A Singing Angel

In the past couple weeks Rachel has been singing a lot. Whenever she's playing or just wandering around the house she'll just be singing away. It's really cute to listen to her and the songs she makes up. Of course as soon as we pay any attention to her she usually clams up. So, getting a video of her singing is nearly impossible. Here's a few of the highlights of the past few weeks.

• Last week she was swaying and patting her baby doll's back as she sang: "Rock-a-bye, don't you cry, we'll go home to grandpa, I love you, yes I do, little baby Baby (that's her baby's name)".
• She loves to sing "Wind the Bobbin Up" and do the hand motions. This is a new song that we've learned from playgroup.
• Rachel has a play dog that sings "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and she loves to do the motions as the dog sings to her.
• She has many versions of "I Am a Child of God" that she'll sing as she wanders around the house. She gets the verses all mixed up, but it's still absolutely precious. This morning she was putting her baby to sleep and singing "I Am a Child of God".
• And then my favorite. We were sitting on the couch this morning and she randomly started singing: "I'm trying to be like Daddy, I'm following in Daddy's ways, I'm trying to love as he does...". And then she noticed I was paying attention to her. :)

Giving Thanks

This is my first Thanksgiving away from family. I've always spent it with my family or Andy's. So, it's a bit different but it's okay. We get to double-dip this year. We're getting together with some of Andy's co-workers this evening for a Thanksgiving meal. Then on Saturday we are meeting at the church for another Thanksgiving meal. So, not too bad. I'm looking forward to my favorite item - the stuffing! This Thanksgiving, for some reason, I've been thinking a lot about how blessed I am. I have so many things to be grateful for. Here's my attempt to write them out:

• ANDY - When I met Andy almost 9 years ago, there's no way I could have known how lucky I was going to be. He takes such good care of our family. He truly amazes me and I'm thankful for all that he does.
• RACHEL - She brings so much joy and happiness to my life. Each day is an adventure with her and I'm so grateful to be her mom.
• BABY GIRL - I'm excited to be expecting another little girl. She's so active and doing so well. I can't wait to officially meet her.
• MY PARENTS - Their love, support, guidance, and example are priceless. A day rarely goes by that one of them doesn't call me and that means the world to me. I'm so grateful for all that they've done, all that they do, and all that I know they'll continue to do for me.
• MY IN-LAWS - I'm grateful for the son they raised. I definitely feel their love and am grateful for the relationship we have.
• MY BROTHERS - I'm so impressed at the men they have all become. I'm so grateful for many sweet memories of growing up with them. I know they'd do anything to protect me.
• FAMILY - All my sister-in-laws, brother-in-laws, nieces, and nephews. I'm grateful to have such an extended family with so many fun, unique individuals. It definitely keeps life exciting!
• THE GOSPEL - I'm thankful to have the knowledge of my Heavenly Father and my Savior. I know I am a child of God and that He wants me to return to him some day. I'm so grateful for the knowledge and testimony I have.
• MY FRIENDS - The old and the new. I love all those that keep in touch and let me know what's going on with their lives. I'm grateful for all the new friends I've made here in Holland - for their support and love.
• MY HEALTH - I have been extremely blessed with great health. I'm amazed at my body and what it's capable of doing each and every day. It's such a blessing to feel good and to be able to enjoy each day.
• MY COMFORTS - I have a home, food, clothes, etc... So many things that are taken for granted every day. I'm so fortunate to have never gone without. I've never truly had to want for a need.

I could probably go on for quite awhile now that I've got the wheels turning. I am truly blessed. And as I think of all the wonderful people and things in my life, I realize how fragile they all are. Tomorrow is a new day and who knows what it will bring. But this very second I have so much to be grateful for. And no matter what tomorrow brings there are many things on this list that will never change.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with those they love!

The Dutch Way

As this pregnancy has progressed it's been interesting to find out more and more how the Dutch handle births. They pretty much send you home from the hospital ASAP. As long as all goes well with the labor and delivery, you are usually headed home within hours of giving birth. Because of this you receive some help at home the first week after your baby is born. A kraamzorg, basically a nurse, comes in and her prime responsibility is to take care of the mother and baby. The kraamzorg comes to your home for 4-6 hours a day for about a week after the birth of your baby. They help you, give you advice, and will do some light housework for you. So, when in Holland do as the Dutch, right? So, we've arranged for a kraamzorg to come into our home after our baby girl arrives. Two weeks ago I spoke to one of the coordinators for the kraamzorg to see what I can expect. I was told to go purchase this:It's called a kraam pakket. Since we don't have Dutch insurance it wasn't automatically sent to us. Inside the box there are different items to be used after or even during the birth of the baby. There's a clamp for the umbilical cord and alcohol to be used on the umbilical stump. There are several mattress protectors - just in case we end up with a home birth! :) Exciting stuff. I was also informed on the phone to go pick up a bunch of these: What is it? Well, we have 4 of them and they are used to raise our bed. You see, we want to make sure that it's comfortable and convenient for the kraamzorg to take care of me while I'm resting in bed. So, they call these blocks (I was envisioning cinder blocks from my college days when we'd hike up our beds) to raise the bed to 70 cm high. Kind of interesting. Never mind I'm recovering from delivering a baby and will have to hike myself in and out of the 70 cm high bed. It should be interesting.... So, the Dutch way has some definite differences from the American way of having a baby. I've heard many positive experiences and a few not so positive experiences. Hopefully ours will turn out to be a positive experience. Either way, it is definitely going to be a once in a lifetime experience! :)

One year ago...

Exactly one year ago we landed in Amsterdam to begin our adventure here in Holland. It's crazy to think a whole year has gone by. In some ways it's flown by and in other ways it seems like we've been here forever. :) There have been good times and bad times, but overall it's been a pretty good experience. The first week is pretty much a blur. We stayed in a hotel for about 10 days before we could move into our place. The first day we got here I remember heading to the hotel and crashing. We slept for several hours. I think we arrived some time around 11 AM. So, it was an okay time to take a nap. And then after we all took naps we drove out to see our new home. I remember climbing up on the bench and peering in the windows. I reassured Andy he had done a good job picking out our new home. I know he was worried! :)

About a month ago I was driving back from somewhere and just realized how everything is so familiar to me and it's like it's home. It's weird to have a place totally foreign and strange to you become like home. So many things that seemed so strange to me are now just how things are. I'm definitely grateful for the experience we are having over here as a family. Don't get me wrong, there are still some moments that I'm ready to jump on the next plane and head back to the good, old U.S.A. But luckily those moments don't come too often and don't last too long. The past year has been quite an adventure and it will be interesting to see what the next year has in store for us....

First Snowfall of the Season

Yesterday the flurries started on and off, but nothing stuck. When we woke up this morning our backyard looked like this:It's definitely not enough to build a snowman, but enough to get a little girl excited:We were in the middle of eating breakfast, hence the strawberry jam all over Rachel's face, when the snow really started falling. Rachel was quite excited and rushed over to the window to watch. As we were walking home from the shopping center this afternoon we got snowed on. We tried to get Rachel to stick her tongue out and catch a snowflake, but she wasn't exactly willing. Andy's been singing Christmas songs all day long, so the first snowfall has definitely brought out the Christmas spirit in him. :)

"There's nothing like your first"

Those were the words spoken to me by a sweet woman with tears in her eyes when I was 8 months pregnant with Rachel. I've tried to take these words to heart and make the most of the time I have with Rachel. I am so excited to have another baby girl, but with that comes the realization that it's no longer going to be just Rachel and me. The past 2 1/2 years have been amazing. There's been happy times, frustrating times, laughter, tears of joy, tears of sadness, moments of doubt, memories made, etc... It's been quite the journey. And as we prepare for this new little girl to enter our family, I can't help but think back on all the one-on-one time I've had with Rachel. It's too bad that once Rachel is grown she won't remember the time she had with just me. But I know that the time she's had with just me, has helped her become and will continue to help her become the person she will be. There's definitely lots I've forgotten over the past 2 1/2 years, but there are also a lot of things I remember. I remember the first time I held her, the first time she slept through the night, the first time she was sick, the first time I left her with someone besides Andy, the first time she crawled, etc... The list could go on. I've been so fortunate to be there for most of her firsts. It will be interesting to see how the next couple months go and how we all adjust to the changes. I am so grateful for Rachel and that she is the one that made me a mom.

Matches

Rachel is obsessed with matches. She constantly points out things that match. It can be anything from the bow in her hair, to the clothes she's wearing, to things she sees in stores, etc... She loves to find matches. Rachel has a princess book that has matches for her to find. We pretty much read that book every night before bed. She also enjoys playing her Dora matching game. Rachel's most recent favorite thing to do is help me unload the dishwasher. It's actually quite cute! But not only does she unload all the plastic plates and stack them up for me, she also matches them up. It's so much fun to watch. In the end, this is what our cupboard looks like:

Can't Wait!!!

Last night we booked our tickets to go home for a visit. We are so excited!!! Now our baby girl just needs to arrive, we need to make her a legal beagle, and then we'll book her a ticket as well. How crazy that a 3-month old is already going to be earning frequent flyer miles. We are definitely excited to see and visit our families!

Baby Shower

Our baby girl was very spoiled last night. My wonderful friends, Amy and Claire, hosted a baby shower for me. It was so much fun to get together with friends, talk, eat yummy food, play games, and open adorable presents. All of the presents are perfect! My biggest concern has been warm clothes for this baby girl and now we are set. It was fun to take all the tags off today and wash the clothes. After the load of laundry was finished the dryer lint was all pink! :) Rachel was excited to see the new outfits, although she was a little disappointed that they didn't fit her. I definitely feel very blessed to have such wonderful friends!

A New (Old) Favorite

This past weekend we got out some of the baby stuff, so we can feel somewhat prepared! :) Andy put together the swing and bouncer. We now need to install the car seat into the car. Rachel sure does like the car seat though. We won't let her climb in the swing or bouncer, so she puts her baby doll in those. Rachel thinks her old baby car seat is so much fun to lounge in. It's too bad when she was baby that she didn't enjoy it as much... This is Rachel's first experience in her car seat. She was 2 days old and ready to go home. Despite how the picture may look, she was actually just yawning. But it's a good representation of what the next several months were like. Rachel was generally good in her car seat when we were in the car, but once we were out of the car she never lasted long. Hopefully now that Rachel has turned over a new leaf and has decided she likes the car seat, she can convince her baby sister how great it is. When I look at these two pictures I realize what a giant Rachel is going to seem like once her baby sister arrives! :)