Blame it on the baby

My hands have been full and my head has been fuzzy. And, lets face it - I'd rather wallow in my disaster of a house and eat several ice cream cones in a row than use my last ounce of mental clarity on the computer. And by mental clarity I mean the ability to put on clean clothes.

So, I blame the baby. But now that she is a whopping 2 months old I've been commanded in no uncertain terms to give pictures and updates (ie. brag a whole lot)of the new one and the old ones.

So, we had a baby on July 18. Emily Michelle (middle name in honor of my awesome sister of glory) was 7 lbs some ounces and was more than 15 inches long. I'm too lazy to look it up. (That's why blogging drains me.) What I do remember with perfect clarity is that I felt wonderful right up until I vomited 7 times. And that Emily is perfect. Perfect!

She nursed right from the start which took away a huge possible emotional stress. She has lots of dark hair and still has blue eyes! This may seem unusual but there are MANY close relatives with strikingly blue eyes. She is very mellow and has yet to succumb to Jacob's many attempts to push her to a nervous breakdown. I think. She sleeps well, but that only means that she goes back to sleep after feedings in the wee hours. (I don't know why they're called "wee" hours. They feel pretty long to me. The waking hours. The sleepy ones are nanoseconds.) Emily likes to stare at the ceiling fan, cuddle and to get her diaper changed. She likes bath time and LOVES her Daddy. She likes me too but in the same way that I love the refrigerator. Which is quite a lot.

Annika and Jacob have been wonderful with her. At least Annika has. They both adore her and always want to hold her. Ironically, she is safest when Jacob is holding her because it means that he's not headbutting, kicking, squeezing, pulling, spitting (yes, spitting) yelling, poking, etc. Annika will sit with her for a long time just staring into her eyes. When Emily is crying Annika likes to comfort her with a sweet rendition of Home Home on the Range. If Emily cries louder, Annika sings louder. If Annika sings louder, Jacob shouts louder. I usually step in at this point.

Jacob is potty-training and doing very well. He jumped right in (no pun intended, he just sometimes literally jumps right in. With his head.) He went straight from diapers all the time to being completely diaper free day and night. This is mostly successful and we just make sure we have extra sheets and blankets and oddly enough, pillows.

Annika started her second year of preschool and starts a ballet class at the rec center today. She has been talking about it for a while. 2 years is a while, right? Unfortunately, the regular dance class was canceled so I had to sign her up for a "Disney Princess" ballet class. Girls (and boys, I suppose) can wear their favorite dresses and dance to their hearts content. Until they trip or the sleeves fall down to far or they trip again. I REALLY did not intend to sign up for this class but Annika was pretty upset about not being able to take a class, but even she knows that its lame. Its not even "princess ballet." Its "Disney Princess" ballet. I wonder if they get royalties. No pun intended that time either. Anyhoo, she's going to wear her leotard/tutu outfit and be the best one there. Suck it Belle! (Actually, we have a Belle dress. And a Little Mermaid dress. And Disney Princess paraphenalia all over the house. Hypocrite, I know.)

So, incoherency over. Here, in absolutely no particular order, are the pictures you really want! (Thanks ElizaB for the superhero and baby and Daddy shots!)