Annika's 1st Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with Kyle's parents, Joel, and Jessica.  It was extra special this year with Annika.  We have several nice meals together, went to a Christmas Eve church service, opened presents, and had an overall relaxing few days.  I found it a little humorous how many Christmas outfits that we had for her.  Joel and Jessica gave her an adorable Santa dress and my mom gave us a few other clothes to commemorate her first Christmas.  As with most infants, it was not difficult to work our way through many costume changes.  It was almost more difficult to make sure we had taken a picture of her in each one before needing to change her :)

Our first Christmas as a family of three!

 Christmas activities wore Annika out.

 Napping under the Christmas tree.

 Relaxing on her new stocking from her mommy and daddy.

 The newlyweds celebrating their first Christmas as a married couple.

 Christmas outfit #2

 Bright-eyed on Christmas morning

We have so many pictures like this one; a cute expression and blurry hands.  Those arms barely stop moving.

Grand Forks, ND

 After the wedding in Bemidji, MN, Kyle, Annika, and I drove to Grand Forks, ND, Kyle's hometown.  Kyle grew up on a farm on the north end of Grand Forks and that is where his parents still live.  When we're there, Kyle and I have a few favorite places that we like to visit.  We've visited there more often during the summer and really enjoy running from their home to the downtown area to get coffee and then walk back.  This time around it was a bit too cold or windy most days to do that.  We only made it to the Riverside park for a walk one time.  We brought Annika to a favorite eating spot called Red Pepper.  Kyle's brother Joel worked there while he was in high school.  We also made a few trips to Urban Stampede for coffee.  It was fun to be there at the same time as Joel and Jessica, who arrived a few days after their wedding.  We enjoyed decorating the tree and spending more time with them, along with Kyle's parents.

 Annika was not impressed with the many options for caffeine and slept almost the whole time.

 She's coming to terms with her paparazzi :) 

 Joel read Annika Good Night Moon in Norwegian.

Decorating the tree.

 We drove to Ardoch to visit Kyle's aunt Arlene and uncle Fred.

Four generations with Kyle's mom and grandma.

 All bundled up for a walk at Riverside park.

Minnesota Wedding

 Kyle, Annika, and I traveled to Bemidji, MN for the wedding of Kyle's younger brother Joel and his girlfriend Jessica.  Their wedding took place at Skogfjorden, a Concordia Language Village that they met at and continue to work during the summer.  The camp has winterized cabins which made it possible to stay on-site the entire weekend.  We shared a cabin with Kyle's parents and his older brother's family (Leon, Angie, and Ava).  The cabin had 3 rooms and then a shared center room that contained a large table, fire place, and a bathroom. 

 

Kyle was excited to have Annika be at Skogfjorden for the first time.  The language village is a special place for he and his brother.

 Annika needed a little help to sign the wedding card for Joel and Jessica. :)

 Grandpa Ardell (Kyle's father) with his two granddaughters.

 Annika and her cousin Ava had some nice cuddle time.

 Kyle and I were both part of the wedding party.

 Joel and Jessica during their first dance.  They did an amazing job decorating the lodge.

 This is a painting/drawing that Joel did for the wedding.  The arch is at the entrance to the village.  They had this displayed over the large fireplace in the room that they had their ceremony and reception.

 Kyle and I really enjoyed spending time with our niece Ava.  We don't get to see her very often as she lives in Michigan.  Our sister-in-law Angie was very helpful in taking care of Annika during the ceremony.

 This is our cabin for the wedding, named for the Norwegian city Stavanger.

This sign was on our door in the cabin.  Joel and Jessica thought of so many neat details.  They also had a welcome box on our beds with treats, mugs, hot chocolate, and suggestions of activities in the area.  It was a wonderful wedding weekend!

The Travel Begins

We have embarked on our journey to Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and Norway!  This was not the easiest trip to pack for.  Annika is gaining weight like crazy and I'm afraid she'll grow out of all of the clothes that I'm bringing for her by the time we return in February.  Anyway, the trip officially began on December 13th at the SeaTac airport.  It unofficially started about about 4:15am that morning when I got up to feed Annika and decided to stay up to finish the packing.  By 8:30am, I had us all ready to go and luggage packed in the car.  My friend Kadee drove us to the airport and I managed to move everything all together.  Travel was made possible by the BOB stroller and advise from friends.  I had Annika in the carseat on the stroller, a diaper bag on the shelf underneath, my bridesmaid dress on top of everything, a backpack, and then I pulled my suitcase and Annika's suitcase stacked on top of each other.  As you can see, it was right at the edge of what could possibly be managed by one person.

Annika wasn't so sure about the airport situation but she did excellent on the flight and really liked stretching out when I changed her in the airplane bathroom.  I put her in a front carrier and she slept almost the whole way from Seattle to Minneapolis.  Kyle met us at baggage claim when we arrived in MN. His flight from Oslo arrived just minutes before ours.  The three of us were very happy to be reunited and enjoyed our evening together. 

The next day we filled with visits with family and friends.  My aunt Gloria, great-aunt Ruth, cousin Sally, and her daughter Brittney met us at our hotel and we went out for lunch.  It was a short visit but very enjoyable.

After lunch we met up with some college friends at the Mall of America.  The Lego center is pretty fun for kids.  It was great to see Kyle's former roommate Andy and his wife and 3 kids.  We were also able to spend some time with our good friend Emily.

That night we stayed with a fun couple, Brian and Sarah, who we met when we lived in AK.  Brian is now a lawyer in the Minneapolis area and Sarah is a pastor of a church in Eagen (a suburb).  They have a neat old house in St. Paul and we always have a great time when we stay with them. 

*Side note:  If you ever find yourself in St. Paul and looking for a fantastic baby store, go to Peapods.  It's on Como Ave., close to Luther Seminary.  We went in there looking for one thing for Annika and came out with several more items that I couldn't resist.  I'm planning a quick return visit when we go back to the Twin Cities before flying to Norway.

One Month

Wow!  I can't believe that Annika is already over 4 weeks old!  There is definitely evidence of her growing, with cheeks filling in and a double-chin forming.  I haven't had an opportunity to weigh her in the last couple of weeks but she does still fit in newborn-size clothing.  I imagine that she won't much longer, as she is definitely a long baby.  We've been having a lot of bonding time now that it's basically just the two of us all day, every day.  I do pretty well on energy until about 6pm and then the exhaustion starts to settle in.  I'm trying to get some type of routine going but so far we don't have much that's regular other then the fact that she gets a great, long nap from about 10:30am to 1:00pm or longer.  In the evenings, Annika is taking short naps and much prefers to be held during those naps instead of sleeping in her bouncy chair.  That sure makes cooking and eating dinner a bit tricky!  Lately, I've been putting her in the Moby wrap and wearing her for good portions of the afternoons.  We've been out for a walk every day this week and that helps immensely with my cabin-fever.  It's also supposed to help the melatonin switch on in her brain so that those longer sleeping times can be during the night instead of during the day.  Annika is making a wider variety of sounds and has begun giving me smiles when she is awake.  I've been trying to capture those expressions on camera but so far the only smile I've gotten is in her sleep, which is due to gas, I'm sure :)  Still pretty cute!  

 Smiling in her sleep.  Can't wait for the real smiles!

 Snoozing peacefully.

 I'm pretty sure that she had her hands up by her face nearly all the time in my belly and she still likes to have her hands free.

Here she is at 1month old. 

Giving Thanks

We've had a great Thanksgiving week here.  It was hard not to miss being in Alaska with our friends.  This is the first time since 2004 that we haven't celebrated Turkey Day with our group up north.  We're making it a goal to get back there next year!  Anyway, I am thankful for our healthy baby girl and all of the support we've had.  My dad and step-mom have been in town since the 19th and have been a great help around my place.  It's so nice to have a couple pairs of extra arms to cuddle Annika and willing helpers to clean dishes, make food, grocery shop, and do laundry.  We have been spoiled this week.  We've really had a lot of help from our parents ever since Annika was born.  Some of the activities we did included making lefse, going to the Zittel's (brother's in-laws) for Thanksgiving Day, braving the crowds to shop on Black Friday, and watching Alt for Norge (popular Norwegian reality show).

My dad snuggling with Annika.

Making lefse for Thanksgiving has become a tradition over the last several years.  We started doing this with St.Olaf alums at a local church and have joined that group on a few occasions.  With a new baby, making lefse at home was a better option for us. 

We enjoyed being invited to join the Zittel family for Thanksgiving at their beautiful new home.  It's a gorgeous place with plenty of room for celebrating and having a big meal for family and friends.

We had delicious, fresh crab that had been caught that morning.

A full Thanksgiving feast!

Annika looks forward to having some turkey next year :)  She mostly slept through Thanksgiving this year.

Something more to add

  I forgot to include a picture of Annika from the passport application day.  It's definitely worth documenting the experience that we had and what we did to get that picture, even if it didn't end up being the one we used.














 Later in the week, we met up with our group from the Centering prenatal program.  If there is anyone having a baby in the Seattle area, I highly recommend going to the midwives at Swedish Ballard and being a part of this program.  There were 8 couples that met over the course of our pregnancies and everyone was due in October.  We met monthly from April to July and then every two weeks from Aug. through mid-October.  It was great to get together last weekend to see everyone's babies!  It was quite the group of little ones and it was amazing that there ended up being 4 girls and 4 boys.  All healthy and lively.  Even though I had the latest due date on Oct. 29th, Annika was born 7th out of 8.  We lined the babies up on the couch in the order of their births.  Unfortunately, one family was unable to make it.  All of the babies lay nicely on their backs, except Annika.  She rolls to her side as soon as she possible can.  There was definitely a big difference in size from the first little boy through the last girls.  Such cuties! 

I am going to make it a priority to get into a routine of getting out of the house to go for walks.  The tricky part is that it has been pretty cold or rainy.  I may resort to walking the mall, just to be some place warm.  I want to use the track at University of Puget Sound but I'm not sure that they allow strollers.  On one recent walk, I may have bundled up Annika a little too much but I didn't want her to be chilly. 

Love this cute bear suit!  It's still pretty big but should last through the next couple of months, hopefully.