And the survey says.....

IT IS A BOY!!!!!

We are so excited to be having another boy. Vance kept saying "Boy mommy Boy!!" all the way into the doctors office. I said I will try buddy and in the end it was a boy. We are the first ones to have a boy for the first and second so that is always fun!! Breaking the mold! I think that my dad is excited to be making things a little more even after all those years of all of us girls. The baby looks perfect so we are so grateful to our Heavenly Father that everything is going so well. We will keep you updated as we progress. And no we don't have a name for sure yet but we are working on it. 

Home again!!!

So thank you to everyone for all your support during this hard time in our lives. We especially want to thank Alethia, Joe, Ella, Sam, Mom, and Dad for letting us stay with you while Curtis was away. You all made it so much easier and I am so thankful for everything you did and do for us. We love you so much!!! We are so glad to be home with Curtis again. The boys are already having a blast together. Vance couldn't wait to set up his train with daddy and play with it for hours. It was so cute, when we got home Vance got out and ran to Curtis to give him a hug and then just cuddled with him for a while. He missed his daddy even if he wouldn't talk to him on the phone. What can I say Curtis doesn't like to talk on the phone either so I can't blame him. Life has resumed its normal schedule and we are loving it. I am so glad to be home. WE LOVE YOU DADDY!!!

Vance playing with his train and you can already see the mess that was made the first night we were home.You have to sit inside the train tracks.
A picture of the beautiful fall colors in Kentucky.
We met my cousin Darbi and my Aunt Bridget in a little town in Kentucky. My other cousin Cari drove in the night before and stayed with us. It was great to see them all again. It has been such a long time.

Vance took this picture of my in my glasses.
A picture of him in his glasses too!!
Vance eating a sour patch kid. Cute face baby!!
Vance in the Mr. Incredible outfit. He loved to dress up in this thing. 

The girls in their fairy and princess dresses.
Vance and Olivia running over Uncle Sam and Emarie. They thought that was so much fun.
Look at those two. Such good friends.
The kids having dance time. Vance and Olivia were attempting to dance together and Emarie is being Emarie and dancing and skipping all around.
I don't know if Vance was trying to lift up Emarie or if she is lifting him and he is holding on for dear life!!
The pose at the end of the song. Fantastic!!!
Vance and Alyse playing at a great playground. These little bugs were so cute. Look at the intensity. 
Uncle Joe watching the kids outside in the heat so the pregnant ladies wouldn't have to. Great man!
Here it is again. Love the muscles boys.
Vance loved his cousin Isaac. He just crawled up into his lap and sat there for like 10 minutes. It was so adorable.
THE GIANT MAN EATING SPIDER!! This thing was huge and Isaac said he saved the kids from being dead by taking them into the bedroom while we killed it. It came in the house and we got it back out and finally threw a phone book on it. This thing was monster sized!!! NO MORE FERTILIZER!!!!

The worst 3 weeks of my life!!!!!

Okay other than the fact that I got to spend three weeks with my sisters and am currently with my parents in Kentucky for another week this has been the worst three weeks ever. I don't know how people can just send their husbands or wives of for so much time and still keep their sanity!!! For those of you that are totally confused right now Curtis is away on a rotation in Sioux City Iowa and wouldn't have been able to come home every week without breaking the bank so I packed up Vance and we headed south so that I wouldn't have to be four months pregnant and alone for a month. It is so hard to not have Curtis their with me. I just have to say that I could never be a single parent. I am so impressed with those people that do that everyday and are so great at it but I am definitely not one that could. Vance is a great boy don't get me wrong but it does help to have someone around to share the responsibility and all the fun things that go along with having a child. Not to mention the fact that Vance has been sick off and on through out this whole trip and I have been scared to death that I wasn't doing something right to help him. This has truly made me appreciate my sweet love and companion so much more. I know I shouldn't be complaining because at least I was around my family whereas he has been all alone in an apartment working day after day without anyone there. He is truly amazind and the greatest man I have ever known. I am so blessed to have him in my life. He has worked so hard this last year and a half to make a better way for us and I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father to have such a great example in my life. He is amazing and I don't know what I would do without him by my side forever. I love you Curtis and I miss you and I can't wait to see you next Friday!!!! Sorry that this went from a rambling session to a love fest but I am pregnant and my emotions are kind of on a permanent rollercoaster at the moment. Enjoy your spouses because it is no fun without them!!!!

Proud Mommy Moments

So I actually feel a little bit like a Homemaker this week. I got the chance to make a last minute scrub cap for Curtis on Thursday night for his Surgery day on Friday. What a night!!!! After many hours sewing then taking out the seam and sewing again I finally finished it. It turned out pretty good and now that I kind of know what I am doing I am going to sew some more for his actual surgery rotation. I hope it takes less time then that one took. Oh well. So that was my proud Homemaker moment and now for my proud mommy moment. I know it might sound weird but I am so proud because Vance went poo-poo on the potty for the first time yesterday. We were so excited. He has gone pee a lot but we have never been successful with the poo thing but we finally got it yesterday. He is growing up so fast I can't believe. Hopefully we are going to try and potty train him in the next month or so and see how that goes. He loves to read his books and we got some from the library this past week and we are so tired of them by now but that is a good thing right? He is getting so good at singing his songs now. One of his favorites to do is Rock-a-bye baby. He climbs up into my lap and wraps his arms around my neck and starts rocking back and forth and he says "Rock-a-bye baby on tree pops, blows, break, fall, mommy catch you all." So cute.  I love my boy. Oh and I guess now I can tell everyone that Vance is going to be a big brother. That is right we are expecting our second in March. We are very excited about this new addition to our home. Vance loves babies and is always saying "Awe, tute" which is cute and wanting to give them lots of kisses so we think he is going to take to the big brother role very easily. My life is so full. I feel so blessed by my father in heaven to have this opportunity to bring a new soul down to this earth. It makes me feel that my efforts as a mom are good enough for that new blessing. I have a wonderful, sweet, hardworking, loving husband and father to our children, and an amazing, talented, smart, funny, sweet son. What a blessed woman I am. What more can I say than that.

Here is that surgery cap I made, Iowa of course.
What a face, he is a heartbreaker.
He fell over the Lightning Mcqueen.
He wanted to be like Daddy and wear his big boy socks.
He immediately put my birthday present on his head. Such a boy thing.
CHEESE!!!

Happy Birthday Crystal

Today is Crystal's Birthday and I wanted to write how much Vance and I love and appreciate her. Crystal has gratefully been able to stay home with Vance ever since he was born.  Through all of the ups and downs of being a stay at home mom she has been a great mother and wife.  She has always been there to lift me up on my rough days and always treats Vance as the prince he is.  She works so much with him and is able to teach him so many things.  Crystal I love you and just wanted to tell you Happy Birthday.

My poke, the strange weather, corn, and Labor day softball

So Vance had to get his hemoglobin checked and they poked his finger well he got a ton of stickers and he decided to put them all on at the same time. He was very proud of that.

We had a really stormy day last week and it just looked really eerie outside. It was like looking at an old picture. The colors were so muted. Crazy stuff here in Iowa.

So we are in Iowa after all so what would life be like without corn on the cob. Vance has refused to try up until two days ago when he realized that it looked good. He would only eat a big piece and not the smaller one that I had cut for him. He was so cute when he was eating his big corn on the cob. And of course it included him saying "MMMM Licious!"

Last but not least we had our annual Ward Labor Day softball game. Vance had to try out his new ball, bat, and glove. He loved watching daddy play and actually got to go out onto the field himself for a moment in between games. It was a little bit warm but a red cheeked Vance would not be discouraged. He had a ball throwing rocks, hitting his ball, and climbing all over the bleachers. We had a great day.

Vance playing with his ball and bat.
He hasn't quite gotten the concept of the ball being hit in the air but he was trying.
Curtis waiting for his turn to bat.
After a nice hit Curtis runs to the base.
Vance dragging the big bat out onto the field for his turn.
Here he comes look out.
And he gets it up in the air but we thankfully stopped him before he swung and hit Cylynn and Sanah. Silly boy!!!

Our trip to the Fire Station

We had a play group where we went to the Iowa City Fire Station and the kids got to see all the trucks, where the fireman live, and of course the best thing about fire stations the POLE. We really had a great time. Vance loved sitting in the fire truck and he didn't want to get out. They even had a call while we were there which made it even more exciting. The funniest thing was when we went to look at the exercise equipment Vance found a treadmill and hopped right on and pretended that he was running on it. How he knew what to do on a treadmill I will never know but it was so funny.

Iowa State Fair

So I know it was a while ago but better late than never. We went to the State Fair a two weeks ago and just had a great time. It was really fun to see all the animals, fruits, and vegetables that they entered in the fair. Vance just loved the petting zoo of exotic animals. He of course also loved all the other animals as well, especially the pigs. We sampled the food and just relaxed and enjoyed. In the end Vance and Curtis took a turn on a spinning ride and Curtis was getting sick while Vance seemed to like it pretty well. They were so fun to watch. It was great.

Quick Update

I just thought I would write a quick update of what is going on in our lives. Curtis finished his first rotation in Family Practice last week and has begun his second in Gynecology. Yesterday he was able to assist with a C-section which was a great experience for him. I am so glad that he is getting some good experience with this rotation. Vance is just living his life and loving every minute of it. Yesterday my friend Elsha came over to borrow our dvd player and her son Ian and Vance are good friends so Vance walked up to Ian and said "Nice to meet you" and shook his hand. It was so funny. Ian wasn't sure what to make of it but that is understandable. We moved him into his big boy bed last week and he had a little trouble at first. His new found freedom made him get up 3 or 4 times a night to come into our bedroom and it was just like having a newborn all over again. We weren't prepared for that but now things have settled down a little bit and he doesn't get out of his bed at all during the night but he does wake up at 5AM!!! I don't know which I like less. It is rough but hopefully like before this is just a phase. His favorite new word is "Delicious" when he is eating he says "MMMMM Delicious." He is so cute. Curtis is trying to get him to say "delectable as was the first" like Brian Regan says but he likes delicious better. He has discovered the light switches and is constantly turning on and off the lights. I guess he could be doing worse things so I am thankful that is all he is doing. He is just so fun and most days I am so happy to just spend time with him. I am doing good. Just working twice a week cleaning the institute building. It is nice to have a little extra cash especially with gas prices the way they are. Everything in our life is really good right now and we feel so blessed to be here in Iowa. The Lord has watched over us and blessed us in so many ways since we have come here. Anyway that is our little update.

Happy Birthday to our Sweet Vance!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday to our monkey Vance!!! Yesterday was our Vance's birthday and it was so fun. These last two years have been the best of our lives and we have cherished every moment with him. If you ask Vance how old he is he will probably tell you he is three which is hilarious because I don't know why he skipped two but he is determined that he is three now. We are still in shock that it has been two years but even though the time has flown it has been amazing. I remember the first time I got to hold him in the hospital. What a joy it was to have him finally here and it has been a joy ever since. He is really an amazing little boy. He has a love for life like no one I have ever known. I learn so much from him everyday. My favorite times are when he decides he just wants to come and give me hugs and kisses. He is always so sweet. It is so funny how quickly they get into the "I can do it all myself stage" and that has literally been an overnight thing. He of course had things that he liked to do by himself but now it is everything by himself. One of my favorite memories was probably the first time that he saw the Mickey Mouse clubhouse. He just got up and started dancing and turning all around the room. It was one of the funnest times. One of Curtis' favorite things about Vance is how quickly he learns things. He is like a sponge just ready to take in the whole world if you would let him. We have been so blessed to have this little boy in our lives and we are truly looking forward to the rest of our lives to see what he will do. We know that he is going to do great things and we are just grateful that we get to be a part of his life. WE LOVE YOU VANCE!!!!!!

So since Vance's first word was ball we decided that this birthday would be a sports theme. This is a picture of the beginning stages of his cake.

Here is the finished product. Turned out pretty good. Thanks mom!!

We took Vance to Chucky Cheese for his birthday party and he couldn't wait to play the games. This is the game he got to play before we got our food.
So excited that he got orange soda and pizza. What a cutie.
I'm a big boy now and I don't need my pizza cut. I cut him up a piece of pizza and he just reached over the plate and grabbed himself a big piece to eat. He did really well with chewing it up.
Big Bite!!!
Vance looking longingly at the games in the other room but he waited until he was done eating.
He was a little skeptical about Chucky but he enjoyed the ride once it started going.
This was his favorite thing to do. We spent half of our time here at the horse ride. He loved it!!!
His cowboy yell "Yee-Haw!"
Knock those eggs off Vance!
He wanted nothing to do with Chucky in real life.
Daddy helping him get balls of honey for his pot. I am not sure if he could see anything inside this game but he had a ball none the less.
Any game will balls was a winner.
He was very enthusiastic about the Skee ball game. It took everything I had for him to not take the balls from the kids playing around us.
He wanted to play air hockey so we did. Once he figured out the paddle hit the ball across the table he did a great job.
You have to play with daddy to.
Vance on the Roller Coaster ride. What a silly guy.
His surprise cake and party stuff.
He didn't want to stop playing to take this picture so it is not a very happy face. He just started making this face this weekend. We don't know where it came from.
Him running around with his balloons.
Vance with his football glasses.
Blowing out the candle on his cake. We sat there for probably five minutes lighting the candle over and over so he could blow out the candle. He just kept saying "Gain, Gain" which is again. It was so funny. He did great with blowing out the candles.
He ripped right into his presents with no hesitation. He loved is baseball bat from Mimi and Papa.
Getting ready to grip and swing away.
Swinging at his fuzzy ball.
What is in this one?
A ball of course.
He decided to do the golf swing with it instead of hitting it in the air.
He got some sports pj's
And then he got his glove.

He was the batter, pitcher, baseman, and outfielder all in one.
So cute.
The big surprise was his little jeep that we bought him. Curtis painted it for him and he loved it.
I could barely get this picture before he hopped in to take off.
What a doll. Great paint job daddy!!
Doesn't he look so grown up.
Mimi trying to lead him away from the trees.

Look at that face.
A picture with Daddy!!
We had to light the candle again when it was time for him to eat his cake. Here is the wind up breath.
And that candle is out.
Hurray I did it.
He wouldn't dig into it without a fork. How proper.

I got some on my fingers.
But he it isn't a bad thing after all.
Good bite.
MMMMMMMM!!!!!
These are his presents on his real birthday.
A fireman hat which he found before but he was still happy to unwrap it.
He would only wear it backwards too. So cute.
His light-saber. Why that came with his Knights costume stuff I will never know but it did.

Here is all his knights stuff.
My knight is shining armor. What a sweet boy.
He thought his shield was a hat but once I should him what to do with it he loved it.
Look at that smile. What an angel.

His first sword fight with daddy.
Curtis was trying to record while having a sword fight.
The rest of his little gifts.

A pack of Lightning Mcqueen pencils.
And some glow in the dark braclets. A fun family past time.
Opening his card from Grandma and Grandpa Birdno.
He said "book" when he first opened it.
He had to have some of the glow in the dark braclets before we went to dinner. So proud.
Silly boys!!! Aren't they so cute!
Of course we had to get him a basketball hoop. He wouldn't try to shoot it without us lifting him up to dunk it.
Showing off his muscles in his whole outfit complete with glow in the dark braclets.
We went to Chili's for dinner and he was so excited when he got his birthday Sundae. He loved it.
His attempt at a smile when I took him away from his sundae for a picture. What a sweetheart. HAPPY BIRTHDAY VANCE!!!!