Just Plain Cute...

Jake and Annika enjoyed the nice weather by playing together outside. Jake thinks he's pretty big stuff now that he can trace Annika with chalk -- just like the big kids!

The Madness Begins

Just more than an hour until the chaos of March Madness begins. Like last year, I got everyone in the family to fill out a bracket, except for Jake. Annika and Abby both comprehend the idea that higher seeds are supposedly the better teams, so their brackets are more or less sensible (Annika pretty much filled out her own). I couldn't come up with a way to get Jake to pick winners without it just pretty much being the same as flipping a coin. So, here are the family's Final Fours:

Abby: Butler over Michigan State, Notre Dame over Kentucky; Butler over ND in the final (she had Butler winning last year too)

Annika: Kansas over Butler, Villanova over Kentucky; Kansas over Villanova (the girls both have a thing for Butler)

Lisa: Syracuse over Ohio State, Kentucky over Baylor; Syracuse over Kentucky

Me: Kansas over Syracuse, West Virginia over Baylor; West Virginia over Kansas

As much as I'm a sports fan, I don't pay much attention to the regular season of college basketball - I'm aware of what's going on and generally know who's good this year and how the Michigan teams are doing, but I don't make a point of watching games on TV and thus don't have much to base my picks on other than the musings of sports radio personalities. I wasn't even sure if Notre Dame was in the tournament until a few days after the bracket came out. I had considered picking Kansas or Syracuse to win the tournament, but I chose West Virginia so the whole family had different winners. All of our brackets are entered on ESPN.com, so we'll see who does better (and then I filled out a bunch more just for fun). I'm actually hoping for Kansas vs. Kansas State and Duke vs. Kentucky in the Final Four, which sounds cool and could happen (as opposed to a Michigan State-Notre Dame final). Let the games begin!

Body Growths

The other day Jake and I were playing catch in the family room with a hacky sack. At one point I stuffed it down his shirt and we laughed at how it stuck out from underneath. He took it out and then put it down my shirt. It came to rest on my stomach, and pointing out the big lump it made I said "It might be a tumor." Jake responded, so appropriately and emphatically, "It's NOT a tumor!" He only needed a Schwarzeneggaran accent to go with it.

Monkey See...

Tonight Annika and Abby started playing a game that would best be called "Old Blind Beggar Woman." Annika had on a pair of sunglasses, a "walking stick" (which was one of those sticks that you turn to make your blinds open and close) and a plastic dish. She felt her way around the house with the stick, talked in an "old woman" voice and asked for money. Abby would oblige her with some coins, Annika would thank the "young man" for his generosity, and then Abby would correct her and say that she was a girl. I was trying to decide if this was really something appropriate to be playing, but eventually they quit and went upstairs to cause some ruckus up there.

A little while later Jake came and asked me to put the sunglasses on him. I didn't notice that he had the stick and the dish with him until he went over to the living room, sat down and called "Annika! Abby! Give me money!"

I gave him a few coins, and eventually his sisters came down and helped out poor beggar Jake. No one ever got chastised for it. Oh well.

Sick: Part Two

Today we took Jake in to see the doctor. Our pediatrician has Sat. morning hours by appt. only and it just so happened that our doctor was the one working today. He took one look at Jake and said it was the worst case of conjunctivitis he had ever seen! He was sure Jake would have a nice ear infection to go with all the snot coming out of his nose and eyes but happily he did not! He put Jake on some oral antibiotics due to the severity of his case and the fact that he probably had other stuff going on we just couldn't see (with sinuses and stuff). Jake took his first dose at 1:00 and already, less that six hours later, we're seeing a huge difference! The eye gunk has slowed way down, he's eating, and he's much happier! Praise the Lord for wonderful doctors, weekend hours, and medicine that brings about healing! I think we'll still pass on nursery for tomorrow just to be safe but I suspect by Monday we'll have a whole new kid!

Not For The Faint of Heart

This week Jake apparently picked up a cold. Unfortunately, it has settled in his eyes. There is nothing we can do about it except to try to clean his eyes and wait it out. Below are pictures of a little boy that only a mother (or grandmother!) could love.


Mike's addition from work: I had suggested that we not post these pictures since it's so gross, but since they're up, make sure you click on the photos (especially the first one) for the full disgusting effect.

Bedtime Prayers

We typically lead Jacob in his bedtime prayers - we start with "Now I lay me" and he finishes with "down to sleep," and then we continue like that. After finishing that traditional prayer we say "God bless..." and then list our family members, relatives, etc. Last night he started goofing around during that part, just throwing in an "amen" here and there. I chuckled a bit. Tonight, we hardly made it through anything - it started with "Now I lay me...amen!" We eventually made it past that, but on the third line I started with "Watch me as I..." and rather than saying "run and play" Jake said "run and dude!" I tried it a few more times, but he wouldn't let the "dude" go, and I was laughing too much, so after we did "God bless...amen!" I just said good night. So, yep, he's got the silly gene.