Overseas Visitors

Our friends Claus and Christina (Claus and Soren have been friends since grade school) started their first U.S. trip as a family with a week in Maine. We were so happy to have them with us and hear about how they have been this past year. It was so nice to have a house full of kids and two more parents to keep track of everyone. I am thinking communal living might be the way to manage it all sometimes!
The lovely family at Sand Beach. We had a great day playing soccer, eating good food and enjoying the sunshine.

Penny is always a hit with guests!

Everyone enjoying a lobster dinner...

Oh no Jenn, Soren feeling reinforced as to why he wouldn't want three kids. What? That looks like fun to me!

The girls are JUST the same age and so sweet together. We hope they will have a life long friendship too.

Victor lost his first tooth in Maine! We were so happy to share that event with him!

Reflections

So many people are asking me about life with two, whether it be friends with one child or friends considering any child. I can't help but love every moment, the good and the bad. I was so nervous at first because Kasper slept ALL THE TIME and I wondered how we would handle it when he was awake more but the transitions are so slight, so delicate, that he just slides into our days without any hassle. Every time I feel like I have figured out the routine, it changes again and I just feel thankful for those few days where it all flowed seamlessly and remind myself that it will just take a day or so to figure out the new schedule. For instance, most days both kids nap in the afternoon so I have a few minutes to myself to relax but yesterday Kasper was up the entire time AnaSofia was down. I was frustrated, not because I didn't have any time to myself but because I couldn't figure it out - is he sick, what's wrong, why won't you SLEEP?! But today when it happened I KNEW he wouldn't sleep for a few hours so instead of trying to force him to sleep for those few hours we made dinner together so it was ready for tonight - he loved watching me shake the sweet potatoes in their marinade above his head, we had a quiet talk in bed just gazing and "huow - ah"ing to each other. I have just put aside the need to have time for me, the worry that if someone drops by the house will be a mess and just relish these few moments with each child because it is slipping by way too fast. I hope the blog will be a reminder to me and to them about all these everyday moments. In their baby books I have a journal I write about milestones and funny moments but it is this everyday life that completely astounds me. I am forced to slow down and remember what a wise woman said in a recent New York Times article "you can clean the house when they move out", but you can't get back the time when they are young. I am so thankful for it all, life feels good. Here is a little snippet of our everyday moment:

Kasper's First Flight!

Yay! Yay! Yay! I feel so brave (okay, or maybe crazy)! The kids and I flew to DC this past week to visit "Ant Hedder" and her family. It was so much fun to see Thomas and AnaSofia together - those to love each other so very much it is amazing. I will be laughing for YEARS of the image of them both so excited at the Nature Center that they kept falling down because they were running so fast. AnaSofia almost did a full somersault. That is true giddiness!

AnaSofia seeing what its like to be a turtle, she was pinned there it was so heavy - we could take photos for hours!

Checking out the little siblings! Oh, they aren't half bad if they aren't my little!


Yay Nana arrives, I don't know if the kids (or overloaded) parents were happier!!!



My beautiful (multitasking!)sister.


Cherry Blossom Festival! The photo of me changing Kasper's diaper in the freezing cold, on the ground, next to a homeless man's shelter in the holly bushes (he must have known to stay out of the wind too!)will hopefully never be published (remember Uncle John I have a photo of you from two Christmases ago with an IKEA wire toy on your head)...