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17 Jan 2012 happy birthday [party], abby!
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Due to our work schedules, we had Abby’s birthday party on Saturday.  My family came down for the weekend [as opposed to that weekend last year, when we went to Fargo for the baby shower].  On Friday night, my parents, David, Abby, & I went to Famous Dave’s, where Abby attempted to eat as much of my meal as possible.  Apparently she also enjoys Georgia Chopped Pork & Drunkin’ Apples.

I made 10 dozen mini cupcakes that night & frosted them in the morning [along with decorating] while Abby napped.  NOM.

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Abby was not terribly thrilled that I woke her up for [horrors!] a bath before her party, but she quickly cheered up when she realized that everyone was still there to play with her.

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After delicious tacos (courtesy of David), Abby got to open her presents!  She was very excited about all of them, especially the cards…who knew that cards were so fascinating & delicious?!

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Then it was cake time!  I had 3 full sized cupcakes, so Abby got one of those.  She was not too sure what to do with it; she knew it was food, but she wasn’t sure where to begin until I broke it in half for her.

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Then she shoved half of it into her mouth and INHALED the cupcake.  NOM.  She got a little messy, but probably about 90% of it ended up in her mouth.  Plus I think that’s kind of the point of a 1 year birthday party!

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Saturday evening, after church with David’s family, Abby got her first restaurant meal for herself—grilled cheese at Panera!  She ate half of the sandwich [we saved the rest for dinner the next day] & all of the yogurt.  How she is still in the 2nd percentile, I have no clue.  Girl can EAT.

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Thanks to all who came to Abby’s party &/or sent gifts…she loves all her new toys & clothes & books & she’s excited to actually turn 1 on Friday!

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02 Jan 2012 Abby’s 1st Christmas.
Author:  |  Category: Abby, photos  | Tags: , , , , ,  | Leave a Comment

Christmas [for Abby] started on December 23, when she & Bones got to go play at Grandma & Grandpa’s house since David & I both had to work.

That evening, we went down for the weekend, which started out with the Christmas Eve service [with live animals]!

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On Christmas Eve Day, Abby had fun playing with [Uncle Chad’s] presents under the tree

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& the ornaments & gumdrop garland.

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After a yummy dinner, Abby got to open a present [since David worked that weekend & we wouldn’t be able to celebrate for real until Christmas afternoon!].  She got a singing cookie jar [shape sorter]!

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On Christmas Day, Abby got to open her stocking.  That morning, she was with Aunt Kristen & saw the dolphin sticking out of her stocking & took it.

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Oh my goodness, it’s CANDY!

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When David got back from work, we ate candy cane pie [& Abby got a bath & wardrobe change].  Then it was present time!

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Abby got covered in bows

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& because she had boycotted naptime that afternoon, fell asleep after only a few presents!

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When she woke up, all of her toys were ready to be played with.  So exciting!  [& loud as they all sing.]

On New Year’s Eve, my parents, brothers, & Melissa came down to celebrate Christmas.  Abby helped open her presents this time.

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Melissa took a picture of our family

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& Abby played with new toys!

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Merry Christmas!

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19 Dec 2011 Helfinstine Junior Journal: 2011 Christmas Letter.
Author:  |  Category: Abby, David, photos, Sarah  | Tags: , , , , , , ,  | Leave a Comment

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For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Luke 2:11-14 (KJV)

What a year 2011 has been!  We started out the year with a bang (or a burst…??!) with Abigail Grace Helfinstine making an early appearance on January 20.  Arriving two and a half weeks earlier than anticipated, I was very glad she hadn’t come a few days earlier, when we were stuck at the Monticello McDonalds after my car decided to die on the way back from a weekend in Fargo.

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After spending two months at home (can I just say, I love maternity leave?  When else can you get paid to sit on the couch, eat M&Ms, watch Criminal Minds marathons, and snuggle with a brand new bay), I went back to work at Aerie, where I put in my two-week notice.

Oh yeah, on maternity leave, I also applied for, went through the interview process, and was hired at Wells Fargo.

While David and I are at work, Abby goes to school at a nearby daycare.  The teachers there love her, and she has a lot of fun watching the bigger kids, eating lots of food, and playing with her friends.

Bones, our now two-year-old Lab-Welsh Corgi, is doing very well adapting to life with Baby.  She (Bones) is glad at she doesn’t have to sleep in a cage like the baby, and has recently discovered that she is apt to receive snacks if she sits by the highchair.  Abby loves to pet Bones, along with crawling after her, giggling and screaming.  Bones is not quite as fond of this, but does enjoy giving Abby kisses.  Ew.

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While I have made an exciting {?} career change, David continues to work at Children’s Hospital.  He is no longer attending Argosy and is entertaining the idea of minimizing his phlebotomizing.  Interpret that as you wish.

We spent a week this summer with my family {the extended Bjerkaas clan} at the resort near Fergus Falls, where Abby got to meet lots of second cousins.  There were six children who were age two and younger there!  This summer, we also got to see Timothy, who has completed his time in the Army, for the first time in three years.  We have been attending church with David’s parents and sister Kari down in Lakeville, which we have really been enjoying.  This past weekend, we went to the Christmas Concert there, featuring the Minnesota Orchestra.  Abby absolutely loved it; she was so excited and bounced and waved to everyone.  Until she got tired and fell asleep, that is.

We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year…
stay tuned for Abby’s 11 month update!

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16 Oct 2011 fargo fun: a top 10 list.
Author:  |  Category: Abby, Fargo, Top 10  | Tags: , , , , , ,  | Comments off

Abby’s top 10 favorite things we did last weekend in Fargo [in no particular order, and with pictures that may or may not correspond].

10.  Playdate with Mommy’s high school friend Crissy and her 1-year old daughter Caydence.

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9.  Laughing at Mommy being a pirate at the eye doctor.

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8.  Looking adorable for the boys at church on Sunday & eating lots of puffs during the sermon.

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7.  Eating pizza at Duane’s [except I didn’t get any, just puffs.]

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6.  Visiting Grandma at work and learning 8th grade math.

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5.  Playing with Grandma’s friend Mary Ann [and eating the cake that she brought for dessert!]

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4.  Eating pumpkin/vanilla twist ice cream at Snap Dragon.

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3.  Going to bed on time, but waking up in the middle of the night [or 9pm] to play with Grandma & Grandpa when we got to Fargo & eat applesauce on Sunday night.

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2.  Playing with Grandma & Grandpa & my uncles & Melissa!

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1.  Making Mommy feed me bottles and puffs in the car on the way home, and then making her stop at St. Cloud for snuggles!

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24 Jun 2011 happy father’s day.
Author:  |  Category: David, photos  | Tags: , , ,  | 2 Comments

On Sunday, we (along with lots of other people) celebrated Father’s Day.

“Happy Father’s Day, Daddy!  I am wearing a fluffy flower on my head so I look extra cute!”

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Unlike lots of other people, we also celebrated David’s birthday.

His family came over for dinner:  delicious steak, courtesy of his parents; yummy fruit salad, courtesy of Kristen’s purchasing abilities and Chad’s cutting abilities; and excellent side dishes, courtesy of Daddy/Birthday Boy.

I made a red velvet cake (with cream cheese frosting, of course), and managed to fit the correct number of candles on it (30).  Usually I just put two of one color and seven/eight/nine of another color to signify the age; however, that doesn’t really work when it ends in a zero!  Plus, this way I got to use 1.25 packages of candles.

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Check out all the smoke from the candles!

Abby wanted to stay awake for all the fun, but eating applesauce for the first time wore her out.  And turned her into an awkwardly colored alien compared to Auntie Kristen.  She has also decided in the past couple weeks that she likes her pacifier.  Huh.

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Please ignore my wacky hair, but notice the cute babies on the fridge:  Gabe & Levi.

Moral of the story:  Abby was cute; we had yummy food; David got presents; his dad also got presents.

Stay tuned for Abby’s five month update.

The end.

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13 May 2011 what? I have a blog?! I must have forgotten.
Author:  |  Category: Abby  | Tags: , , , , , ,  | 2 Comments

Hmm, apparently I forgot to post…for almost 2 months.  Oops.  I guess I’ll have to remedy that tonight.  Since nobody wants to hear about the past two months in one post, you can expect posts over the next few days to catch up!  Are you excited or what?!?!

Since I promised a post about Abby’s baptism and our completely uneventful trip to Fargo (ha!), I’ll start with that.

The date was March 11.  It was nice (for March) here.  Abby and I went on an adventure, bringing Bones to Grandma & Grandpa’s house, then stopping to see Grandma and Aunt Kristen at work, since it’s more-or-less on the way to the MOA, where we had to make a stop at Carter’s to get Abby more clothes.  [Obviously.  She and I had just been there a few days earlier, but we had to go back to use a coupon & get an outfit for FREE!]  While we were there, my mom called to let us know there was bad weather near Fargo, and we could wait to drive up or stay in Fergus with relatives if necessary.

Things looked decent and we figured we could make it at least most of the way before the storm came, so we left after we all got home from work/adventures.  It didn’t look like ‘weather’ would start until after 8 or so when we looked after stopping for food.

Ha.

Shortly after that, it started flurrying.  Because that’s a word.

Then it got better.

Then it got worse.

Then it got better.  We were near Fergus and figured, hey, it’s decent.  Might as well keep going.

Then it got worse.

Then it got worser.  It sounds funny to say it got worst, so we’ll go with worser.

Then we were about 7 miles from Fargo and couldn’t see the road.  That was fun.  Abby was unimpressed.  I convinced her to go back to sleep and we’d be there soon.

Ha.  Soon.  That’s funny.

Something like 45 minutes later, we got to my parents house.  45 minutes to go about 8 miles.

Six plus hours to drive to Fargo.  Obviously.  Why wouldn’t we drive through a blizzard after everything else this winter?!

[Please refer to any/all posts in November, December, and January to reference the ice storms, winter storms, broken down cars, etc., that marked each week of pregnancy!]

ANYWAY….

We did make it safely, albeit nerve-wrackingly.  [Also a word.  I never make words up.]

David’s family came up on Saturday evening.  We ate Duane’s pizza [delish] & Abby showed off her adorable-ness for the waiter.

Sunday was her baptism.  She wore the baptismal gown my Great-Grandmother made for my Grandpa in 1908.  Abby was the 15th to wear it over 4 generations of Bjerki.  [That is the plural of Bjerkaas.]

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Abby thought whenever the Pastor talked, she should outdo him, so after the baptism, she and I spent the service in the Fellowship Hall, along with Grandma Haugrud.  [And baby Ethan, another baby at church, and his mommy.]

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[First family picture not at the hospital!]

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[With the Aunts & Uncles currently residing in this country.]

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[And Grandmas & Grandpas.]

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[Mommy & Abby.]

The rest of our time in Fargo was uneventful.  I had an exciting eye appointment, and Abby showed off her adorable-ness and cute monkey outfit to Grandma’s students and co-workers at Grace.  On the way home, Abby wanted to see the McDonalds where Mommy & Daddy stopped on the way home from Fargo the last time.  Thankfully, the car did not die this time around!

The end.

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05 Dec 2010 pregnancy highlights: 31 weeks.
Author:  |  Category: Pregnancy  | Tags: , , ,  | One Comment

Pregnancy Highlights: December 4, 2010.  (Also my birthday!  I am now old.)

How Far Along: 31 weeks.

Size of Baby:  There are no individual fruits or vegetables the size of Baby this week, so she is the weight of four oranges.  I do not eat oranges (or orange juice), so that doesn’t actually help me, although I’m sure it would be helpful for most people.  That’s about 3.5 lbs, and she’s getting tall:  about 18 inches!

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  So apparently I am the only person who loses weight over Thanksgiving…I lost 3 oz. between my last appointment and the one I had this week.  How does that work?!  But I’m still in the realm of acceptable weight gain, having gained 17 lbs. since my first doctor’s appointment (about 20 from original).

Maternity Clothes:  Regular jeans held up with the bella band still working moderately well, but I change into pj pants as soon as I get home!

Gender:  Baby Girl!

Movement:  She is crazy.  The doctor said she still has lots of room, so she decided to take advantage of that and is now all over the place.  She figured out how to punch me in the ribs, stomach, diaphragm, and bladder, so that’s been…fun.  She’s also been doing complete somersaults and sticking random body parts out so I look like I have weird tumors on my stomach!

Sleep:  Difficult to get comfortable.

Symptoms:  No change.

What I Miss:  Being able to get back off the couch/bed/etc. with minimal effort!

Cravings:  None.

Best Moment of the Week:  My birthday was Saturday (it’s now Sunday), so that was fun!  My parents and brother were able to make it down for the weekend and we had Christmas baking fun at David’s parents’ house on Saturday!  I also got a phone call from my other brother, who is currently in Germany, on my birthday.  On the baby side, on Thursday night I was lying on the couch & Baby decided to stick her foot or something out over my belly button, resulting in my stomach looking very strange.  Then she rolled from one side to the other, which was completely visible from the outside.  She was rather entertaining that evening!

What I’m Looking Forward To:  Eating Christmas cookies!  And I suppose ordering our Christmas cards…I should probably get on that one.

I’ll have pictures up later; uploading them from yesterday would require my getting off the couch, which we’ve already established is not the easiest thing to do anymore!

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