Peek-a-boo & Tutu

Having my parents so many miles away in Russia would typically be very hard because we'd hardly ever get to talk to them or see them. Well, thank heavens for online video conference (or for those familiar with Macs -ichat!). We love ichat! Love, love, love it! Not only do we get to talk to my parents and see them almost weekly, we get to talk to my other siblings living across the states as well. My parents love to play a peek-a-boo game with Jorgen (and the other grandkids) where they both disappear to each side of the screen and come back at the same time. It is so funny to see Jorgen's reaction. He always laughs and sometimes he'll check the back of the computer to see where they went. It is so funny. A couple nights ago Jorgen was saying goodnight to Tutu before he went to bed and after he got down and I was saying bye to my mom, he pulled up a step stool and jumped up into her view like he was playing peek-a-boo. He kept popping up and down, in and out of sight on the computer and always with a huge smile while he laughed. My Mom and I were laughing so hard. I had tears running down my face. He thought he was so funny and we thought he was so creative to do it all on his own - without any prompts. All the laughter brought my dad into the room and Jorgen played his game many more times for Grandpa. Justin came too and took some pictures while we all laughed at Jorgen playing his game. It really was hilarious! He is such a ham! He loves his grandparents. Jorgen has even gone as far as to say every time we ask who his best friend is that it's "TUTU." That's what we get for trying to have him say it's one of us - no, no, he knows where his loyalty lies. Tutu sure loved that! We are so proud of Tutu and Grandpa and all that they are doing in Samara. We miss and love them dearly!

"Daddy"

Jorgen loves talking on our cell phones. If he gets his hands on one of our phones, he'll mimic us and pretend he's on the phone. He'll even tell you who he's talking to sometimes:D The other night, he was holding my phone and he called Justin. Luckily Justin was home and picked up - Jorgen thought that was the coolest thing ever. They talked for a minute and I managed to get a picture. They both looked so serious though. It made me laugh.

The Bucket

Lately, Jorgen has loved playing in his blanket bucket. He takes out all of the blankets and hops inside then puts all of the blankets back in and sits - you can imagine how long he actually sits still for though. It is fun to watch him be so active and in to what he is doing. Everything is exciting to him! He's always on the go!!

Puddles!

Jorgen has an extreme love for puddles! Whether we are looking out the apartment window, driving, or walking outside, he spots puddles and gets so excited as he says in his toddler tongue 'puddles!' Today was one of those bright sunny days where it rained the night before and puddles spotted the sidewalks and streets. My nanny job is almost over and I was familiarizing the new nanny this morning with the area and so we were on a little walk. Katya found a few great puddles and I let her jump in them and Jorgen lit up with excitement as I could tell he was hoping for a chance to do the same. He would laugh so hard when she would jump in them and then he'd take a turn and 'jump' (it's more of a squat and try and get his feet off the ground run than a jump) in the puddle and laugh some more. I didn't have my camera but I wanted to remember puddle jumping today. He is so full of energy and laughter. My little ray of sunshine! When we got back home the parking lot had puddles too and so I let him jump around for awhile longer and he was in heaven. Jorgen's idea of heaven right now is full of puddle jumping I'm sure! I need to get him some galoshes!

Trampoline

Jorgen is so fun when he wakes up from naps - generally of course - there is the occasional sad wake up time but he is usually so happy when he wakes up. Today Jorgen did not want to get out of his crib....not at all! He just kept jumping up and down and wrestling his blankets like he was putting on a show for me. After watching and laughing at him playing in there, I decided to grab my camera. By the time I started filming him he only had one more wrestle left in him but plenty of jumping on his trampoline crib to go. I wish I could have captures all the times he would jump up and then come crashing down on his blankets. The only problem with this is that he sometimes tries it on the carpet with his blankets and there just isn't the same cushiony bottom as in his crib:D He is so entertaining! Sorry there is no sound. Can you see the bite marks on the sides of his crib? Yeah, can you believe it? Awhile ago he went through this teething stage and took it out on his crib!

Cute Boy!

Today while I was on the computer checking email, Jorgen snuck in beside me and got out his dad's Yankees hat. He put it on backwards and just walked off. I took a look at him and grabbed my camera. It was so cute how nonchalant he did it all. He just wanted to wear his dad's hat, that's all. He even posed for me when I told him we were going to take a picture for daddy. Justin loved getting a surprise email with pictures from us. I love this little boy! He's getting big too fast!

Just Like Mommy!

I was getting ready today and had a few of my make-up items on the bathroom counter. I didn't even realize it but he got ahold of one of my items. Justin started laughing from the other room and asked me if I told Jorgen to show him what he was showing him. I was a little confused so I walked out and found my son trying to curl his eyelashes with my eyelash curler! I laughed so hard! He looked like he was really concentrating on what he was doing as he walked around with this strange contraption. Just trying to be like mommy! He kept doing it so Justin grabbed the camera to try and capture it. He did a pretty good job. Jorgen is so funny! Kids are so observant!

President's Day & the Park

Our sister in law, Siena, has the most amazing dad, Joe! He is so sweet and kind. Living in California and being away from family has been a lot easier because we have Siena's family here who always invite us to things and take care of us. Joe invited us over for a President's Day BBQ. We had so much fun with Joe and his family. There was a cute park close by that we took Jorgen to while the food cooked and Jorgen had so much fun. He loves to play with his daddy!



This is Jorgen hanging for dear life on
the monkey bars (ok, Justin is holding on
to him but I strategically took it so you
couldn't see him - we have such a strong boy!)






A few other cute pictures - Jorgen loves cars and they had a taxicab-rocker!

The Dish

Justin and I decided to do something fun together this morning since we both had the day off because of President's Day. On the hills just southwest of Stanford is a very huge dish. I have no idea what this dish is used for but all around it is protected land that is being preserved. There is a great trail that winds all around this hilly area which takes you past this dish. We've never been on the trail so we decided to give it a try. Now, I've been known to be a little overconfident in myself and my athletic abilities - and today proved that once again. I would have been just fine walking and maybe even running this trail under normal circumstances but due to that fact that I have a growing baby inside my stomach which is getting to be quite large I should have been a little more wise. The trail starts out with a steep hill, not a huge hill, but it is steep. By the time we reached the top of this small steep hill, I felt so light headed and weak (I should have eaten something substantial before we left!) but I wanted to go on. So we did...up another hill and the same thing happened. By the third little hill I felt better and so we just kept on going. I was a little embarrassed at how slow I had to walk. I go on walks daily with Jorgen but the terrain is usually quite flat and easy. Justin kept telling me that all of these hills might not be the best idea because you never know what could induce early labor. I started to agree with him. My stubborn self kept us going though and the trail became much easier and flatter. We only hit a few more uphill parts and the rest was either flat or downhill so it was perfect! I have been wanting to do this with a few friends but have never gotten around to it and I now am grateful I had Justin there to push the stroller the WHOLE time. Justin even ran for a bit of the trail while I walked slowly behind. Well, we heard that the trail usually takes about 1.5 hours walking and it took us almost 1 hour and 45 minutes because of those early breaks I had to take (and Jorgen was getting a little antsy after the first hour:D). After we finished, we both felt so good! Justin even ran a few more miles after we got home - go Justin! I don't think I'll walk this trail again until I have another baby to put into our double jogger and my mom is here to help with the pushing on the hilly parts. I miss our walks together, Mom!! We'll definitely have to do this one together!

The Hansen Tongue : )-

I have always known that Justin had a long tongue. He is one of those who can touch his nose and chin with his tongue. Throughout Jorgen's 18 months of life we've often talked about from whom he got certain of his characteristics. Early on in his life I realized that Jorgen definitely inherited not only Justin's big beautiful smile but along with that Justin's extremely long tongue. Recently, Jorgen has started sticking out his tongue while playing (something I remember my brother Jason doing - we used to call him Michael Jordan). I caught Jorgen doing it again tonight while playing with Justin and had to get a picture of it. From the first two pictures it looks like Jorgen has a normal sized tongue so I had to take a few that demonstrate just how long his and his daddy's tongues are - sorry if this is a little strange to be sharing with everyone: )-.

plop

The family I nanny for has a bean bag that Jorgen likes to go 'plop' on. We often play ring around the bean bag and instead of falling at the end of the song, we plop. Tonight, after daddy got home, Jorgen was dancing all funny and then we played ring around the ottoman. The plopping at the end wasn't as exciting as plopping onto the bean bag but Jorgen still loved it (he even plopped an extra time just for fun). I filmed it once and thought it was so funny. Sorry the lighting is so dark, thank California's no overhead lighting idea for that. Also, the video is silent because our digital camera is really old. You get the idea though. We have so much fun when daddy comes home! We told Jorgen to do his 'fast dance' at the end and then not long after he got distracted by his basketball - so funny!

Happy birthday to Jase and Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!