Flowers on Valentine's Day

Compared to where I was last year for Valentine's Day, waking up to the bouquet that Scott got for me this year was pretty amazing. Adam is here and helped him pick it out. You will notice that 10 years together has really made Scott very good at picking out what I like: roses, hydrangeas, square vase with silver bow...almost perfect combination for my taste. He also hand picked chocolates for me...all that were my favorites, which considering my pregnant state are very appreciated! Thank you so much, Scott! Happy Valentine's Day!

In stark contrast to the snow of the last 48 hours, is the presence of flowers outside, as well. Atlanta is USDA Zone 8, for those of you who care, and that means flowers in February for those that don't! It's amazing. Pansies grow all winter and below you will see a picture of our first crocuses of the year. It's not Hawaii, but it's also not DC or Minneapolis!

A Southern Blizzard

I have to say I have been jealous of my friends in Washington D.C. with the massive 4 feet of snow this past week. I figured being in Atlanta I would never get to have a snowball fight with Jake. Even when the weather forecasters called for 2-4 inches I still didn't beleive them. I have to say It was a lot of fun. There are a lot of nice sledding hills at the park and I was kind of bummed that I didn't have a sled for Jake. No worries though I found out a boogie board when not being used for surf can make do in a pinch. (I knew I didn't leave them all in Hawaii for reason.)

In other news we also had a new ultrasound today. Now I COULD tell everyone what we are having but instead I thought we could run this like the daily radiology unknown images we often had in medical school. Ill post the image and everyone gets to vote what they think it is. If you are reading this Frank there is a nice career in pathology waiting for you if you miss it.

Time Out

Grammie Kris was here for a couple days helping out this week. She got to see how much more articulate Jake is now even sice Christmas. When we moved to Atlanta we started using times outs to discipline Jake when he misbehaves. I remember watching James use them with Finn in Hawaii. So everytime he needs correction I try and copy James by being as serious and dramatic as possible. Sometimes I have to choke back laughter but so far it has worked pretty well and he now will run over to his "seat" and stay until his time is up. I had to take a picture recently becuase his face was so cute and sad at the same time. So thank you James for showing me how timeout is done, it will make the rest of this year much easier to deal with.

Below I placed another funny picture from Christmas. Jake loves dogs and Tucker was pretty good with him. He even let Jake ride him a few times. We skyped with Grandma Cuda a few days ago and he was more interested in seeing Tucker than anyone else

Indoor days

The weather is back to cold and rainy outside. I feel like I am back in Portland again with the amount of overcast, cold and rainy days we have had here. The locals say this is not usual but I am starting not to believe them. We played catch for a while today before nap time. Usually I throw the ball at him and it bounces off his head or chest and he says "Almost!!" But this time he started catching more of them so I got out the camera. Fortunately he seems to be a clutch performer and didn't get a case of nerves while the camera was rolling. Amazing how much like a little boy he has already become. When we moved to Atlanta he was still a baby.

15 Weeks and Counting

Well not that much new is going on around here. We still are getting used to a real winter and right now I really miss Hawaii. Mandy is now 15 weeks pregnant and already showing. I guess I will have to start taking pictures every week again like we did with Jake. Jake seems to be getting new works every day, he is sometimes hard to understand. Usually if Mandy and I are both listening one of us will understand what he is saying at any given time. I don't have any new ultraound pictures of the baby but only about 5 weeks until we can find out if its a boy or girl. I think ill start a poll on what we are having so far our friends are all guessing another boy.

Football

Jake has learned to cheer for football and it seems to be one of his favorite words right now. I let him wear my Oregon hat that sadly has to be retired until next year after the embarrassing loss to a crappy Ohio State team. I think this is how James must feel every time the Lakers come to Portland and lose.

It's cold in Atlanta

It seems as if Atlanta was transported north of the Arctic circle these days. It actually snowed last week and patches of snow and ice are still covering the streets. Jake doesnt seem to mind the cold too much. He even doesn't mind putting on his jacket most of the time. I intentionally let him go outside without one and after a few seconds he changed his mind.

It has been a while since the last post and we have been several places. Back to Portland for Christmas, home again for New Years and recently to Augusta for a wedding shower. No, I did not personally attend but I had a good time relaxing and watching movies. They have a cat " Mr Bob" that makes Kili seem antisocial. Jake was actually carrying the cat around the house and never go scratched.

The approach from behind....

He then gets his death grip on the kitty...

There is no escape...