Visit to the Vet

 

We took Chief to the vet last week for his annual visit. This poor pup has been to the vet a lot in the past year so he now h.a.t.e.s going there. It is a small fight to get him in the door! Poor thing.

Our Chief is doing great. He weighed in at 76.8 pounds which is fantastic. He had a normal wellness exam and his electolytes were almost normal - just trending a little bit Addisonian but the vet said that this was just fine, we were a few days late with Chief's monthly shot so that effected the results.

 

We talked with the vet and confirmed that we will be able to start giving Chief his monthly shots at home which is wondeful because it is hard to get ot the clinic once a month.

 

Here is our nervous dog at Lakeview clinic!

 

 

Lucy and Mama at the clinic.

Maybe she will be a vet someday!

We love you Chief and we are so happy that you are healthy!

Weekend up North

Last weekend we went to Rhinelander to spend some time with our good friends the MacFarlands! We had a great time hanging out, fishing, walking, and shooting with bows/arrows.

 

The MacFarlands recently purchased a Chariot with jogging/biking/cross country skiing attachments. It is awesome. It can be used by either 1 or 2 babies so we decided to try it out with both Lucy and Jake while we went for a walk. What an adventure!! These kids are so cute. :)

 

First, both of the bambinos were buckled in and the Chariot was filled with blankies and toys. I love how Lucy has her hand on little Jacob's knee.

One of Lucy's favorite games in the Chariot was to steal Jacob's pacifier. She would just reach over an pull it out of his mouth.

 

Lucy with her new find!



 She would also poke Jake in the eyes. What a little pill! We had to distract her with lots of toys.

 

And, finally, here is a photo of 2 happy kids. How fun!

 

Thanks for the awesome Chariot ride and wonderful weekend, MacFarland family!!



Lucy is 9 months old

Our baby girl is now 9 months old! What an amazing little Lucy - she is crawling, working to pull herself up on everything, and she loves interactive books where she can feel textures, lift flaps, etc. She talks, squeals, laughs, and smiles all of the time. We love her so much!!

 

Here are Miss Lucille's 9 month pictures:

She is now 18 pounds!

 

 

This is probably a more accurate photo - Lucy crawling toward the camera. :)

 

We recently visited Dr. Rainwater for Lucy's 9 month visit. Here are the stats:

Height = 28 1/2" ~ 82%

Weight = 18.0 lbs ~ 48%

Head Circumference = 45.4cm ~ 87%

 

We have a tall and skinny girl!

 

Other things to note - Dr. Rainwater prescribed some cream for Lucy's eczema and it is working wonders!! Her skin looks so much better and she is much less itchy. Lucy is right on track for  9 month developmental milestones. She is moving all of the place, she waves hello, she babbles, and she can pick up really small objects. One area where Lucy is a little behind is that she still does not feed herself finger foods. She is really fussy about textures and is not a very mouthy girl in general. We are working to put little pieces of food in front of her for each meal (she usually just feeds the dogs :) ), and we are feeding her with some textured spoons to get more oral-sensory activity going on her mouth. He pediatrician assures us that she will be feeding herself by the time she goes to college. :)

You've got mail!

Lucy loves to get mail. :) She is lucky to have grandmas, aunties, uncles, and cousins who send things her way. Here she is with some recent pieces of mail!

 

A Wild Animal Baby Magazine courtesy of Grandma Sharon

 

 

Examining shoes sent from Grandma Nola

 

Check out these sweet cowgirl boots! Love them.

 

Thanks, Grandmas!!

A little slice of life in August...

Yikes! It is the second half of August and I am just starting with my August posts. Sorry for the delay.

 

This summer has been hot, hot, hot and we have finally gotten nice weather over the past 2 weeks! Go figure. Here are some pictures of our recent evenings/weekends - going on walks, going to the park, and harvesting from our garden which is exploding with veggies these days!

 

Lucy loves going for walks. She likes to take in the scenery and she also snoozes in her stroller.

 

 

Our little Lucy Bear l-o-v-e-s swinging these days. Look at how excited she is to be in kiddie swings at the park. :)

Squeals of joy.

 

We harvested about 5 pounds of basil from our garden...

 

So we made some delicious pesto! Yum.

Happy August everyone!

Hoekman Family Weekend 2012

Each year we dedicate a long weekend for vacationing with the Hoekman family. We always have a wonderful time hanging out with family, eating great food, fishing, boating, lounging at the campfire, and doing other summer activities. This year we gathered at Lake Thompson in South Dakota. We rented an awesome lodge for the weekend.  

 

Dan and Anna read books together. I love that she is wearing her sun glasses in the house. 

The Storms arrived with gifts for the kids that I collected from garage sales/thrift stores this summer! I found a pair of swimming flippers for Paul but the girls loved them too. We eventually needed to put the kibosh on wearing them around the house because they are difficult to walk in and the kids kept falling down! Here is Abigail checking out her brother's flippers.

 

Dad caught up on the latest celebrity gossip. He was engrossed in the Kristen Stewart cheating scandal. :)

 

 

Lots of hugs and kisses for little Lucy. We just love weekends with our little peanut.

 

Lucy had a great time at the lodge. I love the picture of her squealing for the camera.

We spent a lot of time in the kiddie pool with the cousins. Here are all of the kids waiting to swim.

 

The girls in the pool! At first Lucy didn't like the water but then Grandpa warmed it up by adding a couple of buckets of hot water and she was just fine.

 

I just love these pictures of the girls sitting by the pool.

And our hilarious nephew Paul. This guy is getting a little too big for the kiddie pool but it didn't stop him from jumping in! :)

We went on a few walks around the neighboring campground. As you can see by the weird coloring in this picture, we experienced some severe weather during our stay. We lost power for a bit in the house but we were very thankful to be in the lodge rather than crowding in the emergency shelter for the campers which = bathrooms.

Grandma with her girls - Abigail and Lucy (who seems to be doing karate kicks in her stroller)

Kevin and Katie strolling with Anna.

During our vacation weekend, the Olympics were on television! We watched some volleyball, trampoline, and track and field events. Here are the girls cuddling and watching TV on Saturday morning.

 

This mama/auntie gave lots of rides to the girls on our living room floor! Even though Abby and Lucy are small, this was still good exercise for me! haha!

 

What a blessing for all of kids to spend time with their Grandpa and Grandma. Here are pictures of Grandpa Glen with Lucy and Grandpa and Grandma Hoekman with Paul, Lucy, Anna, and Abigail. How cute!







 

 While we were at Lake Thompson, our dear friend Jenny and 2 of her kids - Natalie and Colby -  stopped by for a visit. It was so fun to catch up. :)

 





 We celebrated grandma's birthday! Happy Birthday Mom! We love you! I just love how Lucy is fascinated by the candles in this photo.

 It wouldn't be a vacation without fishing, right? :) Here is Daniel with his catch.

 

Giant Walleye!

Dad with his fish. The guys had a good time on the boat!

Finally - our biggest update from the weekend....
Lucy is officially crawling! She has spent a lot of time over the past few months on her hands and knees, rocking back and forth, etc but after some extended time on a carpeted floor the mechanics just clicked. She can now motor around everywhere! Watch out. ;)
We love our little crawler.

Thanks for another great summer gathering, Hoekman family!

 



Other July Happenings

And, a recap of some of our other July events...

We went to GreekFest in Madison. There is a Greek Orthodox Church not very far from our house that was hosting the festival. We had some delicious food, we watched some traditional dancing and toured the inside of the church.

Here is Dan, Baby Lucy, and some gyro

Mama, Lucy, and some baklava! This stuff was awesome!

Also, in late July Lucy's first friend turned one! We celebrated Charlotte's 1st birthday at a park. It was so cute. Here is the birthday girl with her parents.

Isn't that a sweet owl cake? Love it.

And a picture of some of the kids at the party. :) We can't believe that you are already one year old, Charlotte! Time really flies!

Grandma and Grandpa Storm

After Emily Storm's wedding, Lucy's Grandma Nola traveled back to Madison with us to spend some time with our family! Mama had a work trip so it was great to have an extra set of hands around the house with Lucy and the pups. Lucy was able to take a vacation from daycare and spend most of the week at home with Grandma. :) I think that they both thoroughly enjoyed the week.

Nola also did an awesome job of cleaning up around our house and helping with projects. She is the best! We are so blessed!

Here is a picture of little Lucy with her Grandma.

Grandpa Ken drove to Madison from Fargo to join us for the weekend. We spent the weekend going to Maxwell Street days, eating a delicious German dinner (Just like old times!), and lounging. Daniel and I were even able to go to a movie for the first time in 9 months! Yay. Thanks for visiting Mom and Dad Storm! We love you and appreciate everything you do for us.

Chow Time

Our little Lucy is eating lots of solid foods and expanding her palate all of the time. I thought that I should share some pictures of Lucille sporting her messy food face. :) Her favorite foods include sweet potatoes, bananas, prunes, squash, apples and carrots. She basically loves anything that is super pureed. If the food has texture, Watch out! She is not a fan - Lucy will gag and spit out anything chunky. We actually spoke with her pediatrician about this and Dr. Rainwater suggested that we try a few things to introduce more oral stimulation including textured baby spoons. I just ordered some on Amazon yesterday! We'll see how well Lucy eats with bumpy spoons. :) I will keep you posted!

I love this picture because you can see her two little teeth. :)