Aug 4 - 9: Week in the Middle

I'm writing this blog post almost a month after the fact, so my memory of the events that took place this week are getting a little fuzzy.  I've gotten nearly 6 weeks behind in posting blog entries (the weeks between July 20 and August 23 all need to be finished and posted).  I mentioned 2 blog entries ago that I was going to have a posting marathon, but decided today that I jinxed myself by using the "marathon" word.  I've never liked running, so using a running analogy for the posting of my blog entries was a bonehead move!!

Before I go into the details (that I can remember now) of this week, I need to give a correction on an earlier post about Elin's teething woes.  The first full week of July, Elin had a fever and a runny nose that lasted about 5 days.  She had 2 lateral incisor teeth pop through, one on the bottom & one on the top.  The next week as I put some Orajel on her gums at bedtime, I noticed a flash of white further back in her mouth.  She cooperated nicely and allowed me to get a good look in her mouth and I found that 2 of her top 1st molars had popped through and were actually further out than the lateral incisor teeth that I had popped through the previous week!!  Poor little girl actually had 4 teeth break through her gums that first week of July rather than the 2 that I saw initially!  Not sure why she has completely skipped her cuspid (dracula) teeth, but she has moved on to her molars now :)

Okay, back to my "regularly scheduled program":  The big plans for this week was to decompress & clean up from all the birthday celebrations that we had last week for Erik's 3rd birthday as well as gear up for our trip to Minnesota to visit Kent's family at Otter Tail Lake.  Erik was beside himself with excitement about packing and being able to go on an airplane ride.  Several times, he would grab his little backpack and run around the house grabbing seemingly random items that he needed to pack!

In order to get ready for our vacation, I had a long to-do list and since Erik's daycare program was done for the summer, I had both kids with me for all the outings, errands and chores.  Both kids did great with all the running around; Elin's morning nap was often messed up, but she was a trooper.  I've listed below some of the larger, more major things that I did during this week with the kids.

Monday - We went to Leu Gardens in the morning for story time; we met Amanda Martin & her kids there and spent some time playing on the grounds - it was super-duper hot.  Elin had her swim lesson in the early afternoon and while she was going through that, Erik & I played in the nearby kiddie pool and tried to stay out of Elin's line of sight (so she wouldn't scream for us).
Tuesday - We did a lot of errands this morning (a lot when carting 2 kids around!).  We went to the pediatrician's office to get some nutritional products, the library to get a library card so we can check out kids' books for Erik (he loved going to the library & choosing books), the grocery store for some travel snacks and fresh produce to get us through this week and finally, the bank to deposit some checks.  Thank goodness Elin is willing & able to take naps in the car!
Wednesday - Today, we limited ourselves to only 2 errands and I made sure that they were fun ones for Erik.  We went to Target so he could use a gift card that he got for his birthday (he bought some trains!) and to the Adventist Book Center to pick up some felts that Nana Chalker had ordered for Erik's birthday.  Elin had another swim lesson in the early afternoon, so Erik and I once again "hid out" in the kiddie pool during her lesson.  Afterwards, I let both kids play in the kiddie pool for a little bit before forcing them out so we could get home for naps.
Thursday - We had a great, fun outing this morning to an indoor playground called Amaya Papaya; we met Amy & Addi Zbaraschuk there as Amy had taken the day off work for Addi's birthday.  Neither of us had been there before, but it is definitely going on my list of places to revisit.  The kids had a blast and there were lots of toys & activities for the kids to do.  My kids especially loved the little wooden playhouse that they turned into a drive-through type of restaurant for Amy & I!
Friday - This day was reserved for last minute errands, such as buying Erik water shoes at Wal-Mart and visiting my old office to pick up the July 4 family photo CD from Tim (and to take my kids to see my friends in Accounting), as well as packing!  Erik had his haircut in the late afternoon and Kent was able to convince him to let the stylist spike his hair - it was super cute!
Sabbath - Vacation starts!!!

One last little tidbit before I throw a bunch of pictures at you.  This week, the kids have a  new found favorite activity - playing hide-n-seek when Kent gets home from work while I make supper.  Erik will usually start the game by making Kent & Elin find him and then I get pulled into the game so Erik has a partner (this usually happens when Erik decides that he can sufficiently hide from Kent by sitting in front of my legs!!)  Elin has actually covered her eyes and made noises that sound like counting when it is her turn to seek ("un, tu, tee..").  Elin is definitely getting more vocal this week but it's total gibberish at this point.

Here are some pictures from our week:

How Elin holds her hands when she wants to be picked up or given something.  We've been trying to get a good picture of this for the last week or so.  This is the best that I've got!

Elin is giving out lots of kisses this week!

Erik's spikey haircut

Elin is learning how to drive the plasma car all by herself.  Steering is still rather iffy!

Kids in the "baby pool" at the JCC after Elin's swim lesson

Pictures of Elin, Erik & Addison at Amaya Papaya:

This trampoline was a particular favorite for Erik & Addison

Love Elin's happy expression as she plays with Addi!

Order up!

Best shot of the 3 little ones

Trying to get a picture of Elin walking - again, have been trying for over a week and this is the best that I've got!

Jul 27-Aug 3: Erik Turns Three

The big day finally arrived - Erik had his birthday on Wednesday this week!  I'd like to think that Erik had a wonderful birthday celebration.  We did spread the fun over several days, starting on Tuesday (the day before his birthday).  Kent was able to take the morning off work and we all went to the Science Center as a special treat.  Both kids loved the Curious George exhibit and we spent a very long time on the space ship slide in that exhibit.  We also checked out the dinosaur hall where you can dig for dinosaur bones, the kids' play zone where they have airplanes, trains & cars, the reptile room (yuck) and the weather/earth science exhibit where we made clouds and rode an earthquake building.

On Wednesday, Erik went to his summer camp program and he took in cupcakes & juice that he could share with his friends and teachers.  His teachers gave him a birthday crown and took several pictures that they sent to me (I posted one of their collages below).  We had a special supper that night in honor of Erik's birthday.  I hung a few decorations that are technically for the big party on Sunday and we had a small cake from Publix.  No real big surprise for Erik, but when he opened his birthday presents, he did get a train table!  We opted to buy a new table that came with trains, bridges, tracks, tunnels, etc rather than buying just a used table.  Kent had put the table together, but waited to put together the buildings and track with Erik. Elin also tried to help (ha, ha, I mean hinder)!!  Kent had put the table together in the guest bedroom to try to keep it hidden from Erik.  After supper, we sent Erik to do a little scavenger hunt and once he saw the table, he was completely focused on that!  We had saved the cake to eat after gifts and it took some convincing to get him to stop playing and eat his cake!

Of course, we didn't end our celebrations there.  On Friday night, we also had a small get-together with friends to eat supper and exchange gifts for all the kids who had birthdays in June, July & August.  On Sabbath, Erik got to sit in the Birthday Chair during Sabbath School while the class sang to him and he got to blow out his candles (with some assistance from me and a fellow classmate).  On Saturday night, Heather Cochran came over to decorate the house and prep the food for Erik & Kieran's big Train party that we held on Sunday.  Why is it that party plans always take longer than you expect - even when you try to keep things simple?!

The big birthday party was a pool party to help combat the heat of Central Florida in July (my least favorite month to live in Florida).  Erik has been doing really well with his swimming lessons this summer and he loves playing in the pool, so he had a blast during the party.  We had a great turn-out of friends and I thought that the party went really well.  Erik did great sharing his train table with all his little friends that came over, which was a great relief to Kent & I since we weren't sure how that was going to work out!

It's hard to believe that Erik is 3 years old now!  His language skills and motor abilities are just exploding and are amazing to Kent & I.  I thought I would share some of Erik's latest phrases - he comes up with some funny stuff!

Just a minute, guys! - actually, he uses the word "guy" a lot these days.  "hey guys, wait for me" is another prime example!

Juice makes us better - this one should make the Johnson's very proud!
I go to doctor tomorrow.  I'm sick. - he pulls this one at random times but most often on the nights before he goes to school!

I'm going on a trip in 2 weeks - he knows that we have a vacation coming up and is fascinated with the whole process.  I cannot refer to any errands or short rides around town as "trips" - that word is solely reserved for airplane rides only!  He also keeps saying 2 weeks; the time period never changes!

I'm so happy; I'm so excited!

Does that make you happy? - he will pull this one out when he has either done something really good or knows that he is the verge of getting in trouble

Daddy is my Kent; Mama is my Kelli; Baby Sister is my Elin. - he is learning about relationships and real names!!

Erik Through the Years:

At Birth - July 30, 2011 (photo taken Aug 1, 2011)

1 Year Old - Aug 2012

2 Years Old - (or almost. Photo taken May 2013)

3 Years Old - July 2014

Pictures of birthday celebrations:

At the Science Center on the Curious George slide

Letting Elin try the slide, too!

Elin giving George a hug (Erik refused to join the picture)

Who's driving this thing?!

Elin free-floating over clouds!!

Erik's Birthday at his School - he was so excited!!

Erik & Elin "helping" Kent put together the new train table

Opening presents at Cochran's

His birthday candles at Sabbath School

 Pictures from Erik & Kieran's party:

Erik's Thomas cake!

I love the look on his face in this picture - the wonder of it all!!

Table Centerpieces

Entry table decorations

Jul 20 - 26: Elin is WALKING!!!

I'm actually working on this blog entry towards the end of August; since I've gotten drastically behind on updating my blog, I am forced into a posting marathon!  In the past few weeks, in addition to being very bad about posting to this blog, I've also gotten very bad about taking pictures related to the topics I wanted to talk about, so my pictures may seem rather random for the next few entries and I am missing some key photos. :)

The big event of this week is that Elin is WALKING!!!  She took her first independent steps on Thursday, July 24!  Kent was playing with her and Erik in the living room after work when I heard him yelling for me to come quick.  When I got there, Elin was taking a few tentative steps all on her own!  Over the next few days, she got really good at taking 2-4 steps all by herself, but she still much prefers to have someone hold her hands so that she can walk faster; she especially likes to lean forward and race around the house while Kent or I scramble to keep up with her as we hold her hands!  We've had a really hard time getting any pictures of her walking that I could use for this blog.  We do have a few videos, but I've never been able to successfully attached any videos to this site.  Amy/Allen, I've seen that you both have posted videos to your blogs - how do you do it?!

Elin has learned to point to herself so that we will say her name and then she will point to us to hear our names.  She usually does this with Kent (he was the one to teach her this trick), but she will do it for Erik and I as well.  She also likes to point around the house to hear us tell her the names of any object in the path of her pointing finger.  This week, sadly, she has stopped giving kisses.  I've resorted to begging and bribing, but nothing seems to work.  I hope this is a very short phase!  A funny story about Elin this week is that she has walked out of her pants a few times.  She has a pair of shorts that are in the 6-9 month size, but still have a huge waist compared to Elin.  She was walking around the ottoman in the living room and the next thing I knew, her pants just fell down and she had stepped out of them.  I got her dressed again (thinking that maybe she has pulled them down),  but as I watched her walking along the furniture again, I saw her pants just fall down.  Honestly, they didn't look like they were that loose.   I don't know how that happened!

Erik turns 3 on Wednesday next week; the word "birthday" or "party" is heard in most of his conversations lately.  He talks a lot about his train table that he is certain that he is getting for his birthday (and I'm pretty certain he's right!)  He is beside himself with excitement and is sometimes rendered speechless over the wonder of what the day will bring.  I'm feeling the pressure now - what can I do to make the day super special and fun for a 3-year old?!

However, Erik is also already playing the adult game of "I feel younger than my age says I am" - he has seriously regressed on several items in the last few weeks.  I was worried about him regressing after Elin was born, but didn't expect that I would have to deal with it a WHOLE YEAR later.  This past week, Erik has decided that he cannot feed himself, that he needs to be carried everywhere, that he sometimes needs me to hold both his hands and "help" him walk and that he cannot use the potty at all (every advancement we had made for potty training has gone down the toilet - ha, ha).  Then, just when I'm ready to bang my head against that wall at having a helpless 3-year-old around, he will flip a switch and demand "Let me do it!  I want to do it myself!".  The flip-flopping can occur within seconds during the same conversation (aka battle).  AARRGGHH!    I think that I've taken more deep breaths and said more prayers for patience this past month than in my entire life (cumulatively)!

Here are some random photos from the past week:

Erik trying out a cool toy at the Zbaraschuk's

Elin's fan club.  She's showing them how she can stick out her tongue!

This is what happens when Kent sits down at his computer at home!!

Such cuties - holding hands during breakfast

Elin gets her first ride on the John Deere lawn tractor (Erik was napping, so Kent's lap was available!)

Playing Peek a Boo during supper

Lounging Lady

Elin pointing to herself so we will say her name

Jul 13 - 19: More Woes

Elin's teething woes appear to be over; by mid-week, she was back to her happy, cheerful self, laughing and playing easily.  She has decided that she likes to make funny faces at Kent during meal-times, crinkling her nose and giving a toothy smile (with 2 new shiny teeth)!!

However, Kent has the come down with the worst case of pink eye I've ever seen.  I didn't see Bob Costas's case during the Olympics, but I'm pretty sure that Kent could rival him.  He came home from work on Monday complaining of sore eyes, but by mid-Tuesday, his poor eyes were so red and they looked so painful.  Unfortunately, the medicine he was prescribed didn't do much good since his eyes didn't look any better by the end of the week.  He's trying to stay away from the kids as much as possible, but that was nearly impossible since he had to watch the kids while I had an appointment on Tuesday afternoon and a meeting at work on Wednesday.  We quarantined ourselves from all our friends and from church so that Kent wouldn't share his nasty germs.  Thankfully, the kids and I have not gotten sick; please pray that we all stay healthy!

Since we were a house of sickness this week, there wasn't much else happening (except my back went out and I was hobbling around) and so, not many pictures were taken.  Thankfully, Tim Putt sent me some sneak peek pictures from our last photo session with him.  Enjoy!!

The guys look great, but Elin & I are having issues.  I'm grimacing and Elin is frowning!!

Elin hasn't figured out that if she would let go, she could go up much higher!!

Still hanging on tight

Erik has always liked to fly!

The only new pictures that were taken this week:

Jul 6 - 12: Teething Woes

We began this week with the most pleasurable of all activities - family photos!!  This photo session marks Elin's 12 month milestone and is the end of our quarterly family photo sessions (hallelujah!).  The plan was to have only a few family group shots and then to spend the rest of the time just taking pictures of Elin.  I had 3-4 outfits for Elin and had tagged some photos on Pinterest that I wanted to try out.  Side-note: I have a love-hate relationship with Pinterest; who has the time to be so creative and so clever with everything?  My attempts never come out looking the same!!  Ok, back to Sunday.  Mornings are always a pretty hectic time in the Johnson household since all 4 of us would prefer to sleep in (or in Elin's case, snuggle & nurse for hours on end).  It's always hard for us when we have somewhere that we have to be at a certain time in the morning.  We were having pictures at the house this time to make it easier to do Elin's outfit & prop changes.  Ha! It might have been more confusing!  We did get through most of the outfits that I had for Elin (I did abandon 1 of them) and I forgot to use 1 of the props I really wanted to use!  That was super disappointing when I realized that!  I hope that Tim was able to get some good shots.  I'm afraid that most of them will have Elin doing her solemn stare, Erik looking down or turning his head and Kent & I trying to talk to the kids while our mouths are still smiling!  

I think this photo session is the 3rd one in a row where Elin was getting sick on the day of the pictures - or had just gotten sick the day before.  Sunday afternoon, Elin came down with a fever and a very runny nose. That could explain why she was so serious & solemn during the photo session. Her fever was rather high so I immediately put her in a tepid bath.  That helped nicely - as did some infant medicine.  Her fever ebbed & flowed throughout the week and finally left for good on Friday.  Elin had her 1-year well visit at the pediatrician's on Monday morning, which was very fortunate for us.  Elin's fever was gone during the visit, but the doctor was able to rule out ear infection and any throat issues.  On Tuesday, I found a new tooth in Elin's mouth which most likely explains both the fever and the runny nose.  The tooth that I found wasn't the top tooth that I have been watching & waiting to to break through, though!  She had a sneaky tooth pop up on the bottom.  The top tooth finally broke through on Friday.  Elin now has 7 teeth!

Elin's weight measurements at her appointment were lower than I expected - she only gained 4 ounces since her 9 month appointment.  She is now 16 lbs 12 oz, which is less than the 10th percentile.  Her height, at 29.5 inches is between the 50th & 75th percentiles.  In comparison, Erik weighed 22 lbs (25th-50th percent) at his 1-year appointment and was 29.5 inches (50th percent).  When I saw her weight, I was a bit concerned; I was guessing that she was going to be around 17 or 18 lbs, so only a 4-ounce gain was shocking to me.  However, her pediatrician didn't even blink at the low weight gain and said that as long as she is gaining at least 2 pounds a year.

Erik is almost three years old and he seems to grow older & learn something new every day.  His new Sabbath School class last week is learning about being a Big Helper.  He has always been very willing to help Kent and I do stuff around the house, but his helpfulness really exploded this week!  He likes to help Kent mow the yard and pick up branches & sticks from the yard and he likes to help me wash the dishes and sort laundry.  This week, he also asked to do stuff for Elin - like change her diaper (I let him stand next to me on his stool and hand me wipes) and carry her to the car (I didn't let him do this!).  He also likes to replace batteries (with his tools), sweep up messes on the floor (there's always food under the table) and putting away groceries (everything ends up on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator)!  On Thursday, when I got him up from his nap, I told him that I needed to do a few chores before I could play trains with him.  His response was "I do chores - you do laundry"!!!  

Erik is also displaying a real appreciation of music.  He really likes to have song time at night and while he doesn't always sing with us, he knows all the songs and will usually sing the last few words of each line!  On Thursday, while playing with legos, Erik & I accidentally created a trumpet and then he asked me to make him more instruments.  I'm not creative with legos at all (I love following the directions!) and so I struggled with this a bit, but then decided that Erik is 2 and he won't know if the clarinet I make resembles a real clarinet at all!!  We made about 6 different instruments and then did a little concert for Elin and then for Kent when he got home from work.  I'm sure they loved it!  Erik carried those instruments around for a few days, so that was a hit!

Funny phrases from Erik this week:Kent touched Erik's belly and asked him if that is where his food goes.  Erik replied "No! it goes in the refrigerator!"

Kent was playing with both kids in Erik's room and Erik decided that he needed to get something.  So he turns to Kent and tells him "You stay there, don't move - those are the rules!  I'll be right back." Ah, yes - I use that phrase on him all the time, except I never told him that those were the rules!

Erik likes to lecture Kent & I if we try to physically move him along faster than he would like.  "We don't push our friends" or "Be nice to our friends" or "We don't hit our friends".  When asked where he learned those rules to live by, he told us that Ms. Abreu says that (one of his teachers at daycare).  Either he is starting to listen or there are some kids in his summer class that need to hear the rules a bit more often than his last class!!!

Outdoor dining this week - new patio furniture & new portable highchair!

Erik's safety goggles (you never know what toy he'll latch onto)!

He prefers them upside down!

Elin & me at Sabbath School.  Elin's a moose - it's so nice that she lets me put stuff on her head!!

Elin improvised a chair for herself while looking through the toy selection

Our lego instruments - French horn, piano, saxophone, flute, clarinet and trumpet

Doesn't he look so grown-up in that chair?!

Found this old photo on Kent's phone - couldn't resist adding it!

Erik in his new Sabbath School

Raking leaves (he's in the background of the picture)