taking the time

With Troels' parents and friends staying at our house and a gazillion projects to finish and my crazy nesting urges, to say that this week has been hectic would be an understatement. But it's time. It's time to take the time. Time to slow down. Time to enjoy these little girls before their sister arrives and all of a sudden they are no longer so little. Time to give my body a rest and put my feet up.

Next week I will be 37 weeks and this baby could come any time. Between now and then I need to stop the frenzy and remember to take time to smell the roses and hug big balloons ;)

35 weeks pregnant!

Can't believe we're almost there! my oh my, can this belly of mine get any bigger?

It doesn't feel like it - but I guess I am wrong since baby girl is supposed to be in there for another month! I am definitely in penguin mode now - waddling is in full motion;) Let's be real here - and don't let the  above picture fool you- I am SO DONE physically.

As much as I really enjoy being pregnant, at this point everything hurts and I can't wait to feel comfortable in my own body again...feels like such a remote idea at this point! Just like with the girls, I keep having A LOT of contractions all the time and I keep wondering if that means she will come early like her sisters. It doesn't matter, whenever she decides to show up, we're 100% ready for her! I love to see the baby stuff that has popped up everywhere in our home - preparing for a new life, a new little person to join our family is one of the sweetest, most exciting thing. the nursery is almost done (can't wait to share with you soon!).

I am trying to wrap up my last big projects so that I can rest up in may before she arrives - which is SO hard because the urge to nap is getting bigger and bigger already!

My silly Madeline

Santa Cruizing

I am still on a high from our lovely birthday celebration/babymoon/last family of 4 gateway weekend to Santa Cruz. Have any of you guys ever been to Santa Cruz? We'd been wanting to go ever since we moved to California, and had such a great time! We went in without much of a plan, ate way too much bad food, enjoyed the sun and these little girls of ours. We went to the famous Santa Cruz  boardwalk and had a blast. I mean, hello funky colorful rides straight out of the 80s  ;)
 

We also did a lot of chilling by the pool because, well, there ain't any baby stopping us right now! It will be a different story in a few weeks ;) I read my favorite magazines and ordered one (virgin) drink after another and totally forgot about the busyness of the world. I hardly saw the girls because they spent the entire time swimming around with their dad. Little Fish they are :) I don't think that Madeline removed her sunglasses for a minute the entire weekend, even to go in the water. Child, you are so funny.
 

On Sunday we cruised along the coast and stopped at one of my favorite places on Earth, Swanton strawberry farm - we went there for the first time last fall after our camping trip and we couldn't drive by and not stop. That place is so good for the soul. You make your won change. You hang out and play game. You find dollar bills that say "Not to be used for bribing politicians". Oh, and you eat yummy strawberry everything- fresh strawberries, strawberry shortcake, strawberry lemonade.



Every time we step out of the Bay area (which is already so beautiful), we have to keep pinching ourselves that we actually live here, in this gorgeous region. Instant vacation feeling wherever we drive. We can't wait to explore California some more. Thank you Santa Cruz - you were so good to us!

10 things I love about you, Madeline - #2

My little Madeline, You are my little one. For another couple of months, you're going to be my little one and I am going to enjoy these couple of months with my tiny Madeline as much as I can. But oh, how big you are already, everyday you are showing me how strong and amazing you are. I often expect you to be able to do the same as your sister, even though you are younger, but I know you can and I know you're eager to be that big girl. Last year and the year before I wrote down 10 things I loved about you then, and there we go again - 10 things I absolutely love about you right now, little girl:

  1. The thousands shades of red and strawberry blond in your hairs. Your my little lion. Especially when you refuse to brush your little mane before going to school ;) Although you'll  let me, every now and then, put your hair up in "a piggy and a little bad wolf"  - that's how you call pig tails :) I hope that you never loose that red out of your hair.

  2. The tiny little freckles that continue to show up, one by one, on your nose and cheeks. You only have a few, but I love to look at them when  you're taking your afternoon nap.

  3. Your hugs. and how much love you give with them. You were already the best hugger when you were 5 months old, and that really hasn't changed much. I hug you tight at night, but you hug me even tighter. Like, you are the one teaching me how it's done :) You often ask to come snuggle with mama in my bed before you go to sleep, and while we're laying down next to each other you'll often take my face between your tiny little hands, look straight into my eyes with your pretty blue eyes. and start kissing my head from my forehead to my chin. And then you start giggling because you think it's so funny :)

 4. Your acting skills. Girl, you can pull off a mean Big Bad Wolf and scared Little Piggies like nobody else I know ;) We've got to read this story to you almost every night.

5. How little you are, but how you are so aware of the things and people around you! You're a smart little cookie. You ask questions, tons of them - like "how will the baby get out mama?" Ha, yes, about that....;) You're always processing info and thinking. Oh, and you hardly mix the three languages that you're learning when you speak with daddy and me, but with your sister you'll adapt and speak perfect franishglish with her, because you know that's what she does. I don't know how to know the things that you know, but somehow you just do.

6. your little voice when you sing. You'll take your guitar with you, and try to be right on pitch< and it's oooh so cute how you put your whole heart into it :) Your favorite song to sing right now? "Do you hear the people sing" from the movie Les Miserables. Don't ask me why, a few weeks ago you came to me and told me "Mama, it's my favorite song". The little rebellious French girl in you, perhaps?

7. That you always want to do things and explore! While your sister tends to be a bit more of a homebody sometimes, you barely have time to ask you if you want to come to something with us that your Kitty shoes (your crocs with Hello Kitty on) are already on your feet and your reaching out for these huge sunglasses of yours. You were born ready to go on adventures :)

8. Your sense of humor. You'll often change words in a song just to be funny, or make a joke on me to see how I'll react to it :) And you have the most mischievous smile on when you know you're being funny.

9. How much you care for others. If I am having a bad day you'll come and give me a hug. If you get a snack for yourself, you'll always ask that I give you one for your sister too because you know she'll want one. When we talk about your baby sister and that she'll cry sometimes, you say you'll give her kisses and share your toys with her.

10. the sum of you - that you are so uniquely you.  Every new thing we find out about you is so different. Your red hair and blue eyes, your little freckles, your strong personality, your sense of humor....and now we know, you're a leftie on top of it :) Before you were born I somehow thought that you and Olivia would be very similar, because I looked like my own sister so much and everybody always compared us. But no, you are your very own, amazing little thin. We secretly call you our four leaf clover. 

Keep being yourself, little girl, because everybody else is taken anyway.  You are my sunshine, and I'll keep hugging you tight forever and ever.

 Love, Mama

10 things I love about you, Olivia - #2

My sweet little Olivia,

 Almost a year since I last put down in words how amazing it is to have you as my little girl. How in the world did I get so lucky? I like to pretend that I am writing this letter to you, my little love, but really, I am writing it for myself because you are growing ever so fast and I don't want to forget a thing. So, here are the 10 things that I love so so much about you right now, Olivia:

1. The way to draw and paint the world. You get lost into the things you make, and the more you grow up the more I see myself in you. Your imagination is as big as the sky! Quite frankly, I often get lost just watching you draw and paint. You're every bit of the creative girl - having paint on your fingers is probably the best thing that can happen to you any day of the week :) The other on our way to gym class I said "Oh sorry we forgot to wash the paint on your hands, should we do it when we get there?" and you replied with a big smile on your face "No, I like my hands like this". :)

2. How thirsty you are for stories- whether we make them up or read them to you. Every morning on our way to school, you'll ask me: "Mama, can you tell me the story of..." And I happily tell these stories to you, over and over again.

3. Your tiny tiny braids. Your hair's been growing so slowly (I've only cut it twice 3 times in your whole life), but you like to pretend you are a princess from Frozen wearing some of those gorgeous scandinavian braids -so we braid your hair, pretty much every day. It's probably my favorite part of getting you ready in the morning :)

4. How much you love the water. And I mean, I think you must have been a fish or a dolphin in a previous life ;) Your favorite book right now is Manfish, a story about the life of explorer Jacques Cousteau, and you ask me to read it just about every night. 10 times in a row :) You often scream "dyggemaske" (diving mask!) and jump around the house as if you were stepping in the ocean.

5. You are always ever so happy. EVER. SO. HAPPY. And one thing you'll realize with time little girl, is that it is contagious and rubs off on people - so don't you dare ever loosing that side of you. You always make our bad days so so much better with your smiles and hugs.

6. the way you shake your little bootie when you dance - guess those ballet classes are paying off after all ;) It is so cute, and you're always trying new move. But be aware, Daddy's watching you though, making sure the bootie shaking doesn't go overboard :)

7. You are the most social child I've ever seen. You are always looking to make new friends, asking when we'll have play dates, and you sure aren't afraid of talking to people you don't know. Oh, and you love an audience. A few weeks ago we were watching the Olympic Games on TV, and you said: "When I am big, can I snowboard too?", directly followed by "Can people come and watch me?". Haha, well yes of course.

8. Our little walks together. Once a week you and I walk alone from your school to Madeline's school, and I cherish that precious time alone with you so so much under the sun, checking out whatever comes our way. The way you look at the world never stops to amaze me!

9. You are just so amazingly sweet. You prepare "parties" for daddy and me and will "decorate" your whole room for us. You'll stop halfway through your breakfast and say something like "mama, did you buy this dress for me?", and when I say yes you reply with sparkly eyes: "Oh thanks you so much mama cherie!". If I come pick you up from school and decided to put on a little lipstick, you'll pull me close, put your hands on my cheeks and say: "mama, I love your lips - you're so pretty!"

10. Seeing you turning into such wonderful big sister. You take such good care of Madeline already - whenever she's gone you keep asking for her. You girls play "mama" together, you dance around the living room together, you create new stories with your princesses together. I can't wait to see what an amazing big sister you're going to be with your other baby sister when she arrives in May.

Keep on dreaming and dancing and loving the world, little girls. I love you to the moon and back. If not more.

 Your mama.

Life's a beach

The perks of living in California are pretty endless! It wasn't a pretty white-sand-and-palm-trees kind of beach we went to, but it was perfect in its own way - wild like we like it in Northern California. We made princess castles and collected seashells. We skipped in the waves. We closed our eyes and let the sunshine fill our happy little souls. And since the beach was just around the corner from the Golden Gate Bridge, we also made a tourist stop to snap a couple pics of that heck of a view. Because, why not. 

We're so very blessed.

30 weeks!

Can't believe I am just shy of 30 weeks! The big 3.0. - craziness!

We're so looking forward to meeting our little girl, and I know that anxiety to meet her is only going to build up from here on out. She's getting so strong, and now not only can I feel her move, but I can also feel the tiny parts of her body if I rub my fingers on my belly while she kicks. So fun! A couple of days ago I was explaining to the girls how, once their baby sister is born, there won't be anymore babies in my belly - and Olivia says outraged: "but MAMA! We want a baby brother too!!!!". Haha right - coming right up, m'am. So much for thinking I am in charge of my own body, my kids are already making decisions for this family ;)

 I am still nesting like a mad woman - probably what I'll be doing most of the weekend, unless we decide to go on a random family adventure  somewhere in the Bay!
 

Lake Tahoe

Last weekend was a weekend of firsts. First time in Tahoe for me. First time we touched some snow since we left New York last summer. First time on skis for the girls. And we loved every single second of it.

Our friends Jon & Jen had rented a cabin in Squaw Valley for the long holiday weekend and invited us to join them - we couldn't possibly say no! And even though I couldn't ski because of the bump it was the most perfect of weekends. There is something about the mountains - it is so restful for the soul just to be there. These big tall mountains have a way to put the small problems of life back into perspective, somehow. I feel so at peace in the mountains.

 And seeing the girls learn something new, seeing their excitement and fears and joy as the got on skis, seeing them conquer something completely new - that was pretty magical. One of the best part about being a parent, no doubt. Hopefully next winter we get to go again, this time taking another little viking princess along with us :)
 

And just for the fun of it, two little animations I made of the girls on skis. Can't help it. So proud of them both :)