Family Photos

A dear friend Erin C. from www.e-galphotography.com offered to take some pictures of us a family, so I jumped at the opportunity. :) She came to our house with her equipment and made some memories for us. :) Katelyn was feeling sick that day, so her eyes that are usually so sparkly weren't the brightest, but she was still cute. :)

The Heikoop Family 2010

Me and my bestest friend!

Kissable cheeks

Me and my butterfly

Mother and daughter

The Sunflower

Isn't she a dolly

Flowerchild.

Such cute shots! And thanks Erin so much. :)

A lovely Monday

It all started with waking up...and Katelyn loves to climb around us on the bed... :)
Good morning Sunshine!

Then James took Katelyn downstairs so I could sleep some more - ah, delicious sleep. :) He is such a sweetheart. This is one of their 'self-portraits' I found on the camera. :)

Then in the afternoon we headed to town for some errands, and to pick up some mulch for our front 'flower gardens'. The place where we got it from doesn't sell it in bags anymore, so we bagged our own, and put in in the back of our car. It was a full and smelly vehicle by the end. Katelyn played around in the back of the car while we packed. :)

James did the shoveling, I did the holding of the bags. :)

This is the finished product, well sort of...you can't really see it, but we mulched all three areas you see - and we did the brick work around the big tree last night - looks really good, and is encouraging for me to have our place looking at least decent.

A better glimpse on how it turned out. And then it was bathtime, supper and then pretty much to bed. A productive day as a little family.

The other day I had been weeding and cleaning out the flower beds, but all I had for tools was a metal frying pan flipper and spaghetti strainer/fork. (as newlyweds don't quite have it all together) And it worked fine, but I planned to go to garage sales, to find some tools later on this spring. But before I could go, two friends heard of my plight, and bought me some tools! So thoughtful, and I felt very blessed! So now James and I can tidy up around the yard together. :)

And at last, our basement. :) For those of you who knew we cleaned up and organized, this is what it looks like now. :)

The 'west' wall and my washer/dryer are on the 'north' wall just to the right of this picture.

And the last picture. :) Since my cupboard space is quite limited upstairs, I have to store all my linens, blankets, some kitchen stuff, and of course all the extra's down here. :) But it's almost all nicely labeled and such a help.

Happy Birthday Amanda!

For our dear friend Amanda, Happy Birthday! :) Here is Katelyn wishing you a fabulous birthday! Love you dear friend, and so thankful for all the grand memories we've shared! You've been such an encouragement in my life, and in our families life. I've got so many wonderful momento's around our home of you - in almost every room I think! Pictures you've taken...which will remind me of the time of our first photo shoot for our CD...all the way to you doing our special wedding pictures. Treasure those thoughts and we treasure you!

Ten Months Old!!

Here we are again - another month...

And so big and adorable.

Loving life with Katelyn!

Life with the Camera...

How I love having our camera around again. (it was lost for a week and a bit-under our car mat) and now, I'm back to taking pictures of our little girl.
The little charioteer.

My bike, our bike trailer/jogging stroller which we are loving! The front trailer arm slips out, and then the front wheel slides in. We've gotten a lot of use already from our new/used acquisition.

Peeking at me through the side window.

Ready to go wherever I'll take her. She often falls asleep in here on our trips back and forth to Brantford, the Windmill or a quick trip to somewhere else.

Playtime

Here is the old highchair I recovered a bit ago. Wish I had a 'before' picture, but my camera was gone. :) It's in forest green.

And I love it, cause it's small/narrow, and fits right up to our table - Katelyn's a part of family dinner. :)

Singing as a Heikoop

We sang at a Senior's Evening in Waterloo a couple weeks ago. It was a neat evening. One that made me remember what it was like a while ago when I was singing with "The Fehr Family". :) Lots of memories... this time though, I had my husband beside me, playing mandolin alongside his guitar; and I watched my little girl clap her hands as we sang, raising her hands as if to say "Hallelujah"! A special time.
Me and the little gentleman, Micah. It was cute, cause when we all arrived, I followed the kids down the stairs to the basement, and overheard a couple say (about me) "...that must be the mom..." I chuckled in my head...I sure look young to have 9 children. :) One day I hope, but not at 25 years old!

Deanna and Julia- Ben's girlfriend came along and shared the fun & helped out. Deanna is a sweet gal, and has been such a blessing to me - a great listener and encourager.

The Senior's Group we sang too.

Uncle William and Katelyn. He has an 'application' for his iphone that has the piano/keyboard on it. Kate loves to play on it, banging on the keys and making music. :)

The second generation singing a few songs for the people. It was a fun evening, and I'm thankful for the chance to sing again, and keep on attempting a few of those instruments.

The Difference One Month Makes...

It's already been a month. Our baby's homegoing. In some ways it feels like ages ago when we found out our baby was gone, and all the events surrounding it...and in some ways it wasn't that long ago. I've had tears almost every day for the past month. Missing my baby, missing the hope it brought, missing the kicks I would have been feeling right now, missing it so much, and wishing I had some memories of Yachal that I could share with more people. You know the feeling. You lose someone and it hurts; but you have those funny memories of what that special person did to laugh about with others, the crazy things they did, the sweet times, and those moments filled with tears...but you can share them with others. That's the part I wanted to have, to share...Yachal is my baby. But the loss is mostly directed to me and James. And I understand. I'm not saying the whole world should grieve with me. :) But I need to share Yachal's life with others, somehow....

I was mentioning that to Betty - a dear co-worker at the Windmill. She has been one of those prayer warriors & encouragers to me - like many of you have also been.... I mentioned to her after the 'how are you really doing?' that I wished I had more memories of Yachal. A couple days later she told me with joy, how the Lord had shown her that I do have memories of my baby. And they are special memories.

Like when I found out that we were expecting! How awesome...I rejoiced so much - praising God! I was even more excited in some ways, than with finding out about Katelyn's coming, as I knew what to do this time, it wasn't all so new and a bit scary, and with Katelyn I was worried that we'd lose her; this one, I wasn't as concerned.... I told James about the baby by having Katelyn 'color' a card pink, blue and yellow, and write in kid font " Dear Daddy, I'm going to be a big sister! Love Katelyn. I luv you too." That was an awesome moment. :)

Memories of telling our families that we were expecting: we told the Heikoop side on Tim's b-day. We wrote in his card, ....love, James, Liz, Katelyn and baby.... so he was the first to know. :) On my side of the family we told them that another was coming making that 16 grandchildren....(they only had 14 at the time....and they were wondering how that could be) when right after that James and Heather announced that their baby was coming too! (they were all with J&H, and so we both planned to tell them-us over the phone- at the same time!) Such fun! :)

Then there was the morning sickness, and the extreme tiredness of being expectant, and nursing Katelyn at the same time....I slowly gave my more 'fun' things up, like the hope of scrapbooking, cause I just had the energy for survival. :) But it would be worth it, cause in a few months, I'd have a baby to enjoy alongside my almost toddler!

I thought I'd felt it kick...it felt just like what I was supposed to be feeling, and on my first midwife visit, she thought that it probably was it....but now, I think it was just some type of muscles twitching, as I felt that even during the worst part of the miscarriage....at least I think so. But there's that glorious feeling as you wonder, 'is that my baby'?

And then the memories turned more painful, as I realized my baby was dead. Memories of James staying with me, of holding my little one in my hand, but unable to protect it, unable to keep it from danger as a mother wants to do with all of her soul.....of such deep grief, and yet thanking God for Yachal at the same time. Such bittersweet memories.

Then of saying goodbye to Yachal, burying the little one by Bonnie, and walking away - not a family of four on earth, but for now, a family of three.

This past month has been good and hard... :) I've had more energy and am starting to do some of those projects I'd put away. All the while, needing something to remember Yachal by. That was my child, and I can't just forget that. Ask any mother. They never forget a loss of a child...never. So, I was quietly rejoicing when the Lord showed me I could do something to remember our baby by - a small scrapbook, filled with the cards from people, the pictures of the bouquets sent to us -a pressed flower, the poems we put at the graveside, some pictures of our baby we took, and all the memories, the tears, the joys, and my heart. That way, one day, Katelyn will have a little album to know that life is precious. Even at 13 weeks, Yachal is her baby sibling. And maybe it will even encourage someone else....but it will be my 'ebenezer' - stone of remembrance, that this far God has led us. And He did give us Yachal for a time. And for that I'm thankful.

Easter Photos

Katelyn playing in the grass. Such a precious gift we have in our daughter.

Mommy and Daughter on Easter Sunday. James was sleeping so we worked with the timer. :)

My little flower. :) I made her headband - doesn't match this dress of course, but still cute I think! And the day and a bit before I got to try sewing again, making my pink skirt for Sunday. I was glad to try something creative again, and though I am not a seamstress, thankful that the skirt turned out well.

Our little girl.

It was her first time - I think - sitting on the grass with bare feet. She kept putting up her feet, balancing with at least one up in the air as it tickled her skin...comical.

Then she tried standing...and all I got was this face!

Picking her first flower - sweet memories.

Rollerblading Days

With all this amazing almost summerlike weather we've been having, we're trying to make good use of the bike paths around our place. So we've been rollerblading - all three of us. :) Katelyn is in the Ergo, and is very safe as James is an excellent blader. :)

Our first trip down the path one evening.

Katelyn absolutely loves it, she has a big smile on for a lot of the time and loves going somewhere - doesn't matter where we're going, as long as we're going. :)

Then the other day, we rollerbladed all the way into Brantford and back - a total of 15 km. which was such fun. We had pizza for supper there, at the plaza on the edge of town. :) Such a fun memory. It was rather an emotional day for me, so I'm pretty tired there, but happy. :)

The three of us. :) Katelyn does look at the camera but doesn't smile very much unless someone is actually behind the shutter.

And I'm really thankful to God for leading us to a special find yesterday. I have been looking online for about a year, for a used bike trailer/jogging stroller that we could use on the paths around here, when yesterday one came up. It was in our price range and what we wanted, so hooray, we picked it up last night! It's a older chariot (made in Calgary!) and a double stroller, which hopefully will be very useful in the days to come. And Katelyn will enjoy the freedom of space too, when we don't feel like using the Ergo down the path. :)