Sittin

Vander is getting to be such a BIG BOY. When you used to sit him up he would fold himself over and basically lay on his legs... Or hed just fall over. Just this past week he has gotten so stable and can now sit up on his own without falling over. He loves to sit and play with something in his lap. I love it!!

Newport Beach and Easter!

We headed to Newport Beach to celebrate my moms big 5-0 bday! :) Included in that trip was also Joel's birthday and Easter Sunday! We had an absolute blast! We stayed for a week at a home just feet away from the beach. The weather was good and it was so nice to hang out with the entire family! While we were there we also went to Legoland (which we have learned is GREAT for when you have a 3-10 year old kid ;) 5 month old.... Well, not QUITE as exciting).

A HUGE thank you goes out to my parents who provided us with this extremely fun trip!!

 Off to Legoland!

 Joel and Vander panned for goal and crystal!

 They found lots...

 Not quite old enough to fully enjoy Legoland

 Waiting for Maddux for an hour to do a car ride that lasts 2 minutes... The joys of theme parks :)

 He LOVED staring up at the fish swimmin by

 Sleepin on the beach

 First time in the Ocean :) He freaked when the cold water touched his feet

 His first Easter egg hunt. He was so excited! Even though we basically held him over eggs and had him pick them up.

 Easter gift from Grandma and Bop Bop.

 First Easter basket. Joel was quite upset that I got him a right handed baseball glove... As if they carry left handed mits for 5 month olds? Please note the Reese's eggs, which were bought solely for the purpose of me and Joel eating them :) MMMmMmM

Happy 2-6 Joel!

Joel turned 26 last week and we had a little get together with the Ingram clan in Arizona. Then we headed to Newport Beach with the whole fam to celebrate his and my moms birthdays.
I can't believe my husband is 26... Since we started dating when I was 16 and he was 17, we still feel 16 and 17.... Where does the time go???
Happy Belated Birthday Joel!!

 Vander couldn't take his eyes of the candles the entire time we sang.

He helped blow out daddy's candles for him :)

Vander Lee... Almost 5 months!

I cannot believe I almost have a 5 month old. Seriously, where does the time go?

He is getting SO BIG and SO SMART. Joel and I love to sit back and just watch him soak things in. He is becoming so interactive and quite coordinated. It has been so nice to be home with him a few days a week!

Heres the latest with Van man.....

Nicknames : Boo, Boozers, Monkey, Van Man, Van

-He LOVES reading books. He jibbers the enter time we read and loves to turn the pages

-He loves to kick hit feet like crazy and he constantly curles his toes

-He just now is realizing that if he crys, we come.... Unfortunately for him we have figured this out... ;)

-He can hold his bottle all by himself

-He will grab anything within his reach and try to shove it in his mouth. His all time favorite is my hair which he grabs in two handfuls with his moist little hands. It hurts SO BAD.

-He now LOVES carrotts.... Not sure I can say the same for green beans

-He can roll from front to back like its nothin, he can ALMOST roll from back to front

-He loves to hear himself talk. He is an absolute jabber box

-Hes become extremely attached to his mommy. And while it is very endearing, it can be a little exhausting for me, and stressful for Joel

-He has slept without being swaddled for the past 2 nights and done pretty darn well

-He has started laughing, but not just giggles now, actual big laughs

-He loves his bumbo and he loves sitting in it while he sits next to Joel on the couch

Thats about it for now :) Now for the recent photos.....

 Super snuggly after his 4 month shots.

 He loves the xbox controller already...... ugh

 Vander and Grandma Ronda

 Chillin with Bop Bop. Notice that the tie had to be moved as it was WAY to fun for Vander to grab and stick in his mouth.

 He LOVES sitting with Joel while Joel works from home. We love family home days :)

 At the Easter Pagent at the Mesa Temple. There was way to much stimulous elsewhere for Vander to look at the camera.

 He was swaddled SO tight, and somehow, we come in in the morning to this. How on EARTH did he get out?

 Big smiles for his daddy



Pat Tillman Run

Yesterday I ran the Pat Tillman run in Tempe. Its a 4.2 mile run to honor Pat Tillman that ends on the 42nd yardline of the ASU Stadium. When I registered 2 months ago, my goal was to finish in 38-40 minutes. But with my slight lack of training, the day of the race my hope was just to beat 42 minutes and average a 10 minute mile. Well I ended up finishing in 38:42, so I was STOKED.

The best part of all is that my parents ran it with us and they did AMAZING! For my mom who is the farthest thing from a runner to even do the race and finish with a pretty darn good time made me super proud! This is one of the amazing blessings of living in the same state with my sister and parents. Now if only we could get Amber here we'd be complete! :)

Anywho, here are some pictures from race day.

 We really aren't all THAT excited that we just finished.. My dad threw water at us at the same time they snapped the photo.

These girls are crazy fast...

My fam came out to support me!

Van was super comfy in his stroller and passed out :)

Solids and Daggers

Today Vander had his very first experience with solid foods. Carrotts were his very first!! He wasn't so sure about it at first, but he didn't spit it out. He just basically kept gagging the entire time and making hilarious faces.

THEN, after his first solid meal, we took a little trip to the Dr to get what my family affectionately calls "DAGGERS", aka, immunizations. This was his "4 month" check up, even though he is only a week and a half shy of 5 months. But here are his "4 month" stats!

Weight: 16 lbs, 6 oz (60th percentile)

Height: 26 inches (75th percentile)

Head: 16.5 inches (25th percentile)

I took photos to document his leg daggers. Poor little thing. And after his 2 month shots he was a WRECK for a week. I am really not looking forward to that again...... :) But he was a trooper!

Then... just a recent video of him at Joels softball game. In the past 4 days he has become a HUGE jabber box! He loves to hear his own voice.

Just another day in paradise :)

I again apologize for my lack of photos/posts. Life has been a little crazy lately but its finally starting to level out and hopefully will be back to normal soon! I take my 2nd broker test this week and PRAY that I pass so that I can move on to the next 2 tests. Vander has stayed home a few days this past week with me while I work. Joel started his work from home job at Bank of America last week, but he won't start working at home until this week. Vander is SO excited to spend the whole day with his mommy and daddy :) He has been SUPER sleepy lately, so its practically like hes not even here during the day. The other day he took 7 hours of naps in a 10 hour span... And last night he went to bed at 8pm, has woken up twice to eat and has gone back to sleep... Its now almost 12pm and he is STILL sleeping. He must be a growing boy!

He has now started to really enjoy his rice cereal and we will get started on feeding him some of his first baby food here in the next week or so! I'm going to try to take on the task of making my own baby food and see how it goes ;)

Lately he has gone on rolling strike. He was rolling like crazy and all the sudden.. NO MORE :)

He can hold his own bottle now, almost the entire time he eats. He WANTS to feed himself cereal and loves to grab and hold the spoon as tight as he can. He loves to pull my hair and get it stuck in his death grip so I can't get it out of his hand. He's still an amazing little boy and continues to brighten our home with his infectious smile :)

Heres some recent pics! You may notice that he is sleeping in most of these pictures..... Thats because thats what hes doing 90% of the time.

 Cuddling with daddy

 Sleepin in Grammys arms :)

 Please pay NO attention to my husbands absolutely disgusting mustache. In case you were wondering, it was "Mustache March" at work. Thank goodness that is over... But this picture is of Vanders very FIRST daddy shoulder ride :)

 Chillin watchin TV with daddy

 Joel set him down for a minute while he was wide awake. When he came back, out COLD on the couch with his arms to the side.

After this bath. His favorite time of the day :)