Muir Woods

Emily and I took the girls to Muir Woods yesterday for a little adventure in the redwoods. I feel so lucky that this magical place is only ten minutes from our house!

Here's a good look at the belly (or Butterball, as I'm affectionately calling her) at 36 weeks. Not a lot of room left! When she tries to stretch out I seem to feel it in every part of my torso.

Trick-or-Treat!

Someone discovered the joys of trick-or-treating this year! We kept it simple and went to a neighbor's house for pizza before heading out with three other toddlers to do our loop. It was super cute. Anna had a change of heart at the last minute and decided to be Cinderella instead of the adorable homemade witch costume I borrowed from a friend. Oh well! I have to come to grips with the fact that she's a little person now with opinions of her own.

Butterball is in the homestretch. Four weeks to go. Oh boy!

Had to share...

So we're finally making some progress on the potty-training front. Anna is totally getting into it and mini-M&M's are definitely the motivating factor! Yesterday we were talking to my mom and dad on speaker phone and Anna wanted to demonstrate her new skills for Nana and Papa - which she did successfully (number two!).

After lots of cheering and encouragement from all of us, Anna got her M&M's and put a sticker on her little chart. Then she told Nana and Papa very seriously "I'm so glad you liked my poo poo."

That's our girl!

Day of Beauty

It's another rainy day so I thought it would be fun to take Anna for a haircut - just a little trim since I'm not very good at doing her bangs. Well, she ended up with much more than a trim! I'm loving it and I'm so glad the woman talked me into such a cute little bob.

Enter Disney Princess...

Move over Elmo, it's time for Dora and Disney Princess! This seems to be the natural progression among the toddler girl set. We now watch Dora every night instead of Sesame Street and Anna can name all of the princesses even though she hasn't seen any of their movies. Now that's what I call some excellent marketing on Disney's part! Here she is showing off her princess pajamas:

No updates on the baby front. I'm now 32 weeks along and my only complaints are mostly heartburn (which I've had from the start) and my incredibly shrinking stomach - not belly! I want to eat huge meals but can't. It's too smooshed. Unfortunately this is not keeping me from eating huge meals so then I just have to suffer for the next couple hours. It's like knowing you should reapply sunblock but are too lazy and get burnt, summer after summer after summer... I'll never learn!

29 Weeks

Emily took these pictures when she and Océanne were over the other night. As you can see it's becoming more difficult to carry Anna - at least in the normal way. I guess the belly can act as a nice little ledge sometimes!

I've been feeling the urge to prepare our house and family for number two's arrival. Anna talks about baby sister all the time, puts stickers on her, talks to her - but I really think she has no clue how much things will change when she's born.

The pregnancy is going so smoothly I really have nothing to write about! That's a good thing I suppose. She's very active - in fact, I just felt a few jabs and kicks as I'm typing.

It may sound strange but I'm really looking forward to the birth experience. I can't wait to see how different it is from Anna's or how much it's the same. I'm trying not to have too many expectations - especially when my OB tells me how much faster and easier this one will be!

Arizona

Surprise! We flew to Arizona last weekend to surprise Todd's sister Lee for her birthday (I won't mention which one but let's just say it's a big one!). Grandma J had been in cahoots with Lee's boyfriend James for months and planned a fun and surprising birthday dinner with Lee's closest friends on Saturday night.

The highlight for Anna was definitely the time we spent at Auntie Lee's house the next day. She has four horses, three dogs, and I'm not sure how many cats. It was like her own personal petting zoo. Anna was impressed!

It was such a fun trip and so nice to spend time with Lee and James, and Jeannette and Jack.

Giddy up!

I don't see a resemblance, do you?

Carrot treat for Casper - his eyes were beautiful!

Auntie Lee's house is fun!

One last look at the horses with Grandma J

Tiny Little Big Girl Bed

So many changes lately... first preschool and now it's bye-bye crib. It's been a week since we switched Anna to her "big girl bed" (it's actually a tiny little toddler bed) and there's no looking back! At this point I think we could move the crib out of her room and she wouldn't even notice. She sleeps soundly all through the night and during naps and hasn't come close to falling out. I was nervous that she would get out of bed and start wandering around the house but she still waits for us to come get her. It was a delightfully smooth transition. Now, if only potty training were so easy...

I'm starting to get into serious nesting and space-planning mode. Our family room could easily be turned into a third bedroom but we really don't want to lose that space. So right now the plan is to have the nursery in our room until the baby is sleeping through the night and then the girls will share a room. We'll see how that goes!

Preschool Jitters

Today was Anna's first day of preschool and I was a nervous wreck. We've pretty much been attached at the hip for the past 29 months so it was definitely a big day in our house. I brought her into the classroom, played with her for a little while, said "good-bye," and was barely out the door before the tears started. I then continued to sob for the next 15 minutes before calling Todd who was able to talk me down.

I started feeling better as the hours ticked by and I hadn't received a frantic phone call from the school asking me to come get her. When I went to pick her up (I was the first parent at the school, by the way) all the kids were sitting around the table finishing lunch and Anna was leaning back in her chair with a food container on her face! I guess she was feeling pretty comfortable.

The teachers said she was an old hat and participated in all of the activities. I don't know why I'm surprised that she did so well? She's an awesome kid. We're so lucky.

Here are a few pics from this past weekend up in Truckee. The weather was beautiful and we spent both days swimming at Donner Lake.

Nanaland

We just returned from a lovely trip to visit Nana and Papa in Wilmington, NC. Anna was a great little traveler! We managed to do either the beach or pool almost everyday, Todd golfed, I read... it was all very relaxing. Emily and I planned our trips back to back which meant Grandma Mann was able to fly down and see both great-granddaughters. Whenever we came in the door Anna would say "where's my Grandma Joanie?" It was such a nice vacation and I wish we could have stayed longer.

Helping Papa in the yard.

Boat ride.

Naked Anna, pregnant Mama (21 weeks)

Little surfer girl.

Happy 4th of July!

This year our friends AV and Sonia hosted a BBQ out on Angel Island to celebrate the 4th so we boarded the first ferry from Tiburon to join in the fun.  The weather was typical for San Francisco in July - foggy and overcast!  But it cleared up around noon and turned into a beautiful day.  The day was filled with eating, pine cone collecting/throwing, and a little treasure hunt for Anna and Ella. 

In other news, I'm finally feeling all of the little blips and blurps of the baby's acrobatics.  It's such a wonderful feeling! 

We're having a...

GIRL!  Our 18 week ultrasound was this morning and everything looked great.  She was ultra-squirmy and the technician had a hard time determining the gender at first.  But then the doctor came in and said "girl" with quite a bit of confidence.  

Because she was so squirmy and hiding behind the placenta they weren't able to get a very clear picture.  Below is the best one we got of her face.  

I love being able to say "she" and "her."  It makes this pregnancy so much more real to me.  

I have to say I'm already experiencing the second baby guilt because I'm not able to spend as much time focusing on being pregnant and day-dreaming about what this little person will be like.  Instead I'm chasing around a sweet and very strong-willed toddler who, when I told her she was going to have a baby sister, said "No!  Baby brother."  She'll warm up to the idea.

 

Crissy Field

We enjoyed the warm, sunny weather this morning with the Gibbs' at Crissy Field.  The girls were having fun splashing around in the water and helping dig a big hole.  Noah just chilled in his carseat the whole time.  I really hope our baby #2 follows in his footsteps and has a similar temperament! 

P.S.  I realize we need a better nickname than baby #2.  We're working on it...  

Anna and Natalie

This is Anna's "pretending to be angry" face in case you're ever wondering what that might look like.

Father's Day Weekend

This year for Father's Day we took a little "mini-vacation" to Monterey.  We thought it would be fun for Anna to see the aquarium, stay in a hotel, swim in a real pool, eat junk food, and all those other fun things we don't normally get to do!  

The highlight for Anna was definitely the pool!  While she seemed to enjoy the aquarium, I still think she's a little young to appreciate one as impressive as the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  I could have watched the shark tank, jellyfish exhibit, and sea otters all day but Anna was more or less done after an hour.  

It was a fun little getaway.  Now we're looking forward to our upcoming visit to North Carolina to see Nana and Papa!  I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of time at the pool.

Cousins

Emily posted some great photos of Anna and Océanne playing yesterday at the park.  Check them out at le petit croissant!

Hair-do's and Hormones

This week Anna got her second haircut and we decided to try out some bangs.  I love them!  Don't you think they make her look a little mischievous?  Or maybe that's just because it looks like she's strangling BDG in this picture (aka: baby doll Georgia).  

In pregnancy news I had a little hormonal incident last night while we were watching TV.  I'm kind of a sucker for some good potty humor - much to Todd's dismay - and this commercial came on for some type of gas-relief type medication.  As soon as I heard the line "your son Rip is on line toot" I just lost it.  I mean, it wasn't even that funny but all of a sudden I was having one of those uncontrollable laughing fits where I could barely breathe.  Then before I knew it I was sobbing with a lump in my throat and tears streaming down my face.  And then I was laughing again.  And then crying.  And then laughing...

It was the strangest experience which I can only blame on my raging hormones.  I don't think Todd knew what to do and pretty much remained silent throughout the whole thing.  Probably a smart move!

Gobble, Gobble

Anna woke up from her nap the other day in the mood to perform!  This was going on for about 15 minutes before I thought to get the video camera out.  I missed some really good stuff but managed to capture a few funny moments.

In other news...

Anna is going to be a big sister later this year!  

This news is probably not very shocking to many people because a) we've already told you or b) you've been expecting this kind of announcement for some time.  I think that happens to almost everyone once their first child hits the two-year mark and people know you want to have more kids. 

Right now I'm a little over 11 weeks with a November 30th due date and things are going well!  Yesterday morning I was able to hear the heartbeat for the first time which is always exciting and reassuring.  I've been feeling pretty icky and tired -- very similar to how I felt with Anna for the first trimester.  But every day I'm starting to feel more energetic so there's definitely a light at the end of the tunnel!

Mother's Day Weekend in Truckee

We headed up to Truckee for Mother's Day weekend and had a wonderful time.  Anna now gets really excited when we tell her we're going to up there.  It's like a big playhouse to her - complete with stairs, plush carpet, and an old piano she can bang on.  We don't even have a step up to our front door so, yes, stairs are quite the novelty!

My Mother's Day treat was a nice, long walk by the creek Sunday morning.  The mountain air was crisp and clean and I came home feeling very refreshed.  Anna also bought be a pair of fancy new sunglasses to replace my Target specials.  It was a lovely day!

   

Easter

Lately I wish we had hidden cameras around the house so we could capture all of the funny things Anna says throughout the day.  Writing the words down just doesn't seem to do them justice and of course she gets shy as soon as you turn on the camera.  One of our current favorites is when she's in the middle of singing a song and she'll suddenly stop, look at you and say "know that song?"   

See what I mean?  I just reread that sentence and it doesn't sound funny at all.  Now I'm determined to get it on video!

We've been having beautiful weather this past week and Easter was no exception.  Anna had her first visit from the Easter Bunny and was more into the actual basket than the candy.  Fine by me! We went to the Gibbs' house that morning for an Easter egg hunt and then had a lazy Sunday afternoon at home.  Here are a couple pics along with some other recent photos.

Watering the blueberry bush.

Found one!

Still LOVES Elmo.  Thanks for the gifts Aunt Lisa!

She's very serious about her art.

Not sure what this face was all about but that's my Mickey Mouse from when I was her age!