New Truck!

Daddy took Ethan to Shopko today and got him this new truck, which he is giddy about. It has a picture of Dale Earnhardt Jr. on it, but we told him it's daddy, so when asked who is on the truck he replies, "daddy!" He also adds that daddy is wearing sunglasses and a coat in the picture.

Here is Ethan trying to convince mama to take him to Shopko to get another truck. At the end he says, "all done" because he has been trying to convince us that he is all done with his supper so he can go play with his new truck.

Ethan is 2 1/2!

What has Ethan been up to these days?? LOTS of good stuff! His language has improved so much, and his speech teacher thinks he's pretty much caught up to his same-age peers! Whew! Such a relief! So . . . .now that Ethan can talk, what do we hear him say?

"Come on, Mama!" - This is used to hustle me up when I am being too slow - for example, I was being too slow putting in the "Barney Visits the Fire Station" movie today and Ethan, exasperated, uttered this phrase.

"Triangle - 3 sides, Square - 4 sides, Octagon - 8 sides!" - He is really into shapes right now, thanks to Blues Clues.

"Five-eighteen" - Ethan is well on his way to being able to count to 30. However, numbers 13-17 are a bit fuzzy. For example, instead of saying "Fifteen" he says, "Five-eighteen." Close enough. Also, he loves to count everything he sees!

"Nice and Cute" - pronounced, "Nice and Dute." Pretending to be a kitty has been fun for Ethan lately for some odd reason. When he decides to be a kitty, he tilts his head to the side and announces that he is nice and cute in a high voice. Very funny. So then we go on playing that he is a kitty. He's always white, when asked his color - his name varies from "Ethan" to "Esther" (his baby-sitter). Mommy always has to be the doggie. I really would like a turn being kitty sometime.

So, that's a glimpse into our daily life with Ethan. He LOVES trucks, cars, swimming in the pool, playing in the sandbox, and watching movies. His current favorite book is "Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom." Although he can be a handful sometimes (like most 2 1/2 year olds!) he is so lovable and fun!

Congratulations to Theresa, who was the winner (and sadly, only participant :) of the quiz! She got 100 % woo hoo! Her prize is . . . . (drum roll . . . ) an entire weekend with my kids! Theresa, please call to arrange pick up time :)

5 months old! - answers revealed!

Here is Macie enjoying her SWEET POTATOES and showing off her TWO TEETH!



1.) Macie has how many teeth?
A.) 2 - Macie has 2 bottom teeth! (which explains all the drooling!)
B.) 3
C.) none
D.) 1

2.) What is mommy and daddy's nickname for Macie?
A.) Honey Doo
B.) Sweetie Pie
C.) Sweetie Bug - Our nickname for our precious girl is, indeed, Sweetie Bug. Daddy came up with it. Don't feel sorry for her - when I was a baby, my dad called me "The Googer."
D.) Sweetie Cake

3.) What did Ethan call Macie for the first 3 months of her life?
A.) "Baby!"
B.) "Us!" - Since Ethan was unable to pronounce "Macie," he called her "us" (a shortened version of Macie) Now that his speech is coming along wonderfully, he is able to call her by her real name . . . a milestone for him, although I kind of miss hearing, "us!"
C.) "We!"
D.) "Macie!"

4.) What is Ethan's special nickname for his little sis now?
A.) Macie Bug
B.) Macie Cake - Daddy and I like to use Macie's middle name sometime - Kate - and when Ethan heard us calling his little sister that, he thought we were saying, "Cake" which of course excited him to no end, and the name just stuck.
C.) Macie Sis
D.) Macie Baby

5.) What food does Macie LOVE to gobble down at meal times?
A.) peas
B.) pears
C.) sweet potatoes - This is definitely Macie's favorite food.
D.) peaches

Some additional fun facts about Macie at 5 months:

• She almost always sleeps in her swing. The swing doesn't currently have batteries, but she loves the coziness of it, so we put her in, buckled safe and sound, at night to sleep. Whenever we try the crib, she wakes up more . . . so, whatever works I guess!
• She is such a people person! Macie LOVEs attention and smiles at everyone. She laughs really easily too. Such a fun baby!
• Macie is very diligant about getting everything into her mouth. She is very frantic about it.
  

Bumbo and a Bow
Well, the big news with Macie is that she has been wearing a bow on her tuft of hair - pretty cute - and she loves sitting in this bumbo seat we are borrowing from a friend (thanks, Jane!)

Play Date
Mom, Ethan, and Macie made a trip to Eagan to see Katherine, Grant, and brand new Baby Evelyn ("Evy") who is just a doll! Ethan had a blast playing with all of Grant's toys and Grant shared so well with him. The boys were far too busy to get a picture taken, but I did get this sweet one of Evy sleeping!
Pee-Pee on the Potty!
Potty training has begun, and Ethan is super excited about the whole thing! Yesterday and today he has gone pee-pee on the potty! It is all very new and exciting to him. In fact he LOVES to go, and as soon as he gets up says, "Go pee-pee again!" Hopefully potty training will be complete by the end of the summer - that's mom's goal - not sure what time frame Ethan has in mind, though . . .

Play Date

We had a play date on Friday with lots of kids and mommies! Ethan had so much fun playing in the big pool with Maria, Isaac, and Lily. The two babies (Evan and Cole) went in the "little pool" and Macie opted out of swimming.
It was amazing that all 4 tots sat still and ate lunch (yes, Isaac and Lily did get a plate - this pic was taken while their mommy was preparing it for them :)
Jane (in yellow) hosted the big event. Theresa, Jane, Kyra, and Carrie were also there.

Today during our afternoon snack, Ethan started talking about the play date. He said, "Little Pool! Baby Evan and Baby Cole!" and "Swimsuit ON!" (Does that give you a hint about what I had to tell him while he was swimming? Apparently he thought skinny dipping would be fun).

Weekend Pictures

Happy 4th of July! It's been a crazy week around here - so I'm finally posting pictures from the weekend. Macie wore this cute little outfit to the mall for some shopping with mom and a pedicure. She was a great shopping companion - however, someone thought she was a boy! Even in this dress paired with a cute pare of denim jean shorts . . . hmmm . . ..
On Sunday we took a family trip to Como Park. Ethan was NUTs about it!!!!! Here he is with daddy riding the train.
There were lots of fun rides for him to go on - they were just his size, and right up his ally since they were "car" rides!
After a picnic lunch we went to the zoo to see the animals! What a fun family day!

Good Bye, Grandma Lue

Ethan and Macie's Great Grandma Lue passed away this morning at age 84. She was a wonderful grandmother to me, a wonderful mother to my dad, and a loving great grandmother to my children. She will be greatly missed and fondly remembered.

Sick Kiddo

Yesterday was a challenging one for us. Ethan woke up with his right eye almost swollen shut, and the right side of his face was swollen as well. I realized that it was from a bee sting that he received the night before on his eye lid - it didn't seem to bother him at the time, so I wasn't too concerned, but this situation was definitely concerning - so I called the Dr. and got in right away. As I was getting him ready for the Dr., he got sick in his bed, so my concern was heightened.

After examining Ethan, our Dr. said that he was suffering from 2 separate things - the bee sting on the eye and a strain of hand, foot, mouth disease. This was diagnosed because he had a red, raw throat, had thrown up, and had a bad fever - apparently it's going around.

So we got home (on the way, Ethan threw up again in the car . . .) and E was super lethargic. We watched his "Bun Bun" movie about a million times, and he even fell asleep on the couch with is totally unlike him! He didn't eat all day, and had no energy. Poor kiddo! So I canceled our plans for today (speech therapy and a play date) in anticipation of another rough day.

The good news is that he woke up feeling fine this morning! He's got his appetite and energy back. He still has a bit of a fever but nothing too concerning. Thank goodness. The Dr. had warned us that he would be feverish and grumpy for 5-7 days!!!!! However, I don't think that will be the case . . . hopefully we can still have a fun 4th of July weekend!