Syttende Mai Celebration

Syttende mai (17th of May) is Norwegian Constitution Day.  While Kyle was at the world's largest celebration in Bergen, Norway, Annika and I participated in the largest celebration outside of Norway.  We're happy to have that be in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle.  I have marched in the parade several times with other St. Olaf alums.  Last year St. Olaf didn't have a group and I was a spectator.  It was fun this year to be walking it again, this time with Annika.  I was prepared to have to cut our participation short if Annika wasn't handling the crowds and noise well but she did great.  The parade started at 6 pm, which is about the time we're usually starting our bedtime routine and I thought that might make her fussy or worse. Instead, Annika happily relaxed while rolling along the parade route.  Our group was in the middle of the parade, so after we finished, I circled back and we found Joel and Jessica and watched most of the rest of the parade.

 We stopped to watch some folk dancing that was taking place in the town square.  Many people were dressed in the traditional folk costumes called bunads.  Each region of Norway has a different design.

 The St. Olaf clothes we have for Annika are too big for her right now.  This gnome onesie was purchased for her in Jackson Hole, WY last summer and my step-mom JoAnn stitched her name on it.  

 Our friend Heather stopped by to say hello on her way to join the UW Norwegian Club students.  She made this traditional bunad herself, which is very impressive.

 Some Um Yah Yah action!

 Flag adorned stroller

I think Joel was excited to see us :)

Bring on the Sun!

Seattle may be rainier than other places but when the sun comes out, it's worth all those cloudy days!  After church last Sunday, Annika and I went to Green Lake to go for a walk.  A couple friends came to meet us for our stroll.  These friends are leaving their teaching positions here and teaching in China next year.  I enjoyed hearing about their plans and having a chance to chat with them.  It was absolutely wonderful to be outside and Annika is really enjoying riding in the stoller facing forward.  I give her toys to play with but she ends up just watching what's going on around us.  I also tried out a new sun hat on her today and I think it looked pretty cute :)

 Feeling the joy of being outside in the sun!

 The Saturday morning run has become one of my favorite routines.  This morning while I was running, I tried to figure out when we started running on Saturday mornings but I couldn't remember exactly.  Maybe it was when I was training for a half-marathon a few years ago?  At some point, Kyle and I started running together and then going out for bagels and coffee afterwards.  While Kyle was in Norway last spring, I continued to run and then would bring my breakfast to eat while skyping with Kyle.  Over the past month, I've restarted the routine and this morning I decided to run along the Tacoma waterfront.  It was fantastic and beautiful!

 The view in front of me.

The view of Mt. Rainier behind me.  

6 months old

Annika had her 6 month check-up today.  This is such a great age!  6 monthers are a happy, social bunch.  Annika is doing so well and it's nice to be reassured that she is healthy and on-target developmentally. We don't have a good scale at home, so I'm never quite sure what she will weigh in as.

6 month stats

Weight:  15 lb 2 oz (30th percentile)

Height:  26.5 in. (75th percentile.

Favorite toy:  Sophie Giraffe, her toes, toy keys, a cloth book with crinkle paper, anything that makes noises

Favorite foods: still prefers milk above all else but has now tried avocado, cereal, and sweet potato

Favorite Book:  Mama, do you love me?, Jamberry

Favorite game:  Peek-a-boo

New skills:  Rolling from her back to her tummy
Looking forward to most:  Her daddy coming home in less than 3 weeks!

I tried several times to get a good picture for the month.  This is becoming a tricky one-person job.  She is so active and quick that I had trouble getting a good shot, as will become apparent through these pictures.  I wish I would have had the sticker on her while I was testing the lighting because this is the only time she really would look at the camera for more than the briefest of seconds.

 Once the sticker was in place, I had the hardest time getting her to look up.  Then when I did, she would grab the piglet and block the view of the sticker.

Then I would have to act fast and catch her before she grabbed her toes and could go head first off of the chair.

I tried to reposition her and this is what I got..........I did not put her legs this way :)

This is where I gave up and decided to save the sticker so that it can be used again sometime(they're on loan) on another onesie.  She has a couple of bandaids on her leg from her immunizations this morning.

Something in the Water?

Our weekend was full of visits with friends.  A good friend from Juneau, AK was in the area on a last-minute trip and was able to stop by and see us.  I met Jess through a mutual friend in Anchorage about 7 years ago.  We've had some experiences over the years, some more fun than others, but always an adventure.  My first time visiting Jess in Juneau was on a layover between Seattle and Anchorage.  I had about 8 hours between my flights and Jess picked me up from the airport.  We drove out to see a big glacier and walked around downtown.  When I moved down to Seattle from Anchorage, another friend Brooke and I drove to Haines, left my car, and walked onto a ferry to Juneau.  We wanted to visit Jess, see Juneau, and to celebrate her 30th birthday.  Due to the ferry schedule, we had to stay a certain number of days before being able to ride the ferry back.  During that time was a Fools Run at Midnight 5k for which people dress up.  Who did I dress up as?  Sporty Sarah Palin!  This is back when she had only been governor of AK for a little while and I mostly knew her as the sister of a former co-worker.  Little did I know that I was dressing up as someone that the whole country would soon be familiar with.  I should track down those pictures.......  Anyway, the last adventure I had with Jess was working at a Girl Scout camp in Juneau.  Kyle, Brooke, and I were the cooks for about 100 kids and adults for a week.  Let me just say that it was not the camp experience that I was fondly remembering when I said that I would volunteer.  We turned a crazy situation into a memorable week.  It was great to see Jess again and introduce her to Annika!  By the way, if you ever hear that I am spending a month rafting down the Grand Canyon, this is who I will be with :)

Our next visit with friends was at a "Baby Sprinkle" for a friend who had a baby boy about 7 weeks ago.  This group of women met for a brunch last Oct. shortly before Annika was born.  At that time 6 of the 8 women there were pregnant.  That's a whole lot of hormones!  Now 5 of 6 of those babies have arrived and more babies are on the way!  We were joking about something being in the water around here.  We had to get picture of all the ladies and all the babies.

 A whole lotta new moms in the room.

 Annika looks huge compared to her newborn friends.  The youngest on the end was not quite 2 weeks old.  The second one in from the right was born 5 weeks early and was originally due today.  She's doing great!  On Annika's left is the sole boy so far in the group and he comfortably slept through all of the pictures, smart boy.

 Following the baby gathering, Annika and I drove to Dash Point State Park to meet my brother- and sister-in-law.  Right after these pictures my camera battery died.  This cute hat was a gift Annika received at the shower.

After the beach, we drove down to DuPont to have dinner with my brother, sister-in-law, and kids.  Annika is always entertained by her bigger cousins.  We love being close enough to see the for the evening.  The weather was pretty mild, so we went for a walk around the neighborhood after dinner.  Brenda introduced me to the best indoor S'mores :)  By the end of the weekend we were pretty tired but feeling happy to have seen so many friends.

First Food

If you could go back and choose what your very first taste of food would be, what would you pick?  I found myself pondering about this topic, as Annika is now old enough for adding foods to her diet.  Some babies start foods as early as 4 months but from what I've read, it's good to wait until close to 6 months.  Already I can tell that Annika's milestones will be bittersweet for me.  It's fun and exciting for her to be doing all of these "firsts" but it also means that she's growing quickly.  I was a little sad thinking that she wouldn't just be having my milk as her sole source of nutrition anymore.  Back to the question, though.  What to start with?  Lots of people pick a rice cereal to start, which is fine, but I didn't want to start there.  This would be her first food ever and I wanted it to be something delicious :)  There's plenty of time for cereals.  There is also a list of Stage One foods for babies who are just starting out.   For Annika's first food, I chose an avocado.  Avocados, in case you're wondering, are a fantastic food for babies.  In order to get ready for the big occasion, I needed to get a few things.  We had not yet purchased a highchair or baby-sized spoons.  

 Instead of a big highchair, I opted for the easy booster-chair version.  This chair can be hooked on to any chair and will very easy to travel with this summer.  Annika practiced in the chair as soon as I brought it home from Target last Friday.  It was a pretty exciting Friday night :)

On Saturday morning I prepped the avocado into a soupy-like concoction and got everything set up.  Kyle joined us by skype from Norway so that he could be a witness to this occasion.

Annika wasn't too certain what I was trying to do to her.

She thought the food was ok.

But the best part of the whole experience was that great spoon to chew on!

It was great that Kyle was able to be with us for this!  Since the avocado last weekend, we have tried a whole grain cereal and then sweet potato tonight.  So far, Annika hasn't been thrilled or really that interested in any of it.  She started making the disgusted face before I even got any food into her mouth tonight.  My luck, she's probably only going to want the most bland of all....the rice cereal that I think is a little gross.  We'll try that this weekend.  And so starts her food journey.............

Finally Spring?

We had a weekend of sun and it felt great to get outside!  Annika is big enough to sit forward-facing in the BOB stroller.  This was the first time that I ran without the carseat attachment and it was great!  It felt so much lighter and a lot more stable.  I think Annika really enjoyed being able to see where we were going.  I had a few toys attached to the stroller but she didn't seem to play with them for long.  It was a pleasure to be exercising in the sunshine.  I have had a bit of cabin fever lately with the weather.  Now that it's so light in the evenings, I want to be outside when we get home after work.  I'm still trying to figure out how to do that and still get Annika to bed at a decent time.  Luckily we have weekend afternoons to enjoy.

 All strapped in and ready to roll!

 Annika was sporting her baby-shades and Lake Placid hoodie from her honorary aunt Brooke :)

On Sunday afternoon, Annika and I met our friend Jody at her apartment in Seattle.  We utilized her wifi to skype with Kyle and then we headed to Golden Gardens.  This is my favorite beach access in Seattle.  I love the view and it's always fun to relax in the sand by the water.

 Having a tummy time chat with Jody.  Jody's friend Margaret joined us for the afternoon.

By the time I took the picture the view of the mountains was a little hazy, but they were still beautiful.

Weekend in Spokane

 Last weekend Annika and I traveled with some of my wonderful, long-time friends to Spokane to stay with another friend and her family.  The four of us last got together a few weeks before Annika was born in October.  It was really fun to be spending another few days together and for all the kids to meet.  Katie's son Ryan was the star of the weekend and we were able to see his first ever soccer game.  I have to say that it was pretty fun to see a bunch of 4 and 5 year old kids playing soccer.  It was a little strange to realize that we're now the parents at these sporting events.  A crazy shift from when we were the kids or our friends were the players. 

 The cheering section for Ryan and this is the only picture that Katie's adorable daughter Morgan was in....and she's not even looking.  Next time I will do a better job of getting a picture of her cute self.

 Looking pretty great for this being his first game ever.

 Mikaela's looking like a natural getting Annika to sleep. 

 We all know that the best part of doing sports when you're a kid is the snacks afterwards!

 Ryan did such a great job playing with Annika.  She loved it!

 My attempt at a 5 person self-portrait.

 Thanks to Katie's husband Scott for taking a picture of the four of us.  Next time, I promise to get a picture of him next time, too.

I can only imagine what kind of advice he might be giving her.

We considered going out on Saturday night for a drink or something and having Scott stay with all the kids but decided against it.  It was nice to sit at relax at their home and just enjoy our time together.  The weekend went too quickly but I'm sure we'll be back through Spokane again sometime this summer.