Inness Davis and Raphael Oliveira welcomed their second son, Vance Davis-Oliveira, on Jan. 18. Vance and his parents are the winners of the Journal of the San Juans’ 2021 Baby Derby.

The day Vance entered the world, his parents Davis and Oliveira were on the red-eye ferry to Anacortes, where their baby boy was delivered at 11:40 a.m. at Island Hospital.

“We knew back in March that COVID was not going away,” Davis said. “We decided that, as it sounds like we have a whole year to stay at home, we may as well make it our time to grow our family.”

The parents say they are so happy they made the decision and have enjoyed the time they have had at home being a family.

But it hasn’t been all butterflies and rainbows for the family, Davis explained that having a child during the pandemic was difficult because they had to be in quarantine both before and after Vance was born.

“We had quarantined just to quadruple check to be sure that we had a healthy baby,” Davis said.

According to Davis, the parents had to call the Anacortes Hospital in advance for screening and wait in their car until they were screened outside.

“Once we entered, we were not allowed to leave the hospital,” Davis said. “And it was bizarre not to be able to have visitors in the hospital.”

This made it difficult to include their 3-year-old toddler Wylder, Davis added. Instead, the family had to arrange for someone to take care of him and still be in quarantine.

Wylder absolutely loves his little brother, though, Davis continued.

“Wylder gets so upset when Vance takes a nap,” Davis said. “He just wants to hold him every second.”

Oliveira, who is the children’s father and a Brazilian National, met Davis six years ago when he was living in Park City, Utah, and coming up to Roche Harbor in the summertime. Oliveira’s parents — who both also live in Brazil — love to communicate with their grandsons by social media and are teaching Wylder to speak Portuguese, Davis said.

Davis’ parents live on San Juan Island and get to see them on a regular basis, she added.

As winners of the baby derby, the couple won gift certificates from local businesses Kings Market; The Toybox; Harbor Rental and Saw Shop; Islanders Bank; Petro San Juan; and a year’s subscription to the Journal of the San Juan Islands.