First Snow to play in this Winter

YAY!!!! It snowed and we have inches on the ground. (I'm not sure how many inches, but enough to play in!!!)

A little of this...

I have been waiting all winter for the snow to stay on the ground long enough to take Nicolynn outside to explore. And today was the day. Last night I was like a little kid on Christmas Eve waiting for the snow. I could not wait to get Nicolynn in the snow.

A little of that...

 We had such a great time. Once we were all bundled up (which probably took around 20min or more) we started shovelling the walkway and walking/falling in the snow. Chunks of snow kept sticking to Nicolynn's boots. I have never experienced this myself, like I saw on her. It was so funny because she would walk in the snow and then when she fell she couldn't get back up because she had around 3 inches of snow stuck to her boots. It was like she was wearing ice skates because there was more snow in the middle and it just tapered up to the sides of her boots. So we had to keep kicking snow off her boots if she wanted to walk (which she did). We even walked from the front of the house to the back. I forgot how long it took for a, not even, 2 year old to walk in snow. But we made it to the back and started shovelling the deck. 

And a lot of this!!!

 Nicolynn lasted longer than I thought she would, but like most kids, all of a sudden she was done. She got really frustrated because she was cold, but she didn't want to go inside. So she just ended up crying, and I ended up caring my snot faced baby into the house. (I forgot how much more little kids' nose run in the cold than ours do :) We got her all warmed up with a bath. And I can't wait to do this again!!! Maybe tonight with Daddy too...
 

JOHN DEERE DAYS

I think Nicolynn was as excited as I was about going to our first John Deere Day at Uncle Mitch's work.

Filmore just put a new addition on, and they had their grand opening this past Saturday. We were able to check out the whole building. And Nicolynn was able to see, touch, and go in lots of very big tractors. They had balloons, face painting, and food for us too. Nicolynn especially liked the popcorn!! We met up with Aunt Sarah, who bought us Ice cream, and Aunt Bethany, who ate lunch and toured the building with us. We also saw Zach an Levi too. We had a great morning.

Thoughts on past, present and future

My Favorite Buddies!!!!

AHHHHHH!!!!!!
So much has happened since I have been on here last. So much that it's almost too overwhelming to start from where I left off. Where was that... Halloween?!?!? yikes...

THANKSGIVING we went to Emerson Lake.

Nicolynn had fun in the leaves with Uncle Tony.

This fall we went for bundled up walks.

And we still made time for the park!

Nicolynn is starting to be a great baker!

And Christmas went well too :)

Tired Nicolynn in her Christmas outfit I made.

THOUGHTS ON PAST & PRESENT

Well most of you know, I have been sick. I think, more sick than I have ever been in my life, and more sick than I ever wish you be again. About 3 months ago I started throwing up at every waking hour of life. Every smell or thought of food made me puke or dry heave, not to mention the smell of diapers... even the clean ones! My kitchen was no man's land. I couldn't even walk into it without feeling my stomach turn. I swear I could smell through the fridge door, or even the bread in my cupboards. I was going crazy. And to go along with that my whole body was sore, mostly my breasts, and I was always tired.

(You guessed it... I'm pregnant again!!!!!)

So when I had a good moment or two to do things, I was not getting on my computer to blog and tell the world how sick I was. I was trying to spend time with Nicolynn as much as possible. She has been such a trooper!!! She is now my little cuddle bug. We sit on the couch together and watch way too much tv, but we also get to read lots of books. With all of our "down time" Nicolynn is learning her numbers and letters very well. She can name all the letters in the alphabet (except Q, she normally calls it an O) and she knows 1-10 if she reads them. So that is fun. She even knows there is a baby in mommy's belly. She rubs the baby sometimes and listens for it to talk to her. :) It's very cute, but she has no idea what is about to come her way. (I guess we don't either)

THOUGHTS ON PAST

Before Nicolynn was born, everyone told us, "no one can prepare you for having a child". I didn't have a clue what that meant. I now know what that meant... You really have to live through having a child and raising a child before you can begin to imagine all the stress, hope, fears, love and work you will go through. And everyone is different on how it affects them. For me, I found raising a child was anything but simple. I am a high stress person. If you look at me funny, I think you're mad at me and I'll freak out about. (normally my freaking out is done in private, to Josh, or with a close friend) So this high stress personality made things very difficult for me. The emotional aspect of being a mommy was so overwhelming. I felt so much love for my baby that it almost killed me. I felt so stressed out because I realized my new baby needed me. And at the moment that I began to realize that, my life started to change. I realized my own life was more valuable to me than it was before. I couldn't just jump off a cliff and hope not to break an arm on the way down, let alone die. I am needed, and my heart broke at the thought of not being there for the one who needed me most. That was my experience with my first. But no matter what, having a child does change you forever. It doesn't just change your life, but it changes you. 

PRESENT & FUTURE

I was just talking to a friend of mine about how it is so nice to never have to go through having your first child again. With that behind me, I know things I will do differently, and thing I will keep the same. I also now have the mind set of a mommy. It's a way I have evolved to not only survive, but to LOVE this new role I have in life. I love being a mommy more than anything. It defines who I am and what is important to me. And I am so glad that God has blessed me with this role. And I'm happy to do it again. I'm more scared this time than I was last time, because this time I know things I didn't know before. This knowledge scares me, but also prepares me. And I am looking forward to this. I'm not going to stress out about nursing like I did the first time, but in the early months I'm still going to isolate myself at home while I focus on my kids and amazing husband. I need my space, even though it seems like I will be living in a cocoon. But that's how I'll survive.

Right now I'm 17 weeks pregnant, and so far, I have been living in a cocoon during my pregnancy. I'm just starting to feel better. I haven't been throwing up for the last few weeks, but I'm still nauseated. (Not like before though) So when people ask, I am doing great. :)
The doctor says I'm doing great, and right on schedule. We're going to find out the gender soon, and I have NO IDEA what we're having. And I can't wait to find out. I think I'm more excited to find out this time than I was last time. Either a boy or a girl will be great. I have almost everything I need for a girl, and if it's a boy... HELLO GARAGE SALES!!!

Trick Or Treat

I took Nicolynn trick-or-treating all over town yesterday. We had such a good time. She was a little bee, and it kept her so warm!!! All morning we worked on saying "trick or treat" and then after the candy went in the bucket, to say "Thanks." I'd really rather her say "Thank you" but every time I ask her to do that she doesn't say anything or she'll say "please". So now we try to have her say "thanks" and that seems to work out just fine.

First stop was Grandma's work with Zachary and Levi. Nicolynn received the cutest little goodie bags from Grandma and Ms. Sue. I don't think Nicolynn really knew what was going on. From there we stopped at Grandpa's house to see him before we went home for a nap.

Nap went well, and we left the house right afterward to go downtown Zeeland trick-or-treating with Grandma D and Aunt Kelli. All the businesses were handing out candy, and the bakery handed out donuts!!! Nicolynn walked almost the whole way. I bet she did at least 3.5 blocks, if not more. But she was a little trouper!!!
After that we stopped by to see Papa, and played with some toys until it was time to see Zach and Levi again. And then we trick-or-treated in their neighborhood.

By this time Nicolynn started to get the hang of this whole business. She would knock on the door and say "tee-tee" and every once in a while we would get a "ths" for "thanks" afterward. Part of the time she didn't want her shoes or socks or mittens on though. It was so cold and slightly rainy and she was becoming a little stinker. So we headed back home to pick up daddy, and we went out to eat with Uncle Tony and Aunt Lindsey (Who filled her bucket with candy that they didn't get to pass out) That was nice of them since I will be the one to eat it. :)

Beauty Time with Mama

Do you think she likes the blow dryer?

So I have been waiting for the longest time to do fun stuff to Nicolynn's hair. So Monday was the day I was going to put curlers in her hair after her bath. We (I) had lots of fun trying to get 5 curlers to stay in her hair while Nicolynn wanted to "help" comb her hair or squirm. But we did it. For maybe a while 10seconds I had 5 curlers in her hair. But when I took them out... no curls. Oh well, maybe next year. :)

Papa Time

 Josh and I started taking a parenting class called "Growing Kids God's Way", and we are thoroughly LOVING it. And Nicolynn loves it too. She gets her "Papa time". And of course, Papa spoils her perfectly :) She gets to ware him out, this time by riding on his back. But she also likes to give Papa a turn to ride on hers. :)

Play Day with Grandma H

Last week Thursday was such a beautiful day, and I was able to spend it with Nicolynn and Grandma. I took lots of pictures while those two played and ran around. We walked thru leaves in their back yard, looked for salmon in the river, played on the neighbors swing set, and sat on Grandpa's tractor.

Then we were off to Helder Park.

Pumpkin Parade

Ok, I got behind again on writing on my blog... But in the meantime, we went to Nicolynn's first parade. The pumpkin parade!!!! It was a cold and slightly rainy day, so I made Nicolynn some warm milk to drink. She enjoyed that. (I would not have...)   After the parade we went to a "petting zoo" that they brought down town. Nicolynn LOVES animals. She's not afraid of any of them. She want to pet them, ride them, hug and kiss them. She can't get enough.
After the parade we picked up some pumpkins to paint and carve. And then later that night we went out to crazy horse for Grandma and Grandpa Holtrop's anniversary. Nicolynn did very well, but she is so shy. We walked into Crazy Horse, and she but her head down and wouldn't look at anyone. We set her on the stool and she didn't even look at the buzzer they give you to hold until your table was ready. The lights and everything was flashing on it, and she wouldn't look at anything.

ABC's & 123's

Mommy got a new phone she had to try out, and Nicolynn has some new words!!!

Our walk to the park

Today was such a beautiful Fall day!!! So we went out for a walk to the park.
On our walk we found different leaves, and picked some wild flower. Nicolynn was pretty disappointed when I didn't pick her a flower from around someones house though. :) That's something I will have to keep explaining I think.

At the park she played on the swings, and Nicolynn decided she wanted to drink her milk in the pretend kitchen at Timbertown. So she sat down on the chair, and signed and said milk. She's just starting to talk more now. And the words she has signed for the last year, are some of the first words she speaks. When I ask her if she wants "more" (the first word we signed), she nods her head yes as she says "more".  We have so much fun!

And to top off our little walk, we saw 2 snakes on the way home. Nicolynn spotted one, and I spotted the other. And they just stayed there so we could look at them.

Play Date with Luci and "Pay-Pay"

Aunt Lindsey and her two girls...

 Last week we were able to have a play date with Aunt Lindsey and Luci (the little girl Lindsey Nannys for). But the star of the visits is always Payton the doggy, which both the girls call Pay-Pay. Luci has been saying Pay-Pay before Nicolynn was even thinking about talking, but now Nicolynn chimes in too. Nicolynn loves Pay-Pay, but Pay-Pay doesn't always love Nicolynn. So Aunt Lindsey gave Nicolynn a doggy treat to get Payton to play with her :)

John Ball Park Zoo

Yay!!! This time we actually made it into the Zoo. Nicolynn and I went with Grandma, Aunt Sarah, Zachary and Baby Levi. Nicolynn really enjoyed herself, and so did I. After labor day we could get in for $5 and Nicolynn is free because she is a baby yet!!! Yay! Another plus. They did have some of the animals put away for the season, but there were plenty left to look at. We saw lions, mountain lions, different birds like eagles, crows and flamingos, many different monkeys, farm animals, penguins, and owls. (There were more animals than I just listed, but those were at the top of my head right now.)

Helping Aunt Sarah push the stroller...

Nicolynn wants to touch all the animals, and Zachary wants to look at them all from a distance. :) Levi did very well. He only cried a little and he's only a month old. (Oh and Grandma and Aunt Sarah did well too.) :) We all had fun.

Dancing girl

DeGraaf Nature Center

We went to DeGraaf Nature Center this summer, and I was pleasantly surprised  with the place. It was a great little outing for Nicolynn's age. We went on a rainy day so we didn't stay to walk the trails much. But we were in the nature center for a while. They had rabbits that Nicolynn could play with. She was able to touch some turtles, play in some sand, and Nicolynn saw a real owl. The owl blinked a lot, so Nicolynn whenever we asked her to say 'owl'.

we visited a park afterward

We never saw it coming...

Ok, so the other day I tried to get some cute stuff on video, and it started out so good.
Then it went south from there...

When I replayed this in front of Nicolynn, it made her cry again :(

Oh, and I added some pictures of her "jumping" :)

And no... she does not leave the ground, even in real life.