The Right Perspective

Ethan and Emily Sing The Wiggles

2012-01-01T23:16:00.003-05:00

Ethan and Emily are big Wiggles fans. Well, Emily feels a bit too mature these days for the Wiggles, but she was the original fan and truth be told, she still likes them, even if she doesn't want to admit it.

Ethan however, is VERY into the Wiggles. He even got a "tar" (guitar) from Santa so that he could play his guitar like Murray (one of the Wiggles). I took this little video on my regular camera, so the quality isn't great, but it's still pretty funny.

The Many Styles of Ethan

2011-12-14T22:01:00.002-05:00

Ethan is one seriously funny little dude. He absolutely LOVES dressing up in just about anything.

No one thinks twice about him dressing up as Tigger while trick or treating... but Spiderman at home...

Well, it's a little disturbing...but dang adorable.

And then there's rock star Ethan. He is currently extremely enamored with The Wiggles and because of this, his one and only wished-for Christmas gift is that Santa will bring him his own "tar" (which is cute two-year-old for a guitar). I sure hope Santa comes through because this big Rock Band guitar is just too much for him to handle.

And yes, he is wearing Emily's big snowboots. The boy loves shoes, even when they come up to his thighs!

Quite a sense of style, don't you think?

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T19:46:00.003-04:00

Icky Baby Feet

2011-10-05T17:55:00.003-04:00

It's true. This post is going to be gross. If you get grossed out easily by icky feet....and yes, even baby feet can get icky....then read and look no further. I'm actually posting this so my family can see and give their opinion of what weird malady has waylaid our little E-man. But I'll take any and all suggestions as to what might be wrong. Just don't say I didn't warn you!

It all began with me noticing that one of Ethan's toenails looked a little off. But baby toenails are so tiny and Ethan hardly ever stops moving, so I didn't get a great look and didn't really worry about it. Then it got noticeably worse. I'm fairly sure it's fungal. It's thick and yellow and nasty. Then he started developing what looked like really hard thick callouses on the end of his big toe on the same foot as the weird nail. And next came the peeling of large sheets of skin from the soles of his feet....like below.

The weird toenail below...best picture I could get. You can thank me for that later.

The hard-as-rock callouses on the end of his big toe.

The weird nail is the middle toe or alternatively, the little piggie that had roast beef.

Blurry picture of big toe. Still nasty.

I took him to the pediatrician last Monday, when this mess was completely confined to his right foot. By this weekend, it had spread to the other foot. The callouses are developing and the peeling is going strong. No weird toenail though. We have an appointment with a podiatrist on Friday because the pedi was sure exactly what was going on either.

Anyone care to take a guess?

The First Day of First Grade

2011-08-22T11:16:00.002-04:00

This is Emily on her first day of first grade!

Below is Em on her first day of Kindergarten. Look at how she's grown again! She looks like such a little lady in today's picture.

She was a little nervous, but I think excited to see her friends and get back into a routine. She only has seven kids in her class this year and they were all friends from last year.

And then, not to be outdone....Here's Ethan on the first day of...the week!

He picked out (and put on) the headbands himself. He'll be so proud of this some day.

Our Big Girl

2011-08-19T20:20:00.004-04:00

On the Shores of Lake Michigan

2011-08-18T14:23:00.008-04:00

Gymnastics

2011-08-03T23:09:00.002-04:00

Emily has just finished her first 6-week session of gymnastics! I haven't written much about it, but Miss Em has some motor planning issues (along with a host of other subtle, mild forms of things) and so, at the suggestion of her developmental pediatrician, we decided to sign Emily up for gymnastics to help her with her coordination and balance skills.

Doesn't she look so tall and mature?

Em, practicing "the pretzel" on the balance beam.

Emily and her teacher. She's very focused. This is tough stuff for her. Tougher than it is for the average kid. She's the oldest one in her class by at least a year, yet her skills are somewhat...lacking....so she needs this work to help strengthen and coordinate her muscles and teach them to balance.

Getting some help with her headstand.

Working on a headstand on her own. Bless her heart, Emily works harder than anyone else in that gym. When all the other little girls have quit trying and are just standing around, Emily is still trying. She often doesn't have as much success as the other girls, but where they only try something new 5 times, she tries at least 15. She's a hard worker and determined. It will be interesting to see how she develops. We just finished the summer course and since she enjoyed herself, we signed her up for a nine-week session that begins just after school starts again. So we have about a month-long break and then we'll be back at it again. Ethan calls it her "flip" class.

Help Me Decorate!

2011-08-02T21:29:00.003-04:00

I've repainted my little half-bath in a soft blue-green (with some grey undertones) and for the life of me, I can't decide how to decorate it. I've bought pictures....I've already returned some. These are the finalists (unless I see something else that I like!)

So I need some opinions. I need at least two. I have zero decorating ability. If you've seen my house, you know this. If not, my decor is best described as "toy store", "book store" and "Clutter heaven". Someone please tell me what to pick (or tell me to keep trying!)

Option #1: The squares are shades of brown (not orange, like in the picture) and a nice bluish aqua). The frame is dark brown.

Option #2: Shades of tan, brown, aqua and cream/white. Same frame as above.

Option #3: Brown, deep cream, tan, deeper aqua shades. Same brown frame, but only seen from the sides, if that makes sense.

Option #4: Shades in this picture are pretty true to life. Dark brown frame.

Option #5: There would be two of these. They're maybe 12x12 and a little smaller than the other pictures. The only difference in the second one is a different medallion in the middle.

One picture (or series of two) needs to hang above the toilet. The other will be on the wall (about 2 feet wide) facing the toilet (the door is also on that wall). The trim is light cream and the actual paint color is Sherwin William's "Rain", in case that helps!

So please, give me your opinions. I need help! And remember, I need two. I have no idea if any of these coordinate or not. If not....suggestions are also welcome.

Two Years

2011-07-17T23:11:00.002-04:00

A more traditional birthday picture post will happen another day, but I wanted to take the time to share some of my favorite recent pictures of Ethan. Somehow, he turned two today! The time has truly flown and he is growing bigger (well, sort of) and smarter and funnier each day. He is a sweet and loving little guy and we could not possibly love him more. Happy 2nd Birthday, little buddy!

Our Graduate

2011-06-26T22:51:00.004-04:00

It's hard to believe, but Emily is officially a Kindergarten graduate! The year flew by, had it's ups and downs and ended well with a very bright and happy soon-to-be-first-grader.

Emily learned to read (very well) and can count to 100 in a variety of ways (and she'll be happy to demonstrate to anyone who will listen!). She weathered her first broken bone (she broke her big toe when she fell from the monkey bars early in the school year), learned to navigate sitting at a desk and following directions, made friends, and had lunch in the cafeteria, even learning to order hot lunch. It's been a big year.

This is Emily walking in to her graduation. She looks so big to me.

Emily receiving her diploma from Mr. Hampton, who helped her get out of the car in the drop-off line on those days (and there were quite a few) when Miss Em just didn't want to get out of the car. I appreciated Mr. Hampton more than he knows.

Emily's Kindergarten class. Top Left: Jada, Emily K, our Emily, Sam M.

Middle Left: Mrs. Frazier, Abigail, Sam R., Naomi, Nathan

Bottom Left: Niall, Lily, Olivia

Emily and her wonderful teacher Mrs. Frazier. God definitely blessed us with the perfect Kindergarten teacher for Emily. She was just the right mix of compassionate and no-nonsense and knew exactly which one Emily needed at the time.

Our very lovely little graduate. I had a strange experience that night, because seeing her all dressed in her white cap and gown sort of gave me a glimpse into the past and the future all at once. She looks so very like me as a child, something I'm seeing more and more, and I could see a pretty good resemblance to how I looked on my high school graduation day...which sort of gives me an idea of how she will likely look about 12 years from now. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be ready for that.

A rare picture of our little family. Ethan did his best to last through the ceremony, but since it started at his bedtime and he has never been one to sit still for...anything...we were very grateful that Grandma and Grandpa were there with us to help entertain him.

Emily with Grandpa and Grandma.

Public Service Announcement :Very Important

2011-05-19T14:21:00.004-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen, if you have any gas appliances/gas water heater/gas heat....please GET A CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR!

(Sorry to yell, but adrenaline is running high today)

Longish story short, I was out of the house all morning running errands, went grocery shopping and then came home with Ethan. I fed him his lunch (we'd picked up chicken and mashed potatoes from the deli). Since it was already later than normal, I decided I'd eat a little later. Ethan finished his lunch and was a little crabby, so I went to take him upstairs for his nap.

On the way upstairs, I stopped to turn on the oven so it could preheat. I was going to let it preheat for 10 minutes (set the timer) and then stick my lunch in. I went upstairs with a headache, changed Ethan and laid him in his crib (5 minutes, tops) and on the way back down the stairs kept thinking how bad my head hurt and noticing that I was feeling kind of nauseated and dizzy, but since I get a lot of headaches, I didn't really give it much more thought.

I sat down in the living room (just off the kitchen) and started reading a friend's blog post and all of a sudden this awful noise starting blaring. I had no idea what it was! The dog was going nuts and frankly it just scared me and made my head hurt. Then I realized it was the carbon monoxide detector. I looked over at it and it was reading GAS. Not a good sign.

I ran upstairs, grabbed Ethan from his crib, grabbed my purse and got out of the house as fast as I could. I had no idea if we had a major gas leak or what, but I was terrified. I went across the cul de sac and called 911 and reported what had happened and they sent out a fire truck. (Meanwhile the dog was running all around the neighbors' yards!)

The firemen checked out the house and couldn't find anything wrong (but then they turned off the oven when they got inside. They waited with me for the gas company to arrive (it took at least 30 minutes). The gas man tested all our gas appliances except the stove and then had me come in (the firemen left since nothing was apparently wrong) and tested the stove with me. Sure enough, as soon as the oven was turned on, his CO detector started going nuts.

So, our oven (which is approximately 18 years old ) has now been officially tagged as unuseable, we've had a minor case of carbon monoxide poisoning and we need a new oven/stove ASAP. But we're alive. I just keep thinking "what if?" I was sleepy anyway, Ethan was supposed to be napping....I wasn't feeling good and so easily could have just tried to nap my headache away like I usually do.....It could have ended so tragically. Quite literally, the carbon monoxide detectors saved our lives, as I am fairly sure that we would have died without them...either now or later when I was supposed to be baking 4 dozen cookies for Emily's school.

So, please get a CO detector TODAY if you don't have one and actually install it. We just recently (in the last couple of months) installed the ones we'd had lying around for years. It really is a true life-saver and every bit as important as your smoke detector. We always think these things won't happen to us...but they do. And if you know a family member or friend who doesn't have a CO detector...tell them this story. In our case, it only took a few minutes for the effects to kick in (less than 10) and I can't imagine how horrible it could have been.
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Some Fun Pictures

2011-05-18T12:22:00.002-04:00

Pure Mischief

2011-04-28T12:51:00.003-04:00

There's a t-shirt that I saw recently that says, "Mischief is my business and business is good!"

I think we may need to buy this shirt...perhaps in multiple sizes because it's a pretty good bet that the saying will remain accurate.

Mr. Ethan is 21 months and some odd days old now, and it's pretty clear that he is an ornery mess...but oh, so fun and happy and easy-going.

He loves his big sister, whom he calls "Em" and he adores (and copies) everything she has and does. He is especially fond of anything Barbie.

Despite his love of Barbies, he's all boy. He likes to run around with no clothes and kick back with the remote. I think they're just born with the need to have a remote in their hands!

He likes to play dress up with Emily's "pretties"...including any shoes that might be left out.

But again, he's all boy because he loves all things technological. He was being a little naughty today, playing with daddy's computer.

But like all ornery little boys, he knows how to make his momma laugh to get himself out of trouble. He's trying to wink in this picture. Oh, and who knew one Oreo could make such a huge mess?

Mercedes Rules and Ford Blows Chunks

2011-03-07T18:08:00.005-05:00

Catchy title...don't you think?

Take a few moments, grab a cold drink and settle into a comfy chair...I have a tale to tell and it might take a while.

I think that my readers will recall that back in October of 2010, my Ford Windstar minivan was unceremoniously recalled for a cracked rear axle. I was given a rental, which lasted approximately 10 minutes from the dealership to the rental car lot, where I let them know that the tiny not-quite-car-not-quite-anything type vehicle was not going to work for our family of four for the coming 4+ months. So Ford grudgingly looked for something larger, while giving us a small sedan to drive. But knowing that Thanksgiving and Christmas were rapidly approaching, and we always travel with two young kids, two of the largest carseats known to mankind, a large stroller and all of our luggage, I requested that Ford provide something larger. It wasn't even remotely fair to take away a minivan and stick us in a small car for months on end.

We drove the car for about a month, and then about a week before Thanksgiving, we were finally able to switch to a larger crossover vehicle. It took a lot of haggling with the dealership and Ford, but I was satisfied.

Fast forward to January: I had found the NHTSA website to be quite helpful in providing updates on what was happening with the recall, as well as a resource for finding other areas that they were investigating on the Windstar...and I had noticed that it looked like there was another very similar issue being investigated on the front subframe involving corrosion and cracks/separations which would affect steering and control of the van.

I had a feeling there would be another recall, and at the end of January, the second Windstar recall was announced....while my van still sat on a dealership lot, waiting for the first repair to be performed.

Here, I'll take a quick break and let you know that Andrew has been driving a two-door, ten-year-old, reeks-of-gasoline, has no heat (but paid-for!) car. It needed serious, significant repairs, not to mention the fact that we were quite literally having to leave the garage door open to make sure that the house didn't explode due to the gas fumes from his car. Since the repairs would have cost more than the car was worth, and the car really didn't fit our family at all....we started looking for a new small SUV for Andrew. We didn't know whether we would get the van back at all, or whether we would keep it, because quite frankly, we weren't too confident in it's safety at this point.

Back to our story....

Well, four and a half months after the initial recall was announced and our van was "grounded" at the dealership, I got a call on a Monday morning (while waiting for my OBGYN appointment...fun!) from the Ford dealership that my van would be ready to be picked up at 5 pm. that evening. Well, as luck would have it, that evening was the same evening that I would be meeting Andrew at a different dealership way across town (more than 40 minutes away) to purchase his new vehicle. In between my doctor's appointment, paperwork that had to be done before the new (used) vehicle could be purchased, naptime for Ethan and picking up Emily from school (in yet another direction at least 40 minutes from the dealership with my van), I knew that there was absolutely no time for me to thoroughly clean out the rental car, uninstall two car seats to switch them to the different rental car that would drive us to the dealership, and then install the two carseats back in the van before or after I picked Emily up from school. It just wasn't doable, so I told the Ford dealership that I wouldn't be able to get there by 5 pm that day, but that I could be there first thing in the morning.

That seems reasonable, doesn't it? They told me the van would be ready by 5 pm and I would have picked it up by 9, 9:30 am the next morning. Not even 24 hours after I'd been notified it was ready. Perfectly reasonable to me.

Well, apparently, it wasn't reasonable to Ford. The dealership told me that now that my vehicle was going to be ready, Ford would no longer cover the rental vehicle. Not even until the next morning! They were giving me less than 8 hours in their specified time frame, to get my vehicle off their lot, or else I would have to pay $40 for the rental.

To which I replied, "Are you kidding me? That is totally unacceptable. I cannot be there at five and I am NOT paying for the rental."

Of course, I'm immediately boiling mad, but I'm sitting with Ethan in the waiting room of the doctor's office, so I can't totally lose it, but in my mind....I was. I kept standing my ground with the service manager and told him to call Ford, or give me the number and I would call them, but no matter what, I was not paying the rental fee when I wasn't given adequate time to pick up my vehicle. No way, No how.

So, after my doctor's appointment, I got a call from "Russ" telling my that he'd called Ford and that they would not change their mind. I told him yet again that this whole thing was ridiculously unfair, that I had been more than patient for four and a half MONTHS and that I wasn't asking for anything unreasonable and that I would not be paying the rental fee. I also told him that I would be calling Ford myself....and I did.

Since I've already taken quite a long time telling this story, I'll just sum up my conversation with three Ford "customer service" representatives for you:

They are the most unhelpful, useless group of people I've come across in a very long time. I tried my best to remain calm and polite, but I also did my fair share of letting them know EXACTLY how I felt about Ford and their dealership and their "customer service". I really hope it was recorded. I said nothing that I am ashamed of, but if they couldn't hear the frustration and just plain anger in my voice, then they weren't listening. I was in tears by the end (and this was over the course of hours) and I am not one to cry easily at all. I was a huge ball of stress and felt awful.

Yes, it was "just" $40, but not really. That $40 wouldn't have made much difference in our budget, but it was one of those times in life where it was time to take a stand against poor customer service and a company which had put our family's safety in jeopardy and then made every step of the way a hassle. This was the straw that broke this camel's back.

In the end, Andrew left work early to go pick Emily up and keep the kids while I cleaned the car and uninstalled the carseats and did all the switching. Even without all the carseat maneuvering, it took a couple of hours to accomplish everything, which never would have been possible without Andrew's help. It was a huge inconvenience on a day that was already jam-packed, but I took my stand, and got my van back and did not pay the extra fee.

Of course, I got my van back with almost no gas (literally not enough to get home) and three completely tattered and unuseable windshield wipers (which were absolutely NOT left in that condition, but I have no proof).

And so, Ford and a local Ford dealership have forever lost my support. I will quite literally never buy a Ford product again. If this is how they treat customers who the company themselves have greatly inconvenienced....then I don't ever need another one of their products. And we followed through on this promise by not purchasing the Ford extended warranty plan on Andrew's new (used) vehicle (we happened to be dealing with another Ford/Toyota dealer).

And so while Ford blows chunks......

Mercedes is awesome!

Meet Andrew's new 2004 Mercedes!

(Wow it feels weird even typing that!)

Isn't she beautiful?

We ended up finding a fantastic deal on a gorgeously maintained, loaded Mercedes ML350 SUV. We traded in Andrew's car, plus put a little money down and now have a smaller car payment than we paid for either of our other vehicles..significantly smaller (and they weren't big at all)!

We figured this would likely be the only time in our lives when we would find a vehicle this nice in our price range....and so we jumped on the chance, and I am so glad we did. We all fit nicely in this car, and there's even one extra seat if needed. We have room to haul things and best of all, it's nice and safe and has heat! (Andrew's in love with the heated seats!)

The only downside....the car quite possibly may be smarter than we are! I've never seen to many owners' manuals and fancy buttons. We're still trying to figure out what everything does. We even went out and sat in the car in the garage one night, after the kids went to bed, and read through the manual in an effort to figure out how to work the radio!

But all in all, at least we have one nice, safe dependable vehicle and one that still needs some more work, when the parts are in (Oh goodie, more dealings with Ford), but is paid for.

And that's the story of why Mercedes Rules and Ford Blows Chunks. You're welcome!

Stuff and Such

2011-03-07T16:25:00.003-05:00

Ethan ADORES Mickey Mouse. So when I saw a Mickey chair at Toys R Us, I knew exactly what to use his TRU gift card on.

Of course, it took three separate shipments from TRU, all damaged, and then a trip into the store, but we finally have Ethan's Mickey chair.

Isn't he cool in his shades? I found some baby-sized little boy sunglasses (with sharks on the lenses!) and he's a happy camper.

His chair rocks too.

And it's great for kicking back and lounging.

Speaking of lounging....

Ethan wanted to be just like Emily. "Anything you can do, I can do better...."

Ethan Finds a New Home

2011-02-06T14:23:00.002-05:00

I think Ethan might be confused.

It's a Barbie house....not an Ethan house!

Blizzard, Endoscopy and Recall...Oh My!

2011-02-02T14:15:00.003-05:00

This is the post in which there is absolutely no connection between the three topics being discussed. Consider it fair warning.

First up, no, these pictures aren't a repost from January, although they might as well be.

This is our "new" snow from yesterday. Enough already.

The drifting was a lot worse this time though....there wasn't as much snow...just a ton of wind.

And now, in truly random fashion, I'm going to completely change the subject to: Endoscopy!

Guess who gets to experience that? Yep...yours truly gets to be sedated and have a camera shoved (I mean threaded) down my gut to see what in the world is going on in there. I've been feeling lousy for some time and having what I assumed where panic attacks. I've suffered from them before, though it's been about 9 years since the last one. I've been to the ER three times for chest/stomach pain and even done the treadmill test and everything comes back just fine, so I'm trying to figure out what's wrong...because I still don't feel good. I'm taking an anti-anxiety med but either it's not really working, that's not really my problem or possibly both.

In a little twist, I also suffer from migraines, and have for several years. When I get them, I end up taking far too much ibuprofen and excedrin in an attempt to simply keep functioning and not end up curled in a ball in my bed (which doesn't go over well with the kids). I've long contended that I'm probably giving myself an ulcer, and now I'm fairly certain that I could have one. And so, now we're going to check that out, via endoscopy, on Friday. Dear Andrew gets to escort me to the appointment, handle picking miss Em up from school, and then picking up a still-loopy and somewhat sedated me from my appointment. He's a nice guy.

And finally, in yet another complete subject change, Bekah asked me a while back if I had my recalled van back yet. The short answer is "no". But I'll give you the even more interesting long version...just because.

We dropped off the van back in mid-October, to be inspected for possibly cracks/corrosion on the rear axle. As it turned out, the van did have a crack and had to "grounded" at the dealership until replacement axles were manufacted and installed. We knew it would be at least January, possibly March, before we would get it back.

Well, we haven't heard a single word from Ford (save for the automatically generated reminders to "get an oil change" or "have your scheduled 100,000 mile maintenance performed now"), so I started searching for more info on how much longer we'd be without our van. I found info on the NHTSA website that included all the official internal documents between Ford and the dealership (at least the ones that had to be submitted to the NHTSA). Along the way, I also noticed that there was an investigation into possible corrosion and separation of the front "axle" (because I don't really know what part it is technically speaking).

When I saw that, I knew it was likely that somewhere down the line, the van could be recalled again. Then, about 2 weeks ago, I noticed that the investigation had gotten bumped up to higher level analysis...and I just knew in my gut (the one with the likely ulcer) that it was going to be recalled.

So, it wasn't really that big of a surprise when, innocently perusing the local news website, I found a headline stating that, "Ford Windstar Minivans to be Recalled for Front Sub-frame Corrosion". Yes...my van, still waiting to be fixed from the first recall, has been recalled again.

So I went back to investigating the NHTSA website and read some internal memos from Ford to the dealerships that basically said that if a van has already been "grounded" for the rear axle, please don't install a new axle until the front end has been inspected. So basically, we probably won't bother to fix the van if both parts are broken.

I have no idea if ours is cracked/corroded, but I know what I'd bet. And if that's the case, then I would fully expect that Ford will probably offer to buy back our van, rather than fix it. Which would be fine, except it's completely paid for (ironically, back in October) and what they will offer won't even come close to buying a decent used minivan. Even if they offered Ford incentives (very likely) Ford doesn't make minivans anymore (apparently a good call). The heck of it all is, if Ford had just offered us what they will have paid for our use of the rental vehicle for a likely 6 months, I would have been satisfied. It would have been almost $6000. But we'll never see that.

So, to sum it all up....I hope it stops snowing soon and I hope that if I indeed do have an ulcer, it is found and fixed and some meds prescribed....because at the rate this recall with Ford is going, I'm going need a heavy-duty prescription to prevent the stress from eating right through my stomach.

The End

News Flash: Christina Grows Up and Goes to the Dentist!

2011-01-15T15:08:00.002-05:00

Yes, the time had come where I knew I had to put on my big girl pants and actually go to the dentist...because I had a tooth that just didn't feel right. It didn't hurt, per se, just felt weird when I would chew.

And so I went. I had no childcare until today, but all the Saturday appointments were taken, so I waited as a "walk-in" from about 10:30 until 1:00 or so.

I am now sporting a replaced/repaired/augmented filling (the old one was 20+ years old) and a brand spanking new filling because I have "very groovy teeth" which really means that I am horribly prone to cavities in my molars. I'm also sporting a very numb cheek, tongue and lip.

Fun stuff. But I survived. And I even made another appointment to do a full evaluation and cleaning in February. Shocking....I know. I'm sure I'll come to regret that.....

Fun in the Snow

2011-01-10T19:19:00.004-05:00

I don't think these pictures need much explanation! (Enjoy Mom...and anyone else who still reads this!)

Trying to train them young!

UPDATED: Snowed In...and Sick

2011-01-08T16:06:00.003-05:00

Quick update:

So far, no more puking. Still not feeling great here. And the snowfall totals since Thursday? Drumroll please: 38.6 inches! It shatters the even the 1978 blizzard record.

And they still haven't cancelled school.

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We've had some snow recently. Yesterday morning, the roads were mostly clear and there was a dusting of snow, with the grass still visible. Emily had school. Sometime shortly after I dropped her off, it started snowing...and it hasn't reall stopped, save for a brief break as I'm typing.

This was the view from the front door about two hours ago. It's what they call "Lake Effect" snow. And we are getting hammered.

Apparently we've set a record and we're not done yet.

According to the local news, we've had 23.6 inches of snow since MIDNIGHT! That sets a record for the highest one-day snowfall total ever, and that's only doesn't count anything that's fallen or will fall (more is predicted) since 1 pm.

That's on top of the six inches or so that we got during the day yesterday. I'm so glad I bothered to shovel the driveway last night....

Thankfully, it appears that a neighbor has snow-blowed our driveway for us....but we're not sure who because on top of the massive snow storm, we've also been dealing with sickness.

I've been feeling very sick, complete lack of appetite (not even wanting to drink, which is very out of the norm for me) and nauseated off and on through the day all week. I've eaten precious little this week and Ethan hasn't been himself either. Last night, I felt REALLY sick and around 3 am...well, let's just say it wasn't pretty.

I stayed in bed and let Andrew handle the kids and tried to rest and drink a little ginger ale, and even eventually got brave enough to try some dry cereal. I was beginning to think I was feeling better, when Andrew came to the door and informed me that Ethan had just vomited twice while eating his lunch. Oh joy! Poor little guy has never had a tummy bug before and I suspect that he's been feeling a lot like I have, which is to say...completely lousy.

I hope this is the worst of it, but this has been a very unusual virus, with no fever and rather long-lasting, so we'll see. Ethan is currently sleeping and I hope that when he wakes up, he'll feel much, much better. As for me, I hope the worst is over too....and that no one else catches this bug, but I fully recognize that that would be nothing short of a miracle.

I guess it's just as well that we aren't allowed to go anywhere due to the weather...we're in no shape for that!

Christmas 2010 - Santa's Gift

2010-12-28T14:52:00.003-05:00

Emily asked Santa for a dollhouse for her Barbies this year. Since she didn't really specify the actual Pepto Bismol pink plastic (junky but expensive) Barbie house, Santa brought her this one for Christmas.

Word has it that Santa had his eye on a different model from Amazon, but Amazon decided to play games with Santa and jack the price up from $99 one day to almost $300 the next....to an eventual all-time high of $1200.

Santa doesn't like Amazon all that much...or so I hear. He opted for the more affordable mortgage option from Walmart.

Santa's elves are pretty good at assembly. We figure they might actually be geniuses. All the estimates said it would take 2-3 hours and a power screwdriver for assembly. Santa's Indiana elves only needed one and half hours and a plain non-electric screwdriver. Geniuses, I say!

Barbie's house is not small. She needs space to live...to thrive...to party!

She also needs a fully furnished model, with elevator, baby grand piano, canopy bed, chandelier and a balcony. A girl's gotta live!

And Emily was quite happy. Perhaps a little overwhelmed. Her reaction was great...it was non-existent. But since she's played with it every day since, I'm pretty sure she likes it.

And this is after a long day of partying in Barbie's house. On the first floor, Babs is ready to ride up in her elevator to visit Kelly, who is regaling Cinderella and Snow White with a little ditty on the baby grand.

And on the third floor, Susie is waving to all her adoring fans from the balcony while her horse sleeps in the bed. And to all....a good night!

Some Christmas Pictures

2010-12-10T23:02:00.003-05:00

We attempted Christmas pictures yesterday afternoon. The only time that we could get in was right after school, so I picked up Emily and off we went. Ethan had just awaked from his nap and Emily was worn out after a long day at school, so I knew that I was quite possibly playing with fire. But we still went.

And the following are some of the better shots.

Ethan stays still for approximately .02 seconds after we position him.

This one just makes me laugh.

Ethan is one ornery kid. You can just tell by looking at him!

Miss Em is sweet and posed as always.

Ethan in his "Old Man" pajamas.

If you can drum on it...he will drum.

A boy and his (fake) cookie are not easily parted. (And yes, he did try to eat it.)

Sweet and innocent?

Pure adorable orneriness!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

So, hopefully I'll get my Christmas cards addressed and in the mail sometime soon. I think we got some cute pictures.

This is Wrong!

2010-11-05T21:04:00.003-04:00

This is wrong...on so many levels.

We left home to get some dinner and two hours later, this is what we found.

I'm not ready for this.

The Bumblebee and the "Hunny"

2010-11-01T13:30:00.003-04:00

Not too much to say tonight, just a few halloween-ish pictures to share with friends and family.

Above: Em and Ethan sitting beside their pumpkins. I can't believe how big Emily looks.

Above: Emily as the Bumblebee and Ethan as the "Hunny" Pot. I figure this is the only year I'll be able to get away with dressing him like this.

Above: Ethan next to "his" pumpkin.

Above: Emily, posing for the camera

Ethan enjoyed his costume...he also enjoyed carrying around his sister's pink princess trick or treating bucket. Dad wasn't impressed!

Our Rented Ride

2010-10-27T12:05:00.004-04:00

Well folks, grab a drink, find a comfy seat and settle in for a little (long) tale:

Pictured below is our "new" (rental) car. Allow me to explain, if you will, just how we arrived at this point.

Last Thursday, it was a bright and sunny day (I think) when I walked out to the mailbox. I took out the various letters and junk mail and political fliers and there, innocently mixed in, was a letter from Ford. The front of the envelope said something to the effect of "Important information regarding a recall of your Ford vehicle". Oh joy.

So, with some minor annoyance, I opened up the envelope and quickly realized that this was a bigger deal than any other recall notice we'd received before. The short version was that our Windstar minivan was being recalled, along with many others, due to a design flaw that caused the rear axle to, in areas where there is heavy road salt useage, collect the salt. The corrosive salt sitting on the metal axle over the course of years apparently results in a corroded (who would have guessed?) rear axle that can crack or completely break in half, with no warning, and cause the driver to lose control of the vehicle. This has the potential to be very dangerous. Sounds like a good time, right?

Apparently, Ford and the NHTSA have been investigating claims that this was happening for some time, but I had no idea. So I've just been driving my handy minivan, with my two young children strapped into their safe (but huge) carseats, like it was a perfectly safe vehicle, which in fact, it was most definitely not.

Well, I wasn't thrilled with this news, but I decided to go ahead and take the van in to the dealership (but not our convenient normal one because after my last encounter there, I now know I cannot trust them at all) because I know enough about cars to know that I don't want the rear axle to break. So Friday morning, I very carefully drove Emily to school and then Ethan and I headed off to find a Ford dealership.

We dropped the van off at the service department, where we were told that it would only take about 30-45 minutes, and headed into the waiting area (just a bunch of chairs) in the showroom, armed with only a diaper bag, a sippy cup of water and a bag full of Cheerios.

It took longer.

Ethan and I sat for a while, then it became apparent that the boy, who doesn't love to be held still anyhow, was not going to be happy with that arrangement any longer. So we walked. He wandered all around a very small area at first...then got a little bolder....and eventually we wandered the entire showroom. He was especially fascinated by the fall displays of straw bales and pumpkins that were scattered around. I think he thought the straw was a chair, and since he's recently mastered the idea of backing up and sitting down in a chair, he kept trying over and over, but he's not nearly tall enough to sit on the bale...he'd just plop down in front of it.

After about 2 hours of waiting, the service guy that initially took our van came back in and informed us that we couldn't have our van back. It was not safe to drive. The rear axle was indeed already cracked. We were one pothole away from disaster. So he told us that Ford would arrange a rental car for us until the axle could be replaced, which according to the recall letter would be....sometime in the first quarter of 2011!!! The other option, at Ford's discretion, would be a possible buy-back offer, which of course will not be for anything close to what it will cost to replace the van.

Oh, and have I mentioned that the van is finally paid off this month?

So, we waited some more and finally the Enterprise rental car guy came to pick me up. Now understand, when the Ford service guy told me we would be leaving in a rental for at least a few months, I specifically requested a vehicle large enough to accomodate two large carseats (Emily's is the largest carseat made, literally) and a big stroller (which coincidentally was also recalled the day before). So what did the first rental car look like? Well, let me put it this way. There was no trunk. The stroller BARELY fit in the back of the vehicle-that-wasn't-a-car-or-SUV-or-van. The carseats technically fit in the car, but there was absolutely no legroom in either front seat. I mean, the guy and I could get in, but it was in no way safe to drive or ride like that...yet we had no option, we had to take it back to the rental car place to even exchange it.

I have no idea how the guy drove like that.

Anyhow....this Kia Optima was a better option, but we're still feeling like sardines in it. It would fine for a couple of days, or if we didn't need to lug around a stroller and carseats and diaper bag, but it's NOT fine for months on end. Nor is there any extra room to pack, for say, Thanksgiving or a trip anywhere. Yes, plenty of families with two kids make do with a car, but they don't have carseats built to fit in a van or huge strollers. They have things that fit in a car. We don't.

The above picture is from today. Ethan doesn't really care either way, though he will when I finally (and it WILL happen) hit his head on the door frame while putting him in his carseat. Emily has little legroom, but she'll have to deal, just like the rest of us.

I really want Ford to step up and either go ahead and buy back the van ASAP so we can move on, or at least provide a larger rental. I need to take a bunch of stuff to Goodwill/consignment stores, but realized that I can't just put a big Rubbermaid tub into the car. Instead, I'll be making many, many trips. We've had to purchase another garage door opener because I used something built into the van called "Homelink" that opened the door...and then when my paid for van was basically repossessed, I had no way to get in.

Pray for our sanity. I know it's not a big deal. I'm very VERY thankful that the problem was discovered before we were placed in a highly dangerous situation. But it still stinks.

And that, my friends, is why for the foreseeable future we'll be driving a red Kia rental car with Michigan license plates. Wave if you see me!

Long Time, No See

2010-10-12T13:19:00.003-04:00

I know, it's been a while since I've posted anything. But real life gets busy, what can I say?

Here's the little guy. He's not much of a ham, huh?

This is the face he makes whenever a camera comes out these days.

These are Ethan's first stitches. Nice. Poor little guy tried to climb into his toy basket and when it tipped over, he hit his head on something hard enough to make a walnut-sized lump and cut an inch-long gash in his head. So, off to the ER we went, at 6:15 on Saturday evening. We got home around 10 pm, and what was the first thing Mr. Ethan did? Climbed into his booster seat (it sits on the floor) and waited for his dinner to be served! (He hit his head just as I was taking dinner out of the oven.) You don't mess with the boy's dinner plans. He WILL eat.

Here are both kiddos. Miss Em is doing very well in school. Her behavior has been nearly perfect. She's learning tons and she seems to like it. She is not currently eating at school, however, so we're trying to get to the bottom of that issue. She's growing by leaps and bounds and is about 50" tall at 6 years old. She's almost a head taller than all the kids in her class.

This is the morning after Ethan got his stitches. Emily, Ethan and I stayed home from church because I had to rouse up Mr. E every couple of hours over night to make sure he didn't have a concussion, plus, he's sporting some pretty nasty hair right now. We have to keep antiobiotic ointment on his cut 4-6 times a day for 6 days and we can't get his hair wet. It's going to be icky by Friday!

Ethan LOVES to wear glasses. These are his current favorites. They belong to Emily and are girl's sunglasses with little fish on either side. He will walk over to me, hand me the sunglasses and wait for me to put them on him. Then he walks around the living room grinning like a crazy man.

And finally, a picture from today. What a sweet little guy.

Life in the Fast Lane

2010-09-13T12:08:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since I last posted, so I thought I'd catch you all up on what we've been doing.

Miss Emily is just about to turn six (on Wednesday, to be precise). She's doing extraordinarily well in Kindergarten so far. In fact, we've been pleasantly surprised with how well she's adapted. She still has a few teary moments now and then, but I think she really enjoys her class and recess and all that she's learning.

She did have a bit of mishap about two weeks ago. When I picked her up from school, the teacher handed me a note. I drove off (we were in the pick-up line, had to keep moving!) and read the note as I drove through the parking lot. It said that she had had a rough day and that she'd fallen off the monkey bars at recess and hurt her foot. She'd cried a lot and kept asking for me. So I asked Em about it and she confirmed that she had fallen and cried and wanted me and then she kept trying to show me her foot, which I kept telling her to wait and do at home. She was still kind of teary the whole way home.

When we got home, she took off her shoes and showed me her foot...and her big toe was all bruised and swollen. She didn't want to put any weight on her foot and was just very upset in general. However any suggestion that I made that we might need to go get it checked at the doctor made things 500 times worse. Andrew and I went back and forth on whether to take her for x-rays at the urgent care clinic, and finally decided that we should. So by this time it was around 7 pm and so off to the urgent care place we went. (Andrew stayed home and put the E-man to bed, while I took Miss Em.)

As you might imagine if you know Emily, it wasn't a pleasant trip. It didn't help that she was exhausted and terrified. Not a good combo even at home...but add the doctor's office and the possibility of x-rays...well, let's just say that it got a bit ugly. By the time we got x-rays, we'd already been waiting about 2 hours, maybe more. I had to physically place Em on the x-ray table (after grabbing her when she tried to run...but thankfully the toe injury slowed her down!). When I did, you would have thought someone was sawing her in half. Oh the drama! However, once she realized that what we had ALL told her was true (that nothing would touch her and that it was just going to be a picture of her toe), she was chattering away with so much relief. It's always eventful at the doctor's office, to say the least.

The x-rays were read by the urgent care doc, and he declared her toe just really bruised and sent us on our way. Em walked around for 2 more days, and then late Friday afternoon, we got a phone call from the urgent care clinic that the radiologist had read her x-rays and that her toe was indeed broken. So there we were, late on a Friday afternoon before Labor Day weekend, scrambling to find a post-op shoe for the poor girl to wear to keep her foot protected until we could see the pediatrician. I ended up going back to the urgent care clinic and asking if they had one we could use. They did, but the smallest size they had was a women's small, that was at least 3-4 inches too long and way to big to really imobilize her foot. But she wore it like a trooper...until her orthopedic appt. this past Thursday, where she finally got a shoe that fit. Now she just has to wear that shoe for about two weeks (at least until the 23rd) and then we'll go back to the orthopedic doc, get another set of x-rays and go from there. All because of the dang monkey bars! Who knew recess could cause so much trouble?

In Ethan news....guess who's walking? I tried my best to post a cute little video of the E-man walking around like a miniature Frankenstein, but despite my efforts, it won't load, so you'll just have to take my word for it. He walks all over the place now, falling down every few feet with a little thud, and then gets back up and goes again. His current loves: Beach balls, balloons and anything electronic or with wheels. He's already figured out how to turn on the tv with the remote and he's managed to break my computer. We might rename him "Destructo-boy"! He will be 14 months old this Friday and he's still a little squirt. He barely tips the scale at 20 lbs. and all the fall pants I bought him in size 12 months (thinking they would surely fit) still fall off him. He's got 6 teeth fully in and two more that are working their way in this week. All in all, he's just a happy, easy-going little fellow...just don't try to wake him up from his nap before he's ready. That's all he really asks in life...a little food and lots of sleep!

So there you have it....a quick update on our fast-paced life!

First Day Of Kindergarten

2010-08-23T12:47:00.003-04:00

Today was Emily's first day of Kindergarten! She is going to a Christian school with a class of 11 children: 8 girls and 3 boys. Last year, she was one of only 4 girls and a bunch of boys, so we'll see how things go.

Below, a picture from this morning. She's sporting her fancy new school uniform (one of several style options) and looks pretty excited.

The picture below is from the first day of school last year. She just keeps getting taller!

Em and her new backpack. She has her own little hook for her coat and backpack outside the classroom door. She also has her own cubby hole for her extra tennis shoes and supplies. She sits at one of 4 tables with two other kids, a boy and a girl.

Emily will be going to full-day Kindergarten (from 8-3) this year. She was fine as we left home this morning, but by the time we reached her school, she was getting a bit worried. She got into the school building and said that her tummy hurt and that she felt sick, which is common when she gets anxious, but she managed to put her things away and pick out a picture to color. There were some tears, and Ethan helped me stroke her hair and hug her and tell her that we loved her. When I left, she was sitting at her table, trying to color. What a brave, sweet little girl! I made it out of the school before my tears started. Hopefully by the end of the day, she'll have learned the joy of recess and lunch with new friends.

The cupcake "cake" that Miss Em will be having to celebrate her very first day of Kindergarten. We are so proud.

Here's hoping for a great first day!

Ethan is One Year Old!

2010-07-23T15:25:00.006-04:00

Ethan:

Happy 1st Birthday!

You are One Year Old! The time has flown by so very fast.

You weigh 19 lbs. are 29.5 inches long and your head circumference is 47 cm. All this means that you are in between the 4th and 5th percentile in weight, almost the 40th percentile in height and your head is...well, almost in the 70th percentile (must be that fast-growing brain!).

You can still wear your 6-9 month size clothes, but that's mostly because they are shorts. You've pretty much outgrown your 6-9 mo. pjs. You can fit into most 12 month size clothes too, though they're still plenty big on you.

This month, you've been busy as usual. You make all sorts of fun noises and you "talk" to us in some sort of language all your own. You love to blow raspberries and you purr like a cat. You also love to dance whenever you hear music with a good beat. Sometimes you simply sway back and forth to the music; other times you prefer to bounce and wave your arms.

You've become a VERY fast crawler and you delight in trying to make your escape. You are a proficient cruiser all around the furniture and you just learned how to stand up all on your own. You had a great time letting go of whatever you were holding on to and clapping when you realized your were standing all by yourself.

You are a pretty mellow little fellow...except when you don't get your way (or when we dare to change your diaper!). You have, shall we say, a bit of a temper. You mostly go with the flow, but look out if someone tries to take the remote away from you!

You are a sweet, sweet little boy and you bring joy into our lives each and every day.

We love you so much, little birthday boy, and we can't wait to see what the coming year brings!

First Birthday...Part One!

2010-07-23T15:05:00.002-04:00

Ethan has a lot of extended family...but unfortunately none of them live physically very close. So when it came time to celebrate Ethan's first birthday, we had some traveling to do!

We drove down to visit Andrew's side of the family the weekend before Ethan turned one. Since several great-grandparents can't travel as well as they used to, we brought the party to them. We had yummy food, plenty of smiling faces and even a few presents.

Here's the birthday boy, opening some presents.

He had plenty of help.

Figuring out just how everything works!

Oh boy...another one!

Yay....a tractor. He loves anything with wheels.

Vicodin, Pennicillin, Promethazine and Triazolam

2010-07-07T16:39:00.002-04:00

Happy 4th of July! Oh wait, that's been over for a few days now. Well, for some of us, the fun was just getting started.

Our family spent a lovely weekend together, doing all sorts of fun things like going to a minor league baseball game, major yard work and going to the county fair. Everything was quite nice, until we headed home about 10:15 from the fireworks/fair on Sunday night. We had pushed Ethan just a little too far (he was up WAY past his bedtime), so he was melting down. We had all been out in the heat (holy moly it was hot) riding rides and eating fair food and Emily was not far behind her little brother in the melt-down department...and then, I noticed it. We were only a mile or so down the road from the fair when something just didn't feel right...on my wisdom tooth. I still had them all, and the upper right one was starting to break off. This could not be good. I saw the writing on the wall and it wasn't a happy message.

Allow me to briefly break away and list a few things I'd rather do than go to the dentist, even for a check-up:

~ natural childbirth
~ cleaning the bathroom every single day for the rest of my life
~ weeding the flower beds every single day....
~ running a marathon (I don't run, by the way)
~ exercising

I could go on, but you get the point. However this time I knew I couldn't avoid the inevitable...I had to go to the dentist, and I would be having my wisdom teeth out. So, on Monday morning, I called the dentist and got an emergency appointment at 12:00. I got there and they told me that the tooth needed to go and if they were going to get rid of that one, how did I feel about the other 3? I told them that if they were going to do one, they might as well get rid of them all, because I wasn't going through this more than once. What I didn't know was that I would be having it done THAT day. Since they were all four "fully erupted" they didn't require any oral surgery, so it would be fairly simple. They gave me the option of having nitrous oxide (laughing gas) so that I could drive myself home or taking an oral sedative and having Andrew drive me. While not normally a wimp in the pain department, this all changes with regard to my mouth/teeth, so I opted for the oral sedative. I got my medicine packets, paid ahead of time for the removal of my wisdom teeth, dropped of my pain med prescriptions to be filled at the pharmacy and headed home so that Andrew could load us all four up and take a then-sedative-filled me back to the dentist.

All I can say is a big "thank you" to whoever came up with Triazolam. That's some good stuff when it comes to relieving anxiety and relaxing you. I wasn't sure what to expect, but understand that Sunday night, I was so worked up about just going to the dentist, nevermind the whole wisdom tooth removal, that I couldn't sleep. However, I popped that little pill before getting in the van to head back to the dentist and while I was still fully conscious and able to respond normally, I was SO relaxed. In fact, I fell asleep in the dentist chair while I was waiting for them start. That would NOT have happened otherwise.

I was awake the whole time. Along with the triazolam, I was also getting a nice dose of nitrous oxide, which I'd never had before, along with an anti-nausea medicine (Promethazine). The whole procedure was pretty quick, and then I headed home. This was all around 3:00 pm. By around 7:00, I was starting to get kind of sore, so I took 1 Vicodin (first time around with that) and waited for the fun to begin, but I didn't really feel any different, nor did it do much for the pain. So the next time I could take meds, I took two. I was feeling no pain and actually feeling pretty good...just slightly dizzy at times and kind of tired. I slept a little Monday night and didn't feel terrible, but took two more vicodin around 9:45 Tuesday morning....and then started getting some really nasty hot flashes and waves of nausea. Not fun, but since I hadn't eaten much, I decided that I just needed to try to eat more.

Yesterday was sort of a nasty day. I wasn't in a ton of pain, much to my surprise, but I didn't feel good either. I battled nausea on and off all day, and my late afternoon was starting to work on a pretty good headache. Andrew came home from work, took Emily with him to the store for a list of things I needed and by the time he got back, I was feeling pretty lousy. As he was taking the kids up to bed, I was running to the bathroom. I managed not to puke, but it wasn't fun. I tried eating some more, but I just couldn't get much down between my head aching and the waves of nausea.

And then I did what I've managed not to do for 10+ years. I vomited in front of Andrew. Even when I was so sick while pregnant with Ethan, I always managed to make it to the bathroom....but not this time. I did (sort of) make it to a trash can, but in front of Andrew. And I felt better for about 15 minutes....before round two hit, and then another 15 -20 minutes and round 3. It wasn't pretty. We called the pharmacist and Andrew went and got me some ginger ale and Emetrol. I took two doses of Emetrol and then a dose of Excedrin, since I hadn't taken any pain meds since early that morning and my head hurt worse than my teeth, and promptly vomited all that up too. By this time, it was about 10:30 pm, so of course, there was no one to call in anything for me for nausea. I tried calling our family physician's emergency line, but as soon as they heard that it was a dental issue (well, sort of), they wouldn't help, so their advice was to go to the ER. Well, I really didn't think I wanted to sit in the ER half the night, feeling ( and looking) like I did. Although I really don't have any bruising or swelling, I hadn't showered in a few days and my breath could have killed a horse, forget stunning it. So I did what I try never to do...I self-medicated. I had some old Promethazine for nausea that I had taken when I was pregnant with Ethan. It expired about 6 months ago, but I was desperate and I figured it couldn't really hurt me too much, but dehydration and vomiting could, so I took it...and the vomiting stopped. It made me sleepy enough that I was able to sleep a little bit, but my head still hurt enough that I kept waking up every hour or so. When four hours had passed, I took some more excedrin and this time kept it all down. The headache finally went away and I've sworn off Vicodin for the rest of my life.

This was definitely one case of the cure being worse than the injury. I'm sticking with Ibuprofen for now (and my week's worth of Penicillin) and so far have felt much better today. I've done a little housework and run to Meijer, so I think I'm on the mend. My teeth (or their now-gaping holes) actually don't feel too bad...just really swollen and strange, but I'll survive as long as I don't ever have to take any more Vicodin.

So, it was definitely a fourth of July that won't soon be forgotten!

I'll have some pictures up soon. (Not of me, but of more fun things!)

Fun Stuff

2010-06-24T22:51:00.003-04:00

It's been a little crazy around here lately. Here are a few snippets of life around here:

First, our visit to the pizza place: About two weeks ago, we were trying to find somewhere different to eat. We decided that pizza would be good, but wanted to try a new place, so we chose a well-known local chain of pizza restaurants. As soon as we walked in, well...how shall I say this? I'm not sure the health department visits often...or maybe ever. It wasn't outright dirty, just really dingy and not at all impressive, but after dragging two hungry kids out of the car, we just decided to give it a try. We were the only customers there, so we sat at a table and ordered our pizza.

A couple of minutes after ordering, an employee came out, got his salad and pizza, and turned on the huge tv up in the corner opposite Andrew and Emily. The tv was blaringly loud, but the best part was the choice of show. The employee (a 50-60-something man) had chosed some show on the true crime network (or something like that) and I believe the title of the program was "World's Most Shocking Criminal Acts". It was one of those shows where the crime is reenacted while a narrator (and sometimes the actual victim) describes in excrutiatingly graphic and gory detail what happened. So our meal went a little something like this:

Us: Trying to have a conversation while eating pizza

Tv: "The robber grabbed the helpless store clerk by the hair and violently slashed her throat. As she lay there, her arteries spurting more blood by the second, the clerk desperately attempted to dial 911, but the would-be robber viciously stomped on her wrist, shattering it in a hundred pieces. As she lay there moaning in pain, the store clerk remembered the panic button and pressed it in the hopes that someone, anyone might be able to save her life."

Us: "Emily, don't look at the tv. So, what did you like best about your school year? Emily, honey, please don't watch the tv. Let's talk about something else...."

Tv: "In one of the most brazen robbery/murder attempts of our generation, the would-be robber shattered the window and began shooting, guns blazing, instantly riddling 3 innocent children with deadly gunshot wounds to the head, stomach and face. Their mother huddled in the corner, trapped and unable to come to their rescue..."

Seriously, this might be the worst dining experience we've ever had.

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Next up, last Friday night: We went to a corporate picnic/baseball game at the local minor league stadium. The picnic started at 6:00 pm. with the game to follow. This is a yearly event and one in which the schmoozing is at a minimum, so we usually try to put in our face time there. Emily was very much looking forward to the game, which was supposed to be followed by fireworks. Both kids took a late nap (Em never naps anymore.) Andrew got home, we piled in two cars (since Ethan wouldn't have lasted for the whole game) and off we went, despite the very ominous-looking sky off to the west.

By the time we park and get into the stadium, the sky is almost navy blue and there is a rumbling in the distance. We arrive at the picnic deck to find absolutely no one there. Apparently the picnic was cancelled, but no one bothered to email/text that. We stood around, knowing it was going to storm, but trying to decide whether to wait it out and see if it would pass quickly or just go home. We waited too long. We were told that we were under a severe thunderstorm warning and that we had to all go up to the main concourse and wait it out. Thankfully, we were already there and the stadium was no where near full.

And then the heavens let loose. Wind, rain, more wind, lightning, wind and a nearly 20-degree temperature drop. It poured so hard you could hardly see. We happened to be standing near a ticket/info room that had a tv, so we watched as a MASSIVE storm was being tracked on radar. We were probably there for about an hour, standing in the same place, with two kids who hadn't eaten and had nothing to do, waiting for the storm to pass, or at least settle down enough that we could make it back to the cars.

When we finally did get back to the cars and started driving home, we saw a ton of trees down, power lines down and property destruction. You literally could not drive a block on any street anywhere in several towns, without seeing trees down. It was easily the most destructive storm I've seen in the last 10 years of living in this area. Thankfully, we don't have any major trees around our house, so the only "damage" we had was the grill cover having blown off the grill.

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And finally, last night: Just as extra power crews were finally restoring power to the last few customers who hadn't had any since last Friday's storm, we got hit again. We were putting Miss Em and Ethan to bed, and had just finished reading Em her story. We got quiet so she could pray and heard...the tornado sirens. So, we all headed down to the basement, which isn't a nice finished one, but rather a catch-all for anything and everything over the last 6 years. Which is to say, there's a lot of boxes, dust and spiders. (Oh, the spiders! Just the night before, less than 24 hours prior, I had to screw up my courage and kill a huge nasty spider down there. I told Andrew that if I saw another one like that, we WOULD be calling the exterminator, and I was absolutely not kidding!) We spent the next hour down there cold, cramped and scared, listening to the weather radio report all kinds of reports of rotation and high winds. We even spent a few minutes huddled under an old table under the stairs. To be fair, the kids did great given that they were very tired and there was absolutely nothing to do. Still, it was not fun for any of us.

And so, here's hoping that the rest of the summer is completely and utterly uneventful and boring!

Ethan at 11 Months Old!

2010-06-22T17:17:00.002-04:00

Ethan: You're 11 months old! Only one more month until your first birthday...oh how the time has flown!

You weigh 18.5 lbs. and are 28.25 inches long. That puts you in the 5th% for weight and the 16th% for height. You have 6 teeth (four on top and two on the bottom) and your hair is...growing in several places. It almost needs to be cut in the back and over your ears, but the top is still a bit sparse.

You love all things electronic...including the remote. As I type, you're changing the channels on the tv. You're fascinated, as all men are, with gadgets. It's definitely a trait you're born with! You are also a good eater. You like just about anything we give you, but I think your favorite has been spaghetti. It's messy, but oh so tasty. You can eat enormous amounts of spaghetti for such a little fellow. You've also discovered the joy of chocolate chip cookies. You've only had a taste here and there, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't mind a whole lot more of them!

You're a very, very busy little guy. You crawl fast. You pull up on everything and you're cruising the furniture pretty well too. We had to put up a baby gate in the living room...something we never had to do for your sister. You enjoy petting (more like beating) the animals. I don't worry to much about Bella...she's a big sturdy dog, but the poor kitties with all their fur...and you're finally bigger than both of them and I think they're slightly scared. You try, sometimes, to pet them gently, but it's just a lot more fun to beat them, and us.

You play hard and sleep hard. You sleep through the night, on your belly and sometimes with your little bottom up in the air, knees tucked under you. I give you your bedtime bottle and then kiss you goodnight and lay you in the crib on your tummy and you crawl over to the spot where you want to sleep...and you sleep. No fussing, just sleep. It's a completely different experience from trying to get your big sister to sleep...still!

You are a happy little guy. You make all sorts of interesting noises with your mouth. You blow raspberries, you click your tongue, you (try to) blow kisses, you do a purring sound by rolling your tongue and of course you snort like a raging bull...In short, there's a lot of noise. No words yet, but lots of sounds and babbling. We didn't hear any of this with Emily, so it's new to us this time around.

And speaking of noise, whenever we get anywhere near an elevator, you go nuts. You start squealing and laughing like a hyena. You bounce up and down in your stroller and basically have a blast. I have no idea what it is about elevators, but it's pretty funny to watch.

You're a fun, happy and busy little boy and we love you more than you could know!

Great-Grandpeople

2010-06-08T18:09:00.002-04:00

We recently took a little trip south to visit some Great-Grandpeople. They don't travel much anymore, for health reasons, so we brought our traveling circus (I mean, kids) to them.

Above, Ethan with Granny. Sorry it's so dark, but the sun was shining behind them.

Above: Ethan riding Great-Grandpa's horsey. I think they both had a great time.

Both kids with Great-Grandpa

Ethan and Granny again. It's hard to get a good picture with the wild man.

Above: Ethan, sitting on Great-Grandma Hazel's lap. She's 98, I believe. Emily was her first great-granchild...now she has three, with our two and their cousin.

It was a good trip, good weather, good times and a wonderful family.

Playing With Fire

2010-06-08T17:09:00.003-04:00

Andrew and I got ourselves a new toy. It's more of a "man toy"...because it involves fire.

This is the newest addition to our outdoor living space, aka "the deck". We tried it out for the first time a couple of nights ago and decided that it's pretty cool. We also decided that two logs was one too many! We had a bit of a roaring fire going. Neither of us is entirely sure that this is a fantastic idea on our new wooden deck...but we decided that since we were both out there, with plenty of water at hand, it would be okay. It may eventually end up on the patio area, but for now, it does make a nice cozy place to site and enjoy a nice evening.

School's Out!

2010-05-27T15:35:00.003-04:00

Today was Emily's last day of Preschool! She has gone to the same school for the last two years and next year....we're off to Kindergarten.

Below: The official "last day of school" picture.

Below: The first day of this school year.

I know I'm biased...but she's pretty cute!

And here she is after school today. I'm not sure if she could be much more of a ham.

We will miss her preschool. It was small and family-oriented and they took great care of our Emily (which wasn't always easy!). Next year, Miss Em will start Kindergarten at a local Christian school. She's excited...for now. But change is always tough for her. It's going to take some adjusting for all of us, because we all do well with a set schedule, but I'm looking forward to a nice summer.

Ethan at 10 Months

2010-05-17T22:34:00.003-04:00

Ethan:

Today you are 10 months old! Only two months until your very first birthday. The year is going by so fast and you are growing and changing every day.

You weigh, by my best guess, about 17 lbs. 8 oz. and are roughly almost 28 inches long. You're still hanging out around the 3rd percentile for weight, but I'm beginning to think that's just the way it's going to be, at least for a while.

This month, you've been keeping us all busy. You are a mover and a shaker! You crawl all over the place...and you crawl fast. You will bop up and down to the music if we say either, "Dance, baby, dance!" or "shake it, baby, shake it!" You also learned how to shake your head when we say "no-no". I will ask you if you want something or say "no-no" and you will get a big grin on your face and start shaking your head back and forth. It's quite funny.

You love to stand up, and you're quite good at pulling yourself up on just about anything. You like to stand at the sliding doors and look out into the backyard. Just today, you've also started bouncing up and down on your tip-toes, almost like you're trying hard to jump. It's pretty entertaining, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit. You roll, crawl, pull up, cruise and climb over things. In short, you're into everything. A new baby gate for the living room is being shipped as we speak; something we never needed for your big sister!

You have your two bottom middle teeth, your two top "vampire fangs" and you're working on your top two middle teeth. Teething makes you just a wee bit cranky, but we're getting through it. You drink three bottles a day and have three meals a day, plus snacks here and there. So far, I haven't found anything you refuse to eat. You still love cheerios and crackers, but really, anything is fair game. Your only rule: don't make you wait when you're hungry.

This month, you've had a few "first" experiences. You got to take your first ride on a swing at the playground, while waiting for Emily's class to finish up their field trip. You weren't 100% convinced that it was fun, but you thought it was okay.

You also got to take your first family trip to the zoo. It was a gorgeous day and we had a picnic lunch and then toured the zoo. You also got your first little touch of sunburn on your face...oops! We tried to keep you shaded, but you've got my fair skin. Thankfully, it wasn't bad and it didn't seem to bother you at all.

You are a busy little fellow who is growing and changing so fast. I can't wait to see what this next month brings! We love you!

Happenings

2010-05-13T22:33:00.004-04:00

Happening here lately:

Today, after Emily got home from school and we had run a few errands, I took a moment to go to the bathroom. When I came out, Emily was yelling to me something to the effect of, "Mom, hurry...you've got to see this! Come on!"

Those words could be good....or could be bad. Thankfully, it wasn't anything too bad. Emily had noticed a caterpillar on the front step and had managed to capture it in a little play tea cup. She was quite proud of herself (even though she knew she wasn't supposed to go outside without asking first!). Her preschool class has been watching caterpillars turn into cocoons and soon butterflies, so Miss Em was very excited to announce that this caterpillar would soon be a butterfly too.

I informed her that we didn't have the right kind of food to feed it, and so if we kept it in the house (ewww!) it would die. It wouldn't have a chance to be a butterfly if it lived in our house, but if we let it go back outside, it could eat and explore and eventually become a butterfly. Emily was quite sad, but she agreed that she didn't want it to die. I asked her if she wanted to go take it outside, to which she replied, "I don't want to touch it!", so I offered to take it out for her. She said a sad goodbye to the caterpillar and then I took it back outside (in the cup of course, because ewww!) and let it go in the weeds, umm, I meant, flower garden. Then I continued on to get the trash can and recycling can and wheel them back behind the house.

When I got back inside, I heard sobbing coming from the bathroom. When Emily came out, she was crying and saying, "I just miss the caterpillar so much. I loved him! I named him Buggy Bug. I LOVED Buggy Bug. I'm so sad. I will miss him so much. I prayed that God will keep Buggy Bug safe." etc.....

There's a lot of drama in our house. Heaven help us when this kid is a teenager. I request your prayers now. We're going to need them.

And, because it relates to the caterpillar story, another Emily story:

A few weeks ago, Emily saw a commercial on the Disney channel for a kit that you can buy to grow your own butterflies. You get a butterfly house, 5 butterfly larvae (ewww!) and food. And, as is common with all info-mercials, if you bought right then, you could double your order and get 5 more for FREE! Free I tell you! This got Emily very excited...until she heard that you had to be 18 or older (to order). All she heard was the "18 or older" part. She thought she couldn't use the kit.

Fast forward a week or so, and guess what appears in her preschool classroom? Yep, the butterfly house and growing kit. And guess what Miss Emily, in all her 5.5 year old wisdom told the teacher? Oh yes, she informed her that you had to be 18 or older to do this and that she could have had 5 more butterflies for free....FREE!

Oh sweet Emily!

And then there's this little boy. We're lovingly referring to him as "Our Little Vampire" these days, because in addition to his two middle bottom teeth, he now has the two upper "fangs", but no upper middle teeth yet (though they're on the way in too.) Those little fangs have caused much weeping and gnashing of teeth, but they're finally in!

In other Ethan news, the kid has finally hit 17 lbs. He's had a few trips to the doctor recently because I was sure he had an ear infection (all the signs), but each time, it was just teething discomfort. The good part of the appointments, other than not needing any medication, was finding out how he is growing. The answer...still slowly. As of last week, he was 17 lbs. and 4 oz., but man...is he ever into absolutely EVERYTHING. He crawls fast. He babbles much. He stands all the time. He cruises. He dances. He laughs. He screams. He is one very, VERY busy little guy.

Life is good.

The Zoo

2010-05-09T16:34:00.005-04:00

Last Friday, Andrew took the day off from work and the whole family headed out of town for a day trip to the zoo. It was an unbelieveably gorgeous and warm day (we should have worn shorts!) and so we packed a picnic lunch, loaded up the van and headed off.

As soon as lunch was eaten, we got our tickets and walked into to the zoo, where we immediately stopped off at that most exotic of locales (to young children, anyway)...the restrooms.

While waiting outside of the restrooms, Emily played (and posed) at the water fountain.

I took a lot of pictures that day, but I won't bore you with a ton of the animals. I did like my picture of the lion, though.

Emily, in front of the lion cage.

Emily had the opportunity (for a small fee, of course!) to feed the giraffes. It happened very quickly and I didn't get a picture of the actual feeding, but here she is next to the giraffe that she fed.

More posing!

Ethan rode along quite happily in his stroller. It was warm. Quite warm...and the poor kid was likely overdressed.

Oh well...he was a happy camper, with the wind foofing his hair.

Although the picture is a bit blurry, this was the organgatan at the zoo. He was way up in the tree.

Emily, posing yet again, in the "rain forest".

The zoo had a few rides. Emily LOVES the "horsey merry-go-round". She also got to ride the train, a boat ride and a sky ride (think ski-lift).

Ethan was fascinated with touching this tree. He probably would have gnawed on it if we let him.

We arrived at the sea lion exhibit just in time for their 3:00 feeding. This also coincided with Ethan's 3:00 feeding! The sea lions did all sorts of tricks, but I was far enough away with the stroller, that I didn't really get any great pictures. This was the best one of the bunch.

Emily, pretending to be a "joey".

At the end of the day, we went through the farm area that housed a petting zoo.

I think it's funny that the goat and Emily have the same expression in this picture.

Emily, petting the donkey.

We were treated to a bit of a show by Mr. Peacock.

While Ethan and I waited for Emily and Daddy to get off the train ride, we watched Mr. Peacock strut his stuff for a potential suitor.

Our own little Mr. Peacock...doing a bit of posing of his own. Sooooo Big!

It was a wonderful day for the whole family.

Ethan at 9 Months (And 3 days!)

2010-04-20T22:28:00.004-04:00

Ethan:

You are 9 months old!

You weigh 16 lbs. 13 oz. You've finally gained a little weight. Still, you are only in the 3rd percentile for weight. You are 27.5 inches long (24th percentile) and you wear 6-9 month clothes, though they are still quite large on you. You still wear a 0-6 month size shoe, but I think you might finally be growing a little bit.

Usually, I take you picture in the crib with the big stuffed monkeys, but you've had a rough few days recently due to teething, so I'm using some pictures from happier moments this month! You make this scrunchy smiley face ALL the time, and I love it. It is so funny. The best part is that when you make this face, you usually also start breathing hard and fast through your nose. You sort of sound like a raging bull. It's good stuff!

This month you've been very busy. You've mastered crawling. You've mastered pulling up to standing. You're working on cruising. You've got two bottom teeth and at least four more coming in on top (and they are making you one CRANKY boy!) You've decided that the bottle really isn't your mortal enemy and you've switched over to formula this month. You're eating all kinds of table foods in addition to baby foods. You love fruit puffs, pieces of bagels, pears and crackers. Really though, you've not met any food that you didn't like.

You are always on the move. You crawl across the living room, from one end to the other, getting into everything you can find.

You like to play with all of Emily's interesting toys. Apparently, her hula hoop works pretty well as a teething ring.

Not only have you learned to crawl and pull up on things, but you can climb! We are definitely not ready for that! Emily was never quite this adventurous.

One second, you were crawling, the next you were sitting up on the couch...and then, before I could get to you.....

You fell over the back of the couch and did a face plant. (The picture is blurry because I was moving to try to catch you!)

You like to stand up whenever and wherever possible. Especially if it means you can get closer to your sister. She's pretty fascinating.

You two still form a mutual admiration society. Emily adores you and you think every single thing she does is hilarious. She can make you laugh when no one else can.

You are a fun little fellow and we couldn't love you more!

Poison Ivy...or Not?

2010-04-20T15:43:00.002-04:00

Two years ago, while cleaning out the backyard flower bed (which was completely overgrown and covered in ivy and weeds at the time), I got my first case of poison ivy. I obviously didn't know what it really looked like, or I would have avoided it! I pretty much left everything alone last year, since I was quite pregnant, but this year I (sadly) have to go back to weeding. Boo...hiss.

So I once again cleaned out the back flower bed, wearing gloves (which I do anyhow because, ewww...bugs!) and using the hoe as much as possible. However, I am still leary because I don't know for sure what got me last time.

I found this plant growing in the decorative metal bucket planters attached to the retaining wall. I think it's poison ivy....what do you think?

The above plant is the "bigger picture" of the same plant above.

Then I found this in another flower bed we were attempting to weed this weekend. It's poison ivy too, isn't it?

And more, along the side of the house.

This is the only one I'm not sure about. Is this the beginning of poison ivy? Like a baby poison ivy plant? If so, there's a TON of it in that back flower bed, shooting right up. I'm amazed I'm not covered if it is.

And lastly, if indeed all these plants are poison ivy, how do I safely get rid of it all....for good?

The Finished Product

2010-04-14T12:58:00.002-04:00

The contractor came back this morning and set to work on the railing. It was actually pretty quick work.

We now have two sets of four-foot wide steps, one set leading straight out into the yard, the other leading off to the side as before. The old steps were only three feet wide.

Ahhh...so pretty and clean and fresh. You can still smell the sawdust. Well, you can't, but I can!

It looks so much bigger to me. It's not, but with no built-in bench on the far end, it feels bigger and gives us a bit more flexibility in where we can put things. Besides, the bench wasn't comfy anyhow, so no one ever used it.

The only issue I have is the hand railing (or lack thereof). To me, it looks unfinished, like it needs a flat board on top along the way down the steps. The contractor said he would give us some time today to look at everything and then be back later this evening to discuss any concerns we might have and for final payment. I think I'm going to ask him if he can put a flat board (I'm sure that's not the technical term here) to top off the hand rail down the steps. I would think that will make it look a little more polished!

This is what I was talking about above. This is looking down the hand rail at the top of the steps. Don't you think it needs...something? And I think eventually I'll pick out four post caps for the ends of both sets of steps, but I think we can manage to install those ourselves!

All in all, I am VERY pleased to not have to worry about pool maintenance and safety and I'm very thankful to have more room for the kids to run and play. We're even thinking of putting up a swingset. Now all we need is grass....

Progress!

2010-04-13T20:24:00.002-04:00

We're making progress on our deck.

The contractor came back today, tore off the old deck surface and started building the new deck. Ethan decided to crawl over and inspect the work....while pulling himself up.

Looking to the right.

Looking to the left.

The view from the back. There will be a new (second) set of stairs out from the sliding doors that leads out to the backyard.

And finally, just a sign that spring is finally here.

2010-04-09T22:12:00.003-04:00

And so, after weeks of estimates (some of which we are still awaiting...), we settled on a contractor who could start right away. And so, on a very cold, rainy and occasionally snowy Thursday morning, this was the view from our living room doors.

This was the first "blow".

And this was approximately 30 minutes later.

(Sorry for the lousy picture quality. I was too chicken to stand there and obviously take pictures!)

Within about 3 hours, all that remained of the pool was some twisted steel and the sad broken pump and filter.

This is the current view, looking to the left outside our sliding doors. There used to be a built-in bench here. It's long gone!

I could not believe how quickly the deck and pool were gone. Just completely gone. It only took two men, sometimes just one, about three hours from start to finish, including loading up and hauling away the debris (except for the steel...they had to get a blow torch to cut it down some). The rest of the afternoon was used to cut the steel and bring several loads of dirt to fill in the hole.

And this is what remains. The contractor came back this morning to level and grade the dirt and fill in the ruts the heavy equipment made. He'll be back to work on remodeling the attached deck on Tuesday. It doesn't look like much right now, but our yard looks SO much bigger. And the deck will remain basically the same size, but we'll be adding a new, sturdier railing all the way around and a set of steps heading out into the yard. More pictures will be sure to come!

ChChChCh...Changes!

2010-04-09T21:40:00.003-04:00

Big things are happening here!

Almost five full years ago, we bought our house and were quite pleased with the fact that it had a swimming pool. This pool was an aboveground pool that had been sunk inground a few feet and because of that, when you walked out of our house onto the attached deck, it was sort of like walking out to an inground pool...except not quite.

The swimming pool was a blessing that first summer, when I was many months pregnant and floating in the pool felt very nice. I used it whenever it was remotely warm enough, and Andrew might have used it five times or less that year. Then we had Emily. And life as we knew it came to a grinding halt as caring for her was a full-time job and then some. No more lounging in the pool!

The next couple of years, we enjoyed mainly looking at the pool, but rarely ever getting in it. If we used it five times a summer, I would be surprised. The lack of truly hot weather combined with the effort of getting a finicky toddler ready for swimming, in the pool and then back out approximately ten minutes later, just wasn't worth the effort.

Over the next couple of years, we tried to keep the pool looking nice. The deck was showing some serious wear and tear, since it had not been properly sealed/stained and spends almost all day facing due south in the full sun. Then we started having issues with the pump and filter...and then we had Ethan....and well, one day this winter I looked out the kitchen window, where everything was covered with feet of snow, and noticed that the pool didn't seem quite right. It somehow looked, emptier.

And it was. When all the snow had melted, we discovered a major leak in the deep end. Somehow, approximately 9,750 gallons of the 10,000 gallons of water had leaked out over the course of the winter when the pool liner just gave way. Of course, if you look closely at the picture, you'll notice that there was duct tape holding the wooden seam together behind the liner. Perhaps this wasn't the best constructed pool, huh? (It came with the house and the previous owner liked to do a lot of the work himself.)

And so, this was what we were left with. In conjunction with the fact that the deck need major cosmetic repairs and the pool would cost more to fix than remove, we decided that it was time to get rid of the pool and actually have a back yard.

Caught in the Act

2010-04-06T21:47:00.002-04:00

Just some random pictures of the kids from this week.

Above: I went in the kitchen to fix a bottle for Ethan and when I peeked in the room, this is what I found. Ethan is addicted to multi-grain Club crackers. This is not the first time I've discovered him surrounded by crackers either.

Mr. E is teething something fierce and drooling like mad. He soaked his shirt today, and since it was nearly 80 degrees, I stripped him down. Here he is playing with his tool bench.

Okay, I have to say that based on the number of times a day that I see this face (which is his "getting ready to smile" face), I think this kid is going to be ORNERY. He scrunches up his nose and eyes and breaks into the biggest, cheesiest grin. I caught him mid-clap here. He LOVES to clap, now that he's figured it out.

I have no idea what these two were up to, but don't they just look like they were up to something?

Easter 2010

2010-04-04T15:15:00.002-04:00

Our two kiddos: They dress up nice!

Emily: What a ham!

Ethan: He wasn't too sure about the grass. It was his first experience sitting outside.

Emily: Getting ready to hunt eggs.

Ethan: Can someone please get me out of this grass!

Splish, Splash....

2010-03-31T19:59:00.002-04:00

Ethan's taking a bath.

And he thoroughly enjoys himself, even when absolutely exhausted!

He's teething again. The pediatrician says that the gums around four of his top teeth are swollen. He's running a low-grade fever and he's lost weight. He's down to 15 lbs. and 9 oz.

But despite all this and the lack of a decent nap today, the kid is a happy boy in the bathtub.

Ethan at 8 Months

2010-03-18T18:43:00.004-04:00

Ethan:

You are 8 months old! You weigh a measly little 16 lbs and 3 oz. and you're a tiny little guy. That's the 5th percentile. I have absolutely no idea how long you are, but I can sum it up in two words: "Not very"! You are still easily fitting into your 3-6 month clothes, and are just now starting to also fit into some of your 6-9 month clothes, but some of them just simply fall off because you're just so little.

This month, you've done a lot.

First we'll start with sleep. Mom got tough and let you cry it out a few nights because quite frankly, the waking up every four hours routine had gotten quite old and wasn't really necessary anymore. It was just a bad habit and it had to go. You're still not sleeping through the night, though you can, but now we're generally down to just one waking and that's closer to morning now. This time change has thrown you for a loop though. Hopefully that's temporary.

Second, you've been working so very hard on crawling. You are SO close to being able to crawl. You can get up on your hands and knees and rock and even move one knee forward, but you haven't quite got it figured out. I think I'm glad. Because once you do learn to crawl, I'm in big trouble! Something tells me you are going to be a very fast little guy and I already know you'll be into everything.

Third, you've finally mastered rolling both ways. For the longest time, you've been able to roll from your back to your tummy (which usually comes second) but then you've been stuck there. That used to make you furious, but then you accepted it and learned to love sleeping on your tummy. Toward the end of 7 months, you finally figured out how to roll from your tummy to your back and you now enjoy rolling across the living room floor to get places. You may not be able to crawl yet, but you can certainly move all around quite well...and quickly.

Fourth, you've been learning to wave. I haven't caught a picture of it yet, but I am absolutely certain that you are waving at me. Well, actually you're waving back at yourself, but you get the idea! It's very cute. You're also quite close to clapping, but you've got to open your fists first.

You've mastered this whole sitting up thing and though the picture doesn't show it, I'm thinking you might be a drummer like your Dad. You absolutely adore beating on anything and everything in your way, including whoever is holding you. It is seriously a hazard to hold you for very long.

You've gotten so much stronger this month too. At first, you could lift your head and shoulders off the ground just fine, but now you get your tummy and chest up too and you can balance yourself on one hand. I'm impressed!

You've decided to expand your food horizons quite a bit this month as well. You've been eating pureed solids for several months, but we're adding thicker textures, a lot more flavors and even some finger foods like cheerios, fruit puffs and bananas. I really think you would eat an entire banana if I would let you. You're pretty good at feeding yourself as well. You can pick up the finger foods and most of the time, get them in your mouth. It isn't always pretty, but it makes you happy and it gives Mom a break.

Oh and did I mention that you have two teeth? Yep...your first two teeth appeared right around seven and a half months. It didn't seem to traumatize you too much....let's hope that continues.

You're also doing a bit of babbling. I've heard you say "bababa", "dadada", mamama", "bob" (which you repeated clear as a bell after mom said it in reference to the cat) and lots of raspberries and other fun noises.

All in all, you've been a very busy little fellow and you're growing and changing very quickly now. I have a feeling this month is going to see quite a few more developments. I'm betting that you master crawling and moving from a laying to sitting position (you're close to doing that now). I'm looking forward to seeing what this month brings! We love you, little buddy!

Life: From Our Pets' Perspective

2010-03-14T21:41:00.004-04:00

I like this:

The Dog's Diary

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Dinner! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

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The Cat's Diary

Day 983 of My Captivity

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.

The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates my capabilities. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. Jerks!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow, but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released, and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird must be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now ...

2010-03-04T13:18:00.004-05:00

Today I'm stealing an idea from Bekah for several reasons:

1. I know she won't mind
2. Malott has accused me of not blogging enough and
3. I don't have any good ideas of my own right now

So, here are my answers to some totally random questions.

1. What's your favorite time of day and why? I love evening, when the sun is setting. Right now, it's a rough time at our house as both kids are just done for the day, but otherwise it's my favorite time.

2. If health wasn't an issue, what food could you live off of? Easy...buckeyes! Seriously, it has everything I need all in one convenient tasty little ball. Sweet chocolate and salty (and nutritious protein-rich) peanut butter. It's all a girl needs.

3. If you could have one wish granted (besides wishing for more wishes) what would it be? I would wish to live in a perfect, sinless world. Then I wouldn't need any more wishes.

4. What's one thing that you get teased about a lot? Hmmm...being soft-spoken has often gotten me teased...especially by my pesky brother-in-law.

5. If you could choose one movie, book, or TV show to spend your life in, which would you pick? What type of character would you be? That's tough. I think I'd choose to be like Anne from Anne of Green Gables. I loved the simplicity of her life, the genteelness of the time and the setting. Plus, I think she and I would have had a lot in common. (Funny, I hadn't even read Bekah's answer to the travel question when I wrote this!)

6. If you could have one talent that you don't already have, what would it be? The ability to paint or draw anything I wanted. I can barely draw stick figures.

7. If money were no object, where would you go on vacation? Good question. I think I'd like to visit St. Lucia and Hawaii...and maybe the Mediterranean.

8. If you were an awesome singer, which genre would you sing? I honestly have no idea. But it for darn sure wouldn't be even remotely close to country!

9. If you could have a $10,000 shopping spree to one store, what would it be? Just one? Well, maybe Amazon.com. Is there anything they don't sell?

10. If you could live in any point in time, when would it be? I've always thought it would be fun to be a pre-civil war southern belle. Of course, that whole civil war mess got kind of ugly....

11. If every outfit in your wardrobe had to be one color, what would it be? Blue. A nice medium shade, not navy.

12. If you were one of the seven dwarfs, which one would you be? Sleepy. (But I wish there was a "Curious" option!)

13. What's the last album you listened to? Well, this is highly embarassing coming from a music major, but if I'm honest, it's "hits" from the Disney animated show "Phineas and Ferb". They are clever and funny...and sadly I know many of the lyrics. All kid music aside, the last album I listened to was Chris Daughtry's newest.

14. What's something we'd be surprised to know about you? I know the lyrics to way too many Jimmy Buffet songs. I blame Andrew for that!

Trying So Hard

2010-02-25T14:40:00.002-05:00

Ethan is working awfully hard these days...to crawl. He's getting close, I think. To be honest, I don't really remember Emily doing much crawling. That first year with her was largely a blur in spots because it was just tough. She was also somewhat slower to reach milestones than average, and I think she largely skipped crawling and went more to standing/cruising to walking.

Mr. E rolls onto his side and gets his bottom half up.

He gets his knees under him and looks like he might go somewhere...

Then he kicks his legs out straight behind him.

Then he pushes up on his arms to get his chest off the ground.

It's a little hard to tell in this picture, but he actually got his belly off the ground too. He's basically doing a push-up here. (The real kind, not the girly type!)

He's working so hard on getting all the pieces of the puzzle coordinated, but when he finally does, we are going to be in serious trouble. This kid is a WILD thing!

Ethan at 7 Months

2010-02-17T21:31:00.002-05:00

Ethan:

Today you are 7 months old! You weigh about 15 lbs. 3 oz. and are about 26.5 inches long. You are in the 4th percentile for weight. You're a little squirt!

You may be small, but you're learning all kinds of new tricks. Your newest skill is blowing wet, drooly raspberries all the time, even while eating. You are also determined to take your socks off whenever humanly possible. Apparently you aren't aware that it's about 20 degrees outside. This wouldn't be such a problem except that you not only take your socks off, but then you chew on them until they are thoroughly soaked, making them useless.

One skill you still haven't learned: how to drink from a bottle (or sippy cup). It's time to figure this out, little buddy.

This month, you've struggled with sleep. Well, not just this month, but that last 3-4 months, which is why we finally just let you cry it out at night and naptime. And, I think it's working. Now, when I lay you down on your back, you will fuss for less than a minute, flip yourself over onto your tummy and sleep like...a baby. This is how you sleep....face down. It scares me to death, because I have no idea how you breathe, but just when I'm ready to go in and check on you, you turn your head and all is well. Besides, there's nothing I can do to stop you from rolling. Now, you just need to learn how to roll back over onto your back.

You've mastered sitting up by yourself. We put you down on the floor on your blanket and give you toys and you grab something in each hand and bang them together. I think you like the noise. You're just like your sister, because she always had to have a toy in each hand.

This month has been very eventful as well. Just after you turned 6 months old, you got sick...and had your first experience with a nebulizer, your first x-rays (twice in one week!), your first trip to the ER and your first hospital admission...all for a nasty case of bronchiolitis. From what I understand, only 1-2% of babies every get admitted to the hospital for this. Apparently, you're an over-achiever! It was a scary time for mom, dad and Emily, but you took it in stride, even when you had to have oxygen via nasal cannulas, or "nose fans" as we described them to Emily. Let's hope that next month won't be nearly as "exciting"!

We love you, little guy.

You Bet!

2010-02-09T16:52:00.000-05:00

I love this!

And the Winner Is....

2010-02-08T13:26:00.001-05:00

Not us.

It's a sad day in our house.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

2010-02-07T20:20:00.002-05:00

The team uniforms are on.

The food is ready.

(Pioneer Woman's homemade onion strings, sweet and sour meatballs, chips and dip and popcorn chicken)

The crowd waits in anxious anticipation of the big game.

And we all say....

On The Mend

2010-02-05T14:57:00.002-05:00

I think Ethan's on the mend. He's still coughing. He's still got the sneezes. He is still drooling like a crazy man...oh wait, that's unrelated. We haven't been to the doctor for over a week (whic might be a record of late.) He still sounds a little wheezy, but overall if his behavior is any indication, he's headed the right direction. He's a wild man.

He loves to bang things together and basically make lots of noise.

I bought him some drums...because we don't have enough noise.

It's good to be feeling better.

Pet Therapy

2010-01-29T14:51:00.002-05:00

I've always heard that having pets around is excellent therapy. It's a documented fact that pets help sick patients feel better and get better sooner. (I might be making that up, but I think it's documented...I'm just too lazy to actually check!)

I'm pretty sure that Bob and Puma (the cats) are doing their parts to help Mr. E get better. I mean, how else can I explain the pictures below?

When we got home from the doctor one evening, Ethan was asleep in his car seat, so we carried him in, left him in the seat in the living room and went upstairs to put Emily to bed. In just a few minutes, we heard crying. Andrew came downstairs to check...and there was Bob, sitting in the car seat on top of Ethan. Understand, Bob wouldn't hurt a flea. Mainly we know this because she's too much of a sloth to expend the energy, but also just because she's a very laid-back gentle cat who is used to babies and kids and crying. Ethan loves when Bob comes to visit him while we're playing on the floor. And poor Bob takes a literal beating when she gets close to him, not to mention losing a good chunk of fur due to his grabby hands. Still, she chooses to "love on" him and the following pictures prove it.

I laid Ethan on the changing table before his nap and Puma (the gray cat on the left) jumped up to look out the window. Bob didn't want to be left out so she climbed over Ethan too.

Ethan is FASCINATED by cat tails. They flip and flop and tickle him and he is determined to pull them as often as possible. This doesn't bother Bob in the least. Puma, however, despises Ethan (and pretty much everyone else except me). She can't be bothered by his presence. (Although Ethan's severely testing that premise!)

Finally Puma just decided to sit on Ethan's shoulder and wrap her tail around his neck and head. Surely her motives are pure...

Sick and Sicker

2010-01-25T13:18:00.008-05:00

Well, I knew boys were more accident prone, and I guess I had steeled myself for an occasional trip to the ER for broken bones or stiches....but not at 6 months old and for illness.

As I mentioned before, Ethan and Emily have been sick all week. While Emily's pnuemonia was apparently caught pretty early and she has responded well to the antibiotics, Ethan didn't fare so well. He just got sicker.

We had been giving Ethan nebulizer treatments three times a day since Tuesday, but by Friday night, I just didn't like the way he was breathing. He seemed to be working too hard. I debated trying to get into the after-hours clinic at the pediatrician that night, but he went to sleep and did okay, so I waited.

On Saturday morning, he was still really struggling with wheezing and working pretty hard to breathe, so we made an appointment with the on-call pediatrician (not our regular one) and he and I went in to the office. They were somewhat busy, though I've seen it worse, and the doctor was less than attentive, to put it midly. Ethan was audibly wheezing and retracting during each breath. She listened to him for about 5 seconds, ordered a breathing treatment with the nebulizer and diagnosed him with asthma. Then she left the room and told me to come get her when we were done, otherwise "she might not remember to come back". (Yeah, I know what you're thinking.) So when he was done, she came back, listened to him for about 5 seconds, told us to use the nebulizer every 4-6 hours, give him steroids and oh yeah, antibiotics for an ear infection. She was standing in the open doorway (privacy?) and I could barely get her to answer a single question. Then she left. I did ask her how long it would take to see some improvement in his breathing (as I was paying, I saw her again). She said it would be slow...24-48 hours. So we left, me feeling very uneasy with how he still sounded and less than confident in her diagnosis.

About 2 hours after the treatment, Ethan was really struggling with breathing again, sitting on the floor with his mouth open and tongue hanging out...almost panting. We decided to take him to the ER. So, Andrew stayed home with Emily (since she certainly didn't need to catch anything else) and I took Ethan (being his main source of food!) We waited about 45 minutes to be checked in. He had a fever and they ordered chest x-rays and a breathing treatment. We got the x-rays done (second time in less than a week) and then they did the breathing treatment in the waiting room of the ER (privacy...ha). After about 3 hours in the waiting room, which is a very interesting place from a people-watching perspective, I might add, we got to go back to a treatment room to actually see a doctor. We spent another 2 hours there, hanging out and watching tv, before we found out that we were going to be admitted for the night.

The above picture is from the ER treatment room.

So around 8:30/9:00pm, we checked into our hospital room on the pediatric floor with the knowledge that we would be having another patient spend the night with us later in the evening. It was a rough night for kids with coughs. The nurses hooked Ethan up to a pulse oximeter and we monitored his breathing and he did really well, but was obviously working too hard to breathe. Still, we settled in for a long night...with strange roomates.

And a long night it was. I managed to get Ethan to sleep in his crib pretty quickly, especially since he hadn't napped all afternoon. However, hospitals aren't quiet and too many people were coming and going and he woke up and that was the end of that. He wanted to sleep, he just wouldn't do it in the crib. Actually, if I could have let him fuss a bit and wiggle around to get comfy, he probably would have. However they had him all propped up with blankets and he prefers to sleep on his side or tummy, which just wasn't happening in the crib....so he slept with/on me in the recliner all night. Notice I said "he" slept...not me. Not even for 10 minutes. It was a long...long night. I remembered college all-nighters. Not the partying kind, mind you, but the working kind. I remembered why I never liked them then and like them even less in a hot uncomfortable environment 10 years later.

Around 4 am, the nurse came in and told us that Ethan needed to put on some oxygen since his O2 levels weren't staying up high enough and he was having to work too hard to breathe. So, while he was sleeping, they taped a nasal canula to his face and started giving him oxygen and monitoring him even closer. He slept through it. Let's just say that when he woke up, he was less than thrilled to have something blowing air in his nose. (Sidenote: I was trying to describe the canula to Emily...,she's seen them before, but didn't really know what they were, so I told her that Ethan had little "nose fans". She liked that idea!)

Over the course of the day, Ethan was diagnosed with Bronchiolitis, which is basically caused by any number of viruses and ends up irritating and restricting his bronchiol tubes, causing wheezing and breathing problems. Usually it isn't too serious and doesn't require hospitalization, but Ethan ended up with a bad case, partly due to his age. No asthma, no ear infection, no need for antibiotics or steroids. In fact, nebulizer treatments weren't even a must, though they don't hurt. In short, the on-call pediatrician just plain got it wrong.

So we spent the rest of Sunday in the hospital. Once Ethan could keep his oxygen level up over 90% consistently (while he was sleeping) then we could go. He never stayed up over 90% the whole time, but the doctor told us that he was doing better and staying over 90% much better than in the morning, so she let us go home.

Ethan is still sick, and we're still watching him really closely. To be perfectly honest, I guess I won't be surprised if we end up making another trip to the hospital in the next couple of days. He still sounds pretty bad, and that's a scary thing to hear. We're watching him like a hawk and trying to keep him comfortable. He has slept quite a bit today and is very irritable. It's hard to know if he's crabby because he's over tired, if he's tired because he's over-tired (like me) or if he's actually lethargic. Right now, I'm leaning to the lethargic side, but hoping I'm wrong. We go back to the regular pediatrician tomorrow morning for a follow-up for both kids, so hopefully we can at least make it through another night at home and get an expert opinion tomorrow.

Poor little guy. So sick. So tired. So sweet.

Please pray for improved health for all of us. Andrew and I both have sore throats and Emily still sounds like she will cough up a lung. We're all a bit stressed and worried.

Rough Time

2010-01-22T21:06:00.002-05:00

Things are rough around here.

Emily seems to be on the upswing from her pneumonia. She's been fever-free for two days now (though tonight it was right at 99 again). She's been very active and wild, so I think she's on the mend.

On the other hand, Ethan seems worse. When he saw the doctor and was prescribed the nebulizer, he was only coughing. Now he has the runny/stuffed/snotty nose and is having a really hard time breathing. What we're trying to decide is just how hard a time he's having. He struggles to eat, which I expected, because he's so stuffy. However he needs to eat. He really can't afford to lose weight. He's spitting up some, but I think that's from coughing so hard. He just sits there with his mouth hanging open, breathing so ragged and faster than I like. If things don't improve or look the same tomorrow, we're headed back to the doctor.

I'd like to think that four full days of nebulizer treatments would be helping him, but if Emily caught some sort of virus/bacteria that led to her pneumonia, then I'm a bit concerned that Ethan could be heading the same direction. He was up every 1- 1.5 hours last night, which wasn't much fun either. That could be due to his illness or the Albuterol he's inhaling.

Prayers are welcome.

Setting a Record

2010-01-20T21:40:00.002-05:00

When the pediatrician walked into our exam room this afternoon, she said, "Well, are you trying to set the record for the most number of visits?"

Yes, indeed we are on record-setting pace this year (and last). I knew having two kids would mean twice the sickness, but I didn't count on this much.

Yesterday, I took Ethan for his 6 month well-child visit. He weighs in at an even 15 lbs., is 26 .25 inches long and is in the 9th percentile for weight (even lower for weight to height ratio). Since he's meeting all this developmental milestones, I think I give up on worrying about his weight. However, I am worried about his never-ending cough.

And apparently, I have reason to be. Ethan's had this cough since early December. It started off innocently enough, but it has steadily gotten worse. He had minor wheezing by the end of December and we did a round of antibiotics. He still had the cough and by yesterday, it was sounding pretty icky. Even when he was just breathing, he was raspy. And apparently, still wheezing.

So when the pediatrician listened to his lungs, she heard substantially more wheezing and ordered a breathing treatment in the office (with a nebulizer) and ordered a chest x-ray. She thinks his cough/wheezing are a result of his reflux, but we're not sure. Then she sent us home (after 3 shots and an oral vaccine) with a nebulizer of our very own to use three times a day for the next week.

Did I mention that he screamed through the entire 15 minute treatment? Oh...and Emily cried through it too, but she has her own issues......

Because today's appointment was for her. Yes, Miss Em began coughing on Sunday, while at Grandma's house. Then her nose started running, so we naturally assumed it was her allergies flaring up, which is might have been. Then she woke up on Monday with a fever which continued to climb all day. She was pretty lethargic, just sitting on the couch not really doing anything, which is very unlike her. Tuesday, she still had a fever and it climbed...and climbed...and climbed until it hit 104.4. As the pediatrician said, "That's pretty impressive!". More like scary, if you ask me. I gave her Tylenol and it did come down, but she was a miserable little gal.

So today, we went to the doctor just to make sure that Em's cough wasn't morphing into wheezing as it has once before. Well, I don't think we're dealing with wheezing this time, though we are going to be doing the inhaler three times a day again. We are, however dealing with pnuemonia. And so, Em's bedtime cocktail these days now consists of Zythromax, Nasonex, Zyrtec, Albuterol (inhaler) and Tylenol for any substantial fever.

The fun just never ends. Please pray, if you are so inclined, for a quick recovery and no more sickness for a good long time. Em's been out of school all week and will miss at least one day next week for a follow-up appointment. Getting back into the groove is hard for her on a good day, so we really need to just keep plugging along without a lot of interruptions. All this sickness is taking a toll on all of us.

Ethan at 6 Months

2010-01-17T21:00:00.004-05:00

Ethan:

Today you are six months old! Half a year has gone by in the blink of an eye and you are growing and changing so much.
You weigh about 15 lbs. and you are 26.25 inches long. You're in the 9th percentile for weightand 45th percentile for height. In other words, you're the exact opposite of your big sister. You're a little guy!

This past month, you've been a busy little guy. You did a lot of traveling, to both sets of grandparents, and you saw almost every member of your extended family. You got to meet a few of mommy's relatives for the first time. Although you won't remember it, they enjoyed getting to see you.

What can I say about this month? Hmmm, you've been sleeping a bit better, but still not great. Many nights, you still wake up every 2-3 hours, but every once in a while, you give us a break and only wake up once. We need more of those nights. I am learning that you prefer to put yourself to sleep instead of being held or rocked or nursed to sleep like your sister. Lately, I will feed you at naptime or bedtime and instead of falling asleep and then me putting you in your crib, you will fuss and squirm and try to get away, it seems. So I started just laying you down in the crib while you were still awake...and much to my surprise, you would wiggle around, roll onto your side and fall right to sleep. You are so very different from Emily in this regard.

You learned to sit up all by yourself this month, and with that skill, you discovered a whole new perspective on the world. Most days, you will sit on your blanket on the floor, surrounded by toys, and happily play and look around. You especially love when the kitties or dog stop by to visit. I can't always say the feeling is mutual though, since you are fascinated with pulling hair, both human and animal. You also ADORE your big sister and think that every single thing she does is fascinating and just plain awesome. She can make you smile and laugh like no one else.

You've also learned to stick out your tongue. All day long, you practice this new skill, sticking your tongue out, blowing bubbles, blowing raspberries and then repeating. It's making it a bit more challenging to feed you, as you now push the food out with your tongue and sometimes even blow it back at me. Feeding you almost requires a poncho for both of us!

You are much more active and mobile than you used to be. You sit up, you roll over, you squirm all around...I never know what position I'll find you in when you wake up, but it's never the same one as when I left.

You've discovered your feet and they are fascinating! You play with them every chance you get. There is no point in putting socks on you, because you pull them off almost immediately and then chew on them. When I put you in the bathtub, you spend most of the time sucking on your toes. Whatever makes you happy....

You've had some ups and downs this months. While you've made lots of developmental progress, your actual growth is slow. While you started out being in the 50th percentile for height and weight, you're now around the 8th percentile. You eat, but not much and not for long. Whenever I feed you, I have to go to a quiet dark room and sit very, very still so that you do not get distracted. I can't even look at you, or you'll start grinning and forget about eating....and you need to eat! You absolutely refuse to take any kind of bottle (or pacifier, but I've given up on those), which makes things a lot more difficult. Thankfully, you do seem to love your oatmeal and fruits and veggies.

Overall, you've come a long way from the tiny, hairy little baby that we first met 6 months ago today. You are developing such a fun and ornery personality and we can't wait to see how you continue to grow and change in the next few months. We love you, Buddy!

Look Who's.....

2010-01-08T21:31:00.002-05:00

Sitting up by himself!

Yep, Mr. E is sitting up on his own these days. He started trying it very briefly while at Grammy's house over Christmas, but he could only do it for a few seconds.

But with a lot of concentration....he's learned to sit up by himself for a few minutes at a time before this happens....

Oops, a face plant, but nothing that a little cuddling with his stuffed monkey can't fix.

And with a little help from mom...he's back up again!

Oh, and another thing...he likes to play with this ball.

Just thought you'd want to know.

Emily's Christmas

2010-01-08T16:57:00.003-05:00

Emily also had a very long drive for her Christmas. We made the trip in two days and left around 6 pm the first night. By around 9:00, Emily was literally begging to please find a hotel because she needed to go to sleep. After five years, the kid finally recognizes her need for sleep and how she feels when she is tired. She now (mostly) embraces sleep, but if we keep her up much beyond 7:30, she's a bear. Still, she did really well on the trip too.

Above: Emily with Daddy, opening one of her many "Barbies". It was actually Mulan of the Disney Princess fame, but she's totally into all things Barbie and princess, so it was a hit.

Above: Emily holding her new tutu. Note the headband with bow that she picked out herself and insisted on wearing, even with her pjs.

Above: The only thing Emily asked for from Santa was a Barbie car. It was the very last present she opened, and she was getting worried that maybe he forgot. Barbie and the princesses and Ken have ridden many places in that car.

Above: Emily sitting with her second cousin Angela. Em got the game "Pretty, Pretty Princess" for Christmas from my aunt and we have all played...and played....and played. She wanted me to take her picture after she won.

Above: Emily unwrapped a lot of presents this year...hers and Ethan's. Ethan could not have cared less about the whole Christmas present thing. He slept through Christmas Eve present opening and much of Christmas morning. So Emily "helped" him open his gifts as well.

Ethan's First Christmas

2010-01-08T16:19:00.002-05:00

Mr. Ethan had a long ride for his first Christmas. We drove to Delaware to spend Christmas with my side of the family. Poor little guy spent a lot of time in his car seat, but thankfully, he handled things very well with minimal fussing.

Above: Christmas morning, sitting in Grammy's lap, sporting his festive striped Christmas jammies and santa hat.

Above: Ethan hanging out with Pop-pop.

Above: Ethan chewing on a new toy, sitting on Grammy's lap and visiting with Mom-mom P. It was her Mom-mom's first time seeing him.

Above: Grammy reading to Ethan

Above: Sitting in Aunt Kathy's lap. The hat just makes me laugh...it was a little small.

Visits with Relatives

2009-12-18T12:22:00.002-05:00

Some of you may recognize this strange man holding Ethan. I didn't get a good picture of his face, but this is Chris of Malott's Blog fame. Mr. E seemed to enjoy playing with Chris and I think the feeling was mutual.

Emily also thinks Chris is a pretty cool guy.

And then we visited Great-Grandma Hazel. It was hard to get a good picture of both of them, especially since you cannot get a 4 month old to look at the camera when a 5 year old big sister is in the room. Great-Grandma is 98 years young, by the way and probably healthier than about 98% of the people I know. She is quite pleased to have three great-grandchildren (finally!).

Ethan at 5 Months

2009-12-18T11:50:00.003-05:00

Ethan:

You are now 5 months old (well, yesterday!). You are growing, but slowly. You are around 26 inches long and only 14 pounds. You're either destined to be a skinny little guy or something is going on because you used to be in the 50th% for height and weight and now you're between the 5th and 10th% for weight.

This month has been a bit bumpy. You seem to be pretty disgruntled with the world lately. We think you may have a temper! Your sleep has been downright terrible. You USED to sleep for 6-7 hours at a time. Now, you are totally unpredictable. Lately you've been up every 2-3 hours and frankly, mommy is tired.

You have your good days. You have a fantastic smile, we just don't see it nearly enough. You are ticklish all over and you can laugh, but this month hasn't been a very fun one.

You had all kinds of new experiences this month. You started eating "real" food. So far, we've gone slowly and only eaten rice cereal, oatmeal and applesauce. You make a HUGE mess, but you seem to like it. You insist on "helping" to feed yourself by grabbing the spoon and shoving it into your mouth. I think you're going to be a handful.

You have discovered sister's old play center and you really like all the lights and music and toys to use. You liked it so much you fell asleep in it!

You met Santa for the first time and you didn't seem to mind. Of course, it probably helped that Emily was there with you. You adore her. She makes you smile and laugh faster than anyone else. I believe she is your favorite person in the world.

Overall, while mommy loves you so very much, I'm glad this month is behind us and hoping that the coming month is a little less crazy and a lot more restful!

Christmas Pictures of the Kids

2009-12-13T21:29:00.003-05:00

This week, I attempted to get both kids to take one good Christmas picture. We hadn't tried to get a "good" picture of both of them together since Ethan was one week old and too busy sleeping to care what was happening. A lot has changed since then!

We went to Portrait Innovations and waited 30 minutes or so after our scheduled appointment time before the festivities began. I had to wake Ethan up from his nap, which could have been disastrous, but thankfully, wasn't. The session went really well and both kids cooperated beautifully. We were there from 12:20 to 2:45 (it was PACKED and crazy in the studio) and no one melted down, plus we got some really good pictures. They took 87 different pictures and I narrowed it down to 6 poses plus the CD of all the pictures they took.

And so, without further ado....some Christmas pics for your viewing pleasure. I did not include my favorites since they will be going out in our Christmas card this week.

She's a bit of a ham, don't you think?

Quite the gift we got this year.

Our little man sitting up so nicely in a chair.

When did she get so big?

This picture (above) just cracks me up, because Emily looks like she's thinking "oh brother, what is he up to now?" and Ethan's just having a great time looking in the totally wrong direction.

Oh how I wish they'd both looked into the camera.

Can you tell that Ethan has found his feet? He loves holding them and trying to eat his toes.

Stuff

2009-12-09T16:59:00.002-05:00

There will be no pictures in this post, but not because I don't have any. Au contraire! I have plenty to share, but no time to load them onto my computer or wait for them to load onto this lowly blog. So instead, I'll probably completely bore my 4.5 loyal readers and actually use words to tell you about all that we've been doing.

1. My last post mentioned that poor Miss Em has been dealing with all kinds of illness since mid-September. I think we've finally figured our what's been going on. We took her to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor to check her hearing since she's had so many ear infections and one thing led to another...which led to allergy testing. As we suspected, she tested positive for seasonal allergies (pollens and weeds), but she also was allergic to cats, feathers and almost every mold they tested. So basically, she has year-round, indoor-outdoor allergies which most definitely require medication, likely year-round as well. Fun stuff. The ENT's recommendations (other than medications) could be summed up this way: "Live in a bubble". Don't open up windows or doors, use the air conditioning. Don't go outside and play. Don't have pets. Don't have carpet. Don't have stuffed animals. Don't be anywhere remotely humid (mold grows easier in humid places). It feels a bit overwhelming and quite frankly impossible. It also feels like we would be taking away a little girl's childhood. So for now, she's taking Nasonex and Zyrtec and we're hopeful that they will work wonders. If they help, we might be able to avoid tubes or an adnoidectomy. If not...well, I'm just hoping they will.

2. Ethan has had a rough month. He has been NO fun. I think we're headed back the right direction, but wow, I'd really prefer not to repeat any of that again. He wouldn't sleep, day or night. He would wake up 3 and 4 times a night (compared to his usual once) and he would scream for hours. It was ugly. I repeat....UGLY.

3. I officially am tired of Christmas shopping. I don't generally mind having an actual reason to shop, but this year, I'm struggling to get all the Christmas shopping done. And usually I have at least half of my gifts wrapped by now, but this year...not a single one is wrapped. Not one. I'm hoping to start tonight, but that all completely depends on Mr. E and his willingness to sleep.

4. The weather here stinks. It's 25 degrees, with a wind chill of around 10. It's snowing, sleeting and blowing so hard that I refuse to go back outside for anything short of an emergency. Oh and did I mention that the heat in our van decided to quit last week. I took it to be fixed on Monday and got it back yesterday...for a price. Let's just say we could have bought a REAL nice TV.

5. We bought a new Christmas tree this year. Last year we tried out a real tree, but I honestly don't like the mess and hassle, plus a fake one is, in the long run, cheaper. We looked for a nice full, NON-pre-lit, non-skinny, 7.5 foot tree. It didn't sound like a challenge, but it was. We finally found one that fit the bill and barely....just barely got it to fit in the van. I decided to give in to peer pressure this year and go with colored lights. I prefer white, but Andrew and Emily wanted colored, so we went on the great search for colored, twinkling mini-lights. Again, it didn't sound like a challenge. It was. After two days of extensive searching, we came home with 800 multi-colored NON-twinkling lights. We put the tree together and discovered that it was absolutely huge. Much bigger than the old one. Bigger around than the 56" tree skirt. Very, very large but lovely. Too large, by just a little bit, for 800 lights. So back to Walmart I went to buy one more box of lights. The lights I found came in packs of 400 each, so I bought one box of those and then two (100) packs, just in case we might need them next year. I went to put the first strand of the 400 set on and they wouldn't stay lit....so those will have to go back, and I ended up needed those extra 2 (100) light boxes. And yes, that does mean that our tree has 1,000 colored lights. And I like it. There will be pictures.

Hmmmm...I know we've done more, but my head hurts too much to think any more, so that'll have to do for now. When I get a few minutes, I'll add some pictures. Until then...stay warm!

Sweet Girl

2009-11-22T20:52:00.002-05:00

I'm not certain when it happened exactly, but somehow Emily grew up. I find myself catching a glimpse of her, from time to time, and wondering when my little bald baby with chubby cheeks turned into this pig-tailed girl with impossibly long legs and arms and fingers and feet. She's only a foot and a half shorter than me. When did she get so big and old?

I haven't posted much about Miss Em lately, not because there's nothing happening, but perhaps because there's too much going on. She's had a rough start to the school year, health-wise, and things are finally coming to a head now.

Since the second day of school (mid-September), Emily has had continuous upper respiratory/sinus symptoms and a nasty-sounding productive cough. I had talked to the doctor about it several times, and finally at her 5 year appt., I asked for a referral to the Ear, Nose and Throat doc. A few days before we were scheduled to go, Emily ended up back at the pediatrician for her ongoing symptoms. She was diagnosed with a sinus infection and ear infection. So we got a prescription for two-weeks worth of antibiotics and dutifully took them all.

About a week into the antibiotic course, we had our first ENT appointment. They tested her hearing and noted that she did not hear lower tones very well, but that it wasn't terrible and was likely due to fluid. We were scheduled for a reevaluation a couple weeks later.

That reeval. was last week. On Wednesday, she was re-tested and found to have yet another ear infection, even more fluid behind her ears and, when they listened to her lungs, they noted that she was wheezing upon inhaling and exhaling. So the ENT prescribed a different antibiotic (10 days worth) for her ears and told me to take her to the pediatrician to have them check her lungs. (This happened to be the same day as Ethan's 4 month appt. anyway.) The pedi. agreed that Emily was wheezing and prescribed an inhaler and wanted to see her back on Monday.

On Friday, Em went back to the ENT for allergy testing. She was very scared and I am very glad that Daddy was able to go along and help hold her. She (eventually) did great, but she is allergic to plenty of environmental "stuff", especially molds and pollens. This wasn't really a surprise and we don't still know the extent of her allergies or many details, but we know they will need to be treated. We are also most likely looking at getting tubes put in her ears and there was mention of adenoids possibly needing to be taken as well (although that's still a very fluid situation).

So, in a nutshell, Miss Em's been sick. A lot. And today she topped it all off by quite literally getting sick in church. Her teacher took her out to "big" church to Daddy (I was in the nursery with Ethan) because she didn't feel good and said her head really hurt. The next thing I know, Daddy and Emily are running into the nursery, his hand over her mouth, headed to the little kids' bathroom so she can continue to throw up. I handed Ethan off to a friend and went back to clean up the floor....during church....and then we headed home. Thankfully, she hasn't gotten sick anymore and she seems okay, but she's running a slight fever, so who knows?

It's been a rough fall for Emily and she (and we) could use your prayers.

Ethan at 4 Months

2009-11-17T19:32:00.004-05:00

Ethan:

You are four months old now! My how time is flying by. You are getting bigger and changing every day. You now weigh 13 lbs. and 8 oz. You're 25 and 1/4 inches long. That puts you in the 25th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height. Basically, you've stretched out but not gained much. Of course, if you'd stop spitting up half of your food, you'd probably gain more.

This month, your big accomplishment is gaining very good head control and rolling from back to tummy. Of course, you still don't care for tummy time, so the constant rolling is a bit of a frustration to you.

This month, you've decided that no one other than mommy can even remotely make you happy. You shriek when poor Daddy tries to hold you. You shriek when I lay you down on your play mat. You're becoming high maintenance. Not sure what to think about that.

You still really really love your bath and would probably spend half your day there if we let you. You are doing really well grasping things and you put EVERYTHING in your mouth. You drool like crazy and I suspect that you will cut teeth sooner, rather than later.

I'd like to say that your sleep is getting better, but that quite frankly, would be a lie. While you are capable of sleeping through the night and have a couple of times, lately you've been harder to put to sleep and you will wake up once or twice for longer periods of time. We'll keep working on that because momma needs sleep.

You have finally pretty much outgrown all your 0-3 month clothes (by length only) and have graduated to your 3-6 month winter wardrobe, which includes this stylish Colts outfit. (We're starting you early!)

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...

2009-11-16T13:45:00.003-05:00

Ethan has finally figured out how to roll. He's been rocking up to his side (from his back) for nearly a month now. Yesterday, I put him on his play mat and sat down to look at something on the computer. He was happily chattering away, making all sorts of noises. When I looked back at him a few minutes later, he was on his tummy!

(As a sidenote) Notice the lovely mullet he's got going on in the picture above?

Of course, I should mention that Ethan doesn't like being on his tummy...not one little bit...and he doesn't know how to flip back over.

As a result, MUCH crying and fussing occurs whenever Mr. E rolls...which is anytime I lay him down for even a minute. Including bedtime. Yes, bedtime is no fun right now. He (and I) have a bit of a cold and between that and his sheer determination to roll over, bedtime is quite the challenge. I sure hope he learns to roll off his tummy (or to enjoy being there) ASAP!

What I've Learned

2009-11-12T15:30:00.003-05:00

There's so much more to parenting than I ever knew.

That statement could stand alone and sum up the rest of this post, but of course, I'll continue on.
After all, I'm not known for being brief in my writing. Why start now?

I was 25 years old when I officially became a parent. I certainly didn't rush right into parenthood. Instead, I finished college and was married for a full five years before having Emily. I always believed that a couple needed some time to be just a couple before adding children into the mix. I'm forever thankful for the time that Andrew and I had to just be us, before we became "Mom and Dad". Since getting pregnant was a challenge, I had a year and a half to read and research and learn and prepare myself to be a mom. That certainly seemed like plenty of time to prepare...until I met Emily.

When the nurse put Emily into my arms for the very first time, I instantly and completely fell head over heels in love. My life was and is forever changed. All the fears about whether I would feel like a mom or love my baby were instantly gone. She was perfect and I loved her more than I could express. I knew then and there that I would do anything for her. However, from the very first night I spent with Emily, it was immediately apparent that no amount of research and reading could have truly prepared me for being a parent. It's not something for which I could train. It's just not that simple.

Being a parent wasn't like any other kind of learning I'd ever done. I was a music education major in college. If I practiced long enough; if I studied hard enough and read enough books, I could eventually master whatever I wanted to. Parenting Emily was completely and utterly different.

I'm a reader and researcher. Whenever I don't have an answer for something, I'll read and research until I figure it out. Unfortunately, I learned very early on that no one ever wrote a book about Emily. In fact, it seemed that she defied anything I'd read about babies. She didn't sleep well or very much. Everyone I talked to and every book I read said that babies slept 16-18 hours a day as newborns. Not Emily. I actually added all her sleep up and she only slept 10 hours a day most days. Every book said that babies shouldn't be awake for more than 2-3 hours at a time or they will get over-tired and have a harder time sleeping, but none of the books could make my over-tired, extremely colicky baby sleep. Even if I knew what the problem was (like when she was over-tired), none of the suggestions from the "sleep gurus" ever worked. She simply was going to do it her own way...even if it made her (and me) miserable.

And that has been a theme for Miss Em from day one. She will do it her own way. She tended to be slow to hit major milestones, but once she did, it was mastered very quickly. She was VERY slow to talk, and still struggles with speech, but now she won't be quiet even when we beg. She still doesn't sleep well and fights us tooth and nail about bed time many, many nights. She's stubborn and strong-willed and determined to blaze her own path. She's fascinating and frightening all at the same time.

I could not imagine the love I would have for this child, nor the hopes and fears and worries. Another parent recently summed up how I feel so well. She said that her strong-willed child made her laugh as much as he made her cry. That's Emily to a "T". She amazes me, both at her loving, thoughtful ways and her extraordinary determination to fight me on EVERYTHING. She has recently made me laugh and cry and call my own mother and apologize for my childhood and thank her for putting up with me. She is an absolutely beautiful and unique child and I wouldn't change her for the world (most days!). She is teaching me what no amount of book knowledge could...that parenting is the most difficult and rewarding job there is and that in the end, if I am able to teach her half as much as she is teaching me, I will have done my job well.

Oh, and if we both survive her teenage years, it will be a miracle!

And You Want to Run My Healthcare?

2009-11-05T12:58:00.002-05:00

I bit the bullet and got my H1N1 shot today. Eventually. After jumping through hoops.

Allow me to back up a bit. Our family falls into the first priority/high risk group this year because of Ethan and Emily. Both are considered high risk for H1N1, and although I'm not usually all that concerned about the flu, since this one seems to hit young children particularly hard, I decided to get us vaccinated. Emily and I have had the seasonal flu shot/mist already. When I took Em to the pediatrician last week because she was still coughing (a month and a half already!), I asked if they had the vaccine and since they did, I shelled out the money and she got the first dose of the H1N1 flu mist. When I asked whether to go ahead and make the appointment for her second dose, the Dr. said that most kids would be "lucky" to get even one dose and that we'd just have to check back because they didn't know if they would get any more or when.

So while she's only had one dose so far and may not get another (that she needs for full immunity), seeking out and receiving the vaccine for Emily wasn't too hard. (This all went through our private insurance at the regular doctor.

Contrast this with my experience today. I dropped Emily off at preschool and then went to the county health department to get my shot. They are the only place in the immediate area that has the vaccine, as far as I know. The health department building is downtown, so I parallel parked in a one hour parking space not too far away, strapped on Ethan and walked through the metal detectors to find a line of at least 100+ people waiting in the lobby. There were no signs, no directions, no nothing...just lots of people. I asked the security guard where we signed in. She said just go to the end of the line (which was completely not apparent as people were sitting in all available chairs and then just standing around loosely. I finally found the end of the line and got in it around 9:30. After about 15 minutes, a security guard came by and took about 20 people from the chairs up to the clinic area and we were able to sit.

Fast forward one hour and fifteen minutes later: I am among the privileged who are called (remember the one hour parking...ha!). We take the elevator up to the ninth floor and...wait some more. We stand in a line, where apparently you lost whatever place you had been in, as people who KNEW they were behind me in line downstairs and who were not carrying a SCREAMING infant, got in line ahead of me and several others. Whatever...I filled out my paperwork and waited for my name to be called, while hearing the nurse question and sort of berate anyone there who didn't obviously appear to be in the "high risk" category.

Finally, after 15 more minutes of chaos, where your place in line once again seemed completely unimportant, I got my shot. It was painless and I got a Snoopy bandaid. Ethan finally fell asleep about 5 minutes before my shot. I asked where I paid and was told that there was no charge.

If I had my choice, I'd gladly have paid at my doctor's office and not had to wait for the government program to give it to me for free.

And as I sat there, waiting in the chaos and free-for-all, it occured to me that this is what socialized, government-run medicine will be like.

No thank you! I'll pass.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T20:25:00.002-04:00

This year, we celebrated Halloween with the Pumpkin and the Princess.

Below is the Pumpkin at home before trick or treating.

The pumpkin on the move.

The princess and her daddy, trick or treating at the mall. Since we don't live close to any family, we take the kids to the local mall where the stores hand out candy. It was packed this year!

Princess Emily, resplendent in her (itchy) gold dress and sparkly gold shoes, with Disney princess candy pail. She had planned on being Jasmine for weeks, but literally 5 minutes before we left the house for her school party, she decided the costume was too itchy. The only other thing we had was this dress-up princess dress, so thankfully she agreed to that. Of course, tonight all I heard was, "This dress is too itchy!"

The little Ethan pumpkin spent the whole time asleep in his stroller. What a life!

Emily's Pre-K Halloween Party

2009-10-31T20:09:00.002-04:00

Emily's Pre-K class had their Halloween party on Thursday. All the kids wore their costumes and they were a bit...wild.

This was Emily sitting for show and tell.

Snack time...and a quick smile for the camera.

Having cookies and pumpkin-shaped jello with her classmates.

Mr. Ethan, along for the ride (again), dressed in his giraffe costume and quite pleased about it!

A Day at the Children's Museum

2009-10-26T16:59:00.002-04:00

We've been out of town for a few days. Not far...just a trip to Indianapolis, but still, an ambitious feat with a five year old and a 3 month old. What we didn't realize is that Indy was also hosting about 55,000 Future Farmers of America at the same time. That was an...adventure.

On Saturday, we drove to the Children's Museum, which was Emily's belated birthday gift from us. She thoroughly enjoyed herself over a 4-5 hour period of time, playing and looking around.

Meanwhile, Ethan either rode in his wearable carrier (dad got the honors for the first time) or in his stroller. The picture below is of him playing with mom while waiting on Emily. Life is pretty good for the E-man.

This is what Emily was up to.

More waiting around for big sister.

Tired of waiting on Emily...better get used to it, little guy! (Note the old man pants hiked up over his knees. He insists on pulling them up, now that he can grab them.)

Emily, posing next to an underwater exhibit. What a ham!

Field Trip #3: Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-26T16:40:00.003-04:00

This is Emily's class (minus one or two). There are 4 girls in a sea of boys.

Emily, driving the train on the playground.

Swinging with a friend.

Getting ready to go on a hayride.

The prized pumpkin...hand-picked by mom, after Emily searched for just the right one.

And of course, little brother, along for the ride in his baby carrier. After walking around for an hour and a half and licking the inside of the carrier for a while, he finally drifted off to sleep.

Ethan is Three Months Old!

2009-10-17T20:19:00.002-04:00

Ethan:

Today you are 3 months old. Technically, you are no longer a newborn anymore. Today, you officially became an infant. (Who knew?)

The pictures this month aren't great; they're a little fuzzy, but then again, that's because you can't sit still. You love to kick and move and try to sit up. I have a feeling you will keep us on our toes.

You usually only wake up once a night to eat. I put you to bed around 10:30 and you wake up one time between then and around 7:30 am. A few times, you've even slept all the way through, which is a miracle in momma's mind, considering that your big sister still sometimes struggles with this concept. You don't nap much during the day though, but that's okay. I'd rather sleep at night too!

You enjoy sitting up in the corner of the couch. It almost always gets a smile. Although you still need to be propped up, you pull yourself forward and try to sit up more on your own. In the last week or so, you have discovered your feet and you think they're pretty interesting. You also adore your big sister. You find her fascinating...as we all do.

This month, you've really discovered your hands and you're pretty good with using them. You want very little to do with a pacifier, but you love to chew/suck on your hands and fingers. You love clasping your hands together or just waving them around and staring at them.

Speaking of using your hands, you've learned to hold on to small toys and wave them around. This week, you are particularly enamored with a little toy lion from your activity mat (which you still dearly love). It's funny to watch you focus on one toy for a few days and then watch as a new toy catches your undivided attention. You not only can hold a toy if we put it in your hand, but you can grab it yourself sometimes. Mommy's pretty impressed that you're already able to do that. You love to coo and "talk", you love it when we sing to you, you adore being naked (with a diaper of course...mommy doesn't need a shower) and you love your activity mat. The dog and cats have captured your attention, but the jury's still out on them.

On the other hand, you still hate tummy time, you still struggle with the pacifier and you will not take any brand of bottle that we've tried. You're also starting to get very upset at sudden loud noises. (You'd better get used to those soon, buddy, because big sister is one tall mess of loudness!)

All in all, you're a pretty laid-back, easy-going fellow and we can't wait to see more and more of your personality shine through.

We love you, little guy!

A Life Too Short

2009-10-15T16:26:00.002-04:00

A little over five years ago, I blogged about a little boy from our church named Kayden. He was born on September 12, 2004, just 3 days before Emily. He left the hospital on Sept. 14th and was back on the 15th, a very critically ill little baby. His grandma, who plays the piano with me at church, came to visit me while I was in the hospital with brand-new baby Emily. She freely cried as she told me about little Kayden, who at three days old was so ill.

Kayden has been in and out of hospitals, had more tests and procedures than most people will ever have in an entire lifetime and could not talk, walk or even hold his own head up. He has required 24 hour care for his entire life. Last month, we went to a big 5th birthday party for him at church, and it was bittersweet, knowing that the whole reason for the huge celebration was because he might not have another.

Today Kayden is with Jesus, running and laughing and playing and doing all the things he could never do here on earth. Today his family is heartbroken and yet they know that he is now whole. Today, I will hug my children a little bit longer and thank God for their lives and remember this family whose arms are suddenly empty.

If you will, please say a prayer for Kayden's family. They will see him again some day, but until then, their hearts are grieving.

Fear Itself

2009-10-15T15:25:00.002-04:00

There's an awful lot of reporting about the H1N1 flu and vaccine, and just as much debate. Everyone has an opinion, and their reason for it; even people I hold in high regard are weighing in on the vaccine debate and to be honest, I'm just plain torn.

I normally think that people like Rush Limbaugh are pretty level-headed when talking about media-wrought panics and I typically agree with their assessments, but this time, I just don't know what to think.

For example, I've heard many generally intelligent people say that they absolutely will not get the H1N1 vaccine...no way, no how, it's too new, it's untested, it may cause more harm than good. I probably would not be inclined to get the vaccine either, especially since I'm not (by myself) in a high-risk group.

However, I don't live in a bubble. Because I have an infant, I am in a very high-risk group and it is strongly recommended that I vaccinate myself and my family...everyone but Ethan because he is too young. We know for sure that Emily has already been exposed to H1N1 at her preschool and today marks seven days since the confirmed cases started exhibiting symptoms. Emily has been hacking up a lung since Sunday and has had a low-grade fever (99-100.2) every day as well. She "seems" okay otherwise, but I find myself checking her fever several times a day because I know that our area has been having a bit of an outbreak of flu cases, and this includes one very fast death of an other-wise healthy 11 year old girl. I don't panic easily, but quite frankly, that scares me.

I don't want to give in to the panic, but I don't know what to think about this vaccine and all the media hoopla isn't really helping. As a parent, I can't imagine making the choice NOT to
vaccinate and then having one of my kids get sick and heaven-forbid something worse, but on the other hand, I generally try to err on the side of caution with new vaccines/medicines. It feels like a darned if you do/darned if you don't kind of choice.

Add to this that even if I wanted the H1N1 vaccine, it's not available, and when it is, Emily will require two shots, spaced some amount of time apart, and then full immunity is not achieved for about another 3 weeks. What happens if she contracts H1N1 somewhere between those doses? I have so many questions, but so few answers and I don't like living in a constant state of worry.

Can we just skip straight to spring/summer and bypass this flu season altogether?

Emily and Ethan Make a Video

2009-10-12T17:30:00.003-04:00

This is the first video of Emily and Ethan "talking" to us...and the Grandpeople.

Enjoy!

Two of a Kind

2009-10-12T16:32:00.002-04:00

I'm thinking that Ethan looks a lot like his big sister.

Ethan at 12 weeks (above)

Emily at probably closer to 4 months (below). Sorry about the size. I had to scan Em's picture in and I've never done that before with this printer. I guess I'll have to actually read the instructions to get it the right size!

The Munchkin

2009-10-11T15:07:00.002-04:00

Mr. Ethan is a little over 12 weeks old now. He's pretty happy except when he's not. I think he may have a bit of a short fuse.

He likes to be naked. He likes it a lot.

He also likes to lay on his back and kick his feet and wave his arms. He gets a little wild.

Here's the view from tummy time. I had to take this picture quick. This doesn't look quite right....

Oh yes, this more like it. Mr. E hates tummy time. This picture barely scratches the surface.

Ah...no more tummy time. Much better, but still resenting Mom a little.

The Tall Drink of Water

2009-10-11T14:51:00.002-04:00

We had Emily's 5 year pictures taken on Friday. It was rainy and cold and gloomy outside, but Miss Em made it bright and sunshiney on the inside. (Pictures were taken at Portrait Innovations)

This is one tall 5 year old. At her five year check up, she was 45 lbs. and 46.5 inches tall. She's still above the 97th percentile in height. She's almost 4 feet tall. I have a feeling I will be looking up to her by the time she's a teenager (Heaven help us all then!).

Changing Seasons

2009-10-08T16:14:00.002-04:00

Emily had a field trip to the local county park. While she went on a nature hike with her class, Ethan and I went on a little photo adventure of our own. (We weren't invited on the hike...no siblings allowed!)

The blue barn in the background is part of on old dairy farm that is now park property. I really liked the fall colors against the blue barn and their reflection in the water.

Looking across the river, the trees are starting to turn beautiful colors.

I don't know why, I just liked this picture.

More fall colors and reflections

A bit blurred (I was holding Mr. E) but kind of peaceful, don't you think?

Innocence Lost

2009-09-30T16:27:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was the first field trip for Emily's pre-school. They were supposed to go to an apple orchard and pick apples, then have their snack, picnic style, on blankets on the grass.

Yesterday's weather...absolutely lousy. It was windy, barely 50 degrees and drizzling very steadily. I had Ethan with me and really, really didn't want to have to take him out in that kind of weather, but didn't really have much choice until Emily's teacher stepped up and offered to take Emily with her so that Ethan didn't have to get wet and cold. Bless her heart. She has a young grandson and said that she wouldn't take him out in that, so she understood. Thankfully, Emily really likes her new teacher, so she went willingly.

Since the weather was so bad, the apple picking didn't last long at all. What took well over an hour last year took barely 20 minutes this year, with no picnic snack. All in all, they should have rescheduled. When Em got back to the van, her jeans were absolutely soaked up to the knee, as were her socks and tennis shoes. I stripped her down to her sweatshirt and underwear, covered her in one of Ethan's blankets and we headed home.

Since the filed trip was so lousy (and she had so been looking forward to it), I offered to take her home to get dry clothes and then to let her go play at the mall. She thought that sounded good and so off we went.

Things went fine until we headed back home. As we were standing at the van in the Sear's parking lot, trying to load the stroller/car seat and Emily in the van, I heard someone yelling and then saw a large black woman running (and I use the term very loosely) in an erratic fashion not too far from where we were. She was being pursued by a mall security guard. It would have been funny if it had just been me there, because it was like watching everything in slow motion, the woman was running so slowly. She was zig-zagging all around, trying to get away, but anyone could see that there was no way she was going to out-run the security guard. There was also a plainclothes female officer trying to catch her. I assume that the woman was trying to shoplift, but I guess I'm not 100% sure.

Anyhow, the yelling, aside from the guards telling her to stop, was the woman yelling to whomever was supposed to be manning the "getaway" vehicle. She kept yelling to "Jamal" or something like that, who apparently was supposed to be picking her up, but by this time, the guards had caught up to the woman and a patrolling security vehicle had cornered the getaway car.

Meanwhile, I'm desperately trying to get Emily buckled in her carseat and trying to get the heck out of there because it's all happening way to close for comfort (especially since you just never know what a desperate criminal will try in order to get away). In retrospect, I should have broken my "always buckle up" rule and just driven somewhere else in the parking lot, but it all happened so fast.

As we finally start driving away, about three spaces down from our car, Emily is able to look out her window and see the woman, lying face down on the ground, being handcuffed. The woman's pants were, quite literally hanging down below her naked rear end (I think they were falling off as she was running) and so this is the image left in my poor barely 5 year old's mind.

I spent the entire ride home (about 15 minutes) trying to explain what was happening because Emily was full of questions, and as usual, the simplest explanations weren't cutting it. She was curious and is inquisitive, but is also sometimes too sensitive and smart for her own good. It can make for a bad combination...and at bedtime, it proved to be just that. She spent the better part of an hour last night, crying and being upset because she was afraid to go back to the mall and afraid of what she had seen.

So thanks a lot, stupid selfish shoplifting criminal. Thanks for causing prices to go up for all of us. Thanks for making the world a lot less safe, but most of all, thanks for scaring my sweet, sensitive little girl and taking away a bit more of her childish innocence. I hope you spend a nice long time in a miserable jail cell. You deserve it.

A Day in the Life....

2009-09-23T16:15:00.005-04:00

It's 4:15 pm. So far I've:

~taken a shower
~fed Ethan and made breakfast for Emily
~tried to dry my hair while Ethan screamed, only to have my hairdryer quit half-way through
~attempted to finish drying my hair in front of the fan, while Ethan continues screaming
~finished getting myself ready (this includes actually remembering to put on all my make-up this time)
~gotten Emily dressed
~gotten Ethan changed and dressed
~gotten both kids into their respective car seats and in the van
~taken Emily to pre-K
~chatted with my mother-in-law, who has been dealing with health issues
~gone to Meijer to replace my hairdryer and make a few pictures
~screwed up several pictures due to a too-complex computer program, but since Ethan was screaming (again) and I was running out of time, will have to fix later
~checked myself out at Meijer because I didn't have time to walk to the other end of the store where two of the 24 lanes were open
~picked up Emily from pre-K (which of course involves carrying Ethan in his car seat down a long sidewalk and waiting for her class to be the last one to let out, then walking back up the very long sidewalk to the van
~ran through the Wendy's drive-through for lunch for Emily and me

It's now 12:00pm, by the way.

~got home, unloaded both kids from the van
~ate lunch while feeding Ethan
~changed shirt after Ethan spit up his lunch on me
~turned on the computer and checked a few websites while Ethan played for about ten minutes on his play mat
~picked up Ethan from playmat when he started crying
~changed his poopy diaper
~sat down on the couch
~changed shirt #2 after Ethan spit up on me...left on shorts because they weren't too wet..yet
~tried to feed Ethan again because he was still fussy
~changed into shirt #3 and a new pair of pants because Ethan PROJECTILE vomited several meal's worth onto me (shirt #3 may or may not have a little (dried) pee on it from last night when he showered me during a diaper change, but I didn't have another available clean shirt )
~packed both kids up in the van to quickly go grocery shopping
~said "Come on Emily" at least 30 times while in Walmart
~got back home, unloaded kids and groceries from van, put cold stuff in fridge, left the rest for later
~fed Ethan
~played with Ethan
~got Ethan to sleep and put him in the swing
~read a book to Emily and helped her dress her dolls
~folded Ethan's clean laundry and put it away upstairs; collected adult dirty laundry
~went downstairs and into basement to start new laundry (thank you to Maytag and their Bravos high capacity washer!!)
~went back upstairs to put away clean kids' laundry that I took out of the dryer
~sat down to write this post

How can it only be 4:15?

Doctor Time

2009-09-21T14:55:00.003-04:00

Well, with Ethan reaching the two-month milestone, came the two-month doctor's visit and the rotten shots.

The good news...he's healthy, developing perfectly (much faster than big sister, which I find interesting) and growing beautifully.

Ethan is now 11 lbs. 9 oz. (50th%) and is 23 1/4 " (50th%) He has gained 3 lbs and 11 oz. since birth and 3 1/4 in. It's interesting to compare his growth to Emily's because if I recall, at her two month appt. she was at least 12 lbs. and off the charts in terms of height.

We discussed Mr. E's continuing battle with reflux and are upping the dose of his medicine (we're on a second one of those, from Zantac to Axid) to see if it helps. If his all day fussiness and fussiness while eating doesn't get better, then we'll try a different type of medicine (Prevacid) to see if there is any difference.

The bad news today is that Ethan had some adhesions in a place where a little boy wouldn't want those (oops, momma didn't know to be on the lookout for those) and so the doctor fixed that, but Mr. E did NOT enjoy the process....OUCH! Poor little guy did not know what he was in for this morning. That, of course, made him cry and then 3 shots plus an oral medicine for Rotovirus (this was a new one for me, Em never had it) made Ethan one very mad little guy. I can't say that I blame him though.

All in all, we survived and now we just have to get through Emily's 5 year check-up on Friday. I'm dreading that one much more. After just one day of school, Emily came home with a sore throat, and ended up with a fever from Thursday afternoon through Saturday. When her fever spiked to 102+, we took her to the doctor. It wasn't her regular doctor, as the appt. was after hours, but they tested her for strep and the flu. Both were negative, but oh, the drama of those two tests was something to behold! We stayed home from church yesterday, just to try to get some extra rest and recover, yet when we woke up this morning, Andrew and I both had sore throats and my head feels achy (is that spelled right?). Emily is due to get at least 3 booster shots and either the flu shot or mist, whichever one we can get her to take (and by this I mean, whichever one requires less physically holding her down, which at her size, is a big job for me.)

You might start praying now...because a still sort of sick, highly dramatic 5 year old who is more the size of a 6-7 year old plus a probably fully sick momma with a 2 month old who may or may not be in the mood to cooperate should be fun.