I was so tired all day yesterday. Not sure why. I got a 2 hour nap but still went to bed at 8! 

My OB appt went well. I only gained 2 pounds in the last 2 weeks so that makes 3 pounds total for the last month. That makes 27 pounds total for this pregnancy so far! Yippee!!

Taking Daisy to the vet went ok. She needed a rabies shot. She was so scared she peed and pooped on the floor! Hopefully she's ok at that groomer's this Saturday :/ 

At nap time Jack cried on and off for 15 minutes and then went to sleep! I went in to wake him up at 2 and he had napped on the floor :/ 

After nap time Jack, Brooke and I went on a bike ride with my mom. We were just going to go to Cup 'N Cone but we stopped at a couple of garage sales. One of them was at Lizzie and Charlotte's house. My mom got another buggy for behind the bikes so now we could cart around Jack, Brooke, Keira and Simon! The new one she got is a little smaller so it'd be perfect for the younger two. Jack would fit in the smaller one too but it was too cramped for Brooke. I saw a pretty cool fire truck bed but they wanted $100 for it. There's a neighborhood sale 2 blocks down starting today. We're going there later this morning. We biked by yesterday and saw some of them setting up and I spied a Tonka Truck! :P

Jack ate his whole baby cone this time! He did so good. I think Brooke needs to start having baby cones too. I usually get her a small and I think it's too much for her. I had a Snickers malt and it was GOOD! I also had to swing by City Hall to get tabs for the Vue. We didn't even bike that much but man.....my butt hurts this morning. 

Jack went to bed with pretty much no fuss for Jared last night. He said he cried but only for a minute. I don't recall hearing him wake up at all during the night.

My tulips have bloomed. They're so pretty. I should take a pic of them :P

Jack was randomly saying "I love you Mama" to me all day yesterday. He must have said it a google times. It was pretty cute :o)

 We slacked off on Jack's sleep routine and things went downhill fast. Thursday night Jared slept with him for a few hours when he woke up in the middle of the night crying so I could get some good sleep before having all those kids on Friday. Friday night when he woke up I laid in there for a bit until he fell asleep. I tried to pull a fast one over on him since he seems to sleep so lightly and that's why we get stuck in there for hours. The slightest sounds and movement and he pops up to make sure you're not trying to sneak out. So I set up some blankets on the floor and his giant teddy bear to make it look like someone was sleeping in there with him should he wake up and look for us. It worked that night. Saturday night he wasn't falling for it and by the 3rd time of me going in there, I caved and brought him to bed with me :/ Then I did it again Sunday night but I had already intended to get back on track Monday night. 

So last night I braced myself for a long night. He's started not going down for bed and naps as well so we really had to put an end to this business once and for all. I figured he should be adjusted by Thursday or Friday. It took me a bit to get him to nap yesterday and last night it was Jared's turn to put him to bed. I figured he'd go to bed and then when he woke up in the middle of the night, I'd go in there every 15 minutes and put him back in his bed and then leave. I figured it would start around 2 and hopefully not last the rest of the night. 

He wouldn't even go to bed for Jared. He cried and worked himself up and after 20 minutes, Jared came downstairs. So I went up and tried and he was so worked up that he couldn't even hear any calming words so I left and laid in bed. I planned to go back in every 15 minutes. I figured since it was starting at bedtime instead of the middle of the night....that was actually a good thing. We need to address his going to bed/nap issues as well as falling back to sleep should he wake up. I figured he was pretty tired so this would probably only go on for a few hours and then he'd be exhausted and we'd get some sleep for a bit before he started up again.

When the 15 minutes was up I got up and headed for his room but I heard it go quiet in there. Jared and I stood outside his door for a few minutes just wondering what the heck was going on in there. Jared even tried peeking under the door. It was quiet but we could kind of here him walking around in there. So I went to the bathroom figuring he'd be crying again by the time I got back. Nope. Still quiet. So I laid down figuring it'd be a few minutes. Next thing ya know it's midnight and I'm waking up to pee. WTF???? He went to bed?!?!?!?! So I go pee and figure he'll hear me for sure and wake up and cry. Nope. Back to bed for me. Who knew?!?!

Then he does wake up at 3 and I assume now we're in for the long haul. So I go pee first and while I'm in the bathroom I hear him crying and then a loud noise and then quiet. So I hurry up and rush up there and it's quiet but I peek in there anyway to see him climbing back into his bed. He starts to cry when he sees me so I put him in his bed and notice it's full of his stuffed animals. Gary, Dino, George, Glow Worm, Baby George and Ducky are all in his bed. So that's what he was doing last night. Walking back and forth from his stuffed animal basket to get more sleep buddies. How freakin cute is that? So anyway, I put him in bed and leave and he cries for like a minute and then goes to bed until 6:15. I don't know what the loud noise I heard was. I'm assuming it was him running back to bed. 

I'm so relieved that it went that well! At nap time today I'm going to put him in there and leave. If he cries I'll go back in 15 minutes....etc. Again at bedtime tonight. I'm thinking maybe we just lucky last night but who knows. He's a pretty stubborn kid but he's also a pretty smart one so I wouldn't be surprised if he's figured out that this is how it is. It was only a few days ago that I initially let him cry and went in there every 10-15  all freakin night so it's not like this is new to him.

Yesterday morning Jared made pancakes and bacon for breakfast and then we left for the MOA at about 10. Jack didn't nap on the way which turned out to be a good thing. We went to Underwater World first and it was really cool. Fortunately Barb got discount tickets for us so we both got in for $10. Otherwise it's $18.95 per adult!!!! That place is cool but it's not that cool. Jack got in free because he's under 2.

Jack was definitely getting sleepy but he didn't get crabby or anything. He liked seeing the sharks, sting rays, turtles and alligators. I was disappointed that we didn't see any sea horses or an octopus. There was a tank that said there was an octopus in it but we didn't see it. We wandered around a bit after that and then decided we should figure out where to eat for lunch. We wanted to eat at the Rainforest Cafe but the wait was too long and we wouldn't have been able to bring the stroller in. Jack really needed to nap so that wasn't going to work. We walked around some more and then put our names on the list at Twin City Grill. We walked around until our table was ready and Jack fell asleep and slept while we ate. It worked out perfectly because then he was rested and ready to go to Nickelodeon Universe once we were done.

He wasn't tall enough to go on many rides even with a chaperone so we only made it on 2 rides. We tried to go on the Blues Clues ride but he was too short so we drove some big rigs. Then we tried to go on this barnyard roller coaster but they couldn't strap us in properly so that didn't work. Jared tried to go with him but he couldn't get strapped in either so that one was a bust. Then I waited in line with Jack at the carousel. A pregnant woman ahead of me apparently got denied and as she walked past me she told me they weren't going to let me on. Apparently pregnant women aren't supposed to go on any of the rides. Oops. So Jared went on the carousel with him. It was a really long wait and Jack was getting to the point where he didn't even want to go on the damn thing anymore. They allowed a woman on that time that was clearly pregnant. So I guess they're just part time rules.

We didn't do too much shopping. I hadn't planned on doing much shopping. I did find some nice long stretch tank tops on clearance at Old Navy that I'll wear under other shirts to make nursing easy and discreet once Keira comes. I'm not going to buy a bunch of nursing clothes. I got by without them with Jack. I looked at some nursing bras at Motherhood Maternity but didn't end up getting any. I almost looked at some maternity clothes but I really don't want to buy any at this point.

I hate all the maternity clothes I have. I don't even wear them that often. I have 3 pairs of pants and 2 are too small so they always scooch off me when I move. The other pair is too big so they always fall off of me when I move. I have a few shirts but they bug me because they just barely cover my stomach and some of them flare out and just make me look really fat. Most of the time I just wear comfy pants and long shirts since I never go anywhere. It would be kind of silly to buy anything at this point unless it's from a garage sale. I do have 2 pairs of maternity shorts that fit pretty good but it hasn't been warm enough to wear them more than like 1 day.

We had planned on getting Jack a stuffed Handy Manny and the Tools for his birthday. We saw them at the Disney Store and he liked them and all but wasn't nearly as excited as we thought he'd be so now I don't think we'll get them for his birthday. We did get him a Thomas the Train ball that Daisy popped last night :( Now I don't know what to get him for his birthday.

( few more )

We were at the mall for almost 6 hours! That's a lot of walking. I was wiped out. I napped for like 2 hours when we got home. Then we watched the Survivor finale. Not happy about how that turned out.

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.

( pics of kids  )

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.

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????

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.

 This will be a post where I complain a lot. You're gonna have to deal or skip it. 
My allergies are KILLING ME!! Yesterday they were AWFUL. I sneezed all damn day, my eyes were itching and watery and I had a massive, throbbing headache that came and went but never totally went. I'm too much of space cadet to have thought of asking Jared to pick me up something on his way home. I'm not even sure what I can take. I'll call my doc at 8. My mom said she would bring me something. Thank god! Thanks to my allergies....my asthma has also been being a prick.

Jack had a rough night. That means I had a rough night. He woke up a few times and the last time was at about 3 and he was not falling back to sleep. I'm not sleeping on the effin floor anymore so I was sitting next to his bed trying to get him to fall asleep. My back was hurting, my legs were going numb and I was about to piss my skivs. He kept seeming to be asleep but the slightest movement or noise and his head would pop up. GRRR! Finally I got up to pee and came back to him having a meltdown. Sat with him a bit more and then said screw this and brought him back to bed with me. It took about another hour before he was finally out. He burrowed into my back quite a bit but at least we were sleeping. 

I'm so freaking tired lately. I go to bed at like 9 and get up between 6 and 7 and I desperately want a nap every afternoon and every early evening. Granted, I get up to pee 2-3 times a night and I toss and turn non stop so of course I'm not getting the most restful sleep at night. Jack is completely against my relaxing. He seriously gets mad when I sit down! He wants non-stop playing. I napped both days this weekend and yesterday I really really wanted to nap while Jack and Brooke were napping but I guess there was a miscommunication between myself and Kim. I thought Lizzie was coming at 1:45 but they got here at noon....just as I was laying down :(  DOH!! She's not coming until 2:15 today so I should have no problem napping. Although, for some reason Jack only napped for an hour and a half yesterday. Brooke napped longer than him. That's unheard of. 

My legs have been achey lately. I started getting shooting pains in my right leg yesterday. Awesome. My back hurts after the slightest bit of cleaning, bending, standing, anything. I don't want to do anything but then I think of all these things that I want to get done. I could save them for the weekend and have Jared help me but I don't want evey weekend full of chores. Neither of us are really in the mood to do them after dinner and lately Jack can barely finish his dinner because he's so excited to "go play daddy" or "climb on daddy". He wants to play with his dad all evening and I just want to lay down all evening. That and I like to clean the kitchen floor, do laundry, vacuum, and clean the bathroom like every 2 days.....so letting it sit for the weekend would drive me NUTS. 

Oh yea and the best part.....once I get some allergy meds in me....even if they're non-drowsy......I'll be GOOD FOR NUTHIN!


Ok....I'm done now :o)

 There's snow on the ground! And it's still snowing. And it's supposed to snow all damn day. Not cool. We have our walk today. Last year for this walk we were wearing shorts and sunscreen. Lame. Amy and Jazzy are coming with us. Amy is a friend that Jared went to school with and Jazzy is her golden retriever who happens to be Daisy's mom. Now I'm really glad I wasn't planning on bringing Jack! Barb's coming over to watch him because Jared's going up to hang out with Amy's husband Brent for some stupid football crap :P  

Jack went to bed very easily last night and woke up once about 5:15 and went right back to sleep easily. I guess night before last was just a fluke. Thank god. He totally doesn't want his dad involved in any of the bedtime routine now! If Jared puts him in his jammies and brushes his teeth, he cries the whole time and says "mama do it!" and if he even thinks Jared will be putting him to bed he has a meltdown. He won't even kiss him goodnight anymore!?!?! Argh. Hopefully that'll change once he's used to his new big boy bed. He NEEDS to let his dad be a part of bedtime. Hopefully he'll nap for him today :/ Napping hasn't really been a problem though. 

Jared woke me up this morning to tell me Jack had woken up and come down stairs and woke him up. O_o WTF???? How'd he get out of his room??????? He woke up one time last night and I went in and put him back in his bed and he was back to sleep shortly after that. I guess it's possible I didn't close his door all the way but I just don't know if that's the case. His door would have clicked loudly into place had it been slightly out of place when I was shutting it. It's happened many times and I've cursed myself for not shutting it more quietly and risking waking the boy. I can't imagine he can work a doorknob already though. I know he can get the screen door open but his bedroom door????? Holy crap. If that's the case.......that's a new development I'm not sure I like.

Putting him to bed last night SUCKED!!!! He was hating it! He didn't seem like he was hating being in his big boy bed so I'm not totally sure what his problem was but he laid in his bed and cried himself to sleep. I was sitting right next to him. I offered him my thumb a few times but he pushed it away. I sat there so long my leg went numb and my back was starting to hurt so I ended up laying down on the floor. That's when he sat up and tried to get out of his bed. Which confirms that if I were to have left the room....he surely would have got out of bed and been crying even harder. I laid him back down and he stayed laying down but kept crying. Half hour of crying. Good times. I think maybe he had a stomach ache since he hadn't pooped all day. Who knows. I even was trying to keep him up a bit later in hopes that he would poop....doing bicycles with his legs like when he was a baby. Eventually, I had to put him to bed. He definitely had a ton of poop this morning though :/ I hope he didn't spend too much time with it in his diaper.

We went to The Eagle's Nest yesterday with Barb and Brooke. If I had laser beams for eyes....I totally would have incinerated a little boy yesterday. There was a big kid area and a 3 and under area. We spent our time in the 3 and under area of course. There was lots of cool stuff and Jack was having fun. He was kind of playing with this little boy and sort of following him around. I would guess he was maybe 4. Then all of a sudden the kid ran across the room.....then ran back and shoved Jack on his way by. I was like ok.....I'll be keeping an eye on that kid from now on. Then a bit later I see the kid throwing books way up in the air. Mind you, there's babies crawling around this area too. Where's this kid's mom? Nowhere to be found. One of the books lands in this little area that you have to climb through a hole to get in. It was like a big square panel with a circle cut out and kids would climb through the circle hole. Jack's peering in to see where the book landed.....and the bottom of the circle is probably at his hips.....that kid comes up behind him and starts trying to push him through the hole!!! By the time I get over there....he's successfully pushed Jack through this hole and Jack is bawling. I grabbed the kid by the arm and said "HEY! You DO NOT push!! That is NOT ok!!!!" He looked a bit startled and ran off. Little prick. His mom was nowhere to be found and didn't see it. Nice. So it took me a bit to calm Jack down but then he was off having fun again.

He discovered this other sort of big tunnel that I kinda think shouldn't have been in the 3 and under area. If he were to have gone all the way in and then decided he hated it.....It woulda been a pretty lame time for me to crawl in after him. Fortunately he didn't get too far in before he decided he hated it. But at this point....6 big kids (we're talking like over 7 years old) push past me and pile into the tunnel barreling past Jack. This really helps the situation. Then they decided they don't like the tunnel either (hard to believe.....it's in the 3 and under section ya tools) and barrel back out. Finally I'm able to get him out. More calming down. He's pretty clingy at this point and losing interest in playing at this place anymore and occasionally asking to go "bu-byes".

Then he's sitting in this fire truck sort of box thing that you can sit in and read books. It's near the window and all along the windows are a carpeted shelf. The truck had 2 seats in it and Jack kept climbing up on the seat to sit on the edge of the truck with his feet on the seat. I was about to make him sit down on the seat and he fell :/ Wedged himself in half .....sandwich syle....in between the truck and the carpeted shelf thing ...... getting carpet burn on the back of his neck. Good grief. So then we decided to pack it up and go out to the snack area where there's tables and have some carrots and crackers. Poor kid. Not exactly the day we had planned.

I was a bit annoyed with how many big kids kept coming into the 3 and under area. Jack was in the ball pit for a bit and was kind of ok with it. I was about to take a pic and realized my battery was dead. I went over to my purse and swapped it with a charged battery and by the time I get back a couple of big kids had piled into the ball pit and Jack was not happy. He had no interest in going back in there after that. Even when it was just Brooke in there. I did get one pic of him in this Little Tikes tree house thing that was pretty cool:

That's the only picture I got! Hard to believe, I know.

I have Rosemary today and then Lizzie and Charlotte this afternoon. Looks like we're gonna be stuck inside today. I might let Jack and Rosemary watch Jack's Curious George movie.

I vacuumed the living room and swept and mopped last night after dinner so all I have to do today is laundry.....and maybe wipe down the bathroom. We'll see how I feel. I feel kind of sore. I did some cutting for my mom yesterday morning for about 2 hours. My knee has been kind of hurting ever since. It better snap out of it before the 7.5K tomorrow!

We watched Survivor last night. Holy blindsides!! We also watched Grey's Anatomy. Why is George living with Meredith's sister????
We also watched The Real Housewives of NYC reunion. I hate Ramona. Ugh. She acts like a child. And she's dilusional. And Alex and Simon.......good grief.....they're dilusional too. Yea right they were misrepresented! They're totally all about social climbing! Weirdos. Why was he even on there???? He's not a housewife!

Edit:  We do have some of those safety door knob cover child-proof things. I just wasn't thinking we'd need to pull them out yet :P

I was pretty damn productive yesterday morning.

*went through and re-organized Jack's toys. Went through all the toys I got from my uncle the other day. Added some new-to-us toys and took out some "baby" toys. Thank you tat2whttrsh !! Jack LOVES his animal choo choo :o)
*vacuumed the upstairs and stairs
*moved the changing table and glider into our bedroom from Jack's room
*empited the dresser in our room and moved everything into the hallway cupboards so we could move the dresser to the basement
*dusted the living room
*swept and mopped the kitchen floor
*cleaned the bathroom
*set up a toddler mattress on the floor in Jack's room and folded up the 10 comforters he had been sleeping on
*organized the spare room again....made room for Jack's summer clothes to be down on the main floor
*bathed Jack and showered myself

Then in the afternoon I had Lizzie and Charlotte. We played outside for like 3 hours. It was really nice out. We played in the backyard for a while and then moved to the driveway to play with chalk. Jack was covered in chalk. It was pretty cute. Lizzie and Daisy had lots of fun chasing bubbles. Jack wasn't all that interested. Rob was planning on coming over after work to help Jared move the dryer in that we got the night before. Barb and Brooke came over at about 4:30 since we all decided to have dinner together. They brought Jack a new Curious George coloring book and little stuffed Curious George. Then the kids sat and colored outside at Jack's little picnic table for a bit.

Jared and Rob had a heckuva time getting the dryer through the doorway to the basement. They managed to make it work though after some unscrewing and some sawing! Now I get to do buttloads of laundry today! This morning it occured to us that there's still a load in the old dryer that's now out in the garage. Oops :/

Jack successfully napped on his "big boy" bed yesterday afternoon but bedtime was a whole different story. I kind of saw that coming though. I laid on the floor next to him and read him books and he held my thumb and fell asleep. But then he woke up like 3 times and I'm assuming it's because he scooched off of the mattress. So, I was getting sick of going in there and ended up just setting some of the bedding back up and sleeping on the floor next to his mattress until about 6am. Then I went to the bathroom and went back to bed in my bed until about 7. I went in to wake him and he was on the bedding I had used and not on his mattress :/ Plus, throughout the night....while I was in there....he scooched forward and towards me a few times. He's such a damn scoocher! He needs a headboard to run into. I'm going to try to get him to nap in the Dora toddler bed this afternoon that's already set up in his room. He has made it clear that he does not wish to sleep in that bed but it's been a while since we've tried. If this is unsuccessful....we'll swap the toddler mattress and the Dora bed.....they're on either sides of the room. He's used to scooching forward and to the south.....the Dora bed is in a little nook that has walls on each of the sides that he's used to scooching towards ....so maybe they would help him to stay on the mattress. We'll see.

Jack has been asking to snuggle lately. It's the cutest thing in the world! He says "nuggles?".

We had planned to go to Como Zoo tomorrow with Barb and Brooke in the afternoon but it's supposed to rain :(

There's still time to donate for the 7.5K walk Daisy and I are doing on Saturday! :o)

Jack loves being outside! He squeals "'side!" when I suggest it.
I was putting him down for his nap today at my mom's cuz I worked there a bit this morning and he said "g'night, sleep tight" which is weird cuz we don't say "sleep tight" so I don't know where he got that.

wearing daddy's hat

( pics from Papa's b-day party )

After Pop's birthday breakfast at my mom's we went home and Jack and I napped while Jared scooped poop and tried to figure out what was wrong with the dryer. Looks like we're going dryer shopping tonight :/
In the afternoon it was really nice out so we hung out in the backyard for a bit.

( chillin in the backyard )

( some black & white ones )

I dried 2 loads of laundry at my mom's this morning while doing some cutting and pressing for her. Jack, Lizzie and I walked up to Podvin Park this afternoon for a bit. Then when Charlotte got here the kids played outside for a bit more.

( pics from today at Podvin Park )

Jack was just resting his head on my tummy and Keira kicked and he sat up really fast. She kicked him in the head :O)

I went to my mom's last night to do some cutting. Came home and Jack was not going to bed for his daddy :/ He did a few nights but now he won't anymore. He does fine at first. They read books and then all of a sudden he says "where'd Mama go?" and then starts wailing. 

I'm getting Atonement today from Netflix! Yay!!

While we were playing outside yesterday the neighbors let their 3 big obnoxious dogs out and they proceeded to bark at us for 10 minutes. I told them to stop a bunch but they wouldn't. I can't stand people that let their dogs bark but when they're barking at the neighbors who are in their own backyard.....that's just ridiculous. Good times.....know how often we plan on being outside now that it's nice out??? Argh. They're normally pretty obnoxious and at times bark at us when we're in our kitchen but usually don't bark at us that much when we're outside for an extended period of time. So they're probably parking at the kids. Great.

 

 I'm 27 weeks 1 day. 90 days to go!

My fam is all heading to Chicago this morning for that wedding that we decided to pass on. 

I have some work to do this weekend for my mom. She got a huge necktie order so I'll be cutting some material for her.

I had to shovel this morning. How ridiculous is that?? It wasn't totally necessary but the steps were covered in slush and I didn't want Joel to slip coming up them with Rosemary. They'll be here in about an hour. I also have Lizzie and Charlotte this afternoon. No Brooke for a couple of weeks now as Barb took 2 weeks off. Then she went and got a new job so she got to turn in her 2 weeks yesterday!

Jack wouldn't go to bed for Jared night before last. He was just about asleep Jared said and then started crying and got all worked up. So last night we tried having both of us do it. Not doing that again. I think he was just too distracted having both of us in there and it was taking forever! Jared had to leave and then finally he went to sleep about 15 minutes later. 

Yesterday while I was in the shower Jack went and pulled one of his shirts out of the drawer and put in the kitchen garbage and shut the lid! Guess he doesn't like that shirt. 

I know I've been posting a lot lately about the things Jack does and says but it's a couple new things every day and I just want to record them!

Seriously, new words every day. Yesterday he started saying "careful!" and referring to himself as Jack in photos. It used to be "baby!" then "baby Jack!" and now it's just "Jack". He also refers to his things as "Jack's" now. Like 2 days ago he would say "that's my pillow" and now it's "that's Jack's pillow". He was also climbing on me and saying "climbing Mama!". 

Since he holds my thumb at night....when we're done reading books I offer it to him and say "Mama's thumb?". Now he just grabs it sometimes throughout the day and says "my thumb!".

Yesterday we were having soup for lunch and I was eating out of a bowl that I frequently have ice cream out of. Jack kept asking "ice cream?" and I would say "no, it's soup". Now this morning I'm having cereal out of that bowl and he asks "ice cream?" and I shake my head and he asks "soup?" and I say "no, cereal". 

He'll walk up to you with his arm up and say "high five!" This is pretty funny cuz Jared absolutley despises high fiving and refuses to do it. He'll try to give Jack bumps but Jack will just slap his fist. I think he gets that from Yo Gabba Gabba. Other things he gets from Yo Gabba Gabba:
He sings that "be nice to everyone" song all the time and the "please, thank you" song. We've been signing the "clean it up" song when we pick up toys too so he likes that one. 

Thing is....sometimes he'll smack Daisy while saying "be nice!". Doh!

Jared said he was brushing Jack's teeth last night and all of a sudden Jack said "Hey! Stop it!". He says that all the time to Daisy and Jenks. Even when they're just laying there. The other night when I went ot put him to bed....we discovered Rosie was hiding under the toddler bed so we were trying to get her out and saying "Rosie, get out!" Now he just randomly says that sometimes when we're in his room. 

I'm tired again today. I was in Jack's room for a good 3 hours last night. I wonder if he's getting molars......he was drooling like crazy yesterday on top of the runny nose so we gave him some Motrin before bed. Still was sleeping pretty lightly and crying which is why I was in there for so long. 

Brooke ended up napping for 2 1/2 hours and Jack only napped for 1 1/2 yesterday. I tried napping but my bladder felt like playing dirty tricks on me. I peed right after putting the kids down, laid down for about 40 minutes but couldn't fall asleep, had to pee, laid down for 5 mintues, had to pee, laid down for another maybe 30 minutes and had just dozed off when Jack woke up :( and then I had to pee again! ARGH!! I hadn't even had anything to drink in the last 3 hours. No Julius' today!

 Jack just saw the pic of himself on our desktop and said "oh, cute boy!". 
He's saying "thank you" ALL THE TIME now. Even when he takes something. 
I was in the bathroom this morning and he said "what doin Kiki?" 
Yesterday Rosie strolled into the room and he said "Oh hi Rosie, how's it goin?" He's back to saying "oh hi, how's it goin?" all the time again.
He now even says "bless you" when he sneezes.

We just finished having mango/banana Julius'. The kids (Brooke and Jack) LOVE when I run the blender. They stand in the kitchen and dance and squeal and say "do it again!" or as Jack says "dugan!". 

I'm tired a lot lately. I put Jack to bed last night and then went to bed myself and it was only like 9 o'clock. He woke up at 12:30 and went back to sleep quickly but woke up again at 2:30 and it took an hour for him to fall back to sleep. A couple of times I thought he was out and took my thumb away and he instantly sat up and cried. Oy. 

I've been slacking on my extra chores list. I've been getting all my other cleaning and chores done but nothing extra which is kind of frustrating. I don't know if it's pregnancy or just that fact that I'm doing daycare now but I feel like the house needs to be cleaned every other day. Especially the floor. That's mostly because of Daisy and her damn dirty feet though. We wipe her feet when she comes in from being outside but she still manages to get the floor dirty. Like when she drinks water out of her dish and then drips droplets all over the floor from her yap and then steps in them and the dried dirt on her feet turns to mud. I have to sit down now to wipe her feet. Crouching just aint for me these days. 

I did make a double batch of chocolate chip/butterscotch chip cookies yesterday thanks to my mom bringing me some flour :o) 

Jared gets to stop at Target tonight to pick up the wipes I left there this weekend :/ Doncha love paying for stuff and then leaving without it? He also gets to go to Cub because I didn't do a full trip this weekend. I spaced out a few things and also Jack was READY to come home and nap so I kind of cut the trip short. 

I want to nap today when Jack and Brooke are napping but I doubt that will happen. Brooke only naps for about an hour and it takes me a while to get in the zone to nap. I have Lizzie and Charlotte now for the rest of the week in the afternoons.  

We were going to get Jared's sister's wiener dogs this weekend but now we're not :( They decided to make other arrangements for them. It's probably for the best. They probably would have been tormented by the kids on Friday and with my luck it would be a rainy day and then I'd have 12 muddy paws to wipe over and over! That and I don't know what the barking situation would be like during naps. Still would have been fun to have them though. Maybe next time. 

I was just thinking yesterday how Jack hasn't been sick since I quit the Y. Then today he woke up with a runny  nose. For the love of mike. 

He keeps climbing into the chair and then scooching off of it facing forward (normally he would get out of a chair facing backwards) and landing on his feet and saying "that's funny!" but just now he did it and fell and landed on his head and said "whoa!". 

He was walking around this morning saying "love you, love you, love you!".

 

I thought of a couple more. He's been calling some things "cute!", saying "that's funny" when he's being silly, saying "good boy!" when he puts his toys away or dishes in the sink or socks in the drawer. He loves to put his socks away. We have a little drawer thingy in the living room with a stash of his clothes in it cuz we're always changing him and getting him dressed down here. He knows his socks go in the top drawer so whenever I'm folding clothes he takes his socks and puts them away. If he's wearing socks, he takes them off and puts them away and then says "good boy!" and claps for himself :P

This kid dances EVERY TIME HE HEARS MUSIC. Any music. It's always the same dance and he makes this super excited face. It's so funny. I got a short video of it this morning. It's funny cuz Jenks comes over by him and he says "Jenky GO!!!" which is what he says now if you're invading his space.

Jared put Jack to bed again last night. He actually fell asleep doing it. I could hear him snoring all the way downstairs!

 


It's snowing today. WTF???

 Jack's been going to bed for me sans milk for well over 2 weeks now and it's been a piece of cake. I decided it was time to start having Jared put him to bed. He'll nap for Jared from time to time but we hadn't tried bedtime yet. He's put him to bed before.....it's just been a while and it's only been a handful of times and generally not very pleasant. Last night he did and it was a piece of cake. HOORAY!!! I'm free!!!! Just kidding :P
It was kind of funny because Jack was just playing with toys and then all of a sudden stopped and rubbed his eyes and said "Goodnight Moon?". So Jared changed him and then went to the bathroom and while he was in the bathroom Jack stood at the bottom of the stairs and said "c'mon Mama!" and I told him your daddy's coming. He paused for a second and then said "c'mon Daddy!" like he didn't care who was coming but whoever was needed to hurry up. I'm pretty relieved that that went so well. This whole weaning/new bedtime routine process has been so easy. It's amazing. 

I'm way behind on reading everyone's posts. Sorry! Hopefully I'll get caught up at some point today. I think Rob, Barb and Brooke might be coming over this morning to play in the backyard since we aren't going to that indoor park but I haven't talked to them so we'll see. I want to take Jack to get a haircut at some point today too. My mom mentioned a possible bike ride this afternoon too. We'll see. I have no clue what the weather's sposta be like today.

We watched The Assassination of Jesse James last night. Good god. I can't see why that movie needed to be 2 hrs. 39 minutes. It was interesting and all but SO LONG! Not very exciting either so unless you're a JJ enthusiast....I wouldn't recommend it. I was getting very sleepy watching it. 

I got more strawberries yesterday so I can make Julius' today! Yippee!!

We got Jack some of those foam bath tub letters and numbers last weekend at Target. He had some that I got at a garage sale but not a complete set. We just keep them in a bucket in the living room with all his other toys for now. He has a ton of bath toys and doesn't need them in the tub. We just play with them on the floor. He's already gotten quite a bit better at knowing his letters just in the last week! 

I picked up an alphabet puzzle yesterday at Walmart too. I had been looking for one but hadn't come across one I liked. I wanted them shaped like the actual letters......most I've seen were just squares. How's that a puzzle really if they're all just squares? We sing the alphabet song all the time and it's really cute to hear him sing it. He used to only chime in with "now my know my" but now he's actually starting to sing some of the letters! I saw something I want at Walmart.....I like doing puzzles and I wanted to get a big one but I'd have to keep it out on the porch and work on it from time to time so Jack wouldn't pull it all on the floor. I don't really like that idea. I really want one of the mats that you do the puzzle on and just roll it up and store it when you're not working on it. All the pieces stick to the mat! I know.....I'm a dork....but I want one :P

Every time I go to Walmart I tell myself I should go there more. They're so much cheaper than Target and Cub foods and have more/different selections of things. They had Little Tikes Cozy Coupes for $20 cheaper than at Target! I want to get Jack one but I'm holding out for garage sales. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to find him one.....that or a big wheel or something similar. I saw some Radio Flyer big wheel type things too for around $50. If I can't find anything good by his birthday....maybe we'll get one. I dunno....I really want to get him a table top train set and that would prolly be the big ticket item this year. We'll see. He does already have a dump truck and a police car that he can ride on but they don't seem to steer very well.

Jack and I ran some errands this morning. We went to Walmart, Target and Cub foods. Jared stayed home and picked up lots of dog crap in the backyard. He also figured out the picture situation on the compter.....sort of. He tried copying them to discs and that worked correctly. All the right pictures are in all the right folders. So he moved all the pictures and we just deleted all those extra ones. Then Jack napped and Jared did some yard work and put up our new mailbox. I cleaned all Jack's outdoor toys and when he woke up.....he had a pretty good time playing with them. We were going to go to this indoor park in New Brighton tomorrow with Rob, Barb and Brooke but it doesn't open until 11 so we squashed that idea.

( more )