Greta's Baptism

Yesterday was a special day for Greta.  Not only did she turn 4 months, she also got baptized! (and as a side note, I realized on Saturday that Saturday marked 12 years since Joe and my first date!)  We are so blessed to have three healthy children that are so loved by family and friends, and most importantly, by God!  We love our little Greta Paige and are so glad that God has entrusted her in our care.

She woke up as she normally does at about 8:15 which worked perfect for 9:30 church. Unfortunately, we forgot her sweater (feels like there's always something we forget, especially early in the morning!), good thing she plans on wearing this dress for Easter too, so she'll wear it then:).

 A quick pic with Grampy and Gigi before the service...

 Gibson did better than I expected having him sit in church with us.  He was first mad when we went up there that he couldn't take the Bible up there with him (I didn't think that'd be a good idea as he'd probably drop it or throw it or something while we were up there!), but I quickly handed him a bulletin and he was happy with that thankfully.  It looks like he's looking at a map in this picture, like he's trying to figure out where to go:).  Not real interested in the baptism:).

 After we sat back down, there was a little more church for him to sit through and then it was time for the kids to go up for a Children's Message and then they go to Children's Worship (like Sunday School during church).  Layla went up for the Children's Message and before I could take away Gibs' pencil and coloring book, he went right up there too and sat down.  Guess he's not as shy as Layla was as it took us quite a few Sundays to get her used to going up there by herself!  And thankfully he wasn't too distracting up there, just a few "Lala??"'s as he was trying to look around to find where Layla was sitting. 

 Greta sat happily the first part of the service and then after I left to walk Gibson out to nursery (after the Children's Message) she fell asleep in Joe's arms. 

 I know his seersucker suit and pink flowerd bow tie might be a little over the top, but I figure I might as well enjoy being able to dress him how I want to while I can, right? :)  I thought maybe he'd try to pull the bow tie off (and therefore ordered one that clips in the back instead of velcros), but he didn't mind it at all.  I think he felt like a little stud, probably especially b/c he got lots of compliments on his getup:).

 

We had a lunch afterwards with our immediate family and friends.

 So nice to have it this time of year so we could have tulips, I love tulips!  Thanks to my dad for searching many Meijers and D & W's to find me pink and yellow tulips:).

 Yummy cake!

 Uncle Steve and Greta...

Holding on to her baptism necklace from Grampy and Gigi...

 Family photo attempt...

 And again...(not sure really which is better, Gibs was not excited about it)...

 Greta and her friend, Deacon (and both of their mommies)...

 For lunch I just made bbq to make it easy and pb&j's for the kids in fun spring shapes.  Thanks to our families for helping with the yummy salads and chips to go with it!

Layla and Kali (Layla loves talking about Kali and you can tell she looks up to her.  And Kali is sweet enough to listen and be nice to Layla:D)...

Auntie Em with Harper and me with Greta...

Us with Greta, obviously:)...

After lunch the kids loved running around...

Gibs and Maddy deep in conversation:)...

More running around...

Layla and Jonathan taking a break long enough for me to take a picture...

The kids actually all listened to me when I asked them to sit in a chair for a pic...(that's okay that no one but Layla is the only one smiling, at least they all sat down:D)

 Loving her fingers...

So excited about being baptized! :)

Grets and Mommy...

And Greta and Harper relaxing in their seats while we picked up...

3 Months!

My baby girl is 3 months old!  We love her more every day and it has been cute to see her little personality come out a little bit more.  Had I written this last weekend like I intended to, I would have said that she is a super easy laid back baby, but she's been a grumpy at times the past few days.  She's been acting more like she did the first month of her life--just not content doing one thing for very long.  So hopefully this is a short phase and something is just bothering her now, but hopefully our sweet little girl will return soon.  Otherwise, normally this past month she just loves sitting in her little chair watching her brother and sister. She loves her play mat too, but for about 10 minutes, then she just wants to sit:).  We've heard some slight giggles, but nothing too big yet.  She is a good sleeper at night and most days a good napper, but not always.  Her schedule is to get up around 8 (this week it's been more like 8:30/9), eats, plays, naps from 10-11ish and then eats "lunch" at about 11:30, naps around 1 (the same as Gibs) and sometimes only naps an hour but sometimes a few hours. If she only naps an hour then, then she will normally take a long nap after her 2:30ish bottle, but it works well when her 1:00 nap is her 3 hour nap since that is the same time as Layla's "rest" time and Gibs' nap.  She then eats around 5 and just kind of cat naps in her chair or her bouncy seat until she eats again at 8 or a bit before and then goes to bed right after she eats and sleeps until 8 or 9.  I remember our other 2 kids always going to bed at 7 instead of 8, but I can't remember when they did that, plus right now, we're often finishing up supper at 7 so it works well to finish dinner, put the big kids to bed at 7:30 or a little after and then put her down at 8 (or if she's really hungry one of us puts the other two down while one feeds her which when she has gone to bed at 7:30 she does sleep still until 8ish).  So for now her 8pm bedtime works.  She had a head check (since she has a major flat spot on her left side) last week so it worked well that we could get her 3 month stats.  The dr really doesn't know if she'll need a helmet.  We have excersises to do with her head and she does seem to look more to her right now, but still overall favors looking left.  Every night before bed I flip her head to the right side and maybe 25% of the time she's already looking right.  Hopefully doing these things will help, but I'm a bit afraid the damage is already done:(.  I know lots of kids get helmets and they're not that big of a deal and the kid adjusts and it's a short period of time, but I'll still feel bad for her having to wear it, plus it's really expensive! :(  So we'll see!

I woke her up from her nap the other day since it was 5:30 (I know some people would never wake a sleeping baby, but I like my time to myself at night, so I like my kids in bed on time:D) and she was facing the right way and how her head was on her pipe she was pushing down on the part of that side that now sticks out (like from flattening one side it makes her head stick out on the other side), if only she could always sleep like that:).  I took a pic since I think sleeping babies are cute:).

Oh, and she is having no problems gaining weight!  She was 13 lbs 3.5 oz and 23" long.  She fits still in all her 0-3 month stuff, but wears some 3-6 month stuff now too mainly to expand her wardrobe:). She is still in size 1 diapers.

 Her brother and sister just can't get enough of her:)...

 I think it is cute that Layla has recently taken such a liking to my Cabbage Patch Kid from when I was little.  She's got lots of dolls plus I still have at least 5 of my old CPKs and she picks the one that always my favorite too.  Not sure what it is about Marcy:).  I know that one of the reasons I always liked her when I was little b/c my mom had told me that they almost named me Marcy:).  Marcy now sometimes eats dinner with us and plays with Greta and even gets to wear Layla's old clothes.  Preemie clothes fit CPKs perfectly:).

Greta enjoying playing with Gibs and Layla:) (yes, that is what Layla's hair looks like every morning)...

Layla has been into making forts all over the house recently.  The other morning she thought Greta would enjoy being in a for too:).  Gibs I'm sure would have joined in (and possibly wrecked it), but he was eating breakfast.

This morning Layla thought Greta needed a breakfast of burger buns, a croissant, a McDonald's water and cupcakes:).  And yes, Gibs is about to hit Layla on the head with the spatula:)--thankfully not hard, it was more of a rub:).

Princess Layla

Like many typical 3 year old girls, Layla loves the Disney Princesses.  When I saw awhile ago that Disney Live! was coming to GR and was the stories of Cinderella, Snow White and Belle, I knew Layla would love to go.  We debated taking Gibs with too, but I wasn't sure how well he'd sit through it, plus since we needed to get a sitter for Greta anyway, I figured it'd be cheaper to just drop him off too:).  And he wouldn't know the difference anyway.  Plus it was nice to spend time with just Layla since with 2 little siblings, she doesn't get much time with just mom and dad. 

She had never been to the Van Andel before and I could tell she was a little overwhelmed by all the people at first.  When we saw all the Disney stuff for sale I told her she could pick out one thing.  She wanted a Disney cup, which we have tons of, so I asked her if she wanted something else and she wasn't sure.  But then when we came upon another table full of Disney stuff the only thing she really wanted was a Cinderella thing that spins.  So that is what she got.  I felt bad that Gibs didn't get anything, but again, he doesn't really know the difference:).  And she's been very good at sharing her spinning Cinderella:).  She already talks about "next time" we go to the Princess Show how Gibs can come with and he can get a spinning Mickey.

With her new Cinderella and a fry:)...

Jonathan and Maddy are big Disney fans too, so we met them there.  They both got Mickey crowns and surprisingly Layla didn't even ask for one.

 

When she saw Cinderella come on the stage she got excited since she has Cinderella's dress.  There were lots of little princesses dressed up there, but she didn't seem to mind that she didn't wear her costume.  She's having a Disney Princess birthday party this year and I've tried asking her which one is her favorite (and might then get her a new costume at her party) and she sometimes says Belle, somtimes Ariel, sometimes Tiana, sometimes Aurora, and sometimes Cinderella.  Or sometimes she says she likes them all:).

Donald, Goofy, Mickey and Minnie "hosted" the show, which probably would have been Gibs' favorite part if he was there because he LOVES those four.  We have Disney magnets on our fridge of Minnie, Mickey, Goofy and Donald and Gibs takes Mickey, Goofy and Donald with him all over.  They don't do anything, but LOVES them.  Funny what toys kids find interesting--sometimes the cheapest ones are the most fun!  The kids got Happy Meals last week and instead of liking the toy in the box, they both really liked the little cards that you could punch out of the box. 

Layla likes looking at pictures on our computer, so I figured she'd enjoy it if I took some of the princesses (and their friends).

All the princesses together at the end...

 Waving good-bye to Mickey...see you next year!! :)

 We went with the Heukers to the BOB afterwards for a quick dinner before heading home...

And somehow this is out of order...

Play Date

A couple of weeks ago we met Jill, Ella and Kipton and Jamie, Alden and Caleb for a play date.  It was good to see them and the kids of course had lots of fun.  It's so nice now with Gibs and Layla both being old enough to play nicely on their own (pretty much).  Last summer I didn't quite trust Gibson on play ground equipment and with having a baby to watch as well, it's nice that he can go off and play (while keeping an eye on him still, obviously).  I had never been to this play area at Christ Memorial before.  It was great for toddlers--we'd definitely go back! 

Kipton and Gibson both with funny looks...

 Ella and Layla...

 Layla, Gibs, Ella and Alden...