christmas celebration #2

Christmas Eve brunch at the Kenfields! It was a wonderful, relaxing morning of good food, fun gifts, and great family! Great Grandma and Grandpa Birk were able to be there with us to celebrate thanks to Aunt Marianne making the trip to D-Town to pick them up! Annika enjoyed following the dogs around - especially Birkie who is just the right size for her! (If I were to make a guess I might think she is going to be a vet based on how much she adores animals!) We had a great morning! The rest of Christmas Eve was very calm and quiet for us - which was really nice! We went to the 5pm family friendly church service, put on our Christmas PJ's, ate a fish sticks dinner and went to bed in hopes that Santa would come!

christmas celebration #1

A few pics from our Christmas celebration with the Leafs. . . it was our pizza and presents party that Bergen had been looking forward to and talking non-stop about for the past 3 weeks. It was also the same day we took our Little Miss into the ER for pneumonia so we were a little fearful depending on how that visit went what was going to happen to the party. All I knew was that Bergen was going to explode if he didn't attend some sort of pizza party that night . . . but luckily all turned out well and as 'they' say "the show went on"! We had a GREAT celebration - a perfect relaxing and fun-filled night which is what we needed after a not so great start to our day!

surprise! we're having a. . . .

Confession time: we lied.

We found out what Leaflet #3 is the day we had our ultrasound almost a month ago, but we (okay I) decided to surprise family at Christmas so we said the baby's legs were crossed. But they weren't as SHE was spread eagle. That is right. . . another baby girl!

We are thrilled to be expecting Ingrid Elise!!

We told family by wrapping a stocking with her name on it and a tag that said "It's a girl"! It took the moms/grandmas a couple seconds to process what we were telling them, but once they figured it out everyone was very surprised and excited. It will be a lot of fun for our girls to have a sister to grow up with - especially so close in age. Now we just wait until she joins the family in April!

lets make a deal

I gave Annika an english muffin for breakfast this morning and being the extremely picky eater she is, I was both shocked and thrilled to find that it was totally gone when I went back to the table! That is until I noticed something that looked suspiciously like an english muffin sticking out of an old purse of mine that Annika has taken as her own. It is the perfect size for her to carry around the house . . . and all day long she is putting things in the purse, zipping it up and then taking them out. She loves it. . . and it keeps her busy so I love it too!

It had been a while since I last cleaned the purse out of the various treasures Annika hides in there. . . and I couldn't help but laugh as I pulled the treats, toys and trinkets out this morning. The game Lets Make a Deal came to mind - you know the one where the game show host asks contestants for random things in their purses? I think Annika would have won the grand prize!

i should have knocked on wood

Saturday night I was thinking about my next blog post - it was going to be about reaching a milestone of sorts with Annika. She had surpassed the time of Bergen's onset of his reactive airway/asthma. He was just shy of 16 months when we made our first ER visit with our struggling to breathe baby boy. . . and little did we know that was just the beginning of many more trips to come. Every time Annika has had a cold I have held my breath in fear that she too will develop reactive airway. And on Saturday night I was thinking about how thankful I was that while she has fallen victim to numerous colds, we hadn't been to the ER with her.

THAT is when I should have knocked on wood.

Annika went with me to the clinic this past week as she had developed a cough and at that time her lungs sounded good. Yes, she had a cough, but air was moving through her lungs. I asked what I should look for and the doctor said "should she become lethargic or develop a fever bring her in". And Sunday morning that is exactly what happened. Our usual spit-fire of a little girl was running a temp, could barely sit on her own, and my worst fear - her breathing was shallow. My first thought - pneumonia. So in we went in for our first trip to the ER with our Little Miss.

We were able to drop Bergen off at a friends (THANK YOU JOEL AND KATE!!!!) so we could avoid Bergen coming into contact with the plethora of germs that is an ER. And we made it before the morning rush - we walked in to an empty lobby and walked out to one with standing room only.

At first Annika checked out perfect other then having her first ear infection and we thought she just had a nasty bug. But to be on the safe side (and we all know how I like to be on the safe side!) the doctor ordered a lung x-ray. Sure enough she has pneumonia. When the doctor came back to tell us, I answered so affirmatively that she asked if someone had already told us. No, it is from acutely listening to my son's every breath for the past 3 years. I could tell her lungs weren't working properly. We are treating her with a strong antibiotic and Tylenol/Motrin as needed.

Today she is back to her usual spit-fire self and while she may have made her first trip to the ER, to me she still has reached a milestone. So far no reactive airway and for that I am beyond thankful.

Going to knock on wood now.

oh-oh, it's too quiet

I remember Aunt Marianne telling me forever ago after we had Bergen that it is the quiet moments you have to watch out for as a parent. So true. When I can hear the kids playing their various activities throughout the house, I know where they are and what they are doing. This is the reason why I don't mind noise toys - unlike so many parents I know (including my hubby!)

So the other day as I sat working on Christmas cards with Bergen on the sofa, I realized it had become very quiet all the sudden. Oh-oh, not good.

And where should I find my precious little daughter? Playing in the toilet, of course. But that wasn't even the best part. She was playing in a non-flushed toilet last used by my darling little boy. Lovely.

When I asked him why, oh why, did you not flush the toilet?

He just looked at me and said with this ever-so-annoyed tone, "it was only a #1, Mom".

Yes. Thank goodness it was only a #1.

so long goodnight moon

And Hello National Geographic!! Annika and Dad enjoying some reading time together. . .

vroom, vroom

Bergen and Lars have a fun nightly ritual of playing racing games together on Lars' old play station from his college days. Bergen is now shockingly good at racing and can almost keep up with Lars (but Lars, being the great Dad he is, never wins!) But the most amazing thing to us is that Bergen can set the video game up by himself - which is about a 10 step process of wading through various menus and options to choose from. Bergen can also work our fairly confusing TV remote and now knows how to use the DVR and ON DEMAND options. It just goes to show he is watching *everything* we do and his little brain is memorizing it all.

Here are the boys getting ready to play a racing game:

the artist currently known as bergen

Bergen was quite the entertainer this past week with two Christmas concerts! The first was with his Sunday school class during the church service this past Sunday. I thought Annika would enjoy watching the kids sing, so we had her sit with us during the service. . . and she did great until it was Bergen's turn. As soon as he got up, she wanted to go with him and made sure the entire congregation knew that. Lars had to stand with her in the back, but was still able to watch - and he did a great job!

Here is a dark (sorry!) video of one of the songs. . . Bergen is standing next to one of his best friends - the girl in the black dress with pig-tails, but a boy kept cutting in front of him. I like how Bergen pushes his way back to his friend at the end of the clip!!

The second was the Christmas program with his preschool class. Grandma Peg was able to join us - which was wonderful because she kept Annika busy so Lars and I could concentrate on watching Bergen. We were unfortunately on the opposite side of the church then where Bergen was standing during the performance, so we weren't able to see him very well but we enjoyed the show! It is always so fun to see all the little ones dressed up. . . it makes them look so much older!

shhh. . .don't tell the big brother!

Bergen isn't a huge fan of Annika being in his room (little does he know they will be sharing a room in a few short months!). He says, "but she messes *everything* up Mom!" But one of the only times when I can put laundry away or clean Bergen's room is while he is in preschool and the best part is that I can put Annika in with me and close the door! She LOVES to play in his room . . . and yes, mess everything up.

And here is Miss A modeling her new pair of slippers. . . I got the kiddos matching PJ's at Hanna Andersson for Christmas (I just couldn't help myself - their stuff is just so cute!) and while the kids haven't worn their PJ's yet, they are wearing their slippers!

mom! it says 3-1-5!

Everyday Bergen does an hour of quiet time while Annika is napping. It is the only "me" time I get during the day. When he starts his quiet time we look at the clock together and I tell him what time he can come out. My guess is that he stares at the clock the whole time - other then the numerous, yet questionable, times he needs to use bathroom during that hour!

Today Bergen started quiet time at 2:15, so I told him "you can come out when your clock says 3-1-5". And as I sat working on a project, Bergen came running out saying "mom! It's 3-1-5! It's 3-1-5". My clock, however, only read 2:56.

So I went in to double check his numbers and sure enough his clock said 3-1-5. So I asked him, "Bergen, did you push the buttons on the clock".

And with a smile he said, "yes".

"Did you change the clock so it would say 3-1-5?"

And he answered with another proud "yes".

And all I could think was man, this kid is smart, but he still has another 20 minutes of quiet time to go. Nice try Bergen!

*cough*

I have been struggling with a horrible chest cough for over a month. . . nothing else, just a cough. Since I had no other symptoms I figured in time it would go away, but it hasn't. I have been coughing so much for so long that I think I have pulled/strained every rib muscle possible and it now hurts when I cough - heck, it hurts when I breathe.

So THAT should have been enough for me to go in to the doctor.

Nope.

Annika started to cough about 3 days ago. She has been waking at night and also coughing sporadically throughout the day. . . . and THAT is what made me go see the doctor today. When it comes to my child's health, I am on the phone making an appointment as soon as I can get in (especially given our history with Bergen and all the ER, urgent care and clinic visits we have had over the years). I am not willing to take the risk for anything to get any worse with our wee ones. But for me - for Mom? Well, we Moms tend to put ourselves last.

It took the doctor about 3 seconds with a listen of my lungs to tell me I have bronchitis. Lovely. As for Annika, just keeping an eye.

I had a good laugh when I asked the doctor why it hurts to much when I cough and he said "well, it *might* be your advanced case of bronchitis". Oh yeah, probably that.

Lesson learned. Mom doesn't always have to go last.

who needs sunday night football

When you have Sunday night bowling. . . .

and Sunday night dancing?

But as always, it is only fun and games until someone gets hurt!

you scream, i scream, we all scream

for ICE CREAM!

We have been indulging in more night time sweets around the Blad Pad as of late. . . and one of the kids' favorite are the Kemps Winter Snowmen. Bergen eats his up in about 1.2 seconds and Annika takes a bit longer. . . but at least it is a treat she will eat and judging by the pictures below you can see that she *really* likes her snowman ice cream!

our snow family

Lars and Bergen took advantage of the warmer weather yesterday and built our "snow family". It has been raining pretty much all day today. . . so our little snow family has been slowly melting away. There has been no more snow for us (yet), but now we have a wonderful covering of ice.

DAD

MOM

BERGEN

Yes, he gave himself the pipe. . . but we were happy to hear that he was "playing the flute!"

ANNIKA
BABY

The family at night