The day has improved

Baby Cole and his mom Jane (my good friend) came to visit us today! He is about 3 weeks older than Macie. They look so cute together!
We all had lots of fun hanging out together! We went for a walk and watched Ethan play at the park. Mom was thrilled to have some company!

After work, daddy came home with a surprise for mom! Upon reading the blog at work, he decided that mom was deserving of a bouquet of yellow tulips and some Dove chocolates. What a sweet husband!

naughty

UGH. So every morning Ethan begs to GO somewhere. When I say beg I mean he is really persistent. So much so that it's easier to just pack up the kids and go somewhere than to listen to him beg. So this morning is cold and rainy and again, he was begging to GO. So I decided we could go play at the mall play area. It's kind of a big production to get a toddler and infant packed up into the car, unpacked and into the double stroller and into the mall, and unpacked again in the play area. As soon as Ethan was free from his stroller he spotted a small toy motorcycle that some little boy had in his stroller. So he went over by it and just begged for it like a crazy person. I even asked the mom to hide it and she was very nice about it, and did hide it, but he was just too persistent in wanting that dang motorcycle. Then he started screaming and throwing a temper tantrum.

That's when I had to put Macie down and load him back up into the stroller to leave. As he was screaming, a very annoying mother said loudly to her kids, "What do you think of that???? Should I scream too????" OMG, I was sooooo annoyed withl her for making my kid's misbehavior a teaching moment for her kids so publicly. Then, after I had his shoes back on, jacket on, Macie buckled in and was heading out (Ethan still screaming of course) the same mom said to me, "Put a smile on your face, mama! We've all had days like this! Just take him and go skipping out of the mall!!" Are you serious?

So I didn't talk to him all the way out of the mall and once we were outside I explained that we had to leave because he was being naughty and screaming, and that it was very sad. Then I didn't talk to him all the way home, and put him immediately into his bed for a nap. He's zonked now. Apparently he was too tired for an outing to the mall today.

I think mom is too tired to be a mom today.

Counting to 10!

I'm not sure how much I've shared on the blog about Ethan's speech. He is now seeing a speech teacher who comes to our house once a week. We really like her and think she's doing a great job with Ethan. She has diagnosed him with a "mild" form of Apraxia. I have posted a link to a website explaining what Apraxia is, if you're interested. Basically, it is a speech disorder in which the mouth cannot sequence sounds correctly. It is a motor problem with his mouth - so his brain knows what he wants to say, but his mouth can't say it correctly. We were so glad to have an answer to why his speech seemed to be delayed. Apraxia is different from a speech delay because kids with this disorder show a gap in scores testing their cognition and receptive language, compared with their expressive language scores.

Anyway, here is a video of Ethan's new skill - counting to 10! I fill in the "7" for him since he can't say that one. Also, his speech sounds different here because he has a grape in his mouth :).

Well, we went from sweater weather yesterday . . .
to summer weather today! It's fun dressing Macie in all of her cute clothes! The sweater above was made by Kyra's mom (love it!) and the outfit below was a hand-me-down from a friend . . .

Macie had her two month check up today and the Dr. said she is doing well. She is 13 1/2 pounds so she's growing fast! (97th percentile) She got her shots which was heart breaking- I never heard her cry so hard! But as soon as I held and fed her, she was back to her happy self.Ethan got lots of sun playing outside today - it was over 80. He and Macie got a very special surprise in the mail - some new books from Lily and Finn (thank you!!!) Ethan LOVES the Yummy, Yucky book. He finds it completely HILARIOUS! We just got it delivered this afternoon and I already almost have it memorized!
He was cracking up in the bath tub as we named all the things we could think of that are Yummy and Yucky.

2 Months Old!

Macie Kate is 2 months old today! Over the past 2 months we have obviously fallen in love with her, and each day we get to know her better. She is such a wonderful blessing to our family! Here are some words that describe her personality . . .
M - Mellow - Macie is such a laid back baby. She is so content and happy!
A - Alert - When she's awake, her eyes are wide open, taking everything in!
C - Cuddly - She loves to cuddle - she will snuggle right up to your shoulder and fall asleep
I - Ok, I can't really think of anything for "I" - Intelligent? Inquisitive? Interesting? hmm . . .
E - Easy - She is so easy to take care of! (most of the time . . . ) For example, when she wakes up at night needing to eat, she rarely cries, she just makes little noises to let me know she needs me.
And here's big brother, who will be 27 months on Friday! It's interesting how I can already tell that their personalities are different . . . However, I think 1 acrostic poem a day is my limit . . . I'll get back to you with Ethan's . . .

Time with Friends and Family

On Wednesday, Ethan, Macie and Mom met Isaac, Lily and Theresa along with some of their extended family for pizza at Pizza Del Re. Even though we had to navigate around some major construction, it was worth the journey to spend time with our friends!
Later that evening, the family went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to spend some time with Uncle Bob, Aunt Carol, and Cousin Orion who were visiting from the Milwaukee area. Victor and Aunt Michelle were there too, and everyone had fun enjoying the warm weather outside! This was their first time meeting Macie and they loved her, of course.


Today Bob, Carol, Orion, Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Jenny, who is visiting from CO came to our house to visit and we went for a walk to the park - We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family and great friends!

Happy Easter!

We had a very busy and fun Easter! On Saturday we went over to Grandma Mary and Grandpa Mike's house where Uncle Luke, Uncle Bill, and Great Grandparents Betty, Bob, and Glenn came for a huge Easter feast! Aunt Michelle and Cousin Victor were there too!

Grandma made this special Easter cake. Grandpa Mike is encouraging Ethan to try the frosting!
The Easter bunny left baskets for Ethan, Macie and Victor on the bridge! Ethan LOVED his fire truck and truck book.
Sunday morning we went to church and then back to grandma and grandpa's house for a yummy brunch. Macie is modeling her 2nd Easter outfit . . .
Ethan and Victor had an Easter egg hunt. Ethan was not real competitive in his hunting and put some of his eggs in Victor's basket too!
Victor wore his bunny ears for the occasion.

Ethan is very fearless around grandma and grandpa's Llamas! Even when Cruz spit at him, he just ran and laughed!
In the evening we went over to Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Les's house where we saw cousins Andrew and Camryn and Aunt Shelley and Uncle Jason. The kids had a blast together - Ethan loves his big cousins and they really made him laugh!!!
Ethan's favorite words for the weekend - "Uncle!" and "Cake!" What a fun weekend!

Busy, Busy!

Yesterday was Cousin Victor's 2nd birthday! We had a blast! Look at his cool cake!
Macie was so excited to wear a dress for the first time! Here she is smiling at Grandma Mary . . .
Ethan and Macie are going to start saving their money in their new savings accounts! Ethan stayed occupied putting coins in his new piggy bank . . . a fun new project!
We have been busy preparing for Easter! We cut out butterflies for the window from some of Ethan's finger painting masterpieces. Ethan also enjoyed coloring Easter eggs and had fun naming all the colors as we did it. Here he is eyeing up the candy in the bowl.
Today Kyra and baby Evan came over for a visit. We went for a long walk and hung out for awhile. Here is Evan holding Macie's hand - so sweet! I'm sure this picture will make it on their wedding day slideshow in a few years!Here's Ethan showing his favorite sign - "candy!"

Easter Bunny!

Look who we visited today! Ethan loved him!

Happy Kiddos

Little Miss Macie has been enjoying her bouncy seat and batting at the animals in her baby gym. She was up pretty much all day yesterday so I am getting to know her personality a little more. She is so happy, calm, and content. Such a sweetie pie! Oh, and not to mention big! She's already in 6 month sleepers!
Ethan has been enjoying piling up all the pillows and blankets on the couch and jumping on them!

A little joke Ethan likes to play on us is pointing at random people out in public and exclaiming, "mama" or "dada" depending on their gender. He loves it when we dramatically say, "THAT'S not mama, I'M your mama! (or dada)" He laughs and laughs - however I have a feeling this little prank may be awkward for the poor stranger acused of being his parent!

6 weeks old!

Macie turned 6 weeks old yesterday! She is such a wonderful, happy baby! Unfortunately, she's been having some issues with cradle cap for the past couple weeks and in the past few days it has invaded her eyebrows! Therefore, it's been difficult to take a flattering picture . . . but I thought these turned out pretty cute . . . I'm sure it's no fun to have dandruff in your eyebrows, and red spots all over your face, but she seems to be taking it in stride . . .


We've had a busy couple days . . .
Friday: Macie and mom had some girl time shopping - she didn't sleep all day - apparently she LOVES shopping with mommy - she was just wide awake and alert during our trip -very fun!

Saturday: Macie went with mom to get an eyebrow wax and hair cut . . . this time she slept the entire time. . . We also went to visit Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Les.

Sunday: The whole family went to church for palm Sunday, then to McDonald's. In the afternoon Macie and I went to the Master Singers' concert which I thoroughly enjoyed, and Macie slept through. It was a very serious concert with a very quiet audience so I was very terrified that she was going to start screaming which would NOT have been good - but she slept the whole time! Then, Ethan and mom went to the park - it is dang cold out there!

Today mom, Macie, and Ethan all took a trip to visit our friends Isaac and Lily - and their mommy Theresa! The kids had a blast playing together, and they also ate lunch (Ethan's favorites - chicken nuggets, pineapple, and peas!) . . . .
and watched a fun movie about a frog, and made a special Easter art project! What a busy day! We can't wait to do it again!
Yesterday mom's childhood and high school friend, Jamie, came over to meet Macie and to get mom out of the house for lunch and a little shopping while Grandma Mary baby sat. Very fun!
I have been trying to post pictures of Macie with all over her visitors and I realized that I forgot to post these of my good friend and co-worker, Rita and her daughter, Maria from when they came to visit!! It was so nice to see them (way back at the beginning of March!) and to have them meet Macie!