Stranger Danger? Not for Vance

Vance has changed a lot lately. He's started to do new things and he's leaving old things behind. I really thought he'd be walking by now. He's so close! He can take a few steps completely on his own. But it never fails, he always sits back down and crawls. He was going through a growth spurt recently. I can tell it's passed, he slowed way down on how much he eats. I haven't been to the doctor, so I can't tell you how much he weighs or how tall he is. I'm wanting to know that too! :)
Vance is still as people friendly as ever. Today I went to Wal-Mart during my lunch and I bet we had 10 people stop and talk to us. I didn't know any of them. They all want to stop and talk to Vance. Or tell me how cute he is and how good it is to see a smiling baby. Vance has a smile glued on his face just about every time we go anywhere. He's a people watcher. Today, I had an older couple behind me in line that talked to us the whole time. They just couldn't get over Vance. He had a toy and kept dropping it (the new game). The guy thought it was hilarious and kept giving it back to Vance. Normally I would have gave up after about the 3rd time.
Another outing story, I ran to the gas station on my way to work the other morning. The cashier lady thought Vance was soo cute! She helped talking to him while checking out the people in front of us. Finally when it came our turn to pay, she reaches over and grabs a container of cookies and hands it to Vance. She told me he could just have it. Vance isn't quite old enough for Chocolate Chip cookies yet, so Mommy got to eat those.
We've been to see Santa! Vance really wasn't sure what to think of Santa. He was a bit scared at first. I didn't hesitate. I handed him to Santa and he realized it was ok. Then he thought it was fun! We got a great picture of Santa and Vance; a typical smile from the happy boy! We were the only ones there that night. It was nice, Vance got to sit there a while and talk to Santa. Santa did most of the talking. He was a very nice man. When Vance gets a little older, we're really going to have to watch him around strangers. He'll go to anyone!
After getting our pictures. Vance went to play at the kids area of the mall. The mall recently has done some remodeling. They have a nice play area for kids. Vance crawls all around in there. They have a few plastic sea animals to climb on. He mostly watched the other kids. I've taken him back since then to play. It's nice to have a big area that's baby proof.

Baby's First

There's been a few "firsts" happening in the Beaty house. The funniest one yet; last night! We had Spaghetti and Vance got to eat some too! Here are a few pictures and a video.

Doing more than just crawling!

Vance walks himself around by holding onto things. He's getting quite good at it. The other night he figured out the high chair has wheels. He pushed it around for a bit. Then we got out his push walker. Check this out!

The wonderful life of Vance

We're getting ready for the holidays at our house. It's that time of year again! We've moved the furniture around in the living room, making room for the Christmas tree. Originally we weren't going to put one up this year, but I can't go without a Christmas tree. Hopefully Vance stays out from under the tree. (yeah right)
Vance is as busy as ever. He's been going through a growth spurt, we think. He's sleeping 12-13 hours almost every night and eating all day long. I'm gonna go broke buying snacks for him, lol. He's still a really good eater. There is a very short list of foods he won't eat and an extremely long one for the foods a loves. On the top of his love/like list is mashed potatoes. Anytime we go out to eat or cook a nice meal at home, Vance has to have lots of potatoes. You'd think he has hollow legs due to how much he eats. Today we had peanut butter bread. I've read where it says not to feed peanut butter to babies, because of a coking hazard. But Vance doesn't care if he CAN have it; he just wants it, NOW! For those of you that have been around him when he eats, you understand what I mean when I say 'now'. He's not the most patient when it comes to getting food.
One of his favorite things to do is take a bath. Or anything that has to do with water. At home we can keep the toilet lid down, but there isn’t al lid on the one at the shop. I have to keep the door shut; otherwise, he’s in there sticking his hands in the toilet. Same goes for the mop bucket. He can reach it when he’s in the walker. I can always tell when he’s found water somewhere. For example, dog bowls. If there’s a giant puddle around the toilet, mop bucket, or dog bowl, Vance has been there.
Yesterday I tried getting the tub rinsed out while Vance was in my arms. Once I picked up the plug, he went crazy! He immediately tried climbing out of my arms and into the tub. I could barely get his clothes off, he was wiggling so much. He spent almost an hour in the tub. I had some dogs to finish up, so I let him play. It turned into a game of fetch. More like “Mommy, go fetch”. What a little squirt!

Autumn, what a great time of year!

Again, we've been busy. On the 19th we went to KC to Dogtoberfest. We've gone in the past. It's always such a good time. This year we brought Thor and Akira with us. We didn't stay too long. But before we left, we did get a family picture drawn. There's a guy there at does charactures drawings. We had one done when Chris and I went 3 years ago. He does a really nice job.

We also got to visit the Orchard. Chris's family all met out there. We went on a hay ride, and picked apple. Vance also got to swing with me on a big swing set and sit in a train car. Maybe next year he'll be able to actually ride the train. :)

Melanie and Logan came to visit on the 21st. I went at 12:30am to pick them up from the airport. It was nice to see them. We had something planned just about everyday they were here. Thursday was Penny and Mom's birthdays. First we took Vance and Lilly to get pictures taken. Then we all met at Cracker Barrel for dinner in honor of the birthdays. While they were here we also carved pumpkins. We found a farm just south of town that had a nice area to pick pumpkins from. Vance enjoyed his time out there. He loves being outside, no matter where we go. I bought some finger paints for his pumpkin, but they didn't work out so well. Lilly got to use 'em on her pumpkin. After we were done with the pumpkins, Lilly and Vance needed a bath. Lilly was a very good helper and helped Vance with his bath.

I bought Vance's Halloween costume a little early this year. We had his pictures taken at Sears and it was his 9 month pictures all rolled into one. He did really well. He likes cameras. We always get compliments on how he smiles. Gotta love his dimples.

Halloween day was a little crazy. Vance survived wonderfully. We left the shop at about 2pm but by the time we got to our first destination, he was sleeping. So I drove around till he had time to sleep. He visited what family we could. It was great to go around and see everyone. He liked his costume and never complained about having the hood up. Although, this was a very warm Halloween. It was in the 70s and he had a very warm costume to wear. By about 7pm we made it to the Arnold's house for our annual trick or treating. Every year we sit on the front step of their house and pass out candy. Vance was such a good kid. He was up way past his bedtime and still had a smile on for everyone.

Vance sleeping

It's been so fun being a mom. Everyday, Vance always does something to make me laugh. The sweetest thing to see is him sleeping. I think he looks to innocent when he's sleeping. I wish I would sleep this hard.

1-800-poison-control

So, I knew this day would probably come. Kids are getting into everything. I really didn't think it would come this soon. Vance got ahold of a flea collar at the shop yesterday. I didn't see him pick it up. When I saw him with it, he had already been sucking on it. He was quite upset when I took it from him. Poison Control told us he would give him diarrhea and can cause breathing problems. The lady on the phone was so nice. She called us back 2 hours later to check on him. He did fine. We didn't notice anything different with him. He only had it for maybe 2-3 minutes. No harm done. Lets hope we don't have to call Poison Control again for a VERY long time.

A long couple of weeks

I had to take Vance to the Dr. about a week ago. He woke up in the morning with little bites all over. He had about 8 in one place. It made his whole leg swell up. The Dr. came to the conclusion they were chigger bites. As much as Vance loves to be outside, we're keeping him out of the grass for now. He's got such a bad reaction to insect bites. A skeeter get him on the forehead and it swelled pretty badly. BUG SPRAY! Bring on the bug spray!

Uncle Jerry was in town. We got to spend some time together. Grandma Betty had a dinner at her house for the Marshall family. Then that Tuesday we had Betty and Jerry over for dinner at our house. I made taco salad. Mmmm. We had a great time. Chris, Jerry and Vance stayed in the living room to watch college football while Grandma and I cleaned up and chatted in the kitchen. They stayed till almost 9pm. I think we would have visited longer, but it was getting very late for us all. Before Jerry had to go back home, he stopped by the shop. He hadn't had a chance to get a picture of Vance and him together. So FINALLY we got one at the shop.

Last weekend was the Southside Fall Festival. We went all three days. Had a great time! Friday my mom and I took Vance after I got done at work. There are tons of things to do at the festival. Including CAMEL RIDES! So of course I had to take Vance on the Camel. I don't think he really cared. But I had a good time.

We had a crazy full day on Saturday. Saturday morning there was a parade. Chuck drove the old Fire Truck and we got to go along for the ride. Saturday afternoon Chuck and Cara took us to KC dinner at Jazz, Chris's favorite restaurant, for his birthday. When we got back from KC, walked from our house down to the festival, it's only a few blocks. We walked around to see all the booths and then agreed on what food we wanted to eat. There's probably about 10-12 food vendors to choose from. After getting some grub and sharing a funnel cake, we walked back home. Vance was tired of bring in the stroller, so Chris put him on his shoulders. Vance LOVED it! I've put him on my shoulders before but he can't stay long because he eats my hair or pulls it. Chris doesn't have that problem. ;)

Yesterday we went to the Omaha Zoo for our anniversary. We had a wonderful time. Chris really enjoys the zoo. Vance went back in April, but he wasn't old enough to really look around. This time he was all over the place! Lots to see!

Go Mizzou!

You know, it's sad that I can't remember what all we've done without going back through my camera and pictures to look. Life is always so busy. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm just letting you all know why I don't post very often. :)

Last Saturday we visited Aunt Jamie and Uncle PP for the Mizzou game. Chris and I both wore our jerseys. When it came time to dress Vance, I realized we didn't have an MU outfit that fit. The last one we had was size 3-6, the one we used for Fathers Day pictures. So we ran by JC Penney's. We bought a really cute Jersey with pants to match. He's pretty skinny, so the pants didn't fit very well. After getting to JP and Jamie's house he crawled out of his pants. It was time to change into his sleeper anyways.

If you have been keeping up and read the past blog about the Baby Einstein DVD, you know that he really likes to watch it. I wanted to share a video with you. He really gets involved with the TV. But only when HIS dvd is in.

Movin on up!

Vance is officially on the go! We can't put him down without him crawling away. He pulls himself up onto everything. He's taken quite a few falls too. Today I am going out to buy foam mats for the floor at the shop. He's fallen twice onto the concrete. We're also due for new toys, "big boy toys". Hopefully we can find some toys at Target or Wal-Mart. St. Joe is very limited on toy stores. If we need to, we can travel to KC to a Toys R Us.
Vance had his first boo boo he other day. He fell while standing at the baby gate and bumped his eye. He has a small cut just above his eye. He didn't cry much at all and it didn't bleed much either. So we've officially made it through his first boo boo. :)

Lucky # 7

Vance is 7 months old and continuing to amaze me at what he can do. He really starting to crawl around the floor. It started with him, of course, rocking on his hands and knees. But only a day or two later he was back on his belly dragging himself with his hands across the floor. no he's back on his hands and knees putting one knee in front of the other. He's not real quick about it yet, but I'm sure it won't be anytime at all before he figures out how to crawl all the way across the floor.

He's able to pull himself up on the side of the crib. We'll lay him down for bed and the next thing we hear is him playing in his crib, or should I say ON his crib. The other night I went in to check on him and there he was standing at the side of the crib wanting to be picked up. Chris and I had to move both the cribs' mattress's down so he can't fall out.

He's such a good eater. He loves his food. We still mix most everything with oatmeal cereal. He seems to eat it much better when it's thicker. His favorites are Pumpkin and Pears, Blueberry and Apples, and Corn and Sweet Potatoes. He is a hungry baby! He eats 2-3 jars 4 times a day. and still nurses 5-6 times a day. We've moved on to finger food. Gerber had these wheel looking things. I bought the apple flavor ones. He loves them. They are a bit messy, but Vance enjoys being messy. What little boy doesn't!

I bought a new DVD for Vance. It's part of the Baby Einstein collection. I can play it at the shop when he is playing on the floor. He likes to watch TV, so I figured I better get something worth watching. If you don't know about the Baby Einstein collection, it's great! We have a video at home that covers 5 different languages, and has toys on the screen that open and move. The new DVD cover 'things that go'. It's a neat way for him to start learning early.

Vance is taking most of his baths at the shop, it's a bit easier to do it there. I bought a plug for the tub here and fill it with bubble bath. Now that he can completely sit on his own, he has a lot more fun in the tub.

Giggles and Grins

Cambryn was here at the shop with me today. Vance really likes her. They have a unique bond. She was just dancing around, and Vance got very tickled! It's probably the funniest thing he's done yet!

Just a Video

Nothing new since yesterday... just thought I'd share his "tummy time" with you all. At the end, I finally get him to giggle.

Little Man Is Growing Up

Vance is really starting to be mobile. When we're at the shop, he loves to run around in his walker. Anytime he can get on the floor, this is what he does. :)

Back in June we went to a Cardinals game at the Royals stadium. I don't think I ever blogged about it. Vance had a wonderful time! It was a bit tight sitting next to the people around us. But Vance liked all the attention. We had 2 different Cardinals outfits for him to wear, and matching sunglasses. About half way through the game, he spit up all over himself and we had to change him. Everyone around us thought he was so cute. After putting his 2nd outfit on, he really attracted some attention. Once the sun went down it was a bit easier on us all. Vance even took a nap. He never did get real fussy. I was real proud of my little man.

4th of July

Vance hit another "first". We had a nice 4 day weekend. Friday night (the forth) we spent with Chris's family at his mom's house. We had a wonderful time! Everyone played "pass the baby". But Vance was having soo much fun. He spent most the evening outside. We brought his jumper so he'd have somewhere to sit while we ate. I think everyone liked watching him jump around. He goes pretty crazy in it.

We tried laying him down, but he only napped for about 20 min and then was up for the rest of the time. Vance loved watching the big fireworks going off. The loud ones didn't even seem to bother him. We had to call it a night when 11pm rolled around and Vance was still awake. Once we got home, he finally went to sleep in his own bed.

Monday was Vance's 6 month check up. He's 15 lbs 7 oz and 26 1/2 in. long. He got another round of shots. This was his last set, thank goodness. After his Dr. appt, my mom and I took him to the aquatic park. He had an awesome time! We were in the water for about an hour. I think it helped his legs feel better. Yesterday he did run a mild fever, 100.3. We called the Dr. and talked to a nurse. He was on Tylenol the rest of the day and rested most of it. By last night, he was back to normal.

Happy Father's Day

We had a wonderful weekend. Friday, Mike and Gina Davis came in town for a visit and play date for the boys. Vance kept rolling over onto Tanner. But Tanner didn't seem to mind, he just grabbed Vance's clothes to suck on them. It amazing how close in size they are yet Tanner is 2 months younger than Vance. We had a nice time visiting. Vance was very sleepy and went to bed early. Tanner stayed up for a bit longer.

Saturday Chris and I got up early and did dog duty. We took all the dogs down to the shop for baths. That afternoon, we relaxed and enjoyed the nice weather. Sunday, we celebrated Father's Day. I took Chris to Waffle House. Vance was his cheery self till the food came. He hates watching us eat! Anytime we go out to eat he always gets upset when the people around him are eating and he is not. Once he's big enough to sit well in a high chair, he might be able to join in and eat some rice cereal.

I surprised Chris with tickets to go see the new Hulk movie on Sunday. Vance stayed at my sisters house and we enjoyed a nice afternoon in the theater. After the movie, we met back up with Penny and Justin and drove to KC to meet my dad for dinner. Again, Vance did great till the food came. I had to take a break from my own plate to let Vance nurse. He was a bit happier, but still upset that he couldn't eat our food. I forgot my camera in the car, so unfortunately I don't have pictures to share of Vance and his grandpa.

Last night Chris and I had Chuck and Cara over for a Father's Day cookout. We had hamburgers, brats, and corn on the cob. I learned my lesson about the food and Vance, we gave him cereal just before our food was ready. It worked out great. Turns out a full belly makes him very tired at 8pm (go figure). Shortly after, he was snoozing away in his crib.

A couple weeks ago Chris and Vance had some "Father's Day" pictures taken. Just thought I'd share them with you all. :)