Life at the Hatchery

Long time no update! Hmmm, what has been going on at the hatchery...

-The salmon are running! As the wind changed and the air got cold over Labor Day Weekend the salmon made their way back home and Aaron's coworkers have been letting up tons (thousands) of salmon. It's exciting to see them in the river again!

-Austin loves solids! I initially didn't think he cared for solids much because he wasn't interested in oatmeal or rice but I introduced fruits and veggies and he eats like a teenage boy! I tried to sneak in some oatmeal and rice into his veggies and he totally called me out - little stinker! I guess we'll get rid of those and keep on with the other stuff. He is also a huge fan of cheerios and puffs.

-Despite his voracious appetite, he is not gaining weight very aggressively! When I threw him on the scale with me it came up as 16.5lbs which puts him at the 4th percentile according to an online calculator I tried. Our 9 month appointment is around October 1st, it will be interesting to see if they are concerned at all. Until then, I'm just etnjoying my little peanut! Strange men are funny though. Last week I took Austin to the mall and the male clerk asked me how old Austin was and I told him 8 months to which he replied "Wow, you are a big guy!". I smiled and nodded, but what I really wanted to say was "Really? Because 96% of babies his age are bigger you know??" He would have thought Brody was Goliath if I had brought Brody in as a baby!

-Austin is a mover and a shaker! That boy can get around! He doesn't crawl on his knees yet, but he wiggles and rolls all around the house fast!

-Brody is big enough to fish with Daddy and Jacob now! Brody is so thrilled to be included in the club. He finally reached the point where he can be trusted to not throw Aaron's rods in the water. He doesn't quite get casting and reeling, but he likes to just tag along and hold on to the fishing pole every now and then. Jacob is not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing yet.

-We have a turtle! He lives outside (I have a pretty firm "no rodents in the house" rule, thankyouverymuch) and we will release him soon. I always ask Jacob what he wants to name our pets (we've had a few fish and snails, too) and I think I've got him pretty confused on the name issue. I hound him quite a bit with spelling his name, writing his name and learning letters and sounds in general. I think I'm pushing it too much because our pets names have been: J fish, A snail, JA fish and J turtle. I guess sometimes a child's creativity needs a little push. So, one day "Wonder Pets" was on and Aaron said to Jacob "Hey, that turtle's name is Tuck! Do you think that would be a good name for our turtle?" And from that moment on our turtle has become known as "Tuck". Well, Brody refers to him as "Teamwork", that is a whole-nother issue. Anyone who watches Wonder Pets knows the famous song "What's going to work? TEAMWORK!". I don't even know where to begin with that one with Brody...

-Jacob starts school next Tuesday (21st)! He is in the afternoon session which I initially wasn't too thrilled about but ever since the weather cooled down and it's staying darker later in the morning my boys are snoozing fools! So, I'm thinking it's a good thing after all.

-We had a great weekend. Aaron had Friday off since he worked Labor Day Weekend. He went fishing in the morning with Bruce, we went to town as a family for a few errands, and then he went fishing again in the evening with the boys. Saturday Jacob had his fist soccer game and it rained and rained! All the kids and parents were troopers! Sunday we went to the Schooner Festival to look at a few tall ships and enjoy a few games with Uncle Mark and Noah. It was a beautiful day and ended with some Moomers ice cream - YUM! Afterwards Aaron and Mark took Jacob and Noah out for some fishing on the boat. Brody fell asleep on the way home and lets just say it wasn't pretty when he woke up and realized he wasn't included in the fishing trip... Thankfully he is quick to forgive.

-Running is going awesome! Well, it's quite miserable, actually - but I'm keeping up with it :) Not that it's been easy... I thought as the weather cooled it would be so much more comfortable running but now I've encountered a new problem: Instead of running I just want to crawl in bed and take a nap or read my book! But I push forward and I've continued to run every other day since completing the Couch to 5k. Two of my past three workouts I ran for 45mins (4 miles) straight, took a small break and then continued to run an even 5 miles in 60 mins (that includes my warm up walk and break after the 45mins)!