Tuesday, I wore my new CAbi sweater. It's a very soft sweater. When I got home from work that day, Annika loved the sweater. She kept petting my arm and saying "soft". So cute!

One of Annika's favorite games right now is the "horsey" game. If I'm sitting on the couch with my legs crossed, she comes over and sits on my suspended ankle. Then I have to grab her hands and bounce her in the air. Her other favorite activity is to do "flips." She sits on my lap facing me and then flings herself backwards (sometimes without warning!). I'm supposed to hold her wrists and flip her over backwards so she lands on her feet on the floor. She loves doing this over and over and over, making the sign for more in between each flip. Kris and I have talked about what activities we'd like to sign Annika up for long term. Gramme and Auntie Krystle would love to see her in dance but Annika might just be a little gymnast! She has no fear about flipping and flying through the air. Maybe we'll have to sign her up for both in a couple years. In the mean time, she can go to her ECFE classes. I'm going to try and sign her up for some swimming lessons this winter. I think her and Daddy would enjoy that.

There's not much else new that's happened in the last couple days. See you in a few more!

Please, please, please pray for my friend Jen's 7 month old daugher, Ava. Ava has been diagnosed with stage 4s Neuroblastoma. Basically, she has cancer. And they have not been able to remove the tumor because it's intertwined with nerves and muscles. She started chemo on Friday and will have that for the next 12 weeks. The cancer has spread to her bone marrow and I'm not sure how that is going to play out. The prognosis at this point is still pretty good but prayers are still needed. Jen, if you're reading this - I'm so, so sorry this is happening to Ava and your family. I'm praying for you every day. Please call me if you need anything. Remember, I work very close to the hospital. Lean on me, please, if you need to.

Thursday night, Annika and I went to Aunt Shelly and Uncle Dale's house for a Pampered Chef party. Uncle Dale watched Annika the whole time while Shelly was hosting and I was consulting. I think Annika had a good time. There was another baby there and Annika was infatuated with her. She kept hugging the baby (who was 6 months old and just starting to crawl) and trying to touch her eyes. Eyes are big with Annika right now. Then, Annika would pet the baby gently, like we've been teaching her to do with the pets. It was very cute but, of course, being 14 months old, Annika is not the gentlest little thing on the planet. Towards the end of the show, Annika only wanted her mommy. It was past her bedtime and she was tired so this was understandable. She was still a good little girl during our evening out.

Saturday morning Annika and I went with Gramme and her friend Donna to the Canterbury Park craft festival. It was huge! We found some fun, cute things though and I bought a couple of Christmas presents. Annika alternated between being carried (by Gramme or me) and sitting in her stroller. We were there for 4 hours and Annika was a very good girl during that time, even missing a nap but not being very crabby. After the craft fair, Annika fell asleep in the truck as I stopped at home to pick up Mara and then we went to Aunt Kim and Uncle Dusty's house to watch the Gopher football game. Yay! They won! We spent the rest of the afternoon at their house playing with Grandpa and Uncle until Aunt and Grandma came home from shopping. Then we spent a little while with them before Annika needed another nap. After her nap, we spent about another hour there playing. Uncle Dusty and Annika had a great time together. Uncle Dusty would hide by the stairs and when Annika would run by, he'd jump out and scare her. She thought this was hilarious so she kept running by the stairs, over and over again. What a silly girl.

Yesterday, after church and a nap, we met Grandpa, Marcia, Auntie Krystle and Uncle Mathias at a restaurant for lunch and the Vikings game. (Yay - they won too!) Annika had a good time getting spoiled by Grandpa. Every time something big would happen during the game and the restaurant would explode in cheering, Annika would get this funny surprised, scared look on her face. So, we'd clap and cheer and make goofy faces back at her and then she'd clap too. It's as if she needed reassurance from us that things were okay and then she'd join in. It was a very nice weekend. We got to see all the grandparents!

So, the stuffy nose is from teething theory? Completely false. It is a cold, plain and simple. How do I know? Because Kris can no longer breathe through his nose. And seeing how he was up until 4am this morning burning a DVD or some other such geeky, computer thing and then got up at 7am with Annika, he is tired and stuffy but at least not grumpy. Annika, meanwhile is just happy, perky and stuffy. So, pretty much all is well here. :)

And now on to more bragging about my daughter. This website is after all devoted to her. She is brilliant you know. Have I mentioned that before? :) She can now say eyes and will poke your eyes or hers and say "eyes." She also knows where her nose is but I haven't heard her say "nose" yet. She just likes to beeps everyone's nose. Or, you know, try and rip it off your face. One or the other, depending on her mood. :)

Right now she is riding her moose quite vigorously with the help of her father. Fun times around here. Fun times!

Oh, one last thing. Annika, while pestering the dog this morning, bit the Mara's ear. Mara didn't even make a peep but Kris, sitting right next to her, scolded Annika and released Mara's ear from Annika's mouth. I see more fun times ahead!

Annika woke up yesterday morning with a stuffy nose. Kris said she was pretty crabby during the day too after her morning nap. She was okay for me last night but of course hated getting her nose wiped. Since neither Kris nor I are sick and we haven't been around anyone else who's sick, I was wondering where it came from. Now I'm thinking it could be teething related. Annika's first molar popped through last week and when I did an examination of her mouth last night, I found that the molar on the other side is just about ready to break through. Poor girl. Kris said she was feeling fine this morning, just drippy. :)

We're having our family Christmas picture taken tomorrow. Annika has an adorabel dress to wear and Kris has a new shirt and tie. I finally found a shirt last night that matches the whole ensemble but they didn't have my size. Kris and Annika are running to the Mall of America today to pick up the shirt at a different location in my size. Today is Toddler Tuesday at the mall. They have a program from 10-noon in the Rotunda. I don't know if they'll be there at that time, but I mentioned it to Kris last night. At least they'll get out of the house to do something today. They didn't yesterday since Annika was having a crabby, stuffy nose day.

Last Thursday night, Aunt Shelly came over to babysit Annika so Mommy could go to a Pampered Chef meeting. I think both Annika and Aunt Shelly had a good time. Annika didn't even cry when I left like she usually does. I was very happy about that. It's so hard to leave when she's crying.

Friday, I worked from home. We had a big three day meeting at work last week so Tues-Thurs were late nights for me. I only got to see Annika for an hour or two each day. So, Friday I only had to work half a day and I did it from home in the morning. I was able to spend the rest of the day with Annika while Daddy went in to work in the afternoon. Then we were able to spend the evening together as a family. That almost never happens on a week day! Saturday, we went to check out Sadie's at the Mall of America. We have an appointment for Wednesday to get Christmas cards done. (Why so early - an early bird coupon of course!) Then we went shopping for clothes for the 3 of us to wear. The mall was crazy busy so we only ended up finding a dress for Annika before we surrendered and went home. Then, at Target that night, I found another dress that is just adorable so now Annika has two dresses! Yesterday after lounging around the house most of the day, watching football, munching on candy and chips, we headed out to do a bit more shopping. This time we found Daddy a very nice shirt and tie. Last night I looked at Sadie's schedule and they are completely booked for this coming weekend! We have to use the coupon by the 15th of November and since weeknights are out, I made an appointment for Wednesday (the 9th) at 1pm. I have some vacation I need to burn before the end of the year so I'm going to take a half day off and spend it with my family. Hopefully the mall won't be so busy then either. Of course, now I need to find something for me to wear! That means more shopping tonight for Annika and I! At least I can bring Annika's dress and Kris's shirt and tie with me to make sure whatever I find goes well with their clothes.

Last night, while Kris and Annika went to go dogsit Babe for a couple hours, I went out to dinner with Karen and Marilyn, two Pampered Chef friends of mine. I hardly ever get to see these great women and I'm glad we got a chance to get together.

Oh, I forgot the funniest part of the weekend - we ran into so many people we knew! We always felt like we were on such an oasis when we lived north of the cities. We didn't know anyone up there really. Friday night we went out to dinner at Ruby Tuesday in our new town - and ran into a high school classmate of ours! She, her husband and daugher live just blocks from us! Then Saturday at the grocery store, I ran into my Aunt Mary! And then Sunday, when shopping at Kohl's, I ran into my cousin Sarah and my Aunt Mary again! (Aunt Mary works at Kohl's.) Then, yesterday, while making a quick trip to Target, we ran into my CAbi consultant, Deb! I just love seeing people I know. It makes me feel like such a part of the community, even though we just moved there. Next up is to find a new congregation, make friends with the neighbors (more than just hi and bye on the way into or out of the house) and really become integrated. I know that will really happen when Annika starts school but, so far, we are really liking it in our new town.

Annika was a cute little ballerina Monday night. We had about 10 trick or treaters at our house that came in two batches. Annika wasn't too sure about the first group of kids. She was standing by the couch and when they left I turned around to see a sour expression on her face and then she started to scrunch up her face as if she was going to cry. I cuddled her and reassured her it was okay that people dressed in weird clothing were okay to come to our door. Hmm. Let's think about that for a moment. Halloween sure is a strange occasion, isn't it? She was okay with the second group and after handing out candy, I picked her up and held her in the doorstep while we waved bye-bye to all the kids and parents. I wish we had more trick or treaters. Hopefully we will next year. I think our house and development is just too new yet.

Annika loves giving kisses now. Well, if she's in the mood for it anyway. The only bad part is that she kisses with her tongue sticking out. And if she's really into it, she'll grab my hair/ears for leverage while sticking her mouth on mine with her tongue out, basically licking my face. While it's hilarious and I can't stop laughing, I'm also telling her to put her tongue in her mouth. I'm sure it's a lovely site! :) She is such a funny little girl.

This week Tuesday - Thursday I'm in all day meetings at work and getting home later than normal by about an hour. Last night when I got home Annika ran over to me and dove into my arms. She then gave me a big hug and cuddled in my arms for the next 15 minutes or so. I was not even allowed to put her down (even to go to the bathroom, so she just came with - I'm sure all you moms out there have been there/done that before!) without there being lots of screaming and crying. After she got her "mom fix" she was happy to play with her toys and carry on as normal.