Kids these days...

Kids are funny sometimes. We were driving today, and Amy was talking about it being cold and the snow coming soon. Sydney said "and then baby brother will come." Then we said something about Sydney getting bigger, and she said "no, I need to get smaller, so when baby brother comes, I can have a turn in mama's belly, because it's my turn".
Later, we had our family home evening.  We were talking about how we are all God's children, and how we all want to live with him in heaven.  Amy said something about us learning and growing to be closer to God, and Sydney said "So we can leave the earth and go sit on the moon."

Half Birthday

Today Sydney is two and a half. Shes done a lot of growing the past few years. In honor of her half birthday, she and I took some "growth" pictures and had a mini photo shoot in our living room because she adores pictures of herself :).

At 2 1/2, Sydney is about 34.5 inches tall and weighs 27-28 lbs. It goes back and forth. She has 16 teeth with 3 of her two year molars currently coming in. Her hair is actually about halfway down her back if you brush it out straight, but when fully dry the curls bounce up to just below her shoulders. She has thick, fine hair, so regular clips and barretts will no longer hold it back sufficiently. We've switched to headbands and ponytails. She knows her alphabet, the names of all the letters, and each of their individual sounds. She LOVES letters and numbers. She can count to ten and even some rudimentary addition when only 5 or less items are involved. I did not teach Sydney any of her verbal or math skills because I'm not really into the early reading/math/school stuff. Somehow she taught herself, and obviously I don't discourage it. She loves to sing and has recently gotten a lot better. She can usually sing a melody correctly instead of in a monotone voice now. She has an excellent memory and constantly reminds me of things I promised her hours ago or told her about days before. She keeps me on my toes! She is a very good eater and is willing to try almost everything and pretty much always eats what we are eating. Among her favorite foods are broccoli, raisins, spinach, green beans, regular beans, olives, watermelon, strawberries, all fruits, noodles of any sort, pizza, peas, and yellow cheese. If any of these items are visible, I usually can't get her to eat anything else. Her least favorite foods have to be bread and tortillas. Outside of crackers she doesn't really like starch. She still naps for about 3 hours most days and sleeps for 11 hours at night. She really enjoys her time either before or after she wakes up to play on her own in her room. It seems to help her be more cooperative throughout the day. I am so grateful for her love of her alone time and don't rush to get her either in the morning or after her nap because of it. When we out and about, she gets flustered if there are too many kids or too much chaos after about an hour and gets pretty whiny and wants to go home. She is a MAJOR cuddler and loves to be hugged, kissed, held, rubbed, anything touch. Her favorite thing to do every day after nap is have me lay in her bed with her, cuddle, and talk or read books. She loves to talk and will carry on very long conversations about random stuff with me every day after nap. She loves her daddy asks what he is doing and when he will be back when he is gone. She likes most Disney movies, watching the "Princesses" sing, Tinkerbell, but her all time favorite is still Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

At almost 30 weeks, I'm doing relatively well. Baby feels bigger than Sydney was, but its hard to remember. We have yet to seriously discuss names but probably will soon. I've recently switched care to the Juneau Family Birth Center and am excited about having a different kind of birth experience.

Falling in Love

As I was getting the pictures ready for this post, I had an amazing thought. For the first time, I really feel like I'm falling in love.... with Juneau. I was fiddling around with making a book for Sydney of all the places we've seen this summer on Shutterfly at the same time and looking back at all the amazing scenery and things we've been able to do. I think I'm falling in love... Andy was way ahead of me and has loved it from almost day one. Now if we could only figure out how to live comfortably in such an expensive place :). But despite its price, the rain (which once we found out indoor things to do doesn't really bother me), and the challenges we still face of being in a new place, I do love this place... I'm getting hooked. My friend Gina told me when we first moved here that things will get hard and then you'll get a beautiful clear nice day, and you'll get out and be hooked all over again. I have missed Hawaii incredibly since the day we left and although the air and water definitely aren't as warm... I love love love the ocean. I love the mountains, I love the salty sea air, I love the sunsets (now that we have them :)) and I'm starting to love this place; it reminds me of Hawaii. Enough with my ramblings though, I'll give you a sampling of the pictures I'm looking at that invoked such feelings!

This past week has been a mixture of pouring down rain and beautiful clear skies... the first day we ventured down the Rainforest Trail through a wooded, wet temperate rain forest until we reached the beach. We planned it to be there at an extremely low tide so Sydney could find and "squish" lots of anemones. We headed back through the forest just as the sun was beginning to set in order to lessen our chances of any bear encounters. They are coming out earlier now...we saw one on the corner of our street at 8:15 the other night when Vic and Maxine were here!

This second outing proved to be a challenging workout for my pregnant self... but it guess it wasn't actually that hard because Andy was carrying Sydney and said it wasn't :/. Dang. The leaves are definitely in transition here in Juneau and in another week I think this hike would be breathtaking. For now we walked the first part through the forest where the ground was covered in fallen leaves and then broke out of the trees into a canyon where lots of waterfalls dotted the mountainside and emptied into the canyon below. This biggest of the falls was our destination - Ebner Falls. I don't know what it is about this time of year but it seems like a lot of the pools beneath the waterfalls now have crystal clear water in them which makes them even more stunning. And as always... a picture can never ever do the real thing justice... so come visit :-D

Sleepover

Sydney got to have her first "sleepover" last week. A friend of ours was going out of town and we got to watch her little girl for a day and a half. I was excited to see how it would go and a little apprehensive about the half day without Andy's help given my unstable physical state :). Anyway... the best news is everything went really well! I was pretty worried how she would sleep the first night but everyone slept in as usual. I love that we never get up before 830 and hope I can convince baby boy that sleeping in is the best option ;). Sydney and her friend played for a while in the morning at home until Sydney got a little fed up with sharing all her toys (something she doesn't have to do regularly here), and so we escaped to the space of the park. Both girls loved feeding the ducks and burning energy. After the park and lunch, we settled down for a nap which went awesome again! Sydney didn't sleep as long as she usually does so she just played in her room. I think she was too excited to know that a friend was sleeping in the other room because she kept asking through her door if her friend was up yet :). (I have her play in her room if she doesn't want to sleep.) In the afternoon, we ate a quick dinner and headed off to a carnival for toddlers downtown. I was strongly debating whether I could handle this situation with two toddlers but decided it was my best bet to kill time. The girls had fun playing with play dough, playing "basketball" with bean bags, collecting goodies, eating snacks, and coloring. After about an hour though I was seriously beat and both girls were getting tired of listening, so we headed for home. We spent the rest of the evening playing and watching Elmo until bed. I think my favorite part was the girls dancing together in the music in the back of the car and dancing around the living room to the songs on Elmo. Sydney always wants us to dance with her, but its just not the same as with another little kid. Sydney was a little confused after her friend left. She thought she was staying forever and now points out everywhere she sat in the car, the table, and slept and asks where she went :/. We had fun though.

I tried really hard at various points during the day to get both of them to look at me for a good picture... but they are very busy little girls and this is one of the only times they both were in the camera screen at the same time, haha!

Grandma Shinsel and Papa's Trek

When we first moved to Juneau, I was just barely pregnant and as most of you know, we were making a VERY quick move. So in my sick/tired/worried state, Grandma Shinsel suggested that I not worry about fitting all the baby stuff into the Uhaul which was already packed to its brim and just let she and Papa bring it up later on this summer. What a load of relief! I'm not sure she knew what they were getting into though ;). So last week, she and papa embarked on the about 26 hour drive from La Grande to Prince Rupert, BC where they caught a 30 hour ferry to Juneau in their surburban packed to its brim with all things baby. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
On Friday morning we met them at the ferry dock where Sydney awaited her "mystery guests." She was so excited to see them pull of the boat in Grandma's car! We didn't waste anytime while they were here since due to their even longer journey back because of a ferry ride over Labor Day, we only have 2 1/2 days with them in Juneau. After unloading all of our stuff, we were able to see bears, salmon running, the glacier, visit/eat downtown, pick some berries, go fishing, visit the fish hatchery and even a waterfall! How's that for two days? Sydney LOVED having them here to play with and seeing them when she woke up from her naps and in the morning. It was very sad to see them go so soon, but I'm grateful we will see them again soon after baby boy arrives. :) A million thank you's for taking that very long trek to Alaska to bring us our stuff and much needed hugs. We had a ton of fun. And just for effect.... they left Sunday afternoon from Juneau and just got back home this afternoon (Thursday)... what a trip!

The raindrops on the camera make this shot more authentic given it how much it rains at this time of year in Juneau and almost the ENTIRE time during their visit :).

Ice Skating

The ice rink here just opened up for the season. We found out when we first moved here that they offer a parent and tot skate class twice a week and Andy has been impatiently waiting! Last week, we thought it scheduled to begin and were disappointed to get there and find out we had to wait ANOTHER week. Anyway, last Thursday Daddy and Sydney dawned their snow gear and headed to the rink. I have to say I was impressed with how well Sydney did. She was probably the youngest kid there, but she held her own.  She didn't last the whole hour but about 45 minutes. She loved the ice skates, the helmet, and playing on the ice. I think her frustration began when they started working on actually skating and the other kids were having a lot easier time than her. After about 15 minutes of trying to skate with a skate aid, they called it a day so that she wouldn't get too frustrated. I'm so proud of her for getting out on the ice, not being sad or scared when she fell, and learning so quickly how to stand back up. We are planning on taking her regularly and just leaving when she gets frustrated or they move past her capabilities until her motor dexterity catches up with the older kids. I'm not sure her muscles are even capable of the balance actual skating requires at this point. Anyway, you can tell from the pictures she enjoyed it a lot for the most part and she talks about it a lot, so we are excited to take her again!

I realize I took this sideways :/....