Funny Videos

I'm not sure why I have more posts this month than any other month of blogging, but perhaps it's just that I know looking back on these few months will likely be a blur and I want to be sure I can look back and remember some of the important and fun moments (and perhaps make up for my lack of postings in December). 

The twins are silly as can be lately and we have a few fun videos I just need to share!

Spring Training at the Ploegs

Sam & Ty love to be "Nakee Boys" (aka run around in just a diaper)

Baptism

This past Sunday, January 15, was Lucas' baptism.  Once again, it was a wonderful day and I felt much of the same feelings as I did when Samuel and Tyler were baptized:  an amazing sense of tradition of the blessing of baptism that I too received as a baby, of responsibility for this little man to raise him to know and love Jesus, of joy for the precious gift of a child, and of community as family and friends promise to help teach him about God.  I found that this time, more so than last (probably due to the fact we had two two-year olds on top of the baby), felt much like a wedding or other special occasion where the anticipation is fun but a lot of work, the actual event feels like a blur, and the craziness of the day almost overshadows the importance of the event.  Like a wedding, it is easy to go through the motions and then suddenly realize it's over (with a sigh of relief) and you've actually made some pretty important promises.  Promises that truly matter (eternally matter) and that require a lot of work.  Yikes!  As I said last time, praise God for the blessing of community and family to help when these promises feel overwhelming, when we don't feel quite adequate, and when we simply need help.

Lucas Brian

My dear friend Kerry was at it again -- she took some amazing pictures of Lucas when he was just a week or so old and I'd say they turned out pretty great.  Isn't he cute?

Christmas 2011

Merry Belated Christmas!  Having a baby in December makes things a little crazy ... and it makes you think.  I remember this last time too -- first of all, the month flies by with all the new-ness, the busy-ness, and the crazy-ness: baby, Christmas, family, parties, presents, etc.  It also makes you take a second look at the amazing story that is Christmas.  How God sent us his son and this poor teenager, Mary, had to give birth her first time in a barn.  A nasty, stinky, dirty barn and perhaps without the female support (mom, sisters, doula, or whatever they had to help you get through it back then) to help her.  While I'm sure Joseph, like Jack, was amazing but she must have been terrified.  Or perhaps not.  Maybe in the wonderful way God works, she was perfectly calm, perfectly ready, perfectly confident that she could handle it.  That she could handle delivering and being the mother to the son of God. 
I also look at this precious, perfect baby of mine and it's a stunning visual reminder of the gift of baby Jesus.  Joy to the World!

We had a wonderful Christmas with family.  We scheduled the VanderLugt Christmas party early in anticipation of the three babies due on the 23rd (Lucas, arrived the 4th), 27th (Levi, arrived the 20th) and January 2 (Mackenzie, arrived on time!).  It was lots of fun and lots of activity with all the excited kids!

Jack and I did Christmas with "our" family on Christmas Eve and we got the boys a golf set.  They LOVE it (anyone shocked?).  They carried it around for two days straight. 

Christmas with the VanderPloegs was on Christmas day.  It was a busy one complete with church, a birthday celebration for the twins + Uncle Bri (before dinner at the Ploeg's as our original date was bumped by Lucas' birth), lunch, presents, trains, tackling cousins, and peppermint ice cream pie.  One nice thing about the cousins being a little older is that they graciously let Sam & Tyler "help" them open all their presents (they caught on fast). 

Christmas 2011 was a wonderful time with family celebrating the birth of our Lord!  Merry Late Christmas!  

A Year in Review: 2011

A year in pictures:  Highlights of 2011 that didn't make the original reel of posts. 

JANUARY

The Boys' 1 Year Picture (actually from December 2010)

Samuel - January 2011

Tyler - January 2011

FEBRUARY

Happy 29th Birthday Mommy!

MARCH

Sam LOVES shoes

Tyler -- Loves his naps

APRIL

Early spring baseball

MAY

Boys on the porch ... showing off their muscles!

JUNE

Sam!

Tyler!

JULY

Camp VLugt

AUGUST

Sam -- Loves to stand on the chair by the counter

 

Tyler -- new carpet on the porch = whole new play space!

SEPTEMBER

Reading time with daddy on the bed

OCTOBER

Baby Lucas on the way! (7 mths)

Go Tigers!

NOVEMBER

Tyler helping with Christmas lights

Sam helping with Christmas lights

DECEMBER

Our precious Lucas arrived!  12.4.11

And I haven't quite gotten to the Christmas post yet ... but that's coming too!  What a year!  It's amazing how much they change and grow!!

Baby Lucas

We got an early Christmas present this year -- Baby Lucas (also known as "Bebe Wookie" by Sam &
Ty) arrived December 4, 2011 at 12:52am weighing 8lbs 7oz and 21 inches long. 

It all started when I went in for a regular check-up on Friday, December 2 to my OB.  Without going into too many details, she told me things were progressing and I might even go that weekend.  I was blown away.  And I really didn't believe her (I wasn't due until December 23rd).  I started having contractions early Saturday morning and they continued all day Saturday.  Jack says he knew we were in for it when I dropped an entire gallon of OJ on the floor and it cracked (the plastic split on impact, juice everywhere) at 6am when getting juice for Sam & Ty.  I finally called the doctor around 4pm (Jack had gone into work and we had a Christmas party that evening so perhaps I was procrastinating a little) and shortly thereafter, the contractions became a little more intense.  I still thought maybe we'd be sent home and we could go to our party ...but alas, we were admitted (total denial).

We got settled in to our room, we both took a nap, and then boom: water broke at midnight, Lucas arrived at 12:52 (the doctor barely made it).  Because he came early, and because we were deadlocked, he was BabyBoy VanderPloeg for about 20 minutes while we decided on a name but now we are thrilled with "Lucas".

As he lays sleeping on my chest now, I can still hardly believe he is here.  It's amazing how something so small fit in my belly only a few weeks ago.  He is beautiful and healthy.  He is sleepy and cuddly.  He is simply perfect.

Thanksgiving Weekend

It has been a very busy couple days. On Wednesday, we carpeted our upstairs stairway and the two bedrooms in order to move the boys upstairs. While we loved the look of the hardwood steps, it just simply wasn't safe with the boys in socks or sleepers going up and down those slippery steps. We officially moved them up last night and it went really well! (Note: we did have to take apart their two cribs and then put together the three in one night ... something I never would have envisioned as an exciting Saturday night activity). Their room needs a little bit of love in terms of stuff on the wall and it is certainly an adjustment not having them in "their" old room (for us maybe even more than them -- it just seems empty), but overall it looks good. I even got the new crib bedding washed up and on the new crib and that looks pretty nice too. 



Stairs Before

Stairs After

Thursday was a busy day of Thanksgiving with family. I played my trumpet at church so we had to get a little early start to the morning for practice and then went straight from the service to my folks' house. After a fabulous dinner with my family, we went over to the Ploeg's for the afternoon and didn't get home until 7pm -- it was a long day but the boys did pretty well.




Sam's Cookie Area

Tyler's Cookie Area

Friday was the annual Christmas cookie-a-thon with the VLugts at my mom's house. It's funny how things have changed over the years as we now have more kids than moms which means lots of rotation of who is watching the kids vs. the cookies but the results were delicious. My buddies even got in on the decorating (I have a wonderfully relaxed mom who doesn't get worked up about a sprinkle or two on the floor)! Friday afternoon I also had a dinner date with two of my high school friends who I don't get to see often enough and it was so wonderful to catch up.



Saturday was a much needed day of relative quiet with just me and the boys (Jack was working). The boys and I put up some Christmas decorations, went to the grocery store, played outside, and just hung out. I even squeezed in a nap!

Sunday was the VLugt birthday celebration of the twins turing two. I can hardly believe my babies are two! My mom made them special diet-friendly cupcakes which they loved (I tried them and they were actually good -- this is not always the case with these gluten free, dairy free, etc. mixes). They also made quite a haul in terms of presents: Elmo's, baseball gloves, PJ's, noisy Tonka trucks (with no off switch -- thanks Kristin), books, a Thomas movie, and an art easel with supplies (and probably more that I forgot). They absolutely loved it. I wasn't sure how much they'd get into it but they were both honestly pumped about all of it! Ty was particularly excited about his own glove as Sam wasn't much of a sharer of daddy's old one.

For years I have loved celebrating my beautiful niece and nephews' birthdays with presents, cake, and fun for their special day but I find when the attention is turned towards my kids, I have a lot of the same feelings I felt with my baby or wedding showers -- this is all too much! You are all too nice! I hope this wasn't too much trouble! As I have said before, I have a wonderful family and on this weekend of Thanksgiving and with all its activity, I am reminded how lucky I am to be surrounded by a family who loves me (and my kids) as much as I love them.

Praise the Lord for all his wonderful blessings!

The boys totally zoned out after a busy weekend.