out like a lion

I can't say we should be too surprised as March is our snowiest month, but after the winter we've had, one might think we should have been spared from the massive snowfall that is upon us right now. March is known to "come in like a lion and go out like a lamb" or vice versa. I guess it is the vice versa year. It is especially painful after the nice weekend we had. Nothing is harder for a kid than to be able to FINALLY play outside after months of longingly staring out the window and then to wake up the next day and not see anything but white. . . again. At least we we took advantage of the nice weather and Bergen got to be outside quite a bit. Here were the kiddos yesterday . . . ready for the walk:

Amazing what a difference just one days makes in this crazy state. I have a feeling we might see a slight drop in population come next winter. This has been a though one.

an egg-tastic Easter

We had an egg dying trifecta this Easter as we ended up dying eggs twice at our house because the first time was a little, um, challenging for me to allow Bergen to have creative control over the eggs. Bergen had complete artistic oversight on batch 2. He also got to dye a bunch of eggs at Grandma Peg's house. . . so by the end of the week he had dyed about 3 dozen eggs! So, if anyone feels like a hard boiled egg (or two or three. . .), please feel free to stop over any time!

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Bergen absolutely LOVES hunting for the eggs that the Easter Bunny hides. The bunny left fun things in the eggs - some jelly beans, Swedish fish, and mini Cadbury eggs. The bunny also left "golden" pennies - as Bergen calls them.

After church we went to brunch at the Kenfield's where the Easter Bunny had found all the eggs they made at Grandma Peg's and hid them around the house! We had a wonderful traditional Easter meal and had a fabulous bunny cake for dessert thanks to Grandma Peg and Aunt Megan.

After heading home for a bit so Annika (and Lars!) could nap, we went to the Leafblad's. Bergen hunted for eggs and then we had a wonderful Easter dinner together. We ended the day by watching hilarious, and precious, twenty-year old home videos and plan to watch more together soon. Thanks Grandpa Dan for all that time you spent behind the camera!

Our Easter fun has continued all week as Bergen loves playing "Easter Egg Hunt" with Mom and Annika. We take turns hiding the eggs for each other - although Bergen can't keep himself from running around and showing me where he hid all the eggs when it's my turn to find them. We've had a wonderful Easter and feel truly blessed.

flower power

How lucky are we to have the first flower of spring in our very own home?

on the move

I can't really say that Annika crawls. . .but she is on the move. She can get from one side of the room to the other by doing this wonderful combination of scooting by rolling back and forth on her knees and basically throwing her body forward. She slowly but surely gets to where she wants to go. We are now officially on the lookout at all times and have to make sure she isn't getting into anything she shouldn't be . . . ahhhh, so it begins!!

going green-ish

Annika (getting a hug from Bergen) in her very first cloth diaper


The Diaper Stash

In an attempt to go "green" I decided to start cloth diapering - which is pretty funny given the fact that only a couple of weeks (or maybe even days) before I made that decision I told a girlfriend I would "never do that". Why did I change my mind? Not sure. A large part was due to the fact that some friends who were cloth coverts made me. Okay, kidding. But I learned a lot from those friends and they made me feel like I too could help save the earth (if only just a little) by switching. Oh, and another motivator was to save money by not buying any more diapers for the rest of the time Annika will be wearing them. I was told after I got the hang of it I would ditch the disposables and never look back. And for the most part I would say they were right. I love cloth diapering. I feel like I have been exposed to this whole new world and am amazed at what an enormous trend it has become. Lars can attest to the amount of time I have spent learning more online (and buying) all the different types and brands of diapers. Who knew they could be so cute?!

Sadly Annika hasn't been the most, well, regular since the switch due to some nasty stomach bugs (just what you wanted to know, right?) so I have brought out the 'ol disposables a couple of times. But I have to say overall the transition to cloth has been really easy and I am extremely glad we switched. Lars, on the other hand, would still be living on disposable easy street if I hadn't made him change. I appreciate that he supports me and my attempts to make my little piece of the world a better place. I am hoping in time he will grow to love them as much as I do . . . or at least enough to change a #2 (again, just wanted you wanted to know, right?).

And while we are on the subject. . . BERGEN IS POTTY TRAINED!!! I NEVER thought I would be able to share that news. It has taken us a long time, but for the past month or so he has been a rock star at using the potty. So both my kids are now in cloth! It is a great thing to be at Target and not have to hit the diaper aisle!

The other thing I have been having fun with is making Annika's baby food. I am a complete black thumb when it comes to cooking (don't let Lars tell you anything different!) but it isn't too hard to cook up some fruit/veggies, throw them in a food processor, and stick them in the freezer. No need to buy any books. . . just check out this awesome website and it will tell you everything you need to know! Bon appetit!

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the highs and lows

Of parenting, that is.

While there are many things in life that give me a high (and no, I don't mean drugs!) - nothing compares to the joy and happiness my kids bring me. My world revolves around them. But on the flip side, being a parent can also bring the lowest of lows - especially when faced with a sick child. While we have been in and out of the ER. . . urgent care. . . and DR visits with Bergen more times then I would like to remember over the past 3 years - nothing compares to how sick he was this week. What started out as a usual run of the mill cold turned out to be bacterial pneumonia coupled with horrible reactive airway (asthma) and it landed Bergen in the hospital for 4 days.

It was an incredibly scary experience for us to see Bergen struggle to get air as his little body was pumped full of steroids. After an intense 24 hours Monday/Tuesday he finally turned the corner and we slowly saw improvement over the next few days while being monitored by the experts at Children's Hospital. Bergen and I spent our days together hanging out in bed while watching TV and drawing (see his artwork in the pic below!) while Lars drove Annika to and from the hospital so I could nurse her (yet another stressor in an already stressful week - when will that Annika start taking a bottle?!)

We are happy to be back home now and for the most part Bergen is back to his normal self. . . with the added energy of the continued steroid meds. We will be doing daily meds until advised we can stop. . . which may not happen for a very long time. We will be following up with the DRs in the weeks ahead to become better informed on how to prevent this from happening again.

As we walked the halls at the hospital we were faced with children who were there for much more serious reasons. Children going to and from surgery. Children going through chemo. And while there were extremely scary moments for us on Monday when Bergen was at his worst, we knew (or at least were assured) that at the end of this horrible experience he would be coming home with us. We are taking more time this week to count our blessings and my heart continues to say silent prayers for those parents who are still walking the halls at Children's wishing they could be home.

We are incredibly thankful for all the love and support this past week - from family and friends who rallied around us helping with Annika or dropping off dinners to the doctors and nurses who patiently answered all of our questions and calmed our fears. And especially to Dr. Matt - the resident DR who worked with us every day while we were there.

Our string bean

Annika turned 6 months on January 18 and we had her 6 month appointment a couple of weeks ago on Valentine's Day . . . better late then never, right? (That is both for her appointment and this post!) Other then having to get 2 more shots everything went great. She weighed in at 14lb14.5oz (more then 3lb less then Bergen at 6 months!) . . . and I would say by now she should have hit the 15lb mark, but after our horrible week filled with the stomach bug last week I can't say for sure. She keeps growing like a weed and measured 28" long. . . which is almost off the charts! She is our string bean!