This afternoon went smoothly too. Rosemary, Jack, Liv and Leif all napped for 2 1/2 hours. I ended up waking up Liv and Leif so we could all go outside because the rest of the kids were getting restless.

Liisa (4), Jack, Leif, Liv(4) and Rosemary

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It ended up being a really nice day. I knew the forecast from a week ago that said rain was bogus.

Jack and Brooke just finished with dinner as Barb's working late. I'm waiting on Jared to bring me my dinner as I'm done cooking for the day :o)

Today's been going pretty smoothly so far. Jack, Rosemary and I were outside when Brooke and my cousins got here at 10. We played outside for a bit and then came in to get ready for lunch. Lunch went well. Naps started out kind of tricky but are going good now. Jack's in our bed, Rosemary's in Jack's bed, Liv and Leif are in the spare room and Lucia, Liisa and Brooke are having quiet time in the living room. We'll all go back outside once all the kids are up. Lizzie's not coming now but Charlotte will be here at 3:30.

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 Today's the day that I have 8 kids coming over. Lizzie and Charlotte aren't here until the afternoon but I'll have 6 kids in addition to Jack for the better part of the day. So naturally Jack decided last night was a good night to attempt an all night tantrum fest. We took turns dealing with him for like an hour and a half and then Jared fell asleep in there with him and that was the last we heard of him. Booger.

I'm making mac n cheese w/ cut up turkey dogs for lunch. I already cut up a package of turkey dogs and peeled several oranges. Thank you Warren for all the fruit!!!!!!! I even have enough chairs/booster seats/highchairs all set up around the table so they can all eat together. 

The forecast for today still doesn't include rain. Hallelujah!!!! 

Jack likes his new fort....aka "Jack's house". Thank you Lori and Rob!!!

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The double stroller that Jared brought home is in great shape! I'm pretty excited to not have to worry about getting one of those now.

We watched ANTM. I kind of think Anya is going to win but I can't see her doing Cover Girl commercials with her ridonkulous accent. I'm glad Dominique is finally gone. Nice how they acted like they were getting rid of her because she looks like a tranny. Um....she has the whole time.

I can't belive what a sucker Erik is on Survivor. That dude will fall for anything!

We all took nice long naps yesterday afternoon so that was good. Jack and Brooke played with his dumptruck and police car in the driveway for a bit in the afternoon. Rob, Barb and Brooke were all coming/staying for dinner.

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Jack slept all night. We swapped the humidifier in his room with the super noisy air purifier from the spare room. Some nights I know he only wakes up because he hear's me go the bathroom and our house is really creaky.

Tonight Jared is bringing home one of those Little Tikes play house things and a double stroller from a woman he works with! I'm pretty excited.

I have Brooke and Lizzie all day today and Charlotte this afternoon. It's not supposed to rain so we'll be outside for sure. Barb was going to send a teeter-totter thing with Brooke. She's also getting us discount tickets for Underwater World for Sunday! :O)

The forecast for tomorrow no longer says rain. YAY!! I'll be able to have all the kids outside.

Jack's been sleeping on the chaise for an hour and a half now. He didn't even wake up when Daisy was barking when Brooke got here. 

He's big into putting things to bed lately. He takes his little Elmo blanket that my mom made for him and will cover us up, or his Elmo, or his sippy or whatever and say "g'night....seep type!". He was following Jenky around this morning trying to cover him up and saying "g'night....seep type!". 

Yesterday he slammed Jenky's tail in the porch door and Jenky yelped really loud and then took off with his tail all puffed out. I followed him and picked him up and was petting him. He lost a huge chunk of fur from his tail. I told Jack that he hurt Jenky. Then for like the next hour he was following Jenks around saying "I sorry Jenky!". It was really cute. 

We watched The Hills last night. What the hell is Lo's problem? She's being such a snot to Audrina!  Why is Stephanie such a pushover? I'd have kicked Spencer out a long time ago. I can't believe he's going to go to Vegas and crash Heidi's business meeting. What a tool.

We watched Beauty and the Geek too. I'm so glad Joe's gone. Seriously...why did he talk with his eyes closed so much??? Hey Napoleon Dynamite....open yer eyes! Such a weirdo. 

Hell's Kitchen was interesting. Matt is such a doofus. He needs to go. Rosann too. 

Lizzie and Charlotte aren't coming now. They're not feeling well so their mom is going to take them to the doc. 

Jack's up now....and crabby :/

 Last night sucked. It was the longest night since Jack was a baby. His new sleep routine has been working awesomely when it comes to putting him down for naps or putting him to bed. He lays right down, doesn't even try to get up, doesn't cry and we can leave the room while he's still awake and he goes right sleep. The problem is when/if he wakes up in the middle of the night. He's not getting the hang of putting himself back to sleep. A couple of times we've caved and brought him to bed and that's really biting us in the ass. The last few nights I haven't even sat in his room while trying to get him back to sleep. Just put him in bed until he stayed and then shhh'd him a bit and then left. It seems like the nights that we have sat in there with him.....waiting for him to fall asleep.....he doesn't. The slightest movement and he pops up to see if you're still there. One of the main reasons we're doing this is because I can't sleep in there with him anymore. Just sitting on the floor for long periods of time is hard for me too. I won't do it anymore. Problem is....Jared will. We're not doing the same things and the inconsistency is blowing the whole thing.  

Not to say that the reason this isn't working is Jared's fault. He's doing what we're supposed to do....sit in there and shhhh  him and verbally comfort him until he falls asleep. It's just that I can't do it. It takes too long and it's hard for me to sit/lay in there that long. That and the fact that he will go to sleep without us in the room at nap time and at bedtime....I think means he can handle doing it in the middle of the night as well. I was ready to step it up a notch so I did.

So last night Jack cried from 12-5 and I was determined to handle it myself so I never woke up Jared to take a turn at it. From 12-2:30 I went in and repeatedly put Jack in his bed until he stayed and then I left. A few times he was quiet for a few minutes but then would start to cry again when he realized I had left. The first time I let him cry 5 minutes, the next time about 7 and then 10 minutes. Then I went in there every 10 minutes until 2:30. He would not stay in his bed. He would not calm down. So from 2:30 until about 4:30 I only went in there maybe every half hour. This is major crying it out but I really feel like he's old enough to handle it. He needs to know I'm not going to cave. Everytime I went in he reached for me to pick him up and I know he was wanting me to just give in and bring him to bed with me and it was NOT going to happen. 

By 4:30 I was kind of delirious and not really sure how much of the crying was real, how often I went in there or how much I was just dreaming. By this point whenever I did fall asleep, I was dreaming about trying to get Jack to quit crying and go to bed so it's all a blur. There were definitely quiet times when for all I know he was sleeping on the floor in his room. I heard him at 6:20 and decided it was time to get up. I opened his door and he followed me back into the bedroom while I got dressed and asked to "nuggle Mama?". We snuggled for like a minute and he was dozing so I made us get up. He's exhausted so today will be trying I imagine. I just hope tonight if he wakes up, he realizes I'm still not going to cave.  

I got the living room dusted and vacuumed and the bathroom cleaned and the laundry started and bathed Jack and showered myself and put clothes away all before Brooke got here at 9:30. I'm awesome :P I got a nap today too while they napped. It was awesome until my brother called and ruined it :P

Jack started singing a new version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star the other day and it's so funny. I have no idea where he got it. He says "tinko tinko tinko little star....I wonder what you are!" all matter of factly...not in the same tune as the original or anything. He's not even really singing. It's so goofy. I had to encourage him a bit but finally got a video of it while he was wrestling with Brooke.

I didn't even really take any pics at the zoo. My mom wanted one of her and the kids on this turtle so then I decided to get one too. That's it :/

Thursday I'll be watching Lizzie all day now in addition to Brooke and Jack! Busy 2 days for me. I told Jared I want to go to the Mall of America and walk around and go to Underwater World for Mother's Day. I think Jack would LOVE Underwater World. I like to walk around the mall too. Not really shop there. It's too expensive. Jack would prolly really like to see Lego Land too and maybe go to Nickelodeon world. Mother's day and I wanna do all this stuff that's moreso for Jack :P

 Well today started way too early. Jack woke up at 5 and I just kept putting him back in his bed and he just kept getting out. Jared tried getting him back to sleep for a bit too and it just wasn't happening. He went to bed easily and didn't wake up at all before 5 but still....I wanted to sleep a bit later than that. 

Sunday we ended up going for a very short bike ride. Jack did not want to ride in the buggy at first but once we got going he was fine. My mom wanted us to meet her friend Dawn and her little redhead. I forgot the name but Dawn was the only one home when we got there. She's pregnant too and due in like 2 weeks. She asked if I'd be interested in watching her baby this fall for a few hours in the mornings! I said possibly :o)

Then we went to Rosemary's birthday party. It was fun but we weren't dressed warm enough. I think the temp dropped 10 degress on our way there. Fortunately I packed pants and a long sleeved shirt for Jack. He looked pretty cute in his new sandals. At first he hated them and cried and just stood there and wouldn't even walk in them. But then I kept saying how cool they were and he got over it. He was even running in them before long. He took a couple of diggers at the park and scraped up his knee a bit but he was fine. He was pretty excited about the little wiener dog at the party. He had fun running around with Rosemary and her cousin Grayson. 

Sunday night he slept pretty bad. He went to bed easily but woke up at 1 I think. I was trying to get him back to sleep for close to an hour and but it wasn't working. He just kept sitting up in bed and crying. He didn't try to get out of bed but still.....I think maybe he didn't feel good. Jared spent about an hour and a half trying after I did. It was a long night. 

Yesterday morning my mom and I took Jack and Brooke to Como Zoo. It was a really nice day but kind of chilly in the wind. Jack and I both got sun but probably could have brought sweatshirts. I'm not really on the ball with dressing appropriately these last few days. I was really wanting Jack to ride the carousel but it's closed on Mondays for repairs I guess :( We walked around the zoo for like 3 hours! Jack really liked it. We haven't been to the zoo since last fall. I was telling him yesterday morning all the animals we were going to see that day and I'm sure he thought I was talking about in his books or something and not in real life :P Once we got there and saw a real live pink flamingo he was like "whoa!". The wolves were right up the fence pacing and howling. That was pretty cool. The tiger was pacing and kind of close to the fence too. He really liked seeing the monkey's and the gorillas and one even had a baby! It was really cute. I really want to take him to the Minnesota Zoo soon because they have a lot more animals. That would be a lot more walking though. We'll see. 

We got home about 2 and all napped until almost 4. Jack wasn't ready for bed last night until like 10. Today we'll be napping earlier since we got up so freakin early. Hopefully Brooke will be ok with that. 

Friday my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Gerry from Hibbing have a funeral to go to so I'll be watching my 4 cousins in addition to Jack, Brooke and Rosemary. I'm not sure how late they'll be here. I'll also have Lizzie and Charlotte in the afternoon! I'm not sure about their ages but I think my cousin Lucia is 8, Liv and Liisa are 5, and Leif is a few months younger than Jack. I think it'll be fun for Jack to have a boy over to play with. The older girls will be a big help so I'm not worried about handling that many kids. They're not coming over until about 10:30/11 so that'll be right when we have lunch and then Jack, Rosemary and Leif will nap. The other 4 will have a quiet time in the living room and maybe we'll have a movie for them. Once all the kids are up, I'm hoping we can be outside :o) 



 

Jared and his brother Chris were going to do the brakes on the Vue today but now I guess they're going to do it next weekend. So this morning I decided we needed to go to Old Navy =) I really wanted to take advantage of the 2 for $5 sale on flip flops and I'm pleased that they changed their design. Hopefully my feet will like the new model. I got 4 pairs and I was pretty annoyed that they didn't have more pairs in my size (amazon). They had like a google flip flops but I wear a 9 1/2 so I needed 10's and they had 10's in only a few colors :( Oh well, I got white, black, blue and grey. I wanted light blue or pink and I even had to get my black ones in mens! I could have just ordered them online I bet but I wanted em now! We got Jack some sandals on clearance for $4.99 too! He got a $3 shirt and Jared got 2 shirts too. So we got 5 pairs of shoes and 2 shirts for like $37. Awesome!

We didn't realize the mall doesn't open til like damn near noon on Sundays so we got there at 10:30 and only the big department stores were open. We let Jack play in the play area for a bit and then at 11 got an Orange Julius (as is cutom when going to the mall) and then went to Old Navy. 

We got home and Jack went right down for his nap! I laid him down and he didn't even try to get back up. He cried for like a minute and that was it. I even sat much further away while I waited for him to fall asleep. He couldn't even really see me because I was over by the door. Sweet!

We raked the yard while Jack napped. Fun times but now it looks much better. Jack's up now and is eating a late lunch and then he'll have a bath. At 4 we're going to Rosemary's birthday party. Jack and I are going to wear new shoes :o) My mom wants us to squeeze in a quick bike ride before we go. We'll see about that. 

Tomorrow I just have Brooke so my mom and I are going to take the kids to Como Zoo in the morning. I'm pretty excited. I hope it's nice out.

 

Jack's new sleep routine has been working awesomely! Night before last I put him to bed and he cried for about 10 minutes and that was it! I just kept laying him down until he stayed down, then sat across the room and shh'd him to sleep. He woke up once at about 2 and cried for about 5 minutes and then Jared went in and did the same thing. That time he cried for about 20 minutes. Yesterday for his nap he cried for about 1 minute. Jared put him to bed last night and it seriously took less than 3 minutes! I think he only cried on the way up the steps. I was going to get up with him last night if he woke up at all but he never did! This is going so much smoother than I thought it would! Now I think tonight when I put him to bed I'll sit closer to the door....out of his eyesight. 

Yesterday morning Jack and I went to Walmart and we were going to go to Cub too but he fell asleep in the car so I brought him home and he went right back to sleep in his bed! That would never have happened like a month ago. A few minutes of napping in the car would have replaced his nap for the day. Yesterday he napped for almost 3 hours though! So after I put him down I went to Cub by myself which was nice because lately he doesn't like shopping that much. My pelvis was hurting so much yesterday morning. It was hard to walk. Then when I got home I was starving because I'd only eaten some banana bread that morning. I sat on the porch and was too tired to get up and make something. Then I talked to my sister for almost 2 hours and didn't end up eating anything until almost 3!! 

In the afternoon we hung out in the backyard for a bit. Jared picked up dog poop and cleaned the garage and Jack played on his toys and finally mastered the ladder to his slide! I sat in the chair and did Sudoku's.  

We watched There Will Be Blood. It was kind of weird. I really hate the ending on most movies these days. Why is it so hard to put a decent ending in a movie? We still need to watch Grey's Anatomy, America's Next Top Model, The Riches, and The Alaska Experiment. 

Our computer's being wonky again. It's like the battery cord is loose again! GOD Dell....could you make bigger pieces of crap????

 Guess what else I made today that's currently baking and making the house smell delicious??

Apple freakin pie! 

My banana bread turned out perfectly and is really good!! I made a huge loaf too. Hopefully the oven will be nice to my pie as well. 

I watched Lost and Farmer Takes A Wife while Jack and Brooke were napping. What a crazy Lost episode. Where did Claire go? What was Kate off doing for Sawyer? That Josie chick on FTAW is gross. She won't last. She didn't even participate in the first challenge! How did Stephanie get sent home instead of her?

I got laundry put away, kitchen floor swept and mopped and some banana bread in the oven. Hopefully the POS oven won't burn it. 

I was going to have all 4 kids over today but now Rosemary's not coming. She hasn't been feeling too hot and is possibly getting teeth. Hopefully she feels better before her birthday party this weekend. 

It's supposed to be rainy all day so I can't even have the kids outside :( We played outside yesterday for almost 2 hours. It was really warm out.

We went to Applebee's last night for dinner. Then we stopped at Cub and got some cheesecake to bring home. It was delicious and I ate way too much :o) Jack loves cheese and wouldn't even try a mozarella stick! I peeled the breading off and told him it was a string cheese but he didn't believe me.

Tonight is movie night and we're watching There Will Be Blood. We also have Walk Hard but I don't think we'll be watching it tonight. 
We're also going to be implementing a new sleep routine for Jack starting tonight. We gotta start using some tough love and teach this kid to fall asleep without us should he wake up and to initially go to bed for either of us....and without physical comfort. It may be a long night but it's gotta be done. Hopefully it'll only take a few nights before he is used to it. 

The cast of this season's The Real World is a "hot mess". Especially Joey and Brianna. Yikes. Why would that dude even go on this show if he has a history of alcoholism? Ya ever seen this show dude? People booze it up quite a bit. His roomates are kind of dicks for peer pressuring him all the time too but he just shouldn't even be in that situation. Brianna is raunchy. Is she actually a stripper or does she just wear a lot of stripper clothes? We missed the first episode. Greg is a snob. And he calls everyone else stuck-up?

Last night's Survivor was pretty good. I'm glad it turned out the way it did :o)

Happy Anniversary Amy & Erik!!!!!! 

Had my OB appt this morning. I've only gained 1 pound in the last 2 weeks!!! Hooray!!! I knew it was those damn malts :P I passed my glucose test too. They want you to be under 140 and I was at 84!! I think that explains why I get the shakes and feel light headed if I don't eat every couple of hours even when I'm not pregnant. I'm not sure how that all works though. Asked about allergy meds and she said Claritin or the new OTC Zyrtec so I picked up some of the Zyrtec on my way home. It seems to be helping much better than the Benadryl and I don't feel drowsy. Hooray! When I got home I picked up Jack and took him to get his hair cut. He had no interest in sitting on the booster. He sat in my lap though and watched clips of Yo Gabba Gabba and Big Big World on the camera and did really well. He looks pretty damn cute now and I think we got a better cut than we've gotten at the barber:

This is what I get when I ask for a "nice face" :P



30 week belly shot

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face.

 

Holy crap I'm pooped. We walked up to Yost Park and then from there walked to Cup 'N Cone. The kids didn't even really want to play at Yost that long. It's kind of a park for a little bit bigger kids I guess.
Jack had his very own ice cream cone for the first time. He loved it!

It was a lot of walking for Brooke so on the way home I rigged up a double stroller :P I reclined the seat and scooched Jack back and had Brooke sit in front of him. It worked out pretty slick. It was a lot heavier to push though.

Jack slept awesomely last night. I brought him in bed to snuggle at 6 when he woke up and we slept for another half hour =)
Got 2 loads of laundry done.
Ironed some shirts for Jared.
Vacuumed and dusted.
Jack and Brooke are napping so I'm going to try to as well. I think we'll go to Yost Park this afternoon and possibly Cup 'N Cone. We'll see. 


 

Well I feel somewhat better. My mom brought me some Benadryl this morning which made me VERY drowsy but gave me some relief. I was able to nap while the kids did so that was good. I decided to take them up to the park once Lizzie got here. They had fun. Jack attempted the wobbly bridge thing today and got the hang of it! He fell while crossing it once and got kind of scared. I was saying "I gotchu" while helping him up and then later, whenever he would stumble or almost fall, he would say "I gotchu". It was funny.  

I got 2 loads of laundry done today and just finished cleaning the kitchen floor and have dinner in the oven. I nominated Jared to give Jack his bath tonight though :o) I only have Jack and Brooke tomorrow so I'll save the vacuuming and bathroom cleaning for then. 

Thursday morning I have my 30 week appt! I'm anxious to see my weight gain in the last 2 weeks. I could weigh myself but I haven't been using our scale up to this point so it wouldn't be an accurate account of my weight gain. I had a giant DQ Blizzard that Jared got for me Friday night that was so big that I ate some of it Friday and the rest on Saturday. Other than that....I've had no malts! I haven't totally given up treats....but I cut out the malts. I haven't even really had much ice cream in the last 2 weeks. Some cookies and candy here and there but I can't just give up all my treats! :P 

Someone in my July 2008 community had her baby yesterday!!! That's pretty scary.