Just the two of us

I believe this is the only picture of just Rob and I since we've had Landon. The camera seems to be much more attracted to the kids!

"I love you"

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy?"

"Yes, Big Girl?"

(pause) "I love you, Mommy."

She's started saying this to Rob and I lately and I thought it was absolutely precious until today when she kissed the window and said, "I love you, spider." (there was a spider on the screen outside)

Oh well, I'll take the non-prompted, "I love you," any day. :)

Two MORE girls!!!

Madisyn, myself, Ethan and Patty a month ago


Ethan and Madisyn last week

Doug and Patty had their second child, a little girl, Isabel Mya (not sure on the spelling) last week, 6 lbs. 1 oz. and 18 1/2 inches long. She was their second miracle child. Ethan, who will be three this October, was born at 28 weeks along, 2 lbs. 14 oz. and now he's as healthy as can be (as can been seen from the pictures). To make a long story short, Patty's doctor said that if she hadn't had a doctor's appointment scheduled for last week Wednesday then Isabel would have likely been stillborn. They noticed that Isabel's heart rate was irregular and she was sent right to OB and ended up with an emergency C-Section. Praise God for giving the doctors and nurses the wisdom during that time!

My coworker and his wife (who the diaper cake was made for) also had a girl last week Thursday. Jim got the call from Megan while at work, left around 12:15 and Katherine Leia was born at 5:58, 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 20 inches long. From the sounds of it, everything went fairly smoothly for them.

Two more girls!

My girlfriend and housemate from Hope, Kara and her husband Ross welcomed Rylee Grace on Saturday, August 18th. She was a couple of days overdue, but a petite 6 lbs and 8 oz. and 18 1/2 inches long. From the pictures, she looks absolutely precious (with lots of dark hair!).



Other friends, Brian and Liz welcomed Reese Elizabeth on Friday, August 10th. She was 7 lbs. 9.6 oz. (I didn't even know that some they measure ounces in to the tenth) and 19 inches long. She has a great story to go along with the delivery. She too has a lot of dark hair (as can be seen from the picture). Here's the happy family (the big brother is Braden who is 20 months old).



I almost forgot! Landon rolled from his back to his tummy a week ago! This means that there have not been any short nights in quite some time (I don't even remember the last!). He's been sleeping 10-11 hours/night!

Babies, babies, babies!

Nick and Bethany, friends from college, just had their first baby on Monday. Congrats, you two!!! His name is Porter (Bethany's maiden name) David and he was 6 lbs. 13 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. We hear he has hair, but not red (sorry Bethany!), but have yet to hear if he's pooping on command and not crying as Bethany insisted would be the case :) We hope to see them soon and I'll post some pictures then.

As you can assume, it is the baby craze time in our lives, seems like everyone is pregnant (many with their second or third)! OR... twins ;) (as we found out this week) I can't wait to have permission to make that announcement!

We know of six more due in the next month! One of them is a coworkers' wife who we held a baby shower for this week. It will be their first and you could see them glow, it was really sweet! I was excited to make my first attempt at a diaper cake. Here's how it turned out. I was fairly pleased, but also have some ideas for next time, which I think will improve it a bit.



Here are a few of the latest pictures of Madisyn. Her latest is correcting me when I call her "Honey." She says, "No, Daddy's Honey." I guess she's right :)

Promotion!

After working four short months at SoundOff Signal, Rob got a promotion! We actually got the news just over a week ago, but I'm still struggling to find time to blog (imagine that ;) ). Anyway... he is now the Western Regional Sales Manager. Which basically means that he's in charge of the sales for 13 states, including Alaska, Hawaii and California.

He will continue to travel approximately once a month for three to four days each, which so far hasn't been too bad (okay, he's only traveled once so far, but I think we'll be able to handle it... and family has offered to help with the kids :) ). He now has more control over his traveling and his bonus', which are two major plus' for him. Not to mention the best bonus of all: supposedly spouses can be approved for one trip per year all expenses paid. I think Hawaii sounds nice :) I don't think I'll push my luck though, we'll wait until Rob's been in this position for a while before we explore that option.

I'm so proud of him and all of his hard work! It's wonderful to see someone else recognize what an asset he is :) Congratulations, my Love!

Madisyn and Ethan

This weekend we spent Saturday on the Muskegon River with our friends Doug, Patty and Ethan. It was part of an all day fundraising event through Action Water Sports called Splash for Cancer. Madisyn and Ethan had a blast and were able to go tubing and Rob got to try out Doug's new wakesurf board. We had a fantastic time relaxing and catching up with them!




The kids also got to play at the cottage together since Ethan's grandparents have a cottage next to Rob's parents. Two-year olds are so much fun to watch play together (sometimes more like side-by-side) :)

Rolling

Big pimpin'

It's completely unbelievable to me that Landon is going to be four months old this coming Monday! He is looking more and more like Rob everyday :) I think I've mentioned this before, but he is doing immeasurably better regarding the reflux. He still spits-up after every feeding (full size towels work great for burp clothes), but he doesn't seem to be in any pain, which is all we're concerned about. Happy Landon = Happy family! He's at the wonderful stage where all you need to do is look at him and he smiles from ear to ear and then babbles away.



I'm pretty sure he loves the new seat from Grandma Dykema!

He's been sleeping absolutely wonderfully and is now on a great schedule. He eats at approximately 7 am, 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm, and sleeps from about 8:30 pm - 6:30 am (and naps between each feeding - yes, four naps, usually only an hour to an hour and a half each). He's definitely growing (as can be witnessed from his cute chubby thighs :) ).



Just over a week ago, Madisyn got Nursemaid Elbow. It was really incredible the amount of pain that she was in and yet as soon as the doctor "fixed" it, she was using her arm like nothing had ever happened! (and then she got Dora ice cream... ah the power of ice cream) Her latest and greatest is opening round doorknobs. Like the Miss Obvious that she is, she came in our bedroom the other day and said, "Mommy, I'm opening doors." :) God bless whoever came up with the plastic safety doorknob covers!

4th of July

We spent this past Tuesday through Sunday at the cottage. It was a wonderful time to relax, be outside, have some fun and spend time with family. There were tons of kids at both neighbors, which was a blast for Madisyn! Most days she spent all day in the water. A couple of weekends ago she got her first Seadoo ride and this past weekend she got her first tubing ride. She did great, even wanted Papa to go faster! We actually got going a lot faster than I thought she'd like.



Meanwhile Landon has been getting very strong! He rolled over for the first time on the 7th and has several times since then. One night at the cottage he even slept nine hours! I think he's finally getting more consistent with his sleeping patterns. Or at least we hope :)




Oh yeah... one little piece of bad news. I managed to sprain my ankle for the third time since Landon was born. It happened during my six mile run a week and a half ago, while I was still a mile and a half out! It's still slightly swollen and hurts :( I'm going to try to tape it the way the trainers in college did so that I can get running sooner rather than later. I think for a while, I'll try to stay closer to home when I'm running ;)