Christmas, my dad came over to make lefse with me, which was a tradition I did with my grandma. After she died three years ago, we have been continuing to tradition in honor of her. She died the day after Christmas so it is a time of remembrance of her. She blessed many lives during her life and she is dearly missed. We are remembering all those who are not with us this season. And Mike's family who we are not able to celebrate with due to distance.

In early December, we traveled to have our "friend Thanksgiving" with our good friends, Jamie, Debbie & their son Aiden (in the middle) and Jon, Erin & Ceili (on the right). It is always good to spend time with them. We have made this our tradition for the past several years.

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to the "Holiday Stroll" in Red Wing. It was much fun and cold! Lucy enjoyed dancing to the live music. I took her out of her stroller and she walked across a parking lot, to the front of the stage and was dancing...snow pants and all. She is a lover of music and dancing! In this picture she was enjoying some kettle corn with Grandma Sue. Her Grandma has been watching Lucy every other Wednesday morning which has been good for both of them and appreciated by Mike and I. Then she only goes to daycare 3 days one week and 3 1/2 the other. A good balance.

At the beginning of December, we finished up Aqua Tots at our local YMCA. Lucy was the youngest toddler there and enjoyed her time in the water. Mike was able to join us each session also, making it in the water two times. Hard for him with commuting back home. We will go again in March.

Decorating the Christmas tree. Lucy really liked the Christmas Tree. It is the first thing she wants to go see in the morning and says "night night" to it before bed. The needles are really starting to fall off of it now so it's days are numbered. She will probably miss it the most out of all of us.

Mike is now over half way done with his Barber school and has a couple day break for New Year's. It will be nice for all of us to have him home more. The commute has proved difficult during the snow storms thus far.

We wish all of you a Happy New Year and are thankful for all of you. We have many blessings to be grateful for. Take good care.

Halloween

Lucy and I have been cooped up in the house most of the past week (since Tuesday) as Lucy had the flu and some sinus stuff. She just finished taking Tamiflu and has an antibiotic also. Today was the first day in almost a week that she seemed to be really feeling better. She kept getting her hat, jacket and boots and bringing them over to me, wishfully hoping to go outside. She would proceed to try to put her jacket on and go sit by the door. The weather wasn't good last week either which didn't help.

Mike giving Devon a haircut in the garage. Mike got a salon chair that will be moving into out basement soon. Devon did a great job holding still. Our friend's son, Isaac, also came over to get a hair cut. Good practice! Mike's getting pretty good too! Over 1/3 done with school!

Mike's dad also came to visit and meet Lucy. We were glad to see him and Lucy seemed to warm up to him quickly. It was nice to spend time together.

We carved pumpkins in the driveway. Lucy wasn't all that interested but did enjoy dropping various items into the pumpkin "guts" bucket and bringing parts of the pumpkin all over.

A family shot on our front porch with the finished pumpkins. The biggest pumpkin (next to me)is from my dad and step-mom's garden.

Mike Sr., Mike and Lucy. It was fun to carve pumpkins. We missed doing that last year.

Here's an action shot of Lucy taking the pumpkin top down the driveway.

Lucy having fun with Grandpa Villaran.

It snowed about four inches here the week before Halloween. It was unexpected and very slippery driving. I could barely get in the driveway! And a neighbor's tree was so heavy with snow that it knocked the power line down. Luckily we didn't lose power. Lucy seemed to be intrigued with the snow too. Glad someone likes it!

Lucy was Minnie Mouse for Halloween. Her Grandma Mary send her a Minnie costume. She was very cute in it. She still wasn't feeling quite herself but we had fun anyway. We went up to my mom's and visited with all her cousins up there. She didn't want the ears on much but I captured a couple with them on below. We also went "trick or treating" to our friends, Andy & Stacey's.

Lucy's cousin, Addisyn, came over for some treats and to visit. It was nice to see her & Jake. She was "Belle".

Well, the ears are on but she's not too happy. We had lots of crying this past week!! Poor girl!

And now she's happy!

We have a pretty uneventful (hopefully) week ahead for us. Lucy starts Aqua Tots on Wednesday though, which should be fun. It's a half hour parent/tot water class at the YMCA in Red Wing. I will bring Lucy there and be in the water with her. Mike will get in to town right as it starts so will come also. She seems to really like the water so we're excited.

Walking and Pumpkins

It seems like it's been very hectic here. The biggest news is that Lucy is walking! It took her a while to get there as she's been standing and taking a few steps for quite some time. She seemed surprised and excited to take off. It seems she wants to spend most of her time walking around too. She also is talking quite a bit and saying a number of words. She likes saying "hi dad" when she hears Mike's car in the driveway and night and sometimes shouts out "dad" too which is cute. She has been practicing saying hi to everyone and every animal we see and waving. Her sleep has been quite disrupted which hasn't been so much fun for anyone. Hopefully it's a short lived stage. She's been busy visiting family and friends and having visitors to our house. She really does love socializing with people.



Mike was finally able to find out some good news about his health. After an ultrasound, a lump was found and we were unsure what it was for a long, stressful two weeks. He met with a ear, nose and throat specialist who is a surgeon and he said it is an enlarged lymph node that is nothing to be concerned about. Apparently you can have some lymph nodes bigger than others or it may just be inflamed. He was very confident. His thyroid condition is most likely due to Hoshimoto's Disease which causes one's immune system to attack the thyroid, causing it to burn out. There is very little other complications, however. He will need to continue taking the synthetic thyroid medication and have regular check up's. We are very thankful that he appears to be in good health. School continues to be interesting and a learning experience for Mike. He is still excited to be a barber. He is carpooling now with another student so that helpful.



It definitely is fall here and has felt like late fall, even for Minnesota. The cool, rainy days have been energy drainers. Hopefully it warms up for a bit before winter arrives. We have been thankful for our family and good friends that have been supportive of us during this trying time.



Take good care to each one of you. Below are some pictures of Lucy and her recent activities.







Here's Lucy on her second day of walking. She is pretty proud of herself.

Lucy enjoyed having her cousin Addy over to play. Girl time!

Lucy's cousin Easton also came to visit. That look is priceless! It was fun to have him over.

A few Saturdays ago, Lucy and I went to the "great pumpkin weigh off" in Red Wing. The biggest pumpkin was almost was almost 1500 pounds. It was HUGE. Unfortunately, we didn't take a picture of it. We had lots of fun playing at the park it was at too. Lucy loves swinging! There also was a band that she enjoyed watching and dancing to.

Yesterday, Lucy and I met my good friend, Debbie, and her 6 month old son, Aiden, at a Pumpkin Patch in Northfield. Here's a picture of Lucy and Aiden on the hay ride. They had to be pretty bundled up as it's been unseasonably chilly here. We had a great time seeing and playing with them.

Debbie, Aiden, Lucy, and I at the pumpkin patch. As you can see, Lucy wasn't too excited about me holding her for the picture. There was a lot of fun things to do there, including a sandbox filled with corn, which she really enjoyed. We are still finding corn in places from it.

Lucy and the pumpkins. We ended up getting a small one to take home with us.

Firsts

We have been very busy here and haven't had much time for updating here. Lucy is now a one year old. Hard to believe it's been over a year that she arrived. Seems like she's been part of our lives for much longer. We have been busy visiting friends, going on adventures to new places and activities, celebrating birthdays and our 5th year wedding anniversary, and enjoying the summer.

We went to Longville, MN to visit our very good friends, Erin, Jon, Debbie, & Jamie. Above is Lucy with Aiden & Ceili. Ceili exactly a month older than Lucy and Aiden is about 7 months younger.

Our other good friends, Nicole & Eric, came for a visit too. Above is Lucy & Robert. They are a little over a month apart.

We were able to get out on the boat too and really enjoyed our time. Our good friends, Jed & Nicki, came up on their boat and stayed at our marina too. It was very fun to see them and our other friends too. Lucy did well sleeping on the boat and thoroughly seemed to enjoy all the aspects of the boat. Too bad we weren't able to get down to the boat more often.

Lucy went swimming in Lake Pepin (widest part of the Mississippi) with Mike. The water was a cool 73 degrees and to my surprise, she LOVED it! She was splashing and laughing and happily chattering away. I don't know that it was as much fun for Mike. Good thing we signed her up for a parent/tot swimming class in November. I think it will be a good fit for her.

Here's Lucy enjoying the boat ride. She liked to ride looking out, with her arm out in the wind, shouting at the boats we passed. Quite social and adventurous. We had to put sunblock in her hair too to prevent a burned scalp.

Lucy has seemed to enjoy climbing in the refrigerator given a chance. This particular day she was helping herself to items in the fridge. A little helper.

She has been enjoying some on Minnesota's delicious sweet corn with us. It has been funny to watch her make sense of it. Tough to eat with tiny hands. She managed though.

Pictures of Lucy from birth-12 months, all at her month "birthday". It was fun to look at them and observe her development. A drastic transformation in one year!

Lucy walking with her daddy. She is still not walking independently but is taking some steps on her own and able to stand from a sitting position by herself. She stands for great lengths, playing with toys too so we are sure walking is just around the corner. Our pediatrician told us 15 months is a typical age for walking which seems late. We will enjoy this time before the next stage.

Lucy also has been "dancing" to music she hears. I took her to a festival in the park where there was a jazz band playing yesterday and she was showing off her moves. She took my hands and walked up the the band several times too. It was a fun time.

Mike's schooling has been interesting and he's learning lots. He has been getting practice from friends and family too. I saw his work today and it looked pretty good. He will be starting his eighth week already. Tomorrow Mike has more medical tests to check on the cause of his thyroid problems, including an ultrasound. We hope they don't find anything major. We are a little anxious about the results but glad to get some answers.

This weekend Mike is the best man in his friend, Jed's wedding, in Winona. We are excited to celebrate with them. Lucy will be staying at Grandpa Darnell and Grandma Cheri's house on Saturday. Hope it is a fun time for all of them too.

Hope you all are well and enjoying the tail end of summer as fall makes its' appearance soon.

And below is a picture of Lucy with her beautiful ladybug birthday cake that her Auntie Lindsay made. It was just adorable. And yummy! Lucy was not feeling very well for her birthday. We went to urgent care the day before but nothing seemed to be wrong-just a high temp. and crankiness. We were glad to have so many people celebrate Lucy's birthday with us-there must have been about 35 people here. Nice to see everyone!!

New Routine

Lots of changes here. All good and exciting stuff but we're still transitioning. I guess that's kind of the way life goes.

Mike started at the Minnesota School of Barbering yesterday. It went okay for him. With only two days down, it's hard to tell how it will be. He's done three haircuts so far and got tips on every one of them so that was an unexpected surprise. It will help pay for some gas anyway. He's investigating different driving routes as there's a lot of traffic when he gets done. Hard to only have an hour with Lucy when he's been having the whole day with her. Bittersweet.

Lucy and I are getting used to our new schedule too. She really does seem to enjoy the other kids at daycare and is off playing before I leave her there and seems happy when I pick her up. No doubt that she misses spending so much time with her daddy though. They go on lots of walks there and last week Lucy went with the toddlers to story time at the library. Mike is home with her on Mondays and I am home with her Wednesday afternoons so that breaks it up.

Before this big change, the three of us were able to go down to Sears and have Lucy's one year pictures taken, along with some family shots. Lucy was in a happy mood when we arrived which was nice. We were happy that we got some good shots to capture this special time with her. After the two hour photo adventure, we went to lunch and Lucy thoroughly enjoyed herself, yelling and squealing at the other kids and people. It was nice to get out and do something "regular". A couple of the pictures are posted below.

Lucy really has been enjoying getting into cupboards, drawers, toilet paper, etc. and taking everything out and climbing in. Here's a favorite of hers, climbing in the bathroom cupboard.

Lucy's uncle Alex came for a visit before heading back to Florida. She always seems to enjoy him when he's here. Lots of smiles and laughing with him. We were sorry not to have more time spent with him while he was here in MN.

Lucy and Clyde enjoying the outdoor scene. They both wish they could get out there.

Lucy also has got two molars. So now she has a dozen teeth, which is hard to believe. Busy girl. She has been wanting to climb and stand on everything, getting closer to walking. She continues to be very talkative and has really developed quite a sense of humor. We're almost certain she's going to be an extrovert. She has been spending lots of time with her grandparents and enjoying that too.

Hope all is well with you. Take good care.

Lucy playing with her new toy from her cousins, Devon & Easton. It's a big hit!

We got green beans from the farmer's market and Clyde, the cat, had pulled some out of the bowl. His fun with ended when Lucy saw them and took them from him.

It has been another event filled week here at the Villaran house. Lots of changes it seems.

Lucy has been changing like crazy...almost four new teeth (one is not quite poked through). Now she has (almost) ten teeth, which is hard to believe. We just noticed them. She really didn't have as many teething symptoms as she had with the other ones. No drooling at all. She has been practicing making all sorts of interesting sounds with them. Most of the time it seems like she really is talking, carrying on about this and that. She has been practicing standing on almost anything she can, sometimes all by herself. Lots of climbing the stairs too. And she is fast. She also has been playing more with her dollies and stuffed animals, giving them hugs and bites too.

Lucy has been going on lots of walks with both of us, which she really seems to enjoy. Our cats, Penn and Clyde, have been the very patient victims of Lucy practicing being gentle, which is quite the opposite. She grabs them very hard, sometimes by the ear, the tail, or two fists full of fur and skin. We have been reading a lot of "touch and feel" books and she does the same thing with the really furry animals. Mike informed her that she will not be going to a petting zoo anytime in the near future. She has stopped nursing all together too and is now having formula. This has been a gradual but a big transition. It was nice to be able to nurse for so long. We hoped to make it to a year but that just didn't work and that's okay.

Mike has decided on going to the Minnesota School of Barbering for a nine month program, five days a week, Tuesday-Saturday, 8-5. He will be starting there on July 28. They will be long days with the commute. He is excited and nervous about the unknown. Lucy will be returning to daycare 3 1/2 days per week then. That is bittersweet for us all. We are glad for Mike to have a new opportunity to create a business for himself. He has been busy taking care of all kinds of things to make this happen.

The other big event here was an unexpected medical situation with Mike. As we previously wrote, he has been having problems with a sore big toe. He went in to the doctor for this and ended up having a lot of blood drawn to test for different things. Long story short, he collapsed and passed out while walking down a hallway, alone, after the blood draw. The medical staff wouldn't let him drive himself home and my mom ended up coming to get him as they were unable to get a hold of me (which I still feel really bad about). Through these tests, they were able to find that his thyroid is inactive and has been causing a wide variety of symptoms. He will have to take synthetic thyroid for the rest of his life and continue to be monitored. He has some additional tests coming up. I was able to stay home from work the day after as he still wasn't "quite right" from the fall. Luckily, he only had carpet burn on his face but no bruising. He quickly felt better physically, especially a decrease in aches and pains, which have been difficult for him for quite some time.

This past weekend I was treated to a movie, "My Sister's Keeper" from my step-mom, Cheri. It was an unexpected and much appreciated treat. We both had read the book. It is a thought provoking movie about family dynamics and life's challenges. Definitely "a crier".

This weekend I have a bridal shower for a good friend, Nicki, and Mike's brother, Alex, is coming to visit. We may make another trip to the Farmer's Market too. There's usually music there too which Lucy enjoys. No sweet corn yet though. Hope all of you are well and enjoying the summer!!

Climbing the stairs-a favorite activity! With close supervision.

Lucy and I-after an attempt to go swimming. The swarming mosquitoes put a quick

damper on the fun.

She's 11 months already!!