...a glimpse at our life...

THREE!!!!

2012-01-28T20:32:00.001-08:00

Today my baby girl turned three!

We celebrated by throwing a princess party with tiaras and jewelry and princess dresses (and a pink castle cake)

You were so excited that it was FINALLY your birthday

You pretty much smiled all day long.

Annika you are a treasure. We love you so much and had such a great day celebrating with you today.

Football

2012-01-22T12:07:00.001-08:00

Daddy and his girls are ready to watch some football! Needless to say my bay area boy is just a little excited.

Rain

2012-01-20T10:14:00.001-08:00

The rain has finally come, so we're spending our morning hunting for puddles!

One big ole' update

2012-01-11T19:52:00.000-08:00

I know Christmas has come and gone and you are all on to New Year's resolutions and such, but we just got our tree down yesterday and have finally returned to some semblance of "normal life" over here and I wanted to get these pictures of Christmas up so this 2011 Christmas season would not be forgotten (how's that for a run on sentence?) . So here is one big monster Christmas post from the Jungs!

We kicked off the holiday season with a SF getaway for me and Eric. It was wonderful. It will be a holiday tradition.

Gorgeous weather called for a bike ride to Tiburon and a ferry ride back to the city. We came in just as the city was lighting up. It was beautiful.

Our little family Christmas with the girls. Annika was so excited about Jesus' birthday...mainly because it means HERS is next;) But it was fun to be able to really talk to her about what Christmas is all about this year. She has such a tender little heart.

Annika loved her tree this year. We finally took it down yesterday and she told me..."its ok mommy, it will come home next year."

All our little Christmas ballerinas.

A big THANK YOU to everyone for all of the presents. We have been busy busy over hear lately playing with all of our new toys!

We had such a great time during both Thanksgiving and Christmas seeing so many of our family and friends. Thank you all for special memories!

This was Christmas morning before church. I had just worked a 12 hour night shift and we messed up the service time so we killed some time at starbucks in the local Safeway...the only thing open on Christmas morning. It is crazy how many frazzled people are at the grocery store on Christmas morning by the way...madness...

Really this Christmas season felt a little funny as we have been blessed with the most unbelievably pleasant Spring-like weather. Spring is, hands down, without a doubt, my favorite time of year so more than anything this year we enjoyed playing outside!

The Nutcracker!

2011-12-17T17:26:00.001-08:00

What a fun day we ladies had at the ballet. Annika and Morgan (and my sister and i of course) were so excited to go out on the town for a fancy lunch and to see the dancers. They did amazingly well and we made it through the entire performance. It was so fun to see their eyes light up when they saw the pretty dancers. Thanks mom for a great day!

Pizza night!

2011-12-08T17:35:00.001-08:00

2011-12-05T22:59:00.000-08:00

We got to spend Thanksgiving this year in the midwest with some of the Van Essen clan. We had to miss the big reunion this past summer so Eric promised me we could take the kids out for the holiday. I want our kids to see what a big, fun, crazy family they have out there and to grow up having memories of spending time with cousins and more cousins and more cousins just like I did.

Annika was so excited to go on the airplane she would ask us every morning leading up to the trip if we would be going "arriba y abajo" (Eric's editor's note "up and down") on the airplane today. Finally we woke her up early Thanksgiving morning and headed to SFO. We were greeted with beautiful weather and open arms. Aunt Gloria and Uncle Brian were amazingly hospitable allowing us to use their car, securing two car seats for us and two pack n plays...guess who are itching to be grandparents;) We stayed a couple of days with them and a night with Aunt Marcia and Uncle Ryan and then a couple of nights with Gramma Great. We got to see 4 sets of aunts and uncles, 10 cousins their spouses and many of the greats and of course got to play many fun rounds of cards over many cups of coffee. Hopefully we can make it out for a big reunion soon. Annika will be in heaven with all of those cousins who she affectionately calls her "friends". (Uncle Brian I have to say she talks about you the most. You definitely won her little heart. You and Charlie of course.)

With all the fun and festivities we were only able to get a few pictures. Here they are:

Having so much fun at the airport. Annika was a great little traveler. We hadn't taken her on an airplane since she turned 2 so it was fun to see her excitement this time.

Aunt Marcia, Annika and Tucker. The girls followed poor Tucker around all day.

Audrey and her babies at Gramma Greats. We have similar pictures of Annika and those bears when she was a baby.

Audrey and Gramma Great

The girls did so well. We were not sure how it would go moving from house to house but they were troopers and slept amazingly well. Eric is ready to dig a basement and put our kids down there to sleep. We had to wake them up from their naps so that they would go to bed on time.

Looking at the airplanes

Audrey attacking me to get the phone. I can hardly take a picture of her anymore now.

We do have dozens of photos just like these from each leg of our trip. Whatever it takes to keep them occupied right?

Happy 1st Birthday Miss Audrey!

2011-11-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

My dearest little Audrey,

When you wake up this morning you will be 1 year old. Your mom and I can't believe how fast you have grown, yet it is hard for us to remember life without you! We love watching your personality develop, you are so much fun to be with.

You take amazing naps and can sleep for hours on end (like from 6:30 pm to 8:00 am). Your expressions are priceless, when you get overwhelmed you put one hand up to your face and give a blank stare like you just can't believe what just happened. You LOVE to dance to music, just like your sister, but for now your best, and practically only, move is a side to side body giration that is a cross between "A Night at the Roxbury" and the gopher on "CaddieShack" (you have no idea what these are, when you are old enough I will show you).

See these stairs? You LOVE them. What you lack in walking skills you vastly make up for in climbing. If we leave you alone for 5 seconds downstairs and it gets too quiet, we know where you are. Each week you gain speed on them. The other day I came around the corner to see your sister at the bottom of the stairs. I asked her, "Annika, where's Audrey?" She looked around and smiled, "She's upstairs!" You came around the corner and looked at me with a huge smile on your face. It was your first solo stairs flight and you were so proud of yourself!

And while this is not the best picture in the world, it is rather accurate of you now. You have this great urge to make the biggest mess possible on the ground around you. You do not like things put away, rather you like them out so you know where they are. (If this sounds strangely familiar to someone else you know, I'll give you a hint, she brought you into this world.) Each day you are now setting records on how fast you can clear the magnet wall in the kitchen of all of its magnets. I am pretty sure you can throw things farther behind you over your shoulder than you can in front of you at this point, it is really a site to be seen.

You love to sing with your sister and mommy, even though it is really just a hum. We are convinced you will be talking in no time and you are pretty good at fighting off my zerbert attacks on your belly. You absolutely adore your sister (most of the time), and she loves you so much (almost as much of the time). You are becoming much more generous with your kisses, and the amount of tongue you give is getting less by the day!

Life with you is so sweet, and while we can't wait to see more of who you are becoming, we don't want you to grow up, because we love this stage of life with you. Happy Birthday Miss Audrey Leigh. You are such a delight and your mom, sister and I are so proud that you belong to us.

We love you.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2011-10-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

from this pretty little peacock...

and this sweet little lamb...

pumpkins at the jung household this year...

Boots and Dora of course!

Visit from Auntie and Cousin

2011-10-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

This week Aunt Heather and Cousin Bella made the drive from Phoenix to come see us. Bella, 8, had never met Audrey and had been asking her mom when she would be able to for months.

Bella is a fantastic older cousin. The girls played and played and played, Bella now ranks second (behind cousin Ethan) for most able to get Annika to do her all-out-belly-laugh.

10 painted toe nails for Annika, 2 matching set of pajamas, 1 of the best lunches we have ever had in San Francisco (Tacolicious), and dozens of photos and cups of coffee and tea later, we have had a great visit.

Tomorrow when they leave will be a sad day, especially for Annika. Spending time with Cousin Bella and Auntie Heather have been so much fun... and will result in one huge nap in the afternoon.

Getting her toes painted.

Annika's first race!

2011-10-04T23:04:00.000-07:00

Last month Annika and I ran our first race together at the Color the Skies Festival put on for Children's Hospital in the Valley. I ran the 5K and then joined Annika in her first road race. She did great and was all smiles for the 1/4 mile race. We even got matching medals on pink ribbons! I had to re-start her a few times with the "on your mark, get set, go!" to keep her excited but she made it all the way to the finish line and has been "racing" with me after my morning runs ever since.

I learned that I am much tougher mentally in my "old age," but that my body doesn't necessarily agree that I am tougher. I won my first ever road race and then couldn't run for about a week and a half after that because I was so sore. As a result I went to my first Zumba class and realized that I am much more cut out for running or crossfit or really anything else for that matter...oh my, I'm glad they don't tape those classes.

last swim of the season

2011-10-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

We finally got some cooler temperatures here which means we've taken the cover off the pool and swimming season has come to a close. We had a great time in the pool with the girls this summer. Here are some pictures from our last family get together with the Schenks. It just cracks me up how Lynds is always in the middle of all the kiddos. I promise we don't make her take care of all of them while we sit back and watch!

The guys are in fact helping in these pics. They are hiding under water.

Just wait til those three in the baby seats are running around next year!

Sweet Ethan and Audrey. He is such a good big cousin!

happy birthday

2011-09-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

Ever since Morgan's princess party Annika has been a little obsessed with "happy birthdays." Every time we go to Lyndsay's house (or even drive by her house for that matter) she says "mmm, mmm, happy birthday cake....yummy auntie." Unfortunately we still have a few birthdays in the family to go until Annika's birthday. She will be good and ready to celebrate in January!

plank

2011-09-19T21:13:00.000-07:00

Saw this from a while back. It just made me laugh.

"poochini"

2011-09-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

I just love how she says "Poochini"

Trouble

2011-09-15T13:35:00.001-07:00

Annika at the top of the stairs saying "come on Audrey." Audrey smiling proudly as she has made it to the 4th step all by herself...let the fun begin!

Wine and cheese with the girls

2011-09-13T19:25:00.000-07:00

august...oh wait, its already september!

2011-09-11T20:52:00.000-07:00

I've been spending all of my computer time renewing my BLS and ACLS and all of those important certifications that will help (hopefully) save lives and thus have neglected the blog and the preserving of family memories so I thought I better get something posted before we're on to a whole new stage. So here is a bit of what we've been up to:

-E and I left the girls for 3 whole days (2 nights) to go up to Seattle for a business/fun trip. We had never been separated from both girls together by a plane flight so this was kind of a big deal for me. All went well and we had a blast. I am convinced that all you pacific north westerners lie about all that rain you get to keep your part of the world from becoming overpopulated. We had the most gorgeous weather! We had a great time reconnecting with Jeremy and Audi (sans children) and also with my good friend Sheri. Thanks for showing us around. Seattle is beautiful...the "cleaner, greener SF," as our concierge called it. A&A had a great time with their grandparents and grandmama kept my nerves at bay with plenty of pictures of my girls. Its crazy how strange it feels to be away from them for just a couple of days...like you're missing an appendage. I couldn't wait to get them in my arms again. But it is always refreshing to have a break from the day in and day out tasks of parenting, so THANK YOU gma and gpa for watching the girls!

-We were reminded again how children go through phases and no phase lasts forever. Annika's terrible 2 and a half days have subsided, at least for now. She has been so much fun lately. I wish I could freeze her in this stage for a while. Some of my favorite annika moments:

-Choosing the "Cars" pullups at Costco. Their are Cars for boys and Princess pull ups for girls...thats what I get for giving her a choice.
-Wanting a braid in her hair and music on and telling me she was a Princess and dancing with me until bedtime.
-Singing along to our "Seeds Family Worship" CD in the car. She does better every time. Nothing sweeter than hearing scripture out of the mouth of a two year old.
-Telling me she loves me to pieces when she goes to bed at night.
-having to do everything herself even if it means totally re-doing something so that she can do it herself.
-Reading to us like the lady at the library does...you know turning the book around to show us the pictures.
-Singing Jesus loves me and happy birthday to annika every night before bed.

I am so thankful for this delicious little 2 year old.

As for Audrey, she continues to be a sweet little one. Though she has had a rough couple of weeks as she is cutting 4 teeth at once right now. Poor baby! Audrey is finally crawing on her knees and hands now (though she still prefers to scoot on her tummy). The crawling stage is my favorite. Kids are just so cute with their little butts up in the air and their new-found freedom. She is becoming more and more opinionated every day which is more fun but can also be more challenging. She will not be left behind...man that girl scoots around pretty fast! My favorite Audrey moments:
-rocking her before bedtime. She is so cuddly.
-hearing her make car sounds with grandpa.
-listening for the doggy outside and making ruff ruff sounds
-being greeted by her big smile in the morning.
-seeing how much she loves her sister.
-hearing her exercise her will and her temper when we take something away from her. This sweet girl is no pushover!

I am so grateful for this precious 10 month old.

Annika talks about the Bible

2011-09-08T23:00:00.001-07:00

It's crazy what kids pick up on.

Summer Video

2011-08-12T23:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy few months. Life with the family continues to get sweeter.

sisters

2011-08-01T22:46:00.000-07:00

Annika hasn't really pain a ton of attention to Audrey since she was born. She likes to sit by her and sing to her before she goes to bed, and she is always aware of where audrey is, but she has never really been the type to smother her with kisses, or try to pick her up or hug her all the time. (This has actually worked out quite nicely as I don't to worry about Audrey's well being when her big sis is around)

However, today I saw a glimpse of Annika as protective big sister. We were at Costco checking out and I left the girls in the cart on the side of the checker. The minute I separated from the girls Annika put her little arm around Audrey and put her little face next to Audrey's as if to comfort her. She patted her back and kept her arm around her the entire time we were separated. Totally unprompted. Of course Audrey didn't even realize she wasn't by mommy. I just loved seeing Annika show practical love to her sister and I had to write this down so I wouldn't forget. It was tender.

Here are some other "sister" moments we have captured lately. Audrey is obsessed with her big sister. As soon as I finish feeding her in the morning her little head turns to the door to her bedroom. I can not get her eyes off that door and I know she is just eagerly waiting to see her big sister. Love these girls!

How did this happen?!

2011-07-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

All of a sudden we have an 8 1/2 month old scootin around the house and Eric and I just keep looking at each other saying how did she get so big? We laugh at how we eagerly waited for Annika to reach each and every milestone during her first year and Audrey just surprises us with her new tricks. As we established in the last post, two and half is not so much my favorite age so we are lucky to have Audrey such a tender age right now as we ride the roller coaster of 2 with her big sister (which by the way I now understand why 2 year olds and teenagers are often compared. I am not proud of the number of times I have said "stop it" and "knock it off" in the past couple of months...but I digress...) Anyway, 8 months is a tender age. Audrey can scoot herself around the house now and get her hands on everything she is curious about. She surprises me by tugging on my dress while I'm cooking or sitting in the chair reading. She greats us with big smiles and slobbery kisses. She absolutely lights up when she sees her mommy and daddy, but especially when she sees her big sister. Audrey has two sharp little teeth and another coming in, she uses those little teeth to eat anything and everything I set in front of her...the girl loves to eat...makes a "mmm...mmm" sound the entire time she's eating.

When we moved into this house and set up this white-board for Annika to play with I remember thinking that she was so big...almost a year. She was only 10 1/2 months...just two months older than Audrey...again...how did this happen?!

This series of pictures is what typically happens with Audrey these days. The girl just has to have her hands on everything. I took this last picture just before she tried to eat the lens.

The triplets

Sometimes Audrey gets a little overwhelmed by all the attention her cousins give her. She needs to be toughened up a bit.

Loving her food

Big smiles with daddy

Again eating...happy little girl.

Audrey you are a joy. We are having so much fun watching you grow and change and develop. But slow down a bit, would ya please????

totally two

2011-07-06T21:20:00.000-07:00

Oh man, have we been put through the wringer lately by you miss Annika! Truth is the first half of the year was amazing...two year olds are just so cute. This second half however: different story. Yes darling, you are still cute and we do still enjoy very sweet moments with you throughout the day, but honestly I feel like the majority of the day we are saying things like, "Annika mommy can't hear you when you whine," "how do you ask nicely, " "we need to be kind/share", etc. I even find myself totally understanding how people flip out in public and yell at their children. Wow, people weren't joking when they said that as they grow older you start facing different, perhaps harder battles.

I am seeing more and more how God uses children to refine you. Annika you are teaching your mommy and daddy to be patient, to be consistent, and to persevere. Some friends of ours told us that they attended a parenting class in which the teacher said that there are no strong-willed children, only weak-willed parents. Well, darling girl, you have met your match.

I am writing down these not so fun parts of your life for two reasons: first, no one wants to read blogs about people with picture perfect lives, it just makes you feel bad. (But I do realize we all do it because its those beautiful things that you want to record.) Secondly, Annika, when you have babies of your own I want you to see that your mama faced the same battles that you one day will face with your own. And for the record, it is those very same battles that make the sweet moments all the more sweet.

Annika, when I get you up in the morning we always start the day praying for obedience, contentment and a grateful heart. I have to say that hardly a night goes by that I don't lie in bed counting my blessings, recounting all of the beautiful moments we shared that day and just smiling at the sweetness of having a two year old...I love you darling girl. To the moon and back.

Here you are in all your glory:
2 years, 5 months and a few days:

p.s.
-you currently give the BEST tight hugs and kisses, have the most contagious belly laugh, and have the raddest hair ever.
-You love love love Dora, and I do support that as you will finally try saying Spanish words to mommy.
-You have reverted to eating baby food again now that I make it for Audrey (Hey, if it gets you to eat veggies...)
-you still love music of all kinds
-you are a little fish and ask to go swimming every day
-you love cashews and always ask for just two of them, you say "dame, dame" a lot, which translates into "gimme gimme" but because you say it in Spanish I let you get by with it once in a while
-I can finally put your hair in a "pony" without you crying, in fact you ask for it now.

And to end this post: Our sweet moment of the day today was when you asked to cuddle with mommy for a while before bed. You laid on my chest and let me sing to you and play with your curls until I had to put you to bed because I was falling asleep. You are a sweet sweet girl.

Brilliant!

2011-05-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

Let's face it, we all think our kids are particularly brilliant. We are mesmerized by all that they can do at such a young age.

Sometimes it is justified, other times there are external forces at play...

This is one of those times where the real brilliance lies about 70 miles west of us in a little place called Cupertino which is the home to Apple.

Annika likes to play on my iPhone and Kara's iPad. My mom will bring her iPad over and play different games with her. When Annika was a little over a year she could already swipe through pictures on my phone. Pretty cool. A few weeks ago Annika picked up my phone off the counter and was sitting for about 5 minutes before she came to me to get help on a menu for a game. It dawned on me that she now knew how to slide to unlock my phone and start her own games.

She now knows how to find her games, and if she gets somewhere she doesn't know, she hits the bottom button and tries again. She knows not to go to my email or phone. She even taught herself to cancel out of the prompt at the start of Talking Tom to purchase other apps. She will spend time looking at pictures on my Mobile Me photo gallery (again, with no one's help), and has even found the iPod feature and listened to music, even going as far to scroll through songs until she finds one she likes (she will stop, start nodding her head, and say "got it" (I can't make this up)).

Kara and I talked about these things and finally came to the realization that while of course we think our child is a genius, the real acclaim goes to Mr. Steve Jobs and his brilliant team at Apple who has created a set of devices so intuitive that a 2 year old can easily enjoy herself without much effort.

Today we reached a tipping point. I grabbed my phone this morning to find my daughter had texted my brother in law last night (see pic below). While the first four lines are gibberish, I am happy to announce my daughter's first written/ typed word was "Tree."

Whether the auto fill in feature made this possible or she merely walked her fingers down the keyboard we will never know... the parent in me wants to believe it was her genius... the realist in me believes it was Apple being Apple... deep down, I know the truth...

Annika is a genius!

(please note the sarcasm above)

Daddy's post about Audrey

2011-05-22T21:58:00.000-07:00

I couldn't talk about both girls in one post, it had to be split into two.

Now that Audrey Leigh is six months old, I think I can honestly say there are only a few things that remind me of Annika: they looked identical the minute they were born (but very different once the swelling had subsided), they both are girls, they both have blue eyes (but very different blue eyes), they both have the initials ALJ.

From that point on, they are so different. Audrey is a very laid back baby. If she were a first born, she would be a sucker baby (you think it is so easy to have a kid you think a second will be no big deal- Avery Lehman would be the perfect example). She liberally gives out smiles to anyone who will talk to her. She has a cry to go to sleep, a cry to let you know she is hungry, and a cry that means she is lonely. She does have a 4th cry, Kara calls it her "mad as a hornet" cry, but it usually is the result of a combination of cries 1-3.

I love her smile, it lights up her entire face and is infectious. I love that she will smile for me like she hasn't seen me all day even if it is the 10th time I have asked for a smile in the past 2 minutes. I love how when you put her to bed she has a small fuzzy blanket she loves to hold onto with her fingers as she gets her thumb in her mouth, with the blanket smashed up against her face.

I love how she gets excited when Annika comes into her room to get her out of bed in the morning. She is mesmerized by her big sister, she giggles and laughs for her more than anyone else. I love how content she is in the crook of my arm and will often fall asleep there when I am reading to Annika at night when Kara is at work. I love that she already can't stand when I go to give her a zerbert on her belly and stop an inch away, she flinches and starts giggling over the anticipation.

I love when Kara puts her to bed at night and she is laying down Kara will lightly kiss her on the cheek and say "I love you" and Audrey will always oblige with a little smile, reciprocating the affection.

I love both of my girls' personalities and how truly different they are. It is fun to see them develop on a daily basis and see how having each other is a part of that development. Annika would be a different person without Audrey and vise versa.

The reality is, they are changing me on a daily basis as well, and I am thankful for them, what they teach me, and how much they let me love on them.

Audrey, you are a little gem, and I love getting to know you each day.

Daddy's talk about Annika

2011-05-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

Kara has been masterfully keeping this blog updated, tonight I felt it was time for daddy to contribute a post (or two).

I have always enjoyed two year olds. Maybe it's the age I relate to best. Two is fun, two is the border between complete dependence and belief that you should be independent. Personalities come out at two. Humor comes out at two. Crazy development of speech, remembering song tunes, counting, potty training comes at two (Annika is going strong on day 5 of potty training, she is a little champion- no accidents in 3 days).

Two also welcomes in strong will, defiance, mischief. Two brings testing limits. Two can be tiring, test your patience. With Annika, we have enjoyed/ encountered all the above. With Annika, the strong will is there, we have out battles, but they are quickly getting fewer and further in between. I marvel at what an amazing job Kara does with her. That girl doesn't get away with much!

The reality is, I love Annika at this age. While she is still putting words together amidst her own language, she communicates just fine. I love watching her nod her head to music. We will be playing Play Doh at the table and we will be listening to Jack Johnson, a Curious George song will come on and within the first 8 notes she will point behind her and say, "George." The next song to come on will be something random and within the same amount of time she will casually say, "No George." Yes babe, you know your music.

I love the fact that she would rather read and play than watch tv. She hardly cares to watch tv anymore, she would rather do 30 laps of barreling through our bathroom to me at the foot of the bed and have me throw her over my shoulder onto the pillows. I love that she HAS to close the door by the bathroom and stand wedged in the corner of our counter until I count to three before she will start running.

I love coming into her room in the evening before going to bed to see her crib completely in shambles, her body somehow contorted over blankets, books and pillows, and I just marvel at how much she reminds me of her mother. I love walking into her room in the morning when she calls for mommy and daddy and when she sees me she immediately yells daddy and then quickly follows with a finger over her mouth and "shhhhhh, mommy," because she knows there is a good chance that mommy is asleep from working the night before, or Audrey is still sleeping and we shouldn't wake her up.

I love how Annika is learning how to be a big sister. How she already knows that Audrey looks up to her, and that by being goofy she can get the smiles and giggles out of her sister that no one else can. I love that having a sister is teaching her to share her things, her mommy, and sometimes her personal space.

I marvel at how she is wired. How on one hand she can completely destroy her bed, make her hair and face a mess, yet at the same time have this uncanny need for order. She will start singing "Clean up, clean up," go into the pantry, pull out the swiffer and get busy without any prompting. She will put away toys because she is done with them without us saying a word. If I pull out a Clorox wipe, she runs to me and says, "clean, clean" because she wants to help and wipe down the counter. I love how much she is an extrovert, how she LOVES people, until she is done and must go home (again, her mother). I love when she gets unravelled she will calm down if you pray with her.

While not always easy, Annika at two has been awesome. Kara is an awesome mom, and I am a lucky dad.

gag

2011-05-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

Apparently our daughters have incredibly strong gag reflexes. I fed audrey avocado the other day and this is how she responded:

Remember when I tried to feed poor annika ground up chicken here...

In other news: we got a deuce! Couldn't be more proud.

big girl

2011-05-18T20:50:00.000-07:00

People, we are biting the bullet and have decided to start potty training miss Annika. We decided it was time for 3 reasons:
1-annika can't stand to be wet or dirty for longer than 5 minutes
2-we are tired of spending over $50 a month at costco for diapers (you don't get as many big girl diapers in a pack)
3-I had some time off work and had the energy to go for it.

We've been talking about the potty for quite a while now trying to get our girl ready for the big day and Eric's mom got annika some really cute panties (sorry lynds-she hates that word). So last week annika really wanted to put her new panties on. I got really excited and thought, man this is going to be easy. Then within 30 minutes Annika had wet 3 panties and had two accidents right next to the toilet. So, we called it quits that day and started anew yesterday.

I was totally dreading our first day...mainly because it means we have to stay home ALL DAY LONG. I asked my sister for advice because thats what I do instead of reading parenting books and reading parenting blogs...in my opinion they will only make you crazy. Besides, I think my sister is doing a great job raising her kids, so I figure she is a good person to ask. Anyway, she suggested that I take annika to the bathroom every 10-15 minutes and offer her a treat (candy, stickers, whatever) if she goes in the potty.

Yesterday, day 1 of potty training, began at 8 am. Every 10-15 minutes until 1 pm we ran to the bathroom and tried to go potty. We failed and failed and failed until about 12:00. By fail I don't mean accidents, just failure to produce...and let me tell you, there wear giant alligator tears...major meltdowns people...every time we failed. Oh the drama! At this point I was hating all those people that say that potty training was just easy for them...

So with one success, I put our big girl down for her afternoon nap, diapered of course. First words out of her mouth after her nap were "wet, icky." Nice, I thought, she's getting it. My sister suggested I hydrate her a little more in the afternoon so that we would have more successes. Lo and behold our little girl went 5 times in the big girl potty. 5 times and NO accidents.

I was still dreading today, but it proved to be a much better day. 7 times before lunch people...and again NO accidents! Granted, I am still reminding her every 5 minutes.

All that said, we are committed. Hopefully this doesn't take long, but I know we are at the point of no return. I will spare you all the details from here on out and just let you know when we've got it:) I pray that it happens soon!

girls, girls, girls

2011-05-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Heather and the girls stayed over at our place for the night. So much fun to have all those girls together!

Doesn't get much better than this...

Thanks for the visit miller girls! We love you!

baby love

2011-04-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

Audrey Leigh, how did you get so big so fast?!

our sweet audrey. 5 months and one week today.

my buddy

2011-04-08T17:20:00.000-07:00

I now have an artichoke eating buddy. Love you baby girl.

fun family visit

2011-04-06T20:19:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we were blessed to spend a few days with Gramma Great (Van Essen) and Auntie Marcia (one of may dad's sisters). It was so great to spend a few days with them. Lynds and I just kept talking about how nice it would be to have gramma great and aunties closer. The kids loved all of the attention and we loved catching up. Since you left Annika has been walking around with your christmas card talking about your doggie aunt marcia. I only have a few pictures, but check out the schenk's blog for more of all the california greats. We miss you guys! Thanks for all the love (and haircuts)! We love you! grandma, working on the pictures...just email me and ask me about them if you don't get them soon;) you have to stay on me!

It's Spring (New Video)

2011-04-01T08:40:00.001-07:00

Somehow winter passed without a new video. Life moves fast!

afternoon with ethan

2011-03-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

This Christmas Lynds and I were brainstorming about what we could give eachother's children as gifts. We talked about how we wanted to give them something other than "stuff" that just ends up cluttering the living room. Lyndsay had a great idea. She said that as the kids got older it would be fun to gift them with "quality time" spent with aunties and uncles.

The girls were a little bit too young to understand how cool quality time with family really is, but I did include that as part of Ethan's gift. (Partly because Ethan would rather spend time with Uncle now and I get a little bit jealous as he used to be aunties little buddy). Anyway, we gave him some chapter books and an afternoon of reading with Auntie.

As I have not been working the past couple of weeks and it has been rainy rainy, I figured this was a good week for Ethan to cash in on his gift. So on Monday he came over while the girls were taking their afternoon naps and we played and played. We read and played legos (which I am not very good at). Then When annika woke up we played some more, did a craft, and then watched a little George. It was so fun to have Ethan around for the afternoon...he is such a sweet little boy, and pretty funny too. He told me I should "shoot uncle an email and let him know that we played with his old legos."

All our guys lined up ready to race!

oh my! look at all those legos!

Ethan making Audrey laugh.

Doing our craft. Ethan is great to have around with Annika. She just thinks he is the greatest and he entertains her. I think he has a lot more patience for her than for his little sister.

The finished products. A pirate for Ethan.

And a monkey for Annika of course!

daddy come home!

2011-03-23T20:54:00.000-07:00

On February 8th I reached my one year employment mark at DMC and thus was able to finally take part of my FMLA and be "off work" to be home with my babies. The use of the "bunny ears" (e-that's for you) is to recognize that as a mommy "work" is a full time thing whether you do it in the house or outside of it. I have experienced life as a working mom and a stay at home mom, and each of them has its challenges, but I have to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed my time home these past two weeks bonding with my new baby and my big girl.

It worked out perfectly for me to be off for these couple of weeks as E is off on a big business trip. Having Eric gone has made me realize just how spoiled I am having him work from home the majority of the time. E is a very hands-on daddy and I am so very blessed to have him as my partner in raising our children.

Daddy gets home tomorrow and we are very excited! We are surviving, but on this our 4th day without daddy (on one of the rainiest weeks of the year i might add) I have to admit that we have watched far too much George, spent way too much time browsing blogs, and have eaten an ungodly amount of pretzel m&ms. We are ready for you to come home E.

And I am ready to see my girls at work too...and that feels good.

our little audrey leigh...

2011-03-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

is a thumb-sucker.

and i think it is adorable. i practically force the pacifier on my babies from day one, but this little one has decided that her chubby little thumb tastes better...as long as you can break the habit by the time you go to school little one. Although...who am i to speak? i still bite my fingernails...bad, i know!

this one is for her daddy. we miss you e. be safe in the d.f. we love you!

thirty!

2011-03-09T20:39:00.000-08:00

I thought it was only appropriate to write something on this the eve of my 30 birthday. Thirty is kind of a big deal. Its one of those birthdays you tend to think of as so far off until its right there in front of you. Some days I feel like so much has happened in my 20s that I've just gotta be older than 30, and other days I can't believe that I'm kissing my 20s goodbye tonight.

The other day E and I went out for dinner and the hostess (a darling 87-year-old young lady) was asking us how old our children were. We told her 2 and 4 months and she commented about how close they are in age. Without thinking I said, "well we had to get moving, we started later...I had my first when I was 29." In my mind that was absolutely correct. E just looked at me with a weird expression and said, "babe you are 29 now and you have a 2-year-old." Kid you not I had to think about that for a second to realize that he was right. Its just hard to believe that I have gotten married, finished nursing school, had two children, moved and started my career all since I turned 26. Needless to say, the 20s were a bit hectic.

I am excited about this decade. The 20s were tough for me trying to figure out who I was, what I wanted to do...I'm not too sad to leave that behind. Women in their 30s have always seemed so much more confident than I ever felt in my 20s (or maybe they just become better actors;)). Either way I am excited to join the club.

So here's to 30. May you be all that I've built you up to be!

And here are some pictures for those of you who don't really care what I write, but just want to see pictures of the little cuties:

I spent my last day as a 20-something sleeping in (thank you eric), going for a long run (again thank you e), reading lots of books with my girls, rocking with sweet audrey during annika's nap time, having my favorite "single girl" dinner (artichoke and a glass of wine--e doesn't like artichokes so I have to have them when he is gone), and getting ready for our trip to TAHOE! We leave tomorrow morning and I am so excited! Thank you aunt caron and uncle frank for the trip and thank you to mama Jung for watching the girls! Girls I will miss you terribly but am so excited to spend some time on the slopes with your daddy!

fun with the lehmans!

2011-03-07T20:39:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago Tate, Eric and Avery stopped by to see us before they headed down the coast with Eric's parents. It was SO great to see them and catch up. We miss you guys so much!

As soon as we got out of our cars at the lookout point in the Marin Headlands after driving up the twisty road through the green hills in the misty SF weather Tate said something like "oh just give me my running shoes and I'm in heaven." Oh I love that girl. She is indeed my kindred spirit. Its so nice to be with friends who just get you...who know what you are thinking before you say it. We shared many L&D stories and laughed for hours over the joys of working night shift, the trials of the first year as a new nurse and the challenges involved with juggling parenting, working and marriage...our poor Erics have their hands full with us.

Annika loved the city...she loved walking up and down the hills. I see many mommy/daughter trips in our future sweet girl!

Avery Joy is such a sweet girl. She is happy most of the time. I hadn't seen her since she was tiny so it was so fun to be able to see her little personality this time.

We didn't get a picture of the whole group together...the daddies were the ones behind the cameras most of the day. Check out how big Audrey looks by Avery. Yes, they are about the same size...actually I think avery's tummy is even smaller than Audrey's. Avery is about 10 months and Audrey is 3 and a half...we grow them big

Annika was tuckered out after our busy day in the city. George and baby go everywhere with us.

reading

2011-03-02T20:31:00.000-08:00

Annika just cracks me up with her language. She does have quite a few words, but she mainly just jabbers all day long. All the syntax is there, just not the words. We just laugh because we know that in her head she is making perfect sense...pretty soon we will know exactly what she is saying. I just wanted to make sure we have this part of her language development recorded because it is absolutely precious.

Annika is finally letting me read to her again. For quite a while she just wanted to read to herself, which actually worked out quite well for me because we would just sit together on the couch...aj with her books, and me with mine. I do love reading to kids though. I have such fond memories of reading with my mom and sister in the evenings. Me on one side with my green apple, my sister on the other with her red one, mom in the middle reading Laura Ingalls Wilder...good memories.

audrey leigh

2011-02-24T20:25:00.000-08:00

Baby girl you are 3 and a half months already! Time has flown by and you are growing and changing by the day. Sorry to say honey, but it is true...second children don't get nearly as much camera time as firsts, but that doesn't mean that we aren't loving watching you learn and change and grow.

For the most part you are what the girls at work call a "sucker baby"; meaning, babies like you sucker their parents into having another...NO, WE ARE NOT HAVING ANOTHER...yet. You pretty much taught yourself to sleep through the night.
Either that or your daddy lets you cry it out when I'm at work (I failed miserably when we tried to do that with your big sis).

Speaking of your big sister, you love to watch her run around and sing and dance...built in entertainment...very nice for mommy and daddy. You love to smile, and when you do your little dimples show...mainly on the right side, just like your mommy and your nana. You have your daddy's eyes and I think you may get his blonde hair too...when you're in the sun your hair looks pretty light. You are trying very hard to roll over. You've done it a couple of times accidentally and kind of scared yourself.

Before we had you I did not understand how I would have enough love for TWO babies. I thought I would somehow split the love I felt for your sister between you two. But thats not how it works baby. The love multiplies exponentially. I love seeing your sister in a new light, I love seeing you two interact, I love to see you with your daddy, and I could not be more in love with you. We can't imagine our lives without you Audrey.

I don't have any height/weight stats for you yet because mommy is a slacker and didn't get your insurance coverage sorted out until recently...don't worry, we're good now. You will have your 2 month appt Monday, only a month and a half late. You may as well get used to it though because you and your sister will soon be helping daddy find mommy's keys, and remember to RSVP to things, and get necessary paper work filled out. We love you miss Audrey Leigh.

two

2011-01-30T20:42:00.000-08:00

January 28, 2011

Sweet girl, you are TWO years old today. You are losing your baby face and your baby ways, but my darling, you will always be our baby girl. In my wildest dreams I could not have imagined that God would give me a daughter like you...so full of life, so spunky, so lovable, so YOU.

I worked the eve of your birthday and on one of my breaks I just happened to turn to a chapter in Shauna Niequist's Bittersweet in which she talks about her boy Henry. The chapter is entitled "whole heart." I could not help but picture my own little "luscious" girl as she described her son. She states, "The two words that describe you perfectly are Irrepressible and luscious...You are so physical, so rough and wiggling, and then in the very next moment, you want me to hold you like a baby, stroking my face with Lambie. And you are just luscious--round, pink cheeks, tender neck, grubby, chubby hands. Every part of you is round and grab-able and waiting to be kissed." Earlier she talks about how she imagined her son while she was pregnant and how Henry surpassed her "best dreams." She says, "My favorite people in the world have big, huge personalities and a little bit of swagger..."

Sweetheart, you are the biggest personality I know. You walk around the house on your phone jabbering and jabbering, occasionally throwing in a "dayeeanmama" (daddyandmama) "no, no, no" then going back to your elaborate jabbering that I know I will miss as one day words will replace those jabbers. You insist on going to bed now with your George, your baby and your phone that auntie Ang got for you and I love waking up to hear you talking away on the other side of the wall.

You have a clear opinion about style and comfort. You cried when I tried to put a pink tutu on you the other day and said "off off." (I have to admit baby, that made me proud:)) You refuse to wear your patent leather Mary Janes, BUT you would wear your zebra print rain boots and your magenta coat all day every day if I let you. You love to put "pretties" (clips) in your hair but put up a huge fight if I try to put a pony tail in (although if I do manage to get one in you love to check yourself out in the mirror.)

Annika, you are not as generous as your sister is with your smiles, but when you do decide to turn on the charm you are irresistable....like the time you had to give all the guys on your papa's golf team a kiss goodbye after dinner or when you blow kisses to everyone leaving the nursery on Sunday.

We are lucky to have such a big helper around the house. You love to help unload the dishwasher, clean the floors, fold the laundry and take care of your sister. Her face is always nice and clean;)

You like to go on walks with your stroller and baby and mommy's stroller and her baby. Most of the time we just happen to end up at your cousins' house...you know exactly how to get there now. Ethan is still your favorite and you really wish you could play basketball with him...soon enough baby. You love to have dinner with everyone around the dinner table and you grin from ear to ear when we get to hold hands and pray...you and Morgan just look at each other and giggle...yeah, mommy peeks at you two and it makes me smile.

You love to go bye-bye with your nana and have picnics with your grandmama. You love going for rides in papa's golf cart and playing cars with grandpa.

Lately we can't get you to sit still for a picture, but you sure like to take pictures of everyone else...one thing you are not is a performer, but you are the biggest helper we know.

As she closes the chapter Niequests shares, "My parents tell me all the time that I deserved a kid like you. They tell me this when you're being naughty--when you run away from me, or when you look me in the eye and say no. They say, you deserved this, as they laugh...But I know better than to think for even one second that I deserve you...You're all the best parts of life. You teach me and push me and wear me out, and you delight me and make me laugh so hard I cry. I don't know how I ended up with a kid like you, but I am thankful every day...I love you with my whole heart."

Annika, we love you with our whole hearts. You are a gift. Happy happy birthday.

sleep

2011-01-21T21:51:00.000-08:00

For the first few weeks after audrey was born every time he saw me Ethan would say, "How are you sleeping auntie?" or "how did audrey sleep last night?" (pretty funny coming out of the mouth of a 4-year-old)Gosh i love that little dude.

The reason for the obession with sleep these days?

these little angels...AND a little thing called the night shift. Tate, i know ya feel me...oh sweet sweet sleep, how i love thee.

December Pics

2011-01-11T22:05:00.000-08:00

Annika, for the most part, is an angel, especially around her little sister. Sometimes, though, she still let's us know she has quite the will.

The Millers came over for lunch on their way home from the snow, the girls all had a ball together.

Rockin' it.

We're getting the present thing now.

Cousin all got matching carts, Annika laughed for an hour driving around with EJ and Mo.

Cold day, high winds, need to get out of the house= Children's Museum!

Rob and Devon live at the end of our block. Their daughter Jaya is a few months older than Annika and they just had a new baby daughter Hollis, so we get to enjoy life stages together. Jaya saw Annika's boots and bugged her mom for two days until she ordered her a pair for herself. They are pretty cute together, even though Annika still doesn't always like to share... there's always something to work on.

just a few pictures

2010-12-20T20:35:00.000-08:00

Enjoying a yummy little holiday drink at Spanish Bay

First Bath

Its really hard to get a good picture of Annika lately. She doesn't like to pose...rather be behind the camera these days.

Thanks to Eric's generous grandparents and people who buy things, never use them, and then sell them on Craig's list, we were able to purchase a double BOB and the mental and physical well being of these little girls' parents. We logged many a mile on the BOB with Annika when she was a baby and I look forward to many more miles with these two girls. Thank you BOB. You are, once again, a live saver.

Annika has a little stool that she climbs up on to help mommy and daddy with the cooking. She is growing up so fast!

for jill and derek

2010-12-14T20:51:00.000-08:00

Trust me, life isn't ALWAYS as beautiful as we like to portray it on our blog;) Really though, who wants to remember days like this?

Audrey's First Month

2010-12-09T10:45:00.001-08:00

adjusting to 2

2010-12-07T20:59:00.000-08:00

People have been asking me how the adjustment to 2 has been. For me, the shift from one to two has been easier than from none to one...SO FAR...I know I may end up eating my words as Audrey nears the end of the newborn stage and becomes more awake and aware. Audrey has been a very good baby for the most part. She sleeps well during the night and allows me and Annika to drag her all over on our morning outings. Annika loves to go bye bye...doesn't really matter where as long as we get out of the house in the mornings. If we don't, all three of us may end up in tears by lunchtime:) Luckily Audrey hasn't objected to these excursions to the grocery store, library, park, costco, the coffee shop...you name it.

Annika has been such a good big sister. She is so sweet with Audrey. Giving her lots of kisses and pats and making sure she has her binkie when she cries. She likes to change, dress and feed her baby just like mommy does with Audrey. Eric and I are still shocked at how well she has handled the adjustment.

Though it is not always easy, I am loving life with these two little girls. We are very blessed.

p.s. If I had written this post last night it would have been far less positive as I'm pretty sure one of the girls was in tears at all times yesterday until about 9 pm last night...oh the joys...

The Birth Story

2010-11-19T21:19:00.000-08:00

Warning: this is a very long post, being an L&D nurse I love to hear birth stories, so for those of you who are like me I will try to relate the days events as best as possible. For those of you who couldn't care less, just ignore this post. This may take me a while as my new little angel is just like her big sister in that she is FUSSY from 6 to 9. The only cure to this "witching hour"? Being in mommy's arms. Good thing she's cute...irresitibly so.

As I mentioned, I was scheduled for an induction on the 13th, Audrey's due date. I was nervous about inducing because often times interventions lead to more interventions which can land you in the OR pretty quickly. But our baby was staying put, so we woke up nice and early Saturday morning and headed down to the hospital. One of our charge nurses called me the night before and asked which room I would like and who I would like to be my nurse which was awesome. The nurse I requested works per diem which means she would be first to be cut on a slow day, which indeed Saturday was. However a couple of other nurses had already requested off, so she came in...God's hand already at work.

When we arrived at the hospital and I saw that my night nurses had decorated the entire room for me I began to feel more at ease and very loved. Also, one of my favorite nurses who trained me during orientation was charge that day...another God-send.

I went through the routine that I have been through a hundred times with my patients...the whole thing a bit surreal being on the other side again. I was hooked up to the external monitors, an IV was placed, and pitocin was started. Pitocin is a synthetic form of oxytocin which is a hormone the body naturally produces that stimulates uterine contractions. It is important to be monitored continually when on pitocin because it can overstimulate the uterus and cause the baby more stress.

Everything was going very well for the first few hours. The baby's heartrate looked beautiful, I was having mild contractions and I was able to ambulate around the unit. At around 10:30 am the doctor on call showed up and wanted to check me to see how I was progressing. I got back into bed and just as I layed down on my back the baby had a significant deceleration (heart rate dropped) to the 90s for what seemed to me like an eternity...probably 90 seconds. Here is where the "nurse curse" became real to me. Our ears are trained to hear every little decel and accel while we are going about our work...so immediately I got onto my side, then the other side when that wasn't working.

My heart started racing and I could literally see my doctor planning my c-section and I freaked out. I think my first thought was, "oh no, I haven't prepared Annika for the fact that I may not be able to pick her up if I have surgery." Then worse thoughts like, "what if something goes wrong." I literally wanted to rip off the monitors and walk out of the hospital. I don't remember a time when I was so scared. All the while the nurse and doctor were talking about the possible causes of the decel...it was likely a cord that the baby was laying on. The doctor asked my nurse for an amniohook (device used to break the water) and said she would apply internal monitors to monitor baby and contractions better. Mind you the doctor had just said that she was able to "bounce the baby's head around" meaning it was not fully engaged, meaning there would be danger that the cord could slip down past the baby's head necessitating an emergency cesarean. I looked at Eric pleading for him to say something (I think I felt like I shouldn't say too much being that I have to work with this doctor). So bless his heart Eric asked what the internals were for and why we needed them at this point. I pleaded with her not to break my water just yet. She agreed that she would leave me for 30 minutes, give the baby a chance to recover and we would reevaluate. She left the room and immediately my nurse Star grabbed my hand and Eric's and prayed that God would move the cord and protect the baby through labor. Slowly I stopped shaking, slowed my breathing, and my heart rate and the baby's returned back to normal. (The baby's heart rate had risen quite a bit in what the doctor called "overcompensating" for the decel. I think it was because I was so worked up.)

The baby continued to do better and better, but I then started having variable decels with contractions. (there are 3 types of decelerations: early, late, and variable. Early decels usually indicate head compression and are reassuring, late decels indicate placental insufficiency and are not reassuring and variable decels often indicate cord compression or decent of baby). I was still in very early labor so this was disconcerting for me. We put on music and I just started praying and praying. I moved into every position possible to try to relieve the pressure on the cord. Finally I stood up at the side of the bed and just swayed with Eric and the decels went away. We stayed like that for about 3 hours...baby looked better than it had all day.

Each contraction got stronger and stronger and came more and more regularly. I remember when the pain got to the point where I thought about an epidural. Eric asked me one time if I wanted it, and all I could think was that I had to be able to move around if the baby had more decels. Also, there is a possibility that your blood pressure can drop after an epidural which can in turn cause further problems for the baby. I didn't want to do anything else that could hurt the baby. So I decided we would do it without. Thank goodness nobody asked me again if I wanted the epidural, cuz I would have caved. Star never even mentioned it. I did ask for Fentanyl when I was about 5-6 cms dilated which was amazing for about 40 minutes.

The doctor came in shortly after and decided to break my water. The head was now well engaged and I the nurse and doctor felt that labor would really speed up if I was ruptured. She broke my water, labor REALLY kicked in...I mean wanting to climb the walls and beg for the epidural and gripping Eric's hand with all of my strength and making sounds I didn't know I could kicked in. I went from 6 cms to 10 in under an hour. Eric was amazing and helped me through every single contraction. Counting them down, telling me how many more breaths to take, cheering me on. I didn't feel like I could make it through one without him there, so I never let go of his hand.

Just when I thought I could not wait any longer I heard the doctor say "she's complete." I just thought "thank God I can push this baby out." I started pushing at 5:45 pm and delivered our beautiful baby at 5:52. The entire time I pushed the baby's heart rate was again in the 90s, but with good variability (not a straight line, but varying 6-25 beats from baseline). All I could think about when pushing was how in the heck women do this and push for 1-2 hours WITHOUT an epidural...amazing! I could not believe it when the doctor put the baby on my chest. We did it. After a few seconds I realized we didn't know what we had. I reached for her legs and asked Eric what we had. As they took the baby to the warmer to dry and stimulate I heard him say, "we have another little girl." I remember saying over and over, that's what I wanted. As soon as she started crying more strongly (she was a little stunned from the birth...took her about 45 seconds to really cry hard) they took her back to me and I felt like I was looking at Annika again...it was surreal.

The first words out of my mouth after Annika's birth (WITH EPIDURAL): "That was fun, I want to do that again."

First words out of my mouth after Audrey's birth (WITHOUT EPIDURAL): "I never want to do that again."

Seriously. BUT, now that a week has gone by I agree that you really do forget the pain. Thank goodness because otherwise there would be no children.

I know that my experience with Audrey's birth will make me a better L&D nurse and though it was difficult I am very thankful for how it happened.

Things I have learned:
1: a good labor coach/support person is worth his/her weight in gold. Do not underestimate your value daddy's.
2: it is CRUEL to tell a woman who feels like she wants to push not to push...CRUEL.
3: Pray

Family Visits at the Hospital

2010-11-18T14:07:00.000-08:00

Kara and Audrey were released on Monday afternoon, Kara decided to enjoy one more night at the hospital under the care of her great nurses. This gave us a little more time for family to visit.

Annika loves, LOVES, her new sister. We have only had to prompt her once to give her sister a kiss. She loves getting to hold Audrey and makes sure she gets a kiss before going to bed. We know it won't always be this peaceful, but it has been a great start.

Annika is becoming more of a comedian. Her favorite game is to play "Wake up!" Where we all pretend to fall asleep and then jump up. It creates hours of fun.

Nana

Papa

Aunt Lyndsay

Great Grandpa and Grandmama

Grandmama... Grandpa was there but has managed to catch a cold on the day of both of his grand daughters being born, so he was behind the camera this weekend.

Thanks for all of the love and support, we have definitely felt it whether near or far.

Officially introducing Audrey Leigh Jung!

2010-11-14T22:50:00.000-08:00

We will back up a little bit and start out with a few pics leading up to the main event...

If you are curious as to what she is watching, you shouldn't be.

Last night as on only child...

And push she did!

Outside the hospital, not looking like she is at 40 weeks at all.

Kara delivered at the hospital where she works, which meant she had a ton of love and support from the nurses she works with. Brandi is due in a few weeks and the ladies have worked through their pregnancies together.

Her night nurse crew also decorated the room for her, including stars on the ceiling and flowers made of hospital resources. Like I said, she was loved on from the moment we arrived.

I wore the shirt for two reasons: 1. she was delivering on the due date and 2. in case I ever wanted to say, "Breathe!" I could just point at the "Keep pushing!"on the shirt instead. Luckily, I never said breathe nor had to defer to the shirt. (Kara got the shirt from a group promoting the new movie when we were in San Francisco during game 1 of the World Series)

There she is! I will let Kara share what details she wants about the delivery. I will only say a few things. 1. My wife is an amazing woman and was a champion through a day that at was not easy, 2. Audrey is a beautiful, healthy baby, 3. God's hand was evident in that room throughout the day in more ways than we will ever know.

This is Star, our nurse and a God-send for Kara. Kara trained under Star when she first started working at the hospital. Kara was able to request her for the delivery. The charge nurse (Mary) was also someone Kara trained under and these two ladies were incredible. The day would have looked a lot different had it not been for these two ladies.

The nurses and doctors had a betting wall for weight and gender, Audrey walked away with the cash.

Thank you all for your prayers and notes, they were greatly felt and appreciated.

Introducing...

2010-11-13T18:33:00.000-08:00

Audrey Leigh
born at 5:52 pm
8 pounds, 15 ounces
21 inches long

baby and mom are doing great. Thank you for your prayers, they were felt throught our entire day.

Pictures to follow.

tomorrow

2010-11-12T20:22:00.000-08:00

Well people, looks like an induction is happening tomorrow. I was holding out hope that labor would kick in this past week, but even after all of those 12 hour shifts on my feet this baby just wants to stay nice and cozy for a little longer than the doctor would like (don't blame him/her...its been cold here lately:)) I had Annika a couple of days before my due date (and people have been warning me to take it easy for so long at work) so I thought for sure this one would come even earlier...nope...this one is even more stubborn. Must be a boy.

Because of the GDM the doctor will not let me go beyond 40 weeks. This is because there is danger of the placenta deteriorating more rapidly in patients with GDM. I am frustrated that I am not able to just let this happen naturally...not really looking forward to lying in a hospital bed as they slowly increase the Pitocin to make each contraction a little stronger, stronger, stronger...but hey, the epidural was a great friend to me last time and I'm sure it will be again. I have a good book and a few magazines and my wonderful husband to keep me company...we're going to try to make it a great day!

I have seen some inductions go very well and have friends who have had great experiences with inductions. I have also seen some that have not gone so well...needless to say I am nervous and would appreciate all of your prayers mañana. Muchísimas gracias.

un besito...hasta mañana,
kj

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

2010-11-12T14:09:00.000-08:00

I only watched the show 24 for one season. The seconds beeping away every commercial break still haunt me (beep, BEEP, beep, BEEP). I think the past few days have felt like that for Kara. Nothing really to report on yet. I pulled out the baby seat and swing this week, it took Annika about two minutes to figure out what they were for.

This week has been one of the best weeks with Annika, she has been an angel. We quickly realized this is a blessing as life is about to get hectic here shortly.

We will keep you all posted on all major developments.

Bye Bye!

2010-10-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

Annika knows when she is in to something that she shouldn't be.

the countdown

2010-10-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

I had my first in the series of "countdown doctors visits" before baby #2 arrives so I figured we'd better at least post 1 belly shot before the belly is no more. I felt like I had the gestation of an elephant when I was pregnant with Annika because we talked so much about it from the moment we found out I was pregnant. We waited quite a while to talk openly about this one and now all of a sudden I find myself 35 weeks pregnant and actually having to make plans around a due date. Crazy! This pregnancy has been great besides the fact that I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes...what?! Its actually been a good way to limit weight gain as I can't eat sweets and have to limit carbs...I'm hoping getting back into shape will be easier. I'm still working full time and enjoying the distraction. Annika is not quite sure what she thinks about having another baby around. She doesn't really want much to do with her new little cousins so it will be interesting to see how she handles her own little brother or sister. I asked Eric tonight what we are going to do with a second baby as it all seems a little overwhelming right now. He just simply said, "love it." Duh! Anyway, we are getting excited to welcome our new baby girl or boy!

I got these scrubs as a going away gift from my growth group girls before I left San Diego. They were supposed to by my "power suit" for my new job. Honestly during my first few months on the job these were a life saver for my self confidence. I would often come home and just think...man you have to have thick skin to be a nurse. It helped a lot to think about you ladies and your tireless support. I love and miss you guys...and I'm glad we didn't end up exchanging those scrub bottoms for the smaller size. These have gotten me through the pregnancy! Don't worry, I'm not wearing the top anymore...I just put it on for the picture. Yes I realize my belly is hanging out.

Aj loves her daddy's visor....and her baby. She takes that baby everywhere.

Cuddling with daddy. I am so lucky to have a husband that is so hands on with our daughter. He takes such good care of her!

And finally...fall is here. Thank goodness. Beautiful October skies are a breath of fresh air!

Final days of summer...

2010-10-03T20:29:00.000-07:00

The days are simple, and so sweet.

...the only downside of fall arriving is it means another season of our little girl growing up.

Good times in Pebble

2010-09-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

Since we moved back here in December I have been dreading the HOT valley summer...lucky for us this has been one of the most mild summers in years and fortunately we were able to spend a couple of long weekends this summer in one of our favorite COOL places. Eric said on our drive out to Pebble it was like Christmas came over me once we hit the fog in Seaside.

Annika loves the cool weather just like her mama as evidenced by that little smiling face.

She now loves to climb all the rocks down at the beach...she prefers to do it all by herself, but that gives mommy a heart attack so we make her hold our hands against her strong little will.

Not so happy to leave the beach.

Though we didn't get any pics to document it, Eric and I got to go out one afternoon and evening and play a full round of golf and enjoy a lovely dinner. Thanks mom and dad for sharing the house with us and watching annika so we relax and have a fun weekend away before our lives get even more crazy with #2!

Annika is 18 months!

2010-08-19T21:53:00.000-07:00

Sunday Morning with Dad

2010-08-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

There is always something special about Sunday mornings. Nothing compares to the hours before church in the summer when it is beautiful weather and everything is rather quiet. Today Kara came home from a night shift and after she went to bed Annika and I went to unload the laundry. This is becoming a favorite pastime of Annika's. She jumped in our sheets and started giggling, next thing I knew she was laying down in them. She was nice enough to wait and let me take a picture.

She has also become a fan of reading, even though she was disappointed when The Message didn't come with pictures. She opened it up, looked at me, flipped through the pages, grunted, stood up, closed the book and went back and put it away.

Like I said, she loves the washer and dryer.

She did this last week. She found her beanie and just had to have it on. She somehow found her binkie and snuck a hit off it.

she's a lover

2010-08-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

It often seems like Annika saves her crabbiest moods for mommy. She will be a little angel until I walk into the room and the minute she sees me its like she just falls apart. It sometimes makes me feel like I'm not doing something right. The other day however, my weekly "My toddler this week" update from BabyCenter brought me some reassurance. It read: "Is your child a ray of sunshine at daycare but a thundercloud when you show up on the scene? Try not to get upset by these end-of-day meltdowns. They're signs of true love. Your toddler knows that its safe to let out all of her pent-up feelings around you."

Oh baby girl, I love you in spite of, even because of, the fact that you let out your pent-up feelings on mommy. It just makes days like today when you couldn't stop telling mommy and daddy that you love us even more special...

Every day before her nap and every night before bed Annika tells me and her daddy that she loves us. She can't quite put her little pinkie up yet, but we know exactly what she is saying.

Big helper

2010-07-24T22:34:00.000-07:00

Shaver Lake!

2010-07-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we got to meet up with friends from Fresno and San Diego at Shaver Lake. After a week of all of us being sick, it was great to get in the fresh air and have time with friends.

Annika loves hanging out with her adopted aunts. There were three babies there (17 mo, 12 mo, and 3 mo) which made it eventful, but many hands made it fun.

The Lehman Crew

The King Crew

The Jung Crew

Annika spent after a day on the boat. One of the few times she actually slept in Kara's arms for more than a minute.
Ok, quick story... we were staying at Jill's parent's cabin. Jill's husband, Derek, had to work Friday. As he was leaving he looked at me and said, "Good luck driving the boat today." I didn't think too much of it.

Well, the boat is a "Party Barge" pontoon boat. Let's just say a lot bigger than what I am used to. To make matters worse, there was a huge wind that day that was blowing into the docks. When we went to pull out of the slip, the wind was so strong it wouldn't let me turn the boat. So we end up zig zagging our way down the docks for about 10 slips. It was an all hands on deck moment, everyone pushing off of boats that we were inches from hitting. Finally, Jon was able to grab on to one boat and it anchored us just enough to turn up wind and get out of dodge. How we didn't hit anything is a miracle. Nice work everyone, it was definitely a memory made together! Derek, thanks for the heads up, sort of!

With Aunt Michelle, which was a lifesaver here as AJ was being a little pill until Michelle volunteered to take her for a few minutes. Swing time makes the world a better place.

Some Randoms...

2010-07-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

Some Summertime pics...

Annika loves shoes, hers or whoevers.

She also loves bags, especially putting things in and taking things out.

It is now easier to go to the grocery store and let her push the cart... even though she is realizing that she can pick things up from the shelves and put them in the cart herself. We have to be a little more careful when we check out to make sure mystery items haven't made it in.

Going to the park with Cousin Morgan.

Annika in the Pool!!!

2010-07-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

Swimming has become our one escape from the heat (other than going to SF). Say the word "ready" with Annika in the pool and her head is underwater, she is becoming a little fish.

Annika Lately

2010-06-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

The other night I was looking back through our blog and reading all of our posts up to Annika's birth. I loved reading about her milestones and seeing how much she has grown and how her little personality has developed. I realize that I am never going to be one of those moms that has a baby book put together for Annika....just not the scrapbooking type...but I would like Annika to be able to look back on this blog someday and read about what she was like when she was little. So, even though at times it feels kind of self indulgent to blog so much about my baby, I am going to try to be better about it so that we have these memories documented.

So here is Annika lately:

LOVES:

strawberries, blueberries, raspberries...any kind of berry

Dogs

Curious George

her mama and daddy (at least thats what her smile says when we get her up in the morning)

her cousins

the pool

going "bye bye"

golf balls

music

playing outside

her binkies (yes she still has them at bedtime)

her baby

her blankies

HATES:

garbage trucks and loud tractors

rinsing her hair out in the bath

going to bed...our little girl used to get so excited to "find her binkies and go nigh night"...not lately. We hope this is a very short phase.

Getting her diaper changed...maybe you should learn to use the big girl potty, ha little one?

Annika is trying to say more and more words every day, but isn't a huge talker yet...she just kinda jabbers in her own little language. Every once in a while she will say something like "yeah" or "all done" and it sounds plain as day, but then she won't repeat it. I do try to teach her most words in English and Spanish so I just tell myself that maybe she's just a little confused as to what exactly we want her to call certain objects:)

Our little girl loves to color...with crayons in her coloring books or with pens on her dry erase board...I think she may have a little artistic streak like her daddy. She loves to read and often sits in her little chair and reads to herself. She plays with her little golf set every day. She even holds the clubs with two hands now and makes contact with the balls. Then she has to drop the club and clap her hands and cheer. Pretty cute.

Ethan still gets the most laughs out of annika...those really good belly laughs that just make you happy. For now he seems to enjoy the attention of his younger cousin. We'll see how long that lasts.

Aj meets little Aj. Tate, Martha and Avery came out for a wedding and we finally got to meet precious little Avery Joy. Annika is a little more excited about it than Avery.

Chelsea was up for the wedding too, Annika let her share her favorite spot on the floor.

Annika discovered dirt...mmm, tasty. Don't worry baby, mommy ate it when she was little and turned out ok.

coloring on the white board while mommy paints.

Daddy's favorite time of the day.

Mommy's favorite time of the day. There's just nothing better.

weekend of fun!

2010-05-18T21:01:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been feeling a huge itch to get out of town which worked out perfectly because E and I had planned to spend the weekend in San Francisco. Saturday we took Annika to her first Giants game. Eric's childhood friend Nate invited us to enjoy the game in his company's box and kids were invited so the three of us headed to the bay. Truth be told Eric and I were both raised going to A's games so Annika's first professional sporting event really should have been in Oakland. But lets be honest, the view from AT&T is much better than from the other side of the bay. Anyway, we had a great time, though most of it was spent pulling Annika back out of the box adjacent to ours. She thought our neighbors were a lot more fun than we were. I love that she is so friendly and curious, but sometimes it would be a lot easier if she just sat shyly on my lap, you know?

We spent the evening at Eric's parents house, the E and I woke up at the crack of dawn and headed back into the city for the Bay to Breakers. I have wanted to run in this race since I was in high school and I'm so glad we finally did it. The B to B is one of the largest foot races in the US. Runners start on the Bay side of SF and run 12 kilometers (7.45 miles) to the finish line at the beach. The race is also well known for its colorful participants. Many of them dress up in outrageous costumes, others forget the clothes altogether...yes, its very entertaining. Luckily E and I were far enough toward the front to avoid running alongside some of the less clothed participants.

My goal was to have a great run and to have fun. We had perfect running weather. Cool, cloud cover, misty...perfect. One of those days you could just run and run and run. E and I both finished in under 1 hour which also felt great. I had been feeling pretty out of shape lately so it felt nice to push myself. I think this may become an annual event for the Jungs...at least for a few years.

Today it was back to reality at work. Feels so much better to go back after a nice break though.

And I get to come home to this.

Happy Mother's Day Mommy!

2010-05-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

I love you soooo much!

April Happenings

2010-04-18T20:50:00.000-07:00

This month is only half over, but we have been having some good times. It started with a weekend in Pebble with Jeremy, Audi and Harper. It took the girls about 5 seconds of seeing each other before they were back to being the best of friends, even though sharing became a little more an issue than months prior. They were troopers for the 3 days we were together, a ton of fun with the Swifts!

Wheel barrel ride became a fast fav for the girls.

No one can get Annika laughing as hard as Harper.

A great hike to Point Lobos, again was chilly, but worth the view.

Breakfast time had some entertaining views one morning. Annika kept saying "Woof." We're working on it.

One of our favorite things to do is see the Bag Piper at Spanish Bay. It was a perfect evening, Annika and Harper made a million new friends, as well as tried to escape down one of the fairways, and eat some dirt. Great memories.

Kara has found a new niche, hand bags. This means going to the fabric store is now a normal activity.

Ethan discovered my skateboard, it started with me giving him rides down the driveway. He quickly found better ways to use it.

So Annika loves pillows... and Curious George. She finally realized she could move the pillows in line with the TV and enjoy two things at the same time.

My mom found the chair and it has become a new favorite place to sit, right behind mom's lap, of course.

The weather has finally turned warm, which Kara keeps loathing the fact that the worst season of heat is close upon us. Today we decided to heat the spa so Annika, Ethan and Mo could get back in the water. It took Annika about 2 seconds before she was climbing up the steps, walking to the fence, and making a dash back for the spa to jump to me. She is fearless.

pictures

2010-04-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

No big updates, just a few pictures. Life is good...

Little dutch girl (well half at least) in the tulips
Look at her eye that cake!
Beautiful blossoms

Little buddies

My favorite girl.

The Big 3-0

2010-03-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

I am now married to a 30-year-old. Crazy! Eric celebrated 30 wonderful years today. No big celebrations today. I had to work, but Eric did get to spend the afternoon on the golf course. He is helping my brother in law coach the highschool golf team so he "has to" play golf 2x/week. Someone's gotta do it right? Mom Jung made a yummy cake and brought it for us to enjoy...She swears Annika was saying Dadda B... for "daddy's birthday cake" all day long. She's probably right, our little girl loves her treats. Happy happy birthday to you babe. We are so blessed to have you as a daddy and husband. We love you!

just a little update...

2010-03-12T17:48:00.000-08:00

The rain is pouring outside and I'm curled up by the fire with a glass of wine after a full week of work and I'm just feeling very happy to be right where I am. Life is good. Work is going well, though not without its challenges, we are so blessed to have family here to help with AJ and to love on her, Eric is loving what he is working on these days, and we are just generally enjoying "the simple life" up here in Ripon.

Eric is out of town for the week on business so Annika and I get a girls week. I am excited to have a few days off to hang out with my little girl...just me and her. I do miss getting to do that everyday, but I also cherish our time together now much more than I did before I started work.

As I said before I am really enjoying work, though a little discouraged at times about how many labor inductions occur and how many poor turnouts result from the inductions...but that is for another post. Seeing babies be born never gets old. I cry every time and feel like kind of a fool when the "seasoned" nurses look at me like I'm crazy.

I turned 29 on wednesday. Eric and I spent last Sunday in San Francisco celebrating. Eric's parents watched annika and we had a very fun and flavorful day in the city. We walked around all day and ate delicious food, soaked in the sun, and just enjoyed hanging out together. It was wonderful. Then I got a birthday surprise with icecream cake and balloons from my niece, nephew, sister and parents on Thursday...Ethan was so excited....very sweet. 29 was a great year and I am so thankful for all the blessings it brought.

Annika has 4 teeth breaking through on top and 2 1/2 on the bottom. She has also been sick, so you can guess what kind of sleep we're getting lately. She has been super cuddly though which is a nice treat...she normally doesn't sit still for longer than a couple seconds.

Oh, and one final little piece of news...if you haven't heard yet my sis is having TWINS! Check out here blog post (the Schenks) from a few weeks ago. We are so excited! I love being an auntie!

Sorry no pics this time. E has the computer with all our pictures on it. I promise to post some when he gets back. Have a wonderful, cozy and relaxing night!

Almond Blossoms

2010-02-20T21:06:00.000-08:00

The almonds are in blossom. There is an almond orchard at the end of our street. We can smell the blossoms in the morning. It is pretty spectacular. A week ago these trees were bare. Next week is the Almond Blossom Festival. More to come!

February Happenings

2010-02-20T20:05:00.000-08:00

So, February is already almost over and life for the Jungs in Ripon is beginning to find a rhythm. There have been some good stories along the way as well... and just some fun moments captured.

Kara had been wanting a beanie that tied for AJ to wear when we are in Carmel, or in the mountains. Lyndsay got her one to match Morgan's for her birthday. I am pretty sure that Annika is smiling more because she is with her cousin than the fact she has something on her head, because she only likes something on her head when she is cold.

So these three little rascals have become best buds. Morgan and Annika are much more calm around each other than a few months ago (translation: they give each other some space when together and do fine, if not, they get a bit territorial) and Ethan loves playing with them both.

Funny story, I am babysitting all three this week for a few hours, Ethan and I are talking about animal habitats. I ask him where a dog's habitat is, he replies, "A house." I say, "What about dogs that are not pets that don't live in houses?" He is silent for a second then replies, "Their habitat is a dog house." Touche Ethan, touche.

Our living room has a bunch of windows that in the afternoon floods light in, Annika wasn't really cooperating, but we caught a couple shots.

Kara is now a pizza chef. She has tried multiple doughs, and has nailed the thin crust (all have been good save one, which she knew was bad when I could only stomach one slice). Homemade pizza has become a weekend tradition, which is awesome (and cheap!).

The one downside... our pizza stone has absorbed a lot of grease. This morning Kara tried to clean it by placing it in the oven and then cleaning the oven. She leaves for a run and 10 minutes later I am startled to hear the smoke detector go off. Enter the kitchen and smoke is billowing out of the oven. After opening every door, window, garage in the house, we finally got the smoke out. The best news, Annika slept through the entire ordeal, smoke alarm and all. Bad news, the pizza stone is now a lovely charcoal color, we will see how the next round of pizzas taste!

Last weekend was the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am. I was very happy with the Pro Am officials for moving the third course played from Poppy Hills to Monterrey Peninsula CC (the other two courses are Pebble Beach and Spyglass), mainly because Kara's parent's house is on MPCC. Last Saturday we went for 24 hours to watch golf and hang out. AJ liked playing ball in the back yard as we were able to watch the golfers pass by.

Some of you golfers are saying, "Is that Stephen Ames and Woody Austin?" Yes, yes it is. The majority of you are saying, "Is that Vince Gill?" Yes, yes it is!

So later in the day we went out on the course and chased down Adam Scott. (My wife could name more of the hot professional golfers there than amateur players, which made me very proud. We did watch Josh Duhamel and Sergio Garcia at Pebble on Sunday, so... at least my wife has good taste in both worlds!)

On our way back we ran into Vince Gill and watched him tee off. As we are waiting I all of a sudden hear my wife singing, "Are you living in an old man's rubble, are you listening to the father of lies..." (this is an old school Amy Grant song, but you already knew that). He tees off and as we leave we see a lady in an orange hat, which Lyndsay had told us earlier in the day was the lady walking with Amy Grant. While I can't confirm it was her, I am pretty sure Kara sang Amy Grant to Amy Grant. Legen- wait for it -dary!

Naked or clothed, Annika is working on her high five.

Due to scheduling conflicts, we went to my parent's today to celebrate AJ's bday. Yes, this is 4 celebrations/ cakes. She definitely has this figured out by now.

"What?"

Annika and Grandpa are good friends, Grandpa loves to play with AJ.

She is getting better at opening gifts, too. "Thanks for the cute outfit Grandmama!"

Annika's first outdoor toy! We have it inside right now and I think she went down the slide about 30 times tonight before bed.

I apologize for the long post, these little stories are the fun memories that brighten our day. Next up, spring is in the air!

We survived!

2010-02-16T20:17:00.001-08:00

Well we have all officially survived one week of me being back at work full time. After having been able to spend almost one whole year at home with Annika I was really anxious about leaving her to FINALLY start my nursing career, BUT the first week went really really well and I am excited to keep going back.

One of the reasons it has been so easy is that I know that she is in the best hands ever. Her nana, grandmama, auntie lyndsay and her daddy are all taking turns watching her while I complete my grueling 5 day a week new graduate training. I can't thank you guys enough for watching my baby girl! I'll say it again THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Another reason it has been so easy to go to work is that for the first time I am loving what I am doing. I have barely even started, but I can just tell that this is going to be a good fit for me. However seeing all those babies being born is only going to increase the number of little ones I want...sorry babe!

After our first full week of work/baby duty Eric, Annika and I headed to Pebble for a night to catch some of the AT&T pro-am. The weather was gorgeous and we even got to go out a couple of times and walk MPCC and Pebble and catch some of "our" favorites... adam scott, sergio, phil...good times.

Needless to say we were exhausted after a fun-filled week.

New Video, Annika is now 1!

2010-02-06T20:29:00.000-08:00

Lot's of new video, lot's of good memories. We can't believe our little peanut is already 1, what a great year we have had.

Annika's First Birthday

2010-01-27T20:42:00.000-08:00

Its hard to believe that a year has passed since we headed to the hospital in anticipation of the birth of our little girl. We stayed home until about 11 p.m. on Tuesday Jan. 27th 2009 watching recorded episodes of American Idol and trying to decide whether we should actually go to the hospital. I was a stubborn laboring women who didn't want to be sent home from the hospital because she had not progressed enough or was in "false labor." Finally eric convinced me to go and after an exam in triage we were told that we would be staying. That moment was surreal. We knew that we would be leaving the hospital with a real live BABY. We had no idea what we were in for. Parenting has proven to be every bit as difficult AND every bit as rewarding as we could have imagined. When people ask me if being a mom is what I thought it would be I usually respond by saying it is the hardest "job" I have ever had but that it is also the most fun and rewarding. I often ask Eric what we did before we had Annika...how did we fill our days?!

We have been blessed with such a fun-loving happy little girl. Hardly a day goes by that I don't hear from someone what a happy baby we have. She squeals when she sees pictures of the people she loves...aunties, grandmama, grandpa, nana, papa, cousins, friends, and especially herself:). She laughs when her mommy and daddy act like fools to entertain her, but only her cousin ethan can get the really good belly laughs out of her. She says mama and dada and bebe (I think she says it in spanish:)). She loves dogs and cats. She loves to play the piano and sing. Her very favorite activity is rearranging furniture (for some reason she loves pushing our chairs around). The more people that are around her the better. She loves airports...I think its the people watching she loves...BUT when she is done, she's done (just like her mama). She loves blueberries more than anything. She is very ticklish. She is a talker. She is precious and we couldn't have asked for a better first year with her. Annika your mommy and daddy love you very very much and can't believe that God has entrusted us with you.

For Annika's first birthday we decided to make a trip out of it to see friends and family in Arizona and San Diego, which meant two birthday parties. We saw our little girl grow up so much in one week. She knows how big she is (so big), she knows how to say Bella, and she knows how to devour cupcakes! Most importantly, she knows how to walk! Yes, Annika's first steps came in a bunch of 5 and she has been off to the races, but only when she wants to. We are clearly in new territory.

Heather threw Annika a birthday party at her house with some their friends, it was a lot of fun and Annika loved her new outfits and cupcakes. Aunt Heather and Co. made her birthday memorable, thank you!

It took all of 1.2 seconds after blowing out the candle for her to dig into the cupcake, and about 90 second to finish it off.

Ok, so here is a little bit of reality when hanging out with Heather and David, you never know what David will do next, as evidenced by this male stretching exercise, which as you can see, even Annika thinks is a little strange.

I love my new outfit from aunt bam! and sleeping on the couch waaaayyy past my bedtime.

Part two of our trip was to San Diego, where Annika got to wake up seeing her best friend Harper. It took a second to sink in, but once they realized who they were seeing it was like old times. Audi threw a great party, from food to decorations. It was a great memory and fun to see everyone.

"I have this cupcake thing down!" "Bath time is a party!"

Helping mom on the Wii and letting us know how big she is.

And finally, a lovely little sunset from our backyard. This time of year is mostly foggy, but when the fog clears the views are great. Yes the valley can be very pretty:)

Food

2010-01-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

I love cooking. I come from a family of cooks and I definitely caught the bug. My grandmother had the most amazing garden with every kind of fresh fruit and vegetable you could imagine and she took full advantage of all of those fresh offerings by putting together the most delicious meals for our family every Sunday afternoon. My mother is an amazing cook as well. She doesn't use many recipes. She just gets a general idea of what ingredients to use and then creates amazing dishes that I haven't quite figured out how to replicate, though not for lack of trying! My sister also loves to cook and is so good at trying new recipes and finding meals that appeal both to little ones and big ones.

It is only natural that I would find comfort in the kitchen. Before we left San Diego I was a little sad in anticipation of having to say goodbye to all of our friends so I prepared lots of meals that reminded me of northern California to help me to get excited about our move. Artichokes, asparagus, sour dough bread, yummy cheeses, good wine and lots and lots of garlic.

It took me a while to get used to my new kitchen here, but I finally feel like I'm back. We had our neighbors over the other night for dinner and it got me excited about cooking again. In my book there are few things better than dinner parties. It all started with a delicious glass of Talbott Kali Hart Chardonnay which provided inspiration for a yummy shrimp pasta. A good glass of wine...or any beverage you happen to enjoy...can be a great source of inspiration in the kitchen. Pour yourself one and lose yourself in the joy of cooking!

p.s. I could give you a million excuses for why I did NOT get up early the other morning (or all subsequent mornings) like I said I would...but bottom line is I am still fully enjoying my morning sleep-ins. That will soon come to an end so I decided I might as well take advantage right?

Sleep

2010-01-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

So I am probably the most spoiled mommy in the world. I know that. My husband gets up at 7 pretty much every morning with our baby and lets me sleep until 8/8:30...sometimes 9. In fact, on Sundays when we used to go to the 11 o'clock church service, Eric would often let me sleep all the way through Annika's morning nap and we wouldn't wake up until 10 when it was time to get ready for church. Yep, spoiled. As a result I toss and turn until at least 12 every night trying to fall asleep. Being that I will be starting work in about a month and will be working days for at least the first few months I have decided that I need to retrain myself to be a morning person. Incidentally, I used to have no trouble getting up early...during my pregnancy my best hours of sleep were from 4 am on, so I got used to sleeping later in the morning. My goal is to be out of the house tomorrow morning by 7:30 for my morning run. There, now that I've said it to all of you I may actually be motivated to get my butt out of bed!

Too long needing an update!!!

2009-12-30T20:44:00.000-08:00

Hello from Ripon!!!! We can't believe how long it has been since our last post, but we have officially made it up north and have moved in to our new place. It is definitely an adjustment but we are slowly getting accustomed to our new life up here. Annika likes the extra space to roam, she has found the stairs a new adventure and loves seeing her cousins almost everyday. More on our move later, now we need to catch up on the last 4 weeks!

Thanksgiving was our first in SD and we spent it and Jon and Ang's house. It was a great time and Sienna and Annika made it through most of the day. Ryan and BJ schooled Jon and me in corn hole, really just me and Jon had to endure it. Corn hole is one thing I will not miss about SD.

Annika had some hard days adjusting to her house being boxed up, but she also got into the spirit of it as well. The day we moved out Tatum took her to the park for two hours and when she came back, all her furniture was gone. She looked around and started to cry because none of her stuff was there! Proof we are creatures of habit.

One of the coolest things Kara did with Annika was take her to Glenner, an Alzheimer's day center that Kara worked at during nursing school. Every week Annika would hang out with the group and they all would light up. One man in particular was always pretty grumpy but would light up when Annika showed up.

So this is my tball shirt from when I was 4 years old. It is a little big but she fits!

So we left SD on Saturday the 5th and moved our stuff into the garage of our house on the 8th. We couldn't move in until the 19th so we took the time for a family vacation to the coast at Kara's parent's place in Pebble Beach. Her parents came down for 2 days to bring her cousin from out of town. We love Pebble, the weather, the peace and quiet, the golf, Carmel, coffee at Il Fornaio by the fireplace, the bag piper at sunset at Spanish Bay... needless to say it was a great vacation, and the first for us as a family of three!

We went to Los Lobos state park one day, it is just south of Carmel. We walked about a mile in and after about 30 minutes of being there the rain and wind caught up with us. A brisk walk back in the wind and a short drive with some visitors from Colorado made it a memorable day, and thankfully Kara didn't kill me for convincing her not to bring another blanket on the walk. Always trust a mother's intuition!

You can't really see it from this picture, but the coastline across from here is the 18th Hole of Pebble Beach. Beautiful!

Another day we went to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. Annika enjoyed it but it probably will be more enjoyable for her in another few months, which is cool because Kara's parents got us passes for the year for Christmas. We look forward to coming back, especially with Ethan and Morgan.

At the park in Dublin, we spent a few days with my parents before moving in.

"I luv medicine."

Annika has become a great traveler. As long as music is playing in the car she is happy.

I went to give Annika a bath one night at Kara's parent's house. I told Ethan what I was doing and before I could grab Annika Ethan was already in the tub. It was the first time I bathed three kids by myself, but it worked and Ethan kept the girls in line. They all had a fun time.

Annika's first Christmas present. She didn't really get into this one, but by the fourth or fifth present over a few day period she figured out how presents work. I was proud of Kara's wrapping job personally.

Annika's first gift. She figured it out more after this... I promise!

Ok that's it, thanks for being patient and reading all the way through. For those of you in SD, we definitely miss you, and probably will more so in the upcoming weeks as the holidays come to an end. With that said, even though it isn't always easy, we know each day that being up here is the right thing for us. Happy New Year to everyone, we hope you all have had a great holiday season!

Found Art Party

2009-12-07T15:05:00.000-08:00

During this stage of life we find ourselves each year celebrating fewer weddings and more babies. Last month we were privileged to celebrate in a birth of different sorts, the release of Leeana Tankersley's book, Found Art.

The book was released in November and is a memoir of the first year of Steve and Leeana's marriage which they spent in Bahrain as Steve was deployed with the Navy. It focuses on the tough lessons learned, the areas of her life (which we all have) that were exposed during that year, and the way in which God transformed her in that desert oasis.

Two separate thoughts stand out to me about Leeana's book. The first is the process Leeana went through to write it. I would often times see Leeana during the day as Steve and I were working together a lot during this time, and I can say the process she went through was grueling. The idea of writing a memoir is terrifying enough, yet to have an outside third party rip revisions to shreds and tell you to tell your life story differently... all I can say is she handled that experience better than I ever would. We often ask her which was worse, birthing the book or the twins... it is usually a toss up. Her perseverance, dedication, and commitment to the process is truly something that will always speak of Leeana's character.

Then her book was released, and I have to admit, as a friend it is a little unnerving opening your friend's work and being able to read the final print. Yet in true Leeana fashion, her blend of wit, self humor, introspection, and vulnerability are a delight to read and speaks of who she is. The conclusions she comes to about life, God, and our relationship with him are profound and applicable.

Kara and I both recommend purchasing a copy (yes, even a woman's memoir is a solid read for a guy), and the link for the book on Amazon is below. You can also check out her blog, Gypsy Ink (http://www.gypsyink.com/) where her latest post is about Kara, and always gets me choked up when I read it.

Lee, thanks for allowing us to celebrate the birth of your book with you! We love you!

EJ, KJ, and AJ

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_13?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=found+art+tankersley&x=0&y=0&sprefix=found+art+tan

Proof Lehman will be a great dad to a girl!!!

2009-11-29T18:11:00.000-08:00

Eric and Tatum found out they are going to be parents of a baby girl, and we know for most new dads the thought of having a girl first causes a little panic (I know it did for me!). Things like boyfriends, dates, the teenage years, all become frightening in a single moment. For me, the first thought that got me excited was the thought of walking my daughter down the aisle someday. Now, I could have all girls and be totally happy.

Anyways, last weekend Eric and Tatum came over to help us pack, Eric was often given the duty of taking care of Annika so we could focus on other things. As the video shows, his daughter will be in good hands.

A final word of wisdom on having a girl first, from 6th grader Ashley Hammett: (rough paraphrase, I won't do the original justice) "It is much better to have a girl first because a girl will help you take care of the other kids and do things around the house. Boys aren't very good at those things."

Touche Ashely, touche.

lasts...

2009-11-24T12:44:00.000-08:00

Most of you know by now that Eric, Annika and I will be moving to Northern California in a couple of weeks...A COUPLE OF WEEKS...I can't believe I'm saying that already!

Eric and I have been talking about moving since before we even got married (we are both nor cal people...its in our blood), but we have stayed down here in SD due to our amazing community of friends who have now become family to us.

I have dreaded writing this post and have put it off for some time now because it is just so sad to say goodbye to everyone here.

HOWEVER...

The lasts have started. They started a while ago, but I didn't really want to acknowledge them for fear the floodgates would open...they have. So I guess its time to talk about goodbyes.

A couple of weeks ago we sat down around our dining room table for our last dinner with the Tanks. We will so miss our family dinners with them. You two have been such a support to Eric and me and we are forever grateful for your friendship. Being that Annika is going to marry their son Luke, I know we will forever be connected.

Eric and I both had our last official growth group meetings. These groups have been a lifeline to us. You are irreplaceable...not even gonna try.

This weekend we had our last night with the Swifts. Jeremy and Audi have become such amazing friends, have stood by us through hard times and have been so generous to us and AJ (swim classes will be something we will forever hold dear).

Last night we had our last game of pinochle with the Lehmans...words cannot express how much we will miss you. You have been Annika's auntie and uncle here in San Diego and have truly become family to me and Eric. You guys are a constant for us here...seeing you every day at the gym and knowing that you are always there for us...we will miss you. (a sigh and a tear...)

We are anticipating a few more lasts in the next couple of weeks that will be very hard to swallow...

-our last church service at Flood Church. What an amazing church family you have been. We wish we could take you all up to nor cal with us.

-our last workout at Crossfit Flood. These are the people we see most in San Diego. Every day at 4 p.m. we get together for some shared suffering...its amazing how close you become to those you suffer with. Whats the word for that Matt? Luminality?

-our last playdate at the park with Audi and Harper, Aj's best little girlfriend. We are going to miss you guys so much!

Though moving is always tough it also forces you to be more intentional with relationships and Eric and I have seen our friendships here deepen over the past few months. We have shared great moments with so many of you...the wasmuths, the jacksons (x 2), angelee, the browns, rachael, jamie, mike, chelsea...the list goes on and on...Thank you for making it hard for us to leave.

Our door is always open to anyone looking to get away for a weekend. Please come visit us...Lord willing we will also be visiting you down here frequently.

We love you all!
Eric, Kara and Annika

Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks with all of you!

Best buds AJ and Harper at the zoo.

Last Growth Group night

Toronado Pub with the Lehmans

Day in Julian with the ladies. AJ and Rachael

Helping Around the House and more at the Park

2009-11-11T09:23:00.001-08:00

So, lately Annika has taken interest in helping around the house with everything. You can't have the dishwasher open for more than 5 second without a second set of hands to help. Washing clothes really means playing in clothes piles (and we realized with this photo also moving the detergent, Baby Proofing 2.0, here we come).

A daily routine for Kara and Annika is going to the park down the street. Annika loves seeing the other kids there and is wanting to be as big as they are and climb on everything. She used to be a little timid of the swings and now loves them, we are working on the slides now.

I love this sequence as it truly illustrates our daughter's personality. "I will pose for a smile, but you better make it quick, because I don't want to sit in one place too long!" I know Kara is loving this time with her before she starts work in January, but she is also a saint for the amount of time she spends with Annika, chasing her around. I have one amazing wife!

Annika is getting much better at standing without any support. If we can distract her she can last 10-15 seconds before realizing she is standing and might need a little extra help.

Usually on the weekends the girls let me join them to the park. Annika loves playing patty cake and now anticipates tossing the cake in the oven, it always comes with a smile.

As much as we love this stage, the one downside is her hair is a perfect boy's length. Even when we dress her in pink, men still call her a boy. C'mon, really? Every once in awhile now she will give a look and it reminds me of my baby pics, but most of the time she still reminds me of her mom (thankfully)!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T20:22:00.000-08:00

"Mom, what are you doing to me?" Annika wasn't so sure of her fairy costume at first, but as soon as she saw herself in the mirror she was thrilled.

Our adorable little fairy...thanks to Katie E who let us borrow Merrideth's outfit from last year!

Here are the "triplets" at a Halloween party. Our friend Kristy threw a party and set up this adorable backdrop so that we could get some cute pictures with the little ones. I didn't get a lot of good ones, but you can check out here blog to see more. (kristyheinrichs.com) As you can see there was quite a baby boom among our friends down here....thats only half the kids that were there!

"Mama I'm done."

We spent an afternoon/evening with our friends the Eatons carving pumpkins...we used to get to see Seth and Katie and their kids a lot more, but now that we have Annika its a bit more difficult to get together. We had a blast with them and its so fun to have aj around other kids. She loves watching them and trying to chase after them.

The finished product. No we're not that artistic...we traced that from a pattern book.

Swim lessons

2009-10-28T21:28:00.000-07:00

Our friends Jeremy and Audi gifted us with swimming lessons for Annika this fall. Audi and I have been taking Harper and Annika to "Bubbles" swim school twice a week for the past 6 weeks. They have come so far and gotten so brave in the water...they know how to hold their breath under water and are learning to turn over onto their backs and float. Audi and I have had a blast watching the girls in their first "classroom" environment.
The girls got to ride in the boat and go down the slide during their last lesson. Annika pretty much wears a permanent smile on her face during the lessons. She doesn't like floating on her back, but other than that she does great in the water. When I was little I hated floating on my back as well. I remember throwing fits at my swim lessons because I didn't want to do it. However, a few years later when I was on the Ripon swim team the Backstroke was my favorite. I remember looking for those flags as a little girl and getting so excited knowing that I was almost done.
They put these little "wetsuits" on the girls to make them more buoyant. The suits make them look so grown up. Eric and Jeremy got to come to the girls' last lesson. You could tell that the girls loved having their daddies there. They were showing off a little more than they normally do...lots of giggles...

Annika and mama

2009-10-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

I just can't kiss this girl enough...
She just makes me smile...
I love being your mama baby girl!

The Park

2009-10-19T20:11:00.001-07:00

We've been going to the park by our house for the past few weeks to play on the swings with Annika. The first few times she held on so tight her little knuckles turned white, but when we went last Sunday she just laughed and squealed...the higher she went the better. There are always other kids playing at the park and Annika just watches them and kicks her little legs...I know she'd love to be running around with them! Soon enough...

Jammies

2009-10-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

I LOVE FOOTED BABY SLEEPER JAMMIES!

Annika's faces

2009-10-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

This is Aj's new look. She likes to scrunch up her nose like this and laugh...its a little harder to get a cute picture now cuz she has more than just one smiley face.
Here she is relaxing at the Hilton downtown enjoying what was our last real summery day on Oct. 3. We spent the day swimming and walking around the Harbor and when we woke up the next morning it was suddenly fall. We are finally enjoying wearing long sleeves once in a while...ahhh fall...

fashion show...

2009-10-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

It gets more and more fun to dress Annika up in her cute little clothes. Now that she can crawl and pull herself up you can actually see what she is wearing. She is spoiled by her grandmas and aunties and has so many cute things. Its funny, we went shopping with my mom last weekend when she was down and I didn't really care about getting anything for me--I know, shocking. I know thats part of becoming a mom...you really do think about them first, but I also think it has to do with the fact that you're always carrying the little one on your hip and you know that it doesn't really matter what you look like because everyone is looking at the baby anyway. Its really nice actually:)

Piggy Bank

2009-10-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

I was watching Martha Stewart the other day (cuz thats what stay at home moms do right?) and she made this little paper mache piggy bank out of a 2L bottle, an egg carton and newspaper. I thought it looked like fun so I made one for Annika. I used the Wall Street Journal Money and Marketplace sections so its covered with articles about the recession and job loss, etc. I thought it would be cool for Annika to look at this in the future and see where our economy was when she entered the world.

Annika loved the little piggy. She was very interested in that little slit where the money goes...she's already trying to get it out:) Then she moved on to the tail and tried to rip it off...we'll see how long the little piggy makes it...

Annika's Second Film

2009-10-04T19:05:00.000-07:00

Check out months 6-8 with Annika.

Binkies

2009-09-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

The hospital where Annika was born is a "baby friendly" hospital. One of the things that distinguishes a "baby friendly" hospital is the fact that they do not encourage the use of pacifiers. I spent the first night in the hospital nursing Annika every hour on the hour. (I did not have one of those docile little newborns that just sleeps and sleeps and sleeps...AJ came out ready to take on the world.) By the morning I was so tired I had Eric bring in a pacifier so that my body and I could get some rest. I remember the postpartum nurse coming in and seeing Annika with the pacifier in the morning and lecturing me about Annika's feeding cues and how babies shouldn't use pacifiers for at least the first 2 weeks because it just masks their hunger cues(By the way, our 8 month old weighs about 23 pounds so I'm pretty sure we didn't miss too many hunger cues). I tried to explain to her that Annika had been eating ALL NIGHT and she just looked at me with her judging eyes and said, "well that's what they do..." (mind you, she herself did not have any children) I just wanted to cry and Eric wanted to punch her.

Well we successfully got AJ hooked on the pacifier and 8 months later it still calms her down. I now only give it to her during naps and bedtime. She has 4 or 5 of them in bed with her and all I have to do is lean her over her bed and show her her "binkies" and she lunges for the bed and settles down to sleep. In the picture above she has a binkie in each hand and one in her mouth...hey whatever works!

Lately

2009-09-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

Hey guys check me out! I'm finally crawling. I've been working on this for a LONG time and I finally took off last week. Mom is going to post a video soon so you can see me moving...watch out, I'm pretty fast! In fact I have finally proven to mom and dad that they do in fact need to do some baby proofing. I like to get into everything. They would appreciate any tips on how to keep me away from the things I'm not supposed to touch WITHOUT saying NO NO NO all day long:)
Don't even think about trying to take this spoon away from me! I need to learn how to use it don't I?
My daddy tries to keep me nice and clean when I eat; until now he has managed to train me to keep my hands away from the spoon, but I'm ready to get a little more involved in dinner time.
Daddy watched me for a couple of nights while my mama went up to Fresno for her friend Jill's bachelorette party. We had SOOO much fun together. Daddy let me sit in his big work chair and he took me to breakfast with my friend Harper and her daddy and for a walk in Balboa Park...it was great. I'm pretty sure mama was more sad than I was to leave me for a couple of days, but when she came back she said she had a blast. I know I'm a lucky girl to have such a great daddy.
During the week I help mama with her chores around the house. We do laundry together and clean and cook...I'll be such a good little helper someday!
Every day mama and I play the piano together for a while. I love it! I also love to sing when we're driving in the car. I especially love Jason Mraz' music...I always get happy when I hear it.

One more thing...its my Nana's (mom's mom) birthday today. Happy birthday Nana. We love you!

Thats it for now guys...