Missing: One Bottom Tooth

From Jan/Feb 2013

Annikka lost her first tooth today!  She discovered that her bottom left front tooth was loose on December 31, and she's been working on loosening it more and more every day since.  Then today while swimming, she decided to bite on her dive stick and it fell out! 

From Jan/Feb 2013

Luckily it didn't fall into the pool! :)  She was so excited; she swam around telling everyone in the pool that her first tooth just fell out - most were happy for her, but I think some were just happy to hear that it didn't fall into the pool.

From Jan/Feb 2013

Hopefully the tooth fairy finds our house tonight.

Sound it out

Annikka is learning to read through the Funnix reading program (highly recommended).  We've been working through these lessons with her very sporadically for the last year and a half.  For most of that time we averaged one or two lessons a week, maybe, and her progress was slow.  But for the last month, we've made it a point to do one lesson per night.  It's really paying off.  And in just the past week Annikka's reading has really come together.



Annikka is really excited, and we're proud of how hard she is working on it.  She'll be a real reader in no time!

Week 22

This week's chemo appointment included another echocardiogram.  Eila's heart needs to be checked because of the Doxorubicin she is receiving in this round of treatments.  Luckily there are no signs of damage to her heart (insert sigh of relief).  She will have to continue to be monitored in the future, because problems could appear as she, and her heart, grows.  We don't know what this means yet, but probably an echo every other year or so.

From Nov/Dec 2012

Everything else went smoothly in her appointment (the picture is Eila's favorite lobby toy, a rocking boat).  She now only has one chemo treatment left in mid-February.  She will have a post-chemo check-up in March and we'll find out what the future plans are then.  It's amazing how quickly these weeks have gone by.

New Ski Season

Now that the holidays are over, Annikka and I are starting our ski season.  At the end of last season, Annikka had just learned how to get down a beginner hill without any help. 

So this year, we headed over to Bend for our first trip.  I took off work early and the two of us made the four hour trip over the mountains.  It was just me and Annikka, and we had a good time singing songs, taking pictures, and talking. 

We arrived in Bend and stayed with our friends Garrett and Lynette who were kind to host us.   We woke around 8:00 the next morning, at some breakfast, played with their hilarious son Louis, and then made the 20 minute drive up to the mountain.

I left Annikka with the ski instructors for her two hour lesson, and I hit the slopes.

Once Annikka was done with her lesson, we ate some lunch, and then it was back to the same hill that she conquered last year:

After one lesson she's picked up right where she left off last year.  We must have skied that run for two and a half hours.  Annikka didn't want to leave, but we had another snowy, four hour drive ahead of us, so we headed back to the car.  It was a long hike for both of us to get back to the parking lot.  I had to juggle all of our gear (my skies, my poles, her skies, our helmets, some hot chocolate, etc.), and she had to walk the whole way in her ski boots.  I kept waiting for her to break down, but when we finally got the car, she looks up at me and said: "Daddy, I love skiing."  Perfect timing for a comment like that.  Fun day.

This past weekend we went up to Mt. Hoodoo (only half the drive).  Instead of taking a lesson, Annikka and I spent the whole day going down actual non-bunny-hill runs.  Just me and her.  We had so much fun that I forgot to take out the camera, which is too bad, because it was a beautiful day, and Annikka skied great.  I did snap a quick pic from my phone:

Annikka was exhausted - I imagine it was her first full day of skiing.  She slept the entire two hour ride home.  I'm sure we'll be heading up to Hoodoo or Bachelor again soon.  What a blast it is to ski with your daughter.

New Year's Eve

We had an action-packed New Year's Eve, while at least by our standards.  The day started with a family trip to Portland for the last chemo appointment of 2012.  Annikka went to Meredith and Pete's to play with Thurston this time, now that she knows the hospital isn't too much fun.  Eila's chemo appointment went well, and now there's only 2 left.

When we got home, the girls pretended they were camping in Annikka's room.  They created their own little campfire (out of flashlights and Beaver pom-poms) to roast marshmallows over.

From Nov/Dec 2012

From Nov/Dec 2012

It was fun and kept them busy until the fireworks.  We promised they could stay up to see the excitement over the starting of a new year -- a much easier commitment to make on the west coast.  So at 9:00 PST, we watched the ball drop and the Time Square fireworks.  The girls were mesmerized.

From Nov/Dec 2012

Then we went to bed.  Happy 2013 everyone, wonder what it has in store for us ...