Sippy Cup

Rebecca had her first attempt at the sippy cup on Sunday. We are working on getting her more comfortable with Justin feeding her once in a while so Mary can leave the house :) And so that at some point we can leave her with a baby-sitter (i.e. Grandpa and Grandma :). Rebecca didn't really care for the cup yet. Maybe she's not quite ready for that. But at least it made her frustrated enough that she didn't mind the bottle so much. She ate a couple ounces out of the bottle for Justin. It's a start. We'll keep working at it.

Oktoberfest

We went to Oktoberfest at John Ball Park yesterday. They had lots of German food, beer, music and games. Rebecca decorated a pumpkin. And then she took a nap. Even though there were lots of little kids there Rebecca still got lots of looks, oohs and comments. We think she's pretty darn cute, too :) The zoo was already closed when we got there, so we spent most of our time at the festival, followed by a walk around the park. It was fun to spend the afternoon outside on such a perfect fall day.

We also had a little visit with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Van in the evening. They stopped by to see Rebecca.

This will be a fairly normal week. Rebecca and Mommy get to go to MOPS on Friday.

Be sure to check out the rest of the festival pics.

Tooth #2!

Rebecca already cut her second tooth! Just 1 week after the first one. She had such a rough day yesterday. I could tell she was in pain. She didn't eat normally or sleep normally (only napped in Mommy's arms). She didn't want to play. Not fun. Thankfully it doesn't take long for her teeth to cut through. She's doing much better today. And Mommy managed to get a picture of Rebecca's teeth. They make her look like such a big girl. The tooth on the right (her left) is the one that came in last week. The one on the left is the new one (harder to see).

Rebecca and Mommy are visiting a friend this afternoon. Thursday we're going to Target. And Friday we're going to Sobie Meats to get some Voogt Farm beef to try :)

There are new photos in the September album and a new video.

5 Months Old...And a Tooth!!

So I posted on Monday because Rebecca started rolling. Didn't think we'd have more updates to make just 2 days later. But we do. Rebecca's first tooth has come through!! (got a picture, though it's hard to get a good one when she wants to eat your fingers :)...see the white dots just to the left of my finger, below her tongue) I didn't even notice it until yesterday. And today I realized it's already through. No wonder she's been drooling so much...and chewing on everything in sight. Where has my little girl gone? She's also starting to sit up much better. And she has outgrown her pack 'n' play bassinet. She'll be outgrowing her swing and her front carrier before we know it!

Rebecca is 5 months old today. According to our inaccurate scale she's around 17 1/2 lbs. Could be close to 18. Hard to be exact (it's not digital). And she's about 24" long. So she's still gaining plenty of weight, but not getting much longer yet. Hopefully she'll start the opposite trend soon so we don't have to buy new clothes for a little while. She definitely takes after Daddy in the weight/height department right now. So she'll probably thin out like him too :)

She has her 6 month check up on Oct. 21. We'll get more accurate stats then. And more shots :( Not fun to do, but we want to keep her healthy :)

As we approach another fall/September we marvel at how God has blessed us. It's been 2 years since Mary's surgery. She's feeling better than she ever thought possible back then (and cherishing every ice cream cone she eats:). It's been just over 1 year since we came to a bright spot in our struggle with infertility and found out we were pregnant. And this fall we have a strong, healthy, smart little girl. We can't wait to see what He has in store for us in the future!

There are more pics in the September album.

Getting So Big...She Did It!!!

Rebecca is getting so big! She'll be 5 months old on Wednesday (we'll post stats then). I can't believe it's been 5 months since she was born. She's learning new things every day. Today was a big day for her...she rolled over!!!! She rolled from her tummy to her back all by herself. We've been working at it for a while now. She's still not proficient at it, but she'll be rolling all over the place before we know it. She's also big enough for her regular stroller now. Mommy and Daddy are very excited about that. So much easier than putting her in the car seat. Rebecca took her first test drive of the umbrella stroller today with Mommy. She seemed to like it. Now we need to convert the Baby Jogger back to a normal stroller so we can try that out. We're still working on sitting. Rebecca seems to like standing much better :) And she's talking up a storm. She even said "ma" the other day. It was unintentional, but Mommy liked it anyway :) Rebecca is starting to wear 9m clothes now. Good thing we went shopping last week for some fall clothes. It's a chilly day today, and she didn't really have anything for cool weather. Mommy is excited to have her try on all her new clothes :) Hopefully she doesn't outgrow them too quickly.

Rebecca gets some Daddy time on Thursday when Mary goes to MOPS. Hopefully she'll take the bottle ok (it's been a while) and maybe even go to bed on time.

Uncle Kevin V. is visiting this Saturday. Rebecca hasn't seen him in a couple months. Uncle Kevin will be surprised by how much she has changed.

There are new photos in the September album. And a video of Rebecca rolling over :)

Seymour Carnival

Yesterday was the annual Seymour Church Carnival. It was a beautiful day, and we had a great turnout. Justin and Mary both helped with bathroom monitor duty from 4 - 5:15. Justin helped with the pyramid toss game from 5:30 to 7. Some of Mary's family came, so we had a good time visiting with them. Rebecca enjoyed looking around at all the games and all the people. And she got to take a little nap in Grandma's arms :) We're looking forward to next year when Rebecca can participate in a few of the activities. Be sure to check out the pics from the carnival in the photo album.

Labor Day Weekend

We visited Grandpa and Grandma Voogt in Wisconsin over the weekend. It was Rebecca's first big trip. And her first time on the ferry. We left Friday afternoon, drove to Muskegon, took the Lake Express Ferry to Milwaukee, and then drove to the farm. Rebecca wasn't too fond of the travelling part. We got to the farm around 9pm WI time. We tried to put Rebecca right to bed (since she was asleep when we got there), but she was too off schedule/out of sorts and was upset for quite a while. After she finally got settled Mommy and Daddy could relax with Grandpa and Grandma for a few min. before heading to bed. Rebecca did better on Saturday after getting some sleep and adjusting a bit. We went to a local fair in the morning. Rebecca got to see lots of animals - sheep, goats, pigs, cows, chickens, rabbits, etc. She fell alseep half way through our visit. She also slept for a long time Sat. afternoon, trying to catch up from Friday. In the late afternoon she got to look around Grandpa and Grandma's farm. She saw lots of kittens and cows. Sat. evening Rebecca went to bed pretty early. Then the rest of us celebrated Grandma Voogt's birthday. Sunday we went to church in the morning. Grandma enjoyed showing off her granddaugther :) After some lunch and an afternoon nap for Rebecca we headed back home. We drove from the farm to Milwaukee. We got there early so we could feed Rebecca, stretch our legs and eat some dinner. Then we boarded the ferry. Rebecca did much better on this ride. She ate well and napped. After the ferry we had a short drive back home. Thankfully Rebecca fell alseep on the way home and stayed asleep when we put her in her crib. We had a fun weekend visiting WI. It was a treat for Grandpa and Grandma to get to see more of Rebecca now that she's so aware of everything and interacting with everyone. We are looking forward to a relaxing day at home today to spend some time as a family and get caught up on things around the house.

This Friday Mary starts MOPS (mothers of preschoolers), our mom's group at church. She is looking forward to getting out and interacting with other moms. And we will all be helping with our church carnival on Saturday.

Check out the pictures from our trip in the photo album.