ponies, babies, hammocks, happiness and a tantrum

yes, yes, yes. update is way overdue.
turns out life with two under two is pretty hectic. who'd have thought, right?
anyways, we're doing well. sleep deprived but happy for the most part.

now lots of pics in no particular order.

orange

you just might think we're dutch...

sunday morning, mika's one week and about four hours old and oh so soft and cuddly.

and we'll bug you with lots and of boring newborn pictures.
















black metal grapefruit plus grim look for dylan and brian.

great first week

meeting the cho girls on thursday.



morning play and cuddle time in bed on saturday.



oh, yes... mika's right ear is kinda funky. we're hoping very much that it's just an external thing at that her inner ear is perfectly fine. keep your fingers crossed for her and we'll keep ya posted.





trip to the local farm saturday afternoon. mika's first big outing.


happy babywearing mama. and happy little ru baby's perfect vest wearing toddler in backround.



we saw a cow giving birth today! not from up close, but still... pretty cool. especially considering that i myself gave birth just six and a half days earlier.









now it's saturday night, joon's asleep in our bed, gramma's asleep in joon's bed, dave's asleep on the couch, mika's asleep on me and i'm sitting here enjoying the quiet. life's good.

yay!

Eleanor Mika

Hurra! Hurra! Mika ist da!

Eleanor Mika was born at home on Sunday morning at 5:32am. She's 19.7" (50cm) long when stretched out from her regular ball shape and weighed in 7lbs 6oz (3350 gram).

She was welcomed by Mama, Papa, Oma, Gramma, Maria, Midwife Alexa and soon after showered with love and affection by proud big sister Joon who slept through the three short hours of labor and birth.

Everyone is doing beautifully, we're fully enjoying our "Babymoon" at home surrounded by family. Mika is very healthy, a great nurser and very content, Joon is over the moon with joy over Baby "Me-Nah" and adjusting to her new role as big sister incredibly well.


We'll be back with more pictures and details soon. Much love to everyone!

snow, sunset, cold, fun

yes, i am nine months pregnant. yes, the baby is doing fine. no, there's need for me to look bigger. no, there's no need for me to waddle. i feel big and uncomfortable enough, thank you. :P

christmas outing to the zoo

after last night's incredibly yummy christmas dinner and finally a good long night of sleep we decided that it was time for some outdoor fun for those of us no longer feeling completely crappy from the cold.

dave, maria, joon and i went to our free local little zoo which has a great playground for joon to climb around on. we bundled up, dug out our shades, bought some animal food and hot chocolate at the little zoo kiosk and off we went. it was freezing cold but the fresh air and bright sun felt amazing!

first we went to feed the goats and sheep which joon still prefers to watch from a safe distance and then joon and maria climbed up and down the hills and joon slid down the frozen mud slides.

our contend and nicely worn out kid passed out two minutes into our drive home and is now happily napping by an open window while dave is recording bass tracks and maria and i are warming up with yummy spice tea and honey sandwiches.

i've got a few minutes of sewing to do and then we'll all take hot showers before heading back over to my grandparent's house where we're expecting even more family for coffee and cake, more gift exchanging and many more hours of sitting together chit chatting, eating treats, drinking wine (or tea in my case), possibly playing some games and watching joon be a little goofball.

tomorrow we're all going to "erfahrungsfeld der sinne" (experience field of the senses) which hanne got tickets for the whole family for. i'm guessing we'll be a group of about 15 people or so. four generations. fun, fun, fun.
dave, joon and i went there in august with our friends corey and dylan and had a great time and i'm really looking forward to taking joon back there now that she's a little older and probably even more interested in all the sights and sounds and experiments. more on that tomorrow though...

for now, here are looooooots of pics of today's outing!