Quail!

I looked up yesterday to see two quail right in our front window. We have seen quail running through the yard several times over the years, but never so close. Hopefully some will nest nearby. I love the way they run through the yard, sometimes in groups of 12 or more, following one after another.

Playing with girls

Some neighbors were over the other day with their little girls, 2 1/2 and 3 1/2. They played doctor while Aaron looked on. He was happy just to watch, although I think they included him at times.

Helping Papa in the yard

Thom will often take Aaron with him to refill the birdfeeder out back. I missed a great picture of Thom filling the feeder (behind him in the photo below) and Aaron standing watching him. I tried to get them to recreate the scene once I had the camera, but at that point, Aaron was obsessing on a gopher hole in the yard. (You can see the peach blossoms on the tree behind Thom. Looks like a good crop this year.)

Reading on his own

Recently, Aaron has taken to "reading" his books on his own at times. Even if I'm not in the same room with him, I can tell that he is reading by his special reading voice. I especially love how he turns a page, then holds the book up in front of his face while he reads. I wonder if this is how we look and sound to him when we read him stories.

Baby 2.0

We are excited to announce that Baby 2.0 is currently under development. We anticipate a delivery date of October 7.
Yes, it is true, Aaron is going to be a big brother! We think he is up for the challenge, although there is no knowing how he will adjust to no longer being the center of the universe.

I am about 11 weeks along at this point. We will know in May whether Aaron is going to have a little brother or a little sister. Given that we've had the name Audrey picked out years before we even tried to have kids, we are kind of hoping for a girl this time around. But given that Aaron has been even more amazing than we'd ever imagined, I don't think another boy would be so bad, either. We'd just have to come up with another boy's name.

I've been nauseated and tired most of the past 5 weeks - another reason for the delay in updating the blog. If things go like last time, I should be feeling better in another couple of weeks, followed by a few weeks of migraines, and then a few months of actually enjoying the pregnancy.

Visit with Oliver

Last month, after having dinner with my parents while Thom was out of town, I stopped to visit our friends Chris and Jenny and their little boy Oliver, who live close to my folks. I had already gotten Aaron into his jammies after dinner and Oliver was in his jammies when we arrived.

The boys had a good time playing together. In fact, is was the most I've seen Aaron play with another child. Mostly when we have play dates, there is a lot of side-by-side play, or even playing not so side-by-side. But Aaron and Ollie seemed to follow each other around. In the pictures above, you can see how Ollie taught Aaron the fun game of bouncing on the couch. The couch pictured is actually on its side because the legs were getting a little wobbly. But on its side, the back of the couch makes a perfect seat for little boys.

Many thanks to Chris for taking these photos. I can't wait to see the video footage.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

This is Aaron in all the green clothes Kim could find to dress him this morning. You can't really tell in this picture, but those shorts are dark green. He also has a light green onsie under his t-shirt.

It's been way too long since I've updated this blog. February was a bad month for us all around. And I have a contract due at the end of this month that has kept me busy, even on weekends, which is when I would normally update the blog. I hope to get caught up soon. Aaron is growing up so quickly lately, I can hardly keep up with his new accomplishments.