Sunday evening post

Have I ever mentioned how thankful I am for our balcony? I don't think I could mention it enough, really! I am SO thankful for our balcony! It's been getting a lot of use this summer. Not only do I enjoy hanging our laundry there to dry, but the kids have been playing out there quite a bit. The other morning, I put a blanket on the floor, and the kids did some school work out there. It was so stuffy in our apartment, but out there, the air was so fresh and cool.

Yesterday, I found some chalk and the kids have been enjoying making the balcony a bit more 'colorful'.

Just recently, we conveniently misplaced Micah's pacifier. So, he began having to go to sleep without it. There were a few tears, but he quickly got over it. When he'd ask for it, I'd tell him that he's a big boy now and doesn't need it anymore. He would then just smile real big. Whenever I did find it then, I quickly hid it in the trash can. Yippee! Micah is pacifier-free! Hmmm... just makes me wonder about our thumb-sucking H & H. You can't conveniently misplace thumbs!

The other day we were outside playing when a little girl came up to join us. I introduced Micah to her as "Misha", as that's what the people here call him as it's a more familiar name to them. Well, Micah turned to me and with the most offended and confused look on his face he said, "mommy, I'm not Misha, I'm Micah!" I laughed so hard.

Speaking of Micah, he's starting to talk more and more. It can be quite funny at times. His new favorite expression is, "mommy, listen to me!" I think we need to work on the "please" and tone of voice with that one.

We are planning on starting to feed H & H solids soon. (They have only been breastfed up until this point.) I've been having fun getting some baby foods ready for them. So far, I have a big bag full of butternut squash cubes in our freezer, as well as some avocado cubes. (I froze the pureed squash and avocado in an ice cube tray. Yes, I was thrilled to find avocado here!) I also found some green split peas, and will make some pureed prunes soon as well. Hopefully they like all these foods!

Have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy nursing H & H together at the same time? I didn't enjoy it so much in the beginning, and would nurse them separately. But since coming back here, I've been nursing them together, and it's wonderful! Not only does it save me quite a bit of time, but it's fun watching them as they eat together. They often will hold each others hands or play with one another's ears while nursing. So cute.

H & H are not yet crawling, but they sure are starting to move all around!

Where are Hanna and Heidi?

They're not on their blanket!

Oh, there's Hanna!

And there's Heidi!

Last Monday, our hot water was turned off, most likely for several weeks while they fix/clean all the pipes in the city. So, we've been boiling lots of water for baths and washing dishes. We save quite a bit of water during these weeks, but use a lot more electricity.

On Wednesday, unexpectedly, our cold water was also turned off. No running water for 8 hours makes one really appreciate the luxury that it is to have it! We sure were glad when it came back on, and I spent the evening washing dishes, FLUSHING THE TOILET (yuck, yuck, yuck), cleaning the apartment, and filling all of our water bottles, buckets, pots, etc. in case it would be turned off again the next day. Thankfully, the cold water was not turned off again... yet. :)

I had to have 'an attitude check' during the time we had no water. I was quite grumpy about it. Bad me. Poor kids. Poor husband.

We have been doing some renovating in our apartment and will be continuing to do so in the next couple of months. In several weeks, we hope to have our wooden windows replaced with plastic ones. (Hopefully these will let in less cold air in the winter, as well as less soot from all of the coal which heats the city.) Once we have new windows, we want to paint everything. As you can probably tell in some of our photos, we have wall paper missing on walls, and the wall paper that's there is covered in soot from enduring several winters. Plus, the present wall paper, which was here when we came, is just a bit 'busy' for us. We are looking forward to making this place a bit more 'homey' and more of our style... whatever that is. :)

Oh, and congratulations Germany on getting the bronze in the 2010 world cup! It would have been great to have seen you go all the way, but maybe next time. :)