22 Months, 37 Weeks and a Merry Christmas!

I believe it goes without saying that this past week was anything but boring for us!



Friday night, we spent some time with the Westrates for a small Christmas Party with an uncle, aunt and a couple of cousins of Alex's for dinner.  Then came Christmas Eve on Saturday... a Christmas extravaganza that lasted the whole day.  We headed to Grandville early in the day so Ezri would have some time to play with Aunt Becky and Uncle Mike before lunch and nap time, hoping she would get some good rest.  After a bit of crying, she did nap for a while, as did most of us, I think :)  Alex and I cuddled up to watch A Muppet Christmas Carol (I slept), and it was nice to have some down time together.  After nap, we had some food and got right down to business with the gifts. 

Ezri did not take long to figure out what opening presents was all about.  After getting a few opened, she was ready to go.  The trouble was that she wanted to stop and play with each one instead of opening more...

 One of her gifts was a t-shirt that matched Uncle Mikes :)

Then came the big gift from Aunt Becky, a Little People talking Zoo.  After three adults and lots of assembly later, she was able to get right to business playing with her new toy, loving it!

 Another really fun gift for Ezri was a doctor's set.  She got right to work going around the room listening to everyone's hearts, checking blood pressures, giving shots, etc.  She really enjoyed herself, and we enjoyed watching her :)

After a while it got a little overwhelming and we left the big gift from Opa and Oma for another time as Ezri was all gifted out.  Even poor Tucker was wore out from all of the excitement...

Christmas morning was fun for Alex and I, and Ezri as well.  The two of us agreed not to exchange gifts, so we really got to just enjoy watching Ezri open and play with her new toys. 

We gave Ezri a new bathrobe and a toddler bible as well as a lot of baby themed gifts, thinking it would be a good prep for Fig's soon arrival and give her something to practice and participate with when Fig is here.  She got a new baby doll, a swing, bathtub, diaper bag with clothes, baby food, etc. and my old stroller, all of which she loved and immediately went to work playing with them.  She was especially in love with her baby and has since taken it to bed, shopping, and anywhere else we go :)

For church, Ezri wore my old Christmas dress from when I was a baby.  Made by my Grandmother, it was pretty special to have it fit Ezri, though I had to add a layer of lace to give it much needed length and tie the bow in the back tight to snug it up on her skinny little body.  I'm sure I enjoyed her wearing the dress much more than she did...

After church, we headed to Grandpa and Grandma's house for Christmas with them, Mike, Kerri, Aubrey and Wesley.   After a wonderful lunch at which we all ate too much, and struggling through naps with three kids, we finally made it to the chaos of gift opening.  With Ezri and Aubrey so active and Wesley just chilling, taking it all in, there was much going on...  We were fortunate to have Great Grandma stop by for a while as well.

Amid all of the fun things Ezri got, a microphone was definitely the favorite, for her and Aubrey both (of course resulting in some tears and discussion of sharing and all that).  Ezri just loves that microphone and I will hear her at all times of the day pulling it out to sing or dance for a few moments :)

After making it through the gifts and chaos of Christmas, we dove right in to the week with another project at Great Grandma's house..  new kitchen flooring and updating the cupboards.  While a little work has yet to be done, it has totally changed the look and feel of that room in  a very short time!

Monday marked 22 Months for Ezri.  I tried for several days to take her picture with the hat and horse, but to no avail :(  Oh well, maybe next week...  Wednesday we headed back to the doctor for our 37 week visit... same thing, new week.  All is well and we're just waiting on Fig now :)  We spent most of our week at home playing with new toys and beginning to change the landscape of our living room in preparation for baby.  Away went the Christmas tree and some extra furniture to make way for swings, bouncers, etc. 

I also set to work on making the new bedroom for Ezri livable, dismantling the bunk beds and getting a single bed ready, adding a rug, putting up closet shelving and rods and beginning to move some of Ezri's things over.  We are hoping to move her crib next week sometime so she has a little time to adjust to sleeping in the new room before baby arrives.  Planning to keep her in the crib for now but making the big bed accessible for exploration so she gets comfortable with the idea of sleeping there in the future.  Ezri is excited about helping get the new room ready and likes playing in there already!

Looking forward to one more Christmas party tonight with the Miller family and then New Years Eve with our closest friends.  Where has the year gone?

Where Has The Time Gone?

Early last week we had our pictures taken, a way to remember where we are now as we wait on Fig... the results :)...

This weekend was busy for us.  We spent Friday evening with Opa, Oma and Uncle Mike and Saturday evening as well.  Saturday morning we headed to Menards to buy drywall and insulation to begin work on the bathroom upstairs.  Mark and Michael helped in carrying all of this up the stairs as I was voted out of helping.  Sunday we headed to church where Ezri found Andy and joined him at the sound board :)  She loves to push the buttons!  She also spent plenty of time dancing...

This week has had some pretty rough spots in it :(  Ezri has suddenly decided that sleep is un-necessary, resulting in screaming battles at nap and bed time that last 45 minutes or more (up to 2.5 hours on a couple of nights - up til 11).  We are unsure of the cause as just last week she was having no trouble going right down on her own with little or no complaint and napping 3 hours, sleeping all night.  Sigh...  Possibly anticipating baby? or needing extra Daddy and Mommy time?  Regardless, we're all a little weary from the struggle and hoping it works out soon.  Not a real good week for naps and bedtime to be upset as we look at a weekend of Christmas parties and gatherings that are already sure to throw in chaos and interruption to routine... Sunday afternoon, during her fit, Ezri managed to climb over the rail and fall out of the bed.  So, after settling her back down and checking her for injuries, we lowered the crib to the last peg and tried again.  After finally giving in, we had to wake her at 5pm and found her resting peacefully...  

Later in the week, after a nap time battle which never resulted in sleep, I went in to get her up and found she had been quite industrious during her "nap", removing her sleep sack and shoving it, her blanket, all 3 Barkys, a teddy bear and her socks in the space between the wall and crib rail!

Thursday, when we went in to get Ezri after waking from her nap, we found her jumping in her bed!  

Needless to say, it has been a tough week for all of us... torture for Daddy and Mommy to listen to Ezri cry but resolved to stay out and let her fall asleep as the attempts to re-direct only prolong or completely end any sleeping on Ezri's part. 

We did have good times this week, amid the sleep chaos.  While awake and during non-nap times, Ezri has kept us entertained with her play food this week.  She is all about feeding us with her little cups, plates and food.  Monday Ezri and I enjoyed lunch out with Great Grandma and Grandma, to celebrate Great Grandma's birthday.  Ezri did a great job in the restaurant!  Tuesday evening, we joined a couple of families from church and went caroling at a local nursing home and then enjoyed soup and fellowship together.  Ezri was a little unsure at the nursing home, hesitant to make eye contact with any residents, but she did join in on the singing :)  Wednesday, we again went to the doctor and got to hear Fig's heartbeat.  Ezri is becoming more interested in this and now talks about it often.  36 weeks and counting...  One particularly sweet moment this week was when I found Ezri dancing around the living room saying "Yes Jesus, Yes Jesus"... she was singing Jesus Loves Me!

Having a difficult time believing Christmas is only a couple of days away...  December has flown by, and once the holiday has passed, I know it will only seem moments before our family grows by another two feet.  Still, we are looking forward to Christmas with Ezri and our families, determined to keep it as stress free as possible, hoping for some relaxing time together.  Merry Christmas!

Mmm... Keek!

After being sick all of last week, we laid low a lot this week.

Saturday, Ezri and I joined Aunt Kerri, Aubrey and Wesley at Grandma's house for some holiday baking.  Ezri had a grand time playing with Aubrey, Grandpa and Grandma and it was nice for this Mommy to get in some time with her Mommy and sister :)  Sunday, we stayed home and just enjoyed the peace and quiet.

As it was Andy's birthday this past weekend, we made some cupcakes.  Ezri was really excited to get her hands on the "keek" (cake).  Of course, what she really wanted was the chocolate frosting, leaving the cake aside after swiping the chocolate and sprinkles off one finger at at time :)  After enjoying some on Tuesday, during a particularly long day while Daddy was away in Fremont, this was the result...

Monday, the three of us spent some time at Target having our pictures taken.  We got some really cute photos and had some fun.  Ezri copperated most of the time, opting to play with props and back drops as time went on.  Still, we got some really great shots to add to memory books and the walls of the nursery and Ezri's room :)  Tuesday night, Ezri and I met Daddy at the hospital where we will be soon meeting fig for a tour to familiarize ourselves with the facility a little as it will be a different location that where Ezri was born.  Ezri did a great job the whole time!
Wednesday, we again saw the doctor for our 35 week visit.  Down to weekly visits now, there's not much to tell.  The usual "call me if anything changes otherwise see me next week" conversations with our doctor and that's about it.

We were able to get farther with our re-model of Ezri's soon to be bedroom.  Now that things have temporarily slowed for Alex a bit, he had some time to hang the closet doors that my mom so graciously varnished for me (thanks mom!).  Short of putting in a shelf and new clothes bar we're basically done with it for now.  This spring we will replace the room trim and finish off the closet at that time.  We are really happy with how the closet turned out!

Ezri thinks the new "house" is great!  Doors to open and close, a place to hide... what could be more fun.  Sadly, we've already had our first pinched finger, not long after this picture was taken...

We are finishing out the week with Alex headed to Detroit for the day for a meeting, then hoping to maybe gather up some supplies to work on the bathroom space upstairs a little more.  Loving life!

We're Hit!

 It has been a very uneventful week full of illness at our house.  :(

This past weekend, before we were down and miserable, we spent Saturday helping Opa and Oma remove an old piano from their living room in order to to make room for a new cabinet which Ezri has dubbed her "house" while it has sat empty.  The piano was old and not worth repairing, but very heavy and large, so Alex and Opa set to work tearing it apart board by board so they could get it out the door and into the truck for easy disposal.  What a process! 
Sunday, we had a fairly long day at church as I again sang on the praise band (my last time before baby comes) and Alex ran sound.  After church, we had a catered meal with our church family in celebration of Consecration Sunday, at which we prayerfully considered and faithfully committed to giving of what God has given us back to our church's ministry in the coming year.  After a busy morning, we rested at home before heading to the farm to unload what was left of the piano from Saturday for burning.  There, we were nearly attacked by Herbie the goat countless times!   That animal is nuts!

Since last Thursday, Ezri's appetite had been down and diapers had been questionable.  After an incident in which we were required to strip her down and hose the car seat out while getting groceries Thursday night, we should have known something was coming our way.  Outside of Ezri getting sick that one time, she was just more subdued and fussy with eating. So, when I started feeling icky Monday morning and Alex was down by Monday night, we knew we were hit with some sort of bug.  It is just today that Alex and I are feeling well enough to get back into some sort of normalcy around here and attempt eating again.  While we were never really "sick" we just felt horrible all week - yuck!  Even had to cancel our 34 week Dr. appointment.
Thankfully, that is over and we are on the mend.  Poor Ezri spent the second part of the week, when she was feeling more energy, entertaining herself while we struggled to stay awake and engaged.  I felt like such a neglectful mother!  Needless to say, she got in a lot of cuddle time on the couch and lots of time with the iPad as we just couldn't do anything with her :(  She did really well keeping herself busy, though!

As of the first day of December, we have been opening an Advent Box each night at dinner.  While it looked a little different this week as we didn't really eat dinner, by Thursday night we were able to at least sit at the table while Ezri ate.  After eating, we allowed Ezri to open the box for the day.  Each box contains an item and a piece of paper with a story or bible verse and some statement or question related to the item and the verse for discussion.  While much of this is over her head yet, Ezri has quickly caught on to the idea of opening the box each night and discovering what new treasure is inside.  Last night was clay (or play dough in our case).  As Ezri has not played with Play dough in quite some time, it was a new experience for her which she thoroughly enjoyed!

Ezri has even gotten into "reading" the piece of paper to us :)

We are anticipating that this will become a holiday tradition for us to enjoy for years to come, as well as a way to center us on the true meaning of this holiday season - Christ's birth!  As we anticipate the soon arrival of our little Fig, we are again mindful of how Mary and Joseph must have felt at this time, anticipating the blessing with mixed emotions of joy and excitement with a little apprehension thrown in.  Knowing all the while that God has his hands on us and this precious little child to be soon joining us!

On another note: A particularly endearing comment came out of Ezri's mouth this week that gets us all melty each time we hear it. Before bed, and now often at nap time if Ezri requests it, we say prayers with her before she goes to sleep. This week she has started referring to that time so sweetly, stating that it is time to "talk to Jesus". She gets really excited and says it over and over :) Amid the chaos of our week, Ezri has also completely given up her pacifier. We had been slowly cutting back the tip, but not really forcing the issue.  This week, she instead wanted to be covered by a "bacon" (blanket) and when asked if she wanted her pacifier declined.  That was too easy!

21 Months and 33 Weeks

After a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday together with family last Thursday, we settled in for a quiet weekend at home.  On Friday, Ezri and I worked on putting up the Christmas tree and doing a little decorating.  We also tried on some of the clothes Aunt Becky brought home for Ezri.  Among dresses and shoes, there was a snowsuit, which Ezri absolutely loved!

When Ezri woke from her nap, she was quite excited to find I had almost completed the tree decoration by adding the ornaments.  She was very excited to check out all of the different things and quite thrilled with one particular blue ball right at eye level, as well as tractors, cats, dogs, bells and many other fun things to see.  With Daddy's help, Ezri even got to put the star on the top!

Friday afternoon, Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky came down to visit and play with Ezri.  She soaked up all of the extra attention, of course.  Alex and I enjoyed the time we were able to spend with them as well.  Saturday was quiet, filled with a few projects for the house, including getting rid of our old freezer and beginning to replace panes of broken glass in the basement windows. 

Sunday, after two services at church as Daddy was running sound and Mommy was singing, we went to a sort of farewell party for our music leader, his wife and children with other band members. Then we spent the rest of the day resting and playing.  Ezri was quite full of energy in the evening and we had a great time just laughing and enjoying her antics as she ran circles in the living room, building towers and knocking them down, filling the room with her infectious laugh the entire time!  She also got in some Skype time with Opa and Oma...

Monday we spent the morning with Great Grandma helping her get out her Christmas tree and decorating it together.  Ezri just loves being at Great Grandma's (one of this Mommy's favorite places on earth as well!)...  So many fun things to do and see, and she just loves Grandma as well :)

We marked another month passing for Ezri this week as well.  She is now 21 Months old!!!  Still in size 2 diapers, Alex and I were commenting that even if she does potty train soon she'll never fit into pull ups!  She's wearing a range of sizes, averaging 12 month, but still some 9 month and 18 month as well if it is a one piece, like pj's or for pants that are not long enough.  I do believe we are nearing 21 pounds on the scale :)

Ezri has been really into singing and dancing this week...

And has been found hovering around the tree quite often, checking out the various ornaments and talking up a storm about what she sees.

Fig continues to grow and I am constantly trying to push little feet out of my ribs.  Must be fig likes to dance just like big sister!  33 Weeks now, soon to be 34 and having a hard time believing that 2 months from now we'll be starting all over with the new baby cries, diaper explosions, burping, etc. 

Thankfully, Alex continues to be very busy in work.  God just keeps blessing us.  When it seems things might slow down, suddenly an avalanche of work and we're off and running again.  We are so blessed and excited to be able to use some of that which we have been blessed with to help others and our church this holiday season. 

Happy Thanksgiving

We have enjoyed another quiet week, ending with some time together with our families to celebrate Thanksgiving.

This past Saturday, we were able to spend a portion of the day outside.  A bit chilly, but pleasant enough to play and clean up some more leaves.  The neighbors were cutting down several trees in their yard, which had Ezri's full attention.  She was very interested in all of the noise and work going on.  From her perch on our tractor, she took it in for a while before moving on to play in the leaves as I raked them into a pile by the road.

The leaves have been a source of great enjoyment for Ezri this year.  She really loves to shuffle through the piles and spread them around.  She also finds it fun to fall into them, throw them, and sit in the middle of a pile just exploring and looking at the leaves for extended lengths of time.  Oh to be so young again...  I do have to admit I've found myself playing in the leaves just a bit as I move them out of the yard, joining in on Ezri's fun :)

Sunday we rested.  Ezri struggled this week with sleeping after getting our flu shots last week.  She finally caved on Daddy's lap for a while in the afternoon.  A rare moment...

 

 Ezri and I kept ourselves occupied this week Monday and Tuesday with plenty of play time.  She has become quite the little helper, wanting to empty the dishwasher, put her clothes in the drawers and hamper if dirty, feeding Tucker and Tobi...  She always keeps me smiling. 

This Mommy has been doing well so far.  Baby fig is extra active, those little feet constantly kicking my ribs on the right.  I've also been experiencing Carpal Tunnel and Sciatica with this pregnancy.  Oh the joys!  But so worth it... We are looking at the calendar and realizing we will soon be meeting this little one as Christmas is nearing and the due date so soon after. 

Wednesday, Ezri and I spent the morning with Aunt Kerri, Aubrey and Wesley doing a little shopping and just generally enjoying one another.  The girls really had fun at Mendards when we wandered through the Christmas area.  Looking at all of the trees, lights, nativity scenes with Baby Jesus (Ezri's new thing to talk about), balls, stars, etc.  It was fun to take it all in through the eyes of those sweet little girls, so innocently enjoying the decorations.  So easily amazed and appreciative of it all, not fixated on the rush that is ensuing.  What a lesson...

Thursday we were able to spend Thanksgiving with my parents, Alex's parents, (Great) Grandma, Michael, Becky, and Andy eating together and enjoying the company in my parents' home.  It was nice to be together with everyone and Ezri soaked up all of the extra attention from 3 Grandmas, 2 Grandpas, and Aunt and an Uncle as well as her favorite Andy, Daddy and Mommy.  Later in the evening Mike, Kerri, Aubrey and Wesley stopped by and Ezri got in some play time with Aubrey as well.  It really was a wonderful day.  So many things to be Thankful for !!!...