Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Sleep? Sleep?!?! SLEEEEEEEPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anja has been sleeping well for the past two nights!! Not only that, but she's also been taking three hour naps!! This is wonderful on so many levels. For one thing, it guarantees a happy baby in the morning AND in the afternoons. Aside from that, it means that Martin and I are getting more sleep. Everyone wins! Funnily, she is coming up on her 14-month birthday and the manager at University Books has told Martin that his son (now grown up) woke up every two hours every night until he was fourteen months old, and then he magically started sleeping through the night. I don't expect Anja to sleep through the night, but only waking up three or four times is a huge improvement!

Happy New Year to all. I really hate New Years. I know I go off on a rant about this on this day every year, but I'll just recap my life again: I've only ever had ONE great New Years Eve. And, it was really fun... but still. Over twenty-five years, you'd think I'd have more than one. Tonight we will be partying it up in true Schap style. We are tossing around the idea of inviting our parents over to play games, but more likely we'll end up playing games by ourselves. We won't toast in 2009 because we haven't bought alcohol in more than six months, and we won't go out for all the obvious reasons. Maybe we'll pop popcorn and share a ginger ale. And I highly doubt we'll be staying up until midnight.

But that's okay, I'm really not complaining. Someday when our kids are older New Years will be fun again because at least THEY will get excited for it, and we'll always let them stay up till midnight. Maybe we'll even start a fun New Years tradition with them. Who knows!

Martin has a half day today! If Anja is not napping when he gets off work, we're going to meet up someplace. I'd like to buy a wireless card today for our computer so that we can set up the wireless internet. I'm really looking forward to early-morning blog and email checking in my pajamas. We've been meaning to get the wireless card since Boxing Day, but we just keep not doing it.

Anja is awake!

Monday, December 29, 2008

Camera Thoughts, Baby Thoughts

So, I thought I had lost my camera the other day, but lucky for me I only left it up at my parents' house on Christmas. So even if I had made the move to take any pictures over the last few days, I would've been out of luck anyway! Whenever I get it back I'll start taking pictures of Anja again in all her cute new clothes.

I've been thinking lately about this next baby and how weird it is that we're having another one and the differences that would come with having a boy vs. having a girl. Having another girl would definitely be more convenient... and having a boy kind of terrifies me since Anja is such a sweet little girl and Martin was such a demon of a little boy. Not that I'm hoping for one or the other... Mostly I THINK it's a boy. I'm MUCH more sure of this than I was in thinking Anja was a boy. I'm mostly more sure because of how ginormous I am at only 6 months. Yikes! Seriously, if I don't have this baby considerably early, I'll have to give birth at the Large Animal Hospital with all the delivering elephants. Plus, I seem to be carrying this baby differently, and in a much less attractive way than I carried Anja. None of my clothes fit well. I'm still wearing regular jeans (a few hundred sizes bigger than normal) but my maternity shirts just don't seem to fit right. And I can't really figure out what to do about it. Martin is begging me to go out and get myself some new maternity clothes. He says he doesn't understand how I can drop $5 on a bagel and coffee but then I hem and haw over a $5 maternity shirt that I'll wear for years to come. I didn't really have an answer for him, so I guess Anja and I will go out to Once Upon a Child this afternoon and look at their selection. Also, I'd like to have some brown pants. I'm getting kind of tired of blue jeans.
Anyway, the weird thing about having a second baby is that everything baby-related in our house belongs to Anja. Even her more boyish things are hers. I'm glad we're having these first two so close together so that our possessions more quickly become "baby things" instead of "Anja things." Still, it's difficult to think of a different little person using all of her little recieving blankets, wearing her green froggie jammies, and sleeping in her bassinet.

I think Anja and I are going out to Ivy Tech this afternoon for lunch with Martino! He is "working late" tonight. Ha! They consider 6:30 late at this new job. They tell them to come in late on the days they are asked to stay late but Martin has such a set routine in the morning that he just couldn't bring himself to do it, so he went in at his usual time. Because of this, he won't feel too bad taking a full hour lunch break with me and Anja Pie. Also, I'm taking him all the Christmas presents that he got to decorate his office.

My sweet tooth is talking to me. Actually, my whole mouth of sweet teeth are talking to me, and they're telling me to make some chocolate chip cookies. *Sigh* They are so demanding sometimes.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Buckets of Fun!

I know I said Christmas Day was kind of crazy, but since that chaos has died down we've been having nothing but fun! On Boxing Day (yesterday), Martin's family has a tradition of going out and hitting the after-Christmas sales at the mall. Now, Martin and I are neither one big mall-goers, nor are we big shoppers, but this is a fun tradition anyway, especially since we get to eat lunch at Luca Pizza! Yesterday we ended up being a group of 10, which was kind of big for shopping (mostly we spent the day keeping track of each other, and then Martin and I had to break off because Anja got a little crazy and none of us had eaten, so we went to find food) but it was still fun! AND Martin got three new pairs of pants for work, which is something he desperately needed. We are going back sometime this weekend to look for work shoes for him... his brown shoes have sprung leaks and he comes home on the wet and snowy days with soaked socks!

We came home from shopping and all three of us were worn out. Anja took a good nap and didn't wake up until 6:00. By that time Auntie Perkalator had come over and we were making plans for people to come over and play Boggle and eat Chinese Food. It ended up just being Joel, Perkins, and TusaRebecca, with Emily showing up for a few rounds of Boggle. Fun! We stuffed ourselves full of Chinese Food (leftovers will be eaten tonight) and had a good time. It's fun when Anja takes late naps and stays up later than usual because we can be social and loud without waking her up. Plus, she enjoys having all those people over.

This morning we all slept in until 8:00 and didn't get out of bed until 8:30. We lounged around downstairs for awhile, Anja opened the last of her Christmas presents from us, and eventually she went down for a morning nap (surprisingly) and I was able to jump in the shower before the Marmalejo's came for their visit. Luckily, Clare forgot about the time change and it didn't matter that I was just getting in the shower at 10:00, which had been her estimated time of arrival. They got here at 11:00 (which makes them very prompt, considering the time zone thing) and we had a very fun time! We visited for awhile and Anastasia played with all of Anja's toys while Anja finished out her very long nap. I was so happy that they said they liked our house and that it was cute and cottage-y! I find that the biggest compliment anyone can give us. I feel that way about my house, but I know it's a little dirty too, and I always hope that people aren't just grossed out by it. Aaaanyway.... it can be a challenge to get Martin REALLY laughing, but Nick succeeded in doing this, which is great. Once Anja woke up we all walked down to Scagnoli's for lunch. Yum! On the walk back we bumped into the Schafer girls. From there we drove over to Vienna where we had more of a good time, and eventually their little family went on back to Munster and we stuck around Vienna to hang out with Uncle Joel who was there reading applications. Anja was in the most fantastic mood of the century THE WHOLE TIME, and only when I saw the time did I suggest we leave to get her a second nap. She fell asleep almost instantly when we got home and she had her bottle.

So, it's been a very fun day!! I loved meeting Clare--my mom asked me if she was just as cute and sweet as she seems on her blog, and I assured her that she is!--and it's always fun to see Nick. Their girls are gorgeous! And it's fun to hang out with people who aren't your best friends, and yet you never seem to run out of things to say.

Anja got LOTS of books for Christmas, which is wonderful, but her book basket is now overflowing! We've decided that when we take down our Christmas decorations after Epiphany, we will replace the mantel with the bookshelf from Martin's weight room. I'd like to paint it a sage green and maybe distress it a bit, but no matter what, I think it'll be a nice addition. It will be enough to hold her wooden toys and all her books. I love our front room. I think it's so cozy.

I'm regretting my lack of picture-taking from this weekend... Tomorrow I think Uncle Joel is coming over with pizza for dinner!

Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!!

Our holiday was not quite as stress-free and easy as I'd been thinking it would be, but oh well. Now it is Boxing Day and Anja is taking a good nap as we speak. Next year we are NOT NOT NOT going to even attempt to attend both family festivities on the same day. BIG MISTAKE!!! Anja was a trooper, but it was still too much to ask of her. Also, there just isn't enough time in the day for two family meals, two rounds of presents, two sessions of just visiting with the families. But, we survived!!

The biggest Christmas news: ANJA IS WALKING!!!! Or at least taking steps. We agreed that it must be from being around her cousins all day, because she very suddenly last night decided to just go ahead and take the steps. Aunt Sarah witnessed her first steps!! She is soooooo cute when she does it, and so proud at the end. Such a big girl!!!!

We got loads of good presents, loads of good food, and since my sister and brother-in-law got a Wii and brought it over to my parents house, we also got a good workout with the boxing game!

We have such fun families. Anja had a wonderful Christmas, I think. By the end of the day (we didn't get to open our gifts to each other until late last night) she was understanding the whole rip-the-paper concept, which was fun. She got a lot of very cute stuff.

I am VERY COLD right now, but I won't be for long... BECAUSE MY SISTER IN LAW GOT US A WIRELESS ROUTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She actually got it for free from someone, and is giving it to us. All we need is to get a wireless card, and NO MORE ARCTIC BLOG POSTS!!!!!! I gave the router a big hug when I opened it. It was an amazing, wonderful thing. Turns out Martin was going to do it, but TusaRebecca called him and told him not to, since she had this extra one. YAY!!!

Okay, but we don't have all that goodness hooked up yet, so right now I'm still posting from Antarctica. I just heard Martin putting the tea kettle on, so here I go to join him. Hope you all had a wonderful christmas!!

Monday, December 22, 2008

The Good Life

Celebrating 2 years with "Mister Cool"
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, MARTINO!!!!! Thanks for asking!!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Changes, Changes

One thing that's changed about me since becoming a parent is that I now find myself regularly laughing at wet-my-pants levels at THE STUPIDEST THINGS. I mean, I don't really think they are stupid--obviously, I think they're wonderful--but to normal people who are not a parent to Anja, these things that I find so hilarious are just ridiculous. And another thing that makes me a parent is that even though I know sharing these stories is much like sharing your dreams with people--NOBODY CARES--I find myself telling everyone these really dumb things that are sooooo much you-had-to-be-there situations. For instance, I'm going to share with you now the funniest thing that happened tonight, even though nobody reading this will think it is the slightest bit funny.

Anja has this little toddler-sized wooden rocker in her room. She's never paid much attention to it before, but tonight while I was putting away some clean clothes in there, I turned around and found that she'd gotten into it and was just sitting there with a very pleasant smile on her face. She was so pleased with herself for having gotten into that chair by herself! That alone was enough to make me chuckle. But then she started being really funny... she kept turning around in the chair, sitting in different positions, holding it for a second, then moving--all with this funny little smile on her face. Finally, she decided (for some weird reason) that she really wanted to have the diaper bag in the chair with her. So she struggled and struggled to get the diaper bag from the floor to her chair with her, and then she wanted to take everything OUT of the diaper bag and hold it while it was empty, but this little chair just isn't big enough for a baby AND a diaper bag, so she kept almost falling out of the chair. Then she'd get out, put the diaper bag on the chair and try to get back in. It never worked! And that was the part where I really lost it because the whole time she was trying to get into the chair with the bag already there, she had this ripped out magazine page stuck to the bottom of her foot! So every few seconds she'd kind of do this leg kick and try to shake the page off, but it wouldn't fall off, and she'd try again to get in the chair, then try to shake the page off, try to get in, shake, try, etc. IT WAS HYSTERICAL. I seriously thought I was going to hyperventilate from laughing so hard.

And that's when I realized that this would not be funny to anyone else. Ever.

Martin and I are really bad at Christmas shopping. We always end up doing it all on Christmas Eve. This year we've got a few things done, but not all that much. Some people we don't even have ideas for yet! Today Martino worked at the Bookstore. We all got up and had a nice morning together, then he walked over to work and Anja and I continued in our morning. While she was napping, TusaRebecca came over and we just hung out and worked on Christmas presents together. My sister stopped by as well with ANOTHER BAG FULL of ADORABLE clothes for Anja... the really horrible thing about receiving all these cute clothes is the choices I'm faced with every morning when I get her dressed!!!!!!! AAAAHHH!!!! TOO MUCH CUTENESS!!!! (I've decided that from now until Christmas she will wear a fancy Christmas dress every day. This is the only way I will feel satisfied, having all these wonderful Christmas dresses and only one Christmas Day.) Anyway, we traded goods and then I gave Anja lunch and she and I headed over to campus to meet up with Martino for his lunch break. The funny thing about him working Saturdays is that my day at home seems so hectic, and then I meet him out for lunch at some ridiculously late time (today it was 3:00-4:00) and by that time it's almost time for him to come home! I packed sandwiches and we ate them at the Union. Then we walked down to Vienna (where I'd parked) and got drinks and talked and laughed about how cute Anja is. Our friend Turgay was there and he likes Anja.

From there, Anja and I went out to Once Upon a Child. I was really looking for some cute tights for her to wear for Christmas (her white tights have turned to a permanent grey) and I did get some (moderately cute, nothing special) but I also was able to do some Christmas shopping. How is it that I've never realized they sell NEW Melissa & Doug toys at a discount price?!?!? Jackpot!! I was able to get the same gift for our nephew Aurelio that we were set to order at about half the price! I also got Anja a ring stacking toy and a chunky animal puzzle, as well as a very cute sweater and hat set and a very cute jumper. All at fabulous prices. I was going to also get her a pair of shoes, but I decided against them at the last minute. For some reason I have a hard time paying the same price for a pair of shoes that I pay for a dress. I don't know why... she wears her shoes every day. Is it because the shoes seem so tiny? I just don't know.

Anyway, tomorrow is a Christmas get-together with my extended Qualio side of the family. I hope I'm not supposed to take anything, because I'm planning to go empty handed.

But! I'm going to attempt making Challah Bread for the first time ever to take to our Christmasses! That could be a disaster!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Good Thing, Bad Thing

Good Thing: Martin working at the Bookstore during the between-semester rush.
Bad Thing: Martin getting let off early every night, making me wonder if it's really worth it. Of course I like having him home for that extra time, but still.... hmmm.....

Good Thing: Laura Smith brought us a tin of Christmas goodies this afternoon!
Bad Thing: They're almost gone already! Whoops!

Good Thing: Anja went down easily at 7:00 tonight! Miracle!
Bad Thing: If she'd stayed up a little later (as she usually does) I could've finally met the guy my sister-in-law is dating! Grr!

Okay, that's about all the Good Thing-Bad Things I have for tonight. Someday soon I'll get a picture of Anja playing in the laundry basket, and then post it in comparison to one of her this time last year when she was tiny and we would put her in the laundry basket because we thought it was cute.

I'm finding this whole parenting thing to be a lot more fulfilling these days. I finally feel like I'm actually DOING something. For so many months it seems they are programmed to learn by taking in everything around them, no matter what you do or don't do. Sure, I've always read her stories. Sure, I've always talked to her. But I always felt the teensiest bit silly doing all those things when she was just a blob of newborn, or asleep, or basically non-responsive. But now! Now we tell her things and she seems to listen, or at least I can see that she is learning specific things. I feel so much more like a parent when I'm able to say "Dangerous" and take her away from the outlet before she sticks her fingers in the holes than I did when I was just snuggling her and changing her diaper and nursing her. I mean, of course I felt like a mother, but it was different. That was just me doing things. Now we interact! It's great! We eat our lunch together like real people now. She has her plate, I have my plate; sometimes we share, sometimes we don't. She knows how to ask for what she wants. I think I'm going to like this toddler thing--tantrums and all!

And she throws the funniest tantrums... If I upset her, she'll put her hands over her face and lean over and wail into her hands. It's hilarious! She's so dramatic! And slightly silly...

Also something she does that is sort of cute, but actually much more annoying, is that she INSISTS we sing "Jingle Bells" ALL THE TIME in the car. Meaning, we can't stop for conversation between renditions. We have to be singing it CONSTANTLY. And we cannot change songs. Oh, no! Anja only wants "Jingle Bells" and she wants it all the time. Luckily, as soon as we leave the car she doesn't care what music she hears. It's just a car thing.

A Quick Afternoon Post

Yikes! I'm in the middle of a project that reeeaallly needs to get finished, but the dog won't stop barking and Anja is asleep, so I'm in here with the dog to calm her down for a few minutes.

Monday was a really long, rough day. Anja hadn't slept well at night, and then decided to not nap well either. I was in the middle of this crazy project I'm doing (gift for Martin, so I can't say anything specific) and everything was going wrong and nothing was getting done and Anja was a huge crab. Finally I went home in the afternoon to finally get her to sleep (I've been working on this project up at my mom's house with her sewing machine) and I called Martin and told him what a rotten day it had been. I hadn't wanted him to know I was making him anything, but I had to tell him so I could tell him about my bad day. I picked him up from Ivy Tech at 5:00 and drove him over to the bookstore, but Anja really wanted to see him, so he got her out of the car and snuggled her for about a minute. When he put her back in her seat, she screamed like she's never screamed before, and didn't cheer up much for the rest of the evening. I tried putting her to bed at 7:00 but she didn't take it, and at 8:00 we picked Martin up from UBS. He opened the drivers side door and said, "Park the car! I'm taking you for a chai." And I was glad I'd put Anja in her cutest pajamas because we walked down to Vienna and each got a chai and snagged a couch to hang out on for a little bit before going home to bed. It was a perfect good ending to a rotten day!

Yesterday was a better day, all-around more productive, Anja was *slightly* less grumpy, and it was snowing so I couldn't be too upset. The roads were terrible! Martin didn't want me to drive out to pick him up, so he rode the bus home and called into UBS to say he wouldn't be there. I made pasta for dinner, Anja went down easily at 8:00, then we made real hot cocoa on the stove and sat in our cozy living room with just the Christmas lights and a few candles lit. It was so cozy and warm!

Today is an even better day, as far as productivity and Anja's mood. Anja woke up super happy, we had a lovely morning, and I've gotten a lot done on my project. Hooray! The only bad thing so far today is that Martin forgot his lunch and now that Anja's asleep I can't take it to him.

One of Anja's favorite things to do lately is to try to put things up her nose. Luckily, nothing so far has fit. We are hoping that she grows out of the habit before her nostrils grow big enough to be a danger to her.

Back to work! Hope everyone is enjoying this last week of Advent!

Monday, December 15, 2008

If You Don't Hear From Me...

I am running around these days like a chicken without a head trying to get all the "crafty" Christmas presents I'd planned to give this year finished. So far I have two started, zero finished, and a number that still have supplies to be bought. Yikes! And Christmas is just a little more than a week away!!!!

Hopefully I will get a chance to make a normal post soon about the stupendous party that was held at my sister's house last night and all the fun that our little Pie had there...

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Saturday Sat on Me

For the Christmas/Book Rush season until some time unknown, Martin is back working at University Book Store some nights and Saturdays. This sounds like it would be tough, and might turn out to be, but really it's a pretty sweet deal. He's worked there off and on for 7 years so it's not like he's a stranger to the place--he can just jump in randomly and bring home a stress-free paycheck. Also, it's no inconvenience to either of us regarding transportation because it's just a quick walk up to campus from our house. It has a chance of getting tricky on some weekdays if Anja is taking a late nap and he needs to be picked up from Ivy Tech to get to UBS on time... but whatever, I'm sure nothing majorly inconvenient will happen. Anyway, today was his first Saturday back on the job and while I had a slightly difficult morning (only because I tried to do too much in a short amount of time) my afternoon was delightful! Not that I relish weekend time (or any time) spent away from my hubby-wubby, but I have to say I had a really nice afternoon. Anja and I went over to campus and met up with Martin for lunch at 1:00 (which included a visit to the other bookstore employees who like to coo over Anja) which was a nice break to the day. From there Anja and I went out to Target (an absolute madhouse) to buy a humidifier. We all seem to be feeling slightly under the weather these days and just can't kick it. Martin and I both have been waking up with sore throats almost every morning and Anja has been sleeping HORRIBLY at night... this is our attempt at a solution to both those problems. We'll see how it works! Anyway, as soon as we got home at 3:00, Anja went right down for a 2-hour nap. During that time I made myself a cup of tea, snuggled up on the couch with my cat and read my book. About an hour later my neighbor Tara called asking if she could pop some rolls in my oven, so she and a friend of hers came by and though they only stayed for about twenty minutes, it was really nice to visit with them! They left, I went back to my book, and Anja woke up right before 5:00. I offered to come get Martin so we could do a little Christmas shopping at Von's, then we came home and ate grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner.

I've been spending an unfortunate amount of time at the Mall lately. I keep thinking of things, going to look for them, not finding them, and trying again for something else the next day. Blech. Yesterday I realized I still had enough money in my Martin budget to buy him a hat I had seen someplace a few days before. I was SURE I'd seen it at Macy's, so I parked right outside the men's department to run in and get it. Well. Not only did I not park outside the men's department, but outside of Housewares, but the hat hadn't been at Macy's at all! And now I have no idea where I saw it, because I went to every store I'd visited on my previous trip(s) and never found it!!! Talk about annoying! AND I hadn't bothered to bring the umbroller with me because I thought I was just going to dash in and out again. Ha! So I was lugging Anja back and forth through the Mall... Anja, who is getting rather uncomfortable to lug as of late, since this other baby is slowly taking over all my lap space... by the time I finally gave up and went back to the car (this time I went out the Men's Dept. door, looked for the car for awhile and finally remembered I hadn't parked there in the first place) it was 5:00. I'd texted Martin offering to stick around and drive him home, but he hadn't gotten back to me. I called him then and he didn't answer, so I just drove over to Ivy Tech. I looked for him at the bus stop and he wasn't there, so I drove around the parking lot for a bit and finally parked and decided at about ten after that either he was still with someone in his office, or he had his phone in his coat pocket and wasn't feeling it ring. I thought it'd be pretty annoying if I waited for him in the parking lot to call me back, only to find that he'd been on the bus the whole time and was at home without me, but if I left and he was really still in his office, he'd have to wait awhile for another bus and he'd be home that much later. So I just went up to his office--where he was still working with someone in his office--and waited for him. When he was finally done, Anja was REALLY hungry and grumpy so we all went over to Barnes & Noble for a little Friday Evening Family Date. It was nice! It was cozy! And we got Anja some books for Christmas!

Tomororw is Sunday and my sister is having a 3rd-Sunday-of-Advent party. We will be there, and the only problem is deciding which cute Christmas dress to have Anja wear.

Speaking of cute clothes.... The other day my sister gave me about THREE BOXES of baby girl clothes, all sized 12-18 months. This is Anja's current size. Included in the clothes were the most adorable pair of red shoes I've ever seen, size four--Anja's current shoe size. This morning I tried putting her in MULTIPLE OUTFITS from this collection, including the shoes, and I couldn't get anything on her!!!!!!!! The Most Adorable Sweater in the World wouldn't go over her ginormous head, and The Cutest Jumper in the Universe wouldn't fit her fat torso. I couldn't even get both arms through the arm holes. And the shoes!! The shoes wouldn't go on, let alone buckle! Her FEET are too fat!!!!!!!

I was so bummed. REALLY bummed. With some work, she pulled off a pretty cute outfit, but it was definitely not my first choice. *sigh* Tomorrow is Sunday so she'll wear one of the pretty dresses.... and those are sure to fit.

Martin's turn to blog!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Can You Say "CRAZY"???

Unfortunately, it's been kind of hard for me to get normal looking pictures of Anja lately. Every time I hold the camera up to take her picture, this is the face she makes. (Notice that The Face has made some progress through the past week or so... going from "kind of weird looking" to "Ohmygosh, my baby's satanic")










Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Rain, Rain, Go Away... Bring Me Back the Snowy Day!

Booooooo for December rain. It makes me feel blah, blah, and more BLAH.

This morning while I was shaving my legs in the shower, Anja fell in! Yikes! This is not the first time she's fallen into the bathtub. She likes to toss all her toys into the tub and if I don't retrieve them fast enough, she tries to to get them back herself. Today, I was just a bit too slow to keep her from tumbling in. The worst part was that I had my razor in my hand and thought I had cut her head when I went to pick her up. Luckily, I hadn't, and she didn't really care that she'd fallen in--she thought it was pretty funny that she was in the shower with me and really wanted to get under the water stream. I put her down outside the tub and she immediately went back to tossing all of her toys in with me. So she came out perfectly fine--but very wet!

Last night I made scones for a breakfast meeting Martin had at work this morning. This is a big step for us. He ALWAYS forgets to tell me when he's supposed to take something to work. I didn't get them made yesterday afternoon like I'd planned, so after Anja went to bed I worked on those while Martin walked over to Great Clips for a haircut. When he came home he brought with him two coffees and a "Muffie" from Panera! Now, I had never experienced a "Muffie" before. It's the top of a muffin served like a cookie!!! It was delicious!!! And so fun to eat because of its funny name.

Yesterday afternoon I fell asleep on Anja's bedroom floor while she was playing. Whoops. My cousin once told me that she can't sit down on the couch during the day because she knows she'll just fall asleep. She has four kids. I've only got one!! Most days I think having two babies will be pretty fun, but sometimes I sort of wonder how I'll function. Anyway, when I woke up (to Martin sending me a text message asking if I was picking him up from work) Anja and I went out to Ivy Tech to pick him up. I debated getting a cup of coffee on the way or just showing up early--I decided to show up early. He introduced us to everyone at his new office! Most people upon greeting said, "You're Sarah's sister, right?" Hahahaha! Better than people thinking I AM Sarah! (I'm pretty sure Fr. Tim made that little slip-up the other day... he said something to me that made very little sense--unless I had been Sarah.) Everyone seems very nice and one of the girls he works with is having a baby the same time we are. Martin's office is very stark and emotionally cold, but Christmas is coming and he'd like some pictures and a nice desk lamp and floor lamp. I also intend to get him some of those inspirational garden rocks, and maybe a hermit crab as well.

I am really thankful these days for a number of things. One of those things is that Martin is working in Lafayette (I don't know when the gratefulness of this will wear off... probably never.) Another thing is that Anja is actually sleeping. She isn't so much sleeping for extended periods of time so much as she is sleeping for PREDICTABLE periods of time. For example, today she went down for her nap at her usual 11:00 and I don't expect her up until 1:00. That means I can count on having another half hour of nap time when I finish this post in a second. It's nice to be able to plan a little bit!

I think the dog needs to go out.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Unbelievable!

I can't believe it's 12:30 AND I'M NOT ASLEEP. We went to bed tonight before 9:00, Anja had a restless beginning to the night, (we reeeaaallly need a humidifier in our room, she gets so dry and stuffed up--we all do) I finally around 11:30 got her to sleep in her carseat where she's still sleeping, and here I am, WIDE AWAKE. Grr! Martin had some NyQuil before bed, so he's out cold. I'm so jealous.

We've had a pretty nice and relaxing weekend. Saturday was Dickens of a Christmas, but we didn't go. Sunday was the Christmas Parade, but we didn't go to that either! On Saturday morning we woke up early to a gorgeous snow, bundled ourselves up (well, Martin didn't bundle, he more stripped down) and drove over to the YMCA for him to run in the Jingle Bell 5k. DUMB IDEA. I mean, the race was fine, Anja had a good time being there (we hung out in the gym for the whole thing) but Martin had been fighting off a nasty cold for the last few days and running 3 miles in the snow tipped him over the edge. We came home and while I was baking the Snickerdoodles and Anja was napping, he fell asleep on the couch. I was able to wake him awhile later for warm cookies and milk though--a PERFECT treat for such a cold and snowy day!! When Anja woke up and had lunch we met up with our friend Matt at Vienna for just a little bit, then headed home again. We didn't really want to go out at all that day, but we'd promised Matt days before that we'd hang out on Saturday, so we were kind of locked in. When we got home Martin was feeling worse so he went to bed and didn't wake up until 7:00 when Anja went down for the night!! Crazy! He was feeling a lot better by then though; we had some tea together and hung around then we both hit the hay.

On Sunday we went to the 9:30 mass again where we slipped in next to our good friend and Anja's godfather, Matt Spencer! It was good to finally see him again. Anja was a total crabcake and Martin spent much of the mass in the back with her. They sang "Comfort Comfort"!!!!!!!!!! That song still gives me goosebumps, even after all these Advents. *sigh* Letsee... after mass Anja went right down for a nap that didn't last very long, then we decided to get a head start on our Christmas shopping. We went out to Once Upon a Child looking for specific things for Anja, and hardly found anything at all, I was SO disappointed. And since it was the Christmas Parade (we hadn't realized that until we were driving away from downtown and saw the crowds) we didn't want to drive back downtown until it was over--so we called our friend Matt and were going to meet him at Barnes & Noble but ended up meeting him at the mall instead, where we didn't need to do any shopping, so we just kind of wandered around for awhile. In the end we got coffee at Panera and went home. Our plan was to go to Von's to continue our Christmas shopping but by this time it was late afternoon and Anja had had about enough and we were cold and tired too, so we gave up and went home. I was starving so we ate dinner right at 5:00, Anja went down for bed at 7:00 and Martin and I had hot chocolate and then followed soon after.

And now here I am!

I realized this afternoon that all of my instruments (except my best guitar) are stored back here in the Big Back Room. The thirty-degree Big Back Room. Yikes. This could end up being a big problem. An equally big problem is that I have no place else to store them. Hmm... I imagine that any cold weather damage is already done and at least the temperature isn't fluctuating, but still... how careless could I be?

In other news, Anja wore a most adorable dress today and she's getting pretty good at the "c" sound of "cat" but now she's started calling everything "cat." Today she played happily on top of a box for a really long time. It's so weird to see what she finds fun or clever.

Okay, maybe going from this cold room up to my warm cave upstairs will make me sleepy enough to fall asleep. Here's hoping!

P.S. Has there ever been a more perfectly snowy start to winter? Not enough to come over the tops of your shoes, but just enough to feel Christmassy!

Friday, December 5, 2008

Inside a Big Coat

Today I'm wearing Martin's big green coat while I sip hot chocolate and type this. Aaaah, life is good! Also, when putting some other winter accessories away a little bit ago, I stumbled upon my stripey Latitude Zero hat!! My favorite!!! It somehow had wriggled it's way to the bottom of the glove basket. I'm glad to have found it again (not that I had ever realized it was lost,) especially since my hair has been so unmanageable these days.

I think instead of vaccuming today I will make Snickerdoodles.

Anja slept well last night and woke up fairly happy. Her cold seems to be so much better and not bothering her nearly as much, even though she still looks gross with her snotty nose. She is SO CUTE... any time I come near her with the snot snorker thingy, she scrunches her eyes closed and covers her face with her hands. It's adorable! It makes it hard to snork her nose, but really, who cares if she looks snotty. We just hang out at home all day anyway. And on the off-chance that we do leave the house, I try to wash her face before we go.

This morning when she woke up she headed straight for the living room and after playing with her toys for about two seconds, she went over to the corner and started pointing at her folded up umbroller. The day before we had gotten it out of the car and used it for a quick trip to the library (where I got my favorite Ina May Gaskin book and two Jan Brett books for Anja) and I think it's so strange, but she really loves that stroller. It's great though, because we had put the big one away to make room for the Christmas decorations. She was so insistent that I got it out from the corner and unfolded it, and she climbed right in! She was so proud of herself! She just sat in it, and would kind of squirm around and smile. I took a lot of pictures of her. I know she wanted to go for a walk, but it wasn't even 8:00 in the morning yet and it was still dark outside. Silly baby! When I finally managed to pull her away from it, I quickly got us both ready (okay, it wasn't quick at all) and we went to the mall. She screamed the whole way there (because I'd folded up her stroller and put it in the trunk--she didn't know she'd see it again!) but once we got there she was soooo happy! She loves to just ride in it. I wasn't planning to buy anything but she's grown out of her blue jeans, so I was kind of on the lookout for a cheap pair. Lucky for me, we went to JC Penny's and all their toddler clothes were half off! I found a cute pair of jeans with ruffly bottoms for only $4.99! Other than that we just walked around and didn't go into many stores. She had a great time and fell asleep as soon as we got back in the car.

Yesterday I worked more on Anja's quilt top and am happy to say that it's already almost finished. I have one more strip to sew and then I have to figure out what to do about a border. I'm pretty sure I have some workable fabric, but the stuff I'd originally intended to use is now being used as a tablecloth underneath our Christmas tree. I'm really excited to be making it for her. Other than her rag doll, it's the first thing I'm making entirely for her, knowing who she is. Everything else it seems I started while I was still pregnant with her. After this one I'm excited to start on the homespun quilt.

I've gone most of my pregnancy being fairly convinced that this new baby is a boy, but then today I started having my doubts. Now I can't make up my mind. I think Martin has thought it's a girl the entire time. I guess we'll find out in March. I like the surprise at the end so I don't think I'd ever give in and find out ahead of time, and I also like wondering about it... but it does make me crazy sometimes! All this back and forth.

I really only got on here because I was waiting for my butter to soften for my cookies.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

After Thanksgiving and Still Giving Thanks

I can't even put into words how grateful I am that Martin doesn't work in Crawfordsville anymore. I just read Mike Prangley's blog and I was actually excited for the snow! I was always kind of excited for it last year, but my excitement was always somewhat tainted by my worry of him driving up and down 231 in bad weather. Any day we got snowstorms last winter I was always a nervous wreck until Martin got home. And then overnight wasn't much fun either since he'd just have to go back down the next morning. But this year?? ALL HAIL THE GLORY OF CITYBUS!!!!! The worst that could happen is he slips on his walk across the library parking lot and breaks a hip. And since he's still under the age of 55, that's unlikely. This morning he forgot to brush his teeth before he left the house, so I threw a blanket over Anja and ran his toothbrush and toothpaste across the street and he met me in the lot to retrieve it so he could brush his teeth at work. Perfect! What a setup.

And this made us the other night talk about how lucky we are to live downtown. Talk about convenience! I was over at Vienna last night when he got home, and he didn't know where I was, otherwise he would've just gotten off the bus at the depot and walked up the hill to meet me up at the coffee shop. Because he can do that! Because we live in fabulous downtown Lafayette!

Tonight I made my annual Russian Tea mix. Yum, sugar. Usually I've kept it in an ugly tupperware. This year I'm keeping it in my adorable lidded fish crock that turned out to be THE PERFECT SIZE for the mixture amount. It's a funny little crock because it's a little bit small, so it's not good for much other than sauces or gravy. I'm happy to have my mix in it now for the winter. Useful and cute!

Okay, Anja is asleep and Martin and I are nursing our colds with hot drinks. Oh my gosh, Anja ate SO MUCH CHILI tonight for dinner. It was great because she'd been rejecting everything I tried to feed her all day, and even wasn't taking much of a bottle. So I was really glad when she started chowing down on all the chili goodness. Seriously, I think she ate her weight in kidney beans. Maybe that will get things moving for her--if you know what I mean!

Anyway, I'm not going to waste any more time on here when I could be sitting in my cozy living room with my cozy husband and cozy dog and stinky, but cozy cat... just wanted to say how grateful I am for Martin to be working in town at last!

Hair... And other thoughts of the morning

I am ever grateful for my trip to Great Clips a few months ago. For the most part my hair has stayed pretty normal looking as it's growing through it's awkward phase. For about a week I could've passed for one of the Beatles but now the ends are curling and the front is much longer so I look more like a woman... and even if that woman is from the late 60's, it's better than looking like a boy. And besides, now if anyone ever asks I can just say, "Hey! I'm not ugly! I'm vintage!"

Meanwhile I feel like I've skipped the last four months of pregnancy and am as huge as I was at the end of Anja's nine months--which is to say the size of approximately three barges. It happened overnight. And it doesn't help my bad-ish hair to also have a bad sense of maternity style. For instance, today I'm wearing blue jeans, the Worlds Largest Maternity Shirt, a somewhat ugly sweater of Martin's that has snowflakes across the front, and Martin's heavy snow boots. (I should be fair and say that the boots are just for warmth while I type this post, as is the scarf around my neck... also Martin's. For most of the day I've been wearing my slippers.) I'm hoping that the growth will slow and that I really won't be as wide as Alaska by the time this baby is born. Although I'd more be as wide as Tennessee... and just as short!

Anja's cold seems to be getting a teensy bit better--just as she's passed it on to us! Martin and I both woke up with sore throats this morning and I've been slightly sniffly. Unrelated to the cold (but completely related to my hugeness) is the return of pregnancy back pain! Luckily it's not yet as bad as it got with Anja. Hopefully it will stay not so bad.

Yesterday Anja literally slept all afternoon. She took a three and a half hour nap and woke up at 3:30 in a great mood. Martin and I were planning on getting Chipotle for dinner (our Free Burrito coupons expire at the end of this month!) anyway, so I took advantage of the unusual situation and called up my friend Alison to meet for coffee! Anja got to have a scone, I got to have a chai, and it's always good to visit with Alison.

Martin is officially a CityBus commuter now. He LOVES it. It picks him up in the front of the library (across the street from our house) and the ride out to Ivy Tech is very short. The route is a loop though, so the ride home is a lot longer, getting him home around 6:00 instead of his past 5:15. I actually find this really nice. For some reason it seems much easier to me to get dinner going at 5:00 than at 3:30 or 4:00 and not be quite sure when he'll really be home. Also, it's SUCH a relief having him work in town. I told him last night, I always felt so stranded. If something were to have happened to one of us, no matter which one had the car, the other would be stuck! And his end of Crawfordsville Commute came at the perfect time with the icy roads on Monday night. That was a wonderful surprise. I think we will find the winter weather much more enjoyable this year, knowing that every day doesn't include Martin risking his life on 231!

Tonight I'm making chili, but I have yet to get it going, so I think I'd better go start that now.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Lights

Just a quick post to say I'm ridiculously in love with my newly Christmascized (that's the word, right?) house. I've never been this in love with my house before. I walk in and am bombarded with it's coziness. LOVE IT!