Just 'cause they're so cute

Oh, I just can't get enough of these two.

Wearing dad's socks, talking on the phone, and playing with her animals. Just another Monday morning. :)

It's a duck!

The pink person is mommy (wonder why I look so angry?), the white person is Mia, and the blue one is Barney.

Mia's new favorite place to play!

The boots with the fur

Here's what I mean when I say that Bianca loves boots. She was 14 months old in this video.

Now that we have a mini-Bianca (aka Mia) I especially love these old videos because it reminds me what we have in store. :)

And just because I can't resist...here is new walker Bianca at 11 months. I love watching new little walkers. Their bow-legged steps just make me smile.

A slice of life

Taking a break from my many monster deadlines for a quickie blog post. I've always been a working mama--sometimes more working, sometimes more mama. At the moment, I'm a crazed workaholic, typing and interviewing furiously during naptimes, evenings, and scarce free moments.

Two of the articles I'm working on right now involve lots of phone interviewing. In the past week, I've conduced a phone interview while Bianca made so much noise screeching and banging on her door during "quiet" time that a subway station would have been quieter. Another with Mia in the Bjorn making such loud spit-bubbles that I had to assure the interviewee that it was my baby, not my digestive system, making the offensive noises.

Today, at 1:15pm, just as I was getting B settled for quiet time, she threw up--twice. I had a phone interview scheduled for 2pm. What to do--cancel? Conduct an interview with a sick child on my lap and a bucket nearby, praying that she didn't give a repeat performance? I cleaned her up with one eye on the clock. In the end, she was so zonked that she was asleep by 1:45, but I still kept my ears cocked during my call, prepared for a speedy hang-up-and-hose-down if she got sick again. The interviewee (the GM of a fancy hotel) had no idea that 5 minutes before our appointment, I was elbow-deep in my child's regurgitated lunch.

Moments like these are so representative of my life. Pulled in a million different directions, sometimes hanging by a thread and always ready to turn on a dime--that's me, your average, everyday working mama. :)

Oh, and here's a cute pic of B modeling my Uggs, a few days back when she was feeling better. The girl loves boots!

The Bus!

Today was a perfect spring day, crisp and bursting with color.

Bianca asked to go on a picnic (which we do a couple of times a week these days) but for an extra-special treat, we took the BUS to the park.
Waiting for the bus...Biancs passed the time by singing "Wheels on the Bus" complete with hand motions and sound effects. :)

Afterward we stopped by the Seymour Conservatory at Wright Park to smell the flowers. Bianca got to feed the fish in the Koi pond, a first for her.

All in all, a great day! As I get braver and more familiar with the transit system we'll go on more urban adventures like this. It's nice to leave the car at home now and then.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day brought fabulous weather, but Miss B was still a bit sick, so we stuck pretty close to home.

What I wanted most for Mother's Day was SLEEP. Steve let me sleep in while he brought me coffee and breakfast in bed, then we had a picnic lunch at a local park. We met my mom, Laura, and Sarah for dinner at Anthony's on the Tacoma waterfront.


We saw a seal at Owen Beach! You can see its little head and tail poking up.


Mia found her ears! :)

Top Ten Reasons My Mom Rocks

I don't like to brag, but I really do have an awesome mom.

(OK, maybe I'm bragging a little.)

Growing up, I took it for granted, but now that I'm a mom myself, I'm in awe. Having TWO kids is crazy hard--how on Earth she juggled five kids, a legal career, homeschooling, and everything else, I'll never know.

She gave me an incredible gift that's shaped who I am today: Every day, I got to see that it's possible to be an accomplished professional AND a garden-growing, home-cooking, full-on amazing mom.

I could list a million reasons that she's the best. Here are a few:

1. She's the only practicing female attorney I know with five kids. Enough said! I'm sure there are others, but you don't come across many.

2. She's written legislation and worked with the attorney general, but most of her career has been spent as an advocate for those who can't speak for themselves. She's currently a mental health advocacy lawyer at Western State Hospital--a tough and often thankless job (kinda like being a mom!)--but she loves it.

3. She nursed, cloth diapered, and homeschooled her kids long before it was fashionable.

4. She grows her own veggies--and she's darn good at it! She seems to attract plants, and they thrive under her care.

5. She can cook anything, from scratch. No boxes or mixes required. Thanks to her, I grew up without tasting instant mashed potatoes, instant hot cocoa, or frosting from a can. She makes chicken soup with homemade noodles that can cure anything.

6. She babysits at the drop of a hat and loves the role of grandma. And she lets my kids call her "grandma"--that sweet, old-fashioned word that seems to be out of fashion today.

7. She nurtured my love of books and writing by dragging us to the Timberland Regional Library more times than I can count, and paying what were probaby hefty library fines on dozens of Sweet Valley High books.

8. Growing up, she sewed all of our Halloween costumes--and my prom dress.

9. When we were growing up and money and time were tight, she did all she could to make our birthdays special. I still remember her driving all of my friends to an ice-skating rink in Tacoma for mine, and that Barbie-doll cake she made for Kendra's.

10. She makes me so proud, and she inspires me to want to make my kids proud, too.

Here's to you, mom, and to moms everywhere!

Happy Mother's Day! YOU ROCK!

And the biggest loser is...

Drumroll please....

Sarah! Wahoo!

The Lundahl fam (Karen, me, Laura, Kendra, and Sarah) concluded our three-month Biggest Loser challenge on May 2.

Sarah was the winner with a 33-lb weight loss! I gave her a run for her money with 26 pounds lost...but I veered off course toward the end thanks to a daily croissant habit (I'm still losing--just not as quickly).

I'm so proud of everyone. The five of us lost a total of 76 lbs, and everyone lost some weight.

We're going for a Jared-from-Subway shot here with the loose pants. Sarah definitely needs some new clothes--hopefully her winnings will go toward a new wardrobe.


Here we are--76 lbs lighter as a group!

We also celebrated John's 20th birthday. I can't believe he's entering his twenties--I so vividly remember his birthday. All of the sisters were so excited. Not just for our new baby brother--our parents bought us each a fanny pack as a "big sister" gift (this was 1990, after all). Mine had multicolored leather patchwork. I so wish I still had it. But I digress.

Lots of love, baby bro! He didn't participate in Biggest Loser, because he could actually stand to gain a few pounds. And he's surrounded by food all day, which he eats with abandon. Some people have all the luck!

Meanwhile, back at the gym

When we emerged from Mia's newborn phase a few months back, I decided it was time to get B back into a class of some sort. We gave her a few choices (I was subtly pushing for ballet) but she chose gymnastics--again.

Not that I dislike gymnastics. But parent & child gymnastics is a workout for everyone involved. Probably even more for the parents than for the kids. And the class is a solid hour long. A bit long for her attention span--and mine.

But Steve is the one to take her to the classes these days, so it's actually not so bad for me. :)

Since this was the last class of the session, I tagged along to snap some pics.

She loves the back walkover station. She wanted to go over, and over, and over.

Trampoline time!

I was impressed with this little maneuver!

Getting a workout on the bars.

B was born to run and jump, and she's a natural at this stuff. She adores it. Are we our way to the Olympics? Time will tell. I'd still like her to try some different classes, but for now, we have a little gymnast on our hands. Can't wait for the 4-5 year old class--the parents get to sit and watch while the teachers do the heavy lifting. :)