We live in such a cool place

OK, fine, this particular cool place is more like 1.5 hours away from where we live, but whatever. Isn't it cool that you can get in the car and before anyone even has time to fall asleep, you can be at THIS? "This" being Rocky Mountain National Park, where we've been before--and previous times we took our nice camera and got lots of amazing pictures--whereas this time we left the big camera at home because it's so bulky, so the photos below are from a whole bunch of different phones and more portable cameras.

My host family was blown away--they are total country/mountain people so all of Colorado was really their jam, unlike New York, where they spent a day at the end of their trip and were less than impressed. But RMNP pretty much impresses everyone... it's so beautiful and the altitude is high enough that you really feel it and it makes you feel pretty badass.

We got lucky with the animals, too--before we even got in the park we saw two moose, a mother and baby, which was super exciting for all of us because none of us had ever seen a moose before. Further in the park we also saw marmots, prairie dogs, elk, and a deer and fawn. My host family was also very impressed by the chipmunks--I guess it doesn't take much!

We happened to be there during the brief annual window when Old Fall River Road was open, so we drove that, which was fun and only slightly daunting (but totally safe at slow speeds) with the hairpin curves, narrow road, and lack of guardrails, but worth it for the lovely views. We also took a couple short walks, including one up to 12,000 feet for panoramic views (Annika climbed all the stairs--probably 200-300 steps--all by herself), but sadly we did not have time to do the hikes around a couple lakes that we had planned for the eastern side of the park. We spent a total of maybe six hours in the park, and it was not nearly enough. We'll go back soon.

Big girl room

Recently Torsten has been suggesting that we think about moving Annika out of her crib sooner than later. Since she is very good at independent play, he is thinking that if she can get out of bed by herself in the mornings and is in a childproofed room, she might be happy and play on her own for awhile before disturbing us, which would be lovely on the weekends (and this did happen with Callum so it's not totally unreasonable). However, she's only 19 months old--we moved Callum a couple months after he turned two--and up til now she's been perfectly happy in her crib, so I wasn't in any kind of rush to make the switch.

However, that timeline may have just gotten expedited, because in the last couple days, she's started doing this:

Now, lifting her leg onto the crib rail isn't the same as actual climbing out, which requires significant additional strength and flexibility, BUT I recall distinctly that with Callum it was none too long between when he started doing that with his foot and when we first heard the telltale thud of him landing (on his feet, thankfully) on the floor next to his crib one morning. And Annika is much more nimble and willing to take risks than Callum ever was. We could probably troubleshoot our way around this--Jonna suggested, in a genius manner telling of her own personal experience with this issue, turning our crib around so the high side faces out and putting it in a corner so there's only one short side, and attaching very stiff cardboard to said short side--and if she starts climbing out before we have another bed available for her, we may do that--but I think she has a personality that could handle a big girl bed, so I don't see a reason not to do that instead of trying to thwart her will and keep her in her crib for longer.

So! Unexpectedly, I am thinking about her big girl room. Our plan is, and has been for awhile, to move her into the room that is currently Torsten's office and make that her permanent bedroom. It's bigger than the nursery and offers a lot more options for furniture configuration. That also allows me to start with a clean slate when it comes to decor. Nobody will be surprised to hear that purple will figure heavily--but actually, I am not thinking that we will paint the walls purple. I browsed through a TON of photos of purple rooms online and out of all of them, there were only a couple that hit the sweet spot of a lovely muted pale purple that wasn't overwhelming or excessively childish, and frankly, I don't trust our ability to select a paint color that will give that same feeling. Plus if the walls were purple that would limit my ability to go with purple accessories without creating a bordello feel.

So! I'm thinking light gray walls and then lots of purple accessories--curtains/blinds (conveniently, since we haven't ordered our blinds yet, we can switch one of them from the planned gray to a nice purple), artwork, bedding, rug, even some furniture. Basically a similar concept to Callum's room except a lighter gray on the walls and both light and dark purples instead of blue and orange. I have not been able to find an inspiration photo online that exactly sums up what I'm picturing (though I've started a Pinterest board of photos that have useful elements), but this one comes the closest (as far as color scheme only as it is not at ALL the style I'm envisioning for the room--but it nicely shows off the light gray walls complemented by purple accessories):

One big question we are mulling over is whether to get a bunk bed or not. Annika and Callum have their own rooms and we like it that way and plan to keep it so, but it would be nice if they could share a room if they wanted, or if we needed them to if we had lots of guests (which has happened a couple times), and also it would be convenient for sleepovers when they're older. However, Annika has shown herself to be something of a climber, at least compared to Callum (she's not like Liz's Reagan, though, let's be clear). So, the bunk bed would certainly need to be babyproof, or at least not have a ladder for her to climb up. Right now I'm leaning toward getting a cheap-ish IKEA bed (like this one, the same that Callum has) for now and then switching out to a bunk bed in a few years when she is more rational and less of a menace to herself, or at least getting a bunk bed where you can remove the ladder or potentially hold off on installing the top bunk for awhile. I was looking at the bunk bed that it seems half the internet has, but a) it's out of stock in white and it has to be white to match the furniture we already have, and b) I want the bottom to be a full and I'm dubious about the extension kit this one has to make that happen.

Anyway, we aren't fully decided on this, so please weigh in! Do you have bunk beds for your kids? At what age did you get them? Are there any babyproofing tricks and tips for them? Do you think they're a terrible idea? I want to hear all opinions on this matter, please and thank you.

One month old

Dear Annika,

Today you are one month old. To echo the cliche, because it's cliche because it's true: it feels like you've been here forever but also I can't believe you're already a month old.

So far you are a delightful baby. Like your brother before you (I'm sorry, please prepare yourself for a lifetime of comparisons), you are, so far, a happy and mellow baby. You cry only if you're hungry or in pain--in fact, you cry so rarely that when the pediatrician did the standard heel stick at your two-week appointment and you cried, I was shocked to see actual tears pour out of your eyes. I'd never had an opportunity to notice before--and I haven't seen them since. Most of the time you're peaceful, and when you're awake and not eating you like to hang out in our arms or in your swing. The swing isn't quite the amazing magical tool for you that it was for your brother, but you do some good napping in there and also don't seem to mind hanging out in there when you're awake, at least long enough for me to grab a meal or take a quick shower occasionally.

So far you're turning out to be a decent sleeper, too. You are sleeping in your crib at night, usually from about 11-7 with one wakeup. Your nighttime chunks of sleep are usually 3.5 to 4 hours long, and the last couple nights you've been extra delightful with 4.5-hours chunks that I'm realllly hoping will turn out to be a nice lasting habit of yours. We don't have you on any kind of daytime schedule but you take a couple good long naps most days too, in addition to a few shorter snoozes.

Recently you're starting to wake up more, and stay awake for longer stretches. You have been big into the eye contact for the last week or so, and a couple times your dad and I could swear that you have smiled back at us when we've smiled at you. This isn't something you do consistently, though, so maybe it's just a coincidence (or we're hallucinating it) but I get the feeling that you'll be smiling more often starting sometime pretty soon. You also track things with your giant eyes, and you seem to especially like your Whoozit and your mobile.

In the last few days we've started putting you on your activity mat occasionally and you seem to like that as well. You will hang out there for up to half an hour at a time, waving your arms and sometimes bumping into the toys. You will also tolerate tummy time, at least briefly, and your neck strength is impressive. You lift your head and turn it from side to side during tummy time, and hold it up for surprisingly long periods when we hold you upright.

So far you are growing fantastically. You take a bottle after every nursing session, and are eating over 20 ounces of formula per day Today you weighed in at 10 pounds 3 ounces, which puts you in the 77th percentile. I estimate that you're about 22 inches long, or perhaps a bit more. You're just starting to grow into some of your smaller 0-3 month outfits, which is great because there are so! many! cute ones that I am just dying to put on you. Don't worry, most of them are purple.

I've been on maternity leave this past month and your brother has been in preschool, so you and I have had more time than I was expecting to hang out, just the two of us. And that's been really lovely. You are such a peaceful, adorable, alert little thing, and I'm really looking forward to this next month when you will start being more aware of and interactive with the world around you. In the meantime, I'm just enjoying the time staring into your eyes while you stare back, and thinking about the personality that will start to blossom soon. I know it's going to be amazing, because you are amazing, and you have been from the start. We are so grateful to have you in our lives.

Love,
Mama

Family photos wheeeee

Earlier this month, for the fourth year in a row, we had our beloved photographer, Kristy, of moodeous photography, take some family photos. This year we arranged a two-shoot setup, so we could get some outdoor family photos while I'm still pregnant, and then after Penguin is born she will come to our house to take some baby photos. So! I'm looking forward to that second session for myriad reasons (BABY BABY BABY), but in the meantime, she did her usual AWESOME job with the first set. Callum was a total ham for the camera, a habit that normally drives me nuts but led to some great photos on this particular day. Here are some of my favorites, and the full set is here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Family photos and to-do lists

Things are a little crazy right now. We are leaving for Europe in a week and a half and there are so many logistics to sort out before then. I haven't even thought about packing or anything like that. I did get an additional $200 out of Lufthansa by calling their Director of Communications, who put me in touch with their Head of Customer Relations, so the rental car is booked and that piece of the travel puzzle is in place, thank goodness.

But ugh, everything going on. Work is insane. I have a final project due for school on Monday that I haven't started yet. We are enrolling Callum in part-time daycare, which brings along with it a variety of headaches, agonies, and existential crises (and is deserving of its own post, which I will hopefully write one day). I haven't finished my holiday shopping. I think we may be skipping our own little family Christmas entirely at this point, though I am still optimistic that we will manage to pull off some kind of Chanukah celebration. Our car is due for its annual license plate renewal, which you can normally do online but for some reason they say they don't have our insurance information on file, so I have to actually go to the DMV. I'd like to get a photo of Callum with Santa again this year, but who knows if or when that will happen. Oh and I also want to do some Googling for tips on helping toddlers deal with jet lag due to major time differences. Or if you guys have tips, I'd love to hear them.

Every time I cross something off my to-do list it seems like I have to add two more things. But hey, my priorities are clearly in order because our holiday cards are sent and holiday cookies have been baked (though not yet delivered to neighbors... hopefully this evening). And speaking of holiday cards, we did family photos with our same lovely photographer again this year, and they were as amazing as always. If you live in the Denver area and are looking for a photographer for any reason, I cannot recommend Kristy highly enough. She is incredibly talented, and consistently so, so you can always trust that her photos will be awesome, even if the weather sucked or your kid was grumpy, etc. And she's also just a really nice person.

Anyway! Photos! Here are some of my favorites, and you can check out the full set here.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Family portraits and holiday card help

A few weeks ago we headed out to the foothills to have family photos taken by the same amazing photographer who did our maternity photos back in December. It was chilly and gray, sadly, but we had a great time and the photos still turned out amazing. Seriously, Kristy is my favorite photographer ever. I have never liked so many photos of myself, ever. She is just that talented. And super nice and really affordable too. I cannot recommend her highly enough for anyone in Colorado looking to get pictures taken, no matter the occasion. I am thinking maybe we'll make pictures with her an annual thing? Which would be an awesome way to document our family and also get some holiday card-worthy pictures in the bargain.

So, a few days ago she posted some teaser pictures on her blog, and then yesterday the disc with all the high-res images arrived in the mail, so now! Now we have so many to choose from! And by "choose from" I mean "for our holiday card."

Here are some (OK, a lot) of my favorites (some holiday card contenders, some not at all right for that):













And then the full set is here (and when I say full, I mean full).

So, what do you think? Do any of the photos stand out to you as particularly excellent holiday card candidates?

Maternity photos eeee

Torsten and I booked our maternity photo session months ago, after discovering an amazing, and incredibly reasonably priced, photographer online by chance. I loved her blog and portfolio, and after a couple of quick email exchanges, I knew that she totally got the vibe we wanted--not the traditional studio portraits involving bare bellies and gauze, but more of a regular family photo shoot wherein my pregnant belly was considered part of the family.

We also knew we wanted it to be outdoors, somewhere that really looked like Colorado, so after some consultation with our photographer, we settled on Red Rocks Park. And it turned out to be the perfect choice.

I am so, so happy with these photos. I don't think I've ever liked so many photos of myself out of a single batch before in my life. All photos are courtesy of the absolutely amazing Kristy Rowe of Moodeous Photography. You can see a much bigger set of them here.