First Trip to Minnesota

The "Vis" clan decided to join the Beckerings for a picture

"Cousinly" love!

Dan, Laura, and family

Darin, Tricia, and family

Ella is 5 weeks older than Breanna

Breanna is so tired

The morning routine for Darin...Brayden rubbing his ear

Dad and Ella resting after a big Sunday meal

Grandpa and Nathan

Dan and Nathan

Grandma bonding with Breanna

Our two little energizers.. Brayden and Kylie

Meeting Caleb, Bennet, and Kylie for the first time

Spencer, Cassidy, and Trevor came to meet Ella and Nathan

Grandpa with his "other love" Peaches

We got together with the Van Dyke family

Great Grandpa Lance and Ella

Great Grandma Trena and Nathan

Nathan and Ella made their first trip to Minnesota last week. They actually did great on the 12 hour car ride. Thank goodness they love their car seats and the motion of the car. Of course, it was not without some humor. On the way to Minnesota, we got caught up in traffic right outside of Chicago and the babies woke up and were of course starving. We couldn't get to an off ramp, so I pumped in the car (probably gave some trucker above me a good laugh) and then climbed in the back seat and fed them bottles. Now just remember, we have a small car and so their isn't much room for me to sit between them. Luckily they took the bottles well and we eventually made it to an Oasis stop and were able to get them out to change them and feed them more. We spent four days in Leota and had a chance to spend some quality time with both the VanDyke and the Beckering relatives. Great Grandpa and Grandma VanDyke couldn't get enough of them and Grandpa was trying to get us to buy a very nice vacant house in Leota that was right next to them so they could see them more often! My mom's sisters came for a day to visit and then we all the Van Dyke's got together for a visit. It was so great to see everyone again. Some of my cousins are getting so old and talking about college and such. I still remember changing some of their diapers (Kara!) We also got together with the Beckering clan and that was great, especially since we were unable to be at Grandma Sophie's funeral. Spencer, Cassidy, and Trevor loved holding them and they took turns holding the boy cousin and the girl cousin. We then headed up to Minneapolis with my parents to spend time with my brothers and their family. You can about imagine the chaos of 7 grandchildren under the age of 4. The weekend was all about kids, kids, and kids. Most of the time was just spent holding the babies, being entertained by Caleb and Bennet, or watching Brayden and Kylie find mischief about anywhere! It was so cold out, that we didn't do too many things other than just hang around. The guys did a little planning for their upcoming fishing trip to Canada in June and Tim helped Dan paint a bedroom. The last night Grandpa and Grandma volunteered to babysit all the grand kids so that we could go out for supper with Dan and Laura and Darin and Tricia. It was great to have some adult conversation and catch up without being interrupted by children or babies crying. When we got back, Grandpa and Grandma had some good stories of how the night went while we were gone. Just after we left, Nathan had some projectile spit up and needed to be changed. Just as they were finishing that up, my dad noticed that Kylie and Brayden were giggling underneath the kitchen table. When he got closer he realized they were playing in poop. Kylie had a pull up on and the poop must have escaped from her pull up and was on the floor and on the steps. So they got that cleaned up too and so when we got home Grandpa had the babies downstairs and Grandma was entertaining the others upstairs. We all had to laugh, but I know they loved every minute of it. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone as it always is. These trips are cherished.

Baby Announcment Pictures-"Take 10"

Bright eyes

Taking pictures takes its toll on Ella

"Take #1" Ella calm, Nathan crying

"Take #4" Nathan calm after spitting up, Ella sleeping

"Take #7" Not too bad!

"Take # 10" I think we may have gotten one!

We attempted to take baby announcement pictures this past Sunday and realized how difficult it can be trying to get Nathan and Ella to look at the camera at the same time. They seemed to do opposite of each other. When Ella was calm, Nathan was fussying. When Nathan calmed down, Ella had fallen asleep waiting for him to settle! Finally we got some good ones. Although not perfect, we'll take them. I know there are a couple more pictures of Ella on this update. No favorites intended, Nathan was not wanting his picture taken that day. We'll get more of him soon!

Happy Birthday Brianna Marie!

"I don't know if were ready for a ride?"
Dad and Mom got us a "jogger stroller" so we can ride in it when they run!

Look at my big blue eyes

Watch out boys..here I come

Bother and Sister

I'm all energy right now!

I am so tired

Calm as a cucumber We cannot wait to meet our new little cousin, Breanna

We are so happy to celebrate the arrival of Breanna Marie to Darin and Tricia. She arrived this past Wed. (a couple weeks early). She is healthy and brother Brayden is wondering how his world will change. We are so excited for them. We are hoping to go out to Minnesota in the middle of Feb. We will have the whole Beckering family together. Now there are 7 grandchildren under the age of 4. You can believe my parents are pretty proud. Things have been going well with the Stuive foursome. We have been stuck indoors do to this nasty weather and I have to admit I am going a little stir crazy. Luckily Tim's parents are going to babysit on Saturday night so Tim and I can go on our first date after becomming parents. Ella and Nathan continue to grow as you can see. We are just waiting for them to smile at us. Grandma Stuive is convinced that they might have smiled for her, but we think it was just gas!!!! They continue to grunt and can make some pretty good "tooting" noises. They are still on about a 3-4 hour schedule and one night Nathan went 5 hours from the start time of feeding to the next feeding. We are trying to keep them awake more in the evenings in hope that they will sleep longer at night. We do many experiments, and will let you know if anything consistently works!!!! Oh well, Mom and Dad are getting used to the sleep deprivation!

WE'RE OVER A MONTH OLD

Ella and Nathan are over a month old already. I can hardly believe how time flies. Tim put them on the scale with him and we are guessing they are close to 9.5-10 pounds. They are great little eaters, so I can imagine they will continue to gain weight quickly. We are still are on about a 3-4 hour schedule with them. Some nights are great and other nights....well, let's just say we don't like to repeat those nights. All in all, they are good babies. They still grunt all the time and are continuing to be more alert. Their favorite place to sleep is on any one's chest and they will sleep for hours that way! They are starting to fit into some

0-3 month clothes, but most of the clothes are still somewhat big for them. Both of them have taken up the art of spitting up. Occasionally, Ella gets the nickname, "Old Faithful!" They don't do it every day for which I am thankful. We are so excited for them to start smiling and interacting with us. We are so thankful for their health and we couldn't imagine our life now without them.

Who's sleeping in my bed!

Nathan enjoying some awake time

Nathan has big blue eyes!

What do you see Ella?

Ella is awake!

Ella giving us her serious look!

Curious Nathan

Somebody likes Mom and Dads bed

Nathan (left) Ella (right)

Nathan and Ella have enjoyed sleeping with Mom and Dad in the mornings. If I feed them at 6 or 7am then it seems easier just to let them lay with us for awhile until we get up (or they get us up). One morning, they slept for 2 hours in our bed after we got up. Hey, I am not complaining about that. From the other pictures above, you can tell they are growing and getting more alert. I love to watch them look around and we have gotten some toys out and they love to watch them and are able to follow the toys from side to side. I feel they have been going through growth spurts and want to eat every 2 hours. Yeah for them....but not so great for the mama! Oh well, we enjoy our bonding time.

We don't like this cold weather!

Ella enjoying bath time

Ella getting ready to go away

Where are we going?

can you see how big we are getting!

What a cold weekend! We did venture out to downtown Holland with the babes and did some shopping for a jogger stroller. We are excited to get Ella and Nathan outside and Tim and I are excited to get back into running again! We had a nice weekend and the babies are doing great. The nights are going as good as we can expect and I am hoping this Monday will go good when Tim goes to work. Not a lot new, especially when you don't get out much! We continue to get visitors who want to meet Ella and Nathan and we still are feasting on delicious meals that people have graciously brought us. We are so thankful to everyone!