January

Here are some pictures that show what we've been up to so far this January.

This weekend we went to visit Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Postma and then we went to Uncle Nathaniel and Aunt Rachel's to meet our new niece/cousin, Abigail.  We had such a great time and felt so blessed!

 Anneke and Uncle Nan hanging out.

 Kaelyn finally having a nap, on Grandma.

 Grandma and Grandpa with all three grandgirls!

 Sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's bed.  (While Mommy was trying to clean up the mess of clothes after we got home from Christmas travelling.)

 Until a week ago Kaelyn was sleeping in a bassinet in our room.  But Mommy decided it was time for Kaelyn to move out so that maybe I could get a better night sleep.  So we moved her to her big girl bed.  We also moved Anneke to her big girl bed, but I don't have a picture of that yet....

 Dress Up or Dress Down.....

 Our little smiley pants.

Anneke's new hairdo.....I've been trying some new things, this one seems to work well......

Videos of our Silly Girls

Here's a video of Anneke's harmonica playing at Christmas--it's a little dark, but you can still hear her great playing--and one of Kaelyn smiling and talking to her wormy.

Our Christmas Photos 2012

We had a great Christmas in 2012!  We spent time with both families and had some time at home together (although that was filled with sickness and little sleep....).  But we had a great time together and felt very blessed to have the two weeks off to spend with those we love.  Here are some pictures of our holidays: 

 Opening presents at our house on Christmas Eve before we left for Brockville.  We just got Anneke a couple of small things--this one was a pack of Mickey Mouse & Friends figurines which she loves!  They also provided some entertainment in the car with all our driving!

 Snowstorm at Oma and Opa's .  Here's our car and Mom and Dad's car.

 Sharing fruit loops with Opa.

 Oma made her famous waffles for breakfast one morning.  Anneke ate the first quarter plain and then she saw everyone else putting syrup on theirs.....so she put syrup on hers making sure to fill each hole!

 Anneke loves playing in the snow this year! (Last year she did not like it at all).  But this Christmas she spent lots of time outside playing with whoever would go out with her! 

 

 Daddy made several slides on this huge hill of snow.  We had races going down them with Anneke!

 Our two beautiful girls!

 Learning the song "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" with Oma.  She's getting pretty good at it!

 

 Playing outside at Grandma and Grandpa's.

 

 Kaelyn having a bath at Grandma and Grandpa's.  She was smiling like crazy, but it's hard to be fast enough to catch the smile!

 Anneke helped hand out the presents at Grandma and Grandpa's.  Uncle Nan gave her the gift and told her who to bring it to.  She was super excited about this and would even assist the person in opening their gift--until Daddy opened his harmonica that is.  She ran around playing the harmonica, delivering gifts with only one hand/arm, because the other was occupied with the harmonica, and playing it while the person opened their gift.  At one point she heard a train go by the house and ran to the front window to see it while playing the harmonica!  It was hilarious!  We all had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard!  We'll have to try and post a video of it at some point.

 Mommy and Kaelyn in her pretty Christmas dress.

 Playing with her new Leaptop--she can now check her e-mails too! 

Kaelyn hanging out!  She's growing so fast!  I think she enjoyed Christmas too--getting lots of cuddles from her family and giving smiles to everyone!

Chillin', Craftin', and Bakin'

We spent the last week at home pretty low key.  I've been trying to get things in order for Christmas, which takes considerably longer when you have a 2-year old and a 6-week old!  But we're slowing getting it together. 
When Kaelyn is sleeping I've found that I really have to make an effort to do things with Anneke, while also trying to balance getting things done around the house during that limited time.  But Anneke and I have been doing a bit of crafting.  Here's what we've come up with so far (thanks pinterest!):

 Anneke put the cottonballs on the snowman.

 We used Anneke's fingerprints to make the candy cane.

 Baking with Anneke is proving to be a bit of a challenge.  Yesterday, within minutes of starting, she had put her whole hand in a cup of molasses and stirred the flour so that it went all over.  This morning we had a funny moment though, I was reading the recipe and pointing to the things we needed, so she started reading and pointing too!  It was hilarious!

 And Kaelyn is still growing like crazy!  She's starting to have a few moments in a day where she's just content to hang out.  I'm looking forward to the days when those times become a bit longer!  Here's one where she's staring at the Christmas tree.

And here's one of the two of them laying on the couch.  Anneke likes to lay beside Kaelyn when Kaelyn is laying on the couch.

 

Kaelyn's Baptism

We had a great weekend with lots of family and friends celebrating Kaelyn's baptism.  What a special day of giving our daughter to God and being blessed by all those who support us and love us!  Here are some pictures that show some of the special moments of our day (and a few from later in the week too!):

 Meeting Pake and Beppe for the first time

 Talking with Great-Aunt Sylvia

 Anneke wanted Pake to help her with her soup

 Hanging out with Uncle Nan, Aunt Rachel, and baby VandenDool :)

 

 In the beautiful dress that has been worn by her daddy, uncles, and cousins.

 Anneke saw all the goodies on the table and pulled her chair right up!

 At the front of the church.

Meeting cousins 

 Enjoying a yummy Christmas treat from Sinterklaas!

Chilling out in the swing for a bit.

Beautiful Eyes

It's been hard to catch a glimpse of Kaelyn's eyes because she's been sleeping pretty steadily.  But we finally got a picture of them!

Welcome, Kaelyn!

Well it has most definitely been a whirlwind of a week! 
It's hard to believe, but last week was my last week of work.  And while I didn't quite make it to the end, I made it much further than I did when I was pregnant with Anneke!  Friday was supposed to be my last day of work, but someone else had other plans!  So needless to say I didn't get done all the things I planned to around the house before the baby came!
Friday was a pretty crazy day.  The midwives recommended I not go to work since, even though they weren't convinced it was the real deal, I hadn't slept much the night before.  Dave still went in, but I called him at 11:30 and told him that he needed to come home.  Luckily he left right away because things progressed really quickly.  We made it to the hospital for 1:00 and Kaelyn was born at 1:52!  She was 7lbs 10 oz and 20.5 inches long (almost the same as Anneke who was 7lb 12 oz and 21 inches long).  We were home by noon on Saturday and since then we've just been trying to figure out a new routine and adjust to having our new little girl!
Overall everything is going well.  Anneke loves her new baby!  Every time she hears Kaelyn make a noise she says "Happy!", we're not sure if she thinks that Kaelyn is always happy or if she wants Kaelyn to be happy all the time....but it's cute!  Anneke likes to hold her and makes sure that Kaelyn has all the things she needs (her blanket, elephant, hat, etc.). 
So here begins our adventure with two little girls!  Here are some pictures of Kaelyn, enjoy!