Snots

Anja has been sick with a cold. Poor baby! Yesterday was the worst; today she seems to be feeling a lot better. I hope she's back to her old self by Sunday for her birthday party!

Martin is calling Comcast today during his lunch break to tell them that a $30 increase is ridiculous and that we're not paying that, so thanks a latte, but we'll take our business elsewhere. I'm making him do it because while I think it's ridiculous and I am not about to pay $70/month for basic internet, I would just call and say we're cancelling our service, but he wants to put up a fight and see if they'll keep our bill at $40. Meh. We live across from the library and cold winter is coming, so blogging from home would be frigid anyway. I could do without the internet for awhile. And maybe if I didn't have it, I would spend my few-and-far-between spare moments doing something more productive, like working on Christmas presents.

I am not a fan of Starbucks coffee, but those VIA packets made up as a cafe au lait are to die for and I could definitely go for one right now!!!!!

Martin and I might have recently stumbled upon the farm of our dreams. Good thing it isn't for sale, or we'd have to name it The Poor Farm, as opposed to the totally perfect name we are giving our farm on the day we get it. Maybe this place will turn up on the market around the time we're able to get out of our house. That'd be good. Until then, our next project is turning the Big Back Room into our bedroom.... again. Hopefully this time it'll work out a little better, and then the girls can have their own room!

So, this might be my last blog post for awhile. Don't miss me too much, hahaha!

Putting Things Away

I just put away the jungle-print infant swing that normally sits in the kitchen, in front of the tall blue shelves. It hadn't been used in so long that it was full of toys I kept throwing in when I was sweeping the floor. Anja had even lost interest in snapping and re-snapping the clasps. *sigh* The newborn stage is definitely not my favorite of my babies.... in fact, it's my very least favorite. I know some people love it, but I tend to have screamers, and look forward to my life being more like what it is now, when everyone is laughing and cheerful and playing games, as well as being snuggly. But still. It's sad to put things away. Who knows when I'll get it back out again? So sad. My babies are growing up.
At the risk of jinxing myself, I have to say that Anja is getting so much better at this whole sleep thing. Yesterday she had a three hour nap AND went down for bed at home, at 7:00!! That's a miracle. She's also started eating well again. For awhile we couldn't get her to eat, and it was so frustrating. I know she isn't going to starve, and I know she'll get her nutrients one way or another, even if she goes days just picking at her food. But the real annoyance comes from her being so doggone grouchy when she doesn't eat. We had a few days where she refused everything I offered her and she was just such a crab! Now we're back to our old ways though, which are curious ways, as illustrated last night when I pulled some nice warm brownies out of the oven and poured us each a glass of milk and handed out three slices of brownies with our dinner. Anja took one bite of hers and said, "blech." She put it back on the plate and returned to eating her sugar snap peas. I know I shouldn't complain that my 2-year-old prefers vegetables over sweets, but really.... what's WRONG with her?!?

One more funny story: The other day out with my sister and sister-in-law, we went to Plato's Closet (woohoooo!) where, even though I swore to myself that I wouldn't, I did a little impulse buying. And then I felt guilty. As cute as it is, I don't NEED a flowery tank top. And as fun and funky as it is, I surely don't NEED that long, billowy, colorful blouse that is just so interesting and reminds me of my friend Alison, I can't wait to wear it. Fun, but not a necessity. So after showing them to Martin, I told him I was going to return them the next day. He said he wouldn't let me. I said his opinion didn't count. You know what he did? He dug the reciept out of the bag and set it on fire! What a weirdo! So now I'm stuck with my impulse buys, I guess. Although, they are so, so cute I really can't complain about that either.... and the flowery tank top I think will look really good with my brown sweater. !!!!

There are a zillion cute things Anja did yesterday, but how can I document them all? And when Greta woke up at 10:30 after being asleep for a few hours, what could I do but bring her downstairs and let her play with us while we had rootbeer floats? She is so darn cute. I wish my girls looked cuter in the pictures I post of them. They really are very cute girls, though they always look a little weird in the pictures.

Will This Post Get Published?

I've lost track of my number of unfinished drafts that sit in my list of blog posts. It's hovering somewhere around three zillion.

My brother and sister-in-law were in town for a visit this weekend. They got in on Thursday last week and left this morning. It was so great to be able to chat with Anna, make fun of Ben, and hang around with my three crazy nieces. Anja had a fabulous time with all of her cousins. In fact, she had such a blast that at the close of their visit, in keeping with her true fashion, she threw up! Good times!

No, but seriously, I have to do a little posting about her wonderfulness. Yesterday Martin took the bus to work, so I had the car all day. Shortly after the girls woke up I hurried them into their clothes and we went up to Ooma's house to start our day. Anja played beautifully with her cousins, and in fact, there was an hour or so--AN HOUR OR SO (!!!!!!)-- in the upstairs playroom when Anna and I just sat and talked after Julia and Greta had both fallen asleep nursing and Zita, PeterXavier and Anja played together so happily that just thinking about it makes me feel all bubbly inside. WARM FUZZIES!!!!!! After awhile, Sarah, Anna and I ran a couple of errands just with my girls and Bella with us, and I took Martino his lunch (thanks to Sarah who drove me there) and after that, my mom told us that she and my dad were taking us out to dinner, so I headed home in hopes of getting Anja a short, late nap, just to give her a boost to make it through the rest of the evening. I tried our usual routine, and she was too wound up to sleep. So I went for a little drive, and she just sang songs and recited all the names/sounds of her family members. I was frustrated, thinking the night would be a complete bust. BUT I WAS WRONG! SO WRONG!! Usually, on no-nap days, Anja starts melting down around 4:00 and I begin counting the seconds to bedtime. Yesterday, however, 4:00 came and she came to me with her little doll stroller loaded up with friends, asking for a walk. Greta wasn't sleeping either, so I put Greta in her stroller and the three of us walked over to the library. Anja was perfect. We went to the kids section and straight back to the board books, where she sat down and "read" book after book after book. (She said she was reading to Greta.) Then when Greta started fussing, I told Anja it was time to go and asked her to stack all the books on the edge of the bench we'd been sitting on. She immediately hopped up and collected all four thousand fifty board books and stacked them neatly on the bench. Then she got behind her stroller and headed for the door with her dolls. A-MAZE-ING. I am telling you, this has never happened before. I usually try to not go to the library much because it seems to make Greta grumpy, then Anja throws a fit when it's time to go, and those librarians tend to be a little grouchy themselves, so I most often feel it's best just to avoid the idea altogether. But yesterday changed my mind. Yesterday was great!

So then it was about 5:00 and Greta went down for a nap and Anja played and I don't know what I did until 6:00 when G woke up and we went up to my parents house for a quick stop before we had to pick up Martin at 6:30. I still can't believe how awesome Anja was. 6:30 is her usual bedtime on days with no nap, and here she was, complying perfectly with my every suggestion! It was a quick stop, she happily left to pick up Martin, and we met my family at the restaurant where Greta just hung out in her carseat and barely made a peep, and Anja ate a little bit and just seemed happy to be alive and with her cousins. It was fabulous!! Just fabulous! So fabulous, in fact, that after dinner we jammied up the girls and as we were driving home, Martin asked if we wanted to stop and get Anja a treat for being such an incredibly good girl all day. So we stopped at Target and intended to get her a Schleich animal, but she chose (oh, gee, you think?) a baby doll instead. It's actually a cute little one that we call "tiny baby" and she seems to reeeeeaaaalllly like it. In fact, Tiny Baby slept in her bed last night!

....until she threw up at 1:00 and me fussing with her woke Greta up and so the whole family was up until after 4:00. But you know what? It was amazingly pleasant. Anja wasn't really sick. She threw up twice, we gave her a bath and read books for awhile and she was her old perky self when we went back to bed at 4:00. And Greta, Most Awesome Baby in the Universe, was perfectly happy the entire time, until it was time for bed again and she nursed to sleep in a matter of minutes.

And if that wasn't great enough, both girls went down for a nap within the 10:00 hour this morning. Greta is just now waking up (as I am hearing through the monitor) and Anja is still asleep. With all that empty time I have been SO PRODUCTIVE. I've done laundry, cleaned the bathroom, washed the dishes.... whew! It's been a very good day.

Joyful, Joyful!

Yesterday we took a spur-of-the-moment trip back down to Stuckey Farms to pick the last apples of the season, and visit their pumpkin patch. (Anja loves to pet pumpkins, and she had a ball... but she told Martin at bedtime that her favorite part had been the tractor ride!) It was a great day and the girls had fun, but there was one tragic moment... we lost Cook Baby! It was my fault. I was holding her while Martin lifted Anja up to pick some high-up apples. Somewhere along the rows of apple trees, I lost her. I went back and looked for her but never found her, and we asked two separate times at the register, but no one had turned her in.... so we went home without her. To make things more complicated, Anja has been borrowing a copule of dolls that belong to her cousin Grace. They were long overdue for return to their rightful owner, and I'd planned to do it on Sunday.... but that would leave Anja without any of her beloved dolls! (This is slightly untrue... she has more. She's just particularly obsessed with Cook Baby, and any dolls that belong to somebody else.) So we made a decision that we would buy her a new doll. TODAY. I have the car and this morning I loaded the girls up and we went to Target. I told Anja what we were doing: Returning Gracie's dolls to her, then going to buy a brand new doll for herself. She was SO GOOD at giving Gracie's dolls back, and then she was ecstatic when we got to the store. There were no carts in the lot (there never are... Target seems to have extremely efficient cart attendants) so Anja got to hold my hand and walk through the parking lot to the store.. Did I say walk? I meant run, and drag me along behind her, hauling Greta in her carseat, while shouting, "Gheeeee!! Gheeeee!!" (Translation: Doll!!!!! Doll!!!!) We got inside and she was wiggling with excitement in the basket of the cart, still calling "Ghee!" Through the store. We made it to the aisle of baby dolls, and she probably wet herself a number of times, but luckily she's still in diapers. She was absolutely beside herself with excitement. We looked at every doll, ranging from $70 to $3, and settled for the perfect one, on sale for $8.99. It's called a "starter doll" and it's just a regular baby doll, no bells and whistles, no electronics. It has blue eyes, which Anja chose (there were also brown eyed dolls of the same model) and a pink dress with a flower on it, and it has SHOES!!! And it wears its own diaper!!!! As soon as we paid for it, we just pulled the car to the wall and got it out for her. She just stared at it, smiling. It was amazing. She is SO CUTE. My only regret with the entire outing is that Martin wasn't there to see it.

Lady Burpsalot

So, I used to not be able to burp. Really, it was a rare occasion when the bubblies in my tummy made it all the way to my mouth and became audible. I know I am not unusual.... my sister's college roommate, for one, had the same problem! One the one hand, it's kind of nice because you never have to be embarrassed for burping in public. On the other hand, it's really annoying because you tend to get these bubbles of air moving up and down your inner workings for long periods of time, whereas with normal people, the bubbles of air just float to the top and become burps. Anyway.... I've suddenly begun burping! And I can't stop!! It's the strangest thing. I don't know what's changed, but I'm just a burp a minute these days, and the worst part about it being a new phenomenon is that I haven't had all the years of practice at holding in my burples like other people my age have!!! So now I'm this otherwise normal-looking adult who can't carry on a conversation without belching in your face. It's gross!

Anja is really into puzzles these days. We got a bunch from my sister when she cleaned out her playroom awhile back, and Anja has just kind of re-discovered them. She's actually really good at them! I was surprised.... and a little embarrassed. I'm thrilled that she's into them because I LOVE PUZZLES. However, I am very, very bad at doing them. In fact, she has this one that is a bunch of cars, and 9 out of 10 times, she figures out where the piece goes before I do. I think it's kind of hard! But anyway... I love it that she's doing them because they are fun, and she gets really excited. It's become our bedtime routine, sort of, to do a few puzzles before [Martin drives her to] sleep.

I have had a hard time this year getting into the season, but I'm finally feeling excited about Fall. It was really hard for me to let go of summer this year, as I've mentioned before. I think it's because I used to adore winter, before I had children. I now see Winter as a huge pain in the neck, bundling little into warm clothes anytime you want to leave the house, shoes, socks, etc., not being as able to walk to church, limited time playing outside, no more walks around downtown, and everything taking five times the amount of time it takes in the summer, when you can just grab your car keys and go, with or without your shoes. Winter used to be an adventure. Now it's got baggage. One of the best things about winter when I was in school would be walking over in the snow, being slightly damp and cold, then stopping at Vienna for a chai on my way to class. Then the classroom would be so warm and cozy seeming. I loved it. And Martin and I took many a midnight walk through snowstorms in our childless days.... one night it was SO COLD, way below freezing, and super windy, and we ran from my apartment down to Hunters Down Under where the Woodstove Flapjacks were playing, and we met up with our friend Matt Spencer and Kim, and it was a really fun night. Then we ran all the way back to my apartment, and I will never forget how cold it was! Really, really cold!!!!!!!

However, what's made me so excited for Fall at last is.... ANJA'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe she's turning 2!!!! Unbelievable. It's going to be wonderful, we're going to get her some cute presents and she's going to love unwrapping them and we're going to have a little party the day before and she's going to love that too. I can't wait!!! I love the idea of birthday parties for the girls. And I love it that Anja's birthday is in the fall (my favorite season, even with my newfound bitterness toward winter) and that Greta's is in the early spring, right when the Daffodils are perfect. (And other than Greta's birthday, I hate spring.)

And speaking of Anja and Greta, they are both asleep now and earlier this evening Anja helped me to make some chocolate-chocolate chip cookies, which now Martin and I are going to enjoy with a couple of glasses of milk before bed. Yum! Also, Anja is so incredibly cute. So is Greta, who crawls all through the house at lightning speed.... Anja's favorite place to sit is between the fridge and the blue shelves, on this stepstool that I got for a friend's wedding, which I didn't go to, and never gave her the gift.... she now has three or four children....... anyway, she sits on the stool and sings songs her herself (and tonight she ate a cookie there too) and it's adorable and I love it. She was really into singing tonight! So cute! Another cute/weird thing is that she is completely obsessed with my religious statues, and she demands that I get them off the shelves for her. At first I was a little nervous because they all mean something to me and I don't want them to get broken.... but she is so gentle with them, and all she wants to do is point out the color of their garments, then put them to bed in a pile of blankets at the top of the stairs.

Cookie time!

Fall Fridays

Aaaaah, there's nothing like a Friday night downtown! Tonight after dinner, Martin put Anja to bed. (He's been doing that lately, and now she sometimes asks for him to do it! Very sweet!) When he came down, he demanded that I put on his brown cashmere sweater (a garment leftover from his single days, when he didn't think he'd ever get me and therefore thought he'd be a bachelor for life and would never have children and so would be actually be able to logically wear cashmere) then when that was on he actually dressed me in my raincoat as I stood at the door wondering what was up. Then he stuffed a few dollars bills and some change from the change jar into my hand and gave me my phone and told me that he had gotten coffee today (during his lunch break with our friend Matt) and now it was my turn, so goodbye! and he literally shooed me out the door and closed the door behind me before I could even argue with him. So off I went! By myself! On foot! It was a gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous Fall evening and everybody was out. I love downtown in the evenings. The whole area smells like dinner, everybody is dressed up and holding hands and smiling and eating and drinking and being merry. It's so exciting, fancy, romantic and fun! And I made a vow to myself that I will stay skinny through retirement and I will dress cutely. And I'll be rich. Martin and I will go out to eat at fancy restaurants every Friday and Saturday night. We will wear good, expensive clothes and not have to worry about them getting ruined because we won't anymore be wearing every course of our meal. We will jaywalk! And stand right on the curb, (as opposed to standing six feet away from the curb, with a ginormous stroller stretched out in front of us as we do now) holding hands. It's going to be great.

Are you SERIOUS?!

Is this for real, Greta? Aren't you a little young for this?? More pictures to come later on...