The Van Mersbergens: January 2013

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Makayla - 4 months

Makayla is 4 months & 3 weeks so at least I will get this post in before she is 5 months! Even though the kids are so close together, I am always surprised and excited with how quickly babies develop at this age and the new discoveries they make every day. Makayla is a joy to have in our family and she keeps the other kids entertained and they do the same for her! A few stats for my own memory:

~She was 12 lbs 14 oz at her 4 month check-up which landed her in the 17th percentile.
~Rolled from tummy to back on December 23
~Rolled from back to tummy on January 22
~Sits up for short periods of time if she has a toy to hang on to for balance
~She wants mommy to put her to bed at night. This means it is hard for me to get out of the house in the evenings!
~She is sleeping from 8 or 9 PM-6 AM most nights. Naps are not on a schedule at all. That is what happens to the fourth child - she gets carried along to whatever activities Hailey, Brynn, and Klayton have in the morning.

Excuse Hailey's mouth full of food in this video - she can make Makayla laugh pretty easily with her silliness!

My family :)

Small group friends - all dressed up

Playing pat-a-cake

Brynn has been practicing her name - very proud of her writing

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Christmas 2012

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year - I love the anticipation, the music, the gift hunt, excited kids (and adults!), gatherings with family & friends, the yummy treats, and worshiping with Christmas songs that have been sung for generations. There is something about Christmas that brings me to a time of reflection and awe at this gift of Christ and what that really means for this world: Hope. There is hope. No matter the situation.

Here is a little summary of our Christmas fun this year.

We celebrated with just our family on Sunday, Dec 23. We had a candlelight dinner followed by gifts. After gifts we continued our tradition of Christmas cookies and homemade hot chocolate. Yummy!

This year I decorated above the cabinets in the kitchen with Christmas gifts. This kept them out of reach of a certain 2-year-old but I didn't have to store them in a closet. I will probably do this again next year with Makayla at the stage where ripping paper is a delightful game!

A picture of our tree for the brief minute before the gifts were opened.

Bringing gifts...

Waiting to open their stockings

Makayla making funny faces

Christmas cookies after presents.

It has become tradition for Jason to bring the kids to get a doughnut in their jammies on Hailey and Brynn's birthday (Christmas Eve) and then we drive to Grandpa and Grandma Talma's house.

Christmas Eve morning - doughnuts for breakfast!

Playing in the snow at Grandpa & Grandma's house.

Makayla got to stay inside with Grandma while Grandpa pulled the sled up the hill outside :).

We celebrated Christmas with a great dinner and gifts with my side of the family on Christmas Eve. Grandpa Talma read the Christmas story. This book has magnets of all the people so the kids get to put the magnets on the page as the story is told.

Klayton and Makayla getting their Christmas jammies on. It is always special for Hailey and Brynn to stay overnight at Grandpa & Grandma's house on their birthday!

On Christmas day we celebrated with Jason's side of the family. We had a great lunch followed by Grandpa reading the Christmas story. This book folds out so all the kids gather around to see the big pictures.

Great Grandpa also came so all the kids sang Away in a Manger for him.

We are so blessed to have families to spend time with on Christmas. A big thank you to our families - we love all of you very much!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Hailey & Brynn turn 4!!!

Our dearest firstborns turned 4 in December. Hailey and Brynn are growing up to be such sweet girls and we are so proud of them!
Hailey still LOVES to sing. She also loves pretend play -"let's do this" as she brings up ideas for something to pretend. This keeps Brynn and Klayton entertained as well as her friends. Once in awhile I hear Brynn say "I don't want to do that, Hailey!" but many times Hailey finds things or makes up a game to keep everyone busy. She loves to play "house", library storytime reader, teacher, princess (acting out the Disney movies), and daycare provider. If the other kids don't want to play she sets up her dolls to play along!
Brynn loves to play games - her favorite right now is a Dr. Seuss memory matching game and she and Hailey are both very good at it. Other games on the list include Candyland, The Ladybug game, Sequence for kids, and Boggle Jr. She also loves to do workbook pages and practice writing alphabet letters. Brynn will do somersault flips in the family room (her head doesn't touch the ground when she does them - not really sure what that should be called) and loves anything with jumping or running.
Both girls love to help in the kitchen. As soon as the utensil hits at least one ingredient, somebody is asking to lick the spoon! They are delighted to help with Makayla and can make her laugh so hard just by being silly.

Of course the girls have squabbles but they truly are best friends. If another child takes a toy away from one sister, the other is right there to defend her (unless of course they are stealing toys from each other which happens daily!). They whisper little secrets to each other and burst out laughing, they talk "after bedtime hours" and giggle in their beds, and they run around like crazy girls until Mama intervenes!

Four years ago we were nervous preemie parents and Hailey and Brynn have taught us so much about ourselves through this entire parenting journey. We love you girls!!

Klayton wanted in on the sister photos!

Our Family - November 2012

Jason took the girls out on a date for their birthday (thanks for the idea Craig and Laura!!). They picked out his pink shirt and a silver tie for him to wear. Jason took them to Red Robin because Hailey wanted Mac and Cheese and Brynn wanted Chicken Nuggets and they both wanted ice cream. The girls were glowing when they got home - I would call that a successful date!

On to Birthday party - we had their party a weekend early to get ahead of the Christmas parties. Hailey wanted a Sleeping Beauty cake and Brynn wanted a Belle cake.

I made the Sleeping Beauty cake the night before because I expected to run out of time if I tried to make both cakes the day of the party. Sleeping beauty's hair frizzed out while she slept in the refrigerator overnight - humidity never makes for a good hair day!?