it's all good.

again, like always, got myself all worked up for nothing. after the struggle of night number 2, jack has been sleeping through the night again and adjusting quite well to his big boy bed. the trick is not putting him down too early and reading plenty of books once in bed. his favorites are a few by sandra boynton, the going to bed book and what's wrong, little pookie? he recites some of the pookie book back to me, and it's all i can do to keep reading and not break the stride. i want to laugh and tackle him because he's overflowing with cuteness! bedtime is usually a pretty sweet experience and after the days we've been having, it's the perfect ending. jack has really been showing us his colorful traits lately, to put it nicely. he has moments where he wants to scream all morning, throw his toys, launch his sippy across the room, slap your butt (and laugh) incessantly, and of course the usual crying fits whenever the phone rings because he's not getting my full attention. i could continue to rant, but really, jack has been a wonderful little boy and just because he's having a tough time now (we're having a tough time now) it can really only get better. i think a lot of it has to do with being cooped up in the house in the winter and me not being able to play like we normally do. i just flat-out don't have the energy...

i don't really remember being this tired last time around. yesterday, it was all i could do to keep my eyes open - and i wasn't even doing that great of a job! every time my eyes would slam closed, jack would drive his little car across my nose or pry my eyelashes apart. or he'd wriggle his way behind me and then slide onto my belly which at this point is completely uncomfortable. we tried laying in bed, watching olivia but all the jumping got in the way of relaxing. thankfully, naptime (for jack) was approaching, so we had some lunch, read some stories and mama was home free.

onto something much more exciting...

i meant to post these pictures a while ago. ben and jack went skating a few days after we returned from san diego. he can definitely stand on the skates better than last year, but he's still not quite able to get himself around the rink, even with the help of the skating buddy.

above the rink is the track that i've been walking at all winter. my boys met me upstairs after they were done.

never goes anywhere without a matchbox

hiding from dada

sleepless nights, already

so night number 2 didn't go nearly as smoothly as the first. night number 1 went down without an issue, to both of our amazement. he went down at bedtime and didn't come out until 4:30 - when he scared me to death. no, i mean i really thought someone was in our room, ready to murder us. i heard these elephant footsteps down our hallway, our door flew open and our light was flicked on. i grabbed ben with a squeal and he was all, "it's just jack, it's only jack!" i guess i was in a deep sleep because i had no idea what was happening. after being brought back to reality, jackie and i walked hand-in-hand back to his room, and we didn't meet again until 9:30. even nap time later that day was perfect. he came out once but that was it, sleeping for his usual 2.5 hour snooze. all in all, it was a success! until night...

jack went down around 8:30 (his normal bedtime), but then repeated to get up every 2-5 minutes until ben finally fell asleep on the floor next to his bed around 10:15. i got ben out of there around 11 and brought him to bed. although, i then made him leave around 3 because his snoring was so incredibly out of control. jack then came in to visit at 3:40 and played the same 2-5 minute game until 5:30. i won't get into our every meeting, but i will say this one thing: apparently, threatening does work because after i said, the next time you come out, you're gonna get a spanking, i didn't see him again until 9:30. what a rascal.

the one thing different we are doing for tonight is having those fun white door handle covers for inside jack's room. it seems unsafe for him to not be able to get out of his room, but i think it's even more unsafe that he could wander the house when we are unconscious. he is incredibly quiet when he comes into our room. i'm a very light sleeper and yet he's scared me every time because he's so stealthy!

my mother would likely try to put a positive spin on last night by saying that he's preparing me for baby. and to counter that i'll say by all the trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night, i'm getting plenty of practice! then there's the struggle with shutting my mind off once i get back into bed. i'm to the bathroom and back in less than a minute i'm sure, and yet, i fall into bed and my mind just starts going. i can honestly say i'm not stressing about anything, i just keep thinking of going into labor, holding her in my arms, seeing ben with her, possibly catching her on her arrival... all these things that are yet to come on her big day. we are just so excited to meet her!

i feel like a parent.

i know that may seem like an odd thing to say after 28 months of having jack live with us, but we have reached a milestone tonight that just made this realization come to surface... the first night of the toddler bed. that's right, jackie is no longer in a crib. his bed has the teeny little rails up and he has free roam if he chooses. i knew this was coming, i was trying to deny it, but the more i thought about it, the more i realized i didn't want to have my sweet little toddler in a cast from a broken limb. so after three escapes, we made the conversion tonight. we kept him up a little later than usual, read a few more books than usual, and i stayed at his side a little longer than usual. he showed me all his stuffed animals, named each one of them for me, and then was being really sweet giving hugs and kisses a few times over. i asked him to lay his head down, and then i asked him if he was going to be a big boy tonight, and he responded how i assumed he would no, no, no. regardless, i shut his door all the way and here i am, an hour later and there has been no peep out of him. or rather, he has not tried to escape his room. ben is pretty adamant about going in to see him tonight "the camcorder has night vision, annie!" but i would rather not push our luck with opening the door, making any noise.

maybe this is no big deal to others, but it really makes me feel that so many years have just flashed before my eyes. just the other day, ben and i were laying in bed, daydreaming about the day when jack and his sister would come bounding into our bed. how fun will that be?! i just assumed that it would be many, many years down the road - not two days later! it's all a lot for this pregnant brain to digest. speaking of which...

i am 35 weeks today. 5 weeks to go. that's a month and a week. that's 35 days. that's crazy. apparently, baby girl is measuring anywhere from 19-22 inches and about 5.5 pounds. she is about the size of a cantaloupe. which coincidentally, is about what two other parts of my body feel like. she is still head down, so fingers crossed that she doesn't decided to get wild one night and turn on me. she is getting the best of the right side of my ribs and drinking late into the night - she is a hiccup-er just like her brother was! the back aches are more frequent, but i feel extremely blessed to have made it this far and just now feeling that pain. (with jack, it started at 5 months.) although, it's not so bad because taking a bath usually makes it all better. and what's more relaxing these days than a warm bath?!

family portraits

i got to thinking, if anyone is going to appreciate maternity pictures when they're older, it's going to be our little girl! so on a weeks notice, we made an appointment with a sweet lady in san diego. the only time she could get us in was at 6 pm (which depending on the day can be during a late nap) and considering vacations usually equal no nap, this was the case. nonetheless, she was able to capture some sweet moments! and turn some of jackie's screams into what look like big smiles. here are the end results...

sd zoo + wild animal park

entrance to the zoo

elephants!

they have big ears

we had to go up!

SO big, way up in the air!

view of escondido (wild animal park)

not a huge fan of the gorillas

but a big fan of the nose pick

see? double-pick even!

jackie and i rode the bus around...

...while dada got some hang time in! (can you see him in green?)

chubby little meerkat

baby koala, so sweet with mama
and bubba, so sweet with his mama

jackie so excited about the monkeys

on another bus to tour the zoo
taking it all in

baby frank
feeding dada cheetos

on our way home, at the sd airport, more of these pretty flowers

seaworld

we decided to tackle seaworld in two separate visits. the park is so big! many, many animals to see, several shows to catch and lots of goodies to sample.

within minutes of arriving, we found the dolphins

...but did they get soaked! good thing for extra clothes

keeping a safe distance now

shamu show, incredible set

representing ak

the two-hand shovel
full mouth?

it's a shame he's so camera-shy
beautiful belugas

big walrus

(jack stepped back and fell off right after this,

wasn't expecting him to get so close!)
going into see my favorite... the manatees!
saying "ahhh"

jack needed some run-around time...

the only ride i could go on :)
connie + jeff!

love them all to pieces!!!