20 months old

Annika turned 20 months old yesterday. She celebrated the day by taking a 3.5 hour nap, visiting Daddy at work, making cookies with Mommy, and singing a chorus of "Abby, Abby, Abby" (her oldest cousin's name) as we drove around town. To mark her 20-month status here are some of her current stats:

weight: about 22 pounds
shoes size: 4
clothing size: 9 or 12 months, depending upon the item and brand
favorite food: Life cereal with milk (in Annika-ese: "Cereo and muk")
favorite entertainment: Elmo and The Wiggles
favorite book: too numerous to mention them all!
favorite word: "no" (in Annika-ese: "gnooo", like "gnocci" without the "cci")
favorite place to be: outside (in Annka-ese: "side! side!")

Upon reflecting on the fact that our baby girl is nearing her 2nd birthday, I realized I hadn't put on my running shoes since before I got pregnant. Can we say slacker? It was a GORGEOUS day in Seattle yesterday, so I put on my running garb, laced up my shoes, strapped Annika into the jogging stroller, and braved the world of pavement. I did a 1-mile loop, which was a plenty good in my book, considering how long it has been since I last ran. It went well and I'm thrilled with the fact my knees didn't explode and leave pieces of knee goo as a trail between our house and the library (my jog's mid point). One of my older brothers is in a weight loss contest at work .... $1,000 is the grand prize. On Sunday, my brother said how he ran 3 miles that day. I aspire to be able to go on a run with him. I think that's a good goal.

In addition to the "I want to run with Troy without croaking" goal, I'm on the hunt for the perfect "mommy" purse. I know there has to be one out there. It needs to be big enough to carry all of the necessary items (spare binky, Ziplock of Goldfish crackers or raisins, small pack of Kleenex, a small book, my wallet, cell phone, keys, Carmex, pen, sunglasses, and whatever crapola that we can't live without that day), but not so big that I feel lopsided. It also need to be able to go over my shoulder and not melt in the rain (hello ... we do live in Seattle!). This is my quest ... will I succeed??