A Rough Go 'Round...

If you noticed the last post (many months ago!) announcing Knox's induction to "Big Brother-hood", then you may have guessed the reason[s] for not seeing a follow-up sooner. It's true what they say: Every pregnancy is different. While Knox was a breeze from start to finish, "Thing 2" has been a bit more challenging. My first trimester (and then some!) brought with it the infamous morning sickness, of which I knew nothing about before now. And, compared to some stories, I still have no room to complain. Even so, it wasn't much fun. So now we're at 18 weeks. The baby's heartbeat is strong and healthy and we should find out if it is a he or a she on April 25th.

We've actually had quite a busy spring. Last weekend Ib's old friend, Mike, flew in from California for a visit.

Knox was happy to get out in the yard and help Daddy get things spruced up.

Monkey see, monkey do. He's growing up so fast!

So during Mike's visit, we made our traditionally trek to the Desert Museum.

Lots of the cacti were blooming. It made for some great pictures!

Knox enjoyed watching the prairie dogs. Even though just about everything is a "doggy!" to him right now, at least in this case he was sort of right.

The blooming ocotillo are one of my very favorites!

Knox got his very own ice cream cone and, boy, did he like that!

It was really great that Knox is finally old enough to be more aware of what he's seeing and doing. He really liked watching the otters (he gets that from his Grammy) and trying to spot birdies in the trees.

We finished off the day driving home via the Saguaro National Monument.

This past weekend, we shared another Knox & Mommy day...2 days, actually! It was really nice to hang out with my little dude. He is such a smart cookie! He's learning his body parts and has treated several audiences to a comedy routine where he "sniffs" his "Stinky Toes" and makes "ewww" faces. He thinks he's as funny as his adoring fans do.

We spent a morning at the zoo and made a new friend. This little squirrel (hitch-hiking under the stroller) wasn't afraid of anything! I was able to pet him. He sniffed out Knox's snack cup of Cheerios in the diaper bag and was pretty relentless in going after them. I did finally give him one, after all his hard work.

Then it was off to feed the giraffes! Like last time, Knox started eating the carrots and wasn't real interested in giving them up, at first.

But he quickly realized that it was going to be fun.

"HEY! Giraffe! Over here!"

He is definitely an animal lover.

We finished up our long weekend together with a 3 mile walk this morning and playing outside in the hose this afternoon.

He's got such a personality! He is pretty close to talking, it seems. He babbles away and looks at you, sure that he's made perfect sense. And he can absolutely understand what we're saying to him.

And the other day we had some fruit cocktail with dinner. He melted my heart when he picked out and ate all the cherries first...just like his mommy.