First Swim Class

Our first swim class was tonight. You did not have as much fun as I had hoped you would but I do think that you had some fun.  The pool was cold and the room was loud so the whole experience was a little overwhelming.  Hopefully you will like it better next week.  Sorry I did not take pictures of you in the pool but here are some photos of you warming up in nice fuzzy pjs. With your lion (the lion has a built in heating pad to keep you toasty.  

Molar?

 

Ok so it is still a little tough to see but it is poked through your first molar!  

It is crazy though because you still have no top teeth.  

Oh well at least now that the tooth is poking through the swelling has gone down and you seem a lot happier.

Holding your hand

You have been walking all over but with a firm grip on your dad's or my hand this verse came to mind.

For I am the Lord, your God,

who takes hold of your right hand

and says to you, Do not fear;

I will help you. Isaiah 41:13

It is fun to see you walking, but the falling that goes with it is tough.  I wish you were more stable on your feet, all I can say is I may not always catch you, your dad and I may not always be there for every step and every stumble but God is always holding your hand.

 

On Sunday in your cute Christmas present from Kirsten.

 

Finally I used your iron on J's from Annie Mass (https://www.facebook.com/EmmaBowtique).

A much better week

 

It was clear to your dad and I that you were feeling better because you went back to walking all over the place, you are getting braver going from piece of furniture to piece of furniture with more and more steps not holding on to anything and you are getting faster on your travels.  It is so nice to see you back to your busy smiling self after a nasty ear infection.  (I think tooth number 4 is comming in on the bottom right but that has not seemed to slow you down.)

We had a visit from Andrea this week, so nice of her to come over and play for the day.  We made rice crispy treats and Stromboli, walked around the mall and played for the night. Andrea came to play because she knew that your dad has been too busy with the Zeeland High first robotics team lately, but thankfully this was the last week of that too.  It will be nice to have your dad around home more.  Although it's only a few weeks and he will be leaving for Alaska to visit Uncle Aaron, Aunt Chelsea and Raylee. Don't worry I am sure you will get to visit some day soon, just not yet.

My Valentine

 

It has been a crazy week, Last Tuesday we found out you had an ear infection and so it has been a week of not eating, not sleeping, spitting up medication and and general being fussy, needy and whiny.  But I must admit that I did love that fact that you wanted to snuggle and lately you have been such a girl on the run that that you have not wanted to snuggle at all. But thankfully the meds are working and although there are several more days of antibiotic before we are done you are feeling much better.  We are back to eating and sleeping and in general back to yourself.  You are even getting brave again and taking off walking.  Today you left the couch and walked into my arms, I quickly reminded you to be careful but I love the hugs and I love your willingness to trust me and walk into my arms.  I love you, Jacqueline.  Happy Valentines day!

 

I don't know what this face was about but I love it.

10 month Photos (and 2 years)

 

This is my favorite 10 month photo, you cruising from one piece of furniture to another, this is the way you seem to spend most of your time so it seems a fitting photo.

 

I love this pic it's too bad we can not see the 10 month sticker in the picture, the rest of the photos are on shutterfly if you want to see them all.

So the tile of this post is 10 month and 2 years because while today you are officially 10 months yesterday was the 2 years since we lost your name sake Grandma Jackie.  Not a day goes by that I don't miss her.  If she were here she would be so happy to spend time with you and Austin and so excited for the soon arrival of little baby Ava.  I can hear her ask if anyone has seen the first robin of spring.  She would know all about the Tigers baseball team and counting down days till the first game of the season.  To be honest she would probably be reading this blog post on a new ipad that she  would have bought to keep up on facebook and farckel and when she told us about the ipad we would have been told not to tell Uncle Gary that she spent the money.  She would already be buying Easter Candy and her valentines day cards would be in the mail.  Grandma Jackie was just like that, she was always on top of what was new, fun and cool.   Just because it seemed like a Grandma Jackie thing to do I already bought a lotto ticket today, a scratch off and it won a few dollars... I think I may have to take Aunt Kate out for a Margaretta with sugar just the way Gram liked them.   Cheers Grandma, We love you, we miss you but we know that you are in heaven with Grandpa smiling down on us all.

Laugh

It's amazing what will sometimes make you laugh.  And what can I say every time you laugh we do, so I thought I would post this for anyone who needs a laugh.

Jan Hagel Cookies

I could not think of what to do today and though there are a million things I should get done, backing just sounded more fun.  So we made a batch of Jan Hagel cookies.  Jan Hagel is an old fashioned Dutch cookie. I remember eating them at Christmas when Aunt Marion (Great-Grandpa Ed's Sister) was still around, but I can not remember if that is because she used to make them or if Grandma Audrey made them for her. Both sides of my family and both sides of your dad's family are Dutch so it seems fitting that I pass this recipe on.  It is a simple cookie to make, and in my opinion is better then biscotti dipped in coffee.  

• 1 ¾ sticks (or ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened; plus extra for greasing cookie sheet
• ½ cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg, beaten lightly
• 2 1/3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sliced almonds
• 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven in 350°F 
2. Cream butter, brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of egg. Mix until light and fluffy, before adding the flour and stir until combined.
3. Transfer dough onto greased parchment paper and pat into a jelly roll pan. ]
4. Brush dough with the remaining egg and sprinkle evenly with almonds.
5. Stir together granulated white sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over the almonds.
6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
7. Cut while hot

I tired to bring some to Great-Grandpa Ed today but he was not around or not getting my phone calls, but we dropped off some of these and some Meringues at the front desk with his name on them so hopefully he will eventually get the cookies.