Christmas Card 2011

To say that it was a challenge trying to get the perfect picture for our Christmas card is an understatement.

I guess when you have a 3 year old who loves a fake smile and a 9 month old who would rather be on the floor playing you have to take what you can get.  

We almost had to go with this picture:

But thankfully our awesome photographer, Auntie April, was able to capture this one:

We hope this holiday season is filled with lots of love and joy!.  

Merry Christmas from the VanZoerens!

Sneak Peak

Arden's school puts on a little Christmas performance each year.  This will be her first year to participate and she is so excited!  She's been practicing every day and we can't wait to watch her live, on stage :)  However, we wanted to capture one of her "rehearsals" on video.....just in case she catches a case of stage fright :)

Pitiful :(

Arden has been sick since Sunday night.  She started running a fever and complaining that her eyebrow and tummy hurt.  I quickly figured out that by eyebrow, she meant head :)  By Monday night, she came down with the stomach bug and she spent all day yesterday in mommy and daddy's bed watching cartoons.  

This was Arden last night:

She seemed SO much better!  No vomiting all day and her temp was maybe 99.

This is Arden today:

Terrible picture, I know...I tried taking it while she was sleeping, but the flash woke her up and she wouldn't let me take another one :(  Her fever is still gone, but she has been vomiting all day.  

I hate that she is so sick, especially with the stomach bug.  She deals with this enough with her cyclical vomiting that I wish she never had to have the stomach bug.  Poor girl.  And no one ever tells us how hard it will be for mommies.  Not only am I trying to make my sweet girl feel better, but I have a curious little 9 month old to try and keep away from Arden and the messes!  Oh the fun :)

Please pray that by tomorrow she will be back to her old self.....for her sake....and mine!

Warm Welcome

In early November, Brad (Geoff's brother) and his fiance, Abby, came for a visit.  We don't get a chance to see them very often, so we were thrilled to spend some quality time with them.  Arden was so excited for Uncle Brad to visit and quickly warmed up to Abby (she had met Abby maybe once before).  I'm pretty sure that by the time they left, Arden was confident she had made a new best friend ;)  

Brad and Abby, we are so happy for you guys!  Thank you so much for coming to visit and we hope you will come back again very soon.  We are looking forward to your big day in May :)

9 months

I seriously don't know where the time is going!  Tucker is growing way too fast---I'm trying not to think about the fact that his 1st birthday is less than 3 months away!

I don't have any growth stats for him because his well check is later this month, but I do know he is a big boy.  He is beginning to outgrow 12-18 month one-piece outfits because he has such a long torso.  I'm pretty sure he weighs 21+ lbs so he's a bit of a chunk, too.  

He is a very busy boy....and oh, he is fast!  It only takes him seconds to crawl and find trouble something to get into ;)  He definitely keeps me on my toes!  

Tucker is already testing us, too.  Our little mischievous boy does not take "NO" for an answer!  If he is getting into a cabinet that he's not supposed to, or playing with the nightlights in the hallways, we pop his hand and say "No, Tucker".  Instead of crawling away and finding something new to play with, he just smiles and laughs....then goes back to what he was doing.  Oh boy....looks like we may need to baby-proof a little more :)

He is also becoming more confident in standing unassisted.  His balance is getting better each day and I see him  standing and playing so often.  I bet it won't be long before he starts to take a few steps!

Tucker is finally starting to sleep well during the night---PRAISE GOD!  He is consistently sleeping 5+ hours at a time which means I only have to get up once a night to feed him.  Also, I am in the process of transitioning him to bottles.  He isn't super excited about this, but I pray that we can make this transition as quickly and easily as possible.

Tucker can also wave bye-bye and he is really great at smiling for the camera!  This is such a fun age as we watch his little personality grow :)

Happy 9 months sweet Tucker!