We are about to head out for some family fun when Jared gets home from work so I'll make this snappy. Here are some snapshots from our week:

^^It's been summer weather here. Jack and I spent an afternoon at a nearby river beach. Lots of pb&j picnics for us, and lots of playing "dinosaurs."
^^After an especially tiring day in the sun, Jack fell asleep holding his arms up like this, and they stayed in this position for at least 2 hours every time I went to peek on him before I went to bed haha. 
^^Backyard hangs. Wish I was on this blanket with them, but my seasonal allergies showed up in a big way this week so I'm trying to keep my backyard hangs confined to the patio to keep my misery to a minimum. All my nausea meds are also antihistamines at this point, which help with allergies, so definitely a more minimal allergy season than usual for me which is nice. 

That's it! Nothing crazy to report. I'm getting very little done during weekdays, but we ordered some wallpaper for the nursery and it was nice to have Jared's help putting it up over the weekend. We've never wallpapered before and it's been a steep learning curve so we're not even half done, but I'll be sure to share pictures as the nursery comes together (might be a few months--my pregnancy productivity levels are record low and Jared's got a very busy schedule so Saturdays are about all we have to work with). We both love the look of wallpaper but it's been a bit of a headache doing a whole room so we probably won't attempt it again for a few more years, or when we get into a more "forever home" type of situation. Very glad we went for it in the nursery though.

Backyard Hangs

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I just woke up from the best pregnancy nap. It was so needed and so good I could cry. Jared gets home early on Mondays. When Jack was in preschool we used that as our date time, but now that Jack's home and I am in my FATIGUED era, I think I'm claiming Monday afternoons for my weekly pregnancy nap. It's pretty difficult for me to squeeze in a nap under normal circumstances because (a) Jack doesn't nap anymore and (b) I desperately want/need to use his hour of quiet time to do something productive. But man, I am a tired girlie. Again, I'll take exhausted over sick every day of the week. Still celebrating feeling pretty darn good over here (pretty good on meds I should say--tried skipping doses this last week and the nausea came creeping right back in). I will say, I'm starting to get into the groove of summer and despite the exhaustion, I think we're going to make it through just fine. Here are some snapshots from our week!
^^Jared found out that he requested Friday off and we have no memory of why. At first I was bugged because I want to save as much of his vacation time as possible for postpartum, but we spent the day successfully thrifting for nursery things and then resting at home and it was very nice. Jack remains obsessed (honestly not strong enough of a word) with dinosaurs, so I picked him up this Magic Tree House dinosaur book at the thrift store and it was the sweetest things watching him get drawn into it and snuggling up while me and Jared took turns reading it with him. I haven't been pushing the reading thing too much, but now that summer's here and I'm dying for more alone time, I'm low-key trying to get him more into reading and obsessed with beginner chapter books in hopes that he'll become a little bookworm and I can have more time to get things done. It's a long shot, I know. We all need a dream. Honestly I wouldn't even mind if I'm the one who has to read the chapter books to him. Anything for a laying down activity while pregnant. Hopefully next summer baby girl is exciting enough to occupy Jack's attention away form me some of the time. He's desperate enough for a playmate that I walked into this situation last week:
^^Jack was bribing Savvy to chase him into his room with graham crackers, and then he held her captive by throwing her little pieces of graham crackers periodically while he told her dinosaur stories. Then when the cracker would run out they'd both run downstairs and grab another one, then both run back upstairs to continue. (Also yes, this bunk bed situation is childhood magic. The best furniture purchase I've ever made. We got Beddy's zip-up bedding so no bunk bed regrets over here.) 
^^Father's Day! We've got some pretty great fathers to celebrate in our life. Me and Jack made German pancakes for breakfast (Jared usually makes German Pancakes every Sunday morning because if it were up to me we'd be having cold cereal, but German Pancakes Sunday is an important thing to Jare). Jack wrote Jared this card that says "To Dad From Jack, I love you." The day before, Jared cut Jack's hair and now Jack has Dumb and Dumber bangs haha. 

For Father's Day Jack got his dad some dinosaur racing cars. We're trying to just let Jack play with them when Jared's home and asks Jack to play with him so Jack doesn't think gift giving is about buying the other person toys you hope to keep for yourself. Although honestly, I've probably done that myself a few times. I meannnn my Father's Day gift to him was a weed whacker. He seems pumped about it.

Ok I'm off to enjoy a popsicle on the patio now. Summertime has finally decided to show up in Washington! And by "summer," I mean highs in the 60s and low 70s, but at least it's sunny. Not hating it.

 

Chill Summer

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Happy summer! Not gonna lie, we're less than a week in and summer is kicking my TRASH. I'm feeling decent most of the time so I'm trying to hold onto that and be grateful that at least I'm not going stir crazy AND barfing. I was kind of excited for Jack to be done with preschool so I could live in sweats for the rest of my pregnancy and not worry about getting him ready either, but woof. I forgot what it's like to be home with a Jack all day every day, especially now that he's taking zero naps per day and it's a struggle to enforce his one hour of quiet time in the afternoon. He's an awesome kid and so much fun at this age, but he is a big-time extrovert (energized by and loves to be around people 100% of the time) and I am a big-time introvert (energized by alone time always--this served me well through Jared's med schooling haha). He would prefer my attention every minute of the day if he could get it, but nope. Over the weekend I made and printed out a summer schedule to hopefully get us in a better groove. The weather is getting nicer and we're starting to have sunny days here and there, so I'm pumped to be able to spend more time playing in our backyard soon.  
 ^^There's a cute donut shop in Lake Stevens that we've been meaning to try since we moved here a year ago, but me and Jared always think of it during our Monday dates, and it's closed on Mondays. We stopped by over the weekend half an hour before they closed, and even though we only paid for a half dozen donuts, we were the only ones in the shop and the girl working there stuffed a box full of over a dozen donuts of all kinds. And they weren't just quantity donuts, they were quality donuts. So good. Some of the best donuts I've ever had. We walked our box across the street to a picnic table by a park and the lake. Gr8 Saturday vibes. 
^^Post water-balloon fight popsicles.
^^We made a very basic volcano and it killed all the dinosaurs. Yay. 
^^Jack blowing me a kiss from the window on his last day of preschool. We had such a great experience with this preschool and he'll be going back next year. I'm sad about all the friends he's made that graduated to kindergarten but I know he'll have no trouble making new friends next year. 
^^A good $17 Costco purchase. 

That's about it! Nothing too exciting coming up this week. Today we're going to Jared's brother's high school graduation. Then I need to decide on a wallpaper and/or paint for the nursery so I can take advantage of these last few functional 2nd-trimester weeks to get some projects done. Third trimester was pretty miserable with Jack so trying to keep my expectations for what I'll be able to get done in check. 

The Summer Scaries

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Hey-o! We just got off a wonderful weekend spent with my brother Jordan's family who was visiting us here in Washington. They lived in a town about half an hour north of where we live now a few years back so it was fun to show them around Granite Falls, have the best sibling/cousin times, and they got to visit some of their old friends and hangs in Mt. Vernon. They picked an absolutely perfect time to visit--I've been feeling really pretty good for about a week now, my belly is still at a manageable size, and the current Washington temperatures are *chef's kiss*.

The forecast was mostly rainy during their time here, but we did get a sunny day on Saturday that we spent lounging on our own little riverside beach for several hours. When we pulled into the usually-empty parking lot by the river, we were surprised to find the lot overflowing with dozens upon dozens of cars. Apparently there was some kind of church party taking place. Everyone we walked by was speaking Russian, or possibly Ukranian? Maybe it was a refugee gathering? No idea but it was really cool, and in a beautiful spot. Almost felt like we'd stepped into another country for a bit. Luckily the party was in one central space, and after hiking about a quarter mile along the river we found a quiet, expansive beach all to ourselves. Much of it was rock, but there was also a lot of great sand for the kiddos to dig around in. My brother Jordan is the GOAT and carried 2 of our outdoor dining chairs the whole way to the beach so all the adults could have a chair to sit on, since we only had 2 camping chairs. We had a great time digging, throwing rocks, picnicking, and enjoying the perfect weather.   

Only kid pics today because the rest of the pics are on my DSLR (I'll share those next week), or are pictures with me in the center wearing, er, ill-fitting clothing haha. Glad Jordan and Amanda took several family pictures of us so I could catch a minor wardrobe malfunction that's probably been going on for the past 2-3 months of pregnancy bod changes. Didn't realize it, but this homegirl desperately needs to throw away the two bras I've been clinging to since HIGH SCHOOL and are now not only the wrong size, but also curling at the edges and you can see the full outline of them through most of my shirts these days. Yay. Funny how you can go months without catching things like that in a mirror, but then when you see yourself in pictures you're like, "Oh. Yup. Cool." I'm getting PUMPED for summer to start this week so I can live in Jared's shirts and an array of oversized t-shirt dresses instead of having to put on maternity jeans *shudders* for preschool pickup. I've been nervous for 3 months of no preschool, but our backyard and patio are all set for success, and we found a big inflatable splash pad for $19 at Costco today, so bring it on. 

I could keep rambling but I am EXHAUSTED. Jack has always been a terrible sleeper when we travel or have guests over. He's been making improvements in the sleep department since turning 4 so I truly didn't think we'd have any issues with family staying here over the weekend, especially since we have ample room in this house to spread out across 5 bedrooms, and because he's been excited for months to have a sleepover with Asher, but boy was I wrong. He ended up sobbing and sleeping on our bedroom or bathroom floor for all of the four nights, and on one of the nights he was awake from 12:30-4:00 a.m. absolutely inconsolable and absolutely unable to tell us what was wrong. At least he does really great with guests during the days. We've decided that 4 nights is the perfect amount of time to have houseguests staying over (at least during this phase of having a young kid who hates sleep). It was long enough to have some good outings and also some casual days at home. Adrenaline carried us great through 4 days of sleep turbulence, and then about 12 hours after they left, me and Jack crashed and burned. He's currently back in his own room sleeping, so I'm feeling good about getting his sleep back on track quickly. It was worth it for all the laughs, meals, games, and memories shared with family. Jack was immediately sad when Asher and Annie left, so I'm glad he has one last day of preschool this week to play with friends his age before the summer of Jack and Mom begins. Gonna be a good time. 
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