Noah and Andrew~recent pics

Chris had spring break this week so he has been spending some time with his boys. Not sure if any of them were really happy to have their picture taken...


We moved Andrew's bike outdoors finally. He is still getting the hang of it...ok, he really has no clue how to do it, but he sure loves his Thomas bike.

Here is Andrew, the patriot. Chris set up this photo op.



Since Noah started crawling, he has started getting into things. His favorite thing to do is get in the tupperware cupboard.

He had a little help with this one!


Another of Noah's favorite things to do is take a bath. He loves to splash and doesn't care if Andrew dumps water over his head. Here is a before picture...

...and here is an after picture! I couldn't resist. Too cute!


Here's Noah screaming for his food ( he likes to eat!)...


..and here he is after he has eaten!

All that activity wore him out.


And, finally a couple pictures of my boys together. It will be fun to see them when they are able to play together. They are very interested in each other. Andrew always asks for Noah when he gets up in the morning and Noah's face lights up when Andrew walks into the room.


They both like their pacifiers!

Best buds!

Noah

Noah is crawling!
Video/pictures coming soon.

Only took him 11 1/2 months. :-)

Andrew's New Thomas Bike

Andrew needed a bike for this summer so when Meijer had a sale a couple weeks ago, we went to pick one out. Of course, when he saw the Thomas the Tank Engine bike, he immediately wanted that one. Not only does he have a Thomas bike, he has a Thomas sweatshirt, underwear, books, railroad, game, and stickers. I think we'll try steer him towards more varied interests!


Daddy put the bike together without any directions!

Andrew on his new bike.

Sesame Chicken

I have been craving Chinese food constantly lately. Last night Chris stayed in Kzoo to attend a dinner for school, so my sister Michelle came over and we made Sesame Chicken for dinner. I found two recipes I liked so I used this recipe to bread the chicken and fry it and the sauce portion from the second recipe. I highly recommend using the crushed red pepper. It made the chicken a little spicier than I have ever had in a restaurant. In fact, Michelle declared it better than a restaurant! Here's a picture of the final product (yes, that's grape juice!). It didn't last long!

Photo Shoot

Yesterday my sister-in-law Alice babysat the boys and took some beautiful pictures!

What a Man

I have been sick for the last five days, and even though I have been cranky and irritable, Chris has done a wonderful job keeping the kids under control when he is home. Saturday and Sunday they were completely in his care. Now, he is staying overnight in Kzoo tonight because of parent/teacher conferences, so I have the kids all to myself until tomorrow evening. I now realize how wonderful it is to have two parents in the house and am grateful for all Chris does to lighten my load. Now, my challenge is to get the house put back together before he gets home tomorrow!

Random Happenings in the Engelsma Home

Noah is not going to be walking as fast as Andrew was. Andrew started walking when he was about 11 and a half months old and Noah is already 10 months old and is finally a stable sitter. He can't crawl yet, but somehow he manages to get where he wants to go!


Noah loves taking baths in the kitchen sink. I put towels down on the floor to catch all the splashes! Notice the mohawk (or tomahawk as Great-Grandpa VDT says). His hair is growing the thickest right down the middle of his head.


About a month or so ago, Andrew would not take his afternoon nap. He was downstairs with Chris while I made supper that evening, and when I called my boys up to eat, only Chris came. When I went to investigate, this is what I found. Guess he still needs those naps!


Jan. 27 was my 25th birthday. While I was out, Chris decorated the house and the kids, including our niece, Adrienne! It was a fun surprise.



Chris decided that with this pregnancy we should watch my belly grow more closely so we are documenting the progress on film. Here I am at about 8 weeks. Oh, Andrew decided to get in on the picture too!



I've been sick since Fri evening and now Andrew is coming down with it too. The poor boy actually climbed in my bed this morning to take a nap without any prompting from mommy! Thankfully, Noah's still a happy boy.

Grand Rapids Children's Museum

Last week Thurs we went to the Grand Rapids Children's museum with all the cousins to see Bob the Builder! I bought Andrew a Bob video last summer at a garage sale and he loves Bob. He was very excited! There is so much to do there that he was a little overwhelmed. He moved from place to place before finally settling down. Bob's Cafe, where he got to cook and serve food, and the sand table were definitely his favorites.

Andrew with some cousins and friends playing in the sandbox.


Andrew and Adrienne catching fish.


Andrew driving Scoop (I think!).


Helping Bob build a rock wall.



So much fun!

letters learned

Andrew is now able to recognize all the letters.
He also knows the colors yellow and orange pretty well.

Family Picture

We are in our new house finally, and we love it! We put our lawn in this past Labor Day weekend and are now watering like crazy in hopes that some grass will grow! I still have boxes all over the basement, and no pictures on the walls, but this house definitely feels like our home. Chris started back to school last week so it feels really busy. Andrew and Noah are both growing fast. Noah had four shots this morning so he has been sleeping most of the day.
We went to Ludington the 3rd week of August. It was fun camping, but definitely more work now with two kids! Here is a family picture taken on the shore of Lake Michigan.

Our New House

So we finally sold our old house!! Our new house is coming along very fast. We are scheduled to move in June 20. I picked out colors, flooring, and countertops last week, which was so much fun. Here are some pictures of our house as it was being built.

Here is the foundation being poured...

the walls going up...

the shingles on...

and the siding going on.

And a really cute picture of Andrew and Noah!

Baby Noah

Our second son, Noah James Engelsma, was born on April 11, 2007, at 6:30 in the evening. He weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was 18 and a half inches long.

In other news, we are trying to close on our house. We've had a few issues with our buyer and have had to put a new septic system in because our old one totally failed the inspection. Hopefully we will be able to close soon. Our new house has already been started. The basement is dug and the footings have been put in. Also, we moved out of our house 4 days before Noah was born and are living with Chris's parents which is going very well. In fact, we are very spoiled! Andrew loves living here because he gets to play outside so much and there is always someone around to entertain him. Noah is doing well, although I think he has his days and nights a little mixed up. He was up every two hours last night. He had his first doctor's appointment today and has gained a whole pound since he left the hospital 10 days ago. It's really not surprising considering how much he eats!

Andrew Playing Peekaboo

Andrew was playing in his room this morning and it was a little too quiet in there. So I peaked around the corner and this is what I found.

There's Andrew!

In other news, Chris decided to start potty training Andrew today. He put underwear on him and he's been putting him on the toilet. So far, no progress. I don't think Andrew is ready but Chris wanted to try. He'll sit on the toilet, but he waits until he's off to wet his pants. I think its kind of funny, but Chris isn't so amused!

What's New?

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. We were pretty busy, we didn't even really have a birthday party for Andrew, although he got tons of presents and cake so I think he fared pretty well. We have a parking garage in his bedroom now. We were able to visit relatives in Canada that we haven't seen in quite awhile. Hopefully we will be able to come again this summer with the new baby.
Well, our house is for sale and we actually got an offer last week! Yeah!! We are still negotiating, but we think this will probably go through in the next week or so. We are going out this week with our realtor to look at available houses so that is exciting.
As for my pregnancy, I found out a few weeks ago I have gestational diabetes so I've been watching my carbs carefully and have actually lost 4 lbs in the last two weeks! I guess that shows how bad my diet was before! I will probably be induced before 40 weeks so about 5 weeks to go! Now I really have to get the baby stuff ready, probably should have started a while ago.
Andrew continues to grow and develop. He is really starting to talk and he is actually starting to play with his toys more. Here are some pictures of him and him and Chris, he loves to play rough with daddy.

Andrew and daddy heading out into the snow.

Andrew playing with daddy.

Andrew in daddy's shoes.

Andrew Playing

Andrew has been sick for the last week, but he still has had a good temperament. Now that he is almost two, he is starting to play with his toys more the way they were made to be played with. Here he is playing with the blocks he got last year for his birthday from his great-grandma Roffel. He had a really tall tower built, but of course he knocked it down before I could get a picture.
In other news, we have put our house up for sale. The sign is not up yet, but will be soon. The house isn't really ready to be sold, because it needs major landscaping help, but since the market is so good for buying right now, we thought it would be a good idea to just try and sell the house since we will definitely be needing more room soon.
I had planned on getting a family picture taken to send out in Christmas cards, but none of the ones I took turned out so maybe next year. Hopefully Andrew's 2 year old picture will be going out in Christmas cards this year, although they may be late. Christmas really snuck up on me this year. Haven't really done anything for it yet. I'm looking forward to Chris being home for a couple of weeks and visiting family here and in Canada.
Hope you all have a blessed Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior!