I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham...and I'm Still Not Sure About Snow

Today all Target stores were having a Dr. Seuss event in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday.  We decided to check it out and do a little shopping.  It was pretty small, but it was still fun to go.  Rebecca heard "Green Eggs and Ham" and got her own little shopping bag with snacks, a drink, a pencil and some games.  Rebecca is very interested in rhyming right now, and we just got her "The Cat in the Hat" (which she has to read multiple times every day), so it was a fun little family event this morning.  And Rebecca was our little Rebecca Lou Who (thanks for the nickname Uncle Dan :).

Rebecca took a long nap, so in the late afternoon we played out in the snow at home.  We built a snowman, made snow angels and did a little sledding around the yard.  When we came in we made homemade pizza for dinner (Rebecca's first time really eating her own slice of pizza...she likes to scrape the toppings off with her teeth :P).  After dinner we made a couple bowls of snow ice cream so Daddy could try it.  It was a great family day!

All Clear

Rebecca is finally over the flu (as are Mom and Dad:).  Yesterday she was back to a normal diet, and she seemed to do fine.  It sure was nice to be able to give her some milk again.  She really missed her "cup."  Rebecca is still trying to make up for a week of hardly eating.  She seems to be hungry non-stop :P  Yesterday morning she saw Mommy's homemade bagels and had to have one immediately...before she even got out of her sleep sack.

Rebecca also went back to the pediatrician yesterday for a follow up on her sinus infection since she is still coughing.  Thankfully her ears, sinuses and chest are all clear now.  Rebecca's nose can run again! :)  Hopefully as things start to drain properly now the cough will go away.

We are thankful that Rebecca is back to full health.  Hopefully today she'll get a little more sleep so she's not so grumpy ;o)

Rebecca trying to trace her own hand.

Here We Go Again...Poor Thing

Well, the flu has struck the Voogt house yet again.  Last Saturday Justin started to not feel that great.  His bout of the flu didn't get too severe, but he did have to miss one day of work and didn't eat much for several days.  And just when we thought we were in the clear Rebecca came down with it.  Wed. night around 11 pm she woke up crying and immediately puked all over.  That phase lasted for about 16 hours...puke, cuddle with Mom, sleep for a little bit, wake up, puke,...Mary and Rebecca were pretty much glued to the couch all day Thurs.  Late Thurs. afternoon the puking finally subsided.  But then in the night the diarrhea began...and continued through Friday night.  Rebecca went through about 5 pairs of pants over the course of an hour Friday morning.  Rebecca was still up half the night last night and puked a little bit once.  Mary has spent the last two nights mostly sleeping in the rocking chair in the nursery.  Yesterday we limited Rebecca to mostly clear liquids.  She tried a couple bites of toast and applesauce.  Hopefully today she can start eating more solids and get some energy and strength back.  Poor thing.  She doesn't understand what's going on, but she has been such a trooper.  Periodically she'll say "all done puking."  She definitely does not want to do that again.  We are thankful that the worst is over and praying for a quick recovery for Rebecca and that Mary stays healthy.  Our weekend will be much quieter than we had planned...we're just staying in and resting :)

22 Months Old

Didn't I just post the 21 month update?  Rebecca is 22 months old today.  Only 2 months until she turns 2!!  Rebecca is growing up so quickly.

She continues to learn letters, shapes, numbers, etc.  Right now Rebecca is working on letter sounds.  She'll say "fffffffeet, ffffffface, ffffffinger...starts with f."  Or "d-d-d-dadddy, m-m-m-momma, r-r-r-rebecca...d is for daddy, m is for momma, r is for rebecca."  She is also learning how to rhyme.  Randomly she'll start saying "dan, can, man,..."  It's so fun to see what she comes up with.

Rebecca is becoming quite the singer.  She follows right along with the music.  And she can learn songs so quickly.

Physically Rebecca is definitely growing.  She is getting taller...which means she can climb on everything now.  Just yesterday she came into the kitchen carrying her new play-doh...which was on the table behind the recliner.  She climbed in the chair, grabbed it and got down without anyone knowing :P  That was the only piece of furniture she couldn't climb yet.  But in one day she has become quite proficient at it.  Time for Mommy to move all of the toys and photo albums that are on the table behind it :P  Rebecca's hair is also getting quite long.  Yesterday Mommy put her hair in pigtail braids for the first time.  Thankfully she is a good sport about sitting still (mostly) while she gets her hair done.

Rebecca continues to make us laugh with her daily phrases.  Here are a few of the latest:

"How cool!"
"Have a good nap...baba ganoush." (She used to say hab-a-goo-nap when she got in the pack and play, before she could say it more clearly...and then Justin would mimic her and say baba ganoush.  So now she always says it and thinks it funny.)
"Are you sad?" (when she feels sad or tired)
"Are you hungry?" (when she's hungry)
"All done with Uncle Dan...Uncle Dan's a nice guy."]
"Daddy can wash dishes." (pushing him towards the kitchen as Mommy is taking her up to bed...she knows that's what he usually does then)
"Thaaat's silly."
"I don't kno-ow."
"We're home...that was fast." (as we pull into the driveway, no matter how long we've been in the car)

Rebecca is still trying to get over her sinus infection.  She's been on antibiotics for a week and a half now.  We'll see how she's doing when that's done...if it has cleared up or if we have to go back to the doctor.

Rebecca is getting very good at using her fork and spoon.  Last night she ate a bowl of pea soup by herself.  She thinks it's pretty neat to use a spoon.  Although she doesn't care too much about forks (even though she can use them just fine)...fingers are much more efficient :)  Rebecca is still a great eater!  Not much she won't eat.  She's even really starting to like potatoes...as long as they are served with ketchup :)  One of her favorites at the moment is pasta.  She'll scarf down a big bowl so quickly and before touching any of the rest of her food.

Rebecca is gradually shifting from talking in the 3rd person ("Rebecca have it") to the 1st person ("I need my cup, please").  And she's talking more and better overall.  One thing that amazes us is how she can communicate with us.  If she's saying a word that we can't figure out she'll repeat it a few times.  If we still can't figure it out she'll start saying other things to describe it or use it combined with another word so we will understand.  The other day she was saying "sniff" (sounds more like "niff"...we had just read a book about animals).  I wasn't quite sure what she was saying (s's are tough).  So she said "piggy sniff!"  Or she'll say "seat" (again, s words can sound like a lot of things).  Then she'll say "car seat" to make us understand.  She does that kind of stuff all the time.  It's neat to watch her think it through and come up with creative ways to explain what she's thinking/talking about.

Rebecca has had a fun month filled with outings to see other kids (Kindermusik, MOPS, church, etc.) and visits with lots of family.  We're looking forward to both Kindermusik and MOPS this week and more time with the Hollebooms on Saturday.

We are having so much fun with  our smart, energetic, silly, creative little girl.  We feel so blessed and thank God for her every single day.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Carson!!

February is a busy birthday month for our family!  Last weekend we celebrated Grandpa's birthday.  Next weekend will be Uncle Kevin's (Holleboom) birthday and Grandma's birthday.  And yesterday was Carson's birthday.  Hard to believe he's 2!  And that Rebecca isn't far behind!  We traveled to Swartz Creek to celebrate with all of the Hollebooms.  It was fun to see everyone again.  As usual the kids had a blast.  Rebecca loved playing with Carson's train table and his crayons.  She even colored with Uncle Dan! ;)  The kids played some fun games and got airplanes and goody bags to take home (thanks Aunt Sara!!).  We enjoyed a great taco/nacho/fajita bar and cake and ice cream.  Carson is growing up so fast!  It was neat to see how much he has changed since last year's party.  Since we were the last ones to leave Rebecca and Carson got some great one-on-one play time.  They had so much fun playing in his bedroom.  Rebecca thought his potty was pretty funny.  And she liked jumping on his bed.  They even shared a pair of rain boots :)  It's nice that Rebecca and Carson are so close in age and they are so much fun to watch together.  We can't wait to see Carson again.  Happy Birthday, Carson!  Enjoy your 2nd party today :)

"Cough Cough"

Rebecca had a cold a little over 3 weeks ago.  It wasn't bad and didn't last long at all.  But the cough has hung around ever since.  So we called the pediatrician and he said to come in just to be safe.  Turns out Rebecca has a bunch of build up in her sinuses/drainage from her ear.  Her nose is too plugged for it to drain out (the Dr. noticed that her nose wasn't running even though she was crying hard...yes, she still HATES the doctor's office, no matter how quick of a trip it is), so it drains into her throat when she's laying down (the reason she coughs when she's sleeping/just gets up).  And the cough will stick around until we can get her nose cleared up.  So she's on antibiotics and cough medicine for a few days.  Hopefully that will do the trick and we can be done with the cough!

The Dr. also said the bump over her eye (from hitting her head a month ago) is nothing to be worried about.  It's just a very deep bruise that is still healing.  It can take months.

We're thankful that both problems weren't anything major.  It'll just take a little more time for her to be 100% back to normal :)

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!! Let's Go Knights!

Yesterday we celebrated Grandpa Holleboom's birthday.  The whole family went to a Calvin basketball game.  Then they all came to our house for dinner and dessert.  We all had so much fun.  All 5 grandkids were decked out in Calvin gear.  And even half of the adults were ;)  All of the Calvin grads at least :P  We had a yummy taco/nacho bar for dinner.  Then Grandpa opened his presents.  And then we had cake and ice cream.  The kids had a blast playing together.  By the end of the night they were all busy at Rebecca's little table cooking quite a feast :)  We even got to see Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Van for a while.  It was so nice to see everyone.  And it was so nice to all be together to celebrate Grandpa's birthday.  We're looking forward to seeing everyone again this Saturday to celebrate Carson's birthday!  Here are a few pictures from the party, but there are a lot more in the photo albums.