June 2011

Welcome to June! Apparently, summer has decided to appear. It was close to 90 degrees today, hot and humid. We had a fun May, some highlights include running the Race for the Cure on Mother's Day at the Mall of America, taking the kids swimming at Foss and Lifetime, going to baby Tristan's baptism party, going to the Minnesota Children's Museum and the Minnesota Zoo and spending Memorial Day weekend in Bemidji.

Sophie is really into Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat movie and books right now. It's the DVD she requests to watch whenever she has a chance. She also loves to hear me tell her the story of the Three Little Pigs and Hansel and Gretel. She received her very first pedicure last night and asked if she could walk on the new carpet with her "cute little toes". Sophie's birthday is coming and I've asked her for a few birthday gift ideas. Her response? A car, a computer (for playing games), a hair dryer and a yo-yo. Where does she get this stuff from?

Jack has been walking around on his own and getting more and more stable with each passing day. He loves to cuddle and gives my Sydney bear a kiss every morning and every night before bed. Jack shares a bedroom with his big sister Sophie and they both do a good job of it (we're thankful for that!).

This weekend is our 7th wedding anniversary. Bryan and I got married at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. We were joined by about 50 of our friends and family members. It was a wonderful trip and brings back great memories. Time flies when you're having fun! To celebrate our anniversary, we are going out to dinner and then to the Cirque du Soleil show Ovo at the Mall of America. Can't wait! Happy Summer!

May 2011

What have we been up to lately? Besides waiting for Spring to finally arrive, we've been going to fun places like Choo Choo Bob's train store and we just signed up for a family membership to the Minnesota Children's Museum in St. Paul. To celebrate Earth Day, Jack and I participated in the Great Cloth Diaper Change event. Camera crews were there and we saw a quick clip on KARE 11 and it was also aired on Fox 9. We had a fun time and Jack won a pair of BabyLegs, so that means he won't have to wear his big sister's pink ones. We had a scare, which resulted in an ER visit, but Jack is doing well and is back to his happy, smiley self.

We celebrated Easter with an egg hunt in our backyard. Sophie had a blast and ran around with her basket, collecting colorful plastic eggs. Then we went over to Grandma Linda's house for a delicious meal. This past weekend, Bryan and I took a road trip to Omaha for the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting. We stayed with Britani and Adam and got to meet Cora for the very first time. She's a cutie! It was the first time that both of us have been away from the kids at the same time.

Our pictures that were taken to celebrate Jack's 1st birthday have arrived. Here are some of my favorites.

April 2011

Wow, I've really been slacking off in the blog posting department. I'll blame the fact that we got a new computer and this website isn't saved in my list of favorites. So what have we been up to the first few months of 2011? We started off the year with a trip to Orlando with Grandma Linda. The kids did great on their first flight and we all enjoyed Walt Disney World. It was nice to get away from all of the snow and cold of Minnesota and enjoy the warm Florida sunshine. Here's a picture of Bryan and me at Epcot. Other highlights from our trip include mini-golfing, having breakfast at Cinderella's Castle, meeting all of the Disney Princesses and playing at the timeshare where we stayed. Jack celebrated his first birthday with a big party. The theme was Mickey Mouse, since we had just returned from Disney World. He spent the afternoon playing with friends. Here is Jack, eating his birthday cake. He loved it and there was hardly a mess. Definitely the most sugar he's ever eaten!

We had pictures taken with JM Photography recently. Jessica also took Sophie's 1st birthday pictures and she recently moved into a new studio in NE Mpls. This is just a sneak peek and we should receive the rest of the pictures in a few weeks. I can't wait to see them!

Thanks for reading and I promise to post again soon!

Happy New Year 2011!

2010 has been a wonderful year for our family. At the end of March, Jack made us wait a bit and was born a week past his due date. My mom flew in from Malaysia and stayed with us for about a month. It was great to have her help and eat her delicious cooking. I was on maternity leave until mid-June and we enjoyed the summer. Sophie turned 2 years old in July and we threw her a big backyard bash with her kiddie pool, sandbox and ice cream cake. We made it up to Bemidji for Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. We took a trip to Sioux Falls to visit the McMillans over Labor Day weekend and they came to visit us a couple of times. We took outings to the Minnesota Zoo, the mall and Sophie enjoyed baby story time at the library, gymnastics at the middle school and swimming at Foss. We hope 2011 will be just as fun-filled and exciting. Happy New Year!

November 2010

Here's a picture of us at Jennie's Halloween party:

Sophie is now 27 months old and Jack is 7 months old. We had a great Halloween with many different events. Sophie enjoyed trick or treating at the Mall of America, even though the lines were long and she didn't end up with very much candy (probably a good thing!). Sophie can now speak in sentences and can pretty much tell us what she's thinking and what she wants. Some of the things she said today include:

- "blue shirt" (she points at my blue shirt) "it's the same!" (pointing at her blue shirt)
- "i'm over here" (waving at me from behind the couch when I couldn't see her)
- "it's my favorite!" (pointing at the yellow owl on her comforter)

Jack is now eating lots of pureed veggies, yogurt and crackers. At his 6 month check-up, he was weighing in at 18.5 lbs and is 30" tall. Jack is only 3 lbs away from catching up to Sophie! He's starting to sit up pretty well with the help of the Boppy pillow and gets on his knees and starts rocking back and forth. He usually ends up scooting backwards and gets stuck in a corner or by the coffee table.

Sophie is a helpful big sister and helps around the house by putting dirty laundry into the hamper, diapers in the garbage and so forth. She loves snuggling with her little brother and is always looking out for him.

September 2010

The summer has flown by and now it's September. In August, we enjoyed a family trip to Duluth and Hayward, WI and my favorite event of year, the Minnesota State Fair. Sophie loved watching the ships come and go from the harbor in Duluth and picked out a monkey t-shirt in her favorite color, yellow. We headed to South Dakota over Labor Day weekend to stay with the McMillans. Sophie had a blast playing with Carter and she can't stop talking about him. At her 2 year check-up, she was weighing in at 20 lbs and was 30 inches tall. Jack's 4 month stats checked in at 16.5 lbs and 26 inches. He's quickly catching up to his big sister! Jack loves chompin' on his Sophie giraffe toy and is always smiling and laughing.

The weather has started to cool down and it's been nice sleeping with the windows open. We have lots of birthday parties coming up and a trip to the apple orchard this weekend. Sophie started gymnastics last weekend and loves going to swimming lessons. Happy Fall!

Sophie's 2nd Birthday

Our little girl is 2 years old. Sophie started the morning by going to her swimming lesson at Foss. They even sang Happy Birthday to her as they did their back floats. It was level evaluation week and Sophie got promoted up to Backfloat Baby 3! I was very proud of her.

She had a wonderful birthday party, joined by lots of friends and family. She played in her new swimming pool and sandbox and socialized with the other kids and adults. We had to drag her out of the pool to sing Happy Birthday to her and to cut the cake. Once she realized it was ice cream cake, she was OK with that!

Sophie now loves to have her hair tied up in ponytails and pigtails; she calls it "horsey hair". Her favorite color is yellow and she loves pointing out all of the yellow trucks and cars in parking lots and in the street. Her favorite movie is Finding Nemo and she loves watching Spongebob Squarepants and Dora. She also enjoys blowing bubbles, playing in the sand and coloring on the driveway with sidewalk chalk. She's able to identify most colors and many shapes, including the difference between an oval and a circle!

Jack is almost 4 months old and a great eater. He's at about 15.5 lb now and wearing 12 month size pajamas. We were lucky to borrow lots of baby boy clothes from friends. When he's sitting in my lap, he's starting to pull himself up. He loves to laugh and gets ticklish when we change his shirt or gently tickle his shoulders and arms.

It's been a great summer and we've enjoyed a long weekend trip to Bemidji over the 4th of July. Sophie has spent lots of time playing outside in the backyard, in the park and at the lake.

Jack's 2 month stats

Woah, where did the last 11 weeks go? Jack starts daycare tomorrow and I return to work next week. It's been a wonderful maternity leave, with the great weather, my mom coming to visit, going to Como Zoo, Minnesota Zoo, Underwater Adventures, etc. I wish it didn't have to end.


Jack had his two month doctor's appointment and checked out wonderfully. His stats are: 13 lb 13.5 oz (90%), 23 inches (50%), head 41 cm (75%). He's a big boy! I weighed him a few days ago and he was already over 14 lb. He's already wearing some 9 month size clothes. Jack will be caught up to Sophie in no time! He's laughed for the first time, when Dad was giving him a bath. He loves cooing and chatting with me after he's done eating.

Sophie turns two next month! She's gotten most of her teeth and I'm sure that's the cause of some of her fussiness lately. She's still pretty petite and tiny, but loves to eat, especially fruit and cookies! Sophie loves coloring with her crayons, playing outside, collecting rocks and watching Finding Nemo.

May update

Jack is now 6 weeks old and weighing in at about 12.5 lb. He's in 6 month size clothes and size 2 diapers! Quickly catching up to his big sister Sophie, who's been in size 3 diapers for the last year and a half. He's just starting to coo, laugh and smile, which is fun to see. Sophie loves being a big sister and is always concerned about Jack if she hears him crying. She wants to play with him and I think they'll be great playmates and friends when he gets a little older. Sophie says "ten-kew" (thank you), "me me" (excuse me), yellow and is getting pretty good at identifying colors.

Here's a family picture from this year's Walk for Animals.

Jack's birth announcement