Vance Family Halloween

Our little Fireman started it all!  We decided to theme ourselves around him!

Since Silas entered the world in time for, but not on, Halloween, he joined in the fun as Fireman Amos' Dalmatian.

Amos & Silas in the "fire engine."

Dad joined in the fun as Silas' Dog Catcher.

Lastly, Mom became the fire Amos had to put out!

What a crazy family

Silas John Vance

Wasn't a big fan of the first bath!

That's much better!

He worked hard too.

Excuse the crazy hair.

And here are a few from this morning!  He's been sleeping away, but we hope to catch some open eyes later on!  If you can't tell, we're in love.

Amos is coming to visit soon, but can you tell they are brother?

Amos is on the left, Silas is on the right!

Pumpkins, Ice cream, and False Alarms

The weekend started off great!  We had already decided that we would eat out at Red, Hot & Blue Friday night if we hadn't had a baby by then.  And I think we all looked forward to it the entire day!

That night, my mom was in town and she stayed the night in order to hang out with us Saturday.  It would have been a perfect night to go into labor, but no such luck!  However, we had fun shopping on Saturday (she picked me up some new slippers for the hospital!!) and hanging out.

Late that afternoon, I started having really mild contractions, but somewhat regular.  This has been happening off and on for the last two weeks so I didn't think much of it.  After giving Amos his 3rd hair cut,  we decided to finally carve the pumpkins that had been sitting in our garage for two weeks!

 Amos saw was a BIG ORANGE BALL and it was love at first sight!

Jason hasn't finished his yet, but I'm pretty proud of mine..

We finished the evening off (or so we thought) with Anderson's ice cream and a movie from RedBox.  During the movie, my mild contractions seemed to be getting more regular and harder.  After timing them for a couple hours, they were 3-4 minutes apart and progressing in strength. At 11 pm we consider the fact that we still had to drive to Carthage and drop Amos off at my sisters for the rest of the night, and thought we might as well head that way.  Long story short, two hours of 2-3 minute apart contractions did not equal active labor and we were sent home around 2:30 a.m.  Amos spent the rest of the night at my sisters, and my awesome husband went and got him this morning in order to let me sleep a little longer.

We're taking it easy today as you can tell by the pictures below.  I love the one of Amos sporting his jammers, cowboy boots, short hair cut and pink sippy (thanks Josie).

So, we're still waiting and a little discouraged.  I told Jason that my water better break with the real thing, because its going to take a lot of STRONG, HARD contractions to get me back to the hospital.  And he doesn't like the idea of having to deliver the baby at home by himself.

This is OUR kinda Weather!!

We are loving wearing coats and playing outside!  Can't wait for Little Brother to join us!

The Waiting Place

We have entered Dr. Seuss' The Waiting Place:

The Waiting Place…
…for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to goor the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a
Yes or a No or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for
Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a sting of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.
NO!That’s not for you!
Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying.
You’ll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

I went to my 39 weeks Dr. appointment this morning and found out that I'm at the same place as I was last week.  Almost 4 cm and 60% effaced.  This is a good place to be at 39 weeks, I think we just got a little anxious when I was already there at 38 weeks.  All along I've been prepared to have this baby after my due date, counting on it really, but now as the time approaches anything sounds better than having him on Halloween.  Even if that means this weekend (which its suppose to be nice and cool)!

Are bags are packed, the car seat is loaded, bathrooms cleaned, laundry done, and now we're just waiting!  I'll be sure to let you know if anything happens.  Let's check the list.

My plans for the next???:

- Catch up on pictures for our family album 

- Finish a few minor baby room projects

- Order some additional cloth diapers

- Finish Amos' first year video I've really been putting this off.

- Double every dinner I make and freeze the second one  I've got two more to make

- Go on a hot date with my hubby!!! This may not happen.  Last weekend just didn't work out

- Keep baby inside!

- Hold Amos A LOT He's really been helping out with this one!

- Hit up a few consignment sales and garage sales

- Get my hair trimmed

- Decide on a name

A Parade

After waking Amos up on Saturday (that sleepy head), we headed to Carthage to experience the Maple Leaf Festival Parade for the first time.  We left Dad at home in bed because he has been a bit on the sick side.  Amelia and Matthew were already there with the girls and kind enough to save us a spot beside them.

What a good looking family.  Priscilla is hiding behind the pink ears.  She slept the whole time.

Little Mister was in a great mood!  It could have just been the graham crackers.

You can't tell it here, but he did enjoy himself.  His favorites were all the marching bands, horses and anytime anyone clapped for anything.  Towards the end, he would try to squirm his way out of my lap and onto the street - trying to make a quick get away with the parade.

A balloon saved the day, until he popped it.  This is what he thought of his popped balloon.

Notice how Josie felt about her balloon!

What a cutie!  We had a great time and when we got back home, Dad was feeling quite a bit better!  The rest of the day involved napping a relaxing.  We finished it with lattes on the patio after Amos had gone to bed!

"New Stuff"

Amos has been having fun checking out all the new baby toys (aka his old toys) to make sure they are ready for Little Brother.

I think he loves the bouncer more now than he did at 3 months, and that's saying a lot!

I'd better get ready!

So I found out today that I'm dilated to almost 4 cm.  My hopes of 11/1/12 are dwindling, and I'm getting more use to the idea of an October baby.  I think I've just been egging him on to come out as I continue to plan things for the next 2 weeks.  We've got our dinner theater date in Branson on Friday, a shower on Sunday, visiting my cousins in Chanute, KS on Monday, and multiple Halloween parties that we are suppose to attend before Little Brother arrives.  You know what they say about plans.  I think I need to start getting ready for Little Brother's arrival instead.  Like, maybe I should pack a bag and install the carseat.  Both of those things were done several weeks earlier with Amos' pregnancy.  You all keep praying though!  It may be a couple weeks yet!

My plans for the next???:

- Finish a few minor baby room projects
- Catch up on pictures for our family album 

- Order some additional cloth diapers!
- Finish Amos' first year video.
- Double every dinner I make and freeze the second one.  Still working on this one.  I've got 6 in the freezer.
- Go on a hot date with my hubby!!  We have reservations to a dinner theater down in Branson to see a Murder Mystery. We did get to go on one date already though!
- Keep the baby inside of me.  Any tips on how to do this?
- Hold Amos A LOT.  He wants me to hold him all the time!  I'm loving it, except for the fact that it hurts every time I pick him up.
- Hit up a few consignment sales and garage sales looking for some baby items.
- Decide on a name (yeah right!)
- Get my hair trimmed!  Desperate need of this! Just got it trimmed!  Love it Liz!

Check out some pictures of the baby's room below!  I really like how everything came together.

The Weekend List

Not every weekend has a list.  In fact, most are list free!  But this weekend, we had a "TO DO TOGETHER" list and we made quick work of it.

The major items on the list was cleaning out both cars.  This is about 3 months overdue, so you can imagine how badly it needed cleaning.  I always have good intentions about keeping them in better order, but I feel like having a kid just made it harder.  All hands are full when loading and unloading so the trash gets left behind.

Amos loves to spend time in the garage and he found a new jungle gym in the car.  He wasn't in the greatest mood on Saturday, (hence the Mr. Happy Shirt) so you can't tell from the pictures how much he was enjoying himself.

This is how he honks the horn on his Cozy Coupe, so he thought it would work the same way in the real car!

He helped Dad clean out the Buick too.  The Buick was about 4 years late on getting cleaned out, so it was a mess!

It feels great to have what feels like a brand new car to bring Little Brother home in.  After car cleaning, Amos went down for his nap so we could finish off the rest of our list.

Repair the couch - Jason got to use the staple gun!  He said he forgot how awesome that thing is.
Hang up Nursery stuff!  I'm sure I could probably hang this stuff up, but it is so much more fun with Jason.
Make new lamp shades for old lamps from my Grandma.  Jason got pretty crafty here.  I'll share some pictures once they are finished!

Its so nice to have a Saturday together that we can get some stuff done that's been on the list for a while.  We won't have too many more of those before Little Brother arrives!

Full Term, but not Fully Cooked!

My sister and I.  Dressed up for our dates with our husbands thanks to our wonderful parents! 

We made it to full term.  My doctor now gives me the OK to have this baby.  Most of you already know the game plan, but we are waiting until Nov. 1st (11/1/12... doesn't that look pretty) to have this baby. So he's not fully cooked yet.  And yes, I know things don't always go according to plan and I'm prepared for that, but I also love having a plan.   However, at my doctor's appointment today, I was dilated 2 cm which is more than where I was at when I went to the hospital with Amos (my water had broke)  Also, I went and pre-registered at the hospital and took a little tour of the maternity wing!! Let me just say that I wish I had a bathroom that nice!  We may stay an extra night just so I can use the jetted tub more.

Anticipating Little Brother's arrival, got me thinking about things I want to do the same and differently. So I made a list.

THINGS I WON'T DO AGAIN(or will try not to)
- Rush home from the hospital.  I'm going to take full advantage of my stay and the rest it provides, plus I've already told you about the bathrooms!
- Worry about a schedule until at least 6 weeks.  It was pointless before that with Amos.  But around 6 weeks, things seemed to really start to click.
- Hesitate to put Little Brother in our closet.  I slept so much better once Amos was a little further away from us because I didn't hear every deep breath or head turn.  He was and is quite a noisy sleeper.
- Go 6 hours without feeding early on.  I tried to have Jason give Amos a bottle so I could get a little more sleep and almost lost my milk supply.  Those few extra hours of sleep did not make up for the work it took to get my supply back!
- Start baby food until absolutely necessary!  It seemed like such a fun idea.  Little did I know how much more time it takes to nurse and feed.  And once you start, there is no going back!

THINGS I WILL DO AGAIN
- Establish a routine right off the bat (Eat, Play, Sleep)
- Swaddle (Hallelujah)
- Breastfeed - Amos was so good at this.  I'm glad that I have his experience to fall back on in case its a little more difficult this time.
- Use cloth diapers! Second time around, its like I'm diapering for free! Love that!
- Foster thumb sucking!  Amos' naps and night time sleeping really too off once he learned to suck his thumb.  I also didn't have to worry about a pacifier.  He's 15 months now, and only sucks it occasionally at night.
- Practice sleeping in the pack-n-play during naps.  Amos has always been able to sleep anywhere.  It's nice that having the familiar pnp makes naps easy in a new place.
- Independent playtime!

I'm sure there's more that will make its way onto both lists, but for now that's it.  It was good to think about those things that are so easily forgotten in a year's time!  Hopefully it all comes back fast.
Next week, I'm hoping to show pictures of the FINISHED nursery and my updated list!

Good Morning!

This change in weather has made me so excited.  I love cold weather!  And now I have a new reason to love cold weather - Amos in footie PJs!  Yesterday morning was a great time to just hang out in them for a while!  He worked really hard to climb up into our rocking chair and read his book.  The only sad part about these pictures is that he looks SO OLD!

Oh and yes, his Crocs must be put on him first thing every morning!!!