Romantic Overload

Sometimes Anja is like a puppy. She takes her naps in our bed, and I snuggle her to sleep with a bottle, and it's so amazingly cozy and she's so warm and cuddly it's hard not to just drift off to sleep with her. So I lie there, my brain tipping dangerously over the line between sleep and wakefulness, thinking about all the dishes in the sink, and all the dog hair on the carpet, and all the laundry that needs to be washed or folded or put away... and all I can think is, "meh. My snuggle time is limited" and I usually let myself fall asleep. (Except today when I'm ignoring all those things to blog and then fully intend to go back up and take the rest of her nap with her! I am so lazy!!) But seriously, when I think that my naptimes with Anja are quickly drawing to their end, it makes me a little bit sad, and a little less reluctant to just forget about everything else and take advantage of the snuggly sleep time with her.

So yesterday was Schmalentine's Day! My least favorite holiday of the year! We decided to have dinner at one of our favorite restaurants-- Roberts' Americus. We had a gift certificate, and it's not the sort of place that's likely to be too crowded on Valentine's Day. We thought we'd ask my parents to watch Anja while we went out to dinner, but then Martin suggested we just invite them along instead. And then we called John Mooney and invited him along too because Mrs. Schap was in Indy with the Mock Trial team. So we all met up in Americus for catfish and steaks! It was delightful. Way more fun than having dinner by ourselves.

Last night Anja had another bad night. I wish I could figure out what the trouble is. Is she cold? Is she hot? Is she having nightmares? One night I'm pretty sure the culprit was a tummy ache because she and Martin both were really gassy. (I know, that's really gross and probably T.M.I., and I'm sorry.) But last night was the third rough night in a row and I just can't figure it out. She'd been sleeping so well before! It might be her teeth... this morning in the car she was really chewing on her fingers.
ANYWAY... so since it was kind of a bad night, Anja slept in later than usual, which was one of the reasons we didn't make it out the door in time to get to 7:30 mass before the Gospel. We kept hoping she'd wake up on her own in time to get her dressed and all of us out the door... she never did, so we woke her up, but we still didn't make it in time. We sneaked in the back, saw how late we were, then went to Vienna to get coffee. We sat down for just a few minutes before going back to church to meet up with the Watsons who took us out to brunch!!! I LOVE going to brunch with the Watsons!!!!! And the special occasion? JOANNIE was in town!!! Wahooo!! It was really fun, as always. Our plan had been to then go to the noon mass at St. Ann's, but Anja's nap is at 11:00 and with a combination of events, we decided it would be best to wait and go as a family at 5:00 at St. Lawrence. And after THAT, there is an art opening at Vienna that we're going to pop in on. The artist has a photo up right now of a squirrel that Anja LOVES!

Right now Martin is helping my dad move some stuff to the cottage. When he gets home we will go to Petsmart because we're out of dog food, and believe it or not, food seems to be cheaper there than at the grocery store! And when I say "seems to be" I actually mean "is." This means everybody wins because who wants to go to the boring old grocery store for dog and cat food when you can go to exciting Petsmart and see all the dogs being groomed and all the kittens they have for adoption!?!?!? Not to mention all the dogs who come with their owners to shop!!! It is a happy event for everyone.

I've recently switched laundry detergents from Purex (el cheapo) to Tide (el expensivo). I can't say that I've noticed much of a difference in the cleanliness of our clothes--Anja's onesie still came out of the wash with a bright green avacado stain on the butt--but it's TOTALLY worth it for the smell! Our clothes smell so good now!!!!

Now naptime is almost over. I shouldn't go lie down with her. I should do the dishes. *sigh*