Reese Is Turning 1!!!

This coming Tuesday our baby girl will be turning 1! I can't believe how quickly the year has gone. She is so much fun and we have loved every moment of the last year. We celebrated her birthday on Saturday with a few friends. Here are some pics from her birthday and a few of her in her new car:).

Well, hello:). I know I have been MIA lately but we have been super busy! My mom was in town for 3 fun filled weeks and I had no time to blog while she was here. It was so nice to have her here, it was the perfect balance of sight seeing and relaxing. Micah even took a couple days off of work to see the area with us. The only bad thing was that Reese was pretty sick for the first 2 weeks of my mom's visit so we were pretty busy taking care of Reese. I was so happy my mom was here when Reese was sick becuse she hasn't been sick too many times and it was nice to have the help. But now my mom is gone and life is getting back to normal. It surprised me how quickly "normal" became having my mom here. I got very used to having a companion during the day. It was nice to have someone to shop with, drink coffee with, and just run errands with. It made me appreciate her all the more. So anyways, here are a few pictures from her visit, we had a lot of fun and I can't wait for her to come visit us in California!
Here is a cathedral and estate house we visited. It is amazing how extravagent some of the houses people used live in are.

We went to a castle called Castle Riesing and these are some pictures of us enjoying the day there.

And here is a picture of a crazy guy playing guitar in a garbage can in Cambridge. It will never cease to amaze me how low people will stoop to make a buck.

While my mom was here she taught me how to crotchet and here is Reese wearing a hat a made her:).

What A Week

Wow, we have had quite the eventful week. Monday was a big day around here with Reese turning 9 months! I just had to take a moment Monday morning and think about my life 1o months ago before Reese...I can't really remember what I did with my days. I can't believe how fast these last few months have flown by. I know everyone always says how fast they go and you need to cherish every moment but I never really understood how true that was. Now with Reese being a whole 9 months she thinks she's a rock star! She pulls herself up on absolutely everything and has to walk along the couch and coffee table and anything else she can pull up on. Another Reese milestone is that she is routinely waking up at 7 or later every morning! She has even hit 8 a couple of mornings! This is huge because she has always been a 6:15-6:30 girl. That extra 1/2 hour plus is amazing! If Micah leaves early enough for work in the morning I even have time to drink a cup of coffee and read my Bible all before she wakes up!

Monday was also a big day for me because I finally finished my Master's!!! I am so excited to be 100% done with school for the rest of my life! All week I have had the strange feeling that I need to be doing something....but I don't:). I am so happy that now I can really enjoy Reese's nap times. I may even get a chance to read a book for my enjoyment.

Today is what the Air Force calls a "Family Day". We seem to have a lot of these living in England. A Family Day is a day when Micah gets to stay home from work and be with his family. We LOVE Family Day's around this camp. We will maybe take the train into Cambridge today and do some browsing through the market. It will depend on Reese though because she is threatening being sick and I just can't quite read how the day will turn out yet.

On Saturday Micah and I took Reese to the cutest town ever, Lincoln. It was one of those days that we will forever remember. It wasn't that something amazing happened, it was just one of those days. You guys know what kind of day I'm talking about. One that is fun and easy and goes just the right speed. We started the day going to Starbucks because we we're out of coffee and you know that is no way to start a day. After coffee we grabbed some breakfast, which we rarely do, and headed to Lincoln. There is a cathedral there that is just amazing. I thought the Ely cathedral was nice but this one totally beat it.

We also went to the Lincoln castle while we were there. I can't believe we live in a place where on the the weekends we can go visit castles and cathedrals. Next time I catch myself complaining about how inconvenient it is living here I need to remind myself about all the amazing things we get to do and see while here. Unfortunately we only took pictures from the top of the castle.
This is the only good picture we got of the castle wall. I don't know why we didn't think to get better pictures outside of the castle. Next trip that way I will have to remember to snap a few more pics!

Well, I'm not sure if you've heard, but Micah got his next assignment last week. It looks like we are headed to California next April! Both of us are so excited about this move it is definitely what we both have been wanting. Because of the job that Micah is going to be doing he won't be flying much over the next three years but he is okay with that. When our 3 years are up in Cali then Micah will go and learn to fly a new plane, so he still has some flying in his future. I know this wasn't much of a post but I just wanted everyone to know that time is running out on your window of opportunity to visit us in England, so book your tickets soon:).

Crawling

Since Reese has started crawling she doesn't want to stop moving! It has been so much fun to see her become more and more mobile. Sometimes I find her sitting right outside the living room door, just chillin'.
At other times she gets caught up in something, usually her floor mat. We are not quite sure how she does it, but she oftentimes finds herself stuck in the soft and pliable toy:).
And overall, she just loves to crawl. This pictures sums up the joy.
But the thing in life that still brings the ultimate joy...the bath. As much as she loves to crawl I think this little fish will always prefer good old H2O!

It sure has been a while...

Well, I think it is safe to say that I am a blogger failure. But don't blame me, blame motherhood:). I realize a lot of moms can be a mom and blog all at the same time, but it is super hard! Reese, who is a whole 8 months now, has me running all the time. And believe me, I am NOT complaining. I absolutely love it! But it is time consuming. Now that she is getting a bit older though and can play by herself for a bit perhaps I will find more time to spend on here. I guess time will tell. I only ask you to please not give up on me:). Check back ever so often and I will try to have posted some current pictures of our little life.

Not much new. Micah is busy with work, I am busy with Reese and my Master's and Reese is busy crawling. With a semi-mobile baby life has become more interesting. We have lately been introduced to baby gates. Wow, whoever invented them should get a gold star for functionality, but not some much for ease of use....I don't know if I am just slow but they are hard to install. Anyways, like I said Micah is busy with work and he is hoping to hear soon about where our next move will take us and he is hoping to get a new job soon too, so time will tell. I have been busy trying to complete my Master's, as of today it is 4 weeks and counting until I will say farewell to school for quite some time. I can't wait to be done!

So here are some pictures, I know that is why you come, just to see what we are up to:) I have posted a lot of these on FB so if there is a lot of repeats, sorry:).

more pictures

So here are a few pictures of Reese taken over the past couple of weeks. I know that I haven't been putting too many new pictures on the blog, it has just taken me a while to get them off the camera and uploaded.


I absolutely love this sleeper! Some may say it is for boys but I don't care. I get so sick of all the pink stuff. I sometimes wonder if the people that make baby clothes know that girls wear other colors besides pink. So I put Reese in this sleeper as much as possible.

Our little baby burrito all ready for bed. She loves to stick her tongue out.

Reese loves going in the bathtub! Micah and I are so happy that we don't have to fight her every time she has to go in. In fact, sometimes if she is being super fussy we give her a bath and it calms her right down. The only problem is that when it is time to get out she throws a fit:).

Can you believe that Reese is already 9 weeks this week?!?! I know, me neither:). I should be doing homework while she naps this morning but instead I thought I would take a minute to share a few Reese stats with you all. She had her 2 month check up this week. Obviously the doctor was super impressed with her. She is 50% in all categories. She weighed in at 11.6 lbs. and she is 22 1/2 in. long. We are really happy with her growth and she seems to be happy with it also. Reese is a lot of fun these days. She is making a ton of noise. It is so funny to me how one day she can wake up and be doing all this new stuff that she didn't do at all the day before. She smiles constantly, especially when she sees Micah. I am hoping to snap a few pictures of her this afternoon so hopefully I will be posting some new pics later today or tomorrow.

Okay, it was brought to my attention today that I have been neglecting this blog. Which is really nothing new for me because I am the worlds worst blogger, but I thought when I had Reese that I would step it up and keep everyone up to date with what is going on with us. I had a very warped idea of what life with a baby would be like:). I thought it would be a lot of sleeping, cuddling, and eating. While those three things do take place everyday, there is also a lot of crying! Sometimes the day is over and I wonder where it went. I start back up with my masters classes today and I am a bit nervous that I will not find the time to get my work done. Reese takes up a lot of my time. But, I would rather be wiping tears and holding my little girl than cleaning my house or doing school work anyways.

Reese was 7 weeks old yesterday. I just can't believe it. Time is flying by. She is changing by the minute, or so it feels:). She has recently discovered that her fingers fit in her mouth and she quite enjoys them. Sometimes it seems like she would rather keep her fingers in her mouth rather than eat. She is so alert when she is awake these days. She recognizes voices, especially Micah's. When Micah starts talking to her her eyes move around and look for him and she gets a huge smile on her face. She is a big smiler. The three things that bring smiles to her face are her dad, bath time and diaper changing time. Those are pretty much the best things in her life right now:).

Micah will be gone for the next couple of days so it is just us girls for a while. I am kind of looking forward to this time with Reese. I will actually only be alone for 2 days because my friend Tara is coming on Friday and she will be here for a week. I am looking forward to the visit and I am excited for her to meet Reese. It will be nice to have an extra set of hands around the house too to help out with Reese.

I was just reading a friends blog and she said something that really spoke to me. I really liked it so I thought I would share. She said something about how when our babies wake up in the middle of the night and we find ourselves feeding, holding and rocking we should take that time to speak with the Lord. Lately when I get up with Reese I am just so tired all I want to do is get it over with and go back to bed. But after reading what my friend said I think I will take those precious moments and spend some time with my Lord.

I can't believe Reese is already a month old! I have no idea where that month went:). It feels like we just brought her home yesterday. But I know that is not true. In fact a lot has happened in this past month. My mom was here for the first 3 weeks. It was so nice to have her here to help out and lend a hand. As I recovered from my c-section it was great to have both Micah and my mom around to pitch in. I was so thankful that my mom had the chance to be here when Reese was first born and she had a chance to spend time with her.

In the last month Reese has changed a ton! When she was born she weighed 7 pounds...when I weighed her this morning she weighed 11!! Yes, she is a chubster:). Our little girl is definitely not going hungry. She has also grown, she is already wearing leggings in 3 month size. She is growing like a weed. She is also a fantastic sleeper...well, at night she is. At night she lets us sleep quite a bit but during the day is a different story:). Sometimes it feels like she would just rather cry all afternoon instead of taking a nap. But that is okay because it gives us a lot of snuggle time.

We are looking forward to our first Christmas with our little girl. Although she won't care whatsoever about it, it will be special to us.

Reese Avery

Well as you can see blog has a new title. As you have most likely heard by now Micah and I welcomed to the world our precious Reese Avery on Monday Nov. 22 at 4:49 pm. I went to the doctor last Monday for my 38 week appointment and the doctor told me Reese had flipped over the last two weeks and she was now breech. They tried to flip her but she proved to be too stubborn. I ended up having a c-section later that afternoon. Not at all how I had thought my Monday would go but I was sure happy the way it ended:).

Micah and I have been have so much fun being parents. So far we think Reese is a super star:). She is such a good sleeper, sometimes too good, she likes to sleep through feedings. She is such stinker. She has been eating really well and gaining weight. We went to the doctor for her first appointment last week and her doctor said she was doing very well. We go back on Monday for her 2 week appointment. I can't believe she will already be 2 weeks by then. It feels like just yesterday Micah and I were bursting at the seams with excitement because I was 4 weeks pregnant. It was so hard to keep that secret. And now after 9 long months we have her and she is amazing. It is amazing the way life changes. At times it is hard to believe we ever felt satisfied in life without her:). We are overjoyed with our little girl and amazed every day how God has blessed us!

Well, I'm off to the doctor this morning and I am excited and anxious to hear if she has some good news for me:). I have a week and 4 days to go until Dec. 2 and I can't wait! It's not that I am uncomfortable or anything like that and for that I am quite grateful...I am just so excited to meet our little girl! I had an AMAZING shower on Saturday with some pretty terrific women. Since the shower I would have to say Micah and I are all set to welcome our sweet little Reese (still no middle name) to our family. I tell her every day that it is okay for her to come but she doesn't listen. She is a stubborn one:). My mom comes tomorrow and I am very much looking forward to that. As long as Reese doesn't make an appearance we will do some shopping, some antiquing, and who knows what else. We also have a Thanksgiving meal to plan for so we will be busy until Reese gets here. So I'm off to my appointment in just a bit, I will let you know if the doctor gives me any news!

Free Shutterfly Cards!!

Okay, this post is going to be all about Shutterfly! Some of you may have used them before, others maybe not. I have used them for the past 2 years for my Christmas cards and plan on using them for the coming years. One great perk of Shutterfly is that they give you the option of addressing them yourselves or they will do it for you! So if you want 50 free Christmas cards this year and have a blog just go to http://bit.ly/sfly2010 and sign up! They will send you an email letting you know how to get some free cards. And by the way, another thing I love about Shutterfly is that when I got pregnant they gave me a 20 dollar gift card! How great is that?!?! With my 50 free cards this year I am going to make a baby announcement/Christmas cards for friends and family. They have some pretty cute options this year...I would show you what I am planning on using but that would ruin the surprise:). You can check out the holiday cards at this link: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards. You can make birthday cards at this link, http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birthday-cards-stationery. I have never done birthday cards but I'm sure they are great. I have also done wall art through Shutterfly, http://www.shutterfly.com/home-decor/canvas-wall-art. So you can do this too with your blog and get 50 free cards, just go to the link I posted and they will give you directions!

The Nursery

I posted these pictures of Reese's room on Facebook but I know that some of you that read this blog don't "do" Facebook. So here are some pictures of the room. Now all we need is her. The countdown continues, 3 weeks to go! Notice the rocking chair, that is Micah's Oma's that we acquired along the way.

What's Up With Us????

To begin the tale of what is going on with us I start with the fact that in just 5 short weeks our little girl is due to meet the world! She can come at any time (and we are hoping she comes sooner than later)!! Can you believe it? Time is just flying by! It feels like just yesterday I was sitting down to tell you all that Micah and I were expecting, and now she is practically knocking on our door.

These weeks bring so many feelings. The first is pure excitement! We are so excited to meet our little Reese. I can't even begin to put words to how we feel. Every night we look in her room and talk about how amazing she will be. We just can't wait to meet her.

Another feeling we have is complete and utter FEAR! What are we doing??? Sometimes I just stop and think about the hugeness of the the life change we are about to embark on and I wonder what we are doing. We don't have a clue about being parents! Fortunately, we have many friends and family that have been amazing, Godly examples of what parents should be. We have been gleaning for years.

In addition to excitement and fear we feel anxious. Not necessarily in a bad way. We just don't know what to expect. Life is about to change forever, and we just don't know what it is going to be like. One thing we do know is that it will be amazing. We know we will make mistakes along the way but God will be by our side guiding us in bringing up this miracle that is about to join our little family.

My mom will be visiting us come the end of November and she will be with us for 3 weeks! We are so excited to see her. This will be her very first visit to the UK and I think it will be full of excitement. It will be nice to have a set of hands around this place that actually knows what they are doing when it comes to babies:). We are happy she is able to come and share this time with us. And then about a month after my mom comes my friend Tara will be here for another week to spend some time with us and Reese. We are very much looking forward to both visits.

So that has pretty much consumed us for the last little bit. Life is good. We are good. We are ready to embark on the next phase of our lives.

We're Having a GIRL!!

That's right everybody, come December we will be welcoming a precious little girl into our home. We are so excited and just cannot wait. We went in for the big appointment on Wednesday and we were there for just about an hour. At first the technician just took a bunch of pictures and didn't really talk to us. After a while she had what she needed so she relaxed a bit and joked around with us. At the end we play a little guessing game with her as what the gender was. It was pretty obvious we are going to be having a girl. It was a lot of fun to watch her tumbling and turning inside of me. I didn't get to see too much of it but Micah watched the whole thing and just loved it! I'm sorry it took me a few days to let you all know. I had a huge assignment for class this week and I have been super busy with that.

21 weeks!

Well I am 21 weeks as of today. I can't believe it! I am over half way done! I don't really feel half way, not even close actually. Slowly buy surely I am growing, but I am still not feeling "pregnant". I still forget that I am pregnant and then someone reminds me and it takes me a minute to process:). But we really are enjoying this time. Every day Micah comes home and asks me if I have felt the baby kick...so far the answer is no but one of these days I am going to surprise him with a yes! I am really looking forward to feeling him or her moving around. Micah has also taken to feeling my stomach and being very quiet in hopes of feeling something move. It is actually kind of funny. A week from today we find out if we are having a boy or a girl! It feels like we have been waiting forever for this and we still have another week to go! My appointment is at 1:00 in the afternoon and Micah already has blocked out a few hours in the afternoon so we are all set. I just hope he or she isn't shy and decides not to move around. But then again, I really can't imagine any child of mine being shy or not wanting to move around EVER:)! So as soon as we get home I will try to sit down and write a quick blog to let you all know if it is a boy or a girl. Other than that things are good. Like I said I am slowing growing, it amazes me how week to week clothes are fitting me differently. I have been SUPER tired, taking naps pretty much every day. That is starting to slow down a bit. I still get tired in the afternoons but I can power through a bit easier now. I think that pretty much brings us up to speed with the pregnancy. Check back next week for the big reveal!

Carter's Comfort Center Playard and Changer - Safari Friends - Carters - Babies "R" Us

This is another link to the pack and play if the one I posted doesn't work:)

Carter's Comfort Center Playard and Changer - Safari Friends - Carters - Babies "R" Us

18 weeks

Okay, I will be 18 weeks already tomorrow. I just can't believe it. Every day it is feeling more and more real. I had an appointment last week where we heard the heart beat. This was kind of exciting because it was Micah's first time hearing it. It is nice to hear that he or she is healthy and strong in there:). The heart was beating at about 160 beats...which I have been told indicates our baby Vander Veen will be a girl. I have felt all along that we will be welcoming a little baby girl into the world this winter but Micah has been positive it will be a boy. We will officially find out on July 28th whether we will will be saying hello to a girl or a boy. Don't you worry, as soon as we know we will be posting it for you all to read. Even though we don't yet know if we are having a boy or girl we have started to get things ready for the baby's room. Yesterday we bought a pack and play and we are super excited about it. In fact, Micah has already assembled it and put it in the baby's room. Here is a link to the pack and play we bought if you want to take a look. www.amazon.com/Carters-Comfort-Center-Playard-Changer/dp/B003PE1WIW. If you can't click on it just cut and paste it into your address bar. Every day I feel like I am showing more and more, once I really feel "pregnant" instead of just fat I will post some pregnancy pics for you all. That is all that we have for new baby news. But don't worry, I will keep you posted!