Merry Christmas! - Part 2

On Tuesday, December 27th (the Tuesday after Christmas) the Akers' side of the family celebrated Christmas together. It was a fun-filled day full of relatives. My parents went to Seattle and brought back both of my Grandmothers (Grandma and Bestamor - which is Norwegian for Grandmother). Abby and I came over after we'd gotten up for the day and Nate joined us at lunch after working a half day. It was nice that the hustle and bustle of the actual holiday day had passed and we were able to just sit back and enjoy each other's company without having to worry about the next planned event as this was the last one!

The house was filled with talk and laughter in every corner as we had Dad, Mom, Katie, her boyfriend Bo, her daughter Haylee, David, his girlfriend Danielle, Grandma, Bestamor, Nate, Abby, and myself. There were times the house was so loud with conversations flowing over and around each other that we had to shout to be heard. :-) It was a great family get-together!

Opening presents with Abby went pretty much the same as the Carstens'. Abby was happy opening up her first present then got a bit overwhelmed by all that was going on. So she went to her own little spot and played with Nate and a few bows and ribbons and had a great time. Nate opened up her presents and would place them in front of her and sometimes she'd be intrigued enough to check them out and other times she'd ignore it completely (only to be entertained by the gift later). I think we learned that having her open her presents this year wasn't a good idea. Playing around with what caught her attention kept her much happier. Note for next year!

All in all the day was really a fun family day. As I'm getting older I'm finding the magic of Christmas again. I don't know if it's because I'm experiencing it through Abby's eyes, if it's because I'm old enough to focus on the fun of giving and Christ's birth instead of the cost and effort, or if it's just the cycle of Christmas I'm in but I'm really enjoying this Christmas season. I'm looking forward to next year's Christmas season celebration!

The pretty tree and gifts before we started opening them.

Abby sharing her cookie with Maddie. 

My happy girl!

Haylee helping Mom and Katie hand out Christmas presents.

Abby and Haylee opening their stockings. 

Abby opening her gift from Nate and I.

Mom wearing Haylee's new bike helmet. Mom though the helmet was too funny and got a kick out of wearing it. Yes, we're funny this way.

Nate opening Abby's presents while she plays nearby.

David and Danielle opening gifts.

Grandma and Bestamor were like two hens in a hen house. They talked the entire time we were opening presents!

Dad and Bo watching the action.

Haylee and Abby love each other! Haylee is fantastic at playing with (watching) Abby while the adults talk.

The aftermath of present opening.

Christmas Letter 2011

Merry Christmas!

This past year has been filled with big and wonderful changes for us.   The most wonderful change happened on February 10^th at 5:25pm when our daughter, Abigail Suzanne, entered the world. At 7 pounds even, 19.5 inches long, and with a head full of long, black hair she was a beautiful sight to behold.  And watch and hold her we did! Nate jokes that she became a permanent fixture in my arms and he had to pry her out of them to let others hold her. I must admit that he’s not too far from the truth. Holding my baby girl, smelling the top of her little head, and watching her discover the world around her was (and still is!) more awesome that I can describe. She’s an absolute joy and we feel so blessed to be her parents.

Abby at 1 month

Our next change occurred in April when Nate had the opportunity to leave his current position at NuScale and become employed with Numerical Applications Incorporated (NAI). I say ‘had the opportunity’ when the reality is that the NuScale, a small start-up company that Nate was working for, lost their investment money and had to lay off their employees. In a nutshell the investor that provided funding for NuScale stole the money.  When this was discovered NuScale’s funding was frozen while this whole ordeal was worked out in the US court system. The end result was that all NuScale employees were laid off at the end of March. Fortunately for us, Nate saw this coming and began job interviewing early on. It ended up that on March 31^st Nate was laid off from NuScale and on April 1^st Nate was hired by NAI. We were so thankful then (and still are) that we didn’t have to deal with loss of income, potential loss of insurance, and all the other negatives that come with unemployment.

Abby in Daddy's favorite onesie "Nuclear Science is Fun"

May brought about another big change. In fact, for me, it’s been the second biggest change (after Abby) in the last nine years (when I graduated college and began working fulltime). I quit my job as a Software Engineer with Lockheed Martin to become a Stay at Home Mom. When faced with the reality of going back to work, Nate and I knew that this just wasn’t the best option for our family. While there was definitely a learning curve, and there still is on some days, this has been a decision that I am thankful for every day. I am blessed to be able to see all of Abby’s “firsts”, to be her main caregiver, to look after our home, and to support Nate with his career.

Oh how I love her smile!

Our summer was pretty low-key as we stayed close to home to allow Nate to study. Yep, our next big change was that in October Nate took the Professional Engineer (PE) exam in Nuclear Engineering. He began studying for this exam regularly in June and kept increasing intensity until, by the end of October when he took the exam, he was working full time, then coming home and studying for a few hours each night and also studying all weekend long. By the time he took his exam we were both stressed, worn-out, and tired from all the studying (Nate) and all the solo wrangling of Abby and the house (Teresa). As we were told it would take many months before we heard whether Nate passed or not, we were hoping for a response sometime in the middle of spring. However, a week before Christmas we got the fantastic news that Nate had passed his exam! Yeah! Woo hoo! We are both thrilled that he passed, and thrilled that we don’t have to repeat the summer of studying and taking the exam again in the event that he didn’t pass.

One of Dad's favorite pictures (He did a great job taking it!).

In early December, we took a family vacation to St. Petersburg, FL. After the summer of intense studying we needed a vacation to celebrate the completion of the exam and to enjoy some family-focused time. And what a time we had! Our hotel was right on the beach and had so few guests that we felt like we had the hotel to ourselves. We saw a total of five people in the pool/hot tub over four days. The beach was best of all with miles and miles of gorgeous white sand and rarely a person in sight. Abby had a great time playing, and eating, all that sand, too! The rest of our time was spent exploring Tampa and visiting Sea World in Orlando. Sea World was fabulous! Nate even admitted that while he originally thought it would be a kid’s place and was going there because I wanted to, he ended up having a great time. Abby loved people watching and trying to guide Nate by pulling his hair. The best part of the day was the Orca show. It was amazing watching those animals jump as high as they did and perform all their tricks.

Love how this one perfectly captures how Nate and I were into the animals/sights and Abby was into people watching. She couldn't have cared less about the sea otters we were watching.

As we come to the end of 2011 and look back over the year it’s been a wonderful and exciting time; the birth of our daughter, both of us changing jobs, education advancement, and family time. We are both grateful for the many blessing we have received. If you are inclined, we would love for you to keep up with our lives throughout the year by visiting our blog at: http://takers401.blogspot.com.

We hope your year has been filled with many blessings as well and would love to hear how you and yours are doing.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Family Photo included in Letter

Christmas Family Photo used on Christmas Picture Card

Nate, Teresa, and Abby Carstens

Merry Christmas! - Part 1

Merry Christmas! (Part 1)

This year we celebrated the actual day of Christmas with Nate's family in Portland, OR. (We'll celebrate Part 2 of Christmas with my family on the Tuesday after Christmas.) The day started in a flurry of activity as both Abby and Linda got up at the same time. Abby demanded changing, food, and entertainment while Linda had us bustling with getting dinner started in the kitchen. After a few hours of scurrying bath and forth between the two of them both the babies (as we like to joke) took their naps at the same time and a calm and peaceful feeling swept over the house. :-) Soon enough both of them were up again and it was time to open presents. Yeah!

Abby did pretty much like I expected. A few minuets of having fun then a total meltdown as she became overwhelmed with activity. We set her in her booster seat for some snacks and she became much better munching and observing the festivities while not being a part of them. (When my niece, Haylee, was this age she had a full-on meltdown due to being given gifts and then having them taken away as we gave her more gifts so I was prepared and not surprised when Abby did the same. It's cute how history repeats itself!)

After opening gifts with Nate's parents we boxed up Christmas dinner and drove over to his Grandparent's house. Grandpa and Grandma have been sick with a nasty cough this past week so they weren't up to making the trip over to spend the day at Nate's parent's house so we took the party to them. It ended up being a good thing, too, as we were only at his Grandparent's house for two hours and they were exhausted by the time we left. We did enjoy eating our prime rib dinner along with yummy pumpkin pie for dessert before parting ways.

The end of Christmas day finds us laying around on Nate's parent's bed watching movies and being entertained by Abby. (Abby is shouting her babbles as she talks to us. It's too cute!) This has been a very wonderful Christmas holiday with the Carstens' side of the family. I hope to have a repeat with my own family in just a few days.

Merry Christmas to all!

Abby getting ready for opening Christmas presents with Dad (in her favorite position).

'The Loot'

A family portrait.

Abby starting her meltdown.

Opening her first gift. She loved playing with the tissue paper.

Nate trying to keep Abby away from the Christmas tree ornaments. At home she couldn't care less about the tree and rarely even tries to touch it, but Grandma's purple glass ornaments were too much of a temptation.

Abby with all her gifts - People were VERY generous!

Playing with her new baby doll.

Showing Mom her new baby doll.

Meltdown was averted by a mid-present-opening snack.

The living room after opening presents.

Abby fell asleep at her Great Grandparent's house right as we arrived to eat dinner. 

Two hours later I went in to wake her up. After rubbing her back, saying her name, and brushing her hair we finally just put her in her car-seat asleep. It wasn't until we walked into the brightly lit living room with Great Grandma and Grandpa talking that she finally blinked an eye. I think we're in for a long night before bedtime!

Our Florida Vacation

Last week Nate, Abby, and I went on our first family vacation to St. Petersburg, FL. It was a much needed family time of reconnecting after the many, many months of Nate studying for his PE exam. (Which he PASSED!) Our vacation location and timing was pretty much decided for us as Nate was scheduled to teach a GOTHIC coding class in Crystal Springs, FL starting December 12th. Since Crystal Springs is a tiny town we figured we'd branch out to one of the bigger ones the week/weekend before he needed to start teaching. Since I'd previously done Orlando (Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Space Center) with my parents and brother years before we decided that Tampa would be where we'd head to. After looking at the beach possibilities for Tampa hotels we made a better decision to stay in St. Petersburg where the beaches are gorgeous and tour in Tampa where more of the 'action' is.

I was a little nervous for the flight as this was Abby's first time flying, but she was better than my wildest expectations. On the flight down she slept 50% of the actual flight time and played very nicely in the cramped airplane seats between Nate and I. Upon arriving in Tampa we stepped out of the airport into glorious 70* weather. It was so warm! Coming from Pasco, WA with a high of 30* to palm trees, humidity, and sunny skies was like walking into a dream. A warm and wonderful dream! Nate and I were like two kids exploring the world again as we excitedly pointed out the water all around us on our drive to St. Petersburg. Coming from the desert all that water was a sight to see. We checked into our hotel (The Bilmar Beach Resort - which I would highly recommend) and immediately headed onto the beach to dip our toes in the water. Come to find out that while Florida is much warmer than home during December the water is not something to swim in. Brr! After our short adventure we headed back in to go to bed. Flying with an infant, while she did great, was exhausting. Plus we wanted to acclimate to East Coast time as soon as possible.

This was Abby's 'crib'.

Our first day in Florida we slept in late, then decided to tour a bit of Treasure Island (the location of our hotel). It was weird seeing Christmas decorations in such warm weather. I'm not used to seeing Christmas lights on palm trees, but it was nice to see how other people in different climates decorate for the holidays. Pretty much the exact same way we decorate here in colder, snowy weather just without the snow! I know I should have realized this but when you're not used to something you wonder how it's done.

I love how the Christmas tree is smack in the middle of a bunch of palm trees.

We also hung out a bunch at the hotel just exploring our surroundings. I'm a believer in traveling out of tourist season and this trip was just another reason why. I know there were other people in the hotel but gosh if we hardly saw or heard them. We joked that we got our own private hotel for the cost of a single hotel room!

Here we're on the activity deck that was two steps outside our room (the yellow door in the back was in front of our hotel room door) and above the pool and hot tub. In the week that we stayed we never saw another person on this deck. It became a great outdoor play area for Abby! Abby knows Dad's smoking a cigar and drinking a beer as she keeps wanting him to pick her up and play with her. The whole time he was smoking she didn't want to have a thing to do with me! I think it was her way of trying to get Nate to put the cigar out. :-)

Abby kept going after Nate's beer. Nate kept laughing and moving it out of her reach.

After Nate had his cigar and beer time we decided to check out the beach. I was excited to see how Abby would do as she's never been in sand before. She loved it! The sand was full of seashells and she loved picking them up and turning them over and over as she explored. We even took her for a quick toe dip in the Gulf. It was quick because the water was still cold and she wasn't a big fan of that. That pretty much took up our second day as we had an early dinner and got to bed early as well. Jet lag is a killer.

Abby digging in the sand.

Touching sea water for the first time. (We kept calling it the Atlantic Ocean but I think we were actually on the Gulf of Mexico. Either way it was a huge body of water and it was her first!)

Our third day in Florida was a really fun time. We went to SeaWorld! I was really looking forward to this and Nate was willing to go along to make me happy. :-) He thought that it would be a big kid's amusement park and wasn't sure he'd enjoy himself but figured that since I wanted to go he'd go for me. What a great husband! What ended up happening is that he had a fantastic time and said he was really glad we went. It was fun seeing all the animals and watching Abby people watch. Thank goodness she was free because she got more entertainment by watching all the people around her than any of the animals!

Abby and I touching baby stingrays. Or I'm touching them and Abby is pulling as hard as she can in the opposite direction. She did enjoy watching them as they flung a 'flipper'(?) above the water in their quest for food.

Nate and Abby watching the dolphins play via the underwater viewing room. I actually got to touch a dolphin, too! When we were up top one dolphin came soaring up to me and jumped onto this little ledge and hung out for the longest time. I wasn't sure if we could touch them or not but when a bunch of people started running their hands along the dolphin I figured I wouldn't be the only one getting in trouble if we got caught. So I did a few finger strokes and was amazed at how slimy the dolphin felt. I turned to have Nate touch, too, but he stayed back as he was holding Abby and she didn't want to get to close. By the time we made the switch the dolphin had swum away. But since Nate's a scuba diver and has touched lots of sea life he was okay with missing this opportunity.

This was Abby's favorite position while in the park. On Daddy's shoulders and using his hair as a handle. Here we're looking at the penguin exhibit.

Abby LOVES ice cream! She kept grunting for more when we weren't fast enough in feeding her. And boy did she get a sugar rush! But a rare treat like this wasn't one we wanted to pass up.

This picture perfectly captures Abby vs. Nate and I in the park. Nate and I enjoyed viewing all the animal exhibits while Abby could care less and was all about watching people. 

I liked this photo because it was a baby seal/sea otter (I can't remember which) nursing. Since I'm still nursing Abby it was a nice bonding moment between the Mama and me. I did find it funny that a few people around me kept asking what the baby was doing. I guess when your nursing years are far behind/ahead of you it doesn't immediately click what's going on. 

The end of our adventure at SeaWorld was the One Ocean orca/killer whale show. WOW! If you get a chance to go to SeaWorld you should definitely see this. It was amazing seeing how high these animals could jump and how many tricks they could perform. Nate got a great picture of one of the bigger jumps we saw.

A bigger view of the show.

All in all, SeaWorld was definitely worth the money we spent!

The rest of our Florida trip was spent on the beach and in the pool. Abby loves water time so we got a big kick out of watching her splash and float around. And on the beach she played so hard that she crashed when it was nap time. The three of us couldn't get enough of the warm weather, sandy beaches, and fun pool time. It's been months since we've had this back at home.

Abby floating in the pool with Nate.

She had such fun crawling away from us and back again. Since no one was around (this is a view of the beach at prime beach time) we let her wander as far away as she wanted. 

But she always came back!

Helping Mommy and Daddy pack up the night before Mom and Abby left for home and Dad left for Crystal Springs to teach class. She's become enamored with playing with her car-seat.

Watching the sunset on our last day in Florida.

My awesome little traveler in the airport on our way home.

The time we spent together was exactly what this family needed. Focusing on each other and spending quality time together. It's so easy to get wrapped up in work, house projects, and, particularly at this time of year, all the holiday madness. Having a week where we got to focus on just us so wonderful. I'm looking forward to our next family time!