Checking In.

Oh, Man, I have been MIA! So sorry. Just busy around here.

Andrew's dad and his wife (My in-laws) arrived LAST Monday. They are not staying at our house yet though, but we have done a few things with them. Last Sunday my BIL put his boat in near our house and we went out for a bit. My MIL and FIL are coming to our house tomorrow to stay.  They brought Anika lots of fun stuff from NZ. This cool dude jacket is one of those things!

It is actually bike week here, so this jacket looks the part :)

Last weekend we went to Portsmouth (on the seacoast) for Market Square day. In the past I have run the 10K in the morning. I didnt sign up in time this year.  My friend Molly used to live in Portsmouth before moving to CA and my friend Ryan still lives there. AND, a few other friends have moved there. Its a cool place to be. Andrew worked there for a bit last year and even said HE WOULD live there, even though its KINDA a small city  :)

Anika and one of the twins

Anika and her Poppa. This was taken outside of lululemon. Can you believe there is one in NH? Haha. My mom and I tried on running skirts. They are actually the same price as other running skirts. I want the Tall one so its longer and they didnt have tall in black, so we are going to order some online.  We also went to a little jewelry store owned by a friend from HS.  I haven't seen her in YEARS.  Andrew bought Anika a little silver bracelet and its DARLING. Also, the shop owner/friend is going to make Andrew a new wedding band since his has not fit in years.

A little tuckered out. The dress I have on is from NZ- made there and is a merino wool blend.  A little too short for me to wear without leggings :)  My in laws brought that over for me.

We had lunch and walked around, etc. My mom also came down with us for the day.
She bought Anika a balloon animal- it has little legs so you can walk it. Anika was SUPER afraid of it at first....but now she will at least be AROUND it. hahah

She calls it bawoon but is wary of it.

The new babysitter search has been ON!!  It has been stressful, but as of yesterday afternoon, I THINK i found someone PERFECT!!!! I will tell you more once I know for sure.
Anika's PARTY is this weekend!! I Want to do a post on it soon after. I AM SOOOOOOOOO Excited for it. I dont check the weather because there is nothing I can do to change it, but people have told me it is  going to be GORGEOUS!!

I am off tomorrow COOKING and Prepping all day for the party and having my hair touched up :)

A Perfect Night

Oh man, This post is so late!  I had such strong emotions when this happened, and writing it almost 2 weeks later was not what I had in mind :( 

Just so you know, I don't think this post will have ANY mentions of a certain baby I always talk about on here. I mean, arent you sick of hearing about that damn kid? geeze.

SO, this goes back to Memorial Day weekend.

Saturday was a busy day. I had an association meeting in the morning. A 5th birthday party (we actually missed).

Then, A 30th Birthday Party in the afternoon...Andrew, Anika and I went for a couple hours and then Andrew and I left from there to head 2 hours South to Boston. MY parents were at the 30th too, so we ditched the kid and she got to hang with Nona and Grampa for the afternoon and night.

Andrew and I got to the city and parked near my old Apt. on Westland Ave.

We walked over to Fenway where we met Erin, John, Jen and her bf at Tequila Rain. 

Erin was my college roommate freshmen, sophomore and midler year. THen we lived together again the year after college. Erin and her boyfriend of 9 years live in Austin now, but moving to Chicago Soon! I don't get to see her much, so this was a VERY special occasion. SHe was in town for a wedding.  E was in my wedding and was a co-host of A's baby shower. I dont think I have seen her since last summer actually!

Jen is one of Erin's friends and who I am friends with through Erin.

They were already eating when we got there, so Andrew and I ordered some food and I ordered a cosmo at Tequila Rain.

I remember going in the bathroom and having flashbacks...I am pretty sure I MIGHT have gotten sick in that bathroom before. The bar was pretty empty that night, but I remember being there in my past life when it was VERY Full. LIke strobe lights, loud music, drinks spilling all over, etc.  Ya..I was having some drunken blurred memories. Funny to be back there as an adult. haha

At one point, ERin went to the bathroom.

While in the bathroom, John told the rest of us he was planning to PROPOSE that night!! He said after the game.

My eyes got watery and I was like "WHY are you telling me this now? I planned on drinking! This will be hard to hold in all night" ha

I NOW had to keep this a secret the WHOLE game?  I said "I have my good camera in the car. I can get it and take photos of you proposing" and he just smiled. So, I was unsure if he was telling us just because he was excited, or because he wanted us to be there? I didn't get to ask more because Erin came back from the bathroom.

WE finished up there and walked across the street to Fenway.

I decided I would follow them after and stalk them even if he didnt want us there. lol

Us girls went and got beers and the weather was perfect.  The beers were like $8 a piece which was a slap in the face. I truly forgot how expensive the park was! BUT,  IT FELT SO good to be back at Fenway. I went to A LOT of games back in 2003-2005. A LOT. I lived nearby and always stumbled upon tickets. ALso, a few friends from school worked security there, so we could get into good seats often even when we had shitty seat tickets :)

The law firm I co-op'd at had firm seats I got to use sometimes too.

I was feeling on top of the world- being back in Boston during my favorite season (Spring), with my old college roommate, watching a sox game and also with my husband...it was the night before our 5 year wedding anniversary. AND, knowing something BIG was going to happen that night made it sooo much better. I couldnt stop smiling the whole time. I kept telling Andrwe how happy I was.

Erin, Jen and I were posting pics on Facebook. At one point I was posting this of Erin and I and the song "Like A Rock" was playing .. (Fenway always plays music) ...the song Like a Rock  came on by Bob Seger...if you dont know, here is the song...go to the chorus..

SO, as I was loading the pic, that song was on and I was singing it (kinda) and so I wrote on the caption what I heard "Like A rock. Like a Rock" except, in my head it was the song, but if you read it ...it was just  2 dumb sentences. Did I mention I had 2 cosmos and a beer by then?  Well, we thought it was hilarious.

THEN, ERIN Commented on it "At least someone is giving me a rock"

AND...I almost died. I was actually surprised she wrote that because I never really hear her say she wants one! ha.  I thought she was happy with the way things were,  and wasn't worried about getting a ring.
WELL, LITTLE DID SHE KNOW, she was going to get one, THAT night!
Oh, and I was texting Jen that when John Proposed, I was going to hide in bushes and then pop out and say "Like A rock. LIke a Rock" . HA. We were laughing a lot. The 3 of us kept saying the phrase and laughing but saying it in monotone, not like the song. ha, maybe you had to be there?

The sun went down....

This is a picture of a girl who I thought looked like my good friend Carolyn who I used to attend games with. She lives in Chicago now, but I kept taking double takes. Andrew ALSO thought it was Carolyn.  She was very pretty and her boyfriend was...well, NOT.  I couldn't get her face to show C. Andrew assumed they were VERY smart. hahah

The almost engaged couple!

The sox were losing 2-1 in the 9th inning and the Sox were up to bat for the last time...AND, HOME RUN and the SOX won. Perfect ending. It was also John's FIRST sox game. HOW he went to our downtown Boston college and never attended a game is beyond me! He lived there for 6 years!

So...where to go after the game?

I knew that John was planning to propose over on the street they met on...which was over near our old campus...which was also near where Andrew and I parked. 

Erin wanted to head to a bar, but there are not a lot of bars over that way near campus. We headed that way through the Fens- a sketchy area to go alone at night, but fine in a group.

I said Lets go to Our House, which is a bar near campus- its the campus bar, in fact.  IT is located ON THE street John wanted to propose, so me suggesting that was pretty genius. haha.

Did I mention I was VERY nostalgic the whole night.

Erin and I in front of one of our old apartments on our way to the bar. It was on Hemenway.  This is where we lived when the Patriots won the Superbowl and there were serious riots outside our apt. Like, you couldn't even move in those streets behind us in the photo.  We lived on the first floor and my bedroom window was to an ally and a car that HIT and killed someone that night, also hit right below my window. Crazy. We got to see more riots in the years to come when the Sox won the World Series. Those years were crazy times to live there! Very historical sport times.
They dont have riots like that anymore.

Anyway, so we got to Our House and since it was Memorial Day weekend, the bar was practically empty. I remember a lot of late nights there when we came back from downtown bars and getting in for last call. ...and it was so packed, you could barely move. Well, we had a table and the few other patrons there looked VERY young. They made Erin and I feel old. Andrew reminded me that HE felt old when I brought him to that same bar way back when I was a Sr. in college when he came over to visit me for the first time! haha.  Oops. . ERin and I realized we were kinda getting old- It had been ELEVEN, yes 11 years since we MET freshmen year at our little dorm. Since our freshmen dorm was RIGHT down the street from where we were- at the end of St. Stephens street, I suggested we walk down after and take a photo outside the dorm! 

Oh, guess what- St. Stephens Street is also the street John wanted to propose on! He had contacted some local musicians to play music on the door steps of the same apt. he used to live in- where he and Erin met!  You want to know how they met? He was playing his guitar on the door steps of his apt. while Erin was waiting outside the same apt. for a friend...NINE years  ago.  I believe Erin had been drinking that night...but I don't remember for sure. COOL, huh?

We sat at Our House drinking some beer and talking about old times. Erin and I remembered finding a girl on St. Stephens sTreet passed out near a bush one time our freshmen year.  Erin recognized her from one of her classes, so we helped her and she let us get her into her apt./dorm and we put her to bed. Actually Erin put her to bed- we were both drunk too...but thought we were SOO helpful. While Erin was getting her a puke bucket and writing her a note with her number, I went into the girl's kitchen and looked for treats! She had green tea ice cream, which I took out of her freezer and started to eat! lol. IT was nasty, by the way.  Erin and I got ourselves out of there before I ate all her food.  HA. I remember the girl called erin the next day and thanked her, even though she had no idea who we were.

Oh man, Anyway, When Erin went to the bathroom at Our House, John said he just had to text the musicians a half hour before he planned to be there, so I told him to do it. IT was midnight and Andrew and I still had a 2 hour drive home! (ANdrew doesn't drink anymore  due to his IC, so I had my DD).

We left Our House and started walking down St. Stephens to our old dorm. There weren't a lot of college kids around and it was a quiet night due to the holiday weekend.   I could hear music playing and I thought it was the musicians...AND, Then I SAW ERIN walk by them!! and John tried to tug her arm to pull her back.  I panicked and yelled her name! lol, I guess John had it under control, but ya know...I couldnt help myself. I was excited!!

It was SOOO Exciting. She said yes! After saying "You're Shitting me" a couple times. Yes, he got down on one knee!

The musicians. They played 3 songs that were special to Erin and John. I forget though. ha

Oh, and YES, the video sucks!! I Felt awkward TAPING their special moment and freaked out and started taping the people playing music! LOL.  I couldnt tell if they wanted to have the private moment or not! I told ANdrew to take pictures on our shitty camera but they didnt come out well...I wish we got my good one out of the car. 

Us Girls!

We walked towards our car and said our good byes...and that was that. I stayed awake the ride home and talked to Andrew...and actually made some phone calls to my West Coat friends who I figured would still be up! haha

A PERFECT PERFECT NIGHT.

Ok, Ill be back hopefully sooner rather than later to fill you in on the happenings around here.

A little of our weekend

Our weekend was FANTASTIC. We celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary on Sunday as a family.

This video was last night. After dinner we were just sitting watching Anika put on her own little show. Of course, it was after 5 minutes of watching her and laughing that I thought "I should tape her", so as the law of nature goes, once you get the camera out, its just "Not as funny" but, she was still being silly.
ANdrew was whispering at the end "touch the roof" because every day when he gets home he says "have you touched the roof yet today?" and He holds her up to touch the roof. (Ceiling)  ha. But she was looking up at the ceiling before he ever said that.

Happy Memorial DAY!. Outfit was a hand me down and bow was from last 4th of July that Danielle made!
Sandals were bought THAT morning at Stride Rite and HOLY cow! Kids shoes are expensive! Andrew had bought Anika 2 pairs of sandals at walmart for her birthday and well, they were plastic!  Since All of Anika's shoes up until this point have been gifts or hand me downs, I sucked it up and bought her nice sandals for the summer. They cost $27! More than mine! ha.

On Sunday out on the river! That life jacket kind of cramped her style.

I brought a salad for lunch and Anika took over. She loves using a fork and stabbing things...well, stabbing her food! She hasn't stabbed me yet. ha.

Andrew walked her around on the river beach trying to get her to sleep. He finally did and we set up a bed in the canoe. ha. We went back to my friend's campground on the beach after and had a bbq.  It was a LONG day, but she did pretty well with only an hour nap all day.  There was a group of us on the river. A few of the adults had A LITTLE too much to drink :)   I probably would have been one of them if I didn't have a baby to care for. Ha. Andrew cant drink because of his IC. 

AND, We went down to Boston Saturday and that was the highlight of the weekend. I will post about that separately later. ITS an AWESOME STORY and IM STILL on a happy high from it.

Hope you all had a lovely long weekend and thought of those who served.

Our Weekend, Plus Anika is 14 months and VERBAL!

I got an email today from Baby Center...Sometimes I just delete those things and other times I will skim the email.

The Subject was "Your 14 Month Old" They know my kid is 14 months because once upon a time I signed up for those emails when I was like a day pregnant. 

The email talked about vocabulary today and said:  ""Ball," "dog," and "bye" may be your child's favorite – and only – words, though some early talkers have as many as 20 words in their vocabulary....."Bla bla...well, it prompted us to sit down and come up with a list of Anika's words for her baby book.

I sent my list to my mom and told her to add any I forgot.

SO, here is what Anika is saying at 14 Months:
Dog/Doggy, Daddy/Dada, Nona, Mumma, Keys, Banana,
No No/No, door, banana, cracker,

bird, ducky, dog poo, dirty, diaper, all done, more, water, Nigh nigh (Night night), Potty, nose (which sounds like noooooooooooo but she points to her nose or my nose when she says it), shoes (sounds like Sues), Down (dooooown), Up, ball, flower, hat (HER FAVE!), hi, bye bye, Uh oh, titty (thanks to Andrew, but I pretend she is saying Teddy with a nz accent), doll, Ow, Yum yum, bubbles, bum bum, hot, milk, toes.

So, that is like 40 Words. Of course she doesn't say them All all the time.

Sounds: Bzzz for her buzzy bee, Grrr for bear, vroom for a ride, Hoo hoo for the sound an owl makes

Signs: Dog, more, milk

Anika was with a lady this week who specializes in children development ages 0-3 and speech. The lady said Anika has a very big vocabulary for her age!   After the bratty behavior she has been exhibiting to me, it was nice to hear something so positive!  I do have to give Andrew and my mom a lot of credit for A's vocabulary list though.

Anika is a helper. At the grocery store, I hand her the food and she puts it on the belt. My mom let her carry a can around the store the other day and she said she carried it the whole time without dropping it and handed it the lady to pay! She picks up dirty laundry off the floor and puts in in the hamper sometimes or just picks it up and looks at me and says dirty.  She also LOVES to climb everywhere and everything. She has no fear.

Andrew and Anika put their shirts on their head as their bug hats :)  I had them demonstrate for me after they came in...they had more clothes on before, obviously.

Last week, Anika had a meltdown because she wanted to wear her doggy shoes, which fall off. When we got home on Friday, she took her practical shoes off, and doggy shoes on!

Saturday, I had a 5K race.  I was nervous. I have NOT been running outside lately.  The race benefited my friend's son who was in an accident last year and now suffers from a spinal cord injury. He is paralyzed from the chest down.  WHen I wanted to walk during the race, I thought of him being stuck in a wheel chair, and that made me push harder and deal with it!  Running 5K is the LEAST I can do to show support! The end was along the lake and I ran on the docks and it was GORGEOUS!
I actually finished faster than I thought- 34 minutes. My mom kicked my ass and finished in like 25 minutes. ha

Ew. Thunder thighs. I have Gained 12 POUNDS back. TWELVE. A LOT in the past 2 weeks. Wah. Kick my ass. Kick it.
After the race, Anika, Andrew and I went to breakfast....I got veggie eggs benedict so zeroed out all the calories I burned!

Sunday, we went to brunch with SIL, BIL and the twins. It was BEAUTIFUL OUT. We went down on the docks and took photos.

One of my old dresses. Made in America- can you tell by the colors? :)

We got a TON of Anika and her cousins...SOOOO CUTE!

After brunch we went to do a little shopping.
Andrew was looking for a new lawn mower, so we went to a few stores.
At the final one, Anika was done and climbed on the lawn mowers and had a tantrum when we wouldnt let her. She also climbed into a fire pit (display). When I pulled her away and she freaked out, I Did NOT GIVE IN. I just walked out of the store and out to the car where she calmed down and then we went back in to meet Andrew. I decided IM goign to do my VERY Best to not give in, even in public....which is where I want to give in to shut her up.

We also went to a store to get a bath mat and Andrwe was looking for jeans. Anika pulled a whole hat display apart and put each hat on her head.  When I was sick of cleaning up hats, I put her in the carriage and she fell in love with herself...in the mirror.

After all the shopping adventures, we went home to plant the garden...we were planting herbs and guess who put a handful of dirt in her mouth....

She didnt want to spit it out either!

Even though we were busy Sunday and doing lots of things, it was the PERFECT Family day!! I dont recall wanting to raise my voice at Andrew once! haha. I usually find SOMETHING to nag him about, but it was a good day. Saturday I took Anika to a graduation party while Andrew stayed home to do the lawns...and that is when the lawn mower broke :(
 

Oh, gosh- this girl is full of it. Today at the gym, a lady came up to me and said how my daughter was the cutest thing and asked if she acted as sweet as she looked! ha. I told her a couple weeks ago I would have said yes, but the past couple weeks she has shown her OTHER side :)

Anika had a package in the mail today from one of my "imaginary friends" - it was a Dr. Seuss bracelet!!  HOW SWEET! She loves it.

Ya, I got more stickers for the 2nd year :)
She has more molars!! She may be missing hair, but she has lots of teeth!!

Randoms about Bratty, I mean Anika

Anika is 14 months old next week.  This past week things have changed a bit…she is showing her bratty side.  I can’t say I love it.  At the beginning of the week she threw her food on the floor and at the wall over and over.  She Knows the dog eats it, but the dog keeps gaining weight, and basically, I just don’t want her doing that.  Oh, it was awesome when ANdrew gave her a nice red BEET to eat while sitting on the rug. Ya, guess where that ended up?

When we taught A not to touch certain things, like the dog dish, we did redirection, and it worked! But, redirection is Not going to work when it comes to telling her NOT to throw food.  We always point out GOOD behavior and let her know how proud and happy we are.  I pulled out my positive parenting book and went to the index to see if there was a chapter called “How to teach your child not to throw food”  but that chapter wasn’t  there (Surprise! Ha) , so I actually had to READ content.  She KNOWS that throwing the food is not positive behavior because she looks at us before she does it…and even says uh oh BEFORE she does it. BUT, She doesn’t know WHY it’s bad…so basically there is no reasoning with a child her age.  I can tell her why its bad (It makes a mess and her food is not for the dog), but her brain is not there yet to understand.  I don’t want to yell at her…well, actually that is EXACTLY what I WANT to do, but I know I shouldn’t. Yelling will not be effective. The other night, Andrew spoke to her very sternly and her bottom lip quivered and she cried….just because daddy gave her a stern face…not even yelling. She doesn’t respond to me like that.   So, anyway, I need to figure out how we are going to deal with that. Andrew and I discussed it the other night, and we both agree we don't want to yell or flick her, but we need to do something effective.

Also, bratty. I took a phone call from my friend C the other night when we got home.  Anika was clingy and whiney. I opened up the front door and just let her out to play. I watched her from inside while I talked. ha.  Yup, I have to let my toddler out just like the dog, I guess.  I let her back in while I was on the phone and she got whiney and of course as soon as I hung up, she stopped!  I get it, she wants my attention...I get that she doesnt have me all day, but ugh.

THEN, my friend and daughter were over for dinner last night and Anika grabbed toys from her a few times and was being…well, an asshole.  I’m surprised she didn’t shout “Mine” while she grabbed the stuff away.  Another thing to work on.
Ugh, Anika as a baby was so easy! Feeding and caring for a baby is so much easier than teaching her how to be a nice little person that people want to be around! And, her behaviors now are embarrassing, at times! When a baby cries, everyone understands, but when a toddler is an asshole, people think "That kid is an asshole"

Lets add to the list, shall we?  She was putting on her big clumpy doggy shoes and I tried to put on her practical shoes that don’t fall off, and she had a Meltdown.  OVER shoes!  I told people at the gym this morning and they said I should let her express herself.  Oh, please! I will, but the doggy shoes just don’t stay on and they would end up getting lost since today she is with my mom…and days with my mom, they are all over the place. 

Last night, I fell asleep around 10 and soon after Andrew came to bed and was trying to wake me up.  He said he checked on Anika (as he does every night he is home) and that she was burning up! I hopped out of bed and went in and felt her…she did feel hot! We took her temperature and it was 101. HER FIRST FEVER!!   We didn’t wake her, but she woke soon after and Andrew thought she should sleep with us, just in case. He was all "I cant sleep knowing she is  so hot and alone in there"  Andrew has to get up at 3 AM for work, and so I caved and said, bring her in. But, she doesn’t really “Sleep” with us…she nurses and half sleeps.    I just went with it. We no longer night nurse, but when we stopped night nursing months ago, I said I reserve the right to night nurse if she is sick or doesn’t feel well. Last night was one of those exceptions.   She woke up this morning with no fever, but still crabby and chomping on her fingers.  My mom thinks its teething, but she never got a fever from her other 11 teeth.   She already has 2 bottom molars and is working on the top ones.
Poor girl.
(THIS VIDEO IS SUPPOSED TO BE DOWN BELOW, but it wont move, so just go with it! HA)

Last night was a weird night due to the fever, but for about 2 weeks now when she  gets up at 5:22  AM to nurse  (I wont nurse before 5 AM), she nurses and then STAYS UP!!  She used to go back to sleep until we have to get up at 6:30. Now, she eats, then wants to play. Ugh. I put her back in her bed and let her play by herself until I get up…sometimes she will, but usually she cries, so I get up. And, then have 2 hours in the morning before we have to leave! Yup, Ive been so productive in the mornings now.  Pre Anika, I barely got dressed before getting out the door in the morning. Now, I have time to do laundry, unload dishwasher, clean, etc. Its crazy…but it also means I fall asleep earlier now, which leaves like NO time to catch up on the DVR!   I DID manage to catch Pregnant and Heels though. Ugh, OF COURSE they had to make the home birth people complete freaks!!  I mean, COME ON!  That was sooo annoying.  That guy Fritz was coo coo. And then the placenta smoothie, and they made it look like clumps on her mouth when she drank it? Um, why couldn’t they encapsulate it?   I don’t think I want to talk about it much on here, but I am an EXCELLENT candidate for home birth and Andrew and I really want to do it.  Moving on.

The other night we were skyping with Andrew's dad and Anika picked up the land line phone which isnt even connected, but is still mounted to the wall. She was playing with it and Andrew took it away. He doesn't want her playing with ANY phones.  She FREAKED. Like flapping her arms and going crazy. I walked her away so Andrew could skype....To be honest I didn't think it was a big deal for her to use the phone that doesn't work, but he said he doesn't want her playing with ANY phones because they are not toys....and if we let her play with some and not others, it will just confuse her.   We don't let her play with our cell phones because they are expensive for one, and 2, I don't need her calling  people in NZ on it or something...and 3rd she has plenty of toys and her own fake phones. Ugh, I think Andrew's dad thought we were super strict! ha Andrew is the best of both- he is very consistent and stern, yet he plays with her  and is super fun and goofy like no other... and she seems to respect him, so I think I'm going to try to take his lead on this.


So besides the asshole behavior, Anika had some cute things happen this week.   Like, reach into my gym bag, pull out a comb and comb her own “hair” ha!   I have never combed her hair because she doesn’t have any, but she must see me do my own.   Every day when Daddy gets home (this is a new thing in the past 2 week) he picks her up and says “Have you touched the roof today” and he lifts her up to touch the roof. Lol.  She says new words every day, but might say them once and then not again. I’m trying to get her to say “one” but because I WANT her to say that word, she won’t.

On Tuesday evenings, she goes to the gym with Miss B and I meet her there. I get her and we hang out while I get dressed and set up for the Tabata class.  When I walked in this week,  there was a little girl about 3 or 4 sitting on the chair with her legs up, crying. I looked at M (the gym daycare sitter) playing on the floor with ANika…and she said the other little girl was afraid of Anika! Ha. I asked why and if Anika had done something and she said Anika hadn’t even been near her or acknowledged her!  I left with Anika for about 10 minutes and when we came back in,  the girl ran to the bench and started to cry again.  Apparently she is afraid of babies!! It was like Anika was a snake or Godzilla or something, and the girl was staying FAR away!  I couldn’t stop laughing because this girl was 3 times Anika’s size and Anika was so oblivious and just all smiling and playing while this girl sat by scared to death of Anika! Oh man, I wanted to take a picture!

We went and looked at a Montessori school this week.  I LOVE it for older kids (3 and up) but nope, I don't like the daycare portion for A's age. Too many kids per adult.  So, the search continues. Also, it was MUCH more expensive than we pay now and it is just a bigger daycare with less one on one...and I would have to drive further, so it makes no sense. I still want Anika in a home daycare until she is at least 2. ...I think. Its just hard to find someone I know and like!  Ugh, I Really want to stay home with her, but I also want money.  If I stayed home there would be NO savings, and that is just not a good idea for home owners. I mean, what if our hot water heater broke, or or roof needs to be fixed (it does)....we would have no money to pay for that?  And, of course, I wouldn't have extra money to do ANYTHING, so we would be stuck home all the time, and that doesn't fly for me. Ugh, its so hard. I have been thinking about work and my "career" a lot lately.   Its a sad state right now, to be honest.

Social Security released the popular baby names for 2011 this week.  There were 509 girls named Anika in 2011 in the US.  I wonder if they say it Like us or Ah-Knee-Ka. Ah-Knee-Ka is the way the NZ singer says her name that Andrew loves, but we pronounce it the Swedish way, like Hanukkah without the H. Andrew had the Anika Moa CD playing in the car the other day and I said "Oh, you used to play this song all the time when we first started dating" and he was like, I know, I played music for you all the time and you didn't care. I didn't REALIZE that one of the songs he always played was BY Anika Moa, lol.  I am so bad with musician names and who sings what, BUT It made me feel special because now Anika's name has a little bit more meaning to us... I remember always riding in the car in NZ with Andrew when we were first dating and him playing this song by Anika...
AND, THIS IS WHERE THE SONG/Video should be, so scroll back up. lol.