Back to Reality

Things I miss about being home:

Spending as much time as I want to with Alexa

Daily walks with Wilson

Waking up slowly with a cup of coffee and the Nate Berkus show

Being able to stay in my pjs all day if I wanted

Grocery shopping on a weekday

A clean house

Clean clothes

Oprah at 4:00

Tuesday playdates with Rachel and Teunis

Having time to do things like read leisurely, craft, blog, rearrange, decorate, shop

Having energy to do things like read leisurely, craft, blog, ....

Staying up late

Seeing mom and sisters on Thursdays and Friday

Having all chores done by the weekend so you don't spend the whole weekend doing them

Bible Study

Things that Make Me Happy about being back to work:

the drive is quiet and gives me time to think and reflect

socializing with work friends

teaching and working with kids

using my brain again

really value every minute with baby girl

new wardrobe

lost some gut fat due to stress, no time to eat, running around chasing 26 second graders around!

Almost 6 Months

It seems like I haven't posted in quite some bit. I really enjoyed the last month of my maternity leave as Alexa was growing and doing more and more each day! Nearing the end of November, she will be 6 months old already! I can't believe that by the end of my school year she will turn 1. Time is flying by. Lately Alexa really loves her baths. She is in a bath seat and loves to splash in the water and grab every single toy that she can and put it in her mouth. We call her greedy (see photo) because she will pile all her toys in her seat. In fact, most everything goes in her mouth or she willfully attempts to put it in her mouth. She will chew her spoon between bites of oatmeal, suck on a washcloth, bite her toys, and even pull and grab at Wilson in hopes that he could fit somehow into her mouth. She squeals with joy in her jumperoo and when we read books to her. She is very curious or nosy- and needs to look around to see what is happening. I have had to take her in a quiet place just to get her to take her bottle sometimes. She still doesn't have any teeth, but at the rate she is gnawing on everything it could be any day. She is wearing 6-9 month clothes. I had a cute church outfit I was waiting to have her wear. Last week I had her try it on and I couldn't get the sleeves over her chubby arms... :( She has been doing well at daycare and really likes to be entertained by the other kids. She is still working on getting on a "schedule," but it will come.

Work has been interesting, I will just leave it at that. It is nice to get back into teaching because I do love my job; however, it has been a HUGE adjustment getting up and ready to get out the door in time. We are up at 5:45 to take care of Willie and Alexa. I have to get used to setting a time to leave at the end of the day to get Alexa in time. Before, I could stay at school as long as needed and go in on the weekends too. Those days are gone. I will have to get better at prioritizing my time and taking things home. Alexa has been sick this week with a terrible cold and fever. She is so congested and there isn't much we can do to help. Our nights have been filled with Vick's Vapor Rub, refilling the humidifier, Tylenol, saline drops, and the dreaded blue bulb syringe. Alexa is smart. Now she will flip and arch her back as soon as she sees it. It reminds me a lot of myself when I needed to be pinned down to get teeth pulled...YIKES! She sure is strong willed.

Little Bear

Keith has been working every Saturday at Witte to make some extra money and because he loves to spend time outside doing manual labor (at least for one day). So to kill some time on a lonely Saturday little bear and I took a long walk. Wilson was left behind because I knew he would slow us down. He was not happy about this decision. This I know because I could hear him barking at us as we left the driveway. It was a chilly morning so I dressed Alexa in her bear suit a gift from Great-Grandma DeVries. We also have been feeding Alexa cereal and to no one's surprise- she loves to eat. You can hear her slurp and smack and she is practicing patience because she has to wait between spoonfuls. She sure makes a mess, but it is so fun to watch her discovering food for the first time. Now we have dirty bottles, spoons, bowls, bibs, and washcloths scattered around on our kitchen counters. I think we are going to have to get that highchair out from storage soon...

Pumpkin Patch

On Friday I went to the orchard with some friends. The kids fed the goats, we had donuts and cider, played in the hay, and picked out some pumpkins. Afterwards we all went to Russ' for lunch. It was funny because I was the first one there and had to tell the hostess, "We have 4 adults, 4 kids, and 3 babies." She just said, "OK..." Considering it went pretty well. :) Sunday was a busy day too. We put Alexa in nursery for the first time. It is a pretty intense system. We both get wristbands with numbers that will go on the screen if there is a problem. It is split up into sections like non-mobile, crawlers, walkers so it is nice to know that little kids aren't crawling all over her. We just made it in time because the poor people behind us couldn't leave their kid because the limit had been met. She was sound asleep when we left her and happy as a clam when we came to pick her up. I kept thinking during the service that I was missing something because I actually could listen to the sermon and sing the songs opposed to wiping up spit up, quietly feeding her a bottle, entertaining her, forcing her to go down by walking laps around the shed, or constantly eying her in her carseat mapping out a mental escape route incase she wakes up cranky! This was a relief because the first nursery attempt during my Wednesday night bible study didn't go so smoothly. About hour into it, the young girl found me and said, "There is a problem with Alexa. She puked everywhere." Uh-oh...she had spit up quite a bit and needed a change of clothes. I felt bad for the girl watching all the kids because she was left to clean up the mess and it's never fun to get spit-up on. Alexa finished off bible study by being passed around the table woman to woman. She probably thought it wasn't such a bad deal getting all that extra attention. Back to the busy Sunday, we got home from church and headed out to an another orchard on Fruitridge. This was quite the production and it was packed. We had to wait in line for about 20 minutes for a donut. Keith picked out some huge pumpkins for him and Ruben to carve and we took some photos of Alexa. To cap of the day, Allison and Steve had the family over for supper.

First Trip to the Zoo

I must say the only times I have ever visited the zoo was when I was trying to keep tabs on 27 second graders, so going with 4 kids under 2 wouldn't be too difficult would it? Well what typically takes about a hour, took a little longer due to snack breaks, bottle breaks (times 2), and trying to get a "good" posed picture with all the kids. Alexa loved walking around with me when she decided to wake up and it was fun to see the zoo through the eyes of my nephew and niece. I can't wait to go back again in the spring.

Someone Likes Tummy and Mirror Time

Alexa's 4 Month Stats:

Weight-14 pounds 12 ounces

Height-25 1/2 inches (92% percentile)

The other day I found her in her crib on her belly. When she saw me come in she was all smiles.

She loves to look at herself in the mirror too, how vain.

Traverse City Continued

Traverse City Weekend Away

Grandma and Grandpa Roedema was kind enough to offer to watch Alexa overnight so we could take a weekend away before I go back to work. I am glad she offered because otherwise I probably would have never left her. Grandpa and Grandma Kramer watched Willie for us and he loves going there because he gets so spoiled and can go on walks whenever he barks. Keith and I left early on Saturday morning and headed up Mission Peninsula to see the lighthouse. Keith was such a rulebreaker as you can see from the picture. It was a cold and windy weekend, but we stayed dry and the sun was out. We were able to go to several wineries during the afternoon. (Keith took the pictures at L. Mawby )At night, we went to Mode's Bum Steer based on a local's recommendation, shopped downtown, and got a coffee before heading back to the hotel's hot tub. It was strange sleeping uninterrupted! The next day we went to the outlets, had lunch, and took the scenic route back. Thanks for the help watching our babies!

My Baby Girl

4 Months Old

Alexa is 4 months old today! Here are some of the things that she is doing at 4 months:

*grabbing her links when she is in her bouncy seat and trying to pull herself up

*crying when I put her in her crib for a nap

*sucking her hands and fingers

*playing with her teething book and anything else she can put into her mouth

*cooing and experimenting with all the noises she can make

*eating 5-6 ounces each feeding, sometimes more

*laughing

*smiling when I get her out of her crib in the morning

*sitting up in her Bumbo and looking around

*going for stroller rides without her carseat so she can look around

*hanging out with mom all day long and loving to be held or carried in the carrier (facing outwards)

*splashing in the tub so much we need to transport her from sink to big bath tub

*wearing size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes

*still battling thrush since 2 MONTHS OLD!!, ready to be done with that!

*turning her head to find mom or dad

*taking morning and afternoon naps

*holding my hand when she takes a bottle

*grabbing my collar when she takes a bottle and when I put her in her crib

*not sleeping through the night, but usually only waking up one time

Buddy Walk

The girls with the babes. I like how Ella and Alexa are looking at each other.
Rylie, Olivia, and Grace all bundled up ready to walk!
The whole group of family and friends!

Saturday morning Alexa and I met up with Grandma and Grandpa Roedema for breakfast at the West Side Cafe and then we were off to Millennium Park for the Buddy Walk through the Down Syndrome Association of West Michigan in celebration of Wyatt Lovell our friend Kelly and Jason's week old baby. It was great to have all our friends gather for a wonderful cause to support and walk for Wyatt. The Krispie Creams and Corner Bar hotdogs were an added bonus. I feel like this will be a fun tradition.

Spit Happens

Wow...this is how much Alexa would spit up when she was a teeny tiny baby and we put her on Zantac for reflux. We hadn't been giving it to her because she hadn't projectile vomited in awhile- she had three bath this day one after a poop blowout, one as a bedtime routine, and one after this. Aghhh! and I just cleaned the floors too. Go figure. At least it was daddy this time- sorry sucker!

Art Prize

Keith and I headed downtown to start taking in Art Prize. It was such a humid night. We figured we are so close we will just see little bits at a time. We stayed by Gerald R. Ford Museum and Grand Rapids Public Museum. We really wanted to see the Water Prize since it is associated with Mars Hill. Alexa did great and liked looking around and listening to the music. Friday morning I watched Katelyn and learned how busy it is with two kids to look after. Friday afternoon my mom, sister Al and the kids headed down to the new Carol Roeda store in Easttown. I ended up getting a few things for Alexa's nursery. I could spend hours in that store! However, with a little babette that doesn't want to be in her stroller and another that wants to grab and look at everything- we were in and out. We also went next door to Marie Catrib's to pick out some food for supper. Marie came right up to Alexa and talked to her and she smiled so big for her. She pacified her for a bit. Later that night, the girls had supper with some warmed spice wine (in the midst of screaming babies and bathing and feeding 4 kids) while the guys went out to Founders for dinner and drinks.

Frederik Meijer Gardens

I finally had a chance to visit Frederik Meijer Gardens with my mom, sister, Katelyn and Alexa. It was nice to take some time to look at all the beautiful gardens and sculptures on my own time. The only times I have gone to the gardens in years past is with 28 2nd graders on a field trip. Needless to say, this was a lot more relaxing. The Chihuly glass sculptures were amazing and looked so pretty displayed throughout the gardens. It was neat because there was also a lot of Art Prize exhibits up to look at as well. Looking forward to going back again and getting some pictures of Alexa in the pumpkin patch. She slept the entire time we were there. After Frederik Meijer we went to Robinette's to have lunch and donuts. The pumpkin spice donuts are delicious and I will be traveling back there to get more before the season is over. :) What a fun day!