Our New Niece - Tia Jae

Alec's sister, Kate, had her baby on May 18!  Another little girl!!!  They did not know what they were having and the anticipation was killing me! Little Tia is soooo precious and has tons sisters and girl cousins to play with!  Tia is the 4th girl in her family, 6th granddaughter in the DeLange family, bringing the grand total of grand kids to 10.5 (#11 is due in December to Aaron and Audrey!).  

When we found out we were moving to Michigan I said from the very beginning that my goal was to be moved here by the time Kate had her baby.  I wanted to be able to go see that baby in the hospital!  We hadn't been able to do that for any of the other babies living in Milwaukee, we always had to come the weekend after they were born.  It was just so special for Alec and I to be able to go meet Tia only hours after she was born.  

Tia has 3 older sisters that will be great helpers!  Oh boy Steve, are you ready to live in a house with FIVE women!?  He can handle it ;)

The first thing we all said when we put Brie and Tia next to each other in the hospital was "Holy GIANT baby!".  It is amazing how fast kids grow, they are only 7.5mon apart, and look at the difference!  I am personally soooo happy it is a girl, for Brie's sake!  It is going to be so fun having another cousin so close in age.  I just imagine them playing baby dolls, Barbies, and all that together all the time growing up.  Kate and Steve send their kids to Ada Christian, which is also where Alec and I plan to send Brie.  Tia and Brie will actually be in the same grade, which makes me SUPER excited!  (Again though, crazy to look at the picture and think those two are going to be in the same class!).  

For every DeLange baby we do a guessing chart, and I NEVER even come close to winning.  Well for this baby I WON!  Boo ya!  Its the small victories in life :)

We love you Tia!

Soaking in the Family Time

We have been in Michigan now just over 2 weeks.  We have just been soaking in the family time and loving it!  We love being able to go to all the birthday parties and family get togethers.  We even went to Dearborn for a few days to spend some time with my parents, Alec's company has an office near there as well so it works out that he can go to work from there.

While in Dearborn my mom and I were walking and we found a kid sandbox on the side of the road in someone's trash pile.  SCORE!  Grabbed it and dragged it all the way home, cleaned up, and poof....FREE sandbox!  

Things are going well though, we definitely feel like we are living in transition, but it is going just fine.  Brie has not really been sleeping all that well still, which is frustrating.  Especially since she WAS sleeping 12hrs at night, and now she gets up 1-2x/night.  Oh well, something we will deal with at the new house.

She usually makes her way to our bed around the 5am hr.  Alert: bad parenting moment about to be admitted......  This morning she was in our bed, NOT sleeping.  Alec had gotten up to get ready for work, well I must have fallen asleep and all the sudden THUMP....followed by CRYING.  Yeah, she fell out of bed.  Thank goodness it is nice carpet and a low bed, she was fine just freaked out.  Oh well, I like to think she is stronger for it.....makes me feel better about it anyways :)

I have been enjoying the country life-style though here in Grant!  Laying on the hammock, putting clothes on the line, walking down the country roads....a real country woman I tell ya!  Josie LOVES it here, she loves running around the 10 acres, chasing the cats, exploring in the field, and barking at anything that moves.

 Having fun at the Scholtens' house!  Rob and Anne got a 4-wheeler and the kids love it!  I had my 8yr old nephew take me for a ride, and one ride was enough for me.  Josie hated us jumping on the trampoline, she just barked and barked the whole time.  And Brie and Evelyn rolled around the floor together, so cute watching them grab at each other and steam roll each other.  

We enjoyed some time at the Fulton Farmer's market.  

And then lunch at Ramona's Table in East Grand Rapids.  SOOO good!

Spent some time in Newaygo with Anne and Will and Bumma.  Brie loves the swings!

We did a girls outting in Rockford.  It was a gorgeous day, perfect for walking around, doing some shopping, lunch, and ice cream!

We walked down the street to go watch our nephews in their spring concert at Grant Christian School.  They did a great job, and I think my favorite part was that Gage wore a suit!  Brie was a little bit squawky so we had to walk around with her.  She just wanted to sing with the big kids!  In the picture below she was trying to reach for her cousin Will's cookie.  He was NOT thrilled with this and was leaning waaaaay over to the other side to avoid her.  

Julia's Wedding!!!

My amazing friend Julia got married April 27!  Julia and I met at Calvin, lived together for 2 of those years, and were completely inseparable!   Such good times together, love this girl!  I am so excited to be living closer again to her so we can see each other far more frequently than we did when I was in Milwaukee.  

Julia was in my wedding (July 2008):

And I had the honor to be her Matron of Honor:

It was such a beautiful day for the wedding.  We started watching the 10 day forecast and it was NOT looking good.  I kept joking with her "geez, I thought you were supposed to be having a spring wedding....not a WINTER wedding!"  But sure enough it was amazing weather and the sun was shining.  I am so excited for Julia and Brad, they make a great couple!  Being married is the best thing ever I think, living with your best friend and being able to share memories together for the rest of your life is such a blessing. 

Saying Goodbyes

Our final week in Milwaukee was full of last minute hang outs and goodbyes.  But not really goodbye.....its more of a 'see ya later' :)

It is especially hard to move away from Brad and Jessie (and now baby Bennett!), we hang out with them usually at least once a week.  We were so excited when we found out our kiddos were only going to be 6mon apart and would be in the same class someday.  Such a hard thing not being 10min away from them and calling them last minute on a Friday or Saturday evening to hang out.  

We got to have one more summer BBQ with them a couple days before leaving.  It was so much fun, my how times have changed though that we both have a kid!  Changed for the good though :)

Men with their babes:

Perfect summer meal!  Grilled chicken, salad, and red skin potatoes.  YUM!

Brie being a big girl sitting up by the table.

Jessie and I with our babies, so sad we can't quick go for a stroller ride together.

My good friend from work, Natalie, took me out for breakfast for a final farewell.  We loved working together and hanging out outside of work.  While we were at breakfast a elderly man actually fell, I turn to Natalie and point out this fact that he fell.  We both look at each other and say "should we go help?" (as people were already gathered around him trying to help him up.....unsuccessfully).   "yeah, ok" we decide.  So we go and get this gentleman into a chair and identify who we are and do an assessment.  Well sure enough it appears this man has had some sort of a stroke.  Well being the stroke certified nurses that we are called EMS (despite this guy just wanting to drive himself home....) and got him the care he needed.  A very fitting final farewell for us!

How to Move Out of Your House

Step 1:

Pack every single item you own up.  This seems like an easier task than it actually is.  Do NOT wait until 5 days before thinking it will be a quick job.  This leads to great stress. 

 I had been packing a little bit here and there, but really left the majority of it for the week before.  That would have been fine, except Alec traveled that week and Briana was cutting two teeth (which made for a SUPER fussy babe).  Thankfully I had some amazing friends come over and help me pack and watch the baby.  We got it done though!  Its so hard packing everything though, the morning we left we realized how much we use every single day and had a hard time quick fitting in some of the last minute stuff!                

                  

Step 2:

Close on your house.  Make sure you have all the necessary paper work completed ahead of time, and if you have to bring money to closing make sure it is a cashiers check!  They do no accept personal check....found that out the hard way.

We officially closed on our Milwaukee house May 3.  We had to drive to an office and sign some stuff, and then pay money.....wait, didn't we SELL a house....why are we paying?!  Yeah..... 'tis the times I guess they tell me.  

Here is a picture we took of our little family selling our first house:

Then we headed back home where we had tons of our friends and some youth group kids help us load up the truck. 

Step 3:

Load the truck up with all your possessions! And I mean ALL, that bottle of windex you had sitting on the counter for last minute stuff....yes, that too eventually must get on the truck!

                                       

    Here is a pic of all the guys trying to get the dresser down the stairs......yikes, it was a challenge!                                     

                                        

How do you get people to be so willing to help?  Feed them pizza!!!!

Last family picture in the Milwaukee house:

Our sleeping arrangement for the last night in our house: 

Goodbye Milwaukee house!  You will always be our first house, the house that we brought Josie home too, and brought home our baby girl, and where we lived VERY happily for 4yrs!

Opps....those are some BIG ruts.....sorry new owners!

Josie had NO idea what was going on:

7 Months Old

Briana is 7 months old now!  She is continuing to develop and grow so fast!  She is still on the petite side I think, as she is wearing mostly 6mon size clothes still but starting to fit into 9mon size.  

She is still rolling all over the place, but more recently is starting to lay on her belly and prop herself up all the way with her arms.  I think crawling is not that far off! She sits up very well on her own, we still use the boppy pillow though behind her because she topples over here and there. She is getting such a personality and definitely forming her own opinion.  If you take something away that she wants she throws a fit.  She for SURE knows who I am, she always has mama radar on.  Still totally fine for the most part to be held by others, but keeps track of where I am.  

Probably the biggest change in the last month is that she now has TWO teeth.  Teething was pretty rough, she was crabby, didn't sleep well, and just was gnawing on everything in sight.  Her two bottom teeth are through the gums now though and growing.  They sure are sharp little fangs!  

She has been a bear recently with sleeping.  Oh my stars, not fun at ALL!  I attribute this issue to teething and the craziness that has been our life over the past couple weeks.  Before all that though she was sleeping 12hrs at night!  It was amazing.  Now though she wakes up easy if she hears us and consistently has been getting up at 2:30/3:30am.  I haven't tried letting her just cry herself back to sleep really, I just nurse her and she goes back down.  So yes, we are creating a HORRIBLE habit I am sure but that is honestly the easiest thing to do right now.  We will deal with the tough love thing later on when we aren't living in such transition.......  

I've tried giving her a sippy cup, but no go.  She has zero interest and just throws it on the floor and whines until I give her a bottle.  We just use the bottle for water here and there, she is still nursing about 5x/day.  Especially now that I am not working anymore she almost never has to have a bottle, but she doesn't mind them when she does have them.   She eats two meals of solid food a day (breakfast and dinner).  Her favorites include: baby cereal, pears, applesauce, carrots, pears combined with spinach, and sweet potato.  I haven't really tried anything else yet.  We have been in a bit of transition process here the last couple weeks....

She is now officially a Michigan kid!  We moved in with Alec's parents on her 7mon birthday.  We will be staying here for 6wks until we can get into our new house.  (Another post to come about moving)

She is such a joy, I love this age!  So fun and interactive!  We can't wait to see what this next month will bring for little Brie, we love her so much!

The photo shoot this time was not easy!  She was crabby and didn't smile a single time.  Oh well, we still got some cute ones :)

 Trying to comfort angry baby:

Diva!  Hates her sunglasses and sun hat too.....not sure how we are going to keep the sun off her this summer.

Big girl in her big girl highchair that clips on to picnic tables!