Summer Vacation

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Just realized I'm REALLY behind in blogging. The last full week of August we were able to take a vacation with our family. It was SOOO relaxing and sooo much fun to hang out with just the 5 us every day. We vacationed at Barlow Lake, one of our favorites. We had visitors through out the week. But most days went like this. Jeff would wake up between 6 and 6:30 (CRAZY), make coffee and head out for a couple hours of fishing. He would get back between 8 and 9 and make us girls a BIG breakfast (the second breakfast for the girls since they couldn't wait that long to eat). Then Jeff would play rough with the girls for awhile. We'd go for walks/bike rides, go fishing, play games, or just hang out. Then it would be lunch time with more playing after. Then family 'rest' time. To Jayden and Melanie this means a NAP!! For Miya this means a lone time in a bed with lots and lots of books to look at (about 45min worth). For mom this meant a book, a lawn chair, and maybe a 15 min nap. For dad this meant another couple hours of fishing on the boat. After rest time we'd have snacks (lots of them) and play some more before deciding if we were going to grill or go out for supper. As a family we do not eat-out very often. Our vacations in the past are the same, lots of cooking. This vacation, for some reason, involved lots of suppers out. I LOVED it. It was a true vacation from cooking. Best part was I never asked, Jeff would just decide mom got the night off and we were going out for supper. Probably another reason this vacation was so relaxing.

Miya and Jayden are definantly able to "do" more on vacation now that they are older. They enjoy swimming, fishing, playing games, and playing in the loft and on the stairs(goofballs). Melanie was a little more of stinker. She had to be watched like a HAWK!! She would walk right up to the edge of the dock and try to touch the water. Great that she likes the water, but not so great since her balance isn't so good yet. She also liked sticking her head through the spindles of the stairs and attempting to go down the stairs walking forward. This girl is TROUBLE!!

Anyways, we were blesed to be able to spend a whole week together as a family. We loved not having to 'go' anywhere or keep a schedule. We made lots of memories....just didn't get to record them all in pictures since our camera went for a swim. Next time Jeff asks me if taking the camera near the water is a good idea, I will probably listen to the hidden meaning and leave it on-shore!!

We had a big adjustment Monday morning when Dad had to go back to work. The girls kept asking to play with him. They also kept asking for snacks and a 'big' breakfast. I had to adjust to a smaller living space and tripping over toys in the kitchen again. We loved our vacation and hope to go back next year.

First Day of Kindergarten

Tuesday was the first day of Kindergarten at the Westra house. Miya went to bed super excited and woke up super excited. The girls could hardly sit through breakfast. As soon as they finished eating they ran to the school room for a bible story. They had a long wait as they needed to get dressed, do their hair, and play a bit while mom set everything up. When we finished our plans for the morning I told the girls they could go play until lunch time. They kept asking me every 5 min if we could do more school, when I said no, they would ask if we could eat lunch. They loved it.

I have to say Tuesday was one of my favorite days EVER. It was so much fun having all this time with the girls when I didn't feel like I needed to be making a meal, or doing laundry, or cleaning, or whatever else needs to be done. This time is blocked out to do school! Yes, I slipped out to switch the clothes from washer to dryer and to change a poopy diaper, but aside from that it was our own time together. My favorite part of teaching 4th grade was the actual "teaching". I loved watching the eyes of the kiddos when they caught on to something or when you could see the determination in their face as they tried their best at something that was particularly hard for them. I know it's only day 1 of school, but I have already seen this with Miya (Jayden too) and I LOVED every minute of it. I'm so thankful that we are able to teach Miya at home this year and look forward to spending so many precious hours with our girls! I know every day won't be as easy as yesterday, but I also know this is a perfect fit for our family right now.

Goose Egg Continues

The feeling of terrible mom continues yet another day. I don't remember where exactly I left off with Melanie's falling incident this weekend. She acted fine on Saturday, a little sleepy, but still naughty. Sunday morning she cried around 5am, and like any other good mom....I let her cry. When I got her out of the bed at 8 it was very evident from the smell that she had gotten sick. So she stayed home from church and took a morning nap and an afternoon nap. She acted ok, just sleepy. Monday she was great. Her normal little pain in the pa-tooty. Today (Tuesday), we went to Big Rapids to help a friend set up her 1st grade classroom (if you call three children 5 and under 'help'). The day was uneventful, Melanie was a little bit of stinker, but also seemed tired again. We left with all intentions of Mel napping on the way home. She had a different idea. She thought crying for a long time and then throwing up at the half-way point would be really fun. Being the 'great' mother again, it took me a good 15 min to figure out what that smell was. I thought it was one of Mel's super nasty diapers but that just didn't seem right. Then I started looking at the vehicles we were traveling with on the road thinking we were following a rendering truck or something of the sort. Finally realized Melanie had puked at which point I had to do a couple sympathy dry heaves out the window. A good mom would pull-over and clean her up, put on the extra outfit folded in the diaper bag, right? Not this mommy. We notched up the cruise two more mph and busted for home with the windows down. After all, we ONLY had another 30min or so and she wasn't crying anymore.

As I was pulling Melanie out of the bath, I started wondering if these puking incidents were related to her fall from Friday. She didn't act like she was sick so I called Dr. G even though the goal was to go a WHOLE 6 months without seeing him. FAILED!! They wanted to see her just to make sure. Dr. G checked her out and just wasn't comfortable sending her home for the night. He wanted a head CT to make sure there wasn't something going on inside that tiny little head of hers. We are so thankful for a Dr. that treats our kids just like he would his own. We love Dr. G and his staff~maybe that's why we can't stay out of their office. Anyways, due to insurance and timing issues we had the joy of getting her head CT through the ER. Yuppers, Melanie got to be checked over AGAIN before they ordered her CT. By this time it was around 7 and the poor thing had her last meal at 11:30. She was not the happiest kid. I forgot to mention I had used the last diaper at the Dr.s office and didn't pack a bottle (Dr. G gave us some diapers just in case they were needed, but didn't want her to eat in case she had to be sedated). My sister came to take Miya and Jayden home for some supper and my dad stayed to help entertain Mel (Jeff was 45min from Chicago).

The event of the CT scan went okay. Melanie's cry is getting louder and she may have nightmares of a man with a large rubber glove. She acted like any hungry, 18month old would act. We then waited an hour for the results (through a shift change I think). God has once again blessed our family with health. They said Melanie looked just fine. Nothing in her head came back abnormal....NOTHING, which also means that little area of white matter on the movement part of her brain when she was born was not found!!! Dr. G didn't think anything would be found, but wanted to cover the bases. So glad he did, now we'll be able to sleep in peace tonight, thanking God for his mercies.

Melanie finally ate supper at 8:30, she wasn't too hungry since Papa was able to find her a bag of cookies in a vending machine. She did enjoy the chocolate malt Aunt Wendi made though. By the way, she now weighs 22lbs and 8oz's.Yaayy!! She officially graduated out of her infant seat today (mostly because it was in the wash and we needed to get to the Doctor's office).

I think it's time for bed!! Maybe tomorrow we'll just stick around the house. . . maybe.

Up North

I think I won a "bad parent" award this weekend. We went up north to Boyne Highlands and Avalanche Bay Friday and Saturday for Jeff's work. Friday night after we finished eating the girls were walking around the tables with some friends they met. Melanie, whose not so great at walking yet, fell and hit her head on the edge of a metal chair. She has a very quiet cry (as many of you know) and we didn't realize she was crying till the 7 year old brought her over to us at which time Melanie threw her whole body backwards....the 7 yr old did a great job of not dropping her, pretty sure I would have. So Jeff grab her right away at which point she started turning purple and then passed out from crying and not breathing. This was our first experience with a child passing out. I was trying to think through what Dr. G has told me to do in this situation. He is always surprised this hasn't happened in our family yet. Jeff was getting very anxious but was able to get her to take a breath after several blows to her face. Melanie had a goose egg on her head that was sticking out at least an inch!! No JOKE!! I've never seen a bump that big. We were trying to decide if we should take her in or not. Jeff was able to get some smiles from her after about 15 min and by the end of the night she was back to her naughty little self. I felt terrible, but I'm not sure how to stop the child from falling. It seems she is falling all the time lately. Either she trips while walking, or she falls off from something she climbed. I try to deter the climbing, that doesn't seem to work very well. As for the walking, eventually she'll figure it out, right? Thankfully she's a tough kid and usually doesn't cry when she falls.

Saturday morning we went to Avalanche Bay, and indoor water park. The girls had lots of fun. Thankfully they enjoy swimming now (since their swimming lessons earlier this year) so they tried the slides. Until Melanie gets a little bigger I think we can skip the water parks. Either Jeff or I had to stay back with Melanie while the other took Miya or Jayden down a slide. Once they went down the bigger slides they didn't want to go again which was a bummer for the other parent. So I think we can put off the water parks till the kids are a little older, or until we have more helpers, or wait till we can go with some of their friends or COUSINS!! Everyone still had lots of fun. Including Melanie who feel asleep on Jeff's shoulder cuddled up in a towel while still in the water park. Would have made a great picture if would have remembered to pull out the camera :(

After some great family time together we are anxiously awaiting our vacation next week. I will hopefully use my camera a little more too. And we should probably scout out the nearest intermed just in case.

My Montage 7/22/11 at OneTrueMedia.com

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Hot Days

Wowzers has it been HOT here!! Our house spiked up to the low 80's at the beginning of the week. Normally when it's not too bad in here and we haven't put our window unit in for a couple of years. However, when it doesn't cool off at night and with 3 active kiddos somethings just HAVE to get done; all of which make the house a little hotter(laundry, dishes, cooking, baths...). After getting a little sick, jeff and I decided it was time to put in the window unit to help take off the edge.

During the days we have become pool squatters. My brother in-laws parents have a pool they have so graciously said we could use. So, this week we have took them up on that offer a couple of times. We also spent an afternoon at another friend's pool. There were 5 adults and 15 kiddos....lots of fun!!! The kiddos have been falling asleep on the way home in the afternoon during our 10min drive. They are having a blast. When they wake up in the morning they ask if we're going to the Heasley's pool or the Payton and London's Grandma's pool. I do like it hot, maybe not all the humidity, but I'm not going to complain as we've been waiting for warm weather for many months. So thankful for our friends that have shared their pools with us.

God's Mercy Abounds

Once again, God has shown His power...and mercy. We had a crazy storm roll through here Monday morning. I was in Muskegon cleaning with my mom and the girls were home with Aunt Alyssa. I heard there was potential for severe wind and called Alyssa to take the girls to mom and dad's house. We have many beautiful maple trees on all sides of the house. While they provide great shade in the summer, and beautiful color in the fall, they also provide a little bit of anxiety during strong wind storms as we know they are getting old and very weak. With everyone out of the house my mind was at ease the rest of the morning. When I called home later in the afternoon I found out how strong of wind we had (over 70mph). While driving home the roads and tress all looked fine. Once we got to the old farm house we grew up in (next door to parents current house)we saw the force God put into the wind that morning. I think all of their trees~except for two smaller trees had some sort of damage. Many were completely uprooted. The old shed has a corner completely blown out, and you couldn't even see the fondation of the house from all of the limbs, trees, and roots in front of it. Mom and Dad's current house also had many, many trees uprooted. The woods in the back have several tress laying down and more trying to lay down. As we traveled to our house it was the same in every yard. Limbs down and many trees uprooted laying on their side. Thankfully we did not lose any trees this go-around. We had some down limbs that required a chainsaw, we will also need to reshingle our shed. We thankfully also have power as many in the area don't have any and don't expect to get it till Thursday at the earliest. So much to be thankful for at the Westra household again. When driving around town it looks bad, barns have collapsed, trees are gone, etc. However, once again we need to remember this could have been soooo much worse. We all still have our loved ones, our houses are standing unscathed. While driving around I kept picturing the images of the tornados that tore through the midwest earlier this spring. They had NOTHING left but their faith. God has shown His mercy through the power of this storm in this community. Yes, there will be a lot of work to come; cleaning up trees and debri and fixing some structures. But at the end of the night, we still have a bed to crawl into, our family to cuddle with, and most importantly; a merciful God to praise!

Miya came inside in tears after her rest Monday. "Mommy, the storm took our trampoline away, I don't see it anywere. The wind just took it."

I knew she would realize it sooner or later, so we took this time for a teachable moment explaining that it's just a 'thing' and we need to be thankful that nothing worse happend. After this little lesson with the girls they were fine, but super wound up when Dad came home, telling him ALL that happend through out the day. Here are some pictures of how far the trampoline 'blew'. We found it in the woods 3/4 of mile behind our house.

This is a regular pictures from our house looking towards the woods. The trampoline is about in the middle.

OOPS!!!!

View from the woods looking back at our house....way out there. The beans sure look nice don't they? If this was corn, it would be laying down from the wind :(

This is how Tyler's pigs are getting water. Filling a trash can with water from our house and bringing it to his. A little redneck ya think? ?