More interactive

Jared is becoming a lot more interactive.  While reading his books, he makes the sounds from "Mr. Brown Can Moo," he does the motions for "Itsy Bitsy Spider," and he likes all of the things to do in "Pat the Bunny."  He is naming a lot of things right now, like wall, ball, block, frog, gu-gurt (yogurt), ooo (cheerio), apple (any fruit), truck,  among others.

Jared has hardly ever been sick, but he got an interesting one last week.  Sunday and Monday he was running a low grade fever that we were blaming on teething.  Monday night he spiked a fever, and Tuesday, he had a fever all day.  He was not sleeping well, so he was tired and cranky, but otherwise he was fine.  There was no sneezing or runny nose or anything.  We took him to the Pediatrician on Tuesday, and she said that his tonsils and throat were a little red and swollen, so they swabbed for strep throat.  That came back negative, so it was deemed a generic "viral infection," and we should call them again if it doesn't get better.  Wednesday he was better, and then Thursday he got a rash.  They were flat pink bumps, mostly on his chest and belly.  He wasn't itching them, so that was good.  Steve looked this up on the internet and found out that Jared had roseola.  It starts with a low-mid fever, the fever breaks, then the rash starts.  They can't diagnose it until the rash shows up.  The rash has since gotten better and Jared is fine.  It was just bad timing, since we gave Jared a bubble bath just before the rash appeared, so we didn't know if the rash was related to his sickness or the bubble bath.

While he was sick, Jared became super picky, and barely ate anything.  He has since regained his appetite, but the pickiness is still there.  He has some good meals, like he ate everything for dinner last night, but he only eats his blueberry oatmeal for breakfast.  (Not that I can complain too much about him eating fruit and grains.)  I believe that part of the pickiness stems from the fact that he now understands that he can ask for certain foods, and that he doesn't have to eat what we give him.  He (usually) nicely puts his spoon into his dish, and hands the dish back to us if he is done or doesn't want it.

Big Brother Jared!

What a great big brother he'll be!

13 week ultrasound - the baby is facing down, head on the right side

Jared will become a big brother in the middle of September!  We are very excited about this, although Jared doesn't really understand it yet.  He does point to my belly when I ask him where the baby is, and he can say Baby, which is so cute.  We got our 2nd ultrasound today, and everything is looking good.  To answer everyone's follow-up question: no, we are not going to find out the gender of the baby.  We have a lot of gender-neutral stuff from Jared that the child can wear if it's a girl. (fingers crossed!)

I have been getting pretty queasy in the evenings, especially around dinnertime.  Although it has been getting better over the past few weeks, I still don't feel great.  This is very different from Jared's pregnancy.  I am feeling like I am showing earlier too.  I am actually already wearing maternity pants, which is way earlier than the first time.  I don't really have much of a belly yet; I am in the "fat stage" of pregnancy where your clothes don't fit and you don't really look pregnant yet.

You can click on the pictures for a larger view.

Eating and Talking

Jared has been changing so much lately, it's hard to remember everything!

He decided one day that he did not want us to feed him anymore, that he was going to do it himself. He actually does a pretty good job, and tries to be fairly neat about it. He is still learning to take small spoonfuls of food, so the food that doesn't fit into his mouth doesn't go everywhere. We bought him smaller spoons, which has helped. He also needs to learn to keep track of his spoon. Sometimes he gets distracted, and has no idea that a spoonful of food is now over his head. :) He is getting better at bending his wrist to put the spoon into his mouth correctly, instead of sideways.

Jared has finally shown an interest in talking! For a long time, he was happy to point and grunt, but now he is making rapid progress in talking. He says yeah and no in the cutest little voice. He also says R and D, when we were spelling out his name. He likes to repeat sounds that his toys make. Food is also "hot" and he holds up his hand in a stop motion. He also says things like block, I am (for his "I am a bunny" book), and boat.

Jared loves picking out his clothes, especially his pants. While the pants aren't necessarily matching or even fit him well, I just go with it. He can be pretty insistent.

He sneezes when he's in bright sunlight. (I think of you every time, former roomie.)

When he rolls his cars and trucks around the house, he makes noises for them.

He is good at stacking blocks until one falls over, then he pushes everything down.

We bought some wall decals to decorate his room, which he loves! There is a train, airplanes, trucks, and cars. He loves running around the room and pointing to them all.

Lots of new pictures are up - enjoy!