I've Moved!

Well, I finally have decided to move over to Blogger. It's just much, much easier for everyone to view and make comments. Seeing as I enjoy having a comment or two, blogging on MSN was becoming a drag. Thank you to those of you who made it through and commented from time to time. I know it wasn't easy, but it was appreciated. Comments are motivation, at least for me.

So, what have we been up to? I blogged about Chad and Heidi's visit (very nice) and our trip to Essex, Connecticut to experience "Day Out With Thomas". Josiah continues to ask me to go and visit Thomas. He's even gone so far as to go and get his shoes and bring them to me, then inform me "Let's go see Thomas!". It's so hard to explain to him that seeing Thomas "in the flesh" like that was a one time only deal. Well, at least for this year, anyway. His passion for all things Thomas doesn't seem to wane. He's upstairs right now, playing with a newly fabricated track set up.

Josiah continues to take swimming lessons, though we finked out last Tuesday because I was tired and we had company. Hans and Annika accompanied us to our lesson last night. Attendance by other babies has increased dramatically. At the first lesson four weeks ago, Josiah was the only one there (it unfortunately coincided with Halloween), now there are four or five babies there. One little girl is only a week older than Annika. I don't really consider taking her in just yet--that poor little girl looks so small and cold every week. We'll wait a little longer for Miss Annika's first swimming lesson. Josiah is doing great, though he'll do some things one week and then not the next week, for instance: jumping off the side of the pool into my arms. He did it at the last lesson, with gusto, but this week he absolutely refused to do it. I'm just glad that he doesn't seem to be afraid of the water.

Went and picked up Christmas pictures today. We had them done at Target, which was a mistake. I mean, the pictures are very cute, but how could they not be? Josiah and Annika are hard to mess up! We did take one family picture. Needless to say, neither Hans nor I are pleased with the results. Hans has his usual pained "picture-taking" expression on and I had had my eyebrows waxed the day before and was sporting a poorly disguised wax burn above one of my eyes (don't let the aesthetician tell you that their wax won't burn you). I knew that it was a bad burn when I woke up the next morning and could see my under-eyebrow skin jutting out--it was swollen. OK, so the bottom line is: Josiah and Annika, cute. Their parents, not so much.

The whole picture-taking experience at Target was not fun. The place was short-staffed, so the lone woman on duty was manning the desk, the phones and taking the pictures. She hustled us into the room, shoved us in front of a backdrop, click, click, click (all the while cracking the whip over our heads), shoved us out in front of the computer, hurry, hurry and pick out which pictures you want while I click through them at a mind-blurring rate.

I had tried to talk Hans into letting us go to a "real" photographer, but no. We ended up at Target and while I usually can't say enough good things about Target, I don't like their photo studio.

And of course, today they suckered me into buying the extra sheets with my package. I just cannot stand the thought of them throwing away my babies' pictures, sweeping them off the floor, putting them in the dustbin. It just tortures me.

Annie and I went alone today to pick them up, then we cruised the store for a little while. You should have seen her eyes when we started down the aisles of Christmas trees and decorations. All the shiny bells, icicles, snowflakes. Miniature trees made of feathers. Marabou ribbons for gift wrapping. Jingle bells on everything. She was absolutely entranced.

I am just so much in the Christmas spirit this year. Maybe it's being in Rhode Island...New England just feels Christmasy for some reason. Maybe it's our little old house, with its porch begging to be covered in lights, and the mantels and balustrades decked with evergreen. Maybe it's the fact that Josiah is really, really going to enjoy this Christmas. I was thinking that it's been a long time since we had a Christmas that required assembly and batteries--a Christmas with kids around. This year, we will have four babies at Mom and Dad's. I can hardly wait.