There is so much going on over here. Hold on for a long one...

Annika has learned a bunch of new things this week. Today, she learned how to open every cupboard door and every drawer in the house. The house that will not be ours next week so why bother installing child-safety devices. It's a good thing most of the cupboards and drawers are empty. One of the first things that happens in the new house will be door and drawer locks. Right now, there is tape holding some of them shut, until I can get them packed anyway. I let her get into the pot and pans cupboard though. She won't hurt or get hurt by them. Unless she drops one on her toe, I suppose. She also learned today how to turn the dishwasher on. She also knows how to open the dishwasher. Great. So, I can't leave the dishwasher unlocked since she knows how to open it and I can't leave it locked since then she can turn it on. I'm screwed. Re-direct. Re-direct. Re-direct. That's how I spent my day today. It's better to re-direct because The Girl HATES the word no, especially when said to her. She is a dramatic one. When I tell her no she flops to the ground and starts crying, with tears. In a perfect world, the house would be baby-proofed and I would only have to tell her no when she was in danger. Alas, the house is half baby proofed and I have to keep a close eye on her. Today, she was playing with my computer mouse and when I took it away from her so we could leave the room she flopped to the floor and cried. I see rough sailing ahead. Isn't this supposed to start with the terrible two's? She is (almost) 10 months old people! There aren't supposed to be tantrums already!!!

Maybe Annika just missed her Daddy. He's been working a ton on the house this week and hasn't been home much. He left this morning before we got up and didn't get home until almost 8pm tonight. Annika trucked over to him right away and wanted to be held by him for a long time. She wouldn't even come to me so he could take his shoes off. She just held on tight to him. Kris teared up a little bit and said "You're going to make me cry." He's missed her too.

Kris has gotten a lot of work done at the house. Unfortunately, the flooring was supposed to be in Saturday and when we called, they had no record of our order and our salesman, Larry was out of the office until today. Turns out that the price Larry quoted us was lower than their cost so the order was never placed. Yeah, instead of talking to Larry, they just never placed the order. Thanks. So now we had to pick out new laminate flooring because they couldn't order the other stuff and get it here in time. We have to have it put in this week since the trimmers are coming Monday morning. Larry felt awful and is arranging for us to get some help installing the flooring free of charge They are also delivering all the flooring (laminate and ceramic tile) tomorrow morning free of charge. We've really liked Larry and once again, he's coming through for us. Kris did all the prep work he could today (backerboard for the tile and such) so that when the help and flooring arrives tomorrow, they can get started installing right away.

There's been some other drama going on at the house. I didn't want to say too much about it until we talked to our job foreman, Jesse. Jesse has been great with all our questions and didn't disappoint again today. Friday, while sitting with Annika on the front steps, I noticed that our garage door was in a different spot than the neighbors whose how is identical to ours. Turns out that our garage door is in the wrong spot! Our house is L-shaped so you drive in the driveway and turn left to get into the garage. Look at the pictures (click on the bunny above to get to my photo album) to get a better idea. Anyway, the garage door is supposed to be approximately 2 feet to the left of where it is. Big deal, right? Wrong. If you look at the pictures Kris took, we'd have to drive over the front step in order to get a car in or out of the second garage stall. If you look out of our garage over to the neighbors you can see where the garage door is supposed to be. Jesse said they'd move it. They will have to take the garage door down, re-do the footings, framing and siding, but they'll re-do it to make it right. There's also some other things we weren't happy with this weekend, namely a few shingles that are lifted and the brick work on the front of the house. Jesse said he would take care of it all. Thank goodness for that. I didn't want to raise hell, but you all know I would have, if needed. :)

Two last Annika things. Annika now gives kisses by planting her mouth on your cheek, leg, belly, etc and sucking. Cutest Thing Ever.

And why do babies/toddlers sleep on their tummbies with their legs tucked up beneath them and their butts in the air? Is it really that comfortable because it sure doesn't look like it!