Swimming in Bananas!?

Okay before I go any further, I have to rave about the exotic drink I'm enjoying right now, which is not in any way exotic, really. I wanted a cup of chai--a long lost treat I only tonight remembered since my milk-free living is finally over--so I started to prepare for it in the usual way until Martin suggested that I warm the milk up first and steep the tea bags in the hot milk. !!!!!! So I did that, and then I added some honey... and oh my gosh... I'm in heaven!!!

In other news, Anja has been going to bed fairly well at 8:00 the past two nights. Last night she slept for 3 hours before waking up and tonight she's been asleep for an hour already and is showing no sign of waking. She still wakes up a lot in the night... I'm eager for that to be over, but at the same time I don't mind it so much. It's kind of nice to get a little nightly Anja snuggle time.... I just wish it were slightly more infrequent.

Okay, but really that's not the news of this post. The news of this post is that we went swimming today! You can see here Anja, all decked out in her bathing suit and terrycloth swim cover. She enjoys taking her rubber duck to the pool with her. I had no idea she'd had such a good time last time, but she must have--she was SO EXCITED when we got inside the pool gate. Oh my golly. She started making her weird grunting noises and getting all wiggly and doing dragon face over and over again. It was great!!! She was sooooooo happy the whole time we were there, and fell asleep in the car as soon as we left the parking lot. I can't wait to take her again and see her get that excited. It was hilarious! The swimsuit in this picture is the one from her Granny Schap, but the last time we went swimming (and I forgot to take any pictures because I'm a big loser) she was wearing her cutie-patootie swimming pants that my mom gave her, which are purple and have flowers all over the rumpus. VERY CUTE.

Oh, the other picture up there is of Anja's new trick. She just kind of hangs out with that spoon in her mouth. She does other things... plays with her keys, pets the animals.... all with that spoon hanging out of her mouth just like that. Pretty cute.

The other newsworthy thing that happened today was (drumroll please!) WE GAVE ANJA REAL FOOD!!!! We opened a jar of mashed bananas and fed her while we ate our dinner. Except that she wasn't very interested in eating them, she just wanted to play with the spoon and chew on it. She did swallow all the banana that got in her mouth--she didn't just spit it right back out again--but she didn't seem to love them very much. That's okay... Personally, I loathe bananas. So I won't be offended if she doesn't like them either. Tomorrow we'll try them again and see if she enjoys them any more. I'm not going to force her to eat or anything, but I'll give her another chance for her tastebuds to change their minds tomorrow.

And for your viewing pleasure, here are some more pictures:

Look at these hot chicks! Someone should tell that one in the middle that her bazooms are too big for that dress. Perkalator's nephew, Brayden, who came to play one day.

Martin and Anja at Tim's wedding reception. Martin wore a suit to the wedding (which was on the pedestrian bridge) but he sweat through it so he changed before the reception.

Our little family at the reception.
PeterXavier and Anja laughing at Maizie, my mom's little dog.
"Please don't take my spoon!"