Daddy's Concert

Justin had a Calvin Alumni Orchestra concert yesterday afternoon. Mary and Rebecca went to watch. Rebecca started crying after the first few big booms of the base drum, but after that she did ok. She sat through the first 2 pieces. Then she needed some wiggle time. But we still managed to see Justin play during the last piece. It was a great concert. Rebecca enjoyed the music...she even "danced" along to some of it. And we loved seeing Justin play. After the concert Rebecca got to check out some of Daddy's instruments :) They will be playing again on May 9 at Calvin along with some of the Calvin choirs.

Grand Rapids Children's Museum

We had intended to go to a Whitecaps baseball game last night, but it rained and stormed all day. So instead we went to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum in the afternoon. Rebecca had a blast!!! So many neat toys to play with. And so many other kids to watch. We started out in the "Wee Play" area. Everything was a perfect size for Rebecca. Then we explored the rest of the museum. There was a large Blue Man Group exhibit. Lots of fun "instruments" to play with. It took Rebecca a few minutes to warm up when we got there, but after that she was off and running. She seems to be ahead of the game socially. Rebecca had her peak stranger anxiety at a very young age. Now she wants to play with and talk to everyone she sees! She tried making some friends at the museum :) Now that she's walking so well and wanting to interact with other kids it'll be time to move Rebecca to the toddler nursery at church soon. She's learning and growing so quickly! It was a great activity for a rainy afternoon. There are pictures in the GRCM album.

Today Justin has an alumni orchestra concert at Orchard Hill Reformed Church. Rebecca and Mary are hoping to go. We'll see how long Rebecca is entertained by the music. She and Mary will probably spend most of the concert in the hallway outside the sanctuary :p

We are still trying to find a time to get to Frederick Meijer Gardens. We are considering going on Tuesday since they are open late. But it will depend on the weather and whether or not Justin can get out of work early.

Friday Mary and Rebecca will be going to MOPS. Rebecca will have another chance to play with some of her "friends."

Saturday Grandpa and Grandma Holleboom and Uncle Dan are coming out to go to Tulip Time and have dinner with us. We'll also be celebrating Rebecca's birthday with them.

Rebecca continues to amaze us with the things she learns. She is already starting to learn her letters. If we say "q is for..." she'll say "quack." She does the same thing with M...ma ma and D...da da. She's working on G...grandma and T...teeth. Rebecca seems to go non-stop from morning to night now. She is a busy little girl. She loves to be outside (she asks to go out all day). We're hoping for more nice weather soon. Rebecca keeps us busy and entertained all day. It is such a joy to watch her. We are gradually trying new foods. This week Rebecca tried whole milk, scrambled eggs, chickpeas, pineapple and fish. She's not totally sold on the milk yet. Doesn't quite taste like what she's used to :) We've found that she loves broccoli. In general she loves veggies. We're hoping it's not just a phase. She also loves eggs, beans and apples. We're having fun experimenting.

1 Year Check Up

Rebecca had her 1 year check up yesterday. As always she passed with flying colors :) Rebecca is starting to slim down a little. She weighs 22 lbs. (50-75th%...she was at the 90th% at one point!). She is 28 1/4" tall (25th%) and her head is 18 1/8" (75th%). The ped said if her height trend continues she might be a couple inches taller than Mommy :) But only time will tell. Mary was 28" tall already at 9 months. Justin was 28 1/2" at 1 year. So maybe she is taking after Justin. She got one shot and had a hemoglobin test. Her iron levels are good.

We are going to start introducing cow's milk now. Rebecca does still nurse at night, but not usually during the day. So we'll be replacing pumped milk with cow's milk...give Mary a little break and give us more flexibility. She does great with a sippy cup. She just needs a little help tipping it when it's getting low.

We can also try pretty much any food now...egg whites, peanut butter, honey, etc. It'll be fun to experiment with all kinds of food. And it will be easier to share our food with her. Yesterday Rebecca had scrambled egg yolks (which she loves). Maybe today we'll try a whole scrambled egg. We still do a little baby food once in a while, but not very much. The ped said that's totally fine...whatever it takes to get her to eat healthy food :) Thankfully so far Rebecca loves her veggies (both pureed and whole). We hope that continues.

Developmentally Rebecca has passed all of her 12m milestones and then some. As we've mentioned before she's walking...and running. And this week she figured out how to stand up without holding onto anything. She can say more words than we can count. Her favorite lately is "don't" :p Now where did she learn that? She loves to read, dance and sing. She understands just about everything we say...not always a good thing :p Rebecca is also doing very well with her fine motor skills...clapping, banging toys, picking things up, putting blocks together (building with her megablocks and taking them apart), feeding herself, etc.

Rebecca is also doing well, and even advanced socially. Although she wasn't too fond of the doctor or the nurse, in general she loves being around other people. Especially other kids. The pediatrician said keep up the good work :) Rebecca and Mary are visiting a neighbor (on bed rest with twins!) tomorrow, so hopefully she'll have fun there. And will soon have a couple playmates across the street.

The pediatrician also gave us the ok to use our bike trailer as long as we get a well-fitting bike helmet for Rebecca. We are so excited to be able to go biking again! It's a great family activity that we missed last summer. We're hoping to bike up to John Ball quite a bit this summer.

We praise God for a healthy little girl. We feel so blessed, and we're trying to enjoy each moment with her. It is a joy to watch her learn and grow. Rebecca's next check up will be at 15 months (July).

Afternoon at the Park

Rebecca took a late nap yesterday afternoon, so we didn't have time to go to Frederick Meijer Gardens. Instead we went to a local park. We played on the slides and swings, took a walk and had a picnic dinner. As usual Rebecca was fascinated with the other kids. And she wanted to swing with Mommy or Daddy over and over. She seems to be enjoying the slides more now. We'll have to try ours at home again. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon as a family. We're looking forward to more warm weather. If this Saturday is as nice we might go to a Whitecaps baseball game.

Rebecca's 1st Birthday

Our little girl turned 1 yesterday! It's hard to believe. We had a great day yesterday and were able to enjoy the wonderful spring weather. Rebecca "read" all of her birthday cards over and over. In the afternoon Mary and Rebecca played at the local elementary school playground. Rebecca was fascinated by all of the kids...but wasn't quite sure she was ready to join them :) She really enjoyed the rocking toy, though. And she got to try one of her new hats. Mary made Rebecca a special birthday dinner - chicken nuggets, sweet potato fries, peas and cheese. Rebecca had her first taste of ketchup...she wasn't sure what to think of it. At least Mommy got a laugh out of her funny face. After dinner we opened gifts. We gave Rebecca a set of mega blocks, 3 CDs of kids music, some sand toys and some wooden blocks. Rebecca loves all the blocks. She carried around a couple of the wooden blocks the rest of the evening. After gifts we had cake and ice cream. Rebecca dove right into her piece of cake :) She wasn't as crazy about the ice cream. We'll have to work on that ;) By bedtime Rebecca was so tired. All of the excitement and so much exercise really wore her out. We had so much fun celebrating as a family. We relaxed. We played. We enjoyed the outdoors. And most of all we had fun watching our little miracle play and have fun.

Rebecca is changing so much every day. She has already graduated from walking to running! And she's getting good at walking on the grass. She has adjusted to wearing regular shoes very well. Rebecca walks all over the house all day. She really wears herself out. Before we know it our chubby little girl won't be so chubby :) She loves playing outside. She immediately wants to take a ride in her wagon or swing when we go out. Rebecca adds to her vocabulary almost daily. She says too many words to count now. A few of her newest additions are "Grandma," "Carson," "crackers" and "don't." She still loves to read and dance. She danced along to her new music yesterday. And sometimes she'll even "sing" with her CDs or with the piano. She has learned how to sing "e-i-e-i-o" when you sing "Old McDonald" with her. Rebecca eats mostly table food now. She just decided this week that baby food isn't meant to stay in your mouth. Instead it should be spit back out :p So we're having fun experimenting with new food for her. So far her favorites are still cheese and avocado. But we learned this week that she also loves beans! She devoured the black beans we gave her. And she seemed to like pinto beans too. She loves peas. Although eating them is a slow process...one at a time. She is still teething and working on getting her molars all the way through.

Monday is Rebecca's 1 year check up. She'll get another round of vaccinations. Hopefully they won't bother her too much. We're anxious to get all of her stats.

Today we're hoping to go to Frederick Meijer Gardens in the afternoon. We want to check out the butterfly exhibit and see the children's garden. Rebecca will have fun walking around and seeing lots of other kids.

We have enjoyed our first year as parents. God has truly blessed us with this precious little girl. We look forward to watching her continue to grow and learn, and we pray that God will guide us as we raise her. Happy Birthday, Rebecca! Be sure to check out her birthday photo album!

It's amazing what a difference one year makes.

Happy 1st Birthday, Rebecca!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Easter!!

Rebecca celebrated her first Easter today. She started her day very early...up at 6:30 am! Then she wasn't too happy about nursery at church. Mary had to go down part way through the sermon. Rebecca crashed on the way home and after she nursed continued to nap for a bit at home. Hopefully she'll take a long afternoon nap. Sundays are always tough...especially when they start so early. Nevertheless it is a wonderful day. A day to celebrate our risen Lord!

Rebecca wore one of her new dresses...she has 4! We are very blessed. Mommy bought 2 (although technically Grandma Voogt bought one of them since we got it in place of the spring jacket she had given Rebecca that we had to return). And Grandma Holleboom couldn't resist buying her a couple as well :) We tried to get a good picture this morning...but that's tough with a little girl on the go. Maybe we'll try again later today or next Sunday.

Less than a week until Rebecca turns 1! We can't believe it. We'll be celebrating as a family on Friday with cake and gifts. Then we'll go out Saturday afternoon...GR Children's Museum, Frederick Meijer Gardens, John Ball Zoo or a park...depending on the weather and how late Rebecca naps. Any of them will be so much fun now that Rebecca can walk. She's doing so well, and now she walks around outside in her real shoes. Mary will be chasing after her before we know it.

Rebecca is still working on her molars. We think they are making good progress. But still plenty of chewing and struggles with nursing. If you click on the top picture you can see one of the lower molars...those things are big!

Surprise Visit

We had a last minute visit with Grandpa and Grandma Holleboom, Uncle Dan and Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Van yesterday. We went to Arnie's for dinner. It was nice to see them. It had been almost 2 months! Rebecca showed them how well she can walk :) And she cuddled with both Grandma and Great Grandma. Rebecca got a beautiful new dress and sweater from Grandma Holleboom. Now she has 4 new dresses! She's set for the whole summer :)

We also did a little shopping yesterday afternoon. Justin needed new shoes to go with his suits. And Rebecca needed some summer hats. It was fun to get out for a bit.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday Justin! Rebecca and Mary gave him lots of work clothes...pants, shirts, ties, socks. He'll be looking sharp on his trip to DC in May now. We went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse last night to celebrate. It was fun to go out as a family. Rebecca loved it as always. So many people to watch. She enjoyed being able to try some of Mommy's food too. Rebecca really enjoyed the music, especially when the servers danced to "Cotton Eye Joe." She bounced along with them (check out the video). At home we had some chocolate chip cheesecake. Yum!! Maybe we'll let Rebecca try a little today.

Rebecca is still majorly teething...and still on a nursing strike. Bed time has been a real struggle this week. We are doing our best to be patient with her and her teeth :P We pray that the molars will be far enough through soon that they don't bother her so much and she'll be back to her usual self.

Mary and Rebecca went to MOPS on Friday. It was Rebecca's first time in the nursery in about 2 months. And she did great!!! The nursery worker said she was the only one that didn't cry. She sure was tired afterwards, though. She had to miss her morning nap. So on the way home she crashed. She'll be in nursery during church today. Mary is looking forward to sitting through a service (we hope) for once. We'll pray that Rebecca doesn't catch any illness from the nursery this time.

Not too much going on this week. We're looking forward to a nice Easter celebration this coming weekend. And celebrating Rebecca's birthday next week!!!

And can't forget...GO MSU!!!!!!!! We need some MSU gear for Rebecca. With 2 aunts and 2 uncles that went there it's amazing she doesn't have any yet.

And had to mention...Mary is the winner of the Voogt family bracket ;) She had faith in MSU.

Curious George

Rebecca is really starting to take notice of everything around her. She is so curious. Now she'll point at everything she wants to explore...in hopes of us getting it for her so she can touch it. Her latest obsession is picture frames. In every room that has pictures she'll point to them one by one, touch them for about 2 seconds when you bring them close and then move on to the next one. She sure doesn't like it when you tell her you won't/can't get one down, though :P Rebecca is also finding all of Daddy's "toys" :) She knows where the power button is on the tv, the cable box and the DVD player. And she recently discovered the CD case. Too bad we didn't have Grandpa Holleboom put doors on that when he made it :P Yesterday Rebecca realized that she doesn't need Mommy or Daddy to put her on the piano bench to play anymore...she can get herself standing and reach the keys on her own. She was very proud. Another favorite spot to play is the bookcase. We have some of Rebecca's books on the bottom shelf...but those aren't interesting enough for her. Rebecca also knows what "outside" is and knows that we go out through the kitchen door to play. She stands by the door quite often in hopes that Mommy will take her out to swing. Mommy is really anxious for nicer weather so we can get out.
Rebecca is getting better and better at walking every day. There are a couple videos in the video album. And one video with Rebecca's newest sound..."la, la la." She'll be singing in no time.

Rebecca loves to "help" with the laundry. If she sees a basket with clothes she's there. She likes to take each article of clothing out, one by one, tossing it behind her. And occasionally chewing on something that catches her eye :p Socks are her favorite right now. So far she doesn't seem to mind if they are clean or dirty :p

We're in the throes of another major teething session...and nursing strike. We are praying that it will be over soon so we can have our happy little girl back :) And happier Mommy too :P Hormone fluctuations from the nursing strike are not pleasant. Nor is dealing with a toddler that cries all afternoon.