Grad Class 1 Over

I finished my FIRST GVSU grad class last weekend--3 credits down.... 3 credits from MN carried over.... 32 more to go.....

Advice for Newbie Parents

Inspired by V and G's HUGE announcement of Baby E on the way (see previous blog), I decided to blog about all of the random parenting things we have learned....some the hard way!

1. Babies who cry in the middle of the night after three months are NOT hungry--they just have learned that when they cry someone will come in. Our pediatrician in MN was AWESOME--she gave us this tidbit of advice and it changed our life! She said that when kids cry in the middle of the night after three months old, they are NOT starving and need to be fed....instead they are crying as a learned behavior. Her solution to this was to let them cry 15 minutes the first night before going in to soothe the baby--DO NOT FEED. 2nd night, let baby cry 30 minutes before soothing--DO NOT FEED. 3rd night, let baby cry 45 minutes then soothe--DO NOT FEED. 4th night should not wake up. As parents, this is HARD but well worth it as Jack was a GREAT sleeper as a BABY!

2. Play the SAME cd at night as baby falls asleep! This has technique has been awesome for us! MY own doctor (one I had as a teen) gave us this tidbit when we took Jack there our first Christmas with him (croup...nasty to travel with a 4 month old baby who has croup). We started with Luke immediately (around 1 month)--push play as you rock, feed, etc. He now hears the music start and knows it is time to get in bed! Both boys use the same CD so when we travel, they hear the music and no matter where we are, they get into bed and fall asleep FAIRLY easily (not always awesome but pretty good). This has helped us as we have traveled over the years--it has also helped us when the kids wake up in the middle of the night--we soothe, check on them etc. and then push play...music puts them right back in "time to go to sleep" mode!

3. Relax--kids are resilient! Mistakes happen.....like when Luke fell off the dryer (ER trip....was okay)..... and kids survive!

4. Mylecion (GAS X) drops are a new mom's best friend!!!! Jack was a SUPER fussy baby! He cried ALL of the time and seemed to always be in pain--rolling his legs up into a ball. Our friend Chris finally told us her secret for her twins--Mylecion drops! These things cannot hurt the baby! When in doubt, give the reccommended dosage--within 10 minutes Jack was usually much happier and calmed down!

5. Bordeaux Butt Paste---AWESOME diaper rash cream!!!! WORTH the MONEY!!!!!

6. MOM GUILT.....so powerful! Find a friend who will listen to you cry, share, scream, etc.! There are times when you need to just let out your thoughts and feelings and this is VERY healthy! You are not a bad mom! Mom guilt can be a VERY powerful feeling--Taking care of yourself DOES NOT make you selfish--it makes you a good mom who is healthy!!!!!

I am sure I will think of more later....and hope to add them as I think of them.... this allows all of my newbie mom friends to hear my thoughts without me pushing them down their throats :)

Vickie and Gordon VISIT!

Our Pumpkins!
L to R
Vickie's "Jack" Pumpkin, Gordo's pumpkin, Jack and Daddy's Vampire Pumpkin, Luke and Gordo's Pirate Pumpkin!


My best friend Vickie and I met early my Junior year at Hope. I was driving up to MTU for a weekend with Josh and needed someone to share the gas with! I heard of Vickie through the grapevine.... she also had a Fiance up at MTU and probably needed a ride up to visit Gordon. Turns out that Vickie and I were both sped majors at Hope (she was the year ahead of me) and Josh/Gordon were both compuster science majors at MTU. 20 hours of driving over the course of two days (10 there and 10 back) makes you either friends or enemies. We became the best of friends after that first trip!!!! V and I made MANY more road trips together! We are so fortunate now that we are back in MI because V and G are only 3 hours away instead of 10! They came this weekend to spend time with us! :) We had a blast!

The weekend started with a HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT!!!! Vickie and Gordon are expecting their first baby at the end of MAY! (prayers please for a healthy baby!) We are THRILLED for the baby growing inside Vick's "tummy". We spent the majority of the weekend playing with the boys, carving pumpkins, and enjoying conversation. We did take a dinner out as adults Saturday night. It was a FANTASTIC weekend!!!!!! We are so grateful for the blessing of their friendship!

Zoo

Going to the zoo zoo zoo....you can come too too too. we're going to the zoo zoo zoo..... perhaps you are not familiar with Raffi :) Jack and Luke spent an ENTIRE day at the zoo with Grandma and Papa Tractor! Papa had some time off from work this past week so he called up to ask if he could have his grandkids for the day. They had a wonderful day at the zoo--Jack LOVED all the animals but his favorites were the lions, and tigers and bears (oh my). Luke DID NOT love the bears--in fact, even with papa holding him, he cried so hard they had to leave that section. Luke did, however, enjoy the MONKEYS! He may have felt at home with them :) Papa and Grandma were awesome enough to keep the boys for dinner--Josh drove over the Sparta to hang out with me! We went to the staff homecoming tailgate and stayed at the football game until half-time. We then called up our sitters and found out that boys were had a great day and Luke was sleeping (!) and Jack was on his way to bed AT THE FARM! We really had hoped this was the case so we could spend some much needed time together on our date and sleeping in Saturday! We were so crazy--we took in a 9:00 show (Eagle Eye) and didn't get home until midnight :) This is not the norm! Sleeping in Saturday was lovely!!! We are so grateful for our wonderful family!

Farm Visit

We took the Neighbors to Grandpa Tractor's farm last weekend! It was a BLAST :) Fed the cows, rode in the wagon, drove the tractor, roasted hot dogs over a fire, fed fallen apples to the cows, etc. The kids has as much fun as the adults! :)

LumberJack Show in Cedar :)
While Mom had class last weekend, Daddy, Aunt LJ and Uncle John took the boys to the Red Flannel Festival! They got to see the LumberJacks in action! Jack LOVED it....Luke did NOT! They are so cute here holding hands :)

No time to blog...but am anyways

I really have no time to blog right now but who can resist posting just a short one.... yeah I am that nerdy :)

I am busy trying to finish up my grad class--one more weekend. I will start the take-home final today, try to get the project completed (big group one) and also finish a few chapters in the text. It is homecoming this week at school so it is busy there too--at least I am not in charge of student council/homecoming in Sparta so it is less busy for me :) I was observed this week and that went well. I also convinced Josh to go to the homecoming game with me tomorrow :) The boys are heading to the zoo with Grandma and Papa Tractor tomorrow instead of daycare--they are super excited!

That's it for now.... telling myself to stop PROCRASTINATING!

Genuine Comments

Friday was a special day for me at Sparta Middle School. Our 8th grade counselor came in to do a lesson with my advisory students (23 general education kids) and included me as well. We sat in a circle and passed around sheets of paper with our names on top. The directions were to write something positive you have observed on each sheet of paper about the person on the top. I made a point to write something specific for each of my students--even in the short time we have been together this year, I feel I know each one of them pretty well. I was awestruck by the comments from some of my students. Of course there were the more generic "cool" "awesome" "fun" but there were also some more specific comments like "inspiring" "one of my favorite teachers" "kind to every student and faculty member" "energetic and caring". It was good to hear these comments from students I JUST MET a few weeks ago--it was an affirmation that I really needed to hear at this point in the school year. I am sure my students have no clue how much their words meant to me but I am certainly going to try and convey that to them through my own words and actions.

Weekend Visitors

Grandma Woo Woo and Grandpa Dan came for a weekend visit! Jack and Luke had a GREAT time playing :):):) Grandma and Mom went shopping in Holland and Grandville for new clothes for the whipper snappers, while Dad and Grandpa took the boys to the park, got chocolate shakes at McDs and played at home. We also spent some time Sunday having lunch with Aunt Lynda and Uncle John. It was a great visit :)

New Jewelry

Too Cute for Words :) Jack and Luke made necklaces at Daycare Brenda's house earlier this week! Jack made sure to tell me that he got to pick his own string and beads! They were tickled pink with the results and wore them all around the house for the rest of the night!

Destruct-O

I think Lukie will be Destruct-O for Halloween :) He seems to break lots of things and gets into ABSOLUTELY everything....Jack wants to be batman :)