Tantrums

It's only 7:45am and so far today we've had pretty impressive tantrums about:
1. Not being allowed to wear Diego underwear
2. Not being allowed to watch TV
3. Not being able to put a bite of apple back onto the apple it came from

Also, be sure to check out Laura's blog (link at right), where she updates what vegetable or fruit my baby is each week. This week we're an avocado!

And stay tuned for next week when we have our 20 week ultrasound and hopefully find out the sex and some other interesting info. So far I've gained 5 or 6lbs, which is pretty much right on track for this stage. That isn't much weight, but I look huge right now, more like I did last time at 5 or 6 months. I'll put up a belly picture soon.

Thanksgiving, Christmas and 17 weeks along

It's been difficult to keep up with posting lately. First I felt sick for almost three months due to the pregnancy, and then we were busy with both Jay traveling for work and then all of us traveling or hosting travelers for three weeks straight. Meanwhile all of this time I was and am still completely EXHAUSTED. Much more fatigued than last pregnancy. Imagine always feeling like like you've only had two hours of sleep for months and months. And yet you still have to go to work, take care of a toddler, and function normally. I've got a long five months still to go. Now we're fully in the midst of the "terrible two's", which we're told will start to improve when Anja turns four or so. Even if you don't think the two's are terrible, they are incredibly consuming and take up all of our time. Even this post is being typed a few words at a time while keeping Anja from hitting the computer with hard toys. And now she's running around the house like a crazy person on her tiptoes laughing hysterically.



Anja has advanced incredibly in last couple of months. She now has full conversations with us and asks a lot of questions about everything. She recently learned the word, "why", which is pretty fun. Whatever answer we give is always followed by another why, and another. As usual she is really active and needs constant entertainment. In addition, we are now experiencing the emotional turmoil typical for this age. The first few mini tantrums were just amusing, but now we can expect a meltdown at any time for really any reason. It is very challenging and completely different than the predictability we've had for the last year. Meltdowns are caused by not being able to watch TV, having twisted socks, not being picked up, being picked up, dropping a toy, not having food yet at a restaurant, not liking the food you have, Blue being too close to a toy or food, having a piece of fuzz stuck to your finger, etc.

This picture and the two above are from the Oregon coast. For Thanksgiving we visited my sister and her husband in Corvallis. It was beautiful, and we even had good weather on the day we drove to the coast. These are some pictures from a place called Seal Rock. The tidepooling there was really good and we did see a few seals.


Here are Jay and Anja on some of the rocks exposed at low tide.


And here are the four Spaulding girls at a spot a little further up the road, I forget what town this was.


The next week my sister Heather came to visit and stayed for a couple of weeks. She just finished her degree and is currently job-free (aka free to travel). Here's a photo of Jay, Anja and Heather on a beach at Point Reyes during her visit. We had a good visit there and got to see some really impressive Tule Elk, a couple different species of deer, elephant seals, and numerous water birds.


It's also the beginning of the salmon spawning season here, which we tried to go see, but no luck. We did find some really pretty rivers nearby, though.


And then we got a Christmas tree and started putting wrapped presents under it. At first Anja thought the wrapped presents *were* the toys. She carried them around and arranged them and didn't want to put them back.


And packages for her kept showing up in the mail with bubble wrap, which she hadn't seen before.


Anja really likes to have "jobs" to do. She especially likes feeding Blue. Afterward she even reminded me to add Blue's joint medication to her food, which I had forgotten.


She also really likes singing, but she doesn't know all the words to any songs by herself yet. She loves the rubber ducky song from Sesame Street:


Here's Anja on her new bouncy toy, Rody, that she got for Christmas.


Anja loves all her new toys. Here she is "eating" a wooden strawberry...


... and playing with her wooden hammer.