March madness

It's only mid-March and we've already hit 64 degrees! It was Bryan's birthday yesterday and in the morning, we took Sophie swimming. Then we met up with Linda, Adam, Steven and the Marshalls for lunch at Pittsburgh Blue in Maple Grove for lunch. After lunch, we all came home and took a nap and then went to the playground at Parkers Lake Park. Sophie and Dad had fun walking back home on the path by the lake. Hopefully, this means that Spring is on the way.

Here's a picture of Sophie sitting on Dad's shoes. She just decided to back up and sit down on them.

On Saturday, we checked out the grand opening of the new Plymouth library. It has an awesome kids section and Sophie was fascinated with the endless supply of books. We stayed there for over and hour, just reading books and watching the other kids.

I'm 39 weeks along now, only one week left till my due date. We're getting excited to meet the new baby!

February festivities

Here we are, almost to the end of February. Time just keeps flying by. Baby #2's due date is in 28 days and I've been busy getting ready for his arrival. All the bags are packed and baby's clothes are washed and sorted in the closet. There's really no getting ready for sleepless nights.

A few weeks ago, we headed out to Parkers Lake, just down the street from our house, for Plymouth's annual Fire and Ice Festival. We toasted marshmallows in the bonfire and Sophie had her first taste of s'mores (imagine chocolate smeared all over her face). In the evening, we could watch the fireworks show from our window and Sophie ooh'ed and ahh'ed over them as they lit up the night's sky.

Sophie has been super busy, making phone calls to her stockbroker, running around the house, making us pretend coffee and ice-cream from her diner and reading lots of books (her current faves are 'Goodnight Moon' and 'A Potty for Me!').

Over Valentine's Day weekend, Melissa and Steve came to visit and to attend the Wild hockey game. Melissa is due in the beginning of May with a little baby girl. Sophie spent the night at Grandma's house and when she got home, she took a little warming up, but then she felt right at home with Steve holding her.

And later that evening, in the exact same pose, except with Uncle Adam holding her. Adam was back in town for a few days and came over for dinner and some Wii bowling.

Sophie is 18 months old!

Sophie had her 18 month check-up this afternoon. Here are her latest stats:

Weight: 18 lbs 9.5 oz - less than 3rd percentile
Length: 29 1/3 inches - 4th percentile
Head: 18.25 inches - 45th percentile

So, she's super skinny, short and has an average size head for someone her age. Everything checked out great. She had her last immunization and won't need another shot (except flu shots) until she's 5 years old and on her way to kindergarten!

Last weekend, Sophie got her first haircut! Umm... it was a little traumatizing.

Sophie loves playing with her toys and with her friends at daycare. She's been busy exploring all over the place, pointing things out to us, serving us fake coffee and food from her play diner and chatting up a storm.

Our new little baby boy should be here in less than two months! We are very excited to meet him.

Happy New Year 2010!

We had a relaxing New Year weekend, mainly staying in our pajamas, out of the freezing cold temps (-20 F) outside. None of us stayed up till midnight on New Year's Eve, but we were up early on New Year's Day and hosted breakfast for the Schmidts and the Arnetts. We had crepes, fruit, bacon, sausage and smoothies- yum! On Saturday, we braved the crowds at the Mall of America, had some lunch and did some window shopping. Today, Bryan and Sophie went swimming at Lifetime Fitness. Sophie had a blast, even though the water there is a little colder than the 92 degrees that she's used to

Sophie and Dad spent lots of time cuddling on the couch, reading books together.

When I bring out the camera, Sophie loves running towards it and making funny faces.

We hope 2010 brings you lots of joy and happiness. Happy New Year!

Christmas in Bemidji

We drove up to Bemidji a day early, to avoid Christmas Snowmageddon '09. Had a nice relaxing vacation, hanging out at Derek's house and eating way too many Christmas meals. Celebrated with the extended Hanson family at Steve and Bunny's new lake home and feasted on Bunny's delicious meatballs, ham and all the fixings.

On Christmas morning, Sophie opened gifts that she couldn't stay up late enough to open on Christmas Eve with the rest of the family. Later that morning, Grandma Linda came over and we had brunch together. She made blueberry cream cheese stuffed French toast- yummy! Then we exchanged gifts. Sophie received lots of toys and books. That evening, we joined the Hartje family for Christmas dinner. Phew, that's a lot of eating.

We left Bemidji early this morning and headed home to about 2 feet of snow in our driveway. We had to park on the street and trek our way to the house. Bryan spent the better part of the afternoon clearing our driveway.

We hope that everyone had a great Christmas!

Santa Claus

Sophie and I went to see Santa Claus over the weekend. She screamed as soon as she got on his lap. I thought the picture turned out pretty cute.

Here's the comparison to last year's Santa picture.

Happy Holidays!

It's that time of year again. The weather is getting cold outside and we're looking forward to Christmas and New Year. Here's our 2009 Christmas card.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend. We sure did! Sam came to visit and it was a blast. She came with us to Linda's house for a delicious Thanksgiving meal of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, etc. The next morning, at 5am, Sam and I went Black Friday shopping and found some good deals. We also went to the Minnesota Wild hockey game, out to dinner at the Mall of America and to the comedy club. Sophie spent the night at Grandma's house for the very first time and slept well.

Christmas picture preview

Here are a couple of sneak peaks from the photographer's blog. I can't wait to receive the CD of the rest of the pictures in the mail so we can order our Christmas cards. It took a bit for Sophie to warm up to the whole idea of getting her picture taken, but once she did, she was having a blast!

And to promote the photographer's upcoming mini-sessions, Sophie is featured in a photo collage!

Diner, Vikings, Christmas Tree, oh my!

Okay, I'm back with some updated pictures. Here's one of Sophie in her new Paul Frank pajamas. She's been busy walking all around the house and chit-chatting to herself and us.

We've been spending our Sunday afternoons watching the Minnesota Vikings football team (they are currently 8-1, yeah!). We are still working on "touchdown!" with arms in the air. It's similar to "so big", so it gets confusing.

For her 1st birthday, we got Sophie a diner/kitchen play set. She likes climbing up into the booth to enjoy her morning coffee.

Tonight, we decorated our Christmas tree. We're ready for the holidays!