Our Three Miracles

Welcome, Johanna Ruth!

We are so excited to announce the arrival of our sweet miracle, Johanna Ruth Voogt.  She was born at 7:43 am on August 21, weighing 9 lbs. and measuring 20.5 in. long.  She is named after her Great Grandma (Margaret Johanna) and Great Great Grandma (Johanna "Josie") Van Heukelum.

Everything went smoothly with the delivery.  Johanna was face up staring right at the doctor as she came out.  We were in the recovery room by 8:15 and soon moved on to our regular room to rest and share the good news.

Rebecca and Abram were so excited to hear they had a baby sister.  They came right away for a visit.  We spent time with both sets of grandparents and the kids while in the hospital.

Mary and Johanna opted for the fast track to recovery and only stayed at the hospital for two days, arriving home around 11 am on Saturday.

Johanna is doing very well and already seems to be growing way too quickly.  Every night sleep gets a little better.  Nursing is also going very well.  Johanna is getting lots of attention from her siblings too.

To our surprise and delight Johanna is already giving us smiles!  She has given big grins quite a few times now when she hears Mama's voice.

She also rolled from her back to her tummy last night while Daddy was changing her diaper.  I don't think we're quite ready for that yet!

Johanna was known for her hiccups while in Mary's tummy.  The kids loved to feel her hiccup on and on.  Now that she is out she still hiccups a lot.  Abram walks around calling her Johanna Ruth Hiccup.

This week we are enjoying spending time together at home as a family of five.  The big kids are hoping to do some fun stuff with Daddy too, if the weather cooperates.  We all went to the doctor for Mary to get her staples removed.

Johanna also had her check up with the pediatrician already.  After 4 days she is about back to her birth weight...she's eating very well!  The doctor said she looks great.  We'll go back in a couple weeks for her next check up.

In a couple weeks we'll have a visit with the audiologist to make sure Johanna's hearing is ok.  One ear did not pass the hearing screening in the hospital.  We are hopeful that it was just from extra fluid.

Next week we start yet another adventure - Rebecca starts first grade!  She is really going to miss her baby sister all day.  And we are going to miss Rebecca.

We praise God for our newest blessing.  In just a few days she has already brought us so much joy.  She looks just like her big sister and is fitting in perfectly.  Welcome, Johanna Ruth!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Abram!

On May 9 our little guy turned three!  How time flies.  He is really growing and maturing.

We started the celebration on the day of his birthday as a family with a few gifts.  This year his big gift was a balance bike.

The next day Abram got to have a birthday party for the first time.  It was fun to see many relatives and give him a special day.

Abram requested a bulldozer birthday.  So all of the kids got construction hats, and we had a bulldozer cake.  The weather was perfect, so after the celebration we spent time outside.

As usual, everyone was very generous with gifts.  Abram is putting all of his presents to good use.

Abram had his three-year check up a couple weeks ago.  He now weighs 30 lbs. (25th - 50th%) and is 37" tall (25th - 50th%).

Abram is learning and growing so much since he has turned three.  He recently decided he was ready to use the potty.  So far it's going very well.  He stays dry most of the time and is thoroughly enjoying being in underwear instead of diapers.

He is also taking much more interest in learning letters and numbers.  Wherever we go he points out every "A for Abram" and "D for Daddy" he sees.  He really enjoys coloring too.

Of course Abram loves to play with his big sister.  They are best buddies and are so imaginative together.  I often hear them going camping, visiting the farm, going to school or just exploring around the house.  He sure is going to miss Rebecca when she is in school all day.

Abram's next big event will be moving into Rebecca's bedroom.  We decided to wait until Rebecca was done with school for the year.  Now we just have to wait for his bed rail to arrive.  I'm sure the kids will love the change.  I'm not so sure about Mommy and Daddy.  Hopefully they get some sleep.

Abram is very excited to be a big brother soon.  He finally got to feel some big kicks from the baby.  He asks all the time when the baby is coming out so he can snuggle with it.  He is going to be a great helper.

We are so proud of our little guy.  He is growing and maturing.  Abram is the snuggliest, silliest and most caring boy we know.  He loves deeply and is so fun to be around.  We praise God for our second miracle.

Happy Easter!

Last weekend we had fun celebrating Easter as a family.  On Saturday the kids went to a local Easter egg hunt.  This was our second year.  The kids really enjoyed putting eggs in their bags and picking prizes with their tickets.

On Sunday we had a wonderful Easter service at church.  We enjoyed family time at home.  Then we had a fun visit from Grandpa and Grandma Holleboom and Uncle Dan.  Rebecca got to open a few more birthday presents and we enjoyed the beautiful spring weather.

What a blessing to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior!

Happy 6th Birthday, Rebecca!

Last week Rebecca turned six!!  It's hard to believe our little girl is getting so big.

We had a week long celebration at home.  First Rebecca requested homemade soft serve ice cream.  Then we baked her cake and used some of the batter to make a few cupcakes to sample.  Next we made sugar cookies with homemade frosting for her to bring to school.  Rebecca chose the shapes for the cookies - eggs, bunnies, hearts, cowboy hats, cowboy boots and airplanes.  It was a combination of Easter and our trip to Texas.

Friday (the day after her birthday) we finally had a chance for the real celebration.  In the morning we opened presents.  Rebecca got a baseball, some doll clothes and a new bike!!  Justin had the day off, so he and the kids spent the whole morning outside.  Rebecca got lots of practice on her bike right away.

In the evening we had Rebecca's requested birthday dinner - grilled steak and asparagus.  We ended the day with her "Frozen" cake and homemade ice cream.

Rebecca also received many wonderful gifts from relatives.  She's been busy experimenting with her human body science kit, reading new books, playing with her Anna doll and watching Frozen.

Rebecca also had her six-year check up this week.  She is healthy and growing well.  She now weighs 43.5 lbs. (50th percentile) and is 42.5 in. tall (10th percentile).  As of right now the doctor is predicting she'll have Mommy's genes for height.  But only time will tell.  Mommy was taller and weighed less at age 5 than Rebecca does at 6.

The tooth fairy continues to be busy in our house.  Rebecca lost tooth #8 yesterday!  She has six of her permanent teeth in, so at least she doesn't have too many holes at once.

School is going very well for Rebecca this year.  She is in half-day kindergarten.  Rebecca is continuing in the Spanish immersion program and really excelling at it.  The students may only speak Spanish to the teacher.  Rebecca even enjoys talking to Mommy in Spanish at home.  She thinks it's funny that Daddy doesn't know what we're saying.

Rebecca is also in Kindermusik and dance this year.  She is learning notes and how to read music in Kindermusik.  She enjoys practicing songs on her glockenspiel.  Rebecca has been learning tap and ballet in dance.  She has her end-of-year recital on May 31.  We can't wait to see her perform!

As always Rebecca enjoys crafting, singing, dancing, reading, writing and doing anything with her imagination.  She loves being with her friends and can't wait to be a big sister to two siblings.

We are so proud of everything she is learning and how she is maturing.  We can't wait to see what God has planned for her in the coming years.

Baby #3!!

Such a beautiful profile.

Yesterday was our mid-pregnancy ultrasound for baby #3!  At 21 weeks, 3 days baby is doing great!  We are still in awe of this little miracle from God.

Rebecca and Abram were able to come to the ultrasound.  They were both very excited.  Rebecca was fascinated by it. Abram was wondering when he could snuggle the baby.

Baby weighs about 1 lb. right now and is in the 81st percentile for size...very similar to big brother who was 90th percentile at the half way point.

Baby looking at us.

As I predicted from very early on I have an anterior placenta.  That means the placenta is in the front and the baby is behind it.  So the kicks feel a little odd and are harder for others to feel.  But I still feel this little one moving all over.

We praise God that everything looked good on the ultrasound...brain, heart, kidneys, etc.  Everything is normal.  What a blessing!

Another profile view.

It's exciting to be over half way done with this pregnancy.  Now we can actually start planning for baby's arrival.

Soon Abram will move into Rebecca's room and we'll get the crib set up again in the nursery.

We will also soon find out the date of the c-section.  It will be sometime the week of August 17.

We are already so in love with this baby.  We are also so excited to find out if Rebecca and Abram will have a brother or a sister.  That will be a fun surprise.  God has given us such a blessing.

21 weeks...baby sure is growing!

Spring Break in Texas - April 2014

We just returned from a wonderful spring break trip to Texas!!  We visited Uncle Kevin and Aunt Haylee in Houston for a few days.  They were very gracious in hosting us and feeding us lots of great food.  It was neat to see where they live.  Then we traveled to San Antonio for a few days to explore on our own.  The whole family had fun.

We got to Houston on Thursday evening.  After some delays from needing to buy a carseat we made it to Kevin and Haylee's house around 7:00 pm.  We ate dinner and got settled.

Friday we spent the morning with Haylee at the Houston Children's Museum.  It is a pretty big museum with so much stuff for the kids to do and see.  Rebecca and Abram really enjoyed the outdoor water area.  Rebecca was excited to do a science experiment.  Abram liked the grocery shopping and feeding us all at the restaurant.

Friday afternoon we relaxed and took naps.  After dinner Justin and Kevin attended an Astros baseball game while the ladies and kids played at the park and had fun at home.

Saturday we took a trip to Galveston.  First we went to Schlitterbahn - a big water park.  We could only use the indoor portion this early in the season, but it was plenty for the kids.  We had a little picnic and headed out to explore.  We drove through Galveston and made a quick stop to see the ocean.

Saturday evening we went to a restaurant to taste real Texas barbecue.  When we got home we surprised Justin with a birthday cake!

Sunday we went to church with Kevin and Haylee.  After church we had lunch, said our goodbyes and hit the road for our drive to San Antonio.

We arrived at the hotel in San Antonio around 4:30 pm.  We got settled, ate dinner and took a quick dip in the pool before bed.

Monday we visited the San Antonio Zoo.  It was a big zoo.  The kids were very excited to see animals like elephants, lions, tigers and cheetahs - animals we don't see in Michigan.  After touring the zoo for a while we rode on their miniature train.  It was nice to be able to enjoy fresh air and sunshine all morning.  We went back to the hotel for lunch and a nap.

The afternoon was rainy, so we swam in the pool again.  Abram was not a big fan of the pool and cried the whole time he was in the water.  So that was the extent of our swimming for the trip.  Rebecca had a blast, though, and improved in her swimming/kicking skills.

We went out for a nice dinner at The Alamo Cafe Monday evening.

Tuesday we went downtown for the day.  First we stopped at the Magik Theater to see a live performance of Llama Llama.  We got to sit right up front.  The kids loved it!

After the show we walked to the Alamo and looked around.  It was neat to see such a historical place.

We stopped at a local park for a picnic lunch.  The kids got to play on the playground for a few minutes as well.

Next we walked along the River Walk and took a boat tour through San Antonio.  It was getting pretty hot, so we were fortunate that it was Ben and Jerry's free ice cream day!  After the boat ride we found a near-by Ben and Jerry's and got a little treat.

After a snack we did some souvenir shopping and headed back to the hotel to clean up and go to dinner at a steakhouse.

Wednesday was our last day in Texas.  We started the day with a trip to Fiesta Farm to see lots of animals, feed some bunnies, pet goats and a llama, go on a pony ride, play in the sand and go on a wagon ride.  Rebecca really enjoyed seeing all of the horses.  Abram loved the piglets.  The real excitement of the visit was a small fox on the farm.  We had to keep a watch out for it and had to avoid certain areas for a while.

After Fiesta Farm we headed to Kiddie Park.  It has small amusement rides just for kids.  Rebecca and Abram chose to ride the ferris wheel, the airplanes and the carousel.  We had a picnic lunch and then went across the street to a small playground.

We went back to the hotel for a nap and to start packing.  We went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner and got to bed on time.

Thursday morning we left for the airport just after 5:00 am.  Security went smoothly, and our flights were on time.  We made it home by 2:30 pm.

The kids were so excited to be home and have room to run again after being at a hotel for four days.  They played outside for a while and enjoyed having access to their toys again.

Our trip to Texas was a wonderful experience!  The kids enjoyed flying for the first time.  They also loved staying with Uncle Kevin and Aunt Haylee.  They keep asking when we are going back and when we can see Sadie (their dog).

It's good to be back home now and back to normal routine.  We've got more exiting events coming with babies and birthdays.  Be on the lookout for more updates.