My 4 Year Old Anarchist

"Daddy, how come we are always doing all these things you and Mommy say?" She is going to be trouble!

Accident Waiting to Happen

The kids are riding a red wagon down the driveway and steering into the grass just before hitting the street. Each is wearing their bicycle helmet. I have a funny feeling this is going to end with lots of crying.

Portuguese Man O'War

Terelle tells me yesterday morning that she had a rather bizarre dream the night before, one where I had two large aquariums (for the record, I currently have none). She says that one had a lizard in it, and the other had a Portuguese Man O'War in it - "which is usually a jellyfish, but this time it was an actual tiny Portuguese man."

I know it doesn't sound all that funny now, and maybe it was the baby brain and lack of sleep from which we all suffer currently, but I about wet myself laughing so hard at that one. Take a moment and picture a tiny Portuguese man in an aquarium. See. That is funny!

Arborist

Gavin is 10 feet up a tree trying to learn more about them. I told him
that people who study trees for a job are called arborists. He tells
me "that's what I am, Dad, a Arborist". So bloody clever that one.

Home

We are home again. It feels like a really long time, even though we only left on Monday and I came back on Tuesday to shower. Sleeping so little and experiencing such joy can really change the space-time continuum!

The kids were over the moon to see Katie. Gavin called us at the hospital to find out when we were coming. The kid is going to be a salesman or a politician. He has mastered the pressure sale and the hard close.

Grandpa did a great job of helping us with the kids - spoiling them with too much junk food, just as they should (with a great assist by Grandma Jane). The kids fought over who could hold Katie, with Gavin taking a really nurturing interest in her. He could sit with her on his lap for tens of minutes - which is a long time for a 6 year old. Maggie wanted to take her to bed with her, she settled for her baby doll instead. We are truly blessed.

Welcome aboard Katie

So I am a daddy, again. Katherine Blair Vance was born at 10:30 PM PST on Monday 2/16. She was 8 lbs 2 oz, and 20.5" long. Both Mom and the baby are doing really well. Katie's older siblings (Gavin and Maggie) are also very happy to have a new baby to torment.

I am taking the next two weeks off from work for a vacation. And by vacation I mean the chance to sleep as little as possible while caring for and entertaining a precocious 6 year old who can ask 600 questions a minute, a moody 4 year old who who has already started filing the emancipation paperwork to be able to rid herself of her overbearing parents, and a 1 day old who thinks day is night and night is day. It is going to be awesome!

The Big Day... we hope

We are supposed to be in the hospital working on getting the baby out, but unfortunately there are no open beds. Too many women having babies. It's not so bad since we really didn't want to induce anyway, but the Dr. won't let us go past 42 weeks (today). We are next on the list but the charge nurse doesn't see a bed opening before 10 or so. So we wait. Maybe we'll make brownies.

Nesting

I've been meaning to convert all of our old hi8 videos to digital for some time now, and finally got around to starting this weekend. I honestly don't think I've ever watched some of these tapes. The coolest thing is seeing my kids as little babies - that seems so long ago now. I'm finding it to be the best way to prepare for a new baby - you remember all the sleepless nights and diaper messes, but sometimes forget all the really cute things they did. Just seeing chubby little Gavin running around the house, and infant Maggie smiling for the camera really makes me all the more excited to see the new baby. The kids have been getting a kick out of it as well. Maggie sat in a chair for 30 minutes watching herself coo and caw. So very sweet. My goal is to get all of these videos digitized and edited as movies that the kids can watch on the TV. It's good to have goals.