You Ready?

You ready for the news? Well here are a few ultrasound shots...these always just amaze me...that we can peak in there and see a miracle growing. Truly amazing! I found myself grinning through the whole ultrasound. I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of such a miracle.

This is an excellent shot of the mouth and nose. We had an in-depth ultrasound lasting about 40 minutes since Jimmy was born with a cleft. This little one's mouth and nose look great (as does everything else)!

And here is the tiny foot that kicks me throughout the day. And I suppose you want to know the gender? We contemplated not finding out. It would be a really cool surprise to wait until the birth. But we just couldn't withstand when the tech has that wand right there and can so easily tell us. So we found out.

Het is een meisje! Did you not understand? Let me try again...

Het is niet een jongen. Still didn't get it? Guess you need to learn Dutch. :)

And last of all, a belly shot. This was taken on Sunday. I am somewhere between 21 and 23 weeks along. I know, confusing...I'll let you know if I ever get an actual due date!

Okay, here is a clue....something I made for the little one...

It's a GIRL! We are thrilled! I had lots of fun making this tiny dress. I made it from one of my shirts. Click here for the free pattern. It really is quite simple...if I can make it by hand (aka NO sewing machine) in ONE day then certainly any of you can make one too.

We Made It

Well, I'm sure most of you know this...or assumed, but we made it back to Holland safely. Amazingly the trip back went really well. I felt so proud to be my little boys' Mommy. They were such good kids. It was still extremely long and tiring and at times stressful, but we made it. Do you know how hard it is to fit 3 people in a tiny airplane bathroom? :)

I was even able to pull out my camera for a few quick shots on the way back. Here were a few of the favorite toys/activities I packed for the plane:

A "Magic" bug...excellent dollar store find.
The mini measuring tape distracted them for quite a while. They loved to measure things and tie things up with it.

This dollar store motorcycle was the coveted toy. Too bad I only bought one!

The small Play-doh container was lots of fun for all of us. I still love playing with Play-doh...I love the smell of it. Is that weird?

Daddy had this amazing surprise for the boys! He spent lots of time setting this up and also fixing the backyard so we now are growing grass instead of pokey weeds. In the square underneath the hut we are planning to put sand. For now the boys love digging in the dirt underneath. Maybe we'll just save money and keep the dirt!

Little bambino is growing. I had my ultrasound!!! I will scan the few pictures and then let you all know the results....hahaha....you have to wait! :)

2 More

Here are two more for you, Jarom.

I got to hear the baby's heartbeat at 16.5 weeks along. I wish you could've been there for it. I am now 18 weeks along.


Here is a cute one of the cousins (Jimmy, Glade, Braelyn & Ryker) making noise together. You may want to turn the sound down for this one! :)

2 Videos for Daddy

We miss you and love you. We have more videos coming.

What We Did in May

Here are a bunch of pictures to show you what we've been up to since coming to the US. I'm going to post lots so Jarom has many to look at. Poor guy is home all alone. We miss him. Playing with Renae's water frogs just minutes after arriving from the airport. It was about 4 am Holland time when we finally were done traveling.
Both boys love playing with the kittens. I'm not sure the kittens like it so much!

Jimmy opening the door to see his cousin, Braelyn, for the first time in 9 months.

Hugs for Braelyn.

They kept running up to each other and giving each other hugs throughout the day. It was so sweet. Braelyn kept saying, "Jimmy I missed you so much!"

Cousin Ryker has grown lots in the past few months.

Visiting with Gma Kim, Gma Vickie, Aunt Kali & Cousin Ryker

Mean Mommy gave Glade a lemon to taste at Matt & Nikki's wedding luncheon!

Drinking a Root Beer just for you, Jarom...because I love you so much! (They don't have RB in Holland and it's Jarom's favorite.)

At the temple after Nikki received her endowments.

Late night walks with Renae, Grandma and Lara.

The Newlyweds...Nikki & Matt. I was thrilled to be there for their sealing.

My poor boys both woke up throwing up the morning of the wedding. Horrible timing. So sad.

Amber is glad only one of those boys is hers!

With some of the family after the wedding reception.

More pictures to come from June...

4 Weeks

I can't believe we've been in the US for 4 weeks now! Things have been a little crazy and turned out differently than planned, but we are still having a really good time. I suppose I'll just start from the beginning...our 22 hour journey from Holland to Utah.I was glad Jarom was able to get us from our house to the airport. It would've been so hard getting on and off the train with all that stuff if I was alone.

We walked to the metro station, took a metro to the train station, took the train station to another train station, took the second train station to the airport, flew from Amsterdam to Chicago, flew from Chicago to SLC, and finally drove from the SLC airport to my parent's house. It was quite the day!

I was actually very amazed at how well the boys did. I am absolutely NOT looking forward to the trip back but I hope they do as well on the way back as they did on the way here. We only had a few meltdowns and they didn't last too long. I was incredibly stocked up on all sorts of fun things so I know that helped. I also prayed almost nonstop that we would all make it through alive and as sane as possible.

The last leg of the trip was the hardest. We stopped in the Chicago O'Hare Airport and I hope I never have to fly through there again. The delays were horrible. I swear almost every single flight was either delayed or cancelled. By that time it was already midnight or 1 am Holland time and we were all exhausted. The airport was so crammed because of delays that there wasn't even anywhere to sit. Glade fell asleep in the stroller and Jimmy fell asleep in my arms. I stood in that airport for the 3.5 hours in between our flights.

Thankfully my prayers and pleas were answered when a nice couple came over and asked me if I needed any help boarding the plane. Boy did I! I almost started to cry. The man carried sleeping Glade. The woman carried all my carry-ons and pushed the stroller. I carried sleeping Jimmy. Then while on the plane the woman even came over and held Glade for about an hour so I could have a break and a chance to go to the bathroom.

After getting off the flight they both helped me carry all my stuff, including children, and even walked with me to the baggage area and helped me get my bags. What amazing people! I was so thankful for them.

I wish I would've been able to take more pictures, but come on....I had enough on my hands without pulling out the camera. One annoying thing is that in between flights they made me recheck all my bags. So I had to pick up all our checked bags, carry them from that point through security, and check them again. I sure wish I had a picture of me doing all that...I was pushing the double stroller with Glade and Jimmy in it. I had the two carry-ons on my shoulders. I had one duffle bag balanced on the top of the stroller and I was pulling two suitcases. Talk about a scene, eh?! I felt like supermom!

Oh and to top it all off, I am unexpectedly (but excitedly) pregnant and was still going through the fun morning sickness phase. I know, you're all amazed now, right?!

Jimmy's Countdown Chain

Jimmy was with me when we bought our flight tickets to the US months ago. He has been asking me EVERY day how long until we get to go. We made a countdown chain when there were 21 days left. We're so excited because now there are NO chains left! We leave early tomorrow (Friday) morning.

Please pray for us...seriously...we're going to need it. I am worried about traveling alone with the two little boys for so long. I have many fun things packed to hopefully keep us all entertained. If there are no delays then we will be traveling for 22 hours. That makes for a very long day for all of us. We can't wait to see everyone in just a few hours (I wish I could beam us there...or at least Glade. He is anything but a good traveler!). Okay, off to bed. My goal was to be in bed by 10pm. I have 3 minutes...I may actually make it!