A Taste of What is to Come...

This week Erin was back to school with meetings for two days. This meant we all had two days to start adjusting . . . Erin adjusting to getting up early and working all day . . . Shawn adjusting to tending to Owen in the morning and dropping him off. . . Owen adjusting to new surroundings and his cousin. . . Joshua adjusting to having Owen with me and on his turf . . . and me adjusting to getting up early and juggling two kids throughout the day. So far all has gone well!!! Owen and Joshua seem to be taken with each other! They are around each other quite a bit, but now it will be daily and for much longer periods of time. Hopefully they continue to be smitten with one another! Owen loves to watch Joshua playing, eating, whatever! Joshua likes to keep a watchful eye on Owen as well. Yesterday we went for a walk with the double stroller (forgot to get a picture) Joshua kept looking back at Owen and every time Owen spit out his pacifier Joshua would let me know with his concerned facial expression and by pointing at Owen. Today Joshua had to sit right by me when I fed Owen. He even had to put the bottle in Owen's mouth and hold the bottle for a minute - Owen just smiled at him! Hopefully we all will continue to adjust so well!


Playing together!


Checking each other out.


Hanging out in pajamas!

Beautician for a day!

This entry is just for Erin and Shawn. . .
Today Erin called me saying she was feeling adventurous, then she asked is I was up for an adventure. I was intrigued so I said sure. So, this afternoon Erin came over and let me give her a perm! Sure, I've had a few home perms in my time, but I have never given one! Boy was Erin trusting! So, off on the adventure of perming her hair we went. It was actually quite fun! For both of us it brought back lots of memories we had of having our moms perm our hair when we were young. When all was said and done we think it turned out pretty well. I only captured a picture of Erin during the process when she was sitting with the solution dripping all over her head (when I knew she couldn't see the camera). Stay tuned for a picture of the final results!

Grand Rapids Metro Cruise 2006

The Grand Rapids Metro Cruise is a great event in which classic and muscle cars from all over come to Grand Rapids to show off their cars as they cruise down 28th street. There were thousands of cars on the road and parked in parking lots up and down 28th street all day yesterday. So, since Cory was at a company golf outing I took Joshua over to see the muscle cars showcased in the parking lot by Woodland mall. As we walked in to begin looking at the cars we ran into my dad! We checked out the muscle cars and then decided to go see the classic cars that were being showcased in the Roger's Plaza parking lot. It was so much fun to walk around with my dad and hear about the cars we were looking at! Among the old classic cars we saw an old ambulance, bus, garbage truck and fire truck. We even saw a car that was similar to my dad's first car which was neat. I'm still kicking myself for not taking my camera along!

Cory didn't want to miss the fun so tonight we had a picnic with Shawn, Erin and Owen on 28th street and watched the cars cruise up and down the street. It was a great time! Check out some of the pictures I captured below.

Watch the video

Future Pilot?

Any time Joshua hears an airplane whether he's inside or outside he has to find it in the air. I swear that kid has better hearing than I do because we will be playing inside and all of a sudden he hears a plane and is racing to get to the slider to see it before I usually hear it! Swimming at Shawn and Erin's house this summer has only fueled Joshua's interest as the planes fly pretty low right over their house. Cory took him to the airport viewing area once, but unfortunately it was pretty slow that night. Today we went over to the viewing area after we finished a taste test (the consumer research center we go to is right around the corner) and the airport was busy! We only stayed for about 10 minutes because we needed to get home for nap time, but in that short time we saw 3 planes land and 3 planes take off. When I told Cory he was a bit jealous so we headed out for a picnic dinner at the airport viewing area again tonight to see if we could watch the action. It was pretty slow, but we saw 2 planes take off and 2 land. Joshua was just fascinated and kept watching the sky and pointing. Perhaps we have a future pilot on our hands!

An Artist at Work

This morning while Joshua and I were at Michael's picking up some things to prepare for MOPS I spotted a rack of kid's stuff for $1.00 so of course I had to take a peek. They had a set of watercolor paints that were washable so I picked one up for Joshua to try. After lunch I sat him down at the table with the paints and some paper and let the artist get to work. He thought he was such big stuff putting the brush into the paint and then onto the paper! He of course didn't get whole concept of rinsing the brush in water between colors so the colors started to get muddy looking, but I've had years of experience in preschool cleaning up those messes! We officially have his first painting hanging on our refrigerator and I'm looking forward to many more!

Day Trip

Eli and Joshua play together.

The incredible IKEA

A week ago when Shawn mentioned that he had a business meeting about 30 minutes away from Canton, Michigan Erin and I immediately thought how fun it would be to tag along since IKEA is now in Canton. So, yesterday we loaded up the kids and traveled down to Canton. We of course had to hit the outlet mall that is on the way to look for great deals on summer clothes for next year for the boys. Then we headed to Cory and Shawn's cousin Missy's house. Missy just happens to live about 4 miles away from IKEA - how convenient(I must say I am jealous of her living so close)! So, while Shawn went to his meeting Erin and I spent a couple hours chatting with Missy and catching up while the kids (Eli, Joshua and Owen) played, napped and ate. It was so much fun! A HUGE thank you to Missy for allowing us to come and visit!
Since Cory didn't want to miss out on the fun he worked half a day and then drove down and met us at Missy's house. We all headed over to IKEA when Shawn returned from his meeting. WOW, is that place GIGANTIC! It took us almost 3 hours to get through the place! There is so much to see it's incredible. I'm sure we could have spent so much more time there, but with little kids this really wasn't an option yesterday. We didn't go wanting to buy much, we just wanted to check it out. We did end up coming home with a few things - a couple toys for Joshua, a couple of kitchen items and a child's stool (which will serve as a time out stool for Joshua in the near future). It was a very long day, but a fun one!

Joshua's First Bike

Okay, well it's more like a trike or a big wheel. Regardless, this is a great bike for Joshua now because he can rest his feet on the foot rest and we can push him around with the handle. Not only that, but you can flip the handle down underneath the bike and rock like it is a rocking horse. When he is a bit older and can use the pedals the handle just comes off and he is off riding on his own. Fun for years to come!

Embarrassing!

Joshua has a new habit, or shall I say an old habit that has made a return - he thinks it is funny to scream for any or no reason. This being said, Cory, Joshua and I are sitting in a restaurant last night eating dinner. All was going along smoothly as it usually does. Joshua spotted the ketchup bottle on the table and grabbed it, no big deal he likes to explore new things. But, when Cory asked Joshua for the ketchup bottle and then proceeded to take it out of his hands Joshua let out the loudest ear-piercing shriek we've ever heard - as Cory said, "he put all he had into that one"! Immediately all eyes in the restaurant were on us! If I could have crawled under the table fast enough I would have. Unfortunately I couldn't move fast enough so I did the next best thing, I cupped my hand over Joshua's mouth. His eyes got very big... but even this warning didn't stop him from trying to do it again a few minutes later, but not quite as loud. The worst part of this habit is he thinks it's funny. I'm sure when my dad reads this he will have a good chuckle and think about how nice it is that I now have a child of my own to deal with and I'm very sure my mom is looking down from heaven with a smile on her face thinking "what goes around, comes around" (she always warned me it would!).

Finally!!!

I know to some of you this might be an odd thing to post about, but to us it's a big deal. Back in May Joshua dropped a can of raisins on his big toe. This caused a huge blood blister to form underneath his toe nail and as we all know blood dries to a nice black color. I had no idea that the pediatrician would have numbed his toe and poked a hole in his toenail so the blood could have drained out, I thought he was too young to have such a procedure done. So for three months Joshua has had a black toenail and I can't tell you how many times I've been asked, "what happened to his toe?". Finally that question will not be asked again! This morning when I changed Joshua out of his pajamas I noticed his toenail had come off! He still has a tiny bit of dried blood left on his new toenail and it definitely needs to grow out a bit more, but at least he has a normal looking toe now! Check out that new toenail and the old yucky one that came off!

A New Chair

A couple weeks ago my dear friend Kim emailed me a picture of the most adorable plush kid's chair. It is from Pottery Barn Kids and regularly costs $100, but she got it for $25. She had gotten it at an outlet mall in Ohio for her daughter, but upon getting it home she and her husband decided they didn't want to keep it. So, she offered to sell the chair to me. I of course jumped at the idea - seeing as though it was from Pottery Barn just like Joshua's bedding I knew it would match his room perfectly! So, this weekend we got Joshua's new chair. It's so soft and cushy he just loves hugging it. Hopefully he will gravitate to his new chair to look at books instead of always sitting on the floor. What a great deal, thanks Kim!

Escape Artist

Our little boy, who hasn't been much of a risk taker, is now deciding to take some big risks. A couple weeks ago a friend of mine called with a question while I was feeding Joshua breakfast so I had to run downstairs to my office to look at something. A couple minutes later I came back up the stairs to find my son sitting on the kitchen table playing with my cell phone! I just about had a heart attack! The tray was still on his high chair, and the straps were still buckled! Somehow Joshua had wiggled himself free from the straps that belt him in and climbed on his tray and then over to the table where he happily sat pulling my cell phone antenna in and out.
Today however, I got the biggest scare of my life, with a child thus far. I walked into his room this morning after I heard him babbling for a couple minutes and much to my horror Joshua wasn't in his crib, no folks, he had climbed out!!!! He was laying on the floor hugging his bunny-bear. I right away thought he fell out of his crib but then thought back - I never heard a thud or crying, so he must not have fallen. However he got out, he wasn't hurt and when I walked in the room he just started to stand up and put his arms out for me to pick him up. Crazy kid! Guess Cory has the job of lowering his mattress to the lowest point when he gets home tonight!

A Weekend at Pioneer Park

We spent this past weekend visiting Cory's family (almost the entire Koorndyk clan was camping) out at Pioneer Park in Muskegon. The weather was absolutely perfect! We had a great time visiting with family, eating, and spending time at the beach. Joshua isn't much for the dirt or sand (his mom's sentiments exactly) so we are glad we decided to visit instead of camp. Perhaps next year we may try actually camping.

Watch the video

Learning Life Skills

Over the past few weeks Joshua has really become more interested in trying to do things for himself. He likes to try to wash his hair, wash his hands, put lotion on, brush his hair, brush his teeth, blow his nose and file his toenails. He tries, but isn't always so successful at completing a task, but at least he is trying and learning! It's so fun to see him trying to do these things that we do everyday so easily. See him in action below...

Watch the video

Hi!

A couple weeks ago when Joshua and I were out for a walk a little girl who was playing outside waved at us and said, "hi" to which Joshua replied, "hi" as a clear as could be! Later that afternoon while Erin was watching Joshua she was amazed when he said, "hi" to her. His favorite thing to do now is pick up either a real phone or one of his pretend phones and say "hi". A few times he has even said, "hi dada!"! Just watch the video below to hear him say "hi!"

Watch the video

Vacuuming...

Many kids are scared of loud noises, especially the vacuum - not our child! Joshua and I are usually downstairs when Cory starts vacuuming the upstairs, but within seconds of hearing the vacuum turn on Joshua stops whatever he is doing and heads upstairs to find dad and the beloved vacuum. Joshua won't go for sitting and watching Cory either, no, he has to be carried while Cory vacuums the entire house! At least Joshua helps to hold the cord so it won't get in the way while Cory vacuums! What a huge help-NOT! I even found a child sized vacuum that comes complete with sound which Joshua loves, but it just doesn't quite compare to the real thing!