Finally Sometime Outside!



Helping Dadda!




Levi had to have his own rake and red hat like Dadda.



Little

  Miss Maci Jean loving the sunshine and playing in the sandbox. She did eat some sand but after the first few "bites" had enough. She also loves to sit in her stroller and eat..snacks like golfish crackers and "puffs" and watch Levi and Dadda in the yard.

It is weird how the old is becoming new again. Line drying is coming back as far as energy savings. It is also a great way to dry my cloth diapers and the sun is a natural stain remover. I got this online and Ryan made a cement bucket pole thing in the ground for support. So far so good. We just need more sunny days. Levi seems to love to help with this too which gets us up and moving in the morning. I remember my mom line drying..but where is the line now? Who knows. Here is a summary of the cost saving comeback.

Debates also arise about having clothes lines in neighborhoods. Hopefully I do not get in trouble for this.

Find that article from The Wall Street Journal here

We will see how this all goes. Just another way to try something new!

One Reason Why We Recycle....

Maci is 8 Months old 4/25/11

Maci is 8 months old this week. It is hard to imagine she is that big already! She is doing so much better this week after having a fever of 102-103 for five days last week. She is eating now and taking a bottle which she was not doing much of last week. She is also back to her active self. Maci is offically crawling and can move. She moves faster on her stomach with the army crawl but still manages to find Levi and or Mama and Dadda and see what we are up to. She is into exploring her surroundings very well: pulling over plants, pushing over her basket of books or eating her diapers. She loves to eat and we have been giving her "puffs" and other small finger foods and she seems to like it all. She also loves music and after supper while we are cleaning up we usually put on music and dance and sing..she flaps her arms and laughs at us all. She knows when Mama or Dadda leave and it seems when I work a day and then are back home she is more clingy to me( but that is ok :))..she will babble..ma..ma..and I think she is just babbling..but maybe she is saying MAMA :) Levi is offically in his big boy bed downstairs and the toddler bed is away. They are no longer sharing a room and that quick transition had partly to do with a night last week where Maci was sleeping and Levi got out of his bed about 20 times and this lasted till about 10 pm. Of course waking Maci up in the process. We do have to stay by him for a few minutes downstairs while he settles in but after that he is ok. We have the baby monitor in his room and he knows he can talk into that and we can hear him.

Spring Break Project...

A few weeks ago a coworker was telling me about how her husband made her pedestals for her front loading washer and dryer...that got me thinking. I asked her where she found the idea and it was on this website. I showed it to Ryan and he put it on his "to do list" saying that "I could do that". I added the idea of having " laminate flooring on the pedestals to help with wear and tear. I do not think that I would ever buy the pedestals in the store because they seem too expensive this was an alternative that was much cheaper. Needless to say, Ryan got the pedestals made, painted and installed in 2 days time staying up one night till 4am to finsh. We had to move the cupboards up to make them fit(thanks Case and Laura for your help)but they look better than I/we thought they would. It organizes our laundry space better and makes the room seem bigger.

4/10/11- Maci's Baptism

What a beautiful day to celebrate Maci getting baptized. Record high temperatures in the 80's and gathering for lunch with family. During the service Maci did great.She looked so cute in her little white sweater dress and hat. Levi was a little restless but did not yell or say that he had to go pee pee in the front so that was good. Maci did not mind the water for the baptism at all and I am sure that is related to Daddy and Levi's bathtub splashings and sprayings..."just getting her ready for swimming". so the few sprinkles were fine. We are committed to raising Maci to know and love Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and our families will help with that too. We know that Maci is loved! Daddy said a prayer before lunch and shed a few tears for the love that he has for his extended family and Maci Jean. We rested after everyone left and then headed out for some icecream a great way to end a blessed day!

Maci 7 months old 3/25/11

Last week we got Maci's pictures taken for her 7 month old birthday. Levi came too and we got some really cute ones of both of them. Maci is growing up so fast and moving fast too. She can scoot all around on her tummy and is always up on her knees rocking and looking where to go or where Levi is..Watch out! When she starts moving Levi and her will be trouble. At the dinner table Levi will make her laugh and scream and they go back and forth with each other. She is sleeping well, and eats well so those are all good things. She is over her bout of RSV so now just to keep the two kids healthy until the warm weather. Levi is offically potty trained and loves wearing underwear "like dadda" everything these days has to be like "dadda". "Where's my dadda..he working..I miss him" I hear that every morning. Levi has been getting alot of time outs lately and some spanking so hopefully the warm weather comes so that he can get some of his energy out. He loves to bother/poke/hit his sister and hates when she gets near "his" toys which of course he is not even playing with...again when Maci starts moving we will have more trouble. We are excited for Spring Break so that we can be home as a family and get some little projects done.

Typical pose at 7 months

Spring Please Come Soon!

We are so ready for Spring here at the Koopmans household. These past two weeks have been occupied with medications, sleepless nights, and germs. Two Sundays ago it all started when Maci had a fever 102-103 that would not go down. I was working and Ryan was home so after talking to the doctor Maci was seen in ER and sent home after a urine cath was done, which did not show anything. The fever continued and now with a cough and runny nose. On Tuesday she was seen at the doctor and started on Amoxicillin. On Thursday, she went in for her 6 mon well child visit and was wheezing and still coughing with on and off fever. She got her vaccinations that were due and I felt comfortable watching her at home. On Friday morning she was much worse with congestion and wheezing so I called and back we went to get set up with an at home neubeulizer which we did for her every four hours through the weekend. She was also started on nystatin for thrush and an oral steriod. This week she has improved a lot. She is fussy but sleeps through the night which is much needed and no more fever or cough, sometimes just a runny nose. Part of the reason she could be fussy might be her two bottom teeth popped this week..so we add Motrin and Tylenol to the mix of medications she needs to continue on. At her 6 month appt she weighed 16.5 lbs(75 percent) and was 28.75 inches long which is 99 percent for height. Levi now has had a fever of 102-103 since Monday night so if he is not better by tomorrow I will call the doctor and see what is next for him. Levi is doing great with potty training! He is wearing underwear during the day and a cloth diaper at night(which is mostly dry in the AM). He is almost there! We also started the transition of moving him downstairs into his new room. The bunk beds are up and his race car bedding on(I will post some pictures of that later) He has been taking his naps down in his room. We all have been pretty tired over here but are thankful for each other and for grandmas and grandpas to help out.