we finally get to hear the words. . .

Aunt Maren and Uncle Lars!!

We are soooo excited to announce that Kate and Chris are expecting their first baby in late February!! Chris shared the exciting news when he was visiting right after Annika was born . . . he gave us some funny line about needing to show us a picture of their house (to which Lars and I immediately looked at each other knowing the pic would have nothing to do with their house!) and pulled out an ultrasound photo from their first DR apt. We quickly called the mommy-to-be to wish her a huge congratulations!! We are so thrilled and excited to meet this little person in just a few short months!!

So. . . congrats Kate and Chris! Bring on the sleepless nights, dirty diapers (oh, oh Chris!), and a love deeper then you could have ever imagined!

Here is where Baby Melhus is at. . .

an alabama reunion

And I don't mean the band (sorry Alabama fans!)


This past weekend we got together with our old neighbors from Alabama Avenue. There were four families that used to live on the same block and all but one have moved on to their next home. We gathered at the home of the family still remaining on good ole Alabama Ave and it was fun for us to drive by the old house. As usual the flower boxes were empty and the grass needed mowing (does he ever mow the lawn?!), but apparently he has sold the house and will be moving. Hopefully the next owners will put our beautiful flower boxes to good use. . .

We had such great time catching up with everyone as the last time we all got together was two and a half years ago. So needless to say there was much to talk about. . . and while we adults have all aged just a little over the past two years, our kids have grown leaps and bounds. It is amazing to see them all play and interact together. It makes me think of how awesome it would have been for all of us to stay in the neighborhood and watch our kids grow up together. If only the houses were a little bigger and the yards a little larger. . . but we just didn't have room to grow in the old house. We live in a great area now, but we miss the old hood with the great families that we once lived just steps away from.

dancing in the rain

Grandma and Grandpa Leafblad recently got back from a trip to France and brought Bergen a pair of rain boots and a hat from a small fishing village - which we put right to use. We have had a very much needed break from the hot, humid weather with some cloudy, rainy days. And don't worry Nana, while it might look cold out, it wasn't. I tried to get Bergen to put pants on, but he wasn't going to stop jumping for anything!

on the road again

It was well over a week ago that we went to Duluth (what can I say. . . computer time is extremely limited these days) and we had a great weekend up in the cool north. We drove up after going to see THE WIGGLES at the Target center. It was one of those moments that you realize that you are truly a parent when you are actually excited about seeing a children's group live in concert - I mean, we have only heard hours and hours of their music over the past two years and have spent countless nights with the lyrics "Fruit Salad" playing over and over in our heads as we try to drift off to sleep. But it was awesome to see Bergen jumping around, dancing and singing along to their music. He had so much fun and had I known we could bring the camera in to the concert I can only imagine the number of photos we would have taken!


We went to Duluth for the annual Rose Lake celebration for Grandma Doris' birthday as she turned 93-years-young (as Lars likes to say) this year! Everyone was excited to meet Annika and she was in her usual form - happy to be held and sleeping away! Grandma Doris was very excited to meet her newest great-grandchild and it was fun for us to do a four generations picture with the girls:

It was so wonderful to see the family as this is usually the one time of year that we see my cousins. I was shocked at how big my "little" cousins are which just makes me feel old - I used to be the little cousin playing with their kids and now their kids are playing with my kids. Where, oh where, does the time go?

first smiles

Annika started to smile and coo this past weekend and after taking about 50 pictures (thank goodness for digital cameras!), I finally caught a few smiles!

all in the family

We went to the 7th Leafblad family reunion last weekend which only happens every 5 years. I think there were close to 350 family members there and based on the number of pregnant women we will be a much, much larger group come 5 more years. They held the reunion at a new spot this year because we outgrow the old, more rustic one and I have to say I liked this one much better (sorry Leafs!) I am not much of a rustic girl and the air conditioning was very much appreciated in this hot, humid August weather.

Bergen had a BLAST! There were about 60 kids under the age of 5 so he was never short of a playmate. Plus, he was surrounded by many family members he loves to play with but doesn't get to see often enough. And other then losing him once by the lake which pretty much stopped my heart until he was found(THANK YOU STEVEN!), he did great considering all the excitement and stimulus around him. Annika was the star of the reunion being the youngest member. She slept most of the time (either on Grandma Barbara, Aunt Pam's or Aunt Deb's shoulder!) and at 3 weeks old she was at the perfect age to just go with the flow.

Below are a bunch of pics from the weekend and like usual we took our fair share. For those that don't know - there were 11 siblings in the Leafblad family and we are from the Paul branch of the Leafblad tree who was the 9th sibling. On picture day each branch of the tree wears a different color t-shirt so we can can spot who is with which branch of the tree. It is a very awesome sight to see the all the colors of the branches together. . . so amazing to be just one Leaf on this awesome, growing tree.

Pictures:
Row 1: Megan, Bergen and Gma Leaf on Gma's 80th Birthday - - The 3 Annikas at the reunion
Row 2: Crazy Leafblad Boys - Team Queen of Sweden
Row 3: Doug bringing back the 80's - - Bergen with his coach

and in the blink of an eye. . .

our little princess turned one month old! she is 28 days today and is doing fantastic!

sleeping beauty

proud papa

a night of friends, fun and flying candy

On Friday night we met up with some friends to watch our community parade. Lars and I expected about 15-minutes of fire trucks, police cars and perhaps the mayor riding in some sort of convertible, but much to our surprise the parade was filled with so much more and lasted for an hour and a half. The kids had a BLAST together waving to all the floats and picking up the candy (well, age inappropriate candy that can only be described as flying chocking hazards!) that was so gently thrown our way. MissA slept almost the entire time - even through all the loud sirens and horns that were constantly being blown. And the parade ended with cop cars rushing to the start of the parade where a non-law abiding citizen decided that he didn't want to be inconvenienced by the parade and drove through the barriers onto the parade route. Quite a finish to a very impressive community parade!

back to life. . . back to reality

It is amazing how fast two weeks fly by, but I guess having a newborn can make the time seem to go even faster when days and nights run into each other. Lars returned back to work yesterday August 1st after having two wonderful weeks at home thanks to his U of M paternity leave. So, I guess that technically means I also returned back to my job yesterday as well. . . but with a promotion. My first day home "alone" went great, but between going to mom's group at church and grandma Peg coming to visit the day went by pretty fast. Lars only called once to make sure I was keeping sane and he kept fairly sane himself after being out of the office for such a long time.

The Vreeman family stopped over last night to meet MissA and to bring us dinner (NUMMY!) I was hoping to lose a little of this pregnancy weight, but with all the wonderful food we have been receiving I don't see that happening anytime in the near future! It was great to see the Vreemans as it had been way too long since we saw them last and they gave us great advice about life with two kids. I have to say that we have a gorgeous bunch of children, but I might be just a tad biased.

Today was my second day on my own and unlike yesterday we didn't have anything going on - which in the wake of yesterday's tragedy, I have to say it was nice to slow down and enjoy being with my two kids. While MissA slept, I actually got to play with MrB which was great because I have been missing my one-on-one time with him. It is a little difficult for me to not have a routine anymore, but I have a feeling we will find our way to a new one in the next few weeks or so. . .

So, as En Vogue so perfectly put it, we are "back to life. . . back to reality" and loving every minute of it.