Grandma Bernice

Early yesterday morning, Grandma Bernice went home to be the Lord. Thanks for all of your prayers and uplifting thoughts.

I've posted a couple of photos of Abby's first Easter, with Grandma. I have more recent photos (in earlier posts) but these are some of my favorite. We love her and will certainly miss her.

Tough Times

The De Jong family has sure been through a lot lately. Rob's Grandma Benice has been very ill, passing in and out of consciousness in the Intensive Care Unit. And it's with a heavy heart that I share the news that tomorrow, she'll be removed from the breathing machine that's kept her going. Needless to say, the De Jong family needs your prayers as they wade through a lot of very complicated decisions.

These are circumstances beyond our control and that it's truly God's plan for all of this to be happening at the same time. And even if I wanted to change the outcome, I couldn't. And I stopped for a moment to thank God that it's Him in charge, not me. It always seems that in times like these we are forced, through circumstance, to reevaluate what's really important.

And Rob's sister Kim gave birth last week to a happy and healthy baby boy, Nathan John Rockhold. But her delivery wasn't without complications. She actually ended up spending the night in the ICU in the room NEXT to Grandma Bernice. The irony wasn't lost on me--watching a brand new life enter the world, juxtaposed with a very serious illness. But even amidst all of the uncertainty of it all, I was overcome with a very profound sense of peace.

When we're born, we don't know if we'll have 100 days on this earth, or 100 years. And it's a healthy reminder to stay focused on the big picture, and not get bogged down in the small stuff. With everything we're going through right now, knowing that the outcome is all part of God's plan for us is such a comforting thought. The Bible teaches that the only productive thing to do with worry is to pray about it, then let it go. And then refocus your energy on staying positive (Philippians 4: 6-9)

It's very cheesy, I LOVE that Irving Berlin song that Bing Crosby sang in White Christmas, called "Count Your Blessings." I often sing it to Abby as a lullaby:

When I'm worried and I can't sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep. And I fall asleep counting my blessings.

When my bankroll is getting small, I think of when I had none at all. And I fall asleep counting my blessings.

I think about a nursery and I picture curly heads, and one by one I count them as they slumber in their beds.

If you're worried and you can't sleep, just count your blessings instead of sheep. And you'll fall asleep counting your blessings.

Bath time!

I finally took some photos of our little butterball in the bathtub. Not just for the blog, but to save for her teen years when they'll be extra embarrassing. Like my dad says, "It's wonderful to finally be able to be an embarrassment to my children."

I took a ton, but I saved the full-frontal ones for our private collection. This blog is public-facing and the world is FULL of weirdos. I guess that's the paranoia inflicted on me by Oprah. Here are some with strategically-placed bubbles, toys and washcloths.

I was so happy the day that she had enough hair to make the obligatory bath-time mohawk.

Now that's a big bottle!

The other night, Rob, Abby and I made a quick turnaround trip to Target. Abby was in the cart, which was full in the back. So Rob stuck a gallon of milk next to Abby in the kiddie seat.

Her eyes got SO wide. She promptly wrapped her arms around it, slouched over and put her little lips around the lid. She started making a very loud sucking and slurping noise. When I shrieked in horror, she looked up at me like "What? I thought this was for me." I was laughing so hard, that I couldn't capture the actual moment on my phone cam. But you get the idea. I think she's going to be a compulsive milk drinker like her daddy.

Mini-Vacay

Our family took a mini-vacay to Oceanside last weekend. Believe it or not, this was the first trip we've been on as a little family unit all by ourselves. We've had other overnight adventures, but never just the three of us. And it was really fun. I felt so grown up.

My VERY gracious parents allowed us access to their timeshare in Oceanside. Things have been pretty freaking hectic around here, so Rob and I really didn't even wanted to go. It all seemed like too much trouble with everything else that has been going on. And it was POURING rain. The wipers couldn't keep up and we couldn't see a thing. It was really scary driving down there.

But once we were there, we were really glad we went. I find that is usually the case with vacations.

We got there later than Abby's usual bedtime, so she screamed for a good 45 minutes. But then she settled down and slept all night. When she woke up in the morning, we had some really awesome quiet time together. Everyday that my belly grows, I am more and more aware that my time alone time with my precious daughter is winding down. I just love her so much and we had a blast just sharing the morning together.

She talked to me all about what she was eating and the new things she wanted to explore in the unit. Well, that's what I imagined. What she really said was "da da da da da da." But that is her word for Rob, and EVERYTHING else. I'm actually glad he slept in. I'm really starting to cherish this time alone time with Abby that I don't ever get enough of.

After breakfast, Abby explored the kitchen--removing all of the contents for her noisemaking pleasure. It was so cute, she was trying to crawl around with those giant utensils in her hands. It reminded me of walking with skis on.

Then, we went out for lunch. Abby dumped most of her lunch on the floor. I feel bad that she makes such a tornado-like mess wherever we go, but Rob says that we are stimulating the economy by creating jobs for people to sweep the floors...

Abby LOVED the vertical blinds. She's never sit this still and focused on anything for this long. We don't have them at home, so everything new is exciting.

Daddy and our little cow.

It's a New Day!

So, as promised, I am posting pictures from the new camera. It wasn't super expensive, but my standards are pretty low as far as that kind of thing is concerned. I just expect that it actually take pictures, which compared to my last one, is a big improvement. I've had it for a week, and I've taken over 200 pictures! Don't worry, I can't (and won't) post them all here. But I think it gives me plenty of material to make lots of blog posts.

For the first one, just a bit of hodge-podge:

When Abby walks, she looks like Godzilla. I can just hear the teeny tiny people fleeing at her feet.

Yummy Gummy

Now I know this is third non-Abby related post in a row. But the GREAT news is I got a new camera today and will be posting real-life photos this week. Girl Scout's honor!

But I couldn't resist. I found this gummi bear chandelier on geekologie.com. It's by artist YaYa Chou. Too bad that's only enough gummies to last me about a week. I've been on a binge lately.

Anyway, I heard once that if you lick the back of a gummi bear and stick it to a wall, it will stay there forever. A former coworker of mine and I tried this a few years ago. I bet it isn't there anymore, not because it fell off, simply because some poor soul stumbled upon it and was so grossed out it had to be taken down.

But this gets me thinking, what other decorative items could be fashioned out of food? Big-league-chew shag carpeting?

A quick google search came back with this egg couch. Seems to me it could get real smelly real fast.