Welcome to the Family, Maci!

My sister Erin had her baby and we are so excited that she is a little girl, Maci Jean Koopmans. Levi loves his little sister. I am sure she will have fun with her cousins and it is really neat that her and Alexa are so close in age. It is pretty neat to think that all three of us Roedema girls all have little girls of our own now. Here are some pictures and some attempts at taking an all cousins shot...as you can see Alexa is VERY excited about this opportunity, she slept right through it!

3 Months Old Today!

Alexa is three months old today. She is getting so big and it is almost hard to remember how tiny she was when she was born. She loves to have her bath each night before she goes to bed. It really calms her down and gets her ready to sleep as you can see from the picture. During the day she will play on her mat, sit in her rocker (next to Wilson, of course) and she loves to sit upright so she can see everything around her. She is a joy and such a good baby!

Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

Sleeping Soundly

We are on night two of sleeping through the night, so we are crossing our fingers that this isn't a fluke. One thing we know keeps Alexa sleeping is when we use the swaddle. The only way we can put it on her is if she is really tired because wouldn't that be the only way you would let someone put you in a straight jacket? Keith and I will hear her work to get her arms out if she wakes up during the night and in the morning she will be FREE at last! As you can see from the pictures, she likes this best.

Happy Birthday Mom, I Slept through the Night!

For my birthday Keith and I got a new Macbook Pro and I have been having a lot of fun with it this past week. It is really cool to figure out all of the neat things you can do with it, like upload and edit photos. Friday night I went out with friends to Graydon's crossings, Saturday morning we went to Grandpa and Grandma Roedema's house for a birthday breakfast and in celebration of my birthday, Alexa wore a birthday bow. Saturday night Grandpa and Grandma Roedema babysat so Keith and I could spend the night together. Sunday morning we headed to church and the sermon that Rob Bell did was all about aging because he was turning 40. It was of course very fitting for me too. Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Kramer's house for lunch. After lunch, we went to Holland beach as a family. The birthday fun ended when Keith got sick with the flu so we made our way home. Later that night Alexa had one more birthday present to give her mom- sleeping through the night! She slept from 8:30-7:30 the next morning. I like to think that she was giving me a break for the night. We will see if she continues to sleep through the night even when it isn't my birthday!

Alexa's Dedication

Alexa was dedicated this past Sunday. I talked a little about it in the service, but it really was emotional thinking about how we prayed for a child and how even when it wasn't "easy" to get pregnant, God was faithful and that rough time in our lives seems like an insignificant blur now that Alexa is a part of our family. Keith and I put a lot of thought into our covenant to her. It was a pretty meaningful experience taking in what it means to be a Christian parent to her for life! We invited family and friends to the service and they were witnesses as we promised before God to raise her in the way of Jesus. We know this is an all encompassing responsibility that we can't do without help from family, friends, and of course God. It is actually really scary when I think about what a huge responsibility it is to be a parent and I hope I don't mess things up too bad. :) Keith also played his guitar and sang~ this will be a very cool memory for us and it will be neat to tell Alexa all about it when she gets older. Thanks to everyone who was part of this special day and for the cards, gifts, and words of encouragement. We really appreciate it!

To Blog or Not to Blog

Lately I have been thinking about whether or not to start up a blog of my own. In my mind, it seems like a great idea to document all the exciting or not too exciting things happening in my life, but that is in my mind. In reality, it may be something that once I start- I need to commit to actually posting to it and might be a royal pain to keep updating. However, I thought that it would be fun to have a digital journal per say and a record of our day-to-day lives. So...with that said, I will do my best to post as often as possible. Welcome to the Kramer family blog!