Merriments

Brad, Cora and I are in Michigan for the holidays this year. It's pretty exciting, not only because we have Cora this year, but because I think it's been at least three years since we've spent Christmas with my family. And who knows when the next time will be seeing as how flying becomes more and more expensive and it's not so easy to drive all the way here in the winter. So we're really enjoying this time together.

A note about flying during this time of year...never do it unless absolutely necessary. We were supposed to leave GJ on Thursday at 8 am and arrive in Grand Rapids at 2:41 pm (12:41 in CO) - about 5 hours with a stop over in Denver. Instead here's what happened: mechanical problems in GJ cause the plane to stay grounded until 10:30. Arrive in Denver around 11:30, one hour after our flight to GR left. There are no more flights until Sunday. Ouch. All flights to Chicago were full, so they sent us to Dallas/Fort Worth and then Chicago, arriving at 8 pm. Our luggage went to GR - how??? So after standing in two different lines for 2 hours (one for an airline credit and one to find out where our luggage was) my parents drove us to Holland, arriving at 1:30 am. Brad spent 40 minutes on the phone with United and was able to get our luggage delivered to my parents' house at 3 am. Unfortunately someone had to sign for it!

Anyway, we are thankful we didn't have to spend the night anywhere and that my parents were able and willing to drive all the way to Chicago to get us. It's not a great time of year to hang out in Chicago - and now knowing we wouldn't have had any luggage I'm glad we didn't decide to just spend a day touring the city. Brad's never been there and we've talked about spending some time there sometime, but this would not have been too pleasant!

Thankfully, Cora was a trooper the whole day! She had a 3 minute melt-down on the last flight, and she was so overly exhausted by the time we got in the car that she had a hard time unwinding and falling asleep, but otherwise she was a perfect traveler! We feel very thankful for that, because adding a stressed out baby to two stressed parents would not have helped things!

11 months old!

I can't believe Cora is 11 months old today! One month till she's a whole year old. It's amazing to think back a year ago and remember all that was going on, and how unprepared I was for the incredible, intense joy that was about to enter our lives at Cora's birth! I'm continually in awe at the deep love and frequent laughs that touch my heart each day with Cora.

Today, in celebration of her 11 month birthday, Cora stood on her own and by her own initiative for about 20 seconds! And I just happened to be video taping her at the time. Unfortunately it's on our actual video recorder and I haven't figured out how to post those videos, yet. But it was so cute to see her stand there effortlessly, steady as can be, and then realize that she was standing on her own and carefully reach her hand out to safeguard against the wobbles. She's so amazing!

Cora suffered her first bout with a stomach bug this week. Monday early-evening she was acting tired - normally doesn't take a nap then - but I put her down for a nap and she fell right asleep. Brad went in to get her when we heard her wake up and he found her vomiting in her crib. It is so sad to see such a little girl vomiting! Well, after lots more of that, and some of the other, it only seemed to last for 24 hours. However, it seemed to wear her out for another 2 days! She slept so much it almost worried me! And she was so subdued and mellow. Normally she's expressive, squealing as high as she can, giving us tons of BIG smiles and constantly exploring around the house. Instead, she would play for a few minutes and then lay her head down on the ground and just lay there for a few minutes. It was very strange to see. She seems to be back to her happy self today! Her appetite isn't quite the same yet; hopefully it will return to normal. She is generally at very good eater, accepting anything we offer her and eating heartily until she's full. Today she was very picky, even gagging and spitting food out of her mouth which she's almost never done before! It was kind of funny, and yet absolutely disgusting at the same time. Hopefully that goes back to normal, and soon!

As for the bug, she wasn't the only one to suffer from it. I got it Wednesday morning, and now Brad has had it today! All day Wednesday I kept thinking "this is what Cora was feeling? Oh I feel so bad for her!" Today, while he was sick, Brad said to me "Why didn't you tell me it was this bad?" I just laughed, and brought him some more saltine crackers. He should be feeling better tomorrow!

Wish list

Some people have requested a wish list for Cora for Christmas/birthday so I've made a wish list on Amazon.com. There is a "button" on the right side bar and if you click on it, it should take you right there. The items are more starter ideas, not specifics; nor do they need to come from Amazon. If it's not specific enough for you, let me know! Happy shopping!

Untitled

So, it's been so long, I almost forgot my password to log on! Please accept my humble apologies...
Well, Cora is growing so fast! She's a total cruiser now, pulling up and walking along furniture. She's pretty adept at using her little toy walker, even turning it sometimes if she heads up against a wall. Her balance is a little weak, still. When we hold her hands to help her walk she starts doing the hula dance, if yo know what I mean, but she can take quite a few steps with out help. Crawling is still her forte.

Cora also started signing!!! This is a very exciting development for us. The last few weeks we've really felt like she wanted to communicate an idea to us but had no other form than to whine and bounce her legs or arms and stare at what she wanted. This usually happened during meal times when she wanted more food. So now she claps for "more", signs "thankyou" which is the same as when she blows kisses. That's all we've got so far, but what a joy! If she starts to whine during a meal we say "what do you want?" and that usually prompts her to sign more, then we give her more food and everyone's happy! It's very funny at times because she sometimes confuses the different signals she does with her hands and will wave bye-bye, blow a kiss, and then clap her hands (sign more) one right after the other. It kind of reminds me of a dog that is waiting for a treat and is too excited to listen to the command so he just sits, lays down, rolls over, and plays dead, knowing that one of these tricks will get him what he wants! Also, it can be a little confusing because at random times during the day Cora claps her hands, I think just because she can, but then it makes me wonder if she wants more of something...but what?


This is Cora's favorite little ducky. It seems to be the perfect size and softness for her mouth!

Exploring the cabin...

and doing Baby-roebics: and 1, and 2...


Cora has a new Christmas bib from Grandma. She was very curious about what was on it!

She loved it!

Piano duet

Great-Grandma Schippers was very gracious to allow Cora to add a few notes to her song! Isn't it amazing that she could play from memory? I knew she could play the piano - she taught Laura and I a fun duet on her organ when we were younger. But I was surprised at how many different hymns she could just sit down and play. And at this age, too, when so many details of life have faded from her memory.

We're back from MI and had a wonderful time. We got to spend a lot of time with Mom, Dad, and Deb, and also saw Cora's great-grandparents and some other friends and relatives. There's never enough time to see everyone that I'd love to see, and definitely not enough time to spend as much time with everyone as I'd like to. But I'm thankful to be able to visit home - my first home, that is - and to have even an hour or two to reconnect with long-time friends and family. And I'm thankful for days to just hangout and "do life" with my family. It's good for my soul.

And, of course, I'm happy to be home - my current home - and be with Brad again. Hopefully the jet-lag won't last too long (Cora woke up at 4 am today, ready to go - still on MI time, I guess) and hopefully the post-visit blues won't last too long, either.

Brad had a great time hunting, even though they didn't see a single elk anywhere! When he got back to town he talked to a number of guys from church and our neighborhood who also were elk hunting in different areas and it turns out NOBODY got an elk this year! They've eluded the hunters this time...But Brad always says the animal is the icing on the cake. I know that just being out there, hiking, watching and waiting is good for his soul, too.

Walk down memory lane: Part 2

Another occassion for remembering the past was a gathering of some high school friends. What a blast! Some of us haven't seen each other for a year, others for 8 years! We brought out pictures from high school, laughed at our hair-do's and the baggy grunge style we sported. We relived stories and fun times, and recalled other classmates. It was such a fun evening, and I think that if the children that were there didn't have to go to bed, we could have spent all night together, laughing and talking.

I feel so blessed to have had these girls as my friends during high school, and even more blessed that we can get together 9 years later and have just as a good a time! Friends are so important in all stages of life, but in high school your friends are the people you often spend the most time with, want to impress the most and need to be accepted by. Friends are a huge part of your identity in high school. I'm thankful for the friends I had, and still have, and wonder if they know how important they were to me! Thanks, girls, for your friendship!

Walking down memory lane

It's always good to reconnect with family and friends who have known me since I was very young. This last weekend Maranatha CRC, the church I grew up in (from 0-18 years) and where my parents still go, celebrated their 50th anniversary. As part of the celebration former pastors returned for the festivities. There are still many people at Maranatha that were Sunday school teachers, youth group leaders or even vbs teachers of mine when I was little and growing up. Also, many people that have been part of my family's lives in some way or another. So seeing these people reminds me of who I was, where I've come from and how many people God has used in one way or another to shape me along my journey. Church has always been a huge part of my life (though not always by my choice!), so returning to the church of my youth is such a cool thing. I always enjoy visiting Maranatha when I'm in town.

Last Sunday, Larry Slings gave the sermon. He was the pastor there from 79 to 94...so from before I was born until I was 14. (My parents joined Maranatha when I was a couple months old.) As I sat listening to him I was very touched by the fact that this is the man who I learned to listen to sermons from, who taught many children's sermons, who delivered the word of God with love for 14 years of my life - half of my life! It was wonderful to hear him preach again. As I sat listening to him, it dawned on me that, though I remember enjoying Pastor Larry's sermons as I came to an age where I started listening, I don't remember a single one of them! In fact, for all the wonderful pastors I've had, I remember very few individual sermons.

This brings me back to a comment I heard a number of times at the youth pastor convention in San Diego. "You have to focus on relationships because kids don't remember the lessons. How many bible lessons do you remember?" I don't argue the importance of relationships in youth ministry, not at all. But I hate to hear the importance of lessons downplayed. Though I may not remember a single sermon from Larry Slings (or even a sermon from a few months ago), I know that the Truth that he preached week after week after week, and the passion for the Bible and thirst for righteousness that he showed through his preaching are the building blocks that formed my faith and changed my heart little by little as Truths took hold and became a part of who I am.

So I feel so thankful for having been blessed with faithful, loving pastors like Larry Slings, my grandpa, my father-in-law and our current pastor, Mark. I'm thankful for their gifts of preaching and teaching; for their loving relationships with congregations; and for faithfully writing sermons week after week that may be "forgotten" but that God uses to transform the hearts and minds of his children.

YSNYWC

Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Convention. We did actually go to it and it was wonderful. But there's not much that I feel like sharing about on the blog, nor did we take any pictures of the convention. So, just know that we were there and learned some great stuff. Ever heard of "social aggression"? A nice term for bullying - or, more accurately, a common form of female bullying. It's the way girls push each other around and basically make each others' lives miserable, especially in middle school. We have had a certain situation at church and hearing this "social aggression" spelled out like it was at one of the seminars turned on so many light bulbs for us. Hopefully we can take our newly lit bulbs and shed some light at church, too.

Anyway, more for your interest from the weekend. Here is a link to some pictures on facebook of some friends we were able to see while in SoCal. (Of course, most pictures involve Cora...What can I say?) We were there when the fires all started and thankfully weren't near any danger zones. They closed may freeways we'd take to get out of the area where we stayed, however, so we had to take a longer way home. But we're thankful to have made it home safely, and that our friends' homes are safe from the fires!

Goings on...

Happy Birthday (yesterday) to Grandma Bierma (Henrietta = Brad's grandma). She is 90 years old!

1 dog + 1 dog = 3 dogs???
We watched our friends' dog last week - Bailey. Bailey came over Monday night before we went to a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house. By the way, shouldn't we celebrate every country's Thanksgiving day with a wonderful meal with good friends? Anyway, when Brad and I came home that night we opened the garage door to park the car and out ran Jack, then Bailey, and then some pit bull! We've never seen this dog before and our yard is totally fenced in with a 6 foot high privacy fence. How in the world? Where in the world? What in the world? ??? Well, the dog ran off and Jack and Bailey went back inside. The next afternoon the dog was back in our back yard. We discovered that it jumps over our fence to come and go as it pleases. Not cool! We are generally biased against pit bulls and there are SO many around here. Well, it's one thing if someone has one and keeps it in it's own yard and under control but to let it roam the neighborhood freely and our "secured" backyard...We don't like it. Animal control got involved and caught the dog on Friday after Brad followed it down the street talking to the officer on his cellphone till she got there. We found out this was the second time this dog has been in the pound, so it must have owners who "care" about him. Well, today it came back to our yard, messed around with Jack for a little bit, then left again. So hopefully some resolution comes soon for this dog, before he starts causing real problems. Grrr.

No news, but here's some pictures
This is our neighborhood horse that we often walk by and stop to visit. Cora loves animals and this is no exception. She bounces up and down and giggles while we talk to him. It's so adorable!

I left this drawer open the other morning while putting dishes away. Cora crawled over, pulled up to it and proceeded to pick up each thing, one at a time, look it over and suck on it, then put it back in the drawer! I'm thankful she didn't throw everything all over the kitchen!

Cora's newest facial expression. She does this at any random moment, but usually when she's face to face with someone. She scrunches up her nose and then breathes short and fast breaths through her nose. What a ham!

This is Brad's imitation of Cora. Pretty good, huh?

Aw, Daddy, you're so funny!

Off we go!
Brad, Cora and I are driving to San Diego, CA, tomorrow for a Youth Specialties Convention this weekend. We'll hopefully be able to see some friends/family while there, in between the seminars and such. It should be a wonderful weekend...and busy. I'm a little curious to see how Cora will do. We're hoping she'll just hang out in her stroller like a good girl and take her naps there and such, but I will probably have to miss out on some of the sessions to make sure she gets a few good naps in. We definitely do NOT underestimate the importance of sleep for Cora! Pray for safe travel, inspiration and learning at the conference and flexibility for Cora and us!

Hokie-Pokie

So, I was wondering today if the author of The Hokie Pokie lyrics came up with the words while dressing a nine month old. Just imagine:
"You put your right arm in, you put your right arm out, you put your right arm in and you shake it all about. You do the Hokie Pokie and you turn yourself around...That's what it's all about!"

No kidding. Cora is such a blast, even when she's doing the Hokie Pokie on the changing table...
That's all for now!

9 months old today

WOW! Time really does fly. Everyone told me when Cora was very young that she would grow and change so quickly and to cherish every moment. I have really tried to cherish every moment (though there have been some moments I wished would pass quickly!) but no matter how much you drink in the joy of the moment, it is still just that - a moment. Then it is gone!

So I'm a little sentimental tonight. Cora still frequently falls asleep while nursing before bedtime. I know it's not highly looked upon by some people but I've come to enjoy it and not worry about it having adverse affects. She falls asleep on her own for naps and when she wakes up in the middle of the night. She also has many nights where so goes to bed awake and falls asleep quickly and easily. So I don't let myself worry about nursing her to sleep causing sleep problems.

Tonight she fell asleep nursing and I just held her for a while, drinking in the sound and rhythm of her breathing, her smell, the peaceful look on her face, the softness of her relaxed cheeks and the warmth of her little body. It is such a precious time. I often enjoy a few minutes of her sleeping like this, knowing that she won't always do this. But tonight I realized that the end is drawing near as she will probably start weaning in the next few months. So I will drink it in all the more.

Oh, yeah. She now has 6 teeth! Two more cut through this morning.

Change happens fast!

(NOTE: New video in post below this one)
Wow- so many changes lately! These are some changes we've experienced in the last couple weeks:
1. It's October...and the grocery store ads have Christmas items already.
2. Cora and I are both healthy now and Brad never got sick - Praise the Lord!
3. Cora cut her first top tooth last Sunday (Sept 23) and I think I see the other top one and a bottom one pretty close to the surface.
4. Cora is crawling now...
5. Cora is pulling up to her knees on things like chair rungs and occassionaly to standing in her crib.
6. Cora is babbling up a storm with mamama, dadada, bababa, rarala, yayaya, and her ever-favorite "thbbbbbb" while blowing spit all over. Who taught her that?
7. I've started substitute teaching again on Mondays while Brad watches Cora at home (it's his day off) and some Friday's which means he takes Cora to work with him.
8. Brad is ITCHING to get out and go hunting. Soon, honey, soon.
9. It is now 40 degrees in the morning when we wake up. Brrr. Our morning walk needs to change to a later time but it's hard to change to a new routine.
10. I've learned about something called Elimination Communication. Anyone heard of it or have experience with it?
11. Cora is no longer taking a third nap. Kinda sad.

Here's some pics. Enjoy!
A new outfit from my Aunt Meridel. Cora's eyes looked so amazingly blue in this outfit.
This was the first morning we found her pulled up like this in her crib - Sept 26. She couldn't have seemed any prouder!
Sweet moments are the rewards of motherhood.

Crawling Cora

Cora started crawling a little bit last week but I would officially say she's crawling as of the last couple days. She's not moving too quickly yet, which is good. Boy is it different having her crawling! I've been giving piano lessons twice a week and in the past she would sit contentedly on the floor or in her play yard. During yesterday's lesson she started crawling toward the piano (she loves the pedals) and almost tickled my student's feet! And she wasn't as happy in her play yard since she couldn't go very far! New adventures are on the horizon...

Creeping Cora

Here's the video I tried to post earlier. I think this was taken around September 22? No more sweeping the dirt under the rugs. Ha ha ha.

Video trial

Hey, I was finally able to get a video up through blogger rather than youtube. Let me know if it works.
PS: No more sweeping dirt under the rug. Shucks. :)

So Long, Sweltering Heat!

We are welcoming the cooler temperatures that fall has finally brought us. Hopefully, we won't (ever) return to the high 90's that have pummeled us all summer. And, hopefully, we will have a nice long, mild fall season. We'll see.

Anyway, we enjoyed a little time at the park at the end of our street. Check out this expression of glee!
Cora likes the swing!
Cora's new sunhat...The other one got lost in Wal-mart. (Note to self: whatever becomes Cora's toy while shopping is prone to being dropped without me noticing...) She doesn't necessarily enjoy wearing hats now. It takes a little convincing on our end to get her to leave it on her head.

Cora is mobile in an unconventional way. She gets around the house however she can. But she's also starting to figure out how to use hands and knees at the same time. Here she is on all fours, rocking back and forth.
Just some more pics:

Cora and friend Liam, who is 11 months older than Cora.

Watch out, Webster!

Cora's vocabulary is increasing daily! She now often says "p" or "pa" - almost in a whisper, though. It's very cute. She also says "la" and "ma" and "da". Her little voice is so girly and adorable. It's a blast to see her making sounds and experimenting with her voice and mouth!

I've been impressed lately with what a precious stage of life this is. Each time I go to the grocery store I notice little old ladies watching Cora with an appreciation as if they were seeing their own children at this age again. Some just smile at us and keep going, and others can't resist the urge to talk with Cora or tickle her feet (which are usually bare and very tempting). Cora is hesitant to smile at strangers and usually stares at them with a perplexed look. Occassionally she flashes a smile and it is as though she's just made the little ladie's day. And my heart nearly bursts within me.

This last week Cora and I have been fighting colds. She seems to have gotten over hers much more quickly than me and thankfully hers never turned into the sore throat and coughing that I've had. But sometimes I hear her waking up from a nap and I'm just exhausted, wishing she'd sleep a little longer for my own time of peace. But she won't sleep any more so I go in and get her, praying for a little more strength. And as soon as I see her lying in her crib she smiles her biggest smile, kicks her legs with glee and looks at me like I just told her we're going to Disneyland! (ha ha ha) Suddenly I'm rejuvinated and feel so blessed to have this joyful little girl in my life!

Cora's beginning crawling stages

Apparently the video I tried to post last time didn't come through so here it is! This was taken on September 4. She's definitely on the move, though not crawling yet. Enjoy...And thanks for all the comments! Keep 'em coming, please.

Laboring on Labor Day

This weekend we went up to our friends' (Jer and Val) property in the mountains above Creed, CO. They are building a shed with living space and hope to build a log cabin in the future. We were up there with a group of 7 adults and 3 children. The four men and Val (since it's her place and she doesn't have kids to watch) worked on raising the walls and roof. Jessica, the other wife, and I tended camp with the kiddos, made meals, etc. This was the last camping trip of the year for us. We've been able to get out a bit this summer and even though it's a little extra work with a baby I'm always glad we make the effort. Click here to see pictures from our work trip...and Cora of course. Yesterday Cora learned how to say "ba" and says it all the time now. (She still blows raspberries in between the "ba"s.) She woke up this morning and laid in her crib saying "ba, ba, ba" for a few minutes! It's so very cute! Now we're working on geetting her to say "ma" and "da" - two very crucial syllables.

finger food

We've ventured into the realm of solid foods that are actually solid. Cora has eaten cheerios, banana, apple, cantaloupe, bread and gerber strawberry puffs. I think she really enjoys the challenge of picking up the food and getting it into her mouth. It is fun to watch her concentrate and work at getting her hands to do what she wants them to. She seems to like the new textures, too. Here's a little video clip of her eating the puffs.

Finger Food

We've ventured into the realm of solid foods that are actually solid. Cora has eaten cheerios, banana, apple, cantaloupe, bread and gerber strawberry puffs. I think she really enjoys the challenge of picking up the food and getting it into her mouth. It is fun to watch her concentrate and work at getting her hands to do what she wants them to. She seems to like the new textures, too. Here's a little video clip of her eating the puffs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrqUOpbktNA

Summer Trip Pics

Click HERE to see a set of pictures from the Bierma reunion in Iowa. (These pictures were all taken by Kristen and Doug Bierma -thanks, guys!)

Click HERE to see pictures from the rest of the trip to Michigan and the cabin.

Sigh...

My sister-in-law, Lara, has posted two amazing blogs about the Bierma family reunion in Iowa. The earlier one is a video of pictures of the great-grandkids and some others with a beautiful song, and the newest describes the reunion weekend and our time at the cabin with more photos. PLEASE check out her blog and leave her a comment if you do. She did such a wonderful job describing the reunion and I share many of her sentiments! Go to: www.baasandco.blogspot.com.

Last weekend we camped two nights at Ridgway State Park. On Friday and Saturday, Brad and 6 other church members took four 4WD trails/roads over mountain passes in the area. Unfortunately he didn't take any pictures - he said he wants me to see it in person! So you will have to wait, too.

We borrowed a pop-up camper trailer from the Chandler family at church. I think this has become the next item on our "big-ticket wish list". It sure was nice after tent camping all the time, although we do have a nice set up with our little tent. Cora and I hung out at the campground all day - nursing and napping aren't real conducive to 4 wheel driving.

Ridgway is about 20 miles south of Montrose, near Ouray. The state park was very nice and would make a great place for the next family reunion! Hint, hint, anyone???There is a huge reservoir (the West's version of a lake) with a swimming area, beach, fishing, and boating. Unfortunately we didn't take advantage of the water while we were there. Next time. We had a nice time camping with friends from church and getting to know each other better.
Here's the view from our campsite:

And another view - one that got a lot more attention:

Cora's favorite syllable is a very long, drawn out, spitty "thb":

Home again, or maybe not.

We're back! We had an amazing trip to MI, IA and the cabin. It was more than wonderful to be able to see so many family members and renew our relationships. Cora traveled so well - it was honestly an answer to prayer. We traveled 3500 miles together and were amazed at how flexible Cora was through it all. She was joyful and had her eyes glued on her little cousins every minute they were around.

Michigan was pure hangout time. We hung out at the beach, at the pool, at the park, in the backyard, on Uncle Bud's boat, and other various places. Anneke and Gideon played so nicely with Cora and Anneke loved feeding Cora her fruits and veggies. She did a great job! Gideon learned how to tackle Uncle Brad...and get tackled back.




Iowa was more hangout time but a little more structured. We had almost all of Brad's large extended family together for the weekend. Some of the girls made duct tape purses, the kids rode horses at the farm, we swam at the pool, heard stories of the uncles' and aunts' younger days, and so on. It was wonderful to meet and get to know some more of Brad's family and for meeting the new additions and seeing Grandma who will be 90 this fall!

Our time at the cabin was more relaxed again and we enjoyed the antics of the children and watched some half a million bats fly out to of the big hole to the valley to catch bugs. I know my dad told me a hundred times growing up that bats are good because they eat bugs (like spiders) but I've only recently begun to appreciate that.

After another day home we returned to Montrose for another day to spend more time with the fam. When you only see each other every couple years every minute together is precious. Josh, Anna and Aleya are so full of life and all interacted sweetly with Cora. I think Anna was the most stricken with her of the three. She constantly asked to hold her, help feed her and play peek-a-boo. Cora seemed to thrive on such attention. Even Alec, as a teenaged boy, was so intuned with her that she watched him intently and smiled at his antics.

So now we're home but leaving again tomorrow for a couple days on a church 4-wheel-drive trip. More to come about that later. We'll catch our breath some day...

no news is good news...

Well, I don't feel like I have much to write about these days. Brad is at Camp Redcloud this week with the middle schoolers from church. (He also has our camera.) We are looking forward to next week when we will leave for our "big trip." We will first drive to MI (I think that's about a 24 hour trip) and spend about 6 days there with my family. This is especially exciting because we haven't seen my brother and his family for almost three years! Isn't that crazy? Circumstances just have not allowed us to get together since we lived in CA and they were in Loma Linda for Anneke's heart transplant. So it's going to be absolutely wonderful to be able to spend time together and get to know my niece, Anneke, and nephew, Gideon.

After our time in MI we will drive to Sioux Center, IA, for a Bierma family reunion. This is going to be a blast, too! Brad's siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. will be together for the weekend. The aunts putting it together have been planning some great activities and I think it's going to be a phenomenal weekend.

Finally we will drive back to Colorado and spend some time with Brad's parents, siblings, nephews and nieces at the cabin and probably some time in Montrose at the parents' house. So I believe that within the span of about 10 days we will have seen the majority of both our extended families! Wow!

I will definitely have pictures to post after that trip, but till then I'm not sure if I'll have time or anything to write about!

For now you can enjoy Cora's 6 month pictures we had taken last week. She wasn't so sure about the big camera the photographer kept putting in front of her face so her smile faded each time a picture was snapped. They're still cute, but we didn't capture any of Cora's true smiles. Maybe next time. To view the pictures go to http://www.smilesbywire.com, enter "Kristin Bierma" as the customer name, and enter "LTPP0620103678JCP" as the access code.

6 months!

New stats on Cora:
Weight: 15 lbs 6 oz (41%)
Height: 27 inches (88%)

Cora LOVES Jack, our dog. You can see in this picture that she rolled over towards him and is reaching as far as she can to try to touch him! Jack is very tolerant of her and patient, though he generally doesn't like to have his feet touched.

Jack got up and moved a few feet away, probably trying to state his preference for not being touched on his foot. Cora loves watching him walk around so she was delighted!


Peek-aboo!

Teeth and more

I can't believe how fast time has been going! Brad was gone with some of our high school youth group for a Serve Project in Los Angeles last week. We're thankful for the safety they had while traveling and for the opportunities for growth in the students. Brad said it was an all-around great week.
Cora has two teeth already! The first one (bottom front right) popped through last week Wednesday - June 27. This morning we could feel the tooth next to it coming up, also (the front left inscisor). It's pretty amazing! For the first one we didn't really notice much change in her dimeanor. Last night she seemed to have a harder time falling asleep and we wondered if it was another tooth since we could feel a bulge in her gums. I guess it was!
We gave Cora her first taste of vegetables this week: carrots. She seemed to really like them for the first 10 bites or so, and then all of a sudden she started pulling these horrible facial expressions and looked like she was gagging (she wasn't). It really was hilarious to see. The rest of the day and today she's been gobbling up every bite of carrots we give her, though.

Grandpa Bierma arrived today. He and Grandma are moving to Montrose this week so Grandpa drove out a load of stuff that the moving company won't take. Then he'll come back on Friday with Grandma! We're so excited to be near to them and for them to get to know Cora. We look forward to spending time together.

Click HERE for more pictures of Cora - there's a few great ones of when she rolled herself partly under the couch! She no longer stays in one place, even though she's not crawling yet. Watch out world!
(Or go to this address: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33515&l=c89ef&id=592975435)

New things, again

Cora is growing and changing so much and it seems it all happened within a weekend. I already wrote about how she rolls around front to back, back to front easily, and scooches to the corner in her crib - the beginnings of mobility. She has also started sitting for fairly long amounts of time with some support. On Monday (June 18) she started eating rice cereal (her first experience with solid foods) and seems to have mastered the art of getting food off the spoon, keeping it mostly in her mouth and swallowing! She opens her mouth really wide when the spoon comes near - but she really opens her mouth when anything comes near it. Today it seemed she was singing while eating (I remember my sister Deb doing that in her highchair when she was younger). I decided she's too young to teach not to talk with food in her mouth. Ha ha ha. Also I think she's just about ready to cut her first tooth. I felt a peculiar bump on her gums a few days ago, then it went away. But this morning it was back...She doesn't seem to be fussy, though. Maybe she'll go through the teething business with out fussing! Ha!!!
Oh, for the record and for those who I talked to concerning Cora's naps: A little history first. For the last two months or so Cora would rarely nap longer than 45 minutes. It drove me nuts because she couldn't stay awake hardly long enough to eat well and every two hours she would get sleepy, rubbing her eyes, etc., but would only sleep 30-45 minutes. Sometimes she'd wake up really cranky, other times happy. Well, now that she's able to roll on her tummy and get into the corner she has been sleeping 1 1/2 to 2 hours for her morning nap. The afternoon naps are still short, but this is a huge improvement. She's still sleeping like a champ at night (for which we are very thankful) but we're so happy to have this new development. I hope it lasts for a while! I honestly had been praying for weeks that her naps would improve in length (so she could take two long naps instead of 4 short naps) partly because I believed it would be better for her but also for my own sanity. (How do you plan anything around 5 eating times and 4 naps that are spread apart by an hour each?) I'm so thankful for this new change and hope that it sticks around for a while!

Brad is in Los Angeles with four high school students and another leader for a SERVE project with Cross Point Church in Chino. They drove most the day Friday to Las Vegas with stops at Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, and a few other places. I'm sure they did a geocache or two along the way also. They walked the strip in Las Vegas Friday evening before crashing for the night at the CRC church there. He made a few crazy connections, as Brad seems to be able to do wherever he goes. The pastor the church is Steve (and wife, Frankie) Wunderink who were the leaders on my first SERVE trip to the Dominican Republic in '96. The youth pastor's husband is their nephew, Matt Wunderink, who knows Brad's brother, Ryan, from Calvin. Matt apparently thinks Ryan is awesome, so Matt and Brad hit it off well. Small world. I think the students gave Brad a few quizzical, suspicious looks. Just wait till they find out how many connections he has to the church and area they're SERVEing at...Ha ha ha.

Miscellaneous

RECALLS
We've experienced our first round of recalled products recentlly. We purchased a "take-along swing" (a small, foldable, portable baby swing) for Cora. We ended up liking it less and less each time we put Cora in it because it seemed to make her crumple up and her head would always sag akwardly to one side, even when she had good neck strength. So we basically stopped using it when she was about 3 months old. Well, end of May it got recalled! We we get to send it back for free and get rid of something we weren't very happy with anyway! Not a bad deal!

Then about 2 weeks ago our neighbor - who used to live in our house - came by with a notification they'd received that our dishwasher has been recalled! So we're getting a new dishwasher! It's a little unnerving to learn that these items could have caused serious harm - and did cause serious harm to someone, leading to the recalls. We're thankful to have been notified before something did happen!

OUR RESIDENT GYMNAST
Cora has now decided that sleeping on her tummy in the corner is the way to go. So we lay her in her crib on her back, then she flips over to her stomach, skooches forward a few inches, rolls to her back again, squirms around, back to the tummy, and then proceeds to skooch all the way into a corner. Her last couple naps have been with her face planted in the corner of the crib. At first we didn't have a crib bumper because there was no need. So when she started this ordeal she would scream once she got into the corner because her head was pressed against the crib slats. Ouch! So yesterday we put up the bumper pad and so far it seems to be helping the matter. It does make me a little nervous, though. Is it a good idea to just leave her in the corner like that?

BRAD'S CHURCH ADVENTURE
These are some pictures from the overnight canoe trip Brad planned, organized and executed June 1 & 2 on the Gunnison River. It went off with out a hitch - with 30 people canoeing on Friday, and ten more joining them on Saturday for a total of 40. There were people as young as 6 and as old as 55. I think they canoed a total of 26 miles. Pretty cool! Everyone had a blast. Way to go Brad!