then and now and a playdate

Annika at 6 weeks:

Patrick at 2 weeks:


We had Rachel's family over for dinner the other night. Crazy how when we are all together we are a party of 8!
It took us 3 strollers to get to the park.
Shay, Alyssa, Patrick and Annika

Alyssa at 4 months weighs in at 10lbs, Annika at 6 weeks weighs in at 11lbs!

And the moms

Birth Video

I finally got my birth video uploaded. All G-rated photos taken by Jacksprat Photography. Enjoy!

Our days

Patrick got a new T-ball set this week. He was super excited to pick out his green bat.

Well the excitement wore off and then he spent the rest of the evening washing his new t. ;) Annika spent some chill time with daddy.


She also spent some time in the grass before the ants tried to eat her.

Then I spent a little time playing with my new Macro lens

Smiles!

Finally captured some smiles on camera today.

Annika is doing great and we are enjoying our time at home together.


some video as well!

NY trip part 1

We've been home almost a week, but I haven't had the chance to write yet about our trip.
We took
1 duffle bag
2 suitcases
2 car seats
3 backpacks
and 2 children to Upstate New York.

We could barely fit everything on a rental cart let alone carry it all!
Once we we got everything checked we made our way to our gate only to find out that our flight was delayed. Patrick was ok with that though since he had more time to look at the "a-planes"

Patrick was excited until we started onto the plane, all of a sudden he took off running back screaming "all done!" Poor kid was terrified. We finally got him on and settled down only to have the flight delayed again due to the weather. They kept promising we would take off for almost 2.5 hours. 2.5 hours on a plane with 2 children. yikes. Thank goodness I packed some new toys for Patrick to play with. Once we finally took off it was almost 11pm and Patrick was wiped out.

He fell asleep shortly after take off. We got to our hotel in Buffalo at about 2:30am.

The next day we woke up later, had some breakfast and headed towards Kueka Lake to meet up with the rest of the family for the reunion. The kids really did travel great and I got to enjoy the coutry side where I spent my summers as a kid.


We all gathered at Esperanza Mansion and Hope Manor for 3 days of food, fun and great conversation. Patrick enjoyed his second cousins as well.

Annika did a lot of sleeping


The next day we spent at the park with family. We wouldn't let anyone eat until we had our group photo.

And photos of some other groups. Second Cousins:

and First Cousins (minus one who hurt his back, but we got the crew together the next day)

And of course the old folks!

and the full set of cousins:

more to come on the rest of the trip...

1 month

Ack, I can no longer count my baby in weeks. It isn't really fair that they have to grow up so quickly. She is already learning and doing so much. In her short month she has had more visitors than I can count, received a lot of kisses and much petting of her hair! She has gotten a ton of cuddles and has made many people laugh and smile. She is such a doll and we are more in love each day.


According to our unofficial home scale, she is already 10lbs. She has sadly grown out of her teeny tiny newborn clothes and is on to her 3month ones. Her hair is still dark and there is more dark hair coming in. She lost her umbilical cord around 2 weeks and is on to the next size up in diapers, although still blows out of those on occasion!

She is so strong and will lift her head up on her arms so she can look us in the eye. She loves making eye contact and doesn't like being ignored. She is always good for a fun conversation. And although I have had to catch it on camera, she has smiled many times when being talked to and cooed at.

She has already taken a plane ride to the east coast to meet lots of extended family. She was the perfect traveler and just slept and ate. She sleeps a lot, but certainly likes to be held. The Moby wrap is a friend of mine as it makes it so much easier to just hold her close. She sleeps at night really well too. Falling asleep about 10-11pm and sleeping until around 5-6 or so to eat and then out again until 9ish. Not so bad! Then she is up most of the morning, sleeps all afternoon and then is up in the evening. Her only real cranky time is in the evening.

We've had a fabulous first month!

Baptism in the studio

we stopped down to the studio for a few pics as well.
some of our little family

Some of the grandkids

and some of the Blazings and Thompsons

After the busy weekend, we were all looking forward to a little down time

Annika is Baptized

Who knew one little baby could cause a person to be so busy? Well a few days late but Annika was baptized on Sunday, August 1.
She is one lucky girl and had many friends and family present for the big day.
She looked smashing in the family gown that has been worn by many.

She was just a doll the whole service and quite the angel during the actual event.



God parents Peder and Hannah and Aunt Leah and Uncle Ove

Pastor Siri and our little family

Grandparents from both sides

Then everyone joined us back at our house for some good food and of course some fun.

Annika wore a dress that my Grandma made for a doll of mine after church.