Molly

Annika has been asking for a pet for...well, ever since she could talk. She wants a dog (they all do, don't they?), but i told her we can barely take care of her and her brother. She did admit, "Dogs are a lot of responsibility. I learned that on a TV show."

I have been thinking for a while that Annika deserves a pet of some sort. She's a nurturing person, a sweet soul and a good girl. Maybe some sort of low maintenance pet is in order?

The price she had to pay was to not whine for 24 hours. I know...easier said than done. In fact, she failed 4 times before the magic day. (I think it also somewhat cured her whininess...she does it a lot less now, which was really the point.) I said she could have a toy or a fish if she managed to abstain from whining for a day. She chose the fish.

We got a 2.5 gallon tank, set it up. Waited a day to make sure the tank was up to temperature and the filter was working. She & Daddy went the next night to pick out a fish which took her a while to decide on...she went from frog to some small white fish thing to a goldfish and finally settled on a molly. The molly's name is Molly and she is yellow and quite cute.

Molly's first night in the tank was rough. She tended to stay at the top part of the tank and seemed to be breathing heavily. We explained to Annika that fish have pretty short life spans and though we would do our best to keep her healthy, sometimes fish don't make it. Annika was ok with that though told us she was already very "attached" to Molly and would "never want to let her go."

Day 2, Molly was fed for the first time and ate like a champ. She was swimming throughout the tank and looked great. To celebrate, Annika and Daddy went for ice cream! Yay!

I watched Molly with a relatively grumpy Declan who rather enjoys the tank. Something else was swimming in that tank. A tiny Molly. Molly had a baby!

I texted Chris. I ran to the Interwebs...what do I do?? Will Molly eat her baby? Does the baby need a special tank? Special food? Turns out Molly might in fact eat her little guy, so I camped out in front of the tank until Chris got home because well, he knows everything. As I stared at the tank, I realized...Molly had two babies...twins!!!

Annika and Chris got home and I asked Chris if he told Annika. (He had not). I told Chris that we have to separate those babies, and he said...let's let nature take its course. Look, I am no environmentalist, nor am I particuarly a friend to the animal kingdom, but I just really felt that we had taken Molly into our home and it was our duty to take care of her babies as best we could. I knew we couldn't guarantee their survival, but I wanted to at least try.

We showed Annika the twins and she was shocked. She was so excited but we told her there was a chance the momma could eat her babies. She took that rather well...weird. Anyway, Chris started calling all the pet stores in the area to find out what they had to separate the babies, and after 15 minutes of calls, found a store that had something. He left. Annika and I watched Molly and the twins for a while until we got bored. (Sorry twins!)

While Chris was out, I asked Annika what she wanted to name the twins - she said "Skipper, Fishy and Mo." I said - well, that's three names. She said "OK, only Mo if there's another baby." Turns out she's quite prescient.

Chris came home with the contraption to separate the babies and as he fiddled around with it...he found some more babies. Four more. So now they are sextuplets. Their names are Skipper, Fishy, Mo, Jacker, Spirit and Sugar. Annika rattled them off as if she had known them her whole life. And now we are a family of 10.

Addendum: I couldn't find Sugar this morning.

Declan opens

Declan opens his first ever Christmas present. Enjoy the spectacle.

Costco baby

Chris says I picked up our baby at Costco. I said if I had, we would have 50 babies.

Anyway, he thinks the Costco diaper box baby looks like Declan - you decide:

Baby's First Christmas

...and Annika was there, too.

- Annika leaves Santa his homemade cupcake and the reindeer a few carrots. (Only four because she said they had to share).


- Getting into the spirit.


- Dutiful Big Sister teaches Baby Bro how to open the bounty.


- Looks like he figured it out.


- The end.

Robot Fight!

Merry Christmas!!

"Don't worry Baby Bro, we'll open the presents soon."

Taking the year off

For those of you who are expecting a Christmas card from us, or thought we simply left you off our list...we did not. We're just not doing one. Let me tell you why.

With the blog, Facebook and the fact that I tell everyone everything - not to mention our lives our pretty boring (wonderful, but boring) - I decided to take a year off with Christmas cards. Most of you whom I stay in touch with either read the blog, check me out on Facebook or....dare I say it? Talk to me. So, you know that Annika is continuing to love preschool but gets sad when other children won't play with her, but is also independent enough to go away for entire weekends with her cousins. You also know that Declan is starting to make more discernible noises, shows somewhat of an affinity for Momma over Dada but also gets sad when he walks out of a room. You also know that we are exhausted and can't wait when they're old enough to go on a family vacation.

I post enough pictures of these adorable souls on a semi-monthly basis, but let me post what likely would have made the Christmas card:

I promise it's nothing personal and we still love you the same as we did last year. Merry Christmas!

xoxo

Yes, they saw Santa

And here's the blurry proof!



Highlights included Annika's long conversation with Santa covering topics like how much taller she was than last year and the fact that her parents already sent her letter to Santa and his assurances that he would receive it; Declan's smiles causing all looker-ons to literally ooh and ahh in audible appreciation; and the lady over-charging me.

Christmas bound

They're ready for Santa....

So What

Annika loves to dance and this is one of her favorite tunes...quite the feminist anthem! Enjoy...

Annika says...

....Happy Thanksgiving!

Sleeping and jumping together again

No, we didn't taser him.

Somehow he actually fell asleep in the Jumperoo...potentially one of the most stimulating baby contraptions on the market.

I envy him.

Sing it, James Blunt

Only took me 3 years to learn the "new" iMovie!

New camera

I'm the camera person in our family...I'm the one that makes sure that pictures are taken for special occasions. Sometimes it's frustrating because 1) I'm never in any pictures (which is probably a good thing) and 2) because it's a lot of pressure to be the only one who cares about capturing milestones.

That said, I've learned to embrace the role. And I've been complaining about the camera I got two Christmases ago because it's a point & shoot and though it's smaller than my previous generation it's still flat in the finish (if that makes any sense). So I told Chris about a year ago that I should have asked for a DSLR and I made a mistake.

Because he is awesome, listens to me and can't pass up a good deal; I just got a new one!!! Apparently a DSLR is serious business. I'm only just understanding its power and I know absolutely nothing about photography. But with the bare minimum, I've been able to get a couple of keepers. Tell me...can you see the difference?



Can't you just smell the tear??

And, my personal favorite:



Doesn't he look like a Gerber baby?

I have a few of Annika that I haven't loaded on the computer yet, but she's proving to be a tougher subject. The thing with DSLR is that if you don't know what you're doing (a-hem), you sorta need the subject to stop moving. And my darling girl never stops moving.

Just Dex

Declan turned 6 months old this week. OMG! LOL! ROTFL!

One of our favorite - and time honored - past times is to compare Annika to Declan at 6 months. He is just so different. Much of that I'm sure can be attributed to the fact that he's a boy, but also that he's...Declan. Someone recently said to me "It's funny how you expect your new baby to act like the first baby...but then you realize he's not just a baby, he's a person." Maybe not so eye-opening for some people, but it was for me!

Declan cut his first tooth this week after warning us about it for 3 months. I swear he's been showing signs since August, but we finally have proof! I would post a picture, but he is a master at covering it with his tongue every time. But it's there...and believe me, I know...I'll spare you the details.

Declan loved trick or treating with his sister until he got tired and fell asleep. But turned out the warm, puffy costume that irritated her so much during her first Halloween was super comfy for my boy who I don't think moved an inch the entire 2-hour odyssey. This is essentially what he looked like from the moment we put on his costume:



This kid looooves to eat. All the time. Whatever you put in his face. So far, he's eaten oatmeal, apples, bananas, carrots and tomatoes. He will eat it all though if he's not a fan he'll shake his head from side to side while tasting it. Then he'll open his mouth again for more. He has one "super feeding" a day, which consists of 5 ounces of either formula or breast milk and a two ounce serving of whatever solid we have available. And he hasn't dropped any other feedings. Hungry! Oh, but he's not even that big any more...he's now only 70th percentile in weight, 40th in height and 90th in head (we knew that one would eventually come to pass). I don't know where he's packing the food! I guess you can sort of see where he packs it in this picture - pay close attention to the legs:



Declan is working on his babbling. He doesn't have too many identifiable consonants yet, but occasionally we'll get a "ba ba ba" or a "mamama" (which I hope turns into his first word, wink wink). Usually he gives us some grunting and high pitched screams that aren't really anger, just an indication he's asking for something. He also has learned to stick out his arms if he wants someone to take him. I love it!

And we love him.

Happy Halloween!

Trick or treating still to come...but here's a preview. Hopefully we'll actually be able to get the two of them to pose together tonight.

Happy Halloween to all those big & small!

Pretty Kitty

Will post more pictures tomorrow, but Annika was all ready for her school's Halloween parade today. Let's hope the costume comes back in one piece.

Beautiful

Food

He stares at us all the time when we eat. Now he can have food too! Except it's baby oatmeal and not anything like the pastrami sandwiches and ice cream he stares at with such lust.

But...baby steps. (Ha! Get it?)





Annika loooved feeding him and he loooooved getting fed. The beginning of a beautiful friendship....

Momma and Baby time

Yes, we still call Annika "Baby." You can't stop us.

The last few weekends since I've gone back to work, Annika and I have spent breakfast at Starbucks. We sit in the comfy chairs (if they're available), people watch, play on my iPhone together and just chat.

I usually get her regular milk, but on these mornings she gets her "mocha". I get to see her thrilled by a few squirts of chocolate syrup and she gets to be like Momma. I'm the one who's thrilled she still feels that way.