Caught

Big girl. Little guy. Fast crawler. Longer legs. Caught. Belly laughs.

Roger that.

I'm absolutely going to steal Devra's clever response to an impatient child. When Ellis asks for something Devra says "Standby." She's teaching Ellis to say "Roger that." They did this a couple times today & it cracked me up. Devra is NEVER short on clever words. The girl seriously makes me smile & often.

This morning we hooked up with the kids. You can't see Cara but she was there too. You can't see me either but I'm there. Promise. I have to say that for myself this is a rare sighting. We have three toddlers & one infant in relatively calm dispositions all at once. Devra was reading about Noah & the girls were surprisingly engaged. They also played so well together all morning. Ellis received a cool play house for her birthday. With a little intervention they all three enjoyed a tea party. And get this. The adults were able to exchange words in full sentences among themselves.

I'm home.

Yesterday Luka & I were in the bedroom where I was taking some pictures. I snapped this just as Tata came home & walked into the room. Luka lights up for his Tata.

Celebrating Ellis & Africa!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Ellis! The celebration rocked with live African music. Even the special people in Ellis' life dressed in cool African clothes. The musical group, Boitumelo, got the kids involved in singing, dancing and instrument playing. The vocalist also had individual children come forward & point to their favorite animal. Ellis picked the monkey. I was shocked when Danijela was called upon & walked to the front by herself (she picked the elephant). Our girl doesn't do well in big crowds. She typically sticks close to Tata & Mama so I was thrilled when she stepped out of her comfort zone. I hope to see this happen more.

Window Washer

That's our boy! I plead guilty to allowing him to lick the apartment windows. There's no telling what is now roaming through his body.

Showered

Jennifer hosted a baby shower for Melanie a couple weeks ago. I'm not sure what drug she was on when she had the thought I might be of help. I'm the least 'Martha Stewart' person I know. Seriously inept. I've failed to post because I've been waiting for time to put it together. I'm still waiting by the way. So here are a few pictures from the morning. Hang in there, Mel. You are in the home stretch. I plan to post images of the actual people that were there too!

Two Things

#1) Told you it was going to be BLUE! You may not have believed me, but here's proof. It was a little shocking for me at first, but I do like it. We're still working on the trim color, but either way you slice it the house is some serious blue. I'm sure the neighbors are talking.

#2) My parents gave us their Toyota Camry! Like our Honda Civic it's 10 years old. It, however, hasn't been wrapped around a tree or had any hit-and-runs. Adjusting the mirrors doesn't cause all the doors to lock either. Oh, and it doesn't make any random hissing or grinding noises. Another cool fact is the Camry has 30K less miles on it. How cool is that? Our family of four now has more room & we are incredibly grateful for this gift. THANK YOU!

Slow

I am slow at posting because I'm much more a picture person than words. Time continues to be elusive though. Plus I've been taking & learning about camera RAW images. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to this type of thing & I'm driving myself crazy. I don't know much about digital cameras & files. My limited experience is with black & white film. In college I could easily spend 8 hours in a darkroom without blinking. This digital world is pretty new to me so I have a lot to learn. I have quite a few things to post about so keep your eyes open.

Martin Luther King

Danijela participated in her first Martin Luther King Day march in Austin yesterday. Margaret is home schooling her children & has been educating them on Martin Luther King. They planned to participate in the march yesterday. The only problem was the freezing cold weather & rain. Margaret hesitated going but Andi really wanted to go. Margaret, Poppy, Andi, Sam & Danijela got all bundled up & headed out. I hung back with Luka.

Standing

Luka is pulling up & standing at times for a few seconds. He is a willful little bugger too. He can smile from ear to ear & melt your heart. However, when that boy doesn't get what he wants you know it pretty quickly. He is also very fond of his Tata & Mama. He crawls incredibly fast when he sees us in the distance. Oh, he is also getting two more teeth. If anyone is counting we have 7 now.

Zoo

Bite Me

Man, I love this picture. I took it with Sundee's fabulous new camera yesterday at her house. This is picture perfect Luka. You get to finally see how he squishes up his face. You also see evidence of his dimples. And you finally get to see his teeth. I, unfortunately, get to feel them.

Boot Camp

This was the weekend we finally potty trained Danijela. It has been a long time coming. I had the best of intentions when I found out I was pregnant with Luka. Then he arrived & it just lost its urgency. Some friends in the hood used the 3-day potty training method recently & it actually worked for us. However, you have to understand that Danijela was pretty close to being trained in many ways. It was just a matter of "putting a foot down" & doing it.

The entire weekend Danijela & I stayed home together while Tata cared for Luka. We rented Cinderella, painted our fingernails & toenails, drank lemonade, played house (I was baby Luka) & generally clung to each other. The first day she had one pee accident (on the couch!). Today, day three, she had a pee accident during her "nap". I use the word "nap" loosely. Girl is about to kick it. I believe she actually called to me when she was about to go & I just didn't get it. I had been struggling with her actually falling asleep for an hour. My bad.

Tomorrow we enter the real world where we venture out. She has Mother's Day Out. This will be the real test of how the potty training has stuck. I'll let you know.

House

I haven't spent any significant time at the house in weeks with the holidays & random sickness. This is a shot from the street. The electrical & pluming are complete. Most of the siding is up. All the windows are installed. Some drywall has been hung. The framing inspection should take place this week & then all the walls can be closed. We anticipate being in the house by March or April.