Family Photos

Check out our newest family photos here.

We had a blast at the park and even though both boys were less cheerful than usual, it looks like Karen and Eric were able to capture some adorable pictures. We had beautiful weather for pictures and luckily it wasn't too hot. I can't wait to see the rest of the images and start comparing Vance's pics to the photos we have of Harrison when he was eight months. They really do look a lot alike.

Lap Child

We made the decision not to bring Harrison along to New York for Grandpa Laug’s funeral. The decision was based largely on two major issues. First, Harrison wouldn’t understand what was happening and the trip would be painfully boring for him-two days of travel and two days of funeral/visitation. There just wouldn’t be any room for an active two year old with our busy agenda. Second, two year olds have to have their own seat on the plane-honestly that was the deciding factor, $$$$. However, Vance could fly for free as a ‘Lap Child’ so he was along for the ride.

This was my third time traveling with an infant so I now consider myself a pro. Things that intimidated me the first time were no longer scary-I knew what would be helpful at the airport and what would be a pain to lug around. Our flight out and our flight back went so smoothly. It helped that we had no delays and short layovers, but I attribute much of the success to our incredibly happy, smiley, and easy going baby. Here are a few of the highlights:

Vance rolled over for the first time at the airport (from his back to his tummy). This photo is right after his successful attempt and my cheering-I think he looks pretty proud of himself.

Sleeping on the airplane. What a good little traveler.

Here we are at our destination, Aunt Lise's house in Amsterdam, NY. Vance was very happy to be out of the car/off of the airplane. He enjoyed stretching out in the living room with Adam.

New York

It’s hard to know what to write about this past week, but I feel like I need to do some updating. We learned last week on Monday (February 15th) that Adam’s grandpa had passed away; it was his 88th birthday. Adam, Vance, and I joined Adam’s dad and his sister Amy on a quick trip to New York for the visitation and funeral. The trip was too quick, but the time with family was absolutely priceless. I wanted to share just a few moments from the weekend that mean so much to us.

Of course it is painful to us that Grandpa Laug and Vance did not get the opportunity to meet, but I am thankful for this trip because it provided us with a chance for Grandma to meet Vance. I think that she truly enjoyed him and I will be forever thankful for their time together. We made sure to let Grandma know that Vance shares her initials, VCL, and that his middle name Charles is in honor of both his Grandpa and his Great Grandpa.

I love these two photos of the four generations-one with Grandma and Vance and the other with Grandpa and Harrison. It's funny how they were taken in almost the exact same location. Vance is a little younger than Harrison, but I love that you can see the resemblance.

The next few photos are from the funeral. The church looked absolutely beautiful and the stories that were shared made the service perfect. Adam did something that I could never do, he spoke at the funeral. I know it meant a lot to him and to the rest of his family.

We love all of you and were so grateful for the opportunity to spend so much time celebrating Grandpa Laug’s life and legacy.

Adorable!!!

I was writing about having photo fever and wanting to get new pics taken of the boys. This is what probably started it all...check out the adorable pictures of my nephew Will. I knew that Melissa and Jeff were having Karen take more photos of Will and I knew they would be super cute-here's one more in case the first page wasn't enough. It doesn't help that my new camera hasn't arrived-it is in Mt. Pleasant, IA at the UPS sorting facility-yes I have been tracking it daily on-line.

And.....
Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!!! I had to work at ACCESS for the overnight shift last night and Adam called this morning to let me know that Vance had given him a Valentine. I immediately thought he meant something gross, and if you know Adam I'm sure that's what you thought of too:) No, he meant that Vance slept through the night-10 hours! Way to go little buddy. Now, if you could just do it sometime when I am home to enjoy it-that would be Vantastic!!!

Fall Family Photos

I realized that I never posted a link to a few of our family photos from last fall. My friend Karen and her husband Eric do such amazing work and we have such a great time. Today I started feeling antsy about wanting to get photos taken again. It's just so nice to have such amazing pictures of the boys. When they did this last shoot Vance was only a few weeks old and of course he has changed so much. I'm starting to get antsy again to get some new photos of both boys. I should probably be patient and wait until it is warmer outdoors and until Vance can sit up. Once those two things happen you can guarantee I'll be giving Karen a call-she's going to be spending more time at home too, working on expanding her business-so hopefully she can squeeze us in:)

Sticker Chart

I have finally made a sticker/reward chart for Harrison to try to move this potty training thing along. We were doing so well while I was on maternity leave and then the whole thing just fell apart. Today I introduced him to the idea of the reward chart. He gets a sticker on his chart every time he uses the bathroom and after five stickers he gets a prize. I put together a prize basket and let him have a "sneak peek" to try to help with the motivation. Today he was able to get two stickers. I am very proud of him for trying so hard-today was the longest he has ever sat there to try and go. He is highly motivated by one of the prizes, a giant marshmallow on a stick. He talked about it all day. Hopefully he gets excited about some of the other prizes too so that this will work. I'm going to have to get creative about what to put in there to keep it new and exciting for him. Cross your fingers for me-buying diapers for two is getting a bit ridiculous.

No, I'm the baby

I finally found the mobile for Vance's room in a storage room tub. I knew I had it somewhere and it only took me about four months to find it. Vance is pretty indifferent about it right now. He kind of enjoys the movement and music, but it really isn't his favorite thing right now. Harrison on the other hand thinks it's great. He has been begging me to "check it out" for several days so I finally let him climb in and give it a try. He had a blast pretending that he was a baby and watching the animals spin around. He even named all of them-I wish I could remember their names, I just know that they were very interesting. It was naptime so he wanted to sleep in the baby bed too. Well, that didn't last long. As soon as I left the room and shut the door he realized he couldn't get out of bed. He was very adament at that point that he would be sleeping in his big boy bed from now on.

Requested by Andrea B. Laug; Created by Adam

Punky Brewskee, Skeet Ulrich, Biskeets and Gravy, Neato Moskeeto, Skeedmark, Riskee Business, Gettin Friskee, The Big Lebowskee; possible names for a skee ball team.

Finally some decent pictures around here.

The last few months of picture taking have been pretty frustrating. Our camera has started doing this.....


and this.....


to about every third picture. The worst part is it always seems to be the shot that the boys are actually looking at the camera and smiling. It has been very frustrating and I have not taken as many pictures as I normally do. Finally today was the last straw. I tried to get a picture of Vance smiling and not one of them turned out. I took at least ten photos and they all looked like the two up above. I gave the camera a little smack on the floor, and that was the end of that-it won't turn on at all now. Whoops! Adam and I did a little shopping around today and we are the proud new owners of this.....




Isn't it pretty! It's the blue one. I am so excited to start taking more pictures of the boys, pictures that actually turn out.

Five months

Five months already. How is that possible? Vance you are so much fun! We just love spending time with you. It's so fun to watch you interact with your older brother and I love that he can make you laugh so hard. You are getting so close to rolling over from your back to your tummy-I can tell how badly you want it, it won't be long now. Today we fed you bananas for the first time, so far you are not a fan. You do like rice cereal so I'm sure it won't be long before you are eating everything in sight. It's fun to see how you can remind us of Harrison one minute and then the next you show us your very own personality and charm. I love getting to know you and can't wait to see what you can do next.