The Natural History Museum

What to do on a rainy day in San Diego? The Natural History Museum, of course! Roy got free admission tickets for the museum, so we took the kids this past Saturday! It only took about 40 minutes to go through the whole thing (not as big as we thought it was), but the kids loved seeing all the dinosaur bones! We are so lucky to live in San Diego because when it rains (which is not very often) there are SO many cool things to do:)

Van's Blessing Day 2-1-09

~Mia got the Party started!
~The CUZ-ins:)
~Great Grandparents Winnie & George with Great Grandchild #30!
~Mana and Popop
~Popop Maris and Grammy
~The proud Grandmas!
~Van's Great-Great Auntie Shari
We blessed the Van man this past Sunday with lots of family support. Thank you to all who made the trek down to celebrate the special day with us, it really meant the world to us to have you all there! Roy gave a beautiful blessing and afterwards we all headed to the park for some good eatin' and to visit while the kids ran themselves silly! At the end of the day, Roy and I were EXHAUSTED while feeling the day was a real success! We just feel so blessed to have this healthy baby boy in our home....We love you Vanner:)

Ali's Baby Shower

~Ali's baby Hayden is due in March!

~Can you believe this view? That's Emerald bay for you! ~The beautiful Hostess Darcy holding Van:) Doesn't a baby look good on her?!



~Lisa and Linds holding Van
~Tiff and I with our new babies:)

Babies, babies, EVERYWHERE! I currently have three of my good friends preggo, and my friend Tiffany had her baby 3 weeks early! It was so fun getting together on Saturday to celebrate the upcoming arrival of my friend Ali's baby Hayden Marie (Coming in March). I then got to go over to Tiffs and meet Hayleigh Marie for the first time! Don't Van and Hayleigh make a smashing couple?! My friend Rhandi's baby is coming any day and Darcy's baby (Gabriella) comes in May! It has been such a fun experience being pregnant with my friends:) YAY for BABIES!

Andrew's Baptism

~Andrew & Yannick before the baptism
~Max with his cousins, Andrew and Miles
~The Max-man (6 1/2 yrs)

My nephew Andrew turned 8 on Friday, which means he got to be baptized! I seriously cannot believe that the kid is EIGHT! I was there when he was born, and now he is this big boy! It just makes you realize how fast the time goes, and how we need to appreciate each and every DAY! It was a beautiful baptism with lots of friends and family there...Max is super excited to turn eight so he can be baptized too! I am sure it will be here before I know it!

Boys

Van is not quite ready to play superheros...Sorry Max:(
~Van is 2 1/2 weeks old!!! I want to freeze time...it is going too fast!

Boys. What can I say? I have TWO! And I am just loving it:) Max walks in tonight after going to the spa with Roy and shows me that he 'caught' a pet snail and that he is going to live with us for two days (in the garage, of course!). He then couldn't wait to share his new pet with his baby brother...I have a feeling they are going to be best buddies!

Sweet Baby Van

~Proud Papa
~Roy tries to get smiles out of Van. He swears he smiled three times the other night?! I have yet to see it....
~The Self-Realization Center @ Swami's. Can you believe it's January???
~My mom and I

~Willardson, Party of FIVE!
~Our future beach bum!


So it has been almost two weeks since Van was born and I can't believe it! I have been so lucky to have Roy home for a week and then have my mom come for another couple days! I truly don't know how I am going to do it once all the help is gone?! GULP! Van is an exceptionally good baby (although he still has his days/nights mixed up so we are up quite a bit in the middle of the night) and Max and Mia beg to hold him 24/7. It has been really fun adding this new person into our family:)

Van Thomas Willardson

This is what I looked like after giving birth WITHOUT DRUGS! Not a good look for me!
Mia meets her brother for the first time
Can you believe I have THREE KIDS!?!?!
My mom missed baby Van being born:( Someone just had to stop and get a diet coke, didn't they?!?
Once all the pain was gone, I finally got to meet my little man!

Van Thomas Willardson. Born 1-5-09 @ 9:24pm 7lbs 3oz 19 3/4 inches long



So Van finally arrived! I had just finished bathing my kids and getting them ready for bed. Roy wasn't home yet so the kids and I decided to be 'cozy' on the couch and watch a video before bedtime. That's when I started having these weird pains that kept coming and going every 2-4 minutes. I couldn't believe it could actually be labor since I had felt fine up until that point?! So Roy gets home and I very calmly tell him that I 'think' I 'might' be having contractions?! But I wanted to wait to see if they got worse or would just go away....Well, I think you all can guess what happened next....The contractions got worse, FAST! We seriously made a mad dash for the door, dropped my kids of at my sisters, and made it to the hospital where Van was born 20 minutes later! It was the most pain I have ever felt in my entire LIFE and don't wish that upon my worst enemy! But don't I have the cutest baby to show for it?! LOL! Welcome to the world my sweet baby!