Sunday Afternoon

Gerrit sang in church this morning, well he was suppose to sing. When it came time, he didn't want to go up front. We knew he wasn't feeling well and was tired but I told him if he didn't go, he wasn't going ice skating! He perked up and with the help of Adam, went up front. He stood there with his hands over his eyes and did not sing, but at least he was up there! And he wasn't the only one not singing, Abby was wondering around behind the kids and another little boy his age was lifting up his shirt and showing off his belly. So he was right at home with the other 'misfits'! :)

Despite Gerrit having coupe we let him go ice skating with the big boys this afternoon. He had a blast! Adam took the camera this time so we could see him in action. He is getting faster and more comfortable on the skates and loves using the chair. It is the perfect size for him too. They took Gerrit's little hockey goal to use so they could play a game (of sorts). I couldn't believe how long they were gone, they must have had a fun time. And being outside in the cool air did Gerrit some good in terms of his throat. Adam made him take breaks and not push it too hard. It might be time to get the boys helmets...

And what did I do with Emmit during ice skating time....

Emmit did take a nap, but I took this picture after church during 1st nap to show off his new knitted pants! Now only if the kid would walk, I wouldn't be so nervous letting him wear his new pants.

Same Song, Different Tune

Gerrit has croup now. Odd thing was he was already 'barking' at daycare yesterday. Usually it strikes at night so we just gave him the steroids before bed rather than waiting for it to get real bad in the middle of the night. After his second dose today, he seemed to be doing better. Poor kid, wants to play basketball and run around but can't catch his breath! 

Took the boys to the ZM game today. Both of them enjoyed it, Emmit sat on our laps for most of it - granted I fed him a lot of popcorn but we were able to enjoy the game ourselves. Gerrit loved going between us and Luker. Sitting with the big boys was way cooler than sitting with the parents. I have a feeling we are going to have kids in elementary school that will know all the high school kids (Luke and Paul's friends). At least we know they will be watched!

Following a great dining experience at the CB (covered bridge restaurant), we stopped by Dahlen's where Emmit took more steps! I don't know what it is with their house, but he seems to take more steps there then at home! He was sporting cousin Max's Nike hiking boots and did pretty good walking with hard sole shoes. He didn't know what to think of them when I put them on him this morning but got around just fine. I figured he better wear them if he's going to at all and waiting for the kid to walk comfortably may mean his feet will be too big for the boots! Maybe the hard sole is what he needed to jump start his walking, rather than his Robeez. Anyways, he took more steps which is all we care about.

A late night and Gerrit has to sing in church tomorrow could make for an interesting morning!

Move Over Gretzky

Tonight Uncle Travis came over for dinner and ice skating. Adam, Gerrit, Luke, Paul, and Travis went to our little rink in town after dinner. I had to stay home with Emmit (although I really wanted to - to take pictures more than actually skate). Anyways, we don't have pictures (even though I suggested they take the camera), but Gerrit did great! He went last winter and didn't really like it; he preferred to play on the ice in his boots. Not tonight! He was all over the rink - with the assistance of a chair (same chair that Luke and Paul used to learn to skate). So with Logan's skates (he's a 19) and Dahlen's chair, Gerrit became a pretty good little skater tonight. The ice was in pretty good and the temperature was perfect for an evening on the ice. 

I guess this means more trips to the rink this winter, now if only the temperature would cooperate.

(Note: Gerrit will not be signed up for mini mites hockey - he will be a gym rat, sorry Jeff!)

On the Move...

Well, kind of...

Emmit took about 4 steps last night at Dahlens. 

We were watching football and Adam was determined to get Emmit to take a step - and he succeeded.

He used his beer bottle as the bate and it worked!

He only did it the one time, but we both saw it as did most of the Dahlen family.

So, it is a matter of time before he will be on his feet instead of his hands and knees! 

I better get my running shoes ready!

Emmit's 3rd Party

We finally got together with Langley's to celebrate Emmit's birthday. It was an impromptu gathering at Dahlen's last night as plans were made to watch a movie (Ondine - great foreign film). So we had pizza and cupcakes before the movie.

Emmit enjoyed showing everyone how he does "so big" while David showed everyone how to make snow angles without boots, coat or snow pants!

And the duffle bag full of beer...David says Emmit requested the variety of beers for everyone to enjoy in honor of his birthday!

Indy 500

Here are the pictures I have been meaning to post from last weekend:

Loved having Luke along to keep track of Gerrit!

He impressed everyone with his bike handling skills on his 2 wheeler. There were older kids with training wheels and he just wizzed right on by them!

I loved how he'd bend over like he was trying to be more aerodynamic!

A Little Weight Problem

Who would've thought that there would be weight issues in our family - weight GAINING that is! Emmit had his 1 yr. check up today and has not gained much since his 6 month visit. In fact, less than 2 pounds! The percentile he falls in is still on the chart and is not of concern, it is the lack of gaining that has us a little concerned. So, we get to spend the next few months pushing the calories - actually just adding a bit of Carnation Instant breakfast to his milk and opting out of the low fat options that the rest of the family would eat. 

We are not overly concerned with the weight issue, in fact, we almost laugh at the idea because he usually eats like a champ. A few reasons could be because he was just weaned from nursing and he was a bit under the weather last week. Or, he could have a high metabolism (like his father). So, we will watch and see if we can't get him to gain a few pounds before the next visit. 

As far as croup goes, that too is something we will monitor and discuss at the next visit. It isn't a huge concern because he gets it randomly - not necessarily when he had a cold. I'm hoping this is not an early sign of asthma (purely from sports related reasons). The Dr. made sure we had a perscription for steroids in case an episode hit which was thoughtful of him. He obviously did not care that we never took him in the 3 times he got it!  

Anyways, Emmit was a champ during the shots although scared Gerrit a bit with his reaction of crying - Gerrit knew he was getting a shot today too (he got his flu shot). Although, the sticker at the end made the pain of the shot disappear in a hurry!

On the Mend

I ended up getting the flu on Friday afternoon. Luckily it didn't last too long and by Sat. am, I was feeling much better. Adam however wasn't feeling well and laid low all weekend. Thanks to a little help from friends, I was able to manage the weekend's activities. Emmit seemed a bit off this weekend too. He was very clingy - towards me which made it hard to do stuff and he's had a few icky diapers (which I learned are not alarming - thanks to Aunt Erika for her help via the phone) and a little bit of throw up yesterday. Today he took a 3 hour afternoon nap (I don't think he's ever taken that long of a nap for me!) and then snuggled with me for the next 3 hours! Part of me didn't mind because he's not normally a snuggler but I felt bad because I knew he wasn't feeling well. We pushed the fluids - watered down Gatorade (next best thing to Pedialite) and gave him some easy on the tummy foods to see if that would help him out. He showed moments of perking up - he'd do "so big" with us which was a good sign that he was OK. We are hoping for a good nights sleep and then we should ALL be good for a while! Thankfully the house gets cleaned this week to take care of any lingering germs.

Gerrit enjoyed yesterday afternoon at Dahlen's - after we had the Indy 500 at the high school. I'll post pictures soon. Today, Nikki took him with her and the girls to Roch to the gym where he played at the indoor play area for hours! He had a blast and said when Emmit feels better we ALL need to go there. (I was hoping to go along with them but with Emmit under the weather, it didn't seem right to leave him with a sick daddy). Even though the weekend was full of illness, Gerrit seemed to benefit the most with a fun filled time which is fine by me. 

Here's hoping this is the last post about illnesses in our house for a while!

The Plague

Not really, but we have been dealing with illness the past few days...Emmit with croup (again!) this weekend and Gerrit the flu last night. Emmit is doing much better and seeing we have steroids in the medicine cabinet for this illness, we can get it under control and move on. He has his 1 yr check up next week and up for discussion will be the reason he has had 3 episodes of croup since Aug. 

Poor Gerrit not knowing what hit him last night when he got sick. It was hard to explain what was happening to his body. He just thought I gave him too many gold fish crackers to eat! Works for me. 

I was hoping it was a one and done deal but it wasn't. I had everything taken care of by the time Adam came home from his business dinner only to hear Gerrit crying again - yep, it struck a second time! With Adam home, it was much faster to clean up.  Needless to say, we were starting to run out of sheets and today we did a lot of laundry! Without going into details, Gerrit was a trooper through it all. I stayed home with him as Adam had to do work in the field. He seems to be doing ok, he hasn't eaten much but what he has eaten has stayed down. We are hoping no one else gets it - especially Emmit. No fun having sick kids!

My Sister's Big Day!

Aunt Cara's wedding day finally came on Jan. 2! We had a great time and Gerrit did very well, considering he was dressed up and had to wear a bow tie (which he looked very cute wearing!).

Adam did an amazing job with the ceremony and played the part of 'minister' quite well - if people didn't know him, they would've thought he really was a minister he did so well. He actually might have some future business in marrying a few of my cousins down the road!

Emmit charmed everyone (once he had his nap) and made it easy for me to be mom and in charge of the ceremony.

After much bribing, Gerrit smiled for pictures and walked down the aisle with Mia.

Ella was longing to hold Emmit and couldn't wait for pictures and the ceremony to be over so she could hold him and not worry if her dress got dirty.  

Everyone loved watching the kids' movie between photos, even the woman in charge of the mansion took a break to watch it.

Notice, he's in his undershirt? Yes, as soon as the wedding was over, the shoes, jacket, bow tie, and shirt came off. Luckily he stopped there! :)


Gerrit loved his football guys he got at the end of the wedding and lucky for us, there was a window nook by our table during the reception he was able to use for his field.

Gerrit didn't want to dance so I held him and danced with him that way.

It was great to see my 80+ yr old uncle on the dance floor dancing to Twist and Shout!

The cake topper was made of frosting and included the 2 dogs and a Boston Red Sox hat (in honor of Bill).

It was a long day but well worth it. Cara looked beautiful and it was a perfect wedding for her and Bill.  Congrats to them both!

Win Win

We spent our New Year's Eve watching 2 of our favorite teams...MSU and U of M. Gerrit was sporting his Gopher colors (we figured no one would beat up a 3 yr old wearing 'the other team's colors') while the rest of us sported our green and white. We had great seats (thanks to Oma and Opa and their friends for giving us their tickets) and stayed for the whole game! Both boys did a great job of behaving themselves watched the game.
It was fun to see a former student playing too - he plays for the Gopher's. I didn't have him as a student but he was on the boys team when I was coaching girls at the high school. We saw many recruits walk through those gym doors watching him play which was fun to see!

I love my zoom lens! What great shots I could get when I was quite a ways away!
We ended our evening with dinner and then headed home. Gerrit surprisingly made it till midnight (it was not our intent) and was ok the next day too!

This was a great way and a favorite way to spend New Year's eve in our book! We won no matter who actually won the game too!