First Teeth

A few days after Christmas Henrik's first teeth popped through! Unlike his sister who waited until after her first birthday, his decided to appear at five months. He must be working on getting more because he continues to be quite the drool monster.

Christmas Celebrations

After a busy holiday season, I have a bit of catching up to do!

A VISIT FROM NANA AND PAPA

A few days before Christmas my parents were able to come into town for a quick visit. We had a fun 24 hours that included a trip to Godfather's Pizza, staying up too late to look at crazy Christmas lights, and Papa attending Annika's school Christmas party.

CHRISTMAS WITH THE JOHNSONS
Christmas weekend was spent in Kalamazoo with the Johnson family. We enjoyed being at home for the holiday -- attending Christmas Eve service at our church and relaxing Christmas morning at our own house. Grammy and Grampy and Jenna came to us for stockings, presents and Christmas brunch. Some favorite gifts included a fantastic playhouse from Grammy and Grampy and a new kitty named Jellycat from Santa. After Christmas morning we spent the rest of Christmas weekend at the Johnson's house, relaxing, playing games and having fun. The big Christmas bummer this year was that Annika got sick Christmas Eve and was under the weather with a fever the entire weekend. She managed to perk up a bit for presents Christmas morning, but unfortunately it took a bit of the magic out of Christmas for her this year.

HENRIK'S FIRST CHRISTMAS
Christmas Day Henrik turned 5 months. He continues to be an incredibly happy little boy, full of smiles and giggles. He marked his 5 month birthday and the Christmas holiday by enjoying his first "real" meal of rice cereal and did great. It is yet to help him sleep through the night, but I'm sure we'll get there soon!

Peckenpaugh Christmas

2 weeks ago we celebrated Christmas with my family. Due to busy schedules this time of year we crammed in a week's worth of Christmas fun into a 24 hour celebration. As always, it was wonderful to relax and spend time together at the cottage.

Henrik & Kayla's First Christmas!
Annika LOVED Opening Presents
Decorating Christmas Cookies
LOTs of Fun!!

Giving Thanks

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving in Naperville, celebrating with family, eating delicious food and having lots of fun!

We are extremely blessed.

Pumpkins!

This weekend we had a wonderful time packing in a lot of Halloween and Autumn fun. We took a walk in the crunchy leaves in the woods, had a blast pumpkin carving and overdosed on sugar while decorating Halloween cookies. Here are some highlights from our pumpkin carving. Annika is the only kid I know who would insist on eating the gook and seeds from the inside of the pumpkin. She said it was yummy...I'll take her word for it!A photo of Henrik "helping" select our pumpkins a few weeks ago

Halloween Fun

This Thursday I took the morning off of work to volunteer at Annika's preschool Halloween party. It was fun to get a sneak peak inside the class dynamics and their daily routine. Annika chose to be a princess for Halloween this year and had a blast showing off her little tiara and the pink dress she picked out. Grammy Johnson even got to join in the fun (and help with Henrik!).

Happy 3 Months Henrik!

With my returning to work two weeks ago, this last month has been busy and bittersweet. There's something about having very little time together that makes every moment that much more precious. Henrik has been kind to me, finally shifting his sleep schedule to a consistent 8pm bedtime, allowing me to at least be a pretty well-rested working mom. He's still waking up in the middle of the night to eat, but I have to admit that I treasure our 3am quiet moments together.

Henrik continues to be a source of joy. We can't get enough of his big, goofy grins and love watching him take in the world around him. Being our second child we understand how quickly each phase passes; so, although we're excited for all of the things he'll learn in the months to come, we're enjoying every cuddle and coo we get.

Happy 3 Months Henrik!