christmas highlights

We were lucky enough to have our good friends, the Wittwers, over on Christmas Eve. The boys settled down for a bit with "Toy Story 3" and a big bowl of popcorn.

Fortunately, we remembered that our camera doubles as an HD video camera and took advantage of that fact Christmas Day. Unfortunately, we didn't take very many still photos because we were busy using the video camera setting. Here are a few that we captured:

Christian's favorite gift by far: two boxes of Pixar "Cars" Legos Duplos

Santa brought Pierce this cuddly zebra


My brother Tim sent me some cozy moccasins

Santa stuck this horse under the tree and Christian now bounces his way around the house

We tested out our new ebelskiver pan (figured it was a fun way to get in touch with our very Danish heritage)

Pierce's gift to Christian: additions to his train set so they can play together

one month

 

'twas the night before christmas...

 

Wow. Enjoying a new baby while trying to get back on top of every day life has made these past weeks a total blur. Can't believe this Christmas is already here. Sure hope yours is merry!

meeting santa

Christian met Santa last week at our church Christmas party. He was in total awe as he saw Santa enter the room and then very shy about approaching him but he couldn't help following him through the room and over to the chair where he sat to take pictures.

Christian was then very professional about the whole thing -- this is about as happy a look as we got out of him -- he did his time on the lap and then hurried over to show me his candy cane.

This year he's totally into Santa -- without us pushing it at all. He's the one who told me one day (in November) that Santa says "Ho, ho, ho."

brothers

I love these pictures from the first time Christian met his little baby brother. You can tell Christian wasn't quite sure what to think when the little guy was squirming in his arms but he was so calm and sweet and made a point to show him the balloons he had picked out for him.

So far Christian has done pretty well with Pierce. He doesn't like to hear him cry so he's quick to come tell me that "he's not happy" and to tell me "he's hungry" and tug me over to feed him. He insists on holding him at least once every day. He oohs and ahhs over Pierce and when he gets his fill he tells me that "he's heavy" and waits for me to take him back. Then he's off to destroy roam the apartment once more.

our gingerbread house

Finally put together a gingerbread house tonight -- thanks to a lot of help from Trader Joes (only $6.99 for the kit if you're interested). The whole thing took about 30 minutes -- perfect for a two-year-old with a short attention span and his exhausted parents.

pierce shane larsen

Yesterday our sweet baby boy officially got his name added to his birth certificate paperwork so we figure it's time to announce it to the world.

"Pierce" is a name Shane suggested that grew on me overtime. We like the meaning a lot. Like the name "Peter" it means "rock" and "steadfast." As for "Shane," it's pretty obvious where that one came from, but it was I who felt strongly that this baby ought to have his dad's name.

For those keeping count, it took us about two weeks to name Christian as well. In both cases, it came down to two names but was still a difficult decision for us. Next time maybe we'll just post a poll up on the blog -- save us the stress. ;)



So far he's pretty mellow. He loves to snuggle, eat and sleep. He does not love being stripped of his clothing or having his diaper changed. He rarely cries but when he does he works himself into a chin-quivering panic that makes you want to drop everything and come running.

a week ago today

This little guy made his debut. At 9:08pm on Monday, Nov. 28. One week after his due date.

All 8 lbs, 8 oz. and 21 inches of him.

Now we can't imagine life without him.

We're enjoying lots of snuggle time, taking lots of pictures, and trying to figure out his name. ;)

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes.

40 weeks

Just to prove that I did finally get ready for the day, even if I was told to "work from home" and didn't take a shower till lunchtime.

So as of this post, there's no bebe yet. Just as I expected. I have to admit that as excited as I am to meet this little guy I'm also grateful for some extra time to get my act together and prep for birthing.

There were some contractions Friday night, for maybe about two hours, but I was so exhausted that I fell asleep and when they didn't wake me up I knew it was a false alarm (at least my body is "practicing," right?).

competing with yourself

I went digging through some old journals this week, sorting stuff for storage and stumbled across this quote. I discovered it my first year of college and love that it is just as applicable to my life today:

"Life is a competition not with others, but with ourselves. We should seek each day to live stronger, better, truer lives; each day to master some weakness of yesterday; each day to repair a mistake; each day to surpass ourselves." -- Elder David B. Haight

(Kind of reminds me of the "deep thought" my good friend had while running a half marathon last week.)