Last day of 2009

It is amazing to think that another year is coming to a close. There are only 13 more hours left in 2009 - and what a year it has been and what a year 2010 will become. A few things I look forward to in the coming year:

• The arrival of our son (watch out, world!)
• The skills and feats Annika will conquer and learn (not to mention, the funny things she'll undoubtedly say!!)
  
• Our family vacation to Lake Chelan next September
• Eric's and my 9th wedding anniversary next November (how has so much time flown by?)
• Spending time with our family members and friends
  

To all of those near and dear to our hearts, may your 2010 be filled with joy, laughter, love, and hope.

Wishing everyone a spectacular 2010!

It's official...

I'm now a minivan mom. We've been pondering the idea of plunging into the world of the minivan for a little bit now - mostly due to the fact we'll soon have 2 little kids to get in and out of the car (moreover, into and out of car seats). Last night, we bit the bullet and bought an 8 passenger 2008 Toyota Sienna. It is quite snazzy (can a minivan really be snazzy? I vote yes!) and it is great to drive.

Last night, Eric pointed out that it has hooks for grocery bags, which sent me into a state of true bliss, and that it has more cup holders than we can shake a stick at (although, why we'd shake a stick at the cup holders, I don't really know).

I've decided to name the van "Hawn" because it has a gold exterior... (Get it? Goldie Hawn? Eh? Eh? Clever, huh?? ;)

Illness Update

Well, I think that I might live to see Christmas. It was touch and go for a couple of days, but the doctor I saw yesterday gave me drugs that seem to be helping. Ironically, he gave me an inhaler to help my lungs when I go into the horrible coughing fits (that last up to an hour!). I'm not asthmatic, but now have an inhaler and am very grateful for it! The doctor also put me on antibiotics to see if that helps at all. At this point, I'm willing to try just about anything.

One unexpected side effect of the coughing fits is they get the baby rockin' and rollin'. Which is fine during the day, but in the middle of the night, much less welcome. I think the loud, seemingly never ending coughing startles him and gets him moving ... ALL over the place. On an up note, I guess that means his hearing is probably in good working order!

Christmas Prep

Our Christmas shopping is done. Most presents are wrapped. Christmas cookies and caramels are made and ready for consumption. We did quite well planning this year's Christmas prep. The one thing we didn't plan for is a nasty cold to invade our house a week before Christmas. I'm sure there's a Christmas carol somewhere amongst our symptoms... coughing, sneezing, blowing noses, fa la la la la la la la la! The goal is to be well on the road to recovery before Christmas arrives.

We've had a guest with us since Friday and he's been great. My brother's family's dog (Kirby) is hanging out at Chez Olson for a week while his family is in Chelan. Kirby is Buca's brother (our black lab). Annika particularly likes having Kirby around because there's finally a dog in the house who will play fetch with her. When she throws toys for our dogs, they frequently neglect to bring them back to her. Kirby, on the other hand, happily retrieves the toys she lobs by/at/around him (we're still working on her aim).

Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle!

Last night, Annika helped me make spritz cookies. BY FAR, her favorite part of the whole endeavor was putting the sprinkles on the cookies. She took to it like a fish takes to water. The difficulty arose when she started applying sprinkles before the cookies were formed. So, she was basically decorating the cookie sheet... festive? yes. productive? not so much. Upon seeing the first spritz cookie on the cookie sheet, Annika proclaimed, "WHOA!" (She was immediately a fan of the cookie gun, let me tell you!!) She happily and generously applied red, green, and multi-colored sprinkles to the cookies... frequently with verve and while singing, "sprinkle! sprinkle! sprinkle!" I was a bit surprised by how naturally she took to the action, until I found out (the next day) that they used glitter (in shakers) as part of an art project at her day care that very same day. Ah ha! She'd been practicing!

Yesterday, I had my monthly OB appt. and was told the baby is looking good and seems to be growing right on track. His heart was beating in the mid 130-range, which is perfect. I had another gestational diabetes test run yesterday, still waiting to find out the results. Starting mid-January, I begin the twice montly OB appointments - how is it possible that this pregnancy is going by so quickly???

Santa Visit

On Sunday, I took Annika to the mall to get her picture taken with Santa. To prepare, we showed her pictures of Santa from years past and looked at books that had Santa. She was all set. On the way to the mall, Annika started saying, "No Sanka Claus. No Sanka Claus." Not a good sign. I told her we'd just go take a look and she didn't have to sit with him if she didn't want to. After waiting in line for an hour (mind you, there were only about 20 people in front of us), it was our turn. During our time in line, Annika played with the other kids a bit but was showing signs of fatigue. By the time we were at the front of the line, she had her head on my shoulder and was snuggling with her bunny.

I didn't want to wind up with a screaming child with Santa picture, so I took some advice from a friend (thanks, Joy!) who suggested the following idea many moons ago. We put Annika in Santa's chair and had Santa hide behind it so she wouldn't freak out. Then, Santa could peek around the chair for the photo. (Joy did this with one of her kids years ago and it resulted in a very cute picture.) Annika wasn't thrilled with the idea of me putting her down, but I was able to convince her to sit while I was (barely) out of the photo frame. We got a deer in the headlights photo for the second year in a row, but did avoid the screaming child picture, which was my goal.

Needless to say, glad I didn't wait on our Santa picture for this year's Christmas cards. Maybe we'll get a smile out of her next year. :)

(Doesn't she look tiny in that huge chair??)

Darned Ear Infections!

Two weeks ago, Annika was diagnosed with a double ear infection. She was put on a 5-day round of antibiotics and seemed to be all better. Fast forward to Sunday. She woke up from her nap saying her ear hurt (uh-oh). She had a bit of a rough day (asking for Daddy and just being a bit out of sorts) at day care, which isn't like her. We decided to call her pediatrician and have her checked out. Her doctor took a peek in her ears and confirmed the infection that we suspected. She also confirmed that Annika's stuffed bunny also has another ear infection. (I am SOOOO impressed - she had a 5:45 appt and we were back in our car at 6:00. Is that service or what?!!?)

Annika is back on antibiotics - a different kind than last time and it is a 10-day treatment. Hopefully this one will kill off whatever is taking up residence in her ears AND it'll start working soon. I was up with Annika ever hour of the night last night (except the 4:00 hour).... Mama is a bit tired today. :(