If You Live in Alaska, Go Ahead and Laugh

Okay, I admit it.... I'm full-on crazy jealous of my friends in Anchorage right now, because it is freaking gross hot here, and will continue to be so for a few days. Yesterday, on the first day of the heat wave, when it hadn't gotten hot in the house yet, I was feeling all green (ecologically-minded, not nauseated) and was like, "Oh, let's not put in the air conditioners this year. It's not that bad! The house is shaded!" But today, I'm feeling more like punishing the environment, because it started being mean to me first, so the ACs are in. Plus Soren is running a little fever, so we should probably be nice to him.

My poor little guy -- all he wants to do is sit on the couch and watch me play Mario Kart. Chris will get extra Father's Day props this year, because he's been doing things like washing the deck and fixing the bulkhead out in this heat, and I'm somehow taking care of Soren by playing video games. I'm sure it will all even out somehow as I get progressively larger this summer and suffer terribly as I carry his unborn child, but for now, Chris is the hero. Go Chris! You rock!

Someone... Doesn't Get It

A bumper sticker I saw recently:

"Don't Blame Me - I Voted for Nader"

I'm kind of surprised the sticker was still intact.

Happy Birthday to Soren!!!!!

Our big boy turned two today! We've had a couple parties for him, and there's been a steady flow of presents coming in for the past couple weeks, so I think the end of the birthday season might be a little tough on the poor guy, but he's had a great time. Grammy and Grampy Anderson visited over Memorial Day weekend, and the Pressers (Chris' aunt + uncle + cousins) joined us for party number one, and then a bunch of our friends came over yesterday for party number two. There was cake both times, and lots of Cornhole.



And babies with fake mustaches.



For the actual big day, we went to a lovely garden with the local moms' Meetup group this morning and enjoyed the fine weather, and then got some ice cream with our friends Renee and Ian. Soren and Ian are pretty cute together.



Soren thought is was a perfect day to show off his birthday belly.



Happy birthday, Soren! We love you!

Hottt

Every time I open the bathroom cabinet, I see this and think: My god, that's sexy.

You're Invited....

To my pity party! Please bring food.

To date during this pregnancy, I have had one bout of stomach flu and three colds, thanks to my little resident vector, Soren. Cold number 3 came on last night. I would like to not be sick any more. When I was pregnant with Soren, I was freaking bulletproof. Chris got the flu, and I didn't get it. I didn't get one single cold. Those were the days.

OK, now that we've gotten the first part of the pity party out of the way, I would like to talk about a particular pregnancy side effect known as "cravings". Doesn't sound so bad, right? Like, "Hey, I could really go for some pickles and cream cheese about now -- I wonder if we have either of those things around?" Somehow, the word "craving" lacks a certain.... time-sensitivity. And acuteness. I think a more accurate term would be "Immediate, all-consuming need which cannot be satisfied by anything else". If I find myself wanting a pickle, I don't kind of want it sometime in the future. I require that a pickle be delivered unto me NOW. Except it isn't pickles, it's ravioli at 10 AM, or a cheese and avocado sandwich with mayonnaise in the afternoon, or a bowl of white rice with tomatoes at 10 PM. The other night, I needed nachos at 10 PM. I tried to talk myself into having a bowl of cereal instead, because it seemed so much more wholesome. So I ate the cereal, and it didn't work. The Deuce was not fooled. And so I had to have nachos ALSO. The lesson: don't try to get around the craving, because you'll end up eating twice as much as you really needed to, and you should really be pacing yourself, keeping in mind the 50+ pounds you gained last time you were pregnant.

I also have this problem where I can't drink water, because it's gross. Maybe not gross, exactly, but definitely not quite right. It makes me feel hungrier, if that's possible. It's like my body expects everything it ingests to have calories, and water violates that rule. So I've been drinking Gatorade for a few weeks, but now it just tastes too... red, so I recently switched over to lemonade. Iced tea is also acceptable, as long as there's a tablespoon of sugar in it. Honestly, I'm a big fan of drinking plain water all day, so it pains me to have to drink sugar water instead, but The Deuce has spoken.

So, anyway, the theme of my pity party today is colds and cravings. Also, it is my birthday and Chris had to go to Alaska for business this morning. He had to leave at 4:30 AM, so maybe he's been punished enough, but I thought I'd bring it up. Well, OK, I found two very sweet cards from each of my men this morning when I woke up, so that was a good birthday surprise. Maybe I'll go out and get a sandwich to celebrate. I already had cereal and ravioli this morning, but that was more than an hour ago!

New Title, Same Pay

Since Soren joined the Anderson family, he has risen effortlessly through the ranks from Competent Newborn to his current role as Vice Toddler. As his two-year performance review approaches, we are proud to announce that Soren is being promoted again, this time to the position of Chief Big Brother.

The newest member of his department, so far known as "The Deuce," is still in training, and will be joining us full-time at the end of November.



Hooray for the "big budda"!

The Good Host

Soren showed off his hospitality and conversation skills yesterday! We were just getting home from daycare when our neighbor, Mrs. Moon, came by to give Soren a present -- a copy of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Soren was understandably pleased to get a present, and decided to reciprocate: "Mrs. Moon come-a Soren's house!" So we invited Mrs. Moon in, and after a quick tour of his toy collection ("That's a truck!") and a request for a snack ("Mama, I need raisins! ....please!"), he patted the couch and said, "Mrs. Moon! Sit-you right here," (I love it when he says "sit-you") and then offered her a blanket. She asked if he would like her to read his new book, to which the answer was "Oh! Okay!" He listened attentively and occasionally held up a raisin: "That's a big raisin!"

For the rest of the evening, he was saying "Trip trap trip trap! Who's crossing over my bridge? That's Mama's bridge!" I hope that doesn't mean he thinks I'm a troll.