Growing up so fast

Tonight I realized we had a bunch of pictures from the past month that we hadn't really looked at, so I decided to go through and load them. Two things happened: 1. I got completely carried away, and 2. I began to realize how quickly kids grow up. AJ has changed so much this past month. Her awareness of things (her hands, her toys, her Praise Baby DVD (thanks Lynds), her parents) is crazy and she is becoming a ton of fun as she interacts with us now. She definitely has a personality, both fun and a little dramatic, but Kara and I are enjoying her more everyday. I sometimes think she wants to talk with us, and I think she is pretty funny.
This is one of my favorite pics of her, we all love her bath time,


especially when Kara tells her stories that she just can't believe. "No way! He started his own paper company? Michael Scott Paper? Kind of a weak name, but whatever. Then what happened!?"



"What am I drinking? What does it look like I'm drinking? Yeah, mom's gone, have to resort to the bottle. Pull up a chair, what movie? What movie? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? You haven't heard of Praise Baby, yeah, awesome. I mean, a bunch of random footage of kids, cartoons, animals, worship songs, it definitely beats that Grey's Anatomy show my mom watches, at least this makes sense. I mean, Izzy's ex coming back to her from the dead, what's that all about? What, oh, that's just my dad, he likes this DVD too, even though he is a little too old for it. No, I am not upset he isn't holding me when I am eating, it's cool."

Polka dots. (That's all I got)

"Whoa, how long have you been there?"

"Really, a whole month, seriously, a month, are you sure? No, no, can't say I have seen it before. In this car seat, right here? Really, above me the whole time? Wow, don't know what to say, well, yes, I like the colors, yes I know they are bright, well, I am working on it. Wait, it rattles when you pull on it, hmmm, that kind of makes sense, actually. At least it explains the twitch I have had. Well yes, now that I see it, I like it. I didn't mean to be ungrateful... my bad. Is there anything else you have given me I haven't noticed?"

"You know dad, you aren't as comfortable as mom, but for now, you'll do."

"Weirdest thing, I found these two things I can shove in my mouth without anyone's help. Don't know how they got there, but I love to taste them, more fun then the thing mom and dad always shove in my mouth, I never know what these will taste like. Yeah, pink dress, I know, pretty cute, what can I say?"

"I think my auntie got me this outfit, supposedly it says I love my auntie. I mean, a little presumptuous if you ask me, but yeah, I do love her, she kind of reminds me of mom... I wonder why that is?"


"Dudes, NOT cool."


"What was that? Oh, Gilligan called, he wants his hat back? Really, tell him he can come and get it... ha!"

"You know, I am not sure why you guys keep putting me next to this pink rabbit every week. I guess it is cute and fluffy, but for the life of me I can't figure out how come it keeps shrinking. Every time I see it it seems smaller. Strange..."

The "School is finally done" Trip home...

All of our visits to Northern California over the past year have been either a)short or b)somewhat stressful knowing that I will be welcomed back to San Diego by loads of homework. That's why this last trip home was so much fun. As soon as my final clinical shift was finished on March 27th Eric, Annika and I headed up north for about 2 and a half weeks of fun with family and friends.

Our first airplane experience with Annika was great. Those of you who know her understand why we were a little nervous about taking her on the plane...BUT, she did awesome and actually slept through the entire flight AND the entire car ride from Sac to Ripon. Its amazing how much more difficult it is to fly with all of the baby gear though...we were glad to have my mom's help on the first leg of our trip. By the way, you know you're a mom when over half of your suitcase is full of your daughter's clothes and you find yourself wearing the same three things all vacation long...

We were able to spend time with both Eric's and my family in Ripon, Dublin, and Pebble Beach and we even made a quick trip up to Tahoe to see the Tanks for a few days. Northern California is just so beautiful this time of year and we felt so refreshed after a couple of weeks up there. What can I say, once a norcal girl, always a norcal girl...



Annika loved the exersaucer...she's still so little so we had to pack blankets around her to keep her steady, but she spent a good 30 minutes in there each time we tried it. Guess we'll have to get her one to play with at home...the girl's going to have more "furniture" than we do soon.

Here's is a picture of uncle Kevin holding Annika for the first time. Kevin is my sister's husband. He's a great daddy and I know he will be a great uncle to Annika too. In the other picture Annika is having quite the conversation with my Dad. She has started cooing and smiling so much (when she wants to:)) We don't have a picture of it, but she spent hours, literally hours, talking to Eric's dad while we were at their house too. She also loved her cuddle time with Nana(my mom) and Grandmama(eric's mom).


Seeing Ethan with Annika was absolutely precious. He has a lot of practice being gentle and sweet with babies because of his sister Morgan. He would talk to Annika in his sweet little baby voice and give her lots of kisses. He kept saying to me, "Auntie, she's so 'yittle'...look at her 'yittle' toes!" When Morgan and Annika get fussy we put Ethan on "Binkie patrol." He makes sure their binkies are always in place. Morgan also LOVED her cousin. She would start kicking and smiling and reaching for Annika every time she saw her...so cute!

We went to visit my Grandma a few times while we were home. Grandma just loves seeing all of her great grandchildren. She was so happy to finally meet Annika, though she did keep telling me just how good my sister's kids are while we were there...:) Its ok Lynds, I think they're pretty great too! Annika did cooperate and took her morning nap with grandma one morning. It was pretty special. It was fun getting a "four generations" picture with my mom and grandma too.

Ethan definitely prefers his uncle to me now. I knew the day would come, and I'm ok with it now that I have my own little one to take care of:) Eric is such a good uncle. He plays soccer, basketball, baseball, and of course golf with Ethan and spends lots of time "rough housing" with him too.

I love that picture of Annika in her "bath" at the Pebble house. Look at those roles!

Not a "Y" among them!

Dakota, Ellie, Rayah, Ashlyn, Annika, and Kate

6-0. That's the dominance of the X chromosome in the Miller, Sammons, and now Jung family!
Since I was little, the Sammons family has always been great friends of mine. Troy has been my closest friend since Junior High, and his two sisters (Heather and Amber) and parents have been like family to me. Heather's husband was my high school youth pastor. Needless to say, coming home to the Bay always is more complete when we get to see the crew, which is now a girl fest.

Troy and his youngest, Kate. Dakota (our fire fighter) is his oldest. When Kara took AJ up to bathe and go to bed, Dakota, Ashlyn and Rayah all came with her to watch. Dakota would have taken a bath with her had we let her, but all the girls were so interested in AJ, it was really cute to watch.

Ellie is Heather and Jeff's youngest, Ashlyn (in the princess costume) is the middle child and Rayah is the oldest. (Once again, AJ is a champion and never fuses when she is near younger kids). I began to teach Rayah how to play chess, we started with just the pawns. By the second game she was already figuring out how to play defense and plan for counter moves two plays ahead. She is a quick learner, so I stopped playing with her in fear of seriously losing a game!


Too cute not to show.

And finally, our little bear. We spent three days up in Tahoe with the Tanks, which meant 3 kids to 4 parents (pics to come later). Kara's sister let us borrow (thank you Lynds!) Morgan's bear nightime outfit, which she loved in the cold weather. It was fun to see the snow and take AJ to Lake Tahoe. It was a great relaxing trip, even though it was a round robin of baby feedings, diapers, naps, schedules... it took us over 2 hours to get everyone ready to leave the house for one excersion... welcome to our new life.
This trip home has been great for us. Kara is finished with school and that has been a huge relief for her and she has really relaxed while being home. With many grandparents around to hold Annika, we have been able to unwind and enjoy ourselves. Thanks for tuning in, more to come soon.
EJ, KJ, and AJ