9 month update

Peter is 3/4 of a year old. He has changed a lot in the last month. He is now regularly taking 2 naps of 1.5 hours each day, and occassionally a third short nap late afternoon. Praise the Lord! He sleeps great at night until about 5:30. Then after nursing he usually goes back to sleep till almost 7 am. We're grateful for the good stretch of sleep we all get, even though 5:30 sure is early.

He's eating well, prefering more and more to self-feed. He tolerates the sweeter baby foods (fruits or sweet potato puree) but makes a horrible grimacing face and ends up getting food all over the place when I try feeding him vegetable purees or anything with meat in it. I've been disguising some food with applesauce and that is working for now. Hopefully we can get though the stash of baby food we have before he figures me out! He's recently held a bottle on his own for the first time and has figured out the sippy cup, although he doesn't seem to enjoy it. He takes one sip and then drops it on the floor.

Peter can now wave hello and good-bye. What can I say? It's adorable and we love to show it off! He has graduated from creeping to crawling just this week. He's still slow and deliberate about each movement, but I don't think it will take long before he will be racing his sister. He can get himself back to a sitting position after lying down. He loves to bang toys or his hands on the table.

Peter cut his 8th tooth on his 9 month birthday! Phew! He weighed in at 19 lbs 7 oz and measured 31 inches tall. I have to say, I think that's incredibly inaccurate. I think he's closer to 30 inches...He's doing great! Annoying habit of this phase: teeth grinding. Yuck!

Sum- Sum- Summertime

Whew! We've been busy!!! Brad took the high school students to Shiprock, NM for a service project they coordinated with Bethel CRC for 10 days. Peter, Cora and I joined them for a few days, but cut the time short when I learned that my Grandma Schippers had passed away. (Picture of Cora and Donald painting together.)
(Peter and Liam entertaining each other.)
Cora, Peter and I drove back and I dropped Cora off with Mom and Dad Bierma. Peter and I left early the next morning to fly to MI. We arrived in time to go to the visitation time and the memorial service for Grandma was the next day. It was so wonderful to be there to remember her life with my uncles, aunts and cousins, and to say good-bye to her. She is a treasure of a woman. Gentleness, patience and kindness characterize her life. (Picture of Dad S. with Peter)

A visit to Holland just wouldn't be complete without a trip out to see Lake Michigan and take pictures with Big Red! But, BRRRR, it was windy and cold so we didn't stay long!

Peter and I flew home on Monday, did a few loads of laundry and on Wednesday went camping at Ridgway State Park. Peter's first camping trip! He did great, except for the first night. But Brad and I always plan on the first night sleeping in a new place to be pretty rough. This time was no exception! The other two nights were great and the fun during the day makes up for nighttime struggles. (Peter trying to crawl!)
Cora is still a great little camper. She even cried when we left on Saturday and said she didn't want to go home! I think it really helped that we had friends join us the last two nights and she had playmates to keep her busy.
Brad made delicious dinner and dessert in the Dutch Oven one night. (Cherry/Berry Dump Cake)

Brad's Father's Day desire was to drive a new highway so we went over McClure Pass and visited the town of Marble. It was a beautiful drive, of course - this IS Colorado! :) (The marble quarry where the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington D.C. was quarried. Some of the white you see is not snow - it's the marble!)
Daddy and kids next to marble pillar from the old marble mill.
Cora and I on a huge block of marble. So now we're home and finally caught up on laundry, we have fresh food in the fridge and the house is clean again - well, as clean as can be expected with a dog, two kids and summer fun trekking in and out all day! Our next adventure is just around the corner...

Cabin Trip #1

Peter's first trip to the cabin was over Memorial Day weekend. We had a laid back weekend since it was incredibly windy most of the time. Here is the wildlife count for the weekend:
2 bull elk (Gidget chased them toward us on a hike!)
Lots of deer
About one dozen antelope
1 toad
1 Bighorn Sheep (ram)
3 or so hummingbirds
1 snake
1 bat (the local fruit bat colony hasn't arrived yet from their winter in Mexico)
Other birds I can't name (besides a robin)
More moths and insects than I care to count!

Happy moments like these need to be recorded and recognized. Cora and Peter both traveled really well this time. It's about 4 hours to drive to the cabin from our house, not including stops. It's a very diverse and interesting drive, but it's even more enjoyable when both the kids are sleeping!

Here we go!

So it's not that I lied...it's just that babies change so quickly. The day after I wrote that Peter wasn't moving at all yet, he started rolling all around the living room and attempting to get up on his knees. Here's some evidence of what happened that day.
You can bet I didn't place him on the hard floor in front of the tv, or move him over to Gidget. He rolled and inch-wormed all over. He was trying so hard to get onto his knees but he can't quite get it yet. So instead he pushes up on his arms and ends up sliding backwards, inch by inch. He ends up farther away from the object he's trying to get and ends up frustrated, but is otherwise very happy to be able to get around on his own a little bit!