Michael can ...

almost walk now!! I've been kind of waiting to update the blog until I could announce the big news, but Michael didn't feel compelled to hurry up with this developmental milestone just so that I have something to write about. He is standing up by himself though and takes up to 10 little steps before he realizes that he isn't steady on his feet and falls back to crawling. It's just a matter of time now before he is up and running for good. In the meantime he seems to be content practicing another newly acquired skill: climbing the couch and - if Mama and Daddy aren't looking - the coffee table.

We celebrated his first birthday with lots of friends at our house, it's nice that everybody has the day off that day. He was being really good and enjoyed all his presents, especially the ones that light up and play music.

Michael also got a thumbs up from the doctor at his 12 months checkup. He weighed 21 pounds and measured 32 1/2 inches. That places him in the 25 percentile for weight and the 97 percentile for height.

Joe finished his first math class with an "A" and is preparing to get a new set of students at work. We all enjoyed his week off very much . We went to Atlanta for three days where we visited among other things the big Aquarium. In fact, Joe enjoyed his leave so much that he can't wait until Annika gets here and he can take some more leave. In the meantime he is having fun riding his new motorcycle! It seems to be the greatest bike in the world (I have to rely on his opinion, since - as you all know - I don't know anything about motorcycles) and he wishes he had bought it years ago.

Annika is growing and thriving and impressing Mama and Daddy with her exercises. Obviously we don't know exactly what she is doing in there, but when she is moving my belly looks like she is climbing up the walls and then practicing high diving; pirouettes etc. included. She hardly ever holds still, and her hiccups tell me that she is head up one day and head down the other. You'd think it's getting too tight for her in there at some point. But so far Mama's intestines are the only ones to give in.

Accordingly, my discomfort level is higher than with Michael at this point in pregnancy, I'm tired most of the time and my bones hurt. Last weekend I had a hormonal surge which caused me to absolutely need a new haircut right now. Well, for the future I know that in such cases it's better to sit back and eat some icecream instead of hurrying to JC Penny's and getting my hair cut by an Alabamian blonde named Belinda who puts on her glasses to look at the sample picture after (!) she had started cutting. Let's just say my hair is quite short now, which wouldn't too bad, if it at least was a good cut. Oh well. It's going to grow out again...

That's about it for now. Hope everybody is well. Will post again soon.