Carson's First Swim

We finally got Carson in a lake today. If you'd have told me months ago that it'd take us this long before he'd get in a lake, I'd have said you were crazy. It just has never worked out on the days we've been out at the lake. So today we decided to take it easy and went with Grandpa and Grandma Moore out to Leisure Lake in Durand. Carson LOVED the water! We put him in this inflatable crab thing and he was totally loving it. He was kicking his feet and moving himself around, even! Kinda crazy! He also loved lying out on a towel half naked afterwards! :)

This weekend went by way too quickly. It was my first two-day weekend in six weeks... I've had Fridays off for the last six weeks and its been wonderful! On Saturday, we spent the day with Julie, Jason, Anna, and Joel, keeping them company and playing with the kids so that they had some time to grieve. It was nice to spend some time together and Carson loved seeing his cousins. He just gets such a kick out of watching other kids - I think he is anxious to be able to run and play with them.

I actually made it to our local farmer's market this afternoon after we got home from church. I picked up some Michigan sweet cherries (from Traverse City) and some Michigan blueberries. I'm currently working on drying the quart of cherries and I've frozen almost all two quarts of blueberries. I was going to bake today with the blueberries, but we didn't have time once we decided to go to the lake. I also had hopes of making pesto, but ran out of time for that, too, so hopefully I'll get that done tomorrow night. I kind of feel like an old lady with all this preserving on my mind lately, but I really enjoy it. I can't wait till we start getting more produce from our garden and I can put that up, too! We should get some green beans by the end of the week, I think - yeah!! And probably some zucchini, too! I also noticed some more cherry tomatoes starting to turn orange, so I'll be drying some cherry tomatoes this week by the looks of it, too. :)

Foodie blog

I created a foodie blog finally. I've been thinking about it for many months now, just never got around to doing it. A cousin of Kevin's created one last week, so that gave me the motivation I guess I needed. Only one post there so far, but I'll be posting regularly. Feel free to check it out, bookmark it, share your own recipes, and leave some comments if you decide to try any of the recipes.

Some words to live by

This was from Rachelle's journal. She kept a regular journal and would have the following in every journal and daily planner she had. Rachelle's sister, Jennifer, read this at her funeral, and it was also written in the thank you notes from the family. I don't know if Rachelle herself wrote this, or if she came across it at some point and thought it was great. Either way, they are great words and thoughts to live by and I wanted to share them all with you.

"Everything changes, but staying true to yourself is most important. Being good to others should always be a top priority or God WILL find a way to humble you. Learn from your mistakes, and also those of others... We don't have enough time to make the same ones twice. Cherish all of the small moments. Try not to spend too much time worrying about others - there is always going to be someone happier, healthier, and more successful than you, so be the best you can be, and in someone's eyes it will be perfect. Forgive - even when it hurts - forgive - because one day, too, you'll be in need of forgiveness. Life would be so much easier if we could simply say sorry to all of the people we've hurt and let down with them knowing how much we mean it, but instead it helps to be aware of our actions, and the feelings of others. New friendships are wonderful, and we can learn so much from every person we choose to let into our lives - but our long-lasting, childhood freindships are untouchable. Never give up on the ones you love, even when the work seems to be unbearalbe - every hardship brings you closer and will make you stronger - laughs create good memories, but tears seal the bonds. Always stay conscious, and remember that ever single action that we choose to make is going to affect someone in one way or another... so make it a good one. Trust is everything - so trust in yourself, trust in God's plan, and help others to know that they can trust you, too. The beauty of being strong is not knowing it until we've been tested beyond our limit, and in times we feel the weakest. Smile, even when it hurts too much and you might be surprised by how many others will smile back. Be a good listener - that's 90% of what freindships are made of because everyone needs and wants to be heard - and in the end, people don't necessarily remember what you say, but instead how you listened. Try with all of your strength to never pass judgement on others - the only one with the power to do that is God - and we never know what God has planned so keep an open and understanding mind and heart. Don't question the things that we can't understand - because you'll waste too much time not understanding it. And because everything changes, we have the power to change anything we choose at any given time - even at this very moment."

5 Months Old!

Today Carson is 5 months old!! He's getting so big and getting more and more independent each and every day. He can now sit unsupported for up to about 30 seconds before he'll topple over. If he'd get the point of putting his hands down on the floor to help keep him steady, he'd be able to sit for quite a while, I think. But he's too busy chewing on his fists to put his hands down on the floor. :) He can also stand holding onto the ottoman for 5-10 seconds without us holding on to him. He then gets too excited and dances his feet around and loses balance. He still gets fed up with tummy time, but he tolerates it and has a little bit of fun on his tummy now at least. He's scooting around and turning in circles, doing push-ups, and rolling from his tummy to his back. He's so close to going from his back to his tummy, but I don't think anything has enticed him enough to really try for it.

Carson's favorite thing to do right now is probably to go outside and swing. Anything outside, really - he LOVES to be outdoors. His favorite toy is probably his exersaucer. He's so fun to watch play in there. He's started to rock back and forth, slamming himself to the front and to the back, then he cracks up laughing. His little giggle is just so cute!!

After Carson's normal dinner of rice cereal and organic prunes tonight, he got to have his first taste of organic sweet potatoes. He loved them! He got a little upset when I'd only give him a few bites - he wanted more! He'll be happy tomorrow when he's able to have a bit more - as long as he doesn't show any signs of being sensitive to them between now and then anyway. Speaking of eating, Carson was so wore out on Friday evening that he fell asleep just after eating his rice cereal and prunes, as I was cleaning up his dishes and before I could get him out of his highchair. I turned around and there he was, asleep in his chair. :)

We got quite a bit done again this weekend around the house and yard. I got all of the bulbs moved from the middle of the backyard last week and Kevin mowed down all of the overgrown weeds and rototilled it all up and planted grass seed. So hopefully we'll have a nice yard going here in the next few weeks. I also got a couple more flower beds weeded out today, only like five more to go! Although one of the remaining beds has poison ivy running throughout it, so I'm not quite sure what to do over there yet. Kevin also got the garage cleaned up and I got some organizing done inside that I'd been wanting to do for a while now.

The Bonnie Is No More

As you can see, the Bonneville is no more. My sister in the Bonnie and a guy in a full-size Silverado extended cab truck hit head on yesterday afternoon. It wasn't either of their faults, though. Lindsay was heading down Morrish Road, doing the speed limit, and a guy hauling a big trailer turned left onto Lennon Road right in front of her. I don't know if he thought there was a stop sign there or if he didn't see her with about six other cars behind her or what. Rather than slam into the side of the trailer, she swerved to the left and hit the truck that was coming up behind the trailer. Thankfully, no one was hurt. And the guy with the trailer didn't even stop... just kept on going. Lindsay's boyfriend, Jordan, was in his car behind her and then a cop was a car behind him and saw it all happen. So that is probably good, too, because there was no question of fault then.

So now the Bonnie is back in our possession once again, but this time on its death bed. :) Kevin has plans to tear as much off it as possible and put the parts and panels up for sale on Ebay or the Bonneville Forums. He and Danny have this grand plan of taking the engine out and putting it in Danny's Fiero, too, I guess. :-P All I know, is that it had better be out of the driveway before Carson's baptism on August 24th!!

Holiday Weekend

We spent our holiday weekend catching up on projects around the house and yard. I had let the weeds in our veggie garden get a little out of control these last couple of weeks, so I spent many hours out there removing all of the weeds. It looks like a garden again now! Everything is growing so well, at least I think it is since this is my first year having my own real garden (I've done container gardening from starter plants at my apartments in the past). The tomatoes are doing awesome - especially the cherry tomatoes and the romas, but the beefsteaks are doing pretty good, too. The celebrities are the smallest plants still, but they still seem to be growing pretty well. There are already tons of romas that are almost full-size, just still green. The peppers, beans, zucchini, squash, and cukes all seem to be doing pretty good, too. And the herbs are out of control right now! I think I'll make some homemade pesto next weekend with some of my basil and maybe some homemade tabouleh from my parsley, too. I'm so excited to be able to put up food for the first time! I'm excited to see how much the garden actually yields and if it'll be enough to sustain us through the winter. I'm also planning to do my normal farmer's market shopping, just buying more than I have in past years to preserve some of that, too. I'm going to go looking for some Michigan blueberries next weekend to try making some blueberry jam or syrup. Yum!

Today, Kevin and my Dad worked on the back chainlink fence. The top rails are now completely done and almost all of the chainlink is strung across the back. We still have a small 20-ft section or so to finish up. Then we'll need the gates and that row will be done. Then we'll just have the sides and the privacy panel gates and we'll have a fenced yard - yeah!

On Saturday, Carson rolled from his tummy to his back during his tummy time finally. I thought it might startle him, but it didn't, he seemed to enjoy it. He did it several different times when we'd roll him back to his tummy, he'd roll himself back onto his back. He's trying so hard to get his knees up under him, too. He'll be scooting around here pretty soon, I think. I added some prunes to Carson's rice cereal this weekend to see if that helps keep his poos more consistent. He really likes having the spoonful of prunes mixed in with the cereal, he seemed to want more after the cereal was all gone both times he had it with the prunes this weekend.

Happy 4th of July!

Yesterday we celebrated Carson's first Independence Day. We went out to Sara's Aunt Jeri's house on the lake for a family party. It was rather cool for July 4th, but we still had a great day. We didn't take Carson for his first swim, though, because the water was still pretty chilly. Kevin got to do some more wakeboarding and kneeboarding and got to drive Sara's Uncle Mike's Ski Nautique again - that all put a big smile on his face for the day. :)

Carson had fun playing with the family and being the center of attention. We're finding that he gets a little frustrated already when he's not the center of it all - didn't know it could start this early. :) He's at a very fun age right now, so interactive and gaining so much more personality. He's into the imitation phase, where he'll imitate the sounds you make, which is fun. He's also more cuddly again. For awhile there, he wasn't wanting to snuggle much, but he's back into liking the cuddling again, which is great! And it seems like the clingy phase is over, too. Carson still isn't rolling over completely, but comes close without even trying. If he actually wanted to roll and tried, I bet he'd be able to do it, but he just isn't interested in rolling yet. He's sitting on his own a bit now, only for a few seconds, though, before he loses his balance. And when he's on his tummy, he's starting to pull his knees up under him. He's definitely a strong little guy!

There are lots of new pictures from the ski show and the 4th on our album page at the link to the right if you're interested.

Carson's First SLSC Ski Show

On Thursday, July 3rd, we met up with Grandpa and Grandma Holleboom, and Uncle Jason, Aunt Julie, Anna and Joel when we took Carson to his first Ski Show out at Silver Lake. The Ski Club put on a great show. Not as much jumping as they normally have, but it was still a really good show. Carson enjoyed being outside, looking around, watching the people, playing with cousins, and even seemed to watch the show at times. We're hoping he picked up some pointers! :-P Hopefully we'll have him out there in a couple of years. They had a 3-year old in the pre-show this year - he did very well, too.

Van Heukelum Family Party and Other News

On Sunday, we traveled to Hudsonville, Michigan (over by Grand Rapids) for a Van Heukelum family party. The Van Heukelum family was almost there in its entirety, including family from Iowa, Bolivia, New York, and Canada. We were only missing two cousins from Deleware and three cousins from Canada. There have been four great-grandchildren (Carson, Rebecca, Maggie, Breanna) born into the family in the last few months, so it was fun to get them all together and take lots of pictures. Although I don't think we ever got a picture where they were all happy. Needless to say, there was never a dull or quiet time with all the kids around! :) It was a fun time though and great to see everyone. I wish we'd have had more time to visit, especially with those from out of state/country.

In other news, we found out last Thursday that Kevin no longer has a job. Gotta love the automotive industry, right? While it is stressing us both out a bit, it really could end up being a major blessing. Kevin has never really liked that job all that much and he's always all stressed out about it. So maybe he'll find something that he enjoys more. There are some jobs out there, believe it or not, but I'm sure the competition is very high, so please keep him in your thoughts/prayers that he'll find a good fit and find it soon! :)

I've posted a bunch of new pics at the link to the right - from June and from the Van Heukelum party, so feel free to check them out.

More open houses

We had a weekend filled with high school graduation open houses. There are four cousins graduating this year on the Odykirk side of Sara's family, so we'll have three weekends of open houses for them. Last weekend, we went to Crystal's, this past weekend we attended Nick's and Emilee's, and then next weekend we're hoping to make a trip up to Traverse City on Saturday for Allison's. We'll just have to see how the day goes next week and how Carson is doing.

Its been great to see the Odykirk family so much lately. It seems like we go in spurts of seeing everyone quite often, then we won't see them for months. Its always a fun time when the Odykirks are all together and we really should make it a point to keep getting together more often. Family and friends have always been very important to me, but the events of two weeks ago have really stressed the importance to the highest level. You just never know when your time will be cut short, so we're just trying to live each day to its fullest, taking lots of pictures along the way. :)

Carson recovered much better this time from his vaccines on Friday. He was a little cranky over the weekend, but nothing like last time. He also ate like a pig, more than he normally does, which is total opposite of what happened last time. He ate so much this weekend, I think he's probably hit the 14 pound mark now. :) He did sleep more than normal, though, but at least he slept pretty well when he did and didn't need to be held the entire time like he wanted after his 2-month shots.

Now its back to work again this week. Another 4-day week for me, which I love. Saturday we're thinking of going up to my cousin Allison's open house in Traverse City. Then Sunday we'll be in Grand Rapids for a big Van Heukelum family (Kevin's family) get together. I think all but two cousins from Deleware will be there. It'll be fun and great to see everyone!

I've posted pictures from the two open houses this weekend at the link to the right if you're interested.

4-Month Well-Baby Check-Up

Carson went in for his 4-month well-baby check-up this afternoon. We were there FOREVER! Our appointment was at 2:30, so we got there about 2:15 and we didn't walk out of there until 4:40! It was crazy! But the time went by really quickly, at least. Carson was soooo good, I was so thankful. It seems like he's finally getting back to his old happy-go-lucky self, at least today he was. He was the happiest he's been in a few weeks now. He had fun watching the other kids and babies in the waiting room and smiling at all of them, especially the little girls. He's already turning into a flirt! :) Once we were in the exam room, he had fun just playing with his toys and drinking a bottle.

Carson weighed in at 13 pounds, 14 ounces and is between the 25th and 50th percentiles for weight. He is 25 inches tall, which is in the 75th percentile for height. And his head measured 17 inches! They said he's between the 75th and 90th percentile for that, though when I looked it up just now, its closer to the 75th%. The doctor said that if his head keeps growing like that, we'll have ourselves a genius! Haha! So we have a tall and skinny kid with a big head. :) Well, at least taller than average and thinner than average. I don't think he's skinny, but he's definitely not chubby either.

Carson got four shots today, two in each leg. Poor little guy. He screamed so bad when he got them, worse than he did at the 2-month appointment. But he calmed down quickly and fell asleep. So far, he's been doing much better than he did with his 2-month vaccines. After the 2-month shots, he didn't eat for about nine hours and would only sleep on me, he was super cranky and sad, and had extremely sore legs, even the slightest touch to his foot would cause him to scream. This time, he seems like he's doing pretty well. He ate well this evening and had no problem going to sleep at his normal time and has now been sleeping in his crib for a few hours. His legs seem a little tender, but only on his thighs where he got the shot, not the entire leg like last time. We'll see how he's doing in the morning. But so far, so good.

Carson's eyes have been getting gunky again this week. They're not infected yet and we weren't given any more eyedrops yet. For now, we have to keep massaging the tear ducts and using warm cloths to wipe his eyes out frequently to see if that helps. If they're still not cleared up at 6 months, it sounds like we'll go for allergy testing to see if they can find anything. If nothing shows up, then he'll have to get the surgery to put the tubes in his tear ducts (similar to getting tubes in your ears). I really hope it clears up - I really don't want him to need that surgery!

We got the okay to begin introducing solids, both single-grain rice cereal and oatmeal were encouraged. I expressed my concern about the rice cereal possibly constipating Carson, which could be a problem since he already has very firm poos from the soy formula. But we'll try the rice first and see how it goes. If it seems to be causing a problem, then we'll just mix in some 1st food prunes and that should do the trick hopefully.

Tonight before bed, we gave Carson his first rice cereal. He did so well! He had no problems getting the cereal off the spoon. And most of it stayed in his mouth, too! Don't get me wrong, he did get a little messy, but I think he did better than some of the babies I used to baby-sit for, even after they'd been eating cereal for a few weeks. He seemed to like the cereal, too. Which is good. I'd read that many babies won't eat the rice cereal because it tastes so blah. He finished all of the cereal and then washed it down with a bottle before going to sleep.

Here are a few pics:

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.