Sunday, January 25, 2015

Carver turns 7

Doing something fun for Carver's birthday is always tricky. It's right during busy season, so traveling is out of the question. It's also during winter, so all of the fun outdoor activities and nearby amusement parks are closed. Carver really likes playing mini golf at the Euromast in Rotterdam when the weather is nice. So for his birthday this year, we went to play glowgolf at an indoor place in Scheveningen. 
The whole crew...
It can get a little competitive... 
Birthday Boy
After a fun day of glowgolf and some pizza, we went home to party some more. I love that my girls like to get involved in the decorating and wrapping. They love a good party!
One of my friends was moving back to the states and selling a bunch of stuff that she didn't want to pay to ship over.  I scored a play mobile castle and these two HUGE buckets of legos.  I was hesitant about bringing so many annoying little pieces into my house at first, but the kids LOVE to create with them.  They play for hours.  I think it helps that they didn't come in a box with a picture and directions.  The kids just make whatever they can think up.
You know you're an expat kid when your favorite birthday gift is a box of Lucky Charms...
It's hard to believe that Carver has only one more year until his BIG #8 birthday when he will be baptized.  Hopefully, he will do a LOT of growing up during this next year, haha!  We just LOVE this kid!

Saturday, January 3, 2015

The first four weeks

Having a newborn baby is just one of the absolute best parts of motherhood for me.  Just set aside the sleep deprivation, postpartum issues, feeding issues, and so on for a moment and think about that new baby.  That precious, tiny, innocent, adorably perfect baby.  The newborn smell.  I love every moment, and I try to savor them because they are gone so quickly.
Here are a few of those moments from the hospital...
Amazing newborn hair...fluffy and soft, like down on a duckling...
Introductions...
Here he is ready to go home.  This was one of those crazy out of control moments - Ryan shows up with the 4 older kids to pick me up, their hair is all crazy and messy and they look a little homeless.  The carseat base is NOT installed in the car.  I can barely walk and am pretty hormonal.  I know that's how it happened, I remember it clearly.  I look at these pictures, though, of that tiny perfect newborn, and somehow I want to go back and relive it all again.  Seriously, newborns are like a vortex, like a black hole, or the bermuda triangle - they just suck you right in every single time...
Some more sweet moments, my rewards for middle of the night feedings...
The effect that this baby has had on my children could also be described as vortex-like.  They come straight home and are pulled right toward him by his newborn magnetism...
Ryan and I did some last minute Christmas shopping together, and baby Bennett had his first little outing...
I had the sense to snap a few quick shots with my nice camera, and I SO wish I had more...
Yes, the first four weeks were exhausting, painful, and an all around emotional roller coaster.  This was my absolute worst recovery ever.  But they were also perfect and amazing, and I will add (my favorite Dutch word) gezellig.