Art's Art
( this is for my family who is not here to see all his art)
He loves standing in front of his board and drawing. It all began with these face a couple of weeks ago and he likes to draw trains , robots, his version of spiderman, and the sun.)
his version of a diesel engine out of the thomas the tankengine movie even with the pincher in the front.
His version of his favorite bumblebee robot(transformers)
Our new life:
It has been forever but I am settling back in the recliner and having some time to do some blogging. We are slowly but surely settling in. It has been hard with winter getting out. Life is very much different here than from Iowa. Very much suburbia. Not worse just very different and something I am getting used to. A lot to do especially with the little guy and also a lot of shows and lots of restaurants to try out. Arthur had a really hard time settling in and I had no idea it would be such a hard transition for him ( yet we didn't have a choice it was one of those things that we just had to do.) I am struggling because we haven't found a church family yet. In Clear Lake it made the difference for me from being new to being accepted and settling in , making friends. To be honest it took us about 4 months to find a church in Clear Lake too. The only problem is this city is so big it is a sea of possibilities for schools, doctors, churches etc.
Arthur is doing much better now and has been sleeping and taking naps in his own big boy bed for the past month which has made all the difference. It finally is home for him. Before he would just ask to go home yet we were sitting in our own living room . Clear lake was still home for him until about 6 weeks ago. I found a babysitter which makes life a little easier. She is home schooled and can even come babysit in the mornings if I just need to get out and Arthur loves her. I am hoping to get back to step aerobics too but Arthur didn't do so well at leaving him alone at daycare. Haven't tried it again in 6 weeks and will try to get him slowly used to that again. He did so good in Mason City at mops and ymca childcare that it was strange for me to see me child cry (scream for me) if I left him somewhere.
He is starting to talk up a storm and it is fun to see his whole personality emerge. He is quite the artist and I am amazed at the things like trains, the sun and people that he draw. He likes to cook with me and then loves to play with trucks, trains, dinosaurs and then his new thing is robots. Suddenly I don't have a baby anymore and I can see a little boy. It comes with a lot of problems too which I guess is part of being a mother and part of growing up for him. NO has become his favorite word. It is usually the first thing out of his mouth and then if he thinks the question over it might turn into an ok or yes. I just called his name the other day and he immediately responded with NO. We could only laugh. His new thing is he would laugh and then say " Oh its funny" or my favorite " mmmm--- I like it!"
We have started the brutal thing of potty training. Had no idea it will be so hard. Decided to give it a rest for a month and 2 and then try again. I still have 8 months before school starts and then hopefully he will be trained.
Work for Deon has been busy and he has been working late but spending some quality time with us over the weekends. We try to do a variety of things with Arthur and he is very happy if we are together as a family.
We were very fortunate that our very good friends Beth, Tim and Thomas could come and visit us in November and it made all the difference for Arthur to see his friend again. ( and me too) We did lots of things together and the boys had so much fun playing together.
We are looking forward to hopefully go visit Iowa in the spring. Nalini and Jude ( our friends who lost dear Roshni last February) are expecting a little boy and his due date is on Roshni's birthday. We are so excited for them and hope to go meet baby Joseph soon.
We are thankful for all our wonderful friends and family who we love very much. God has blessed us with an amazing life and strength and grace through our many times of transition. May you all feel blessed and have an amazing 2010
Love
the
van den Berg's
At the firetruck museum in Hudson
dinner with the Meyer's
our little halloween dragon ( unfortunately it rained a lot and Arthur just went to a few houses)
This is our favorite time in front of the fire doing art or read or just hanging out as a family.
At Lake George with his Davey crockett hat
Lake George ( so very pretty there and looking forward to spend some time there in the summer)
My first carved pumpkin
painting his room ( and everything else)
My most beautiful and healthiest birthday cake I received from my friend Beth.
Tim and the boys.
we went to a japanese restaurant and the boys loved watching all the koi fish.
It was fun seeing the japenese chef doing his thing on the habachi (sp?) table.Me and Beth after shopping having a drink before the boys arrive.
walking around in Hudson.
Our down stairs bar. Deon loves it here and has done a lot of things himself even the painting :)
Having a glass of red wine in front of the fire.
making christmas cookie dough
Deon getting his daily exercise
Deon in front of a shop in Woodstock.
We took a short winter break and went to Hunter Mountain and did a lot of fun things like sledding, tubing and the boys went snowmobiling. We loved swimming in the outdoor heated pool surrounded by snow and watching people ski down the mountain.
We went to go see Disney on Ice in Albany. Arthur loved seeing Mickey and Donald.
One of his favorite Christmas gifts - his own bulldozer
Another favorite.
Their first snow man.
chocolate milkshake out of a big boy glass.
At the winter park at Lake George. We had fun going on all the rides. Arthur was a little scared of these giant cartoon characters and it was difficult to get him for a picture with them.
Arthur and pappa on the train.
Arthur and Roscoe taking a nap. ( they have been taking a nap together in the afternoon.)
We had so much fun at this pumpkin patch.
The moo moo choo choo
his favorite thing!
Friend of ours from Iowa moved to this area and this is all of us on our way to go explore Hudson. Arthur loves hanging out with the girls and it is such a blessing for me that they moved here. Janine and I were three weeks apart in due date when I had Arthur and we compared a lot of notes on pregnancy and raising an infant when they were babies which helped a lot since she already went through it before. They unfortunately moved away when Arthur was about 18 months and it great to reconnect with them yet again. Comparing notes on the terrible twos!!!!