The grandparents are celebrating

Andrin and Bigna's grandparents kept their tradition
of celebrating their second grandchild's birth in our absence!

This is Andrin's comment:
Mami: Who do you see on the picture?
Andrin: Opa, Oma, and Opa Jumbo.
Mami: What are they doing?
Andrin: Drinking wine.

Welcome Bigna Stien McKenzie!

We are happy to announce the birth of our daughter, Bigna Stien McKenzie.
She was born Sunday, February 13th, 2011 at 2.05 pm at Sacred Heart Riverbend Hospital in Springfield, Oregon.
She weighted 7 pounds 4 ounces (3.300 g) and 19 inches (48 cm).
We are all doing well and already back home!

Last day of decent weather?

If we can believe the weather forecast, we had the last day of decent weather today. It looks like the rain is making its comeback again. We all would have been happy with a little bit more of the mild, sometimes even sunny, and overcast skies. Andrin enjoyed as usual his morning with Papi. They went to soccer and Andrin took a liking to his new coach, coach McKenzie. He then also went to take care of the flies at the lab with Papi. Mami took the opportunity and took a long walk through the park. She was surprised that she was not more out of breath. After a shorter afternoon nap, we went to the park to play. Andrin has a new favorite park behind a school that we have been calling Theo's park because it is close to where Theo used to live. Theo and his family moved to Florida and Andrin still talks about missing him.

Coming down the slide. Andrin is rather cautious in the beginning at new places, but then warms up and cannot get enough of it.

Since the playground is by a school, there are not the bucket swings. It did not bother Andrin at all and he enjoyed swinging on the big boy swing.

This is what we get when Mami asks Andrin to laugh for the picture.

When we went to the park the other day, Andrin observed how another boy was playing on this thing and he wanted to try it himself today.

After Papi gave him a push, he decided that he wanted to push Papi as well.

Back home, busy cooking while Mami is cooking as well.

Andrin has a new aunt!

Congratulations to aunt Tuuli and uncle Timmie on tying their knot today!
Unfortunately, we were not able to be there as well!
But we are looking forward to their wedding in Switzerland at the beginning of July.
Andrin is very excited and could not stop talking about aunt Tuuli!
And I am sure that our parents are proud (and relieved) that all their children are married now!

An egg-delicious day

Today, we had an egg-themed day: everything evolved around eggs (or so it seemed). It already started with breakfast. Papi made some eggs for Andrin which he loved (he loves to peel the hard-boiled eggs himself). Of course Papi did not realize that Mami was planning to use the eggs for a pie for dinner. So after heading to the bookstore (Andrin has a new favorite book: A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philipp Christian Stead), we stopped at our little store to pick up a dozen eggs. Andrin already wanted to hold them in the stroller, but Mami decided that that might be asking for trouble. But once at home, Andrin asked to cook the eggs and Mami allowed him to do that under the pretense that he was really careful. Well, he really was careful and let's put it this way: some of the eggs survived! He pumped against the chair that he was cooking on and then the box with eggs fell down. Andrin and Mami decided that it might be safer to get the plastic Easter eggs out and Andrin played happily with them. He was just a little bit dissatisfied with the coloring of them. He decided to put them in the box and announced that they needed to be stored in the refrigerator so that they would turn "white." The eggs are still in the refrigerator and Andrin asked to check on them several times, always disappointed that they are still colorful and not yet white.

But if you thought that was the end of our egg-delicious day, you are mistaken! After his afternoon nap, Andrin got up and wanted to eat the second egg (wow, that boy has been eating today ...). He helped Mami bake the apple pie and handed Mami one of the two eggs and Mami dropped it on the floor. Mami could not help herself and just had to laugh really hard! And since Mami was laughing so hard, Andrin also had to laugh really hard! We really had some fun today!

A Day in the Sun ...

Andrin is not looking for Easter eggs, but he is picking flowers.

Showing all his flowers to Papi that just came back from the river. He picked flowers for Papi, Mami, himself, and baby sister.

Rolling in the park. Why does it remind me of a puppy dog?

After a while, there was another girl at the park and Andrin was content watching her.

What a wonderful day! We took advantage of the beautiful weather (and the fact that Andrin did not take an afternoon nap ...) and went to two of our parks in the neighborhood. In the morning, we went to play soccer at University Park. In the afternoon, we went to the park closest to our house and it was empty like always, despite the sunshine. But I guess there was another reason today that there was nobody outside: The Superbowl. Well, we had a great time and Andrin loved to be outside.

Waiting game ...

The waiting game has begun ... Papi is ready, but is our baby girl ready? With Andrin around as well, there is not just our family participating in this waiting game ... our primary caretakers for Andrin (thank you!) and our backups are waiting as well. We apologize for all their nightly wake-ups and frentic searches for their cell phones ... And then there is the family ... We told them that we do not take any responsibility and that any injuries due to them running into each other to get the phone first will will not be covered by our insurance (luckily, our family does not live here in the US because else we would have to fear a civil law suit as well ...).

In the meantime, we have been busy with Andrin. Mami is enjoying her time off and being able to do things with Andrin. The weather has been wonderful (even mild) and we have enjoyed the outdoors with trips to the park (we discovered a new playground where there was a funny bird, as Andrin called it), with play dates with Andrin's friends, with a trip to the Science Factory to discover Chemistry (and of course the "dinosaur"/iguana ... just ask Andrin about it, he will tell you with enthusiasm about that creature and his intention to eat it ...). At times, Andrin challenges Mami with his terrific Two's behavior. We are trying to work out things together and sometimes are able to do that. Mami gets to know Andrin pretty well and Papi did not believe that it takes us about 90 minutes to get dressed, have breakfast, and leave the house. But when did we leave the house this morning? After 90 minutes of preparations! At times, his attempts to get his way are just too funny: He did not want Mami to take a shower the other day and hid her underwear that she had ready in the shower. Luckily, he is pretty honest and tells you where he is hiding things when you ask him directly ... My underwear was in a drawer.

Impromptu piano performance in his "tent" underneath the table.

Andrin is playing his version of a board game.

Andrin's farm.

Papi could not laugh because he had mouthwash in his mouth ...