Vintage

Today I was trying to decide on holiday outfits for the kiddos. I decided on a simple outfit for Ian because, well, he's wiggly. And for Anja, I didn't really want to spend money on a fancy dress she'd only wear once. So instead, I dug out this dress and Anja fell in love.

Meet my Doppelgänger - Anja.

So I'll be taking it to the dry cleaners today to see if the dress that I wore when I was younger can be cleaned up enough to become Anja's dress. Of course, it was my favorite dress for years and has spent about 25 years in my parents' attic, so there's no guarantee.

Did you do the math yet?

I'm 33.

I wore that dress for years.

(That's an issue by itself.)

It's been in storage for about 25 years.

Yup - there it clicked.

I wore that when I was around 6 years old.

It fits Anja now.

Sigh.

***Update: The dress came out great from the cleaners. Upon seeing it hanging up at home, Anja promptly exclaimed, "Oooh! My dress! I'm going to wear it when I marry Rowan!" I could handle that.

Photo Shoots

Friday was picture day at preschool. I'm very curious to see how the photographer was able to capture 20 3 year olds in a group shot. I'm even more curious as to what kind of smile Anja gave the stranger.

Yesterday we decided to take the kids to a pumpkin patch. As should have been expected, Ian promptly feel asleep in the car. Leaving the boys to hang out in the car, Anja and I headed out to the patch. For the first time in a while, Anja was interested in having her picture taken, quickly suggesting several locations where I could take her picture. After several pictures, we discovered the corn maze. Thankfully, the maze came complete with emergency escape routes for 3 year olds who think they've gotten lost after rounding the first corner, but refuse to go back the way they came. After an excited return to the pumpkin patch, Anja decided that tripping over the vines wasn't worth it and picked out a pumpkin for herself and one for Ian (both from the stack of already washed pumpkins basically arranged for taking pictures). We quickly paid and headed back to join the boys in the car.

And after a last minute shopping adventure yesterday, we had a family photo shoot today. A photographer that Dan's brother and his family use was having a special, so we signed up for a family shoot, thinking we could get Ian's 6 month pictures and Anja's 3 year pictures all done at the same time. The photographer was great, but it really was more of a family shoot and we didn't get many shots of the kids on their own. That combined with the outrageous prices for prints that we discovered after the shoot, I decided to attempt a few at-home shots of Ian. I figure, if he's actually 7 months today, we really shouldn't wait any longer for his 6 month pictures! So here's a random sampling:

Goofy

We are a family of goofs. But you probably already knew that.

Ask Anja if she's goofy and she'll still respond, "Noooo! BOPPA's Goofy, silly goose!"

That never gets old.

But we now have another ham in the family.

Ian likes nothing better than a good belly laugh. In particular, he loves to be tickled (including the inside of his belly button for some reason) and frequently, even looking at Anja is enough to set him off. It's no wonder that his pediatrician commented that he is one of the happiest babies she's ever seen.
Those pictures were while we were waiting for the pediatrician to show up. He was such a giggly little guy that the nurse thought it was a well check visit. It wasn't. He has another ear infection. Those pictures are of a sick little guy, but you'd never know it.

But in addition to being a goofy little guy (and a sick one), he's also most definitely a mama's boy. Mommy out of the room? Tears. Mommy in the room? Giggles. And his latest trick? Yup, that's right. His first word is officially Mama! Anja said Daddy first, so it's now equal.

And for added goofiness, we are planning our first trip to Disney World this February. I haven't been since I was 9, so this is probably most exciting for Anja and me. She is obsessed with Mickey, Minnie, the princesses and the whole gang. We are waiting to tell her about going to Mickey's house until we are much closer to the date. Potentially the day before. Any suggestions on how to tell her where we're going? I fully intend on telling her while she's wearing a pull-up, just in case she's really excited!

Third

This is Anja right now. Yes, she is wearing pants. No, she is not wearing a shirt. It wasn't removed due to warm weather or even toddler tantrums. Her last outfit is covered in puke.

This morning was a regular morning for us. Kids slept fine, but got up early. Then we went to Nana and Boppa's house to pick up some toys from when I was growing up. Anja played with her cousins for about an hour.

Then all hell broke loose.

Anja complained about her ear hurting and was crying uncontrollably. Behind her ear was red, dry and tender to the touch and she was tired and asked to go to bed. So we put some ointment on it and took her up for a nap. After 30 minutes of all out sobbing, we noticed she now had a rash and it covered a large portion of the back of her head. We gave her some Benadryl and packed the kids into the car and headed out. About a mile from my parents' house, she puked. Everywhere. We bee lined it for a closer urgent care as she continued to puke and complain about the stench.

Thankfully, there was no one else at this urgent care, so we got in right away. And the diagnosis? Heat rash and double ear infection.

Again.

Three weeks ago she received penicillin for strep throat. It didn't work.

Two weeks ago she was put on a 10 day course of amoxycillin for strep, double ear infection and double eye infection.

Today she received a different shot AND will be on a 5 day course of Azithromycin. Hopefully the third time's the charm.

*Note: I wrote this from my phone while waiting for Dan to pick up Anja's prescription. I lead a glamorous life. Try not be so jealous.

Favorite Things

For Anja's preschool homework, we had a sheet to fill out. It called for basic information about her - name, age, number of sibilings, etc. But there were a few questions we didn't have the answers to, so last night, Anja stood on a chair at the kitchen island while I interviewed her.

Me: What's your favorite food?

Anja: Hmmm...chocolate bear crackers. [Chocolate Teddy Grahams]

Me: What food don't you like to eat.

Anja: Onions.

Me: What's your favorite thing to do at school?

Anja: At Nex Juner, I like to play where the curtains are [puppet show theater, presumably].

Me: What's your favorite thing to do at home?

Anja: The dishes.

Somehow I don't think her answer for the last one will be the same in 10 years.

And here is what I think Ian's answers would be to the same questions.

Me: Favorite food?

Ian: Milk. Oh, and pears. But mostly milk.

Me: Least favorite food?

Ian: Rice cereal. Blech. Unless it's mixed with lots and lots of milk. Or pears. Pears are good, too.

Me: Favorite thing to do at school/daycare?

Ian: Drink milk.

Me: Favorite thing to do at home?

Ian: Drink milk.

Big Day

Ian turned 6 months old today! Our little man has 2 teeth, sits up for short periods of time, wears size 12 month clothes(!), and is the happiest little man you ever did meet!

And today was Anja's first day of preschool! She was very excited about going to Nex Juner and bring her special giant red bag with her elephant name tag. She apparently had a good time, but all I got out of her was that another girl there took a cup away from her and didn't give it back and that they sang a hello song and a song about washing hands. And that next week they're celebrating her birthday. I've also discovered that preschool has a lot of homework. For the parents. Enrollment forms, health forms, Scholastic book orders (remember those?!), personal information forms, family page form, personal page form...And apparently we bring the snacks on her birthday celebration day. But we can't bring anything from a bakery or that's homemade or was made in the same factory as a peanut. Preschool is hard.
And after a long, fun filled day, Anja settles in with her new princess water bottle, Dora jammies, Pooh socks, and some "Bubble Guppies."

Ballerina

For Anja's birthday, she received dance lessons from Nana and Boppa. After a week and a half of torture waiting, Anja was super excited for her first lesson tonight. The dance studio is right down the street from us (less than a 3 minute drive), but since it was just me with the kids, I made sure to plan an early enough departure in case one or both of them became, well, slow. Luckily, they were just fine and so we ended up getting there very early. Since Ian was tired, I pointed out the dance studio to Anja and explained I was going to just drive around for a minute to see if Ian would go to sleep. She quickly commented, "You can drive around in a circle, but only in a circle, ok? It's my first day of dance school and I need to meet my new teacher and can't be late. And you have to watch Dora dance. So just go in a circle, ok?"

Needless to say, I just turned around and we headed in to meet her teacher.

Anja is in a class of 6 or 7 three year old girls. Before class started, her teacher, Miss Gwen, informed us of the logistics and sent us to the windows to watch. Anja cried a bit once she realized I was gone, but then, with a little encouragement, got right back into the mix and had no more issues.

The 30 minute class passed quickly and she was active the entire time and was incredibly sad to leave and wants to go back tomorrow. She'll have to wait a week, but I wish she could go back tomorrow, too. She was so tuckered that she went to sleep without any issues. Once I got her out of her leotard, that is!

*I'd suggest muting your computer for the video. You can't hear anything but the other parents talking about totally unrelated topics.