Cute Things that Anya Says and Does #1

So I'm going to start a series of posts so I can record the things that Anya says or does that I want to remember. If you find these boring and/or the ravings of an overly sentimental mommy, please feel free to ingore.

• Pigtails and pony tails are "pony hair"
• Her night light is a "light dark". If I try to correct her, she corrects me back and says "no, light dark"
• Eli is "I-lie"
• She has to pick up a white rock from our front flower bed before we go to the mailbox, which she then carefully puts back upon our return
• She stands in front of Sean (or Grandpa) while seated, and throws herself knees first onto their stomach while yelling "gut bomb!"
• She asks permission to run - "Run? Run?"
• Okay is O-tay (said loudly with a vigorous head nod)
• When asked who has tattoos, she starts with Mommy, then names Bompa, Jake and Aunt Patti. She also carefully inspects each of Mommy's tattoos on a regular basis (wing! daggon! foot!")
• She has developed a bug phobia and will scream and cry when even a ladybug comes near. She waves her arms wildly and shouts "go 'way, bug!"
• She says "bye Sorka, bye Belle" when we leave the house
• When I started closing the garage door the other day after we came home from a walk and Willow was still in the stroller, she started crying and yelling "Baby! baby!" until I picked Willow up and reassured her that Mommy wouldn't forget baby and the garage door wouldn't hurt her.
• She has to sleep with Lion, Puppy, Brown Dog and Piggy. If any of the quartet is missing she screams bloody murder. Since Friend is sitting on my bed as I write this, it seems hypocritical to not make sure they are all tucked in each night...
• She sniffs Bompa's cheek and says "Old Spice!"
• Rather than sucking on her thumb, she holds the back of her wrist up to her mouth for comfort (she doesn't suck on it, just rests it there). Willow has already started doing this too.
  

Willow's Adventures in Eating

Our pediatrician recommended going ahead and starting Willow on solids due to Anya's texture aversions - we're hoping to head off anything similar by getting a jump start. Willow has great head control and can sit up when buckled into the high chair.


She's not too sure what she thinks of cereal, but we'll keep trying it for the next couple of months before we get into more variety! It's a bit early to be starting cereal, but she is doing great at keeping it down and not thrusting it back out with her tongue.

FAIL

My very own fail picture creation - Mom & Dad have this ashtray up in Molalla.

How Do I Love My Kindle? Let Me Count the Ways...

What is a Kindle, you ask? It's Amazon's ebook reader. I've had it for a bit over a month now and it's once of the best gadgets I've ever purchased (and being the gadget girl that I am, you know that's saying something).

Why would I need one when I already have a desktop, laptop and smart phone?

• It uses eInk with no backlit screen, so it's much easier on the eyes, and more importantly, can be read in the sun!
• I can store thousands of books at once on it - no more suitcase full of books on vacation (Sean is particularly happy about this aspect).
• It can read most ebook formats, so I can convert much of my library to electronic format - we should only have to move a few bookcases this next move instead of 8!
• It connects to the internet wirelessly, so I can download books from Amazon whenever I get a hankerin'. I can also surf the net from anywhere because it uses Sprint's evdo service (and it's free!)
  
• Those books I mentioned in the last bullet point? All of them are 9.99 or less. Yes. That includes brand new $30 hardbacks - just 9.99!
• My laptop battery might last for 8 hours if I'm lucky. I plug in my Kindle about once a week or less and I'm an extremely avid reader.
• I can hold it and turn pages with just one hand!

I can't recommend this enough for any other avid readers. It was a hard choice between this and Sony's reader, but I like that this has Amazon's backing and the price for the books is hard to beat.

I'm not loaning you mine, so go buy your own.

Willow's 4 Month Checkup

Height: 25" (64%)
Weight: 12 lbs, 10 oz (16%)
Head Circumference: 41 1/2" (51%)

Only two shots, she's on a modified/delayed vaccination schedule

So it looks like we'll have another petite girl - she and Anya were the same height and head circumference at this age, but Anya weighed 14 lbs, 1 oz! Our doc is not concerned about Willow's weight - she's bright, smiley, strong and very active. She may be burning more calories than many babies at this age because she's been rolling over since 2 months and scoots all over the crib.

New Photos

Dang, we have cute kids! Click on the "Our Photos" button for more!

Phantom Birthday

My wonderful husband took me to see Phantom of the Opera in Portland last night for my birthday. It was a great production - this Phantom was far superior to the last one who danced around the stage like he was going to wet his pants.

This time, I got chills a few times while watching it. There was an unintentionally funny moment where Christine got her dress caught on the boat and finally tore it free to get over to the Phantom in time to pull off his mask - kind of a pivotal moment and you could see her getting desperate to make it in time!

I was showing Anya the souvenier program today and she wants to keep looking at it over and over again. On each page she points to Erik and says "Pantim! Pantim!" She was also very excited to make the connection that the movie poster hung in our bedroom also has the "Pantim" on it.

**sniff** makes a geek mommy proud

Okay, seriously, this is the one...

Stop laughing! We've found one that fits all of our needs and wants (well, other than location, we'd prefer South Salem, but this one is so perfect we're willing to make the change) - now if we can just agree on a price and get our house sold!

The view! The yard! The hardwood floors! I'm in love!

House for Sale

Click here for listing with photo gallery and virtual tours.

Open space (family room, kitchen, dining combo) in back opening to private fully fenced backyard with large deck & hot tub (great for gatherings or entertaining) yet a separate large formal living room as you enter front door. Remodeled in 1989 to open up & enlarge. House features both jetted & soaking tub, lots of built ins, kitchen skylight, formal dining, attic storage, two cooking surfaces (Jen-aire & glass top range), large master bath with access to outdoor hot tub/deck, walk in closet, roof 5 yrs old

$370,000

MLS Number: 600451
Address: 1983 Arithmetic Dr SE
City: Salem
County: Marion
State: OR
Zip Code: 97302
Acres: 0.19
Sq Ft: 2996
Year Built: 1981
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 2
Property Taxes: $ 4142
List Date: 8/5/2008
Garage Capacity 2
Elementary School Pringle
Middle School Judson
High Scool South Salem

What I see when nursing...

Okay, Different House

UPDATE: We're still negotiating on this, we are working hard to get our house on the market and sold because that would solve a lot of our issues. If you know anyone who would be interested in our current house, please send them our way! Someone pointed out that it would make a great adult foster care home. I'll post a link to our listing as soon as it's up.
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So our offer on the other house fell through, but we're okay with that because we think we've found something even better. This house is older, but the layout is just ideal (no pool, though) and for the price we can update and modernize it to make the interior really awesome as the years go by!

Best Fortune Cookie Ever

This was in Sean's fortune cookie last night...