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Linnea had her physical this week

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 09:38:12 -0400

Linnea had her check-up this past week to get ready for her Tiny Tots class this fall. We have finally settled with a pediatricians office that we think will be “the one”. Dr. Rommel is also from Chicago and upon their first meeting, commented that Linnea “is a very fun girl”. She weighed in at 32 lbs and is 38 inches tall, putting her in 75th percentile for both; she was very brave when receiving her vaccinations because she was so excited to have the band-aid.

Linnea’s class is at a local church and meets two mornings a week for two and a half hours. We think she will really enjoy it as she loves socializing and learning -- and surprisingly we aren’t sad or anything about her starting “school”. Her personality helps bridge the gap in new situations like this as she walks into things with such confidence, yelling behind her “bye mom, see ya yater!!!” It helps us to know that things are right and even if they aren’t perfect, she’ll be just fine....that’s our Nea.

Claw-Foot Tub

Thu, 3 Jul 2008 10:02:38 -0400

The kids love taking baths in the claw-foot tub we have in our master bathroom, they love the little stopper and chain and they love the fact that when they sit down, they are quite hidden behind the tall sides of the tub. Soren always tries to dive out head first and Linnea enjoys swimming like a mermaid in the tub. Another favorite activity of theirs is to try to squeeze into the small space between the tub, the shower and the wall. This posed a problem last week though, as one or both of the kids must have stepped on the water pipe running from the floor to the tub and slightly dislodged it. 3 am rolls around along with increased water pressure in the night...Shawn sits up in the bed: “What is that?” I say: “it sounds like someone turned on the shower” (It is amazing the intelligent things to be said at 3 am). We turn on the bathroom light and there is water shooting out of the bath tub pipe all the way up to the ceiling. A few minutes later we had things under control, but not a fun way to be awakened in the wee hours. Needless to say, a little reminder that we always have to be anticipating and keeping two steps ahead; but when we can’t do so, hopefully the results, like a little sleep interruption and water on the floor, won’t be so bad.

Something Funny

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:16:13 -0400

Shawn picked this octopus sprinkler out for the kids and inflated it with his own lungs as soon as he got home from work...even before eating dinner. At first Linnea thought it was something to bounce on, but I don’t think she was disappointed upon finding out it’s true identity. So far everyone loves it and it will be a fun way to get wet and stay cool this summer.

Wow, it has been a while!

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:39:42 -0400

I didn’t realize how long it has been since we’ve added news and photos to our blog, so I will try to sum up: spring has been busy for us, the kids are continuously growing and doing new things. The Carlson Crew came down in April to escape the extra long Midwestern winter and we kept busy with the beach, the zoo, Third Friday Fest, Brady’s Backyard ‘Q, and the kiddie pool. Soren had his first birthday May 8 and started walking a week later....which has made things even more interesting for us, especially when trying to exit the house. We also visited the Carlsons in Chicago over Memorial Day, catching Grandpa and Grandma and Dad and Jordan on the trip, and also seeing our Chicago buddies and Matt and Alice’s new baby boy. Now we are full-fledge into another Florida summer, the temp is solid 90s during the day and lows of 80 at night, but with Soren walking now, we may be hitting the beach more often...a little easier to do without having to carry a 30lb baby around. It is hot...so hot.

Soren is Officially Crawling

Fri, 8 Feb 2008 14:39:49 -0500

I really try not to force my kids into their next developmental stages, but for some reason I have been really dying for Soren to start crawling. He is so heavy that I was just hoping to catch a little break once he could finally take himself from point A to B, at least around the house anyway. The thing is that he is not only a chunky-monkey, but is very strong as well; which leads me to believe that he was secretly holding out on me. Maybe he could have done this months ago, but just thought it funny to get carried around instead. We’ll never know, but either way our little guy has had a very accomplished week: crawling, clapping, and another tooth. Amazing!

Back From Chicago, Again

Fri, 8 Feb 2008 14:20:59 -0500

We have returned from our second trip to Chicago in three months. This time it was to see our newest nephew, Baby Seth, Shelly and Geoff’s third child. Their house was definitely hoppin’ with a 3.5 year old, two 2.5 year olds, a 9 month old and a newborn. I’m not sure that we were very helpful, but it was wonderful to meet Seth and to see everyone. We frequented Deer Park Mall, ate at some favorites spots, and enjoyed freezing temps and winter storms. Linnea really enjoyed spending time with her cousins, now whenever she wants to go see Brady and Avery, she just goes and puts on her winter hat.

Now that our travels will be ceasing for a while, we are now going to focus on getting a few house projects finished. I’ll post pictures as they come!

Soren is Cutting Another Tooth.

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 15:28:20 -0500

Soren already has his two bottom teeth, and the one coming in next seems to be the one to the left of the top middle teeth (which he doesn’t have yet). So he will have two bottom teeth and one on the top side. A bit like a jack-o-lantern, but Shawn says he will still be cute. I agree.

Pre-Christmas Trip to the North

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:57:21 -0500

We have returned to Florida after a whirlwind trip to Chicago and Grand Rapids. An excellent time overall, we are thoroughly exhausted and have sworn we will never do that again...but of course we will. We spent four days with my sister, Shelly, and her family at their house in the Chicago suburbs. We mostly just spent time together, letting the cousins get reacquainted and enjoying cozy drinks in the snowy winter wonderland. We also took the whole group to dinner at Bob Chinns, played in the snow with the kids, went to Trader Joe’s (of course), the Chicago Botanic Gardens for the Wonderland Express train exhibit (excellent!!) and Shawn and I took the afternoon off to head downtown for a little shopping on Michigan Ave, drinks at the Peninsula Hotel with Sarah and Justin, and dinner with the Reeds and Tegtmeiers at the Adobo Grill (which we owe Shelly and Geoff bigtime for babysitting!!) We really are missing our good friends and it was so good to be with them. We enjoyed driving around the city, through our old neighborhoods in Lincoln Park and the South Loop, things change so fast! but, then again, it has been a year already. Thursday we travelled around the big lake to Grand Rapids where we spent time with the Kosters and the Petersons . Grandpa and Grandma are in GR for two weeks for Christmas and Uncle Bear, Aunt Cherie and Erika were in town from Utah and Idaho, always so great to see them! We also had our family pictures taken with our favorite photographer (www.motleycatstudio.com, choose online event at the bottom of the page, and we are on the second page). We attended our annual Peterson/Johnson Christmas Party at Egypt Valley Country Club, things went smoothly despite our napless children! We then headed back to Chicago, and flew home on Monday. It is so good to still feel apart of things in our previous community, we really love going back and feeling at home.

Firefighters’ Picnic

Sat, 1 Dec 2007 15:31:45 -0500

Today we attended the Clearwater Firefighters’ Picnic at nearby Philippe Park...some of the firefighters are clients of Shawn’s boss, so we were invited to the picnic. Santa and Mrs. Claus were there, and Linnea and I rode on their fire truck. We had a good time, but it is still very strange to be anticipating Christmas in 80 degree weather!

New House

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:30:41 -0500

I think we can finally say that we are getting settled in Florida...it has been almost a year since we moved here from Chicago. Unbelievable! So many things have happened since we arrived here last December...new job for Shawn, new baby, new friends, new weather, and now our new house! Our new house is a huge blessing in so many ways, and it is really helping me to feel better about living here. One major benefit we have found since moving to our current home is the amazing community we have been surrounded by, the builder of our house and our neighbors have been welcoming and very helpful, all the way down to sharing plants for our landscaping and letting us borrow the washing machine (ours has been on the fritz since we moved in), not to mention all of the flowers and yummy goodies and wine that have made their way to our front door! Shawn’s commute to work has improved also, I think he said it is about a three minute drive, silly I know, but he has yet to get a helmet for his motor scooter and it is too hot to walk. All this to say, after 10 months we finally feel like we have somewhere to belong, what a relief!