Wednesday, July 25, 2012

A little of this and a little of that...

There has been so much going on around here, and I have had so many witty blog posts in my mind.  Then days go by, more has happened and the backlog of unwritten blog posts is feeling overwhelming to me.  So, we'll just have to go with more of a summary of all that has been happening lately.


  • Our rooster (Dottie) is still with us, but his days are numbered. Kent and some of the guys have planned a "Kill it and Grill it" party for this coming Saturday.  Sorry, Dottie, only 3 days left of this lovely little life you have led.  We will remember you fondly...sort of.
  • All five of our chickens have literally been flying the coop lately.  Kent and I went so far as to educate ourselves with a YouTube video and then clip the wings of three of the chickens.  And still they all just jump or fly our of their pen as they prefer the more "free range" situation that the entire backyard provides.  I have about had it with herding them all back into their area several times a day and cleaning up chicken s$%* on the back porch.  I kind of think Dottie is the instigator, though, so we will wait until he is gone to decide what needs to be done next.  If all goes well, we will start getting eggs out of the remaining chickens in the next month or two.
  • Speaking of flying the coop...Allie jumped out the crib for the first time last week.  She was getting up on her knees and we knew the crib had to be lowered soon. I put her down for her nap and was barely downstairs when I heard the thump.  I found her sitting up in the middle of her room...practically laughing at me.  I had to immediately lower the crib all the way and so far she has not escaped again.
  • In the last week, Allie is now fully sitting up and crawling.  Gone are the days of the army crawl.  She is all hands and knees and into everything.  Allie is sort of quietly into everything.  Just quiet enough that you sort of forget about her until you realize she is sucking on the fireplace poker (hypothetically, of course!), or some other equally undesirable activity.  She is the sweetest thing in the world, but something tells me she won't stand being forgotten for long in this crazy family of ours...
  • Last weekend we went camping for the first time as a family of five.  We went with three other families that all had small children.  The kids had a great time wind surfing, playing in the water, playing in the dirt, eating s'mores and sleeping in the tent.  We had a great time, but were thoroughly exhausted after two nights.  Here are a few camping pics...









  • Kaden had his first T-ball game this week.  Kaden's uncle Andy said that Kaden is "first in the league in sand sculptures"...meaning that he spends a little more time playing in the dirt than he does watching the ball.  He has a little ways to go on his skills and knowledge of the game...but we are taking baby steps. Here are a couple pics from his first game.


And lastly, Kaden has taken to sleeping on the floor lately. Maybe it's because it's a fraction of a degree cooler on the floor than on his bed, and we are doing anything we can to beat the heat in our house lately.  But tonight, either he convinced Maddie to join him or she just did it on her own.  And here is what we found when we went to check on them.  I'm not sure that Kaden's foot would appeal to me as a pillow...but to each his own.


That is all for now folks! ( I don't know why the writing shows up the way it does with a white background and it is driving  me crazy!)

Monday, July 2, 2012

8 Months Old!


Allie continues to grow and amaze us all.  Kaden and Maddie are just as enamored and amazed with her as ever.  It has been so fun to see how much she lights up with joy when she sees them and vice versa.  She has also become a little ham lately, making funny faces that she knows will make us laugh. We were a few days late taking her picture with the bear, but fear not...we fed her less for those few days so she wouldn't grow too much :)


Last month I showed how she was swaddled with one arm free while she slept. That lasted less than a week. She was still rolling over and then would be pushed up on her one free arm smiling at me when I came to check on her.  So, we decided it was time for her to be a free woman, and we have put our ace bandages into retirement.  Now she just scoots happily around her crib and settles in to sleep on her tummy.  This is much more to her liking and after a week or so, she was basically sleeping just as long as she was when wrapped up.  Losing any precious sleep is the main reason I always swaddled my kids for so long.  Being the perfect baby, however, she has made the transition very smoothly.


Allie has also become quite the eater in the last month.  A month ago I was worried that she wasn't taking baby cereal and wasn't eating very much of the baby food.  Now, she can down several jars in a day and hasn't slowed down on the breast feeding.  The only food combination she hasn't loved so far has been pear/mango/spinach.  I mean...can you really blame her?  They have some of the weirdest combinations in baby food these days.  I might like that in a salad, but pureed and sucked through a tube?  I'd pass on that too.


We are not in full crawling mode yet, but her forearm scoot continues to get faster and more efficient.  She does get up on her hands and knees now and rock back and forth.  But when she tries to launch herself forward, she just kind of lands on her chest and commences with her scooting.


Allie Jane is beautiful, funny, loved, and a ray of sunshine in the Vanderploeg household.  She is adored by all and is always happy and smiling.  We could not imagine life without that precious little cheeky and dimply smile.


On another note...Allie's monthly pictures with the bear are getting increasingly difficult to take. You'll notice the paper is on the other side of the bear this month so that she wouldn't constantly grab it and just start eating it.  And just in case you think I snap one picture and we're done...here are a few of this month's outtakes...