Brothers

We got a peek at number two today and, you guessed it, (or not based on the poll...) Lance is going to be lucky enough to have a little brother just 20 months younger than him. With me growing up with all sisters and Stef growing up with all brothers, both of us really know and understand the value of those same sex sibling relationships. Not that they're all perfect, and not that brothers and sisters don't also share an awesome bond, but there does seem to be something about two bros who love each other like best friends. This is what I'm envisioning (hoping for!)with Lance and our new addition.

Gender aside, the little guy looked great. His heart, head, spine, and limbs looked healthy and the ultrasound tech remarked a few times on how active he was. Looks like we're in for another energizer bunny! I can just picture the two of them tearing the house apart in another year or two...
Here's a quick video of the baby in action- you can see the heartbeat and spine if you look closely.

The Christmas Spirit

Lance is really feeling the Christmas spirit this year. It's so fun to see him get excited about trees and lights, decorations and advent calendars. I think it will only keep getting better with each holiday season!
Here are a few videos from the start of the festivities...

This is at the annual Hilo Christmas Lights Parade. Lance was so into it!!! He loved all of the marching bands, floats and lights. If you look closely, Lance says "get out of my face, Mommy!" and then, at the end, "More, please."

Here's his first glimpse of an actual tree inside the house... a strange but much loved Christmas tradition!

and here he is testing each bulb for temperature control:

Introducing Number Two!

Yep! We have officially fallen into the category of crazy parents going for two babes under two years...
Lance has a little sib on the way- due at the end of May!
Stef is convinced it's a girl, while I'm not so sure. Any votes from our faithful readers? New poll on the right!

Now that I'm starting to come out of the first trimester ill, hopefully I'll be a more active blog poster. Lance has been up to all kinds of exciting new things like walking all over the place, climbing everything in sight, propelling himself face first down the slide and face planting at the bottom, traveling to California with mommy for 10 days and behaving like a world traveler on the plane, and getting more proficient at his animal sounds.
More to come!! I promise!

A Fall Trip to California

Lance and I were lucky enough to spend a little over a week with family and friends last week. Despite both of us getting sick and having to lay lower than planned, we had a great trip.
The only camera I had was my phone, so these aren't the greatest shots, but here are some highlights from the trip:

enjoying his last moments with daddy before getting on the plane:
relaxing in the extra seat we scored and playing with the airline's crayons and coloring book:
fascinated by the sunset on the airplane:

enjoying Nini's chili with Max and Millie:
coincidentally having the same jammies as Will:

locating the music source and cozying up (and dancing with) the speaker on a regular basis:
rocking his new sweatsuit and bouncing on the trampoline:
watching his cousins and somehow learning how to hold a bat in excellent form (I swear this isn't posed):
and falling in love with Japanese food and miso soup especially:

It's always great to get home after a good trip. Lance got some new sneakers while we were gone and after a complete tantrum in the middle of the shoe department (not wanting to wear them) he now begs to put them on every time we go outside. Here he is, back in his element:

"Please"

For those of you who aren't aware, baby signs are all the rage these days. I haven't done much in terms of teaching Lance any signs but since he learned to say "more" a couple months ago, he has become increasingly demanding in his tone... So, every time he chants "mo, Mo, MOR! MOR! MORE!", I calmly, say, "more, please," and recently added the chest rub for emphasis on the please.
Imagine my surprise when, out of the blue, Lance picked it up! He performs his own creative version of "please" now when he wants something (almost always food) and this morning we caught it on video...

Please from Melissa Harmeling on Vimeo.

A Trip to the Kohala Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we made our way to Kohala to the only pumpkin patch on the whole island!! We were super excited to get to trek through a real pumpkin field, and actually score some of these hot commodities (pumpkins can be scarce in ol' Hilo). It reminded me of the old days at Webb Ranch!

We didn't make it out there until the last day of pumpkins, but we managed to find three winners!

and we got some great shots from the day. It was gorgeous up there!
please note, that this was an especially "big" hair day for Lance... he had swim lessons in the morning and his hair is always very exciting after he swims. I thought about pulling it back, but it was just too fun to let it go wild.

(you can see the top of Haleakala on Maui in the background)

He's a Climber!

Like I mentioned in my last post, Lance has mastered climbing the ladder. Scary for Mommy, and pure joy for Lance and Daddy...
Here's a quick video:

Lance vs. Ladder from Melissa Harmeling on Vimeo.

Lance's Latest

The past many weeks have been full of a personality explosion for Lance. It's hard for me to put this into words or describe it exactly, but watching him change has been so much fun.
In the past few days, Lance showed me that his little memory goes back months!!! On Sunday, we parked our car at the beach in a spot that we had parked at several weeks ago. The last time we parked there, Lance and I spotted a cat in the bushes and (since he LOVES all animals) we watched it for awhile, and Lance meowed away to the little guy. When we got out of the car on Sunday, Lance immediately noticed the bushes and started saying "cat! cat!" and did his best to call the cat from weeks ago with some meows. I couldn't believe it! Again today, Lance and I walked over to our neighbor's house (who also have a cat...) and as we got close to their house, he pointed his little finger at the house and started the meow!!! It has been about two months since we have been there! For some reason, this killed me!
Other than an apparent obsession with cats, Lance continues to work on his animal names and sounds and has started clapping and pointing like a mad man. He applauds for himself whenever he does something he likes and sticks his little pointer finger in the air on a regular basis to point my attention at something.
He loves scooting around the house on his Radio Flyer, learned how to climb to the top of daddy's ladder all by himself, and............................
took his first 9 unassisted steps in a row today!
They were not documented and I'm not sure if he'll repeat the big move again tomorrow. But, after almost EIGHT months of crawling, it looks like Lance might walk in the near future!
Finally, Lance and the dogs are becoming closer and closer. He loves to feed them water from the hose and will call them to come and get a drink. He calls Koko "NaaNaa" and says it in the same exact tone we use when we call her. Adorable! Stef is still making sure Moses knows who's boss and Lance seems to be enjoying it quite a bit!
All in all, these past weeks have been amazing, and I'm sure there's even more good to come!

Crayon Art

I first introduced Lance to a box of crayons a few months ago. Since then, he has spent most of his time with the crayons taking them out of the box, putting them back in the box, throwing them, and tasting them.
However, in the past week or two, Lance has started coloring with them! It's a challenge to keep him on the paper, because the floor is much more accessible, but here's a shot of Lance's first crayon art. I think we'll call it "Untitled" by Lance Harmeling.

Dinner with Cruz

Sharing dinner with your buddy and being fed watermelon and cheese tamales is all fun and games...
Until you try to bite your friends' fingers off.

One Year Old and Healthy

Introducing, Dr. Meurs! Lance's pediatrician, who we truly love.
Who says skinny boys can't be healthy boys?
Lance had his one year old check up on Friday and got a clean bill of health!
He still hasn't hit 20 lbs. but is almost there! His head and height are both in the 50th percentile while his weight continues to lag down on the bottom of the chart. I guess because I see and know how much food that little guy can put down, I'm not too worried about it. Looks like he's got his daddy's physique! The important part is that he continues to be a happy, social, active, agile one year old!
His hair growth is still in the 100th percentile, for any of you who might be wondering...

Happy Birthday Lance!!

It was a perfect birthday weekend full of friends, family, balloons, cake, and lots of smiles from our big one year old.
We had a chance to think a lot about how full of love this last year has been and truly appreciate Lance for how much he has given us.
Lance woke up on his big day to a living room full of pressies from his daddy- his reaction was priceless!
We hosted our first successful birthday party as parents and got to celebrate at one of our favorite beaches with our wonderful friends. Pops and Elisi made the trip out, as did our great friend Ivan from Oahu. Having family here to share in the celebration was really special.
In case I haven't mentioned it, Lance LOVES balls, so we covered a couple of blankets with balls of all shapes and sizes- a huge treat for Lance! He had cake for the first time (somewhat of a hit), ate corn on the cob and daddy's ribs (big hits), played with his buddies, went swimming, and bounced on his new Rody friend.
If there's one thing Lance didn't like about his birthday, it was the birthday hat. Even though I know how much he dislikes hats of any kind, I couldn't resist trying it one him more than once...Lance also just started doing the fake whine/cry and he scrunches his face up for extra effect. You can see it in full form in the second shot! hilarious.
You all probably know how much I love birthdays, especially my own! But I truthfully have to say, that celebrating Lance's first birthday was easily one of my best ones yet.