First Day of School!

Welp, the big kids are off to school. Nathan is in third grade, and Anneliese is in kindergarten, and I am... verklempt.

Look at them! They are such big kids! How did this happen?? I feel like I even had an "extra" year at home with Anneliese, because she's so much older for her school year than the others. And still, it wasn't enough. I miss her.

My heart is squeezed very tight, and my thoughts are across town in her little classroom, and my memories are full of this whole first era of her childhood that's... over. Yes, she is still a child, yes, I will see her all the time, etc etc etc I KNOW. But it really is the end of an era, and that always comes with feelings. Feeeeeeelings. Capital F. You know.

When she was born is when I officially stopped working and became a stay-at-home parent, and now we are entering a season where I will start work again, in some capacity, and there is still so much unknown and unplanned but it really just feels like an era is ending.

Anyway! Brisk clap! Look at this sweet picture of the two of them three years ago, on Nathan's first day of kindergarten and Anneliese's first day of preschool. They are the same! Yet so grown up! Yet still my babies!

2012 and 2015

OH MAH GAH Y'ALL. My heart.

Brb I need to hug my last baby at home and cry weepy mom tears and wait for the bus.

(The bus came. It was the best part of Anneliese's day, she said. After all those years of waving to Nathan, she finally got to ride with him.)

Anyway so yeah. School is back. All the other moms can throw a party but I'm not there yet. Someone send me a hug and a cookie please kthx.

Anneliese's First Haircut

We had our baby girl's hair cut for the first time today.

Hold me, internetz.

In our family's second battle in the War Against Mullets (remember the first?), after several weeks of hair! bugging me!* we decided none of us could take any more of Anneliese's sweaty tangled mess.

I don't know, I thought it was still sort of pretty. (Apparently I was the only one.)

She was a champ. Uncharacteristically quiet and nervous, but after watching Nathan go before her, and making sure she got to also wear a penguin cape and sit in a police car chair, she climbed right up, put on her "big girl serious" face, and didn't fuss one bit.

My biggest fear about this haircut (besides the tantrum that never happened) was that she would lose all her sweet curls, and with them, her clinging-to-babyhood look. But... nope!

After the cutting was all done and it started to dry, they just sprang right back up! Maybe even more than before!

So she's still my sweet curly-haired baby-faced little girl. Now with no mullet.

Love.

Oh and she also now looks more freakishly like her big brother than ever before. Yes?

*My mom and dad just read that and melted. #ashleythrowback #bugginme

First Steps!

So technically Anneliese took her first two steps last weekend, on our first day here in the new house.  But she hasn't even come close since then.  I think she knows how much we wanted it.  And she was playing hard to get.  True story.

But today her mood* changed and she stood up and walked over to Nathan -- like six steps in a row!! -- and went for a car he was holding.  Of course it was to Nathan.  Of course.  :)


If you can't see the embedded video, click here to watch it on youtube.

And then she did it a bunch more.  My sweet girl is turning into a toddler big girl right in front of our eyes.  Oh man she's walking.  (Also, she really is freakishly tall.)

Ok.  Deep breaths.  Here we go.

*That, or she was in so much pain from the several dozen splinters Mark found in her legs and feet last night that she just couldn't bear to crawl anymore.  Too much playtime on the porch perhaps?  Poor baby.  :(

Three Firsts for Anneliese

It's been a big day for all of us, but especially for Anneliese.

1.) Her first day in our new house.

2.) Her first night in a big girl bed.

So excited about her bed she stomped her feet and giggled!! :)

Went down without a problem and stayed that way all night!

3.) And, then, then...

...apparently she decided that it was a milestone day to stand up suddenly and all by herself (!!) and then take two steps.

HER FIRST STEPS!!!!!!

I wouldn't joke about this, y'all.  Despite the chorus of applause, we couldn't get her to do it again, so no video evidence.  But I swear, it happened.  And it totally counts.

And now, back to unpacking and settling into our new home!

Using a Spoon

[Disclaimer: I haven't felt like blogging this week... or two. No easy-to-nail-down reason. But that's why there are a handful of started-but-never-finished posts I'm just now (Jan 13) publishing. And look at that, we all survived.]

In the last few days, Anneliese has started using a spoon to feed herself.  This has taken lots and lots of encouragement (mostly from Daddy), since she's not really a big fan of the extra time it takes to get food into her mouth when she's relying on her own coordination rather than a parent's.  But she's totally doing it!

Some days it's a crazy messy process.

Other days it's not so bad.

If you can't see the video embedded above, click here.


And predictably, Nathan is happy to help us document any milestone with his new camera.  He's proud of his baby sister too.  What?  It's sweet!

(Yes, I took a picture of Nathan taking a picture of Mark taking a picture of Anneliese hitting a milestone.  Yes, I know that makes me as crazy as the child photographer I am mocking.  Yes, I know we officially have a few too many cameras in our house.)

Thankful

I was driving home from an airport playdate earlier this week when I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw just about the best thing you could possibly see when looking in a rearview mirror*...

It was a welcome and precious sight, in the midst of what's been kind of a hard week for me.  These two beautiful siblings, heads turned sideways, thumbs at the ready, clearly more alike than they are different.

They were given to us for the task of loving and raising, given to us to comfort when things hurt, given to us to be the recipients of their hugs and kisses and squealed mamas and daddys.  Out of everyone on the planet, God chose us to be the parents for these kids.  I'm ashamed sometimes of how disappointed I feel when I don't get the even more that I'm audacious enough to ask for.  Loving these two most awesome of kiddos is enough.  No, not just enough... amazing.  Everything else is just... else.  I want to focus on being thankful for the things in my life that are really great... and there are many.

Perspective: I needs it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

*Yes, Anneliese is now riding facing forward like the big girl that she almost is.
*Yes, Nathan is snuggling with a toy semi truck named Mack. You needed to ask?
*Yes, my car is always this clean (ahem).
*Yes, I took this picture while driving.  Do not judge me.  The moment needed capturing!

Bad Things May Come in Threes, But Good Things Come in Tens

Because my week from hell wasn't hellish enough already, because God clearly thinks I can handle more than *I* think I can, and because bad things apparently really do happen in threes...

1.) Our house flooded.
2.) We got robbed.

and now...

3.) Anneliese got very sick and spent the weekend in the hospital.

I was planning to be in the Lake Norman area for a church retreat this weekend.  Anneliese hadn't been feeling great for a couple of days -- loose gross poops, fever, seemed puny -- but I assumed she was well enough to stay with Mark's mom as originally planned, even if I had to stay with her for the first night and go to the retreat a little late. 

But by the time I got to Huntersville on Friday afternoon to drop the kids off, Anneliese's fever was really high, she was refusing food and drink, and she hadn't managed to wet a diaper since that morning.  I took her to an urgent care, assuming it would be a quick earache diagnosis or something, pop some meds in her, and get on my way to the retreat. 

Um, no.  They sent us to the ER.

After lots of tests and swabs and several chest and belly x-rays (note: you do not want to know how they do chest x-rays on infants; it's horrifying), they pretty much determined she just has some kind of virus that took a lot out of her, and dehydrated her quite a bit.  She perked up substantially on some iv fluids, so we went home with instructions to follow up in the morning.  But Saturday morning her fever was still high and she was back to not eating/drinking, so the local pediatrician we saw wanted to admit her to the hospital.  I dug in my heels (stop rolling your eyes, you're not really surprised, are you?) and he agreed to give me a chance to hydrate her at home, even if it meant syringing fluids into her throat to get her to drink something (which I wasn't above trying).  But. When I did that, she threw it right back up.

Hydration FAIL. 

So, Anneliese was admitted to the peds unit.  And that's the story of how I spent my church retreat weekend in an out-of-town hospital with my sick baby.

I'm overwhelmed.  I feel like I reached the limit of what I could handle days ago, and this latest curveball has actually been the hardest one of all three.

There is something sad and horrible and heartbreaking about seeing your baby in a hospital gown, hooked up to tubing and machines, crying and miserable.  We went through this with Nathan, and I had hoped not to ever do it again. I might or might not have spent a chunk of the weekend crying right along with Anneliese. (Don't worry, I kept it together in front of the doctors and nurses and almost everyone else.)

But.  I'm sick of being stressed.

So because it's 10/10/10, I've decided that this whole bad things in threes thing is for the birds.  I hereby declare that good things happen in tens.  Hey universe! You don't like it?  Kiss this.

Ten Good Things About This Whole Crazy Mess:

1.) Anneliese is making good progress.  Last night when she cried real tears (as opposed to dry sobs) I was so happy I cried a little bit too.  Her fever has broken.  She wet through two diapers last night.  She has kept down several rounds of pedialyte.  As of this morning, she is sitting up on her own for short spells.  And she just ate her first solid meal in days (and then promptly fell asleep).

2.) Nathan is in good hands with Mark's mom, enjoying his weekend with Grandma.  In a way it's actually good that we're out of town, since I have been able to just concentrate on Anneliese, knowing that we already had full-time coverage for Nathan this whole time anyway.

3.) My dad has been a Godsend all weekend.  He was at the ER with Anneliese and me for hours on Friday night, has been running errands for us, and welcomed us to use his house as our home base.  He even showed up at the hospital this morning with Starbucks and his computer on loan to me for the day.  I promise you he had different plans for his weekend.

4.) I hate hospitals, but this one rocks.  I slept in a real bed last night, and now I'm sitting in a huge window seat (which could also convert to a bed if we needed it to), I have a lovely view of trees and the streets of downtown Huntersville, I have a fancy dvd player, mp3 docking station, big flat-screen tv, mini-fridge, on-demand room service, and easy wifi.  Between the hospital amenities and my dad's laptop, it's more than I'd have at home right now anyway.  (You know.  Because we got robbed.  Yeah, that.)

5.) Anneliese's foot IV is super.  Anneliese's right arm is bruised from the IV in the ER Friday night, but using her left arm was a last resort since she needs to suck that thumb for soothing purposes.  So two very patient nurses made three attempts (and called in the help of a nicu specialist who's used to teeny tiny veins) to put the IV in her wrist, left foot, and then eventually her right foot.  It requires a crazy boot contraption on her leg, and definitely took those nurses considerably more time and effort than just using her left arm, but they were so so accomodating (also I think they didn't want to hear Anneliese scream all night any more than I did if she couldn't get to her thumb).

6.) Our church family loves us.  Mark is back home in Raleigh, and he has gotten a handful of calls and emails from people and pastors to see how he's doing, and get updates on Anneliese.  And because of that church retreat I'm now missing, one of our pastors is in town and could come by the hospital to visit and pray with us yesterday.

7.) Our friends love us.  I have officially lost count of the texts and facebook messages and emails and phone calls from people who care about my baby girl.  I'm humbled and grateful for all of you people who want to take care of my family. It's amazing.

8.) If we had to be in the hospital away from home, I'm glad it's here in Huntersville.  Where we know people. My friend Betsy came by with cook-out burgers and shakes last night, and having her here was such a welcome distraction from the tears and stress and general hospitalness.  And our night nurse was someone Mark and I have known for years, who gushed over Anneliese in all the right ways, telling me how beautiful she is even though she's all pale and sickly and sad.  Hometown heroes ftw!

9.) My mom is in St Croix, which at first was sad for me (since obviously when you have a sick kid, you want your mom, especially when your mom is a physician), but now I'm happy she's there.  She's visiting Brad and swimming ten miles today (yes, you read that correctly) and I'm proud of her for doing it.

10.) I have gotten more Anneliese snuggles in the last few days than I know what to do with.  I hate that she feels sick, but I will gladly hug her if that's what makes her feel better.  Hug her and never stop.

Nothing else stressful, ok?  I'm done.  No, seriously.  For real this time.

Update: for more pictures of Anneliese at Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville, click on the miserable baby in the ER, below.

by mgoetts

A Week Without Daddy

Mark has been out of town all week, helping lead a youth mission trip/service project in the Appalachian mountains.  Since I knew the potential for going stir-crazy (alone with the kids twenty-four hours a day for a whole week) was pretty high, I made sure we kept busy.  And I made sure to carve some Erin time in there too.  :)

Since I've been even more camera-happy than usual (with Daddy out of town, there are lots of photo-opps to text/email so he knows we miss him!), I present... our week in pictures:

Watching for planes at the airport (Annie-Bop came to play too!)...

...And snuggling on the observation deck.  All together now: Awwwwww.

Watching Eclipse and arguing Team Edward vs Team Jacob with Mary.  (Jake. Of course.)

Making a joyful noise, singing for a worship service at a regional meeting of presbyterian congregations (in Rocky Mount, about an hour away).  It was just as dorky as (and way more fun than) it sounds.  Awesome day.

Doing farm deliveries, then braving a road trip after surviving a night with the runs (the upside to this sickness: lots of poop in the potty).  Lots of time in the car made this sweet exhausted boy sleep pretty much all day.

No, of course I didn't take this picture while driving.  (Ahem.)

Having a fun conversation with both my siblings at the same time -- Ashley and me in one room with cell phones, Brad texting from down in St. Croix. ***ok so I don't technically have any pictures of this, but it's still worth mentioning because I laughed so hard and it was so fun.***

Mastering the art of drinking from a sippy cup without Mommy's help.

Beating the 110-degree heat index with slices of frozen watermelon masquerading as popsicles.  (What?  He doesn't need to know it's healthy.  Just call it a "treat" and he's happy.)

Hanging out with my best friend from college, David.  There's really no one like your college bff, is there?

Debating the pros and cons -- again -- of having two thumb-addicted children.

Food-processing leftover produce into baby food for the freezer.

Loving on each other.  Lots and lots of loving on each other.

It's been a really fun (and thoroughly exhausting, but in a good way) week! 

Mark is apparently having an awesome week too.  It sounds like they're doing good work in Tennessee, and he sounded so happy the couple of times I talked to him.  It's his first time doing anything like this, but the word on the street (Another Nathan is there too) is that Mark is totally in his element.  We're ready for him to come back though!

For more pics of what we've been up to so far this summer, click on Anneliese's sweet smile, below.

by mgoetts

Nine Months: Thriving (No Matter What They Say)

Anneliese is nine months old today!  I have to say, she finally doesn't feel like our new baby anymore. About time, right?

She just seems so much older and more independent now than she did a month ago.  Like she's finally losing some of that new-baby helplessness.  I think this could partly be due to so many of her firsts over the last few weeks:
- first night without Mommy (and it was a whole weekend!)
- sitting up without help
- clapping her hands
- shaking her head no
- waving at people
- trying to feed herself finger foods (without much success, but still)
- kissing us
- turning the pages of board books
- riding in a big car seat
- riding in the front of the grocery cart
- giving up that third nap (for good, we think)

I'm so excited as I watch her become increasingly more interactive with people around her, and as I see her personality really start to emerge.  But in truth I am also feeling a tad bit distracted, even discouraged, by her physical growth.  Does this look familiar? 

In case you're curious, growth charts are not supposed to look like this.  But apparently my children have a knack for it.  With two months of weight loss, and three (three!) standard deviations fallen on her chart, we officially have another failure to thrive (FTT) baby on our hands.

For the record, we're not nearly as worried about Anneliese as we were Nathan, and there are currently no medical interventions planned -- this time around, there will be no hospitalizations, no physical therapy, and no buttinski social workers.  Like her brother before her, it seems to be a phase where her metabolism is just way ahead of what she's eating.  The solution?  Eat more. 

But the problem is that keeping an upset baby in a high chair when she doesn't really want to eat any more causes a rush of dark emotions to come flooding back to me.  The calorie-counting, the panicky can't let baby skip a meal! feeling, the prayers during nursings to stay latched on just one more minute, one more ounce... it's an ugly place if I let my brain go there. I remember all too clearly the day I got fed up and just decided to be done with it with Nathan.  It was so freeing.  But I'm having trouble re-capturing that freedom right now.

A slower growth curve I could just take in stride, but the fact that Anneliese is losing weight is troubling enough to distract me from all the ways she is developing well.  For instance:  All organs seem to be functioning correctly.  She sees and hears well.  Her cognitive development is on par or even a little ahead.  Our doctor said yesterday that she's one of the most social nine-month olds he's ever seen.  Her height and head are growing normally.  She sleeps well.  Her fine motor skills are, for lack of a better word, fine. She's happy.  And I don't want to let worrying cause me to lose sight of that.

Praise the Lord for our beautiful amazing nine-month old!  Any of you who have seen her in recent weeks can attest to the fact that she is, everywhere except that stupid chart, thriving.

Don't Blink (Or Go on Vacation, Apparently)

My kids suddenly seem older now that we're back in town after a long weekend apart.  I remember this happening to Nathan, after Mark and I spent a week in New York in 2008.  And I think after Dubai, too.  Is this some kind of universal phenomenon, or is it just me?  And my kids?

Nathan got his hair cut right before we left town, so he looks older.  And somehow he sounds older too.  He's constructing thoughts and sentences I didn't know he was capable of.  When he wanted five more minutes yesterday before cleaning up his toys, he told me we don't negotiate. 

Ummm say what now???

And Anneliese moved this week out of her bucket car seat into a toddler convertible seat (turned backwards, of course).  

She was just too tall for that other thing (and has been for months) and anyway it's just too danged heavy to carry around with her in it anymore.  Seeing her riding around in the new backseat barcalounger makes her look old though. 

And seeing her riding like a big kid in a shopping cart (because, you know... the bucket seat is no more) makes her look old too.  (Yes, I am a bad enough mom to let her dangle by the seat strap.  No, I am not a bad enough mom to let her eat those pretzel m&m's.)

And, for real I am not making this up, she started kissing us this week!  At first she was just imitating kissing noises, but now she leans in and plants smackeroos all over our faces, and laughs through the whole thing.  How can she do that already?  How is she suddenly so old?

Stop it, you two!  This is going too fast!  Be babies, just for a few more minutes.  Please?  I need to get off this computer and wake them up* from their naps and drink in every second of their babyness before it's totally gone!

One of those age-old cliches that is so completely true, you know?  They really do grow up too fast.

*Just kidding, I would never wake a sleeping baby.  Duh.

Aloha, Sippy, Clapping and Go!

Our little lady has had a big week!  And she has been precious as all get-out, which means the camera has been out even more than usual.  (Ahem.  It's always out.  Anyone on the recieving end of almost-daily text-pics from me can attest to this.)

She started clapping her hands together in imitation when Nathan does it.  And just like him, she cracks up when she does it. 

She started drinking from a sippy cup.  She just still isn't a huge fan of the bottle, and seeing as I am leaving her for three nights very very soon, she's got to have a backup option for getting milk and other fluids.

Rolling from her tummy to her back is becoming less occasional and more of a habit.  And she's no longer only doing it as a last resort out of frustration.  It's slow progress, but it's progress. 

And she is now saying her third word -- go!  (Like Mark said, what is with that word?)  Yes, I am still waiting on mama.  {sigh}

And a non-milestone picture bonus: these plastic leis have been hanging around our house since Sarah's bachelorette weekend (almost two months ago), and both kids really like them.  Nathan likes to put a lei on Anneliese (or himself) and say aloha! 

At least no one can accuse me of not taking as many pictures of the second baby as the first, right?

First Swim (and First Swim Fluff)

We took Anneliese swimming for the first time today! Since we didn't put her in the water at the lake this weekend, we had to rectify her swimlessness pretty quickly. In my family it's kind of a rule: you have to like to swim. Otherwise we might not consider you one of us. True story. You wanna be a Bumgarner... you gotta swim.So, good news... Anneliese liked it! A lot more than Nathan liked his first swim (to be fair, he was a lot younger... and now he likes it just fine). She's a keeper!

And more good news... I have a fun cloth swim diaper for her! (Stop groaning. You knew I was going to talk about diapers. Come on. The word fluff up there in the title should have tipped you off.)

I knew what I was looking for in a swim diaper -- something that snaps or ties (since velcro would catch on her cutie swimsuit and mess it up), something without the waterproof PUL lining that most cloth diapers have (I heard the chlorine would mess up the waterproofing, plus I didn't want it trapping water inside and filling up like a bag), and something that would dry really fast (since I only want to buy one, and might need a couple days in a row, or even more than once a day).

So I settled on this one from Applecheeks -- no velcro, no PUL, and it's made of mesh (mesh!! how cool!) so it dries really fast. The verdict? I love it. It's exactly what I wanted, and it's super-cute. It should fit her for two more summers I think, and it cost me less than two packs of the disposable swimmers -- score.

We got her all diapered up and suited up and took her swimming! She was happy. And she was, by a long shot, the prettiest baby at Uncle Nick's pool. Just sayin'.

Lest you think we got so blinded by Anneliese's pool cuteness (which we totally almost did) that we forgot about our other little fish of a child, don't worry. We had fun with Nathan too. He loves swimming. Well, splashing. Uncle Nick and Daddy are good for that. :)

Cousins, the Lake and a First Word!

We spent most of this weekend down at Lake Wateree with my in-laws. It was especially fun this time for several reasons:

1.) Anneliese is now saying dada! Ok, ok, she's kind of been saying it (repeating it, squealing it in Mark's general direction, etc) for a week or so, but I have been happily denying it, because I was so so so keen on having her say mama first. But now that she's done it in front of other people, I am officially forced to admit that dada has won out once again. But it's ok, I know she still loves me, and (for now anyway) she's still mommy's girl. I'm equal parts excited for her, and excited to hear the next word. Which had better be mama. (No pressure, sweetie.)

2.) My sister-in-law Emily, her husband Trey, and our nephew Jeb were also there. Which means all three cousins were in the same place at the same time... for the first time. Oma and Opa seemed very happy to have all their grandbabies together. Anneliese and Jeb are only a few months apart, so we're excited to see them learn to play together. And Nathan (who met Jeb for the first time this weekend) was very happy to have another baby to love on!! 3.) Nathan is getting old enough to spoil a little when it comes to bedtimes, etc, without messing up his moods too much. So he got to stay up a little late last night, while Opa built a campfire in the backyard and they ate s'mores. Side benefit: I got to relive one of my favorite high school memories of Mark -- making (what he considers) the perfect toasted marshmallow. Such a process. So endearing. 4.) We got to take both kids on a boat ride this morning. This was Anneliese's first boat ride, and she loved it. Apparently she's a wind-in-the-face kind of gal. But Nathan has a strange relationship with his things that go phase. He's fascinated by them, won't stop talking about them, but is also pretty much terrified of them. Happens every time. The boat ride, as on past trips, was no exception. He simultaneously loved it and was scared of it. Sitting near the boats and fishing with Daddy or Opa, however, is just pure uncomplicated fun for him. For more pictures of our fun weekend, click on Nathan on Opa's dock, below.

by mgoetts

May Day Update

I'm not gonna lie, I've had kind of a crazy/stressful week. I'll not bore you with all the details because I'm in a very good mood today and I'm ready to put the week behind me, for the most part. It's the first of a new month, and I'm generally feeling positive and optimistic about life in this here moment. So here are a few updates on the four of us.

Nathan. Besides potty-training, which has taken lots of his our energy recently, Nathan has also learned even more about cars and trucks and driving.

First: fire trucks are even cooler in person than in a matchbox version, especially when you get to climb on them and wear a themed hat for the occasion (as discovered when there happened to be a fire truck there for the climbing when Mark took Nathan to the bank).

And second: you're never too young to appreciate traffic laws, and even be a backseat driver in your efforts to enforce them (as discovered when he saw me turn right at a red stoplight and said, gotta wait for green, mommy! from the car seat in the back. Never in my life did I imagine that mommyhood would mean arguing about traffic rules with my two and a half year old. {sigh}

Me. So I'm sure you all had this marked on your calendars and just haven't had a chance to get those well-wishes emailed yet, but today is my half-birthday. So... better get on that.

{crickets chirping}

Well, even if none of you got the memo, Nathan did. He grew me this plant in preschool. Specifically to say, "Hey mom, congrats on being closer to 30 than 29. Glad you're still not stressed about that whole getting old thing." (Don't question me on this. He told me. I promise.) In all seriousness, though, I don't think I could have felt more like a mom than when he walked up to me holding a disposable cup full of dirt and some grass and a construction paper flower. I'm like... a real mom, y'all.

Anneliese. Our sweet baby girl has had quite the exciting week. A couple of you noticed the cuts and bruises on her face when I posted this picture and emailed to ask about it. Yes, you're right -- it's an injury. She was sitting in her bumbo seat on our driveway (something she has done countless times before) while Mark was doing some yard work, and apparently the incline was greater than he estimated... and she face-planted. Onto the cement. Mark said the sound of her cry coupled with the sight of her, face-down and bloody in the driveway, was one of the most awful moments he's had as a dad. I can believe it. I got home shortly after it happened and the huge goose-egg on her forehead, her awful awful crying (seriously it was a new sound of misery), and the blood/tears/snot she kept smearing all over her face were bad enough for me. But she was back to her sunny(ish) self later on that day. And we calmed down once she was calm enough to clean her up, and after talking to Dr. Marmie and ruling out serious head trauma. Took a big chunk out of the side of her nose, though, and I think she might look a little banged up for a while. Good thing she's every bit as beautiful this way, don't you think?

And because those cuts and scrapes are kind of hard to look at, here's a happier picture. Nathan was singing her the itsy-bitsy spider song, and doing the spider part on her legs... which she loves. (If they had a smarter mommy, the video button would have been pressed, and you'd have more than just a still shot.) Watching these two play together makes my heart smile every. single. time.

Mark. Can we blame the whole Anneliese injury on the fact that Daddy couldn't see well because he was wearing Nathan's sunglasses to do his yard work? Because... he totally was. Probably unfair to blame it on Mark in any capacity, though. Still. Toddler sunglasses? On your ginormous head? Really, hon? Not hott.

Mark also dropped some hints about how he'd like to own a deep fryer. I kept resisting it because I cringe at the idea that we would want to eat enough deep-fried foods to justify it. The sad truth is, though... I think we might. Well I got a hankering for sweet potato fries when we got a big batch in our farm-share produce box this week, so I got on board and bought one. I'm pretty sure that's why people join CSA's, don't you think? To deep-fry their fresh local produce? Yeah.

Anyway we had a friend over for dinner last night (and by "had over" I mean, he did half the work, Mark did half the work, and I did next to nothing... it was something close to awesome)... we grilled burgers and deep-fried sweet potatoes and ate cheesecake (I did make that, so I guess I didn't do nothing... and no it was not fried in any way shape or form). And we sat out on the deck and talked and laughed and it was actually a really pleasant way to spend a Friday evening. The verdict is in: cooking your own deep-fried junk food is way more fun than just getting takeout, and maybe even a teensy bit healthier (or not). So anyway... Mark was right. Which means he's pretty much been up to... the usual. :)

Happy May!