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??

She said her name!

On March 30th, Annika said her name for the first time. Well.... she said her version of her name. She said "Anh-kah", which we're pretty darned pleased as punch about.

Annika has also recently discovered the joy of stomping in puddles. We went outside in the rain (we are WA natives after all .... we know we won't melt) a few days ago and Annika became a puddle hopper. She's stomp in one puddle, realize another puddle was near by, move to that puddle, and repeat until she stomped in every puddle on our driveway. We went out later in the day (still raining) and repeated the process. She went through three sets of clothes that day because of getting drenched each time we went out. When else in life do you have enough time to stomp in enough puddles to get yourself drenched and not care a single iota about it?? (not to mention, have someone whisk you into warm clothes the moment you head inside)

Yesterday morning, Mother Nature decided to play a practical joke on us. Just when we thought spring was here (heck, it is April!), she sent snow to Seattle. For weeks, I've been reminding people (mostly those who are not WA natives) that yes, indeedy, we do get snow into March around these parts. But getting snow on April 1st was beyond my expectations. Nothing stuck, but it snowed almost all day long. Crazy!!

Isn't she cute?

While doing some cleaning last night, I ran across Annika's sunglasses. She thought they were just about the best thing ever! Ironically, we couldn't get her to wear them last summer, but last night, we couldn't get them off of her ... even when it was time for bed!

1st haircut

Yesterday, Annika experienced a momentous first.... she had her first haircut. Annika was an absolute champ! We took her to see Jan, who has cut Eric's and my hair for years. Jan has 2 little girls and knew exactly what to do to keep Annika happy. The goal of the haircut was to clean up Annika's hair (aka, find her eyes), not lose length. For the first time in a long time, we can see Annika's eyes without her requiring a ponytail.

Before



Playing with a comb



Getting bangs


Trimming the back


Combing Daddy's hair


Combing Mommy's hair

Annika and Momma in front of the camera

I love, love, love, love, love words!

An e-mail went out to our entire company today that has me crying with laughter. I love moments like this. In order to protect the innocent, I won't post who wrote the e-mail, but still had to share it. My word-loving friends, prepare yourselves...

This is to let you know that we will have a crew here this afternoon to install some soundproofing in the conference rooms in Building 2. I apologize if this causes any incontinence.

All I can say is I'm REALLY grateful to be working from home today if the soundproofing might have such unpleasant results!!

What a week!!!

Last Friday, I was laid off from my job. Last Friday, I found a new job. Well, a new old job. I returned to my former employer, but now work for a different department than I did previously. It's funny - I worked here for 8+ years, left for 4 months, and now feel like I'm back home. I'm doing a different style of writing, which is great, but there's still a sense of familiarity that is quite comforting. I'm working part time, which means we were able to take Annika down to two days per week at day care. YES! I now get 3 days per week with her that we didn't have before. Talk about a blessing in disguise. Who knew getting laid off would open such amazing opportunities??

This week, during our new-found time together, we went on a walk, did plenty of housework (ok, I worked, she supervised), and even got some baking done.

On Tuesday, Annika cut her 13th tooth. Number 14 won't be far behind. It has been awhile since she sprouted any new teeth, and seems to have them cut in batches. It will be interesting to see if she loses them in the same way.

A few of Annika's latest words are "ssss" (imitating a snake sound), "shu-shy!" (butterfly), "BUSTH!!!!" (bus - that one is always yelled and we are never without notification when a bus is near), "boon" (balloon), and she has learned how to imitate an elephan's sound ... there's no way I can attempt to spell out that one.