Hump Day Plus One Report

Everyone seems to be enjoying the new school year! Annika is quite excited by her class. On Monday, she was the first one there. I sometimes feel guilty because Annika is at her school longer than most kids on most days (which means she is there from 8 am to 5 pm - meaning we're actually at work less than 9 hours), but Annika had a new way of looking at it. "I am the FIRST one!" Since then, she has wanted to be first every day. However, since school opens at 7:30 a.m., she has not repeated this again.

Another thing Annika's class does is draw for jobs. This is a brilliant idea. Rather than coercing kids into helping out, they've convinced them it is the greatest thing ever. Annika was the most excited about being the Lights Turner-Offer. Now, if only we could capture that same spirit at home.....

Daniel also seems to be enjoying school. He's been sleeping more during the day, but still sleeps from about 9 pm to 7 am at night - Praise God! If anything, Daniel has been in an even better mood in the evenings now. Maybe he is getting more sleep.

And, Will got me a new to-go phone this morning! One that isn't from 1999! I was most excited by this revolutionary flip-top technology....until Will pointed out that it actually has a camera in it. Now we're not dependent on remembering to lug our camera around - maybe we'll actually get pictures posted more regularly now.

School Daze

It's Back to School time - for everyone, since Daniel only went to school twice last week due to all of the Fay-related school closings.

This school year promises to be more chaotic than in the past. To start with, we have two kids in "school" (doesn't "school" sound much better than "daycare facility"?), and in two completely different schools far apart from each other at that.

Moreover, we now have an activity scheduled every.single.night.of.school. These don't all start up tomorrow, but once they are in full gear it will be....

Monday - bell rehearsal for me
Tuesday - dance class for Annika
Wednesday - parenting small group at church
Thursday - choir practice for Will
Friday - soccer for Annika
Saturday - swim lessons for Annika (just during September for now, but we'll see)

At least we can avoid turning out like The Bernstain Bears and Too Much Pressure by not having overlapping activities on the same day. The Overscheduled Family, here we come!

Idiocy Strikes Again

So everyone - back up your data. Really. Actually back it up. Preferably every day. Because my hard drive at work officially crashed and is not recoverable. I'd been randomly backing stuff up, but never my email, and only the stuff I was working on at the moment when I thought about it. So the most recent back-up that I made was of my dissertation, in mid-July.

To avoid breaking down and sobbing all night, we're taking the kids to Chili's for dinner tonight. Celebration of idiocy, here we come!

The Logic of Preschoolers

Annika can count to 99. After that, it's "ninety-nine, tendy." Um, tendy? Don't you mean one hundred? "No, Mama. Seven-dy, eight-dy, nine-dy, ten-dy."

Reading books about kittens has really solidified that Annika wants a kitten, too. Seeing them at the pet shop this weekend didn't help. "Someday, we should get a little kitten. Maybe for Christmas." For those of you that remember the time when Audrey and Sophie lived in the same house (before Sophie was rescued by my sister) might think this is not the best idea. When told that one of the many reasons we were not getting a kitten is that Audrey would not be nice at all to said creature, Annika countered, "But if we get a little baby kitten, then Audrey will be his mom." Even better, "I will teach the kitten some tricks when Audrey is not around." That'll teach her!

In other news, Daniel started daycare yesterday at a church childcare center! Will took him and picked up up since I had an all-day seminar to attend. Daniel reacted by sleeping a bunch of the day, including (an unprecedented) consecutive 3-hour stretch. Today, Daniel's school, along with our college and all of the school districts, were closed due to the "tropical storm." Hmmm.....so far, we've gotten less rain than on many afternoons.

Random Pictures

I took a picture today (while talking on the phone to Julie - HI!) and realized that we haven't uploaded anything from the camera since late July. So here are some pictures of what we've been to since then.

Daniel in his bouncer - I promise that he is not in his bouncer most of the time. But he tends to get photographed there since it is an easy shot.

Annika playing out in the rain because "there was no thunder or lightening." She read a book about a girl that did that and was so excited to do the same.

Dinner of champions.
A huge spiderweb overtook our garage overnight.

Self-portrait.

Annika has been consistently getting dressed all by herself in the morning. This morning, she came downstairs to wake us up, already ready for the day in this outfit. (This is from this evening, after the curtain fell down on the stairs.)

Will and Daniel just went on a walk to Walgreens for a caffeinated beverage. Daniel is very prepared for the grueling sun.

And finally, Will just saw this entry and asked if I had the one if me sleeping. I have no recollection of this, but it is after my red-eye flight back from the conference.

Big Boy

[This is a projected image of Daniel in 2 months.]

We had Daniel's 4-month visit today (4 days early, but now he's all documented and ready to start daycare). His head was in the 75th percentile, while his length (26.5 inches) and weight (17 pounds, 9 ounces) were both in the 90th percentile. Oy! No wonder his carrier is getting so exhausting to carry around when he is in it.

For the first time, Annika accompanied us to Daniel's visit. Due to a need to complicate everything, Daniel and Annika go to different doctors and offices, so this was her first trip to his place. "I'm not getting a check up today!" she proudly announced to any medical staff that would listen. "It's not my turn!" Her whole vaccination experience seems to have scarred her from anything medical. Daniel only got five vaccinations this time, instead of six, and did great.

Day 2

Today is Day 2 of being home with both kids. I heard this somewhere else and I will steal it: Childcare is only stressful if you are trying to get other things done. I am doing AWESOME at not getting housework, or cooking, or anything home-related. (Too bad being a workaholic doesn't extend to domestic tasks...)

Today, I took the kids to my office, where we turned in some paperwork, took some books back to the school library, and ate lunch with Will. Afterwards, Annika fed the fish and turtles in the pond by the Union.

Annika really likes staying home (literally) now. Until recently, she loved getting out - now, she almost always prefers to stay home if given the chance. Maybe it is a novelty since so much of her time is usually structured. Or maybe she is planning a rebellion against non-domestic-ness.

Ode to the Olympics

The Summer Olympics are here! I cannot even begin to express how exciting this is. Swimming! Diving! Women's gymnastics! Men's gymnastics! Track and field! Air riffle! (Yes, I love all Olympic sports.)

We're trying to convince Annika that she should be excited, too. So far, she isn't completely buying it, although she did watch diving and some of the women's gymnastics with us yesterday. "The gymnastics girl is very good," she said about a clip of Shawn Johnson. "She is the very best gymnastics girl because she is 9 years old." We explained that no, you actually have to be 16 (supposedly) in the year of the Olympics.

Later, Whale and Dolphin engaged in some Olympics dueling of their own. "Dolphin is the best gymnastics girl because he is sixty years old." "No, Whale is because he is seventy-one." Obviously, gymnasts get better with age. And are only girls.

Daniel has not been getting into the Olympic Spirit and has been a major Crankhead. I really don't think he slept at all during the day yesterday. But at least he sleeps through the night!

Back in Business

Hi! I got back from my conference yesterday and have been running on fumes. Today is our "actual" anniversary - woo hoo!

Here's a rundown from the conference:

THE GOOD
- Shared a hotel room with 2 other girls from the department. Tons of fun - like a sleepover for adults.
- Had 2 presentations and was discussant for 1 paper. Seemed to go well.
- Weather in CA was gorgeous!
- Not a chance of waking up in the middle of the night.

THE BAD
- Red-eye flights suck. Note to self: never do that again. :-)
- Pump and dump is rather depressing. I calculated I threw away 160 ounces while gone.
- Missed the fam.....that's why it's great to be home!

THE UGLY
-Annika is at school today and is then off for 2 weeks since our school is "between semesters." EECK! I don't know how I am going to get anything done with dissertation, research, or getting prepped for teaching with two kids at home during the day. Maybe I should give up. ;-)

10th Year Anniversary Celebration

This past week has been a little hairy, with me preparing to leave for a 5-day trip tomorrow morning (YIKES) and actually getting ready to present several papers (DOUBLE YIKES). Will's mom, the wonderful Nonnie, has arrived to stay with Will & Co. while I am gone. And last night, Will and I were blessed to be able to celebrate our 10th year wedding anniversary (okay, we are a week early...but that is just margin of error!)

We went to Downtown Disney last night and saw Cirque du Soleil® Orlando. We'd heard about this for years and finally got a chance to partake! I'd definitely recommend it.

This got me thinking about the past 10 years and what we did to celebrate all of those milestones. Sadly, they all involve food. Because who doesn't love food?

1st - We took a trip to DC as more of a "real" honeymoon than our abbreviated St. Louis excursion. On our anniversary we went to the "very classy" TGI Friday's (my first time there).

2nd - Drove to Topeka to eat at the Olive Garden. I was turning 21 in 20 days....but still couldn't drink yet.

3rd - I was out of town at a conference in Atlanta. When I got back, we drove to Junction City to eat at the Cracker Barrel (yea, classy us!).

4th - We were both interning in KC that summer. We went to the ever-yummy Jack Stack BBQ in Martin City.

5th - We were vacationing in New York City with my sister and BIL on the Coolest Vacation Ever. That day, we all went out to Coney Island. In the evening, Will and I saw a show (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change!) and ate Thai food afterwards at a really crappy place. I didn't know it yet, but was pregnant with Annika.

6th - Annika was 3.5 months old. She accompanied us to the Olive Garden right by our house.

7th - We had just moved to Florida days ago. The 3 of us went to Olive Garden, where Annika proceeded to throw breadsticks over her shoulder. Decide to nix "fine dining" with a toddler.

8th - Will and I went to a local Vietnamese place over our lunch hour, sans Annika (see Year 7 above).

9th - We headed out to the classiest place of all over lunch: Logan's Roadhouse. I had just returned from the same conference I am going to tomorrow, and had just found out I was pregnant with Daniel.

10th - Cirque de Soiel! For our "actual" anniversary next Friday, maybe we'll hit Wendy's to celebrate with the restaurant we ate at on our honeymoon night. ;-)