Mommy & Danny's Big Conversation

Not Spring in Ohio....

The calendar says it's Spring, but...

On the plus side, my black thumb didn't prevent the flowers from coming up again this year!

Picture of the Week: Week 16

Daniel is 18 weeks old today! He's now 13 pounds, 1 ounce and 24.75" long. Up to the 25th percentile on weight--we thought he was getting heavy!--and 50th percentile for height.

Some friends gave us an Easter onesie and outfit that their son wore when he was a few weeks old. Yes, it fits our nearly 4-month-old! What can we say? Daniel de Jong. More cuteness per square inch!

Gangsta Baby

Jen and Renee

Our big Grand Rapids weekend was fun for lots of reasons. Of course, showing off Daniel was a highlight. The other major event was my former roommate's wedding. Marcie's wedding turned out to be quite the reunion for a singles group I used to be part of, and since our former singles pastor was officiating, there was an impromptu gathering after the wedding at my friend Renee's house. Renee and I go back to my FCS days. She was in the merch department and I was in marketing, but my job required me to work with the buyers quite closely. Renee was one of my early cheerleaders when I started writing my book and we've had quite a few shared experiences as well. It was great to catch up with her, especially now that we're both married with children. Chris, our pastor's wife, took this snapshot, which I think captures my mood for the weekend pretty well.

Daddy & Danny's Big Conversation

It's official. Daniel definitely prefers Dutch over English. His first smile? In response to Dutch. His first laugh? Yep, Dutch is funny! He's started to coo now, and once again, he's quickest to respond to Dutch. We're quite curious to see what his first word will be, and what language it will be. My money's on Dutch...Papa. Of course, I would be thrilled with English mommy, too!

Here's a little video of Daddy and Daniel's big talk this morning. (In case you're wondering, Niels is telling Daniel he has a new, clean diaper, and then, he's talking to him about standing up).

Sick of Being Sick

Daniel has been coughing the last few weeks, but Friday, it seemed to be taking a turn for the worse. He has a doctor's appointment scheduled for Monday (including his shots), but I still wanted to call to see what they thought. They told me to bring him in. It looks like our little man has an upper respiratory infection. Can't imagine where he got that (cough, cough)! So he got a breathing treatment at the clinic. Despite the cute dinosaur mask, he was not a fan. But, it was effective, and he was sleeping in my arms before the doctor came back to check on him. (And yes, Dutch Dad and Mom, he continued his track record of peeing all over the exam table. Our boy is talented, and consistent!) We also got an update on his weight: 12 pounds, 12 ounces. Still hanging out on the 5-10 percentile curve. Small, but relatively healthy...and oh so cute!

We were sent home with a prescription for Amoxicillin, Tylenol and a nebulizer. He's now sleeping better during the day--yay for naptime!--but is having a hard time sleeping at night. We have been very blessed that he started sleeping through the night when he was eight weeks old, from at least 10pm to 5am, sometimes longer. The last four nights he's been going down around 1 am to 2 am and waking up each hour after. Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy are very tired.

As I'm typing this, he has finally succumbed to his morning nap, and hopefully, we'll all be sleeping better and sounding quieter soon!