Sometimes ...

Sometimes, I don't bother to try and understand my child ...

Yeah ... 

He is asleep in this picture ... is the couch really that much more comfortable than his bed?
A few other odd sleeping positions:

  

He saw me using the chair to climb to reach something so ...

I caught him dragging the chair out of the kitchen and intrigued, I watched.

He used it to climb on the couch, haha

He called to me saying, "Stuck! Stuck! Help!"  

This is how he watches TV sometimes... 

 Haha ... I'm glad he likes the mustache I made him for dress-ups!

I was choreographing at the church and he decided he would rather sit here than run around for part of the time ... Looks uncomfortable to me ...

This last one, sadly, I understand...

For those who don't know, Eric's mom, Ane, has a dog named Coby. Aaron loves this dog, probably because the dog does not love him back and runs from him... 

Well, Aaron loves to imitate Coby. He will whimper and crawl around, and lately, he has started doing this:

This is what Coby does with stuffed animals or closed jars that Ane gives him.

Aaron Photo Dump!

Since we moved I keep meaning to do a photo dump of the cuteness that is Aaron and I keep putting it off. So, I am taking the time to do it now (Eric is at mutal [Eric is the Priest's Quorum adviser and I am the Young Woman's secretary] and Aaron is sleeping so it seems like a good time).

Keep in mind, some of these photos are from March and some from April. I have put them in chronological order as best I can. I promise, I'll do Easter soon as well as some pictures from us moving into our home and some before/after transformations!

Super Aaron playing cars :)

Left: Aaron enjoying a movie in Mama's bed. Right: We sold our couch before moving and it sold 3 days after we listed it so we were without a couch for a while. Aaron stacked the pillows and made the most of it.

 Rocking his animals

 

Aaron will do anything to reach musical instruments!

Hey ... he asked me to put the clips in his hair! 

Sometimes ... the floor is simply more comfortable.

And other times ... odd positions on the bed are what work best. The one on the right is right after the first time in our new ward (before we moved) and the one on the left is him finding comfort in "Bobby" his bunny... It was a particularly difficult nap time... (I'll tell you all about Bobby in the Easter post)

 Aaron loves his new play room - he loves looking out the window at the kids and looking for Daddy! He also enjoys playing cars on the windowsill. 

 

He also loves his new backyard ... well, his back-rocks. It'll be a yard this summer though!

 Left: one of Aaron's new favorite foods, cucumber. He eats them like apples. Center: Aaron had an eye doctor appointment and wore my sunglasses after getting his eyes dilated  Right: Aaron found the umbrella, enough said.

Aaron loves watching sports and he loves his Uncle Michael ... so this is a fun combo. He watched for 15 minutes.

When Eric gets home, Aaron greets him (or sometimes doesn't ...) and declares, "I drive!" He then climbs in the driver's seat (whether Eric has gotten out or not) and proceeds to drive the vehicle. It is quite the ordeal to get him back out for dinner...

Now that we have space, we've done LOTS of babysitting ... Aaron is loving it. Sometimes he comes across as a bit intense ... he gives lots of hugs.

 Aaron was running around with no diaper and decided to poop in the kitchen. Eric, having just finished the dishes, scooped him up and dumped him in the sink. Aaron played in there for a good half hour. He had a blast!

 

Aaron loves to take pictures. If he ever hears the click of my phone camera he declares, "CUTE!" If it is a picture of us together, he gets to see himself so we often make funny faces. After one picture, he will say, "one more" which is what I say when he moves before I manage to snap the picture... but he truly wants another photo; so usually a whole photoshoot ensues. The picture on the left is from us at the hospital yesterday and the one on the right is us snuggling on the couch.

This photo is chronologically out of order, but it seemed like a cute one to end on. This was us at Target. I put this hat on Aaron's head and after I put it back he tried to climb out of the cart to get it again. :)

Baby Update

To begin with, I guess I should let you all know that we are having - A GIRL!!! We are soooooo excited!

Here are 2 pictures from the day we found out. Aaron loves to rock his baby and burp his baby and it is adorable. But just when I think he has got it figured out how to be gentle, he holds her upside down by the ankles ... gee, I wonder where he got that from? *cough ... ERIC!*







I haven't been great with the picture taking, but here is a picture of me from Easter (I know, a month ago...)

You may be asking yourself, "Where did the bump go?" Well... ever since I got sick, I've shrunk and I haven't been able to get the bump back... I actually have not gotten any bigger in the last month. I am measuring small at the doctor's so I'm going in for another ultra sound to make sure everything is ok.
I'm sure it's fine given that every doctor but my own continually cries wolf. I need to start refusing to go in to see a doctor if my own OBGYN is not in the office. First they sent me to the hospital worried about blood clots or what not in my brain and found nothing and then they sent me yesterday because I've had some severe cramping that has resulted in a soft and shortened cervix. They thought that perhaps I had been contracting and didn't notice (didn't notice contractions??? Given the fact that earlier in this pregnancy, I had contractions that were regular (9 minutes apart) and would make me CRY and this would go for 4 hours, and would occur 4 out of the 7 days of the week I am fairly certain I would notice). But the doctor seemed super worried so I went to the hospital (she seemed to think I might be in pre-term labor, and yet I was able to drive myself...?) to get monitored and I took Aaron with me. It was supposed to be 20 minutes... 2 hours later, I signed a form indicating I was leaving after having checked in as a patient but having not seen a physician. The nurse looked at the contraction monitor and I asked if there was any reason for me to be there and she said no. So I left... The lady in the bed next to me told me I had the patience of a saint. *sigh* Can't I just have a normal pregnancy where I don't go to the hospital until the baby is being born? Maybe the next go around...

Otherwise, things seem to be going great. If I didn't bump into the counter sooner than I planned and I wasn't so doggone tired, I might not even notice I'm pregnant! I can still get things done and I'm not sick (usually) which is a huge step up from my pregnancy with Aaron.

Aaron is so excited. He loves to go to the doctor for me because he gets to listen to, "Baby heart!!!" It is
adorable. He is always trying to feel the baby kick or lifting my shirt up to kiss the baby or hug the baby or sing to the baby. He loves to sing Choo Choo or Sunbeam or Popcorn Popping or Be-bider (Itsy Bitsy Spider). They are his favorite songs. I asked him the other day what we should name the baby and he said, "Lightning" ... yeah, that one isn't making the cut. I guess it is better than Eric suggesting, "Moriarty."

We are so super excited for this baby and cannot wait for her to come! I'm entering the 3rd trimester so it won't be long now! Very rarely do I not see a wiggle through my tummy from her moving. And when music comes on, she kicks it up a notch! She moves and rolls and it is pretty funny. No hiccups yet though. Aaron used to have hiccups at least once a day for 20 minute stretches - so we'll have to see if she ever gets them.

A Few Stories

I wanted to share a few fun stories about Aaron while they are "fresh" on my mind... Some are a bit older, some are recent. But they are all cute and really show Aaron's personality!

• Timeouts are our current way of showing our disapproval for inappropriate behavior. Aaron is to stand in the corner with his head touching both walls and his hands behind his back until we deem him ready to come out. Many times I have found him putting himself in a timeout only to stumble across a mess he made later... What an honest kid!
• Aaron's favorite number is the number 6. You may ask how I know this. Well, for two reasons. The first comes from when he counts. He LOVES to count. When he is in the mood, he can count to 10 with no problems. But, sometimes his counting goes more like this:
         Aaron: 1, 2, 3, 6
         Me: 4
         Aaron: 4, 6
         Me: 5
         Aaron: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
  The other way I know is from when we watch Dancing With the Stars. Everytime the judges are told to reveal their scores, Aaron jumps up and down screaming 6! 6! 6!
• Aaron loves to copy everything. He has recently started calling me "Honey" or "Sweetheart" like Eric does...
• Aaron was being babysat at a friend's house while I was running errands. My friend, Ann Marie, gave Aaron some crayons to play with and turned her back. When she turned again to him she asked if he colored. He replied, "No. I eat it." She examined the crayon to find teeth marks and found crayon in his teeth. haha
• Aaron had a friend named Jude over the other day. Jude is very hands off so if Aaron shows any interest in a toy, Jude decides he doesn't want it. I wanted to make sure that Aaron did not take advantage of this so I told him if he didn't share with Jude, he would go in a timeout. Therefore, for the next 45 minutes, every toy Aaron picked up, he offered it to Jude first. Very rarely did Jude take the toy and Aaron still got to play with it.
• A few days ago, determined to get chocolate, Aaron went into our study when we weren't there and climbed on the desk. Sitting beside the candy jar were all the glass roses Eric has gotten me for anniversaries. I had them there because I enjoy looking at them on a regular basis. Sadly, in the process of getting chocolate, a vase was knocked over and one of my roses broke. We then had to explain to Aaron what it means to have something break. (I do not want anyone to think that in any way were we harsh in our explanation. Aaron is a very smart boy and all we have to do with him is explain and he will understand. I kid you not, it blows my mind how much he comprehends. But, I have a lot of memories wrapped in those roses and so I cried when I first saw it was broken.) The next day, Aaron was playing in his room and fell. I scooped him up as he cried and cried and cried. I knew that he couldn't be badly hurt so I asked what was wrong. He showed me the car in his hand and said through sobs, "Speed. Brake Speed..." (Speed is the name of the car) He had thought his car had been broken and was devastated. He saw how I reacted and mimicked my behavior in his own way. I did not know that I had that large of an affect on him and I will have to be more careful from now on.
• Like most parents, when we aren't sure if Aaron has soiled his diaper, we will check by pulling back his pants and diaper to look. I inform him that I am checking and then I tell him whether or not he is "stinky." Well, the other day, Eric was bending over messing with some cords and a sliver of his back was exposed. Aaron walked right up to him and said, "Poop?" He then pulled back Eric's pants and garments to check. After looking he said, "No diaper. No stinky." hahahahahahahahaha
• This story is a very special story that makes me tear up every time I think about it. Every night at bed time, we read scriptures with Aaron and say prayers. We use the picture/children's Book of Mormon. Eric will read one picture and then have Aaron repeat the words of the next picture. Then for prayers, we alternate who says the prayer and Aaron also gets an opportunity, though again it is him repeating us.
  Eric's cousin, Courtney, ran the Boston Marathon yesterday. At the marathon, bombs went off. She and her family were definitely watched over. Her knee was acting up so she was not at the finish line when the bombs blew and her parents were close enough to see people get injured but avoided injury themselves. I heard on the radio while out grocery shopping about the bombs and immediately called Eric's mom to make sure everyone was ok. She had only moments before gotten off the phone with Mark's sister (Courtney's mom) and was able to tell me the details. A little later, when I was putting Aaron back in the car after shopping, I heard him muttering. I made out a few distinct words. I heard "daddy," "gramma," and "grampa." Then he started muttering again. And finally, I heard, "name," "Jesus," "Christ," "Amen." It is like he knew that Eric and his parents would need extra prayers of comfort and he said his own prayer for them. It was literally a prayer straight from the heart and mouth of a child - one of the strongest prayers in existence.

I know I had more stories, but of course, as I sit down to write them, they elude me. I'll come back to this post and add more as I think of them.

Out For A Walk

Today was gorgeous (a little windy so jackets were needed for part of the trip, but not too bad) and we needed to get out of the house, so Aaron and I went on a walk. I learned very quickly that the area we are in is not fond of sidewalks ... but rather a solid white line with a few feet before you find a ditch. Ugh. So we moved carefully until we reached a main road - and learned the main road only has a sidewalk on one side... the dangerous side.

I call that side of the road dangerous, because in a matter of 2 blocks, there is a Wendy's, McDonalds, Burger King, and Taco Bell... and that doesn't include what's further down!

When we passed McDonalds, we had to get out and see the fountain!

Apparently McDonalds is stepping it up and getting fancy! They had several areas with fountains. Wow.

Aaron reluctantly got back in the stroller and we continued on our way - but we didn't get far when my tummy started rumbling and grumbling and making all sorts of contentious noises... It needed French Fries... So we turned right around and went back to McDonalds.

As we were headed in, we discovered Palm Trees! It made the day feel even warmer - if we didn't have jackets on, I might have convinced myself we were in California.

Aaron loves fast food and watching other kids, so he ate great! He even tried dipping his chicken into my sauce.

After we finished eating, we went to play on the play place. It is Spring Break here so it was very packed!

 I stood near Aaron to try and keep the other kids from bulldozing him, but it only worked for so long. Eventually he got knocked pretty hard so it was time for us to go. He didn't mind though because we went out to the fountains again!

Hopefully we get to know the area better and we can go to parks and such - but McDonalds was just what we needed today. :)