Christmas in Michigan!

Air travel has its ups and down, but when we flew to Michigan, it was definitely a down day. We got to sit in the Sioux Falls airport for 5+ hrs while they kept pushing our flight time back and back. In the end, we got to Chicago, but since we would have been on separate flights or very late into Grand Rapids, our champion, Jed, drove down to Chicago to pick us up. Andy and I were very grateful not to have to fly on another plane that day, and it was very depressing to realize that we could have driven faster to Holland than it took us to 'fly'.

Anyway, we did make it, and we got to spend a lot of time with our Huisman family. I feel blessed that we got to have almost a full week of everyone being home. One of my favorite things is trying to get photo opps with all the grandchildren. There's just something fun about 6 squirming children in 1 photo...

Look, they are all reading a story with Grandpa and Grandma!

Christmas jammies photo :)

Carsten had a lot of fun with his cousins, and I think he especially enjoyed playing with Linnea and Eliana, who as the oder cousins, did a lot of interesting things. Linnea got to decorate a cardboard house, and Carsten absolutely loved going in and out of doors and windows :). Here's a few photos:

Coloring the house

Peekaboo!

Playing with Linnea.

We also got some snow in Holland, which was fun because we all got to bundle our children up and let them play in the snow. For Carsten, this was his first time really playing in the snow, and I think he probably would have enjoyed it more if he could have figured out how to walk around (between the deep snow and bulky winter clothing he mostly just sat in the snow). Carsten did enjoy being pulled around in the sled :).

W. Michigan snow!

Loves the sled :).

Jeff, the twins, and Eliana :).

 We went inside and Lisa did some music playzone with the kids. Carsten loved doing this so much we actually signed him up for a kindermusik class here. Thanks for introducing us to the concept Lisa!

Music playzone.

I think one of Carsten's highlights were the tubs on wheels at Jeff and Amanda's house. He LOVED being pushed in it. At one point, we had three children going at once in three different tubs. It was fun to watch :).

loving the tub with wheels :)

 We went to the Grandville mall and rode the carousel, which Carsten thought was pretty fun :).

Grandville carousel

Carsten helped us pack by filling one of the suitcases - with himself! He thought it was pretty fun to dismantle my carefully placed piles (note the items strewn about on the floor).

Carsten discovered the guitar right before we left and requested that Grandpa play him 'the cat came back' quite a few times. I think Grandpa is lucky he didn't discover the guitar earlier... :)

Grandpa playing for Carsten.

 Mom and Dad Huisman drove us down to O'Hare to catch our flight, and Carsten once again enjoyed the children's museum at O'Hare. I'd have to say that O'Hare is one of my favorite airports at the moment because of this amazing play area. It really lets the kids run around and explore, which is very necessary with air travel.

We had a fantastic Christmas visiting family and friends. We miss you all!

Christmas in Iowa!

This blog post is long overdue, but I still wanted to share a little about our Christmas adventures in Iowa. We flew in on December 14, which was one of the longest days of our lives especially since we were traveling with Carsten. Carsten only took three 1 hour naps on each of the three legs of our journey, but once again, his inability to nap in places other than his crib paid off by allowing him to seemlessly adjust to Iowa time. We were all feeling pretty crabby and tired after our long journey, so we were very grateful to my parents who graciously came and picked us up from Sioux Falls. We basically took it easy for the first week while we finished adjusting to jet-lag and got some much needed rest. We also spent time with my grandparents and parents, which was a lot of fun. My brother and sister came into town right before Christmas, and we really enjoyed the few days that we were all together again :). Ironically, I think we've spent more time all together in Switzerland than in the states (go vacation!). We all very much enjoyed spending time with our family during the Christams Holiday. Here are some photos of our time there:

 We took Carsten to a free train ride in the Sioux Center mall. It wasn't very busy, so Carsten rode it for ~45 min! He absolutely loved it and was asking for 'more' (see next photo) before the train came to a stop (he knew the route after a couple of rides). 

Carsten loved all the toys at my mom's house. There were some new toys and some old toys that used to be ours when we were little. I think Carsten's favorite was the horse :).

Cheesy baby

Carsten enjoyed the tree at my Grandma's house, and he also loved playing with the toys at her house with Grandpa. We got to spend some time at Grandma and Grandpa's during the week leading up to Christmas. Grandma schooled both Andy and I at Scrabble - good work Grandma! :)

Carsten got to have some fun playing with his Grandma and Grandpa. He rocked on the horse and the teeter totter with Grandma and then got to play with the toy toolbench and go on tractor rides with Grandpa. He had so much fun!

Carsten got to have some fun moments with Grandpa Ranschau who we got to see on several occasions.

The Hoogeveen family all dressed up for the Christmas Eve service!

Carsten started getting the hang of opening gifts, and he came away with some really fun gifts from our family :). We opened our family gifts on Christmas Eve, and then had Swiss fondue that we had brought back from Egg.

Sometimes when I take a photo, I think 'this is totally going in the blog.' This was one of those photos.

 On Christmas Day we had the Ranschau festivities at Mom and Dad's house in the afternoon, and then went to have Hoogeveen festivities at Grandma and Grandpa Hoogeveen's house in the evening. It was a busy day! Carsten and Uncle Norm got the award for most similarly dressed :). Carsten also entertained every one with enthusiastic bouncing on the horse.

Santa came to Grandma and Grandpa Hoogeveen's house, and Carsten was given a nice riding toy that we unfortunately did not have room to take back. However, he did enjoy it before we left :). Carsten and Andrew looked pretty cute (sorry Megan!).

Megan's expression makes me laugh :).

cute photo

Daddy helping Carsten open gifts :). 

Carsten with his Great Grandparents!

We had a great time, and as always, it went by way too fast. We miss you all!

climbing on chairs!

I posted this on facebook already, but Carsten is now climbing onto our dining room chairs. He's really quite thrilled and usually sits for a minute to enjoy the new view of the room before climbing off again. Carsten is quite proficient at getting on and off our furniture now, and the only rule that we haven't quite mastered is sitting at all times on the furniture. We're at the point when he knows that he is not allowed on the furniture, but when he's feeling punkish (happens several times a day now) he stands up and intentionally gets my attention by making noise. So, now timeouts happen for him if he doesn't sit down at my first request. For the record, he usually does sit down, and ironically, he responds better to a quiet tone of voice rather than an elevated tone of voice. An elevated tone of voice just seems to make him more excited and punkish, so quiet voices it is :). Here's a photo of Carsten on the chair:

Carsten is 16 months!

Carsten is 16 months plus a few days... :)

16 months!

Well, we had a great month back in the US seeing all our wonderful family and most of our friends. I'll write some separate blog posts about our time there. Right now, I'd like to write a post about Carsten because he's starting to try out words! :) Here are words that we've heard him say:

Dad
Mama
Grandpa
Grandma
all done
more
hot
trash
tractor
truck
dump truck
tree
giraffe
clock
yea (as in yes)
sit

Yesterday afternoon, he walked around the house saying 'trash' over and over again. So cute :). He's also starting to make animal noises upon request: woof woof, roar (yes, like a lion), neigh, moo, and meow. He seems to go in phases as to which ones he'll actually say. Carsten has learned a few more signs as well and now his repertoire includes more, all done, please, help, bathtime, and thank you. It's surprising what you can communicate with just these signs. For example, if there's something Carsten is not supposed to get into, I can tell him 'all done' and he understands and usually listens :).

Making the sign for 'more' indicating that he wanted more train rides :).

Carsten is also starting to interact with other kids more, and we saw him enjoy playing with his cousins quite a bit, which is fun to watch. We unfortunately caught some pretty nasty colds in the last couple of weeks, so in an attempt to not pass it along and to not catch something else while recovering from jet-lag, Carsten and I are laying low this week. I think we're getting ever so slowly better, which is a nice change.

See, he had fun ;).

We're also trying to encourage more self-feeding at meals, so yesterday I attempted to not help Carsten at all, which went great. He fed himself pasta using mostly his hands and he seemed to get more than enough to eat. He also seemed to enjoy feeding himself and made 'num' noises when he shoved a handful of pasta in his mouth. I must admit, the mess on his face was much greater than usual, but surprisingly there was very little mess on the floor indicating pretty good accuracy in my book. I couldn't resist a few photos of his pasta face.

I'm sensing some slideshow photos someday in the future :).

Love this kid.

In other Carsten news, he's now had 3 haircuts, and I'm actually enjoying cutting his hair (it doesn't look too shabby either). We also have a visual on 12 teeth (4 molars, 4 bottom, and 4 top), and hopefully we'll get a break from teething for a while. He's still climbing furniture, but he now seems to understand that he needs to sit on the furniture instead of stand. He's not climbing nearly as much as his twin cousins, but honestly, that's ok with me :). Since coming back from the US we've starting watching a few minutes of video (like veggietales) where we all have been enjoying some snuggle and relaxation time; snuggles are hard to come by with Carsten so we love the rare opportunities.

When we came back to Switzerland after being gone for 3.5 weeks, we noticed that Carsten was a lot taller than when we left because he was now able to reach the light switches with ease and now his nose is as table height instead of his eyes. It's fun to see that kind of growth and it corroborates my observation that his 24 month clothes that were quite big 2 months ago, are now the right size. He's really been growing out of clothes fast! Carsten also enjoyed his old toys again, so we put away some of the new ones for a rainy day. He also remembered the playground and wanted to play in the sandbox which we did not do since it was wet.

While we were in the US, Carsten definitely was putting names with faces because you could ask him where '_____' was and he would point or look at the correct person. He's also been doing that with objects and saying 'DA', which we translate as 'look at that!' or 'whatisthatit'ssoexciting!'. His favorite things right now are his blanket (which he asks to go into his crib during non-sleep times to snuggle it for a few minutes), trucks, tractors, construction equipment (especially diggers), most animals, the laundry basket, books, and spatulas.

Here's some more photos of Carsten:

wearing Daddy's slippers

playing

cheesy baby in the laundry basket

he fell in. :)

cheesy baby on top of the laundry basket :)

climbed on the futon to read books to himself

I think that's all for now about Carsten. Next up will be details of our holiday time in Iowa and Michigan!

Natalie's Travel Tips

As we approach the holidays, I wanted to pass along some of my favorite airline travel tips for traveling with young children in case it helps you in your travels.

What to bring along for your kiddo in their 'diaper bag': 

-a few (small) new and favorite toys

-a few favorite books

-favorite sleep item (i.e., blanket, animal, or lovie)

-ipod (or something similar) for watching movies and playing fun apps like 'whiteboard'

-leak-proof sippy cup (make sure to leave it empty while going through security)

-spoons & bib

-antibacterial wipes (for clean up & wiping clean the airline armrests before you sit down)

-baby food if age appropriate

-favorite snacks (i.e., crackers, baby puffs) - bring plenty as a hungry baby is an unhappy baby

-fruit pouches (baby food in pouches that do not require a spoon to feed - less mess!)

-removable diaper kit - this is preferably a small bag that slings over your shoulder when you need to go give a diaper change. It makes things readily accessible, especially in a cramped space like the airplane lavatory (you really do not want to bring in your whole 'diaper bag').

-don't forget to have things like tylenol and hand sanitizer on hand (I transfer these in after we go through security)

-nursing cover if you are nursing

-extra outfit

Recommendations on child gear:

-If you do not need a stroller in your destination, I'd recommend ditching the stroller in favor of a car seat. When you travel with infant on lap sometimes if there is an extra seat, the airline will let you have it for your car seat (you will need to ask when you check in or at the gate); this is amazing on a long flight because it means that you and your child do not always have to be in contact, especially when they are sleeping. If you have some connecting flights that do not have room for the car seat, you can simply plane-side check it (make sure your gate agent gives you a tag for it), which is not an issue. One suggestion for helping you get your car seat through the airport is a car seat wheelie (like 'Go Go Babyz Kidz Travelmate'). 

-If you do bring a stroller, a small umbrella-type stroller is best (folds small and goes through the scanner easily)

-travel high chair. If you have your stroller, use your stroller as a high chair in cases where you cannot find one easily. If you do not have a stroller, then I'd recommend a cloth high chair (like 'My Little Seat Infant Travel High Chair') which is very small, lightweight, and machine washable.

-child carrier. I prefer the Ergo brand carriers because they are easy to put on in all circumstances (unlike the Moby wrap), and they hold heavier children easily on the front, back, or hip. I'd recommend the back carry when going through the airport because it enables you to do things like security more easily. One thing to know is that you do need to take the carrier off to go through security, and they may or may not let you keep your child in the carrier during take off and landing. 

-child leash just in case of an emergency. We don't really use ours, but I feel better having it along in case I get desperate in the airport.

What items to have in your carryon luggage (i.e., emergency items in case you get stuck somewhere):

-extra diapers (~10)

-extra pack of wipes

-extra 2 sets of clothes

-pajamas

-coats

-umbrellas

Ideas to make going through security less of a nightmare:

-put all items to be removed in one bag (i.e., computers, liquids, baby food jars) so that you can load everything onto the belt directly except for the 1 bag (we prefer a backpack for this). You can redistribute the items to better locations (like the baby food) once you arrive at your gate.

-keep your child in their stroller, car seat, or child carrier until you're ready to go through the metal detector

-ask for help if you need it, especially when traveling by yourself. When I traveled by myself in October, the TSA agents helped me load my bags onto the belt and then helped me collect them all back together after they went through the scanner. It was very helpful, and unless you're going through a large, busy airport to start with, I've never found this to be a problem.

-make sure your waterbottles are empty or they have to scan them

-you are allowed to take baby food and milk through security, but they do need to be out with your other liquids or they search your bag for them (which takes extra time)

-give yourself plenty of time to get through the airport so you are not stressed. We usually try to leave about 2 hours because we always have to check in with an agent since we have an infant on lap and security takes longer to go through. If you have extra time at your gate you can find a child play area or just let your child run around - we find this to be very helpful.

-try to pack any 'iffy' items in your checked bags (i.e., cheese fondue - yes, they almost took our packaged cheese fondue because they said it 'squished' and therefore could be a gel)

-request to go through the metal detector holding your child instead of the newer fancier things

-try to minimize carryon items since you will be hauling everything at all times (i.e., it might be worth the extra bag fee not to have to have an extra bag with you in the airport). 

Ask your flight attendant to:

-refill sippy cup with juice or water when needed

-if they have snacks for your child

-warm food if you need

-help you open your food, get your tv set up, or adjust your air vents if your child is sleeping (if you are flying alone).

Seats we prefer:

-Bulkhead seats. We always buy economy because we're cheap, but if the plane is not full, sometimes they will hand out bulkhead seats or you can pay to upgrade, which to be honest, is probably worth it. On our flight to the US this Christmas it was great because we had the three bulkhead seats which meant that Carsten sat in his carseat when he slept and ate, and then he would stand and play in between our feet in front of his car seat. This meant that he had somewhere to stretch his legs without bothering anyone since there was no one in front of us. The only downside to these seats is that there is no underseat storage in front of you, but the benefit of stretching your child's legs outweighs this minor inconvenience. Make sure you ask for the seats you want when you check in or at the gate.

Tips on the airplane:

-Feed your child during take off and landing because this helps their ears pops and minimizes discomfort.

-Walk your child up and down the aisle when you can.

-Play with your child. Think of flying in an airplane as enforced one on one time with your child. This is not a time for you to relax and watch movies on the plane, it is a time to pay attention to your child and see to their needs as much as possible. This means reading books, playing, and talking with your child 24/7. If you have two parents traveling with one child (like we do), you can have 'relaxation time' by putting one parent in charge for a period of time and then switching. If you have more children or are traveling by yourself, there is no relaxation time unless your child is sleeping in a car seat.

-Both parents need to help. We've seen families that travel where the dad has earplugs inside his headphones while he's watching a movie to drown out noises from his own children. Please do not do this to your spouse. Even if your child is sleeping, your spouse may need something so pay attention.

-Patience. This is your best friend because most likely you will not have slept for the duration of your flight even if your child does. Getting upset only makes things worse (i.e., your child picks up on your mood too). Remember that the flight will end, eventually :).

-Don't let grumpy old men get to you. Traveling economy with an infant on lap sometimes means you bother other people no matter what you do. This is ok as long as you are doing your best to minimize disruptions to other passengers. They'll get over it eventually :). Similarly, don't get frustrated with other children on the plane, their parents are trying too.

-remember that anything new can be a toy. For example, Carsten played with the plastic cups that the drinks are served in for a LONG time. And we did not have to bring them on or take them off the plane. Perfect :).

-some people recommend giving a baby benadryl or some other similar thing to make the baby sleepy. It turns out that it makes Carsten crazy. Just in case you receive the same recommendation realize that it may have the opposite effect...

Our approach to jet-lag:

-when traveling west, try to keep baby awake in general and just do frequent naps (if they can handle it). This has helped Carsten adjust nearly seemlessly this time around. He took three 1 hour naps (1 on each leg) and this seemed to do the trick. 

-when traveling east, try to let baby sleep on the plane in accordance to the time zone you just left, and gradually adjust when you arrive; this will take a few days. We find going east harder to adjust to than going west.

-We tried adjusting Carsten early by a couple of hours before we left, but this was not worth it as it just caused sleep issues prior to traveling. I think it's best to go into traveling as well rested as possible, and since Carsten did not adjust to the small changes well prior to traveling, we will not be doing that again.

Well, I think that's all I have for now. Please feel free to chime in if you have some other suggestions! :)

In Iowa for Christmas!

Well, we survived the TransAtlantic trip to Iowa, and once again, Carsten was an amazing traveler. We had a long, long trip due to two connections and three different flights, and I'd have to say that Carsten was a champ on all flights especially considering he only took an hour nap on each flight (which gave him a grand total of 3 hours of sleep in about 20 hours). We all have adjusted fairly seemlessly to the 7-hr time change, which has been an answer to prayer. I sincerely believe that my son's (relative) inability to sleep except in his crib went a long way towards automatically adjusting him to this time zone. Unfortunately, it won't work quite as well going back to Switzerland since we'll need to go the other direction - oh well :). Anyway, just thought I'd post that we had arrived and will write more updates of our vacation as we have time.

Carsten is 15 months!

Happy 15 months Carsten!

I used to wonder why parents would quote their kids ages in months until they turned two; I now know why: they still change so much that the distinction is still merited. Carsten has changed quite a bit since his first birthday, and every day keeps getting more and more fun. Here's an update on what Carsten is like now:

Physical Prowess: He's been walking for almost 5 months now, and is even quite proficient at running around the house. His most recent skill is climbing onto the couches, which he discovered he could do yesterday. Carsten is thrilled with this new-found ability, and I think climbing other things like kitchen chairs and probably out of his pack n play will follow soon. He's a very active boy, and we're often told by nursery attendants that he's very 'busy'. This is very true as he will not sit in one place for very long. It's often difficult to read an entire book unless he's quite tired. I'm sure he'll want to read books with us again soon, but for now he's having too much fun exploring and running around.


Eating: Carsten is a good eater, and he pretty much likes most things. Luckily, he's not allergic to anything, and since he's not too picky, this makes cooking pretty easy for me. He's proficient at eating finger foods, and we're working on trying to teach him how to eat with a spoon, which he's very excited about. He drinks a lot of water and milk during the day from his sippy cup, which is a pretty nice change from even 3 months ago. He does not care for too many sweets except chocolate :).

Teeth: We've seen quite a few teeth come in the last three months, and I'd have to say that teeth seem to bother Carsten's sleep, especially at night. So, he gets tylenol before bed, and this seems to help a lot. Carsten is up to 10 teeth (4 in front on bottom, 4 in front on top, and 2 molars on the bottom). I'm pretty sure his 3rd molar on top (tooth #11!) is coming in because he has a blue gum, which I have been assured is normal and basically amounts to a bruise caused by the tooth coming in. I will say that I will be glad when the molar phase is done because honestly, they seem to bother him quite a bit at night.

Sleeping: Sleeping has been a bit hit or miss with Carsten, but probably part of that is due to experiencing jet-lag from our trip in October to the US. And more will probably follow in our upcoming trip back for the Holidays to the US. We struggled quite a bit with sleep in the month of November until we realized that he needed to drop his morning nap. Once we dropped the morning nap, sleep at night has improved significantly with him almost always sleeping through the night and taking a 2 hour nap during the day around 12:15 pm. We are all loving only having 1 nap a day since it frees us up quite a bit for errands, playtime, and we are all getting much better sleep. I should also mention that he's typically very happy to go to sleep, and even smiles and waves 'bye bye' as I put him down for a nap.

Weaning: We're down to a morning and an evening feeding, and since nursing was really helpful with jet-lag in October, we're just going to keep it up until we get back in January.

Communication: We started trying to do baby sign language around 8 months with Carsten, but he really hasn't started signing until the last month or two. He now will sign 'more', 'please', 'eat', and 'all done'. Having just these basic signs has been very helpful, and goes a long way towards helping us understand what he wants. Carsten understands English, or at least, he understands me pretty well :). He's very good at following commands and usually good at listening. Here are some of the activities that he will do 'on command':

Snuggle: snuggles blankets, pillows, or stuffed animals (we're working on getting him to snuggle us :) )
Kiss the baby: he kisses the mirror Carsten
Where's the ____: he will find items for you
Bring me ____: he will bring you an item
Drink block soup: he sips pretend soup that contains a wooden block (it's cute, trust me)
Find baby Carsten: he'll find pictures of himself around the house
No chewing: a frequent phrase to prevent chewing on books
Peekaboo: he'll hide behind a blanket
Itsy bitsy spider: he'll make the spider motion
Patty cake: he'll clap and roll it
So big!: he'll make the motion for so big
Wave bye bye: he'll wave bye bye; when Andy leaves he wants to wave from the window as Andy
             leaves the building, which is very cute :)
Wave hi: he'll wave hi
Kick the ball: just as it sounds :)
Throw the ball: again, just as it sounds
Bouncing bean: he bounces on the ball
Jumping bean: jumps with us on the exercise ball
Whoompa: he jumps on your tummy
Go flying: he goes flying with our assistance
Dance dance: he dances to music solo or with us
Happy dance: he stomps his feet repeatedly and gets very excited

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of for now. There's a few things we're working on to add to this list such as giving us hugs and kisses :).

Travel: We've done quite a bit of traveling in the last few months. We've been to Michigan, Iowa, South Dakota, and France. And this month we're headed back to Iowa and Michigan where we'll see a lot of family and friends and hopefully will see some snow :). I'm thankful that he's such a great traveler as this reduces a lot of the stress when we're traveling.

Here's a few random photos of Carsten, please note the baby face, which often makes an appearance these days :).