The Vanderploeg Caboose...

The Vanderploeg Caboose has arrived. We are happy to welcome Allie Jane Vanderploeg to our family...now making us a crazy clan of 5. We, the parents, are now officially outnumbered and outmanned. As some would say, we now move from man on man to zone defense. Apparently other people have survived this shift in numbers, so we can only hope that we, too, can rise to the challenge and successfully parent more of them than there are of us! As for the specifics, Allie made her appearance on Friday October 28th (10/28/11) at 10:28 pm. She weighed in at 7lbs 3 0z with a full head of dark hair. She is beautiful and perfect in every way!

This is my first ever blog post, so I will work on posting photos. I also have to get my family to give me all the photos they have taken! Allie has 3 loving aunties who are are very good about taking pictures. It puts a little less pressure on me to capture all the precious moments. In fact, Allie is preparing for her first big photo shoot with aunt Jenny tomorrow. Check out JBiggers Photography at http://jenny-b-photography.blogspot.com/ if you want to see what a great job she does with newborns! She has been buying props and preparing for little Allie's arrival for some time now.

I have wanted to journal and keep track of all the memories of these precious early days because they go by so fast. I have also wanted to blog for some time now, so I figured I might be able to put those two things together. To start, this blog will be a great way to share our photos and some of the crazy antics of our family with family and friends. Who knows what it might one day turn into. Again...one day at a time! For today, Kaden and Maddie are down in Colorado Springs with Mimi, Grandpa and aunt Amy. Kent is hunting...yes one week after Allie was born. (Because I am such an amazingly cool wife :) ) So sweet baby Allie and I find ourselves in an uncharacteristically quiet house, and I have the five minutes that it takes to start a world class blog. Imagine how productive I might someday be when I have three children in school all day long! The blogging, working out, coffee time and pedicure appointment possibilities are endless!

Ok, so I digress a little. Let's get back to our one day at a time mantra. My three littles will only be little for a few years and my hope and dream is that I would be as present, available, and joyous as possible for these years. I don't want to look back on these years with regret that I wasn't around, I took everything too seriously, or I was just too busy or too stressed to enjoy our children. So, welcome to the Crazy Train that is our family and our life. Join us as we take on this crazy life on day at a time....