Trynica Update

Of course I meant to write an update about Trynica because her birthday was this month, however, I was not expecting the little man-child to come a full two weeks early. I've been a little busy.

Here goes:

Apparently 5 is the new 13, or so it seems. Ever since Trynica's birthday she has been acting so much older in SO many ways! She keeps making comments on how much smarter she is, how much bigger she is, and how much more capable she is now that she is five years old.

I would say that the thing that Tryn loves more than anything else is to color or draw pictures. She will spend hours, literally, everyday coloring pictures. Steve and I don't even bother putting the markers away until after the girls go to bed because as soon as we put them away they come right back out. She has some really creative ideas, such as today she drew the ocean with sharks and jellyfish in it. While she was drawing this picture she was telling Berlin a story about how she went to the ocean once. Apparently, she went with our friends Rollie and Cait when Steve and I were busy doing something else. This is not true, but leads me to another thing.

Tryn loves to talk. A few weeks ago I drove to Roseville, ran some errands, and came home. This took us about two hours and Trynica talked almost the entire time. She told Berlin princess stories, made up stories about stuff, and just chatted away in general. She comes up with some pretty crazy stuff.

One of the things that Tryn really likes is being the big sister and it is a job that she takes very seriously. Sometimes this causes fights between the girls, but often it makes Tryn a great helper. She is always willing to help out with anything if it involves helping her younger siblings. She is so sweet and kind.

Oh, and Tryn is pumped to go to school in the fall. It's all she talks about. Though she will be one of the younger kids in the class, she is totally ready for school. She already knows how to write all her letter and can even read some words. She would be much better at reading if I knew how to teach her, but I don't how to teach someone the all the crazy reasoning of the English language. She can even do basic math, like adding and subtracting, with smaller numbers, and she tries counting up to 100 all the time. And she loves to do projects. During her birthday our friend Gennae told Tryn that she could pick going out for ice cream, going to a movie, or doing a special project together. She picked the project. She is totally ready for school. I'm not though :)

Tryn still loves pb&j every day for lunch, loves scrambled eggs, and still loves all kinds of fruit. She has even started eating some veggies, her favorites are tomatoes and carrots (both are not green, I think she has an aversion to green veggies).

I think that's all for now.

Siblings

So many people have been asking how the girls are getting along with Kyeson. I am so very pleased to say, they are all getting along famously. The girls basically think that Kyeson is the greatest thing since the invention of ice cream.

When they came to visit us in the hospital (after not having seen us for a day and half) they didn't even care to say hi to me. They ran into the room, passed us by, and asked, "Where's the baby? Where's the baby?!" They were so excited.

They ask constantly if they can hold him, and they are fabulous big sisters, always willing to help out. They get diapers, want to change him, keep him company while he's awake, and in general are totally in love with him. Tryn gives him kisses all the time and comments, "Kye just loves love, doesn't he?" As I type this Berlin is laying next to Kye on the floor, just hanging out with him and talking to him while he has some awake time. She is showing him some of his toys - which he doesn't care about in the slightest - but she is being so sweet :)






So far, so good. Who couldn't love this cuteness anyway?

He's Here, He's Here!!!

Kyeson Birgen was born on June 12 at 2:09am, weighing in at 7 lbs 1oz, 20 1/2 inches long, almost exactly two weeks early. All along I had a feeling he was going to come early, but he took me a little bit by surprise. I will probably write up the whole birth story later on sometime (when I have time, haha!!), but here's short version. I have been telling people, when I think of Trynica's birth I think LONG. 38 hours from the beginning of contractions until she entered this world - that's a long time, especially to be awake for all except an hour of it. When I think of Berlin's birth I think FAST...and pretty easy. Kye's one word to describe his birth? PAINFUL. Maybe frustrating, but definitely painful.

As with Berlin, I didn't really know if I was in labor for quite awhile. I started having contractions in the middle of the night on Friday night - which happen one other time two or three weeks ago and that time it ended up not being real labor. So, same middle of the night contractions. 24 hours later he was born. I was expecting for this labor to at least be shorter than Berlin's as is the case with most babies. The more you have the shorter the labor is, but it wasn't.

We went to the hospital around noon on Saturday and the midwife wasn't sure if I was in labor either. I think the only reason she didn't send me home right then and there is because I explained Berlin's labor story to her and she didn't want me to have another baby in a car.

So, long story really short, I didn't dilate past 4cm all day, even after a three mile walk around Lake Calhoun (in which my contractions got to be 2 mins apart), several shorter walks after that, and having the midwife break my water. I think she broke my water around 9:30pm...though I'm not totally sure of the time details. Essentially, at 12:30ishpm the midwife wanted to put me on Pitocin so I didn't have to be up all night, and I started crying because I was way too tired and frustrated at this point. So, I said sure, but the Pitocin never had time to kick in. I went from being at 4cm at 1:00am to Kyeson being born at 2:09pm. This was the most painful hour of my life. It was horrible. Honestly. I mean, he spent so little time in the birth canal that his head was still perfectly round when he came out.

However. I think, after all that, I ended up with one of the greatest babies in the whole wide world. Contrary to his labor, he's so easy! He only cries if he's hungry or sometimes when he has to poop, he will hang out on the floor all by himself and just be as happy as a clam, he will go to sleep on his own after being swaddled and given a pacifier which he spits out promptly after he has fallen asleep. If you know our girls you know this was not the case with either of them. He is a totally dream baby in comparison.

Feast your eyes upon his cuteness :) He really might be one of the cutest babies I've ever seen.

Pregnant...and Italy

I was just reminded, by someone else talking about summer vacations, that I was supposed to go on an awesome vacation this summer. Basically for as long as I can remember I have wanted to go to Italy. Maybe not when I was 5, but at least since my teen years. So 3 or 4 years ago I asked Steve if he would take me to Italy for my 30th birthday, which is this summer. He said yes. Now, however, I am doing this:



Honestly, I am loosing track, I think I am 37 weeks in this picture, but I don't know. Let's just say that I am. Pretty sure I am. This is what I am doing instead of going to Italy this summer.

We actually talked about this whole Italy thing when we decided to try and have another baby, Steve said let's wait to have a baby and I said no. I didn't want to go to Italy pregnant, can't not drink wine and be uncomfortable on the best vacation ever - and that would have meant waiting until this summer to get pregnant. I also didn't want our last baby to be so far apart in age from the girls. So we decided to have a baby and NOT go to Italy for my 30th birthday.

Sigh.

Right now, when it was 102 miserable degrees yesterday, when I am having a hard time walking because of my lower back, when I am not sleeping at night, and when I feel HUGE...I'm kind of still wishing I was going to Italy this summer.

Still totally excited about this man-child, but seriously, the last couple weeks of pregnancy are not what I would call fun. And it's the last couple of weeks. Two weeks from tomorrow to be exact. People keep asking me how I am feeling and I am feeling like a 38 weeks pregnant woman. And it's not a great feeling.

That's all. :)

Happy Fifth Birthday Trynica!

Birth Day

First Birthday

Second Birthday

Third Birthday

Fourth Birthday

Fifth Birthday


Happy Birthday Trynica!!

This birthday feels like it has been a long time coming, especially since you have been talking about it since Christmas...maybe even before that. Honestly, this is a birthday that I wasn't especially looking forward to because things change this year. You have been talking about turning 5 and the fact that you get to go to school when you are 5 almost every day - but I don't know if I am ready for that! I can't believe it's already here! How did you turn 5 so quickly? Weren't you just born a few months ago?! I can't believe you are going to school in a few short months. Daddy and I realized about a week and a half ago that you thought you were going to start school the day after your birthday, thank goodness that didn't actually happen. I don't think my heart could handle it.

You are so excited to be 5 though, it's really cute. I think that this is the first year that you really understood what having a birthday and turning a year older really means, and you are so grow up now that you are five. :) Yesterday you asked me if it was time to get you a phone now because you are five. The answer is no. Absolutely not. :)

What I have especially loved about this past year is how creative you have gotten! You love to create things, work on projects, and color for hours every day. You are a sweet and helpful big sister who likes to be in charge. I love that you are so tender hearted and always wanting to be good. I love that you still like to sit on my lap. I love that you are so excited about school, even though I don't really want you to go. I love how you draw pictures for people all the time, to show them how much you love them, and how you are so giving. You are so special.

Daddy and I love you with all our hearts and then some. We love you all the way to Africa and back :)

Love,
Mom

Sweet Pepper Pasta with Kale

I feel a little lame posting a recipe after a whole month of posting almost nothing. However, and this is an important however, you have to try this. As I have mentioned two of my recent cooking quests (besides trying to stop making so many yummy desserts) is to find some vegetarian meals and to incorporate more super foods.

Hence, Sweet Pepper Pasta with Kale.

As always, I have no idea where I got this recipe. I copy and pasted it into an email and emailed it to myself...don't remember where I found it. Just so we are clear I am not claiming this recipe as my own - someone else made it up, and they did a really good job.

It's super easy, super summery, super tasty, and if you really don't like to do the vegetarian thing it would taste really awesome with a big juicy steak :) We ate it as a meal by itself. And finished the whole thing. This would also make a great pasta/veggie dish to bring to a potluck/picnic if you are invited to such things.

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package uncooked farfalle (bow tie) pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 cup roughly chopped kale (super food, yummy!!!!!)
4 cloves garlic, chopped (meh, just threw a big spoonful in there)
1 pinch dried basil (used way more than a pinch)
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper (also, used slightly more than a pinch)
salt and ground black pepper to taste
8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (didn't end up using this much as we added the feta on top after we put it on our plates. Used less than a 4 oz container, maybe half of one).

Directions

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in red pepper, yellow pepper, kale and garlic. Season with basil, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper. Cook until vegetables are tender.
In a large bowl, toss cooked pasta with skillet mixture. Sprinkle with feta cheese to serve.

Enjoy!

Destruction and Chaos

So, yes, a tornado hit North Minneapolis a week ago today. I am sure most everyone knows about it by now...and yes, I am WAY behind on blogging. I think this might be my second one for the month - which...yeah. Whatever.

Tornado. I didn't even know there was a tornado warning, much less for one in my own neighborhood. I had been taking a nap and woke up when it sounded like a huge gust of wind suddenly hit the side of our house. I looked out the window, but it was pouring rain and the sky wasn't greenish so I didn't feel too concerned. Two seconds later I got a text saying that if I was home I should go to the basement immediately. Two seconds after that Steve called me from work.

Steve loves storms so he was all, "Babe, there's a tornado somewhere! You should turn on the tv and find out what's going on!"

And I was all, "Um, I don't think so. I just got a text from Kathy telling me to go to the basement ASAP."

Then he was all, "Well, are the sirens going off?"

And I said no. Two seconds later they went off.

So I grabbed the girls and grabbed them some shoes and we rushed off down to the basement.

When we came up from the basement and looked out the window it was like nothing had happened. Our neighborhood didn't even have a tree down. No big deal. However, if you look at this picture you can see that the tornado basically hit all of North except our neighborhood. We live in the southeast corner, next to the larger green park that says Fairview Park - if that's readable.



By Sunday night they called a 9:00pm curfew for all of the Northside so that people weren't walking into downed power lines in the middle of the night, and by Monday morning most roads in and out of North were closed down. I had to drive the girls to Robbinsdale on Monday morning - which is kiddy corner to us on the map, northwest corner - and it usually takes 5 minutes. It took about 40 mins. I got "lost" driving around North on Monday. Lost as in the sense that I knew where I was, knew where I wanted to go, but had NO IDEA how to get there.

After dropping the kids off I unknowingly drove into one of the very worst areas, into Zone 3. I can't even tell you how many times I had to turn around or turn down a different street because of trees just laying across the roads. That's where I saw this car, which I had seen on the news the night before.



Notice how all the trees fell into the road? Well, I drove down some other roads that had the opposite problem and every tree had fallen onto the front of house instead. There were a few blocks were it looked like every house had a tree leaning on it.



Steve and I joined thousands of volunteers to help with clean up on Monday. Yes, I am 4 weeks out from having a baby, I still helped anyway. At first we were told to pick up twigs and small branches outside the main zones. Steve said, "Heck no, I want to carry heavy things!" It just so happened that a guy in our group had a chainsaw so he brought it out and we crossed the zone barriers.



I think Steve or someone counted, our team, consisting of Chainsaw guy, our friends Christian and Fink Josh, two girls whose names I don't know, two or three other guys, Steve and pregnant me, cleared 12 trees on Monday. I didn't bring my camera out at the beginning of the day because it continuously looked like it was going to rain any minute, but it finally got sunnyish after lunchtime.



One street that we cleared was in front of an assisted living facility. We helped clear a big tree that had fallen over their fence. It was funny though because I was mostly just hauling smaller branches that I didn't have to bend way over to pick up - not a big deal. They weren't heavy. Eventually though, this guy who was not part of our team, I think he might have worked at the facility, came to help us. Then, every single time I picked something up he came over to me, without saying a word, and took it out of my hands. He never did talk to me, just kept taking things away. Finally I just had to sit down on a chair for awhile because there was nothing that I could do.





Now, a week later there are still tons of people volunteering to help with the clean up, and there is still lots of clean up to do. I see big trucks driving by all the time just loaded up with parts of trees. Also, Fairview Park, two blocks away from us, has become the relief center for all the tornado victims. There are hundreds of people at the park everyday getting all kinds of help.

My friend and neighbor Gennae was helping out people this last week who lost their glasses in the tornado. I had never thought of that as a need before, but some people whose houses are condemned literally only have the clothes that they were wearing last Sunday. Gennae helped a few hundred people get new eyewear so that they could see. Can you imagine loosing your glasses? It would be hard for me to function without mine.