Holly’s Blog

Our newest family member… Jane Louise  … arrived on October 12th at 7:35pm.  She and mom survived labor wonderfully… especially wonderful considering the fact that she was born in our master bathroom at home… caught by Dad with our labor coach, Tammy, close by to calm any shaken nerves. This was not a planned home birth.  Just a “labor at home as long as possible to avoid extra interventions at the hospital” birth.  I started contractions on Monday evening and throughout the night.  Tuesday they intensified slowly through the day.  Tammy arrived early evening and suggested a walk.  We joked later that I gave her the “stinkeye” for even suggesting that, but it was great to get outside in the fresh air and walking helped the pain, crazy I know!  To make a long story short… my contractions slowed down back at home and so we didn’t head to the hospital yet.  Then all of the sudden I went from 5 1/2 to 6 minute contractions, to… “I have to push”.  Fifteen minutes later, 5 or so pushes and Jane was born.  We are actually thankful it all happened at home and not along the side of the highway or in the hospital parking lot!  I wasn’t nervous or scared at all… just so peaceful when she finally arrived.  She was pink, crying and eager to nurse… we couldn’t ask for more.  Like I said before, we never planned on a home birth, but looking back now… it was pretty cool.  Especially, after a quick hospital visit to get Jane and I checked out, we were back in our own bed for the night.  And Annika crawled in our bed in the morning to meet her new baby sister.. and there we were, a new family of four all together.  Perfectly perfect.

It has been wonderfully helpful to have family in town during these first few weeks… (allowing me to get these blog posts done!).  My parents as well as Daniel’s mom have entertained Annika, held Jane, cooked and cleaned when I needed a break or a nap.  I am forever thankful!

Annika turned two on February 28th… and we had a house full of family to help celebrate.  Annika loved her fish cake.  Ok, so she really loved the M&M most of all!  I had my expert cake maker/decorator… who just happens to also be my dear sister on hand for the cake making.  (She also was the mastermind behind Annika’s amazing 1st birthday ladybug cake!!!)  It was extra special to Daddy… since he missed her first birthday last year while he was deployed.

… coloring Easter eggs with kids, no matter their age.  On Easter afternoon Ginger asked me if I was going to let Annika color Easter Eggs.  She let Ty when he was 1 year old and said he had tons fun with it.  I had never really thought about letting her, but decided “sure, why not?!”  I got Annika in old clothes and let her go at it.  She immediately liked moving the eggs between the cup and getting her hands wet/colored.  By the end of the event, her hands looked like an “oompa-loompa” (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)… bright orange!  She also discovered clinking the cups together was fun also… and gave us (the adults) quite the mean look when we told her she couldn’t do that anymore!  She had a blast… and I highly recommend doing it with your kids, no matter their age!  (And FYI, Annika wanted to send her daddy the Easter eggs that she colored for him.  But I had to tell her that they wouldn’t make the mail trip.  So we compromised and went him her colorfully dyed ‘onesie’ instead.)

It was a busy weekend after we returned from Germany… Thursday night we got it… Friday we slept and tried to recover… Saturday was Cousin Tyler’s Birthday Party… Sunday was Easter… Monday did laundry and unpacked… Tuesday was Tyler’s real birthday (April 14th)!  But back up to Saturday and the party… it was a grand time.  And Tyler – who turned 4 years old – was beside himself with excitement.  Opening gifts, eating birthday cake, playing with his new toys… it was all so exciting!

Some funny moments of the day:

1)  Tyler concentrated VERY hard on blowing out one candle at a time.

2)  Annika loved the birthday cake and showed how grown up she has become since her party just a month and a half ago… she used a fork to eat it – well mostly!

3)  Tyler loves cars, trucks and vehicles… well mostly race cars like Hot Wheels, Lighting McQueen, Nascar, monster trucks, etc.  He and his best friend at preschool picked monster truck names for themselves and call each other by them.  His friend’s name changes quite frequently between different monster truck names.  Tyler on the other hand has stuck to one…  “Oh-Tah-Moe Loco”… really the monster truck’s name is “El Toro Loco” but Tyler is convinced that it’s “Oh-Tah-Moe Loco” (and was maybe encouraged and egged on to stick with this by his Gramps).  And some days he won’t let you call him “Tyler”… he’ll say, “That’s my old name, my new name is Oh-Tah-Moe Loco”.  So Gramps decorated up his ‘big’ present with both of his names.  When he was unwrapping this huge one, he wouldn’t really look at the present until all the paper was torn off.  (So unlike his Aunt, I peak the first change I get!).  Finally after all the paper was off he stood back to check out what it was… a basketball hoop for at Gramp’s house!  Very Exciting!

Very exciting day all around! 

This has to be the favorite part of almost all First Birthday parties… when you let them dig in, unassisted to the cake.  And Annika did not disappoint!   She got a slow start, not sure about the texture of the icing on her fingers.   But once I guided one of those icing coated fingers to her mouth there was now turning back.  I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story. (Yes, there are a lot… but it’s all for Annika’s Daddy!)

There has been a ladybug theme throughout Annika’s first year.  A ladybug mobile hangs over her crib… but it all really started with the purchase of an adorable fleece ladybug hat last summer from Pike Place Market in Seattle.  She was a ladybug for Halloween (wearing that exact fleece hat!).  So when thinking about making a birthday cake only one thing came to mind  – LADYBUGS!  Now I happen to be very fortunate that my sister, Ginger, graduated with a degree in Pastry Arts from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in New York.  So I had the benefit of her skills, knowledge and tools.  And all three were invaluable!  We had a blast making it (yes, from scratch!) and think it turned out amazingly well.  Annika even got her very own mini-ladybug cake to dig into.  I was just going to give Annika a slice of the big cake to eat, but after thinking about making a mini-ladybug cake… well, we just couldn’t pass that up!

Annika went down for a morning nap.  Those have been hit and miss these day, but I was so happy she took one.  It recharged her to make it though all the excitement.  And boy was there excitement.  As soon as I sat her down in front of the pile of gifts, she made her “Whooooaaaa” sound.  She didn’t even wait for me before she started digging into the first bag.  Annika really got into the actual opening, tearing the paper and pulling tissue out of the bags.  Many of the gift “discoveries” were greeted with “Whooooaa!”.  (From looking at the photos, I have absolutely NO idea where she picked that up from!!!)  She got new toys, clothes, books and even some things to ‘grow into’.  Everything was wonderful and everyone was generous.

Annika turns one year old today.  Parents always say, “I can’t believe a year has passed”.  Today I said it too.  I amazes me that she entered this world one year ago.  Here’s a few photos from then and now.  More to come later, but enjoy these for now.

So… with Daniel deployed and my sister, Ginger, without a valentine this year too… the two of us and our kids crashed our other sister Kelly & Ben’s Valentine’s Day.  Don’t worry, we were invited to crash.  We didn’t just show up on the front door with overnight bags and kids in tow.  Though come to think if it, that might have been really funny, on our end at least.  We had a great weekend just hanging out, making a yummy scallop risotto dinner… and Chocolate Lava Cakes with whipped cream and raspberries for dessert.  Yummy, yummy.  (Annika still has the eye-ick in the photos, so don’t think she got a black eye from any of us!)

Ginger, Tyler, Annika and I whooped it up on New Year’s Eve.  Well, really Ginger and I had a nice quiet evening after putting the kids to bed… which we throughly enjoyed.  As Ginger and I toasted in the New Year, Baker was pleasently surprised to be able to eat a huge pile of “New Year’s” treats… not typical for him.