Good nights sleep

Last night Bugga slept almost through the entire night in his big boy bed!  He woke up around 4 but went right back to sleep.  Gaetan was gracious enough to get up and check on him so I could sleep.  I woke up in a panic because I hadn't heard him and was hoping everything was OK!  I checked the monitor, and he was sleeping like an angel in his bed.  Funny the time I could've slept in and gotten some good sleep I wake up because he's sleeping :)

I was also lucky enough to get a good rest in this afternoon.  Tristan didn't seem very interested in taking a nap so Gaetan watched him so I could lay down and rest.  I did get a little sleep which was good.

Next week I will be 30 weeks!  I can't believe its going by so quickly... I am trying to enjoy it while it lasts but I am every excited to have her in my arms :)

JVG

Attitude

I know recently my attitude hasn't been the most positive.  Little things will set me off in either direction.  I'm starting to think that this is the last child I will personally birth, and thinking about that I realized I should start enjoying it more!  Having a conscience effort to be joyful about things, even when I'm tired, has been the best thing so far.  Also, lots of prayer for strength!  :)  But this week has been better than the past couple, even with the lack of sleep. I have so much to learn still about being joyful in not so joyful times... and what makes me joyful or not.  I've realized I'm only unhappy in a situation when I think that there is a better way... which makes me think I know better than God.  Which, lets face it, I don't.  ;)  So my prayer lately has been that I keep my eyes open to the situations He wants me to see, and that I get some sleep :)

JVG

Big Boy Bed

So I know we tried Tristan in his toddler bed before... but this time we got some screws to put the side railings on so he stays better in it. A friend of ours gave us this bed and they didn't have all the screws... but we can't be too upset with a free bed.  Since I am getting larger its harder for me to help put Tristan back to sleep in his crib.  So we thought we'd give his toddler bed a try again.  We had him in our room for this week and we pretty much didn't get any sleep.  I have been having this weird pregnancy insomnia... just being uncomfortable and not falling asleep until like 5 in the morning.  But Bugga would wake up and wanna just get in our bed.  Which isn't a bad thing, but he takes up the whole thing!

Well, Wednesday night he woke up at 3:30 and didn't go back to sleep til 6:45... ugh.  Which was fine for me because I was awake anyways, but Gaetan needed to sleep because Thursdays are one of his long days.  Needless to say we couldn't have more nights like that.  So we put his toddler bed in his room Thursday night to see how that would go.  I planned on not getting a lot of sleep that night either, just because I figured he'd be up a lot.  Pleasantly to my surprise he slept GREAT.  He slept pretty much til about 4, got up once, so I put him back to sleep.  No fuss, just wanted to make sure that we were still here I guess.  Then, around 5:30 I heard the pitter patter of his little feet coming into our room.  Not bad for the first night in his own room.  He has figured out doorknobs so shutting his door only delays him, but its enough usually for me to get there.  He locked our bathroom door too so he couldn't get into the bathroom... which is an interesting thing seeing how I pee about 6 times an hour, but it wasn't too big of a hassle.  :)  I am looking forward to these big changes for our Big Boy!  He amazes me at how much he wants to try new things.

Next big thing on the docket... trying to get him to go potty/poopy in his potty.  He knows when he pees and when he has pooped, but I'm not fast enough sometimes to get him there.  He also has this weird aversion to sitting on his potty, so we will have to work on that too :).

Next week I have my 30 week check up.  I can't believe I'm 30 weeks already, but I am definitely looking forward to not being large anymore!  :)  We are excited for our Ladybug Lu. 

JVG

Internet fasting

I know a lot of people fast as a way to get closer to God and to seek what He wants them to do.  However, since I'm all preggo and eating 15 times a day, I don't think that I can participate in something like that.  But... I am going to fast from the internet.  Not a complete cold turkey, but definitely limiting myself to a certain time and only doing things that need to be done, not just parusing for funsies.  I've done it before and I've found that I waste A LOT of time doing absolutely nothing. 

Our computer crashed a few days ago and at first I was a little lost, because I like to look up recipes and such, but it turned out to be really great.  I was reading more and I didn't feel like I was missing out.  And I had so much more time!  :)

I am looking forward to seeing what this little fast is going to bring... so if I don't update very often for the next little while, you'll know why :)

JVG

Shoe shopping

My husband is so thoughtful.  He knew I hadn't been out of the house in a little while and that I was in need of some new black shoes for the winter... so he took me shoe shopping :)  I'm sure it wasn't the highlight of his day, but I was very appreciative that he took me!  It was his idea too... he said he even thought he knew of a place where we could get what I was looking for.  The result was that we did find some very warm and comfy shoes that I didn't have to tie (because bending over is getting a wee bit more difficult now haha).  Bless his heart.

JVG

Hand Holding

This is something new that Tristan has been into lately.  Holding my hand.  :)  It melts my heart everytime he wants to do it.  When he was learning how to walk he wanted to always do it by himself... no help.  But now he doesn't mind holding my hand if we're on a walk.  He also likes to take my hand and lead me places he wants to play or read.  Adorable.

JVG

DJ and Hannah

This past Saturday we got to visit some really good friends.  They moved to Ludington so we don't get to see them very often, but everytime we do it's such a blessing.  We met them when he was doing a music internship at Cornerstone.  I had been doing music a lot there so we were pretty much seeing each other every week!  Through the worship and time together we became really good friends.  His wife Hannah is a doll!  She has 11 brothers and sisters... crazy!  But they just had a little boy 4 months ago, Benjamin, who is adorable.

We always have such good fellowship with them.  Its great to catch up with them but also know that we can talk about things that really matter.  I feel like they are the couple we can most closely relate too because they are young marrieds with a little one.  They also seem to have the same thoughts about a lot of things as we do too!  Tristan and Benjamin got along great.  Here are some pictures

Bugga gave lots of hugs and then Momma and Papa got to hold the new little dude as well.  We miss DJ and Hannah a lot and wish they were closer.  Who knows what God has in store for our families!  :)

JVG

Active little Girl

So Bugga and I still aren't feeling the greatest.  So we took it easy one morning.  we stayed in our bed all morning and watched his favorite show... Toy Story.  But in the mean time little Lucy was SUPER active.  I tried to catch some of on video.  You will see my tummy doing the wave...

JVG

100% boy

I have realized that Tristan is 100% dude.  He does all sorts of crazy things I didn't teach him!  he climbs on everything... and jumps off the side of the couch while rolling and now the latest trick.  He thinks its HILARIOUS when he farts.  ::sigh::  Gotta love him.

Here's Bugga doing something signs.

Banana, Apple, avocado, corn and ice cream.

JVG

Big Boy

So lately Tristan has been taking Lucy's ultrasound picture and kissing it a bunch.  Walking around and hugging it and just smiling.  :)  I wonder if he actually understands or is just being real cute. 

He also is still not a real big fan of the snow.  Yesterday we played outside for a little bit and he tripped in the snow and gave himself a complete white wash.  He came up with an entire white face except for two dark blinking eyes.  SUPER cute.  He was not so impressed with it though... so we wiped his face off and continued on playing.

Gaetan is heading back to work.  After a couple of weeks having him home and to help a ton I will see how Tristan and I both adjust!  I am definitely feeling the third trimester... so hungry all the time!  Little Lucy is active active active!  Which is good... and I shouldn't complain.  I think I would be more worried if she wasn't. 

Also... GRCC offered to let Gaetan teach some classes... which was exciting!  I don't think that he is going to do it though, because it's a night class and that means he would be gone pretty much M-Th.  But that's cool that they wanted to let him!

My orchid has rebloomed!  There are 5 of the 6 that have flowered... its so pretty!  I will try to put some pictures up soon!

Loving the snow.. loving life!

JVG

Traditions

Now that we have a family Gaetan and I were thinking about what sorts of traditions we wanted to start.  We did the Korean first birthday for Tristan, and hopefully with Lucy we will have our act together and get her 100 day celebration in as well!  Because those are cultural Korean traditions I asked him what some Belgian ones where.  He said that on New Year's Eve they do a big family meal and stuff like we do for Thanksgiving or Christmas or something.  So this year, I thought we would give it a try!

We unfortunately didn't get to do it on New Year's Eve this year, so we did it on New Year's instead.  We invited my parents, his parents and my brother over for dinner.  I started making a few appetizers the night before and then did the rest of the cooking today!  We had quite the spread... and I think everybody had a good time.  There are lots of leftovers!  I enjoyed it because I LOVE to cook, and I like hanging out with family.  :)  I think it will be a fun tradition for years to come.

There is also another tradition that a good friend of mine does with her family.  At the beginning of the year they all pick a day throughout the year that isn't their birthday and they get to do special things on that particular day.  I think that would be a fun tradition to start!  :)

JVG