I have a shit-ton of work to do, and finding the motivation hard to muster. These days Livejournal is more like the next-to-last procrastination item, where a couple of years ago it may have been the first website I fingered.

Annika is growing like a little weed, and now that she’ s walking with confidence it’s no holds-barred. I’m loving this age – much more so than babyhood, although when she’s clawing at my knees to be picked up for the thousandth time while I’m trying to cook dinner, I do occasionally miss her less mobile and more cuddly times. Not that she’s ever been particularly cuddly outside of sleeptimes – there are too many things to see when she’s awake.  She’s verbalizing tremendously, with some words being recognizable. Daddy and Mama, of course, but also “Duck”.

I never posted the movie I made for her first birthday here, so I shall do so:

From Desktop

You’ll need to click on it to see the actual movie, stupid Picasa. I had a lot of fun putting it together.

Also here’s a picture of the cupcake cake we made for her. Well, we got the green cupcakes from Wegmans, and made the head and iced it ourselves.

From Annika Birthday

If you don’t recognize it, it’s the very hungry caterpillar.   We had a reading theme, so we decorated the place with book worms and little ducks that had books, and we asked family (thats really who the party was for) to bring books that meant something to them when they were younger. Jay and Jen got us a bookcase with books for every year up to age 13. Nobody got her my favorite book of all time – The Phantom Tollbooth – so that’ll be a special one from Daddy.

We’re settling into the house, although there are some nagging things that I want to do. After getting our first full gas bill (!!!) and waiting for the shock of the electric bill to come, I’m making some weatherproofing a priority. A couple of the rooms are obvious problems,although I havent yet been able to find exactly where I can caulk/insulate to help. Did the obvious things (like putting outlet covers , weatherstripping, door sweeps, and that sort of thing), but I know there’s more to be done.  It’s a big house and I expect to pay more than we did in heating and cooling, but GEEZ-US.