We spent Memorial Day with some of our closest friends, Jeff and Lisa Bulthuis, at their new home in Munster. We’re thankful that throughout our married life, we have lived fairly close to them for the majority of the years. Although we had more time for playing cards into the wee hours of the night before we both had kids, now it is fun to see our kids interact. Between our two families there are seven kids 5 and under! Memorial Day was a fun day taking care of all these munchkins together.
Logan had a great year in preschool again this year and capped it all off with the final program. Although he did more smiling than singing in front of the audience, we’re proud of what he accomplished this year and can’t believe he’s ready to start Kindergarten in the fall. Our boy is growing up!
p.s. Logan adores the twins on his right. Aren’t they adorable?
It’s so nice to finally have some sunshine around here! This morning, I took a walk with the girls while Logan was at preschool. On the way home we stopped at the park where Emily took her first ride in the baby swing. She loved it!
Her big sister loved pushing her too!
Then this evening, the kids enjoyed a quick visit with their cousins, Meredith and Kaitlyn. Rachel and the girls stopped here for dinner on their way to Michigan. The bigger three had a lot of fun playing in the new tree house.
And Kaitlyn was fascinated with Emily. Being only a little over 5 months apart, I’m sure they have many more days of playing together in the future!
All in all, a fun, sunny day!
I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since I last posted here. It’s not because nothing’s happening. Oh no. We’ve been staying plenty busy! Here’s a few snapshots of what’s been going on.
Logan went to Sesame Street Live with his Nanny for the third year in a row.
My Grandpa and Grandma De Groot (my kids’ great-grandparents) came to visit, and we all went to the Michigan City Zoo on the most beautiful spring day of the year so far.
Great-Grandma got in some special snuggles with Emily and playtime with Audrey.
Audrey’s working on potty training. She’s successful some days. Not so successful others… I waver daily between pressing onward and abandoning ship.
Emily took her first bites of rice cereal…
…with “help” from her eager sister.
With all the indoor rainy weather we’ve had, my “little people” set up a large land of little people in the living room.
Logan had some friends over for lunch and to play.
The kids wrestled on the bed together.
Emily’s not so fragile anymore, is she? :) And Audrey’s now sleeping in Logan’s room since she was waking up Emily every single night (screaming “Mommy! Emily’s crying!” every time Emily moved/breathed).
<Sigh>
So we continue to play the game of musical bedrooms. Now the problem is Audrey wants to talk too much at bedtime (Luke says it’s hereditary), and Audrey and Logan wake each other up (too early, in my opinion) in the morning.
And the latest excitement is that Logan and Audrey can hardly wait for sunny weather to play in their new “tree house” built by Daddy, Grandpa, and Uncle Nate!
Over this past weekend, Emily has learned to roll from back to front (she’s been doing front to back for a while now)… AND…
… She found her piggy toes!
For a former NICU baby, this is a huge accomplishment! Full-term babies spend the whole 3rd trimester curled up inside their mommies, so after they are born, they are able to keep themselves flexed inward with their arms and legs tucked into their bodies. That’s what makes newborns so cuddly! Most full-term babies naturally bring their toes to their hands… or even to their mouths!
Emily spent her whole third trimester flat on a mattress in the NICU, so it’s harder for her to curl inward. She naturally wants to arch her back and extend her arms and legs.
With weekly physical therapy and a lot of encouragement, Emily is gradually curling more (important for many developmental milestones like sitting and crawling) and extending less, and today she brought her toes to her fingers all by herself to find those cute, little piggy toes!
