december 06 - january 07

--we spent xmas in jersey with billy's family. went back and forth between his mom's and his dad's houses. and my dad came for xmas dinner at his mom's house. after that, we had a quiet new year at home, and tried to get unpacked and cleaned up and ALL THE GIFTS organized!! and goodness, did aidan get some gifts! you should have seen my car trying to get back home. packed every inch and on the roof!--my dad and my sister came to va beach for a weekend visit, and we got word that my grandfather (my dad's dad) passed away. as sad as that was, we were together for the travel, and were able to extend our visit somewhat instead of meeting up in mississippi, and we were able to visit with family that can't always get together. --however, before we left for missi, we celebrated aidan's second birthday! wow...time files! he got to open MORE gifts, and enjoyed every minute. we took him to chuck e. cheese to play with his friend jarah, who will be two this week. --my cousin lisa came in from minnesota to va beach a week or so ago for a conference for her work. we met up one evening and spent hours remembering, talking, and catching up. seems like whenever we started college, visits were fewer and farther between, and short! so it was great!
--an update on aidan's progress:
--aidan has many many more words in his vocab now. i won't list them all, though i am trying to keep track of them. his favorites are "more, drum, tree,slide, baby, fish, Elmo, bath, watch, poo-poo, and choo-choo." he's even starting to put words together into small sentences (mostly two-worders), like "up please", "out please", "no, mama", and my favorite: "more please juice". he knows all his body parts, but can only name a few. his favorites being "eye, knee, elbow, back, hiney, and toes." he also tells me when things are "hot" and to "shhhh." and when my dad was here, if i didn't let aidan do what he wanted to do, he'd call for "paw-paw!"--we had his two-year check up yesterday. he's now 36.5 inches tall and 34 pounds. he's still 95th percentile in height, but about 80th in weight. he got a flu shot, and didn't like it a bit. other than that, all is well. --i've signed us up for a playgroup. we're going to the first playdate next monday. and we're also starting story time at the library. should be fun!
--an update on billy:
--things are good at work, just busy. he has a major inspection coming up in april, and he' has some slackers working for him. so he's trying to get them into shape. plus about half are pregnant and due in march, so that doesn't help at all!--as for the new "plan" by gw...we don't think it'll effect billy, but i guess it's always a possibility. the way we see it, if they were to take him away from his post here, they'd just have to replace him. however, we're almost expecting him to have to go somewhere when our three years here are up. either on a ship patrolling the gulf (that's what i'm hoping for), or on an IA (individual augmentation of duty) to the ground in either iraq or afganistan.
--an update on baby number 2:
--we are now almost 18 weeks along. i had our first appt with our midwife at the obgyn office last week. i got to hear the heartbeat and had some bloodwork done. tests came out fine, and the heartbeat was a strong 145bpm. our ultrasound is scheduled for feb 8, and billy (and aidan) will be coming to the rest of the appointments with me. we'll keep you posted...