Van Francisco

this last weekend we drove to sf to check out the red ball, eat delicious food and shop. we parked near the piers and went to check out the ball, which was right across the street from the ferry building where we were going to have lunch.

when we got there a few guys were filming this chick doing fancy twirls on front of the red ball. i didn't want to crash their session, but let van do his thing anyways. the next day i came across this on the red ball project facebook page. it's vanny! in slow motion!

we basically spent the rest of the afternoon snacking, drinking, walking around, snacking, looking at boats, snacking, watching van squeal at birds, walking and snacking. here are some photos from our day...

here are some funny van faces from our second lunch/early dinner at some touristy seafood restaurant. we always have to hit up the tourist spot for tony who can't be in any kind of close proximity to the ocean and not have crab cocktail. van went back and forth in between cracking himself up by holding his sippy cup with his teeth and no hands and being disappointed and ashamed of us for not letting him eat crab chowder with his hands. these photos capture his joy/disgust.

              

15 Months!

my little baby is 15 months old today. he is getting so big and so so smart. he'll be smarter than me by the time he is 2 if he keeps learning at this crazy rate.

last year at this time he was just barely learning to grab his toys and roll over. now he can do all sorts of cool big boy stuff!

he can hum his ABC's, which he does ALL DAY LONG. he can count to four. he's learning to eat easily stab- able things with a fork. if you ask him what he wants at any time of day in any context, he replies with "cookie!", which kinda sounds like "gookie." he asks for "tunes!" first thing in the morning and points at his iPod. he still freaks out at the sound of the andy griffith theme song (he yells "THROWWW!" when opie throws the rock in the pond). oh, and he falls on his little face when trying to climb the stairs to the porch. :(

sometimes i get bummed because he's growing too fast, but he really just gets cooler and cooler with age.

happy 15 months, vanny manny.

                


                 

Our Favorite Books

we're big into books, and baby van has tons of cool ones. in fact, when my friends threw me a baby shower last year around this time guests were asked to bring books instead of traditional baby gifts. we ended up with a unique collection of some hand me down books, picture books, poetry books and classics.

here are some of our favorites.

i think my personal favs are The Country Western Alphabet and Nevermind Your Ps and Qs: Here's the Punk Alphabet. i picked up these two in portland last summer. the art is hilarious and i love the adult references. plus, it's important our kids know these things, ya?

"W is for Willie, can you see him through the smoke? He's got to hit the road again to save the farming folk."

punk /new wave rock influences, Elvis and Elvis. 

the jolly postman is another gem. we received this from van's auntie kristel and real life postman uncle josh! you get to peek in to envelopes and read the letters that all the classic fairytale characters write to each other. too cute.

vanny is a 4th generation californian, so this one was a natural choice. i love simple counting books, especially when they are cardboard and rep california. we're proud californians here.

and this one! oh, how i love this one. it's indestructible. literally. like, it's made to never rip or tear. i've tried! and i think van loves it because when he's eating it and crumpling it with his chubby baby hands he thinks he's doing something bad. i'd love to collect others. the old mcddonald one is super cute - it's set in south america and the illustrations are very fun.

van and i love to read good night, galaxy which is from the same series as good night, california mentioned above. i love nerdy science shit and van loves to go look at the moon and stars with tony while i make his bottle each night so this book was an obvious choice. good intro to the vastness of the universe for a little one..."good night nebula, good night black hole..."

we close out most nights with whoever you are by mem fox. it is freaking adorable. it's a little baby sized cardboard book that teaches that we are all more the same than we are different. and the illustrations are amazing - how cute are these two?!

"Smiles are the same and love is the same."



i seriously love children's books. probably more than regular books. your little ones reading anything good lately? i'm always looking for more to add to the collection.

First Halloween

last halloween i was just starting to look officially pregnant. and this halloween i had a sweet little 10 month old to celebrate with.

about a week before halloween we went to a little pumpkin carving party at a friend's house. tony carved while i kept van from covering himself in slimy pumpkin inners or stabbing himself with a carving utencil.

a guitar. with an amp!

i took the friday before halloween off to take van to bishop's pumpkin patch in wheatland. it's the same place we used to go with my parents when we were little. and since we went on a friday and not a weekend, it wasn't packed at all. we ate some lunch, walked around and went on a hayride.

  

on halloween day i got off work, dressed the baby and snapped some photos before taking him to my friend's house and my parent's house. he can't walk or eat candy, so we didn't do any trick or treating. my friend's sweet mother made him a corn muffin (he loves those) and he had some beans and quinoa at my mom's. he loves food, so it was a treat for him to get to eat at two different houses.

 

 

 

cutest sailor ever, right?

 

back home. he was over it.

 

van's sailor shirt was from The Wishing Elephant and his hat was from It's Sommertime. both shops shipped exactly what i ordered and were very speedy. my shirt matched his and was from Royal Kane. i wore a sailor-inspired hair bow from WhimsybyKrista.

Too Cute

a week ago my cousin's talented hubs came and snapped some photos of van. i've been having some hobby photographers take his pictures every 3 months. it's nice to look back on a more professional set of photos of your kid to see how they've grown and changed. funny when i stop and see these, i'm really more taken back by how he looks the same. the same, only bigger. interesting how some retain features as they get older. i still think i look a lot like my own newborn pictures. weird!

anyways, here he is....the cutest nine month old in the land!

photos by PTice photography.

Oh, this face...

this handsome six month old face. i made this my desktop background while in a meeting this afternoon. i minimized my screen several times to get a glimpse at this cute little guy. i never get sick of this kid.

i've said it before and i mean it...he is my favorite thing.

peek-a-boo

Piggy Baby

so, rice cereal was a bit of a success last week. the only issue we had was van's natural ravenous nature. it's like he couldn't eat it fast enough. i've been giving him a bottle and then following it up with cereal a couple hours later. he's doing pretty well with it and it's definitely making for some good photos.

nom nom nom...

A Year Ago Today...

i was scared out of my gourd at the sight of the positive pregnancy test sitting on the counter.

and today i'm having a freaking blast with my little mini-me, who will be 4 months old tomorrow. he's my favorite thing!

Baby V's Room

Decorating baby's nursery has been a really fun little ongoing project for me. i really enjoy things like color and art and decor, so finding special pieces for van's room has been a good time.

when i was pregnant people were always asking me what "theme" the babies room was going to be. i hate themes, and that fact is really evident once you take a look at my house. i've never been one to buy the "bed in a bag" or a sofa with all it's corresponding furniture...what fun would that be? buy what you like! i received a lot of puzzled looks when trying to explain to people what van's nursery looked like, but i think it turned out alright. and as with every other room in the house, it's a constantly evolving space.

i thought i'd share some of my favorite elements.

the crib was purchased by my mom as a gift. i picked out the bike print fabrics from spoonflower, and my aunt made the bedding. i still need to get some grey sheets and have his blanket made from the green bike fabric.

Above the bed hangs this awesome little mobile compliments of gramma and granddad. i'm a pinterest geek and found a similar mobile to this and fell in love. gramma made some modifications so it would better suit van's room and voila!

this record wall mimics a larger wall we have in the dining room. i liked the idea of incorporating a little of our style into his room in a more kid friendly way. i actually bought the sesame street records at a vinyl shop in portland before i was ever thinking i'd be pregnant. who could resist a soul sesame street record? i mean, come on!

guests at my baby shower were asked to bring a book to help build van's library. my dear friend amber purchased him this awesome ikea bookshelf to hold his new book collection along with some cool odds and ends we've put on display that includes one of my dad's accordions, a vintage viewmaster we picked up at denio's (it came with a ton of slides of churches of the american northwest...zzzzz), tony's grandfather's marble collection, and a ninja turtle lava lamp. hah!

another bedroom favorite is his awesome, homemade alphabet. guests who rsvp'd to my other baby shower were each asked to bring a specific alphabet letter to help me with the alphabet display i wanted to create for van. i was expecting to receive generic letters from the majority of ladies invited but was so surprised to see how seriously these women took their task! each letter is so creative and unique. they look great along the moulding in the nursery. i'm beyond thrilled with how it looks and we get compliments on this part of his room all the time.

i'm pretty culturally involved and knew i wanted to incorporate van's heritage into his room somehow. i found these adorable italian counting cards from children inspire design, had them laminated and display them on one of the more narrow nursery walls. they have these really great luchador prints i'm considering getting so van can rep his mexican side. we'll see. my friend has an alphabet from CID behind her daughter's crib that's seriously adorable. if we had more walls i know i'd be shopping there a lot more. such cute stuff!

thanks to ikea, pinterest and my crafty friends, van's room only gets doper and doper! i'll try and share more as we begin to add and switch things around.