M.I.A.

So I know it has been FOREVER since I've posted on the blog and it's not because we have been doing nothing. Actually it's quite the opposite! We've been so busy lately that I haven't even had a chance to upload all my pictures off the camera!

There is so much to blog about - starting with the rest of our trip to California back at the beginning of October all the way until this past weekend - Christmas!!

You may be wondering why in the world I would even bother to blog about things that happened almost 3 months ago. Well there is a method to my madness...

I'm basically going to turn the blog into a book using Blurb. I'm calling it our family yearbook. I hope to do this every year so that we can always look back and remember things that happened and know when they did happen. This time I will have to make 2 different books, as I want to start with 2008 since that is the year that our family started...Tim & I getting married and then us finding out that we were going to have a baby! I am going to order one book from each year for Tim and I and one for each child (yes we plan on having more!)

I'm on vacation from work this week and hope to get all caught up on blogging before I go back to work on Monday, Jan 4th.

Stay tuned!

Love, Michaela

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!

Love, The Freitags

Aunt Deb

I know this post should be more about the California trip that happened forever ago, but due to recent events I feel that I need to post this first.

This past Thursday, November 12th, we lost my Aunt Deborah (my dad's sister) to ovarian cancer.
It's been a rough and busy few days since, with family and organizing for the memorial service that was held today.

I was in charge of creating the service program and I also put together a picture slideshow to music sung by Deb (she is the best singer I've ever known!)

I thought I would share the slideshow on here:

This is the obituary that her sons wrote for her and had printed in the paper over the weekend:

Deborah LaRue BEAN

This poised, stylish, vivacious mother of 4, vocal performer, seminary teacher, and athlete finally succumbed to ovarian cancer after 57 years of a colorful and passionate life. Like her mother before her, she wasted nothing, spared nothing, and gave all she was and had to those around her. She was a Brunette, Red-Head, and Blonde and enjoyed life as each one. She is remembered by her 4 sons, 6 grand children, and the unnumbered family and friends that love and miss her graciousness, energy, and elegance.

I have such great memories of Aunt Deb and will always cherish them: singing along to songs like Savage Garden and country, getting our nails done, playing tennis in Sun Valley, and shopping! We used to love how she would always joke that my dad had her daughters!

I feel blessed and priveleged to have had her in my life! I am also grateful that Karsen was able to meet her as well, even though he won't ever remember it. At least we have picture proof.

Aunt Deb holding Karsen at the hospital, the day he was born - just over 5 months ago! Doesn't she look amazing?

I love her and will miss her terribly!

Love, Michaela

California - The Surprise Party

October 10th, 2009

We got up Saturday morning and got everything ready for Kitti's surprise party. Some of us went to stores to pick some things up like the cake from Costco, and the rest of us stayed behind to decorate.

The invitations said for everyone to come at 1:00 PM. Kitti wasn't scheduled to be there until around 2:00 PM. The best part is how we got Kitti to come all the way from Vista to Linda's house in Temecula.

Map of Southern California showing how far apart Vista & Temecula are:

Linda had called Kitti earlier in the week and said that Holli (Linda's daughter) was having a party at her house for her in-laws anniversary (side note on that: their anniversary is acutally in June!) and they wanted to order some flowers from Kitti to be delivered around 2PM on Saturday. Little did she know that she was creating flower bouquets for her own party!

The cake table with the flowers that Kitti brought:

Of course since this was the first time Tim's extended family got to see Karsen, he got passed around and around! Good thing he's an easy going baby!

While we waited for Kitti and Herb to arrive to the party, Tim's Aunt Joy was holding Karsen and this is how he fell asleep!

We definitely surprised Kitti once she arrived and came around to the back patio....and I got video of it!

Do you think she was surprised? Haha! Not only was she surprised with a party, she was definitely surprised that me, Tim, Karsen, Renee and Bryan were all there! I think that may have been the biggest surprise!

The party setup:
Since everyone was taking turns holding the baby, that left me free to chat with some of the family there. I'm so glad that they have all welcomed me so lovingly into the family!

Me, Holli and Renee gossiping by the pool:

Kitti opening her presents:

Of course the grandparents got some time to hold Karsen as well and I love these next two pictures!

Karsen making sure Grandpa Herb's beard is real:

Cute! (Thanks Holli for this picture!):

It was a fun party with a great turnout! Thank you to everyone who was there and not spilling the beans to Kitti!! :-)

Up next: Pumpkin Patch

Love, Michaela

California

Get ready for a blog post overload!! I'm REALLY behind and have lots to share!!

First let me start with our recent trip to Southern California for Kitti's (Tim's mom) 60th birthday....a whole month ago! (Yes, I'm THAT far behind in my posts!)

A couple of years ago we went down to California and had a surprise party for Herb's (Tim's dad) 60th birthday so we thought we needed to throw a surprise party for Kitti's 60th as well. (We actually started talking about it back in April!) Luckily Tim's cousin Linda was gracious enough to not only allow us to host the party at her house in Temecula, CA, but to open her home for us to stay there all weekend too! And by us I mean Tim, Karsen & Myself and Bryan & Renee! Thank you Linda!!!

The party was set for Saturday, October 10th but we flew down in the evening on Thursday the 8th so that we would have all day on Friday the 9th to shop and setup for the party.

I was a little nervous for the flight down there because it was Karsen's first time on an airplane and I wasn't sure how he would handle the altitude change and the overall experience. But he ended up doing a great job!

We got to the airport in Seattle and got our car parked at a site and got all checked in with our luggage checked without any problems. We had Karsen in his carseat the whole time, since we were going to check the seat at the gate anyway.
When we got to security, we of course had to take him out of his seat to put the seat thru the conveyor belt and carry Karsen thru the metal detector.
As soon as Tim pulled Karsen out of his seat, he discovered that Karsen had pooped so much that it was all over his sleeper and even on the pads in his car seat! I had to carefully carry Karsen thru security so that I didn't get any of it on myself since I didn't have a change of clothes with me.

As soon as we gathered all of our stuff on the other side of security, we headed straight for a bathroom to change Karsen. It was a good thing that we had Renee and Bryan with us to help because we had so much to carry and they waited with all of our stuff while we went into a family restroom. Thanks guys!

Thank goodness that was the only hiccup in our trip! Karsen ended up sleeping the entire plane ride and the entire trip from the airport to Linda's house, which took about an hour or so.

Karsen's first time on an airplane!!

He was such a good boy on the plane!

In California! Karsen's first time outside of Washington state!

The next morning we all got up and got ready to go shopping for everything that we needed for the party the next day. I was the last person ready (anyone who knows me really well shouldn't be surprised...haha!) and Karsen and I found everyone sitting out by the pool enjoying the sunny weather while they waited for us.

We took the opportunity to get a picture of Karsen in front of his first palm trees!

Checking out the pool:

While we were out and about in town, we all got hungry and decided to stop to grab some lunch somewhere. We passed this place called Whoo's and both Bryan and Renee said that they had really good fish tacos and wanted to go there for lunch. Neither Tim or I had ever been there (let alone heard of it) before, but it wasn't bad. We both got carne asada burritos. :)

At Wahoo's we were goofing around:
(Picture taken with my BlackBerry)

***

Later that evening, after dinner, we decided to feed Karsen some rice cereal again. We had the SLR camera with us this time and got a few shots of his messy eating.

Trying the lick the cereal off of the spoon:

I love the cereal on the tip of his nose:
Starting to get a little frustrated with this method of eating:
Even though he had such a messy face, he was still cute!

After we got Karsen all cleaned up and dressed for bed, we decided to play some pool. Even Karsen wanted to get in on the action!

Studying the layout to figure out his strategy:

It was getting late and WAY past Karsen's bedtime. Karsen had fallen asleep, but we hadn't finished playing our game yet and I didn't want to put him in bed in the other room since none of us would be in there. So we pulled the top part of the papasan chair out from the family room and used it as a make shift bed for Karsen while we finished playing. It was funny!

He looks so tiny in the papasan!

He is so cute when he sleeps!

It was a full day (and night before) but it was fun! Because there was so much that went on over that weekend, I'm going to divide different events into separate posts.

Stay tuned for more posts! Up next: The Surprise Party.

Love, Michaela

Vote for Karsen!!

Karsen for babyGap Model!
Gap is holding a nationwide contest to find the next faces of babyGap and GapKids, and Karsen is entered into the contest.

About the Contest:
Gap is excited to announce the launch of its annual Casting Call in partnership with Disney Family.com - a site that provides inspiration and ideas for parents on a variety of topics important to today's families. Gap invites parents nationwide to enter babies (ages four and under) and kids (ages five to 10) into the Casting Call for a chance to be featured in the store windows of babyGap and GapKids in February 2010. Additionally, the winners will receive a VIP experience for four at Disney's THE LION KING in either New York or Las Vegas.
This year, we're also introducing the Fan Favorite, which gives your little stars a chance to win a seven-day/six-night family vacation to either Turks & Caicos or Jamaica from Beaches Resorts - The Luxury Included® Family Vacation.

How it Works:
Entries will be accepted from September 22 - October 22, 2009. Once the entry period closes, a panel of judges will narrow down all of the entries received to 20 finalists (five baby boys, five baby girls, five boys, and five girls). Those finalists will star in a professional Gap photo shoot the week of November 16, 2009. On December 7, 2009, the finalists will be announced on www.gap.com/castingcall and will be voted on by the public until December 21, 2009. The four children who receive the most votes (one from each of the categories) will be announced as the winners on February 1, 2010.

What Can You Do?
Go to the site (http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/beangyrl9/250257529/) and vote for Karsen every day between now and November 17th, 2009. The first time you go to vote, you will be asked to create an account. Don't worry, they won't sell your information. After you create your account for the first time, you can search for Karsen by entering his contestant ID number (250257529) or my member name (beangyrl9).

THANK YOU!!!

Love, Michaela

Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Love, The Freitags

To Brandon...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE BRANDON!!!

Love, Karsen

Rice Cereal

I have SOOOOO much to blog about!!! On Monday we got back from a quick trip down to Southern California to surprise Tim's mom for her 60th birthday - which is why I couldn't say anything about it before.

Anyway, first things first.....I have to blog about Karsen eating rice cereal for the FIRST TIME last Wednesday night! I again left my camera somewhere else and wasn't able to get any pictures of the event. At least I had the video camera!!!

The cereal was very liquidy, as that is what they recommend for the first time. And we used formula to mix with it instead of breastmilk because we knew he wouldn't eat all of it and I didn't want any of my milk going to waste since I have a hard enough time as it is getting enough for him to drink straight!

He didn't seem to mind the cereal too much...what do you think?

I really like how he's wearing a bib to help keep the cereal off of him, but of course he thinks it's a toy and is playing with it, leaving room for the cereal to fall onto his clothes anyway! Ahhh! Oh what fun babies are! ;-)

Love, Michaela

To Grandma Kitti...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA KITTI!!!

Love, Karsen

4 Months Old

This past Monday Karsen had his 4 month checkup with Dr. Graham. I of course forgot my camera in the car, so I was only able to get these two pictures with my phone:

Here are Karsen's 4 month stats:
Weight: 12lbs, 13.5oz / Percentile: 10%
Length (Height): 24.75" / Percentile: 50%
Head Circumference: 42cm / Percentile: 50%

I guess by 4 months, babies should be double their birth weight. Karsen was 7lbs, 4oz at birth, so he should be about 14lbs, 8oz now. Well he's not, obviously. Luckily the doctor isn't concerned about it at all because she said that he's still progressing steadily every time she sees him.

Sometimes I blame myself for how skinny he is, and not because I'm usually skinny myself. It's because I feel like I'm not able to feed him enough anymore. My milk supply has seemed to decrease since I've come back to work, which is very discouraging. I finally caved about 2 weeks or so ago and let Tim give him a bottle of formula. He's had about a bottle of formula once a day since. I know that there are lots of babies who are fed formula, but I just wasn't ready for Karsen to have formula yet. All during the pregnancy, all you hear about it how much better for the baby it is for them to get breastmilk and now I just feel like a failure. He's still getting breastmilk, but he also gets formula too.

I guess just as long as Karsen is happy and healthy, that's all that really matters.

Love, Michaela

Hat Hair

Last weekend we went out to run a few errands and it was a little chilly outside even though it was sunny, so we put a hat on Karsen to keep his little head warm. I didn't get any pictures of him wearing the hat, but I did get pictures of him after we took the hat off....at least his hair is finally growing!! Haha!

This one is my favorite, I was focusing on getting his hair in the picture and didn't even know he was making such a cute face, which is why his face is kinda cut off:
Whatcha lookin at Mom?

Aren't his eyes just so cute?

The side view:

Don't worry Karsen, we weren't laughing at you, we were laughing with you! Haha!

Love, Michaela

High School Football Game

Another post past due! Found these pictures on my camera and thought I ought to blog about them (mostly because I plan on turning the blog into a book at the end of the year.)

On Friday, September 18th, we went to the Eastlake High School football game where my sister Tori is a junior and on the cheer team. The school is located in Sammamish, WA. Also that night, Will Smith, Joe Montana and Wayne Gretzky were at a high school football game in Sammamish, WA too! Except they were at Skyline High School, just up the road. But hey, we can say we were that close to some famous people! So far the closest Karsen has been to a celebrity, that we know of anyway.

Karsen before we went into the stadium to find seats:

The Eastlake Cheerleaders (Tori is the blonde in the middle, looking to the side):
Karsen was cheering along too!

After awhile, he fell asleep!

Karsen was doing just fine sleeping thru all the noise of the crowd, and even thru my sister's halftime cheer performance, until the end of the routine. He was sitting in my sister Dani's lap and she cheered at the end of the routine and I think it scared him. I recorded the routine and at the end you can hear Karsen start crying!

Here's the routine:

We left just after the halftime show because Karsen was tired and getting grumpy. But it was fun to see the game and watch my sister perform! Maybe one day (in about 16 years or so) we will be going to every Friday night football game to watch Karsen play! :-)

Love, Michaela

To Tori...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT TORI!!!

Love, Karsen

Watching Kai

So I'm well overdue for a post on here! It's been a crazy few weeks at work and home that I hardly have time to breathe!

With the little bit of spare time I had today, I decided to download all the pictures off my camera that have been sitting there for quite awhile now. I found these ones from when we babysat Kai back on September 11th.

Looks like they're playing!

Kai was reading to Karsen

They're so cute! Kai is very active and Karsen just loves to watch everything that Kai does.

Thanks Walker & Tiffany for letting us babysit!

Love, Michaela

PS - More posts coming soon!

Photoshoot Pictures

So I have been meaning to put these pictures up for awhile now. They are the pictures that I took of Karsen on his 3 month birthday. My intent was to do some editing in Photoshop to make them a little nicer looking, or even professional looking, but I just can't figure out how to it. Anyone have any tips?

Anyway, on to the pictures!

I posted this one before, but it's one of my favorites and it's the wallpaper on my computer at work! Feet shot!
His face looks like he's talking to me in this one.
This is also one of my favorites!
Big yawn!
Bubbles!
I really like this one too!
Look at those lips!

He didn't have to go visit the doctor for 3 months but just in case anyone is keeping track of his stats:

Weight: 12lbs, 3oz / Percentile: 75%
Length (Height): About 25" / Percentile: 10-25%
Head Circumference: About 16" / Percentile: 25%

**These aren't the most accurate measurements, as they were taken by me

Love, Michaela