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