We sure are spoiled! My stepdad Warren brings us a ton of fruit every week. Tonight he dropped off some Strawberry Rhubarb Bars!! YUM!!

I'm pretty happy with who won America's Next Top Model. I didn't really think either of them were spectacular though. I'm also pretty happy with who won Beauty and the Geek.

Jack's new desk. Not too shabby for $3!

Jack got a Bob the Builder pillow at a garage sale this morning. He loves it. He napped with it. He also got a little desk and chair. He went down for his nap really good. He cried for about a minute and that was it. I even got a nap. Whooo hoooo!!!

Dr. Hahn and Dr. Torres are gonna smooch on Grey's tonight! I can't belive next week is already the finale. Lame.

Took pics of my tulips and Jack with his new kitchen :

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I can't believe Jack's going to be 2 in just over a month! I already got invites for his birthday. We looked at cake ideas a bit the other day. We're not going with a themed party or anything but I was looking at Curious George and Thomas the Train cakes. There's some really cool ones. I think we'll have to stop in at Grandma's Bakery and flip through their albums. They'd prolly do a Handy Manny one if we brought in a picture. I just don't want to put too much planning and effort into it because a) he could give a rip b) I may be in labor and if I'm not, I'll be uber pregnant.

We're most likely getting Jack this. I looked at quite a few of them and I think he'll be able to use this one for years and it has lots of good reviews. Keira will get to enjoy it as well.

My Birthday is August 30th and it's my golden birthday. I want to rent a dunk tank. I think it'd be so fun. It'd feel good too to get dunked in water as it's always so damn hot in August. I'd like to have my party when Amy and Erik are here though so we may have to bump it up.

Jack went down for his nap lickity split. I put him in his bed with all his snuggle buddies and said g'night and left the room. He didn't even cry! I heard him talking to his buddies for a bit over the monitor then it kind of sounded like he might have gotten out of bed to play with toys. It wasn't long though before I could hear him with his glow worm so I assumed he'd gotten back into bed. He started to sort of whimper/cry on and off for a bit but was definitely asleep within a half hour of me putting him in there. YAY!!!!!

We tried out the double stroller this morning. Jack and Brooke rode in it and we walked down to my mom's to bring her her Mother's Day cards and some cookies since she had been in California up until last night. It worked great! Jack and Brooke had fun riding in it too.

Jack's bed with all of his snuggle buddies:



( 3 more pics of his big boy room )

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.

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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.

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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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.

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

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

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.

 Happy 22 months to Jackson!!! I can't believe he's going to be 2 in 2 months! I hope I don't go into labor before his birthday. 

I have had allergies start up in the last 2 days. SUCKVILLE!! I've sneezed 1 google times. Jack says bless you each time and then I say thank you and then he says bless you about 3 more times just to hear me say thank you. 

Here's a pretty freakin cute pic of my sister, BIL and nephew Simon that I swiped from Amy's journal :



I can't wait to see them in July!!!!!!! :O)


So, this bugs the crap out of me. I saw a photo the other day of Tom & Katie and Suri and they were saying she just turned 2. She's always got a bottle in her hands. Isn't it about time to kick the bottle?????

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

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 )

Yesterday I heard this a hundred times: "Watch this!" "Kiki, watch this!".

Jack's been saying "blanket time!" a lot lately and I'm not sure where he gets it. We used to have blanket time when he was very little but we haven't used those words in about a year.

I ran into my uncle at the gas station yesterday and he said he had some baby toys for me. So I stopped by his house to pick them up. They belonged to his girlfriend's granddaughter. One of the toys he had was a Thomas The Train car thing where you push the little man down and then it takes off. Jack LOVES "Thomas Choo Choo" so he was pretty excited to see that. I also got a big box of clothes for Keira. They're pretty much all toddler clothes and like 3 pairs of shoes. This girl is pretty well set for a while!!

We watched Sweeney Todd yesterday and didn't really like it. We don't like musicals so we knew there was a pretty good chance we wouldn't like it. I watched Atonement the day before and really liked it. If I had been able to pay better attention, I probably would have balled my eyes out at the end. It's hard to watch movies with Jack around so I ended up pausing it a lot.

I'm so glad Natalie is finally gone on Big Brother. I think Sharon got screwed on the HOH competition. That "remaining couple" question with the hamsters was lame. She would have won if they didn't have that stupid question. Now we get to listen to them all try to figure out who the remaining couple is all the damn time on Big Brother After Dark. Awesome.

Survivor was pretty funny last night. I liked that whatshername spilled her bucket before even finding out what she would get so she got nothing :o)

I would totally watch a show just following around The Countess from Real Housewives of NYC. She was my favorite. I liked Jill too. Bethenny was ok. The other 2.....annoying. Ramona was such a biatch!! Horrible mother too. Poor Avery. I can't belive the way she attacked Alex and Simon! Yea he shouldn't have come but Alex is the one that told him it was ok and it wasn't the end of the world for pete's sake. I don't like that couple either but Ramona was way out of line. I can't believe the crap Alex and Simon were letting their kids get away with at that dinner party!!

Jack has been having so much fun with his new George. The other day we had the porch door open and he was coming and going. A few times he would toss George out onto the porch and say "bye George" "I love you George" and then slam the door. I told him George is probably sad now. Then I would open the door and he would go get George and hug him and say "sorry George". Then he was out on the porch for a bit so I peeked at him and saw this:

He loves to swaddle his "babies".

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I was supposed to have Lizzie and Charlotte yesterday but their mom Kim is really sick so they didn't come. Jared was working from home since I had that doc appt in the am so while Jack napped I went to down to my mom's to do some more cutting. She fixed a couple pairs of pants for me too. Today Rosemary is coming. I was hoping we could take a bike ride later with my mom....weather permitting. We'll see...it kind of looks like rain. Forecast says sprinkles so....if we do go...it'll prolly have to be a short ride.

I had this whole post typed up and Jack tossed a basketball at me and it bumped the keyboard and away went my post. LOVE WHEN THAT HAPPENS!!

 

Had my doc appt this morning. Did my 1 hour glucose test. I really hope I don't have to have the 3 hour one!

I gained 10 pounds this last month!! HOLY CRAP!!! No more malts for this lady. I've been pretty steadily gaining 4-5 pounds a month so this last month I guess I went a little crazy :P Now I start going every 2 weeks!

Some new Jack-isms: "GOD!!" "Oh, jeez!" "Ready? Let's Go!" "Just a minute!" "C'mere!" and he even looks up as if rolling his eyes when he says "God!".

He said "Whoa! That's a big teddy bear!".

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After spending some time at the park we walked around and checked out the shops along with a stop by the river. Jack got a new stuffed Curious George since he's obsessed with him lately. We had lunch out on the patio at the Freighthouse. Jack fell asleep on the way home holding George in the car. We napped together when we got home too since he only got about a 15 minute nap in the car. Thank god! I was wiped out. Stillwater has some very steep streets! We napped for 2 hours.....with George of course :o)




Link to our last trip to Teddy Bear Park in August.

Jack has been randomly counting today. He'll do 1-4 then skip to 6-10. He's also been singing the ABC's a lot but he says A B C Q R S T U V. He's gettin there.

He's been saying "careful!" when he falls down too. It's pretty funny.

He'll say bless you and bring you a kleenex now when you sneeze!

He's all about eating with utensils now! Hooray!

I made a cake this morning and my POS oven over cooked it. I hate that oven. I even cooked it at a lesser temp. It's still good. I tried it :o)

Jack, Rosemary and Lizzie had fun outside today for a while. Then Rosemary stepped in some standing water in the lid to the sandbox and got her sock and shoe all wet so we came in :P

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Jack and Rosemary have been having fun today.



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