What a busy weekend we had! Saturday morning we were busy cleaning the house and preparing food. Kris and I worked well together that morning and we were all done by noon. Just in time to eat lunch and get ready for my cousin's wedding that afternoon. To convince Annika to come upstairs to get ready, Kris and I started listing all the people we would see that afternoon and the next day. When we would say Auntie Krystle, she would say "And Uncle Mathias!" We would say Auntie Carrie and she would say "And Uncle Adam!" After we were done listing everybody Annika exclaimed "I like the boys!" Kris and I burst out laughing and then she followed that with "They chase me!" Oh, my sweet little girl. She does prefer all her uncles, grandfathers, etc to the women in our family sometimes. And I do think it's because they are more physical in their play with her. She loves to jump, swing and fly through the air. I love that about her. If she had her way I think she'd be the ultimate tomboy but wearing a dress. She can be a little girly-girl too with her dresses. Maybe she's just the right mix of tomboy and girly-girl! The wedding was very nice and the reception/dance was fun. Annika had a great time! She headed to the dance floor as soon as we arrived and stayed there the whole night. The only time she came off was to eat a bit of dinner. Then she headed back and didn't come off again until it was time to go home. Kris and I both tried to dance with her and she wasn't interested in that at all. She just wanted to spin and dance all by herself. Even Auntie Shelly was shot down. It was great to see all my family again. I even got to see my aunt and one of my cousin's from North Carolina.

Sunday morning was James' baptism. Most of our immediate family was able to come and it was so, so nice to have them all together. Auntie Carrie and Uncle Mathias are James' godparents. The service was nice. There were two other people being baptized that day, a baby girl and her father. The baby was super tiny. Kris and I thought maybe she was a newborn, she was so small. Her name was Anika and it was so funny to hear the pastor talking about Anika and James being baptized. Every time he said it I did a double take and then remembered he was talking about the little baby. After the service was over the baby's grandmother stopped to talk to me briefly. Turns out the baby was born April 5th at 2 pounds 14 ounces. She's thriving and is already up to 6 pounds. No wonder she looked so teeny tiny, she is! My babies were never that small, well, outside of me anyway! We took a couple pictures at church and then we rushed back to our house. Uncle Mathias had to leave to get to work. He took our cat, Tigger with him. We are officially pet free now. I cried like a baby when I put Tigger in his cage and helped Mathias get all Tigger's stuff in his car. Even though I never pet him, didn't have time for him, and all the issues with Annika and Tigger, he was still my cat that I've had since he was just a kitten and it was hard to let him go. Mathias loves him though and I know that Tigger will be much happier with him. Still though - ugh! After Mathias left we had some lunch and cake to celebrate James' baptism. Then most everyone left for a few hours except for one aunt and uncle and the great grandparents. While everyone was gone Kris and I made more food for that evening. Kris turned 30 last week (Did I even remember to say Happy Birthday to him on this blog? I've been so exhausted lately, complete with crying out of exhaustion this morning, that I think I did forget. I'm so sorry honey! I love you! Happy Birthday!) and we were having a birthday party for him Sunday evening. It was a nice evening. A bunch of people were out of town or busy with the holiday weekend and unable to make it. I was really happy to see those that were able to come though. Everyone left so early though! Everyone was gone by 10:30pm. OK, so that wasn't so bad for me, the eternally tired, but I think Kris wanted to party a little harder than that for his 30th! Oh well, that's what happens I guess.

Monday was pretty low key. I spent the morning cleaning up the house again after the party. Then we got everyone ready to go and headed to Uncle Dusty's house. He grilled us a fantastic lunch. It was also our last chance to see Auntie Carrie and Uncle Adam for a while. We'll see Auntie Carrie again fairly soon, in a month or just a little over that, but we're not sure when we're going to see Uncle Adam again. He has a busy summer and fall coming up.

And here we are again, back to our normal lives. This is actually a good thing. That long weekend of many outings totally screwed up Annika's schedule. It's good to get her back into somewhat of a routine again. James is a super easy baby so his schedule is doing just fine.

Now about that sleep thing. If they would both just sleep, life would be golden. As it is, I'm up 5-6 times every night. Since I usually only get 7 hours of sleep (10pm to 5:15am), you can see that my sleep quality sucks. I don't get long stretches of sleep ever. It would be nice if Kris could help at night and it's not that he can't or won't, it's that it's almost too hard. Kris is a deep sleeper and I'm a fairly light sleeper (or maybe it's because he's a man and I'm a woman, who knows) so I always wake up first when the kids wake up, even though James' baby monitor is on Kris's side of the bed. James is usually up 1-2 times a night to eat and then up maybe 1-2 times more to be reswaddled or given his pacifer back or rolled over. And Annika is usually up 1-2 times a night to go to the bathroom. This morning Kris suggested I just let her go by herfself but I think that's a terrible idea. Let the 2 year old go to the bathroom by herself? That's just asking for a toilet bowl full of toilet paper or some other disaster. No, one of us has to help her. And why can't Kris help with all of this night time parenting? Well, I nurse James during the night so Kris can't help with that. Well, I suppose he could feed him a bottle or something but I'd have to get up and pump anyway then so I don't screw up my supply. It's just easier for me to feed him. And Kris could go reswaddle, plug, roll James and would if I woke him, but I'm awake already anyway so I just go do it. That's usually a quick thing anyway so it's not too bad. And he could help with Annika, and has tried occasionally, but Annika is on a super big Mama-only trip latey. Anytime Kris tried to help her at night she screams and cries for me. And since I don't want her waking James, I just go do it myself. So I'm tired. Really tired. I may start restricting Annika's liquids before bed. Hopefully that will help her sleep through. But there's not much I can do for James right now. If he still needs to be swaddled to sleep, then I'll get up to reswaddle him. And if he wants to eat every 3-5 hours at night, I'll get up and feed him. He's still so little, not even four months yet. I think I just need to be diligent about trying to get naps on the weekends and going to bed a little earlier if I can because falling asleep while driving (like I almost did yesterday on my way home from work), crying out of exhaustion and red, stinging eyes with huge bags just isn't healthy. Wish me luck!

It was so hard to leave the house this morning. Usually everybody is still asleep when I leave at 6:30am. This morning though Annika woke up at 5:30am. She needed to go potty. I convinced her to get back in bed. I'm not sure how I accomplished that. The sun was up already and Annika thinks that when the sun is up, it's time to get up. But she got back in bed and I so did I. Twenty minutes later though, when I needed to get up I hear Annika going back to the bathroom. After she was done, she snuggled with Daddy in bed while I got ready to leave. As I was saying good-bye though (and bringing Daddy a bottle of milk for when James woke up), Annika got so upset. She didn't want me to go to work, pleading with me to stay home through her sobs. My heart broke and I tried really hard to not start crying too. I explained to her that some days Mommy goes to work and some days I stay home to play with her and that today was a work day. Nothing worked until I finally bribed her with a movie. She laid back down and snuggled with Daddy and I turned on Peter Pan and left. So, that was one sucky morning!

Last night Annika was so cute. After work I sat down to feed James. Annika went upstairs with Daddy while he got ready to go to work. When they came back downstairs Annika was wearing her pink tutu. It was her Halloween costume a year and a half ago and it still just barely fits. She had so much fun though twirling and spinning in it. And she let me take some really cute pictures. (Speaking of picutres, I know it's been a long time since I uploaded any. I'm hoping to get to that early next week.) A while later she went upstairs by herself. And it was mighty quiet upstairs. That's rarely a good thing when it comes to toddlers, you know? So I went upstairs investigating and found her in her room. She had taken the tutu off and was trying to put one of her swimsuits on. I have a little grass skirt that matches one of her swimsuits (she has 2) and she wanted that on too. And that's what she wore the rest of the evening until bath time.

James has mastered rolling from his back to his stomach, rolling to his left. You put him down and before you know it, he's on his stomach. He's usually okay there for a few minutes before he wants to be rolled back over again. We have to be very careful where we put him down now as Kris learned the hard way yesterday. He set James down on the bed (you see where this is going, right?) to chase after Annika. Kris was only three feet away and watched as James rolled right off the bed. Kris said he was fine, after he got James calmed down. Too scary! My poor baby! I don't think Kris will do that again anytime soon! Kris said James took a long nap yesterday afternoon, to the point that Kris actually went in to check on him a couple times. I would have too. I would have been scared of a concussion. Kris didn't think James was injured at all though.

On a lighter note, James has started sucking his right thumb and index finger. He sucks them together most of the time too. We still give him his pacifier at nap and bed time since he likes to be swaddled still but I'm thinking that he may not be as in love with his pacifier as Annika is. James may prefer to suck his fingers instead.

We have a busy weekend planned. Tomorrow is party prep day and a wedding. Sunday is James' baptism and party and then Sunday night is Kris' birthday party. I hope it's good weather on Sunday, at least no rain. We have a new fire pit for the patio and all the fixings for s'mores. Yummy! Monday I'm hoping to have nothing planned. I want to just spend the day with my little family. I'll need a chance to relax and maybe take a nap before getting back to work on Tuesday.

He did it! James rolled over from his back to his tummy for the first time on Saturday. And I was right there on the floor with him to watch. It was great! He's been so close for weeks now and Saturday he finally got enough momentum going to get all the way over. He even repeated it for me a short time later when I had the video camera out. And he did it again Sunday morning so Auntie Carrie could see. My big boy! I also weighed James on Saturday morning and he was 17 pounds! He's enormous! He was awfully happy this weekend too. I just love those big open-mouthed, gummy smiles. I think he even tried to laugh last night. I got a little "heh-heh" out of him as he was smiling at me. My heart just melts when he gives me that smile. And I think he likes me too. There were several times this weekend when Kris had to give James to me because James was upset. And all I had to do was hold him and bounce him and he was smiley happy again. Maybe I just have the right bounce, who knoes, but I like it that I'm able to soothe him so quickly.

Even Annika was pretty well behaved this weekend. She is definitely going through a phase right now, the typical 2-3 year old behavior of not wanting to listen and telling us no. She had to spend a couple of tear filled time outs in her room. She is still the sweetest little girl though. And the silliest too! She was singing and talking almost the entire way home last night, often making up her own words to familiar songs. And she is doing so much imaginative play lately. Last night she and Nana were playing tea party and she would pour the tea and scoop the sugar. And she was so cute serving everybody a little plate with fake cookies and invisible tea. And she's assigning different names/personalities to herself and others. She is Peter Pan, I am Wendy. She is Woody, I am Buzz. She is Cinderella. She is Madalyn (her little friend). Such a cutie.

We got half our garden put in this weekend. We're building a two-tiered garden on the side of our house and Kris got the lower half retaining walls built. We also put in all the soil and some plants in there too. This is our first garden so we'll have to see if we have any yummy strawberries, tomatoes, peppers and herbs come later this summer.

Auntie Carrie came to stay with us Saturday afternoon - Sunday night. It was so nice to have her with us! Although I must say that I was feeling guilty. I felt like we dumped the kids on her to work outside on the landscaping all day. I hope she didn't mind. She said she didn't and I know that Annika loved playing with her. I feel like I didn't get to spend enough time just talking and chatting with her though! Hopefully I'll have another chance before she leaves for home next weekend. And now that she's moving to Iowa this summer, we will hopefully get to see her more often! We've already planned to go visit once this summer. It will be our first big drive and mini vacation as a family of four. Wish us luck!

Thankfully Annika still hasn't bit anyone. But she is acting out her mommy separation issues in other ways. She used to be so good going to bed at night. We had our little routine and at the end all I had to do was tuck her in, say good night with a kiss and walk out. Now though, it's terrible. I've been trying this week to get James to go down before Annika. He's usually tired by about 7:30pm. Then after he's sleeping peacefully in his crib I can focus on Annika's bedtime routine. It's been an adjustment for all of us these past couple weeks. I'm hoping going back to diligently following her bedtime routine will put an end to all the tears and tantrums of this week. She just does not want to go to bed. She's asking to be rocked, to sleep in mommy's bed, to have mommy lay down in her bed with her, to go potty again after just going, etc. And if she wakes up during the night Daddy is most definitely not good enough to help her go to the bathroom and put her back in bed which means that even if Kris helps me out during the night by taking care of her I usually end up doing it myself just so Annika's yelling and whining doesn't wake up James. Let's just say this - I am tired. I have two kids and neither of them sleeps through the night. I need a nap.

James continues to be just the greatest little baby though. He was trying so hard last night to roll from his back to his tummy. He was pushing and pushing with his hips and shoulders but just couldn't quite get over to reach the toy he was after. His arm was in his way, I think. He's usually content to lay on the floor and play with toys for a little while so I can play with Annika. We're usually playing Gramme markers so I can be right next to each of them and play with both. (Gramme gave Annika markers and a giant coloring book when James was born and every day we have to get them out and color.) And I just love the big smiles and squeals of joy when I talk with him (even at 4am this morning when he should have been sleeping!). He wuvs me! James makes lots of noises. He's been saying the g sound for about a month now and has recently started adding other consonants to his repetoire. And he can grasp toys now and transfer them from hand to hand, although he usually grabs a toy and sticks it in his mouth. His fingers are usually in there too. We typically only give him his pacifier when he's crabby and he's usually only crabby if he's tired or hungry. All other times he's content to chew/suck on his fingers. I think we might have a thumb or finger sucker on our hands when he figures that out.

Wednesday afternoon we had a family portrait taken for our church directory. It turned out pretty well! We also got really cute individual shots of the kids and a cute couple shot of Kris and I too. We don't get the pictures for a couple weeks, but I'm happy to have our first professional family picture taken with James.

Tonight I think the kids and I are going to go shopping for Kris's birthday present. I have in mind what I want to get him but now I need to find it and find it in my price range! His 30th birthday is Monday!

This weekend is filled with home improvement projects. I want to get our garden built and planted. We're putting a two tiered herb/vegetable garden on the East side of our house. It will be fun I think and Annika can help plant with me. I think she'd like playing in the dirt! Now if the rain and thunderstorms will hold off so I can get that done, that would be great.

Thanks for your comments on the biting. Thankfully Annika hasn't bit anyone since Thursday. Well, she was biting herself while we were driving yesterday. Then she was yelling "Owie, owie!" We told her again that biting hurts so 1 - stop doing it to yourself and 2 - don't do it to anyone else either. She even had teeth marks on her arm. Silly girl. Anyway, let's hope that was a very quick phase. *fingers crossed*

Annika was so cute last night. James was laying on the floor on a blanket. I was playing with him and Nika when she decided that he was tired. So she took the end of the blanket and folded it up over him, up to his chin. Then she grabbed a stuffed animal and tucked it under the blanket next to his head. Then she leaned over and told him it was time to sleep and gave him a kiss good night. Too cute! She really is very good with her little brother. But we will definitely be keeping an eye on her!

This weekend was busy, busy, busy. Friday night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for Dean and Amanda's wedding. We were having a good time and didn't want to go home! But Annika was getting tired and it was way past her bedtime. Then Saturday morning I was up bright and early to get my hair done. James, Gramme and I headed out after that so I could change into my bridesmaid dress and do my make up at the church. I also needed to help Amanda into her wedding dress. Before I knew it, pictures had started! And they went pretty quickly, at least for me. Dean and Amanda are going to have some very beautiful pictures. The ceremony went off without a hitch and then we went outside to take some more pretty pictures. Then there was more pictures at the reception site (Man, there was a lot of pictures!) before we (the wedding party) were released to enjoy the cocktail hour. Dinner was yummy and before I knew it, it was speech time! I think mine went over well. At least I got a few compliments on it. Then more food, cake and time for dancing! I made it through just over half the dance before I was completely worn out. Three really late nights and early mornings with two kids who don't sleep through the night (James obviously but Annika is usually up once or twice too - usually to go to the bathroom) and I was exhausted. I hope Amanda's not mad that I bugged out at 10:30pm when the dance went to midnight. But I was so tired and I was worried about driving home by myself (Kris had taken Gramme and the kids home earlier) and not falling asleep. It was also so nice to see Mary again. She's now in Indiana (She and Fred just moved there.) until after the baby comes. I don't know if I'll be able to get down to see her this summer. She's hoping to come back home during maternity leave and if that doesn't happen I'm going to definitely have to make a trip down to see her.

Yesterday was another early morning. We had to get up, showered/bathed, dressed and out the door with enough time to stop at the grocery story and then down to Nana and Papa's house for a 10am brunch. There was no sleeping in for us! It was a wonderful brunch though. James got to meet his Auntie Carrie and Uncle Adam for the first time! And you know what, I don't even think I got any pictures of that! Shame on me. Carrie will be here through Memorial Day so I should have plenty of opportunities for pictures and Adam will be back for Memorial Day weekend and James' baptism. I will get pictures of him and James then. After brunch we went to Amanda and Dean's house for the gift opening. They received so many nice gifts. After a couple more errands we were finally back home again at almost 6pm. That's when I got my Mother's Day treat - low key family time. I played outside with Annika and then she and James and I sat on the floor and played together until bed time. I am so lucky to have such a great husband (woo-hoo - spa package from the hubby!) and kids.

I've got some serious mommy guilt going on today. Annika has started biting. Earlier this week, Annika bit me on the arm when we were playing. It wasn't hard enough to break the skin but I did have a red mark for a while. She was punished, of course. She was brought upstairs by Kris, had a talk with him and then a time out in her room and when she came out she had to apologize to me. Then Wednesday she bit James. She loves his feet (little feet, little toes! she exclaims all the time) and I had him sockless while we were outside sitting on the deck. She put one of his big toes in her mouth and clamped down. I don't know if it was my yelling at her to stop it or if I instinctively jerked him away or what but some of the skin tore and he now has a scab on his toe. Once again she was brought inside for a time out and a good talking to. Yesterday Kris ran upstairs quick to fix his contact and left both kids downstairs. He came rushing back down when he heard James screaming. Annika had bitten one of his fingers (no torn skin this time). This time he spanked her (which I hate - I hate spanking and I don't like that he does it - it's one of our parenting differences) and then gave her the same lecture (no biting, it hurts, blah, blah, blah) and a time out. What do we do? I don't want her to become a biter! Of course the mommy guilt comes in because I just started back to work. What if this is her way of lashing out that she's not getting enough attention or enough attention from me? One thing I'm going to do is keep the tv off. When I get home from work the tv is going off (if it's even on) until after the kids are in bed. We have a DVR, I don't need to watch tv shows when they're actually airing. If there's something I really want to watch, I can record it and watch it after the kids are asleep. I think this will force me to focus more on them at night. I can decompress with a mindless tv show after bed time. But what else can I do? I don't have a lot of opportunities to spend one on one time with her or James which is something else I feel terrible about. This weekend it's not going to happen either with Amanda's wedding and Mother's Day activities. And next weekend I have some home improvement projects lined up and then it's another wedding and James' baptism and Kris' birthday party Memorial Day weekend. There is just never enough time! I did get some good one on one time with her last night when James took about an hour nap in his crib. But I can't guarantee that will happen on a regular basis. And what about James one on one time? I've got some thinking to do on this. Anyway, if you have any ideas about what's bringing on the biting and how we can stop it, please leave me a comment or send me an e-mail.

James is so close to rolling over! I was videotaping him laying on his back tonight (he was talking up a storm and waving his arms and legs around like crazy!) and at least twice he was up on his side and kicked his leg and just about rolled over. But then he lost his momentum and rolled onto his back again. Then I put him on his tummy and once he almost rolled over to his back. I swear it won't be long!

James is trying so hard to laugh these days too. At this point when I'm tickling him he just makes these grunty noises, one right after the other. Pretty soon though and my boy will be laughing too. Man, I love that kid.

Saturday was James' 3 month birthday. We celebrated by having professional pictures taken of him. They turned out pretty cute. I purchased one of just him, one of him and I and then two of me and both kids. We're having a family picture taken next week for our church directory so we didn't do a whole family picture on Saturday.

Sunday we spent all day at Nana and Papa's house. Nana was altering my dress for Amanda's wedding. It's all done now so I'm all ready for Saturday. Yay! While we (and I use that term very loosely since all I did was play with James and try the dress on a couple times) were dealing with the dress, Papa, Kris and Annika went to go look at a pony. It looks like there will be a new pony at Nana and Papa's house next time we visit. Annika is going to have a great time riding this summer. Those new cowboy boots are going to come in handy!

Annika has been a little monster lately. I think the two's have finally hit the poor girl full force. She is testing her limits every chance she gets. If Kris or I tell her to do something, or not do something, she will look at us square in the face and tell us no. She usually gets one more chance to comply and then a consequence is handed down (taking a toy away, time out on the stairs, time out in her room, etc.). I was hoping she was just testing us but on Sunday she tested both Nana and Papa too. She was naughty when she was "helping" Papa with chores and he ended up chasing her down when she was in the field again, following the dog around after she had specifically been told not to leave the barn. And in the house Nana wanted Annika to come out of her and Papa's room and Annika told her no and then ran back inside. Nana had to pick her up, carry her out and close the door. What a naughty little thing! I know she's only testing her limits with those she trusts because when we are out in public she is very well mannered.

Of course Annika isn't naughty all the time. At dinner tonight she asked for more chicken so I cut her up some more. Kris did the same and she said "Thank you Mommy and Daddy" in just the most polite and sweetest voice. And each day when I get home from work I am greeted with Annika running full speed to me and wrapping her little body around my legs. And yesterday morning when Annika woke up she told Kris that she didn't want Mommy to go to work anymore. OK, so that last one got me choked up a bit. The point is that my sweet little girl is in there even when she's acting like a monster!

This morning at 6am I was just finishing up my morning routine in the bathroom. Kris was sound asleep. I knew this becuase he was snoring so loudly I swear the house was shaking. Then I heard a toilet flush. Better go check on the toddler. Sure enough, she had gone potty. I thought I heard her downstairs so I asked "Annika, where are you?" She responded from her bedroom "I'm right here mommy." So I walked in and asked her what she was doing. She then exclaimed "I went potty! I flushed the toilet! I wiped my butt!" She was so proud of herself that I couldn't help but smile and giggle with her. Then I laid her back down, covered her up, gave her a kiss on the cheek, stroked her hair and told her how much I loved her before closing her door and continuing my morning chores. She's such a sweet child.

James is so close to rolling over! He's learned that if he's on his back, he can use his legs to propel himself onto his side. I put him down on his playmat last night so I could bring Annika upstairs and put her to bed. I thought for sure he would roll over while I was up there, just so I would miss it. Nope, he didn't. But he did roll on to his side while I was gone. Kris better be ready with that video camera!

And James is such a smily baby now too. I was trying to get a picture of him smiling yesterday but I was always a half second too slow or fast with the camera. I think he's trying to laugh too. A few times yesterday he kind of grunted a few times in a row, really fast while I was playing with him. I bet he's laughing in no time.

So my first week back at work is almost over. Let me say just one thing about that - Thank God for work at home Wednesdays!! It's gone pretty well but I can already tell that I'm getting sleep deprived. I've been falling asleep during the night when I'm up feeding James. I'll wake up 15-20 minutes later with a crick in my neck from sleeping in the rocking chair. The good thing though is James is sound asleep and it's easy to wrap him back up in his blanket and put him back to bed. I didn't use to do that so I must be more tired during the night. I've been trying to get to bed before 10pm this week but with that 5:15am wake up call plus being up usually 2 times during the night to feed James, well it's easy to see why I'm sleepy. Those car drives home in the warm afternoon sun are no help either! I get so sleepy that when I get hom all I want is a nap. Maybe I can rest for a bit on Saturday. I'll have to sweet talk Kris into that!

Congratulations Auntie Carrie on your PhD! We are so proud of you!

It's been a stressful few days. The weekend was pretty sad as we mourned Mara's passing. The house seems so quiet now, even with two small children making near constant noise. And yesterday was my first day back at work. I'm wondering if I'm suppressing all my stress because I find myself crying in short little bursts about it all. I'll cry for a few seconds here or there before pulling myself back together. I wonder if one good long cry about it all would make me feel better. Either way, going back to work hasn't been nearly as hard this time around as it was with Annika. I think working from home on Wednesdays is also helping to save my sanity. I know that I only have to be away for two days before I get another whole day with my babies. I just miss them so much during the day and am constantly wondering what they're doing, how Kris is handling them, if James is eating, etc. Both yesterday and today James only ate about 3 ounces total while I was away. Who knows how much he gets from me when nursing but 3 ounces sure doesn't seem enough. Yesterday he was crabby for Kris too but today Kris said he was much better. Unfortunately today most of James' naps were interrupted for one reason or another. So tonight he fell asleep at 6:15pm in his swing and here it is 3 hours later and he's still out. Poor guy. I know the three of them will get into a routine and James will get more regular and longer naps. Right now we're all adjusting to the new normal.

Friday after Kris buried Mara we all met down at the Horse Expo. Papa was being honored again as Minnesota Horseperson of the Year (so proud we are!) and we all got to ride on the Priefert 8-Horse Hitch. It was so fun! James' eyes flew open when we took off. And Annika held on to the side of the wagon like a big girl. Daddy held on to her and she wasn't scared at all. Then we went shopping and Annika scored her first pair of cowboy boots. After that she had her first pony ride. What an exciting day for Annika!

Saturday was a busy, busy day for me. I cleaned the house, went shopping, made food, wrapped presents and then co-hosted at my house a bridal shower for Amanda. My feet were so sore by the time the party started! I think everyone had a good time. And after the shower, a bunch of us went out dancing with Amanda for her bachelorette party. It was fun but I haven't been out that late in quite a while!

Sunday we stayed close to home. That was exactly what I wanted for my last day before work. I wanted lots of uninterrupted time with my kids. And that's just what I got since Kris slept for like four hours that afternoon! Annika slept that whole time too so I got lots and lots of time with James and then after Annika woke up I made sure I had some good time with her too. She's been really into coloring lately so we did some of that.

I know there's more I want to write but I'm sleepy and can't think of it all. I need to start writing things down again, especially now that I'm getting even less sleep. Getting up to an alarm again (at least a non-crying, non-hungry alarm!) is hard!