Christmas with the Voogts

We celebrated Christmas with Justin's family yesterday. It's been a while since we've had all the Voogts together. It was fun to see everyone. Unfortunately Rebecca caught the bug that's been going around the Holleboom family. So we had to take her to the Dr. in the morning. And she wasn't quite herself at the party. We opened gifts, had a nice ham dinner and visited for a while. Rebecca got lots of great toys. She loves her John Deere tractor from Grandpa :) She "dances" whenever it plays "Old McDonald." She also got a wagon from Grandpa and Grandma. We're anxious for spring so we can try it out. Aunt Shannon knitted Rebecca a cute bonnet. Grandpa and Grandma Voogt stayed with us Mon. and Tues. nights. We're glad they got to spend a little extra time with Rebecca. We hope they don't catch the bug, though.

Rebecca had a pretty rough night last night. She slept (on and off) in Mommy's arms from 10pm to 4am in her rocker in the nursery. Now she's in the living room rocking chair with Daddy. She can't breath well if she lays in her crib. Even with cough syrup and Tylenol she's still struggling. Hopefully we'll be past the worst of it in a few days. Poor little girl.

New Table

Check out the table and chairs Mommy and Daddy got me for Christmas! I'll have so much fun playing here in years to come.

Merry Christmas!!

Rebecca celebrated her first family Christmas on Wed. She was more interested in eating the wrapping paper than taking it off the present, but it was still fun. She got some fun toys from Mommy and Daddy.

On Thursday we celebrated with the Van Heukelums, Mary's extended family. Rebecca got a beautiful necklace with her birthstone from Great Grandpa and Great Grandma. I'm sure she'll love wearing it when she's a little older. She enjoyed seeing everybody. Rebecca likes to watch and take it all in.

On Friday we traveled to Grand Blanc for the Holleboom party. It was great to see everyone. All of the grandkids were excited for their presents and to see each other. Rebecca did really well with the traveling and skipping naps. She got lots of fun toys. She particularly likes her keys from Uncle Dan :) Rebecca also got a beautiful wooden chair from Grandma and Grandpa. She'll be able to use that for many years. It was sad to say goodbye, the day always goes by so quickly. Hopefully we'll see everyone again soon.

We'll be celebrating with the Voogts next Tuesday. We're looking forward to seeing them. Grandpa and Grandma Voogt will be here for a few days, so Rebecca will have lots of time to show off for them :)

After the last party we're looking forward to a few quiet days together as a family. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and wish you many blessings in the new year.

Rebecca also tried Cheerios and banana bread for the first time this week. She's slowly getting the hang of chewing. It'll be fun to have her eat more and more of what we're eating. So far she likes everything she's tried :)

Be sure to check out all the new pictures in the December album and the Christmas album.

Christmas Cookies

Rebecca helped Mommy make Christmas cookies Sat. and Sun. She really liked putting her fingers in the dough and frosting the cookies. And she made a special cookie for Daddy :) She got to try a little piece. I don't think she was quite sure about the texture since she's never eaten anything not pureed, but she seemed to like the taste. We'll be trying more "solid" foods this week. Rebecca finally cut her fourth tooth, so she has 2 on top and 2 on bottom. Sufficient for chewing :)

There are more cookie pictures in the December photo album.

8 Months Old

Our little girl is not so little anymore. She seems so grown up :) Rebecca has changed a lot in the past month. She can sit on her own. She rolls all over the place. She isn't quite up to a full crawl, but she can get where she needs to go :) More like an army crawl. She'll be cruising around any time now. She does lots of push ups and rocks on her hands and knees. She can stand on her own when she's holding onto something. Rebecca especially loves to stand up on her rocking toy ;) She's gonna be quite the dare devil (like mommy :). She is saying more "words." She's almost got "da da" down. She loves to read and listen to music. This week she got her first top tooth. And the second one will be through any minute now :) That will make 4 total. We'll be thankful when the teething is done for a while again. Rebecca is eating more solids and so far likes most food. She is around 27" long. And weighs around 21 lbs.

We're excited to celebrate Rebecca's first Christmas next week and the following week. She'll have 4 celebrations, so hopefully she likes to open presents :)

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Rebecca helped pick out her first Christmas tree on Saturday. She bundled up in her new coat and hat...even if the coat is quite big. We decorated the tree yesterday. Rebecca got to put the first ornament on the tree. So far she likes to look at the lights. Now that she's getting more mobile we'll see if she tries to get a closer look :) We are excited to celebrate Rebecca's first Christmas in a couple weeks. Hopefully she'll have fun opening presents :)

New Dress

Rebecca just wanted to show off her new Christmas dress that she wore to church this morning :) She got to spend time in the nursery...with Mommy. She had a rough night last night and wasn't in the mood for strangers today. We tried, but Rebecca just wasn't having it. She cheered up when Mommy arrived, though. She is cutting her top two teeth. Hopefully they'll be through soon and Rebecca will be back to her usual happy self.