Abundant Blessings

I figure I better post some pics of Thanksgiving and Elsa's 6 month before we leave tomorrow for the States. Otherwise, it will be after our trip...after Christmas...and, then may never get done.

We enjoyed our first Thanksgiving as a family of three!! We are blessed beyond words and thank our heavenly Father for the gifts of our marriage, our daughter, our families and friends, our health, our job security, our lives in a free nation.... our cup is overflowing. Life is so good!

I made a turkey dinner for Aaron and I (mostly so we could have left over turkey sandwiches) and then we were joined by our friends Jim, Jean, and Linnea in the evening for some appetizers and good company.

She likes the green bean casserole as much as mom and dad!! LOL

And, today Elsa turned 6 months old!! I know I have said this many times before....but, I can't believe how time flies! She is getting so big!!

We are going to wait until we return to England on the 18th for her 6 month check up, so no stats to report.

At 6 months, she is starting to scoot on her stomach around on the floor. She loves rolling from one side of the room to the other.

*Favorite toys: Exersaucer, cloth blocks, still likes her floor mat, anything with tags (it is amazing how I try to hide them, but she is able to find them--it turns into quite the game), the tupperware toy with all the shapes you put through the sides--she doesn't know how to do that but it makes for a large rattle!

*Favorite games/activities: Peek a boo, mom's dance moves (part hip hop, part two step, part New Kids on the Block), going for jogs

*still no teeth, but they are on their way...at least I keep telling myself that since she is a drooling machine and EVERYTHING goes in her mouth!!

*I am still nursing, but we started giving her a bottle of formula during the day this past weekend. That was such a hard transition for me!! Breastfeeding has been such an incredible experience and, luckily, has gone extremely well. But, I don't want to drag the pump on our trip and probably won't have a lot of time to pump during my inteviews. I still plan on nursing in the am and evening for a while. I really enjoy the bonding and am not quite ready to fully quit. I wanted to do it at least for 6 months, but will probably continue until she is one year (or gets a tooth :) )

*We really enjoy her curiosity at even the simplest objects! It is fun to see her enjoy something for the first time.

*I still can't get enough of her smiles in the morning (or throughout the day for that matter).

*She is starting to get "mommy separation anxiety". If I walk into the other room she starts to fuss .

*She is now eating: rice cereal, bananas, pears, avocado, sweet potatoes, peas, and carrots. Elsa is quite the healthy little eater! I have been making all of her baby food and freezing it in batches.

Well, I better get back to packing. Please pray for a safe flight and for guidance in making some big decisions about our future in the next few weeks.

Elsa is (was) 5 Months Old

We have had a hectic couple of weeks, but we thought it would be a good idea to place some new photos of Elsa (never mind the other two Andersons) growing like a weed and having fun with Daddy at home during the week.

Elsa continues to amaze us and make us laugh on a daily basis. She is such a joy! She is rolling around like a champ now and we have to keep a close eye on her to make sure she doesn't get away. She is finding all kinds of new ways to entertain herself much to the amusement of her parents. One of her new discoveries are her toes and how she can jam them in her mouth.

And when she isn't sticking her fingers or toes in her mouth, she is trying new solid foods all the time! We started with rice, then moved to sweet potatoes, and recently we have added bananas, carrots, and peas. Feeding time is always good for a laugh. She wears half the food we give her while we hope to get the other half in her mouth.

Another milestone (of sorts) she has started recently is to tighten up her cute little face and make her "snorting face". She seems to make this face when she gets a little excited and she starts to breathe hard. Whatever the case, its pretty darn cute and a little funny at the same time.

Elsa has also received some new toys from Grandma Anderson that she is really starting to enjoy. Her crib mobile entertains her for a while when she is going down for a nap or waking up in the morning. She enjoys the music and looking at the farm animals.

She also does some serious play time in her exersaucer. Her favorite toy on the exersaucer is probably the swinging monkeys.

While Mom is off working during the weekdays, Dad and Elsa are spending some quality time together. One of our favorite activities has to be going for walks around base. Elsa loves the scenery but doesn't seem to enjoy the fighter jets flying over head occasionally. They tend to shake the ground and the stroller so this is understandable. We have to dress her up in some heavier clothes now as it is starting to get quite a bit cooler around this part of England. Here are a few hats and outfits Dad made her wear on some recent walks.

Well, that gets us up to date with Elsa and her new accomplishments. It won't be long before we do Elsa's 6-month update and head out on our big trip back to the States. We are looking foward to our trip and visiting Chicago, Spokane, and Minneapolis!

Mom's Surgery

By this time, all of this is old news... We got a phone call at 2am on 16 Oct and it doesn't go without saying that no good news comes with a phone call in the middle of the night. Hilary had taken my mom to the ER because of persistent severe headaches and altered mental status. A CT scan showed a 6cm mass in her frontal lobe that was causing midline shift and herniation (due to the size of the tumor and brain swelling her brain was no longer fitting in her skull). Fortunately, after additional studies, they (the radiologist and neurosurgeon) seemed fairly confident that it was a benign tumor. In most cases, they don't need to be removed. However, in my mom's case, the tumor was so large, she had no choice. We booked tickets home for her surgery that next week. You can check out her caring bridge website here for all the details.

Here is a picture of her a few days after surgery taking her first walk. She was a little shaky, but made fast progress.

Seeing Elsa was the best medicine!

Even though the reason for the trip wasn't exactly good, we were thankful we were able to be there for her surgery and to be in the comfort of family and friends.

And, everyone got to meet Elsa!! Here are some photos from the trip, including Halloween.

With Grandma Anderson and Cousins, Sari, Jess, and Hunter

Meeting Great Grandma Anderson

Elsa and I on Halloween at my parents house (Aaron and I brought our bavarian costumes...Elsa has a Dirndl too, but its for next year)

The cutest lady bug on the block.
With Great Grandma and Grandpa Kelly

The bavarian family :)

With Great Grandma Rogers (Feder)

And, these are from our trip to the pumpkin patch with the Sattlers before we left.

Us with Jean and Linnea

Four Months Old

Elsa and I before Church

She loves sitting in her Bumbo and watching us in the kitchen!

Her four month stats:

Height: 25.5 inches (95% percentile)

Weight: 16 lb 2 oz (82% percentile)

She has started rolling over (started about three days shy of her four month birthday). She first rolled from her stomach to her back and then, the next day, she rolled from her back to her stomach. At first it was frustrating at night. Once she was laid in her crib, she would instantly roll to her stomach and then fall asleep. However, in the middle of the night, she would get ticked because she was on her stomach. So, we would have to go in and roll her on to her back....Just to have the cycle repeat itself. It was like she forgot how to roll onto her back.

And she LOVES to hear her voice. She does this thing where she squeels/sings and moves her mouth like she is howling. Therefore, quiet restaurants are no longer in our near future!

We started to give her rice cereal...what an event her first feeding was. Not only was it going all over her, but all over me. She would literally spit it out. Thank goodness she is a much cleaner eater now!

Germany Trip

So, today will be the first of several posts in an attempt to catch up. The last two months have been so hectic with our trip to Germany and our emergency trip home to be with mom for her surgery.

Our trip to Belgium, Germany, and Austria was AWESOME!! 14 days...2200 miles...driving through 6 countries...

Here is Elsa as we were boarding the ferry for the trip across the Channel. She thinks her jeweled passport holder from Jessica is quite cool.

The white cliffs of Dover seen from the ferry

First stop: Brugge, Belgium. We definitely want to go back! It reminded us of Venice, but without all the crowds and the expense. Plus, it is only 4 hours away. Belgium is known for its linens, chocolates, and beer (which my mom is now a huge fan of!). Here is the three of us in the market square.
Overlooking the canal. we took a canal ride through the city and learned a lot of its history.

The first night, our hotel hooked us up with a reservation at this quaint restaurant (which we now know not to do quaint with an infant who likes to talk/sign/make noise...LOL). Flemmish food is DELICIOUS. We dined on sea snails (once we figured out how to get the little suckers out of their shells), mussels, and bouillabaisse (shown below).

Brugge is also home to several breweries, so we enjoyed some local beers.

After two days in Brugge, we traveled to the southern region of Belgium and stayed at Villa Garcia. It is an old mansion with only eight rooms.

The inn owners were so hospitable and we would enjoy cocktails with them on the patio and they made us breakfast each morning. We visited a local garden (Garden de Annevoie) and an abbey (Abbey de Maredsous).

The weather at the garden wasn't the best, but we were the only people there so that was a plus.

Fortunately, the weather improved by the time we got to the Abbey.

Several Monasteries brew beer that you can only purchase it on sight. Aaron researched several of them, but you have to reserve a case well in advance and they only have selective dates for pick up (none of which corresponded with our trip). Too bad...would have been fun to see a monk in a drive thru handing out beer. This monastery brewed beer, that was available for purchase (and consumption) on site as well as off site.

My mom babysat so Aaron and I could go out for dinner. We said "We'll be back in an hour"...just to pick a fancy restaurant with what seemed like 8 courses. It was quite entertaining, because no one spoke English and we didn't speak any French. I think we ended up ordering the most expensive items on the menu and Aaron ended up getting a meal with raw beef! I at least recognized pesce...it ended up being the best sea bass I have ever had. The presentation was amazing, but dinner took over two hours!!

The next part of the journey was...interesting to say the least. We had to travel from Belgium to Austria. Mapquest calculated 8 hours. We figured with Elsa, it would take us 11. What an understatement!! I think all funds were released for road improvements the week we were there because EVERY road had construction!! Our GPS would recalcuate a route...just to have more construction or an accident. It took us 14 hours!!! Elsa was such a trooper!! But, the journey was well worth it. Innsbruk and Hall-in-Tyrol were so beautiful. Aaron and I want to become Austrian citizens. We stayed at the Gastof Badl (Recommended by Rick Steve's Europe show and definitely worth the stay!!) and our room overlooked the Austrian Alps

We took a train/gondola/cable car to the summit of Nordpark.

A view of the mountains in Hall-in-Tyrol

From Austria, we traveled back in to Germany and stayed at a US Military Resort, Edelweiss. It is in the heart of the bavarian alps and provided great access to many things: Oktoberfest in Munich, Castle Neuschwanstein, and Hilter's Berghof (Eagle's Nest) located near Berchtesgaden. We stayed there for 5 nights and enjoyed both the hotel's ammenities and the local area. We even took Elsa for her first swim, which she LOVED! Maybe we have a future swimmer on our hands!!

Aaron and I bought Lederhosen (for him) and a Dirndl (for me)--classic bavarian attire. He wore his to Oktoberfest. I was going to wear mine, but it is not exactly nursing friendly attire. Once you are in it... Here is one of the beer tents. I only stayed in the tent for a little while because they allow smoking it in and I didn't want Elsa's little lungs to be exposed to that. But, it was quite entertaining. People would jump up on the tables and do dances to the German songs and the band in the center kept the crowds entertained. We went there on a week day and arrived at 11 am, so at least the crowds weren't too bad. It definitely started to pick up by 3pm when we left.

The castle which the Disney castle was modeled after
Aaron was so excited about Eagle's nest. Unfortunately, once we reached the summitt, it was in the clouds and was so foggy. We weren't able to take in the incredible scenery people raved about.
I joked that Elsa had her first ferry, train, taxi, gondola, boat, horse ride...was nursed on a mountain summitt, in a beer tent at Oktoberfest, in an Abbey, on a ferry... visited 7 countries!! So many firsts before 4 months of age...too bad she won't remember any of it!

I think I would have put more photos had I posted right after our trip. But, more updates to do!