Santa Claus is Coming to Town...

Daddy and Abbi bundled up to go watch the Zeeland Christmas parade. I decided it was too cold for Elijah and I!

 She loved the Christmas lights!

One Month Old

Dear Elijah,

You are one month old already and I can't believe it. Sometimes it's hard to imagine what our family was like with just 3 people and your birth seems so long ago. Other times I look at you and think "are you just visiting?"... it all seems so unreal looking down at your little body in the carseat sitting with us in church. In a way you are just visiting though. God has given you to us temporarily and you do not belong to us. Your heavenly daddy loves you so much and has given us such a huge responsibility to raise you! Being your earthly mom and dad is so scary and so wonderful at the same time!

You sleep really well (when you on't have a cold). Only a few days after we took you home from the hospital you were giving us a 4-5 hour block of sleep. I would never have even let your sister do that if she would've but since you were born at such a healthy weight and nursed so well I let you sleep! You do get fussy sometime between 8pm and midnight (once your sister is in bed and we want to go to bed, ha!) so we usually walk and rock with you or work around the house with you in the Bjorn. You sleep on and off throughout the day. You don't mind sleeping on your back swaddled up. Right before your one month birthday though you caught a cold and sleeping was really hard for you. You snorted and struggled for air and I'd have to walk with you to calm you down (waking up not being able to breathe would freak me out so no wonder you would scream). Luckily God gave you that reaction because usually a good loud cry would clear your nose a bit. :) We had to sleep with you on our chest in the recliner chair since all other positions (even carseat and swing) reclined your head back too far making the drainage block those newborn airways. One night I figured out that I had actually slept in my bed for only 20 minutes; dont worry I still love you Eli.

You eat great! You are a champion at nursing and sucking down the bottles too. You have such a strong suck that we actually requested a pacifier while we were still at the hospital so you would calm down and drift off to sleep. No nipple confusion for you at all.

You started cooing a little bit and giving us some little "false" smiles. You don't smile on demand yet but I'll be soon. Your pediatrician thinks you're a strong little guy: you've got loud set of lungs, a strong kick, and can pick up your head and almost your chest off the floor already. "Oh, Abbi watch out when your brother gets bigger than you!"

I love it when you lock eyes on me and you follow me with your face. Such sweet dark eyes.

You wear 3 month ("3-6 month" according to some companies) clothes right now. I tried to dress you in your newborn clothes for the first week so we'd get some use out of them but you never really needed them. Your size 0 shoes are really cute on you. You were put in size 1 diapers at the hospital already but when you came home I quickly put you in the one pack of NB diapers we had to use them up!

You weigh 11 lbs, 7 oz (79th percentile) and are 22 inches tall (61st percentile). Your head is in the 86th percentile so we'll maybe need big hats. he he

Here is your sister at one month old. When you were born there was no doubt you two were siblings and yet you are so different from her already. I can't wait to see your individual personality grow with you.

I love you so much already, Little Buddy!
Love,
Mommy

Everyday Life

I've got to be better about capturing everyday moments. 

 They seem so dull at the time but soon she'll grow out of dress up.

 Soon he'll be running around instead of sleeping in the baby chair.

 They won't be so cuddly (or fit into footie jammies!). 

 So I've got to record them. What better way than publish them world wide?

Frankenmuth with a 4 week old

Our annual trip to Frankenmuth, MI! We went with Grandpa and Grandma Wright and Aunt Sarah and Uncle Dan. Here's last year and the year before. 

Our usual family style chicken dinner - and the Zehnder's Chicken made an appearance. Abigail wasn't so sure. 

 Then on to Bronners and some pictures outside.

 Abigail is now taller than the penguin!

 We also found out that Abigail and Elijah were going to be getting a cousin next summer! 

Happy 31st Derek

Happy Birthday, My Love!

You look great in your daughter's birthday hat!

Teasers from the Photographer

After last week's attempt at getting cute photos of Elijah I called Awakened Images to have Cara work her magic. She took Abigail's newborn photos and I loved them. Just like Abigail, Elijah wouldn't drift off to dreamland enough to let us pose his little legs and arms that much. We have some stubborn children, I know. I love the photos they posted on their blog and fb page so far though and can't wait to see more. Check it out!

Abigail's Dolls

 Abigail's dolls get lined up a lot and they are usually at a football game if you ask her.

Halloween 2012

I had 2 cowboys this year for Halloween. Well, one was a cowGIRL, and very girly cowgirl since she had pink boots, hat, bandanna, and a tutu. 

 Abigail decorated her pumpkin with stickers first and then Daddy carved a face out of it.

 I had to get creative and prop Elijah up on the Boppy pillow to get his giant hat to look like he was wearing it!

 Grandpa and Grandma VanderZwaag came to trick-or-treat in costume and they even brought candy with them!

 She loved to run to the door when the trick-or-treaters came. I don't think she really missed out on not going to houses this year and it would've been just a little too much with Elijah only days old!

A try at photography

I tried to take my own pictures, to save some moola you know. How hard can it be? You just need some ideas and props right? 

Between trying to make sure the room (and he) was warm enough and sleepy enough, keeping him safe, posing him, getting the right lighting and angles, and keeping the pee from spraying everywhere (hey, it's my first boy... I'm learning)... I realized that photographers have their work cut out for them! 

Here's here's what I got before I gave up:

...and then I emailed a professional photographer and booked a newborn photo shoot for this Saturday. The end. 

Sister LOVES Brother

Welcome Home

Welcome Home!

First Bath 

Such a nice week to work outside!

Bundled up once the weather changed.

 A safe place out of Abigail's reach

Date Night!

I was ready this time

An hour after I published that post of being pregnant and waiting... we went outside to play as a family and labor started. I ended up sitting in a chair in the driveway for awhile to make sure this was the real deal. Then as evening faded we decided Abigail better get to my brother's house if she was going to be to bed on time. She was so excited to be sleeping over at her cousins' house that she was apparently shaking when they laid her in bed! lol. We stayed home for a bit before going to the hospital at 11pm and by 2am our little guy was born. "Fast and Furious" is the tagline I'd give this birth since his "sunnyside up" presentation gave me some amazing back labor... I guess he just wanted to come into this world face first! 

 Derek took along his sleeping bag and pad like last time since the chairs are so uncomfortable to sleep in. It was a good thing he did since our room didn't even have one for him. It just had an old creaky rocking chair. We were one room over from Abigail's birth room. It was a little like deja vu. 

 I was ready a month early this time -- everything arranged and rearranged while we waited for this guy. There was no running around the  house packing bags like last year, which was good since labor went faster. 

I even found a way to reuse the box of baby food jars I'd been saving. They make great favors when you fill them with various candy. Nurses and doctors love them too. 

All I had to do was:

• clean and sanitize them (hello, dishwasher)
• paint the tops various hues of blue
• make and print labels, run through the sticker machine and stick to the lid
• tie a ribbon around it
• fill them up and try not to eat the candy!