Ella and Nathan's Dedication: May 4, 2008

All this for me? I think I'd rather take a nap

yummmm...my hands taste good ..who needs cake!

Reading our covenant letter to Nathan and Ella

Nathan chilling after the dedication

Ella finally is enjoying the day (after a good nap)!

"Cousinly love"

These dedications are exhausting

Great friends-Becky and Carissa

Family picture

We feel blessed to have so many family and friends there to share our special day

Dr. Van Genderan (whom I went to Africa with) was able to join us

Ella and Nathan were dedicated to the Lord this past Sunday. It was a truly wonderful and humbling experience as a new parent. We were surrounded by family and friends while we read our covenant letter to Ella and Nathan. We vowed to raise Ella and Nathan as children of God. It was a very special day and we were able to celebrate at Tim's parent's home afterwards.

I so wish my family could have been there, but I know they were there in spirit. As for other updates, we have been excited because Nathan and Ella have slept through the night for two nights in a row. Yeah.........

Mom & Dad...you don't need any sleep!

Not much to update other than mom and dad have recently been denied full nights rest

due to two cute babes who think they have to get up during the night and then are awake and want to play. Last night I worked a 3-11pm shift and got to bed around 1am, only to be woken at 3 by Nathan. I got him down at 3:45am (he wanted to play for awhile). As I laid him back in his crib, Ella decided she wanted to get up, so from 4am to 5am she was awake. They both then were up at 6:30am. Yeah.......not so great. So I should be napping right now, but after drinking my "pot" of coffee, I am rejuvenated!!!! I have to work a night shift tonight, so I am sure I will have another "pot" later!!!! Next update will be their dedication!

Nathan is happy in his bouncy seat

Yes..it is Janet Jackson playing in the background. Occasionally, I go back to my high school favorites.

Ella playing with mom

Thought I would put some video of Ella. Excuse my commentary. It is amazing what you will say or sing to get your kids to smile or giggle!

Go to sleep little baby!

Look at those lips when Ella is sleeping

Nathan can fall asleep any way in dad's arms

We just got back from Nathan and Ella's 4 month appointment. Nathan weighs 14lbs and 3 oz and is 23.5 inches tall. Ella is a little bigger at 15lbs and 5 oz and is 24 inches tall. The doctor says they're making all their milestones and said they're both healthy, happy babies. I don't know how happy they were after getting their shots. I think it gets harder to see them get shots as they get older. Ella cried and cried and tears flowed heavy. Luckily they are both exhausted and sleeping at present. Last time they did not get any fevers or reactions from the shots. I hope this time is the same. We are anticipating their dedication this weekend and wish that my family could be there. We plan to tape it and send it to them. These are the times when we wish we didn't live so far away from my family. I am sure we will have lots of cute photos to post after this weekend.

Nervous Nathan

Enjoy this little video of Nathan getting startled in his exersaucer. We cracked up laughing when we watched this.

4 months old!

Nathan likes to chew on his tongue

I am not so sure about this "pink"bumbo seat that mom keeps putting me in

Look at my pretty dress from Aunt Jessica

Looking slightly dazed and confused

Ella has big smiles for mom

Nathan looking at the camera

Ella looking at the camera


Yesterday, Ella and Nathan turned 4 months old. Hard to believe how fast time goes. They are making many mile stones that I probably have already talked about in the past blogs....giggling, cooing, rolling over, grabbing for toys, drooling and much more! The weather has been so nice this past week so we have been taking many walks. There was a huge garage sale on Wednesday and so we ventured out in the 75 degree weather and then yesterday, I went walking downtown Holland with a girlfriend from work. It is great to get outdoors and it makes the day go faster. Tim has been very busy at Disher design in Zeeland doing contract engineering for them and I keep busy with my 20 hours at work and then taking care of the munchkins! I hope to get some video out soon of them rolling over!

We love to drool!

Instead of pacifiers, our mom give us washcloths to suck on!

See how I like to help my mom with laundry

Trying to get Nathan to look at the camera

Look how strong my neck muscles are. We love our tummy time!

Ella in her "Bumbo"seat

Nathan likes to sit up too!

Thought I would post some quick updates since I have to work the whole weekend and will not have anytime. The babies are really starting to do more things. We put them in the "bumbo" seat and they just sit there like their "big stuff!" I also tried the "exersuacer" and they think that is pretty fun too. They can turn themselves around in it and mom likes it because it will entertain them for awhile. They are also starting to grab for toys. When we put them under the play mat, they will reach up and occasionally will get a toy (on purpose) in their hands. They like to study the toy and of course put it in their mouths. They continue to drool and probably have their hands in their mouth 80% of the time. The other day, they were fussing while I tried to get supper ready, so I gave them each a cold washcloth and they just sucked on those things. It gave me some good entertaining time. It is amazing what you think of to distract them! If I didn't say it last time, Nathan can roll from his back to his tummy and I would say Ella is not too far away. As for Tim and I, we celebrated our 3rd Anniversary this week. This year's celebration included holding babies while we ate lasagna, bathing babies, and putting them to bed, and us going to bed at 10pm. Oh yes, it was very romantic. Truthfully, we hope to do something next weekend just by ourselves! It has been nice weather, so we have taken some walks which is a great way to get out for awhile. We are excited to share that my brother Dan and Laura are expecting their 4th baby in Oct/Nov. We are so happy for them. Our parents will increase their grandchildren to 8 and there will be 4 babies under the age of one by the time Laura has the baby. Wow, Christmas could be chaos! Have a great weekend!

3 months and counting

Updates on Ella and Nathan:

We are having so much fun with them. They are so interactive with us and we get smiles and cooing all the time. Nathan has always been our vocal one, but just lately Ella has found her voice and is starting to make sounds and imitate our voices. When we put them on their tummies, they can really hold their head up well and Nathan can roll from his tummy onto his back. It is fun to see them get more mobile, but I don't think were ready for crawlers yet. They are obsessed with sucking on their hands and also on any one's shirts. If I forget to put a burp cloth over my shirt, it I can literally ring it out with "Ella saliva." They have been doing good at night. Ella longest night was from 9:45pm-7:00am. Yeah! Nathan still seems to like a 3 or 4am snack, but hopefully he will grow out of it or we'll have to do tough love next month. We are excited for their 4 month appointments at the end of this month to see how much they weigh. We are sure that Ella has a pound on Nathan.

Another video

I got excited that the video worked so I tried another one. This one is from Feb, but it is still fun to see them active.

First video

"Daddy Daycare"

Dad was in charge this weekend. I worked a 12 hour shift on Saturday and Sunday and Tim was home with the babies. All went well. They are taking their bottles so much better and Tim said they were very content. 12 hours flies by pretty quickly especially when you are working hard to get out on time. I was pretty tired by Sunday night. Each morning, I would start the day out at 4am (since that is the time that Nathan would get up for his first feeding). I then maybe had 20 minutes before I would get up at 5am and then get Ella up for a feeding. It is tiring, but it works. I give people so much credit for getting up early everyday to get their kids to daycare. I am so glad I only have to feed them and then I can stick them right back in their beds. We have rainy dreary weather this week. I am waiting for some sunshine. The babies continue to grow. We think Ella is maybe a pound bigger than Nathan. You can definitely tell when you hold both of them. They are really getting interactive and their new thing is giggling.