sick

Ethan has a touch of the stomach flu - he's thrown up three times in the last couple hours. He seems fine now, and is back in his clean crib with a 3rd set of clean jammies on. Hopefully he gets some sleep and gets over this bug!!

Macie has been an absolute joy to have! She is so precious and I am just in love with her. She continues to sleep a lot and eat A LOT! She wakes up starving and will take around 4 oz at a time.

Ethan spent the day at daycare today. Daddy drove him the 30 miles there this morning, on snow covered roads . . . but it was really worth it. I got some much needed sleep this morning, and got some things done around the house, and of course, got to spend some alone time with baby. Also, daddy said Ethan was very excited to be at daycare with his buddies. Macie and I are going to go pick him up this afternoon. It's a beautiful sunny day with fresh snow on the ground and will be a good day for a drive.



I think we have a yoga instructor in our family!
On Monday, the same day we got home from the hospital, we celebrated my birthday. Grandma Mary made a delicious cake and supper and Aunt Michelle and Victor came over to help us celebrate.

Here are some more pictures of Macie. She is such a great baby! She's so content and just sleeps most of the time except when she is hungry. We are loving her so much!

Macie is Home!

Big Brother!

Well, Ethan is finally officially a big brother! He has been spending lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa lately while mom and dad are getting acquainted with little Macie Kate. Ethan has met her a couple times and always gives her big smiles and some happy babbling. Then, he likes to point out all of her facial features and clothing items. Tomorrow his baby sister will be coming home so it will be the true test of how he handles being a big brother. Since I'm still at the hospital I can't post pics quite yet, but I will asap. We are so delighted with our little family of 4!

On the way to the hospital . . . I had to wait until 2:00 to go and the anticipation has been torturous, but I passed the time getting a relaxing mani-pedi and going out for lunch with hubby. It actually ended up being a nice day. Now I'm off to experience the worst pain of my life . . . with the most joyous reward of my life!!

Whirlwind

Ethan is celebrating his last day of being an only child by being a total stinker. Luckily, (sort of) it's a stinker in a cute way (with a big smile on his face through every naughty thing he does) instead of in a whiny or crabby way. Here are some antics from this morning . . .

Mom was sitting on the chair in the in the baby's room talking to a friend on the phone and Ethan was elsewhere upstairs playing. Usually he can be trusted out of sight for awhile and he just plays with his own toys. Well, when I came to find him, he had pulled all of my jewelry box drawers out and had found my very fun and interesting bracelet that Grandma Mary had given me for Christmas. Before I could say NO he stretched it and it broke, which made beads go flying everywhere. He laughed with delight and began collecting them to put in his MOUTH! AHHHH! So I had to chase him around (keep in mind - he's quick - and I'm having a baby - tomorrow - mama's not so quick!) and take the beads out of his hands and mouth. He thought this was a great game while I was terrified that he was going to choke!

In other news, he is climbing up on everything which a lot of times results in falling and crying. Today it was climbing on his book basket to get a nuk from the top of his dresser which ended in falling and crying. Yesterday he fell out (jumped out??) of his crib for the first time. Today he figured out how to take his dresser drawer OUT of his DRESSER! Not sure if he was trying to use it for a step stool or what . . .

Of course, the thought that keeps going through my mind is, "What am I going to do when I have 2?????????" Wish me luck :)

Terrible? or just cute?

Ethan has been doing some typical two year old things lately . . . Here are a few examples . . .

1.) Bath time after lunch has become quite common. For example, when Ethan and daddy spent the day together a few days ago, daddy informed me that he needed a bath after lunch because, "he dumped his entire fruit cup on his head." That is some sticky stuff.

2.) I also needed to give him a bath yesterday after lunch because he loaded up his spoon with applesauce and then, again, flung it into his hair. What is it with him putting stuff in his hair???

3.) I got home from an apt. yesterday and Ethan's socks were off. When I asked daddy where they were he replied that he had to put them in the laundry because, "Ethan took them off and put them in his ravioli." What a stinker!

4.) Ethan LOVES taking his pants off. We do try to prevent this and give him a time out when he does it because it's just not something we want to have to deal with. So, he will look at us with a huge grin and start pulling them down. When we tell him NO he goes and hides to finish up.

Last night I walked into his room to check on him before I went to bed and I found his PJ pants flung across the room (big surprise) . . . but he is just so dang cute - so I had to take this picture.

Big Appointment Day

Ethan and mom had lots of appointments today! Here was our schedule:

8:00 - Ethan had another language eval. and qualified for birth-three speech. The speech therapist was not too concerned about him, and thinks he will easily make great strides, but since Trav and I were so persistent about getting him in, she is going to meet with him once a week for an hour. I am glad he will be getting this extra help!

9:00 - Mom headed to the dentist to see what was up with her mouth pain. Unfortunately, the dentist couldn't find ANYTHING wrong on the x-rays!! I was really embarrassed because I swear it really, really hurt last night!!! He referred me to an oral surgeon . . .

2:30 - Grandma and Mom took Ethan to see his pediatrician since he has had a pretty bad cough and runny nose, and has tugged at his ear a few times. No ear infection - just a bad cold that we need to wait out . . .

3:00 - Grandma took Ethan home and mom stayed at the clinic for a midwife appointment. GREAT NEWS! I'm getting induced on Friday for sure!!!!!! YIPPEE!!!!! I'm so excited because I love the midwife (Annie) that will be delivering my daughter - she also delivered Ethan and he was the biggest baby she had ever delivered - I should ask her if anyone broke his record over the past 2 years . . . Anyway, this was wonderful, relieving news. I came home and told Trav I'm really going to start "nesting" now. He looked freaked out. (about the "nesting," not the baby coming! - I frighten him when I go on cleaning rampages.)

3:45 - Off to the oral surgeon who also didn't find anything wrong with my mouth. Well, I shouldn't exactly say that - he found 2 possibilities for where the pain was coming from, but neither one was definitive and I was no help in identifying whether it was the top or bottom tooth - to me it just feels like the whole left side of my face hurts. However, it hasn't bothered me all day today - we'll see how tonight goes.

I also squeezed in shopping at Saver's with everything 1/2 off. I got a huge bag of clothes for the kids for $23, so I was pretty excited. This included a cute little white Baby Gap snowsuit that I can bring baby girl home in so she doesn't have to wear big brother's hand-me-down doggie snow suit. I'm sure she's relieved.

I'm sorry, but I have to post about how miserable I am. I have the worst tooth ache I have ever had in my life - and keep in mind I've had to have a tooth extracted before. It came on suddenly on Friday night, I called my Dentist at home, and he prescribed an antibiotic for me and told me to take Tylenol. Since antibiotics generally make me really sick to my stomach I've been holding back a bit and not taking as much as I'm supposed to . . . so tonight the pain hit me like a hammer again . . .to the point that I spent about an hour just sobbing. Then I called my midwife who offered me Vicodin or Tylenol with Codeine. The Tylenol sounded less severe so I opted for that . . . I took a dose of that an hour ago, and I am still waiting for the results . . . wish me luck. I'm going in to see my dentist tomorrow . . .

Update on Ethan: still sick, but in a very pleasant mood thank goodness!!!

Under the Weather

Well, Ethan's been under the weather for quite some time now. First, he was teething, and now he has a bad cold. He coughs all day and his nose is like a little faucet. All he wants to do is sit with mom or dad and watch his Baby Einstein Signing Video (fascinating for mom and dad . . . ) Although I am happy to say that he is picking up lots more signs from it, so I'm glad he enjoys watching something educational. For a little variety we tried to get him to watch Barney Goes to the Zoo (you know it's bad when you're TRYING to get him to watch Barney!) But he indicated that he wanted to watch the "kitty movie" (the one with the signs).

Also, he hasn't been eating at all. We are convinced he's gotten lighter . . .

Special Daddy Day

Ethan and daddy had a fun day together today. Mom and dad both took the morning off for our Dr. Appt. and ultrasound, and then daddy decided to stay home with Ethan in the afternoon. As a special treat, Ethan got to eat at the table like a big boy. I think we're ready to get rid of the high chair again.
Our ultrasound went well! We found out that baby girl is about 9 pounds right now, so they won't let me go past my due date . . . which is good news! It was fun to see her face on the ultrasound - it looks like she has chubby cheeks!

Also, I only have 3 days of school left - I have declared Friday as my official last day - so I am really looking forward to the time off!

Last night we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for some yummy lasagna! It was fun to watch cousins Ethan and Victor play together! In this picture it looks like Victor is showing off his cute dimples, while Ethan is proudly showing us his tongue!

It was a pretty warm day yesterday (around 35 degrees) so we got spring fever and decided to try going for a walk. However, it turned out to be pretty treacherous terrain!
We've been getting all of Ethan's old baby stuff out for the new baby, and Ethan has been very curious about it all. He decided he better do a safety check on the car seat for us!
Ethan is going through a huge daddy phase right now. Probably partly because Mommy isn't much fun being 38 weeks pregnant, huge, and uncomfortable! (I still TRY to be fun! Really, I do!). Anyway, it seems his daddy phase has gone to an extreme! Now he's started drinking coffee and reading Vintage Guitar so he can be just like his daddy!

Well, since I totally have babies on the brain, and I didn't have this blog when Ethan was first born, I thought I'd post a couple of him when he was just out of the womb.

When I look at this picture, a couple thoughts come to mind . . .
1.) Oh my gosh, he is HUGE! How did I push him out????? And I have to do it again????
2.) I can't believe I have a baby like this in my tummy right now. It's really strange
3.) His head is so big and round! Did I really just give birth to him minutes before this pic was taken?
4.) Babies are such a miracle and a blessing!!!!!!!

He still has the exact same mouth when he's sleeping . . . so sweet . . .

Update on Baby

I had a midwife appointment yesterday, and baby is doing great! Just by feeling around my tummy, the midwife thought that the baby is already about 9 pounds, which would explain why I'm so uncomfortable! It made me excited, though, because big babies are so cute :) However, we don't want her to get too big, so I am having an ultrasound next Tuesday - I'll be 38 1/2 weeks - and they may induce me early if she is nearing 10 pounds. Apparently she doesn't want to be outdone by her big brother who weighed in at 10 lbs 6 oz. when he was born.

It was so exciting to hear the strong heartbeat of the baby! Again I will say, I can't wait to meet her. I definitely feel ready for her to come any time! I am thrilled at the prospect of our growing family, and feel that she will add a wonderful new dimension to our lives.