My Vance

I am just realizing that this is really the last month that I have with just us and Vance. I am trying not to be too emotional about it but it really hard. As trying as it is to have a toddler that is so stubborn and independent it is a great thing to have a toddler that is so stubborn and independent. I was having a really hard day the other day and he came up to me and said "What's wrong Mommy?" I told him that I was just frustrated and he said to me "Don't worry Mommy Vance (Vanc-ee) is here (While he was patting my leg to make me feel better). Oh Mommy." What a sweetheart!! Isn't that the worst when you are so mad at them and then they do something so cute like that. He is really growing up so fast. I am going to miss our time together but I know that he is going to be so helpful with the baby. I hope that I am still able to make him feel as loved and needed when the baby comes. I know that can be a big change but I don't want that to be an issue. I am not sure what to do though. I am sure this sounds like a bunch of ramblings but I needed and outlet to say these things. My Vance is such an amazing little guy. Sometimes I think that he deserves so much better than what I can give him. I am so blessed to have him in my life. He teaches me something everyday, shouldn't it be the other way around? What a guy!!

Vances big boy haircut

So I was informed by my sweet husband that it was time for Vance to get a "Big Boy" haircut. What does that even mean? Anyway, I guess it means to cut his hair with the clippers instead of trying to cut it with the scissors alone and only cutting a little bit off. So after much deliberation and mourning over his adorable curls I did it! To my surprise Vance did great. he just thought the clippers tickled and sat the whole time sucking on his sucker. I did use scissors on the top because I just didn't want it that short all at once. I did pretty good until I looked at the hair in the trash and started crying because all his curls were sitting there but hey I am also 32 weeks pregnant so a little emotion is expected. So now Vance has had his first "Big Boy" haircut which I will say is his first step to becoming the big brother and not the baby anymore. He looks adorable of course but it was difficult to do. Forgive the hair and sucker stickies on his chest. We just took the pictures while he was sitting still. Such a cute kid. Oh and last night I realized that he can totally open the doors with the child locks on them. GREAT!! Now what do I do to keep him out? Oh well maybe with the new independence comes better listening skills. HAHAHAHA!

Here is the final product. What a cute cheese.
An attempt to take if from the side.

Our first picture after cutting it. What a ham. This is what he usually looks like when you say "Cheese"!! Goofy kid.

Baby Update

Ok so this has been a long time coming but I am finally posting an updated picture of the pregnancy. We are 31 1/2 weeks and everything is going great. The baby is kicking non-stop and growing just fine as you can see. I can't believe how fast time has flown by. No we don't have a name picked out for sure but trust me when we know you will know. Anyway there it is.

Birthday Pictures

As you know from below Curtis had a birthday last week and I made him a cake to celebrate. Vance begged daddy to let him blow out the candle (I say candle because I could only find one in our house.) He loves to blow out birthday candles, or any candle for that matter. I didn't get any pictures of him opening his gifts because it was really late and he was already dressed for bed but he got some new slippers and a new Hawkeye shirt. The number on the cake was my impromptu version of 27 candles and it is made out of peanut butter m&m's which are his favorite. The other picture are from our last family outing before Curtis started his next rotation. We took Vance to Chucky Cheese, which he loves, and just played games and things. I only got these few pictures of them on this roller coaster ride. They had so much fun in there. The last picture is of the amazing gift my sister made for us for Christmas. We decided to go with a Family Home Evening theme for our Christmas gifts and she made us this gorgeous chart for our family. I LOVE IT! Thank you so much Ella and of course Sam, Isaac, Emarie, and Olivia. Love you all.

Vance blowing out Daddy's birthday candles.
Vance begging to blow out Daddy's candles.
Handsome birthday boy!!
The cake
Look at his adorable face. He wasn't sure but in the end I think that he liked it more than he hated it.
So fun.
The Birdno family home evening chart. Isn't it beautiful? My sister is so talented.

Happy Birthday Curtis

Today is my sweethearts birthday. He spent the whole day working on the surgery floor and didn't get home until 9:20. I have such an amazing husband. He obviously is very hard working and dedicated to what he is doing. That goes for everything in his life not just his schooling. He loves our son and boy does Vance love him. He was so excited today to sing "Happy Birthday" to daddy even though it was only on the phone. Curtis has sacrificed so much to go to school and create a secure future for our family and I am so grateful to him for that. I love him more than words can say. He is loving, kind, funny, generous, faithful, dedicated, strong, brave, supportive, sensitive, and always so sweet to me. He loves, not only our family, but people and I know that he will be a great Physicians Assistant. Curtis I love you sweetheart and hope that even though you were in surgery all day that you had a great birthday. I am so blessed because you were brought into this world. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

The Many Sayings and Doings of Vance

What a riot this kid is. Sometimes I can't believe the things that he remembers and says. He has been cracking us up over the past few weeks.  Here are a few of the ones that we loved....

Mommy: Vance what do you want for a snack?

Vance: Chips and Salsa!!!

For some reason he has recently started adding a syllable to every word he can. It is like he heard someone with a really good southern drawl and started talking like them. Here are few examples:

Mommy I want Dayown (down)

Let's go in the Hayouse (house)

Look over Dayere (there)

No right Nayow (now)

Vance got stuck under the chair and I here this "Mommy little help, little help"

Every little kid that we see at the library or the store Vance will say "Hello there Little Fella!"

He randomly started saying "Not Fayer (fair)" whenever we say it is time for bed or nap time. Not only does he say that but he folds his arms and throws his head down and pouts.

He knows how to say the "K" sound but refuses to say it at the beginning of a word. For instances he will say the word Coke-Toke or Cookie-Tookie. I don't know why he won't say it at the beginning but he won't. 

Anytime he gets a carrot he will say "Like a bunny" and munch on the carrot.

He is trying to learn how to wink and what we get is this cute squinty eyed blink over and over. So funny.

He seems to always find change on the floor or somewhere and every coin is a penny no matter what we tell him it is. So stubborn!!! 

If he is taking a bath and we say it is time to get out the response we get is "One more minute!!!" 

He loves Nursery rhymes and he has recently started acting like characters from the rhymes. His favorite right now is the Big Bad Wolf and when he is pretending to be him he will come up to me and say "Mommy Big Big Wolf RRRRRRR!!" It is so funny when he says it even if it doesn't sound funny.

We love this little guy and everyday he learns something new and it keeps us laughing all the time. Here are a few pictures of him.

Vance was being awfully quiet one day and we couldn't see him so we called for him and when he popped up this is what we found. He said "Vancy color!" Oh yes he found a marker and colored all over himself. He took special care to color on each one of his toes too. What a goofy kid.


On day I walked into the kitchen and this is what I found. He had taken all his magnets and lined them up by color. By the time I got the camera to take a picture of it the red and green were pretty much gone but the yellow and blue were still lined up. He knows his colors even though when I ask him every color is Red or Pink. Why those two colors? I have no idea.

Christmas Break

We have been truly blessed this Christmas season. Curtis was able to have a few weeks off and we have loved every minute that we have had to spend with Daddy. Vance can't get enough of him and mommy is grateful to have the break. We really haven't done a lot but that is sometimes the best thing. We got to play in the snow and attempt to build snowmen. The snow was too fluffy and wouldn't stick together. But we had fun none-the-less. Vance got to open presents early from Grandma Janette and then again on Christmas so he was loving it. I am amazed at how much Vance retains from what we tell him. He amazes me everyday. He kept calling Christmas Eve "Christmas Night." He also knew that it was Jesus' Birthday on Christmas day. He is so smart. Curtis is amazed at how much he can say and do. What a HAM we have! We got to talk to all of our siblings either on Christmas day or the day after. It was great to talk to them and see how they are doing. We love our family and were sad to not be with them this Christmas but we are grateful for the time to start our own family traditions as well. The Lord has blessed us this year and we are so thankful to him for helping us make it through it all. We hope that you all have had a wonderful Holiday season and that you are blessed into the New Year as well. We love you all. Enjoy this slide show of our family time.

Mimi and Papa come to town.

My Mom and Dad came to visit us this weekend and we had a great time. On Friday we went to our Ward Christmas Party and we were able to bring a family with us. The program was great, the decorations beautiful, food good, and company FANTASTIC!!! It is always fun to spend time with family. Vance got to see Santa Claus and at first was scared but when he got up to him he walked right up, waved to him and hopped up on his lap. It was so cute. He is growing up so fast. On Saturday we spent to day running around and that evening we went to the Iowa vs. Iowa State wrestling match. My dad was a wrestling coach many years and so we new we had to get him up here at some point and see the Hawkeyes wrestle because they are the best. We had so much fun. Vance loves to cheer and hollar with everyone and the match was just great. It was so much fun to see my parents and we were all very sad to see them go. Hopefully it won't be too long before we see them again. WE love you Mimi and Papa! Thanks you for everything.

Snow and Random Vance Pictures

Vance playing with his Nativity set from Grandma and Grandpa Birdno last year. He is trying to decide where things go.
He put them in there like that all by himself. He knows where the baby Jesus should go.

Note the animals all in a row.
Pushing the angel to make it sing "Away in a Manger"
The final product of his. Looks pretty good.
Vance found a sheet of Smiley stickers and decided that they all needed to be worn at once so this is what he did.
You got me!
Such a goof.
He liked the snow but didn't want to wear a hat and he was mad that the snow wasn't sticking together so he could build a snowman.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we were able to have 3 sets of Elders in our home. It was my first year being the Hostess and it went really well. Do you think I took any pictures of the food or anything, no! I don't know why I didn't think of that because the turkey was amazing but we will remember even without a picture. So here we are with the elders and it was great.

Curtis cheesing during a rousing game of Phase 10.
Just Chillin!
Vance eating his Pumpkin pie. He loved it.
He had a great time with the elders. He thought he was in Heaven!! Fun guys to play with and jump on.

Vance, need I say more

What can I say I have the cutest son in the world. He is always cracking me up. In the last few days he has just started talking and talking and talking. I don't always know what he is saying but he sure does say a lot.  He is so polite and sweet. He says please most of the time and thank you almost all the time. He is really excited about his Baby Brother coming. He loves baby's and every time he hears a baby cry he says "Baby Bottle?" He wants to give the baby a bottle to help it stop crying. So cute. Well here are just some cute pictures of our sweet boy.

How cute is that face.
Vance has on Daddy's hat, slippers, and is putting on his belt.
When his hands are messy he won't pick up his cup he does this instead so it doesn't get dirty.
Cheese!
Bubble fun!
Silly kid
Giving himself a beard.
Daddy and Vance with bubble beards.
Vance put his giraffe JJ to sleep here and is pretending to snore.
Having fun in Daddy's Halloween costume.
He loved his hat.
His favorite thing to do is to grab the had and say "EEEEHAAAW!
And the final product.
Vance in his big boy underwear. So cute.