Jingle Bells

Rachel sings Jingle Bells (with a little help).  Enjoy!

12 Weeks

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

I have seen this pregnancy journal on multiple blogs and thought it would be fun to chronicle our journey with pregnancy number two.  We'll see if I keep it up.

How far Along: 12 weeks.
How big is baby: 3 inches, about the size of a plum.
Maternity Clothes: Um yeah.  Even though you can't tell in the picture it is amazing how much faster I have grown this time around not that I wasn't warned.
Sleep: Pregnancy insomnia has tapered off, so it is back to being great.
Best Moment thus far: Telling our families a couple weeks ago.
Miss Anything: At Christmas time we always have Hickory Farms Beef Sticks, but I am trying to be good and avoid that stuff.
Food Cravings: None, but make sure to feed me regularly or it gets ugly real fast.
Anything make you queasy or sick:  Rachel's dirty diapers.  Rinsing poopy cloth diapers right now is not working for me.  I've thought about saving them for Brian, but that seems a little mean.  Also anything really sweet.
Symptoms: Still a little tired, getting frequent headaches, and experiencing heart palpitations through out the day.  All normal stuff.
Mood: Happy to be pregnant again and that we are entering the second trimester leaving all the first trimester unpleasantness behind.
Looking forward to: Decorating Rachel's big girl room in a couple weeks.

Anouncement

Over thanksgiving we announced our pregnancy to our family.  I like the idea of telling them in person, so this time they were not the first to find out.  Although, knowing our plan to have more children, none of them were too surprised to find out.  Everyone or couple got a card with a turkey hand print made by Rachel saying "Happy Thanksgiving."  Inside was one of the pictures posted below.  When that picture was lifted there was an ultrasound picture and the words "this little turkey just wanted to say, "Hello.'"  The ultrasound picture was pretty blurry since baby would not cooperate.  Is this indicative of his/her temperament?  Hmmm.  Anyway, we had fun taking all the pictures and announcing it to our families.

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

She is really crying over having a time out, and us making her hold a sign before recovering from the trauma of her time out.

From Life with the Bjorks

Thanksgiving

This year it was decided that we would have Thanksgiving in Santa Barbara just in case my sister's baby came early (which he did).  She planned on hosting, which she did not since she was busy not sleeping and caring for a newborn.  Plan number two was for my mom and I to cook which only halfway happened.  Being in the throes of my first trimester of pregnancy I had no energy to spare on cooking, so my mom willingly did the vast majority of the work.  She is pretty much awesome.  Brian's parents and uncle also joined us and contributed some food as well.

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A parent's nightmare. She really isn't stuck, but I freaked out for a second when I looked over and saw her head through the bars.

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Rachel loved Baby Titus.

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

No trip is complete without a visit to the zoo.  Rachel loves the "elpys" (elephants).

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I am loving this sweatshirt for crowded places. She is so easy to spot.

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Glamor Girl

We enjoyed our stay in the beautiful house my parents rented and visiting with family.

Halloween Hurrahs

It is about half way through November and I never posted what we did for Halloween.  Time has escaped me once again.  This year was even more fun with Rachel because she is starting to understand how to play some of the games at Harvest Fairs, loves wearing costumes, and understands how yummy candy is.  Our harvest events started with our Sunday morning group's party where Rachel enjoyed the bounce house, swing set, and the candy from the pinata.  She didn't understand about hitting the pinata and the pipe they used for a bat was too heavy for her to hold by herself.  Halloween week we went to 2 Harvest Fairs and enjoyed games, candy, and train rides.  The train was the highlight.  At our church's fair I think we rode the train 5 times.  Rachel also braved a couple story tall bounce house slide.  Brian climbed up with her, but then let her go down by herself.  She looked so tiny going down the slide.   I was probably way more scared then she was.  She loved it and went down multiple times.  The evening before Halloween we decorated pumpkins.  Brian and I carved ours and Rachel taped construction paper faces on hers.  They turned out pretty cute and we eventually got Rachel to touch the pumpkin guts.  After she gave in and touched the guts she was all into playing with them which kept her entertained for awhile while we carved pumpkins.  Well that about covers our Halloween.

Apple Hill Adventure

After a tiny bit of planning which orchards to check out we headed up to Apple Hill for a bit of frugal fun.  Our first stop was Apple Ridge Farms to check out the petting zoo and nature trail.  They had goats, sheep, chickens, and rabbits.  The nature trail was a nice little walk around part of the orchard. When we got there  we tried to get Rachel's picture in one of the cute cut outs, but she had other plans and demanded to see the goats instead.

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

Our second stop was Denver Dan's Apple Patch.  We saw and petted more animals including goats, donkeys, alpacas, ponies, and a goose.  After finishing up with the animals we grabbed a bucket and headed out to the orchard to pick some apples.  Rachel loved walking around the orchard with her apple while Brian and I picked a few pounds worth of apples.  Before piling back in the car, we enjoyed the typical Bjork picnic lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

After finishing lunch and checking the time we decided to make one final stop at Rainbow Orchards since it was on our route back to Highway 50.  Rachel enjoyed the hay bales.  They are fun to walk around and on, sit on, and hop from one to another with help.  We also looked at the numerous types of pumpkins/ gourds and sampled some fresh apple cider.  Then it was time to convince Rachel it was time to go to the car and head home.  Rachel didn't like this idea at first, but after we found the perfect rock in the parking lot to take home she willingly got in her car seat.

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It was a fun day followed by a good nap for 2 out of 3 of us. 

Tahoe Trip

Last month we spent 4 days in Tahoe playing, hiking, splashing in the lake, and having tons of fun.

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Let me out.  I'm ready for fun.

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A splashing good time at North Tahoe Beach

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Petting a tree on the North Tahoe Regional Park Interpretive Trail.  This was a great toddler and stroller trail - very flat and wide and not too long.

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Whee!  Checking out the playground at North Tahoe Regional Park

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Riding in style on the Tahoe Meadows Interpretive Trail.  Another great toddler and stroller friendly trail.

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Family Photo Op

We didn't get any pictures, but we also checked out the Taylor Creek Visitor Center.  Rachel loved the Stream Profile Chamber where she could see the fish swimming in the creek through windows.  Her favorite part of the day was watching a helicopter close up drop off new power poles along the trail to the Stream Profile Chamber.  It was pretty neat to see.

We all had a great trip and found plenty of toddler friendly activities to keep us occupied!  It was especially fun to spend the trip with my parents.  Rachel enjoyed playing with them and sharing lots of rocks and other treasures from our hikes with them.

"Paw"-ty Time

Rachel turned two earlier this month and her friends joined us for some tail-waggin' fun.  In case you didn't guess she had a puppy party.  Rachel's little guests enjoyed running around the yard, sliding down the bus slide, splashing in the water table, throwing a ball, hiding in the puppy house (pattern from nothingbutcountry.com), and snacking on fruit, veggies, and cupcakes.  Rachel had a blast at her party after she warmed up to all the people invading her house.  We still need to work on her hostess skills because when she got tired of her guests she headed in the house and told me, "I go inside."  I guess she is not as much as an extrovert as she led us to believe.  She did however do a nice job of thanking her guests for coming by letting them take home some scooby snacks and a balloon animal dog.

So here is what Rachel has been up to as a new 2 year old.  She still wears some 18 months outfits, but mostly 24 months.  We have started potty training because she really enjoys using the potty, but does not quite get the feeling of when she needs to go and relies on me to remind her.  She uses 2-4 word sentences to communicate and narrates pretty much everything she or we do.  I have heard her count up to 6, but usually she just counts to 2 or 3.  She recognizes the letters "r, a, c, h, and e" and will label them if she is in the mood.  Don't count on her showing you that skill any time soon since she likes to answer "no" to just about everything we ask her.  After all, she is a big independent 2 year old.  She loves to dance, paint, read, and play outside.  She is starting to tell simple stories during pretend play and "read" by describing pictures in books.  She continues to show us new aspects of her personality.  She is typically pretty easy going until she is not and then she can be determined and dramatic.  She likes to test the limits and sometimes lets defiance take over.  After those moments with a little prompting she will sweetly come over with a hug and say "sorry for ___."  She is still very active and often times too busy to slow down and look where she is going which results in some pretty good bumps and bruises.  Rachel has gotten more cuddly lately.  I cherish those brief times when she slows down long enough to sit in my lap for some love.  It is such a joy to get to know more about Rachel every day and to help mold her.  Thank you God for trusting us with your precious child, Rachel.

Creative Movement

The other day instead of wearing our belly dance coin belts while we danced we tried some ribbon dancing.  Check out Rachel's fantastic moves complete with hopping, galloping, and even a somersault.

Say, "Cheese"

How do you make a strong-willed, independent active toddler smile for the camera?  In short, you don't.  No amount of asking, coaxing, pleading, or silly faces are enough to make this toddler give in and smile.  So what is a parent to do?  Resign oneself to accepting pleasant looking faces and try to catch a natural smile while playing.  We took 97 pictures for Rachel's 2nd birthday photo shoot and got a good amount of decent ones, but only a few in focus ones with a smile.  If Rachel is smiling she is usually running, hopping, dancing, twirling, etc.  The photos were all taken by Brian (except of course for the one he is in).  He is an excellent photographer and very patient.  He gave me instructions for no more black and white outfits next year.  The two extremes are harder to shoot than colors.  Maybe next year I will branch out from black white and red next year; although, I did have every intention of using blue this year.  That has been the color scheme of choice for both of Rachel's birthdays.

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

From Life with the Bjorks

Now about Rachel's outfit.  I bought and made it the day before we took the photos.  Had I been paying attention to the calender I would have started sooner because shopping at multiple stores, designing and sewing the applique, and turning a basic white t-shirt into a cute girly shirt is quite the arduous process especially with a toddler in tow.  Once again I must mention how awesome Pinterest is for inspiration.  Thanks to Pinterest I got the chubby puppy pattern from nothingbutcountry.com and the t-shirt directions from blog.birdsparty.com.

Surviving and Enjoying Sly Park

From Life with the Bjorks

Last weekend we headed up with our church group to Sly Park.  Last year I was freaked out about taking a baby camping.  This year I was less nervous because I had come to terms with the fact Rachel and all her clothes would be filthy.  Several times throughout the weekend I had to take a deep breath and remind myself that the dirt will wash off, she is having fun, and being dirty will not kill her or me.  We don't have any pictures of it but take my word for it Rachel was covered in a fine layer of dirt and food by Saturday evening.  The trip started off with a lovely tantrum that seemed to last forever.  I know it didn't only because it is not still going, but it was a long one.  Rachel was over tired and over excited which was not a winning combination for a nap.  She finally fell asleep for a very short nap and after that our weekend improved drastically.  Here are Rachel's highlights:

1. The Lake:  We had a great time swimming in the lake both days.  Someone even brought up a baby raft that Rachel was still small enough to fit in.  She loved being pulled around in it.  The lake while murky was an excellent way to wash off the dirt and make room for new dirt.  The lake was also fun to throw big rocks in.  Big rocks are more fun to throw in than little rocks even if you can barely lift them because they make a way better splash.

2. The Hill: Near the fire pit and eating area there was a great little hill that made an excellent ramp for rolling a ball down.  After the hill the ground was such that the ball would stop rolling so Rachel could go get it and do it all over again.

3. Camping Chairs:  Just like Goldilocks and the three bears, Rachel had to try out many different chairs before she found the one that was just right.  Some were too big to get into and some were too easy to pinch finger in (Rachel luckily did not discover this on her own).  Actually, she found 2 perfect chairs: a little toddler one and a medium sized one.  Both were great for climbing up and down on and even sitting in.

4. S'mores:  Rachel was introduced to toasted marshmallows and s'mores this year.  Not surprisingly they were a hit.

5. Playing outside all day long!
 

Little Lessons and Life

As summer vacation nears an end Rachel and I decided to resume tot school with a month of activities revolving around pond animals.  I found a blog with lap book printables geared toward toddlers.  In case you don't know a lap book is basically a file folder with activities glued inside.  Rachel's pond lap book includes a pocket with letters to spell her name which we use to sing, "there was a girl who had a name.." (the BINGO song), a counting mini book, a who lives in ponds mini book, and a coloring directions worksheet.  Each day we do tot school we start with her lap book.  Then we do a craft or coloring activity followed by either a bible story or other story about pond animals.  Rachel knows the routine, and if I try to change up the routine she lets me know that it isn't right.  Rachel loves routines and schedules.  When I ask her if she wants to do tot school she yells out, "tot school" and runs to her table to start.  I love that she is developing a love for learning.

Rachel is also learning to use the potty.  She has been super easy to potty train and has given me unrealistic expectations regarding how easy it is.  Rachel had been interested in the potty for months, so we finally headed to the store for a potty seat to fit on our toilet.  We soon noticed that while she really liked it her success was limited by her petite size.  Even with a stool she was just too short to reach the potty or the sink.  I broke down and bought her froggy potty chair which she loves and made a sink extension from an old lotion bottle (yet another great idea from pinterest).  About every 30 minutes she sits on her potty and goes.  At this point she primarily relies on me to remind her to go before it is too late.  In fact, the little stinker loves her potty so much that if she doesn't like what is for lunch and dinner she will claim she has to go potty and go sit down on it with a book.  There is now a rule of no books when you go potty during meal time.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment:

 

From Life with the Bjorks

We took Grandma and Grandpa to Fairytale Town when they visited.

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We had a tea party and she helped all the dolls by eating their cookies and drinking their water.

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Isn't she adorable!  As you can see we are still battling a rash that appears to be caused by the heat.  Only a month or so more until it should start cooling down.

Bay Area Break

We took a break from daily life and headed to the Bay Area for four days of fun.  Our first stop was Discovery Kingdom.  This was the highlight of the trip for Rachel because they had elephants.  We saw the elephants three times and the elephant show.  We watched the elephants eat hay, drink water, get a shower from their trainers, and perform tricks.  We also saw other animals, visited the butterflies, and rode a couple of rides that Rachel was tall enough for (she is still only between 31 and 32 inches), but these activities all paled in comparison to the elephants.

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Discovery Kingdom

From Life with the Bjorks

Discovery Kingdom

After our fun in Vallejo we packed up and continued on to San Fransisco.  We stayed in a condo so Rachel could nap every day and we could make our own meals.  It was very budget friendly and it was nice not to have to sit silently in a dark room while Rachel fell asleep.  However, she only ended up napping one day in the condo.  We did attempt it each day, but most days she crashed in her stroller long before her scheduled nap time.

Our first day in San Francisco we explored the batteries at the Presidio.  Rachel enjoyed climbing up and down all the stairs.  It was interesting to see and we were surprised to learn that the cement structures were over 100 years old.  After the Presidio and some quiet time in the condo we spent the evening at The Aquarium of the Bay.  It is a nice and somewhat small aquarium.  They have 2 long tunnels with lots of fish and sharks, jelly fish, and 2 touch pools.  Rachel was too short to pet the bat rays but she did get to touch a star fish.

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Presidio

From Life with the Bjorks

Presidio

From Life with the Bjorks

Aquarium

The next day we headed to the San Francisco zoo.  They do not have an elephant, but we were able to get Rachel excited about the Zebra and later the polar bears which stopped her from asking to see an elephant (which she asked for every morning).  Not thinking we saved the children's zoo till the end of the day and she fell asleep before we made it over there.  She would have enjoyed saying hi up close to all the farm animals.  We may have even convinced her to pet some.  After our afternoon condo break we headed out the Shakespeare Garden, Rose Garden, and a playground in the Golden Gate park.  The Shakespeare garden sounded like it had potential, but it was disappointing.  It didn't look that cared for and the presentation of the plants and the works of Shakespeare they corresponded with could have been a little better.  There was a list at the back of the garden.  Some plaques around the garden would have been nice and maybe some paths or something.  The gate into the park was pretty.  Rachel enjoyed running around the rose garden and smelling the flowers.  After she tired of that we headed to a toddler friendly playground we discovered on our walk to the rose garden.  Rachel made a friend at the playground.  He followed her around and copied everything she did.  She loved all the attention and even followed his lead a couple times.

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Zoo

From Life with the Bjorks

Zoo

From Life with the Bjorks

Rose Garden

On our final day we checked out the Randall Museum.  This is a fun and free children's museum.  They have some animals, an earthquake duplo platform that you can build a structure on and then push the button to test its ability to withstand an earthquake, a toddler room with toys, and a train area.  Brian was super excited to see how much she loved the duplos.  After play time we enjoyed our lunch on their grounds which are on a hill overlooking the city.  Following lunch we headed to the beach to squeeze in a little more fun before going home.  Rachel really wanted to go in the water, but took "no" very well and enjoyed playing in the sand until it was time to head home.

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Beach

Summer Update

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After about a month off from blogging I am back.  It has been a crazy couple of weeks.  I decided to work 3 weeks of summer school this year.  I worked 3 hours a week for the past year and enjoyed it.  Summer school gave me chance to dip my feet into working more hours (6 hours a day 5 days a week to be exact).  I was blessed with 2 interns and by the end they were doing all the work while I watched.  They will both make great speech therapists/assistants and I enjoyed supervising and training them.  After working all those hours I can safely say working full time or even more part time hours is not for me.  The moms that do are AMAZING!  I love being a speech therapist and I love being a mom, but being a speech therapist everyday would cause me to lose my sanity.  It is really hard to go to work, give Rachel and Brian attention, and keep on top of all the house work.  Plus Rachel let me know through her behavior that having a working mommy is not okay; although, she was great for her baby sitters.  At the end of the three weeks I found out my district is hiring me again next year for the 3 hours a week.  Thank you God for a wonderfully flexible job that allows me to be a mommy and wife first.

After finishing up 3 weeks of work, I worked VBS at my church as the craft director.  I have always said doing crafts with kiddos is not my thing.  I don't like mess, but in the end I loved being the craft director.  Yes, the stamping day and the painting day were intense in terms of set up and clean up, but overall it was an easy and fun position and my helper was fantastic.  Volunteering at VBS allowed Rachel to attend.  She loves the nursery, so this was a good week with very little challenging behaviors at home as compared to the previous weeks.  Rachel also loved the morning singing in the sanctuary she even attempted some of the moves which was super cute to watch.

Beside working, Rachel and I having been taking swim lessons at the community center.  She is enrolled in Tadpoles with other babies/toddlers.  She loves the water and has no fear.  This is both a good and bad thing.  A little healthy fear can be a good thing.  Besides learning to kick, scoop, and hold her breath we have worked with her on walking around the pool, stopping and waiting until someone tells her it is okay to get in, and grabbing the wall.  Her favorite pool activities are jumping in and playing ring around the rosy.  She even falls down/goes under all by herself.  We have one more session of swim lessons left this summer starting in a couple weeks.

How to Swat Flies

Rachel thought it was time to share another one of the things she learned.  Last week she learned how to swat those  pesky flies that sneak into the house.

Step 1: Locate the fly by pointing and yelling, "fly!"
Step 2: Swat at it with whatever you have handy.  A doll bib works great.
Repeat step 1 and 2 until all the flies are gone.

Also check out her fabulous outfit.  She dressed herself.  Shirts make great capes.  If you are going to be a successful fly killer you must have a cape.

Pop Goes the Weasel

Rachel has been hard at work learning all sorts of finger plays and rhymes. She knows "pat-a-cake," "if your happy and you know it," and can sing part of the last line of the "abc's." The other night we played with a cardboard box and learned "pop goes the weasel." Enjoy!

A Hiking We Will Go

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Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there!

I decided to celebrate Mother's Day today, on Saturday, because Sundays always seem really full. Between church, Rachel's nap, and our weekly grocery shopping trip who has time for a fun celebration. To celebrate being Rachel's mommy we went hiking at Hidden Falls Regional Park in Auburn. Auburn roads can be confusing even with directions, and after getting a little lost we found the place. When we finally pulled into the parking lot "hidden" felt like an appropriate description. We hiked down to the falls and enjoyed the view. It was pretty warm in the sun, but luckily a fair amount of the way is shaded. The waterfall was really full making for a gorgeous view from the observation deck. The observation deck was very toddler friendly with narrow railings, only a few people, and one narrow exit back to the trail. The hike up to the parking lot was a little tougher, but it was doable even toting a toddler in a backpack. After our hike we were rewarded with a shady picnic table and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Then we headed home for some R&R. On the agenda for tonight: gluten free ham and pineapple pizza and lemonade cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting, mmmm.

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Time for a water and picture break

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Check out the view

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Hiking back up