Baby's First Bath!

The day the umbilical cord foalls off is always a big day because I am dying to give my baby a bath.

Adjusting to a "NEW" baby

This is Cooper and since I have no basenet he sleeps in this wicker basket! The third Pic is us at the  TerMeerFamily reunion when he is only a few days old.

We are loving having a little blue person in our home. We (Aliza) seem to be adjusting a bit more.. but I still find it aweful hard being out numbered 4 to one when Dan is not home. Aliza still thinks she should have dibs on mom anytime she needs. Of corse Cooper doesn't understand that. He can get quite insistant when he wants changing, to be held, or a feeding. So I end up holding nursing him in one arm and Aliza gets the other arm.  The next picture is when we first arrived home from the hospital.. after the smiles, coos, and "pets" Aliza just followed me around crying  "MAAAA maaaaaaaah! MaaaaaaaaaaMAAAAAAAAAA!" I sat down, took a tearful, little girl who was feeling rejected in "my other arm" and  wondered  how on earth I was going to survive this transition time...  specially when I had strict orders not to pick Aliza up! So Aliza was holding Cooper the other day and he was crying. She doesn't get anxious but looks at him concerned and will pet his head and say "shhhh". Well Xander and I were watching and she was taking his hand time and time again and moving it around.? I finally realize that she was attempting over and over again to take his fist/thumb and put it in his open crying mouth. (that is after all what she does when she is sad right?) After trying for 5 or 6 times unsucessfully I said, "She is trying to get him to suck his thumb!" Xander laughed with me as we watched as she went to plan B and quickly inserted his thumb into her mouth and sucked it a few times! I laughed and said, "No Aliza!" so she dropped it and he promptly inserted his own thumb into his mouth unassisted! Funny!

Xander has a brother! all 9 pounds 6 oz of him!

From the 3rd pic to the last picture in 5 hours... well 9 months and 5 hours! Priase God it was my best birth yet (even though it was my biggest baby!)  We have had a 8#------- 8 6oz # -------------- 9# -----------and 9 6oz #  baby now.  Weird huh?

Cooper Daniel was named by his daddy. He arrived October 20, 2009. SilverCross Hospital by a midwife and no drugs or epideral. Praise God!!!! He gave us a perfect baby boy to even out the boy vs the girls in our family! 

Waiting!

We went to the Zoo on the train with some CC friends. It was one of the last days that you could view the Dino-live exhibit. FUN - especially for my Dino lover (Xander). The scary picture of him and Josie was one of his favorite because it is particularly vicious.

Then we went to another town for an IMAX double feature: An Under Sea and Bugs Bigger than Life  adventure feature. Aliza (with one 10 min nap) vs one (37 week) Pregnant Mommy.. I am not sure who was more tired and ready to collapse. :) :)

Happy Labor Day 09

Funny, it might not always be comfortable but it is effective! -How Xander carries his baby sister.

We had Sofie again fot the weekend and ate sandwiches by the river in Shorewood. We collected some stuff for our nature walk assignment and had a good day.

The 3rd Year of CC

We look forward to eating out while it is still warm.. Church has a lovely playground and picnic area.

CC started Aug 31. We were all excited to put on the new Navy polos and get in the van and start a new Year. We are so fortunate to have Mrs Kapke as our Teacher. Josie has a huge pack that she has agreed to carry a change of clothes and items for Aliza. Aliza is learing to sit in a stroller and play and eat snacks. She is less than enthused! she also was expected to stay ona blanke itn the corner of the room with mommy gaurding all escapes with a paint stick! (I figure I have 1 1/2 months to grow her up with some manners before I have a baby to tend to.) Pray for me?

The Last Hurrah Before School Starts!

Lazy river and the big slides in the background!

In this picture you can see the 1000 gallon bucket at the top dumps every 5 min when it gets full. It is a very big splash!

Aliza attempted to take a nap on me but she ended up just wanting to get up and back with everyone. So we let her fall asleep on the lazy river.. We went round and round for over 2 hours I think!

We went to the biggest waterpark in ll IL today! We were there when the gates opened and left when they closed at 6pm. Josies cheeks got a bit too much sun as did my shins and Xander got the life scared outof him on one wicked ride but we all had so much fun with our homeschool friends. This will be the last Hurrah beofre school starts. we all are going to be tired tonight.

Summer coming to an End

******Our Lego Master! His robot creation! Keep it up Xander

Aliza loves Dan's hat and they play their little game often.. she pulls it off, then wants to try it on .. then she wants to put in back on him. She is a "Daddy Girl" and you can hear her hollar "Daa? DAAA!" when he gets home as her chubby little legs races off to find him at the door. He then says, "Hi Baby!" (Xander he called "Boy". Josie he called "Josie Pearl" or "Girl") but he calles Aliza more often than not "Baby". She has learned how to take off her shirts now and tries to put them on. Usually she gets them over her neck but that is about all and gets frustrated.. Woe is you if you try to give her a hand! She is very independent! She loves the words "Nanna" bananna, "Bubu" bubbles, "Ba" for ball. and now Yel-Low! for yellow and the normal mama and Dada and byebye. She is always coming back to blow me kisses then waves and says something very similar to "Love you! Bye!" and grins and runs off! We are pretty sure she says Za.. or Xander's name too.

Summer is coming to an end and we wanted to get out once or twice more on the bikes// Josie was a trooper on her first ride with those little wheels. Actually I was a trooper :) I was pulling Aliza in the bike cart {and Josie (only the last few miles)} Daddy always comes through and brings us someplace that is new and exciting.

Lions Sprinkler Park

What fun we have had for 2 summers now at the Sprinkler park near our home. Aliza this year is the first to get wet and the bravest. She played till I noticed her hands turning a light shade of blue and physically removed her from the water area. What a little dare devil she is as she keeps putting her bangs and forehead into the streams of spray.

Aliza discovers MARKERS!

Or shall I say she discovers how to take the covers off and thinks they are the best invention ever! what a nut! She says at least 1/2 dozen words.. her newest favorite is Ywell-OW! Any Uno card will do because that is where she learned it! She actually found a book about primary colors this a.m. and had it turned to the yellow page and brought it to us saying "YwellOW! " Not sure if it is a freak thing or not!?! We have pointed at about every yellow thing in the house and outside and ask her and she loves to reply "Yellow".

Others include: Bubble (bub-bow) Ball, mom and da-da and "buhbye" and lets not forget mommy's favorite: "UHHHHHOHHHH!"

Happy Birthday Party JOSIE

Fun with cousins.. there are 2 mushrats (as my dad calls them) missing from the picture. Namely: Aliza and Will. What fun parties we have at the Farm in Dwight. Josie had a flower for her cake. Everyone really took their time to see which cupcake or slice they wanted to take. There were after all 4 different candies to choose from.:)

Xander get to finally go to LEGOLAND

What LEGOS we saw! We spent the better part of the day at LegoLand and had a blast with our very own LEGO expert. Xander spent his free time building with the lego pieces we could find in the bins and Josie rode a few rides with her daddy. Mommy looked for more cool pieces in different bins to bring to Xander and we ALL chased a bit after the little munchkin. :)

I LOVE this first picture! I am sure you recognize Einstine with his tounge out...YEs he is made out of legos! So funny!

I am so glad Dan bought us discount tickets on the radio auction.. and so glad we actually got to go and bring Xander who seems inpired by the little bits of primary blue, red, yellow, and black. He is an amazing lego creator with the creations he has been turning out lately! Love you Son! The best part of the day for him: when he got to spend all the garage sale money he earned on 3 sets of Legos.