Category: Travel

Daily living · Parenting · Travel

Gerrit is Six!

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2020 was such a crazy year, and I really didn’t get any time to blog. So this post is getting typed up about half a year two years late! The majority of this was typed up in early 2021, but I’m finally getting the chance to finish it. Here is a recap of Gerrit’s life from age 5 to 6:

Age: 6 years old on 27 October 2020
Weight: 40.6 lbs
Height: 45 inches
Teeth: 20? I can’t remember if he had started getting his 6 year old molars yet!
Clothing size: 5/5T

I’m going to stop doing milestones, because I don’t even know what to put anymore! Gerrit started kindergarten a couple of months before turning six, but we opted to go with the full virtual option during the COVID-19 pandemic. So everything was done at home on a laptop he got from school. I know that when he started school, he already knew everything being taught. He was already counting to 100 and doing simple addition and subtraction. He knew all of his letters and letter sounds. He knew his shapes and colors.

I totally dropped the ball with doing a birthday interview, so here’s Gerrit’s 6-1/2 year old interview:

What is your favorite color? pink
What is your favorite food? Buffalo chicken pasta
What is your favorite TV show? “Pokemon” or Minecraft tutorials
What is your favorite movie? Frozen 2
What is your favorite thing to do? play Pokemon
Where is your favorite place to go? outside when it’s snowy
What is your favorite toy? chess
What is your favorite book? dragon books
What is your favorite animal? falcon
Who is your best friend? Isabelle (neighbor)
What did you do on your birthday? I had a Minecraft party and played punch-the-zombie!
What do you want to be when you grow up? an airplane pilot

Gerrit’s year from 5 to 6:

Halloween 2019: I basically took over Halloween this year! I really wanted to do a group theme, and I convinced everyone that a Wizard of Oz thing would be fun. Gerrit was really into the Tin Man costume when I put a robot spin on it, and thankfully Andrew took the reins on the costume design. It turned out to be SO cute!

November 2019: A trip to the alpaca farm, Gerrit’s obsession with homemade slime/goop, going to Gerrit’s preschool Thanksgiving party, and Thanksgiving dinner at home

December 2019: Enjoying treats from the Christmas countdown house, decorating the Christmas tree, Gerrit’s Nintendo gingerbread house, playing at home, Christmas at the squadron, Gerrit’s preschool Christmas party, Christmas celebration at home, and a few from Christmas with my family in Missouri

January 2020: spending time with Aunt Becki, more goop/slime, our weekend in Tucumcari to visit the dinosaur museum, and a nice day to play outside

February 2020: a snow day, enjoying hot cocoa, fun at home (Jell-O creations & color mixing fun), Gerrit’s preschool Valentine’s Day party, chocolate raspberry cookies for Valentine’s Day, and Jurassic World in Amarillo

March 2020: Dr. Seuss week at school, a visit from Gramps & Gram before Dada deploys, and trying to stay entertained as the COVID-19 pandemic begins (Safari Loop bear hunt, rock painting, and lots of playing at home)

April 2020: fun outside, Mama’s attempt at some “schoolwork,” Easter fun, day-after-Easter snow, haircuts at home, water fun in the mini splash pad, MORE goop/slime

May 2020: Front Porch Project Mommy-and-Me photos, fun inside & out with our quarantine buddies

June 2020: wearing a mask when out of the house, rough-housing on the couch, finding fun at home, wearing red for Dada being deployed, Dada’s homecoming

July 2020: Gerrit gets a cheetah, going out for rolled ice cream at The Unicorn, 4th of July at home, roasting marshmallows & making s’mores, day trip to Palo Duro Canyon in Texas, working on his beloved Minecraft workbook, playing with ice chalk, working on Lego creations, chalk paint, matching shirts with Berend

August 2020: launching rockets, celebrating Dada’s birthday, first day of (virtual) kindergarten

September 2020: a day at actual school, virtual learning, lots of outside play!

October 2020: Fall Break in Angel Fire, Mimi & Papa visit

Gerrit’s 6th Birthday!
By the time Gerrit’s birthday rolled around, things pandemic-wise were loosening up a bit. We were able to have gatherings up to 20 people, and we were able to have my parents on base (with masks). I didn’t intend to go crazy with Gerrit’s Minecraft themed party, but I feel like the pandemic and lockdown pushed me to do more than I originally planned! I felt bad that Gerrit never really got to finish preschool, he wasn’t attending kindergarten in person, and he spent most of his sixth year stuck at home. I hope it was a special day for him despite the unexpected year we had.

I usually give the kids the option of renting a bounce house or doing party games/activities, but this year we just went straight for games to avoid too much contact. We did a pin-the-tail-on-the-pig game, punch-a-zombie prize game, and of course, a ghast piñata. I was thankful to have my mom help me with decorations and Andrew put together some awesome Minecraft creatures out of boxes and spray paint. Gerrit had so much fun with his friends!

We celebrated a little bit more on Gerrit’s actual birthday with presents from us and a mint chocolate trifle!

Gerrit, I hope you had a great sixth year! I know it turned out differently than we all thought with a global pandemic, lockdown, longer-than-expected deployment, and things like social-distancing and masks in public. But you were resilient and lived the best 5-year-old life you could considering everything! We’re so proud of you and your hard work so far in kindergarten, and we love you so very much!

Baby Update · Daily living · Travel

Berend: 15 Months

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*This update will be short and sweet, because it’s VERY late. Andrew was deployed when Berend turned 15 months, and B was not sleeping great, so I had very little free time to work on things like blog updates.*

Hitting 12 months is a huge milestone in our house. We apparently only produce high needs boys, so the first year is a lot of work! But those months after the first birthday? Amazing! Don’t get me wrong… Berend is still very needy, clingy, and easily set off. But the start of communication, learning to walk, and all the curiosity is just so much fun. I love this stage SO much!

Age: 15 months on 15 August 2019
Weight: 24 lbs 5 oz
Height: 32.99 inches
Teeth: 14
Clothing Size: 18 months and 18-24 months
Diaper Size: size 4 and one size in cloth

Milestones: walking!!, putting things together (Easter eggs, caps on bottles, etc), throwing things, trying to comb his own hair, using utensils at the table, regularly signing “more,” “please,” and “all done” without much prompting

Likes: balls (throwing them, rolling them, kicking them), birds (and animals in general), being outside, walks in the stroller (finally!), playing at the park, playing at the play kitchen, baths, water play, digging in the dirt


Dislikes: car rides, having his diaper changed, having his teeth brushed, Mama walking away from him (even just to go to the bathroom or blow my nose)

Sleep: No major improvements with sleep. Berend dropped to one nap at 13 months, even though he probably wasn’t really ready. When we did our Midwest Road Trip 2019, he had several days where he dozed off in the morning with me, so I knew he still really needed 2 naps… but the fight wasn’t worth it. So we stuck it out with one nap.

Night sleep wasn’t great. I don’t track Berend’s sleep nearly as rigorously as I tracked Gerrit’s, so I can’t tell you any precise details, but by 15 months, Berend was nowhere near sleeping through the night. Waking every 2ish hours was very normal. I’m going to go out on a limb and blame some of the rough nights on teething, since Berend got EIGHT new teeth between his first birthday and 15 months.

Eating: Meh, food was hit or miss from 12-15 months. Breakfast was usually small: strawberries or blueberries with cereal (Cheerios or oatmeal squares) although he occasionally enjoyed pancakes or scrambled eggs. Berend usually just nibbled lunch. Dinner was usually fairly successful. Berend is not a big fan of meat, unlike his brother. He will chew meat, but he usually spits it back out. He likes roasted veggies (mostly carrots), most fruits, cheese, and pasta/rice. And he definitely has a sweet tooth. He always wants Gerrit’s fruit snacks, vanilla cupcake Goldfish, and cookies/candy.

Berend is still nursing all the time. On his picky days, I assume he’s nursing for food/drink, but a lot of the time, I think it’s mostly comfort. Especially at night.

Photo by Dogwood Darling

Mommy Update: Well, when Berend turned 15 months old, we were just a few weeks into our first deployment. So I was tired, frazzled, and just generally stretched thin. But we also had a lot of family time leading up to the deployment, and that was wonderful.

Memorable Events:  Toward the end of June, we started our road trip north to visit family & friends in the Midwest. We didn’t rush it, since both boys are high energy, and Berend hates car rides. We did not stop at fast food restaurants… sit-down meals were the way to go! And LOTS of stops at parks and playgrounds. Even though it takes longer, it’s a lot more enjoyable to take our sweet time, and the boys love it.

Our first stop was in the Madison, WI area, where we met up with a couple of friends from college. It was a pretty quick stop, and we were off to Shawano, WI to stay at Andrew’s grandparents’ cottage at the lake. Both of Andrew’s grandparents have passed away, but the family still owns the cottage, and it was important to us to bring the boys there.

After a couple of days at the cottage, we headed to my sister’s house. As well as lots of time playing with cousins and catching up with some friends from high school, we went out for conuts with Mimi & Papa! We also just walked around Two Rivers.

After that we took the car ferry over to Michigan for a few days! We got to visit with my grandmas, and the boys LOVED their time by the water.

On our way back to New Mexico, we stopped at Meramec Caverns in Missouri!

After we got back to New Mexico, we basically just tried to have a lot of family time before Andrew deployed. His parents came out to spend some time with us too. After he left, we basically went to every base event we could! The boys had their first Ferris wheel ride at Cannon Appreciation Day: 

We had kind of a whirlwind summer, but it was really fun seeing Berend make that transition from baby to toddler. He got to meet LOTS of family and friends of his parents, he did his first big road trip, and he really started to show his personality!

Berend, happy 15 months! We love you to bits, and you are the perfect blend of sweet and sassy. You can ALWAYS make us smile, and we all love you so much.

 

Baby Update · Daily living · Holiday · Parenting · Travel

Berend: 8 Months

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Happy 2019! Our new year started with illness… early on New Year’s Day, Gerrit started vomiting. We’re thinking it was a 24 hour bug, but it took him a few days to fully recover from it and get his appetite back. Right after that, he and Berend both started coughing and having a runny nose, which they passed on to me. We probably got a bug from being with family right after Christmas (several people weren’t feeling great). I always get nervous when one of my babies is sick, because there’s just not much you can do for a baby besides let a virus run its course. Thankfully, Berend didn’t seem to feel too bad.

Age: 8 months on 15 January 2019
Weight: about 21 lbs
Height: about 28.75″
Teeth: 2… with another coming soon
Clothing Size: 9-12 months and 12 months
Diaper Size: size 3 in disposable and one size in cloth
Milestones: army crawling, pulling up to standing, cruising around furniture, saying “baba,” developing his pincer grasp, standing unsupported for several seconds

Likes: being carried around, chewing on everything, playing with Gerrit, tickles, kisses, baths, eating food, grabbing peoples’ faces & hair, growling/grunting, head banging (he likes to bop his head into our heads or chests), and smooshing his face into my face

Berend wants to be involved in everything… which means he pretty much wants to be carried everywhere.

Chewing on a prize from a game at Christmas in Missouri

Berend terrorizing his big brother already.

Trying some French toast

Dislikes: getting his clothes or diaper changed, when Mama walks away, car rides, being told ‘no’, getting his sleep sack put on (he knows what comes next ha), bananas

I generally don’t take photos of Berend upset, but here’s one of us returning from our trip to Missouri. Holding his hand from the front seat helped a tiny bit.

Sleep: Fighting sleep continues! I don’t think we had any great nights this month, although Berend did have 4 days around Christmas where he slept in 2 hour stretches, and didn’t wake 5 minute after I put him back in his crib.

Berend handled sleeping in the Pack n Play pretty well while we were away from home. He didn’t sleep any worse than in his crib, but he didn’t sleep any better either.

Although Berend can’t/won’t stay asleep to save his life, he’s pretty consistent about going to sleep between 7:30 & 8:30 and waking between 7 & 7:30 for the day. Once in awhile we get an early morning, or he’ll surprise us and sleep until 8am, but he’s a pretty reliable alarm clock if you need to be up by 7:30. He sleeps roughly 12.25 hours a day.

Berend still takes 2-3 naps a day. Once in awhile we are surprised with a good nap day, and we’ll stretch his wake time so he can just have 2 naps. But most of the time he takes short naps (30-60 min) and ends up needing 3 naps. He’s getting increasingly difficult to get down for a third nap, so I suspect we’ll be dropping it completely by 9 months.

Eating: Berend continues to do well with breastfeeding. In the last 6 weeks or so, he has pretty much stopped choking during letdowns, started emptying the breast during feedings, and generally just made nursing fairly stress-free. He nurses every 2-3 hours during the day and all the time at night.

Berend continues to do well with solids too. He makes me nervous putting too much in his mouth sometimes, but he’s getting pretty good about maneuvering food around so he doesn’t gag too often. I think he still enjoys meat the most, but there’s not much he won’t eat. Sometimes it’s just hard to tell how much is actually getting consumed.

Mommy Update: I’m hanging in there! The holidays were a bit stressful, our trip to Missouri was a bit stressful… let’s just say I’m glad it’s January and things are getting back to normal.

It was really great for me to see my family after Christmas. The actual traveling to and from Missouri was not pleasant, but actually being with everyone was amazing. We all stay in touch pretty well through phone calls, texts, and social media, but nothing beats getting together as a family. I loved catching up with my sisters, playing card games with everyone, and watching Gerrit have so much fun with his cousins. It really makes me envy people who have their family nearby, and I tried to soak it all in as much as I could.

Memorable Events: It was a busy month! Berend got to see some Christmas lights at St. Bernard farms:

It was a drive through Christmas lights show, so Berend was not a fan, of course, haha. Since we were driving about 5 mph, I pulled him up into the front seat with me so we didn’t have to listen to him cry the whole time.

Berend got to experience his first matching family Christmas pajamas:

Andrew’s mom got us these, so we wore them on Christmas Eve! They were really cute, and it’s too bad the boys will outgrow them so quickly.

Berend’s first Christmas Eve… and both of my boys’ first sibling gift exchange! They got each other bath toys.

Berend also got his first Christmas Eve gift from Andrew and me: a Christmas book and new pajamas.

And then of course Berend celebrated his first Christmas!

The day after Christmas, we packed up for a road trip to Missouri. It was Berend’s first big trip since we moved to New Mexico when he was only 2 months old. He did slightly better than he did in July. We were all thrilled to be out of the car though! And then Berend got to meet a LOT of people for the first time: all of his aunts and uncles (other than his Aunt Becki), his four cousins, and one of his great grandmas.

Berend had a pretty uneventful first New Year’s Eve (we were on the road), but he sure looked cute!

Once we were back in New Mexico, we had a nice day and Berend enjoyed his first time swinging! He loved it, especially when Gerrit pushed him.

And last but not least, here is Berend’s January photo:

Berend, you are something else! The older you get, the more we see your stubborn, strong-willed personality. You are very vocal about what you don’t like and full of smiles and giggles when you’re happy. You push me to my limits with your sleep-fighting stamina, but then I see your sweet sleeping face, and all is forgiven. Everyone comments on your adorably big cheeks — they are irresistible! You constantly keep us on our toes, little bear, but we love you so very much.