The Vance's: March 2012

>> March 20, 2012

3 months already? This last month has gone by especially fast. Lucy is just the sweetest, happiest baby girl. We feel so lucky.

Here's her info:

Curent weight: 14 lbs, 1 oz

Sleep: 2-3 naps during the day. Prefers to sleep while cuddling with me but also loves the ergo carrier when we're out and her swing. Sleeps from 8pm to 5am every night (I'm so spoiled!)

Eat: only breastfed and is still refusing bottles. Hates all of them. Going back to work in 3 weeks and getting really nervous about the transition.

Likes: smiling, her brother, bright lights, rattles and eating

Dislikes: bottles (see above), the car and carseat, loud sounds

Happy 3 months to my favorite baby girl in the whole world!

a little randomness.

Just a little glimpse into our lives:

Daddy and his little girl.

My adorable baby girl.

Napping with Daddy.

All smiles.

Carter is obsessed with hats lately. He has a pirate hat, construction hat, pilot hat, safari hat and pretty much turns anything he can into a hat. Here is a bag for his blocks that he somehow made to fit his head and turn into a chef's hat! Such a creative little boy.

Naked reading time.

More smiles!

Spending some time online at the library. Seriously, how does he already know how to use a mouse? We don't even have a desktop at our house!

Typing away.

Chillin' in the bumbo.

Tummy time.

Painting at the museum. And surprisingly, he didn't get any on his clothes! He loved it so much I'm going to sign him up for fingerpainting class next month. (Yes, I"m crazy and will be prepared with 14 extra pairs of clothes for both of us!)

Sleepy girl.

That's about it!

everett children's museum.

We had fun plans for St. Patricks Day. We were going to walk down the street to watch the annual St. Patricks Day parade in Bellingham. But, then it rained. So, change of plans. We ended up driving south to Everett for a day at the Children's Museum. If you've never been and have young kids you have to go! It is amazing! I wish we lived closer so we could go more often.

We ended up spending over 3 hours there with Carter running the entire time from exhibit to exhibit. We ate lunch and even went to the rooftop for a few minutes to play outside during a break in the rain.

Lucy did a lot of this during the day:

There is a great stage for kids to dress up and put on a show. Carter wasn't too interested in the dress up clothes but loved directing the play from the command center. Maybe he has a future in lighting design?

Lots of time to build, stack and then knock it over. Again and again!

Riding the cow (or horse, or donkey?) Not really sure what animal it was, but he liked it.

Driving the tractor.

So the picture is super blurry but I love his facial expression. They have this fantastic water room that we let him play in at the very end. Luckily they also provide full size aprons to keep some of the water off kids' clothes. He would have spent another hour in this room alone. Actually, he was begging us not to leave at the end of the day.

And, before we were even on the freeway he was asleep. Yes, with his hand in his snack bag.

Such a fun day! Can't wait to go back soon!

silly kids.

I've been feeling a little bad for Carter lately since I've taken so many pictures of Lucy and not as many of him. But, when I ask him to smile for the camera, this is the look I get:So, instead I just take more pictures of Lucy (well, that and she sits still making it easier to take a decent picture!).
So, I tried again. And, yep...again...a silly face.
But, then he got interested in Lucy. Unfortunately, Lucy wasn't as interested in Carter.
Then, a super cute moment!
Love these two!

splish splash.

What do you do in Washington when it's the middle of winter and too cold or wet to play outside? Go swimming! We took the whole family to the pool a few weekends ago. Carter hadn't been swimming since last May when we were in Hawaii so he was a little scared at first. But, after a few minutes of splashing he loved it! He clung to that silly little basketball the entire time. Luckily there were a few other balls floating around for other kids because any time someone went to the hoop to "rebound" his ball, he flipped out.

Lucy slept the entire time on the side of the pool with me. Maybe next time we'll take her in!

babies babies everywhere!

>> March 13, 2012

So many of my friends have had babies recently or are about to add another little one to their family. In the same week that Lucy was born I had 3 friends deliver and since then another 3 close friends!

This past weekend we went down to Matt's family's cabin (the newly remodeled one!) to just relax. While we were there we were lucky enough to meet little Bobbi Weir. Bobbi was born just 5 weeks after Lucy. The Weir's have been close family friends with the Vance's for years. Both families have 2 boys, the same age (of course, now all grown up). Stevi and I married into both families and now get to let our little girls grow up together.

We had a little photo shoot with both girls. They were pretty cute!

Holding hands.

Whispering secrets to one another.

Adorable!

Excited to see how these girls change as they grow!

Carter's day of fun.

>> March 2, 2012

Yesterday was a super fun day. Of course most days are, but this was extra fun. Maybe its because Carter was in a great mood. Lately we've been struggling quite a bit with tantrums, lack of listening and a not-so-mutual new found love of hitting/kicking/pulling hair/biting that makes some moments of the day become quite frustrating, to say the least. But, yesterday wasn't any of that. I love those days.

We started with a great breakfast. Lucy just loves her bumbo seat, especially when she gets to join us at the table.

Then it was time to make some homemade chocolate chip cookies! Lucy decided she was going to supervise.

Carter loves to bake! Well, I think he loves to sample, but hey, I'll take it. It's always fun to have a baking partner...even if it takes 3 times longer and makes a huge mess!!

After nap time, we headed down to the Skagit Children's Museum. We got a membership for Christmas and try to go pretty regularly. Yesterday was great though, because there were only about 5 other kids there. It was so nice to have the extra room available for Carter to run and play without waiting to take turns or share (another lesson we are working on!). These pictures are pretty blurry because I used my phone, but you get the idea.

He played at the doll house.

Went shopping at the farmer's market.

Explored the music room (and in the process, woke up Lucy with his excitement on the drums).

Went for a climb.

Dug in the sand (and brought home about 6 cups worth in his pants....that was fun to clean up).

And colored. He has a new obsession with hats and proudly wore this pilot hat most of the time. Now I'm just praying he doesn't develop head lice from wearing a hat that has most likely never been washed but worn about 425 times by germy little children. Ugh...gross.