1 Year Stats

J and H both at 1 year old!

 Hope finally had her 1 year check-up yesterday morning! 5 shots plus a finger poke = NO FUN! We had to do quite a bit of waiting, too, which also made it not fun. Hope kept busy waddling around the tiny exam room (excuse her messy hair- I have learned not to put a ponytail in her hair befor a Dr appt because it makes it difficult for them to measure her height accurately). :)

She has had some mild crabbiness and sore legs from the shots, but so far not too bad, and hopefully it stays that way.  The doctor also said her gums are really swollen, so she's probably working on another tooth or 2 or 3. She only has 4 right now, 2 top and 2 bottom, and hasn't gotten a new one in quite a while, so it's probably time for another!  I was looking back at blog posts from when Jeremiah was this age-- by the time he was 9 months old he was working on his EIGHTH tooth! That's crazy- was he born with some? My word. 

Hope pretty much stays steady in about the 75th percentile for height and weight (I don't think J ever was lower than the 80th). She is a little higher than 75th in height this time, I guess. It annoys me that this Dr's office does not give me exact percentiles! I'm weird, I know, but I like those statistics! Anyway, she weighs 21 lbs 15 oz, and she is 30 1/4 inches tall. By comparison, big brother was 25 lbs 2 oz and 31.5 inches tall at this age. (And I think my arms get tired holding Hope for extended periods of time, how did I ever lug that big guy around?!?!) Hope is pretty much in all 18 month size clothes now- she still wears some tops that are 12 mo but the pants are now too short. So we moved her on up to her 18 month wardrobe. :)  It is kind of fun- and way back when she was tiny I remember buying a little outfit for her that was WAY on clearance and size 18 months, and thought it looked so huge! And now she fits in it. Sigh.

Hope's favorite thing to do right now is carry stuff around (small little toys, etc). She likes to carry them around and put them in random places, sometimes even the trash! Every once in awhile I have to do a check to make sure nothing important gets thrown away- just the other day I found 2 of J's toy hay bales in the trash. Also in one of my lower cabinets, behind my griddle, I found her toy sunglasses, "Norah" from her little playhouse, and one of her cups! She keeps me on my toes and makes life exciting! :)

Time for Norah to eat, apparently.

Snack time for the girls.

Can't leave out my boy! Isn't he so handsome- and not bad for a school pic!

 We'll be heading to Wisconsin next Thursday morning for a Wiers Thanksgiving! It will be interesting to see how Hope does with a few hours in the car- I think the last road trip we did was way back in July, when she was a little less mobile and more prone to sleep in the car. She's still rear-facing in the car, so she can't see much. (In MI they have to stay rear-facing until 2 years of age. By this time with J we had him forward facing in his convertible seat. H still really hasn't outgrown her infant seat yet, but we might switch her to the convertible seat rear-facing soon, just for fun. Iowa went by weight and age, rather than just age which makes more sense to me, but whatever. With these crazy MI drivers it is probably best to have her rear-facing as long as humanly possible). She does do well with snacks and toys in the car, though, and she always is more content in the car when big bro is there next to her. Should be an adventure! And in a little more than a month we'll see how she does on an airplane to California. Oh my! :)

Halloween Fun!

Remember this? Me too. Sigh.

This year we were able to do a little more for Halloween, since we have a 1 YEAR old rather than a 1 week old! :)

Earlier in October we did some fun pumpkin carving with our Small Group friends from church!

Jeremiah even got to go for a ride in his friend Nathan's dad's tractor! Obviously a highlight of his life. :) Hope was not walking yet at that time, so she just crawled around the greenhouse getting dirty, pushed vehicles around, and generally had a great time!

The weather was looking iffy for Halloween (of course!), so we made a last minute decision to get the kids dressed up on Friday afternoon to do Zeeland's downtown trick-or-treating. The weather was sunny and not too chilly, so it was perfect!

Ready for some candy!

Jeremiah ran into some friends at the post office!

He was a little hesitant to get near these guys for a picture until the lady handing out candy told him they were just regular mailmen inside the costumes.

The elephant found some candy!

That was the only trick-or-treat outing I got pics of. But we were not done! The weather on Halloween was chilly and rainy, but it was just drizzly in the morning. So we headed out right at 10 for Holland's downtown trick-or-treating. We went up and down the street, and then we were done. And we only got a tiny bit wet!

And then we had to stop by our church's Trunkfest in the evening. It was indoors, so no worries about the weather! J had fun seeing his friends and getting candy, and our elephant waddled around being cute. J even got his face painted! He was very sad that he had to take a shower when we got home and it was going to wash off, so we had to take a picture to remember it!

And then miraculously our weather turned gorgeous and warm! Hope and I made sure to get out each day last week to enjoy the 70 degree temps and sunshine!

Who needs a stroller?? Not me!

And just for fun, I did a side-by-side of Jeremiah and Hope both at 1 year old!

Definitely siblings! :)

And now we are looking forward to the holidays, and a trip to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving!!

 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 

Hope is 1!!!

I couldn't resist doing this side-by-side when Hope fell asleep in the car the day before her birthday. What a difference a year makes!! You can see that her cheeks have only gotten chubbier and more kissable since birth. :)

Last weekend we celebrated Hope! Her birthday was Saturday the 24th, so that was the day of the big festivities. Both sets of grandparents came to town for the occasion, which was so nice!

It's Time to Feel Nostalgic

Was this really a year ago???

It feels like yesterday, and also a million years ago. So crazy. It feels like Hope has been a part of our lives forever! So how has it ONLY been a year? And how has it ALREADY been 1 year??

Saturday is Hope's big birthday!!

I just can't.

I just can't believe how this little baby has grown into such a funny, feisty, sweet, happy little girl! She has grown and learned so much! I enjoyed going back to look at my "reflective" post when J was about to turn one, and remembering what he was doing at this age, and of course comparing the 2! :)
 
So funny to me that J was saying basically ball, da-da, and ma-ma (but not consistently) at this age. And for a boy, he was quite verbal!! Hope, on the other hand, says da-da, ma-ma, thank you (det doo), brother (bah-do), love you (wub oo), night- night, more (muh), no-no (with the finger wag sometimes), and dog (dah), hi, and bye-bye. Oh, and please (in sign language). I think that's it! 

They both started walking at about the same age! J started just after his first birthday, and Hope started just before! As in, just today. :) She took a few steps alone on Monday, but today all of the sudden she's choosing to get up and walk instead of crawl! HERE is a video of Hope walking. I just LOVE how babies walk when they are just learning!

Unfortunately this week has also brought Hope's first ear infection. :(

Since our visit to urgent care on Saturday, she has developed a more stuffy nose plus a nasty cough.  Of course when I called the nurse today, they say the antibiotics will help the ear infection but the other symptoms are probably just another cold virus that has to run its course. Boo. Hoping by her big day she is feeling 100%!!

Love this girl, my partner in crime! :)

We feel so blessed to have this precious girl in our lives! We are excited to celebrate her on Saturday!!!

 

 

 

 
 

Fall Update!

It's hard to believe that Jeremiah has been in school for more than a month now.... and it's even harder to believe that in a few short weeks Hope will be ONE!! Don't even get me started on that.

J is really enjoying school, and says that it is a lot of fun! The first few weeks were definitely an adjustment period with being tired from school, new school routines, class expectations, new teachers and classmates, homework, etc etc etc. But we're getting it all figured out and things are settling down into a good groove. We have conferences coming up in a couple weeks, so we'll hear more about how he is doing then. For now I just go off of what J tells me, which is quite a bit, actually! He's pretty full of info on the ride home from school (but some days when I ask him questions on the ride home he says, "I'll tell you when we get home, right now I just want to sing to this song on the CD!"  Ok, point taken.

This paper came home a while back, and I thought it was so funny! He is a very literal direction follower.

Even more funny was when I showed it to Adam and he said, "Why did they ask them to just write the letters M and R?" So we know where J gets that from. :) 

One of J's first school library books:

If you know me, then you know that I did not read ANY of the 256 pages to him.

Hope and I are enjoying our time together while J is at school! We hit the library and grocery store, and have plenty of time to take funny pictures.

Me and my girl.

 She keeps me on my toes for sure!!

She loves books!

Sleeping Beauty.

We have enjoyed some warm days, and also chilly fall days!

Hot, sweaty, and dirty on a warm evening!

Warm hats on a chilly fall morning!

Our Saturday activities now have to revolve around what time the Hawkeyes play!

So far they are 6-0! Adam is a happy camper!

Adam and J have been going to Lowe's Build and Grow workshops- totally free fun! :) Jeremiah loves using tools and building something, and also his special time with Daddy. In September he got to build a fire truck with fire safety cards in it.

And they went again today and made a haunted birdhouse!

Last weekend we went to Holland's fire truck parade, which was the kick-off to fire safety week. J loved this parade, of course! And Hope tolerated this one better- it was not as loud as the Labor Day truck parade!

This past week we enjoyed Fall Family Night for J's school, held at the Outdoor Discovery Center. It was so great! The ODC is like 2 miles from our house, so cool to have such a great place so close by. We will be back! At the Family Night we got to do a scavenger hunt, learn about birds of prey, investigate pond animals, observe the elk in their exhibit, play pumpkin bowling and other games, and enjoy donuts and cider!

This weekend we did a quick version of pumpkin picking at Fun Pumpkins. We grabbed our pumpkins and gourds, J jumped for awhile in the bouncy house, and we were out of there- it was chilly!

It is officially Jeremiah's favorite season!

We're constantly scanning the fields for tractors and combines!

That's about all we have been up to this last month. We have a busy few weeks coming up, and most importantly- Hope's 1st birthday!!! Waaah.  Pics and blogpost to come! Also there's Halloween, and pics of the cutest little elephant and Storm Trooper EVER will be coming your way. Happy Fall!

 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 

 

 

Summer is Done, School has Begun!

And just like that, summer is gone. I was so dreading the end of summer, and not just for the normal reasons. I knew that once we hit Labor Day, we'd have no choice but to start this new chapter of life with a SCHOOL KID, and I just wasn't ready! Lockers, lunch accounts, take-home folders, PE shoes (Ack! The stress those stinkin' PE shoes caused me! Who knew that finding size 13 Velcro shoes would be SO difficult!?!?), backpacks, orientation nights, etc etc etc. Those things are all fine and good when I'm a teacher, but as a parent?! It's just crazy!! But thankfully, 3 days into the school year, I do believe we might just survive.

AND, before we get too much into school- we did finish up the summer with some fun!

We stopped by the 28th street car show/cruise night for a bit. Adam and J loved checking out all the  different kinds of cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc. And J even got to sit in the driver's seat of a real race car!!

Hope turned 10 months old! Sigh.

A tribute to Hope's hair.

We were just marveling at how much Hope has grown and changed over the summer. In May, we could set her on a blanket outside and she wouldn't move. By September, she's walking along furniture and pulling out drawers to use them as steps to climb on! Aaagh!

At least she has cute shoes for all that climbing, crawling, standing, etc!

Adam's work had an outing at a Whitecaps game- tickets, dinner, parking passes, and even shirts provided. It was a great time!

We had Kindergarten orientation night at J's school. We got to see his locker, classroom, playground, etc. And of course got tons of paperwork to fill out- fun times!

Labor Day weekend was hot and humid, so we took advantage of the pool one last time. Not sure if it is closed yet, if not it will be soon! :(

On Labor Day we went to the Zeeland/Holland Truck Parade!! You can imagine how excited Jeremiah was for this (and Adam, too)! I think there were a total of 67 trucks in the parade, and at the end we could walk down to the Civic Center and see all the trucks up close and get free ice cream! (The ice cream part was CA-RAZY!! You can imagine, here in Dutch land, what happens when anyone says the word FREE. WHOA.)

So, we didn't realize that all of the trucks would be blaring their horns like crazy through the parade! It was so loud! Poor Hope- every time a truck honked she nearly jumped out of her skin. :( Oops, parenting fail. I ended up walking further away with her, and she did finally stop trembling. And she doesn't seem to be scarred for life or anything.

J got to pull the levers on a garbage truck! After he was done he said, "And that was just a dream come true!"

So of course, the day after Labor Day was Jeremiah's first day of Kindergarten!!! I was dreading this, actually, because I knew I was going to cry and I knew how much I'd miss him all day! 

He had a wonderful first day! And that made it a little easier to send him back for day 2. 

I LOVE hearing what he has to say about school! Some of my favorites:

~He was telling us that on the first day, he asked a girl in his class to play and she said no. :( And he said, "I have no idea why! The fun never ends when you're around me!" Ha!

~He has made a new friend named Garner who also sits by him (that might not last long!), and they play together at recess. He was telling me about another boy who sits at their table, and I said. "Oh, do you play with him at recess too?" And he said, "Well no, not really. He's more of a relaxing kinda guy. And I'm more of a playful kind of guy, and a workish kind of guy."

~He had PE today! He said he got to run around a lot and "it was exhausting!"

~He tried the school lunch the first day, so I asked how the chicken nuggets were. He said they were "mushy but good." Yum.

So the rest of the week his choice has been cold lunch!

And I don't mind making them! :) He's planning to try some of the school lunches next week, so we'll see how that goes.

 Hope and I really do miss J so much when he is at school! We try to find things to do to stay busy.

Trip to the library!

She was so proud of her very own library book!

 And on the hunt for the elusive size 13 Velcro PE shoes.

Thank heavens Kohl's came through for us since Meijer, Target (twice), Payless (twice), and Shoe Carnival were all major fails!

We're so thankful that Jeremiah is enjoying school so far and making friends. That has been my prayer for him! And we're also thankful that the transition into this school business has been (relatively) smooth! :)