Best Toy Ever

 Svea will pull this play-mat out of her closet most nights when we are playing in her room.  She loved it when she was very young and she loves it now.  If I ask her where the monkey is she'll look at me and then reach for the monkey....consistently!  She's getting so smart and it's a hint to us as to how much she is actually comprehending with us.  In the below photo I believe she was clapping for herself.  Stay tuned....I eventually need to upload a video from the other weekend when she's belly laughing over my Mom knocking her blocks over.  We have a VERY busy weekend, but I'll get to it eventually:)

Skinny Bones

 Halloween is approaching soon so when Dan and I saw these pajamas we couldn't resist.  Svea was entertaining herself before bed the other night with her paci and the plastic cup.  Paci goes in the cup, paci comes out, repeat.......about 25 times!  It was a fun game:)

 I think Svea looks like my Uncle John here (picture above).  Do you see it Mom?

 Sound effects always get a giggle even if little miss is super tired and has a cold/runny nose!

Good times......then we headed to bed, which she was laughing right up until I put her into the crib.  She's so unbelievably good at going to bed.  She'll just look up at me and I'll rub her back for a few seconds while she snuggles in with "bunny"!  Again, I know we are soooooo clever when it came to naming her comfort object!

11 Months Old

Time flies!  I can't believe our "baby" is already 11 months old and we are planning her first birthday party in less than a month! Svea, you have learned and conquered so many new skills this month.  Here is what you've been up to!

We have no idea what you weight, but we'll find out next month.  You nurse four times a day and eat solids three times a day.  You do not do very well with new textures and different sizes of foods.  You either throw up or spit food back out if you don't like it.  We are still on stage 2 baby food.  You usually take one nap a day for an hour and a half and sleep at night anywhere from 7-8 pm until 8-9 am.  Wow!  It's amazing!  You are wearing size 9-12/12 month clothes and a size 3 diaper.  You still use your pacifier, but only for naps and at night.  Mommy doesn't even have to say "ba-bye paci" anymore.  When we pick you up out of your crib you will take the paci out and dump it in your crib.  So cute!

 You are a very busy girl and you love to explore, climb on things in your room, pull items out of drawers, and practice standing/walking along furniture.  You can say ba-bye, baby, and Mama.  You can quack like a duck, roar like a tiger, and say "kich" for kitty.  We can tell that you recognize/understand many more words even if you can't speak them yet. The puppy still makes you laugh and you love to go and visit with him the first thing in the morning and as soon as we get home after work. You can wave ba-bye, clap, do high-five, do so-big, and sometimes sign "more". Sometimes you will lift up one of your hands as if to ask a question....what it is we're not sure yet, but Daddy says you got this from Mommy.  I guess I do this often.  You are a "feeler".  You like to feel new textures especially with your feet!  At night you rub your hands along the silky side of your "bunny" and you will rub your fingers along your hair or Mommy's skin while we cuddle.  I wonder if you'll be a hair twirler like your Mama.

You are still a very happy baby.  You smile and giggle at yourself when you see yourself in mirrors. Your newest game that you enjoy is chasing Daddy down the hallway and when he turns around to smile at you, you will get excited and race back to Mommy in your bedroom.  You giggle and squeal the whole way until Daddy catches you.  We absolutaly enjoy every single moment with you.  We let all housework and chores go until you go to sleep at night so we have more time to spend with you.  We are the luckiest parents to have you as our daughter!  We love you sweet girl!

Family Picture

I'm making a photo book of Svea for her first year.  I realized I didn't have a picture of the three of us since July so we attempted one today.  As you can see Svea didn't feel like smiling for the camera, but this is what we got:)

On the way to church she looked like Little Red Riding Hood!

A few more:)

 Finally a little smile:)  We are hoping she gets over this little cold very soon!  Poor girl was only feeling better for about three weeks before another cold came on. Dan thinks she might have allergies...I hope not!

Svea's Church Outfit?

All dressed up, and ya, NO, I didn't take my baby  to church naked!  It's too cold already for that:) This is from the other night when I tried on this dress to make sure it fit her for Jill's wedding.  She'll look more like the picture below, but with white tights, for the wedding.  I don't think the flats look right with bare legs.  It's too cold for that already anyway!  I shouldn't complain as the past two days have been in the mid-60's and beautiful!!!  We were able to go for walks two days in a row.

 

I love this photo....it shows how dark her hair is getting!

Tiny little pumpkin legs!

Our Saturday

It seems as thought Svea is doing something new every day, it just amazes us.  I forgot to mention a couple of posts ago that she's learned how to high five.  If you say high five and put your hand out she'll raise hers up and meet yours every time. Today while we were talking to Grandma Kathy Svea showed Grandma how she says "baby" and then we  told her to hug her baby and she did.  Grandma, I bet you didn't realize she's NEVER done that before and you got to see it for the first time! She also signed "more" for me while we were eating lunch!  She didn't do it at dinner, but I'm sure it'll just be a matter of time before she's doing it all of the time.

 We've had a busy day of playing!  Dan is working on the bathroom still (it's going to be so awesome when it's all done!) so Svea and I hung out in her room all day in between naps, walks with the dog, and skyping with Grandma and Grandpa Dornfeld.  Speaking of Riker, he's doing ok.  He's still got the balance, head tilting, and droopy face thing going on, but he's either compensating for them, or he's a bit better.  He's just not falling over randomly anymore.

 As you can see I was able to finagle a little bow on this little one's head today without her tugging it away.  It lasted a whole 20 minutes before she figured it out:) Plenty of time for a picture:) If you look closely you can tell where she's got a wet chin and shirt from the constant drooling she did today.  Seriously, no one ever told me that your child will show teething signs for 7 months, but still no teeth in sight?  It's ok with me, it's just a mystery when on will ever show up:)

I love this picture of these two.  Blogger wouldn't let me turn the picture for some reason, but this is the "boys" hanging out in Riker's area in the kitchen.  Meeko is sitting in front of his "kitty door" and could walk through, but he chooses to meander to the back corner to hang out with Riker from time to time.  That, or he is foraging for left over dog food:)  On our walk tonight two random people commented on what a beautiful dog he is. Interesting...I know he's beautiful, but he doesn't usually get two compliments in one night....lucky dog:)

Ashlyn's Drawing...Check This Out

Ashlyn created this drawing based on the above picture!  Pretty good for someone so young!  We LOVE it Ashlyn....thank you!

Hear What I Can Do

I am surprising my Mom and Dad every day with the new things that I can do.  Here is some of the things that I'm doing now!
-I can say baby, especially when Mom or Dad take out the iPad and go to the babyface app
-When Mommy roars like a lion I roar back
-When I pull myself up to stand I sometimes let go and stand on my own for about three seconds
-When the kitty walks into the room I say "kicccchhh"
-When someone quacks like a duck I will sometimes quack back
-Sometimes when Mommy asks for kisses I will give her a big open mouthed kiss
-I wave and say ba-bye consistently now
-I sometimes will wave hi to people, but I still say ba-bye
-I am so fast at crawling that Mom and Dad have to run to catch me now so I don't get into something I'm not supposed to.
-They chase me so fast that I giggle and when they pick me up I get so mad I arch my back and throw a mini tantrum....yes, I'm starting those!  I'm so good at this that Mom and Dad have to be very careful to protect my head so I don't throw it into the floor or the wall. 
-Sometimes Mom and Dad don't have to even say "ba-bye paci" anymore.  I sometimes take it out on my own and give it to them right after my naps
-I love my Mom and Dad so much that I'm starting to be afraid of people I don't know too well.  I used to whimper a little bit, but now I just want to be with them.
-I'm going to be one years old soon..........can you believe how much I can do?!?

Lke Lida Part Two

My Uncle finally made it from New York. We had tried earlier this summer, but it didn't work out. Since Dan was busy tiling it was a good weekend to get out of the house and away from the fumes and loud noise. Here's how he's doing so far. I think it's going to look fantastic!

With my Uncle Jeff whom we used to call "Unkie" as kids.  This was Svea's first time meeting him and he gave her a little laptop.  She was busy all weekend catching up on emails.

 Grandma and Uncle Jeff as the highchair

With Uncle John

Cousin Eric...not sure what was so funny:)

Grandma supporting Svea while she practices her Risky Business routine!

With Aunt Shawn

It was REALLY cold and extremely windy so we basically hung out in the house.  Saturday night we headed out to dinner, but Svea didn't make it very long and I had to leave early to get her to bed. She was so cute...in the morning she would stand up in her pack and play to see if we were awake yet.  If we weren't she would plop back down in her bed and "talk" to bunny and try to fall back asleep.  She is a dream baby!  I have NO idea where she gets her patience!

Shoes, Crawling, and Bathtime!

I put a pair of size 2 shoes on Svea the other night to see how she would react.  She of course, tried to pull them off succeeding in the above picture!  She would stare at her feet and grunt at them.  When she tried to crawl around they sort of held her back.  Not sure, but I'm thinking we'll break them out when she gets closer to walking!

 Svea is crawling SO fast these days!  She take off down the hall and I'll chase her and tell her I'm coming to get her.  She will start shrieking and giggling and crawl faster until I catch her.  We're also finding the silliest things that will make her giggle. Tonight it was attempting to get her fingers in Mama's mouth for some reason:)

We are getting very close to having Svea taking big girl baths in our own bath at home.  Dan is working almost around the clock trying to get the tiling done so we can put the infant tub in storage.  This is Svea having a bath at the lake this past weekend.

What's Going On

Things have been crazy at our house.  We've had a big decision to make about Dan's extended call to be senior pastor at our current church and after a full month and basically down to the last minute we have made a decision!  We are staying and Dan is now officially our senior pastor at Paynesville Lutheran Church.  

On a much more sad note we found out yesterday that Riker most likely has a brain tumor.  Upon returning from the weekend Dan pointed out something strange about Riker's face.  It was very subtle at first, but has really progressed quickly, but his whole right side of his face is drooping.  He's not in pain and he seems to be happy.  He's having a hard time, however, with balance and walking straight.  He's a good sport, but it's probably only a matter of time before the tumor grows too big and affects Riker so much that it would be in his best interest to have him put down.  We'll see though, I hope I'm wrong. It breaks our hearts...he is such a good dog.   Sweet...I can't forget sweet and innocent.  He's just a sweet and tender hearted dog.  He's been an amazing member of our family and it so hard to accept this.  We'll keep you posted. 

Mayville/Fargo Weekend

I visited with my Grandparents again last weekend.  My Grandpa is amazing for being in his mid 80's.  He was actually laying on his back playing with Svea on the floor.  It happened too quick for me to grab the iPad, but I did get a video of them hanging out on the couch.  I know I look back at pictures of me sitting with relatives that I don't remember.  I hope Svea gets to be old enough to remember my Grandparents, but if she doesn't I have some great pictures to share with her and tell her all about them.  Here's the video.

Mom and I stayed in Fargo for another bridal shower for Jill.  Thanks Mom for watching Svea so much while I was getting ready for the party and when I went out with my cousins!!  Dan was supposed to meet us on Friday night, but he ended up having a funeral.  He's been working so hard and we've had a huge decision weighing on our shoulders.  More about that later, but in the meantime we are trying to take things one step at a time.

What's Going On With Us

-I started school a couple of weeks ago, but students actually start on the 12th.  It was a great summer at home with Svea and I'm so thankful for all of the time we were able to spend together.  Working four days instad of five per week is really making the transition back to school not seem so sad.  As of right now I only see her for about 3 hours a day when I'm working.  For Dan, it's even less when he's got meetings at night.  Yuk!  I guess we just make every moment count:)

 -Dan is going to redo our bathroom with some pseudo slate flooring, new tile around the bathtub to make it a usable shower, new fixtures, and refinishing the tub...whew! It makes me nervous for him just thinking about it. He might even put in some heating underneath the flooring. I might never make it to work....I may still be plastered to the floor enjoying the warmth. It'll be a step-up from the blow dryer to get warm in the mornings!
-Svea is a sleeping machine! At night she's heading to bed anywhere between 7 and 8 and then not getting up until around 9! She'll wake up after about 12 hours of sleep, but really doesn't say a peep and then puts herself back to bed. There have been a few mornings where Dan has had to wake her up. She's doing excellent at daycare as well. The transition back was nothing for her. She didn't skip a beat.

-We have a busy fall....what else is new....we always do! Between a wedding shower weekend, Dan redoing our bathroom/one more Lida lake weekend, a wedding in Bismarck, Confirmation Craziness, Svea's First Birthday party....it's going to be a hoppin' place.  I will keep taking pictures and videos as much as I can.  Fridays off is going to help!

The pictures are from two weeks ago when we stopped by the Anderson's for a day trip. They aren't the best pics, but you get an idea of how big Laila and Graham are getting.  Graham can now say Svea's name and has the cutest raspy voice I've ever heard.  Laila loves to mother Svea and is very good at making sure she's playing with appropriate toys tha are safe:)  We stayed up WAY too late talking and laughing, but it was worth it!  You just don't acquire as good of friends as them very often.  We are very thankful for them!

Hyper babY

We visited with the Anderson's again this past weekend in the cities and when we got home Svea went wild after her bath.  It was a looooonnnnnngggg process to get her diaper and pajamas on before bed, however, it was hilarious and fun.  Here's the pictures and a short video to prove it!

After my bath...no, I WILL NOT sit anywhere near still...and I'm taking my diaper with me!

Down the hall and back again! Check out the video for her second lap around the house!

Wild Baby Video:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRB9X9of_Hs

  Pajamas on...check!  And one more final lap before bed!

Svea Saying Her Prayers

I took this video right after Dan got home from the Boundary Waters, but then I forgot about it, so I'm posting it now.  I love how her little feet are wiggling and her smile is so stinking cute.  I think I've watched it about ten times myself today.  Speaking of, today was my day off for the week and I got a little taste of what it's going to be like!  IT was awesome!  I think I'm going to love Fridays off!  Anyway, during a crabby time for Svea I put her on my lap and we watched a bunch of clips of her.  She giggled, laughed, or smiled at "the baby" in the video the whole time.  It was so cute.  Here's her praying video:)

Good Morning Ashlyn:)

This post is dedicated to our niece Ashlyn!  She is usually the first one each morning to get online and see if we have any new posts.  Ashlyn, if you look closely Svea is holding the picture you drew for us.  Never mind that she's not smiling, she's on a mission to grab that picture and eat it, however, I didn't let her:)  The picture now sits in her room on display. We love it!  Ashlyn is one of the most tender hearted girls that we know. For being so young she is remarkably good at picking up on how others are feeling and caring very deeply.  She's also an aspiring artists and we enjoy receiving some of her pieces!  Ashlyn, have a fabulous day!  We love you and we hope you have a great year at school!