18 weeks!

We've had a fun, relaxing week. For the first time since February, I am neither traveling nor working this weekend - AT ALL - and I'm so happy about it. Esch's first final is today (actually, he's taking it right now) - good luck! Baby #2 is treating me well lately, and I've been having fun with #1. Earlier in the week we spent an entire afternoon in the backyard. He would move happily from his sandbox to "mowin' da grass" with his toy lawnmower, chatting away the whole time - sometimes to me, sometimes just to himself. It was gray, cold, and windy, but our little guy made it a beautiful day for me. Our little cub would suddenly tell me, "See ya, Mommy, I'm goin' hikin'," and head to his favorite place - a little hiding place behind the bushes in our garden. He calls it "the woods," and spends lots of time there. Sometimes he pushes his wheelbarrow and tools back with him, and others just plops in the dirt and squeals about "ANTS!"

Such imagination. I wish I had a video camera handy more of the time to catch some of his conversations. "I pooped while I was hikin'. That's why it's called a hikin' poop." (Lovely!) After coming in to change said hiking poop, we went back outside, and he was ready for new activities. Golf and fetch with Georgia. They are SO cute together - she waits patiently while he maneuvers the ball thrower - some moements it was like an idyllic Norman Rockwell painting, except that William was wearing mismatched orange stripes with a bright red vest. Seeing Georgia and he together, I couldn't help but get excited about someday watching two little siblings playing together, making up games. He doesn't know what he's in for (neither do we, really, besides knowing that it will be good!).