October 6, 2008

Conditional "happily ever after"

Britta: Mommy, who did you marry?

Me: Andy

Britta: Who are you going to marry next?

Me: My plan is to only marry daddy.

Britta: Well Daddy has a sore back so aren't you going to get a new adult?

So much for "for better or for worse."

Posted by jana at 8:14 PM | Comments (2)

September 9, 2008

So much to blog about, so little time. Up first: Preschool

Yesterday was Britta's first day back at preschool. Britta rebelled against my wardrobe choice of skirt and shirt and insisted on wearing her princess cat shirt and shorts that hardly stay up.

Her best friend Abbie wasn't at preschool this year (Abbie early entranced into kindergarten) but her other buddies, plus two new faces were there.

Teacher Linda had fresh batches of playdough. Britta was excited to have me make some letters for her....

...and then push her on the swing...

Not sure if she kept her pants up all day or manipulated the teacher to be her lackey, but I'm sure she had a fun day. This will be the first time in 7 years that I will have 3 hours a week for myself. WOOO! So even if Britta doesn't have a fun day, Mom will.

Posted by jana at 9:45 AM

July 16, 2008

The wisdom of 4

With Britta's older age she has found wisdom. She figured out how to lord her birthday presents over her brother. This new found skill kicked in within 24 hours of turning 4. The toys Karsten wanted to play with are now her favorites and are not to be shared.

Karsten is fuming.

Posted by jana at 10:27 PM

Britta's cat party

Britta wanted a cat party. Big surprise, huh? Just how catty can a party for a 4 year old get? Pretty catty it turns out.

Here is the Birthday Girl getting her face painted like a cat:

Pin the tail on the cat. Andy drew the cat and the tails.

Cat cupcakes with printed out cats scanned from an old Martha Stewart Kids magazine. I am more comfortable working with paper and Photoshop than frosting!

Drinking milk out of saucers.

Cat hats (except for Avery and the birthday girl!) and cat horns.

Then the dog scared them! (If Andy's company doesn't work out I think Party Host could be an industry for him.)

And then the cat theme got old so they played on the beach.

...until they decided to put on a princess/super hero/cat show. (Several wardrobe changes happened during this two hour party.)

Whew. It was a good party.

1 hour later the family party started... which was more of a beer and ribs theme, because the Mommy Cat and the Daddy Dog needed it.

Posted by jana at 9:55 PM

July 11, 2008

The anticipation mounts

Karsten is our videographer. I downloaded all of his movie clips to his laptop and started going through them. I thought this one was pretty funny in regards to all the build up for Britta's birthday tomorrow. Ignore the NPR blasting in the beginning (poor kids).

Posted by jana at 10:14 PM

June 24, 2008

New prime lens fun

I spent today testing out my new 50mm lens. It doesn't autofocus with my camera so I'm having to practice focusing. I get such good depth of field on this lens that I'm having trouble focusing the camera correctly on every shot. Maybe it is time to get me some glasses -- or contact lenses finally.

I can also see that I over-exposed a bit on this one, but I'm working on getting better.

I just finished reading this book, Photographing Children and it is the only how-to book I've ever read every word. (Too bad I don't do that with my CSS/DHTML books!) Anyway, it was a huge help in seeing photography in a new light (pun intended.) Highly recommended for the intermediate photographer wanting to take better photos of children.

Posted by jana at 9:39 PM | Comments (2)

June 22, 2008

The park

I think this picture may just adequately capture how much my little girl loves swinging at the park. In fact I sometimes try to find parks without swings so she'll branch out a bit.





It was fun to watch Karsten push his sister on the swing.

Posted by jana at 10:51 PM

June 3, 2008

Bedazzeled

My kids aim to live glamorous lives.

Last night Karsten presented us with a concert with a song he made up on the fly. "I want to be a business company... like my dad." Andy was flattered. I was wondering why his song wasn't "I want to sell my soul to corporate America like my mom..." Truly that is the easiest path to chose in life.

Britta wants to wear sparkly clothes. She has a favorite sparkly shirt that is getting a bit too small but I am not ready to deal with the tears when we have to give it away. She got about four boxes of clothes from Naomi and many of the items had sparkles. Yay for new sparkly clothes. She wanted to wear a sleeveless sparkly shirt on this rainy day. I tried putting a long sleeved shirt underneath but according to her that was unacceptable. She even cried so we took it off so I put a cute little coat on over the top so she could stay warm.

Posted by jana at 11:00 AM

May 27, 2008

Opening night of row boat season

Princess "no nap" Britta pouted when she didn't catch a fish with her Barbie fishing pole. Hmpf!

Regardless of catching fish or not, I am excited the weather has finally gotten nice enough that we can enjoy the outdoors. Welcome sun.

Posted by jana at 7:45 PM | Comments (1)

May 15, 2008

Britta on the ferry

Posted by jana at 8:50 PM

April 14, 2008

Britta on the mend

Britta ate a quarter of a grilled cheese sandwich, a few bites of bread with butter and a bit of jello today. The good news is that small amount of food washed down with watered down Gatorade is STAYING down.

The sick Britta was so darn precious. After yesterday's second puke she said, "oh dear!" and after another puke in which I was holding the bowl she whispered "I love you mommy." I really babied her when she was sick and I think she appreciated it. Today we had a Cinderella movie watching marathon. She knew when all the sad parts were coming and would hand me a teddy bear so I could cuddle with it.

I'm sure tomorrow our lives will return to the fast track. I may just miss my sick Britta time.

-----
Oh, and I forgot to mention that her last puke was at midnight last night.

Posted by jana at 9:09 PM

April 13, 2008

Metrics for today

Pukes by Britta: 5
Loads of laundry: 3
Little Mermaid viewings: 3
Naps: 1/4 (interrupted by profuse vomiting)

My house stinks and orange puke may have stained the rug.

We'll see what this evening brings.

----
9pm update

1 more major puke but this time into a puke bucket. Yay. Britta fell asleep on me while I read a book. In a sad way it was a rather nice way to spend a few hours. When she woke up I was there to hold the bucket.

2 more loads of laundry since it was discovered Karsten peed his bed last night too.

Let's hope we've seen all the puke we're going to see for this day. Wondering how tomorrow will pan out.

Posted by jana at 3:26 PM | Comments (3)

March 25, 2008

Taking care of mommy

My cold quickly turned into a fever and so here I blog from my bed. Yuck. I am fortunate the family is very interested in taking care of me.

The kids brought me books and Andy brought me dinner in bed! Karsten then went off to play on his Leapster the easter bunny brought him. Britta fussed over me non-stop. "Take care, Mommy." And "you need something to cuddle with." She brought me a few stuffed animals and then she decided I needed jewelry to cure me. I got three new necklaces from her jewelry box.

I thought it seemed typical that the girl in the family was the one taking the best care of me. But right before bed Karsten brought me his Leapster and queued up the painting game for me. "Mommy, here is an art project for you to do." How thoughtful!

However today there was an incident at preschool regarding Mommy Being Sick. Here's the email I got from the teacher:

Dear Jana~ I am sorry to hear you are feeling so very sick! I don't know if Andy told you or not but at "sharing time" this morning Britta told us you were really sick because you "drank too much"! and then after a bit of hesitation she added "water". I was reminded of several years back a little guy told us that his mom always "drinks and drives" and then followed up with saying and I don't like that smell of coffee in the car!!!!!! KIDS!!!!

Posted by jana at 2:51 PM | Comments (1)

March 22, 2008

The Tiara Battle

I thought Britta was having a great time with Abbie. I went over to take their photo and this was the face I saw. No smile. No way. Abbie was quite happy though. Britta wanted to be the bride or princes or whatever but Abbie had the tiara. Fortunately for us I was able to loan out my own tiara from my personal collection.

Everyone got to be a princess, or a bride, or whatever and everyone was happy.

Posted by jana at 10:43 PM

February 21, 2008

Project 365 check in

I doctored this one up in Picnik. I was happy to capture this look on Britta's face. She's getting to be such a good model for me. Karsten was born posing for the camera but Britta is coming around. Maybe she has realized that mommy and her camera aren't going away and has decided to put up with me.

Posted by jana at 9:23 PM | Comments (1)

February 18, 2008

Restocking the manners

Britta said, "I need more water!"

Andy said, "Where are your manners?"

Britta came over to me very solemnly, "Mommy, I ran out of manners."

I used my jazz fingers (remember those from 6th grade dance class?) and waved them all around her. "There," I said, "I used my magic powers to bring your manners back." I was proud of my mom self for coming up with that one.

And since she just started going to Sunday school she said, "Only God can bring me back my manners." I guess the jazz hands magic didn't cut it.

Posted by jana at 8:35 PM

January 10, 2008

Merry Christmas!

The best Christmas present may have just arrived today: a child who may eventually recover from 3 weeks of illness. Britta and Andy caught colds on Christmas day and have been sick ever since. Britta finished her first dose of antibiotics last week to cure her ear infection... just as she developed two ear infections, pink eye and the nastiest cough. Now she's taking another form of medicine that finally seems to be working. Andy really needs to get himself to the doctor.

Britta's a trooper though. Instead of screaming and crying all day and night when the ear puss raged she remained stoic. Only a little whimper in her sleep interspersed with convulsing coughs let us know, "man, she must be sick." The doctor himself was amazed at such ear nastiness that didn't even cause Britta tears or complaining. She should do just fine one day in producing me grandchildren.

Other more pleasurable Christmas highlights:

Karsten received a Star Wars Imperial something-or-other Lego thingy that should have taken a month to assemble but only took 3 straight days. It could have been Andy's "help" that expedited the ship building but I think both father and son enjoyed their lego building.

Santa heard Britta's request for "a doll that talks, like Abbie's." The doll that talks also drinks a ba ba and pees (and we're out of the disposable diapers.) Britta has named her pink shirted, anatomically female correct doll "Hermie" and she refers to the doll as "him" and "her son." I told Andy that Britta is really smart and that "Hermie" is just short for hermaphrodite.

Andy got a nice new head gasket for the Subaru for Christmas and an extension on his time allotted to get funding for his start up.

Me? I got some great new additions for my kitchen: a Martha Stewart cast iron oven for baking my bread; Talavera pottery; Polish Pottery; and a Whirly Pop Popcorn maker. I also got a break from hosting the holiday meal at my house. My mother-in-law really out did herself though: homemade lefse, rommegrut, and a beautifully decorated Norwegian lodge. Life is good.

The pluses of creating handmade Christmas cards is that I made handmade Christmas cards. The bad part about creating handmade Christmas cards is that I didn't send out as many as I wanted to send out. So click here all you readers and know that I designed this holiday card just for you. I just didn't mail it.

Now I just need to finish assembling the handmade thank you cards and mail them out.

Posted by jana at 6:20 PM

December 18, 2007

Santa Claus

Mom confessional. I am not one of those super organized moms.

The plan was to go see Santa when Karsten came home from school on the bus. But uh-oh, his pants were in the washing machine. And uh-oh, Britta's shirt to wear under the outfit my mom made for her was in the wash too.

Ok kids, time for an early dinner while your clothes dry!

When dinner was over I went to get the rest of the kids' outfits. Karsten's shirt was in a wrinkled pile on his floor. There were some scuffs on it but heck, I figure those wouldn't show up on camera.

Britta's dress had a chocolate stain from the party she wore it to on Sunday. No biggie, they were on the back, no one will see them in the camera.

Of course Britta had rejected the nap idea today. After an hour in her bed I let her get up. So when she decided she wanted to wear a dress, not a skirt and shirt I said, "okay" and went to find a decent dress. I let her put on her dress from last year. I figured as long as she could sit just right then her underwear/tights wouldn't show. Good.

Then the shoes... neither of the kids' dress shoes would fit. No matter. I put Britta's painfully small shoes in my purse and let her wear fitting shoes to walk in. When we got to Santa's lap I pulled out Britta's fancy shoes and Andy sat her on Santa's lap so she wouldn't have to walk in several sizes too small of shoes.

Karsten forgot his list for santa (being unorganized might be heriditary!) but it must have been etched in his memory because he was able to repeat it verbatim:

Harry Potter
transformers
good guys and bad guys bionicles
star wars legos
Ratatouille, the movie
Underdog the movie

Britta's list was simpler:

A crown and a costume like Ariel (the little mermaid)
The Little Mermaid music

To some readers the trip to santa might seem like a debacle but I'm quite pleased with the outcome. Isn't the outcome all that matters anyway? But I admit, I do wish I were one of those super-organized moms sometimes.

Photos coming as soon as I upload them.

Posted by jana at 10:23 PM

December 16, 2007

Pink Angel

Britta was in her first Christmas pageant at church this morning. Before we left the house she let me know she wasn't going to wear her angel costume and if I put a pony tail in her hair then she wouldn't wear the halo either. Karsten wasn't planning on being in it at all either until we started fussing about how cute Britta looked in the pink dress my mom made her. He suddenly decided he should be in the pageant too.

Britta kept her word. She was the only pink "angel" in the chorus. I managed a ponytail and saw she did have the halo on her head. I was glad to see she caved just a little.

She stood up on the stage and attempted to sing the songs with the bigger kids. Karsten did a great job singing and looking quite angelic in the full angel costume. After the performance was done the kids started filing off stage. Britta stayed on the stairs mesmerized by the baby Jesus in the manager. Finally she and Karsten ran out into the audience to sit with us. I told the kids I was proud of them, especially Britta for her fine first performance. I'm not sure she knew what she was getting herself into.

Posted by jana at 10:28 PM

December 14, 2007

Britta-isms

#1

{Toot}
Andy and I couldn't help but snigger at Britta's fart.
Britta: That was my butt talking.
More giggles from us.
Me: What did your butt say?
Britta: My butt said, 'that's not fair!'
Then we really had to laugh. She's supposed to use the word "bottom" but we let it slide.

#2
Britta is the Mommy Whisperer. "Mommy, I have to tell you something in your ear." I have to crouch down on the ground to hear her. She parts my hair, sticks her nose in my ear and then whispers, "MOOOOMMMM. Moooommmmmyyyyy. [insert whisper that I can barely hear]." She then pulls away and looks smug. "What did I say?" I repeat back whatever odd sentence I think she may have whispered. She continues whispering until I get the sentence right. It is actually a fairly entertaining activity that goes on about six times a day.

Posted by jana at 3:07 PM

December 11, 2007

Fall of 6 and 3

I was so flippin' cold today it seems like it's gotta be winter already.

This fall I realized my life had suddenly gotten easier. The kids both started school which means for the first time in six years of motherhood I could have a bit of time for myself. Britta now has friends and even has had two play dates with her preschool friends. So far no one has invited her over yet but I'm waiting for that very special moment. I'm wondering if I would need to stay and wait before I leave before she feels comfortable with me gone. Karsten never even glanced behind him when I'd drop him off at a new house. With Britta it may be a different story but that's okay. As a mom it is nice to feel needed on occasion.

The $15 or so I spent on Karsten's Halloween costume has been worth every penny. Spidey makes an appearance almost daily at our house. I should have bought every super hero costume I could find.

Also Karsten has started drawing his own comics. He has created Spider Cat, theme song and all. Today he told Andy, "I'm going to stay in all of my recesses at school so I can draw comics. I want to be famous!" Andy said, "Wanting to be famous is nice and all but I think it is a good idea for you to run around too." I'll have to upload one of the Spidey Cat comics for oogling.

Posted by jana at 9:25 PM

October 30, 2007

Britta's "other family"

Last week we were driving to Blockbuster to get a movie for our family movie night. Karsten wanted a Spiderman movie but I wouldn't let him get it (rated PG-13). Britta asked him, "do you want Spiderman? My mom and I will get it for you." Karsten said, "yeah!" I said to Britta, "I'm your mom and I said we can't get Spiderman." Her answer, "My other mom will get it for him."

Andy's comment, "Britta's other mom sounds a lot more fun."

And now this week Britta is supposed to bring photos of her family to preschool. They are learning about families. Britta spends a lot of time talking about her sisters, "DeLissy", "DeLooney" and of course we can't forget "Sheep Baby." I am hoping since Karsten also had Teacher Linda for preschool she'll know that Jana is her only mom and Karsten is the only sibling.

Posted by jana at 10:03 PM

October 9, 2007

The engagement

The nice thing about having a blog is that I can go back and look up important information -- like when did Karsten first talk about getting married? I wanted to know if Britta was more romantically advanced than Karsten was at 3. It turns out she is.

We had some friends over this weekend and Britta announced to me, "I'm going to marry Liam." Then someone decided Britta and Liam should hug to really confirm their love. Or at least Britta's love. They got into a little hugging match where Britta would say, "another hug!" Their final hug was a crushing embrace that nearly knocked them both over.

Britta has good taste. Liam has pretty blue eyes and the most kissable checks. Even Andy had to pinch them. And if you're wondering, Liam is a younger man by a few months.

Posted by jana at 8:39 PM

October 3, 2007

You know you may have given birth to a future band geek when...

A few weeks ago my mom hosted a family gathering. One of the relatives said to me, "Karsten sure is friendly. He told me all about his school. How they're the wildcats, how he's a basketball star and that his nickname is Troy."

What? First of all, his school is "the huskies", he doesn't play basketball, and Troy?

"Oh! That isn't Karsten. That is from High School Musical. He has morphed into Troy Bolton after watching the DVD"

So when Karsten stars in a musical about a basketball star becoming a singer, I won't be surprised.

Interestingly though I don't think Britta will be a band geek. I really have no proof of musical talent or lack of but I think I impose my own vision of myself on to her. (I couldn't play the triangle to save my life). Yesterday she brought home a beautiful painting from preschool. My dad was in awe, "we have a little artist on our hands." My thought was, yeah, of course.

Then I spoke with the daycare lady. She said "I didn't think Britta could sting up those little beads to make a bracelet but wow, what amazing fine motor skills!" My thought was, no big surprise there. She's my girl.

However I'm starting to worry that I'll miss some talent that Britta has if it isn't something that I excel at. There is a danger of me just thinking of her as my mini-me for sure.

As for my other kid, I'm still wondering how he came out of my womb.

Posted by jana at 9:39 PM | Comments (1)

September 30, 2007

Summer of six and three

Summer is officially over and if not for beautiful sweaters and fireplaces I'd be crying about it. Here's a little summer recap.

Karsten the six year old
The summer was off to a rocky start but once I figured out how to keep my high energy, extroverted child happy things went much more smoothly. I acted as Karsten's secretary as he lists off every friend he wants me to call to arrange his play dates. Then I was his chauffeur driving him to and from his social activities. Play dates kept our summer sane.

If wasn't able to scare up a friend then emergency activities were a must. A good one I discovered is play dough and podcasts at storynory.com. Stream a story via the internet and let them play with play dough works well. Check out this great Kool Aid play dough recipe.

Another big summer accomplishment has been swimming. This is the summer Karsten wanted to cannonball himself into the swimming pool, but only in the shallow end. We've now started swimming at my gym after I work out on Saturdays and he's forcing himself to swim underwater.

Look! Wet hair! A smile! A miracle, I tell you.

And for some official stats: Karsten weighs 46lbs (50%) and is 47.5 inches tall (75%). This means the guy eats now. Usually 2 dinners, sometimes 3. We're moving on up to be a 2 boboli pizza family.

Britta the 3 year old

While I describe her brother as "active and extrovert" Britta can be described as "calm and shy." Really these traits I can identify with much more than her sibling's personality. Swimming lessons were worse than torture. A stranger holding her in the pool? In her words, "NEVER!" I've been taking her to the pool at my gym and the grin stays on her face the entire time. She loves the water but not the lessons. I'll give her some time.

Britta is also a girlie girl. My mom bought her this dress at a garage sale for $1 and she wanted to wear it every day this summer so I let her. Playing on the beach wearing a formal gown suited her just fine.

She has gotten quite good at taking care of all her babies and anything else that may need babying. She spreads blankets out all over the house. R2D2 stayed warm with his blankie. The dog sleeping his dog basket was nicely covered up. She's perfected the art of snapping the blanket up in the air to spread the blanket perfectly on the ground.



Britta loves s'mores or as she calls them "sanwriches". Me too.

Posted by jana at 9:31 PM | Comments (1)

September 19, 2007

little updates

Karsten lost his first tooth!

The kids started a new daycare today. I'm now convinced the person who is most traumatized by these changes is me. Well good. I think I've been under estimating Britta and her supposed shyness. She already has a new friend at daycare and now she runs in to preschool with hardly a glance behind her. Whew. In the meantime I'm still in recovery over all the pre-worry I've been doing.

See my new blog banner? After I updated the background I thought I needed a better banner to match. I surfed over to dafont.com, found this font called King Cool and voila, new banner.

And take note that the name of my blog has finally changed. My inception into the blogosphere was during lunch one day when I casually mentioned to Buster McLeod, "I might like a blog." A few minutes after lunch I received an email from him with my user name, password and log on instructions for "Jana's Radical Weblog." I never changed it. Then when the Brazilian hackers destroyed my blog Ben Compton generously set up a new blog for me, "Jana's Radical Weblog 2." Recently Andy has been bugging me for a better name. "Jana Kleitsch's blog" is hardly any better but at least I have a cute font. And thank you blog dealers for your brilliance in naming my blog! I can never repay you for this obsession you've instigated.

Next batch of cookies are ready so gotta sign out.

Posted by jana at 9:30 PM

July 29, 2007

Age 3: From docile to diva

Whoever coined the phrase "terrible twos" had yet to experience the threes.

Britta and I have our cuddle time every night and tonight she said I was mad at her. Yes, I was mad at her. Time to brush teeth: mouth won't open. Time to eat dinner: refuses to eat. She asks for something different and eventually I cave only for her not to eat new food item either. Time for jammies: she runs around the house naked until I force the jammies on her head. That's the short list.

On the other hand I love our cuddle time girl talks. Tonight we discussed who is potty trained. "Mommy, are you potty trained?" Yes. "Is Daddy?" Eventually she starts to ask which neighbors are potty trained. I let her know all but two that I know of.

Then we talk about who are her girlfriends. Heidi, Hannah, Chayse, Avery. Avery has good dolls at her house.

So even though Britta would love it if I carried her on a chariot every where we go, I am loving getting to know the little diva in my life.

Posted by jana at 9:41 PM | Comments (1)

July 18, 2007

and history repeats itself

Really I had felt that Karsten's aversion to swimming lessons was just him. No kid could scream in the pool so loudly. No kid could despise swimming lessons more than my son.

Why didn't I think this same affliction would happen to my daughter?

Fortunately:
a) we switched to a different pool so the parents aren't familiar with my screaming kids. New ear drums to destroy.

b) Britta can't scream as loudly as Karsten can. When Karsten screams a one mile radius is on alert. Britta's lungs just don't have the same ompf. Two summers after Karsten's tantrums we were still known at the pool for his screaming episodes.

So what happened? The kids were both signed up for swimming lessons this week but since I had to work and Andy has been out of town my mom had to help out. Grandma didn't have the heart to coerce Britta into the pool. Today I had the day off and I was the Mean Mommy and forced Britta in the pool. I handed her to the teacher and then walked off. I tried to hide really. Britta screamed and cried from the pool. When the teacher set her on the steps she hopped right out of the pool and came to find me. I cuddled her a bit and then tried to put her right back in the pool. She hopped right back out and this time ran from me. Ran from me!

She ran right into the boy's bathroom and bawled from the back corner. Some kids came out and said, "there's a girl crying in here." I asked them to go get her. They couldn't get her out of there. I asked if there were any other boys in the bathroom and they said yes. Finally the locker room cleared out and I ran in, found Britta crying out of control in the corner and grabbed her.

At that point my heart of ice melted. I couldn't put her back in the pool.

Tomorrow Andy is back in town and is taking the kdis. We'll see what happens.

There is some good news though: Karsten did a canonball right into the side of the pool. He went underwater. His head got wet. And now I believe in miracles. This gives me hope Britta will one day enter the water scream-free. Maybe I'm doing something right afterall.

Posted by jana at 10:54 PM | Comments (1)

July 12, 2007

Happy birthday to my favorite girl in the whole world!

It is hard to believe that 3 years ago I had the best day of my life. I heard my baby cry for the first time. (And wow, was I happy not to be pregnant any more.)

Now she has learned to use her voice to do more than cry. She has mastered whining in the last few weeks but she has also perfected the art of cuddling. When I put her to bed at night I'll lay down for a few minutes. Her arm loops over my neck and she starts to whisper, "Mommy, I love you. You are so beautiful." Really she is the beautiful one.

Happy birthday Britta! In traditional Kleitsch style she is getting a Birthday Week. Saturday was an awesome party at Bestemor and FarFar's and tonight is another party at my parent's house.

Posted by jana at 12:22 PM | Comments (1)

May 18, 2007

17th of May Parade

I'm always surprised at the number of Americans who own traditional Norwegian bunads. I suspect the bulk of them gather in Ballard on the 17th of May, for the largest Syttende Mai Parade in the U.S.

The kids loved the parade, each in their own way. Britta was more than happy to relax quietly in the Viking float.

Karsten had other plans to work the crowd. First he dispensed candy to all the kids along the route. When the candy ran out he shook hands with people on the sidelines. That was too time consuming though and he was constantly having to run to catch up so the drill team wouldn't run him over. He finally found the best solution: blow kisses to all the ladies. He was quiet popular with this tactic.

Andy's Aunt and Uncle hosted a great post parade party. The kids gobbled up the fish pudding. Yeah, fish pudding.

Posted by jana at 11:07 PM

May 8, 2007

3 year olds and rocket scientist families

I saw the three year old coming out today. Britta officially turns 3 in July but I got the first glimpse of the 3-year old in waiting today. I was using my usual tactics to cajole her into bed without her knowing any cajoling was happening. She grabbed my hair and stuck out her lower lip and furrowed her brows. Then she ran into my bedroom and slammed the door. I was so stunned I didn't even put her in the "time out" she well earned.

I thought we had missed the terrible twos... but perhaps we'll just be doubling down for the threes.

And in other news, I've been thinking about an email exchange my Rocket Scientist Cousin and I had today. Really, she is a rocket scientist and really, we do have some overlapping DNA -- just obviously not in the Rocket Scientist department.

I typed her:

This morning Britta was a cat and so she had to eat her cereal on the floor on her hands and knees. I think she'll be an imaginative little one too. These guys really keep me entertained. Karsten has stolen one of my black gloves (with a fur lining) so he can be Luke Skywalker. I think he even slept with it on last night.

She typed back:

I don't think the cereal would have gone over at our house. We have a few rules about where you can eat. Maybe we are stiffling their creativity. I'll remember that next time Andy wants to wear his underwear (clean of course) on his head or something else I may consider strange.

So my kids can eat on the floor (if they are cats and are actually digesting food) and if underwear is called for whatever character they need to be that is perfectly fine with me. I've been thinking that I may be doing my kids a disservice by allowing this to happen. Perhaps I'm ruining their chances at a Rocket Scientist career. Perhaps my cousin is ruining her kid's chance at the Art Director position though. Or maybe we just each got the right kids and they'll each do fine in their respective environments. I can only hope!

Oh and lastly, this has nothing to do with the kids. Our car broke down on my way home from work and had to be towed to a shop. Yes, this is the stupid fancy car I reported spending much dinero on right before Christmas. I think the problem is the transmission again. You know, the $4,000 transmission I just had installed. That would be the same one.

Posted by jana at 9:03 PM

April 26, 2007

Off the top of my head

1. One very, very good reason to shop at Costco: When Britta, my 2 year-old-prety-much-potty-trained daughter says, "Mommy I have to go pee pee" I don't feel so bad that she leaves a streak of urine from the food court to the bathroom on the concrete floor. Had we been shopping at a store with carpeting I may have felt a bit guilty about the whole thing.

2. I'm a proud mama today -- of my husband. He gave a speech for his latest business endeavour today in Silicon Valley. I'm hoping this is where all of his hard work finally pays off.

3. Karsten started his hip hop dance class yesterday. I figure it will be good rock star training, plus he seems to like it a lot more than playing soccer! Cool, hip hop dance is inside -- my kind of sport.

4. Check out these great stairs! I'm always trying to maximize on storage space. I wish I had known about this idea before we remodeled our house.

5. Karsten told me today that he wants to sell our green house and move to Amsterdam. I asked him why and he said, "because they have bike paths there." I told him, "that is a great reason to move to Amsterdam." But then I had to explain to him about immigration laws and language barriers and that we most likely won't be moving to Amsterdam. The immigration laws may have gone over his head but then he piped in with the Dutch word "Alsjeblieft!" and I figured if we did move to Amsterdam, or anywhere he'd do just fine.

Posted by jana at 8:50 PM

April 24, 2007

Britta: back in the "cib"

Two nights in the big girl bed. The cinderella sheets had to be washed already due to a diapering error on my part. Don't ask.

Tonight she's back in her "cib." I told her Cinderella said, "Britta, sleep in the big girl bed." Britta told me, "Cinderella tells me to sleep in my cib."

We're making progress! I'd love to disassemble the crib this weekend. Fingers are crosed.

Posted by jana at 10:58 PM | Comments (1)

April 22, 2007

From Designer to Disney

The Good News: Britta is sleeping in her big girl bed for the first time! I found some Princess sheets complete with Cinderella at Target today and that was the tipping point. Britta said, "oh, they are so beautiful."

The Bad News: Britta's room has gone from "Designer" to "Disney." I've been trying to avoid corporate branded theme rooms for the kids but whatever it takes to get that crib out of her room. Hurray for Cinderella sheets!

Posted by jana at 10:16 PM

March 25, 2007

The Disneyland shot

You can't tell by this photo but it was Britta's idea to "go say hi to Minnie Mouse." As we left she said, "bye Minnie!" as if she had no fear what-so-ever of the giant mouse. It would have Mickey in this shot if it hadn't been an hour wait to see Mickey. Besides, Minnie is so much cuter anyway.

Andy missed this day at Disneyland as he had some business meetings in L.A. but his sister and her boyfriend joined the kids and my inlaws.

Aunt Katie bought Karsten the pirate bandana. He's already worn it to one party in Seattle.

Posted by jana at 11:04 PM | Comments (2)

Back from vacation

We're back from vacation. Ok, it has been a few days now that we've been back, but I've been too busy to blog about it until now. In fact, I haven't even unpacked yet.

This vacation was truly a vacation: sleeping in, swimming in the pool, and eating lots of yummy food cooked by someone else. Reality sucks. I'm ready to go back to my in-law's house.

We went to Palm Desert and Disneyland. The kids loved both but of course Disneyland was the highlight. Britta's still scared from the Pirates of the Carribbean ride. She almost bolted when she saw the little boat to ride It's a Small World but I grabbed her and got her in. Now when anyone asks her about Disneyland she sings, "its' a small small world." Cute. Karsten was knighted a Jedi Master while at Disneyland and will show anyone who asks or doesn't his certificate to prove it.

Photos soon to follow.

Posted by jana at 10:16 PM

March 10, 2007

Almost...

Britta is almost potty trained and almost sleeping in a big girl bed. She's almost not a baby anymore.

There are moments when I wish we weren't potty training... like when we're eating dinner at the divey taqueria and she had to go poo poo. She was wearing a pull up so she could have opted to go in the pull up, but no, she opted for the bathroom. I had to hold her over the toliet so she wouldn't fall into the toliet that hadn't seen a can of lysol in decades. I'm glad someone in this family is determined to be potty trained! She's been dry for 3 days now.

We also moved a Big Girl Bed into her room and are attempting to transfer her out of her crib*. She loves the freedom of the Big Girl Bed. Every two minutes she hops out of it. "I need a kiss Mommy." "I need to go potty." "I need dessert." After three times out of her Big Girl Bed we put her back in her crib where she's now safely locked up. I'm going to miss the crib! Unfortunately her room is too small to have both a crib and the bed for much longer.
_________
* An aside: My brother and his wife are expecting a baby in July and I've promised them the crib, and my grandma has taken permanent residence in a nursing home so we got her twin bed. The timing for the big girl bed points to now.

Posted by jana at 8:45 PM

March 6, 2007

Procrastinating

Time to work on my tax prep worksheet that was due last week. I'd much rather blog. Good thing I didn't buy Turbo Tax or my blog would become a novel, for sure.

We went to a wedding this weekend. The kids love weddings. The only problem is that Karsten thinks all weddings are his wedding. First, he tried to cut the cake. The bride's aunt took him into the kitchen so he could help her cut a cheesecake instead. It was kind of her to run interference so the bride and groom could cut their own cake.

Next Karsten asked a woman to dance during the bride and groom's first dance. The woman he asked to dance was gracious and twirled him around the dance floor during the song. When the dance was over Karsten told me he should have asked the woman in the white gown to dance instead.

Britta is my quieter child but she talked during the whole wedding ceremony. She said, "I like the music" and then proceded to tell me when people were laughing and that it was funny. All in all though I love the inter-generational mixing that weddings provide. Everyone had fun.

Now I really must do those taxes.

Posted by jana at 9:13 PM

March 1, 2007

Sick mom saga

Yesterday I woke up sick but being sick doesn't stop any motherhood responsibilities. I had Britta at home all day with me and I'd fade in and out of a nap while she stole all of Andy's chap sticks. He said he's going to have to pick up another 20 pack at Costco now.

When Karsten came home from school I put my mother teachings to the test. I had him cross the street to the mailbox all by himself. I really, really, really wanted those DVDs out of the mailbox but didn't feel up to getting them myself. There was a ton of mail in the box and he had to make two trips to the mailbox to get the mail. I sat in the window to make sure he wasn't plowed over by a car. I was proud when he looked both ways before darting across the street. We'll have to work on the darting.

We popped in the Cinderella DVD and then I passed out on the couch again. I woke up and it was time to get jammies on. Normally I get their jammies and diapers out for bedtime but I had Karsten go get his own. Since I'd never changed Britta out of her jammies I just needed her to bring me a diaper, but she wanted to get her own jammies too. She came walking down the stairs naked with jammies and a diaper for me.

Then the kids wanted some gatorade (both the kids have been sick too so we've been drinking Gatorade.) I had them bring me cups and the Gatorade and I poured it while sitting on the couch.

Now I know I can be a much lazier mom. This is good to know.

Posted by jana at 4:15 PM | Comments (2)

February 20, 2007

Sickie

Over the last few days the contents of Karsten's stomach have made appearances all over the house -- in his bed, on the bathroom floor and on the dining room table. The last time he was sick I sent him to school and he had his best day ever, according to his teacher. I sent him today but didn't get a report from the teacher. We only heard from Karsten, "I didn't get in trouble today." A sick Karsten is like a regular energy level person. I figure all is good unless he flashes some hash at school.

For the record it had been almost 24 hours since he'd last puked when I sent him to school.

Posted by jana at 10:21 PM | Comments (1)

February 18, 2007

Sunshine and rain

Yesterday the sun came out. And I don't mean that to be a cheesy metaphor for "my husband is finally" home -- although that would be appropriate. We took the opportunity to walk on the beach and on the trail near our house. It was good to get a glimpse of spring.

By Wednesday the "tight ship" I'd boasted to be running had gone Titanic on me. I waved the white flag and we finished off the week living in squallor. I'd decided to take a hiatus on the potty training, thinking I didn't want to add "unsanitary" to the already long list of negative adjectives to describe the state of the house, but Britta persisted. She has been potty training herself. She likes to take off her diaper and go find underwear to wear. Unfortunately she doesn't seem to remember that wearing underwear requires not peeing in her pants. Or pooping in her pants.

The daycare she goes to won't potty train her so to pacify her need to wear big girl underwear I've been sending her with underwear over her diaper. I just bought another huge box of diapers at Costco today so we're not committing to being fully potty trained just yet. Or at least mommy isn't committing. Britta has her own ideas.

Posted by jana at 5:37 PM

February 12, 2007

Single Mom-dom

The house is strangely quiet. The kids have gone to bed with only one attempt for more green yogurt and one call for a sippy cup. A miracle. I'm on single mom duty and I've found that I run a pretty tight ship. It is much easier to be a slacker mom if there is any possiblity that someone else might just clean up or go to the grocery store. When you're the single mom there's only one direction to point the finger and it is at me. Andy and his willingness to start a light saber war or run a few laps through the kitchen is definitely missed. Andy adds a lot of the fun.

I should mention I'm on tequila drink #2 so I might be more fun in a few minutes.

But speaking of fun...

Britta and I had fun today while Karsten was at school. We were eating pizza for lunch and she said, "I love pizza!" I said, "I love you, Britta." She answered, "you're my best friend." I told her, "you're my best friend too." She got mad at that, "NO! You're MY best friend." I let that one be, but I thought about it and yeah, I am planning on Britta being my best friend. Our conversations aren't that stimulating yet but I know through the years we're gonna be tight. Just as long as I can make it through the teen years that is. I think about how many conversations I have shared with my mom and grandma and am looking forward to carrying this mommy/daughter relationship on another generation.

Signing off to fold laundry, empty dishwasher, pack a lunch...and drink more tequila.

Posted by jana at 8:37 PM | Comments (1)

February 4, 2007

"I can do it myself!"

On the Britta radar: independence. If I try and help her put her jacket on (not an easy task!) or put on her shoes she likes to tell me "no, I can do it myself!"

The other night she wanted to refill her cup of water while we were reading stories. I told her as soon as I was done with the books we'd go get some water. "I'll do it!" she said and she was off downstairs. I heard some noises. I tried to ignore the noises. Bad idea. When I finally decided to see what was going on Britta looked up at me from below the refrigerator water spout and said, "uh oh, it is stuck."

She had wedged a bottle in the water spout and it was stuck. The kitchen was flooding. We cleaned it up, but I hardly doubt this will deter her from further ideas of independence. Go Britta.

Posted by jana at 9:52 PM

January 17, 2007

Little B

Britta's diaper stays fairly dry all day but that's because she waits until she gets tucked in her crib at night to rehydrate. I have to fill bottle after bottle for her until she wakes up in the morning with the 3 lb diaper.

I'm thinking of rinsing out a 40 ouncer of Old E and putting a nipple on it.

Posted by jana at 9:12 PM | Comments (2)

January 13, 2007

Winter wonderland: Seattle

The roads getting to our house are long and windy and have been covered with solid sheets of ice since Wednesday night's snow storm. Today I braved them, thankful that we had splurged for new tires on the Luxury Vehicle. The car handled well but I was wondering why I was so driven to go the gym. After sickness and busyness I hadn't worked out much in the last month. So instead of dying on the way to the gym, the aerobics class about finished me off.

The last time it snowed I had made a post about getting ripped off living at sea level but this time we are swarming in a good 4 inches snow, with no sign of it melting any time soon. With the holiday season behind us, I'm finally relaxing and enjoying the lazy snow days.

Karsten and Britta finally seem to be back to their normal healthy selves. Two days before school started back up Karsten had a fever of 102 (this is after the double ear infections.) He was already on antibiotics so whatever he had must have been viral. I wasn't sure I should send him to school but figured sending Cranky Kid to school for a few hours would be good for my mental health.

When I picked him up that day I waited for the teacher's report. I was ready for my apologies but instead she told me, "this was his best day ever! He sat quietly and listened in class. He was great." I think she thought maybe I'd had his brain re-programmed during the holidays or something. I told her, well, he's been really sick. She continued to rave about this new Karsten but I assured her the sick kid would be soon be replaced with his healthful, exuberant self. He's back!

Britta's bout as Devil Child is over too. A few months ago she came home from daycare saying, "when I grow up I can be a mommy!" But now she has upgraded this to, "When I grow up I can be a princess!" She could tell I felt a little sad about this so she told me, "You can be a princess too, Mommy!" So nice of Britta. She's also been on a kick inviting me to her birthday party every day. We're going to have cake, brownies and corn. Yum! I hope I don't get invited every day until July... or I may have celebrate her birthday months early this year.

Posted by jana at 10:18 PM

January 2, 2007

My little girl

Britta just called me from her bed, "Take R2 away! Take R2 away!" Earlier in the day she was putting R2D2 night night in her doll bed and had decided that she cannot sleep in the same room as R2D2.

I also noticed for her "doll house" the baby has an axe and the Daddy has a light saber. Something is not right here.

Posted by jana at 10:38 PM

December 29, 2006

3 days, 3 doctors, 4 prescriptions

Need I type more than the title? So much for a post-holiday relaxation. First Karsten got pink eye. Later that night his ears started hurting. He cried all night. I took him back to the doctor the next day and he as ear infections in both ears. The next day Britta woke up with 1 eye crusted shut. Back to the pediatrician. He gave me another prescription just in case she gets an ear infection Saturday night.

We *almost* were going to be able to go out to a party tonight but now we in quarrantine. Anyone want to babysit two kids with pink eye? Yeah, that's what I thought. My fingers are crossed we can still make it out for New Years.

I've been blog tapped by Cheryl so I hope to be posting on a lighter note sometime soon.

Posted by jana at 2:44 PM | Comments (1)

December 6, 2006

The Santa Report

Just yesterday I gave my co-worker with a wee baby a wise bit of advice: "always be prepared to be in the Santa photo." I really should take my own advice.

Today I showered. Yay. Makeup was marginal and my outfit was questionable, especially after I spilled something down the front of me.

When we showed up at the mall Santa was on break. Smart mom (cough, cough) had decided to skip nap time for the Santa snap today. An hour later Santa returned. Britta edged closer and closer to me. She wouldn't move from my leg by the time we were next in line.

I sat down with the kids while the photographer snapped a few photos. I got brave and got my butt off santa's thigh and replaced my bottom with Britta's. She did fine! She didn't smile but she didn't scream.

It was a santa success story.

Britta even told Santa she wants a doll house.

Karsten had a much longer list:
An R2D2
A Darth Mall Light Saber from Star Wars
A robot that can float
A candy shooter
A squirt gun

Posted by jana at 8:34 PM

November 28, 2006

Attempting to WFH

I can hear Britta in her crib, "Moooooooommmmmmmmmy." Not sure if I can hold out much longer.

Karsten just ran upstairs to tell me he kissed Emmie (the neighbor girl) on the lips. I couldn't say anything. I just laughed. Oh boy.

I'm thinking it is time to take a break on check on the kids.

Posted by jana at 2:41 PM | Comments (1)

November 20, 2006

The need for speed

Britta is my little helper. She takes her plate and everyone else's out to the kitchen after she's done eating; she gets everyone water from the fridge; and helps me unload the dishwasher. With her sweet girly girl demure demeanor you'd never guess her need for speed.

I get her in the swing at the park and she points to the sky, "up there!" and won't stop with her demands until I look like the reckless mom pushing her kid out of control on the swing. At my gym there is a rocking fish (I know, it should be a horse.) She gets that thing going so fast that it almost tips over. She has a little dare devil side that has been a surprise to us.

This, I realize is how nice, quiet girls come to marry crazy, entrepreneural windsurfers.

Posted by jana at 12:54 PM

November 17, 2006

Very Impressive

Britta's most complex sentence to date:
"Mommy, you need to put Babu in a time-out."

Posted by jana at 9:52 PM

November 11, 2006

Potty training the potty trainer

Yay Britta! Britta went poopoo on the potty for the first time! We rejoiced over those three little marbles in the potty chair.

And then she pee-pee'd on the floor between Daddy's throne and her potty chair.

And then because yes, I am an idiot and didn't immediately put a diaper on her, she continued the poo poo in her room on the floor.

You'd think I'd have learned enough from the first potty training go around to know better. Time for MY potty training training to begin again.

Posted by jana at 11:39 AM | Comments (2)

October 14, 2006

"It's Showtime"

Week 2 for Britta at daycare did not go well. It could be because she was feeling a little sick. Or that she had to go 3 days in a row instead of only 2 days a week. Or maybe she just realized that this was not just a one time thing and daycare isn't as fun as she first thought it was. Whatever happened, it was possibly more painful for me, the mommy to have to leave her. Does anyone know how heart breaking it is to leave a toddler crying, "mommy, I don't want to go to daycare" and having to leave her there anyway? It was torture.

At the end of last week I picked her up and buckled her in her car seat and she said, "it's showtime!" I knew it was the first of many things she was about to pick up independently of our household. Last week I was happy she had ajusted so well. I'm hoping next week goes better with only 2 days of daycare on her schedule!

Karsten has adjusted to his schedule quite well. He goes to "Lunch Bunch" after kindergarten on the days I work and then daycare for two hours. The funny thing about his daycare is that he's the only kid there! That would be perfect for Britta but for my extrovert it's not quite what I was looking for. Hopefully more kids will sign up to keep him company!

Posted by jana at 3:28 PM

October 9, 2006

The 80s Route, Baby

My eyesight is nice and fuzzy from coming back from a nice little glass of wine on the beach with the neighbors. I could only make it out for one glass but I know that since we're in October these nights around a campfire are numbered and I finaggled my way out for a quick fix.

So here begins my blog post.

Britta is as fascinated by babies as Karsten was by trains. Yes, it is possible. I had to create a new diaper changing song. My "little stinky poo poo"* song I created for Karsten doesn't work for Britta. I re-worked the words a bit so now it sings, "little baby poo poo" and the magic of my diaper changing song has the desired effect. Britta will sit still long enough for me to change her!

So picture this. I don't listen to NPR on the weekends. Britta and I were driving in the car to QFC and the Beastie Boys come on the radio. I'm singing along to "Hey Ladies" while she has her own rendition going in the backseat. I hear her singing, "Hey Babies!" Britta and I shared our first Beastie moment.

After QFC we hop back in the car to pick her brother up from a birthday party. I circled the block a few times so I wouldn't have to sit in the driveway and have all the new kindergarten parents hear me singing "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard.

We pick Karsten up and head for the library. Wow, the radio station is really playing some good songs. I crank it up again. I yell over the stereo to the kids, "YOUR DAD USED TO SING THIS IN HIS BAND!!!" Huh? "YOUR DAD USED TO WALK BY RIC OCASEK'S RECORDING STUDIO ON HIS WAY TO CLASS WHEN HE LIVED IN BOSTON." Huh? Oh well, mommy keeps singing some dumb Cars songs in the car.

Pearl Jam comes on next and the 90s just aren't as good as the 80s.

Don't let mom listen to anything other than NPR.

_____________________________________________________________
*Sung to the tune of "little bunny foo foo."

Posted by jana at 8:51 PM

September 29, 2006

Britta's big day

Britta started speaking in full sentences less than six months ago. Today, she had her first day of daycare, and I swear, she told me in more detail about her one day of daycare than I've ever gotten out of her 5 year old brother (the guy who has been speaking in full sentences for the last 3 years!) than I have for any one day of his life.

I asked Britta, "What did you do today?" She told me she played house, kitchen and with cheese. She took a nap, woke up and ate some bread and drank some milk. Good Lord, I didn't even have to pry much to get this information.

Same question to Karsten, "What did you do today?" His response, "I did some stuff." I tried to probe, "How was Lunch Bunch? " Lunch Bunch is the afterschool program at his school that he went to for the first time. "Um, fine." Me, "How many kids were there." Him, "little kids ate lunch. We played with a frisbee." I asked a few more questions and then gave up. Another mom told me it is sometimes best not to know what is going on at school as you can imagine bliss. I've been conditioned over the last five years to think lack of information is normal.

Today was a big day for me too. Britta had never been to daycare before. I have been worried about my shy little girl adjusting. I needn't have worried though because when I dropped her off there was a 4 year old girl excited to play house with Britta. There was only one other little boy there playing quietly by himself. The daycare lady told me Britta had a fun day. What a huge relief!

The childcare puzzle piecing has been complex. Karsten is at a small, private kindergarten this year and no daycare wanted to pick him up from school. No daycare wanted to take kids just part-time without me paying for full time. I ended putting Karsten in the afterschool program until 3pm and then found out there is an afterschool/before school daycare for kids at his school.

I finally found a nice in-home daycare for Britta close to our house. I checked glowing references. The only problem was that Britta and Karsten would be split up. The two of them spend so much time together that it made me sad to think of Britta all by herself at daycare. I'm still sad to think they are split up but happy to see Britta thriving out of the shadow of her brother. She really had a fun day.

I'll just imagine her brother had a fun day too.

Posted by jana at 8:26 PM

September 6, 2006

First day of kindergarten

I set my alarm extra early this morning so I could get up and make Karsten a special breakfast for the first day of school. He'd requested piggies and pancakes. He wouldn't eat the piggies without coercion though.

Britta brought her backpack too -- and her "oh dear" which is Eeyore in Britta speak. On the ride to school I asked him if he was nervous and he said, "no way!" It's nice to start school with that kind of self confidence. We got to the school parking lot and before I knew it Karsten was unbuckled and out the door. He had run all the way inside the school. He didn't know where he was going so he ran back outside so I was able to find him.

He met a few new kids and was happy to see his old pre-school friend Riess. The kindergarten teacher knew Andy had missed Orientation so she sent me to the office to pick up some forms.

In the office the receptionist had me fill out some paperwork. I asked a few questions and she wasn't very friendly towards me. I mentioned that I had been out of town and that my husband had forgotten to go to Orientation. "OH!" she said, "say no more. Here's all the paperwork you need." Suddenly I was no longer Flaky Mom. We were Women United by Flaky Dads.

Funny how it is perfectly acceptable for a Dad to miss Orientation but not so in the role of Mom. I've never seen books written about the Daddy Rat Race but there is definitely a Mommy one going on. My time staying with my mother-in-law in Edinburgh was a bit of a treat. She grocery shopped and cooked! Even on the days when I go to work and Andy comes home first he'll call me to ask me what I'm making for dinner.

How did we moms end up taking on such a role? We should all unite together and cut each other some slack.

Posted by jana at 2:11 PM | Comments (1)

September 5, 2006

Big day

Karsten starts kindergarten tomorrow. It snuck up on me. We landed back in Seattle on Friday afternoon and then spent the weekend playing on the beach. Now all of the sudden kindergarten starts tomorrow. It finally seems real. Yesterday Riess' mom gave me the list of things Karsten needs for school (Andy forgot to go to the orientation while I was gone) so tonight I went out and bought the peechee and notebook he needs for school. And tonight I packed my first snack in the Star Wars lunch pail. I cut slices of bread, cheese and lunch meat into perfect squares so he can put them together faux "Lunchable" style. I threw in a Go-gurt and a chocolate milk. It seemed like a big moment in my Mom Career. My first quasi lunch.

Today was a big day for Britta too. I noticed in Edinburgh that she started acting like she's like one of the big kids. She'll tell me, "I'm not done" when I want her to clean up her toys, or say, "me too!" any time Babu is emphatic about something. But the biggest news is that she was in her first Time Out today. Both kids were riding in the cart at Costco. They were laughing and laughing because Britta would say, "I bite you" to Babu. He thought that was funny until she sunk her chompers right into his stomach. I took her out of the cart and put her in a Time Out in the beverage aisle. When she got back in the cart she had to apologize to her brother. It seemed like she found the whole event quite amusing though. She seemed pleased with herself to finally get treated like Babu -- in trouble and in a Time Out. My fingers are crossed that she won't be attempting to bite Babu or anyone else again.

Posted by jana at 9:33 PM | Comments (1)

July 12, 2006

Happy birthday Britta!

If you ask her, "Britta, how old are you?" She'll say "two!" This started a few days ago, so I'm not the only one in the family lying about my age.

We celebrated with a party this weekend at Bestemor and FarFar's house and tonight a little chocolate cake. By celebration #2 Britta knew right what to do with the candles and poofed them out before I could even snap the shutter.

Britta updates:
She's making good use of a limited vocabulary.
Night night = going to sleep, the crib and blankets and any bed
Poo poo = toliet, t.p., poop, diapers, bottoms and anything related to the bathroom
Meow = cat
Who who = doggie
Apple = any fruit other than a banana
Quack quack = any animal other than a meow or a whowho
Spoon= fork, spoon, knife
Heat= feet
Brrr= cold, blanket, socks or towel
Babu is still Babu (Karsten)

Britta Mad Libs. "Babu --- me." That's all she has to say and I fill in the verb for her. Common verbs: hit, punched, scratched, head butted, stole her toy. It's amazing how well I can understand her with less than a 500 word vocabulary.

Britta is a freedom fighter
Strapping Britta into a high chair or shopping cart is now impossible. No way. No how. We've given up. However that doesn't mean that she wants to walk through a grocery store. Yesterday while at Fred Meyer she was trying to climb out of the shopping cart. I told her, "okay, you can sit in the cart or walk." She went into tantrum mode and turned her fists to the filthy floor. For the curious shoppers I just said, "tomorrow she turns 2." That seemed to answer everyone's questions. When I told her "cart or walk" she said, "NO. Mommy!" meaning "I want Mommy to carry me." We reached a stale mate of the power of wills that was only broken when I tempted her back to the cart with dried blueberries.

The stubborn moments are forgotten because really she is a joy
Saturday we took the best boat in the world (a borrowed boat) over to Bestemor and FarFar's house. After the inital freedom fight I got Britta to sit on my lap and she leaned back and relaxed. If it wasn't for the tight clutch on the string cheese and her lips moving I would have thought she'd fallen asleep. When I leaned closer to hear what she was saying I could hear a "whoaaaaaaa whooaaaa" coming from her mouth. So cute.

Happy birthday Britta. These two years went fast.

Posted by jana at 7:58 PM

June 6, 2006

New: Now

Britta added a very important three letter word to her 23 month old vocabulary: NOW. She formerly used to say, "Mommy, I want juice." Now she says, "Mommy, I want juice. Now." The "now" is tacked on to the end of almost every sentence for immediacy and drama. Sometimes she mixes up the ending of her sentences with "peas" instead of "please."

Poor Britta is sick though. I'm taking her to the doctor today to see if we can find out what is causing her high fever and lethargy. Being sick is almost causing her to be high maintenance and cranky. Almost.

Posted by jana at 11:01 AM

May 31, 2006

The Britta Report: 22 months -- or whatever

I'm not really keeping track of how many months Britta is now that she is ALMOST TWO. Holy smokes, I can hardly believe it, but I always say that.

Tonight as I put her to bed she made the usual attempt to manipulate the system. She realizes it doesn't take much. Just as I'm about to leave her room she says, "Mommy?" and I say, "what?" and she'll just look at me or point at the ceiling and repeat, "Mommy?" until after a few rounds of this I will finally leave the room with a "night night Britta."

Other nights she'll cry from her crib, "Mommmmmmmmmy" until finally I go in to see what is going on. Then she'll say "I want Daddy night night." I'm just the messenger for the biggest Daddy's girl I've ever seen.

But the cutest thing is that she is looking out for Babu. Tonight she called me back into her room to tell me, "Babu wa-wa." (translates as Brother needs some water.)

Babu is a lucky big brother.

Posted by jana at 9:15 PM

May 25, 2006

Spiky hair and a $14 balloon

I took both the kids in for hair cuts today. Karsten went first. The hairdresser defered to me, the mommy with "how would you like me to cut it?" Karsten piped up, "I want it spiky." I hadn't expected him to have an opinion about his hair but I should have known, this is one opinated kid. Did I want him to have spiky hair? Is this just a prelude to a mohawk? Karsten left Great Clips with bad spiky hair and a smile.

Britta was up next. She hadn't had her haircut since the carcinogenic inhaling pregnant beautician cut her curls in Amsterdam. She sat on my lap as still as a statue. The hair dresser gave Britta a helium balloon then sprayed the ends of her hair with two squirts of water, took one snip to the back of her hair and one snip to the front. Done. Fourteen dollars please. I had conveniently forgotten my wallet at home so my mom was up front and paid the bill before I knew of the extortion.

Oh well, I figure so far I've spent $14 dollars and 12 Euros on her hair in the almost 2 years of her life. I can't complain much but next time my scrapbooking scissors and the tupperware bowl are coming out for the home cut. Pray for Britta. I won't even go into some of the things my mom did to my hair.

Posted by jana at 10:09 PM | Comments (3)

April 25, 2006

Babu ow

Britta's vocabulary is increasing daily but the best part is now she can rat on her brother.

Example:
Britta will be crying so I'll ask Karsten, "What happened, why is your sister crying?"

Karsten's canned answer, "She bonked herself on me."

It was all supicious but now Britta is able to clear up any ambiguity with her latest phrase, "Babu ow."

Busted.

Posted by jana at 9:59 PM

April 11, 2006

The zoo: 1 trip, 2 different experiences

This picture explains the differences between my two kids.

Britta: holding on to my leg or my hand to walk carefully through the zoo.

Karsten: jumping in and experiencing the zoo at full force.

I love them both.

Posted by jana at 3:54 PM | Comments (1)

March 27, 2006

Spring Forward

Mother Nature, please help. The kids have been waking up earlier and earlier every morning. They want Daylight Savings. We need Daylight Savings so the rest of the world can be on our schedule and my eyes will return to the crisp white they once were before the veins and haze found them.

A quick Google search said that Daylight Savings will be the first Sunday in April. Wheewhoo. I normally hate the "spring" forward but this year it will be for the greater good of our household.

Posted by jana at 10:39 PM | Comments (1)

March 12, 2006

Getting out the potty chair.

Clear the blog. Britta went pee pee on the potty chair for the first time today! We got the potty chair out of the garage last week when she was talking lots of smack about poo poo. We'd bring her into the bathroom and sit her on the large throne but no action. Until today with a little tinkle. Yay for Britta.

As for her brother, we think he might be a Lutheran pastor in training. Today at church during the children's sermon he followed the pastor down the aisle, shaking people's hands telling them "Jesus loves you." At the end of the service the pastor was giving his benediction Karsten pipes up, "don't forget the cross!" and he held up two fingers and made the sign of the cross. Lisa said we need to start saving for PLU.

Posted by jana at 6:06 PM

March 7, 2006

Britta: the almost 19 months update

So I'm quite late on the 18 month update and a little early on the 19 month but here it is before I forget:

Since my last update Britta has had another First -- her First Tantrum, in classic tantrum style. Lay down on back, flip to tummy, wail until she gets what she wants. She perfected it on the first attempt with no coaching from anyone. Very impressive.

The other big first, her First Sentence! "I want juice." That seems so much more healthy than her brother's first sentence: "Mommy, turn the t.v. on." Britta can say quite a bit now but she can't say "Karsten." Instead she has learned to call him "Brother" which sounds like "Baabuu". She's creative!

Also on the Britta radar: chapstick and shoes. She continues in her daddy's family obsession with chapstick. She wants to carry around a little tube wherever she goes. One day I imagine she'll be married and will have to sleep with chapstick next to her bed and buy it in bulk at Costco. Let's hope she upgrades to Mac Lipglass by then, by her mommy's recommendation.

As for the shoes, I'm concerned. How early is too early to cultivate a shoe fetish? I may have to blame my mother-in-law for hooking her early with her first pair of uber designer, Oilily shoes. It isn't just her shoes she's obsessed with but her brother's are fun to wear too. Boots, dress shoes, anything that slides on her feet.

That's my girl!

Posted by jana at 9:34 PM | Comments (2)

February 15, 2006

I believe in miracles

Britta went to bed tonight with her head on her pillow, blankets on top of her, and best of all, not a peep!! Tonight I *should* be drinking vodka to celebrate, not just dull the pain. :) Instead I'm indulging in some fancy tea. Thank you Dr. Ferber.

Happiness.

http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/7755.html

Posted by jana at 8:29 PM | Comments (1)

January 12, 2006

Britta: 18 months!

The good:
Britta is 18 months old today.

The bad:
She's been sick and keeping us up crazy hours, and now we're sick too.

The good:
I was so tired this morning but glad that it was "wear your jammies to preschool" day so I didn't have to get Karsten dressed.

The bad:
It wasn't "wear your jammies to preschool" day and Karsten looked like a funny kid wearing Scooby Doo jammies to preschool. Jammie day isn't until the 25th!

The good:
Britta is a little Dutch girl now. She likes to say "nee" for "no." We love our international toddler.

The bad:
She taught her Norwegian cousins some English -- primarily how to shout "MINE!"

The good:
She can talk quite a bit now. She loves giving kisses, even if her lips are covered with a thin coat of green snot.

The bad:
The girl can climb and she loves to climb up on the toliet and play in the sink. Oh yeah, she likes to play in the toliet too if we'd let her. Mean parents!

If only I wasn't so tired I would blog more about how cute and wonderful Britta is. Sorry Britta, I will write more later. Mommy loves you.

Posted by jana at 9:31 PM

December 18, 2005

My Little Helper

Britta helps me clean. I load the washing machine with dirty clothes; she unloads the washing machine's dirty clothes. I vacuum; she rides the vacuum cleaner. I scrub the shower; she tracks in wtih her footie jammies and checks it out. Now I remember why I hire out for cleaning, and why my house is always a mess.

Posted by jana at 12:20 PM

November 25, 2005

100% toddler

Britta may have left Seattle still resembling a sweet, innocent baby but she'll be returning 100% toddler -- mobile, defiant and dangerous. And with 4 more teeth, at least.

She loves plugging my nose when I read stories; pulling my hair to wake me up in the morning; standing in her chair until I try and pick her up; and arching her back and kicking when I try to strap her in the stroller. I don't want to know what the teenage years will have in store for us!

Posted by jana at 12:42 PM

November 18, 2005

The Britta Report: 16 months

The biggest thing to report: Britta is no longer a baby. I discovered this while shopping at H&M when I realized after the 80cm size babies are booted into the toddler department. What a bittersweet day that was. The good news is the older Britta gets the closer we are to actual Mommy and Daughter shopping trips.

Other Toddler Britta news:
- Britta can climb on and off the couch all by herself. I'm breathing a lot easier not worrying about her falling off the couch.
-Britta can scale The Stairs with moderate ease, although I try and keep her away. She may or may not be able to get back down the stairs. I'm not willing to find out.
-The day Bob left she said, "Bob?" as if she was wondering where he went. She can say quite a few things now, many of them sounding the same: shoe, juice both sound similar. "No" is quite clear though when accompanied with an emphatic shake of her head and pushing away with her hand.
-If she sees Karsten playing Dora on my computer she will yell, "map!"

Favorite Britta activities:
-Throwing things down the stairs
-Carrying Karsten's underwear around
-Scattering crayons far and wide
-Coloring
-Spilling juice and wiping it around the floor with her hand
-Changing the tv channel if her brother is watching something

I love my little girl.

Posted by jana at 12:31 PM

October 31, 2005

Happy Halloween!

Too bad the photo is a little blurry but this is about the cutest one I have of them both smiling.

Posted by jana at 12:55 PM

October 9, 2005

September photos

Bestemor and FarFar's new place, our anniversary, kid's day at the firehouse, etc. See it here.

Posted by jana at 6:04 AM

September 21, 2005

Proof!

A preschool mom read my blog and emailed me this photo of Karsten hugging Mark. Thanks Fran!

Posted by jana at 11:55 AM

September 16, 2005

Memory Card Full

The first day back to preschool all the moms had their cameras ready for the obligatory first day photos. I had Karsten stand by Teacher Linda and all of the other students so I could snap a photo. The kids and teacher were all smiles and then in a surprise move, Karsten turned to Mark, the kid next to him, and gave him the biggest bear hug. Snap. What a great photo opp falling into my hands for my scrapbooking obsession. MEMORY CARD FULL. The moment passes before I can find a less important photo to delete. I have a blog to document it but no photo for proof, only a few awed moms to back my story up. Mark's mom turned to Karsten and said, "we're going to have to invite you over to play." Go Karsten, for winning the hearts of the preschool moms.

The end of the first week didn't go as smoothly. Karsten came home looking like he'd just had a knock out fight. (Sometimes I take some dramatic liberties for the sake of readership.) He made the wrong move of walking in front of the swing when his girlfriend Emmie was swinging. Smack, a foot right to his lower lip. I know he must have howled after that one. The ice cream shop wedding could be off after two years of planning.

Posted by jana at 11:30 AM

September 14, 2005

Britta: 14 month report

I've been keeping a tally in my head of adjectives people have used to describe Britta.

Shy
Demure
Bashful
Sweet
Smiley

The majority of those words have never been used to describe her big brother.

Speaking of, her big brother is quite fun. He chases her around the kitchen. She pulls his hair and hits his head. He laughs. She laughs. I'm waiting for their first fight, or for Britta to grow up and sharpen her fingernails to points so she can scratch her brother (I NEVER did anything like that!)

Last week Britta was only walking 30% of the time. I'd say it is up to 40% now and she's going longer stretches. I will be happy when she is done crawling so I won't know how dirty my floors are by looking at her pants.

I put her on the waiting list for preschool today. She'll start in 2007. Oh, and she weighs 20lbs now.

Posted by jana at 10:06 PM | Comments (3)

September 9, 2005

Britta riding her trike

I posted a few photos from FarFar's dahlia party. Notice Britta is properly attired in her garden party dress.

Posted by jana at 8:43 AM

August 17, 2005

Britta: 13 month report

In the last month Britta has changed immensely. She interacts with her brother a lot more. She likes it when he chases her around the kitchen. He hates it when she plays with his train track. She giggles at him and he wants her to go in her crib. I tell Karsten to get used it. She'll be wanting to play with his toys the rest of his life.

She's taking baby steps! She holds out her hands, her tongue sticks out and she will walk plunk, plunk, plunk from mommy to daddy or daddy to mommy. We clap and cheer. Occasionally she will grab a toy and forget to hang on to something. She gaining more confidence every day.

And she's talking! I've heard many words although I can't be 100% positive she says what I think she's saying. The very first word was "bye bye." Other words I've heard: cat, cup, mama, dada, jack (our cat.)

Does this mean she's leaving behind babyhood and becoming a toddler? I think so. (sigh.) I must continue to cuddle as much as possible.

Posted by jana at 10:51 PM

Summer Fun Photos

Lots of photos from my grandpa's 85th birthday party, trip to Hood River, Jeff's wedding and the kids in the bath tub.

Posted by jana at 10:10 PM

July 27, 2005

Getting to know my mini-me

Over the last year I feel as if I've been getting to know my little girl. I look at her and I see a darker, curly-haired, mini version of myself. Here are some personality aspects I recognize that we have in common.

Our Pros
-Don't let the laid-back attitude fool you. This girl is goal oriented and determined.
-Won't squak unless she's really upset.
-Legs, legs, legs.

Our Cons
-Would rather get food from an IV dripped into a vein. I guess in the long run this can be a pro. So far I've made it 34 years without needing to diet. I wish Britta the same.
-No need for sleep if something interesting is going on.
-Shyness. Fortunately this can be overcome with determination, hard-work and a quasi laid-back attitude.

Posted by jana at 11:22 PM

Survival lessons

Karsten started swimming lessons this week. How long do you think he screamed for?
a. the first 5 minutes of the lesson
b. after 18 minutes of crying he wore himself out
c. the whole lesson

The answer: c, the whole lesson. After 18 minutes solid he finally took a little breather. I thought whew, that only lasted 18 minutes. It could have been worse.

It was worse. The teacher put him on the sidelines and said, "let me know when you're ready to come back in." I was watching this all from a corner of the pool deck where I had been looking forward to spending some quality 1:1 time with Britta. I didn't go over there but out of the corner of my eye I saw him bolt. Another mom picked him up by the arms and handed him back to the teacher. More screaming but the teacher didn't seem to be overly concerned.

I went over to the Rescue Mom and she told me her daughter hated the first 3 days of lessons but she got over it. I started thinking about bringing vodka in my water bottle and ear plugs for future lessons.

I figured the Rescue Mom was right. Make him get over it. Life is tough, huh? As my neighbor Margi said, "if someone has a fear of falling off sidewalks, why not give them a push." Easier said than done when you're a mom listening to your kid crying and crying.

Later that day I talked to both sets of Karsten's grandmas. Both had the immediate reaction of "why push him?" and "swimming should be fun." My mom explained that she could swear Karsten is a re-incarnation of my brother and she wishes she hadn't fretted over his learning to swim so much. He eventually learned and it was on his schedule.

Fortunately the problem was sort of solved for me because the next day I had to go to work. My mom tried to take him to swimming lessons and no way was he going to get in the pool. After I heard this I called the pool and said, "are there any spots in Level 1?"

Now Karsten is happily flapping around in the baby pool. Tennis anyone?

Also see Shawna's swimming lesson post.

Posted by jana at 11:00 PM | Comments (3)

July 26, 2005

Britta in the swing

Look at my little cutie!

Posted by jana at 12:43 PM

July 22, 2005

Genetic Golfer?

Could there be a golfing gene? I certainly didn't get it (unless you count my short-lived obsession with a par 3 course and my lone golf tournament --ask me about it sometime.)

Karsten could care less about soccer, baseball, basketball and swimming if it requires getting your hair wet. He has found his sport of choice, golf. As a mom this is a relief. How many golfers get slammed by 300 pound linebackers? This is a sport where no one comments, "hey, blood bounces on ice." In fact most moms would prefer the golf clap to a football whoot.

My dad is a golfer. We were the only family in the neighborhood with a driving range in our back yard. My brother's golf addiction paid off with a college scholarship.

Karsten talks a lot about golf when he's up at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and he has a good chip shot. Time to start studying golf art (yes there is such a genre) and getting tips from Tiger.

Posted by jana at 5:23 PM

July 12, 2005

A few photos uploaded

Photos from Karsten's 4th birthday party!

Some photos of the house. We recently remodeled (are still remodeling) the upstairs bathrooms. Of course there are a few kiddie photos mixed in too.

Photos from the spring.

Posted by jana at 11:12 PM

Happy 1st Birthday Britta!

Britta is one today! I had to work today so yesterday was the day I chose to celebrate. We had a family celebration in the evening where I must say I was overly giddy while decorating with pink roses, bows and tulle. The big question: did she go for the cake? Well, not really. She sampled but no big plunge of cake devouring. More a dainting tasting with a smidge in her hair. She took the whole singing and being the center of attention with an air of seriousness and quiet dignity.

Earlier in the day I wanted to do something a little more mellow so I could enjoy her special day without having to play hostess. We went to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch with my mom and grandma. The waitress brought Britta a sundae with a candle and the staff sang happy birthday to her. I found a little Space Needle/Seattle charm for her charm bracelett and a beautiful Babar birthday book.

What a happy day.

*Note, my new digital camera broke right as the party started! Grrrrrrr. Grouchy mama bear. I'll have to wait to develop my film before I have any photos to post.

Posted by jana at 9:51 PM

July 7, 2005

Karsten plans his dream wedding

"Mommy, I want to marry you." I have to explain to Karsten that I already married Daddy and even if I hadn't married Daddy you can't marry your mom. Then he says, "I'll marry Heidi." Andy and I argue whether or not he can legally marry Heidi, his second or third cousin. I suggested other girls he could marry without legal questions. He picked Emmie, his long time girlfriend from daycare and preschool.

"We'll get married at the ice cream shop. And have marshmallows. I'll get a Scooby Dooby Doo ring, and Lupe (our dog) will carry the presents on his back."

Now that sounds like a fun wedding!

Posted by jana at 11:10 PM | Comments (1)

June 29, 2005

Babies, the original hazers

A long time ago I read that cults and fraternities employ the same technique of emotional bonding: sleep depravation. I know where they learned this -- from the original and best hazers of all. Babies. Stay up all night long cuddling a fuzzy little head and trying to a rock a baby back to sleep and a few sleep depraved days later this baby owns you.

Andy and I went to bed around midnight last night but woke up around 1am to baby Britta crying and crying and crying. I got her up and put her in our bed and tried to get her back to sleep. No luck. I put her back in her crib and thought it was the perfect time to introduce the "cry it out" method. Little Zen Baby cried so hard she puked and I won the Bad Mom of the Year Award. I got her up again and rocked her. She went back to sleep and instead of risking waking her I put her to sleep in our bed instead of her crib. The time is now 3am. Play time! She woke up as soon as I put her in our bed and wanted to crawl around and explore. Finally at 3:30 I begged Andy to rock her again. Shortly after 4am he got her back to sleep. 6:25am "MOMMY!" Karsten was up. I am one tired mom today, but boy, does Britta look cute.

Posted by jana at 11:50 AM

Avenging the Killer Raccoons

Yesterday Elvis The Cat, my parent's feisty year and a half year-old kitty, was called home to his Father. (gotta love this euphemism.) Elvis was named by my dad who declared this cat would be the king of their home. My mom was really upset about Elvis' final run in with the raccoons and called me with the sad news. Karsten overheard my conversation and wanted to talk to Grandma. I didn't have time to think how to introduce the concept of death to him. It didn't matter, his instincts told him he wanted revenge.

Karsten: "Hi Gramma. Did the raccoons get Elvis?"
(I'm not sure what exactly my mom told him from her end of the phone.)
Karsten: "I'm going to pack up my bag with my jammies and my Clifford bathrobe and my pinchy thing and stay the night at Gramma's house. I'm going to get the raccoons with my pinchy thing" (a toy a recently bought him that can pick up anything with long mechanical pinchers).

I talked to my mom again and she said she told Karsten that Grandpa would make a little cross for Elvis' grave and next time he comes up they could have a little service for him. Hopefully the idea of avenging Elvis's death will be forgotten.

This is not the first time Karsten's revenge side has shown. Andy took Karsten to a Jumpy Castle at the local fair and when he came out he told Andy, "A boy hit me. I'm going back in there to get him." Andy said he didn't know what to do. He said part of him wanted to yell, "Yeah, go get that boy that hit you", not wanting to raise a wimp or anything. But he didn't think that was the right thing to tell his kid.

Posted by jana at 11:35 AM | Comments (2)

June 26, 2005

Heavenly curls

Britta's fuzzy hair is showing signs of what I hope will be curls! I could really see the curls when I put some gel in her hair. (I couldn't help myself.) My grandma must be beaming from heaven at her great-granddaughter.

Posted by jana at 12:53 PM

Parental Olympics

Since I've become a parent I've developed some new skills that probably aren't otherwise applicable as my life as a UI Designer. One day I'd like to invite my other parent friends over for some simple challenges.

1. Diaper Changing Event:
How fast can you change a poopy blow out? Your kid has to make at least 3 turns and crawl during the process. Penalties for poopy trails across the floor or missing pants.

2. Train Track Building Event:
Points for the best track in the shortest time frame.

3. Feeding The Picky Eater Challenge:
How many jars of baby food can you shovel down your baby? Or for the older toodler, what is the strangest food you can convince your child to eat?

If you can come up with any more challenges let me know. Chocolate milk and marshmallows for all contestants.

Posted by jana at 12:47 PM

June 25, 2005

The First Year Report Card

Summary:
"Karsten has made wonderful progress in all areas of development. He works very hard to perfect a skill and takes great pride in his accomplishments. Karsten has a tremendous heart and is so loved by his peers. Karsten has a great love of life and his enthusiasm oozes over into everything he does! I am so very anxious to have him back here for school in the Fall."
Teacher Linda

----
We've been enjoying our little break from the school routine but soon the summer activities will begin.

Posted by jana at 10:48 AM | Comments (3)

June 12, 2005

Britta: 11 month report

The fact that I'm typing "11 months" means that next I'll be typing ONE YEAR! How can this be? It makes me immediately want to jump out of this rat race I call my life and watch Britta grow inch by inch.

Britta notes

- Britta's palette rivals, if not tops her brother's in variety. She had a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast, along with some cheese and sausage strata. The other night for dinner she had a bit of pesto with us and minus the wine Andy and I were drinking she ate the same meal as us.

- Britta can go almost anywhere her hands and knees will take her. She is trying to climb too and regularly at 4am is using our wrought iron bed frame as her climbing wall. Wouldn't it be cool to get her a baby harness so she can really scale a wall so I can go back to sleep and not worry about her?

- Britta is showing her preference in toys. She likes all the musical instruments. When they are turned on she gets a groove on. I'd say she has more rhythm than her mommy! She has also developed an interest in Karsten's train table. He likes to tell me, "Mommy, put Britta in her crib" as he tries to swat her away from destroying part of the track.

- Britta is a water baby. She could spend hours in the bath tub splashing around. She doesn't even mind when her big brother dumps a bucket of water over her head. She just blinks the water away and keeps playing.

- And probably the most exciting news, she can wave bye-bye and even say something that might sort of sound like "bye bye."

- She weighs 18lbs with her diaper on. She's had to go back to the doctor several times to have her ears checked. When Andy came back from Hong Kong her ear drum had ruptured. Ouch. My fingers are crossed that her ears will stay clear until the cold season next winter.

Posted by jana at 9:53 AM

June 1, 2005

Birthdays and cell phone fun

My little boy officially turned 4 on June 1st, although I let him be 4 a few days ago at Grandma's house when she made him cupcakes. No way did he want to go back to being 3.

I was so proud of him the other day when he and his daddy were going to go out in the kayak before the tide came in too far. Daddy said, "make sure the boat doesn't float away while I run inside for a minute." Karsten didn't move the whole time Andy was gone. I was so proud of what a responsible little boy he was being.

Andy was gone a really, really long time. Then Jeff came into the beach area. Turns out Andy was looking for Jeff's cell phone which he'd left in our car earlier in the day. No phone to be found. Andy was turning the house inside out.

Finally he asked Karsten, "have you seen Jeff's cell phone?" Karsten said, "Yes, I put it in a big hole in the sand." Andy started calling the phone and then digging around with a little green shovel trying to find it before the tide came in even further. Finally the cell phone was saved. Jeff brushed it off and it worked.

Posted by jana at 7:47 PM

May 20, 2005

Nurse and Spider Killer I'm Not

This one goes out to Andy who is reading this from an Asian country somewhere. He asked me to blog about the kids.

I saw Britta's blood for the first time tonight, more than I ever want to see again. I had decided it was safe to leave Britta quietly playing with a book in the semi-child proofed corner while I brushed Karsten's teeth. I heard a BONK!...silence... I'm running out to the living room. I see her head go back from the leg of the coffee table and she's ready to start really crying. I grab her, walk her around to soothe her. I go back to the bathroom and notice there is blood flying around the bathroom. Where is this blood coming from? Britta's mouth -- and she's still crying. I look into her mouth to see what is going on. There is too much blood to tell.

I'M FREAKING OUT. Do I call my mom? Do I call the doctor? The doctor wins out by a very itty bitty margin. The nurse who answers instructs me to push her tooth back into place. I unsuccessfully try to get my fingers in her mouth. No way can I do this on my own. I call my parents who live up the street. They're out at the mall but they come right over.

Doh doh doh. I'm waiting for my parents. I decide to procede as normally as possible for Karsten's sake. He needs to get into bed and Britta's bleeding seems to have slowed down.

I get him in his bed and he says, "Mommy, there's a bug in my room. Get it." Noooooooo. Not me. Not today. He says, "I'll get it." Hmmm, he's almost 4. That's probably not too young to be on spider removal duty. I say, "how are you going to get the spider?" (This is one scary looking spider.) He says, "with this" and holds up his Monster Spray bottle that I made him. I think, "not a bad plan." He tries to get the spider with the bottle but no luck. The spider is back in mommy's court.

I got out a Big Boy Cup and put it on the wall then slid a brochure for the bathroom remodel underneath. I successfully removed the spider from the room without being attacked by it's furry legs and fangs. I wait for my dad to take him outside for his final fate.

Karsten is off to bed and then my parents show up so they can help me hold Britta down to move her tooth back into place. I get her mouth pried open by plugging her nose (tip from my favorite book "Super Fudge.) Turns out the tooth hadn't moved much afterall. There was just so much blood on it that it looked knocked back.

I'm finally breathing again. Being a mom can be scary.

Posted by jana at 10:54 PM | Comments (1)

May 16, 2005

Britta: 10 month report

What to report at 10 months? Only that Britta has blossomed into absolutely the super cutest baby in the whole wide world. This must be nature's way of compensating for her blossoming into Marjor Hazard Baby too. She crawls, she investigates, she pulls herself up on anything and lastly she breaks things. Just this week she broke our popcorn bowl and the vase my mom gave to me for mother's day. I obviously need to do some better baby proofing but it isn't easy when we're also remodeling our bathrooms (our electronic toothbrush has been in our kitchen for over a month now) and daddy is now in Asia for a week and a half.

Britta has two big welts on her head from pulling herself up on the cement fireplace and Karsten's toy semi-truck.

Gotta run, Britta is trying to pull an unidentifable cord from the the wall...

Posted by jana at 10:05 PM

May 9, 2005

Easton's Birthday Party

Cute Karsten photo. Plus, Easton's Superman muscle shirt and Tina's Curious George cake all need a shout out.

At least someone in the family looked rested enough to have his photo taken.

Posted by jana at 10:48 PM | Comments (1)

May 6, 2005

Mommies

"Dear Mommies, I look around my classroom and see beautiful, wonderful, loved and nurtured little people and konw that they are so blessed to have Mommies like you." This note from the preschool teacher made me feel like a successful mommy, not just a frazzled mommy always running off to work, trying to keep on top technical skills or host a party...Karsten made me some soap and a hand print painting. He was so proud giving it to me and using the soap he made. I think I was the happiest mommy ever.

Also I just finished a book and a mommy buries her preemie baby... I looked at Britta smiling and I said, "I got you." I got my little girl. There were many months of being pregnant and wondering if it would all really work out.

I'm feeling very thankful.

Posted by ja