photo shoot, and progress report

The other night I convinced Jim to help me with a project: getting a photo of the dogs and Kajsa. Ha. If my goal was a good photo of all three subjects, it was a great thought, poor execution. If my goal was simply some photos of the three subjects, then we were successful.

It was fun, anyhow. We went to the Memorial Union at UW, and saw lots of people, several dogs, and when the photo shoot was all done, we had Babcock Ice Cream. I love being there… all the people, the sailboats, the water, the sun going down, the colorful Union chairs, the ducks, the ice-cream. Kajsa met a new friend–a Korean toddler whose parents speak Chinese. The two girls were so cute, touching hands together, petting the dogs, squealing and laughing.

The second photo shows one of my favorite Kajsa looks: the furrowed eyebrows we first saw in her referral photos…. the puzzled look… so fun.

This week I’m back at work, while Jim is on family leave. I’ve enjoyed being back to work this week. As part of our soon-to-be new schedule, Jim and I will be taking turns at the office, so one of us is home with Kajsa, while the other one works. Clearly there will come a time when both of us need to be at a meeting, and so we are going to need child-care. But that’s a challenge for another day. In the meantime, we’re enjoying this schedule.

Kajsa’s sleep has been a little less consistent lately, so we’re working on that. She’s still not crawling, though scoots backwards pretty effectively. She loves standing, with our help, and is discovering that her feet can move while standing, too. The dogs are increasingly more patient with her squeals and pulling of their hair when they stand near her high-chair. Poor dogs. They are getting braver, though, standing closer and closer to her high-chair, when it’s meal-time. Maybe they’re getting deaf, because of her squealing.

This week Kajsa also has a new sound: it is quite close to “zha zha”… it seems to cover many objects, conversations, people… She utters “zha zha” when she’s playing with the stacking cups and is laughing… she says “zha zha” when she’s mad, when she wants something she can’t reach, when she’s jabbering away about something we have no idea about.. It’s fun to hear the new sounds, and wonder what they’re all about!

Wrigley Field

Kajsa’s now been to two baseball games, both of them Cubs games. Last week we went to Wrigley Field, for her first Cubs game there, and had a great time. The sun was super hot for the first few innings, burning down right on us, but once we cooled down it was great.

It was great even when it was hot, but of course more enjoyable when we weren’t sweating bullets. I took her out for a walk in the stadium, to get in the shade a little bit, and get some cold water.

The Cubbies won. That is always a plus. And Kajsa’s enthusiasm for the game is a plus as well. She claps whenever she hears clapping (almost whenever, at least). And she still seems to confuse booing with the need to clap, so even when Houston scored and Cub fans booed, Kajsa clapped. Fortunately we had friendly fans near us, and fortunately she’s not a loud clapper yet.

Go, Cubs, Go!

more cousins

Maddie and Erin have been visiting, and we’ve been busy doing all sorts of fun stuff: Farmer’s Market, National Mustard Day (in Mount Horeb),

eating ice-cream at home… eating ice-cream at the Memorial Union, walking down State Street, climbing in the Union big chair, listening to lots of fun songs, swimming at the Monona Pool, and other stuff. Fun, fun, fun…

Take me out to the Ballgame…

even if it’s not Wrigley Field. Yesterday was Kajsa’s first baseball game. At Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers). I do love Miller Park, even though I’m more of a Cubs fan. I love the stadium, the family-friendly atmosphere, the sausage races… So, if one can’t be at Wrigley, the next best thing might be Miller Park. Anyhow, Kajsa mostly had a blast at the game. She was a bit overwhelmed by all the noise, but once she warmed up, she clapped. A lot.

Her Aunt Sue, Uncle Bill and cousins gave her this adorable pink Cubs outfit. I bought the shoes last week, but they’re too big. So we just left them on for a photo op. (she takes them off, even when they’re double-knotted.)

and more photos

1. Kajsa and the Chocolate Cake. (that Jen and Rob arranged for her birthday)

2. Kajsa’s first Peppermint Bon Bon ice cream.. being closely watched by the dogs.

3. All of us dressed up for Jen’s wedding

4. At the reception

5. Nap time

6. “Peek-a-boo” from behind a favorite toy: the Fisher Price Farm. And wearing her Namibia shirt.

photos from last week

-not in chronological order. But fun, nonetheless.

1. First US Doctor’s Visit. went well, until they had to draw blood, and couldn’t find a vein. Ouch. Horrible. Note the pink bandage tape on Kajsa’s left arm.

2. Kajsa, playing with her very own personal Kris Brown.

3. First visit to the Plaza, Madison. With Charlie and Ken. (Kajsa’s crying because of another reason, not because of being at the Plaza.)

4. Kajsa and Kjell.

5. Kjell, Kajsa, Broder.

6. Kajsa loves her “Baby Scuba Diver” from Will.. and sometimes falls asleep with it in her hand.

7. Kajsa and Sarah.

Happy Birthday

Happy 1st Birthday, Kajsa!

She had a full day. Visitors this morning (Kris B., Sandie and Kjell-who spent the night last night, their last night in Madison, lots of phone calls, and a drive to Moline, for Jen and Rob’s wedding. Then tonight, Jen and Rob had the servers bring Kajsa a piece of chocolate cake, complete with a sparkling candle. She loved it. I’ll post pictures tomorrow–I hope.

from Abby, the dog

I’ve been so good, I really have. When Cathy and Jim left to pick up “Kajsa”, I thought this might be some relative of my good friend “Kaya”… who is fun to play with. And has four legs. But instead they came back–18 days later–with Kajsa, a little human. Who screams, laughs, jabbers, pokes, pulls whiskers, and makes other funny noises. It’s actually been mostly alright… we dogs like Kajsa. She does tend to drop lots of noodles and other food scraps–especially when it’s near the end of her mealtime. So we’re having fun with that.

But, there are some challenges to this whole situation. For instance, she clearly gets more attention than we dogs do—a drastic change. She gets to go with Jim and Cathy in the car ALL the time! We only get to go with them sometimes. A bit unfair. She has a nice bed in her own room. (though, on the plus side, she has a nice rug in her room that I like to sleep on at times.) She’s fed often—as mentioned above, sometimes we get fed by Kajsa, and Kajsa’s crumbs, but clearly not as much as she is eating. And, perhaps the hardest of all, she has all these new stuffed animals that we aren’t allowed to play with. New! Not from St. Vinnies, not from Good Will… all these new stuffed animals and other cool toys. Some of them even squeak. And, I believe, all toys that squeak should automatically be given to dogs, not to humans.

Anyhow, I really have been good, and I really do love my new sister. But the other day I had to step in. There’s a little stuffed puppy that belongs to Entropy and me. They gave it to us long before Kajsa came into the house. Well she somehow got hold of it, and was playing with it. She carried it around with her for some time. So when I jumped up on the bed to visit Cathy. (part of our old routine: Cathy keeps sleeping, Jim takes us dogs for a walk, we return, and I jump on the bed to take a nap on Cathy’s legs.), Kajsa was sitting on the bed, next to Cathy. And she had the puppy—my puppy—in front of her, and was playing with it. I ever-so-gently leaned in towards Kajsa, and with the tips of my teeth, so I wouldn’t hurt her, I grabbed my puppy back, turned around, and lay down.

Kajsa was a bit confused, and upset at first. But she’s so easily distracted, so Jim just anded her the new “Grover” she was given. After Jim and Cathy explained to her that the puppy belonged to the dogs, she seemed to calm down. Granted, as you can see in this photo, she tried to take our puppy away from me again the next day, but hey, it is pretty darn fun to play with.

Overall, I think Kajsa likes us dogs. And though this is taking some getting-used-to, we like her, too.

and speaking of prayers,

please pray for our friends the Lawrences. On Thursday, before we left for Chicago, Sandie called and told us that Dave had been diagnosed with cancer. It’s horrible, it sucks, it’s scary, the timing is about as bad as it gets. Dave’s already in Alaska, Sandie and the kids are leaving this community next week, and heading to Alaska the following week. It just sucks.

Hopefully it’s in the early stages. They find out more next week. But in the meantime, please keep them in your prayers.

Thank you….

Chicago and cousins and friends, oh my!

We went to Chicago on Thursday, for the memorial service of Jean Lambert (Jim’s Supervisor when he interned in Sweden). The service was good, what little I heard of it. Jim and Pete, another of Jean’s former seminary interns, read Scripture. I did hear that. And a couple of songs. But about half an hour into the service, I realized that Kajsa was going to be too talkative to sit in the service. That, and fighting sleep–thus also talkative and also screaming. And laughing. So, Jo Ann and I went to the back of North Park Church/outside/and downstairs… taking turns passing Kajsa back and forth while she fought off sleep. Downstairs, Kajsa only wanted to play with Doreen and Delen, the kids of friends of ours who flew in for Jean’s service.

After the service (and before and during), Kajsa met lots of people. She also met some cousins, aunts and uncles (on the Erickson side) on our jaunt to Chicago. Though she’s still a bit clingy with us, she’s also loving the “hanging out with people” aspect of our lives–good thing! And it helps that her cousins are so fun.

I was moved to tears by many things in the past several days. Jean’s service, seeing friends and family who have been supporting and praying for us for so long, etc. But after the service, one couple approached me and asked if this was the new baby from China. I said yes, and they said they don’t know me, but have been praying for us, and for Kajsa for quite some time. Oh? I said.. thank you.. who are you? They attend the church of a friend of mine, who has, in their words, been very faithful in praying for us and others facing tough situations.

Thank you. Thank you to those of you who have been praying, who continue to pray, who have already expressed your incredible support and happiness for us and for Kajsa. I told this couple that there have been many times in these past difficult years, when I have been unable to pray, and that it is helpful to know that others pray for us. It relieves the pressure of the guilt of not being able to pray, if that makes any sense.

Though Chicago was an exhausting trip, especially for Kajsa, it felt good and right to introduce her to many friends, family, and even strangers who we’ve never met.