2 Months Old

Johanna is two months old today. Already. It's going too fast. I don't like that, but I do like seeing her grow and interact more. We love her so much that it's unbelievable!

What do you think? Has she grown in the past month? :)

Johanna's Baptism

Today was a very special Mother's Day. Johanna was baptized this morning at our church. What a meaningful day! It is so special to bring our children before the church promising to teach and raise our children centered around God. The promises from God to us as His people are incredible and brought tears to my eyes as Johanna was baptized this morning. We were able to have lots of friends and family there to celebrate with us. Many people came over to my parents' house after church for a brunch in celebration of Johanna and Mother's Day. What a great day!

Abigail and Max

We have a long tradition of going to the Thursday parade of Tulip Time with the TerHorst family. Six years ago there weren't any grandkids...five years ago it was just Abby and Max. Here were are now and this past week between Joa, Julie, Bec and I there were eight kids with one more on the way from Julie. What fun! Abigail and Max are so adorable together and were great for their annual Tulip Time picture. Won't they love that in high school?

What's in a name

Naming a child is an exciting and scary task. We chose the names of our kids in different ways. Abigail was chosen very early on in the pregnancy (before we knew she was a girl) because it was one of the first names that we liked. I said to Colin, "Do you like 'Abigail'?" He said he did and that was that. We never discussed girl names again. Henry was a joke really. Before having our ultrasound Colin was SURE we were having another girl. He wouldn't discuss boy names so I said, "Fine, let's name him Henry." I started calling him Henry and it stuck. The day of the ultrasound we bought our mini-van. As we were waiting for the paperwork, Colin said "I'm not sure I like the name Henry." I told him too bad. We both love the name now. And no, he's not named after a grandpa or anyone else we know for that matter. Johanna was the hardest name for us to come up with. Colin really like Katherine, I really liked Mathilda. Neither of us liked the other name enough to commit. Abigail has a Josie in her class that is really named Johanna. When Abigail said that one day I asked Colin if he liked it...that was that.

The middle names of our kids all are family names and important to us. Abigail's middle name is MacKena. Mac was Colin's maternal grandpa and Ken was my maternal grandpa...thus the spelling and capitalization also. Henry is Henry Andrew, named after Colin's dad, Andy. Johanna is Johanna Mathilda. Mathilda is my grandma's name. All the names are special to us and we love honoring family members with them.

Johanna will be baptized on Sunday and our Pastor talks about the meaning of the baby's name. The meanings are also important to us...
Abigail: Father's joy, or joy of the Father
Henry: Ruler of the home
Johanna: God is gracious

I was thinking about names today because the Social Security Administration released their top names of 2008. Where do my kids' names rate?

Abigail was the 8th most popular girl's name last year.
Henry was the 78th most popular boy's name last year.
Johanna was the 448th most popular girl's name last year.

One more thing...when we chose Johanna we NEVER guessed how many people would mispronounce her name. Wow. Mispronounced in our book at least. We have chosen to go by the really americanized version...Jo-hanna. The first "a" in "hanna" sounding like the a in cat. That doesn't bother me much because the English sounding version is very pretty too. It's amazing though how many people drop the "h" and call her Jo-anna. Amazing really. Why would people just assume that we drop the h? And why would we name her Johanna then as opposed to Joanna? Just a little rant...is it bad that I'm freaking that my Pastor will pronounce it wrong on Sunday? :)

How did I live without these?

When I was pregnant with Abigail I did research on a lot of things that I thought we needed for our first baby. We got a lot of "good" stuff that we also used with Henry. Somethings didn't last long (like the stupid Diaper Genie), but other things have now been used for three kids. When I was pregnant with Johanna we realized we needed a few new things. Did you know that carseats expire? The one we used with Abigail and Henry will expire before Johanna is one, so we bought a new one. We also got a new stroller since the one that came with the travel system we bought for Abigail was bulky and truthfully quite junky in the long run...hardly made it through Henry. Other things we're doing differently/buying...a new bouncy seat, cloth diapers and a more compact swing. There are other things that I have found/used this time around that leave me wondering how I got by without them the first two times! They are:

ICKY BAGS:

~Yes, it's a shameless plug for my friend Kelly, but seriously, these are the best things ever. Ever. I have 2 regular sized ones and one XL. I always have a regular size one in my diaper bag and it gets tons of use. Johanna spits/barfs a lot. A lot. She goes through tons of bibs, burp cloths and outfits every day. Sometimes we aren't home and she really soaks on outfit. Instead of putting it in my diaper bag with all the clean stuff, I stick it in the Icky bag until I get home. I use the XL bag to carry my breast pump to/from work. I will also use that size eventually for our cloth diapers. My other regular size bag has been used for swimsuits, suntan lotion and as a toiletry bag. They are the best...and you can just wash them with your regular wash. Love 'em!

Medela Quick Clean Micro-Steam Bags:

~My sister told me about these. You get 5 bags for $5. Each bag can be used at least 20 times. They are used to sterilize breast pump parts and/or bottles. They are awesome. After using my pump, I do a quick wash on the parts and then sterilize it in one of those bags, set out the parts to dry completely and I'm good to go. I don't have to get a sink full of soapy water or put them in the dishwasher. I know everything will be clean and good to go when I'm ready for it!

J.J. Cole Diaper Caddy and Pacifier Pod:

~The diaper caddy is perfect for our house. We don't have a changing table anymore, so we just have the caddy in our living room. It easily holds a box of wipes, a bunch of diapers and lotion or whatnot in the drawer. It comes with a changing pad which is perfect too. It's easy to carry anywhere in the house where you need it and everything is always neat. Love it!

~The pacifier pod seems like an unnecessary item, but it's proven to be a lifesaver for us! We have it hooked right on the diaper bag and it holds 2 of Johanna's pacifiers. I'm pleased to say we've never had to search for a pacifier and haven't lost any yet either.

Both of these things can be purchased at Tip Toes in Holland...they have lots of JJ Cole stuff!

Gerber Organic Onesies:

~I found these on a fluke at Target on clearance. I bought them because they were cheap. Now I can't really find them anywhere and I LOVE them. They are super soft and a little more generous in size than the regular Gerber onesies. I found two places online that have them...www.albeebaby.com and ebay, but that's it right now. Definitely the best onesies I've owned though...and we've tried Gerber, Carter, Circo, etc. etc.

Sleepy Wrap:

~I never thought I'd be into "wearing" my baby. And I'm still not doing it a ton, but I bought a sleepy wrap 50% off from http://www.babysteals.com/ late last year and have been using it with Johanna. She loves it and I LOVE how it frees up my hands. It doesn't hurt my back, can be used in lots of different ways and isn't complicated at all. Love it.

What about those of you reading this? Anything you couldn't/can't live without?