Little sister sits up. Big sister hams it up. Little sister taken aback.

Anna's doing much better. She still has a little fever but is eating and playing like normal.
Daddy, however, was playing with Sonja yesterday and she apparently scratched his cornea. Why can we not just be healthy and well? Anyway, his eye hurt pretty badly all last night- he couldn't keep it open or have the light on at all, but it is much better today. I don't think he even needs to see a doc. Maybe this afternoon I'll fracture something to keep pace.

Before I do, here's an Anna story from yesterday-
She asked to take her temperature with the ear thermometer. I gave it to her and she put it in her ear until it beeped, took it out and looked at the screen. I asked her what her temp was and she told me our phone number. That's quite a fever. =)

Our little Anna is sick. =(
Last night, at 2AM, she let us know in no uncertain terms. All you folks from Bowie- just giving you a heads up because it's Tuesday and she was in the nursery.
She's doing okay this morning, still running a low grade fever but no more vomiting. How do you gently ingrain the importance of puking in the bowl?

And mom's humility lesson-
At 3AM the night before last, our upstairs neighbor was running her washer and it woke up Sonja a couple times and I was irrate, to say the least. But I felt pretty penitent as I put Anna's sheets in the wash at 2AM last night. Will I ever learn?

Well, I do hope nobody else from the nursery gets sick. It's time now for Huckleberry Larry with Anna. (That is the nice thing about sick kids- they sit still long enough to snuggle.)

You know those mornings where you realize that everyone in your home, assuming the husband is already away at work, is working against you and your goals? Even when your goal is simply to get out to the store to buy nourishment for the very children blocking your every effort? And your secondary goal is to get out the door with everyone looking reasonably kempt?
I'm one of many unshowered mothers, and this is my story.
Everything goes smoothly until Daddy walks out the door. As soon as that door is shut, baby has a stinky, Anna's diaper leaked on her pajamas, she wants eggs, no, cereal, no, eggs, okay cereal. Anna cries, "There's a bug in my cereal!" No, it's not a bug, it's just a piece of cereal. Sonja wants to nurse for forever, or at least through highschool, and never eat solid foods or ever EVER take formula. Mom just wants a shower at some point and Raisin Bran. After wheedling the baby to sleep for her nap, Anna is finished with her cereal and announces so in just the perfect tone for rousing sleeping babies. All hope for a shower is lost. Morning chores are tended to while the children cheerfully undo them in my wake. Both girls need a bath so that happens and at 10AM they are clean and dressed. I finish up the grocery list and trudge to get dressed, unshowered and slightly bitter about it, when the thought comes. I scoop up the baby, put her in her crib. She protests, but I know she's tired. I tell Anna to play with puzzles and be good and I leap into twelve minutes of white noise bliss that is the shower. =)
Okay, so I am a showered mom.
Anyway, Sonja wakes up and we head out the door for the store. It is now 11AM, the time I hoped to return by. Things go somewhat okay at the store until we wait in an unusually long line, check out, walk across the parking lot and load the groceries and kids back in the car whereupon I learn that I have stolen the cream cheese. Sonja had expertly shifted her carseat to cover it while I was checking out. Or it had slid under. Either way, the first thing I thought about was how they had charged Chris twice for an item once and he didn't realize it until he came home and of course never made them fix it. And the second thing I thought of was how many times as a kid I had gone back into the store with my mom when we discovered an unpaid for item. So I reloaded the girls in the shopping cart, went back to wait in line again. We return home at 12:30, past the optimum fall asleep period for Anna.
Lunch is made and consumed. Sonja does a little better with sweet potatoes and oatmeal cereal. Anna is falling asleep in her chair so naptime commences. Anna goes down sweetly in her room and I put Sonja down in our room. Anna is quiet as a mouse so I presume she's asleep and fall asleep with Sonja.
A half hour later I sense Anna next to me and there she is. There is something in her face, a sheepishness perhaps. As I put her back in her bed, I notice a tiny dot of blue on her shirt. I walk out of her room puzzling as to what that could be from as her room is in order so she wasn't playing in there. I thought I would have heard her had she been out of her room but apparently not. I came into the living room and found that she had stood up on the desk to get a pen off the top shelf of the hutch, a blue ink pen. It's not nearly as bad as it could have been. She wrote a few checks, circled some 401k percentages she wanted Dad to look at, checked off some envelopes she had gone through and wrote 40 post-it notes to herself. I am SO thankful she only colored on paper. Sadly she also scribbled in our family Bible. I did find it interesting that she circled the word "conviction". That must have been when she left off her mischief and came into our room.
Well, Daddy just walked in the door so order is by rule restored. Sigh...

This innocent looking child went and turned six months on Sunday, while I wasn't looking. Oh time, why do you fly so fast?
In honor of the event, we debuted Sonja on solids. And rice cereal was our first contestant. Come on down rice cereal! And back up again, and again. She's not too interested in keeping that down. Next up, carrots! Hi carrots, where are you from? New Jersey? That's nice, I once learned how to make pumpkin soup in NJ. Anyway, let's see how you fare at staying in Sonja's mouth. Oh, I'm sorry, but you have been eliminated. Who's next?

Actually, the third time with rice cereal went a little better. I think it's a little trickier this time because Sonja is more aware of what we're eating than Anna was when we started her at 4 months. Sonja ain't no fool...

Today was Sonja's 6mo check up. She's weighing in at 14 1/2 lbs. 30%ile weight, 55%ile height. (I have to record it here because her baby book is in line after Anna's and Anna's isn't finished yet...or um started...) Other than the two shots, we had a nice visit with the ped.

Two little cookies.

That reminds me, the other day Chris called Anna "My little kiwi." Apparently, Anna really liked it because she keeps asking to be called such and refers to herself as that. Even when she's alone talking to herself in her room- "What are you doing my little kiwi? I'm playing dollhouse..."

Anna still spends about half of her play time looking at books so I'm guessing she'd like to learn how to read. I have the phonics cards that my mom used to teach me to read, so we're going through those. It's totally at her pace, (which is usually breakneck speed actually) and I wait for her to ask to do phonics cards so it's not like school. Yesterday she sounded out "dog." I helped her with the O because it has three sounds and we're definitely not even talking about spelling rules...(mostly because I'd need to brush up on them myself.) But it's fun.

Anna's been in a sports class at the Y for the past two months. It's been fun to watch! They've done basketball, tee ball, and soccer so far. I finally remembered to bring my camera last week so here's a video of her first batting experience. Note the synchronization of tongue and bat. =)

And here's a little post-class lesson with dad.

The weekend before last, my parents were in DC. My dad was there for work; my mom was there to hang out with us. Thursday we took the girls to the National Zoo:

Friday, we went to the national mall and it was absolutely empty. Granted it was 10AM and a weekday, but I just couldn't believe how deserted it was. We parked (for free even!) on Madison St directly in front of the carousel. Here we are in front of the west building of the national art museum. See how empty??

Inside the west building.

The plaza between the art museum buildings.

Metro Grandma.

Anna fell asleep at the Museum of American Art and slept all the way to the Lincoln Memorial (and that's 2 miles of power strollering.)

Back at the car, Anna went for a quick ride on the carousel while I fed Sonja who would have preferred lunch at the Lincoln Memorial and made that point the entire walk back...

Then we picked up my dad and squeaked out of the city before Friday traffic really got going. It was fun seeing everything, but being in big cities stresses me out. Even though it was pretty quiet at the mall and we didn't have terrible traffic, I was on level 10 hyperawareness until we were back in good ol' Anne Arundel county.
That night, we went down to Annapolis to dinner on the harbor. I really like Annapolis. Especially after being in DC. Anyway, my parents stayed at a hotel nearby Friday night and we had all day Saturday before they flew out that evening. It was a fun time.

Been meaning to post some pictures...and I will soon. Real quick though, here's one of my favorites of the girls.

Friday night, I needed to get out a bit, (because my left eyebrow was starting to twitch everytime I heard 'mam-a-a-a'), so I ran out to a fabric store I'd never been to. I wandered around through the aisles looking for something to tempt me to bring out viking lady and came upon a cute striped flannel which clearly said "Make me into pajama pants for Anna." So I did.

Me and my helper. =)

I put the pins on the table.
And she puts them in the cushion. (She calls them "sharps")
And here are the pants!

(She doesn't stay still for pictures...)

$1 tickets to the Orioles

$FREE parking 200yds from Camden Yards because we came late

$4 concession stand ice cream

A fun night in Birdland with some good ole Grovers for less than ten bucks. Woohoo!

I think we had 10 alumni there, but we exclusively took pictures of ourselves and people from Kentucky....(so I realized when we had left.)
Here are our good friends Dave and Jenn:

Update- we had the pleasure of entertaining these fine folk on Sunday afternoon. Anna enjoyed a nap on Dave. Not sure if Dave enjoyed his end- Anna is pretty sweaty when she sleeps...

It's Monday and to celebrate, we went to the MVA.
I had to get a MD license. This was the first time I've ever dealt with the goverment solo. (Solo: two kids in tow, but no mom or husband.) I went to their website, figured out what I needed to bring, realized that almost every residential document has Chris' name on it only, spent an hour rifling through files to find something with my name, and starting stocking up my file- current ss card, maiden name ss card, marriaged certificate, birth certificate, PA license, BGE bill, bank statement, verizon bill...there was no way I was going to wait in line and get turned back.
Government offices intimidate me. Especially the MVA. I've only been to one three times and my mom took me twice and Chris took me the third time. I really don't like going into situations where I don't know what line to stand in, where to get a ticket, whether you have to pay in cash or check, if you have to bring your own pen... It's a place where I have no control. I guess that's why it's intimidating.
The MVA's I've been to previously were in hickville towns- the waiting rooms were the size of a living room. This morning I drove past Maryland's MVA the first time because it's a big office building/police department complex. We parked in a huge parking lot and marched bravely toward building B. Some nice people held the door open when they saw me approach heaving the carseat, diaper bag swinging, Anna holding the pocket of my shorts. We walked in to a large area with rows and rows of seats and 12 stations with blinking letters and numbers. I wandered around for a minute looking for a place to take a ticket. No luck. So I stood against the wall and watched to see where the next person who came in the door went. That person went to Information. Oooh. I went there too and after waiting five minutes it was my turn and she gave me my ticket. There were probably a hundred people in the area. And probably eighty seats. Thankfully a group stood up in the front row so we could have seats.
We sat down and looked at our ticket- A37. They were already on A31 And with 12 stations we'll be out of here in no time! Sadly, there are also B's and C's and they do five B's and two C's for every A or some other formula that meant we waited an hour and a half. =(
I have to say though- Anna and Sonja behaved beautifully. And after we paid our dues and I sort of smiled for the camera, we made it out alive with a license to boot.

I read online that you can renew your license by way of kiosk 24/7? I hope I can always do that for the rest of my life.

Anyway, the house is kind of a mess today. This weekend, I spent zero hours on housework and it's showing. (I spent six hours on these little birdie prints for the girls room though, and those are cute.) So today is to be a day of housework. I know it's already 4PM and I said "is to be". Chris has a company dinner tonight so I still have a chance. It's too hot to put on sweatpants- the ultimate "we're digging in for the long haul house cleaning" statement- so Anna and I just pulled on our knee high socks and we're going to skid around these next few hours getting this place sparkly. Here we go!

we're ready...

so bring it on.

It's been a busy past week. This is what we've been up to.

Last Tuesday- Dinner in Delaware with one of Chris' buds. Fun time especially because Christianna mall was included in the evening.

Wednesday- Our third anniversary. We left both (gulp) girls with Chris' parents and we're glad we took the plunge. It was the first time Chris and I had some time out with just each other and honestly, I'd forgotten how nice that can be. We went to a wonderful little French restaurant- dim lights, excellent wine, better conversation, those waiters that stand in the corner attentive to refill your water every sip (and you know that's a change from the usual dinner times round here). It was really nice... Three more years and we'll do it again. Thanks again J&M for taking the girls!

Thursday- Ravens' pre-season game. We left Anna again with the doting grandparents and decked out Sonja in purple. We had dinner at the stadium- something of a step down from the previous night's fare. The Ravens lost but it was still fun. Here are a few pictures from that.




Friday- Pack it in pack it up and off to Ohio! Sadly, our already late evening flight was delayed. And though the pilot announced he would "fly this like we stole it" we still were pretty late getting in. It's a bummer that Anna no longer flies free, but it is nice to have a whole row to ourselves for musical chairs and all the other fun times that come with two kiddos at 11PM. After the baggage carousEl, the rental counter and hellos to Aunt Manda and Uncle Roo, it was so late...1AM? I don't even remember. Fortunately both girls slept in next morning.




Saturday- Hanging out with the Ohio Schwartzes. And donuts. Aunt Manda taught Anna how to spell O-H-I-O with the Buckeye motions and everything. Anna renamed their cat(formerly Buster) Bus Driver. Quaker Steak that night- Chris over-filled on wings, and Sonja over-filled her diaper. Many wipes, a lot of water and a $4 dress from the nearby Target later, dinner resumed.

Sunday- We went to church with the Kirklins! It was great to see Anna and Maddie together again. Church was kind of crazy with the two 2yo's and two infants...I think we were all there for the opening hymn...after that someone was always taking somebody out. Once again, it's nice to have a whole row for musical chairs. =) After church we had a nice afternoon hanging out with them. Here are the girls and Baby Janie too.






That evening Uncle Roo made an outstanding cake, from scratch!, for Anna's Ohio birthday. The camera batteries were dying so the focus was pretty poor, but here's one picture from that:


Monday- Anna and I woke up extra early, one of us unenthusiastically so. After Chris was up, we sat out on the porch in the sunshine and Anna tried to eat flowers.


That evening we flew home.

Tuesday- I started this post. And Anna started her "Mixed Sports" class at the Y. They are beginning with soccer. It was fun to watch. The instructor was trying to tell Anna to kick the ball into the goal but she wanted to tell him all about her mom and her dad and her little sister Sonja and her blue shoes and her pink hat that we left in the car because mama said... She did kick the ball around though and after awhile of us emphasizing to kick it to the goal, she picked it up, tossed it in the goal and went to find another ball that she could just kick where she wanted.

Wednesday- This morning, Anna woke up pretty early. Chris put her in bed with us and the next thing I knew, she was waking me up a little after 7AM. She asked where Daddy was and I figured he was in the shower so told her so. She went out of the room, looked around, came back in and said, "Daddy went to work already," and then in the saddest voice, "Daddy not give Anna hug." So we made lunch for Chris and left early for the doc appt so we could stop by and give him lunch and get Anna's hug. When we got to Chris' work, he was walking around somewhere with the supervisor and didn't answer his phone. I left his lunch at his desk and a message saying we'd see him later. I told Anna that Daddy was busy and she was pretty sad as we drove away. We hadn't gone far when Chris called and said he was available so we turned around. As we pull into the drive, I hear Anna grumble, "Stop taking my daddy, people." That's what I say, too. =)
Anna had a doctor appt this morning and they gave her a shot. The first one where she really knew what was going on...could have been ugly. She was very brave and didn't cry until after the fact. Then the whole way through the parking lot, she kept her leg completely straight, would not bend it for nothing. But back in the car, she forgot about it completely courtesy of one red twizzler. Phew. Next time is probably going to be a little harder...We'll up the reward to milkshake probably.
After the doc, we needed gasoline and groceries and baby needed nursing. I should have just stopped at a station before the grocery store, but I wanted to get gas from the place near our house so I could save 2cents/gal...that's what 30 cents off the total? Hindsight is 20/20, but at the time the Irish in me won out. So we drove to Giant, I nursed Sonja in the car (the three of us sweltering because we had to turn the car off to save the gas), did the grocery shopping, loaded everyone back in and made it to the cheap gas station where we filled the 15 gal tank to 15.2. And saved us a nickel and a quarter.
So, that brings us to the present. Anna just woke up from her nap so that's my cue.

Anna's birthday weekend (with many many pictures to appease the GA masses.)

She started off the day with a trip to the farmer's market and Lowes with daddy. They came back with strawberries and rat poison. Only one of which went on the breakfast table. Obviously.
Anyhow, after breakfast, we were off to see Anna's favorite firetruck.





Then onwards to the park!





















Then back in the car to pick up lunch.

Chick-fil-A!

And after a good nap, party time!



































We topped the day off with Anna's favorite spaghetti dinner, a slice of cake, and loads of playtime.


On Sunday evening, we met up with Chris parents at the Cheesecake Factory!

And afterwards, Anna played in the fountain...her very very favorite.



It was a great weekend. Thanks for the cards, gifts and phone calls. Anna feels very special. =)