4 month hiatus

no excuses for the lapse in writing. although, i think it is only i who puts pressure on me to write. so much has happened; i wanna catch everyone up on the past few months...

babies-and-birthdays-and-vacations-oh-my!

is everyone pregnant right now?! i know i am, and i know about a dozen of my girlfriends are or are just holding their babies for the first, second weeks/months. all these new lives are such blessings! benji and i will welcome our daughter at the end of march. we are incredibly thrilled with the idea of experiencing both sides of the coin. and jack being a big brother?! i have my moments of being terrified and fast-forwarding to the sweet moments of their future where they're the best of friends. we have not yet decided on a name. that seems to be the question of the hour. we have a handful of favorites, but it's a big decision, and we certainly took our time with jb.

the little girl at 20 weeks

beautiful backbone

working on some nice gams

and speaking of which, mr. jack is two! TWO! i can hardly believe it! nothing has made me feel quite as old as raising a child and watching two years of my life just fly by. i'm that much closer to 30 (a mere 11 months and counting), and he is that much older to telling me what to do (wait - that's actually already started...) he is still incredibly adorable. the terrible twos have slowly diminished and he's returning to his normal loving self. i like to think of it as an alien abduction that occurred over the late spring and into the summer. and fall. he loves tonka trucks, books about trucks and animals, especially fish and is wild about giving smooches and saying "bye!" he accompanied me to my midwife appointment yesterday and even got to hear his sister's heartbeat. is it bad that he laid his head on my chest and said "mine"??? i'm hoping it was a coincidence.

this was the fall of vacations! in september, we traveled down the west coast visiting with family along our drive. we flew into portland, seeing aunt lorrie and uncle glenn and aunt margie. they live within 15 minutes of each other, just outside of portland. we also drove up to seattle and spent a day with great aunt alda and cousin terri. after four days in oregon, we traveled down i-5, with a quick stop in eugene to visit with great aunt helen and cousin cindy on our way to sacramento, visiting with all the jenkins. how great that they're all in ONE place now! (even if it is incredibly hot, sticky california)

terri + auntie alda

i love this one! jackie with big jackie's sister!

aunt lorrie + cousin kevin

uncle glenn + aunt margie

cousin cindy + great aunt helen

uncle jeff + aunt connie

all the cousins!

a few weeks after our return, jackie and i jumped back on a plane, this time minnesota bound. we caught up with my parents and brother and spent some q.t. in the midwest, enjoying a true fall full of colors, 50 degree weather and so many trips to the zoo we lost count! jack got to play with his cousin averee (who is also going to be a big sister in the spring!), visit apple orchards, pick a pumpkin and what became our ritual morning walks well into november. the weather was fantastic, to say the least.

coming back to ak was a rather rude awakening... -17 below from 45 above. sheesh. welcome home, annie and jack! i've said it before, and i'll say it again: there's no place like home. i was so relieved to be back in my own bed, jackie was so excited to see all his toys and we were both so happy to see ben/dada.

multiple posts with yummy pictures to come...