Schwartz Family

Time for my quarterly update, I suppose.
I can't believe how quickly time is going by these days. I felt like I updated this blog maybe week before last? Actually, it was January. And before that October.
So, three kids has sent our little world into warp speed. I say goodnight (for the fifth time) to the girls on Sunday night and it seems almost immediately we're waking up to Saturday.
We are not doing too much outside of daily home life and many days are nearly identical. Still, post kid-bedtime, I have about two ounces of creative thought power, enough for two complete sentences or the Times crossword with a cup of tea. And that has been a nice way to wind down, but it means this blog stagnates and come December, I will have no idea what we did all year and you will receive a Christmas letter filled with random trivia I picked up from Will Shortz.
So, moving forward. Here is an update on the bitty baby.
Rachel had her 6mos appointment and is shaping up like her dad. 25% in weight, 75% in height. My little string bean.

She is the easiest thing I do all day. I think that is a built-in on all third child installments? She's starting to sit up on her own but predictably falls over if I dash for the camera.

She rolls about in her crib, but stays put on the floor. Sonja is not allowed on the playmat so I think Rachel views it as a safe zone and wanders not.

She makes us smile, a lot.

I think she is the best baby in the world and I tell her so fifty times a day. =)

Sonja bear. She is the kid in the center attempting to touch the crocodile. Need I say anything more? =)

Sometimes I do not know what to do with this little girl. But most of the time all she really needs is for me to sit down and read "Good Dog, Carl." (Those books make me wonder if Carl really could exist. "Now Carl, I'm going out *by myself*. You take care of these children and sic Social Services should they knock on the door.")
Anyway, Sonja has two loves. Rachel and her pink baby. Her pink baby doll smells like cupcakes and Sonja can no longer fall sleep without her pink baby directly under her nose. Her pink baby also attends all meal times and the child cannot eat if the pink baby is not sitted up and facing her. Her pink baby needs to be sitted up against the wall for all bathroom events. I do not permit Sonja to take her pink baby outside our house, other than in the car, because I don't quite know what would happen if we lost her. It is very sweet how consistently attentive an almost three year old is with her dolly. (Except the time she stuck play-doh in her eyes. A spa treatment?)

Taken at 11PM when our little insomniac called down the stairs, "Come see me!"
The Sonja we know and love...

And now, Anna.

Anna has matured in the past six months, faster than I can stand.

She is eager to learn, everything, and has six hundred questions about jet planes, marshmallows and punctuation. We are honestly planning on giving her an encyclopedia for her birthday, as a gift to ourselves. She spends hours a day reading to herself, and another hour reading "Good Dog, Carl" to her little sister.

She loves the idea of school so we began a penmanship workbook several weeks ago.

I know she would be interested in doing more schoolwork, but she can never go back to these "goof off all day as you like" days so I'm not going to start anything else until fall. Even then, I think we'll just continue penmanship and start a little math workbook. I need to blog about this whole homeschool gig...another time.
For now, I'm just enjoying these three girls, and Sonja's pink baby.