Guest Blogger: Grandpa Dirk!

At nine months  Freja now crawls, points to things, talks with good intonation (but with a vocabulary we don’t yet fully understand –but we’ll learn; give us time), smiles in that charming way of hers that captivates everybody she sees, and continues to be the center of adoring attention everywhere we go. She now has a completely new wardrobe, having outgrown the old since we last saw her in July, and a ton of new, fun toys.
 
Grandma Jeanne and I (Grandpa Dirk) were invited to spend Thanksgiving week in Basalt with Freja, Kelly and Jan. On Thanksgiving Day we went to Rachel and Brian’s beautiful house along with ten other couples and a group of adorable little girls running around the house. Of course Freja wanted to join in and run with them, but she’s not quite up to running on two feet yet, so she watched and listened and registered the activity for later when she learns to walk and run. Then she went down for a little nap while the rest of us ate a delicious Thanksgiving meal complete with the requisite turkey, ham, several great wines, cranberries, and some very interesting, intellectual adult conversation with some fascinating, articulate people while the kids entertained themselves or slept.

On Friday night we went out to Hestia restaurant in Carbondale, and of course Freja was perfectly behaved in a public place and smiled and waved at complete strangers who then felt perfectly free to come over and talk to her and admire the gorgeous child. She graciously smiled, said a few words to them, and melted their hearts. She has a way of doing that; she does it with us all the time. She talks to us, making all her needs known, and then gives us that disarming smile that gets us every time.
 
Freja has opened up a new level of love in our hearts that we couldn’t have imagined before she came into our lives. At this season of the year, when we traditionally express out loud the things that we are thankful for, I have too many things to say, so I’ll limit it to saying that I’m thankful for having Kelly and Freja in my life. There is no greater love.

Nine Months Old

Sweet Freja is nine months old already. So hard to believe she has been with us as long as I was pregnant with her! It sounds like a cliche but it really is hard to remember our lives before her. 

Freja is a busy and thriving baby. At nine months she is crawling all over the place, jabbers up a storm and has two bottom teeth. They are coming in crooked and Jan is already worrying about the expense of braces. We've been lucky enough to inherit some great hand-me-down toys including an interactive door with mailbox, doorbell, lights and all kinds of music (music we have heard over and over and over...), and also a little music table.  She just loves pushing buttons and moving parts, all the bells & whistles of cause & effect toys. 

We went to Santa Barbara last weekend to go to a wedding. Freja was a great little traveler - passengers on one of our flights even told us she was the world's best baby. Of course, we agree! 

Jeanne & Dirk arrive tomorrow and will be here through Thanksgiving week. We'll be sure to get guest blog posts from them while they are here. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Vondos in the House!

Aunt Julie and Cousin Kacee reporting on our week with Freja.... We must have picked the right week to be in Colorado, because the weather was as wonderful as Freja. The blue skies and warm sunshine were perfect. Kacee enjoyed a long hike on Sunday with Kelly, while Jan went to Snowmass (I think) for a long bike ride; I spent QT with sweet, sweet Freja.  She babbled and played and napped right on schedule.  Every morning, Jan was up with Freja, either holding her while she had her bottle or chatting with her like daddies do. Kelly worked from home Monday and Friday, and at the office Tuesday-Thursday. Martha, one of Freja's sitters, spent Tuesday with Freja, while Kacee and I enjoyed a day of mom/daughter togetherness. We savored lunch at Ajax Tavern and indulged at the Aspen Candy Company. But enough about our fun, I know you want to hear about Freja...By the end of the week, she had mastered sitting but was still using the "super-stretch-belling-crawl" as a method of movement. Her first tooth began to come thru. She enjoyed using a finger as a chew toy as well as the sound of a trilling 'r'...that made her laugh, laugh, laugh. Kel has colorful letters, that spell her name, I would spell them out and then sound them out while pointing to each letter, she smiled and giggled.  Kacee drew a picture that is taped to the underside of a shelf over the changing table...we hope it gives her something to focus on while she's in for a pit stop. Kacee and I also worked an some simple baby-proofing projects like moving plants and stands and installing outlet covers. I went thru drawers pulling precious baby clothes that she's amazingly (and beautifully) outgrown. Oh, and not to be left out...Shady made it perfectly clear that I wasn't to use the dryer when he was around and that not everyone in the house was happy we were there. He certainly doesn't hide his feelings. We can't wait to see Freja again.  As her onesie says, "The Best of Mom and Dad."

Back Home Again in Indiana

The Koorns are still recovering from a whirlwind trip to Indiana last week, we had such a good time taking the Freja show on the road! We got to experience flying with a baby, our first time being "those people" with a screaming baby on a plane. Lucky for us people sitting around us were all very patient and understanding, clearly we all survived. 

In Indiana Freja got to meet my grandma Elsie, who makes 99 years young look absolutely amazing. We stayed at my dad's house outside of Bloomington, and LOTS of family & friends came down to visit us and meet the babe. Jan rented a bike for a couple of days, and I got to do a little solo shopping. Before we knew it we were back on a plane to Aspen. You can check out a few of my favorite pics from the trip in the flickr stream.

The leaves are gold & orange, snow has been falling on the mountains and winter is just around the corner. Hope you all are enjoying a happy fall!

7 Months & Counting!

I have no idea how this happened, but Freja is already 7 months old! She is growing & growing, and eating food and rolling around and jabbering up a storm. She's very entertaining these days, with new tricks all the time. We're working on sitting up unassisted, introducing new foods and crawling just might be around the corner. We've also been introducing her to some basic sign language - mostly "Daddy," "Mommy," and "kitty" for now - to see if it catches on.

The three of us are holding on tight to warm summery days (even though it's now officially fall) and plan to get outside this weekend for some family time on a bike ride - time to break in the Chariot bike trailer we recently got so Freja can ride along!

New pics have been added to the flickr feed - enjoy a little Freja fix!

Sittin' On Top of the World

Or at least, sitting up high in her high chair! We finally got a chair for Freja to make feeding her solid foods easier, (a little) less messy, and to give us a place for her to hang out while we're working on dinner etc. in the kitchen. So far she seems to like sitting up high instead of being down on the ground, this way she can keep an eye on us. Since Jan & I like to cook, now we get to involve Freja when we're in the kitchen. It won't be long until she's our little sous chef! 

By now we've tried two types of solid foods, rice cereal and sweet potatoes. Both proved to be pretty popular! Last night I put peaches in a mesh feeder, which is sort of like a lollipop that she can chew on without us having to worry that she might choke. She LOVED the peach, as evidenced in today's video. Have a great weekend!

Freja's First Food

Freja is just over 6 months old now, just the right age to move beyond the liquid diet and try some food. We've been experimenting with rice cereal this week, and tonight we're moving on to sweet potatoes. It's fun to see her reaction to food, the spoon, getting the cereal all over her face, etc.

On Sunday we went up Aspen Mountain to watch some friends finish a mountain bike race and see some bluegrass. The family photo shows the gorgeous (although cloudy) views from the top.

Hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend!