Snow and the "Big Boy Bed"; Plus a Z update!

(Jared is back at the helm.) I made an observation this week: Q has been running on two speeds, stop or go. When he is on go, it is like pressing the gas pedal all the way down on a turbo-charged engine: he runs everywhere. Ready to brush your teeth - run to the bathroom. Want to play blocks - run to the cabinet. Fortunately for now, his running speed is at a slow walking pace, so I can still manage to keep up. I am hoping he learns a casual stroll before he gets too fast, but it is great fun to see his genuine enthusiasm for everything.


We had a rare treat the first Friday in February. School was called on account for snow, real snow. We had several days of below-freezing temperatures, and then enough precipitation to shut the whole state down. If we lived up north I doubt this amount of snow would have resulted in a two-hour delay, but for Austin, it was a snow day.

Q getting ready to go outside, multiple layers everywhere.

This shot makes it look like there really was a lot of snow. It was pretty, but there were only between 1 and 2 inches on the driveway.

I figured cleaning off the driveway would help it from partially melting and refreezing as ice. Q helped sweep. You can see the grass barely had a dusting, but it stacked up on the driveway. I was very disappointed to see all our hard "sweeping" was wasted when everything was melted by the late afternoon. There were freezing temperatures again that night, but nothing was around to freeze.

After working and playing outside, Q had to warm up with some hot chocolate. He really enjoyed the marshmallows.

....and the next day, it was in the high 50s and we went outside to the park with no jackets. Sunday was even warmer and included more time outside.

"It's so nice and sunny, I need my sunglasses."

Katharine and I felt like we could help prepare Q for some of the many changes that are coming by introducing him to his new "big boy bed". We put a box spring and mattress on the floor, in the hope that it would be close enough to the floor that when he rolls off he won't be hurt (it happened last night, startling us all). I think we both planned on having it in his room and spending time sitting and reading on it, but neither of us expected him to sleep in it quite yet. We were surprised when he insisted on sleeping on it--first for his nap, then for his night. Maybe it was the new sheets we got for him - obviously, Q will do anything if it has Thomas on it.

Trying out the new bed and sheets

Big! Big Boy! Big Bed!

I have to work on my night camera lens. I tried using a flashlight to get enough soft light to get a photo. It seems cruel to use the flash while he is sleeping, but it is also very challenging to get a good photo. He is very cute and has been sleeping very well on his new bed.

.............Zoe update...........

Katharine had her 31 week appointment on Monday to check on the continuing progress of baby Zoe. We have a video so that you can listen to her heartbeat. Zoe and Katharine are both doing great. She (Zoe) is kicking a lot, and it is fun to feel my active little girl moving around.




Q is getting ready to be a big brother. He has started shushing everyone, in case you come by for a visit in the future and "Babee Zee" (as he likes to call her) is asleep. At least I hope he is shushing so she can sleep. I am sure he will have many other big brother tips and tricks to share as well.

Quinlan and his daddy

This is a guest post by Katharine, mostly because I've taken the majority of these pictures, and they're showing off the special father-son relationship my two guys have. I love watching Jared be a daddy, and I love watching Quinlan learn how to be a man from his daddy. Here are some pictures that show what they've been up to during January and the beginning of February.

Daddy and Quinlan jam session--you can see that Jared's practicing with Quinlan's small guitar to keep his skills up while Q rocks the kazoo.

Dressing up in Daddy's ties is a fun way to play!

A late morning snuggle is always nice.

They're trying to figure out who causes more trouble--Q (whose shirt just says Trouble) or Jared, who's sporting Trouble Squared.

What happy guys they are! They certainly bring joy to my life every day!

I'm also going to include a picture that shows a lot of what we've been doing when it's been cold inside: puzzling! Quinlan loves building puzzles right now, especially those of the Thomas the Tank Engine variety. He's fairly good at them, too--of course, I think once you've done something a few (hundred) times, you probably should be pretty good at it. He's awfully tenacious, though.


In baby Z news, we have our 31-week doctor's appointment tomorrow, and everything seems to be going well. No gestational diabetes, and with the exceptions of a moderate amount of heartburn and a large amount of tiredness, things are pretty good. In case you haven't heard, the name we're going with is Zoe Maia. Zoe means life in Greek, and Maia means power or powerful--she was a daughter of the Titan, Atlas, in Greek mythology.
Like Quinlan Rian, Zoe's middle name is also a nod to her grandparents. Both grandmothers have M names, and there are couple of other M names in both of our families, so we tried to connect to family history in our own way.
So we've got a girl with a powerful life and a boy who's a well-formed man or son of a well-formed man. I don't know what that says about our gender roles, but we dig the names. We also busted out a twin bed for Quinlan today, and hopefully we'll post about how that's going soon, too.