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!