And we're baaaccckkk! Needless to say life has been hectic but we are getting into a routine and things are getting back under control. Baby Ruth is 5 months old! She's not a little baby anymore, she's getting so BIG! I can't believe she is SO long she's wearing 12 month sleepers. Everyone said every child is different, no two are alike and I'm finding out that is SO true! Ruth already has an "attitude" she knows what she wants, when she wants it and how she wants it. If she doesn't get her way she'll get mad and she'll let you know about it! Her Peditrican said now that she's 5 months I can let her cry it out and not hold her all the time. Oh, did I mention Ruth likes to be held,CONSTANTLY! Well when the weekends come Ruth and I have some come to Jesus meetings I shut her bedroom door, sit in a chair next to her and let her cry it out. Oh yeah, did I mention that she is persistant and hard headed like her mother (pay back is ....)? She will cry up to 2 hours wanting to be held and getting so angry but I hold out and so far I'm winning. I'm beginning to set boundaries with Ruth and I hope she's starting to realize crying does not equal getting her way. Ruth does not seem to care for her daddy right now. Tony and I play a game and it goes like this: I hold Ruth,she's smiles and happy I hand Ruth to Tony and she looks at him, get's mad and cries, I grab Ruth from Tony and hold her and she's all smiles and happy again. We can do this back and fourth and we get this reaction every time. I know Ruth will eventually love to have her daddy hold her and I know Tony if fine with not having to take care of her while she's this little but it will be nice when they can finally get along! On the other hand Ruth LOVES J.R. She sees him and she is all smiles. J.R. is such a good brother, he is SO sweet to Ruth. He will watch Ruth for me for a few minutes here or there. The other day I had to take a shower and I asked Tony and J.R. if they could watch Ruth. They put her on her tummy time mat, Tony sat back on the couch and J.R. played with Ruth the entire time. Now that is an awesome brother. When I take them to school (J.R.and Ruth go to the same school) J.R. always wants me to drop him at his class first so he can show off his baby sister to his buddies. Today they have school pictures and they are getting pictures taken together. I can't wait to see how they turn out! Our family feels SO complete now that Ruth is here. When it was just J.R. I always felt like something was missing and now that Ruth is here we feel complete. We have a lot to come in the next few years and it will be fun watching our family adapt. I am so thankful for my family and friends. We have built such a great life and we are so fortunate.

4 weeks until Baby Ruth!

We have 4 weeks until my due date, November 15th! Baby Ruth is moving like CRAZY. The other night she stuck her butt out on my right side and the right side of my tummy was sticking out about 1 inch more than my left then you could see her kicking. I told my OB the other day that she no longer punches me, it's more of a shifting feeling now. He responded that she's running out of room and can't punch anymore! J.R. is getting excited. He continually tires to take care of me, not wanting me to bend over, doing little things for me around the house, getting me water when I run out. He's going to be such a big brother. He also keeps telling me all the things he's going to do for her and teach her. He's going to change the pee pee diapers, hold her and feed her. He's going to teach her how to box, play baseball and hockey! Tony is taking everything in stride like he did with J.R. I on the other hand am 5 years older and this time around it's not as easy. I'm swollen and tired but the indigestion is KILLING me. This girl is going to have a beautiful mane if that wise tail is true. Here's some pictures of J.R. from the last few months.

Many months have past.

It's only 7 more weeks until my due date, November 15th. On one hand time has flown by but on the other hand I'm ready to have by body back. I think Baby Ruth is taking all my energy! When I was pregnanat with J.R. I don't remember being tired or slowing down but now, 5 years later at age 39 I have offially slowed down. This little girl is bouncing around like a ball in my belly. She's really beating me up, I don't remember J.R. being so rough! We almost have everything ready for Ruth's arrival and I'm looking forward to meeting her and having her in our family. I wonder what kind of changes another child will have on our family. I wonder if it will be easier to adjust to a second child compared to a first child. I wonder if Ruth will be as good as J.R. when J.R. came home he was a perfect little boy, we spent our time worrying about what could go wrong rather than appreciating all the things that were going right with J.R. J.R. always slept at night and was up during the day, he rarely got sick, he rarely cried from my recolection he was SO easy! I think J.R. is looking forward to seeing Ruth, he's getting possesive over her already. I bet he's going to be a good big brother. This morning J.R. told me that he and daddy wanted to help me around the house because he knows Baby Ruth is making me tired. J.R. keeps making us laugh our asses off, he's such a funny kid. He LOVES to dance and boy does he have some moves, he can really move his hips! Tomorrow the Voice begins again and J.R. is excited to watch "our show" believe me there will be some dancing in our house tomorrow night. J.R. started with his same baseball team last week. His first game is in October but practing has begun. This is now the 3rd season with the same team and coach. A few weeks ago we got J.R. is first cleets and wood bat. When he was at practice last week he wanted to bring 2 bats, one metal and one wood because that's what his daddy does. This reminds me of another thing J.R. did a few weeks ago. He came downstairs one morning with his shirt in his hand. I asked him why he wasn't wearing the shirt and he responded well daddy had his shirt in his hand yesterday so I wanted to do that today. I know everyone thinks there kids are the greatest most funny kids around but one thing is true, J.R. has enriched our lives more than words can say. He is the sweetest most caring thing I have encountered. One story that we will never forget was when Tony and I took J.R., my niece and nephew to Lake Mead to rent a boat the day before they left to go back to Tampa. Tony wanted to go to a private cove where there was no one else, we beached our boat and swam for a few hours before we got in the boat to head back to the marina. The boat wouldn't start, we called out mayday on the cb and we were not getting a response. Then over the cb we heard a storm warnig saying 40 MPH winds were coming and take cover. We continued to call on the cb for help and the storm came. It rained horizontal, lighting was striking all over the place and it was getting chilly. We took out a towel and covered J.R. so he would be sheltered somewhat. During the storm J.R. looked up at me with his wide blue eyes and asked me if he was going to die. That absolutely broke my heart, I grabbed him with a big hug and told him that his mommy would always take care of him the best she could and we were going to be okay. After the storm passed a houseboat beached themselves and let us on their boat. It seems that they heard our mayday calls and came to help us. Somehow they could hear our calls but the marina could not. They called for help at the marina and a few hours later they fixed our boat and sent us on our way. It turns our a line in the motor was krinked when we lowered the motor back into the water. They said this was a freak occurance, leave that to happen to us! We were so thankful for the family on the houseboat, if it wasn't for them we could have been out there all night long! Now whenever it storms we say at least we aren't on that boat in Lake Mead!

Smart little guy!

Here's a conversation J.R. and I had on the way to school this morning:

J.R.: Mommy, I want to go to the Mini Grand Prix after school.
Me: We can't go there, it's WAY TOO hot outside.
J.R.: No mom, let's do the stuff inside.
Me: I may take you if mommy isn't tired when I pick you up after school.
J.R.: If you're lazy bones and want to lay around, that's okay mommy.
Me: Mommy gets tired really easy because my body is making baby Ruth.
J.R.: Well when you made me, your body didn't get tired.

Well we ended up making it to Mini Grand Prix after school and when I got home J.R had me exhausted mentally and physically.


This weekend we watched lots of  baseball games at home. We were watching the Rays and White Soxs play and J.R. named 4 players with their numbers and he was correct! J.R. told Tony that Dunn from the White Soxs was number 32 but Tony didn't agree he thought his number was 44. So J.R. turned it into a competition, if he was right Tony had to wrestle with him and if Tony was right J.R. had to not talk for 1 hour. Well J.R. was right! Needless to say I now believe J.R. if he tells me a players number.

Here is J.R. and his best buddy Elizar on the 3rd of July at school.

Here's a pregnancy picture at 20 weeks. I took this at grandpa's house.



Here is J.R., daddy and Bill having fun at Mary Lou's and Ralph's 4th of July party!



20 Week Picture of Ruth!

Ruth is almost 20 weeks and we got an ultrasound today. We saw her yawn a huge yawn and she is a mover! The last two times we've had an ultrasound both technicians found it hard to get pictures because she was constantly jumping around. I feel her move all the time!

I have a funny J.R. story to tell. The other night J.R. and Scott were working on a project together and I asked J.R. to let Tootsie in from outside. He let her in and she must have wanted to play and tried to jump up on him because he told her, "Tootsie, stop bothering me I have to work!". Tony and I died laughing, Tony uses the same phrase on J.R. but it was so funny to hear him use it with his doggie!

J.R.isms

What is J.R. Zaino like at 4 1/2 years old?

Things J.R. is obsessed with: sports, specifically baseball and hockey, superheros (he has tons of superhero underwear), balls (he took a football to school this week so he could sleep with it at nap time), bugs (he's interested in what they eat and loves to look at them), hummingbirds (we have a hummingbird feeder that J.R. watches every morning when he wakes up), cuddling (especially at night with his mommy, I'll be so sad when that changes), ranch dressing (he will eat ranch on almost anything especially french fries and pizza), traffic signs (he loves to read the speed limit signs and tell me when the red light turns green), talking (this kid never stops, he will talk to himself if we're not talking to him), laying in mommy and daddy's bed (this is a treat for J.R. but he must be in the middle of mommy and daddy), numbers (J.R. loves to write numbers, say numbers and do simple math, I know this is from watching sports on tv), Adventure Time (this show is J.R. and daddy's show they always watch it together) and Tootsie (it's so great to see how much J.R. loves his dog and honestly Tootsie loves him, she use to only sit on my lap but now she'll sit on J.R.'s lap)These are just a few of the things J.R. loves!

J.R. always comes up with the most funny and amazing things. Just in the last few days I tried to remember some of the one liners:

My brain works better than your guy's brain.
Mommy hasn't hatched Ruth yet.
After vomiting: Mommy, I tried to keep the vomit in my body but it had an secret escape plan.
Come over here mom and dance with the party.
Daddy, if you tell mommy sorry, it will make her feel a little better.

J.R. is such a sweet little boy. He cares about his friends they are very important to him. He likes everyone to be happy, if you are sad he'll try to make you smile and give you hugs. J.R. is also VERY competitive. He's even competitive about going to the potty. He always tries to "win" and be the first one done going potty. Everything is a competition with him. I know he gets this from his mommy and daddy since we are both pretty competitive.I love this little boy more than I could ever express or could ever have imaged. I love to sit and talk to J.R. it's amazing to see how his mind works and the amazing and sweet and funny things that he comes up with. I love to lay in his bed at night after reading him a book and listen to him talk and answer his questions. J.R. was worth the wait so far he is one of the best things I've done in my life.

J.R. Happenings

I got a call from Candilhall today around 2pm and they said my little guy vomited after he woke up from his nap. Ms. Gabby said she knew something was wrong because he took a nap today and he never takes naps. He's been at home and only got sick once and has a low grade fever. We are suppose to go to visit grandpa on Wednesday so I hope he has a speedy recovery.

Tonight was the finals of the voice. This is a show that J.R. and I watch together, it's kind of "our thing". He LOVES music. Last week J.R. said the Voice was his favorite show of all time. I have so  many videos of him singing and dancing, they are SO hilarious. Whenever he sees singing on tv he thinks it's a competition and asks who's going to get voted off!

A few weeks ago, J.R. and I were looking at dogs at the the local dog shelter on line. J.R. said that he wanted another dog but I told him we had a baby on the way and couldn't get another dog. J.R. promptly said, "Well when the baby leaves our house then we can get another dog." I had to let him know that Ruth would be staying with indefinitely.

J.R. is happy he's going to be a big brother. He always asks about Ruth and talks to her. Today he was telling me to eat sugar 3 times today because Ruth would REALLY like to taste sugar.We have her room ready to go, well kind of... we have her furniture in the extra bedroom downstairs. We'll see how that works out, Tony thinks it will be perfect while I'm not so sure.

 Last Thursday J.R. finished his swim lessons. He is CRAZY about being in the water right now. Everyday he asks to get in the pool. It's so great to see how comfortable he is in the water, two years of swim lessons have paid off. He can swim the entire length of the pool doing a recognizable american crawl and he's even better at the back stoke.

I have been feeling Ruth move, little flutters. She should arrive in about 20 weeks or so, we're all getting very excited. I just felt her kick and it's 11:30pm, I hope she's not a night owl like her daddy!