A Social Network Christmas

Christmas in Kerkhoven

Sunday we went to my childhood hometown of Kerkhoven to celebrate Christmas with my grandparents and family on my dad's side. Last year Bethany was just 2.5 months old, so this year she was into everything! She liked having it at the Civic Center because she could run around without getting into trouble. It is always fun as nostalgic to go back to my hometown and remember all the childhood memories. Grandma and Grandpa gave Bethany and Charlie very special gifts.... at Hallmark they have the recordable storybooks and they recorded them reading a story just for their great-grandkids. It is about a little princess and my grandpa sometimes said Bethany instead of she when referring to the princess in the book which was so sweet. We read it when we got home and Bethany kept running over to the book to look at it when it played their voices on each page. Thank you for the wonderful gift Grandma and Grandpa, we will cherish it always!

Bethany "helping" pass out the gifts - she is saying one of her new favorite words "oooooh"

yeah, we can share food again!

Bethany, me and Great-Grandma

We are celebrating our third Christmas on Christmas this weekend with my family at the cabin. With all the snow we are getting I hope the roads are safe for everyone this week!

13.5 months and Christmas at the Dells

Bethany is almost 14 months old! She is getting better at saying words we understand however I wish one of them were not "no" :) She loves saying "cheese" and "uh oh" and tries to do the "uh oh" thing over and over and looks at us to see what we think. She is climbing on everything! I find her on top of her little rocking chair in her room holding her book and trying to read like that... silly girl. In the tub at the cabin she tries to climb onto the seat part but because it is slippery usually slips back into the water. I'm right there, but she doesn't mind if she goes under the water for a second, she is a little fish I think! She likes climbing into the dish washer and fridge whenever they are open too. I love that she enjoys reading and grabs books all over and if she sees an open lap climbs right in or backs up and plops down and says "booK" with heavy emphasis on the "k" sound. We're still working on her picky eating habits. If we put food on her tray that isn't cheese she signs all done and shakes her head no and says no. Sometimes we get her to eat her fruit and shredded chicken, turkey or pork is good sometimes. Veggies are usually tough along with pasta and anything mixed together she won't touch. However, if you say the magic word she runs over to the fridge yelling "chhhheeese" and bangs on the door smiling from ear to ear. We've learned to spell it now along with a few other words. The other day I dropped Bethany off at Westwood and said we were working on her screaming. On cue she starts shrieking from across the room. I think it is a phase but I felt bad that she was playing nicely and heard me mention it and then I had to leave... sorry, gotta go to work, good luck with that! I told them I'd spell it from now on. She has a good friend Abe that she plays with and that day he ran over to say hi and when the screaming incident started he thought it sounded like a great game and chimed in.... whoops.

Here are some recent pics of freedom after her bath. Bethany with her beloved cheese.


Typical

Being very gentle with the tree, but we do have the decorations on the top half only :)

Last weekend we missed the big blizzard in Minneapolis because we were celebrating Christmas at the Dells with Dan's family. His sister came with her family from Chicago and we stayed at resort with Dan's parents. There were 2 units so the kids could have their naps and Monica cooked all the delicious meals. Friday evening we celebrated all the birthday's between Bethany's on Oct 28th through Emily's on Dec 20th.... 5 in total! We sang and blew out 5 sets of candle's :). Saturday was Christmas and we opened so many fun presents while it snowed and snowed outside. In total my guess is about 12 for the Dells vs. the 17 we got at home in Minnetonka. We were very excited to get a new camera and also a little netbook! The pictures below are from the new camera which is a step down from the DSLR camera's, but has a bigger lens than our current camera so hopefully we can get some great shots of Bethany. I am very happy with my mini-laptop so I can blog more, shop online and read my digital magazines/books in the evenings after Bethany goes to bed. If I don't have my work computer open I'm always trading off with Dan's computer, so it is so nice to have my own! Bethany got a mini kitchen and a bunch of play food. She is going to really enjoy it... now if we can only get her more interested in eating real food!

We went to the resort pool several times and Bethany is getting so good at jumping off the side. She also started blowing bubbles in the water when we showed her how to do it. It is fun to see her be so brave and enjoy the water like she does.

Bethany was sad to come home, I know she missed all the activity with her cousins! Thanks for all the fun Totmans and Springers! Can't wait to all be together again soon!

Running around being silly after her bath

Bethany hanging out with Papa

Family pic in front of the fireplace The 4 grandkids on the couch, it took several tries to get one this good! Maybe next year they will all be looking at the camera :)

Jacob hugging his sister Emily and cousin Bethany in front of the new tent

Recent pictures

We went to the 8th floor of Macy's with some other moms from Cross of Glory and ate lunch afterwards on the 12th floor. Bethany enjoyed all of the elf's but didn't enjoy the long lines :) We had hoped to see the puppet show too, but it was sold out and the kids probably wouldn't have made it to the next show!

Gentle touches to cousin Charlie

look at my teeth!

"Cheese"

It's brisk baby

I love my rocking chair that Morfar had as a little boy

The Alamo

a room with a balcony, fun to roam around in

Ready to go exploring

Christmas Cards

I've been procrastinating doing my Christmas cards this year! We used Shutterfly last year and it was the first time we did a photo greeting card. It was fun to use one of the pictures Linnea took for our card. This year we haven't taken many family pictures so I think it might end up being another one of just Bethany! Shutterfly has some cute cards again this year so I need to find a few favorite pictures and get to work. Honestly, I love getting photo cards in the mail... it is fun to see friends and family that we don't see often enough when I run through the kitchen during my day. This year we also did a lot of greeting cards of Bethany for family from Shutterfly. It's the same price as cards from a store, but everyone ALWAYS oo's and ahh's about how fun it is to have a personalized card. And, I usually see those cards out (how can you toss a personalized card with a picture of my sweet baby?)

If you haven't done your cards yet this year - here are the links I've been perusing... can't wait to get your Christmas Cards!

· holiday cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards
· greeting cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/5x7-folded-greeting-cards
· Christmas photo cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

13 months

We are having so much fun with Bethany. She loves the cold air when it hits her face outside, it is quite funny when she looks at us at laughs at her breath in the air... I don't think she'll think it is funny in March when it is still cold! We try to keep the doors closed to rooms in the house we'd prefer her to stay out of. We've found her splashing in the toilet, or depositing things in there too often. When our bedroom door is open she likes to run in there and turn around to see if we'll follow her. Either way she'll try to grab things off the dresser like Dan's phone, any remotes, his work badge etc. We pretend to "chase" her down the hallway as she tries to escape which sends her into fits of laughter. Her words are not completely clear yet, but she says cheese, socks, book, mommy, daddy, eat, milk, bottle and night-night. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few words... When we read her animal book and get to the bear, tiger or lion she roars. She also tries to cluck like a hen or make a fish face for those animals. We have started to spell things so she doesn't understand us, otherwise when we say something about dinner or food she runs over to her high-chair. She could be playing contently and then I say something about her bottle and she gets up and runs to the fridge and wants to be held. Sometimes if I say goodbye, she'll go get her coat and hat and bring them to me and start waving. Or if I ask if she needs a bath she will walk over to the bathroom and start banging on the door. She likes to open and shut doors if they are ajar and we aren't concerned with her going up and down the steps anymore- we made it through without a baby gate!

Charlie came over on Saturday because Brent was sick and Amber had to work. Bethany played really well with him and kept patting him on the head gently. He is doing so well at crawling and if he could keep up with her he was happy. They were being silly on Sunday afternoon laughing at each other’s noises. Charlie would happily scream and then Bethany would join in. She’d run around shaking her head and he’d laugh at her hysterically – it was so cute. We put their highchairs next to each other so it was easy for me to feed them but Bethany kept stealing blueberries off Charlie’s tray! He didn’t seem to mind, but liked it when she shared a cracker with him. Her favorite food is cheese. She also likes fruit and sometimes bread (she’d do well in Paris). Anything else is hit or miss, so we take advantage of it when she likes something. Shredded chicken or turkey works sometimes and carrots once in awhile too. Hopefully the picky stage won’t last long J
A few weeks ago Dan and Bethany came along with me on a work trip to San Antonio. Bethany really enjoyed running around the hotel room and onto the balcony. She didn’t enjoy her bed though which made for some long nights with her in bed with one of us… during the day she and Dan did some sight-seeing and swam in the hotel pool. She did incredibly well on the flights again! We just booked another trip to Phoenix in February which will be fun because we have a lot of family and friends there. I work 3 days, and then we’ll extend through the weekend and two days the next week. We are looking forward to seeing Nate and Lindsey and their kids – it has been a few years since we saw them, was it in Singapore? Ian and Courtney may also come up from Tucson while we’re there and then we’ll try to spend some time with my family too.
I’ll try to be a little better about posting! December is always busy with Christmas - we’ll be at the Wisconsin Dells with the Totman’s and Springer’s in a few weeks and then with my family over Christmas at the cabin. The good news is that I am almost done Christmas shopping! I really dislike shopping, but I love it when I find good deals and with a lot of retailers discounting merchandise early and offering free shipping we were able to get a lot done online over Thanksgiving – yea!

Bethany's first birthday cake

Bethany's First Birthday from Jon Foss on Vimeo.

One year old

At the zoo

Her birthday cake!

Aunt Amber, mommy and the birthday girl

the happy family

Our baby is officially ONE. Last Thursday I took the day off so that Bethany and I could go to the zoo together. Dan's mom joined us and we had fun going through the inside exhibits and especially liked the animals we could get really close to like the monkeys, fish and sea otters behind glass. That evening my parents came over for dinner and Bethany got to open a couple of presents. She had more fun walking around holding the presents before opening them I think!

Saturday, October 30th we had family and friends to our church to celebrate with lunch and birthday cupcakes. Byerlys gives you a free birthday cake on your first birthday so Bethany had a good time picking the frosting pieces off and eating that. She didn't get overwhelmed with everyone singing, or get scared that we let her have the whole cake to herself, she was just her happy, busy little self. She was so excited about her fun presents and playing with friends.

Bethany is so much fun at this age! When someone else laughs she runs over and laughs too, when someone claps or says "yay!" she joins in clapping, and when we say "dance" (or even something similar like pants) or she hears music she bounces up and down on her legs to the music. I love her smiles and waving "hi" and "bye" and that she knows EVERYTHING we're talking about. Even though she can't say all of the words yet, when we ask her to do something or get something she knows exactly what to do.

We are moving towards all solid finger food now and she's doing pretty well! She also drinks out of a cup too. Sometimes she's a little picky, but now that she's realizing that is what we eat she's decided eating is better than not eating!

Bethany is scaling the stairs up and down. She is starting to walk pretty fast and sometimes even looks like she is running! She is still really enjoying music class at daycare and they sang happy birthday for her... she danced :)

We love you so much Bethany and are so thankful you are here! All week I remembered what we were doing at this time last year... my water breaking, going to the hospital, holding you for the first time, taking you home. Those first few days with you were a blur but I remember being so happy and in love with you... and being your mom. You have filled our lives with so much joy -I can't imagine life without you. While there were so many fun new things you accomplished in your first year, there are so many more to come and I'm excited to see you as you grow. I love you Bethany, Happy Birthday!

1 year stats:

Height: 30 in (75%)

Weight: 19 lb, 14 oz (25%)

Head: 45 cm (50%)

Happy 1st Birthday Bethany!!!!

We are so thankful that you have joined our family! You are full of silly noises, smiles and hugs for people that you love and are walking around all over the place. Today I'm so excited to celebrate with you by taking you to the Minnesota Zoo for the first time.

I love you baby girl!

Your mommy

Cousins!

Dan's sister and family came a couple weekends ago when it was so warm outside and Bethany enjoyed the extended time with her cousins! We went to the park, an apple orchard, jumped in leaves and carved pumpkins. She had so much fun trying to keep up with the boys running around and Emily thought watching Bethany walk was pretty neat too.

Bethany jumping in the leaves
The girls trying some lemons

More leaves

The pumpkin carved with Bethany's current "teeth"

Thanks for the lemon Grandma!

walking on a mission

At the orchard on a wagon ride. The boys were so nice to hold Bethany, but almost immediately would say "she is getting wiggly Aunt Heather!"

Paul's design (and my work) on the left, and Bethany's teeth on the right

Papa was busy trying to keep all 4 grandkids going on the swings

The babies are getting soo big!

Bethany was lonesome after they all went back to Chicago but she has fun memories from your visit! Come back soon!

Getting closer to 1....

We have had beautiful fall weather this week! Bethany has been enjoying crunching in the leaves and I even caught her rolling around in them at the apple orchard with the MOPS group from our church :)

Path near our house - I love fall!

Off for a hike!

Wow... how did you like your meal Bethany?

Hmmm... a little case of bedhead

11 months old

A couple weeks ago when Grandma was overseas, Papa came over to watch the Vikings game (they lost) and then go to the park. Bethany loves to swing, but doesn't like riding in her stroller to get there. We have to pick up leaves to keep her interested and even if we give her snacks or special toys she cries and draws too much attention to her predicament. I really hope that next summer she enjoys the Chariot Cougar a little more!

Bethany is so busy finding new activities at home and especially likes crawling under the chairs and coffee tables

Funny girl wearing her noodles instead of eating them

It is getting harder and harder to take pictures of Bethany with her monkey. Apparently she doesn't like to share the chair with it anymore. Most of the pictures were of her flinging the monkey on the floor.

This is the best 11 month photo we got!

Bethany, we love you so much and are enjoying this stage with you! You love to show off your new walking skills, and you are getting so good at bending down to pick up toys to carry with you. It is funny to get you up from your naps and sometimes find you standing and clapping for me when I walk into your room! We are working on words right now and you seem to say bird, book, puppy in addition to mama and daddy although not many people could understand you yet but we know what you are saying. You like to test your boundaries and know what we mean when we say "no" but you think it is funny to go to the "no" item. When someone does something new like making a funny noise you get very quiet to watch what they are doing. Sometimes you can copy it right away, and other times a few days later I hear you practicing your new noises. In your room you can turn on the music on your swing and then bounce along to the music. A few commercials on tv in the background have a good beat and you stop what you are doing to bounce and dance. When we ask "How big is Bethany?" you bring your hands to your head for "so big!". We can't wait to see the next things you figure out. You bring so much joy to our lives and in a few weeks you will be 1 years old!

Bethany walking - almost 11 months

Bethany has been taking a few steps over the last couple of months, but this past weekend she took 17 steps in a row and Dan caught it on his phone. She really wanted what I had and I kept taking it away to try and get her to walk a few more steps - I'm sure she was annoyed with me :)

Good job hunny, you are getting so big!!!

Mexico!

We had a wonderful time on vacation... and wish we were back there now that it has been cold and rainy yesterday and sort of today. When we found out Dan's mom would be out of the country for a few weeks we knew we needed to take time off to watch Bethany for a few days so we decided to go on vacation. There were some great deals in Mexico since it is hurricane season so we chose an all-inclusive resort in the Riviera Maya district south of Cancun. It was an amazing resort with wonderful service. We had lots of fun swimming in the pools and in the ocean. Bethany enjoyed her first real experience in the sand and had a lot of funny expressions tasting it as well as the salt water! We just hung around the resort and ate, slept and swam all day. Sometimes we'd nap at the same time as Bethany, and other times we'd take the video monitor out with us to the pool to relax and it even reached one of the outdoor seafood restaurants. They had a big screen setup on the beach so we watched the Vikings game Thursday night and also parts of Avatar another night. The variety of restaurants was nice and the people were so friendly. I realized that with a baby we are only known as "Bethany's mom and dad" and all the locals loved picking her up and watching her for awhile. While dining we'd see someone take her on a "kitchen tour" and try to "sell" her to other tables for $20. She loved the attention and would crawl right over to new people to meet them. There were 2 older couples we met on the van ride to the resort that we ran into all the time and they would yell "Bethany!" and come over to talk to her. She always had big smiles for them and would happily babble away. She did great on the plane rides and it was nice to have a layover in Atlanta to let her get out and crawl for awhile. She enjoyed looking over the back of our seat on the plane and saying hi to other passengers. It was her own game of hide and seek and she would laugh contagiously until she had the attention of everyone around us. I was so glad she didn't get too antsy on the plane and slept most of the way. Everything was so much fun that we are already talking about our next vacation. It would be fun to go with another couple with kids to trade off watching the babies but we really enjoyed the family vacation together. So relaxing!!

View from our room over the marina and adult pool- we had great weather except for one brief shower (while we were taking a nap)

family pic along the ocean

Bethany's waiter friend

Bethany's football game friend

The two ladies that loved Bethany

Someone smiling at Bethany

On September 11th they had a whole program on remembering the event and flew the American flag at half-mast

Our "babysitter"

Wearing my swim diaper

They had these awesome lounging beds along the ocean - fun to watch the sunrise from

Trying all the fun new food

I love the beach!

Yea, sand!

Hi, Dad

They had these fun swings along the ocean too

We took a ton of pictures, but this is a good sampling for now. Bethany is soooo close to walking. She pulls up to standing all the time and stands for 20-30 seconds sometimes. She pushes her walker around like a pro and even turns sometimes although ramming into furniture doesn't bode well for her driving skills quite yet. She tries to sound out new words sometimes, like saying "brr" for bird because we saw a lot of those near the open-air restaurants. She was so brave in the water and could crawl out of the pool on her own. She does "so big" and claps when she is happy and bounces up and down too. Her laugh is so funny and cute. We love you Bethany and really enjoyed our first family vacation together!!!