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.

As a 20 month old, Anna has surpassed my geography competence. No surprise for you folks who know me best.

I bought this puzzle when we were expecting Anna and finally brought it out on Friday for her to play with. She loves it! We should have more puzzles for her; it's her only one and sort of complicated for a first puzzle. Anyway, she knows the names and where to put Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah so far. It is hilarious to watch her looking over the pieces wondering aloud, "Where is Oo-tah?", "I can't find Okla-oma."

Some funny things from Anna this weekend:
Friday morning- I'm on the couch nursing the baby, Chris is brushing his teeth, I send Anna in to ask him if he would like me to make coffee.
Anna: You want coffee, Daddy?
Chris: Oh, yes please.
Anna: Daddy get the coffee.
Uh, I didn't tell her to say that.

Friday night- I went in to check on her after she's fallen asleep. She's zonked out with her head inside a canvas tote box. I ran for the camera, but she stirred and woke up before I could get a picture. Not sure why she put her head in the box, but it must have been comfy.

Sunday morning- Anna normally calls out when she wakes up but lays in her bed until one of us comes in her room. This morning we hear, "Mama? Mama?!...I need to talk to Mama." Chris went in but never did find out what she needed to talk to me about.

On the way back from church, out of nowhere from the backseat- "Climb it tree?" We ask, "You want to climb a tree?" Anna says, "I guess I too short." Probably. =)

Sonja hasn't cracked any jokes yet, but she's trying desperately to get her thumb in her mouth.

Great Grandpa came to visit last weekend. We did as we always do and took him for a stroll in the mall. And Anna went for a ride on the carousal.




We went to dinner down on the marina in Annapolis. The evening was gorgeous for dining on the deck and watching the sailboats. It was a fine time.


Saturday morning, we rubbed elbows with the locals at the best breakfast shop in town. Anna swiped a strawberry from Grandpa's belgian waffle while he supervised my crossword. Afterwards, we stopped at the park so Anna could run around and we could chat before Grandpa caught an afternoon flight back to Arizona.

We had a great time with him!

I took Sonja to her 2 month appt this past week as well. She is in the 95th percentile for length and 75th for weight. As you can see, she's making up for lost time. She's really been doing well. She is fascinated by Anna. We were just given a new rug (THANKS AGAIN!!) so the girls spend most of the day on that in the living room now. Sonja is content on the floor so long as Anna is close by playing. She likes being propped up on the boppy to get a good view.



One more thing: aren't these pictures similar?










The one on the right is Anna. =)

...since sliced bread. Did you know that Walmart will price match your local grocery stores' sales?? I haven't tried it yet, but Mrs. Norman said so and Google agreed. That's a big deal! There are always sensational deals on two or three things we use at different stores in the area, and I just don't have it in me to unload/reload the girls three times to save a couple bucks at each place. Plus with the gas prices...ugh..getting everything at one place would be ideal. BTW, this is probably most relevant for those living by a SuperWalmart.
So, I guess you write down the prices (and bring the ads with you just in case the cashier asks to see them) and put all the items together that you want price-matched to make it easy for the cashier. You don't have to go to customer service or anything.
Anyways, I just thought I'd share because it was awful exciting to me.

Anna's first time in the pool this summer:






She LOVED it. We were over at the Normans and Jonny's little nieces doted on Anna so sweetly. She was mighty reluctant to come out of that water. We are sure looking forward to the pool at the Nelsons this weekend! Anna especially.

Sonja's starting to sleep from 9-6AM, with one nursing at 11 when we go to bed, and I feel just dandy about that. Anytime I wake up and the hour digit is higher than 4, Zippedy-doo-dah rings out in my head. She goes back to sleep for the bulk of the morning too so I have a three hour stretch where we can run errands or I can spend time with just Anna. It is REALLY nice to feel like I can get things done again. I think every post-partum mama should refrain from evaluating life and the state of her home until she gets a decent night's sleep. That would really cut down on the despair, you know.

Anyways, these three are reading about a fierce bad rabbit. And that's one of Sonja's million dollar smiles.

Wednesday last week, we woke up from naps to a darkened sky. Anna, Sonja and I huddled together on Anna's bed to watch the storm slash through our neighborhood. Then this happened, though we couldn't see it from our window, and the electricity went out.


The storm blew past and Chris came home right afterwards. He took Anna to go see the firehouse pickup truck at the tree. She loves firetrucks.


The fellows there said the fallen lines caused a fire further down at the transformer site so it would be awhile before the power was back up. So, being acclimatized to central AC and all, we took advantage of obliging grandparents and stayed the night with Chris' parents. Thanks again for your cool hospitality!

Memorial Weekend. We took a trip up to Philly for the weekend and stayed with some good friends from our church there. Anna had the best time living with the Liv's for a couple days. Six kids under seven made for a pleasantly chaotic scene. It was sad to take Anna back home though- for days she talked of nothing but Dema-REE, Chawlree, and Machen.
The Livs introduced Anna to orange juice and fake juice. Anna has OJ each morning now, but she's forgotten about the Capri Sun enough not to ask for that hourly. =)


Anna saw her dear friend Maddie again too. With that refresher, she asks for Maddie once again everytime we go to the mall. Here are those two cuties running around with corn.

And playing baseball.


Baseball and Charlie.


Dem, Maddie and Anna took a bath all together and there are some cute pics, but a little too much skin for the blog.
We had a great time. You Liv's will have to come down soon. And we'll catch you Kirklins in Ohio sometime!

Pictures, quickly.
Swingset:

Putting it together.


Hug break.


Swingin'.


Trying to pump, "forward, back!"




Mark and Sonja came down a few weekends ago:

The Sonja's, big and little.


Anna's first trip to Rita's.



The other day, Chris went to check on Anna when she was supposedly going down for a nap. He opened her door and didn't see her, but heard tapping. She was under the bed.


Overalls and pink.



Incidentally, the onesie reads, "Cute as can be."




For next time: Memorial weekend with the Liv's. For now: Laundry.

First of all, we made summit yesterday. Anna was my little Sherpa, Nick. I paid her in Pepperidge Farm currency.

Today, it happened. I knew it was inevitable, I tried to prepare myself, but I still cried when it occured. Ready for the story?

It's been a long week. I'm a spoiled woman, okay, I know. I'm used to Chris coming home and pretty much taking over. But he's sick, and that's a get-out-of-superman-duty free pass. Also, my mom's been at Disney World all week so I'm not getting my morning pep talks. Anyway, that's just background.

At 5:30PM we left Dad to rest at home while Anna, Sonja and I went out for a walk. As we started off with the double stroller, I mentally noted to check often to make sure Sonja's socks stayed on. Anna tossed her dolly a few times so I gave her a safe seat on the hood.(The dolly, not the child). We had strolled about 1/4 mile when I noticed Sonja's pink piggies wiggling in the breeze. Rats. Okay, we'll just back track. As I turned around, I saw the one sock just a few yards back. We booked it up the hill because it was straight into the sun and the girls were getting squirmy with the sun in their eyes. I was almost home with no second sock in sight so I decided to try to loop around and go over the route again. All this for a sock? Well, I was feeling agitated and wanted to get more energy out.
I turned down the road and looked for a side street to take me back to the earlier route. The first three side streets were dead ends so I gave up on the sock and turned for home. We went just a little ways when Anna asked for her dolly back. As I knelt at the front of the stroller to hand it to her, AHA! Sonja's sock! It was wedged in Anna's seat the whole time. Okay, good to see you sock, let's get on home now...oh wait... Anna, where are your GLASSES?! We zoomed back over the little way we'd come so far and there they were on that dead end street, all run over. I found one the of the lens, which must have popped out when she tossed them, but it was chipped up anyway.
I put the smushed frames in my pocket and we trudged home to the tune of Anna asking for "glasses on".
Dad took it well. He always does. I cried my eyes out. Anna came in the kitchen as I was making dinner, and crying, and asked, "What's matter with Mama?" I said alot of things in my head about keeping glasses ON...
Providentially, Anna has an eye doctor appt on Tuesday so perhaps her lens prescription has changed anyway? Either way, we have a socked infant and a farsighted toddler for the weekend.
So, that's the story.

Today is the anniversary of the first ascent of Mt. Everest.
I plan to use this inspiring day to get a shower, go to super walmart with both girls, get this house in order, go to my 6wk post appt, make dinner and fold the clothes that have been laying out since uh Friday.
Will I be Mallory or Hillary?

We are in survival mode this week. Chris is sick. I have a cold. Anna has a cold. Sonja is healthy. Sleep is scarce.
I came on here to post pictures, but my time is up, already. Pictures soon.