Lyla's fascination with technology

This started a few weeks ago when I decided to make Lyla's bed-time routine a little more engaging so that 1) she'd "know" better when the routine was starting and 2) she'd "like" the process better and thus would be more likely to go to be no problem.

So how did I achieve it? Letting her watch as we heat up her bottle (we still give her a bottle of milk before bed to ensure she gets enough dairy and to help soothe her). She really likes the whole process: pushing the numbers, running away from the microwave to watch from a safe distance (radiation!!!), counting down with the microwave, yelling "beep beep beep". It's all fun. It even is helping her counting because she hears the numbers counting down from ten. Anyway, here's the video.

This next video is a video of Lyla and me watching the first video. This is our third time watching it in a row. She loves looking at pictures and videos on the computer (which she affectionately calls "Pooter"). She usually signifies that she wants to look by pointing at the computer and saying "Will" (her favorite person to see pictures/videos of, Emily and Ally - her cousins - are her second favorite). Anyway, I love how big her smile gets watching and how she recognizes people in the videos. It kind of freaks me out that she's quickly become as (if not more) tech-savvy than I am, but it is inevitable so I might was well enjoy it... and take advantage of it by having her do all the tech stuff for my business. Anyway, enjoy the video.

Buddies For Life, Version 2.0

I am LOVING having two kids. And it's only going to get better as Will starts to interact. Hurray Buddies for Life!!!


Lyla saw Will and she also wanted to be swaddled like a baby. It made for some cute pictures! My little burritos.

Mike's graduation from Bethel

My cousin Mike graduated from Bethel College in Mishawaka (aka South Bend), IN with a degree in Awesomeness. Since Mishawaka's only a little over 2 hours from Grand Rapids, we were very happy that we got to go see the ceremony.

Here's our view of the stage.There's Mike with diploma in hand. You can see my cousin Laura behind him and to the left... she'd gone up closer for some action shots of Mike on stage.
The Rings enjoying the ceremony.
You can see (sort of) in this picture the Sudyks (Mike's family). His parents are all the way on the right, about 3/4s of the way up right next to the rail. His sisters, Jenn and Laura, his brother-in-law, Andy, and nephew, Axel are on the same row as his parents but in the next section to the left right on the aisle (look for the baby in the car seat and the man in the blue shirt staring right at the camera... that's Andy).
Me and Lyla. Lyla only got about a 20 minute nap because of the travel so we let her have the pacifier to keep her calm. Despite the lack of sleep she did great all day.
Katherine and Will. Will had no problem sleeping.
Lyla cheering with the crowd as names are called.
Here's video of Lyla cheering, you can just catch her yelling "Yay!" as the video begins.

It was a long day (it took us 3.5 hours just to get ready and get out of the house... traveling with small kids is the nuts). But it was a lot of fun and so wonderful to get to celebrate Mike's accomplishment. I still remember when he and the rest of his family came to my college graduation in 2000. I really appreciated that they made the effort to come out and see me graduate all those years ago and now we've come full circle. Congratulations Mike!!!