Calvin, Calvin Sing We All to Thee...

Poor Calvin. They lost to Hope today. It was THE big game; the one that was broadcast out to different satellite locations. (They actually play each other more than once a season, but they only broadcast one.) Joel and I like to go to these, so we hit up the site in Troy. It was fun. We were a little disappointed in the Calvin crowd--we think there were only about 4-6 of us there. There were a lot more Hope alum. Oh well. Calvin could have won the game if they had made more free throws, but alas, this was not the game. Again, oh well. There is always next time. We didn't take any pictures while we were there, but here are some of the three of us in our Calvin gear.

(I didn't realize until after we got home that Kyper and I matched very well. :))

Growing, Growing, Flat

Kyper is growing growing. (Here he is with my bear at 6 months.)

Our cookies were flat.

After some experimentation, I finally added enough flour and baking soda to have presentable cookies. Just so you know, I am 100% positive I put the amount the recipe called for. My favorite theory is from my friend Amanda, is that I over mixed the dough. (I am not being sarcastic--I think that really was the case.) One of my first experiments included trying to use our pizza stone instead of a metal cookie sheet. The results were the same as you can see from the picture above.

Policies for Strangers and new Friends

Just need to say sorry to the man the was standing outside my door today. He knocked at least three or four times and rang the doorbell three times. Unfortunately, for him I have a strict policy on not opening the door to strangers when my husband is not home. He may have been a nice guy, but when Joel is not home I do not open the door to people I don't know.

Now, what is the policy on asking people for their phone numbers? I was standing in line at the post office yesterday and I met this totally nice women. I went at 4, so there was quite a line. I had Kyper with me. The women in front of me asked me how old Kyper was and I told her. She then proceeded to tell me that she had a three month old son--her first. We talked about how fast they grow and how the first couple weeks were crazy. She was so nice and I totally thought to myself "we could be friends--our kids are close to the same age, we are both married." But, I didn't have the guts to get her contact info. So, here is my question. How do people meet others when they don't have a church community, school or a job?

Here's the deal. Joel and I have quite a number of friends in the area from the last time we lived here. Except, that they all live at least 20 minutes away. We lived on the southside of Detroit last time and now we are on the north side. So, we don't have a lot of friends really close by. It would be nice to have a few that live closer. I am debating about going to a different church's coffee break or a closer MOPS group next year to meet some other people that live in the north suburbs of Detroit. We'll see once. The church I found and am thinking about, isn't actually that much closer than the one we go to now, but it is on the northside. (We love our church and we don't want to leave it completely. I'm actually applying to a job there.)

We did have some other DMU students over on Friday night that live very close. That was fun. The thing is Joel and I are the only married couple that moved to Detroit for rotations. Not that hanging out with single people isn't fun, it is just a little different. Also, the single students all sort of knew each other before. (Joel knew them, but we hung out with other couples in Des Moines, not single students.) Plus, they have had rotations with each other. This family practice rotation is the first time he has been with another DMU student. So, we finally got into the loop of what they have been doing. We had been invited to a movie with them, but seeing as Kyper is a little too old for movies now (he doesn't sleep that much anymore), we didn't want to find a babysitter, and it wasn't really in our budget, we didn't end up going. Therefore, we invited a few of them to dinner and played games at our house on Friday. Now, they know we live around and are willing to go out sometimes. Maybe we will have a few social events a little closer to home.

The Slip Cover

Here is the couch before:
Notice the nice Santa Fe type geometric pattern on it. Lovely.Here is our couch after:

(My mother-in-law sewed slipcovers for the back and side cushions in a light green color.)

(We also rearranged the room after getting the new entertainment center.)

Rocking the Boat

We got a new video camera with some of the Christmas money we received from grandparents and parents. So, above is a video of Kyper rocking the boat (exersaucer).

I just have to tell you a little about the video camera. I am pretty proud of my research and deal-finding skills. All we wanted was a small camcorder that we could capture small videos on. We didn't need a really fancy one, because I basically only plan on putting the videos on our blog or sending them via email to parents/relatives. Since, we live a little ways away from grandparents we thought this is a fun way to show them Kyper and the things he has been doing. So, I started doing some research on video cameras. All the lingo and the prices made me a bit overwhelmed. I found a small pocket camera called the Flip camera and it looked like it would fit our needs and price range. (A little over $100.) However, I am Dutch and I wanted to make sure I had the best deal out there. So, I remembered when Joel first got me a digital camera, he got one that had been refurbished. So, I googled refurbished ones. We got a camera that normally sells for $150 for $85!

Because of the awesome deals we found for our new entertainment center and this video camera, I was able to get a slipcover for our couch with Christmas money as well! I ordered it today, soon our furniture will at least match in color. I'll take a picture of it when we get it, because I know you are all sitting on pins and needles waiting to see what our couch will look like with a slip cover. Haha.

6 Months

6 months ago, I met Kyper Simon. I can't believe half a year has passed us by already. I took Kyperman to the doctor today. Here are some things about Kyper.

He now weighs 15lbs and 12oz and he is 26 inches tall. According to the growth chart Kyper is just below the 50th percentile. The doctor said he was a healthy boy. He had to get several vaccines today, so it wasn't all fun at the doctor's office.

We started rice cereal before Christmas and moved to oatmeal after Christmas. Just this Saturday, we gave him green beans. So far, he likes them. He opens his mouth really wide for them. I think peas are next. (Then maybe some fruit.)The first time he rolled over was Dec. 7 and it wasn't from his tummy to his back. No, our child decided to roll from his back to his tummy first (I've heard that most babies go the other way tummy to back first). He does this at night, so he now sleeps on his tummy. He actually prefers to roll that way. We know he can go the other way, but doesn't very often. I think sometimes when he is on his tummy he knows we are right there and can help him roll over. We let him struggle though and by the time we do help he isn't happy on his back either. Here is a video of him rolling over. He was rolling long before Christmas, but he never did it in front of his Grandpa Phillips. (I think there might have been too much pressure. Kyper likes to do it on his own and often will do it when people aren't looking or paying too much attention.)

He now can stay sitting up for a long time on his own. It is really nice, because he can't crawl yet. So, he can sit on the floor and play with some toys and I don't have to chase after him. Although, I believe he will be able to move on his own before I know it. He pushes up on his arms, gets his butt in the air and looks like he is going to go places, but just hasn't figured out the mechanics of it yet. I am okay with this, I will be chasing him long enough, so the crawling can wait for a little while. ;)

He does pretty well at sleeping. He sleeps from about 9:00pm to 7:00am. He is struggling with a little sleep regression and gets up at least once a night, but we have started letting him cry it out and he really only cries for 10-20 minutes then he falls fast asleep again. He is quite the mover. I think he gets that from his dad. I never know where he is going to be in the crib when he wakes up in the morning. Once he started rolling over, we stopped swaddling him.


He likes to play in his exersaucer and enjoys relaxing in the swing.

He can pick up and put his pacifier in his mouth by himself.

He loves his dad and always has a big smile on his face when Joel gets home. He loves his bath time, which is father/son time. I got to intrude and take a video of it yesterday. He loves to splash!

I love that I get to stay at home with him. I get to see him grow and develop. His little personality is just starting to emerge and it is so fun to see.

I love you Kyper and I am so glad that God has given you to me and Dad. The last six months have flown by! But, I want you to know that I am treasuring this time with you. I pray that God continues to bless you with health and growth.

All We Wanted was a little Wine

The other night, Joel and I were going to enjoy a glass of wine before bed. But the corkscrew broke. See below:
So, we had to figure out what to do. First, we tried using a needle nose pliers to gain some leverage on the broken corkscrew. Then, we were going to chisel away at the cork. But, then Joel used his cool knife and the embedded corkscrew to shimmy it out.

Finally, the cork came out and we were able to enjoy a little wine. I think we deserved after the hard work it took to get the cork out. :) The wine was good, thanks Katie, JP and Ryan. (We forgot to toast the New Year.)

Holiday Recap

Below you will see pictures from many of the activities we participated in during the Holidays with some brief descriptions. :)

First, you have a photo collage of the Phillips' Christmas parties. (We opened stockings on Christmas Eve and presents under the tree Christmas morning.)

• Aren and Leah are holding Christmas cards that feature a Santa that was at a pet store. Joel's parents took their bunny Henry to see Santa. How great is that?!
• Katie and JP got some tent stakes from us. These represented the steak dinner we were going to cook for them when they visited us.
• Kyper got some fun gifts--books, stacking rings and cups.
• Aren made us a beautiful stained glass picture frame.
  

After Christmas morning at the Phillips we headed to Zeeland Christian's gym for the great big Koning clan party. The kids have so much fun there.

After the extended Koning party, we headed to Joel's cousins' house for his extended family's party. We opened some gifts and the guys played some round robin.On Saturday we had the Koning family party.

• Uncle Jeff is very helpful when it comes to putting together new lego sets.
  
• My parents got a Wii a few weeks ago, so we had some fun with that.
• Peyton and Sydney got Kyper a fun polar bear hat.
  

We headed back to Detroit metro on Sunday, Dec. 27. Joel started his next rotation (family medicine.) JP, Katie and their friend Ryan were driving back to Arlington and stopped in to celebrate New Years with us in Detroit. It was fun

• The boys played some ladder ball.
• Joel and I cooked them a nice steak dinner and had fondue for dessert.
• We played some Dutch Blitz.
• We stayed up too late.
  

Other fun things that we did while we were in West Michigan for the week of Christmas:

• Went to Meijer Garden with my mom, brother and Syd and Peyton to see Christmas trees from around the world. (No pictures sorry--forgot to take the camera.)
  
• Joel made sure to hit the beach with his brothers and dad.
• We had a very nice Christmas brunch with our high school friends. Erin was an awesome host. We missed Rebecca, John and Matt. We finally met Bethany's future husband--Justin. I approve. ;)
  
• Kyper now rolls over in his sleep--we found him sleeping on his tummy. It was cute.

Some not so fun things that happened on our break:

• Joel got sick--we think it was strep throat. (Fortunately, no one else got it.)
• Kyper got way off schedule and I think he is still recuperating--we are now going on week three of needing to be fed somewhere between 2:30am and 4:30am after months of not needing this. How do I break this and get back to a full night's sleep?! (Although, I am also thinking that a growth spurt might be occurring and/or teething, or it is a combination of all three things!)
  

Besides those two things our break was awesome. :) Hope you enjoyed our Holiday recap.

Deal of the Decade

Kyper is starting to roll over, which means that in no time he will probably be moving all around our house. This got Joel and I thinking about doing some baby proofing our house. We don't have a lot of things that are breakable or too sentimental, but there are a few things we want to get out of Kyper's reach.

So, with some Christmas money we decided it would be good to look into taller shelving units or some sort of different entertainment center. We saw one we really likes on craigslist, but it was too expensive considering we would not only need to pay for the piece, but we would also need to rent a Uhaul. Well, I did a lot more online research and looking and we found one we liked at Art Van, but the measurements it gave indicated that it would be too small for our very large tube TV.

We hit the stores on Saturday after doing the online research. We went to Art Van, Value City Furniture and Big Lots. (Remember we are still students and renters. ;)) We went to Art Van first and actually saw the one that we looked at online and discovered that it would fit our TV and get this: It was originally $300, but it was marked down to $40!!! We still did not purchase it right away, since we wanted to just see if the other stores had something we liked more. But, in the end we went back to Art Van and got this--the deal of the decade:


Now, we have some taller shelves to house our little things. Yes, we still have our DVD, VCR, and converter box down below the TV and the DVD's, but none of that stuff will hurt Kyper. I don't like the idea of having to clean up DVD's everyday or have Kyper push all the buttons. But, it will be good for him to learn that it is not okay to do that, because when we visit other people's homes, they may have things that cannot be touched and he will have learned some of boundaries at home already. Next step of baby proofing is putting some electrical covers on the plugs and a few latches on our kitchen and bathroom cabinets.

It may not be the look we will go for when we eventually own our own home, but we figure for $40 we couldn't go wrong and it will eventually be nice for a basement someday. :)

What is in a name?

I have wanted to post more about Kyper's name, since he was born. But, I just haven't gotten to it. Since, I am too lazy to get the camera and download pictures I figured this would be a good time to write about it.

Many people have asked us where we got the name Kyper from. I really don't mind people asking, because it allows us to share with people what we believe. Kyper is an uncommon name, and I really didn't want it at first, but the more I heard it when Joel and I used it for a boy's name while I was pregnant and the more I thought about how we came up with the name the more it grew on me. I know I posted a little about it when he was first born, but you may not remember. We got the name Kyper from the Dutch Theologian Abraham Kuyper. (We decided to drop the "u" because we wanted it to be easier to pronounce, especially if we moved to a non-Dutch community. Kuyper is a pretty common Dutch last name.)

I don't want to write too much about Abraham Kupyer, because someone already did that for me. In the Christian Reformed Church, we have a magazine called The Banner. Here is a link to one of the articles that talks about Abraham Kuyper: http://www.thebanner.org/magazine/article.cfm?article_id=321. He was a pretty important figure in the Christian Reformed Denomination.

The one thing I want to focus on is the saying by him that Joel and I both love--I'd say it is probably our favorite quote as a couple. It is on the sidebar and we used it for our 2008 Christmas card. The saying goes like this, "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'" With this Kuyper means that God is involved and in charge of all parts of creation--we call this sphere sovereignty in our Reformed Tradition. I love it. This means a lot to me in regards to how I interact with other people and the world around me.

Therefore, Kyper was named after a theologian, but moreover we named him after the idea of sphere sovereignty, which Kuyper was famous for. What does this mean to us? Well, to us it means that Kyper is God's child. Jesus Christ cries "Mine!" when he sees Kyper. I love that and I pray that Kyper appreciates his name someday as much as we do.

It has been very interesting for Joel who goes out on different rotations and talks to lots of different people. Because, they will ask where we got the name Kyper from and Joel gets to share this with them. (I've had it too a few times, but I don't go out as much as Joel does.) So, another bonus to his name is that we get to be witnesses of sorts to our faith.

There you have it our reasons we choose the name Kyper. It wasn't just because we liked uncommon names. We liked the sound of it and then we also really liked what it signified to us.

(Just a note on the middle name: we choose Simon, because it is my grandfather's name. And, he is a strong man of faith and is a very important person to the Koning family. So, Simon was not just a name we liked either it also was very meaningful to us, especially Julie.)

9 Most Memorable Moments of 2009

I wanted to write some reflections down before the New Year began, but I didn't have time. So, instead I am going to list 9 of the most memorable moments of 2009.

Starting at number 9 and counting down and for your enjoyment I included pictures with a few of them.

9. House-sitting for six months for a couple who taught English in China (Jan 1 to July 1).

8. Joel taking and passing boards (June)

7. Joel starting his third year of medical school--half way! (August 3)

6. Kyper's baptism (October)

5. Moving to Detroit with a one week old (July 22nd--one day before Blueberry's due date*)

4. Being able to be a stay-at-home mom and watch Kyper grow and develop (July 14-present)

3. Hearing Blueberry's heartbeat each time I went to the doctor (Jan.-July)*

2. Seeing Blueberry on the ultrasound (March 10, 2009)*

1. Kyper's birthday! (July 14, 2009)


*I refer to Kyper as Blueberry whenever I talk about being pregnant with him. We actually don't call him Blueberry anymore and really never did once he was born. But, to me when I think about my pregnancy I think of Blueberry and not Kyper. I think one reason for this is that we didn't know the gender until his birthday. (The other reason, which I am sure Joel is more inclined to think, is that I am just weird.)

Coming posts (hopefully within the next week):
--a recap of the Phillips' Christmas and New Years celebrations
--more on Abraham Kuyper and the reason behind Kyper's name.
--the best deal of 2010 so far, in regards to furniture.