Welcome, Baby Ijah!

On March 29, 2011 at 2:22pm, our beautiful nephew, Elijah John Vetter was born!  We were so excited to welcome him.  While we have enjoyed Skyping with him often since his birth, we are looking forward to holding him in person at some point.

While we believe everyone generally is calling him "Baby Eli", Alice has chosen to give him her very own pet name, so to us out here in Boston, he is "Baby Ijah"!  Great work, Vicky and Brandon and so proud of Big Sister, Miranda - we are very excited for your all-new family of four and so excited to have a nephew!

We are Moving!!

In Mid-March, after our condo was on the market for more than 7 months, we had prepared for dozens of open houses and showings, but were losing hope, as we had not yet received an offer... and then... seemingly out of nowhere, it suddenly happened - we had an offer!

We negotiated and ultimately accepted the offer, but it came with a quick turnaround.  Within 5 weeks, we needed to find a new place to live pack up our condo and get ourselves out of there!

We were expecting to have to move into an apartment until we found our next home, but we were thrilled to find a perfect match for us on our first house-hunting trip out after receiving the offer.  Here are a couple of photos that were taken during our home inspection:

Meanwhile, as we prepared for the crazy month and a half ahead, life continued.  Here are Alice and Daddy making and enjoying a fruit dessert during our last weeks in the condo:

Here is a link to some of the first photos we took of our new home, as we envisioned moving into it and how we would arrange all of our stuff!  Enjoy!

Our Little Lady!

Over the past month since Alice became 21 months old, our life has started to become filled with "little" versions of big girl things - just for Alice!

A couple of weeks ago, we found a little table and stool - just Alice's size!  Here are Alice and Daddy, putting together the stool and table:

 

  

And then enjoying the results of their hard work: 

 

Alice has been helping out with dinner much more - going to the grocery store with Mommy and helping to pick out the ingredients, and helping in little ways whenever she can.

Here she is the night we recently made "Little Pizzas"!

And another recent evening making "Mini Meatloafs":

Yesterday, Mommy had a work event, so Alice and Daddy took a special shopping trip to purchase Alice's very own "Little Pillow"!  Until this time, she has not slept with a pillow, but is getting older and it seemed like the right time to introduce one.  She was very excited.  Here she is, pretending to sleep and then waking up to surprise you!

After Mommy got home from work, we took a short road trip down to the Independence Mall in Kingston.  First, we visited an arcade at the mall.  Alice won 6 tickets, which was enough for her to buy her first lollipop:

Then, we visited "Pump and Jump" - a crazy, bouncy house and blow-up slide extravaganza!  It is basically a giant former department store space in the mall that has been completely gutted and filled with fun amusements.  You can have a birthday party there or just free-play.  Alice really enjoyed the "Under 6" area.  Here she is climbing up the inflatable ladder to go down the slide:

She really enjoyed her first see-saw ride:

She is starting to interact with other kids more when she sees them at play areas:

Her favorite activity at every play land is always the "Little Car":

Here are Alice and Daddy enjoying the bouncy house!

Here is a link to additional photos from all of our recent adventures.  Enjoy!