Brad & Kimberly's Blog

2009-11-01T09:19:00.003-05:00

2009-04-11T20:59:00.006-04:00

So Oliver has visited Amish Country for the second time in his life. This time fully prepared to blend in! Our Amish friends made Oliver his little outfit as a baby gift. I found the hat and doll in a tourist store. I have so many more pictures in this outfit that it was hard to know which ones to post. He saw his first heifers (teen cows...) the other cows were out to pasture, a calf, mules and horses. Amish friends' 4 year old son was pulling the calves ears saying it was his birthday-though it was not so. They pulled ears instead of birthday spankings! Of course I can't send pictures of our Amish friends but we had a delightful visit and their girls just loved playing mom with Oliver. That happened last visit too. I rarely held him as even the littlest one, just a year older than Oliver wanted to hold the baby, and be just like the big girls.
Oliver is 8 1/2 months old and loves walking with someone holding his hands or belly crawling. Having the family around this week in PA. has been nice as he has had lots of walking practice. We're having a great time but lots of new people for Oliver has been a bit overwhelming on top of teething! Brad was not able to come with us and we are both missing him!

Today is his Great Grandmother's 88th birthday and tomorrow is Easter! We have so much to rejoice over! He has Risen!!!!!!

Thankgiving in Ohio

2009-04-07T10:29:00.003-04:00

This picture is from Thanksgiving in Ohio. We has just come from the pool, so not our best hair dos. L-R Dad/Les, Bro-in-law Matt, Brad, Bro Ben
Mom/Sharon, Sis Heather, Me/Mama/Kimberly holding Oliver, Sis-in-law Cara
Hudson, Angelo, Nadia, Giovanni, and Mossimo (Heather and Matt's kids)

2009-04-07T10:08:00.006-04:00

April 7th! Two months since I last posted. At least I am consistent. Oliver just started to belly crawl last week Monday. Our lives will never be the same, especially Ellington's. Oliver goes straight for cords, dog chews and well of course the dog! They have a great curiosity for one another. Oliver's is pure joy and Ellington's is ...well we're not sure. Sometimes Ellington tries to stay as far away as possibile and other times won't get out of Oliver's face.

Diapering is now a sport as Oliver loves to flip over and explore his changing table. Oliver's sweet personality continues to expand, though he can be VERY loud and rarely still (and thus he has been in church nursery for a month and a half). Well I better get some pictures posted before this quiet spell ends. Oh, and he has 7 teeth!

Whats Oliver up to at 6 1/2 months

2009-02-09T14:52:00.005-05:00

A week ago, on not such a warm sunny Sunday afternoon (it was sunny when we left the house) we hiked out to Lake Michigan with our friends Olga and Christopher Conens. A very chilly hike but the lake was beautiful as we saw the last bit of the sunset. Oliver was last at Lake Michigan to see a sunset Labor Day weekend. What very different conditions this time! Oliver seemed to like the hike and fell asleep on the hike back. We had him bundled up nice and warm and was snuggled up with papa!

Below I took a few pictures as Oliver played in his cradle filled with toys. He still wonders what the camera is all about and smiles are hard to capture...though there are plenty of them!Everything goes into his mouth! Everything from your finger, his fingers & toes, dog, mail, his toys & books, clothes...everything that he can get to his mouth goes in if we don't stop him. He loves to explore this world, mainly through his mouth! Just the normal mouthing stage.
It can be difficult to read to Oliver because he wants to eat the book! Even giving him another book...yah that doesn't work. He wants the one in the reader's hands.

Oliver is talking up a storm. I joke that he babbles in sentences. At times is sure sounds like he has quite a lot to say. In this picture I caught him mid word. "Bla, ba, ba, ma" or something of that sort. I would love a direct translation, but I will have to wait for months for that.
Our days are full of activity! This little boy is all boy! He loves to be in motion. He loves his Johnny Jump Up, jumping on laps and can even pull himself to a standing position if given an anchor to hold. And with motion comes the need for naps! Too bad they aren't long naps or you might see more blog postings from me. What a big yawn! If you look carefully you can see two very sharp bottom teeth have come in.

Sunny Day!

2009-02-08T21:49:00.004-05:00

So we had a rare sunny day here in west Michigan, and we decided to take advantage of it with a walk in the woods. It was glorious. I think Oliver enjoyed it as well!

2008-11-09T21:46:00.004-05:00

We went to a costume party Saturday night, evening...we're not out late these days with a baby. I went as Wendy Darling, Oliver as my Teddy, and Brad as Peter Pan (Peanut Butter). Oliver also helped hand out candy in his bear costume that his Great Aunt Sue sent him in the mail right after our visit Mid Oct. I'll try to post some of those pictures from the trip that Oliver and I made to PA. (This is Kimberly posting...I forgot to sign-in under my account after Brad just posted.)

Fall Leaves

2008-11-09T21:12:00.002-05:00

So this past Wednesday 90% of the leaves off our giant oak tree fell off. There were so many leaves that I decided that I couldn't afford to buy the special city bags to throw them out, and decided instead that the street sweeper would have to pick them up (when ever he finally makes it around again.) There were so many leaves that I gave up on the rake and used the snow shovel instead. Perhaps that was a bad omen....
Now normally I hate people who leave their leaves to blow up and down the street, but in this case I don't think that they are going to blow very far...
It's hard to see in this picture, but you can just see the beginning of the giant mound of leaves that's spread out in the street along the entire front of our yard.

2008-11-07T10:36:00.004-05:00

Again another month has gone by and Oliver is 16 weeks old (tomorrow). We took the red rocking chair picture last night. There are a number of cute ones! He is finally willing to smile with a camera around. Its been a battle to hide the camera from him and catch him smiling. He is a fairly quite baby, but when he gets started he'll laugh and talk and laugh some more. Brad and Oliver spend time on the floor playing together every night. It makes me smile and sometimes laugh to just hear them in the other room!

2008-09-30T20:46:00.004-04:00

Well, little Oliver has been growing a lot lately and is busy looking around exploring this big new world. Kimberly found this little rocking chair at a garage sale and we've decided that it would be a fun chair to watch him grow into, so here's the first of the series...
He's also been busy practicing his smile as well, but we are still waiting for his first laugh, although he has lots to say sometimes...

A long awaited video...

2008-08-07T20:27:00.006-04:00

This has been quite the day for posts... I thought that maybe I should put off posting this video, but I don't think that would go over well. So now with out further ado,

Introducing Oliver Bradley Nydam

Oliver update day

2008-08-07T14:30:00.002-04:00

So today I'm trying to bring you all up to speed on this rapidly changing and growing baby Oliver. I know I should be taking a nap, but I've heard from family and friends that I haven't posted often enough.

July 29th, Oliver was 10 days old when we moved him from our bed to Brad's baby cradle a foot from the side of our bed. We all have slept much better since then. Not to say that I've had any big chunk of sleep since his birth. Though last night Oliver gave me 2 3 hour segments of sleep. The longest yet! It felt great to sleep so long. Though I woke up wondering what was up. The nursing group I've gone to says 6 weeks old or 10 lbs before they'll sleep through the night. Hopefully this is the beginning of what friends say "It'll get better." I know he is not yet 3 weeks old, but I was beginning to dread bedtime, wondering how long each night would be! Two nights ago I was walking into door frames, as I couldn't see straight. Somehow God created Moms to cope because I am still somehow sane during the day. But as Oliver is now 10lbs, I guess the long nights of feeding is paying off. This little boy can eat!

Meeting the cousins

2008-08-07T14:07:00.004-04:00

Monday the 4th of August my sister's two oldest kids, Hudson 14 and Nadia 10 got to meet their cousin Oliver. My dad, Grandpa Lamborn, is holding Oliver his 6th grandchild. Poor Nadia is still the only Lamborn grand daughter!

2008-08-07T13:16:00.007-04:00

This picture of Brad and Oliver is from Thursday night, July 31st. Oliver sits nicely in Papa's forearm...probably not for long so we thought we better get a picture of the two of them. Notice rolls of chub are setting into his little wrists. I'll try to post a picture of his double chin and the chub that is gathering on our little sweet pea!

Thursday, July 31st Oliver, Mama and Ellington went on their first walk together since his birth. Ellington was so excited. It took a could of pictures on the timer to get Ellington to sit for a picture. We walked four blocks down to the park and back with a few stops to meet neighbors! We haven't tried a stroller yet! Nor have we made it out for a walk this week. Mama hasn't had enough sleep to get up before the heat sets in.

Brad has been doing the posting since Oliver's birth, but as the last post was the 22nd we haven't seem to have much extra time. There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day, nor could I handle longer days...or nights. With that said, we think Oliver is a wonderful baby, pretty easy as baby go. But with little sleep at night 2 hours max at a time, napping with him during the day, FEEDING the little guy continually...soon to big huge guy and keeping up with life (as much as possible)....okay so there isn't much time for keeping up anything. Just getting us dressed and feed each day is a challenge and seems to take half the day. Somehow I am alert and loving being a mama. Brad is a wonderful father and husband. Each morning I get breakfast in bed. Brad says its a small trade off to get to sleep through the night, while I'm up feeding him. The picture of Oliver is from Saturday Aug 2nd, two weeks old and already 10 lbs!!!!

2008-07-22T14:28:00.000-04:00

Let's just say that quiet mornings make up for noisy nights...

2008-07-21T12:09:00.006-04:00

All right everybody, after a semi restful night of sleep, here are some more pictures of the newest Nydam...

The Great Grandparents were overjoyed to be able to meet their new great grandchild...

As was the new Grandmother
And no one is more upset when the baby cries than his new bodyguard,It was a good day. Thanks to everyone who stopped by, or sent us their prayers. It was appreciated greatly. Hopefully later today I'll have a video clip up so you can be introduced properly....

2008-07-20T20:56:00.003-04:00

Great News!!! At 10:26 on Saturday July 19, we became the proud parents of Oliver Bradley Nydam! Weighed in at 7 lbs, 14 oz, 20 inches long. Both Oliver and Kimberly are doing great, although very tired. Oliver is a delight to have, quiet and contented... He spent most of today being passed around family, sleeping and eating. We will have pictures up as soon as possible, but for now we're off to bed... Good night.

2008-07-16T17:03:00.003-04:00

Okay, I'm ready! Last night Brad and I went out to Toys R Us and bought a "birthing tub". We learned Monday that our midwife's tub sprang a leak and we were on our own to come up with a tub if we (Kimberly) want to try a water birth. So after investigating on line and talking with others that have done a water birth we went for the pool sale at the toy store...and Kimberly promptly lost Brad to all the other toys.

Grand Rapids hit 90 degrees today...I think I can wait a day or so to have this little one. Yuck! I hate the heat. Thankfully I jumped from AC to AC to a friend's pool today. I think we're suppose to have a storm tonight and that will hopefully cool things down.

So two more days till the due date! I have had mixed feelings. Like any pregnant woman I'm ready, oh so ready to meet this little one and get him/her out of me. But I would rather have a fully baked baby than an under baked one. I was ready to have this baby over the holiday weekend, but he/she wasn't ready. From what I hear from experienced moms is that those babies that came early tend to want to sleep more and eat less till their real due date. So then moms worry more about the babies and it would have been better to tough out those last days or weeks of the pregnancy. I found great comfort in those words of sticking it out!

Now the question is when will this little one show up!
We're all waiting for that answer! We'll keep you posted.

2008-07-05T11:29:00.005-04:00

I responded to a Craigslist ad for a pregnant model. Two weeks ago we spent the evening having a great time doing a photo shoot. Here are my three favorites. I'm 36 weeks in these pictures.

It was a really hot 85 degrees in the studio, but that didn't stop us! I'm now 38 weeks and still hoping that baby doesn't wait too much longer to appear on the scene! What a cool blessing to carry a child within myself and feel it grow. God is so gracious to allow us the chance to co-create, allowing us to be an active part of creation! What a blessing! I can't wait to meet our little miracle! We've waited a long time for this little one!!!! I'm glad we captured this time of life in such a beautiful way!

2008-06-18T20:45:00.003-04:00

So we decided to have a date night while we still could. It was beautiful cool evening, a nice break from the hot muggy weather we've been having lately so we went to Frederick Meijer Sculpture Garden and enjoyed the Monet Gardens. (and took some more pictures)

2008-06-15T21:21:00.010-04:00

So its mid June and I'm finally updating our blog. I hope to bring you up to speed with the missed pictures of my growing belly over the last 2 1/2 months. The nursery is pretty much ready, the house project list is much shorter. Next time I'll try to add nursery pictures.

April 12th- -26 weeks @ my first shower hosted by my Sunday School class with the two other women in the class that were pregnant. Both have given birth to beautiful girls.

April 19th- -27 weeks at Collins Park in East Grand Rapids with Brad's VanAntwerpen Grandparents and Ellington!

April 26th- - 28 weeks at a friend's wedding (Suzie Burden). Doesn't Brad look great! I don't usually get to see him dressed up in a suit and tie!

April 27th- - still 28 weeks but an artistic picture taken by Brad at home.

May 10th- - 30 weeks in Holland for the Tulip Time Parade with the VanAntwerpen gang. Honestly I look like a big white ball...I had no idea how big I looked prior to looking at this picture!

May 22nd Ellington posed for a photo session in the evening sun for me!

June 9th- - 34 1/2 weeks in our back garden. The baby dropped two days prior. I can breath and the baby has room to swim again. The feet have been poking out!

Baby Stuff

2008-03-30T15:42:00.006-04:00

So going to Babies R Us is overwhelming and exhausting. I registered there earlier in March. I found the store limiting and frustrating. Though unlike my friend Beth, who blogged about a number of diaper bags, I do not have that sort of time, energy, or mental fortitude to do that level of research on baby items. And Beth did it half as a joke. (I think she's part wonder woman.)

I've found "window shopping" on-line to be not so overwhelming as a box store, when it came to items like bedding and cribs. I did find crib bedding at Bed, Bath & Beyond cheaper than at Babies R Us. And so I registered there for a few items along with bedding, as well as at One Step Ahead. I'm still working on diapers...wow! There are so many options these days. Stay tuned for anyone wanting to buy us diapers, I'm studying up. So far either all-in-one or delivery-service level pre-folds with a wrap. I found Maine Cloth Diaper helpful and may register there.

Something that Brad and I are interested in is non-plastic, non-battery toys. Sure we'll have some plastic & batteries but we'd like our child to have more natural made toys that help stimulate imagination. Some helpful web-sites if you'd like to buy Jr. a toy is The Wooden Wagon, Nova Natural toys & crafts, Oompa Toys, Maukilo.

My very first blog entry

2008-03-29T09:10:00.001-04:00

Well, I've broken down and started a blog, mainly for the baby and keeping people posted...which we don't seem to be very good at doing! I don't have high expectations for this blog...I have a hard enough time keeping up with email.

A month ago Brad and I visited our good friends Josh and Megan Feenstra Wall in Northern England and spent half the time touring with them through Scotland. I'll be posting pictures of the trip as we haven't shown those pictures to anyone yet...or at least a few of them. Brad took a ton!!!!

This week has been a struggle to get through, especially at work. This week I've had 3 minor migraines during work hours. Trying to find a cause to the migraines Brad and I have noticed how hectic life has been lately. Shear stress and exhaustion could be the cause. A day before we left for the UK, my sister's family moved from CA to MI to look for jobs and be closer to family. Over the next 6 weeks the promises of jobs never came through. The week before Easter an offer came through for a job in Dayton. So the family helped pack up the gang, in a snow storm, no less. And after 4 hours of sleep the caravan hit the icy roads of MI Saturday morning. After 7.5 hours, a few ulcers we arrived in Dayton 1.5 hours late to sign rental papers, but the office woman waited for us! (the trip should take just over 5 hrs) We were together for Easter for the first time in many many years, though sad to be moving them 5 hrs away. Thankfully 5 hrs by car and not 5 hrs by plane. We'll miss having them in Grand Rapids, but again thankful that we'll see them more often now!

Returning to MI, Brad and I found ourselves in a busy week and late nights all week. I found a leather sectional on Craigs list and at 10pm at night Tuesday Brad and I found our first couch in 3.5 yrs of marriage that fit our budget and we both enjoyed sitting on. Thursday night the guy wanted us to pick it up at like 10pm! We borrowed my parents' mini van and loaded up the sectional in one trip. Unfortunately, when we arrived home, we (okay, I supervised Brad and my cousin Nathan) struggled to get the sections through the front or back door. Brad has yet to figure out a plan to get the last/main piece into the house!

Baby-- So this week I saw my chiropractor, who during chiropractic school practiced massage therapy, along with his wife. His wife was pregnant and he felt she worked too hard for too long during the pregnancy and caused long term physical issues. I was advised to seriously cut back on my work load. I knew this day would come and its harder than I thought. I love my job, a lot! And I think mainly because I really like my clients, they make my job that much more enjoyable.
I am currently 6 months/24 weeks pregnant, feeling great, minus this week. This week, like I said I had 3 minor migraines and have been exhausted...and baby brained! So we'll see how cutting my schedule back will effect how I'm feeling. I have a number of things to care for concerning the baby. Of which are finding diapers, toys, supplies, etc.
Praise the Lord, we're being given a crib, car seat and plenty of boy clothes (my sister has 4 boys and only 1 girl). For Nadia's sake we hope its a girl!
I'm hoping to use this site to list items that aren't found at Babies R Us or Bed, Bath & Beyond; like cloth diapers that would make wonderfully useful gifts. And most importantly, make baby development announcements! I've been asked to send out belly pictures. So I hope to do a series on the belly. This picture posted is at 22 weeks/5.5.months.