What Carson has been up to...

I realized I haven't really given any updates about Carson and what he is doing of late, so I figured it was time for one. Carson turned 4 months last Friday and we go this Friday for his 4-month well-baby visit. We'll get more immunizations, which hopefully go over a little better this time around. As I mentioned yesterday, he's just beginning to cut his first tooth. For those experienced moms that read this, do you remember how long it takes from beginning to see the tooth till its through all the way? I hope its not too long. Although I guess it has taken him 4 months to get this far, right?

Carson played in his exersaucer for the first time a couple of weeks ago. He wasn't too sure about it at first, feeling kind of unsteady, but he's getting used to it and plays in it a bit longer each time we try it now. He gets frustrated because he can't pull the attachments to his mouth, though. Speaking of which - EVERYTHING goes to his mouth now. He is constantly chewing on something and drooling everywhere... which is due to the teething I guess. He's been giving the open-mouthed baby kisses for quite a while now and they're progressively getting more and more wet. :)

Carson still isn't showing much interest in rolling over. He absolutely hates his tummy time still, so he doesn't ever give it much chance to get from tummy to back, so who knows when he'll go from his back to his tummy. He's much more interested in sitting up and standing - with assistance of course. He loves to grab hold of your fingers and go from lying on his back to sitting to standing - he just gets so proud and excited! Its so cute!

I think Carson has definitely got his Mama's social personality. I will lay him in his crib to watch his mobile (which he still loves) and play with some toys while I'm making dinner and he just complains and complains until I go in there and pay attention to him. He isn't fussing, but he's just complaining. He gets to the point where he's yelling sometimes - its kind of funny. When he's complaining, it almost sounds like he says mama, but of course he has no idea what he's saying still. As soon as he hears me coming towards his room, the complaining will stop and I'll be greeted with a big, drooley smile when he sees me. Then he'll start babbling till I leave again when he starts his complaining. I think he thinks its a game, which I guess it kind of is. :)

We finally transitioned Carson to his crib for night-time sleeping on the 6th, I believe it was. It went very smoothly. He was waking during the night for a feeding there for a week or two, but that has settled back again and he's now sleeping through again. Generally, he sleeps about 9-10 hours when he wakes up to eat, up for 20-30 minutes to eat a quick bottle, then sleeps again for another 2 hours when he's ready to be up for the day. He doesn't seem to nap well for either of his Grandmas when they watch him during the week, but he takes great naps for my Aunt Jeri during the week and for me on the weekend. Generally a 2-hour nap mid-mornng, and then a 3-hour nap around lunch time, then a quick 45 minute nap in the late afternoon. I wish he'd do the same when he's at either Grandma Holleboom's or Grandma Moore's. I'm not sure why he doesn't.

Anyway, there were other things I had thought to write of, but I can't remember them now. I'll make another post later if I think of them.

Open Houses, Father's Day, and Other Family Happenings

Last week was a very emotional, rough week for my entire family. I thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers, they are much appreciated. The healing process will be a long one for everyone, but especially for my Aunt Sharon, Uncle Dave, cousins Becky and Charlie. So please continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

On Saturday, after spending some time at my Aunt Sharon's, we went out to Holly to attend my cousin Crystal's high school graduation open house. Carson was such a good little boy! After such a rough week of having his routines flipped upside down and all around, he'd been having a very bad morning and afternoon, but he was so good at the open house. Let's hope he is just as good next weekend - we'll be at an open house on Saturday and on Sunday for more cousins.

Yesterday was Kevin's first Father's Day (and you know, we didn't get one picture with just Kevin and Carson together). I think he had a pretty good day. Carson and I got him a hammock for relaxation in the yard. We went out to my Aunt Jeri's for a family party and Kevin got to drive my uncle's Ski Nautique and do some wakeboarding, so he was pretty stoked about that. Carson went on his first pontoon boat ride, too! He slept just about the entire time. We didn't try swimming yet since the water is still a bit chilly for his liking, but we're hoping to try swimming in the lake on the 4th of July!

For about 5 or 6 weeks now, we've known that Carson was starting to teethe, but hadn't seen anything or felt anything coming through yet. Well, yesterday I noticed that his first tooth is starting to break through on the bottom!! Its just the tip, so it still has a ways to come. The poor baby, having his routines all messed up last week and having to deal with the pain of cutting his first tooth! Poor thing! At least it explains why he was so extra fussy last week, though.

Anyway, be sure to check out the latest pictures from Crystal's open house and Father's Day at the link to the right!

RIP Jason and Rachelle

For those of you that haven't heard, my cousin Jason and his girlfriend Rachelle passed away yesterday from carbon monoxide poisoning (link to news story). I guess it is a blessing that they didn't suffer, but it really doesn't make it any easier. Thank God that the ambulance got there when they did to save Becky, too.

Please keep my Aunt Sharon, Uncle Dave, cousin Becky, the rest of my family, and Rachelle's family in your thoughts. This next week and the weeks to come will be very difficult for everyone.

Cousin Rebecca's Baptism

Today we traveled west to Grand Rapids to attend the baptism of Rebecca Jean Voogt at Seymour Christian Reformed Church. It was a very nice service and the pastor that baptized Rebecca was great. She was a perfect little angel during the baptism, not even waking up when the water was put to her head. After the church service, the family traveled to Grandville to Justin and Mary's house for a luncheon in honor of Rebecca's baptism. It was the first time since I think probably Christmas that all the Hollebooms were together all at once. It was quite hot, but nothing that we couldn't handle (though Carson did throw a fit at one point :). It was a very nice afternoon, indeed. The drive home was quite entertaining, at least the first half hour of it as we were driving directly with a terrible line of storms. Luckily the tornadoes didn't start out in Grand Rapids, so we were ahead of the storm and made it in the house with about 15 minutes to spare before we had to head to the basement!

Here are just a few pictures from this afternoon. Check out the link on the right for more pictures from the luncheon. The picture above represents four generations of the Van Heukelum gals - Mary with Rebecca, Great Grandma Van H, and Grandma Holleboom.

And here are four generations of Van Heukelum/Holleboom boys - Great Grandpa Van H, Kevin with Carson, and Grandpa Holleboom.


And just a couple from the car ride home (after we made it through the storms). Carson just wasn't into the sleeping in the car thing today. Rather, he wanted to talk and play the entire time.

New stroller

After much deliberation between the different options, we bought a BOB Revolution on Thursday. Both strollers were great strollers, so it was a tough decision, but we ultimately think the BOB will meet our needs just a little better than the Baby Jogger would have. With the shock absorbers, it'll be better for using it on our property and on trails. Plus, with the larger, more rugged tires, it'll go through sand and slush and snow better. We haven't had a chance to test it out yet with Carson in it, but hopefully we'll have a chance a bit later. Hopefully he enjoys it!

Stroller shopping

This isn't really family news, just a small dilemma I'm having in trying to decide on a new stroller. So I figured I'd blog about it and maybe the answer would become more clear. So bear with me.

We've realized that our Chicco Trevi and our Peg Perego Venezia just don't cut it in the realm of strollers. We should have gone with an all-terrain stroller from the beginning, but oh well. You live and you learn. The Chicco and the Peg would be fine if we were just using them on sidewalks and at the mall and such, but we would like to use them around the property and yard a lot more... they're quite difficult to maneuver through grass and over tree roots and bumps. And they don't move at all through sand. So we're realizing we really are in need of an all-terrain stroller... a jogging type.

So that brings me to the dilemma of which to go with... the BOB Revolution, the Baby Jogger City Classic, or the Baby Jogger City Elite.

The Baby Jogger City Elite has all the features of the City Classic, plus some additional features... a parent console, magnetic vents and viewing panels in the sun shade (instead of velcro), a vented seat back, much more padding in the seat, and different color schemes. And I think I've made the decision it'd be worth the extra $50 for the Elite over the Classic just for those additional features. The real dilemma is between the Baby Jogger and the BOB.

The BOB has a more rugged look with larger tires than the BJ and would be much better for trails and for running if we ever did jog with it. It has an adjustable locking front wheel so you can tweak it if need be, which makes it better for off-road trails, too. The major positive feature of the BOB is the suspension... it has adjustable shock absorbers whereas the BJ does not. The BJ is a much stiffer ride compared to the BOB. This is what causes me my biggest dilemma. The suspension would be so nice, and much safer, really for Carson or a future baby so they're not jarred around so much.

But I like that the BJ has a one-step fold, whereas the BOB is a two-step and I don't really think it could be done one-handed. Granted, a one-handed fold isn't that important to me really since I've never folded our other strollers one-handed or while holding Carson. Both the BOB and BJ unfold the same. The BOB is a bit larger than the BJ when folded up. So that will probably be a key deciding factor... whether the BOB fits in the Vibe. We know the BJ will fit since Justin and Mary have a City Classic and they have a Vibe, too. They both weigh about the same. And both have color options that I like, though I do favor the BOB's color choices better... although I don't know if I'd go for the orange one or the light blue and brown one. We'd get the tan and black City Elite if we went that way. The BJ has a much plusher seat... the BOB is basically just flat foam, whereas the BJ is cushy padding. The 5-point harness on the BOB adjusts much easier than the BJ. Both have equally large sun shades, though the BJ has side vents and two windows, whereas the BOB just has one window. I wish I could get the BJ sunshade on the BOB. Then the BOB would be almost perfect! :)

So anyway, I don't think I'm any closer to making a decision. I think we'll stop at Moosejaw in East Lansing on our way home from Grand Rapids on Sunday so that Kevin can see the two strollers and do a comparison of his own. And we'll have to see how the BOB fits in the Vibe. Then we can make our decision.

A productive Memorial Day weekend

We've had quite a productive weekend this past weekend. Kevin and I both took a vacation day on Friday, so we had a nice 4-day weekend. We made a lot of progress on our fencing project - thanks to all the help we had on Saturday and Monday from my parents, Jason, Bruce, Danny, and the guy on the Bobcat! For those that don't know, we're fencing in about an acre of our backyard for Jet. It'll also be very nice next year once Carson is mobile - I won't have to worry so much about our busy road. On Saturday morning, we rented a towable auger to dig all the post holes. They got all the holes dug and all the posts in. Yesterday, my Dad hired a guy on a Bobcat to come do a bunch of demo work along the side property lines so we're able to get in there in the next couple of weeks to get the fence down the sides. They also got the privacy panels secured yesterday. We still have to fabricate a gate on the south side of the house, run the chain link across the back once those posts are fully set, pound the posts down the sides and run the fence down the sides. So it'll be a few weeks before its done still, but it'll be so nice to have it done once it is!

On Sunday, we went to my Aunt Sharon's for a family party on the lake. We were planning to take Carson for his first boat ride, but it seemed a little chilly for it with the breeze. Turns out he probably would have been fine according to those that went for a ride, oh well. Next time. Then on Monday, Kevin's grandparents, Uncle Chuck, and Aunt Marcia stopped by for a visit. They were there during the Bobcat demo, so they got to witness all the trees and brush coming down.

I was finally able to get my annuals planted in the front. I didn't plant the rest of the veggie garden like I'd planned to, because the weather forecast shows a frost advisory tonight. I'm thinking I'll get out there either tomorrow evening, Thursday evening, or Friday when I'm off to get the rest of the veggies planted. And hopefully Kevin is able to rototill the side yard in front of the privacy fence so we can rake it smooth and get it seeded. It'll look so much nicer once we get some grass growing over there. The same goes in the backyard where we tore out all those gardens last year.

All in all, it was a great weekend. I know Kevin and I are both sore from all the work we did outdoors. Our yard is a wreck again with all the brush and trees everywhere, but we'll get it cleaned up in the next couple weeks.

Gunky eyes and sleeping

So I took Carson to see Dr. Akrawi yesterday so he could check out his gunky eyes. They've been gunky basically since he got his 2-month immunizations, but they got a little better, then worse again now. I just kept assuming he'd inherited Kevin's allergies this time of year, since the doc had mentioned it was possible before. Well, it turns out he has immature tear ducts that are clogged and now slightly infected. Poor baby! :( So we have to put eye drops in for five days to see how they do. Also have to massage his inner eye and down his nose a few times a day until we're told otherwise. If they continue to have problems at age six months, he said he'd have to send us to an eye specialist to see about surgically unclogging them. I surely hope that it doesn't come to that!!

I'm happy to say that Carson has slept through the night completely for the last two nights. We'll see if it continues, or if its just a fluke thing. He's been going to bed and then sleeping until 4:00am yesterday morning and until 5:30am this morning. So 8.5 hours Sunday night and 9.5 hours last night!! Now, this won't be considered through the night on a weekend for us, but we're up at 4am every morning during the week, so it is through the night for us during the week, at least.

Bittersweet

We're feeling very bittersweet at the moment. As I mentioned on Tuesday, we listed our beloved boat for sale on Craigs List. It generated a lot of interest, we had five people lined up that wanted to come see it. The first of which came this afternoon at 2:00. After a little stress when the boat wouldn't start... we wanted to wait till they got here so they could experience the hardest start of the year... the first one of the season. We've never had any problems with it starting, but it just wasn't having it at that point. Kevin chalked it up to a bad starter. My grandparents were here at the time and my Grandpa wanted him to try it on the jumper cables, just in case it was the battery. Kevin didn't think it was the battery and so did not try it till after the people left. Low and behold, once he hooked up the jump pack, the boat started. So I quickly called them back to see if they could come back. They did and ended up putting a deposit down on it. They'll be back tomorrow evening with a cashier's check and will be taking the boat with them. I honestly think Kevin and I will probably cry when they drive off with it. We've just had so many good times on that boat and we have a lot of happy memories on it. It was the first thing we bought jointly the year before we were married. We just have a lot of history in the three short years we've owned it. Most of the problem is that we just didn't expect it to happen this quickly... less than a week and its gone. It's hardly given us time to adjust. Especially considering we listed it so quickly after even considering it so that we wouldn't change our minds. Anyway, you probably think we're crazy getting this emotional over a boat, but we loved that boat so much. Yes, we'll get a new one in the next year or two. One that will meet our needs better than this one, but this will always be our first boat.

Sustainability, 3 months

I've been on this whole sustainability kick lately. With all the rage over climate change and the price of food rising every month it seems, it has just led me to start thinking about how our family can be more sustainable. I calculated our carbon footprint a while back and it just about made me sick. This, in part with the rising price of a gallon of gasoline, led us to purchase a new commuter car for me. The Trailblazer at 16-18 mpg just wasn't going to cut it anymore. We looked for about two weeks before we bought this white Pontiac Vibe. Doing so has broken my three cardinal rules of vehicular ownership... 1) Never drive a 4-banger, 2) Always have leather, 3) Always have lighted vanity mirrors. Its hard to admit, but I now drive a 4-cylinder, cloth-seated Vibe with no lights on the vanity mirrors as my daily beater. At least it has a sunroof! :) Now don't get me wrong, its really not a terrible car... its just not my Trailblazer. The switch went a lot smoother for me than I thought it would... I thought I'd HATE the Vibe, but I don't. Now I don't LOVE it either... and probably never will... but I can deal with that and the incredibly loud amount of road noise if I'm saving oodles on gas (yeah for 33 mpg!!) and reducing my carbon footprint. :)

As another chapter in my quest to become more sustainable, I've been doing a lot more research (in the very little spare time I have anymore) on canning and preserving food. I've learned that I'm going to have to invest in one of those 2-burner propane camp stoves (like a Camp Chef) to do my canning, especially if I want to do the boiling water bath canning. My ceramic cooktop just isn't going to cut it... I knew I should have stuck to my guns last year and gotten what I really wanted... basically the same range I got, but with the electric double ovens and a gas cooktop range (instead of the smoothtop electric that I have)... but oh well. I can get away with doing pressure canning on it by the sounds of it, but not BWB canning. Kind of a bummer, but at least there is an alternative... plus it might work out better that way anyway since I won't have to heat the house up so much if I do it outside. I've been looking into canners a lot, too. I think I'm going to get a pressure canner so that I can do everything I want to do... and it doubles as a BWB canner if I want to do that, too. They're more expensive, but I think it'll be a better investment for me in the long run if I continue canning (which I hope to and probably will need to if the price of food keeps skyrocketing!).

Anyway, those are just but a couple of ways I'm looking to become more sustainable.

So my little man turned 3 months this past Tuesday (May 13th). Its hard to believe he's already 3 months old. But yet it feels like he's been around for so long. Just goes back to the fact that I can't imagine life without him, I guess. Carson is still very vocal and smiley. He's chewing on his hands almost constantly now, it seems, drooling the entire time. One of these days, he'll end up getting his entire fist into his mouth with the way he tries shoving it in there. He's starting the everything goes to my mouth phase, too. He's always pulling his burp cloths, blankets, and towels into his mouth. He's not too into grasping many of his toys and putting them to his mouth yet, but he will do it with his little plastic rings. Its so fun to see him develop and grow.

Here's a pic of a Saturday morning... Dad and son in their white t-shirts and watching tv... yes, Carson loves watching tv now (this drives me crazy!!)... he's definitely his father's son. :)





Carson loves his baths... and bubbles!

A day that we never saw coming...

... The day we'd list our beloved boat for sale. :( I posted it this morning on Craig's List. We'll see if we get any bites. We won't be sad if it doesn't sell, but honestly it makes sense to sell it now. We probably won't get much use out of it this year, so it seems silly to be making payments and keeping it insured when we're not using it much. Plus, we want to buy a new boat (a V-drive) in the next year or two anyway. So it's the logical thing to sell the boat now and save some cash in the next year or two, pay off a few more bills with that savings, and then be in better shape to buy a new(er) boat that will meet all our needs/wants.... Can you tell we're still trying to talk ourselves into this whole selling the boat thing?? :-P I think Kevin and I will probably both cry if it does sell. I guess we'll wait and see.

Here's a little Ode to the Ski Centurion and the great memories we have of it...

Tulip Time

On Saturday, we loaded up the fam and headed west to Holland, Michigan to check out Tulip Time and celebrate Mother's Day with most of the Hollebooms. Grandpa and Grandma Holleboom, Uncle Danny, and cousin Anna also headed west for the event. We met up with Uncle Justin, Aunt Mary, and cousin Rebecca in Holland for a bit. It was pretty chilly and Carson was being a tired little man, so he wasn't in the greatest mood for it. We did get to see a lot of beautiful tulips and managed to take a few pictures and do some shopping, too. After Tulip Time, we met up with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Van Heukelum for dinner at Arby's. It was great to see everyone and Carson can't wait until we see them all again!

Be sure to check the link to the right to see our pictures from Tulip Time!

Cold weather

I can't believe this weather. It was so cold this morning. We were getting very used to the beautiful weather we've been having. It'll return soon, though, so that is good.

Carson is changing every day now, it seems, and getting to be more and more fun. He'll carry on "conversations" with you now for quite a long time. It is so cute. I really need to get it on video one of these days. He is such a smiley little guy, too. He will just grin and laugh so much. He still loves to lie in his crib and watch his mobile, he is just fascinated by it still. He also loves his playmat, stretching and kicking. He tries so hard to bat at the hanging toys and gets them every so often, but they're still kind of high for him most of the time. He is also really enjoying being in his bouncy seats, both his Itsy Bitsy Spider one at our house and the Rainforest one at Grandma Moore's house. He just grins and babbles the entire time he's in his seat. He especially loves the Rainforest bouncy at Grandma's house because he can reach the hanging bird and loves to make it spin around. It is so cute to watch him as he is concentrating so hard on making the bird spin around. We also got a Bumbo seat last week that he seems to like.

Its looking like Carson is going to get his Dad's hazel eyes. They're a dark hazel right now and they've been that way now for a few weeks. He's also losing more of his dark hair by the day. It is starting to come in blonde by the looks of it. Pretty soon lots more people will think he's looking more like Kevin with the blonde hair and hazel eyes. I think he's going to keep my nose, cheeks, mouth, and shape of the head, though.

Here are some pictures of Carson enjoying his toys. You can see in the pics in his bouncy seat that he's drooling now. He just started doing that these last couple of weeks. He's also chewing on his hands and fingers quite a bit. It looks like teething may not be too far off now.






Just after a bath one night before bed. Carson is losing his hair, so there's not much left to get into a mohawk... this is about the best he can do right now. Someday he'll have a good one. :)

2 months old and a new cousin!

Its hard to believe Carson is already 2 months old. He's growing so fast! He had his 2-month well-baby visit last Thursday and weighed in at 11 pounds, 9 ounces and was 23.5 inches long. He's perfectly average for weight (50%) and taller than average in height (75%). And all along we've thought he was a shorty! He also got his first round of shots - two shots in one leg and one in the other. He wasn't too happy about them and he felt pretty crummy on Thursday and Friday because of them. He's also going through a big Mama's Boy phase right now. He's getting more and more personality everyday. His favorite thing to do right now is to kick his feet on his playmat or in his crib while watching his mobile. He is getting very strong and likes to be moving all the time. He's still quite a lazy little eater, but I guess he's getting enough since he's putting on weight and growing accordingly. He's just such a joy in our lives and we are so happy to have him!

This picture shows Carson sleeping on Sara the evening after he got his shots, poor guy looks like he has a headache!

This past Saturday, Carson met his newest cousin, Rebecca Jean, who was born on April 17th. She is quite the little angel herself, very feminine featured and so cute! It will be so fun to see them grow up together.

Here's a picture of Carson with Rebecca:

Carson also met his future girlfriend, Noelle, on Saturday. :) Sara Ross' sister Rachel got married in Spring Lake and we were there. It was the first time we'd seen her daughter, Noelle. She is also quite a little cutie and is such a well-behaved little girl! After the wedding, Carson went on his first walk down the boardwalk and to the pier in Grand Haven. It was quite cold with the wind off the lake, but it was still a beautiful day. We didn't get any pictures, unfortunately, but we'll go back again sometime and will have to take some then.

Here are Carson and Noelle:


The weather is warming up finally! Carson has enjoyed his time outside this past weekend. And it was so fun to see him wearing shorts. His little legs are just so cute! :)