Chris took a video yesterday before church while I was drying my hair. It made my heart melt when he showed it to me last night; I just had to post it. It's overload twirling and cuteness...are you ready? Take your insulin and here you go. =)

Sonja is 3 months and a week old. She rolled over for the first time three weeks ago(that's for the baby book record that is this blog) and today let out her first giggle. We're in the babymoon phase right now: she'll sleep 10 hours straight at night and still takes naps anywhere. Nurse five times a day and get chubbier every time you look at her. Smile at everyone and everything. It's a good time.

Anna is at a slightly more complex stage of childhood. Potty Training School closed its doors last week. And no diplomas were issued. The janitors did receive bonus checks though. Re-enrollment to begin in the fall.
She's not ready. No connection there yet. We'll try again in September probably.

Other news-
Last weekend was Sonja's debut performance on stage! We had met up with some GCC alum to see Chris' bud Jonny in Guys & Dolls. During dinner, the plan was hatched for Jonny, who was Sky, to take Sonja on stage with him instead of a dolly. Chris and Jonny are both longtime friends of the play director so it was pretty special. The director hadn't ever seen Sonja yet, but knew that she was Chris' daughter as soon as Jonny walked out on stage with her. Sonja slept through the whole thing. Here are the Grovers:


Also, Anna's friend Allegra from Philly was here all of last week. Anna really enjoyed having a playmate. I feel so bad that we don't have any kids her age in our neighborhood. I'm looking forward to next year when Sonja will be older and they can play with each other.

Some other pictures:

This morning, as we were getting ready for church, I realized that we've never taken a picture of all four of us. A full 99.9% of our pictures are taken by yours truly so we have plenty of shots with the girls and dad, but none of all four. So as we walked out the door, we used the timer to snap one, finally.



Can you say "unenthusiastic cheese"?

Anna holding her chubby sister.


Okay, that's all I've got for now. =)

Hot off the camera.

Okay, so potty training. We're giving it a go, and hoping Anna does too.
Monday morning, Anna and I spent a few hours sitting on the kitchen floor, she on her potty chair, me on the floor, and we had two successes. After her nap, she tried the potty chair for awhile, but I had to leave her for a sec to get Sonja and returned to a wet floor. Bummer. That kind of killed the momentum for me.
Tuesday, Anna did really well, but we spent almost all day on the kitchen floor. She had a basket of books, snacks, several different drinks and me reading, telling stories, singing, whatever she wanted. She was perfectly content. We had seven successes including a number 2, at which point the crowd went wild. She still wet in her diaper though in between potty chair sits so I wondered if it would help her to be wearing those "feel and learn" pull-ups. (She's in her diaper still; we didn't do anything crazy like putting panties on her. The new rug, the white couch, the possibilities are endless...) So anyway, last night I went out to get them but the store only had Cars pull-ups, no girlie ones. I bought them anyway and that brings us to this morning.
Day 3: The house is in bad shape. Monday and Tuesday were dominated by potty training, (I hadn't even unpacked from GA) so I thought she could wear a pull-up and we'd work on her learning when she needed to go and I wouldn't be bound to the kitchen floor. The pull-ups have a "cool alert" lining, so it turns cool when wet. I thought this would help her, and it probably would if I hadn't bought the BOY pull-ups. The little patch of lining that has to get wet to turn cold is way up by the belly because that's how little boys are made. So, it had no effect on Anna and she happily spent the morning saying she didn't have to go and wetting in her pull-up. I was ready to throw in the towel when I called Chris at lunch. I just can't sit on the kitchen floor the whole day! Nevermind the housework, my hiney is sore. Well, this afternoon, she did go twice, including #2 which makes it so worthwhile. So, I'm encouraged to keep at it.
Besides it's nice to have peanut butter M&M's around.

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Georgia on my mind...because this little girl asks to go there every five minutes. We flew down for the weekend of the 4th and had a fantastic time. The very best part was seeing Anna supremely content- a houseful of toys, an aunt or uncle to play with every second, grandma's breakfasts, and her beloved grandpa.


Sonja had a fine time as well with so many arms to hold her.
We stayed in the a/c most of the time, but spent a couple afternoons in the pool.


Here is Anna and her Aunt Jenny.

And her daddy.

Us five sisters.

Anna was very excited about the airplanes! Fortunately, we were at the airport for three hours waiting for a delayed flight so Anna was able to see lots of planes up close.


But even with the planes, waiting around got old.

And older still.

We came into bwi after midnight and pulled into home at 1AM. All three of us girls slept in until 9:30. A very good thing because Monday was to be opening day of potty training school....that post coming soon. We're in the thick of it.