Oct 27-Nov 2: Star Performer

We started our week with a birthday party at a friend's house - Victoria Fulbright turned one.  I've been friends with Rob & Yvonne Fulbright for over 15 years (since I moved to Florida) and it is wonderful that they have a baby that is the same age as my little ones (they have 3 older daughters).   Victoria had a Bo Peep themed party, complete with live sheep!  All the kids were encouraged to wear costumes; Erik was a fireman and Elin was a ladybug.  Of course, since Erik is 2, he refused to wear any part of his costume, so no pictures.  I drew the Erik straw when we arrived at the party, so I spent the entire party trying to keep Erik contained and alive!  The Fulbright's have a wonderful yard with a tree house, barn, swing set, etc.  Erik wanted to try out everything and climb up on everything.  He didn't want to touch the sheep at first, but after a little bit, he was chasing them around their pen.

Kent and his little Ladybug

Erik and the sheep (pardon the light/shadow issues with this photo)

Erik & Addison discuss who's turn it is!

I generally dislike the week of Halloween (and frankly, the weeks leading up to it) due to the scary billboards, commercials, costumes, etc.  This year, we discussed the potential of joining the throngs of trick or treaters, but decided against it.  Our neighborhood is literally besieged with kids for over 2 hours and neither Kent or I wanted to be left by ourselves at the house while the other tried to cart 2 kids around.  Erik actually loves to come to the door and see all the kids "visit" him.  This year, I learned another reason to dislike Halloween - our mail was stolen during the festivities.   I had peeked in the mailbox earlier in the afternoon while out on a walk with the kids, but decided against carrying all the mail with me while on the walk since there was quite a bit of it.  I, of course, forgot to pick it up at the end of our walk.  By the time I remembered to ask Kent to go get it, our mailbox was empty!  I still feel rather vulnerable knowing that someone took our mail.  I do know that there was a package from my parents (a CD of sermons - ha, ha) as well as our retirement account statements in the box that day.  I don't remember what else was in there.  Why couldn't it have been a day of junk mail like the day prior to Halloween?!  We signed up for LifeLock that night!

Erik achieved a milestone this week - he had his on-stage performance at his daycare!  He goes to a part-time program 3 mornings a week at the local Jewish community center.  On Friday morning, they always hold a Kabbalat Shabbat service to welcome in the Sabbath.  Erik's classroom were the Shabbat Stars this week!  All the kids got up on stage and sang one of their favorite songs, "Ahhh".  The lyrics are similar to Happy & Know It - "I'm gonna clap my hands, I'm gonna clap my hands, I'm gonna clan my hands, I know I should, 'cuz it's Shabbat and I feel good.  Your turn - Ahhhh" and so on. Both Kent & I were able to attend the event.  As we suspected, when Erik saw us, he immediately wanted Kent to hold him and then cried when the we told him to go up on stage with his classroom.  His teachers were so proud of him (as were we) because as he climbed the stairs to the stage, he pulled himself together and didn't cry at all! Kent was prepared to go up on stage with him (the teachers had warned us that some parents may have to make their stage debut as well); he was very thankful to be part of the audience!

So happy that Daddy came to school!

Erik just before being called on stage - how do you separate these two?!

Erik wiping his eyes, being brave

Erik and his class singing the chorus of "AHHH" - Erik is on far right next to his teacher, Ms. Lyons

Actions for verse "I wiggle my hips"!

Elin's big achievement this week is that she has found her toes (October 25) and has also learned that she can suck on them (October 31)!  Elin loves to put anything and everything into her mouth.  I think she is much more of a "learn by tasting" baby than Erik ever was!  She is also quite the drooler - the shoulders of my shirts are usually quite wet by the end of the day.  She drools so much that I've taken to checking her gums for teeth every few days!  Nothing yet, thank goodness.  Elin also loves to grab onto my arm while I'm changing her diaper - Erik did same thing at this age. She has a pretty strong grip and will try to pull my arm to her mouth.  She usually laughs & giggles while she does it.  She is always reaching, touching, and moving her hands - she is a very active baby.  She has such soft fingers; one of my favorite things is the feel of a baby's hand on my arm.  Another random item about Elin - she has these lusciously thick, beautiful dark eyelashes!  They are amazing!  I'm super jealous as both of my kids have lovely eyelashes while mine are rather thin & stubby.

We ended our week with a visit on Sabbath afternoon from portions of the Cochran & Zbaraschuk families (the dads and older sons were at Adventurers).    We had lots of fun watching the kids run around the house and play with all the toys that we've managed to collect in 2 years!  We attempted a photo shoot of the kids, but as you would expect, we never got all the kids smiling & looking in the same direction at once!  I'd like to point out that the Cochran's are super lucky with Devin - notice his angelic smile and still posture in both pictures below.  That was how he looked in all 20+ pictures that I took!!  Not the same story with the other 3 kids, however!!!

Elin, Erik, Addison & Devin

Elin, Erik, Addison & Devin

Addison & Elin - future best friends

Cute Erik phrase this week: (When he is asked a question such as what he might want for lunch) He will put his finger on his chin and say "Hmm...", then his hand goes up in the air with his index finger pointing up "I know!"  No other answer is given to my question, but he is super cute while ignoring my question!

Oct 20-26: Fall Festivals, Dentists and Zoos, Oh My!

We started the week with a fun family day at a fall festival held at a local church this past Sunday.  There was potential rain in the forecast for the afternoon, so we decided to brave the mid-day Florida heat.  Thankfully, “fall” has come to Florida; a Florida fall means that the temperatures usually don’t go above 90 degrees and there is a teeny, tiny chance of a cooler breeze.  Still not sweater or jeans weather, in my opinion, but a bit more enjoyable than before!  Sadly, Erik was just an inch or two too short to go on most of the rides at the festivals, but he was able to do a few rides.  He had a great time running from one activity to another, trying to see everything.  He and Kent rode the carousel, a train and a wiggle worm.  Erik also tried one of the carnival games and won a HUGE inflatable baseball bat; this thing is nearly as tall as I am.  Erik loves it, but I’m secretly hoping for it to get a mysterious puncture wound!!

Erik & Kent waiting for the train

The train! Does Kent look a bit cramped?!!

Erik and the Giant Bat

Erik’s not-so-fun adventure this week was his first trip to the dentist.  I want him to get familiar with a dentist working in his mouth before his first official teeth cleaning.  He enjoyed the part of the visit where we were in the waiting room, but he was distinctly less than pleased with the rest of the visit!  We did what is called a lap exam, where Erik sits in my lap facing me and then I lay him back over my legs and his head is on the dentist’s lap, who is sitting knee to knee with me.  He screamed, and I do mean screamed, during the entire exam. The dentist & her assistant told me that crying was good actually (something about being to see more of their mouth), but that Erik was one of the more persistent criers that they had seen in awhile.  Yay for us!  Due to the extreme meltdown, the picture I’m sharing isn’t that great.

Erik in the dentist's waiting room.  He wouldn't hold still for longer than 2 seconds at a time

Our last big adventure this week was a visit to the Sanford Zoo.  We hadn’t been there in over a year and we thought that Erik would better understand and appreciate what he would see.  Unfortunately for us, the zoo was hosting a Halloween event and so Erik got to see alot of scary costumes, gravestones, ghosts hanging from trees, ghouls and skeletons.  Kent & I tried to steer away from the Halloween stuff, but it was everywhere!  Thankfully, after asking about the hanging ghosts a few times, Erik didn’t pay them any attention.  He did enjoy the small children’s petting area and seeing all the different kinds of monkeys that the zoo has.  His favorite thing, though, was the bouncy house slide that was set up near the rhinoceroses!  Erik & Kent went on a train ride and the carousel (I’m sensing a theme here) while I fed Elin.

We ended our week with a visit to the Isidro household for a feast of Indian food!  It was so nice to be able to catch up with them and introduce them to our little Elin.  We have only seen each other in passing at Sabbath School for the past few months.  

Madelyn, Elin & Tangie

Little Miss Elin is continuing to grow & learn new tricks at an amazing rate.  This week (Oct 23) she learned how to roll over from her tummy to her back.  She finally found her feet on Friday, Oct 25!  She has been grabbing onto her thighs when lying on her back, but hasn’t seemed to realize that there might be more to her legs beyond her knees!  When she is on the changing table, especially, she loves to stick her legs straight up in the hair and then either grab her thighs to pull them in for a big stretch or sling them to the side.  We may actually have to use the changing table belt for Elin!  Elin has been giggling for a little while now, but this week, she really started to laugh in earnest with a belly laugh.  I got her to do this trick while she was on the changing table (she does love that spot oddly enough); I put my head down on her chest and she just started laughing and laughing.  Her laughs sound a bit like “Ah-Ha, Ahhhh-Ha”.  I’ve not yet managed to get a good video of her laughter, but hope that I can soon so that I can hear her great laugh forever!

Erik appears to be her favorite person; she constantly watches what he is doing and she will always smile at him!  Erik has also decided that Elin may be a good person to play with and has recently started telling her to “sit ‘ere”, “stand UP!”, “throw it” or “baby, sing”!  How do you convince a 2-year old that his baby sister can’t do any of that stuff yet?!

Erik playing "Night, Night" with Elin - against her will, it appears!!

Elin laughing at Erik

Other interesting things to know about Elin is that she loves to go to sleep by tucking her head into the joint of my neck and shoulder.  Her daytime sleeping schedule appears to be evolving in the last few weeks with her morning naps rarely exceeding 30 minutes.  However, I’m not sure if it is a true change or if Elin is just trying to fit in a nap whenever she can around Erik’s activities or my errands.  Elin still nurses every 3-4 hours.  Lately, she has started to express her displeasure if she gets disturbed while nursing! If there is too much going on, she will continually come on & off and give me looks of puzzlement or indignation.  On the other hand, she will sometimes use her nursing time to fine tune her teasing skills.  She will lie there quietly until I realize that she has stopped nursing; when I look down at her, her eyes light up and she grins or giggles and then starts to nurse again.  A few days ago, she added a new variation to this game by moving her fingers to her lips and when I looked at her, she laughed and shoved them into her mouth (our family refrain is “no fingers in mouth” since Elin has been gagging herself when sucking on her fingers)!  She is turning out to be quite the funny, little girl!

Oct 13-19: Rolling Over

I'm going to start this week's post with a funny story that happened on Friday afternoon at the end of our very long week.  After Erik had woken up from his nap, he and I went outside to get the mail.  We pulled out his wagon and just walked around for awhile.  I decided that I should check to see if Elin had woken up from her nap, so I made Erik come back inside with me.  He was NOT pleased by this and threw a tantrum by the garage door while I got Elin up and changed her diaper.  Erik's tantrums generally consist of him crying or screaming while standing in front of whatever he may want at the time and pawing at it - whether that is a door or your legs.  I got Elin ready and took her outside with Erik, along with her boppy & a pillow so that she could sit in the wagon while Erik pulled it around the driveway.  Before going into the house to get Elin, he had thought this was a great idea.  However, once I got the Elin & her support system set up in the wagon, Erik threw another tantrum.  Crazy kid.  I decided we were done with being outside and gathered up a screaming Erik & a bewildered Elin - only to realize that Erik had locked us out!!  Sometime during his tantrum at the garage door, he had managed to flip the lock on the handle.  AAHHH.  I didn't have a key to that door on me, but thankfully I did have my cellphone.  Kent had to come home a bit earlier than he had planned to rescue us!  What's so maddening is that I had checked the lock on the door when I went outside with Erik the first time to make sure it wasn't locked, but didn't think I needed to check it the second time!

The boy does love his sunglasses!

Erik likes to tell us to "C'mon, c'mon" while wiggling his fingers at us to follow him!

A closer look at his "c'mon" hand motion

Elin ready for her wagon ride that never materialized

Okay, back to the earlier part of the week.  Just as I finished writing last week's post about Elin "sitting" up by herself, she showed me her latest trick!  I had her lying on the floor next to me as I worked on my laptop and she rolled over from her back to her tummy!  I was able to grab my phone & get a few pictures of the event - they are a bit blurry, though!

She is attacking all her milestones with a vengeance.  She taught herself how to sleep through the night about 2 weeks ago.  I was going to do "sleep training" on her while Kent was on his business trip the first week of October (that way only 1 parent has to listen to the baby cry).  She must have heard Kent and I talking about it because the night before Kent left, she slept through the entire night.  No effort required on my part!  Since then, she has consistently slept 9-11 hours each night; she has only woken up a couple times around 4:30AM but after squawking for about 2 minutes, she is back asleep!  What an amazing baby!  So far, girl babies are definitely easier than boy babies!!

This week has been a very busy one with Kent working long hours.  I've also had to go into the office to assist with some work projects as part of my resignation agreement.  There have been a lot of late nights for Kent and I.  Unfortunately, the stress this week was compounded with both kids getting colds and then I got a nasty 24-hour flu virus.  I was completely miserable from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday; it really is not fun being sick and having to take care of 2 kids.  I hope not to do that again for a long time!

To end on a happy note, Erik has decided this week that he wants Elin to play with him.  He has started asking (or rather telling) Elin to sit next to him, to stand up, to walk to another chair, to hold certain tosy, etc.  It is very cute, but I'm not sure how many times I'll have to explain that Elin can't do anything of those things yet before he will understand me!!  Erik is a very sweet little boy most of the time.  He can be very solicitous of our needs.  The other day, I made a noise when I walked into another room and in just a few seconds, Erik had come running into the room after me, asking "Are you ok? Ok, Mama?"  He walked up to me and gave me a pat on back, while looking at him with deep concern.  It was too cute.  He will also ask if Kent or I have any owies and will want us to kiss it better - even if the owie is on ourselves!

Other cute sayings that he has been saying lately:  "Uppa-side-down" (only Kent can do this for Erik - thank goodness);  "C'mon, C'mon!" (see pictures above for a visual of this one); "Two more, two more" (he says this when he wants something like snacks or Curious George videos.  He says it in a sing-song voice while wiggling his fingers trying to get just the first 2 to stand up.)

Erik trying to be like Curious George & use his feet to hold food.  Thankfully, he didn't attempt this trick with actual food!

Sept 29-Oct 12: Sitting up

We have had a very busy past two weeks!  We have had several trips to a local park with duck pond and playground, we went to a library's story time, Erik & Kelli got hair cuts, Elin had a dermatology appointment about the rash on her face (it was gone 2 days after getting medicine - yay!), Kent rode in a 100-mile charity bike ride, we hosted our first Sabbath lunch with our friends the Huffman's (I wasn't sure I would be able to pull it off, but I managed it!!), we had a play-date with Lexi and Zoey Davis (the girls are the same ages as Erik & Elin), we had family pictures for Elin's 3 month milestone (is there anything more stressful?) and we met with Nicki, Juliette and Leif Bromme to introduce Juliette to our kids as a potential baby-sitter.

The busiest part of it was the 4 day business trip that Kent had from Monday, Sept 30 through Thursday, Oct 3.  If I had known about his trip earlier, I would have begged one of the grandparents to come spend the week with me!  Thankfully, I did survive the week, but I have a whole new appreciation for single parents.  I learned how to do a joint bath with both kids in our big soaker tub with Elin in her personal baby tub - Erik loved it and has requested his bath to be with Elin several times since then!  He likes to supervise the baby's activities and report on her to me!  He is very good at telling me when Elin is sucking on her fingers by yelling out "No fingers in mous!"  He has actually helped me avoid several upchuck situations!  Thankfully, since figuring out why Elin was puking, we've only had 1 more instance.  Of course, that one happened at the park - just after we got to the playground area - and by the time I got Elin into the bathroom to clean her up, she had also had a diaper blow-out!  AAHHH.  That took some time to clean up in the park bathroom while also convincing Erik that it was fun to stand around in the bathroom not touching anything or looking in the cracks of the stalls at other Moms!

Elin's big achievement from the past 2 weeks is that she is sitting up (almost)!!!!  She has gotten so good at holding up her head and sitting upright while on our laps.  I put her on the floor this past Monday, Oct 7, and the result is posted below!  She is folded nearly in half, but I am counting this as officially sitting up!!  She is also working very hard on rolling over from her back to her tummy - she can get halfway onto her side, but she is getting so close!

 Erik's latest achievement is that he has figured out how to take pictures on my iPhone.  He rarely actually gets his subject in the frame, but he loves to walk around with the phone clicking the button.  Here are a few of his pictures:

We have had some funny stories that have happened over the past few weeks.  The first is that Erik has asked for a few new story books to be read to him at bedtime.  He always asks for Kent to read to him and no matter how hard Kent tries to hide a particular book or ask for another story, Erik keeps pulling out a book about...American patriotic songs!!  Ha, ha.  Kent does a wonderful & admirable job and he sings each song.  I love hearing Kent's rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner and Home on the Range come through the intercom system that we use to monitor Erik's room!!  The first night, Kent started the national anthem a bit too high and had to switch octaves midway through!  Too funny!!

The second funny story happened last week on Sabbath morning.  I've gotten into the necessary habit of nursing Elin wherever Erik is playing in the house.  That morning, Erik wanted to play in his room after getting out of bed, so I sat down to nurse Elin in the chair in that room.  Erik watched for a little bit and then started saying it was his turn to feed the baby. He even used "Please" - which normally means that he can have what he is asking for!  I tried to explain that only Mommy could feed Baby Elin, but Erik just kept asking.  After I switched sides, Erik climbed into the chair on the same side I was nursing, lifted his shirt up over his chest and then demanded that "Baby, suck it!"  It was too funny; I did eventually put Elin in his lap in the nursing position, but she wouldn't nurse!!

Some recent pictures of the kids:

Erik playing "night, night" with Elin

Siblings

Cuddling siblings with their "boppas"

A common sight for a two-year old!! (He wanted my camera to take pictures)

Elin & Kelli at Sabbath School (Elin is in a dress from Nana)

Sept 15-28: 3 Months Old

Elin is 3 months old!  It is a common saying, but time goes by so fast!!  At her 3-month appointment this week, she weighed in at 13 lb 2 oz and measured 24 inches - both are in the 75th percentiles.  She is growing much faster than Erik; he didn't reach those measurements until he was 4 months old!  The heat rash that she has had on her face is 99% gone, which I am so thankful for.  She now only gets a few red bumps if she has to be in the carseat for long periods of time or when she gets really upset and cries.  We are doing the clothing switch-over this week to the 3-6 month sizes.  So sad to see the teeny tiny clothes go away.  Shockingly, started to think this week that maybe I would want a third child just so that I could have another teeny tiny baby, but then I snapped out of those crazy thoughts!

At 3 months, Elin loves to cuddle, she pushes her face into my neck as she goes to sleep and holds my hand while she nurses.  She is our little noise maker: she mumbles, moans and grumbles her way into sleep, wakes up with grunts, stretches and toots, spends her days squealing, cooing and giggling.  She is definitely a girl and is getting in her 20,000 words/day!!  She started laughing around Sept 19 and she smiles whenever someone makes eye contact with her.  She is becoming more active and constantly moves while nursing during the day - with her upper arm moving, her feet churning and her head going forward and back (that part is rather annoying!)  

Erik seems to achieve new accomplishments every single day so it is hard to remember all the new things that he is learning.  Erik still loves Elin; he especially loves to touch his "baby seester" when she is sleeping in the swing; he also likes to touch her cheeks and say "Baby Cuuutte" or "baby fragile".  Of course, he usually says the latter phrase while squeezing her arm or pounding on her leg.  He is also becoming a great big brother and helps to monitor Elin for me while driving in the car:  he will tell me if she is sleeping and whether she is sucking on her fingers.  He will then tell her "Elin, no hands in mou's" (see story below for information on why that is important)! 

Erik wants Kent and I to "hold you" and he will pull on my shirt or pants until I pick him up.  He really likes it when I hold both him & Elin so that he can put his arm around Elin's shoulders!  He loves to pull his Thomas the Train back-pack around the house.  He also loves to go through the cabinet under my bathroom sink and play with my bottles, cans and toiletry bags.  He will haul 2 bags in particular all over the house.  He is learning to identify his colors; most items start out as Blue or "Lellow", but he is definitely getting better at telling us the correct color.  He has also decided that he loves books again.  He went through several months where he didn't want to be read to or to look at his books.  Now, he begs for a few stories before bedtime and has actually started telling us what the next word or line says in his favorite book - "The Foot Book" by Dr. Seuss.  

Lest you think I only notice the happy moments or that my children can do no wrong, here are a few not so fun moments that occurred in the last 2 weeks.

1. Elin has discovered her fingers and loves to wave her arm around while watching her hand.  She is getting very good at grasping objects and pulling things to her mouth.  All good things.  However, she has discovered that she can suck on her fingers and that if she sucks on just the first 2 fingers and holds them just so, she can actually make herself puke!  She loves to see Mama scream and scramble around trying to find a cloth, blanket, anything to catch the ensuing onslaught!  She especially likes to do this stunt in the middle of supper preparations or when I am seriously multi-tasking.  I now keep an active & constant look-out for fingers in her mouth.  I've gotten pretty good at catching the early signs of gagging and silent heaves.  I live in fear of her puking all over me when I have her in the front carrier while shopping!!

Elin demonstrating her new trick

2. Erik is demonstrating his stubborn streak (what? where did he get that from?!  The answer is KENT!!).  If his requests aren't immediately granted, much crying, screaming and foot stamping occurs.  He rarely gets on the ground to throw a tantrum, but he dances in place, pulls on our clothes and cries.  He has also decided that he is a food snob and he will only eat a few things, such as pancakes, yogurt (calls it minnert or yonurt), cheerios, strawberries, chips, pasta (but this can be rejected), cereal and some pouches of pureed fruits/veggies (these can also be rejected on a whim).  I did anticipate that my children would be picky eaters since I was/am a picky eater myself but I never expected such limitations.  You might think that this limited diet would make mealtimes easier to plan for, but the guilt that I suffer every time I see all the food in the kitchen that he won't eat makes it rather stressful!  That and the fact that Erik will most often refuse to eat unless he can watch Curious George videos.  Talk about guilt heaping upon guilt!  My child is hooked on videos at 2 years old!  Yikes!

Tummy Time!

3 Months Old - so solemn!

3 Months Old - happier now!

Erik at 3 Months Old - for comparison.  They look just a bit alike, don't they?!

Aug 25-Sept 14: A Lake Vacation!

Elin has taken her first airplane trip - and, of course, we completely forgot to get a picture of her in the plane or the airport!  We packed up what seemed to be our entire house and spent the Labor Day vacation at the LeNoue cabin on Otter Tail Lake in Minnesota.  For nearly his entire life, Kent has spent part of his summer at this cabin with his LeNoue branch of the family. We have been there for a long weekend at least once a year since we started dating.  However, we hadn't been back since May 2011 when we visited while I was pregnant with Erik.  Kent was having severe withdrawals, so we arranged a trip to cure his blues.

Both Erik & Elin did very well on the 3-hour plane ride and subsequent 3-hour car ride to the lake.  Erik got a bit squirmy & fussy after a few hours on the plane, but Kent was a trooper and always managed to distract him from a full-blown meltdown.  I lucked out and had the easy child with Elin.  She nursed on take-off and landing and then slept the majority of the trip, which meant that I got to sleep!  I woke up a few times and noticed that Kent was having to work really hard with Erik, but always went right back to sleep - ha, ha!  

It was a wonderful and relaxing trip for me; poor Kent had board meetings the day after we got back, so he had to spend quite a bit of time working on his presentations while we were there (lots of late nights & early mornings).  Erik loved the lake and all the outdoor activities; he especially loved to walk on the dock to look at the boats. He would frequently ask for a boat ride; thankfully, while on the boat, he was always very quiet, willing to wear his life jacket and happy to sit with/next to Kent or I. That is, until the very last boat ride, when he nearly flung himself off the back of the boat trying to be funny.  He was sitting by me; he had been a bit antsy, so I had a hand on the back of his life jacket the entire time.  I think he was completely embarrassed when I hauled him onto my lap and gave him a stern talking to!  Ha, ha - won't be the last time that I ruin his fun and embarrass him at the same time!!

We spent our week doing as many water sports and outdoor activities as possible.  Kent had to be in 7th heaven - he was able to Windsurf, Water-ski, Fish, Kayak, drive the Boat and go Sailing!  Erik tried as hard as a 2-year old can to keep up with Kent!  He wanted to be outside all the time; thankfully, he was very good about following the rules and always having an adult with him on the dock or near the water's edge.  Kent gave Erik his first lesson in kite-flying, which Erik absolutely loved.  Kent & his dad actually rigged a kite up to a fishing pole to make it easier to hold onto and to reel in & out.  I thought it was ingenious!

We were able to see alot of Kent's relatives while we were there, including all of his aunts & uncles except Aunt Peggy.  We were also very happy that we were able to stop in St. Paul and see Kent's sister & brother-in-law, Natalie & Casey Malmquist.  Casey was in a house explosion back in July and has been at a hospital for the past 2 months.  He has experienced many miracles in the past weeks and is healing so much better than expected.  We thought he looked great!!  He had a grafting surgery the day before we arrived, so we only visited with them for a short time on the first day of our trip.  We drove back to the cities the evening before our flight home so that we could spend more time with Casey & Natalie.  Casey had undergone a marked improvement during that week; he was discharged from the hospital and was staying with friends nearby so that he could maintain his outpatient visits.  His friends, Charlie & Janine, were very gracious and opened their home to us for the night as well.  We were able to visit with everyone and Charlie took us all for a boat ride on Lake Minnetonka.
 
There are so many things that I'm sure I've forgotten to write about.  Suffice it to say that we had a wonderful time and enjoyed seeing all our extended family.

We are back home and back in the swing of things.  This means, of course, that I am once again super late in posting updates to this blog.  You would be surprised by how often during the day I think about the blog and what I am going to write/say on my next post.  Clearly, with my rather sleep-deprived state, I forgot about 90% of what I plan to write, plus I never have as much free time during the day or evening to spend on my computer as I think I will.  I need some sort of brain dictation machine!

Erik and his Daddy in the airport

Look at all that luggage!

Kent taking Erik for a kayak ride

Kent & Elin taking a nap

Grandma & Erik helping Elin with her tummy time

Johnson men: 2 watching videos and 1 sleeping

Our Family

Aunt Marsha, Kent, Erik, Grandma, Elin, Grandpa & Uncle George

Aunt Darlene

Hard to see, but Kent & Erik are flying a kite using a fishing pole!

Kent & Uncle George sailing

Erik "Fishing"

Kent & Erik on a boat ride