A Week in Pictures

Marcus thought it was funny to put his coat on backwards last week

His love for books continues and this one was about baseball.  Two of his favorite things in one!

Last week, it was pretty cold, but we still managed to get outside, thanks to Daddy.

He calls his toboggan his toe-bog.

Playing ball with Daddy at the bottom of the hill

Top Secret valentines being made here

We both had on our shirts that are only worn for painting.

Funny boy, "hiding" in the fridge.

We're halfway there - whoo hoo!

 

20 Weeks!
-Halfway there!!!
-L.O.V.E.D. watching baby on the ultrasound
-Everything looks "perfect" according to Dr. Cobb
-Baby is moving a LOT and often

Monday night, Marcus INSISTED on taking his Bible to bed.  I took it out after he fell asleep but he woke up in the middle of the night crying, asking for it.  When I returned it, he fell right back asleep again.

Baby #2

     This past Monday, Mark, Marcus, and I all went to the doctor's office to see the next member of our family - Baby #2.  We had a long ultrasound and enjoyed watching this child move around and eventually get nuzzled in and go to sleep.  A wonderful time was had by all and Dr. Cobb said everything looked, "perfect."  It never hurts to use words like that. :)

Here's baby's torso, hand, and head.  I think this one's profile looks a lot like Marcus' did at this time.

Chest and head

No, there are not two babies in there.  This is just a picture of the left hand and arm (left side) and the right hand and arm (right side).  They are so clear and show all the bones that are already there!

Here's the best picture of baby's face we could get.  Can't wait to meet you little one!

And even though this is a blog dedicated to Baby #2, Baby #1 is still as cute as ever!

Having fun despite the weather

     This past week we had at least four straight days of HEAVY rain so needless to say, Marcus and I got a little antsy.  On Wednesday (Mark's day off), we took Marcus swimming in the indoor pool at our gym.  He's been asking to go for WEEKS now so I waited until a day when Mark could go with us and we jumped in the warmed water together.  It was a salt-water pool, so it was actually nice to be in, considering chlorine can sting our eyes. 
     On Thursday, a fellow mommy of young kids and I took our children to a place called, "Mountain Play Lodge."  It's a super fun warehouse sized place where children can run wild with imagination.  There's a large castle with fun mirrors and slides, a "barber shop," fire house, police station, "burning house" and a horse stable where kids can play dress up and enjoy small toys to play with.  Nothing has or needs batteries, so it's nice to see the children just explore and come up with fun things on their own.  Not only that, but there are multiple inflatables where the kids can climb, jump, slide, and all our go nuts.  It's super safe and they wear themselves out.  For the smaller ones, they have a gated in area with train tables, puzzles, a small cottage with stove, fridge, etc, and soft plastic toys they can climb on without getting hurt.  Everything is EXTREMELY clean and all the staff are so nice.  We really enjoyed our time.  Whitney, the other mom, and I took the kids to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and the kids were treated to free ice cream and balloons when they were done with lunch.  Seriously, it was a fun day.
     Finally, the forecast called for a TON of snow here on Thursday evening and Friday morning.  There was a 100% chance of snow.  We got ZERO!  Not one snow flake fell here at our house.  We had a few hours of sleet, but that was it.  Although thankful, Marcus was a little disappointed that he couldn't use his new snow shovel.  His disappointment was short lived as his friends came over at 10:30 for our monthly Mama's Prayer group.  The other mamas and I pray while a sitter keeps the children occupied in the basement.  Marcus enjoys playing with all his friends, ages 6 months to 5 years old.  The kids all really do get along great.
     The funniest part of the day was when we were right in the middle of prayer.  I was praying, in fact, when Marcus walked into the room with only his shirt on.  The sitter said, "he won't keep his pants on," and he literally had NOTHING on his bottom.  So I didn't know what else to do but laugh, put him in my lap, and keep on praying.  Funny boy!
     Finally, Marcus had a Daddy-Son day yesterday as I traveled to and from Mt. Airy for my cousin Ashley's baby shower.  She's due in March and looks incredible.  We're so excited for her and her husband, Mario.  We can't wait to get our hands on that sweet little boy!
     But speaking of babies, we go tomorrow at 3pm for our BIG ultrasound.  We get to see our sweet baby's face, body, limbs, etc and if we WERE going to find out the gender of the baby, it'd be tomorrow, but we're choosing to let this one be a surprise, too, just like Marcus was.  We're still excited, nonetheless, and look forward to seeing how big he/she is and hearing that precious heartbeat once more.  But I have started feeling movement this week and it's just the most amazing thing (again)!

Playing in the sink on his tiptoes

Learning to paint with water colors with Daddy

Sweet baby Dagen (10 months old)

Marcus, Holden, and Dagen at the train tables

Jumping into the bounce house

Standing up in the canoe

Climbing up the BIG inflated slide

Coming down the slide on his belly

Dressing up as firemen

Smiling with the big bear

There's a reason we own rain boots

so he can splash in the puddles!

Can you see how high the creek was at the bottom of the hill? 

He wanted to hold his own card tonight

19 Weeks
-Finally felt baby move this week!
-Starting to crave sweet stuff (uh oh!)
-Having strong aversions to certain scents
-Our BIG ultrasound is tomorrow! (pics to follow)

Acting like a baby

     Since Baby Schuurman #2 is well on his or her way, we do plenty of talking around here about babies or "the" baby.  Marcus seems really into it and has been talking a lot about how he's going to help when the baby comes out.  The other night he said, "I'm going to change the baby's diaper, and kiss him (yes, he said him) on the head, and help give him a bottle."  Cute, right?  The cutest of ALL the things he does, regarding the baby, is kissing my tummy each night and saying good night to the baby.  He does this on his own...we don't even tell him to.  It warms my heart and I TOTALLY hope this is just the start of an amazing friendship between siblings. 
     BUT (and that's a big but!) on the flip side, Marcus has reverted back to doing "baby" things.  Two weeks ago, he was fully potty trained.  Pooped and peed on the potty and stayed dry in between!  This week, he's ASKING for diapers and for me to "change" him.  ??????  He will say things like, "hold me like a baby" and asks Mark and I to feed him, rather than let him eat his food on his own.  Is this normal?  I assume it is and haven't hit the panic button yet, but it seems a bit weird from our perspective.  We hope it's just a phase that will pass as he gets older.
     Back to potty training, here's one quick funny story for you.  Even though I play with him all during the day, there's no one in Marcus' eyes like his daddy and he can't WAIT for him to get home so they can play.  One day this past week, Mark told Marcus that he'd play with him right after he went to the bathroom.  Marcus patted him on the bottom and said, "Are you still dry?"  I hid my face to laugh because he was so serious and Mark politely answered yes.  As Mark proceeded to the bathroom, Marcus moved a chair over to our cabinets.  As you'll see in the picture below, he climbed to the top so he could get his daddy a potty treat out of the cabinets for "staying dry."  Funny kid!

This picture cracks us up!  He was NOT happy!

But two seconds later, he's back to his sweet self (note the spaghetti noodle coming out his mouth)

17 week shot :)

When we took last week's picture, he had just woke up from his nap (hence the bed head) and wanted us to take a picture of his tongue and boo boo that had happened earlier at church that day.

He climbed all by himself to get daddy's potty treat

Marcus' new infatuation is "cleaning" things with his Scooby washrag.

After cleaning the toilet, it was time for Scooby to be washed in the washer.

"Washing" our car (yet again, using Scooby)

The weather this weekend has been close to 70 each day!  Sooooo nice!

Doing his brain quest with Daddy - again, his choice

18 Weeks
-FINALLY feeling good (whoo hoo!)
-Still haven't felt any movement yet
-THANKFUL for maternity pants
-Found out this week that staying active and working out are really good ideas to help with my sciatic pain :)

Jesus Loves M... My Toe Hurts

Christmas in Canada - Part 2

It snowed at least a little bit every day we were up there.

On Thursday, we went to go see Mark's grandma.  I love this picture how he and Marcus are smiling so cute and Mark's Mom & Beppe are smiling at them.  Adorable!

She was in a good mood and overall, doing pretty well.

When we returned from Beppe's, we all had a nap.  Even this cutie from next door.

Thursday night we went to the Schuurman family get-together and got to meet the newest baby of the family: Levi Jon Bos.

Even with multiple families missing this year, it was large crowd and a great time was had by all.  Marcus is in the front center, big smiling on Grandpa's knee.

Since the gals next door were sick, the boys got lots of time to play together.

Anticipating a catch from Grandpa.

Walking through the flowers at the greenhouses.

Erica was sweet enough to hold him up and let him pull the string that released the water and filled the pails.

Sweetness

Why ride when you can push?

Learning how to use a shovel in the snow.

Trying to shovel a path back to the front door.

Finally feeling good enough to get some fresh air. :)

I made snow cream for the kids for the first time ever.  I LOVED it - they didn't care for it. Haha.

Mark took the two older kids on a ride through the field

I don't know what you call these things they were riding, but they were clever because they could steer which way to go.

Mark even pulled them all over the yard.

Playing in the greenhouses after seeing the cows across the street.

On the day we left, we were dumped on with more snow.  Greg brought the tractor over and scraped both driveways.

As soon as Marcus got out of the shower, he stood in the window and watched.

Sweeties looking at the snow

Sweet girl

Precious cousins

This reminds me so much of last year's Christmas photo.  Marcus was around the same age as Alyssa and just like he did last year, she wasn't having it at all.  At least we have ONE picture of them all together.

Finally home, in our driveway.  His bunny was our saving grace. :)