Welcome Autumn!

Autumn!  It's officially here and I love it!  Now if only it felt more like autumn I think we'd all be happy!

Aaron's First Day of Kindergarten

Aaron had his first day of Kindergarten about 2 weeks ago at his new school in Livermore.  I think everyone was excited about that!  We've gone to back to school, met his teacher and even bought a school shirt for Spirit Days!  We bought him a new Jake & The Neverland Pirates backpack and lunchbox which he loves.  I think he must be liking it because I'm definitely not hearing as many complaints about going to school like I did in Sacramento.  

I also bought Aaron a small desk for his room at IKEA so he'll have a space to do homework and artwork.  It's white with a green accent drawer, which is is favorite color.  Now I just have to find a cute chair!

He still loves to read (we're currently reading a new chapter book about a zombie goldfish) and he loves animals of all types and he wants to be a veterinarian when he grows up!

Elizabeth Grace

Elizabeth will be 2 years old next month and just had her check up today.  She's 31 lbs and 2' 10.5" tall.  At Aaron's 2 year check up he weighed 2 lbs more and was 1.5" shorter.  So they're not too far off from each other!  

Elizabeth is currently between a 2-3T in clothes but at this point I am buying nothing smaller than a size 3.  She's still in diapers but has recently started to tear off her wet diapers and throw them in the trash can (all on her own!) so I think potty training is just around the corner.  

She definitely has a vocabulary though it is smaller than Aaron's at this age.  But she's saying more and more everyday!  Her favorite saying is "HEY NO!  THAT'S MYYYYYYY BOOK/TOY/MILK (etc)".  Today at the doctor's office though, was the first time she's ever introduced herself to someone!!  It was so cute!  She walked up to the doctor, pointed to herself and said "BUBBA"!  It was the cutest thing EVAH.  

Elizabeth is a fearless, feisty little girl.  She climbs everything, she tells pretty much everyone off and she will even haul off and close-fist punch her brother when he's bothering her.  At first, I couldn't stop laughing about it but now that it's happened several times I'm having to tell her that it's not right.  If her personality stays this way, I don't think we'll have to worry too much about her being bullied!  LOL!  Hopefully not anyway!  

Both kids are doing well and very happy to be under the same roof as their dad again.  We all are!  And we've had so many visitors at this house - it's been wonderful!  We are enjoying Livermore, still exploring, but definitely have found a few favorite spots.  Personally, I'm looking forward to my first autumn here.  With all the farms and vineyards and family activities in the area, I think this fall will be fantastic!

We hope yours will be too!  

 

2 is my favorite number

 

SURPRISE!  I'm pregnant!  Baby #2 is on it's way and should arrive at the end of October.  I'm currently 14 weeks pregnant and feeling great.  My fatigue isn't nearly has bad as it was the first time around but even that is starting to fade.  With Aaron, I was literally falling asleep at my desk during the first trimester!  I would even go to my car during my lunch and take a nap!  It was insane.  This time fatigue and "pregnancy brain" (it's totally a real thing) aren't as bad and that's great!  The not-so-great was that I showed WAY earlier with this one than I did with Aaron and I'm already looking big, though I'm only 4 months at this point.  Hopefully it's just a second pregnancy thing.

Aaron knows there's a "baby in my belly" and he knows the girls name already.  We don't have a boys name picked out yet, but we're working on it.  We won't find out the gender of the baby for a few more weeks though and I think it's no surprise, I'd like to even things out in this household.  Even the dog is a boy!  But anything that is healthy and pink and has all it's limbs will be alright with us!

Right now we're looking for a larger place but so far we've had haven't had the best luck.  I'm still working on it though.  I'm still at work full-time and will probably be so until the end again, though I'm not sure I'll work as long this time.  Last time I worked until December 19th and Aaron was born on December 21st.  This time around, I think I won't push it.  I have a feeling it might have been a subconscious thing.  I wasn't relaxed enough until I stopped working. 

But Aaron eventually got here and now he's 3!  He is past my waist now in height.  He still loves most of the same things -- reading, music, cars (well, any vehicle), animals and now you can add dinosaurs.  He also got his first multi-player game -- Hungry, Hungry Hippos!  He's playing it right now with Josh.  Though he's not really quite clear on the rules of the game yet, he loves to play it!  

Aaron loves being with his grandparents everyday though he's missing his grandpa lately since he went back to work.  This morning he asked "Grandpa, are you staying?" when I went to drop him off and pick dad up.  But he also knows that his daddy comes and picks up him at 4 pm.  He knows that 8 pm is "ni-night time" and best of all........ (drum roll please)..............................

Aaron is potty trained!  HOLLA!!!!!  

Really, he's still wearing pull-ups at night in case of accidents but he is usually dry the next morning and he even wakes us up sometimes in the middle of the night to go potty!  It's all very exciting and something everyone worked hard on.  Thanks Grandma Yvette & Grandpa Howard!

So the Herring household has been through some exciting changes since our last update and I'm glad I could share them with you even though it took awhile this time around.  The truth is, I was laying low the first 12 weeks of the pregnancy and the first doctor visit was, well, terrible.  Perhaps someday I'll write about it, but the important part is that everything turned out fine and the pregnancy is going well.  Let's hope it stays that way!