It's a BOY!

For those of you who haven't yet heard, we are expecting another baby! We had an ultrasound a few weeks ago and found out that its a boy, due on October 11. We are so excited to be adding another member to our family.

Front Yard Face Lift

Before (this is how it looked when we first moved in last year)

After

To celebrate one year of homeownership, Scott spent the day revitalizing our front yard. He placed rocks and flagstone, picked weeds and laid mulch. Flowers are still to come. Doesn't it look fantastic?

I know I have been lame about posting lately, which is doubly bad since you all have to bother to log in every time you visit. And since Ian and Lesley are visiting grandparents in CA for the next few weeks, it may only get worse while we are extra distracted. But don't give up on us. Yet.

Girls' Night

It has been a year since we closed on our very first home! And I can honestly say that we couldn't live in a better place. There is a lot to love about the awesome housing prices and spending a mild winter enjoying the outdoors, but my most favorite part about this area is that so many great people have settled here too. I have met some of my favorite people in the last year and am often amazed at the concentrated population of really neat people in our immediate area, many of them who are my age and with children Ian's age. As a young mother it is invaluable to be around so many other women in the midst of childrearing who are ready to swap babysitting and to commiserate about teething/immunizations/potty training/etc. I have learned a lot from these women and it has been really fun. No one is ever allowed to move away, got it?

Last night several of us ladies met at Chocolata Cocoa Bar for some dessert and girl talk, sans men and children (get the Dark Chocolate Cake, it's humongous and amazing). As we chatted and indulged, I was reminded that I am so lucky to live here and to know all these great gals. Can you believe more than half of those lovely ladies pictured have two children? Dang, we make motherhood look good!

12 Months Old

Ian had his 12 month well-baby appointment last week. Here are the stats:

Weight: 24 lbs., 8 oz. - 75%

Height: 29 1/2 inches - 50%

Head Circumference: 18 3/4 cm - 50%

Ian hates having his height measured so much that he actually becomes smaller. I think it is the way he arches his back. He had to be measured four times because the results fluctuated so much each time. Apparently the plastic measuring device is too cold or too hard or too restrictive for him to comfortably lay on it. He really protests much more to it than he does for vaccinations. They finally got a good measurement by laying him on the exam table and making tick marks on the sanitary paper at his head and his ankle, and then measuring the space between the marks. Whew! I was worried when he kept coming up below the 15% percentile on height.

Ian seems to really enjoy being One. He talks, walks (yes walks! Footage coming soon!) practices eating with a spoon, follows simple directions ("Go get Elmo Bird!" or "Go get the singing book!") and likes to tease me by running away when I try to grab him to change his diaper or put his shorts on. He has also had a decrease in appetite starting the day after his birthday. (Could it have been all the junk food we introduced him too?) But I hear that is normal for One year olds.

One of my favorite developments is his "counting". Scott often says "One, two three!" and then does something exciting like spinning Ian, or pretending to drop him. So if Ian wants Scott to do it again, he'll say, "Gooo, Gweee!"

Ian has 7 teeth. His hair gets blonder all the time, and will be in need of a trim in the back sometime soon. For now I am enjoying the sweet way the end of his hair waves into a semblance of a curl. His eyes have settled on being hazel colored, just like his grandma and grandpa Larson, but with a tiny bit more blue to them. I am getting used to hearing from everyone that Ian looks just like his daddy. They are totally right, too.

Ian loves trucks. The bigger the better, though he'll wave to them all. On our morning walks around the neighborhood, Ian cranes his neck out the side of the stroller to see what's coming down the road. And he waves goodbye to any car that passes us. He will also smile and talk to anyone within earshot at Walmart. I guess he takes after his mom as well.

We had a picnic in our backyard on a beautiful, warm day a few weeks ago. Ian hardly left the blanket because he dislikes touching grass. If you try to get him to stand on it, he will tightly cross his legs under him and attempt to hover over the grass. But when his little legs get too tired, he'll drop one at a time, and let keep the other elevated. Since crawling required both legs to touch the grass simultaneously, he won't do it. So here he stayed when I sat him down.

See how he is pointing to his palm with one finger? He does that frequently, and it means something to him, though I can't tell what.

Mmmmm grass... It is itchy to sit on, and it has an unsatisfactory taste. And when Scott blew on some grass to make a whistling sound, Ian was terrified.

This was taken on our last cool morning of the year. What a cool CEU beanie!