one big photo dump.

In an effort to update the blog, get pictures off my phone and not spend all afternoon writing post after post, here is an extra big photo dump from the last few weeks of our lives. In no particular order....

Game night - the kids got a few new games for Christmas and have been so excited to have family game night (or morning or afternoon). A few Friday's ago we decided to pop some popcorn and play Trouble, Candyland and Hi Ho Cheerio. It's so fun now that they have a longer attention span and understand the "real" rules of the games.

 Lucy and I sportin' our Seahawks gear before the NFC Championship game...go hawks!

 I had a special date day with Carter a few weeks ago. He is so good about recognizing when he needs a little one-on-one time and isn't afraid to ask for it. So, his request was to go to Costco for a hot dog lunch. Simple kid. Plus, I got to do a needed Costco run while we were there!

 Lucy is big into having her nails painted lately. And, she's getting better about sitting still for 10 minutes after they are painted to wait for them to dry (most of the time). One night she wanted to paint mine for me...not bad!

 When Carter is at preschool we get to have all sorts of fun going to bookstores, Target, parks, and snacks at the local grocery store. Berries were a hit this day!

 Later that morning we walked to the pet store nearby to see all the animals. This one is so great because they have a doggy daycare on site that you can just watch. I think we stood here for 25 minutes just watching, waving and "playing" with the dogs.

 About 4 months ago Matt and I bought tickets for the kids to see Disney Live "Pirates and Princesses." We knew it would be on the same day as the NFC Championship game but at the time the Seahawks weren't doing so well and thought we'd be safe to not have double plans that day. Four months later we were wrong! Matt ended up at the game and his great mom came with me and the kids for an afternoon of Disney. It was so fun to see the kids get excited over their favorite characters. And lucky for us, the show ended just in time for us to get home and see the last 2 minutes of the greatest game ever.  Win win!

 On MLK Jr. day we took the kids over to Mukilteo beach to play in the rocks and explore for a while. Carter was in heaven searching for crabs and other little critters while Lucy just cuddled up in my arms with a blanket to enjoy the view.

 Had to run to Babie's R Us one day and while we were there she spotted this room design. And didn't want to leave! It's a little too much pink, even for me. Sorry Lucy....not a chance.

 Dress up one day.

 And another princess dress.

 We officially registered Carter for kindergarten in January. How did my baby get to be so old?!? He is so excited and as sad as it is to see him grow up, I'm so excited for his next new adventure.

 Lucy is right in the middle of gymnastic lessons right now and loving every second of it. She is the cutest little gymnast and is so good about listening, following directions and taking turns.

 Practicing her forward roll.

 Me with a pic of baby #3!

 Superbowl 49 (before the incredibly sad loss at the end)

 We have had the most mild winter this year. I'm a little sad the kids never got to see snow or really even wear their winter coats but the extra sun and Vitamin D have been so nice! We love spending our days outside when we can!

 Another gymnastic lesson.

 His huge haul of goodies from his preschool Valentine's Day Party. And 2 weeks later we still have everything (minus the candy, of course) and he's made it known we will never be throwing the valentines cards away.  Hmmm....

 Our delicious cookies we made for all the neighbors and hand delivered. Love our little tradition!

 The morning of Valentine's Day Carter told Matt he wanted to get up early and go right to the store to buy me the freshest flowers they had. It was so cute to see how excited he was when they got home.

 Our heart shaped pancakes for breakfast, yum!

 We spent Valentine's Day in the city, going to the museum and running around the fountain. Such a fun, simple day as a family.

And that's it...the beginning of 2015 in pictures!

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ultrasound.

Last Friday we had our 20 week ultrasound for our 3rd little peanut. It is always to amazing to see how far a baby can develop in such a short amount of time. And even though I can feel kicks and squirms throughout the day and night I love watching exactly how the baby is moving. Our baby was plenty active, mostly moving its arms to block every good shot of the face. This was the first time we were able to see a 3D image and it was absolutely beautiful. 

We decided early on in this pregnancy that we were going to keep the gender a surprise until I deliver. Since we already have so much for a boy or girl we thought this would add a little more fun to the big day. I was surprised that I didn't actually give in though, once we were in the room! The ultrasound tech had to look to be sure development was right on track so we turned our heads and closed our eyes. But, nothing was written in my medical chart so even my midwives won't have a clue until delivery. I am so excited!

Our baby is weighing exactly 1 lb. (about 6 oz. above average at this gestational age) and measuring long in the arms and legs (another tall baby!). 

Just for fun, here are Carter and Lucy's ultrasound pictures. And at the bottom is baby #3. Any guesses on gender??? I'm noticing the lips on baby #3 match Carters, but the forehead match Lucy's. Hmm.....

Sorry for the horrible picture quality...it's a picture of a picture. But, still a beautiful baby!

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baby bump.

With the normal day to day chaos of making meals, going to work, preschool, parks, quiet time, fort-building, coloring and a teeny tiny bit of relaxation I haven't had much time to focus on the one big event in my life. This newest little baby growing in my belly. 

With Carter we had all the time in the world to plan, research the latest baby gadgets and have a nursery completed before 24 weeks.

Lucy's nursery was ready around week 28; it took me a bit longer to make sure the right shade of pink was surrounding the room.

And this baby? Oh this sweet baby #3? Well, we'll probably set up a pack n'play about 2 weeks before my due date, get some diapers and pull out the hand me down sleepers...that should work just fine, right?

It's not that I haven't already fallen madly in love with this child, it's just that I have a million other things to do right now and have realized babies don't really need much. Knowing this is our last baby I'm trying to enjoy every single little moment of this pregnancy and worry about the baby phase once it gets here. 

You see, I absolutely LOVE being pregnant. I love how I feel, how I look, feeling the baby squirm, talking about pregnancy with others...all of it is just amazing. I was secretly hoping I would have a miserable pregnancy to really tell myself I'm done. But, thankfully I've been blessed with another wonderful period of time where I still have energy, an appetite and no physical discomforts to really slow me down.

Being that I'm already almost to the halfway point I felt I should probably document this growing baby. Next week we'll have our 20 week ultrasound. We've decided to keep the sex a surprise this time so it'll be more of a true anatomy scan than a gender reveal. I couldn't be more excited to wait. I thought for sure that as time got closer I'd just want to give in and find out. But there is something so exciting about waiting, we've never done it before with the other kids and it will make a truly magical day that much more special. Of course, I'm always willing to have some guesses and help with potential baby names!  (no really, we need help...we've got nothin'!)

 This pregnancy has been different because the kids are a little older and can really understand what's happening. I love their curiosity, questions and concern. I love how proud they are to tell others about their new baby. I love how we get to learn together all the changes that are happening around fetal development. I love how I get to share my passion for birth with them, at a kid level. It's so fun to let them experience this and I can't wait to see how they interact with the newest Vance baby once he/she is born.
So....introducing baby Vance #3 at 12 weeks gestation.

In another post I'll share my thoughts and excitement surrounding an out-of-hospital birth. As I plan and prepare for a birth center birth and working with my midwives I continue to be amazed with birth, our options as women and how lucky I am to have such good support surrounding me. Stay tuned!

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Christmas 2014.

We had such a good Christmas this year. Matt had the entire week off so there was plenty of family time just playing board games, baking cookies and listening to lots of Christmas music. On Christmas Eve we decorated our delicious sugar cookies. I was so proud of the kids this year who patiently decorated each one with a normal amount of sprinkles...as opposed to their usual "dump 4954739595 sprinkles on the cookie, table, floor, dog, and self." 

Later that day we got dressed and ready for Christmas Eve service at church. 

 After church Matthew and Joy spent some time playing with the kids before opening a few presents.

 We had a delicious lasagna dinner (our tradition) and let the kids stay up late before finally kicking everyone out so we could get ready for Santa. The kids each chose a cookie for him, 4 carrots for the 8 reindeer and Carter chose an entire red pepper for Rudolph...because his nose is red. Of course.  :)

 In the morning they were SO excited to run downstairs and see what Santa brought. Our tradition is to read Santa's letter (he always writes back to us!), open stockings and do our scratch tickets before my parents come over to open the presents under the tree.

 It was also our last day on our Advent tree. I started this last year and even though it's super DIY we all sort of love it. Each day has a Christmas themed activity to do throughout the month. The kids look forward to lifting up the days each morning to see what we'll do. Some are simple like listening to Christmas music, making cookies or doing a Christmas craft and others are more fun like giving a gift to others, Snowflake Lane and driving to look at lights. On Christmas Eve we read the Christmas story and then celebrated Jesus' birthday on Christmas day!

 Scratch tickets....$0. Ugh!  Luckily we won a whopping $18 later in the day when we got our tickets from Matt's parents. Yes!

 Cute kids in front of the tree.

 Annual family pj pic.

 Carter made me this adorable handprint plate at preschool. He even decorated the bag and made sure to tell me it was very fragile before I opened it. And I loved it!

 A very happy boy with his new Lego sets.

 And Lucy's big gift was her first big girl bike!

 I usually pride myself on delicious Christmas food. And I didn't disappoint with my cranberry bliss bars this year. But, we are still trying to find the perfect Christmas breakfast tradition. We all love french toast but hate the clean up on such a busy morning. So, I found a simple, yet delicious looking slow cooker french toast recipe on Pinterest that sounded perfect. Instead it was half burnt, half doughy and mostly just a mess. Which meant we had to scramble to come up with something else at the last minute. And I was super annoyed. Big Pinterest fail! Guess we'll still keep searching for that perfect Christmas breakfast recipe. Any ideas??

 Celebrating Christmas morning with Grandpa and Grandma Longhurst.

 After breakfast we got ready and headed up to the beach house to spend the rest of the day with Matt's family. They had such a beautiful tree.

 All of the annual family pics in front of the tree.

 And then it was present time! I think the kids "helped" open up every single gift this year, even if it didn't have their name on it.

We ended the day with a walk around the neighborhood, watching the Grinch Who Stole Christmas and a delicious prime rib dinner. Such a good time spent with family. Merry Christmas!

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