End of May

- Memorial Day Weekend - Lincoln Richard Deppe

Memorial weekend was a lot of fun, David Elijah and I all went up north with my family and Uncle Bob and his family. It was so nice to just relax and enjoy myself for a change. Things had gotten to be so busy I never was able to relax and enjoy myself and that weekend I did. So it was wonderful of course! We hung out in the cabin (didn't have a single bon-fire or play games outside - so unusual), we walked to Bitely and went to the Up North Store and some garage sales, and then of course had to make the trip to Baldwin for Jone's Homemade Ice Cream! I let Elijah had just a little lick and he liked it but no more until he is 1 year old!

The Coffeys in front of the Cabin

Elijahs first taste of ice cream

A tradition at the cabin is to give the babies a bath in the big pans... Elijahs turn!

Playing in the kitchen/dinning room/ living room

Chelsea and I goofing off at the Cabin. We were sitting in the big wash pans that we use for the babies.

Then ...

Lincoln Richard Deppe was born at 9:32 am at Zeeland Community Hospital via c-section. He weighed in at 6 lbs 5 oz and was 20 inches long. He has so much dark hair on his little head. Elijah loves looking at Lincoln, He kept laughing and giggling and wanted to touch him! Nyla is a great big sister and got to hold Lincoln and she even got to watch him get his very first bath. The other day I asked her if she wanted a brother or a sister and she said brother and I asked her what she wanted to name him and she said Cheese. But they went with Lincoln Richard and he is a cutie!Look at all that hair

Mommy and Lincoln

Elijah Loves his Little Cousin

Aunt Kristina and Lincoln

So little!

So much in May

This month we have been quite busy. We have celebrated my first mothers day, and a trip to Binder Park Zoo, Elijah's first hair cut and beautiful weather to play outside with! Here is a collection of pictures from the month of May. Enjoy!

Elijah by the turtle at Binder Park Zoo

Elijah's First Train Ride (at the zoo)
He loved moving and watching things go by, which is why his head
is turned in every picture I took while on the train!

A Family shot while riding the train

Daddy and Elijah
Elijah loved to look at the giraffes, especially when they were up close!
He was so excited to watch and check things out.

Growing up!
I bought a new push walker toy at a garage sale for a buck and Elijah loves it!
He can walk across our living room while pushing it with out falling over.

Play Time Outside
Elijah is just like his Daddy, He is always moving...here daddy is flying him
through the air and he loves it as you can tell by his expression!

As you can tell, Elijah is growing up fast, he is 8 months old already. He is a very happy boy and love playing with mommy and daddy and all his cousins.

SO BIG!
Elijah is now starting to stand...well kind of...
We hold him up and then let him go. The longest he has stood up
was about 8 seconds but hey its a start!

Mommy and Elijah

Me and my 'E' man

Daddy and Elijah

David and his very first home made rhubarb pie

A before shot of Elijah's hair...
This picture was taken while he was playing in some water that we put in his high chair tray...
at first he didn't know what to think but he loved it!

The Final Cut
Mommy was so nervous about cutting Elijah's hair but it turned out really good. It was kind of hard to cut because he is constantly moving but we got the job done!

A busy Boy is a tired Boy
Elijah fell asleep in daddy's arms and it was to precious to pass up.

Good Night My Love!

The Price of Children

The Price of Children

Here is something absolutely positive for a change. You have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time you may have seen the rewards listed this way.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle income family. Talk about price shock! That doesn't include the cost of post-secondary education.

But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:
* $8,896.66 a year,
* $741.38 a month,
* $171.08 a week.
* A mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is: don't have children if you want to be 'rich'.
Actually, it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140.00?

* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night..
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites.
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up.
You get to:

* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs,
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
* watch Saturday morning cartoons,
* go to Disney movies, and
* wish on stars.

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For a mere $24.24 a day, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:

* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and
* coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat in history to witness the:

* First step,
* First word,
* First bra,
* First date,
* First time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren & great-grandchildren!!!!!!!

It's the best investment you'll ever make!!!!!!!!!

Worth EVERY penny!

Garage Sale

It the time of the year when everyone is cleaning up and organizing their homes (including myself) trying to get rid of extra stuff they no longer need. This weekend we had a garage sale at my Grandparents house and we made a combined total of around 600 bucks which is pretty good. I got rid of some nick knacks and some baby clothes and made some money...then I also went garage sale-ing to buy more stuff...but just stuff for Elijah. I've found that almost all the garage sales that I have been to only sell girls clothes and that's not good for me! I did eventually find some boy stuff and got Elijah some pj's and clothes. My seal of the day is a little ride on toy that I got for a buck!

Tulip Time

Well this week is Tulip Time and of course we had to get the babies all dressed up in dutch costumes and take them down to the beautiful tulips for pictures. On Saturday David and I took Elijah to Dutch Village and bought him his first pair of wooden shoes! They are so cute and he looks adorable in his little costume. Then Monday night Mom, Jen, Nyla, David, Elijah and I all went down town to watch the dutch dancers and take even more pictures. It was a lot of fun and I thought about getting out my costume that Grandma Blaauw made for me and wearing it for pictures with Elijah.

A Challenge...

I am going to challenge myself to try and update my blog at least once if not twice a week. I don't really know if anyone even reads this but hey its a good place to put my thoughts and talk about my adorable son! HAHA So today is friday (good) and its May 1st(good-april showers bring may flowers so hopefully not to much more rain) and its Tulip Time kick off tonight at the park and we are taking Elijah to his first fireworks! We are going to borrow Coltons Dutch Dance Costume from last year and Elijah is going to wear it. I will post pictures as soon as we get some.


Looking back 5 years ago:
Where was I and What was I doing? It was my senior year of high school and for the month of may I was pretty busy. Now only was I excited to be finshed up with school soon but I was busy with Track and Field, Dutch Dance, Marching Band and of course Senior Prom. Here is a picture of David and I at my Senior Prom. We were both seniors and had been dating for a year.

After reading every ones blogs that I have bookmarked on my browser I decided that I better update mine as well. Today is they day my Grandpas 'cremains' get buried. He wanted to be cremated and that takes a week to be done after the funeral so my mom and dad are going to the cemetery to bury him. No one else is going to go, just my mom and dad. Also another sad note, my brothers good friend Tommy that he works with, had his 5 week old daughter pass away yesterday morning. She had had hernia surgery and gone home and the doctors said to watch out for vomiting and other things and I guess during the night she threw up and choked on her vomit and when Tommy found her in the morning she was cold and he tried to do CPR but couldn't save his little girl. Please keep them in your prayers as they prepare to bury their little angel.



So on a happier note now...

Things are going good for us now. Elijah isn't sick anymore and he is doing way better sleeping through the night now. Its kind of weird but usually when kids get sick it throws off their sleeping habits but when Elijah got his his sleep actually improved. He went from getting up a lot to not getting up at all during the night. It's been nice to actually get some sleep and I hope that it continues to stay the way it is. Also Elijah is still moving all over the place. I think he finally realized what he can do with his crawling skills. He has learned that he can follow us around the apartment and he likes to explore. His favorite spot to crawl to is the kitchen. He will sit next to the linoleum and pull his fingers across the floor and make them squeak. He gets the biggest kick out of the noise he makes. Elijah had also been pulling himself up for a while but now...he is taking steps while holding on to his toy shelf, or crib, or the couch... He is getting brave and wanting to keep up with his cousins. We also will hold him up and then move our hands away and he will stand for a few seconds on his own. But usually its not to long because he is such a wiggler and moves and falls over.

In Memory Of Grandpa Blaauw

Henry Blaauw
BLAAUW - Henry Blaauw, aged 86, of Shelbyville, went to be with his Lord and Savior Tuesday, April 14, 2009. Henry was raised in the Rockford/Sparta area. In 1945 he and his father became the proud owners of a beautiful Hopkins Twp. farm. On December 27 that same year he married his childhood friend and sweetheart, Marie. With the help of Marie, their farm grew and prospered. After milking dairy cattle for 50 plus years, Henry finally had time for his second love - woodworking. With wood he harvested from his own farm property, he crafted many cherished pieces of furniture for his children and grandchildren. Henry proudly served on the Hopkins Twp. Planning Commission for 43 years enlightening others of the importance in preserving valuable farmland. He served on the Federal Land Bank Board and was an active member of the Farm Bureau. He was also a member of United Church of Wayland and served on many of its boards/committees throughout the years. He is survived by children, Mary (Richard) Reurink of Middleville, Janet (Michael) Bremer of Grand Rapids, Carol (Dennis) Dornbush of Spring Lake, Kenneth (Karen) Blaauw of Hopkins Twp., Richard (Terry) Blaauw of Zeeland and Nancy Blaauw of Elsie; 15 grandchildren; 13 great grandchildren; brother, John (Alyce) Blaauw; sister-in-law, Chris (Ed) Kooiman and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife, Marie of 61 years, parents, Tjeerd and Jacoba Blaauw, brother, Andrew Blaauw, sister-in-law, Marge Blaauw, sister-in-law, JoAnn and brother-in-law, Bill Berenbrock. Funeral Services will be held 11:00 a.m. Friday April, 17, 2009 at United Church of Wayland with Pastor Nancy Zerban officiating. Interment in Maplewood Cemetery. Memorial Contributions may be made to Allegan County Medical Care Facility or charity of choice. The family will greet relatives and friends Thursday at the funeral home from 5 to 8 p.m. Arrangements by: Archer, Hampel & Kubiak Wayland Chapel 269-792-2237

So much news!

In my last post we had that Elijah was starting rice cereal...now he is eating all the first foods: peas, green beans, carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes, and applesauce, pears, bananas, peaches. He does really good eating his foods and usually has them gone in no time.









Elijah is also now crawling all over the place and loves to explore where ever he can get! He really likes keeping up with all his cousins and crawling to Mommy and Daddy when he wants us.











Elijah is now also pulling himself up.
His favorite spots are his toy self and in his crib.














Elijah is now in his big boy car seat! We were getting tired of hauling him around in his carseat so we found some new ones and installed them this past weekend. He seems to like it and its working out pretty good. He got to ride in the front of the grocery cart today and was a little tippy but otherwise all is good!

My first Food

Today we decided to start Elijah on rice cereal. At first he wasn't quite sure what to think but he smiled and wanted more. It was so cute to watch, especially since he started laughing while eating. He was having such a great time with it. Here are a few pictures.




His first bite














He enjoyed eating and
did a fairly good job with it.











He was so happy and
was laughing while eating















All gone! Big boy!

Licking the bowl is
the best part!