December 2011....

I know, I know, pretty spectacular title.... This really has been an awesome month! TJ and I continue to count our blessings :) Barrett had his six month checkup at the beginning of the month. He's in the 75th percentile for both height and weight. He's just over 18 pounds and 28 inches long! I love that he's such a big boy! :)

Barrett, my dad, and I flew to St. Louis for five days in mid December. It was my grandpa Andert's 90th birthday and it was such a treat to get to go out and celebrate with everyone! Barrett did really well on the plane ride there mostly flirting with the girls in the row behind us and sleeping a little bit. Crazy boy pooped four stinking {hehe so punny} times on the plane so that was a challenge. Other than that he was so great! We got there and spent some time with his aunts Lisa and Michelle. It was the first time he had met Lisa and the first time I had seen her in well over a year and it was SO fun! We ate a lot of yummy food, celebrated Christmas [sans gifts... which I much prefer!] and enjoyed family. On that Sunday, we had a birthday party for grandpa with all of our extended family. It was so neat to see everyone and visit and hear their memories of grandpa. Lisa also made a really nifty slide show of his life. Pretty much it was awesome! :) Grandpa and grandma loved seeing Barrett and it was neat to have four generations together. We got a picture but I don't have it... I'll have to steal it from someone :)

One highlight to me was getting to go to an actual store that sells cloth diapers! SO FUN! I haven't found one here yet... It was so neat and I got two of the new bumgenius freestyle diapers and so far I really like them. Not as much as their 3.0s but much much more than their 4.0s. I hate those. Ugh.

Aside from the vacation, we're recovering {Barrett got a little cough and runny nose from the plane} and getting ready for Christmas with TJ's family. Anyway, here's a few pics for you to see :)

 I was baking and he reached down for the sugar... Uh oh he's a "likkerbekker" like his mom. That's a Dutch word by the way.... :)

 "Oh no! I'm caught!"

 "what are you looking at?!"

 He got really good at holding his own bottle while we were in St. Louis

We officially have a sitter! He does really well! I think the cloth diapers help him balance a little....

 He's eating an orange rind... I'm pretty sure it's good for him to chew on plus it has Vit C!

 See his hair is growing in a little...

 He loves his puppy!

 Lookie there at his two teeth!!!!!

 Barrett and grandpa Verhoeven

                                                                       The newest addition to the Ridl family! Little Lexi was born Tuesday December 20 and we couldn't be happier to have a baby girl in the family! I'm so excited to meet her!