5 GREAT Years!!

Yesterday was Dave and my 5 year wedding anniversary. I can't believe we've already hit this milestone!! We're going out for sushi and a movie tonight and then we got tickets to go see Cirque Dreams at the Aurora theatre in May, which I'm totally excited for!!

St. Patty's Weekend

I have to admit, Ethan and I were very busy this weekend - so busy that I forgot to bring/charge the camera until Sunday when we got a few shots (will post later, didn't have time to download).

Friday I had lunch with Ethan at Lauren's house (I brought Potbelly's for Lauren and I to eat..mmm). It was a fun little treat to have lunch during the week with him. We then headed up to my mom's where we did some summer clothes shopping for Ethan at Kohl's. After our shopping we headed up to my Grandma's and had dinner in Wisconsin for a good 'ol fashioned fish fry with about a dozen of my family members. Ethan was a GREAT little boy considering he only had 2-30 minute naps in our entire 2.5 hour drive up to my Mom's/Grandma's and he stayed awake and cheerful until 8pm for the ride home!!

Saturday we talked Daddy, Lauren and Gianna into coming to the Naperville St. Patty's Day parade. I ALMOST got a picture of Lauren and both kids, until the battery ran out - ugh! Anyway, Ethan caught on to the fact that the items being tossed towards us were candy...he handed me a tootsie roll, but it was way too hard to share with him - so he settled for a mini snickers bar. There were lots of 'doggies' in the parade, which was his favorite part!!

Sunday Ethan and I went and had brunch with some of my old high school girlfriend's at Cracker Barrell where he got rave reviews again for being so well behaved and happy the whole time. He ate half of an enormous blueberry muffin and then played with the straw in my water for the rest of the time. We also got outside to play for a while on Sunday afternoon - gosh I love this weather!! I can't wait to see Ethan running around the neighborhood with all the kids this summer!

That's it, I will post pictures this weekend when we take a few more.

Children's Museum

I took Ethan to the Naperville Children's Museum this weekend and we met a few of my co-workers and their kids. It ended up being a yucky, rainy day, so it was a nice place to get out without being in the elements. We met right when it opened, which was definitely a good idea because about an hour later it was crammed with people! So, we at least got to see a lot of the exhibits without crawling through many other people and their little ones. Ethan wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first, but I just let him walk around and look at his own pace.

We first went to the music room and he was good at pounding on the drum items. After testing out the sounds, he then took on his daddy's engineering skills and testing fitting the rubber mallet into the different holes of the musical instruments.

Next exciting exhibit was the HUGE pinball machine.

On to building with some pvc piping with friend Max (5 weeks younger than Ethan)

Then, the water table...most of the kids wore water-proof smocks, but Ethan was too sophisticated for those. :)

On our way out...

My tidy little boy

Not sure if Ethan is just going through a phase or if he's already got Mommy's crazy 'neat freak' gene. Everything he sees on the floor that is "ockie," (spelling?) he has to pick it up and either hand it to me or go and put it in the garbage himself. All Sasha's little tufts of hair get picked up by hand these days, and he also found some dried up leaves from a plant that fell on the floor and he picked each one up separately and brought them to me. He is, just in general, good at helping to pick things up though, so it's not just the yucky stuff. Even Lauren made a comment when I picked him up on Friday, that he just is sucha helper. I realize that one day he will probably put up quite a fight to help me pick up his toys, but I'll take it now, while I can get the help.

Some cute things he's been saying lately:

*When you put his sunglasses on him, he immediately says "dude" - very cute!

*I let Sasha out this morning and she knows she gets a biscuit afterwards. I made her sit and then I gave her the treat and he immediately said, "good girl", which is usually what I follow up with after she properly sits and gets her treat. This one seriously blew me out of the water when he beat me to the punch! The things that he is attuned to!!

Here's a cute picture of Ethan in his duck towel after a bath:

We also had Uncle Patrick spend the night Friday night after we went to dinner with my side. Ethan kept saying "uncle" around Patrick.

Little bit of dancing before bedtime.

Valentine's Weekend

This weekend we were all a bit under the weather, so we weren't too active. I had a barking cough, Dave had sinus issues and Ethan is pretty much now over what he had last weekend.

Ethan is very into giving kisses these days and even trys to pucker his lips now instead of coming at you with his big, wet open mouth! :) He also now knows where his butt and eyebrows are (very important anatomy parts..ha ha).

Ethan giving mommy nice smooches.

Saturday I took Ethan over to visit Grandma and Grandpa Hickman while Daddy stayed home and studied.

Working on a puzzle (he does pretty good at finding where the pieces go)

He now says "ugh, go?" when we say, "where did it go?". And, he tilts his little wrist like we do, to say it...it's absolutely adorable!

He got a new remote control car. He's a bit afraid of the car when it comes at him and I don't think he realizes that pushing the button on the remote actually is what is making the car move, but he looks awful cute holding the controls!

Lastly on Saturday, Grandma had found a real good deal on a big frog tent. Ethan wasn't so thrilled with going in by himself, but he was very thankful that the Grandparents took the time to patiently put the thing up, all for only about 10 minutes of play. I think cousin Rowan and Ethan need to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's and have some fun during a sleep over. ha ha

Not so sure I should go in there, Grandma

I guess if Grandma is in there, it's okay
Here's a picture of Ethan showing off his 'kick'

Shake your Booty..

Ethan's been shakin' his groove thang a lot lately. Usually he'll start doing it and the minute I sprint to get the camera, he isn't as "into" it. But, here are a few weekend clips from him shakin' it!

Watch out ladies in this video...Ethan can help but show off his budda belly! :)

Lastly, a little video of Ethan showing off his cell phone skills. My whole intention was to get him in a video showing how excited he was to see birds outside! Everytime we see birds now, he gets very excited and points and says 'birdie' and then 'sky' (sounds kind of like guy). Whenever he sees birds or hears an airplane, he says sky, because we talk about how they fly in the sky. Smart little cookie.

Routine

First off, no pics from this weekend. Ethan came down with another horrible cold with 102 temps, so we spent most of the weekend just hanging out and keeping Ethan pumped full of tylenol/motrin. Ugh, i hate these colds!! Unfortunately we had some friends and their 2 young kids over Saturday night for a playdate/dinner and Ethan was just not even interested in playing with the kids, which bummed me out!

Lots of people talk about how kids thrive on routine and as much as I've read, it totally hit home last night. Dave and I were doing Ethan's night time routine and he surprised me with how much he remembers what we do! Of course, he was still under the weather, but when we were playing in his room after his bath I told him it was time to pick up to go to bed. He proceeded to repeat 'pick up' and he picked every single one of his books up and put it on the shelf! While he did that, I went to his crib and got his blanket out and put it on my shoulder because he likes to lay on it while we rock. As I went to get his blanket, he went over to his cd player and hit the play button, pulled down on his shade one last time and then came right up to me with his hands up in the air to pick him up! Now, I asked Dave if he ever showed Ethan where the play button was and he hasn't and neither have I! I'm sure he's caught on through pushing enough buttons, but he honestly got it on the first try!! I don't know, the whole exercise just amazed me, personally! :) After all this, we then give Daddy a kiss so he can go study and Ethan helps shut his bedroom door and shut off the light and lays right down on my shoulder! Such a good little boy!

Other things Ethan is doing these days...
*Grandpa is of course starting his karate lessons off right away and Ethan knows 'kick' (sounds kind of like 'geek') but he picks up his knee and says it at the same time! He's even done this while laying down on the changing table - he'll just blurt out 'kick' and raise his leg. We'll just have to make sure he doesn't use his kicks to hurt anyone. :)
*He likes to help put stuff away in the fridge these days. If he's done drinking we hand him his cup and lift him up to put it back in the fridge. Today he actually helped me put food away too. I put his leftover grilled cheese in a baggie and gave it to him and had him help me put it away. Such a little helper!

That's all for now...hopefully we'll have some pictures from Valentine's weekend with a healthier little boy!

Super Bowl Weekend

This weekend was quite the 'party' weekend for Ethan. Saturday morning I decided to take him up to visit with my Mom (while Dave stayed home and studied!!!). We enjoyed the company of my Mom and brother for a few hours. We even had pancakes and bacon for lunch -mmm! Ethan actually tried bacon, which was a definite surprise to me. He seemed to like it enough to eat a half of a piece by himself. Here's Ethan playing with Grandma - at one point he came over voluntarily and gave her a hug, which I thought was adorable!!

Note the cell phone in the picture - Ethan doesn't travel without it! :-)

BIG hug for Grandma!

I don't have any pictures, but Sunday we went to a friend's house for a Super Bowl party. Ethan was Mr. Shy at first with all the new faces, but there were also two younger girls there (3 and 5) and he just wanted to follow them around and laughed with them, it was absolutely adorable to see him just want to play with the kids! At one point the two girls put together pillows and blankets to roll around on and he watched them and smiled and then copied what they were doing and was so proud of himself!! I think Ethan needs a sibling!! :-)

A few cute things that Ethan has been doing lately:

*He loves to play with the remotes and knows exactly what they do. Even though he doesn't know how to turn on the tv, he takes them in his hand in the correct position and walks right up to the tv pointing the remote at the tv - cracks me up!

*Tonight Dave came home and gave Ethan a kiss and then me a kiss. Ethan immediately leaned towards me and wanted to also give me a kiss. Just to test it out, I had Dave give me another kiss and Ethan proceeded to give me a kiss and then gave one to Daddy also - such a sweetie!!

*He's almost tall enough to open the door knobs now. He likes to shut the doors (and says "bye-bye") and then he gets up on his tippy toes and can pull down on the lever, but doesn't have enough 'umph' yet to completely open it by himself.

*Last Thursday when Grandpa watched him, he was playing in his crib playing peek-a-boo and he got real quiet and managed to put himself to sleep in the middle of playing with Grandpa! Here are a few pics of his second nap that day - he was still sleeping when i got home from work. Who can resist a butt up in the air photo opportunity!

Here's Ethan trying on Daddy's fleece sweatshirt!

Top Molars!

Well, it's official tonight, I managed to pry my fingers into Ethan's mouth to feel his top gums and I felt a tidbit of tooth on both sides of his upper jaw where his molars are. So, it seems as if all the fuss has truly been related to his molars. I hope the pain and suffering doesn't last long. I've never been one to be crazy about taking medicine myself and I just hate pumping tylenol down Ethan all the time, but I do it as often as it seems like he's in pain. I just wish he could 'use his words' and tell me that it's definitely his teeth hurting. Oh well...at least we have proof of his molars coming in now!!

Sick little boy

Ethan had a 102 temp on Friday, so he was home with me most of the day! He still doesn't have the appetite he normally does, but we're slowly getting food down him. He also has a cold and is drooling like MAD! I'm pretty sure during one of his temper tantrums today I could see his one top molar RIGHT below the gums!! Here are a few pics of him barely even eating grapes! You know he's not feeling well when you have to try to force fruit down this little boy!
Here's a picture of Ethan in his newest shirt that Daddy picked out for him - very tough with a skull on it! Ethan loves to play with any phone these days, he says "hello". Note he's playing with my cell phone in the picture, so if anyone gets a prank call from my cell phone and hears a little boy chattering on the other end - it's Ethan! :)

This weekend we listened to one of Ethan's new music cds he got at Christmas and he LOVED the "If you're happy and you know it" song! He would clap, stomp his feet - so cute! During "The Ants go marching" I showed him how to march and he'd mimic marching steps at times! Ethan also said the full phrase "peek-a-boo", which was surprising this weekend.

Not much else to tell on this end. Dave's engineering test is exactly 3 months from today. He's continued to diligently put in his several hours a day of studying, so things should go well. I think he's starting to get a bit worried now that the date is quickly approaching!

My 29th Birthday Celebration

Last weekend we had people over for a few drinks and then went out dancing!! The first time I've been dancing in almost 2 years and I had a great time. Unfortunately about half the people that planned to come had to cancel due to weather or other issues, but we still had a solid group of about 15 people that made it out! Just a few photos of the event.

Burp!

I forgot to mention in my last post about Ethan understanding what a burp is! Everytime he burps I always say it and he'll repeat me. But, yesterday he was walking around and he burped and he immediately said "burp" and smiled. Hilarious!

15 Month Stats

Ethan had his 15 month checkup last week and he still is about average on all accounts. He was 24lbs, 1oz., 31 1/4". He had to get 3 shots (poor boy), but the doctor did postpone one additional one that he was going to get, so he wasn't getting as many. I think he gets another 3 at his 18 month appointment and then they start to dwindle down...at least I HOPE so!! The doctor also said she could see his molars bulging, so we're keeping an eye on them...yippee, more teeth!!

Other updates with Ethan:
*He sometimes counts after you say 1, he'll say 2 and 3. This is completely thanks to Lauren who works on counting with him. So, we've tried to continue practicing with him.
*He understands 'all gone'. When he's done eating his snacks that we put in a bowl, he'll say all gone. He doesn't say it all the time, but he definitely understands the concept.
*He is good at identifying buses. I was driving home from Lauren's the other day and he kept saying what I thought was "but". Sure enough, I looked over and it was a bus!
*He understands 'pick up' and he will repeat it while he's picking things up. We always pick up our books and stuffed animals in his room before he goes to bed and we sing the old Barney song, "Clean up, clean up...etc." and he will help hand books to me to put back onto his shelf or he'll put his stuffed animals back in the basket. He doesn't always keep them there, he'll try to pull books back out or dump his animals out again, but he understands what it means!
*We finally bought him some shoes this weekend. He's been walking for a few weeks now, so we knew it was time. We got him some comfy robeez moccasins for around the house and then some brown spiffy shoes for when we're out and about.
That's all the little updates I can think of for now. Here's a picture I actually took last weekend and forgot to post. I know I mentioned how Ethan loves to play in his bed...here's proof!

Christmas Wrap Up!

The last two weekends we finalized our 2008 Christmas celebration. Last weekend the Hughes family came out to celebrate with us and we were again, spoiled! Ethan's favorites were his toy phone and his alphabet mat! Uncle Breck gave him the mat and put it together spelling out "ethan rocks" as part of the mat..
We also just got back today from celebrating in Wisconsin Dells with my mom's whole side of the family. Honestly, it's just amazing how large our family is and it's so fun to get together with everyone. Amazingly this year, all but 2 people were able to make it. Total in our family is my Grandma, 13 aunts/uncles, 18 grandkids (with most of us being married/having signficant others) and the 9th great-grandchild on its way in May!! So, there were definitely over 50 people there..a few pics of the "chaos"..

Although Ethan's been around my family several times, he was definitely a shy boy during the entire event. He was sure a trooper though. He only slept an hour of the 3 hour drive up there and stayed up until 8pm before he CRASHED for the night!! Here's a few pics of the great-grandkids (minus 1 that didn't stay overnight in the hotel) - Ethan was not wanting me out of sight!!

A few family photos..

Ethan Funnies...

So, a few things that I've wanted to post about Ethan:

*When he eats grapes (they're cut in half) with a fork, he will first put them flat side down and puts his fork thru the skin part. I just like watching him flip them first and then try to fork them to eat.

*As previously mentioned, he is very much a Mommy's boy these days and is now concerned when Dave gives me hugs or comes by me sometimes. If he sees Dave by me, he will stop what he's doing and come over and sometimes push Dave away. Obviously I don't want Dave's feelings hurt, but it cracks me up that he seems to not want anyone but him to have my attention!

*He likes the book 5 Silly monkeys where it says they're jumping on the bed, etc. When you say, "Mama called the doctor and the doctor said...." he'll repeat "Mo Mor Mama" or something like that for the part that comes next..."No More Monkeys jumping on the bed". That's his version of what comes next...but he knows the queue of when to say it!!

*The book Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton, every time we say the 'oops' part, he cracks up and screeches!

*He's found a fascination of playing in his crib! He goes for 20 minutes or more at a time sometimes and just flops around grabbing at his stuffed animals and being silly.

I'm sure there are more little tidbits that I just can't think of, while I'm on the spot writing this entry...I'll post more later if I think of them.

Hope everyone had a GREAT New Year's!!