An hour in the life of a toddler

Starting off with some food... nevermind that we just had snack
before arriving at the birthday party.

"Hello sweet, buttery croissant. How delicious you are."

Digging for shark teeth fossils:

Playing with dinosaurs, coloring and doing crafts:

Time for a nap.
This is the life.

Friends

Friends... we have not forsaken you. We have not been swallowed by a black hole. We did not forget to pay our comcast bill and been living without internet this past month. We are here and we (ahem, I!) still plan to post on this blog. We've just been busy.

New baby, new tantrums, new bronze statue friends and outings have been taking our time.

Woodland Park Zoo - Van running wild and free,
Adam screaming in the stroller

I'll be back soon, with a bombardment of posts - going all the way back to Adam's birth. Yikes (I repeat, we've been busy).

xo,
L

And then there were two

Van, meet your new baby brother... Adam. My cup runneth over for these two. I didn't know it was possible to feel so much love.

Birth story coming soon. In the meantime, I'll leave you with the first token of brotherly affection: Van wanting to share his animal cracker. Adam looks like he wants it, too! I think these two will get along just fine.

xxxxxx,
mama

Cougar Mountain Zoo

As the waiting game continues for baby #2 (I'm already 2 cm dialated, but apparently, that doesn't mean I'll be in labor tomorrow), I've been trying to keep us busy. Last minute food shopping (if we run low on anything, I get it immediately - no waiting a few days to get to the grocery store), cooking and freezing food, continuous hospital stay prep, and lots of playdates.

Van had a blast at the Cougar Mountain Zoo today with some new friends and one of our favorites, Mr. Jackson. The zoo is super small, but 5 minutes from our house - I LOVE that.

Van running wild (i.e. wearing himself out, so he will take a good nap - hooray!) and being amazed at the statues

Feeding the deer

Feeding along side Jackson

Checking out the alpacas

It was a fun day.

Happy birthday, Andre!

Happy Birthday, Andre!!

Van misses his big brother, and would prefer to have a more recent photo of the two of you.

Wishing you lots of fun, adventures and safety over the coming year.

xo,
your seattle fans

19 months

Last 'birthday' as an only child!
Since I'm hoping for an early delivery, our baby vanders may only have a couple more weeks of the single-good-life. My belly is heavy and very uncomfortable, and I'm looking forward to delivery day with utter glee and total terror. What will our lives be like after d-day?!

As Van turned 19 months, he's showing more and more and more personality. He's testing everything, changing his mind and developing interests.

Some of the fun ones:
- When he plays with crayons, he will hand you a crayon and grab one for himself. They are both orange, his favorite color.
- He started spitting out food, randomly, like every 3rd bite. Did he take too big a bite? Was that particular bite bad? We have no idea. So we've been working hard on keeping food in the mouth and telling him to 'chew and swallow'. But when we do this, he makes a big show of it and exaggerates everything, which makes us laugh.
- He does not like fruit in his yogurt. This started happening during the food-spitting-out-phase above. Too bad I just bought a huge box of fruit flavored yoplait yogurts from costco. I blame tim, who pretty much only eats vanilla.- He is trying soooo hard to jump. His attempts, with his squat, complete concentration and push up of his arms, is the cutest thing to watch. Still no air, though. I'm worried though, as he has started to attempt jumps OFF of objects (steps, boxes, etc).
- He hugs. When sitting on the floor, he will come give you a hug in the front, and then will walk around hug you from the back.
- He's fairly tentative when trying anything for the first time. I don't think he's going to be our dare-devil child, but I still reserve judgment.
- He's gotten bossy. In a nice way. When he wants you to do something, he will tell you - usually using the word ('sit' he's very clear with, 'weee' is for read, etc). And then he looks up at you, innocent and expecting something to happen. When you ask if he wants you to read the book, he says 'yeah' shaking his head.
- He's a polite rascal and says 'peees'. (you might have to prompt him, but he says it)- He self-regulates. When he knows he's not supposed to do something, he says 'no, no, no, no' and looks at you for confirmation. He would just love for me to say 'yes', as he holds his cheese above his water glass.
- He's counting to three. As in: 'suh, sue, seeee' (usually accompanied by an attempted jump)
- He says 'I love you' by blowing a kiss.
- Reading continues to be a favorite activity. I LOVE that he loves to read. He now says 'reee' for read, and will bring both you and himself a book to either look at, hold while reading the other, or just to share.
- Btw, he's a great share-er. I'm not sure that will continue, but when kids come over, he brings them his toys and likes to watch them play with them. He seems to get a kick out of giving things to people.

Some pictures and activities from the past month:

Vashon beach bash - end of July

Loving some lazy Saturday morning daddy time

Seabrook for mama's 35th birthday - mid August

You are as sweet as can be at 19 months, Vanders. While I want you and your brother to find your own paths, he's going to have big footprints to follow.

We love you!!

33 weeks

In 7 (or 6, I hope) weeks, we are going to rock our comfort zone once again. This pregnancy has been pretty easy, compared to what many other women go through. The main difference is my belly size. When my belly popped at 10 weeks, it just kept going. And going. And going.

Below is a comparison of Van and Baby #2. It's not exactly fair, since the picture of Van (on left) was at 32 weeks and the current picture (on the right) is at 33 weeks. Plus, the current picture has a bit of a shadow on the left side. Still, the difference is significant.

Psst... hey, little baby. This is your mama talking.
Please, please, stay under 9 lbs for your birthday.
Pretty, pretty please.

We can't wait to meet you baby. Van is going to make a very fun big brother, and you are going to be so very loved.

Pre-baby, anniversary, just-because trip...

We heart Leavenworth

Before our life is thrown back into wonderful, magical, nerve racking, sleep deprived chaos with baby #2 (and a toddler to boot), we decided to escape for a couple of nights to Leavenworth. While Van played and had a GREAT time with one of his favorite people of all time, Grandpa, we slept in, took long showers, went out to eat, went to bed when we felt like it, and tim even squeezed in a mountain bike ride (where he had 2 black bear run-ins... oh, great).

Happy 4 year anniversary to the love of my life, best friend, daddy extraordinaire and adventure partner. I love you!

Happy half-birthday to you!

'Baby Van' is 18 months. Happy half-birthday, sweet sweet baby!

This is such a great age, and there is so much fun, new, crazy stuff you're doing on a daily basis, that I can hardly keep up (or remember to write it on the blog!). You pat my belly now, when we ask where the baby is. I doubt you truly understand the baby impact that is about to rock our worlds, but then again, I don't think I really get it yet either.

You mimic EVERYTHING we say (in a toddler syllable kind of way), say 'uh oh' when you drop anything (I think you picked this up from Grandpa or Grandma Miae while they stayed with you a couple of nights. Mama and Daddy had a weekend escape to Leavenworth before baby #2 arrives), and you say 'no, no, no, no, no' a lot (which makes me laugh every time - might not be so funny after a while though).

You LOVE to be outside. The park is the greatest thing on earth and you'd be happy to swing for hours. You RUN. And I mean, run. Chase is one of your favorite games inside, and it's only competition is playing peek-a-boo under a blanket. Your laugh is genuine and lights up my world. Your eyes are inquisitive, and it's a good thing you're so small and cute, because you stare quite a bit at people and things going on around you. My guess is, you're trying to figure it out before you join in. You do not follow the leader. You are an explorer.

18 month stats:
(coming soon. as soon as I find them in my diaper bag - ack!)

Some highlights from the past month...

We participated in the Puyallup neighborhood 4th of July Parade:

Van and Great Grandma checking each other out.
"Nice ride, lady" - "Back at ya, kid"

Went to at least 5 new beaches during a 2 week hot spell:

Watering the sand is serious business

Enjoyed a BBQ at Aunt Stephanie's on Lake Washington:

Exploring the dock and showing off my run

Playing with our favorite toy EVER, the housekeepers duster:

He asked for 'ya-yana' (aka: Lilliana, our housekeeper) for 2 weeks straight,
which was her next visit

Rode the Thomas Train:

Wasn't a huge hit, but since he doesn't even know who Thomas is, no big surprise there. Basically, he felt cooped up on a train.
p.s. Does anyone see anything other than belly in this picture?! And there's still 2 months to go!

Move over daddy, there's a new chief in town, and he has your shoes:

You bring so much fun and joy to our lives, little man. I hope we make you as happy as you make us. We love you!!

Rockin' out

Van went to his first concert yesterday. The one, the only... Caspar Babypants! They are playing at all our local libraries, for free. I love the library.



We got there early with our friend's Shanie and Kyan, and had second row 'seats' on the floor. Perfect for band and kiddo mosh pit watching! It was really cute to watch the kids that knew the songs and danced around getting their wiggle out.

Van spent the whole time snuggled in my lap, trying to figure out what was going on. He loves music and will bop around to certain tunes, but was a little hesitant with a live band. Plus, we had never listed to Caspar Babypants music before. He stared a lot at the band and kids up-front dancing, and was particularly interested in the girl dancing next to us or any kid walking by to get up-front. He's a thoughtful, curious snuggle bug.


We left with a commemorative CD autographed by the band.
Fun times!

You are my favorite

A few of my favorite pictures from a little photo op the other day...




I love you, little man.

Easter

Easter was so much fun this year. With Van walking, curious, and into whatever he can get his hands on, I figured him a natural for egg hunts! I was mostly right.

We had cold weather, but luckily the rain stayed away. We started our weekend off with the Zoo's bunny bounce event and egg hunt. Here's how it all unfolded...

Finding egg #1 - yay! What fun. But not sure about letting it go and putting it in the basket.

On to egg #2 - find, sit, pick-up, smile and show to mama, repeat

Taking egg #2 with us as we watch others and wonder about all the eggs 'hidden' on the ground

Found egg #3 - but we sat down too early and it's frustratingly out of reach.

Accepting the concept of eggs going in the basket.

Then taking them right back out again and throwing them.

Finding the mother load! Smart baby. Why search for 1 or 2 when you can scoop out hundreds?

I would say the zoo egg hunt was a big success!

...However, at my mom's easter egg hunt on Sunday, which is geared for us 'big kids', I left him in my mom's arms as I ran out to find some eggs filled with gift certificates and cash. Needless to say, someone started screaming and crying the second I raced out the back door. He was probably thinking, 'what just happened here?'. And then, as my mom carried him around the backyard to watch me, he continued to cry. Again, really freaked out with all of us frantically running to and fro. I'm sure it seemed like a crazy, cry appropriate situation. Ours of course were tears of joy, as we opened our eggs to the massive amounts of loot we scored. Thanks again, mom!

We are soooo ready for Spring. Bring it!

14 months

I can't believe my baby is 14 months!! He's changing. He's changing Big time! And I love it, every second. He's learning so fast, and growing in personality. I can already see him testing me, and truthfully, I'm worried he may win - a lot.

Pushing a chair to it's limit.

Instead of seeking to destroy (his mega block table, cushy blocks, etc), he actually tries to build. Don't get me wrong though, he's still Dr. Destructo any chance he gets. Our house is a war zone every evening, and we simply clean it up, somewhat excited to see what he gets into or finds fascinating the next day.

Caught in the act of emptying a desk drawer. I imagine him thinking,
"why is everything hidden in all these drawers? it should be out ALL OVER the floor! here, let me help".

I have learned that you can NEVER have too many toys. I currently need more, since I've always tried to stay pretty minimal. However, it doesn't allow for much rotation. I see him getting bored at home, one of the many growing personality traits. In those moments, I usually scoop him up and take him to the kids museum we joined. Get out some of the exploration and wiggle in a new, fun environment. I can't wait for spring though and drier weather where he can be let loose outside. It's still pretty rainy these days, although I did buy him some waterproof pants thinking we could brave some light moisture. A sprinkle wont melt us (although he is sugar sweet).

Starting out early, with an interest in coffee and chocolate.
A mocha frappuccino doubles as a toy, right?

He's very huggy with me right now, will lay down on the couch (for all of 2 seconds, because he does not sit still) with me and rest his head on my cheek or chest. This morning he did that in bed, and said 'mama'. Sweetest thing ever!

Hold still for my crappy phone camera, little man! Giggle, giggle, giggle.

He's walking, a little unbalanced at times, and when his bare legs motor around they make me want to eat them up! Tim and I can't help but think we have the cutest little munchkin on the planet.

He's talking! His current vocabulary:
Mama
Da (dog)
Du (duck- he's been signing this one for a while)
Mmmm (for 'moo', aka - cow)

His last bout of teething were two of his back teeth, at the same time, and they hurt. They hurt us all. There was a stint of about 3 weeks worth of high-pitched screams and whining, and it wasn't fun for any of us. I hear the pain of teething can be so excruciating that it would put an adult in the hospital. Yet we have them go through it with some mediocre teething tablets and hugs from mom. Poor little guy (not that I didn't have my moments where I begged calgon to take me away, but mostly, he got a lot of sympathy from his mama). And, the high-pitched screaming stopped almost as quickly as it began. I barely remember it, and yet, I have an inner fear of the next tooth.

We love you like crazy, snuggle buggle. Bring on the next month of fun! (and hopefully some outdoor time)

Slacker

Yes, yes. I have been an ultra slacker with the blog. Would you believe my 1 year post for Van is half complete? I swear. I've had the hardest time writing it. He's 1 year old!! I feel like the post should be epic. Funny, witty, sentimental and loving all rolled into some black and white text.

As a teaser, I will tell you that he's so close to walking we can taste it, he gives the BEST hugs and pats my back, and he's pointing (to go somewhere, have something or just to test you). It's awesome and we're loving every minute of his 1-ness.

One year ago

Last week

We also took a quick 3 day escape to Salt Lake City for some skiing with friends. Our first time away from the little man went well and he was in great hands with Grandma most of the time, and then Grandpa the last day. Now, if only his cough would go away.

Park City, Utah

We're off to Virginia next week for Tim's mom's 70th birthday. Fingers crossed that he's still a good flier! I'm taking him solo on the way there, as Tim will be flying in from Germany.

Good think I'm done, the little man is up. Gotta go!
xo

First step!!

Van took his first step on Tuesday. 1 day shy of his 1st birthday. That's my boy! (His mama walked on her first birthday too)

We were so unprepared. We were all just hanging out, Van was trying to stand on his own next to his walker, then he took a step and walked over to Tim's legs. One full independent step. He's now been standing on his own for a few seconds at a time, but no more steps since. It must be soon though.

Watch out world!

How??

He's done this twice now, and he always gets in the drawer when I'm not looking...

Sneaky little bugger!

Sneak peak

Shhhh, someone has a birthday coming up. We're all excited and in full party planning mode.
xo