Advancements

Great strides are being made in our household.

Ian is starting to sleep a little longer at night. ::knocks on wood:: We're in the 6-8 hours per night range now. He's also slowing down on the eating front, at least in frequency. Now it's just every 2-3 hours during the day! Well, usually. He hasn't stopped growing, though, as evident in this picture of Ian and our friends' baby.

Baby Liam was born a few days after Ian, but started off his life over 2 pounds heavier. Ian has now surpassed Liam. Impressive or disturbing? You decide.

Anja is now able to ride her trike without help, which is great for our backs.

And she also appears to be a successful graduate of the first ever Potty Training Boot Camp that was held this past weekend. Saturday and Sunday were a bit rough, but it all clicked on Monday and she was able to repeat the completely dry day again today! Go, Anja! And in an effort to be well prepared for another graduation in, say, 16 years, I snapped this lovely photo which beautifully combines her two most recent accomplishments. And her new love for the Little Critter books.

Donations for her future psychiatric treatment are now being accepted.

Numbers

Yesterday, we decided it was time to start potty training a bit more in ernest by putting Anja in her Dora undies and bringing out her Elmo potty chair while she played outside.

4 hours, 1 pair of pants, 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of socks, and 2 pairs of underwear later, she was back in a diaper.

I think we'll wait for a good solid few days to really attempt it. But first we'll need to re-up our supply of sunscreen since I'll pretty much force her to be outside in just her underwear for the entire day. I may let her come inside for nap time. But only if she bribes me with brownies first.

And today was Ian's 2 month appointment. The fact that I fed him before leaving the house, was nursing him when the doctor arrived and then again after the shots should probably be an indication that he's a good eater. At all well check-ups, we get a little colored piece of paper with the "this is what you should know about your kid at this age" info, plus all of their height, weight and head circumference stats. (Side note: Do people really care how big their kid's head is after it's born? Doctors, okay, that makes sense. But do I really care how big my baby's noggin is in comparison to other 2 month olds?) Anyway, this piece of paper had the following line on it: "A well-nourished 2 month old is usually 3-4 pounds above birthweight and has gained 1 1/2 - 2 inches in length."

Today, Ian weighed in at 14 lb 3 oz (95+%) and 24 inches long (90%). For those not up on his growth stats, Ian has gained over 6 1/2 pounds and is 3 inches longer.

I'd say he's well-nourished, wouldn't you?

In an eerie coincidence, I have to stop writing. Ian's hungry. Again.

'Ginia and 'Sota

My family vacations in royal style every other year. We rough it by staying in some gorgeous giant rental home directly on the beach on an ocean somewhere. This year it was a 10 bedroom home with 2 pools and a theater room in Virginia Beach. Yup, life is rough. Kudos to my nieces, Bella and Sophie, for all of their research in finding the place and to Nana for creating and maintaining the tradition and never settling. I mean, seriously, check this place out.

The first day, we checked out Williamsburg for a bit, but other than that, the only time our little foursome left the house was to go get fresh seafood and get together with Dan's cousins. Anja lived and breathed the beach and the indoor pool. Yup, indoor. It was that kind of a house. Auntie Kimmie brought Anja one of the Coast Guard approved floatation devices that allows you to still swim. They're goofy lookin', but I highly recommend them if you have a toddler or young kid as independent as ours. It was a life saver. Pun intended.

So here are a few pictures of our 'Ginia trip (as Anja calls it).

Williamsburg:

Anja and Uncle Mike

Anja in jail
Like my hat?

At the beach house:

Cousin Liam holding Ian for the first time

Ian's first dip in the pool (It was a bit humid in the pool room, so the lens fogged up quickly.)
Anja swimming with her goofy floatation device
Headin' to the beach. Anja still loves the swim diaper we bought her in Germany last year.
Photo shoot with my whole fam

Ian discovering grass. Gotta love the gnats. They wanted in on the photo shoot, too.
The four siblings
Anja and Cousin Liam were two peas in a pod. Their favorite room in the house was the theater.
Anja's first trip to the beach. At least the first time she was old enough to remember. She loved the waves!
Anja diggin' in the sand with Liam and Uncle Won. Playing in the sand was probably her favorite activity.

Still lovin' the suit

Pizza night. Auntie Kimmie and Uncle Mark helped the kiddos make their own pizzas. Anja put mushrooms and pineapple on hers. And then ate the rest of the bowl of pineapple.

Mmmmm...dinner.

Or it would've been if we hadn't let Anja see it while it was still alive. Once the cooked version made it to my plate, Anja immediately teared up and proclaimed "No, Mommy! You can't eat the crab! No eatin' the crab!" Oh well. Hopefully she won't make the connection with pig and cow anytime soon. Apparently she doesn't care about chicken.

Ian with one of his Godparents: Auntie Kimmie. Ian is lucky to have all 3 of my siblings as Godparents!

We did have to come home to 'Sota a day earlier than everyone else. Here's why:

My folks and friend, Andy, joined us for the festivities. I think Dan was excited to have back-up since the ceremony didn't start until 7:30pm and the doctoral degrees weren't awarded until around 9:15.

Andy, Ian and I

A view of the back. I don't think the hood was designed for short folk like myself. It stopped about a foot above the hem of the (incredibly hot) robe.

My advisor and program directors

Immediately upon finding me after the ceremony, Anja ran up to me, squealing, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy! Look at YOOOUU!" Apparently she thought I looked funny. Then she told me that she saw me on the big screen and that I had been playing hide and seek with her on the big screen. But then they put a big scarf on me and she found me. Nana reported that she was jumping up and down, yelling "Mommy!" over and over. I'm very glad she was there (and still awake!)

And to add to the list of accomplishments from this weekend, Ian rolled over for the first time! And I caught it on video! Go, little man, go!

Catch all

Since I've been a slacker (again), AND then Blogger went down for a few days, it's catch up time.

A few weeks ago, we noticed that Anja was starting to show signs that she was perhaps a wee bit jealous of Ian's extended stay in our home. On 2 separate occasions, Dan and I both took her swimming and to the LifeTime "pool restaurant," as she calls it. That little Life Café is apparently her favorite place in the world to eat. They give her PB & J, fruit, Sun Chips, and a juice pouch. She then gets to enjoy the tasty goodness while talking to the respective parent and watching TV. There are two TVs in the café - 1 plays ESPN, the other shows the news. Anja prefers watching ESPN, especially if they're playing foofball (Football) or, in a pinch, baseball. When ESPN isn't up to snuff, she'll watch the news. The last time I took her, it was a big news day due to major events the day before. She looked at the TV and asked why Daddy was on TV. Anja thinks any picture of a man with dark hair and a beard is a picture of daddy. Can you guess who it was? Yep, it was this guy. Dan took it well. Ahh, quality programing on Girls' Night Out.

Seeing that the swimming helped, I arranged with our daycare to do a swap for a few hours in the morning every Thursday. So I drop Ian off and then take Anja out for a bit. We can go wherever she wants, as long as it's open at that time of the morning. Where does she choose to go every time?

"I wanna go to Caribou Coffee Place, Mommy! I wan oatmeal and milk. You can have coffee. You need coffee."

If only her baby brother tolerated caffeine. Sigh.

She loves it there so much, she wanted to go there again this week and was upset when someone was at our table. This satanic looking photo is actually her getting ready to enjoy a spoonful of oatmeal. It was too funny to photoshop.

But, despite slowing down on the weight gaining front, Ian's growing incredibly fast and has started growing out of size 0-3 already. Shouldn't be surprised, I guess, since at last check a few weeks ago, he weighed in at 13 pounds. Just look at this belly, purposely stuffed into a German t-shirt that translates to "cookie annihilator."

The big belly is made only cuter when he has his perpetually scared look on his face. And here he is in one of our favorite outfits that Anja also wore. Based upon the full length pants looking like high waters, it's time to retire the outfit permanently.

He did finally turn a corner in the play area, though, which is fun. A week ago, he hated his play mat. Now he loves it and giggles when he can get the music going by kicking the thing.

And his first smiling video for your entertainment. In typical fashion, the full out giggling started immediately whenever I stopped recording. Yes, the video is sideways. Deal with it. I need to go get the kiddos ready for a toddler pajama party at Anja's friend Lyla's house. We're going to party all the way until nap time!

Belated Easter

On Easter, we all headed to Nana and Boppa's house for the day. Poor Isi was still in town and therefore got suckered into doing the Easter egg hunt, too. Anja "helped" her. Nothing too crazy happened, so it was a rather peaceful day. The only thing of note is that now Anja wants to do an Easter egg hunt every time she goes to my parents' house.