The Vance's: May 2012

>> May 28, 2012

We all have those people in our lives who we've known for years, can be completely ourselves around and laugh so hard every time we are with each other. For me, one of those people is Heather Mann. Heather and I have been friends forever, okay, well since we were 5. Yep, we met in Germany while vacationing with our families and both had Anna Banana as our ski teacher. At the end of the week, Heather won the gold medal and I won the silver for our age group (although I totally wanted the gold medal and tried to steal her spot on the podium!). 11 years later we met up again in high school in Puyallup, 3 years later we lived together in college and eventually were in each others weddings and a big part of each others lives ever since.

Heather is fun, funny, kind, genuine, artistic, real, honest, goofy, smart, beautiful and so talented. She is the type of friend who in the midst of running her own photography company (www.heathermannphotography.com - check it out!) and raising 4 adorable little boys somehow finds the time to help a unskilled blogger like myself make my blog super cute. She gets all the credit for transforming my blog, I just type the posts.

Thanks Heather for being one of my best friends...for always looking out for me and still loving me, despite my lack of creativity!

Random pirate on a camping trip years ago. (Can we please go camping again soon? You too Katy!)

Fun at the Puyallup Fair.

On top of the big white roller coaster at the fair.

On my wedding day.

Beautiful friend.

5 months.

>> May 22, 2012

5 months already? Time should really just slow down. We continue to be amazed at what a happy baby we have. She is always smiling. Always! Even in the midst of her first fever and cold last week, with snot dripping down her nose and the beginning of teething pain she still smiled away. I took these pictures over the weekend (she had a 101+ fever when I took these) and the first 3 pictures looked like this:

I just love how her entire face lights up when she smiles. It's the best!

At 5 months Lucy is:
Sleeping mostly through the night for 9 hour stretches or sometimes waking up just once to eat.
Love her thumb. Anytime she is tired it's her go-to thing for comfort.
Wearing 6-9 month clothes.
Just discovered her love of peek-a-boo and raspberry blows on her tummy.
Naps 3 times a day.
Still prefers breastfeeding over any sippy cup.
Loves to chew on teething rings and Sophie the giraffe.
Smiles when she sees her brother walk in the room.
Still the cutest little girl on the planet (I'm not biased).

Happy 5 months old Lucy!

29 months.

Carter's not quite two and a half. Almost. And, probably my favorite month yet of his little life so far. It's not that we've done anything super spectacular or went on a trip or bought a new toy. It's just him and his personality shining through day by day. We have a funny kid. I think I've told Matt this every night this past week. He's picking up new words and phrases, repeating not only sentences we say, but the tone or mannerism we say it in too. It cracks me up. Simple stuff like, "bye guys, see uh toomourrough (tomorrow!)"

It's funny the memory he has too. Like Matt and Lucy were sick last week. I said they had an owie in their noses and instantly he remember a Curious George episode from a few weeks ago when the monkey had a cold. So, naturally, he says, "yeah mama, monkey too!" Of course, Carter....just like the monkey.

Our little boy is just growing up. It's so fun to watch him think about the world, observe other kids play and learn his own quirky social skills. He can take forever to walk to the park just to stop at every flower, pick up a rock and examine it from all angles and notice every little piece of garbage that needs to be thrown away, and then proceed to do just that. It's funny how I can simply walk past that stuff without even thinking about it. Yet, somehow, he learned that you shouldn't just walk right by, but instead, take a moment and just slow down a bit.

Don't get me wrong. Not every day is filled with enlightening moments. We still have days with tantrums, struggling to listen, learning to share and pushing limits. But, somehow it doesn't seem so bad when I get a "mama, I wuv you" every now and then and at the most random moments (like in the middle of washing our hands while we sing the Happy Birthday song).

And just another reminder of how old he is getting. His first bike.

How can he be big enough for a bike already?!?

He still has a ways to go before he really gets the hang of it. I think it'll be a very fun summer!

Junior Ski to Sea Parade.

>> May 19, 2012

It finally feels like summer has arrived. The sun is shining, flowers are blooming and the annual Ski to Sea Festivities have begun. Ski to Sea is a huge event in Bellingham every year. It's always the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend and thousands of people are competing, celebrating and cheering on the teams.
Bellingham hosts a junior version for all the kids in town the week before the big race. Last night was the parade to celebrate. We headed down early to find a spot (thank goodness we did because it was a lot more crowded than we thought it would be!).

We had a picnic dinner and then I let Carter wander around for 30 minutes before the parade started. Let me just say one thing. Parades are great. They are super fun for everyone. But, the waiting game sucks. Trying to entertain a toddler for 30 minutes in a small space is a challenge. Luckily he liked picking moss off a tree stump for 10 minutes, saw a horse he liked for another 5 minutes, watched two 8 year old little boys pretend to find each other with stick swords for another 10 minutes and then we finally resorted to pulling out the iPhone for the last 5 minutes. Whew!

Lucy was a trooper. She still wasn't feeling 100% but cuddled up and chewed on a teething ring for most of the parade. Good job little girl!

Watching the marching bands.

It was Carter's 1st parade and he loved it! I still can't believe how well he sat and watched every float and band march by. He waved at all the kids, ate some popcorn and was so bummed when it was over. Such a fun night!

complaining

Its been a long week. A tiring week. A week full of germs, coughs, runny noses, fevers, aches and pains and lots of fatigue. A week followed by disinfecting floors, counters, door knobs and any other surface inside our house.

It started last weekend on Mother's Day. Matt was achy and tired. He ended up with a fever for 3 days, stomach pains, chest congestion and a runny nose. I spent 3 nights sleeping on the floor in Lucy's room trying to keep me and the kids away from whatever he had. I stayed away from the house as much as possible. Sadly, somehow Lucy caught the bug. She had a fever starting on Thursday which lasted 24 hours and now continues to cough and sneeze.

After a long week full of sickies in our house I just wanted to complain (okay, so I did complain). And, Matt listened. He listened by bringing home one of the most delicious pieces of chocolate cake. And, after a long week, I ate it all for lunch today. It was amazing.

I guess I don't have much to complain about anymore.

mother's day 2012.

>> May 13, 2012

What a week it has been! Matt went on his first business trip since Lucy was born. It was four short days to Colorado and he had a great time. Lucky for me, both sets of grandparents came up to help out a little. The kids loved seeing them and at the end of the day I'm still not sure who was more tired, Carter or Grandma and Grandpa.

Carter is starting to understand when Matt leaves. He kept saying, Mama, Daddy go bye bye in airplane?" To make sure Matt didn't miss out on too much, we used FaceTime every day (which by the way is the coolest thing ever) and sent pictures as much as we could. Here we are, day four, at 5am. Can you tell I'm just a little tired?

Lucy was all smiles, as usual. She is really starting to sit up pretty well on her own!

Grandma Longhurst couldn't get enough of the cuddle time. Every single time Lucy napped, she would just hold and rock her.

It was such a beautiful weekend we spent every single moment outside. I actually had to bribe Carter with a cartoon because he wanted to start playing outside at 7am and I didn't want him to wake the neighbors. We lasted until 8:15am and then I let him loose. Other than a short nap and a few snacks, he played outside until bedtime!

Lucy's first time in the swing. She was terrified. No tears but just a lot of curiosity and holding on for dear life. I think we'll wait awhile before we try again.

Carter and Grandpa spent a long time playing in the backyard. So many giggles!

The warmest day of the year meant we could pull out the sprinkler! It was a little cold but he didn't mind.

Yoshi and Carter both taking a drink.

Saturday night my parents drove home and late that night Matt returned from his trip. We woke up bright and early (5am again. Carter - I'd really appreciate sleeping in just a little bit later, especially on Mother's Day). I got to open my cards and present and had delicious blueberry pancakes. After a walk to the park and nap time for everyone (yay!) we packed up the car to drive out to Hovander Park (a super fun, huge park with old farm equipment, farm animals, playground and tons of grass and dirt to explore).
Before the park, Matt promised me we could go to Menchie's for some frozen yogurt. It opened a few weeks ago and I've been dying to go but with 2 small children and crazy long lines it just hasn't happened. Of course, there was another long line so we ended up at McDonalds eating soft serve ice cream cones. Not exactly what I had in mind, but oh well. Carter loved it!

Lucy was pretty content too.

Sadly, no ice cream for her so she chose to snack on her thumb.

Carter loved the ducks at the park!

And, the biggest turkeys ever. Seriously, they were huge.

Checking out the old tractors.

Back to feed more ducks.

And dig in the dirt. I finally convinced Matt to build a sandbox in the backyard because all Carter wants to do lately is dig. There was a huge park to play in but he just stopped in this small dirt pile and played for 15 minutes.

We came home and Matt started feeling pretty sick. Achy, chills, fever and cough so he rested and instead of a BBQ Mother's Day dinner, Carter had scrambled eggs and I had a bowl of cereal. Not the most glamorous Mother's Day I've ever had but definitely a memorable one.

My sweet girl.

Before Matt started feeling like crap.

My silly boy!

And finally, the reason to celebrate today. The 2 greatest things to ever happen to me. I never knew I could love them as much as I do. Days can be long and tiring (like the last 4 days, in particular) but there is nothing more rewarding than waking up to these 2 smiling faces. The kisses, hugs and smiles are so amazing. I love you Carter Thomas and Lucy Elizabeth....more than you will ever know.

ps. this was the only place we could convince Carter to take a picture. On his bed!

a weekend away.

>> May 8, 2012

We headed down to the cabin this past weekend (well, I should say Matt's parent's beautifully remodeled cabin that they let us crash at every now and then!). It's the perfect little getaway for us. It's only a 45 minute drive but once we are there it feels like we have gone on a mini-vacation and can just sit back and relax. Plus, the weather was beautiful so that's always a bonus.

Saturday morning we went for a nice walk, played at the park and then went down to the beach.

I love this picture of them....like 2 peas in a pod!

Carter had had enough of observing the water. He was ready to go play!

We spent over an hour down at the beach just throwing rocks and sticks in the water, looking for seashells and digging in dirt. (and getting a little wet too!)

Boys talking about boy things.

We spent some time relaxing with cartoons too. Carter is currently obsessed with a specific Barney episode that is on On Demand. Matt and I can't wait for June 14th when it goes away!

Grandma Vance just loved playing with Lucy.

Sunday morning we headed back down to the beach. Carter didn't waste any time getting in the sand.

The best family shot we could get. Yes, Carter is chewing on a stick, Yoshi is trying to eat a dead crab leg, Lucy is hidden in the ergo (again), Matt is squinting and I've got a cheesy smile on my face. Gotta love it!

Carter and Boppy (what he calls his grandpa's) found a big digger near the beach. Not really sure why it was there but Carter was so excited to see it up close.

We spent a lot of time playing inside too.

And napping. Lots and lots of napping (well, everyone but me). Hmmm....I need to work on that next time.

Carter helped Grandpa with his puzzle. He kept saying, "Boppy, messed up all day! Haha, he thought Grandpa had made a big mess of his puzzle by spreading out the pieces all over the table. I was impressed though at how well he listened all weekend. He never once shook the table, hid pieces, ate any pieces or pushed them all on the ground. That is a HUGE accomplishment!