Hannah's 4th Birthday

 We celebrated Hannah's 4th Birthday on September 15th.  She was excited to go to Red Robin and have the waiters sing to her.  We also enjoyed a Baskin Robins ice cream cake when we got home (Deibel tradition!) It was yummy!!

 The following Saturday we celebrated with friends at a local park.  It was a beautiful day and the kids had a lot of fun!

  Timmy enjoyed his first time swinging!

 I just can't believe it's been FOUR years already.  My little girl is growing up way too fast and I just can't accept the fact that she will be in kindergarten next year!  A daily reminder to savor every moment we have left at home together!

HOT, HOT, HOT in St. Louis

Hannah, Timmy, and I spent a HOT two weeks in St. Louis while Caleb was on a test trip for work out West. Fortunately, Caleb was able to help me drive the kids down to the Lou and back. I don't think I could have done it by myself!We drove halfway, to Indianapolis, the first night. Timmy enjoyed sitting in a high chair for the first time while he devoured Puffs and Hannah had a blast in the swimming pool with Daddy.

Caleb flew out on a Saturday and the kids and I got settled in. It looked like Babies 'R' Us threw up in my parent's house!

On Sunday, we took Hannah to mini-golf for her first time. She absolutely loved it! After a few pointers from Grandpa Pete...
she managed to get a hole-in-one!
Although it was incredibly hot out while we were there (100 degrees!), we managed to do a few exciting things. On Tuesday, we visited the Butterfly House. Last time, Hannah was terrified when a butterfly landed on her and this time she sat on a bench, pouting, that they didn't. Overall, she enjoyed looking at the colored beauties and finding them on her "map."
On Wednesday, Aunt Lauren took Hannah to the Magic House for an early birthday present. It was a win-win as mommy enjoyed some time to work on her church curriculum and Hannah soaked up the one-on-one attention at the most exciting place in St. Louis for an almost 4-yr-old.The next day, I reconnected with my friend Debbie with whom I taught with in Grand Rapids. It was wonderful to see her smiling face again!

On Friday, we went to Grant's Farm to see the animals. Hannah loved giving the goats bottles of milk.
We also spent some time relaxing at home. I remember Hannah asking Grandma how doggies laugh and Timmy enjoying all of the attention from Grandpa Pete. He taught him how to wave "hello."
Aunt Lauren and Grandpa Pete were spending time with Timmy for the first time ever. I think it was love at first sight on all accounts.We welcomed Daddy home on the 1st of September and managed to squeak in a fun night with the Koziateks and also a date night!It was a long visit and my family tolerated the chaos well :) Thanks for all of your help and love!

August Update

We had a blast enjoying the last month of summer. On the 11th, we went to a camp that our friend, Melissa Kern, put together for a bunch of kids. The theme was "library" and Hannah talked about it for weeks afterwards. She had a blast with new friends and old.

Timmy turned 7 months old this month, too. Boy, the time is just flying by! He began scooting himself around the room on July 29th and is getting faster each and every day. He is also starting to sleep through the night a little better which is a huge blessing! Hannah continues to be a wonderful big sister. My favorite thing she says right now is, "Timmy rubbered on me!" which really means slobbered. She is so patient with him and enjoys giving him hugs.

(Another cute things she does is call "Angry Birds"--an app that we don't have--"Mad Chickens.")
On the 16th, we visited the Detroit Zoo with a bunch of Hannah's preschool friends. It was a beautiful, hot day, and the kids had fun reconnecting before the start of the school year.

July Update

Hannah had the opportunity to attend a VBS put on by the church where she attends preschool. Their theme was Hometown Nazareth. They were very gracious in letting me walk around with Timmy and do some "market research." I will be using this program at our church, Fellowship EPC, this fall. Hannah LOVED the music!!

I am so thankful that Hannah continues to adore her little brother. She has learned all of his cues and helps out a lot. Over the past few weeks, she has enjoyed mothering him a bit more and is interacting with him a LOT more. She will get out some toys for him or read him a book. She also likes to push his bottom to help him crawl! I am one blessed mama!!Timmy loves his baby food!!! The boy is a bottomless pit! He is eating 2-3 Tbsp of oatmeal and an entire container of fruit for "lunch" and 2-3 Tbsp of rice cereal and a container of veggies for "dinner." I always have to cut him off or he would continue forever it seems! He's been teething a bunch so I gave him one of these little biscuits last week. He thoroughly enjoyed making a mess of it! No teeth popping through quite yet though!

Port Crescent Camping

We finally got a beautiful weekend for camping!!! We enjoyed the company of the Kerns and VanNatters. Our sites were beautiful and the Kerns had a beautiful view of Saginaw Bay from their site so we spent a lot of time hanging out over there.
Caleb was able to position the camper down in a little valley so that we could get some shade coverage from the trees. It was a very dirty site so the Escape had a hard time keeping up, but we managed!


The girls quickly discovered that they all had pillow pets. So cute!The beach was sandy and beautiful! The kids just loved spending time in the water and building sand castles. It's so fun to see their play develop as they get older!

Timmy's Six Month Pictures

Look at that stud muffin! Just lovin' his chubbies!!

Happy 6 Months, Timmy!

How can it be? Timmy is already 6 months old and he is just the sweetest little boy. I am so thankful for this little addition to our family. He fits right in and just goes with the flow. Timmy is such a happy, happy baby and never fusses anymore. I can't even imagine that first couple of months when he cried nonstop. Almost a distant memory as he has turned into such a content little guy. And his sister, Hannah, is just head-over-heels in love with her brother!

Timmy started rolling from his back to his front now and can roll in both directions; however, he likes to do so when I am not looking!! I know he can do it, though, because I have set him down and then found him in a different position. He's sneaky like that:)

He used to be a tummy sleeper (shhh, don't tell!), but now he has learned to balance himself on his side and prefers to sleep that way. For a few weeks he would try to get up on his side and then end up on his back in tears. We had to keep flipping him back to his belly so he would sleep!
I guess we can say Timmy is sleeping through the night. He normally goes to bed between 7 and 8pm. We wake him at about 11pm for a "dream feeding". I have tried several times for a few nights in a row to not do this and without a doubt he will wake up between 2 and 3am for a feeding. Thankfully, he will go right back to bed, but it's very hard to get up at that time when you went to bed at midnight. So, for now we will continue to wake him at 11 so we can get some solid sleep at night. That really makes a difference! In a few weeks I'm going to try cutting back the ounces on that "dream feed" and wean him off of it. Of course, I learned with Hannah, that I have no control so we'll see if Timmy will put up with that :)
Timmy eats like a champ. He LOVES his baby food!! In fact, he will eat and eat and eat it unless we stop. So, I'm going on amounts recommended by the pediatrician now rather than his cues because he is a bottomless pit :) If I don't keep that spoon going fast enough into his mouth he'll be sure to let me know, too. Right now he's eating 1-2 Tbsp oatmeal and 1-2 Tbsp of fruit at lunch and then 1-2 Tbs rice cereal and 1-2 Tbsp veggies at dinner. He still gets his bottle every 3 1/2 hours as well. With all he's eating you'd think he'd be off the charts for weight.
We had a well-baby checkup this morning and here are his 6 month stats:

Weight: 17 lb 6 oz
(48th percentile)
Length: 26.5 in
(54th percentile)
Head Circumference: 17.4 in
(63rd percentile)
Average little baby and I'm VERY happy with that!!! He does have a bit of eczema so we will amp up the usage of Eucerin for the little guy.

Timmy is discovering all kinds of new things. This week, even, he has started to reach out to touch our faces. He laughs hysterically when he gets his fingers in our mouths and we pretend to eat them. He has also discovered how beautiful Hannah's hair is and loves to grab hold! Here's a cute little video of Timmy in his bouncer. What a difference from a month ago when I sat him in it for the first time.