Bright's First Christmas

The last few days have been a whirlwind of celebration with many family parties. Bright was a trooper. He missed feedings, naps, and bedtime by hours, but none of it seemed to phase him too much. Christmas will never be the same. We had a GREAT holiday, and we loved seeing lots of family and friends.

Bright and I are at home today, and I'm trying to reinstate some normalcy. He keeps looking around and then at me disappointingly as if to say, "You're it? Where is everyone?" I'm sure all the parents out there can relate. Hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday.

Merry Christmas from the Walcotts!

Winter Weather Whamy

We were back out on the snowmobiles this past weekend. For me, it had been quite a long time as last winter I was pregnant with Bright. As you know, there's a lot of snow here in Michigan. So much snow that even the snowmobiles got stuck. You know that doesn't happen often.

Our drive home from Up North on Sunday was rough and took nearly twice the time, but it was actually the worst in Holland. We made it home only to find our driveway drifted over. Jon did some digging and we busted through only to get stuck in a huge drift a few feet from the garage door. Oh well, at least we made it that far.

Jon spent the next two hours plowing the driveway in blizzard conditions, and he's still kinda smiling. His beard is iced over here and his clothes are literally frozen. Our tractor is really getting a workout too, as we've already had to replace two broken parts.

We did get together with the Raterinks despite the weather to celebrate my mom's birthday (Happy Birthday Mom!). Not much to do in this weather unless you really have a reason to get out, so we've resorted to opening presents early. Anybody else?

First Mischief

He's Huge!

Our son is huge. We have learned that over and over again this week. We started out at the doctor's office for his six month appointment even though he's already quite close to seven months. Brighton is again in the 90th percentile; he's a very big boy: 20 pounds & 9 ounces, 28 inches long, and a 45.7 head cirumference. We've also been out and about quite a bit this week running into other babies and toddlers. These interactions have confirmed countless times that Bright is a tank.

We've had a couple of firsts this past week too. We went to Russ' with Brighton for dinner Saturday night - just the three of us. He sat in a high chair and ate his food there while Jon and I had a four course meal for $23. You know you're parents when you rediscover how great Russ' is. The food and service were both wonderful, and more importantly we really felt like we were living it up.

Lastly, we made a Christmas ornament of Bright's hand print - not as easy as I expected, but it's finished and now hanging on the tree.

Holiday Tunes

We love Christmas music over here at the Walcott House. Bright is even learning to get excited when he hears music, so we spend even more time then ever listening to holiday tunes. We love the classic carols, but we have also come to love some other songs too. Here are just a few great holiday songs that you might not be aware of. Take a look and a listen if you wish.

Labor of Love by Andrew Peterson

Christmas at Denny's by Randy Stonehill

Sing Mary, Sing by Jennifer Knapp

Love Came Down at Christmas by Jars of Clay

You Gotta Get Up by Rich Mullins

Christmas in My Heart by By The Tree
(My absolute favorite! Click on the song title to listen.)


What holiday songs have you come to love at your house?

Merry & Bright

Several of our family members gathered last night for pizza and a great holiday concert. It's events like this that really make us feel that the holidays are upon us. I usually can summarize my mood as "Merry & Bright." Visiting with family was great, and the concert was awesome. To top it off, I just have to glance at my son and I'm feeling "Merry and Bright" for sure. Now, if I'm completely honest, and think about others beside myself and my family, I must acknowledge that this year things feel different . The holidays seem to be bringing with them this year an extra dose of tough times for lots of people.

This past week the staff at my school canceled our holiday party, and we will instead donate the funds to the Holland City Mission because we have more than a couple students living there. Although it shouldn't be this way, buying gifts through programs like Angel Tree feel really different when you think your gift might be going to a student you know.

If you watched the news last night, you probably heard about the murder-suicide in Holland, right next to my school. The teenager connected to that crime, fighting for her life at DeVos Children's Hospital, was in my class all year last year. These are the kind of stories that always feel really far away, but this one hits close to home.

This year you don't have to look too far to find someone that isn't feeling "Merry & Bright." We all know someone. I could easily write a long list here, and you probably could too.

Say a prayer. Buy a gift. Send a card. Donate money. Sing carols. Shovel snow. Do something for someone. Please.

Everyone deserves a chance to feel "Merry & Bright" this holiday season. You never know, you just might be their way there.

6 Months Pictures

Brighton's 6 month pictures are up for viewing HERE at Walcott Imaging. Click on 6 month slide show if you're interested in taking a peek.

Our Trees

There has been lots of talk lately about a fake versus a real Christmas tree. I must weigh in because we are undoubtedly weird when it comes to this subject. Jon and I have never had a real living tree, but we have a real dead tree. We cover this in just about all of the ornaments we own - the ones we receive as gifts, the ones we buy on vacation, our picture ornaments, and even the ugly ones we made as young children. It's a blast to look at these each year. As promised, here is our "dead" tree:

I fully realize that you probably think our "dead" tree is crazy, but we have come to really love it. Below is our Christmas tree addition this year, and it probably has more mass appeal. We picked up a pre-lit fake tree at VanWieren Hardware last year after the holidays. We were super exited to put it up, and realized that we really underestimated the value of twinkling lights. Even though we don't have a real tree, we feel like we do now because at least it looks like it is living.

Happy Holidays! Now, if we could only get the lights up outside...

Walcott on Wheels

The UPS man delivered this walker for Brighton this afternoon. It has only been here a few hours, and he is already flying across the kitchen floor. Thankfully the UPS man delivered our gate too.

Santa visits Silver Lake

We spent the remainder of the our holiday break up north, and so did Santa.

Brighton met Santa for the first time. Both Santa and Brighton were quite intrigued.

We took all of this in with Grandpa & Grandma Raterink and Dan & Jordan. After Santa, we of course had to check out the Polar Express too.

The season has arrived. Happy Holidays!
Hope you're having a great weekend too.

We're So Thankful

I can't adequately put my overwhelming gratitude into words, so I won't even try.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Bald is Beautiful

Time to Buy a Gate

Brighton is Six Months!

Brighton Bouncing

Ouch! That's Ugly

Jon is smiling even though he has a huge scratch on his face.

It wasn't a self-inflicted accident. If you know Jon you know that happens a lot.

It was Brighton! An ugly scratch on Jon's face via Brighton's fingernail.

The picture doesn't really do it justice, it's ugly. Brighton was so excited he grabbed Jon with all of his might. Jon's being a good sport. I think he is secretly enjoying his wound and potential scar. I think we need to stop and buy some Mederma.

A Fifth Month First

Brighton's First Swing Ride

He loved it. Thanks for the swing Dokters! We expect him to enjoy many more rides. Too bad the days of warm enough weather are probably over.

Hope you're having a great weekend.

Halloween Edition

Happy Halloween!

I did something this year that I've never done before. I sent out a few Halloween Cards. It was easy and inexpensive, so it's my fabulous find for the week. (I only sent out a few, so don't feel bad if you didn't get one.)

I realized a few years ago that thanks to digital photography, Christmas cards are tons easier than they used to be. It came to my attention this fall that you can do digital photo cards for just about any holiday or for no reason at all. You can get photo cards at a variety of places. Sam's Club, Snapfish, and Kodak Gallery are just a few. I've received photo post cards and note cards from some of you - super cute. I know some of you that design and print your own - impressive. You can even make postage stamps with pictures on them now. I love receiving photo correspondence in the mail, don't you?

Saturday School

To all of our loyal readers, this is Jon. I have something post-worthy to share with you.

Lindsay gave me a gift certificate for my birthday to attend the brew school at Saugatuck Brewing Company (Saugatuck, Michigan). I drove to the brewery and pub before they opened on Saturday and met the brewers that make the delicious beer there. Barry is the president and head brewer, I asked about his background and after 20 years as a traveling salesmen, (tasting the local beer in more than 50 countries) he enrolled in a brewing college in Germany to learn the craft. He shared with me a wealth of knowledge and a whole lot of in depth science behind the brewing process.

First things first, I had to sample a variety of Saugatuck Brewing's beers and appraise them. I had in mind to make a classic American Pale Ale, so Barry made me a custom reciepe based on all of my input. I weighed four different grains(23.5 lbs) and ground them up. Then I steeped the grains in my assigned brew kettle. We weighed out three varieties of hops for bittering, flavor, and aroma. With the reciepe and a timer everything is added at the proper time. When the wort (unfermented beer) is cooled and settled, we transfered it to a fermenting vessel and before adding the yeast I measured the original gravity and sampled the brew. It tasted like sweet tea with hops. Right now my batch of brew is sitting in the kitchen of Saugatuck Brewing. In one week they will transfer it to a conditioning keg and after two weeks I go back to bottle it. I can make custom labels for the bottles, but I am struggling with what to name it, any ideas?

Over and Over and Over Again

It's been almost two weeks of trying, and tonight we had a major victory. I was just about ready to give up. We've been introducing Brighton to veggies. We started with green beans and this week we've been doing peas. We've been at it for two weeks, and Brighton was not really interested. He almost seemed to plead with us to just move on to the rice cereal night after night. Then this week he learned how to shut his lips tightly to prevent us from getting in. He's really turning into the stinker we called him long before he was even here.
Tonight he ate a whole jar of peas! Two and a half ounces of peas. I am still in shock about it. I'm not sure yet if it was a break through or a fluke. We'll see. When he wasn't eating his veggies he would over and over and over again eat his feet with socks on. It makes for some great laughs and even bigger messes. Until tonight I would have told you he likes eating his socks better than eating vegetables.

Brighton is also rolling over and over and over again. He hasn't figured out how to get back yet, but he is pretty much obsessed with rolling over onto his stomach. He doesn't like being left there for too long, but the second we flip him back, he rolls over again.

What are you doing over and over and over again?

Brighton - person, place & thing

Even with a whole extra day added to our weekend, Monday came too quickly. We had a GREAT time in Troy. We did a lot of the things we would typically do on our weekend trips to Chicago, but the whole weekend was much less expensive and much easier with Brighton. We are already making plans to go back.

We only took a few pictures...

Brighton has the eating out thing down.

In case you can't read the glass, this is us in front of Brighton Collectibles. We passed Brighton, Michigan on our drive too. I just realized the name Brighton is the name of a person, place and thing. Anyway, we didn't tell the folks at Brighton that our son was named Brighton. The store is pretty fabulous, but I didn't want them to think we were obsessed super fans. This picture will probably require some explaining over the years. We didn't name our son after this store (or the city for that matter). It's simply an interesting coincidence and picture opportunity.

If you feel that Brighton Collectibles is a Fabulous Find, I can definitely support you in that. However, Brighton, the name of our son, wins the Brighton noun contest, wouldn't you agree?

Hope you have a great week!

Birthdays & Beans

I had a birthday on Sunday. So I'm 30, and my life has REALLY changed. All of you parents out there know exactly what I'm talking about, but I'm still adjusting to my new normal. Brighton's only just about five months old.

Here's the proof: the highlight of my 30th birthday was green beans. Yup, here is my 30th birthday picture. Yes, that's my hand holding the spoon. And yes, those are green beans.

Don't you dare feel sorry for me! Look at that face.

I loved every minute. It was the best birthday I've ever had.

Walcott Women Welcome Erin

The Walcott Women can officially invite Scott's girlfriend into our club. That's right...Uncle Scott asked Erin to marry him, and she said yes. Yippeee!

We are so happy for them both, and we're already looking forward to the Walcott Wedding this spring or summer.

Congratulations Scott & Erin!!!

90th Percentile

Brighton had a doctor's appointment today. He decided he didn't like the doctor before he even had shots. I'm glad he doesn't cry like that daily.

Brighton weighs 18 pounds and is 26.5 inches tall. This puts him in the 90th percentile for height, weight, and head circumference. He's a big boy. We knew that going in, I was waiting for the doctor to say, "He's off the charts."

The doctor told us because Jon and I are both tall that Brighton would always be 75% and up. It makes sense I guess.

He's already in bed for the night, so I'm hoping he sleeps well and handles the shots.

Hope you're having a nice week.

Fall Festivities & Family Firsts

A bunch of the Raterinks did something they never had done before this weekend. We picked our own pumkins from the pumkin patch. What an experience! It wasn't just a first for Brighton, but for all of us too.

We enjoyed a lot of the typical fun fall festivities this weekend at a place up north. I've told you about Lewis' before, but this year it's even bigger and better. What a place! They even have a camel now. What next? We had a GREAT time. If you're ever up in that neck of the woods, we strongly suggest you check it out.

The Return of Kim Sue

My dear friend Kim came home for the weekend. I hadn't seen her since her wedding which was just two weeks after Brighton was born. Time has really flown by. We've both been adjusting to our "New Normal" the last four months. She's now married to Aaron, teaching at Penn State, and living in State College. I miss her big time.

We had a great time catching up Friday night. We went to Carraba's in Grandville with Jo and Angela, our Calvin College roomies. What a blast! We all have a GREAT time together.

Combover

Brighton is developing some bald spots. He has the normal one on the back of his head, but he also has one on the right side of his head. We're not sure why. We're not worried, but because he has so much hair, it is noticeable.

While I was gone getting groceries, Jon was watching Brighton. This is what I came home to.

Jon decided to get out a comb. Brighton's hair was combed for the first time that night. Jon decided he needed a part and a combover. The funniest part is that it actually works! The long hair on the top of his head really covers up the bald spot on the side of his head. Jon was quite impressed with his efforts.

Four Month Firsts

Brighton is four months old!

He's tons of fun, and we've had lots of "firsts" for him lately; it has been a blast.

First ride in the Kelty Kid Carrier

First Rice Cereal

First Laughs

First Activity Center

Tough Decision

Brighton LOVES his baths, but he is now dealing with a decision that is REALLY FUN for us to watch.

He can't decide which is more fun:

1.) Kicking his legs and splashing himself

or

2.) The new addition: eating his feet

What a life, huh?

The New Normal

The combination our new little guy, Brighton, and going back to school has brought about the new normal that we are in the process of adjusting to. And I thought we were busy before.
I have to say...so far so good. I have little to no free time, but I do feel somewhat in control. Here's what our school days look like:

5:40 am - Lindsay wakes up.
6:00 am - Jon wakes up.
6:45 am - Brighton wakes up.
7:00 am - Brighton eats.
7:15 am - We leave for daycare or she arrives at our house.
3:00ish pm - Lindsay arrives home from school or picks up Brighton.
3:30 pm - Brighton eats.
4:00 pm - Play with Brighton, return phone calls, answer emails, do housework, plan dinner, etc.
5:30 pm - Jon gets home.
5:45 pm - Walk/Run (all three of us)
6:45 pm - Dinner
7:15 pm - Brighton's Bath
7:30ish pm - Brighton eats.
8:00 pm - Brighton goes to bed. We hopefully have one hour before Lindsay goes to bed to prepare for the next day. If we're lucky we might be able to watch a little TV.
9:00 pm - Lindsay showers.
9:30 pm - Lindsay goes to bed.

If we've neglected you dear friends and family, we're so sorry. Maybe now you can see what we've been up to. I'm sure it will be much easier in the near future, but it's taking a lot of effort to maintain at this point.

The weekends are priceless, but they must come to an end. Here comes another week, and this one will be five days - yikes.

Brighton & the Bear

Brighton is just about 16 weeks old already.

I'm back to school/work. We're all in the process of adjusting to our new normal - so far so good. Although it doesn't inlcude much time for blogging. TGIF tomorrow. I'll try to be back this weekend.

The Family Celebration

Here are the rest of the pictures of our family with Brighton from Sunday: