Vandervaart Family: April 2012

April started out a bit hectic for our family... Pete had to work second shift (4 pm - 1:30 am) which just makes for very long days for me. He is able to help more during the day but he also needed to sleep so it was a long, lonely week. It especially didn't help that Grace and Jake were sick. Grace woke up (after pediatrician hours of course) from her nap and was screaming about her ear so I took them all to stat care alone. Luckily, Grammy came after about an hour and took Claire and Jake for me. (Thank Goodness!) Grace ended up having an ear infection - our first one out of all three kids so we had no idea what we were in for. After a few doses of antibiotics, she was back to normal!

We celebrated Easter here in North Canton this year. We had an Easter Egg Hunt in our backyard with the kids and it was fun to watch them. We went to church with Pete's family and then spent the whole day over there. It was a wonderful day!

Other events from April included going to the park a few times; Grammy, Aunt Sarah, Bently, my kids and I went to "Inflatable Insanity" which was a cheap indoor activity that the kids loved; One evening we took that kids to dinner via bike ride which was very fun. My mom came to visit and we had a great time. That Saturday night, Pete and I went to a wedding reception and enjoyed a night out! We also went to a charity event called "Night at the Races" where they show old horse races and you bet on them. It was a fun night.

Claire is wonderfully energetic and always wanting to learn new things and do new arts and crafts. She loves to play outside and is very proud that she now knows how to swing all by herself! Claire's favorite food right now is mashed potatoes! We FINALLY got over the hurdle of her being fully potty trained (It was almost at the two year mark) so we bought her a goldfish. This goldfish died within 24 hours and I quickly ran out to the store to replace it and flushed the other one down the toilet. (Note to self: ALWAYS double flush) Claire found her little fish floating in the toilet so we told her when fish are sick, the go to the ocean to feel better. It worked. Fish #2 died within a couple days. So we got 2 "more durable" smaller fish and they are still alive to this day. Problem being, we are pretty sure one of them is pregnant. Geesh!

Grace is our little engineer in the making. She loves puzzles, games and video games (on my phone). She is really good at Angry Birds! :) Her favorite foods are macroni and cheese and a chipotle burrito bol. Whenever Pete and I get dinner there, she has 1/4 of a bowl at least! We are proud to say that Grace is officially potty trained and it only took her a week! She already naps in underwear. Within the next week or so, we plan on having both girls out of pull up at night - here goes nothin!

Jake is on the move! He is crawling all over the place, pulling himself up to stand, cruising along furniture and crawling up stairs. He thinks baby food is for the birds so he is strictly table food now. No more baby food for us! We have started to introduce milk and he loves it so I think it is safe to say that we are also on our last can of formula! He loves to eat pizza, bananas and black beans.

Pete and I are still continuing to lose weight. We have lost a combination of over 70 lbs since we started. We really enjoy our new active lifestyle. We have also decided that our family is complete and Pete will make that sterilization complete with a surgery at the end of May!

Here are some pictures from our month of April...