Leave of Absence

Here is installment number one of my Reader's Digest Condensed Version on the events of the 3 months since my last post!

The beginning of August brought with it a wonderful 10+ day vacation back east. The main purpose of our trip was to attend the 2011 Frischkorn Family Reunion, but we managed to squeeze a couple trips into one. So, while busy, every minute was very enjoyable!

Our first stop, of course, was Grammy & Grampy's house. Knox thoroughly enjoyed himself on "the farm"...playing with my old tricycle and Auntie Am's old Radio Flyer wagon. The metal kind, too...not those plastic numbers they try to pass off on kids today.

Grampy got out all his toys...the tractors, his log truck, and his new Harley.Grammy enjoyed herself, too!

Knox was quite the helper, checking out everything in Grampy's garage, from the RV to the bulldozer.

Country life suits him well!

Grampy also made sure we got plenty of authentic hayrides, and Knox got to check out the cows up close and personal.

Then we were off to Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa's house in the lovely Ohio River Valley. We attended the family reunion and got to see lots of folks that we hadn't seen in years. Cousin Andy did a fabulous job planning and organizing the event. And Knox, again, proved that he is definitely suited for country living in all that wide open space.

He did stop running long enough to enjoy a special moment with Great-Grandpa in the rocking chairs. Knox's seat has been in Grandpa's family for over 100 years.

But we didn't stop there! A 5-hour road trip across the state of Ohio led us to the Martin family residence in the cornfields of Northeastern Indiana. My dear friend Amy and I hadn't seen each other since October of 2008 when we had a Girls' Weekend in Chicago.

Since then, Amy had added 2 little ones to her clan and we were 5 weeks away from the arrival of our second! It was so cute to see Knox and AJ become fast friends.

And, as if all that weren't enough excitement, a third member of our girls' quartet joined in the fun. Mish flew in from Portland for a long weekend. Good, clean fun was had by all!

We definitely missed our Jen Price, but it was still great to spend time with my girls and catch up on the last (busy!) 3 years.

We took the boat out on the lake every day, went for walks in the peaceful lakeside neighborhood, got our start in GeoCaching and took the kids to visit a "petting zoo" where we actually got to pet a baby tiger.

Though we would have liked to stay (forever?!) the open road was calling and we had to head back to Pennsylvania for our final boarding call.

We spent one last evening at Grammy & Grampy's, complete with lawnmower rides and ice cream cones at TJ's.

On our way to the airport the next morning we stopped by Goodell Gardens to say goodbye to Auntie Am. She and Knox walked through the gardens and then we were off to the last leg of our journey: the flight back to Arizona.

Pennsylvania definitely gave us plenty of reasons to smile. We're looking forward to being [much!] closer than a 5 hour plane ride to all those reasons.

Just Like My Mom...

Time sure flies when you are chasing after a 21-month old! I came to the startling realization this morning that in little more than 2 months, we will become a family of four. Holy cow!

Knox is growing bigger and doing new things every day. He is starting to talk and we're tossing around the idea of starting potty training. I keep finding myself noticing quirky little things...either something Knox does that reminds me of myself, or something I do that reminds me of my mom or Grandma Clark...

Like:

He picks all the cherries out of his fruit cocktail and eats them first.

And I didn't have wipes in the diaper bag at breakfast the other morning, so I dipped my napkin in my water glass to wipe his sticky face and hands.

Although trying at times, I have to say that being a mom is pretty amazing. I love this kid!

Once the Queen, Always the Queen

Today was the big day: Our ultrasound for Thing 2.

Our tech went over every little detail with us. We counted all 10 fingers and all 10 toes. We measured head, abdomen and limbs. We saw all 4 chambers of a healthy, beating heart and tiny lungs developing.

This little one was squirming all over. A mover and shaker...like big brother, Knox!

But all that moving didn't fool Daddy one bit: He shouted "I see a weiner!" And he was right.

Big Brother and Little Brother: Two healthy, beautiful boys. We couldn't be happier. And Mommy permenantly becomes the queen, as the only girl in the house. Now to find a name!

Get a Haircut and Get a Real Job

We finally decided it was time for Knox to have his first hair cut. His little golden curls were undoubtedly cute, but some mornings the bed head was just out of control.

We spent the morning searching Google for a suitable place for our little guy, but kept coming up with videos of children crying hysterically in the chair. Finally we remembered our friend, Judy, who has been cutting hair for 30 years.

Ib called her up and she was able to fit us in that afternoon.

Knox was a champ! There were two big fat doggies watching him, which probably helped distract his attention. He even got to hold the water bottle.

Snip, snip, snip and he was done! He tested out the blow dryer and Judy put on the finishing touches.

In less than 10 minutes Knox went from surfer-dude to GQ.

As if he weren't handsome before...

That's our guy!

A Boy and His Dog

Knox and Vinnie have always had a special bond.

When we first came home from the hospital, Knox was sleeping in the Pack N Play next to our bed. That first morning, Vinnie woke up and went outside. Before he came back Knox woke up, so I picked him up and sat snuggling him in bed. When Vinnie came back in, he peered into the Pack N Play and when he didn't see the baby he sat down and began to whine.

I knew then that it was puppy love.

One of the very first things we taught Knox was how to be gentle and pet the dogs, nicely.

He absolutely adores his puppies and, often, in the morning you'll hear him calling "Doggy! Doggy!" from his crib.

He loves to hug his dogs, and they love to love him back.

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.