Lucky

"Momma...I feel lucky."

"You do, sweetie? Why is that?"

"I feel lucky to have parents like you."

Back at ya, kid.

Looks cute now

But puked all morning and can't stay asleep. Annika just woke him up after he finally went down. Yay.......

But this (sorta) makes it worth it.

Some more birthday stuff

Since Annika's birthday was on a Wednesday, we kept the actual day of her birthday pretty low key. She still went to school where she brought cupcakes. She went to her cousin's house after school then Chris and I picked them both up for a trip to Chuck E Cheese. We all came back after a couple of hours to have cake and ice cream. Wednesday kicked off the weekend of birthdays, and it'll probably take her another day or so to fully recover. She's napping on the couch as I type this, and is incredibly cranky. Tough life!

Party weekend

Not only was Annika's pool 4th birthday party this weekend, but so were two other important birthday parties - Nico's and cousins Pierce and Audrey. This is what she looked like after her 6-hour party yesterday:

Backing up a bit, this is what she looked like in the middle of the party after a 2-hour swim and after she swallowed some water:

Then it got a little better when the pinata made its appearance:

Oh, and she enjoyed her birthday cake and the party theme - Scooby Doo. Have I mentioned how much she loves Scooby Doo? It's unnatural. So unnatural in fact that she's watching the live action movie right now...who would do that willingly? Only a true fan!

I'll post some video from the part(ies) later this week. I have some great pool action shots, though I missed Chris's cannonball.

Baby turns 4

My little girl is 4. Four years old! Four going on 18....

Annika is a really special person. She is caring. She is smart. She is selfless, and she is picky. She's so unique that Chris and I often marvel that we created her...we created this awesome person.

Annika asks a lot of questions. She understands a lot. We had a conversation last week about creationism vs. evolution. She so far is pretty sure that God created the Earth and people, but respects Darwin's position.

This year will be remembered for Declan's birth. But I hope we also remember that this is the year that Annika entered Pre-K, tried to learn to swim, asked for "Jack In The Box" for the first time (embarrassing...but true) and told me that she would "never break up" with me and that we'll be "best friends forever."

Annika - I love you so much, it swallows me up! You'll always be my baby and my best friend. Happy Birthday to you.

Woo hoo!

He slept 7 hours last night! Not that I expect that to last....but I'll take it.

Annika loves to cuddle with her baby bro in the morning.

I've never seen this before

When we first started giving Declan baths, he really didn't like them. Can't say I blame them - we did them in our kitchen on the island and he wasn't allowed to be submerged because of his umbilical cord - so he was freezing. This is a kid that loooves to be warm, so he would complain. Loudly.

A few weeks ago I discovered that he could take a bath while I took a shower. I discovered this out of necessity since he would be screaming his head off every time I'd turn off the water and start to dry off. Most showers end with me soaking wet, racing across the room to get to him and staying wet and undressed until he fell asleep again.

So the shower thing really worked. He loves the sound of the water and he likes being warm and submerged (his umbilical cord fell out when he was nearly 4 weeks old). The last two times he took his bath, his eyes would start blinking heavily and he almost fell asleep. I thought it was the cutest thing - until this:

This is not a picture of him blinking - he's fast asleep. He slept for a good five minutes while I finished up my shower and Chris took pictures. He didn't wake up until Chris put him down on the changing table to get him dressed.

I wish I could say he could sleep anywhere...and often...but that would be a lie.

P.S. I blurred out some of the more controversial content of the picture....that's not really what it looks like.