Rain, Rain, Stay and Play

Not that I'm in any way wishing away Anja's babyhood, but I do look forward to the times when she's bigger and will enjoy such things as coloring and playing outside in the rain. She recently received a postcard in the mail from her cousin Aurelio (one year older than she is) and it was colored with crayons. I think of all the funny things she might come up with to draw and color and play when she's older and it makes me excited. At knitting on Tuesday we were talking about making doll clothes, and it makes me think of what dolls Anja might have and how she'll dress them up and stuff. I'm so glad she's a girl!!

Today I have heaps of laundry to fold and for the first time ever, the quilt I made for Anja before she was born is in the wash. It's been rolled around and stepped on by the animals so much that I know it must be filthy; she can't really play on it without coming off of it covered in dog hair. So I washed it on the gentle cycle and now it's in the dryer, also on delicate. I'm nervous about how it's going to come out. It's not quilted very well (especially around the edges) and the batting is cheap-o synthetic stuff. I'm afraid it's going to bunch up and be lumpy. If that happens, I might consider cutting a few discreet slits in the back and taking as much of the batting out as I can. It'd be better to have a thin quilt than a lumpy one, in my opinion.

I love the rain. I love the cold rain. But I'm afraid of what it might do to my garden plants. I hope the cold isn't too much for them.

Yesterday Martin took a vacation day. As soon as we woke up we walked down to K.Dee's for our morning coffee. You might ask how we did this, considering yesterday morning was so rainy. Well, we splurged and bought a weather cover for the stroller!! It's clear, thick plastic and it fits snugly over the stroller with little air holes in the side, and it keeps Anja completely dry inside while being able to see out. It's really great! So now if we want to take a walk someplace on a rainy day (like today, when she wakes up from her nap) it's no problem.

So we did that in the early morning, then Martin took Karenin to her 9:30 vet appointment to get her stitches out. We went to Lowe's and got flowers and potting soil, took the car in for an oil change, and in order to do that visited at my mom's house and borrowed her car. Martin took a little nap in the afternoon while I did some baking, Anja was happy all day and in the evening while Martin did some work stuff, Anja and I went to the store to get some needed ingredients for dinner tomorrow.

It looks like I might start volunteering out at Prophetstown. Martin and I are always making plans to volunteer with different places, but then we never actually DO it. Yesterday talking to my mom about it, I thought that giving tours out there would be something easily done with Anja. I think it'll be fun. And I'd like for volunteering to be a part of Anja's upbringing, as it was for Martin and me.

I bought a box of rice cereal, a little jar of bananas and a little jar of applesauce babyfoods. How annoying is it that Gerber only sells things in plastic now? I got Beech Tree because I want to keep the jars and put my own homemade food in them. Anyway... tomorrow is Anja's 6 month birthday but Martin and I are both hesitant to give her real food and we don't know why. It's a little bit sad, we think. But I remember hearing or reading someplace that if you start them on solids after 6 months, the likelihood of food allergies increases. Is that true? Has anybody else had such experience? Anyway. I bet we won't feed her yet. I think we'll wait until she can sit up all by herself. It's too sad to give her food tomorrow.

Am I going to be one of those awful moms who still dresses her 14-year-old daughter in poofy pink dresses and hairbows?