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deeders44
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Name: Kristina
Country: United States
State: Minnesota
Metro: St. Paul
Birthday: 8/14/1978
Gender: Female
Interests: my husband, my girls, a relationship w/God, time by myself, time with friends, adoption, travel and great reruns of 80's dramas... Magnum PI and Matlock, Oh Yeah.
Expertise: loving my girls, bossing doctors around at my job.
Occupation: Radiologist assistant
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
4/11/2005
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| Well, first things first. Christmas. It was great. The kiddos got enough plastic to keep them waist deep in toys for the entirety of 2007, just missing the category of "obscene". Well pretty soon they'll be our age, looking at their spouse, saying "I want you to buy me X at this store. It's on sale. Not in green." Anyway, this is the first year they really got it. We sat one night by the light of the Christmas tree and watched "A Christmas Story"- undeniably the best Christmas movie ever made- and they sat through the whole thing, even laughing at the jokes. I was very proud.
Here is the aftermath of opening presents on Christmas day, described best from one of the great lines from Christmas story "We plunged into the cornucopia quivering with desire and the ecstasy of unbridled avarice. " (Ten points for whoever knows the definition of avarice!)
The Aftermath.
Do you see the jar of honey on the right edge of the picture? That is from me getting one evil cold, one in which I lost my voice completely and coughed like a professional smoker. I tried to get my kids to obey me and they just stared at me... No mom voice, no impetus to obey. I had completely lost my mojo. The next week Tom got the same cold and had the same thing happen. and I laughed.
Now my dears, I must tell you the tragic tale of Sam/Igor the snowman. It all started innocently enough. A couple days before Christmas we got the first paltry inches of snow for the season. It was barely enough to take away the ugly brown hue of dead leaves, grass and barren trees. It was almost an insult to the tradition of white Minnesota Christmases (thank you global warming! thank you carbon dioxide!). But Tom was too excited to make a snowman with Aurelia to be deterred by the lack of building material. He shoveled nearly the entire yard to make body of the snowman. Each snow ball probably weighed 100 lbs. consisting of icy snow and leaves. It was garnished with potatoes and carrots for it's face and huge fallen branches for arms. It was quite an impressive achievement. Aurelia named him Sam. Here is a picture of Aurelia, Sam and Tom who is soaked from his victory.
Here is the facial detail for Sam.
 
In that momment he became "Igor" to me, because, please, look at this thing.
Still, he was a proud snowman, his arms uplifted as if asking the neighborhood to revel in all his hideous glory. Aurelia would check on him every morning and delight in her snowman, yet Igor was not invincible... the unseasonable weather, partial contributor to the unique creature he was, gradually broke his spirit, making him a shell of his former self. One morning while doing dishes I thought I heard pitiful sighing and maybe even a little weeping. I glanced up and beheld this:
He was alone, he was melty and there was nothing any of us could do to help him. Aurelia gasped at the sight of his despondency, "what's happening to Sam??" I tried to explain the circle of life, ashes to ashes, dust to dust and that Sam was infact just frozen water, and I think that helped her a little. Perhaps what happened next was for the best... cruel nature cutting down the weak to restore balance.
Some neighborhood punk, in the dead of night, took it upon himself to put Igor out of his misery. Aurelia has gotten over it, I just wish I didn't have to stare at his dismembered corpse until spring.
So on to happier things, cute pictures of the girls!
They really are great, these kiddos of ours... whether Aurelia is making something out of blocks, telling me it is "a tree of the chinese!" (well maybe if you squint), or Annika going to the zoo, getting face to face with a gorilla, yelling at it, then running like a scared bunny behind my legs when it moved slightly. Aurelia can write her name now (she calls herself Raya, so that is what she learned how to spell. Aurelia may take her a few more years) and Annika is expressing herself better and using her words but also making her speech therapist earn every darn dime for the whole session, getting her to focus. Also my parents are back. (why do I have NO pictures of their visit, why?) They are going to spoil my children senseless... still for having not seen each other in two years, my parents and the kids took to each other like ducks to water. It was great to see my dad teaching Aurelia stuff and Annika snuggle into my mom's lap. Even better than I expected. Now, next month my brother John will hopefully get his leave and we'll see him in Chicago. Tikrit better stay pretty quiet until then. I guess that's it for now!
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| It has begun. Our holiday season and the first time we have bothered to
be in the holiday spirit since we were newlyweds... I guess as far as
decorating goes. This could be because we have previously never dared
have a tree with either or both of the girls crawling/toddling and able
to pull the tree atop themselves... this year may have been too early
to trust them as well, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Here is the
fruit of our labor (complete with fuzzy effects from experimenting with
camera settings).
Pretty, no?
And also one of Annika and the lights. She got her bangs trimmed
earlier in the day... so that she might actually be able to see.
Anyways, I think it may have been too early for a tree and decorations
since Annika has broken at least three colored balls in the last two
days. Two yesterday during my shower (nothing like pulling open the
shower curtain to your child screaming with blood running down her
hands, and a piece of glass still stuck in her palm), and one this
morning. Slightly less blood this time. Ugh! Fortunately the cuts
aren't bad at all and maybe, just maybe she's learned her lesson now?
Either that or only the upper half of our tree will have ornaments.
Silly.
Earlier that day we had The Boy and The Baby over with their mom, my
friend Jenny. The girls and Zeke have been getting along so much better, even
to the point Annika and Zeke share a blanket and snuggle on the couch.
This would have not been possible this summer. They are so cute when
they feel the love. Here is the proof.
(Good thing she got that trim, huh?)
The girls are becoming little people. It is amazing to watch,
especially Aurelia, her ability to express herself has really taken off
lately, she is starting to learn how to write her name and the other
letters and write her numbers. She tells me stories that always start
out "once upon a time there was a princess and she went in the woods
and she met a BEAR! and he was sooooo scary! and she ran from the
bear... the end" Well what happened to the princess? "oh I don't know,
what to hear another one?"
Annika has been doing speech therapy. I can tell it's helping. Book, look, dog, help are all pretty clear now.
I was feeling nostalgic for those baby days and I found these in my
archives, funny how they change drastically from year to year and we
hardly do at all.
Both from about two years ago.
Until next time!
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| Here are some samples of her current work, starting with her "many moods of Annika" portfolio.
"you know, I don't really appreciate you following me around with that thing"
"I am sad and want my mommy, go away"
"ok that's it, I'm going to jump off this couch and put you in an armbar"
I also have a friend with two cute children that Aurelia photographed. Here they are:
The baby
The Boy (with a capital B)
And now, this vaguely unsettling picture of the Barbie that came with her happy meal.
Also her self-portait which is unsettling as well, perhaps because her eyes look freakishly large in this photo.
I love that she loves to take pictures. You know the technology of a
Dora Explorer jungle adventure digital camera with a hard plastic shell
is right around the corner. Maybe we'll get her her very own when the
kiddie cam becomes affordable.
Speaking of gifts! Aurelia's birthday was a couple days ago. She is
four. Yes that's right, Tom and I have somehow managed, even while
feeling no older than 18 at times to parent a child with some measure
of success all the way up to year four! Firm pat on the back for that
one. She got a kareoke thing from Tom's mom (Doctor Grandma or Silly
Granny... don't even ask me why cause I don't really know) and a play
guitar, she got all that Taiwan loot from my parents, my little pony
stuff from me and Tom as well as a friend of ours, and Dora stuff up
the wazoo from Tom's dad and Kathy. Wow. Plastic has made spoiling of
toddlers a much easier business. She did get these glorious hand
puppets/mittens from Tom's grandma made from the love of her two hands.
Any way you look at it, Aurelia is one loved kiddo and that makes me
very happy.
Here she is with the cake. Her four candles are in the middle, the rest are just for pizazz.
I really need to wind this up. It is late. Here is one last photo. Have
I told you lately what happy, goofy kids we have? They have just been a
blast recently.
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| We recently lost our internet for a while. Not having something makes
you appreciate what you've lost. Being able to write the daily mishaps
of our lives online seems like a take it or leave it thing right now.
I'm sure in 20 years however, I'll wish I wrote more. So, not a vow
written in blood or anything, but more a positive sign; I'm
writing today and went out to take pictures of the girls outside on a
beautiful fall afternoon.
Our front yard: the tree that "looks like fire" (Aurelia- or "raya" as she calls herself)
Sometimes they actually hug on command.
Another hug: Don't know why, but this is one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken of them.
Happy Annika. Pretty dirty... but mostly happy.
Today is the first day of daylight savings time. Something I personally
have no use for. It makes Minnesota winters that much more dark and
cold for me. I understand there are energy use reasons and for farmers
perhaps, but at it's worst, the sun sets here at 5 or so. It would be
much more humane at 6. Not being a morning person, a dark morning makes
no difference to me. A warm cup of coffee, and watching cartoons with
the kiddos, those are my mornings. I don't think we've ever left the
house before 9 am. That's just not the way we roll here. Blah! to
daylight savings time!
We're getting rid of our extended cable TV in a couple days, we'll only
have local chanels, public access programing (how could you live
without that?) and WGN. I appreciate Comcast throwing in WGN, being
from Chicago as a youngster and seeing newscasters that still work
there from my childhood, it's a bonus. Cutting down will save us a
bunch of money per month. This is a good thing, we've been spoiled too
long. But how will we watch UFC now, or Made on MTV or Matlock or
Spongebob? Hmmmm. It will be a long, cold winter without the
loving, yellow glow of Spongebob to keep us warm. I suppose this means
I'm going to actually develop hobbies, and take my kids to kiddie
classes like art or kid gym or something like that to keep them from
tying me up with duct tape and pouring ketchup down my throat in the
middle of January. Ugh. Forced parental maturity.
Speaking of Chicago (like that segue?) I talked to my dad yesterday
(who will be turning FIFTY SIX tomorrow! Happy Birthday dad!). My
parents are in the process of moving back to the states. They'll be
touching down at O'hare January fourth I think. My dad and I were
dissecting the world series (the tigers totally should have won, too
many errors!) and we got on the subject of the Cubs, how we lived in
the Chicagoland area for nine years of my childhood and not once did I
darken the gates of Wigley field. As an adult the closest I've ever
been is in the parking lot across the street. This cannot be. I think
we're going to try and make a big event out of a Cubbie game in May...
my dad, me, Tom, Raya and my brother if he can make it. Raya's
hilarious at baseball games: "who are the good guys? can I play? I want
to go and hit the ball" she then starting walking down the stairs
towards the field. Ummm yeah, I think we'd get kicked out sweetie.
She'll be alright if we give her nachos and hotdogs and cotton candy...
well alright till she crashes from all the junk anyway.
I should wrap this up. Here's a picture of Raya after opening up the
loot that my mom recently sent her from Taiwan. Everything that she's
wearing my mom gave her. She is happy, very very happy.
Also here's a scenery shot from when I went to the Pacific Northwest to
visit bestestfriendandsister Lana a while ago. I wish I was there right
now.
Finally happy Halloween one and all. Tom and I will be watching you, wha ha ha.
Oh and PS... my brother is doing well in Iraq. Safe and well fed. John
if you read this, I love you and I pray for you every day.
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