Rebecca's First Haircut

Last night Rebecca and I went out for our monthly Mommy/Daughter date.  We were especially excited about this one...it was Rebecca's first haircut!  First she sat and watched me get my hair cut.  She was pretty fascinated.  She also did some coloring while waiting.  Then she hopped in the seat.  Rebecca wasn't so sure about the hair washing.  It scared her a little...although later she said she liked it.  She did very well holding still.  She was very proud of herself.  We just went with a trim (3-4").  Rebecca kept reminding the beautician "just a trim."  She loves her long hair :)  After the cut Rebecca asked for pigtails.  And the beautician tried to get her natural curl to come through a bit.

After our haircuts we were supposed to go out for a special dinner.  But the hair took a lot longer than expected, so it was already past 7!  We went to the restaurant (The Rainbow grill...just one block over from the beautician), sat down, and Justin called and said Abram wouldn't last much longer.  So we ordered our food to go and had a late dinner when we got home.  It was still fun.  I let Rebecca pick our dinner (we shared a meal).  She chose chicken strips, mac-n-cheese and a butterscotch milkshake.  We also got a salad with it.  A simple meal, but she loved it.

We are really enjoying our Mommy/daughter dates.  Time to start planning what we want to do in April!

Look Who's...

Walking!  Abram took his first steps last night.  Life is about to get a bit more interesting here :P  Check out the video.

Tooth #6 also popped through yesterday.  And there are three more on the way.

Abram's hobbies these days include throwing objects into the bath tub (and laughing hysterically), eating shoes, trying to lift things that are twice his size, climbing, crawling into things and trying to get back out (bouncy seat, bottom of the exersaucer), taking his sister's toys and growling (constantly).

9 Months Old!

Hard to believe, but our "little" guy is 9 months old!  He had his check up yesterday.  We are thankful he is healthy and growing well.  Abram is now a whopping 21 lbs. 14 oz. (75th%) and 27 3/4" (30th%).  And just for fun:

9 Month Stats:

Abram: 21 lbs. 14 oz., 27 3/4 in.
Rebecca: 20 lbs., 26 1/2 in.
Mary: 18 lbs. 5 oz., 28 in.
Justin: 18 lbs. 12 oz., 26 1/2 in.

Hard to say who he takes after...he's just big :P  His check up went well.  He was not a fan of either the nurse or the doctor and cried pretty much the whole time.  He didn't care for the shots, either.  But at least he's a healthy little guy.  And no more visits until he's one!

Abram is meeting all of his developmental milestones.  He is on the verge of walking.  He gets better at standing every day.  And he's pretty speedy walking around if he has something to push.  It won't be long before he puts the two together.  With his mobility comes his ability to get into...everything.  He likes to empty trash cans, unroll toilet paper, take DVDs out of the player, turn off the computer, rip apart magazines and of course get into his big sister's toys.  We have to be very creative with finding things to entertain him.  He is always looking for something new and interesting.  He can have a huge bucket of  his toys next to him, but that doesn't mean he'll want to play with any of it.  Give him a piece of paper and he'll be content :)

Abram is starting to enjoy reading books and has started saying a few "words."  Mostly he goes around saying "ca, ca" looking for Rebecca.  And when he finds her he says "ca" and waves at her.  He also neighs, moos and quacks.  And he claps and says "yay."  He's starting to make "car sounds" when he's playing with his cars.  And he's very good at growling.  Rebecca calls him the giant when she's playing with dolls, legos, etc.  He comes over, growls at everyone and tries to grab them.

Abram now has five teeth and is working on two more.  So far he hasn't figured out how to chew with them very well.  But he certainly knows how to grind them...and does it all day long.

Although Abram looks a lot like his sister he is showing us that he has his own personality.  He knows what he wants and makes sure that you know.  If he isn't happy...everyone knows :P  Abram still dislikes being confined in any way.  Car rides are limited to about 15 min. or up to 2 hours during nap time.  Meal times are quick...feed him what you can for the few minutes he'll sit in the high chair.  The exersaucer is only used as a last resort for about 60 seconds if he needs to be confined/kept safe.  Otherwise he uses it as a toy to climb on.  We never were able to use the swing.  He lasted about 60 seconds strapped in that as well.  Thankfully Abram tolerates the stroller once in a while at least.

Abram also is not quite the sleeper his sister was/is.  He is too busy to sleep :P  Most days he takes 2 naps.  And then goes to bed around 8.  He is usually up several times at night.  And up quite early most days.  Both yesterday and today he decided 5:45 was play time.  If he wakes up any time after 5 am there is no use trying to get him back to sleep.  He's up and ready to go.  Sadly this often means Rebecca is up earlier too.  He's not exactly quiet all morning.

Abram is very strong.  He lifts and pulls things that are quite heavy.  The doctor asked yesterday if Justin or I were athletes.  He was amazed how strong Abram is and said he'd probably be good at sports.  Let's just say that diaper changes and getting dressed can be quite an undertaking.  When his legs go straight you might as well not even try.  You just have to wait until he's ready.  Sometimes you feel like you just ran a marathon after getting him dressed.  It's quite a workout.

Even though Abram is a rough and tumble active boy he is also about the biggest momma's boy you'll meet.  He still won't let anyone besides Mommy and Daddy hold him.  He cries at the sight of most strangers (especially nurses and doctors).  And he likes to be touching Mommy almost at all times.  If I'm on the floor playing with him he just sprawls on my lap to play with his toy.  And I am his favorite thing to climb on.  Whether I'm standing or sitting.  He's a big snuggler and doesn't like Mommy to leave the room.

Abram is growing well and growing up quickly!  He is a handful, but he brings such joy to our lives.  We praise God for a healthy, happy little boy.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebration with our whole family.  It was so great to see everyone.  We feel very blessed.  Here's a recap of all of the festivities.

We celebrated Christmas as a family on December 23.  Rebecca is really getting the hang of opening presents :P  Abram was fascinated with the paper, but didn't seem to care much about opening things.  His big sister happily helped.  Rebecca and Abram both got some Playmobil, something we've never had before.  They both really enjoy it.  Rebecca's big gift was her new doll - Jenny (like an American Girl Doll).  Justin surprised Mary with the big item on her list - a Vitamix.  Now it's time to experiment in the kitchen :)  He also bought diamond earrings!  I feel spoiled :)

On Christmas Day we went to church.  Then after lunch we traveled to Grand Blanc to celebrate with the Hollebooms.  All the cousins had so much fun together.  Rebecca and Carson were practically inseparable.  As usual everyone was so generous, and we are enjoying all of our gifts.  We had a delicious buffet dinner and spent lots of time chatting.

The next morning (December 26) was the Van Heukelum party.  We had a brunch with Mary's extended relatives.  Everything was very scaled back this year.  Only the great grandkids got a present to open.  The main focus was spending time together.  And giving Mary's grandparents a new flat screen tv :)  Hopefully Great Grandma Van can see it ok.

That evening Grandpa and Grandma Voogt and Uncle Kevin arrived here around dinner time.  We enjoyed chatting and catching up.  The next morning (December 27) we had a Christmas brunch with all of the Voogts.  It was great to see Ryan, Shannon and little Esther.  She's getting so big!  We enjoyed a delicious meal, read the Christmas story and opened gifts.  Grandpa, Kevin and Justin spent the afternoon visiting other family.  Rebecca enjoyed an afternoon with Grandma all to herself :)  It was nice to have a quiet house for a few hours after all of the parties.  The boys came back for dinner and a relaxing evening.  Grandpa, Grandma and Kevin left the next morning (December 28) to head back to WI.  We had so much fun with all of the Voogts and enjoyed being able to spend a couple days with them.

On New Year's Eve we went to a Grand Rapids Griffins hockey game.  It was the first time for both Rebecca and Abram.  The NYE game is a tradition for the Griffins.  And it worked well for us since the game is an hour early.  Both kids had a really good time.  Abram did great even with all of the noise, music and people.  Rebecca loved dancing to all the music and watching Griff.  She also enjoyed her cheeseburger and fries :)

We had a wonderful week full of celebrations.  It was great to see the whole family.  Now it's time to get back to "normal" life.  Justin goes back to work tomorrow.  And soon he'll be headed to Japan!  We sure will miss having Daddy around.

The kids are both doing well.  Rebecca is thoroughly enjoying all of her new toys.  All sorts of new adventures and games to play.  Just yesterday she was feeding all of Jesus' disciples :)  She has such a big imagination.  Rebecca is also enjoying watching Mary Poppins (a little at a time).  Most evenings Mommy is Mary Poppins, and she is Jane.

Abram has decided that he should grow up during Christmas break.  When we celebrated as a family he was barely stable sitting on his own.  By the time the Voogts were here he was doing a full crawl, then pulling himself up onto his knees, then pulling himself up to standing.  A day later he was starting to cruise, climb stairs and walk holding onto a chair and pushing it across the floor (video to be posted soon).  He is slowly learning to eat solids and is working on more teeth right now.

We had a very blessed 2011 and pray that God will guide us and bless us in 2012.