Already missing the beach

We’ve been busy, but here’s an update:

The weather is warming up here. We’ve enjoyed a beautiful long green spring and although we are getting temperatures in the 90s, it still feels very mild for this time of year. The kids and I have started sitting out in the baby pool in the afternoons to beat the boredom and the heat. We are scheduled for swim lessons for June and July, so we are enjoying our freedom for the next couple of weeks.

We were even able to do some kite flying on a windy day last week

I think I forgot to mention Svea’s 9 month checkup. She’s a healthy girl who is long and lean (with a big head). On April 28th her stats were:
weight 19 lb 0 oz (50th percentile)
height 29.8 in (above 95th percentile)
head circ 18.3 in (above 95th percentile)
After finding out how tall she was, I realized that she had outgrown her infant car seat. We moved her into Soren’s old carseat. I miss the simplicity of the infant seat, but it had to happen sooner or later!

Svea is still getting around, but has gotten FAST! She is into everything and tests my cupboard child lock system daily. Although she prefers her belly scoot for getting around quickly, she has started mixing in some traditional crawling as well. She is a sweetie and is always ready to smile and snuggle. Her 8 front teeth are fully in and her smile is very toothie. Her hair is finally starting to come in – it looks like it will be the same color as Soren’s. She babbles constantly, saying “mamamamamama” or “bababababa”. She likes to sit and communicate with Soren by laughing and spitting. Svea is very tough. She didn’t even cry for her shots last visit. I think her high pain tolerance may have something to do with her brother’s constant attention/mauling. She’s such a great fit and easy addition to our family. I’m loving seeing her personality bloom.

Soren is also getting bigger and smarter every day. His speech is getting clearer and sentences longer. Along with his increased understanding of the world around him has come a tiny bit of an attitude. Yesterday he gave me what I thought was a “5” and slapped my hand. Then he said, “I didn’t clap you, Mama, I hitted you.” Apparently he was mad at me. It is hard not to laugh at his quirky little emotions. While we were on our long car trip home from California, Soren was making Svea laugh in the backseat. It was very cute and went on for quite some time until Soren suddenly said (with sarcasm?!?) “I don’t want to hear your laugh anymore. Sorry, baby.” For the most part he is very pleasant and happy to entertain himself or play with his sister. He loves playing computer games on pbskids.org or starfall.com and I have to be careful to limit him by locking the computer or he’ll jump right on.

We had a very fun and relaxing trip to California last week. Erik’s final for his class was on Tuesday, so we packed up the car Tuesday night and left early Wednesday morning to stay with our friends, the Underwoods, in Carlsbad, who live about a mile from the beach. We had an amazing time. I feel totally rejuvenated. It was great to reconnect with our best friends and have time just to hang out at the beach or sit and talk together. They have two cute boys, and the kids all got along great. Rachelle spoiled us with good food as well, I can’t wait to use her pizza crust recipe.

We spent Wednesday afternoon at the beach, Thursday morning exercising and relaxing and Thursday afternoon at the beach. Friday morning Jared and Erik headed out to go surfing and Rachelle and I took the kids out on a walk to enjoy the beautiful weather. After a couple of hours on the beach Friday afternoon, we went out to dinner at Buca di Beppo. It was delish! The kids were good, especially Soren who was passed out in his chair the entire meal.

Saturday morning we got up early and hit the road for Palos Verdes, a little town south of LA, for my race. I ran the 1/2 marathon. The day was beautiful for running with cool temperatures and overcast skies. The course was VERY hilly with a giant hill between mile 2 and 3. Erik and the kids were waiting to cheer for me at the top and I was so zapped by that hill that I wanted to stay with them and quit. Somehow I managed to pull through that exhaustion and had a great race. I ran PF Changs 1/2 marathon a few years ago and had a time of 2:11 that I wanted to beat. I was totally ecstatic to finish with a 1:57. I have no idea how people run a full marathon because that race creamed me and I can’t imagine that being the halfway point. Training for this race has been wonderful for me. I was able to do more than just get fit to run, I was also able to get rid of all the weight I gained thanks to baby Svea and I got great satisfaction from accomplishing a goal that took me 6 months. Although I can’t say that I enjoy running any more than I did at the beginning of my training, I can say that it brought me pride and satisfaction each time I completed another scheduled run. I’m already planning my next race.

After the race, we headed back to Carlsbad for one last afternoon at the beach. We went to church with the Underwood’s on Sunday morning, then packed up and headed home.

Soren was his usual cautious self at the beach. He had fun playing with feathers, shells, sand and rocks safely away from the waterline. He wouldn’t go near the water until Friday, when he finally got his toes wet at the end of the day, but only with two people holding his hand at the very edge of the waves. Saturday he was more daring and let me hold his hand while waves got his swim shorts wet. He had fun running in and out of the waves with Erik at the very end of our beach time. I was glad we at least moved from Soren crying when we told him we were going to the beach to Soren feeling comfortable wading in the water.

Svea was a totally different story. She wasn’t afraid at all. As soon as we set her down on the sand she was soaking in the sensations on her skin. She rubbed the sand with her hands and dug her feet in. She was constantly covered in sand. She also loved the water even though it was pretty cold. She was kind of hard to contain as she would continually crawl toward the waves like a baby sea turtle. We learned not to let her get wet even though she wanted to because she would play until her lips were blue and she was freezing. I’m sure we will have some exciting times ahead because she lacks that sense of caution that has kept Soren out of trouble. Just like her mom and dad, she seemed right in her element near the ocean.

After church on Sunday, Soren told Erik we were going home to “our new home”. Erik told him we were headed home to our old home in Arizona. Soren was pretty bummed. We all had a great time, and while it is nice to be home we can all hear the ocean calling to us to come back soon!

We miss you, Underwood fam! Thanks again!!!!