Just For Laughs

Ever since we came home from Brian's sister's house, Ethan started this thing where he would pull up his shirt with one hand and poke at his belly button with the other. And he would do this throughout the day...just to make sure it's still there. It's hilarious! I think it all started when the kids got hot from running around so we took their shirts off for them to cool off. Anyway, that's when Ethan saw Emalee's belly button, poked at it and realized she has one, too. So now if I ask him "Where is your belly button?" he would do his whole routine and show me. It's just the cutest thing! Now add that to his vocabulary =0)

Joy to the World

Christmas this year was pretty similar to last year: relaxing and low-key. Since we're in town again, we decided to start a few family traditions of our own. One of them was attending our church Christmas Eve service. The only thing was that it didn't start until 9 pm so we ended up having Ethan open his gifts (I figured he won't know the difference anyway) before heading to bed. An hour later, we woke him up and found a pretty startled and confused kid! He was probably wondering why we were taking him out of his crib and into the cold. I guess I don't blame him. Once the service started, he eventually became mesmerized by all the lights and music and was more alert. We weren't sure how he was going to do through the whole thing but to my amazement, he calmly sat on our laps and even held onto us throughout the night! I couldn't believe it! Brian and I just kept smiling at each other as I whispered to him, "Maybe we should wake him up in the middle of the night more often." =0) Definitely a memorable night for us!




We spent the next day with Brian's family in Lexington and had a great time catching up with each other. The cousins got to play together and I know this time, Ethan was glad he could finally run around with Lucas and Emalee.

Yay, presents time!
"Whew, is it just me or it's hot in here?"
Sidenote: Another Christmas tradition that I would like to maybe start next year is to volunteer somewhere as a family as a way of giving back. I also wanted to teach Ethan that Christmas is also about giving and not all about receiving. Plus, it's something fun we could do together!

Christmas Letter '09

2009 – Goodbye to our DINK (Dual Income with No Kids) lives and hello to a new chapter with a baby.

The year started out with great news as Brian passed his P.E. exam and officially became a licensed Professional Engineer. You should have seen him frantically checking the mailbox every single day. It was pretty funny! Finally Saturday afternoon came and so did the mailman to deliver the prized envelope. Whew, were we relieved to know all that studying paid off! He will now be signing his name: Brian J. Billman, P.E.

A few months later, the Billmans were in desperate need to escape from old man winter. So we said “Carpe Diem,” let’s seize the day. We packed up the car and headed off to St. Louis, Missouri. Out came the t-shirts, shorts and flip flops. Gone were the winter coats. Even Ethan enjoyed the warmth and welcomed the change. We visited the zoo and had a picnic under the famous Arch while soaking up the sun. What a refreshing and much needed get-away weekend!

From May to September, we tackled a few house projects: one of them being the deck. From rebuilding to sanding and staining - evenings and weekends were spent laboring over it. It was quite a task! But with some help from friends and family we finished it just in time as Fall approached.

With five teeth, two hair cuts and many milestones later, Ethan’s celebrated his 1st birthday in November. Zesty & full of life, Ethan has brought a lot of joy and laughter into our lives. He greets the world every morning…at 5 am happy as can be which I’ms till trying to get used to! Along with that, he is also very active boy (x 10) and loves being on the move. Running around after him all day is no easy task! So I do take full advantage of being a stay-at-home mom and “napping when he naps.” What an amazing year it has been with Ethan and I’m glad to say we survived (as parents)!

At the end of the month, both sets of grandparents traveled here for Ethan’s baby dedication. It was extra special as we committed to raising Ethan up in hopes that one day he would accept Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. Since Thanksgiving and my birthday was right around the corner, my parents stayed the week and helped us celebrate. It was fun to watch them interact and reconnect with Ethan again. The extra helping hands and free babysitting were definitely a plus.

Kaika has transformed into a completely different dog: lazy-er and much, much calmer. He loves his new found freedom to roam the house as he pleases instead of being stuck in his crate. He and Ethan have now become buddies and have a love-hate relationship. Instead of running away, Kaika has started to tolerate a squealing and drooling baby climbing all over him. And vice verse, Ethan has also gotten used to Kaika’s relentless kisses. It is pretty comical to watch these two interact as they are very much alike!

We have had a wonderful year, and we hope you have too. May our Lord, Jesus Christ be glorified in this Christmas Season! Wishing you many blessings in 2010!

Winter Blues

I don't know about anybody else but I'm feeling it! Symptoms include: depression, not wanting to get out of the house, and wishing I was living somewhere else warm. I'm trying to snap out of it, but it's just so hard especially when it's gloomy ALL week long (and more snow in the forecast). I need my sunshine! Anyway, one thing that is keeping me on the peppier side is that Brian and I started planning our next year vacation. February and June, we're going somewhere warm and preferably by the ocean! I can't wait!!! In the mean time, I'm looking at this desktop picture from Hawaii to get me through until then.

Blogging "Twittering" Style

Okay, so the trip to Hy-Vee this morning was a little bit more stressful than I would have liked it to be - Ethan screamed his whole way through the store. You think I would be used to it by now.

On Being a Mamma

Ever since Ethan turned 1, it has been a lot more fun interacting with him! It's nice to know that he can somewhat understand what I'm saying to him. He would try to repeat the words, point to things and then clap. It's hilarious! I could also tell that he's a lot happier because of the fact that he could walk and walk and walk by himself around the house. But with this newly found freedom, he also turned our house into a major mess. I decided to finally stop picking up after him because as soon as I do, it's just a mess again. Anyway, I'm enjoying motherhood a lot more and realized that I'm not an infant-stage-lover kind of mom but more of a 1+ kind of mom =0) Now, we just have to get through winter so we can do a lot more toddler activities/programs in the spring and summer.

Discovery of the Week

Lids. Not only has Ethan found the tupperware lid drawer, he also figured out how to open the laptop cover, the trash can lid and the toilet lid. The other day, Brian found him in the bathroom lifting the toilet lid with one hand and splashing the water with the other. Nice. I guess that will be the next thing on the list to baby proof.

Sup Cuz

This past weekend, Brian's cousins all came back to Marshalltown so we made a quick trip to see them for a mini-reunion.

A fun night of cosmic bowling

Just For Laughs

Zzzzzzzzzz - my buddy and me

Ho-Ho-Ho

Is it possible to raise a child in this culture without having Santa become the focus of Christmas? I've been thinking about it a lot lately as I've heard different moms from MOPS shared about their gifts "from Santa" to their kids. I think it's fine if that's the tradition for their family; however, the whole idea feels unsettling to me for some reason. Not that I'm planning on taking Santa out of the picture because I don't think it's possible since he's practically EVERYWHERE! Plus, I'm sure there'll be lots and lots of questions. I'm thinking more like somehow to incorporate Santa and how he's a representation of love and gift giving during this season and link him to Jesus Christ.

Anyway I know Ethan is too young for all that right now, but I'm just wondering how I would explain it to him when the time comes. I guess growing up in Thailand, the whole Santa thing was never an issue because my parents have never made him the focus. So I feel strongly that it's our responsibility to teach Ethan what Christmas is truly about. The world of commercialism sure doesn't make it easy though.

Just For Laughs

Boys doggie pile on Kaika =0)

Let It Snow

Well, the first snow of the season arrived today! I was really dreading it, but it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. But then again, it's not done snowing yet...Anyway Brian decided to come home half day and spend some time with the fam. So I thought it would be fun to suit Ethan up in his snowsuit and let him play in the backyard. Boy, did he love it! He had such a blast plowing through the snow as Kaika galloped back and forth. I guess we have a new snow playmate for Kaika.

O Christmas Tree

So I've gone back and forth several times this past month on whether or not to get a Christmas tree. It pretty much came down to not wanting to mess with Ethan yanking on the tree/ornaments or eating the pine needles. But this week, I worked out a strategy on where to put it and decided that we're going to get one. What is Christmas without a Christmas tree? Plus, it's family tradition! Anyway with a smaller tree in the corner between two couches, Ethan seemed to leave it alone for the most part. So far, so good. I guess we'll see how he does tomorrow when the shinny ornaments are up.

My helper - sleeping on the job
p.s. It's funny to think back two years ago how we were worrying about the same issue...but with Kaika. And now, he could careless.

No Pressure

With all the craziness that comes along with this time of the year, I'm just thankful that our families do not put pressure on us to spend Christmas at one place or another. Since we've been married I've never felt like we have to be here or we have to go there. And there was never really any guilt trip given either. Both of our parents really leave it up to us to decide what we want to do which makes this season a lot more enjoyable. On top of that, we're not big gift people either so the whole pressure to shop for the right/perfect gift is taken off of our shoulders. Anyway, thanks guys!

Discovery of the Week

Ethan has been up and walking now and there's no stopping this lil' guy. The most I've counted was 16 consecutive steps! He would get up, take a few steps, fall down and then repeat. It doesn't seem to even faze him each time as he tries again. I guess that's a good life-lesson-reminder for me to "try, try again." Other than that, Ethan's new favorite word is now "hi." And he says it in this high-pitched strung out kinda way that it just makes me laugh every single time as I say hi back to him. What a goofy goof!

Grandpa and Lola

With my parents being here and helping out for the week, we were all pretty spoiled. Ethan loved having someone else to play with and entertain him. I also enjoyed having some free time to myself and going on date nights with Brian. Even Kaika appreciated the attention he is deprived of. Thanks Mom and Dad for all your help!

My Day!

It's crazy to think that this past Friday was my 29th birthday! This is it, the last year in my 20s...I feel so old. Hopefully it's not all downhill from now. Anyway, the day started out with lunch at Olive Garden. We tried to beat the Black Friday crowd of crazy shoppers by getting there early, but apparently everyone else must have had the same thought. We ended up having to wait for 20 minutes or so which wasn't too bad. After lunch, I was sent to a relaxing/pampering one hour massage session. It was wonderful and much needed!

Later that evening (with my parents watching Ethan), we had a night out on the town and went to Nan's Piano Bar for an evening of dueling pianos. This is something we've been wanting to do for quite some time but just never gotten a chance to until now. It was a lot of fun and felt like our college days again - carefree with no responsibilities, staying up and out late. I can't remember the last time we did this?! Anyway right before going to sleep, I got a surprise note on my nightstand from Brian that led to one more present...hidden under the bed. What a great end to a fabulous day!

Real Thanksgiving

Originally we were going to combine the family and have Thanksgiving altogether, but unfortunately a few things came up last minute that it didn't work out as we had hoped. Anyway, we ended up having a small one here with just the five of us, but a real one as Brian prepped and cooked the turkey while my dad coached him. He figured we'll eventually need to learn how to do this for the future. Plus, we definitely weren't going to have a repeat of last year Hy-Vee's preordered turkey dinners which might as well have been a frozen TV dinners =0P

A scrumptious meal followed by a very long nap!

Ethan's Baby Dedication

Wow, it has been a really busy week as I realized I haven't posted anything for a while! We had Ethan's baby dedication last Sunday and were blessed enough to have both sets of grandparents and Brian's aunt here. (My parents came all the way from Colorado to be a part of this and also spend the week with us). Anyway, I was a little nervous to bring Ethan up on stage because I wasn't sure how or what he was going to do. Lately he has been doing his crazy high pitch dolphin noises which can be quite loud and somewhat embarrassing. But to my relieve everything turned out fine...actually more than fine because our very own comedian got the whole congregation laughing, waving and clapping on cue. It was hilarious but so Ethan, you know =0)


"Huh, I have buttons on my shirt just like Daddy's."

"Hey everyone, look at me!"
Afterwards while we were singing worship songs during the service, I just couldn't help but get teary and really emotional. Scenes from this whole year with Ethan just flashed in my head and I realized how fast it had gone by. I felt this sense of pride in him as he becomes his own lil' person and also for myself as his mamma. To me: a pat on the shoulder and a job well done! ;0)


Enjoying lunch at Tantra with the whole fam

Blogging "Twittering" Style

Who would have known, Ethan has a thing for Frank Sinatra.

Just For Laughs

Sporting the Boxer white "socks" look for the winter

Blogging "Twittering" Style

No wonder dentists have the highest occupation suicide rate. No one likes going to them including me!

Growing Boy

Ethan had a check up appointment today and got some new growth measurements:
Weight: 25 lb. 12 oz. (85th percentile)
Height: 31 in. (85th percentile)
He also had MMR and Polio shots and let's just say the lil' guy was NOT happy! It was so much harder now to distract him so he definitely knew it was coming. He cried and cried and cried. Poor thing! =0(

Ethan's One

One word for the cupcake: Demolished!
Ethan turns the BIG one today and we can hardly believe it! Can I take a moment to pat ourselves on the back and put on a t-shirt that says, "We survived!" I know today is really about Ethan, but at the same time, I couldn't help but feel proud at the fact that we also made it this far as parents. God had truly brought us a long way!

Anyway, we threw his birthday party this past weekend so family could come and help celebrate. It was a lot of fun and everything came together as planned, but boy were we exhausted by the end of the night!



Gourmet cupcakes with sprinkles and stars



Yum!


Riding in style on his new Tonka truck

Sharing toys with his cousins

Quote Worthy

"The wife and mother in a family often “sets the tone” in the home. The “tone” God wants her to set is one of joy, optimism, and a delight in the Lord and in her family. If your family were called upon to describe you, what would they say?” - Martha Peace, The Excellent Wife Book

The guest speaker at MOPS last week talked about how a wife/mother sets the thermostat of the house. Now she didn't mean it literally but using that as an analogy of how we have more influence over the tone of the family than we realized. Wow, this is a really tough one for me because more often than not I'm completely drained and frustrated at the end of the day...and like the world to know it, well at least Brian anyway. So sadly, that's how he gets greeted when he walks in the door. I know it hasn't been very fun for him because really, what husband wants to encounter that after a long day at work? So again, God brought it to my attention that this has to change within me. I don't necessarily have to "fake it" but instead to learn how to "switch on" my joyful self and be excited to see him when he gets home as he is excited to come home. I can mention it to him if it was a rough day, but he doesn't have to see it in my face, body language and attitude. Okay, this is really going to take some conscientious efforts!

Discovery of the Week

Ethan must have been feeling the pressure 'cause we kept getting the question "Is he walking yet?" Normally, I tried not to get caught up with the whole baby milestone comparison thing. I figured he'll get there when he gets there. But this one finally got to me as the MOPS nursery lady shared about another baby (2-1/2 month younger) who already took a few steps. Anyway while we were playing that afternoon, I encouraged Ethan to come to me and he actually took a step! He fell, got up and tried again. Two more steps and down. Then three more steps! I was so excited about it, I had to call Brian. He hasn't done it again since then, but I think only because he probably figured why walk when he can crawl and get around so much faster!

p.s. Poor Kaika, he kept getting this hopeful but confused look every time we say the word "walk" to Ethan.

Mamma Wisdom of the Week

Trying to get dinner on the table every night is still a struggle around here. Problem one: I'm not organized enough to plan out dinner for the week. Problem two: I can't find a place to put Ethan long enough (without him complaining) so I could get dinner together. So last week I bought him one of those snack catcher cups, filled it with cheerios and raisins and set him in the pack 'n play. It kept him preoccupied for quite some time trying to figure out how to get his snacks out. Totally reminded me of Kaika's "Kong" but for babies. It was great!!! And dinner-making mission: Accomplished!

"About Face"

We finally decided to turn Ethan's car seat around (so he's facing forward) and you should have seen him! He just sat there with his mouth open in amazement and kept looking from side to side. I think if he could talk he would have said, "Wait a minute, this whole time?! I've been missing out on all this, this whole time!" Anyway, let's just say that the nap in the car didn't quite happen right away as he took in everything, but he did eventually nod off.

By the way, I love how I can now turn around and interact with him while in the car. Plus it's SO much easier to get him in and out of my two-door vehicle!

Big Boo Boo

So Ethan's head banging routine continues every night as it helps him to get to sleep. And we watch it every night on the baby monitor and try not to be overly concerned...until this weekend when we were in Marshalltown! This is how we found him Sunday morning:

Ouch! (with a smile)
For some reason, he woke up in the middle of the night and just couldn't soothe himself back to sleep. So the head banging began and continued for quite some time with no result. He wasn't getting anywhere with sleeping and neither was I. So I got up and tried to him. I tried everything from a rub down to singing to rocking but nothing worked except Daddy's magic touch as Brian rocked him to sleep. It turned out all the head banging the night before rubbed his forehead raw against the mesh on the pack 'n play! I felt so bad for him, but it was dark and neither one of us could see anything. The strangest thing was that it didn't even seem to bother him one bit as he went about his day laughing and playing. What a tough kid!

Happy Halloween

Mom's group Halloween party
Isn't he just the cutest lil' giraffe ever?
Doing his famous hurdling pose

KJWW's Trick or Treat Office Party
Excited to visit Daddy at his office

Blogging "Twittering" Style

Can you believe it? I took Ethan in for his haircut #2 already!

Mamma Wisdom of the Week

So this is the second week I've been trying to ween Ethan from his formula to whole milk and so far it has been going really well. In fact he's doing better than I had anticipated. The only problem I ran into was trying to figure out how to switch him from the bottle to the sippy cup. Not that he can't or won't drink his milk from the sippy cup. The problem IS the sippy cup! He had always used a removable, soft spout cup and lately half way through drinking, he would bite down on the spout and pull away drenching himself entirely with water. So I decided to try different types of sippy cups - one with a hard spout and one with straw which required sucking and he just doesn't get the concept. So there we were last night, cheering him on and telling him, "You have to suck for the water to come out" while doing the motion for him...as if an almost one year old could understand any of it! (Thinking back now, I felt pretty silly actually) =0)

Then it came to me at lunch today! Why don't I try putting some applesauce on the straw and then give him the cup. And sure enough, he was sucking on the applesauce and at the same time drinking his water. Yay, he figured it out! So smart!

Just For Laughs

Ethan's first word was "dada" which he kinda rattled off so Brian and I have been debating if he really knew what it meant...which I'm going to say he doesn't =0P His second words were "duck" and "quack, quack" which kinda came together. I've been associating those words to his toy duck so I was pretty sure he understood what it meant. But ever since then when we would sit down for a meal everything was guck (can't quite get the "d" sound just yet) so I would say "No, that's food" and name off whatever he's eating. Then when we would read a book together that was guck too. So are his shoes, clothes and toys. Hmm, maybe not. Amazingly, his third word was "Kaika." So when does the word "mamma"come into play here?

Mamma Wisdom of the Week

We figured out this week that playing Baby Einstein lullaby classical music in the background while changing Ethan's clothes or diapers calmes his spirit. Brian tried it the other day and was able to get through diaper changing, two books and even some cuddling time without any struggles. Amazing 'cause that NEVER EVER happenes! Ha, wish we had known this earlier!...(although I could have swore that we tried this before, but it didn't have the same affect as now). Oh yeah and closing the door so I don't have a run away baby helped, too! Anyway, I will definitely have to start trying this for his "down time" throughout the day since he's getting too heavy for me to hold him and help him take a break from his busy running around.

Blogging "Twittering" Style

Couldn't ask for a better Fall day - 70 and sunny with a warm breeze!

Discovery of the Week

Every time we do baths now, Ethan keeps trying to stand or crawl out of his baby bath tub. So half way through bath tonight, I decided to let him give the big tub a shot. What do you know he LOVED it! You should have seen him slipping, sliding and splashing around like crazy! Apparently enjoying the freedom of not being confined. Hopefully this will make bath time a little bit safer...

My very own swimming pool

"Next Best Thing to Bare Feet"

So, I finally got around to getting Ethan his first pair of shoes - Pediped. I guess I'm one of those practical moms who refuses to do the whole "buy cute shoes to match cute outfits," especially when he was just a baby and can't even walk yet. (We'll see if that will ever change if we have a girl). So he pretty much went barefoot in the summer and wears socks now as it got colder. Anyway now that he is actually cruising along the furniture and almost walking, I really wanted to get quality shoes for him. But do you realize how ridiculously expensive those are?! So I resorted to buying from Ebay and got a pretty good deals from there. We were even able to get another pairs in the next size up.

Anyway, so the shoes came yesterday and let me tell you, I had to literally wrestle him to get them on! Yes, the shoes might be a tad bit hard to put on but just like everything else (changing clothes or diapers), Ethan doesn't like being restrained or messed with. On top of that, all he wanted to do was chew on them. Go figure! I think he will need some time getting used to something foreign on his feet. Note to self: plan an extra 20 minutes everyday to get him ready.

Check out my phat, new kicks!

Discovery of the Week

Ethan's top two incisor teeth are poking through causing excessive drooling and some crankiness, but luckily no fever. He is also still sleeping through the night without any problems which is a huge blessing! I must say though that last week he did skip dinner two nights in a row (which has never ever happened before) I'm guessing from the pain. I couldn't help but be a little worried at first, but then I realized that he probably knew best...plus it isn't like he's a starving child or anything. Then this week, he seemed to be pulling on his ear quite a bit which made us wonder what was going on. But after reading in the baby book today, I found out that his molars might be coming in also. Wow, it's pretty crazy how many teeth he might have by the time he turns one!

That was SCARY!

Wow, what an eventful Monday!

So this morning Ethan was crawling back and forth down the hallway kinda playing by himself while I quickly looked through the mail. Most of the time, he would crawl into one of the rooms to explore but then quickly come back to where I am. So when he disappeared into the bathroom I didn't think anything of it. But then all of a sudden, I heard the door shut so I ran to see what was going on. I turned the knob and expected it to open all the way and when it didn't...SHEER PANIC!!! Apparently, Ethan had stood up against the door and accidentally shut it and then proceeded to open one of the drawers which was right behind the door...trapping himself inside. So there I was prying the door open as wide as I could and squeezing my fingers in between hoping to be able to slide the drawer closed. NOTHING! I can't even get my hand in there! By now I'm really freaking out and just couldn't believe this is happening. So I called Brian to see what else I should do and he suggested different things, but they didn't work. Not knowing how else to help, Brian said he was leaving the office and was on his way home. Meanwhile I can hear Ethan going through my things in the drawer and throwing them on the floor which made me super worried! Thinking of all the sharp objects or what else he was putting in this mouth. All I could do was pray for wisdom for me and protection for Ethan.

While waiting for Brian, I decided to go to the tool box and found a small crowbar and a flashlight. I could hear him starting to whine (from being scared) and pushing at the door wanting out. So I shined a little light through the door for comfort while singing to him. Eventually, I was able to use the teeth in the crowbar to push the drawer closed and opened the door. Whew, don't think I've ever been so happy to see Ethan! Praise the Lord he's alright! Okay, no more playing in the bathroom EVER AGAIN!

Discovery of the Week

While getting Ethan's lunch ready today, I looked over to see him not pounding his tray (demanding food) like usually but instead clapping his hands! We've been working on this for quite some time and I was just so excited that he finally figured it out! Now we can actually do the Patty Cake =0)

Cider Day

Today our small group spent the day out at the Jelmelands (Stacia's parents) for the 2nd Annual Cider Day. I was a little hesitant at first since I wasn't sure how the day was going to pan out since there were snow flurries and colder weather in the forecast. (Okay, I lied...I kinda freaked out when I saw the snow flurries on the way up. I guess it meant reality of winter is coming and if you read the last post - I HATE being cold!) But was I glad to see that the apple stations were all set up in the garage when we got there! Anyway, it was a lot of fun and even better yet this year since Brian got to join us. (He missed out last year studying for the PE test. So discipline and I'm glad it paid off!)

Ethan and Marco supervising =0)

Scrubbing and rinsing through 3 water stations to make sure
the apples are clean...

...to quality control...


...to the taste tester...

...then to the grinder. YUM!

Growing Boy

Ethan turns 11 months today!


Aww!