Listen to this...

After a hard day with Anna, Jeff graciously offered to clean up dinner and put Anna to bed so I could take off for a break. I did something I haven't done in a few years. I cranked up the car stereo and listened to a whole album without doing anything else. This used to be one of my favorite things to do in college. Every once in a while I'd skip class, pick up a new CD, grab some take-out and lay on the floor of my apartment and just listen. There's something about giving the music center stage and focusing solely on that that is rejuvenating for me.

I bought Jeff the Into the Wild soundtrack for our anniversary and it is amazing, inspiring, hauntingly good. Eddie Vedder is really good. The song Hard Sun has had a lot of radio play, here's the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDorNilxPUY

Seriously, close the door, lay on the floor, and crank it up. You'll feel better about things.

Lucky Number Seven

This has been the summer of babies for our families. Between Jeff's family and mine, six babies have joined us. We're excited to bring up the tail end of the Black/Sollis/Muir baby boom.

Elsa Violet Black

May 21, 2008

Boston Reed Muir

June 8, 2008

Bradon Jacob Hepworth

June 19, 2008

Grace Elsie Black

July 7, 2008

Kayson Sollis Lundeberg

July 16, 2008

Avery Samantha Muir

August 13, 2008

Baby Sollis

Due: October 10, 2008

Six Years

So glad this stud muffin

decided to marry this goober.

I am seriously one lucky woman.

Happy Anniversary, Babe. I love you.

We have big mouths.

Happy Birthday to me.

For my birthday Jeff and I had a night out on the town. We actually found a babysitter (thanks Valerie!) and headed out for a movie and dinner. It sounds like a pretty boring birthday date, but I was practically giddy with excitment at the prospect of sitting, uninterrupted, for two hours to watch a movie and to eat a really good meal.

We saw Batman, which we liked, but I couldn't get over the fact that there was a little family a few seats down with a couple of kids probably eight or nine years old. What were they thinking! I will probably have nightmares from that movie. Poor kids! I kept thinking, "That mother needs to get these kids out of here!"

We ate dinner at Bonefish. It was SO good. The Bang Bang Shrimp appetizer is my favorite. We went all out and got dessert too. Amazing. Homemade brownie rolled in toasted nuts with ice cream, whipped cream, and raspberry sauce. I should have taken a picture. It was that good.

The night before my birthday Jeff brought home a cake so that Anna could participate in some candle blowing. She is really into birthdays and is always pretending to have parties and walks around singing Happy Birthday. She was so excited to have a real celebration to take part in. While Jeff prepared the cake she ran around the house yelling, "It's a celebration! It's a celebration!" Jeff did a good job with the picture taking. If you cut these pictures out and stapled them together, you'd have a pretty awesome flip book.

So cute.

Before Anna was born, I for sure wanted a boy. I think since I had older brothers it just seemed natural and the right way to start a family. Luckily Anna came along and our family started with a beautiful little girl. I have LOVED it! I love everything about having a girl. I love the pink, the dress up stuff, the clothes, the innate sense of caring and nurturing that she has. So when we originally thought we'd be having another girl I was thrilled. I had visions of two little princesses running around the house dancing, playing dolls, and all-in-all just being adorable.

It's been a little bit strange to change my thinking and imagine the new dynamic of adding a boy to the family. I am certainly excited, we've always wanted a boy at some point. But, to get to my point, it hasn't been until today that I've really been excited about having a boy, and to be honest, about having another one in general.

Today I decided to organize what boy stuff I've accumulated in the last few weeks as well as pull out any usable baby clothes from Anna's old stash. Anna was playing with her toys, but started to get really interested in what I was doing. She ended up looking through most of the clothes with me and exclaiming, "Oh mom, it's so cuuuute," and "oh, look at this little sweet one." I was just tickled by her interest. We then pulled out some of her old receiving blankets and wrapped up her baby dolls. I showed her how to swaddle them and we talked about how we'll wrap up baby brother when he comes. She spent the next half hour caring for "baby brodder." She put him to bed, read stories, and unwrapped and re wrapped her baby doll in blankets.

How could I not be excited for the future dynamic of our family after that?! Anna will be a great big sister and I'm (finally) looking forward to holding that new little baby boy in my arms.

PS I don't want you to get the idea I haven't wanted to have this baby, but it's been hard for me to focus on anything other than the added stress of having another one. I've in general been struggling with an "how in the heck am I going to handle having TWO children" attitude. (Please see "Confessions of a Slacker Mom" post below.) I'm not exactly super mom (who is really?) so I've been a bit of a scaredy cat in that department. Despite that, I feel blessed to be pregnant.

Summer Fun

I love summer. I love all the different things we can get out and do. It's great to be able to plan lots of different activities for Anna and I to while being able to get out of the house.


Swimming at The Bay. One of the cities nearby has a mini-water park. It's perfect for school aged kids and younger. There is a perfect toddler pool with water slides that Anna can do all by herself. We will definitely be visiting again.

Anna loves the zoo. When we get home the rest of the day is usually spent "playtending" zoo. Our house is full of peacocks, sea lions, and elephants. It's fun to watch Anna's imagination inspired.

The "yiddle pool" as Anna calls it, is usually a once-a-day (sometimes twice) ritual. I bought this
blow up pool and Anna can't get enough of it. It's awesome for me too, because unlike the big pool in our complex, I can just grab a lawn chair, sit in the shade, and read a book while Anna splashes and plays. Best five bucks I've spent all summer.

Disclaimer: Anna usually has a swimsuit on when swimming, but I just love this pic and it happened to be after she decided she wanted to swim fully clothed. After about two minutes of annoyance, I stripped her down and let her splash for a little while. It was all worth this look on her face. Pure joy for me.

Popsicles are becoming an staple in our house. Anna is mastering the art of manipulation in order to eat them. For example, after lunch she'll run up and say, "Oh mom, I ate my lunch so good, now I can have a 'sicle!" or randomly, "Oh mom, member the 'sicles? That'd be a good idea." Hard to resist. I especially love root beer.