Christmas morning we went to my parent's house for waffles a la Kyle and presents and naps...
Auntie Holly showed up with Santa hats for the kids.
I was getting Bryce out of his bathtub (yes, it's pink) and Leah decided it was time for her bath. I heard some rustling in the bathroom and she had proceeded to take all of her clothes off and hopped into Bryce's tub.
Real life has started for us now that I am back to work and Bryce has started school. If you can go all the way back (I cannot figure out how to put a link to Leah's post), there is a similar picture of Leah on her first day of school - Bryce seems about twice her size!! He is doing very well at school and is learning a lot. He enjoys seeing his cousin Tyler everyday (as well as his aunt or uncle) and I am sure they will learn how to team up on their teachers!
Leah is hilarious these days! She is mimicing pretty much anything I do with Bryce with her baby. She hasn't given her baby a name yet, I am waiting for that one! This is a picture of her 
Of course, I cannot forget to report in on the precious smiles that we're starting to get from our little guy!! Sometimes I will look over at him and he is just ALL smiles at someone or a random toy - or yes, the ceiling fan.
He is a happy little fella. We figured out if he is fussy, he normally wants to be put down on the floor and have his independant play time. I wish I had figured that out a few weeks ago, but it's making the VB house a little lower on the decibal level!!
Halloween was a fun holiday with the 2 kids this year. We kicked off the week with a kid's costume party and hayride complete with pumpkin carving and a hotdog roast in the woods.
We have so much fun with all of our friends and their kids!! We were pretty proud to get almost all of them on the wagon minus one 3 month old ghost.
Our extent of Trick or Treating was going to my Grandparents and Rick's sister's house. I love this picture because Leah is giving GG a kiss. What a sweetie! The pumpkin is cousin Tyler who is 6 weeks older than Bryce.
Bryce came home from the hospital with a bit of jaundice so we were instructed to have him exposed to sunlight. We hoped that that would be enough, but his bilirubin count continued to rise after we got home. The doctor decided he needed some additional treatment and prescribed 24 hours on the bilirubin phototherapy light. :)
It was kind of cute how he "glowed in the dark" for a night. It was kind of a pain because he had to be on it as much as possible - so pretty much we only took it off for diaper changes. The rest of the time he seemed as though he had a tail. The light wand was really thin and fit under his 
After being discharged from Holland Hospital Friday 9/24, we were instructed to go home "get some rest" and come back at 8 am Saturday morning 9/25. Easier said than done! Saturday 9/25 was a date that we had anticipated the first annual Walk for Water fundraiser for Water Missions International for a long long time. Well, babies come when babies come! We were blessed with friends that were willing to take Leah so my parents could run the fundraiser all day with out a 2 year old "helper". This is us, dropping Leah off on our way to the hospital (which incidently, we passed the water purification machine and my parents on their way to setting up). I have labeled this picture 'Before there were 4'
The day went smoothly, but a bit longer than we had expected. I went in and was dialted to a 3 and almost all the way efaced...but it still took 12 hours for our little one to arrive. I was hooked up to pitocin and a bunch of fluids and away we ..sat around. The epidural was granted and put in about 2 pm in the hopes that it would allow them to crank up the pitocin and get the party started! We sat around some more....mainly because I was numb and was a captive audience.
We passed the 'put your baby in the carseat' test and were cleared to go home to start a new chapter in our life! What a great time it has been so far!! to be continued...Rick and Leah are doing lots of yard work together while I am inside keeping tabs on Bryce.
Rick figured it was time to teach Leah to drive the tractor - which is her dream come true. She LOVES all things tractor!!
Apparently there is a song that the singer yells out "Big Truck" and that is what she is yelling at the end of the video though it is almost impossible to decipher.
I had the "pleasure" of turning 30 last week. Holly, Kyle and their 5 week old baby Tyler came and brought dinner over to celebrate...it's just easier to stay home with Leah the world's busiest 2 year old, me being 9 1/2 months pregnant and mix that with the 5 week old baby and his momma having gallstones, it all made sense to hang out at home. 
Well, despite a very busy Labor Day weekend consisting of a wedding, and a wonderful concert in Detroit, we were able to achieve my goal of being finished and prepared for HE-VB's arrival.
Leah is doing such a great job lately of embracing her almost 2-year-old-ness, we're so proud of her! Sunday was the first day we attempted to put her to sleep in her big girl bed for nap time, and she did great! So, Sunday night we decided it was time for no turning back, and tried out her new bedroom. Last night was night # 3 and she slept ALL night! For those of you that may not know, that is an amazing feat...she sleeps through the night MAYBE once a week, so we're going to cross our fingers that this becomes a more common habit at our house! I now have jumped in headfirst on transforming the nursery into HE-VB's room. There's so much to be done before he comes, but we're enjoying the change!!
It's been nice and hot these past few days, so we took Leah down to the local splash pad. She had a great time running in and out of the water and signing that it was cold.Here is a video of her activity, if you catch at the end that a motorcycle drove by, that is what she is signing with her right hand. (what a smart girl!)
The other weekend, Rick went to our friends Kevin and Maggie's house to help with a car repair and took Leah with him. Their daughter Charlotte and Leah had a cocktail while they waited. Thanks Maggie for sending this picture, it's adorable!!
It's amazing to think how fast time goes in the grand scheme of things! I am 31 1/2 weeks along and the nesting phase is in full effect! Rick is doing a great job of getting projects done for me so we can start transitioning Leah into her new bedroom and we can get started on HeVB's room!
Also, my tummy is getting in the way of my snuggle time with Leah, so I guess it's not just the 2 of us anymore! Leah cuddles up to her brother and gives him good night kisses. Also, there is a game at her school to have all the kids walk around with balls under their shirts, this morning Leah was walking around with one and someone asked her what it was and she stated very clearly, "It's a baby!" I think she's getting the hint!! She continues to keep us on our toes and laughing at all the new words that she's coming up with lately. Her favorite phrase is "wut bappin?" translation: what happened? Her favorite babysign is the sign for ice cream, she is constantly whipping out her imiginary ice cream cone and giving it a couple licks and then signs that it's cold. I will also try and follow up with a video of this cute occurance.Here is a video of a typical evening at the VB house....Leah finds some interesting things to play with when mommy is doing the dishes or has her back turned. Last night was no different. She learned how to get into the box where we keep all the items that may poke an eye out...etc. I found her sitting in the box and it prompted the video.
She is adding words to her dictionary every day - I believe I heard "what happened" in the correct context - and another one of her favorite phrases is "where did it go"...you may have to listen closely to translate it, but that's what it is!
Also, baby boy VB is doing well - we're happily in the 3rd trimester and moving right along. According to the last doctor visit we were still measuring right on schedule and I passed the real glucose test so no diabetes diet for Mommy!
One of Leah's favorite books is Brown Bear Brown Bear....so we went to John Ball Park Zoo over Memorial Day weekend and found a brown bear for her. She had a great time looking at the animals but her favorites were definitely the monkeys. She was trying to imitate their gestures which was a priceless things to watch. :)
Daddy and Leah really enjoyed the aquarium as well - watching all the big fish swim by. Good photo op!
These are the sunglasses from way back when she was a baby. She still enjoys putting them on and hanging out around the house.
Oh thank heaven for summer! There are so many fun things going on in the VB house lately!! Rick installed a cute little bike seat for Leah and they've been taking little rides here and there- mostly to watch the fountains aka "bubbles" in Royal Park Condos. We rode to my parent's for Sunday dinner this week and apparently, the ride was very soothing and relaxing for the passenger.
Leah has started to take an interest in the "potty". She is demonstrating this interest by taking off her pants / diaper at random times throughout the day. We decided it was time to get her her own potty, but she hasn't quite caught on that she needs to actually stay seated for a duration of time. But...when does she stay seated at all anyways? We aren't pushing it, but I think it's a step in the right direction.
