Hawaii

Day 1: Five hour plane ride with the kids & grandparents.

The plane ride was complete easy & uneventful! Getting our rental car in Hawaii was another story altogether, it took at least an hour (although my Dad might claim it was only 20 minutes) and the kids were getting pretty cranky by the time we left. (or was that me?)

We had gotten this book at the library about a bunch of kids who work together to build a sand castle and then smash it at the end of the book. Our first night on the beach, Saben estatically stomped every single lump of sand he could find.

After watching our first Honolulu sunset, we wandered back to our hotel and managed to find a giant shave ice along the way.

After the kids were in bed, Kyle & I went out for a night on the town...still trying to find me a swimsuit. I finally gave up my dreams of a tank-ini because apparently they only make those for women in their 50's. (nothing wrong with that, but I'm not 50) After much hesitation and some encouragement from Kyle, I bit the "who cares about my post baby flabby tummy" bullet and got a really cute bikini that I ended up loving.

Day Two: Annika joins the shriners.... (photo above)

Ha ha. We went to the beach in the morning, moved all our stuff to our new permanent hotel room and then had to leave for another couple hours so they could clean it. So we took a drive around the island. My main memories from the day are of the kids being really cranky & fussy. Fussy at the beach, then not taking the naps I'd hoped for in the car, then screaming by 7pm because it was 9pm at home and they were exhausted. But we also got to see some body boarders, a gorgeous beach (Lani Kai) and had some fun at the playground just trying to recoup & relax a little bit.
We finally got back to our nice new 3 bedroom condo and got to see this gorgeous view of the ocean:

Kyle & I went out again once the kids were in bed, but this time all we did was get groceries because we were exhausted. We bought $7 boxes of cereal for breakfast and a $7 gallon of milk, plus stuff for Saben's lunches.

Day 3: Aquarium, alone at last & Woodhouses

In the morning we walked to the aquarium with the kids while my parents went to see Pearl Harbor. We had a fun time & a nice walk back and finally started to feel more relaxed.

In the afternoon, my wonderful parents stayed with the napping kids while Kyle & I explored Chinatown and took in Foster Botanical Gardens. We bought a yummy smelling plumeria lei & exotic fruit in china town but passed on the frogs we saw being butchered. The garden was fun, but a letdown - I was hoping for lush tropical flowers everywhere and nothing was blooming. Plus it was mostly trees, which don't excite me much. But we had fun scampering around & reading about everything.
Once home, we headed to the beach and took a refreshing sunset swim with the kids. Wednesday night, the Woodhouses arrived! Funny coincidence, but a dear friend I studied with in Egypt just happened to be vacationing in Honolulu with her husband the exact same time as us. We met up, walked to the Moana Surfrider and caught up over cocktails & the waves crashing just a few feet away. Pure bliss.

Day 4: Hiking & Snorkeling

We drove a lot this day. First up to Hanauma Bay to drop off my parents for snorkeling, then back to Honolulu for a hike up to Moana Falls. I loved being out in the "jungle" and had more fun looking at the plants there than I had in the botanical garden. So many fun things growing everywhere. Then we reached the waterfall which was LAME. It was barely a trickle down a rock face and the government idiots had put this big cable barrier about 10 feet away from the pool with big signs all over the place saying not to cross it. Apparently there had been a rockslide seven years ago. But it made it so ugly, I wish I had known.

Then back out to get my parents, back to the hotel room, then we grabbed Kate & Jon and headed back out to Hanauma Bay, kid free. Aaaaaahhhhh.... Definitely one of the best parts of the trip, I love snorkeling. We stayed out for 1.5 hours and saw plenty of fish and two sea turtles. Kate found a nice beach mat someone had thoughtlessly thrown away.

My parents went out to dinner so Kyle & Jon went to find Thai food while I put the kids to bed. Very nice day. (no pictures from today because my parents took all these pictures. We brought our camera and then got lazy and did not take a single one the entire trip. Thanks Mom & Dad!)

Day 5: North Shore & STEAKS

Headed up north in the morning. Stopped in Haiema & tried our first bite from the famed Shrimp Trucks. Apparently the area is littered with shrimp farms and we got this delicious plate of 12 shrimp fried in tons of garlic for um...$8 I think? It was so delicious and I highly recommend sticking with Giovannis if you ever get up there. We had lunch some place else and it wasn't as good.... although I did get 4 gigantic prawns (4 prawns = 1 lb) that were very yummy even though I had to rip them apart myself.



Anyways, after our shrimp snack, we headed to a beach to watch surfers. We thought it was one of THE famous beaches, but we were wrong. The maps were confusing. But the surfing was still cool.


Saben built a shovel farm while the rest of us gawked at surfers. After lunch we finally found the Pipeline & Bonzai beach and watched even more amazing surfers.



We stopped to see some sea turtles that had crawled out on the beach & then headed to Matsumotos for shave ice. We shared one amongst the 3 of us and I loved it so much I made Kyle go get me another one while I nursed Annika.

(turtle just under my tricep)

The day went amazingly smoothly considering we had two kids getting in & out of the car & driving all day. Then just as we hit Honolulu - disaster. Traffic. Really really bad traffic. We were stuck 10 miles from our condo for an hour.

Finally home, Kyle and I at last got to go out to dinner on our own. We chose the d.k. steakhouse because I had read lots of good things about it. We ordered a prime 30 day dry aged 42 oz. porterhouse to share because Kyle doesn't like the marbling in my favorite cut - a rib eye. It was fantastic and actually wasn't super expensive if judged by Waikiki prices. A very good deal.

Day 6: Beach

We could not believe how fast our vacation went. Only 2 days left!! Off to the beach again with kids and again - much better/smoother than our first day.

Annika actually fell asleep this time, while I DRAGGED Saben out into the water. He had avoided it ever since the first day and it really seemed like he should at least get in a little bit. Luckily he loved playing in the sand, but he's definitely not a water guy.



This time we finally stayed at the condo while the kids napped. We met my parents for a sunset fire show at the Sheraton and then went to put the kids to sleep for the night. Then we went out to another fabulous dinner with the Woodhouses as the Hula Grill. Fun, fun, fun.



Day 7: Last day



We woke up late and decided to go get Malasadas at Leonards. These things are to die for, seriously one of my favorite "fried sweet doughy" things of all time. They are just barely like filled donuts, except warmer, yummier & with better fillings. Then it was off to climb Diamond Head.



It was hot, hot, hot, but amazingly, Saben climbed 95% of the thing, all by himself. We were shocked to say the least. It's .7 miles to the top, which isn't a ton, but its steady uphill all the way with more than 100 stairs at the end.



So the whole time we were in Oahu, this kept happening to us:



Japanese girls were in love with our kids. They would gather, giggle, shriek, point and go "oooooooh!". Then they would want pictures with the kids. It was really really funny. but the strange part is about 50% of the them ignored us completely. 40% noticed and smiled, but the 10% groups of really hip Japanese girls just went wild for our funky son.



In the afternoon we met Jon & Kate at the beach and jumped around in the waves for another 1.5 hour swim without the kids. It was really fun even though I bashed my knee on some coral. The BEST part was this couple who were surfing and doing what sort of looked like ice-skating moves on the surf board. He would have her way up in the air balanced on his hand with her legs pointed at the sky. It was incredible and also made us giggle.


We had a picnic at the beach to watch our last sunset that evening.

And finally, on our last night, right before we said goodbye, we finally got a picture of the elusive woodhouses. Who apparently are midgets. I forgot to mention that.


Day 8: Did some quick shopping, then rushed to the airport only to find out our flight was 3 hours late. Lame. Got home at 4am.

Books on CD

If you saw this at the library would you be able to resist it? Me neither.

10 on 10

Iris Reticulata 'Harmony'

Mondays are really busy days for me because my mom comes to watch the kids and I try to get as much done as possible. Add a tummy ache to that and well... not so many/great pics today.

I also kept looking around the house & felt really uninspired. Then I went out to photograph some of the flowers in our garden and loved them so much i couldn't pick just one to post. So there's a few extra flowers and several hours where I was shopping & napping where I didn't take any photos at all. Oh well! (Here's a link to the project in case this is new to you.)



Saben feeding Annika for the first time

This is how Saben pees standing up.

Irony: Posting a picture of your son using the toilet but respecting

his privacy enough to draw on some fake undies.

We spent a bunch of time watching workers take down some trees nearby.

Grandma's here!

My lovelies (hellebore)

Crocus tommasinianus 'Ruby Giant'

Iris histroides 'George'

Taco Lobo

Roxxy's Feast

Warning: Explicit poop story

The the other day, our friends had just arrived from out of town. We were talking in the backyard and Saben was running around pushing his dump truck on the patio. Suddenly, our friend goes "What is that on the ground? Is that poop?"

I look at it and think "oh no, poop feel out of his underwe...." when out of nowhere, Roxxy runs up, eats the poop and then skulks off.

Saben summed it up best "The poop fell out of my pants and then Roxxy ate my poopball!"

Random me

Tagged by Andi to post seven fascinating things about myself....

1) I have a really bad habit of chuckling to myself at my own jokes. Jokes I think of in my head while other people are talking. People often notice and then I have to tell them what I am laughing about whether its funny or not.

2) I became a vegetarian (I did eat fish) when I was a freshman in high school and our family traveled to Hong Kong. Millions of animals dying for us to eat every year made me sad. After 7 years, I went to Egypt and decided that if I was ever going to thrive & fit in a foreign culture, I would have to learn to eat meat. Now it doesn't bother me at all, even on the bone.

3) I did not get a single stretchmark with either pregnancy

4) I really really enjoy weeding. Something about physically removing bad stuff out of the dirt and making it all clean again. I love getting my hands in dirt & the smells of the plants & dirt. The only time I don't like weeding is in heavy soil where the roots break off constantly. If I'm in a garden with weeds I have a really hard time not pulling them, but only because I enjoy it. I even pull them at parks occaisionally.

5) I almost never eat candy or ice cream. (but plenty of cookies, pastries & fruity desserts)

6) My brother & sister-in-law are about to enter a pool of applicants to adopt an infant and I am very very excited for them!

7) While I wrote this, Annika ate 1/4 of a business card before I noticed.

Food

Refusal to Eat

Q: Should a parent try to force a child to eat?

A: No. In fact, the dinner table is one potential battlefield where a parent can easily get ambushed. You can’t win there! A strong-willed child is like a good military general who constantly seeks an advantageous place to take on the enemy. He need look no farther than the dinner table. Of all the common points of conflict between generations—bedtime, hair, clothes, schoolwork, etc.—the advantages in a food fight are all in the child’s favor! Three times a day, a very tiny youngster can simply refuse to open his mouth. No amount of coercing can make him eat what he doesn’t want to eat.

I remember one three-year-old who was determined not to eat his green peas, despite the insistence of his father that the squishy little vegetables were going down. It was a classic confrontation between the irresistible force and an immovable object. Neither would yield. After an hour of haranguing, threatening, cajoling, and sweating, the father had not achieved his goal. The tearful toddler sat with a forkload of peas pointed ominously at his sealed lips.

Finally, through sheer intimidation, the dad managed to get one bite of peas in place. But the lad wouldn’t swallow them. I don’t know everything that went on afterward, but the mother told me they had no choice but to put the child to bed with the peas still in his mouth. They were amazed at the strength of his will.

The next morning, the mother found a little pile of mushy peas where they had been expelled at the foot of the bed! Score one for Junior, none for Dad. Tell me in what other arena a thirty-pound child could whip a grown man!

Not every toddler is this tough, of course. But many of them will gladly do battle over food. It is their ideal power game. Talk to any experienced parent or grandparent and they will tell you this is true. The sad thing is that these conflicts are unnecessary. Children will eat as much as they need if you keep them from indulging in the wrong stuff. They will not starve. I promise!

The way to deal with a poor eater is to set good food before him. If he claims to not be hungry, wrap the plate, put it in the refrigerator, and send him cheerfully on his way. He’ll be back in a few hours. God has put a funny little feeling in his tummy that says, “Gimme food!” When this occurs, do not put sweets, snacks, or confectionery food in front of him. Simply retrieve the earlier meal, warm it up, and serve it again. If he protests, send him out to play again. Even if twelve hours or more go by, continue this procedure until food—all food—begins to look and smell wonderful. From that time forward, the battle over the dinner table should be history.

— Dr. James Dobson

Ok, so apparently Dr. Dobson forgot the part where your hungry child becomes low blood sugar, despondent, cries himself to sleep on the floor at 10am, then wakes up and throws up the water he drank in the morning to try to alleviate his hunger. All so that he didn't have to try one bite of potato the size of a blueberry that he refused to try the night before. (we were trying to get him to try one bite of something new, no more food until he tries that bite.)

Do I just keep refusing food until he passes out? Which is practically what he was doing, he was all ready to just go back to sleep again (which he never does & definitely shouldn't be tired since he's had all his naps & gone to bed on time lately).

How is refusing him food until he eats what you want him to eat not "forcing" him to eat? It sure feels exactly like the battle Dobson describes before his brilliant solution. We were most certainly engaged in a battle of wills and stuborness.

I know we haven't done everything perfect in the food department, but where to go from here? I have a son who eats no vegetables, lots of fruit, lots of dairy & carbs, breaded chicken & occaisionally white fish. And refried beans, but only the ones at Taco Lobo that are pureed smooth. And will not try anything new unless its a condiment.

We've tried offering him new things & just letting him eat or not eat it as if we don't care. Doesn't seem to help. We've tried only giving him what we are eating for dinner and that led to:

1) Completely miserable meal & bedtimes for over 2 weeks with almost zero progress
2) Saben crying the instant I told him it was supper time. He dreaded & hated dinner.
3) Saben binging on 4 bowls of cereal every morning because he was so hungry.
4) Pregnant, tired mommy & daddy finally giving up.

What's nuts is that he actually eats fewer things these days because every now & then he'll get tired of something & drop it from his repitoire. (like cheese sticks) I tried blending some squash into his mac & cheese, and now he thinks he doesn't like mac & cheese either. Oh, and Saben LOVES to help me make food, he does it all the time. But contrary to stories you see everywhere, just because he helps me make a huge green salad does not mean he will try even one bite of it.

Ideas, weblinks, books, & encouragement welcome.

Garlic Potatoes

We tried this very delicious Garlic Roasted Potatoes recipe tonite. It is like garlic fries with less oil. Try it. You'll love it. (If you are mad about garlic like we are)

Update: The link above no longer links to the psycho mouse nativity set. Whoops. No idea how that happened except that I was telling someone that a psycho-cute chipmunk would make a funny t-shirt and used the nativity set as an example.

ps. Dad, make sure you check out the recipe, I think I found the perfect recipe website for you....

Ok, so you know how when you take your kid to the doctor you are totally freaked out about other people's sick kids? Well today I took Annika & Saben in to get Annika's flu booster shot. While we were waiting this little girl (3 1/2?) comes in, yells "BABY!!!" and runs over to Annika.

I'm trying not to be paranoid, and her dad goes "Don't touch the baby honey". People say this all the time when their kids want to touch Annika, so I am trying to decide why he said it... did he mean in general, or because his daughter is sick? He turns his back to do paperwork at the counter and she hangs around and then starts rocking Annika in her carseat. Since he doesn't do anything more I assume she must not be sick.

Then her Dad turns around and goes "Don't touch that baby" again. Our eyes meet, I think he was trying to figure out if I was annoyed and he sort of smiles. I'm still trying to figure out if his daughter is sick, but I smile as if its ok, because it is ok with me, assuming she isn't spreading germs. He finally comes over, by this time she's had her hands all over the carseat, leaned in close to Annika's face & let annika touch her shirt.

He goes "sorry about that" and I go "its fine, assuming she's not deathly ill or anything". See, I just ASSUMED that if she was really ill that her Dad would be clever enough to keep her FAR FAR away from kids and infants. So guess what he says next?

"Actually, I brought her in because I think she has pink eye". SERIOUSLY!???? Seriously????? Pink Eye!!! What on earth was he thinking???? She rubs her eyes, she touches things, we touch the same things - car seat handle perhaps??? then we touch our eyes and voila, we all get pink eye too.

Of course I'm too shocked to actually say anything and they got called in right at that moment. As we were leaving, they were leaving too and sure enough I see he has a prescription in his hand. Luckily the nurse helped me disinfect everything & we all washed & sanitized our hands, but I wish I could go back and give it to that dad.

So now I have a new strategy. Anytime another kid tries to touch my kids in the doctor's office, I am going to tell the parents that MY kid is desparately ill. That'll show them.

Preparing, wedding, vacation

There is so much to catch up on... A week of preparing for a wedding & vacation, the wedding itself and then finally a much needed break in Hawaii and suddenly 3 weeks have slipped by.

Packing for 10 days away from our house was dreadful & time consuming, but everything came together with no last minute surprises. I think packing is quite possibly one of my least favorite activities - I actually have reoccurring nightmares about trying to get packed and being late for a plane.

Friday morning we drove to Seattle and I started working on the flowers for my sister-in-law's wedding. There was sort of a mess when the flowers arrived looking more red & yellow instead of orange, but it all came together and I got all the bouquets, corsages & church decorations finished without any more hitches. Special kudos to Kyle for staying up late with me wiring Eucalyptus leaves. I'll try and find some pictures to post later.

Shauna's wedding was beautiful and everything came together so smoothly! It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed being a part of her special day. We were all in the wedding except for Annika. Saben did a great job as ring bearer, I convinced him it was a special job and that they really needed him to bring the ring to them in the front. He walked right down the aisle with no hesitation and even climbed up the steps to offer the ring to Kyle.

At the reception, lack of sleep finally caugth up with Saben and he went nuts. He was out on the dance floor ripping it up, doing his fancy footwork that makes him look like an elf in riverdance. Then he started running. And running some more. Then falling down on purpose. Round and round the room, weaving in and out of tables. I couldn't do anything except hold Annkia and try to keep an eye on him. I tried to get him to slow down but it became apparent that he was so far gone that any attempt to control him would end in screaming. (note: Saben is normally very obedient, but when he is super tired he gets very upset easily and nothing solves it except to put him in bed)

So we left the reception earlier than we'd hoped and sure enough, Kyle had to carry Saben out kicking and screaming. He was SO tired. But... I think watching him go crazy dancing & running was totally worth it, it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen him do.

Sunday we were able to relax a bit with the friends we stayed with (THANK YOU kyle & holly kate!!!!) then spent the night with Kyle's parents who drove us to the airport the next morning for our flight to Hawaii. Hurray!!!!!

To be continued.....

Week in Review

Awesome:
Bought plane tickets at a great price & reserved a condo for a trip to Hawaii only 2 weeks before we go.

Found out we have enough miles on our credit card to cover the price of all three plane tickets!

Valentines day was wonderful, I discovered how much I love gourmet/imported cheeses with good wine (barnard griffin cabernet - a wonderful $13 splurge) & made some excellent crab cakes.

Tonite we have a date while my parents watch the kids - dinner & then a concert at Western.

After our date is my Sis-in-laws bachelorette party. Woo hoo!

Tomorrow the party continues and Kyle is watching the kids most of the day.

Its supposed to be sunny this weekend.

Annika really loves every vegetable we've given her except Avocado. Meanwhile, Avocado is the only vegetable her brother likes.

So many of my bulbs & flowers are bursting/about to burst into bloom.

Not Awesome
I went to the doctor and found out they want to do surgery as soon as we get back from Hawaii on my ingrown toenail. blech.

Our awesome insurance probably won't cover any of the surgery because we have a $1500 deductible.

Annika stayed up till nearly 10pm twice this week and woke up around 1-3am most nights.

Saben is having a terrible week for potty training. For some reason he keeps going in his pants. I have done the kids laundry 3 times in 5 days just to keep up. He keeps happily quoting the Elmo video "Accidents happen mom". I acted stern about it finally and its only gotten worse since then.

Saben woke Annika up 15 minutes into her nap today & I can't get her back down. She is "helping" me type this post.

I hate buying swimsuits.

Annika just spit up all over my pants.

Birthday Wishes

Things Saben has requested for his birthday:

1) Two pink candles on his cake
2) Gifts - a string of chili pepper lights, a honey bear and a pool table "just a little one"

10 on 10

A fun project started by Rebekah - One photo every hour for ten hours on the tenth day of the month. So here is my Sunday, captured in photos. We were stuck at home all day for various reasons while Kyle was out shooting guns and racing cars at a bachelor party.

ps. ten points if you can guess where we're going on vacation!

February

What have we been up to? Other than puking our brains out? Seriously, if you are in that lovely time of life where you only vomit say .... once every 5 years or so, count yourself lucky. If children are entering the picture anytime soon, you can pretty much count on barfing at least once a year, if not more. (right now we're at 4 times in less than 2 years)

This week we neared the ultimate, with 3 of us all sick at exactly the same time. (2am to be exact) Annika was woken up by the um... commotion, but easily placated by Baby Einstein until Mommy was able to get her back to sleep. She actually got it first, but was pretty much better before it hit the rest of us.

But we're better now and getting ready for a couple of mighty busy weeks. We've got a wedding to be in, flowers to arrange for the wedding and possibly, hopefully, a fun "spur of the moment" vacation to go on. (More on that later, once we've got all our reservations)

Lately we've also been....

Getting ready to crawl....

Doing lots of rainy day art projects.

The last two weekends we went up to the mountains to enjoy some snow. Here's instructions in case you live near Bellingham and want some snow fun of your own.

1) buy a sled for $12.99 at Yaegars. Make sure to buy about 10 ft of rope to tow it with. (loop it)

2) Drive up Mt. Baker Hwy. Stop for cheap gas in Deming, but pack a lunch because the sub shop there is under construction. Continue driving to Glacier. Across the street from the Italian restaurant, directly behind a store who's name I forgot, is a road. Turn onto it.

3) Drive till you reach 6" or more of snow (for us it was only like 1/2 mile) and park.

4) Walk up the road, pulling youngsters in sled. Stop for snowball fights. Be sure to initiate your potty trained son in the fine art of creating "Yellow Snow". Get him so excited about it that he starts telling strangers "Don't eat yellow snow!"

5) When you get tired, turn around and sled back down to the car. Unless you got a big kiddo, Daddy or mommy will want to sled with him.

6) Stop at an espresso stand for an 8oz hot chocolate. Be sure to beat the 4:30pm Baker rush.

7) Drive home & enjoy the peace & quiet while tired kids doze in the back.

Snow running

Sledding

Snowballs! (or Snowchunks?)

Mommy's Favorite Outfits

Annika has so many adorable outfits -especially dresses - to wear right now, I am dreading the day she outgrows everything. I hate putting clothes away that are too small, I always feel so nostalgic, especially when the 0-3mos stuff goes. But on the other hand I love pulling out all the new sized stuff and getting to wear things for the first time.

So if you see us out and about, and Annika is completely overdressed for the occaision, its because I am trying to squeeze every last day out of her gorgeous little dresses. Here's a few favorites I've managed to get pictures of, but there are plenty more to come:

Brown dress from Auntie Shauna (there's better pics, but this one amuses me. Artistically, the contrast of hairy arms with a dainty dress really says something...about something.)

Technically she's outgrown this one, but I squeezed her into it one last time to get a photo. It was from Jon & Vicky. Not the bow though, mommy just thought she should have one bow picture since they never stay on more than a couple minutes.

Mommy picked out this dress last summer when she was pregnant and it is still my favorite ever. I was hoping it would fit for easter....

More from photo shoot "White Balloon, Green Dress". I think she has this modeling thing nailed.

(I know what you're thinking....what mommy blogger doesn't think their daughter should be a model. But come on, look at that pout and the delicate way she's holding the balloon. Natural talent, you can't fake that.)

Have a heart

If you are really serious about your carbon footprint, click here.

It is the least you can do to save our planet and I am happy to help you fulfill your carbon offset needs if you don't want to clutter your own yard.

Help!

There is something that has bothered me for quite some time. It is the way that mascara either

1) Smudges below your eyes during the day, but washes off easily at night
2) Does not smudge, but when you wash, it comes off your eyelashes and sticks like a bugger to the skin below your eyes

Please tell me you've found this happy alternative:
1) Does not smudge, but washes off easily with water

I don't care if its waterproof as long as it comes off your skin easily after crying, bathing, etc.
If you have found this magic mascara, please tell me the brand, type, etc. Be specific because I would hate to end up with the "Extended Lashes Extra Moisturizing Maybelline"when you meant "Conditioning Long Lash Maybelline"

Is there anyone I missed who has picture messaging on their phone and would like to see a picture of Saben's first "full" poop in his potty? Just let me know and I'll send it to you!

Mommy Bloggers

Fun article on Mommy Bloggers by my favorite parenting magazine, Wondertime.

Not to get all controversial, but....

"I'd like to see a women's bible study done on how to be like Moses."

Abe's idea after we were discussing the pervasive nature of the "Proverbs 31 woman" in studies aimed at women.

Head problems

Back in December one day, Kyle goes "Hey Kari, what is this huge lump on Annika's head?" (my husband is prone to vast exageration) I went and looked at it and told him it was just the way her head was. Then the next day I was looking more closely and realized one side of her skull was definitely bumpier than the other side.


I figured it was nothing, but took her in to the doctor just in case. He thought it looked odd too - we both agreed that if the lump had been on both sides of her head, it would seem normal, but it was more pronounced on just one side. So he ordered a CAT scan a week later, just in case. That week was not much fun at all.


We arrived for the scan and she was asleep in the carseat. The technician decided to try and do it in the carseat and said something that amazed me "We've never tried doing an infant in a carseat before, what a great idea" DUH. So she slept through the entire thing and I managed to only briefly tear up as I watched them manuver her tiny little body into the huge alien spaceship thing they use to scan people's heads.

Then we waited - they said they would call immediately if they found anything awful, so that day was sort of a nightmare. I finally talked to our doctor 5 days later (it was over a weekend) and he said it looked fine, but he'd send it to a specialist just in case.

Finally we heard back last week and got this beautiful picture of her noggin. Apparently she does have a funny lopsided head, which is "not normal" but "not terribly unusual" either. There should be no lasting consequences and it should be hidden once her hair grows in. But we're still keeping an eye on it just in case the growth plates close too soon, which is unlikely.

So that's the story, mostly I just wanted to post the cool picture of her head. And record it so I can remind Annika when she's 16 that shaving her hair off is probably not going to be an attractive symbol of rebellion.

How Annika Eats

Eyes spot spoon, mouth opens, hand reaches
Grab - give me the spoon!
Spoon wrenched from mommy, shoved in general direction of mouth
Rice cereal on face, eyebrows, spoon finally reaches the gaping hole
Sideways, upside down, cereal in, cereal out
Spoon is sucked, chewed, mangled
cereal is swallowed, thrust out in clumps and slides out stealthily on a river of drool
Suddenly its over, the cereal has been dispersed and the spoon is quickly tossed to the floor
Mommy reaches for it in slow motion...noooooooo....
it hits the floor, bend over, wipe clean, wipe baby, baby cries for more, start second bite
while noticing burning dinner on stove, whining toddler and husband home, ready for a hug

so many random things...

Oh how I've missed the sun this winter, and how glorious it was today to go running along our beautiful waterfront. Even if it is freezing, the sun made today wonderful.

Speaking of running... I have finally started up again after a long pregnancy break. Our friend Abe volunteered to sit at our house for an hour twice a week while he's in school so that I can go running while the kids nap. This is the most amazing, life changing thing ever and he's officially near the top of my "favorite guy who's not my husband" list. I'm managing 3-4 runs a week and it feels so wonderful.

I also can't believe I've never mentioned the other life-saver around here - my mom - who comes up every week to watch the kids for me. She's done this for almost three years now, ever since Saben was born. I love getting groceries without the kids, getting another run in (for the two weeks I've been doing it) and most of all it is fun to see her & Saben have such a great relationship. We almost always go out to lunch and its so nice to catch up, have some company and get some advice & encouragement from someone "experienced".

The other day, Saben & Kyle went on a bike ride while I was nursing Annika. Apparently he accidentally crashed - twisted the handle bars & fell off his glider bike. He started laughing, yelled "I crashed!", got back on and then purposely crashed several more times. He had just watched the crash segment on a Mt. Bike video that morning and I guess it looked pretty cool to him.

Around here, I only have energy to keep up with 4 out of the 5 things I like to do. If I am exercising, eating healthy, playing with the kids & keeping the house clean - I am not spending any time with my friends. If I am spending time with friends than usually my house is a mess. It is so hard to balance everything, I always joke I'd have to work hard till 10pm every night just to meet my own standards. But I'm slowly learning to at least do everything 75-80% as well as I'd like instead of just letting one thing drop off the map completely.

Bath Contraption

I just looooove the seat for Annika that is in the picture below. Unfortunately it is circa 1985 or something and since that time I believe someone must have deemed them "deadly" because they are no where to be found these days. Now you have to buy blow up seats so the kids don't bonk their heads I guess.

Personally, I don't know how my seat can be so dangerous as long as I stay right there, and it works so well, she loves it!

Annika - almost 6 months

Annika is getting so old and her personality is really starting to shine through! Here are some of the things we've noticed:

• Annika loves to grab at everything. If she is on my lap at the table or being carried around as I do something , she is wriggling & reaching for everything constantly. She is always making me spill something, or knocking things out of my hand.


• In the same vein - annika is always moving & wriggling, constantly curious to try something new.


• Annika loves being carried in the baby bjorn, facing out & looking around at everything. She kicks her legs around and smiles at everyone.


• We put Annika in her highchair for dinner w/ toys on the tray and she loves to hit with them & throw them over the edge. She usually has the whole tray cleared in just a couple minutes. She concentrates so hard and breathes all funny as she reaches for everything, as if its her mission to get them all off her tray.


• She still looooves to watch Saben & other kids





• Annika had her first bath in the big tub with Saben tonite and loved it. She was grabbing things out of the water, splashing & kicking her feet all over.


• She is just barely learning to sit, but loves being on her belly, pivoting around reaching for her toys. She sometimes rolls over to toys, travelling several feet from where I put her down. She does not seem to prefer any type of toy over any others. No reaction to dolls, stuffed animals, etc, except to put them in her mouth like everything else.


• She has a short attention span in the exer-saucer, but will spend a lot of time on her belly if there's lots of different toys for her to find & explore.


• Annika really likes being flipped around, bouncing & being upside down.


• She is quiet, doesn't make many noises & still isn't laughing a ton. But she smiles easily and will laugh if we really work at tickling her.

New Years Eve

First Food

A little late...we fed Annika rice cereal for the first time on December 30th

Ta Da!!!

Now son you're getting bigger
Oh yes its really true
Soon you'll be ready to do something new
So here is your new potty where you go poo
It's where you sit to do what you gotta doo-doo

It's potty time - now get down low
It's potty time - just let it go!
It's potty time - go with the flow
It's potty time - you can do it, I know!

Never again will I doubt such words of wisdom by saying things like this:

"After watching grown men singing in falsetto about pooping and peeing and hearing one full hour of poop and pee talk Saben decided he wanted to sit on Connor's potty chair and Mommy decided she was never ever watching another Elmo video. "

That's right folks, the seemingly impossible was accomplished yesterday with a little help from Elmo.... Saben figured out how to pee in his potty!!!!!

I have been spastically trying to get Saben potty trained for a few months now. By spastically I mean that I give up everytime because he usually wets his underwear & pants 3 times in just a few minutes, I run out of clean underwear, Annika starts screaming and I give up for another month.

He has been completely non-interested, even rebelious about potty training. He hated his big boy underwear & never wanted to try wearing it and he certainly never asked to sit on the potty or told me when he needed to go.

In moments of desperation I have tried most things - Potty books, big boy underwear, bribery, etc. Tuesday I just happened to see the Potty Elmo DVD in the store and decided to spend yet another $10 to see if that would help.

We watched it Tuesday night & then put underwear on Wednesday morning. He wet his undies just a little & I had him go sit on the potty and....low and behold he went. And then stopped and then started again. And then did it again 8 times yesterday. He just sits down and goes. Absolutely amazing.

We went out to Mallards to celebrate. .

It seems like all of Saben's new tricks go this way.... He resists strongly and makes zero progress and then suddenly it just all falls in to place. And now for a huge knock on wood because I am totally freaked out that he's going to regress now that I wrote this

Christmas Day

After a crazy family Christmas Eve (see post below) we had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas day. We usually travel to one of our parent's houses on Christmas day and I'd been thinking it would be nice to start staying home in a few years...but suddenly going to someone else's house where there are plenty of people to cook, clean & help watch your children seems like such an awesome idea. Why on earth would I want to stay home and do all that by myself???? Here's a few last pics from Christmas with my parents.

Papa spending 1 1/2 hours putting together Saben's new toy kitchen

Great Grandpa, Pumpkin (the cat) and lots of goodies

Stockings

Boys playing with cars. (my brother's old hotwheel sets. I looked for something similar EVERYWHERE and could not find one like it for Saben's Christmas present)

Christmas Resolutions

Note to self: Just because your son is finally old enough to remember/enjoy Christmas does NOT mean you need to squeeze in absolutely every single Christmas tradition you ever remember loving as a kid into one single day.


That pretty much sums it up. This was our (my) to do list on Christmas Eve:

1. Make cinnamon rolls

2. Make homemade gourmet Mac & Cheese for dinner

3. Go to a Christmas Eve service

4. Drive around & look at Christmas lights

5. Finish wrapping a few last gifts

6. Leave cookies out for Santa

It doesn't look that bad, but when you start throwing in temper tantrums (saben didn't like my macaroni & cheese) and missed naps, it starts to get crazy. Plus it was a gorgeous day outside and we were all stuck inside doing what my husband deemed "chores". At the end of the day he ponted out how nice it would have been to pack up the family and go take a nice walk in the sun and suddenly I saw the logic in that.

The night culminated in driving to a retirement neighborhood with tons of lights and getting stuck in the line of cars while Annika reached her end & started wailing in the backseat. It took us another 20 minutes just to make our way out of the neighborhood. Of course it had been my insistence that took us to the neighborhood, Kyle had suggested we head home and I'd said "just one last place....." Now imagine me gamely singing Christmas carols all by myself the whole time, while annika is screaming hoarsly in the back seat. sigh.

So...new years resolution - be flexible next Christmas. Its funny how you can grow up reading, hearing & watching scenarios like this your whole life and you always think, oh, I'll never do that! Then suddenly there you are, the rushed, harried, crazy Christmas Mom who is driving her family nuts and forgetting what Christmas is really about.

Power

Sunday night this is where we had dinner:

Pizza made by headlamp, cooked in a woodfire oven, eaten by candle light. Our power went out at 5pm along with part of downtown. What fun!