Kyler -- Week 9 (1/14/12-1/20/12)

Kyler was so thankful to have his daddy come to Jenison to see him. He had missed him terribly. We had the visitation for Grandpa Van Dyke on the January 15, which Kyler attended. He was able to bring a little happiness to those who saw him and might have helped remind people how much Great Grandpa had loved his family. After Sunday's visitation, Great Grandma went to see him before we left, and he gave her one of the biggest smiles! He doesn't usually smile late at night (10pm) but I think that he knew Great Grandma Van Dyke could use something positive. The funeral was really wonderful, but it was certainly no place for a baby. Kyler was babysat for the first time by my sister-in-law Lori's mom Deb and had a great time with his cousin KayLynn.

One thing that was nice this week was that we had lots of visitors come and meet him. He met Becca, Chelsea, and Lindsay from my old youth group. We also got to catch up a little bit with Julie and Levi. Kyler got to go out with the grandparents and Mommy to do a little shopping and eat out for the first time at Taco Bell. We bought him a new 6-month outfit because we started to notice he was just getting too big for the clothes we had packed! When Ryan came later that weekend he had to bring all new clothes for the growing boy! We did not take any pictures this week, but we do have a lot of videos.

Kyler -- Week 8 (1/7/12-1/13/12)

So we are continuing to catch up on Kyler's pictures and how he has been doing. Week 8 was a very busy and heartbreaking week for us all, as we lost our beloved Grandpa Van Dyke. We got a call early in the morning on Tuesday January 10 that things were not looking good. After much deliberation, Melissa and Kyler traveled to Michigan to hopefully see him one last time. We unfortunately were an hour too late to say goodbye, but we were able to be with family. While the family was putting together the funeral arrangements, we also celebrated Grandma Van Dyke's birthday with the whole family. Even Ryan made it at the end.

Early in the week the weather was really warm, so we took advantage of that with a walk in the park.  Ryan was pretty bummed he had to work, but Duncan just loves to get his inner "Stroller dog" on. 

He loves his Aunt Lynsey's old comforter! Look how long he is!

Hanging out with Grandma after her long day of funeral planning

Two of my favorite guys!

Laughing at Grandma Wiersum. Ryan still has not gotten to hear the giggle!

Wishing Great Grandma Van Dyke a special Birthday!

Finally--smiles caught on video!

I know we haven't given you posts for weeks 8, 9, or 10 yet, but this was to cute not to post immediately. Kyler turned 11 weeks old yesterday, and we celebrated with a visit from Grammy, Papa, and Aunt Nicole. While Papa was interacting with Kyler last night, Kyler was smiling fairly often, so I decided to get out the video camera to try and record the overwhelming cuteness. He's been smiling periodically for quite a while now, but they've been unpredictable and difficult to catch on camera. But if you watch the video below, you'll see that this attempt was a success!

Hanging On or Letting Go

So I am going to take a break on the Kyler updates for just a moment. The next week will talk about the week that my Grandpa Van Dyke passed away, and I wanted to tell a great story and a few things that were on my mind. Grandpa had been sick for a while, but he always asked about us and loved his family very much. He had a big family of five kids (plus in-laws), 15 grandchildren, and 15 great grandchildren. Ryan and I are the only ones who do not live in town, but every time we are in west Michigan, we try to make sure we stop by to see him. Lately with the pregnancy, we had not been out to west Michigan to see family there since the middle of September--almost 3 months--but Grandpa asked about us every time he saw my parents.

When we were packing up to visit after Christmas (December 29-January 2), I called my mom the night before to ask her about extra sheets for the crib. My mom told me that we were going to go straight to the nursing home after she got out of work because Grandpa had been asking every day when we were going to be there so he could meet his great grandson Kyler. He had been talking about him for the last week to anyone who would listen, including the nursing staff. Everyone knew he wanted to meet his great grandson. He had been getting really frail and losing a lot of weight, so my mom told me that she believed he was holding on just to meet our son. I was--and am currently--tearing up at the thought of it. How loved Kyler and us were--that Grandpa was using his strength to see us when he could have used it for so many other things.

Going to bed that night I prayed so hard that nothing would happen to him overnight and that we would be there in time for him to meet Kyler. When we got to west Michigan and went to visit him, there were a lot of family already there because they too had heard now much meeting Kyler was on Grandpa's mind. He was having a hard time staying awake, but eventually he did wake up enough to have him in his lap and see his great grandson! We have several precious pictures of that meeting and will cherish it always. He gave us such a special gift in letting us know before he passed away how important our son was to him--how important we all were to him.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Van Dyke holding Kyler

In life, there are things that are important to hold onto. To my Grandpa Van Dyke, family and God were what he held onto. He held onto life to see his newest family member before letting go to be with his heavenly father just 10 days later. He always held onto his faith, listening to the Bible on CDs long after he could no longer read the actual book. He held onto his family, always giving us a hug if he had the strength or holding us with his gaze to let us know he wanted to see and hear us. He held onto us, his family, as a priority when his grip was getting weaker and few other things could be held onto.

We often try to hold onto things that are not nearly as important as family and faith. We hold onto grudges, anger, unreal expectations, and hate. We hold onto possessions and worldly things that will not matter in the end. God created us with only two hands and only so much strength. When we hold onto some things, that means we have to let go of others. We only have so much strength. Grandpa holding on to meet Kyler makes me think about the things in my life that I might not be holding as closely as I should because I am trying to hold onto too much of this world. I can only hope that one day, Kyler will know that his mom held onto two things like his Great Grandpa did--faith and family.

Kyler -- Week 7 (12/31/11-1/6/12)

Kyler got to spend the end of 2011 in Jenison, seeing lots of great friends. The Steens stopped by in the morning, and the Kladders stopped by in the afternoon. We went to visit Great Grandpa and Grandma Van Dyke that evening, and Kyler and Great Grandpa napped with Great Grandpa's John Deere blanket (I wish we had brought the camera). After that outing, we went to see our friends the Moes and their new house. When we finally got back home, Ryan had actually been battling a cold so he went to bed around 10pm, and it was just Kyler, Melissa, and Grandpa and Grandma Wiersum left awake to ring in the New Year. Kyler usually goes to bed earlier than midnight, but he seemed to want to stay awake for the special occasion. After Mom had to go in and out of the nursery all evening, Kyler and Mom rang in the New Year rocking a tired boy to sleep. It was actually a really great way to ring in 2012!

New Year's Day brought the extended Wiersum family over for Christmas, and Kyler got to meet the Wolters, Bolmans, and Sobels. He was all dressed up in his little sweater vest and khaki outfit he had gotten from his Aunt Lynsey. After a nice relaxing Monday watching football, we headed back the "Bourb" and took down all of the Christmas decorations before Ryan had to get ready for another semester at ONU.

Our visit with the Steens. Ben and Kyler will, I am afraid, be forced into lives of gaming due to their father's game obsessions. Yes, guys, they are still too young to play Race for the Galaxy!

Hanging out with mommy at the end of 2011

Playing with his favorite toy--the elephant on the "jungle gym"

Hanging with Grandpa on New Year's Eve

All ready for the party! Thanks for the outfit, Aunt Lynsey!

The Bebej family at the start of 2012!

The Wiersum side of the family (minus Tim, Kim, Eli and Norah)

Kyler -- Week 6 (12/24/11-12/30/11)

I'm continuing to catch up on Kyler and pictures! His sixth week was a really busy week. We celebrated Christmas together as a family of four (including Duncan) in Bourbonnais and enjoyed just laying low and watching Christmas movies. Kyler had his first long road trip out to Princeton on the 26th to visit the Bebej side of the family, and then he made an even longer trip to Jenison to visit the Wiersum side of the family, where we stayed until January 2nd. Kyler also got to visit with Great Grandma Linda and Great Grandpa Tony, who came to visit us in Bourbonnais between those trips. Here are some more photos and a video.

Christmas Eve at home with one of his stuffed super heroes from Daddy.

Christmas Day hanging out with Daddy.

Taking a Christmas nap with Mommy.

Meeting Great Grandpa and Grandma Hodge on the 26th, which was also their 60th wedding anniversary!

Seeing Great Grandpa Tony again.

Meeting Great Grandpa and Grandma Van Dyke. Great Grandpa had been asking everyone every single day when he was going to get to meet this little boy!

Great Grandpa Van Dyke holding Kyler.

Meeting Aunt Lori and cousin KayLynn.

Exhausted after the Wiersum Christmas party and hanging with his favorite toy, the "passiraffe."

Kyler -- Week 5 (12/17/11-12/23/11)

So it has been a long time since we have updated our blog--over a month actually! There has been a lot going on in our lives with the holidays, a newborn, and other things, so now I am finally trying to get a little more organized in the New Year by posting pictures and videos of each week since Kyler was born. Right now, Kyler is actually already over 10 weeks old, but I wanted to share some highlights of the past five weeks as well. During that week, Ryan was finally able to finish up his first semester at Olivet, enabling him to spend a little more time with his little boy. Here are a few photos and a video.

Ryan and his boys, Kyler and Duncan, watching some sports

Duncan loves his brother and seems to follow him everywhere. Just wait until Kyler can give him food!

Mom has her hands full with both boys!

All bundled up to go outside for a walk. The weather was freakishly warm for December!

Mommy holding her little blue baby bear :)

A video update

It's hard to believe that Kyler is already one month old! But then when I look at the videos we've taken of him since he was born, I can definitely see how much he's changed. In an effort to get a little caught up on the blog, below you can see videos of Kyler taken each week since he was born. Enjoy!

More pictures

So things have been busy with a newborn. Right now I am typing this up with him in his bouncy seat right next to me. I am also totally expecting to stop and start this blog post a million times before it actually gets done. Right now mister Kyler is staring at the computer, probably because of the noise my typing makes. He has been such a joy, even with the lack of sleep, but what you all really want is more pictures right? So here are a few.

Kyler with Grandpa Wiersum

Snuggling with Aunt Sarah

Sleeping in his pack n' play

My cute Daddy's All Star outfit, which he has since grown out of. 

Snuggling with Auntie Lynsey

I am going to try and post some newer pictures soon. These pictures are all of the first week that he came home, so November 20-27th, but we need to download the rest of the pictures we have been taking. There is even the possibility of some video in the horizon.

We're so thankful

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! This year, Melissa and I have many things to be thankful for--most notably, the birth of our son Kyler William (aka Peanut)!

The labor was a long one. Melissa needed to be induced early in the morning on November 17, and we were expecting to see him later that day. But he ended up waiting until the wee hours of the morning on November 18 to make his arrival. He was already a big boy, weighing in at 9 lbs and 23 inches in length, but Melissa did very well during the delivery and got him out in less than an hour once she started pushing. We spent the next couple of days in the hospital, and we were able to come home on November 20.

We're so thankful for all of the visitor's we've had--both friends and family--and we're grateful for all of the meals brought over by my colleagues at Olivet. We've already had a few long nights (though a couple of easy ones too!), many dirty diapers, urination mishaps, and some challenges while nursing, but we could not be happier to have such a healthy and adorable little boy.