Pumpkin Patch Trip 2013

Last week (two weeks ago?) we took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch at the farm. Jack and I actually took two trips...one with his playgroup and one with daddy and the Lynns. But let's just combine them all, shall we?

I actually really enjoyed the weekend trip with daddy, if only because this 9 month pregnant lady enjoyed the help. My solo trip to the farm was exhausting. I didn't realize how tiring it would be to run after Jack while it was 90 degrees. Luckily, Jack loved doing all the fun patch activities with his daddy. First they took a ride on the "cow train":

 

Then, after the corn maze, they tackled the mini-tractors. Pretty darn adorable...

 

He found a giant pumpkin to climb into.

 

And a giant tire tunnel to run through.

 

There was a big pumpkin hut...

 

...and of course LOTS of pumpkins.

 

Of course a field full of pumpkins is a great opportunity to jump off giant pumpkins. Or really jump off anything and everything.

 

Of course, I coudn't really manage to get a good pic of Violet and Jack together. This was the best I could do.

 

Jack wouldn't pose with Violet but he attempted to pose with the sunflower sign.

 

One of Jack's favorite parts of the farm is pushing the old wagons around. Makes him so happy.

 

In fact, he's generally just happy on the farm.

 

The best thing about going to the same farm every year is the fact that you can do photo comparisons. Check it out.

 
Jack measuring his 1 1/2 yrs height in October 2012

Jack measuring his 2 1/2 years height in October 2013

Peeking out from the train window in 2012

Peeking out from the train window in 2013

Family photo in 2011 - Jack at 8 months

Family photo in 2013 - Jack at 2 1/2 years.  
He's not the only one who has aged!

Day at the Beach

 

While some parts of the country are bundling up and enjoying hot pumpkin spice lattes, our temperatures reached 95 degrees this weekend. Seemed like a good time to head to the beach so we packed up the car and headed to Malibu. Jack, just like his daddy, LOVES the beach. I could do without the sand and beating sun and freezing water but it's so fun to see Jack enjoying himself so much. His favorite thing ever is to jump the waves with his daddy while he counts them. Last beach trip he counted 325 waves. Today? 355. "A new record!" he proudly exclaimed.

 

 

Jack was so cute that I even let him drag my big pregnant butt into the cold waves too.

   

 Love my cute, handsome boys!  (And look at that kid's tan!)

   

 And a few more of me at 34 weeks pregnant and my very cute baby boy (#1)!!

 

Just a few photos....

Well, it's time to dump some Jack photos.  It's been a while so I have a few.  :)

playing the bean counting game!

nap time is easier when he can just fall asleep listening to music on the iPad

practicing his yoga moves that his Aunt Leslie taught him

swimming with daddy

this kid loves a ball pit

killing time before sunset

he still sleeps better with mommy

playing at violet's birthday party

taking a rest with daddy

violet's cake and ice cream were SOOO good!

he is really into playing outside still

time to pause at the park for a snack

"Look Ma! I can pull my arms out of my car seat straps!"

Jack and his buddy pretending to sleep

And, in case anyone is interested, a few pics of this old pregnant lady.

 

Moms getaway in Palm Springs

Stacey organized a trip to a fancy chocolate-themed afternoon tea!

 

All the ladies...

 

And someone told them I was pregnant!  Or maybe they noticed the enormous bump.  :)

Pathetic lack of posts

 

Well, I figured I'd try to explain why I have been so bad at blogging recently. I mean, some of it can definitely be attributed to me being pregnant and tired but, not really. I'm not going to bed much earlier than usual. Though Jack sometimes goes to bed later. With Jack around all day, I don't really get a chance to open up my computer and do "real" work on it (aka time-consuming blogging). So my only computer time is the 90 minutes or so post Jack bedtime and pre my bedtime.

Nowadays I use pretty much all those 90 minutes on my little side job. I'm currently the President of my local moms club. I'm sure I've mentioned it before but it's a national non-profit group with chapters all across the country for moms with young children. Not going to link it or spell it out because I don't want it to be a searchable term. :) 

But being the prez has been both awesome and a bit more time-consuming than I had thought. We have almost 150 members and it's just such a great club that I'm trying not to ruin it. So that takes time on my computer, on email, and writing meeting agendas, etc. But, like I said, it's such a great club. The picture above is from our summer camping trip.

And here's one from one of our play dates.

  

We recently got written up in our local paper about one of the charity fundraisers we did:   Win-win Sale for MOMS Club Garage Sale to Boost Charity Goals

So, yeah, it's been very fun but very time consuming. I'm a little worried about juggling all this when baby #2 gets here in November but I guess we'll see how it goes. It's totally worth it though because I've become really good friends with some of the women. I think John is constantly amazed by how cool some of these ladies are because he tends to make the same comment every time we all hang out..."wow, you've got a really great group of mom friends." He's even made friends with some of the dads! :)

I can't say that I'll be posting more because I'm not sure that's true. But I will try to make time to do some cute posts about our adorable Jack!

First Day of Preschool

Well, the time has come...Jack is a preschooler!  Look at that big kid.  He refused to actually wear his backpack so that's the best I could do.  

Jack was very familiar with his preschool.  We had been doing mommy and me classes there for about 8 months.  It only took 6 months for him to actually warm up to the place and start running into the classroom and spending time away from me.  But, nonetheless, it happened and that's why I had high hopes for the start of preschool.  The week before, we talked about it a lot at home and he was so rational and seemed to know exactly what was going on.  And then there was the reality...

The first day when I made the move to leave he flipped out.  Starting crying and sobbing and gave me the tightest hug and wouldn't let go.  The teacher took him in her arms but I could hear him crying "mommy" all the way to my car.  That was hard.  But at least he didn't cry the whole time, according to his teachers.  Of course, that first day, one of the other moms arrived to pick-up before me (even though I was early!) and Jack saw her and started to cry.  But that's apparently normal and other kids did that too.

As of now, Jack has completed a total of 3 whole days of preschool.  (He's only going two mornings a week.)  Today he cried again at drop-off but the teachers, sort of learning his personality, had a solution.  The kids start outside on the playground and Jack was begging to go in the classroom.  So one of the teachers took him in the classroom and got out his FAVORITE number puzzle.  Then, amazingly, he stopped crying.  It was so nice to leave and not hear crying.  All because of a puzzle with numbers 0 to 9.  Just like we have at home.  It seems that numbers are his happy place.  

And he's doing pretty well during the day according to his teachers.  Today they had gymnastics and I guess Jack chose to sit and watch.  Shocker.  Though I don't blame him for not jumping into a big gymnastics class.  But the teachers said he was watching very intently and smiling and enjoying observing everything.  When I got there they were having story time.  All 16 kids (sans Jack) were sitting on the floor in a semi-circle around the teacher who was reading a book.  Where was Jack?  He was sitting up in front next to the teacher in his own chair.  That's my boy.  :)

And here are two pics from school....

I think he'll probably cry at drop-off for a while longer.  And it'll be an even longer time still until he's "playing" with the other kids and joining in activities.  But that's okay.  He'll get there!

29 weeks pregnant?

I haven't posted much about my pregnancy here.  Not because I've forgotten I'm pregnant (who could forget in 100 degree heat) but because I'm sort of distracted and don't think about it that much.  But, yes, I am 29 weeks pregnant.  2 1/2 months to go hopefully.  This pregnancy has been different and yet the same as the first.  Different because I'm just SO MUCH MORE tired.  Physically.  Last time I got to sit in an air conditioned office all day and was in a desk chair for like 12 hours a day.  Plus I started off in better shape.  Now I'm chasing after a busy two year old and have to sit in hot parks and run around my backyard.  Last time I read all about pregnancy on the internet and followed it week by week.  I also had far more worries last time about everything and this time I'm probably not worried enough.

But lots of things are the same.  Mainly my two major symptoms - heartburn and insomnia.  At least with heartburn this time I knew exactly what I needed to have on hand...liquid antacid.  The insomnia is a little rough but there's not much I can do about it.

The bummer is that this time everything is more swollen.  I never had to take off my wedding rings with Jack but this time around I put them away weeks ago.  I'm now wearing a $15 sterling silver band that used to fit on my index finger.  And I've noticed my ankles and feet are a bit swollen at the end of the day.  Not the greatest look.

The little guy is kicking like crazy though so that's fun.  And reassuring that everything is going okay, even if I'm too busy to notice.  Poor kid is still nameless though as John and I haven't found a name we both love.  We have 11 or so more weeks so let's hope we can agree on something soon.  :)

Family Day at the Farm

A while ago John, Jack, and I packed up at headed 40 minutes north to Underwood Farms which is one of Jack's favorite places. It's got a ton of animals, hay stacks, a mini-train, tractor rides, and pick-your-own vegetables and fruit. The summer is a great time to go if you want to pick-your-own because there are so many great crops to choose from. We picked tomatoes (so so many kinds!), zucchini, squash, peppers, cilantro, and, of course, STRAWBERRIES. Jack's favorite. He and his daddy worked away picking all the best strawberries. Jack loved to make sure to remind us "not the green ones!"

   

 Of course, Jack enjoyed far too many samples while picking. But I guess they'll never know.

   

 After picking it was back to the main part of the farm. Jack refused to ride in the wagon...he just wanted to push it.

 

Then it was time for playing on hay towers, in tractors, and on swings.

 

 

 So much fun! Of course, no trip to the farm is complete without some bouncy house time. Still Jack's favorite.

 

 

 I love family outings like this. Can't wait to go back in October for the Harvest Festival and their giant pumpkin patch! (I'll be enormously pregnant but I'll still have fun with my little guy...as long as someone else carries him.)