Sea Monkeys in Love

It's not been a super exciting week around here, but we have had our fill of Sea Monkey romance. Chloe was given a Sea Monkey kit for Christmas, and we finally set it up a month or so ago. At first I thought I had killed them all, but there were a couple survivors, which have now grown to about 1/2 inch long. Apparently, at that length, they become grown up Sea Monkeys, and they are pretty much attached at the Sea Monkey hip all the time now (see above picture). The first time they separated, the female just kind of hovered in the water, looking as exhausted as a brine shrimp can, and the male just swam in frantic circles. I guess he was pretty pleased with himself. And those white flecks in the water? Those are babies. We now have second generation Sea Monkeys in our tank. I'm curious to see how long the branches of our family tree get.

How cute is this little Addelicious? And this picture totally reminds me of Chloe, who spent a lot of time at this age sitting or standing in a pot. Addie is climbing into and over everything she can at this point. I've caught her standing a little bit more, for just seconds at a time. I was looking at the little boys close to her age at church, who are both walking, and realized how much more grown up they look. I'll miss my little baby as she becomes a toddler. She got her first dunk in a bucket this week. We went out to swim, and much to my chagrin, when I took the solar cover off (which is amazing), I discovered that the water was green. Super. More pool maintainance. If Chloe starts spouting a specific swear word in the next couple days, I'll know exactly when and where she heard it. But anyway, the girls were ready for a swim, so they took a little bucket swim. Addie just danced up and down, dunking herself up to the eyes, then diving right back in. She just loves water.

As does her pirate sister. This is Chloe at Parkeroni's birthday party. Aahhrrr. My favorite Chloeisms this week have been her prayers.

"Dear Heavenly Father. Thank you for day. I play toys. Row, row row your boat. Gently down the Stream. Merrily, merrily, Jesus Christ, Amen."

"Dear Heavenly Father. I play Joshie. Help me sleep well. 'Lead me, guide me, walk beside me.' Jesus Christ, Amen." (For the non-LDS, she started quoting a song called 'I am a Child of God' from church.)

Typically, we've had to fight with her to get her to pray at meals, but just this week, when we ask she says, "All right." and immediately prays. I wish I could understandthe thought processes that overnight change her whole attitude.

And a note to all of you girls in your child bearing years. For the last month I've been really lethargic, and kind of depressed. I thought it was largely to do with a situation a friend is going through that I've really taken to heart. However, I was also noticing that I was really achy all the time. Whenever I would get up or move after being stationary for a while, my legs would just hurt. I finally took a look at the random bruising on my legs, realized I hadn't taken any vitamins in a while, and added it up that I had become quite anemic. I immediately started downing the iron supplements, and feel so much better. As long as I keep taking lots of fiber also. Dang constipating iron. But anyway. Since I give blood regularly, I know I'm often borderline on my hemoglobin levels. When I was pregnant with Addie, I got really tired at one point, and as soon as I upped my iron, I felt much more energetic. I just had no idea how quickly I could feel so badly. So ladies--keep your iron intake up. And if you're feeling exhausted and don't know why, try some iron. It can make a huge difference.