Woohoo!

I've been sick forever and a day, and I still have a stuffy nose, but I'm alive. I did laundry, and dishes, and vacuumed and fed my baby (I've been doing this the whole time) and I'm going to Costco! I am feeling better and its like a forgot I was ever healthy and now its like this big miracle! Of course, Saturday, Annika had mucus-y gunk coming out of her eye, so we've got her pink-eye medicine. That stuff works incredibly fast. Provided, of course, that you can accurately get her eye.
Anyway, we're going to Utah on Wednesday and I was really dreading the "traveling while sick" aspect, but now I'm really excited. We have anxious grandparents and aunts and uncles awaiting Annika, and I'm sure they'll be happy to see John and me as well. I feel like I should teaching her a bunch of new tricks to show off, but then she shows me that she's been teaching herself new tricks. Like dancing. She never showed any interest in dancing before, despite John and my cool dance parties in the kitchen. Instead, we got a new, fancy toy (garage sale) that sings and says the alphabet and has 6 or 7 different songs and all different percussion beats. She dances her little booty away when that plays! She currently dances a little more like John than me.
She is also beginning to say things! Kind of! If we say please, she says, "ease". Kind of. She can say hi and she can say "oggie". Kind of. (doggie.) She can say no. And shake her head. And throw food on the floor while doing both.
She won't stay on her changing table anymore, so we've got a new and brilliant method. We change her downstairs, in front of the tv. Sad, but its the only thing that works. Hopefully, we'll be able to potty train her without a t.v. in the bathroom.
Now, I'm off to my triumphant visit to Costco for glamorous items like toilet paper, detergent and diapers! (When John reminded me on the phone, from work, that we needed "tp", I couldn't hear him because he was whispering! Heaven forbid his co-workers discover such habits!)

Sick

Annika and I have been for the past week and then some. Really sick. The problem here, is that I don't like to be sick. I'm whiny and wimpy sick. I secretly bask, a tiny bit, in the excuse to watch unhealthy amounts of tv, read in bed all afternoon and not get dressed for days. But, really, I just don't like being sick.

One of the many down sides to being sick is the legion of used kleenex around my house. You may read this and say, "Eww. Maybe you should throw those away." I have, mostly, but see, I was sick. And still am, a little. So, I only realize the leftovers when Annika comes in cradling one. Chances are good that the new found dirty kleenex was used on her nose, but its still a bit gross.

Right now, she is playing with a clean tissue that I crumpled up to look used (go figure) and she is cradling the For The Strength of Youth pamphlet in the other. Go, Zion!

Pit of despair

No, not depression. My kitchen. Which is pretty depressing.
Here is my philosophy: As Christ said, "the poor are always among us", my saying is, "the kitchen is always among us." What I mean when I say this is, "I'll clean later, because this is the only chance that I have to do something else and if I spend my whole life cleaning the kitchen first, I will never do anything else for ever. Ever."

So, my kitchen is not clean. (I recognize that this 5 minute blog session is taking from my kitchen cleaning, but my philosophy on that is "shut up.")

We planted flowers in our front yard and some vinca (ground cover) in our backyard and we are feeling very proud of ourselves. I have high expectations that our modest efforts will yield spectacular results. I have ambitions of gardening greatness, but as spring has come in name only, my incentive to be outside with my "garden" is low. And, I find that gardening greatness is often accompanied by time spent in the garden. My philosophy on this is "hmmph."

I'm going to do something that can only be done right now and takes precedence over kitchen cleaning.

Bunny love

Annika likes to cuddle with stuffed animals, and happily, she likes several with equal enthusiasm. This morning, she woke up snuggling with bunny, the biggest of her animals. He is, from head to tail, 3/4 her size. This isn't really that big, he isn't particularly fat. Anyway, she wanted to come downstairs with him and when I put her into her highchair for breakfast, she kept a tight hold. I gave her some food, and took bunny and put him on the counter next to her. She was displeased. I gave it back to her. She was pleased. I went and got the video camera and replayed the event. I now have video of her eating grapes with one hand and clinging to a big, pink bunny in the other.
Cute video, messy bunny.