Elephants and Cousins

Those who know me best would put it mildly to say I am not super into animals.  I can't really tell you why, but I want to blame it on my super-heightened sense of smell that is very closely tied to my gag-reflux I imagine.  I think many of them are beautiful and amazing creations...mostly to be admired at a distance where I can't smell them.

So when Aaron throws out his random what-if scenarios that if he had told me when we were dating that he wanted to go back to being a farmer would I still marry him, I say definitely not.  That's how I feel about the animal smell.  

Yet I have to say that I am willing to put that aside in temporary moments because my daughter (as most kids I think) LOVES animals.  So when we had some randomly and unbelievably sunny days a couple weeks ago, we decided to call up my sister-in-law and head to the zoo with the cousin and cousin-in-embryo.

The girls had a fabulous time, as did Barett whenever I took him out of his stroller to check things out.  He did not like me keeping him in there while walking between exhibits, but he's over 23 pounds and I just don't think I'd make it around the whole zoo!

A big thanks to Emileigh (and Krista before her and Krista's friend before her) who told us about this great deal that gets you into the Point Defiance and Woodland Park Zoos for free!!

And just as a bonus, because I couldn't resist, here is a little video of Adelyn's famous methods for showing her approval of the food she's eating.  Hope all you who live far away and haven't had the pleasure of hearing it first hand get a kick out of it.  I don't blame her though, those Panda Puffs ARE pretty awesome!

Six Months!!

I suppose the title of this update should read six months and two weeks since that's the accurate reality due to my slackerness, but oh well.  Just a few days before his six month birthday he started sitting up long enough on his own without falling for us to declare it official.  This is us trying to get a good picture of it but he was flapping his arms too much in excitement to get a good, non-blurry shot.

This one was the closest we got, but despite it's blurriness, you can still see plenty of his precious roundness.    At his checkup he weighed in at just over 22 pounds, 95th percentile.  To be honest, sometimes I am surprised that 5% of babies are still bigger than he is!!  Really it's no wonder I sprained my back.

At six months he has already had two ear infections and cut two teeth, something Adelyn didn't do for another five months after that.  Yet, he still hasn't slept through an entire night without waking up, something Adelyn did at 3 months.  The doctor said he was old enough and corpulent enough (exact word!) to let him cry it out, but the doctor hasn't been there to hear who desperate and piercing those nighttime shrieks are...this is what he sees:

Yes he is all in all a beautiful, happy, healthy baby who is already forming strong opinions about his world: loves carrots, applesauce, and peaches.  Hates rice cereal and green beans (can you blame him?).  He loves kisses from his big sister, playing the piano, dancing, meeting new people, watching cars drive by, splashing in water, and just exploring new things.  Love him!!