babys first christmas

oUr HoLiDaY. In a little (ches)nutshell.

We got back last Friday night (12/26) from a lovely Christmas holiday. We were able to spend Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Riley. It was a nice supper at the Country Club, and then gifts for the grandkiddos back at their house. We saw a lot of family that we hadn't seen in a long time, which was great! Dinner conversation was lively and all the kiddos (all 6 of them) behaved great (no crying even from the babes).

Grandma, Grandpa, Tad

Trygve and Serenity

Christmas morning was spent at the hotel with the Saugens and the Sorensens - so much fun to have all the kids together! We opened stockings and had breakfast together. (Our room smelled like sausage for a full 24 hours :)

I'm so excited about my Spiderman PJ's!

Olaf and Ingrid await their stockings.

Micah and Olaf are good at sharing their toys.

Look Mom, Santa brought my this sippy cup! (teether with handles...)

Then we headed to Mark and Barb's home for Christmas dinner (DELICIOUS TURKEY) and shared the evening together. The kids (again) all were spoiled rotten with books and toys and clothes.

Olaf learns about Barb's toy box of goodies.

Elmo, I want to eat you!

I found myself so thankful for such a diverse family -- one that I love to share life with. If I could only get more folks to join us and the Saugens here in Leavenworth.... (hint hint Jenny Sue and Haakon) Really though - how many folks are lucky enough to marry into a family that they absolutely love? They truly are a great group of people. (That includes all of you - not just those who I saw this weekend) Anyway, I'll stop my gushes.

That's my post for now. Enjoy the pictures!

delight

Pure delight... that's what I have when I hang out with this kid. My little Roly poly Oly. Happy to just be himself. And I love him so much!

Already Sunday...

Well, it's already Sunday. That means that Steven will have to leave again this evening for his work away from home... sad :( Although we manage fine without him these many days/weeks he is away for work, we still miss him terribly. But I know that he loves the work he does on the boat, and it makes me happy to know that his work fulfills him, so we make do.

Audioning for "Dirty Jobs" with Mike Rowe? Seriously. No I am serious.

How much is Steven working away from home, you might ask? Well, it changes monthly. But he will gone about 2.5-3 weeks each from November through February. But this is good, right?! We are trying to pay for a remodel! And the bonus is, when he is home this winter, he will ACTUALLY be home. Last winter he was home for 13 days over the holidays... and spent all 13 days working on Ski Patrol. We did not spend much time together sadly. But not this year -- this year we will be able to ski together!


Every now and then, when I am in need of a husband for some type of work which husbands normally do, I call on one of the other husbands I know and their wives let me borrow them -- my dad, nick, dave, the helpful men at les schwab... What a blessing to have good friends and family so close!
Grandpa Brian and Drooly Oly

These are Olaf's "Uncle" Nick and "Auntie" Jaimi

Uncle Dave and cousin Micah

Les Schwab -- Did you know they will come pick up your car for you, take it back to the shop, check it out, call you back with the results, fix anything, and then drive it back to you and give you the keys back? AWESOME. You don't even have to leave work!

Welcome Alexsandr!

Baby Alexsandr Encinas was born this last Wednesday evening, December 3rd! My sister Kirsten did an awesome job, and after nearly 24 hours of labor, the little man was finally born! He weighed in at 8lbs, 2oz, with dark brown hair and bluish greyish eyes. He has his daddy's crazy bent-in pinky fingers and Kirsten's eyes. He is BEAUTIFUL. Seriously cute. And so tiny!

CONGRATULATIONS Kirsten and Moises!

PS... Mom did I spell his name right????

Black Friday...

I have never been shopping on "Black Friday" before, so my mom and I decided to head into the big city of Wenatchee with Olaf yesterday morning to try to score some deals. I was anticipating a crazy madhouse of people being rude and rushing to get the last Tickle Me Elmo or whatever it is this year. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find organized lines, lots of the products I wanted still on the shelves, and nice people! How could this be?! Well for one we avoided Walmart, which I hear is the craziest of all stores. Two, we didn't get there until about 8am (even though I got up at 5:30 like usual...). So apparently we missed the long lines and the rushing. And three, we went prepared with a list of what we wanted from the sale ads so we had a "plan" in place.

I finally understand why people like shopping the day after Thanksgiving - there are some INCREDIBLE deals! Carters childrenswear for 60% off? (Less than an outlet price). Electronics at 60% off? Flannel at $1.47 a yard? I know. Seriously Good deals all around. I didn't spend much, but sure got a lot of goodies. Not to mention the deals I can't mention because the recipients may actually read this blog.

Anyway, I just had a really fun time with Mom and Olaf (who was a champ by the way! aside from his blowout at JCPenny's). I know it's easy to get caught up in the mayhem and "consumerism" that sometimes surrounds the holidays... but I more feel like we just had a fun day picking out some simple gifts for people we love. Thanks for coming with me Mom!

kisses...

So to continue my fun day -- We got home at 2:00pm ish and Steven had our bikes all ready to go. The two of us packed up Olaf in the Chariot and went for a nice ride in the semi-freezing hail/rain/snow/sleet weird weather mixture. It was just nice to get outside and exercise in the crisp air while warming up our bodies. Oly slept most of the ride - he was so bundled all you could really see was his little face poking through. Lucky duck :)

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving holiday full of family, friends, laughter and too much food. I know we did!

we still love you seahawks!

Reminiscent of Thanksgivings past... I had to sit next to the guy eating off the bone :)

4am wakeup call

No this post has nothing to do with my son... I was relating this story to my friend Annie who is a great blogger and she said I should post it. I guess these crazy everyday things are the interesting types of posts!

So we are hanging out in our (huge) home the other night and Chelan keeps passing gas. It was VERY loud, but strangely didn't smell at all, like dog farts usually do. Steve mentioned that perhaps we should put her outside for the night but it was FREEZING and I felt bad doing that just because she was farting, so I said, "no, she ALWAYS wake us up when she needs to go out." So she stayed in.

Steve and I went to sleep. At about 4am I hear this crashing in the hallway and we both sit up in bed and turn our heads to the right. Chelan had her head on the foot of our bed, just staring at us, and the laundry basket, which had been precariously positioned on top of Steve's travel bag in the narrow hallway had crashed over into the shower door, and had spilled dirty laundry everywhere. (note - I can no longer actually store the dirty laundry in the shower because it is now useable for showers - yay!) I say to Steve "She NEEDS to go out honeY." "No, she's fine," he mumbles... "Chelan - go lay down - go on - lay down" and he falls backwards and proceeds on with sleep... I think I may have dozed too off for just a minute but my brain woke me back up and I thought, "no, that was bad 4am analysis from a man who is a super hard sleeper at night, I better let Chelan out." I sat up and her head was again perched on the end of our bed staring at us. So I got out of bed and she ran ahead the three or so steps to the living room. I was greeted by a slightly sour smell, but couldn't see anything on the floor anywhere. So I let Chelan and Rosie outside and started investigating. Turn right, nope, not there, turn left, wait, WHAT? Is that really dog poo IN OLAF'S CARSEAT? GROSS! I yelled back to Steve what I found and all I heard back was a muffled grunt. So I spent the next 15 minutes deliriously bagging up the carseat cover to wash later and lysol wiping the hard shell. My husband, though a rockstar helper during the day, is less than responsive to urgent poo requests at night...

Oh, to have a house again with tile floors next to the door where accidents will be slightly easier to clean up. Ah well, it makes for an amusing story later.

How the heck she aimed it so well right into the carseat I will never know...

No I do not have a picture of the mess. Gross.

Recommendation - if your dog wakes you at 4am NO GOING BACK TO SLEEP. I learned my lesson!

mini steven

Oly looks just like his daddy - everyone says so :) I think maybe he has my eyes? Color anyway. Every now and then he scrunches his face just right and I think he looks like my dad, but most of the time he is a Steve look-alike. I think it's very cute.

So I am thinking that he can't possible look any MORE like Steve... but I was proven wrong! He finally fits into his peewee sized carhartt overalls - and the effect is quite adorable if I do say so myself! Steve had to put his hands in his pockets, but he left them there and just enjoyed hanging out like a real man. Since (also like his father) his torso is long but legs are short, he will have rolled up pants for awhile I think.

FINALLY a new post for y'all

The reason I hardly post anymore is because I don't have an internet connection most of the time. Kind of a bummer when I've been used to high speed internet for about 10 years now... ah well. Steve bought a nice modem that just plugs into a USB port and voila, internet! But usually he takes it with him to work, which has been the last three weeks straight. But he's home for a week now, hopefully, so I get to play. Nice!

Here's a few recent-ish pics of my favorite kiddo:



We moved the 5th wheel into the semi-completed pole building today. It's missing a concrete floor (not a huge deal) and doors (also not a huge deal, since we don't have walls either). But we now have a roof! It was SO SO rainy this last week that a roof is a huge blessing. Although the sound of rain drumming 2 feet above your head is nice... i am happier to not worry about whether we will stay dry. Plus the Subaru is parked under the roof too, so technically I never have to get wet in the mornings unless I am shoving my path to leave.

I never had a chance to write a post after Olaf's 4 month check-up, so if you are wondering, here is the growth stats on the kiddo from October 20th:

Height -- 27 inches
Weight -- 15 lbs, 9 oz
Head -- 17 inches

...and gaining. We recently had a bath where I think I counted 8 little rolls on Oly's tummy. He LOVES to splash in the water, though I think he still surprises himself when he gets water all over his face. I just had to post a video of him.




Also a recent discovery is his right foot, which is apparently delicious! He has yet to take an interest in the left foot... ah well, it doesn't seem to feel left out at this point.

just a quick update

Not having internet except when Steve is home is kind of a bummer. I can't update my blog! (among other time-cosuming activities such as facebook and ebay...) Anyway, we are still alive and kicking it up in Plain. Some good news - our renter moved into the Cashmere house today, yay! I am looking forward to that nice monthly check arriving in my mailbox... Other good news, we are in process of selling the Mini! Hopefully it will be done by Friday! But the biggest good news is that all of this means that we will hopefully get our construction loan before the end of November - YAY WOOHOO YEEHAW! Remodel here we come :) Anyway, that's the news for now. I'll try to post new pictures when I can!

Just Plain Living

Reading in his BUMBO chair :)

We are now full-time residents of Plain, WA. Woohoo! What this means right now:

• Our cars are constantly dirty, since our land is a dustbowl from all the excavating we did this summer. Our son is also always dirty.
• Showers are taken elsewhere, including my folks house, Jaimi's house, or Cashmere on the weekends.
• I can only purchase 6 eggs at a time and half gallons of milk, since my fridge is about the size of those ones you put in your college dorm room.
• Olaf sleeps in the closet. And no he doesn't mind it, though Grandma Cathi seems to think we should find another place for him to sleep. Where? The shower?
• My commute went from 10 minutes to 60 minutes. Which is awesome for clearing the head, drinking coffee, singing aloud and praying in the morning, but awful in the afternoons when all I want to do is see my son NOW!

Closet Life

Things that are sad about leaving Cashmere:

• No grass.
• No porch swing.
• No nice neighbors named Jacob and Whitney and soon to be baby girl.
• No TV or internet access. So don't expect these posts to come too often. Sorry.
• Lots of other things actually but I don't want to dwell on it, so I'm done!

Olaf is still growing like a weed. He has his first cold this week poor kiddo... lots of snot, coughing, and a scratchy voice that just breaks your heart, and some general fussiness. But I think he's on the upswing (I hope). I also have this cold and feel like I would like some sleep one of these days... I just can't deny my sick son milk in the middle of the night. We were doing so good before this - sleeping from 9:30 to 6:00 every night! We'll get back there though, so I'm not worried.

Well I am going to end this here, because I want to go play with Olaf!

My little pope.

Blast from the past

Holy MOLY I used to have really long hair. I just found this picture as I was perusing iPhoto... It's from our trip to Scotland/London 3 years ago.

Just thought I would share this little trip down memory lane with y'all.

family and friends

I am such a happy kiddo!

It's Monday morning. One week before I return to work. And so I decided that this week I would relax and spend as much time making Olaf smile as possible. I am currently sitting down, paying bills, dowloading pics, and taking care of the office type tasks that seem to pile up while we are busy. Drinking a delicious cup of drip coffee from my favorite mug.... mmm. Life is good. Olaf is asleep in his crib for now, but soon he'll wake up and we'll feed and give him a nice warm bath.

No that's not sweat from my morning workout - it's DROOL!

We had a great morning - Oly woke up happy at 6:00am on the dot. I pulled him into the big bed and we got to snuggle for awhile. After he was done eating we just hung out and snuggled a bit more. He was all smiles and babbles. Somehow he talks, including voice inflection, through his nose it seems. It is hilarious.

It's COLD in the camper in the mornings sometimes! Oly gets all bundled up to go IN and play :)

Last weekend was a WHIRLWIND. We had a Saugen family reunion in Leavenworth on Saturday. It was great to meet a bunch of family that I had only heard about! I met:
Dave and Colleen Saugen, their daughter Kendra and her husband Josh, and their kids Kennedy, Dawson, and Karston. I love those names - so unique! And very well behaved and fun kids too. I also finally met Grandma Kathy! She sure has a lot of energy! I think she enjoyed meeting the newest additions to her 13 great grandchildren. Also I met Linda and Mike Klassen, their son Jonathan and his wife Autumn, and their daughter Natalie. There were lots of kiddos running around, playing, and lots of folks to catch up with. Steve and Theresa arrived a little later with their brood (let's see if I can remember all the names...) - Zachary, Jeremy, Sharaea, Marcus, and Lydia, and their exchange student (shoot I forgot his name!). It is always fun to see their family. I never think I want to have a lot of kids until I hang out with their family, and see how much fun it can be. I will have to wait for brother Dave to post his full family pictures on Picasa so I can steal one to post on here. But below are a few pictures of the fun times :) My parents were able to join us for the festivities, as Barb and Mark were thoughtful to invite them since they live so close. I think they enjoyed it.

Grandma Kathy meets cutie patootie Ingrid for the first time.

SAUGEN men: Josh, David, Zachary, Steve, Marcus, Jeremy, Steve, David, Mark

We also attended the wedding of a good friend, Teranne, Saturday evening. It was wonderful! Beautiful wedding, beautiful location, beautiful bride, good friends and family. I love living here and being able to be a part of this great community!

Teranne's entrance to the ceremony

Sunday morning Steve helped my dad out with a project while I hung out in the sunshine with Mom and Kendra. Jenny and Haakon and the kids stopped by for a cup of coffee on their way home - it was so relaxing and nice! We had fun posing the cousins for pictures :)

Olaf is used to this tomfoolery. Ingrid looks a little unsure...

Oh so cute!

life, love and leaving cashmere

I am officially overwhelmed by life. Our house is now listed on the market with a Real Estate Agent. I couldn't put enough energy into it, and I think this was a good choice. However now this requires that the house be spic and span at all times.... not so easy with an infant and two dogs, while trying to pack up everything I'll need to live in Plain in the 5th wheel. I sometimes wonder why we do this to ourselves - never allowing time to just relax and live life. It always seems to be elusive, just around the corner, but never quite here yet. Looming over my head is my impending return to work on September 15th... and I am completely and totally bummed about it. Not that I don't like my job, because I do. And I enjoy the friends that I have there as well. And it's not that I don't have a great person to watch Olaf - quite the opposite - she's awesome. It's just the fact that my baby boy won't be with me all day... Someone else gets to experience the joy that is hanging out with him. Oh boy I better not talk much more about this because it's going to make me cry. Who knew you could love someone so much, that you hate to leave them for more than a few hours?

Mommy and Olaf - an actual picture of me holding him! (I had to take it though)

Olaf is now showing so much personality! He babbles all the time, and smiles at just about everyone, which makes everyone pretty happy. He is learning to put himself to sleep without crying which is AWESOME. I think we have this schedule thing figured out! (Watch me eat my words...)

Look out ladies!

His new favorite activities include laying on his back, and kicking his legs like he is running a sprint race, while pumping his fists above his head. I keep trying to catch it on video but every time I bring out the camera he just stares at me like, "seriously mom, I don't want this published on the web" :) Ah well.

Chelan is a fantastic doggie to sleep on.

He has also moved past shoving his whole fist into his mouth, and prefers just his thumb, usually with the rest of his hand wrapping up around his nose. I am determined to catch a photo of this cuteness as well. I don't know if letting him suck his thumb will come back to bite us in the future... but it is so darn cute (and effective at soothing) that I don't want to stop him. So I don't plan to!

Also keeping us busy... Gravity Environmental (AKA Steve) has sponsored a stretch of highway to collect litter on twice a year. Last weekend we did our duty for the environment and did litter pick up on Hwy 2. 23 bags full of nasty trash was collected! (and that was only one side of the highway - this Friday we'll do the rest. Any volunteers?) Zachary and Cassie Miller helped us, then we all went for milkshakes at the 59'er afterwards - much fun! Olaf was in the capable hands of Aunty Kendra in Plain. Though we missed him, I don't think the side of the road and dirty trash is where you want your infant to be. Agreed?

Victorious Volunteers!

2 months already?

beautiful beautiful beautiful boy...

Today is little Oly's 2 month birthday. Happy birthday kiddo! I should hardly call him "little", as he is quite the bruiser. He weighed in today at:

23 3/4 inches long (over 2" of growth, nice work!)
13 lbs 11oz (holy cow kid, what have you been eating?)
16.5" head circumference (he has no hats that fit any more)

This picture shows why Josh just calls him "Head"

love this kiddo.

He is healthy and growing strong and is such a blessing in our lives daily! It's hard to believe that he's been here 2 months already... yet when I think of how much he's grown and changed it is easier to believe. This week Olaf has discovered his hands. His favorite pastimes with his hands include: trying to shove his entire fist into his mouth, batting at his toy ducky attached to his carseat, and reaching for the crab in his crib. Mommy's necklace and Chelan's soft fur are close seconds. Chelan tolerates him quite well - I think she enjoys when I just set him up between her head and her paws, and he just smiles and smiles, especially when Rosie comes over and licks both of their faces and toes.

Life is good.

summer days

Our time lately has been filled with a multitude of activities. Last week we finally got out on the boat again and met Jenn and Chris Foreman at Crescent Bar for some surfing. It was a BEAUTIFUL day - no wind even - and we enjoyed our time on the water. So I had to put on a swimsuit for the first time since having Olaf... not my greatest experience of the summer. But it was worth it to be in the water! Also, Olaf got to meet the Foreman's daughter, Makenna, for the first time. We joked that perhaps one day we would be at their wedding... then tried to catch a picture of them holding hands - and nearly succeeded! Not that we would ever really match-make with our son, but I don't mind keeping him around little gals who's families I love.

Makenna and Oly. He's so big... she's two months older!

Holding hands... :)

We've been continuously cleaning the house, in hopes of prospective buyers. We finally had one couple walk through the house last week, and they seemed mighty interested. But we didn't hear back from them so apparently this house wasn't for them... I am pretty bummed about this whole situation since we can't start on the Plain remodel until the house sells... and worried. and stressed... and trying to trust God that he'll bring us the right buyer. However we are not sure if we have time to wait too long, so we are considering using an agent to help us sell. There goes much of the profit... but if it sells that would be wonderful so we'll see. Please join us in praying for a buyer!

When not in Cashmere cleaning (or being glued to the Olympics) we have been in Plain enjoying friends and family. We had a chance to share a meal with the Rumann family, along with the Saugens (Dave, Christie, Serenity and Micah) and the Krenz's (Nick and Jaimi). It was wonderful to feel at home in Plain, and Rebecca and her mom made a FABULOUS meal. Also, Rumann Construction has agreed to be our contractor in Plain, and help us figure out what we are doing, and we are really excited about this! We finally finished our floor plans (will try to post later). The basics anyway. That's all we need to figure out for now since it's a remodel, not new construction. I also got to catch up with my friend Anne last night for dinner in Leavenworth. It is just nice to be able to be mobile with Oly, and we enjoyed it very much.

Olaf continues to grow and exceed my expectations for cuteness :) His dimples get deeper and deeper as his face gets chunkier and chunkier. I just love watching him! I don't get nearly enough done because he is so fun to hang out with!

Oly was all bundled up for our morning walk in the cool rain.

We are looking forward to our weekend on Whidbey Island, and introducing Olaf to Great Grandma and Grandpa Riley, and getting to spend more time with Grandma and Grandpa Saugen. Olaf is still quite the traveler (it helps that we spend our time spread between the house and 5th wheel) so this trip should be fun!

dixie - home away from home

Regarding the title of this post -- For any of you that don't know, Dixie is Steve's work truck. Recently it feels like we have been away from home more than we have actually been here. (I have learned to feed and change diapers in Dixie's passenger seat.) Luckily while we have been away, my sister has been house-sitting and keeping our lawn and flowers from dying in the HEAT. (thanks!)

Oly is all set to travel in his new carseat -- the Chicco KeyFit 30 - the Cadillac of carseats.

Last weekend was a whirlwind it seemed. Steve had to work in Seattle on Thursday and Friday, so we left Wednesday evening and headed to stay with Josh in West Seattle. We got to see he and MacKenzie's new house and he got to meet Olaf for the first time. Sadly, Mac was away for work so we didn't get to see her :( We had a great time distracting Josh from his work though! Olaf even got in on the action, trying on Josh's bunny ears which had arrived in preparation for their trip to Burning Man.

OlyBunny!

Little Olaf has been doing well with all the moving around. Unfortunately for me though, his schedule has been thrown out of whack. Probably because he was barely on a schedule, and then we started moving around all the time and constantly being with people... Ah well, we are home now and doing pretty good, so hopefully one of these days I can get him to sleep through the night!

Back to our time in Seattle -- I got to visit with a good friend and former roommate, Annie Hendrickson, on Friday. We met at UVillage for a little time to chat, have coffee, and let our little guys meet! Ann and Kyle are new parents as well. Little Daniel is 3 weeks younger than Olaf, so they are sure to be fast friends. Most likely they will be Tall Timber buddies like Ann and I started out as! At UVillage we got to share the experience of trying to find a place to feed the kiddos in a overly crowded shopping area... luckily Barnes and Noble provides comfy chairs, and with "hooter hiders" maybe no one even knew what we were doing :) Pretty sure the chairs were supposed to be for reading... but ah well! We enjoyed relaxing in them.

Annie and Daniel... such a cute new mommy!

Saturday evening was spent with good friends at the wedding of Rene and Julee in Lakewood. She looked more like Cinderella than any other bride I have ever seen!

Julee, Rene and Corey, who officiated the wedding

All the little girls at the wedding just couldn't get enough of her - it was very cute to watch. I am posting a few pictures of the wedding - it was GORGEOUS. Lots of green and orange - two colors that I would have never put together but they sure looked great in that setting.The wedding setting...

Ethan and Jenny

We had a lot of fun introducing Olaf to a new crowd of friends from Stevens Pass. He was a hit with all the ladies, as usual!With Kylene

Sunday was spent with family at Tara and Randy's house. Sue and Ron came over for a BBQ, bringing Serenity with them, who was visiting Grandma and Grandpa for a week. Mother T even stopped by for a visit and to meet Olaf, which was fun. Tara's special burgers were a hit and the sun came out for some warm time out on the deck. A very nice way to cap off the weekend!

Sue and Olaf

Such a big boy!

Little Miss Serenity

T and Mother T