You are beautiful, my sweet, sweet song...

Wow, am I glad it is the beginning to a new week!! Last week was rough for all of us. I am finally starting to feel better and feel human again, although still having some killer headaches, but having faith that this will pass soon :) I am just thankful to have an AMAZING husband who has been so helpful and supportive to me this week (he always is, but he gave a lot of EXTRA TLC!) and an awesome son who has played independently and brought lots of smiles to Mama's face even when I felt like I couldn't do much and had trouble crawling out of bed. My body does not like surgery and I am never letting anyone touch my teeth with surgical instruments again :/.

So... onto more positive things! Friday night I was starting to feel a little better but not up for driving, so Ryan drove us out for a little family dinner and shopping. Soup was my friend and I was afraid to try much more, so O'Charley's here we came! Our waitress was so nice and let me get the lunch bottomless potato soup and salad, which I managed to eat a little of also! They are running a good dinner deal, 2 dinners for $14.99 or one for $7.49 and they had some good choices too. Ryan got a pasta dish which he thought was very yummy! Ethan loves their rolls and downed his sweet potato fries. Then we went to Toys R Us and got him some Christmas and birthday gifts, plus I had some coupons, so we came out for under $30 but got quite a few great things! We got him a musical Sit-N-Spin, 2 books for his Tag Jr. system that we already picked up at Costco (we got him The Backyardigans and Cars!), 10 Hot Wheels cars, some hangers for his ever-growing wardrobe... and then we went to Meijer to look at a play kitchen I saw in their toy ad. I have been checking out different kitchen sets and even day dreaming about creating my own (I found this really cool website, Ikea Hacker , where people take items at Ikea and "hack" them by creating something else) and found some awesome vintage kitchen ideas. So, we were quite happy to walk into Meijer and find a very cute wooden vintage kitchen already made, sized just right for Ethan, at a great price. It also has rave reviews!! So he will be getting his first play kitchen for Christmas or his birthday... we haven't decided which yet!! We would like to get him started with a train table also this year and are checking those out too.


Saturday morning we went to Ikea to walk around and checked out their children's department and picked up a few accessories for Ethan's play kitchen! They really have some cool stuff and great prices!! They were packed since it was a Saturday afternoon, so we will have to head back another day to look around more. It is a pretty overwhelming place!! Killer headache came on in the afternoon, so Ethan and I took a nap and my awesome husband did some major cleaning downstairs. Did I mention that I love him?!

Today Ethan and I went to church, Ryan had a headache and stayed home to rest, and Ethan did great going to the nursery and I got to enjoy an awesome service and worship. We picked up some Panera on the way home and had lunch together, and Ethan and I took a nap again, since my headache stayed around all day today. He was so happy and energetic today, and helped me so much to keep me uplifted!! He is such a joy and really cracked Ryan and I up today. He laughed all day long!! It has been gorgeous fall weather with warm days this week, so we took him to the park after naptime. Ethan is awesome about staying close to us and if he gets excited and starts running, he will turn around and look at us, or if we say his name or tell him to slow down, he does it right away. He is such a good listener!! When we got to the park and got out of the car, he stayed right by us and reached up both of his hands, one towards Mama and one towards Daddy, and walked right along with us holding both of our hands. This is such a sweet feeling as a mom!!

Ethan got all excited as we were walking to the playground, and he started laughing and pointing when he saw a squirrel running up a tree. Then he saw the playground and ran right to the steps! He climbed the steps and went down the slide on the toddler playset at first. He was just so happy, doing everything independently!! He loves going down the biggest slides, though!! He went over to the biggest playset and climbed up tot the top all by himself, ran across the bridge, and went down the big slide! It was pretty fast and he giggled the whole way down, then would run around and do it all over again (and again, and again!) Over the summer he would go down the slides but would kind of scoot down and "stick" a little, but today he was sliding down perfectly and loved every minute!!

After the park we went back to church to meet for our small group and took Ethan to the nursery to play, and he did awesome tonight!! He whined a little when we first went in, but then started playing with the toys and did not cry at all!! This has been so hard for me because he had been crying immediately when we got there, even though it is so fun for him and there are other kids and lots of things for him to do and play with. It is like he knew what was coming and that we were leaving him. He would really cry hard, and we just stopped trying to take him for a long time. He is so active though, that he wouldn't be content enough through the service or to sit with us in our small group, and we didn't want to distract others or take away from their experience in getting something in the messages. So, we decided to try the nursery again and I am SO happy and relieved that is is working out so well now!! I am going to start being a volunteer also and helping out. It is such a great outreach for parents and I'm very thankful that we have that opportunity at our church! We were able to have some grown up time and fellowship with great friends, share our thoughts and prayers, and have an awesome evening. My headaches lightened up tonight and I'm so happy we got out of the house some today and went to group! I'm having faith that God is going to take these headaches away and that this week is going to be so much better!

The sweet ending to my night... Ethan was a ball of energy and up way past his bedtime. We got ready for bed and he zipped up his sleeper all the way by himself like a big boy, and then we went upstairs, he gave kisses and hugs, said Thank You Jesus, and laid down. He started fussing and really crying a few minutes after we left and he usually does not at all. I went back in and he was standing in his crib with tears streaming down his face. I asked him "Are you ready for night-night?" and he shook his head and said "uh-uh". I asked him if he wanted some milk and he said "mmm-hmmm" (he is still nursing some mornings and some bedtimes). He cuddled up to me, nursed, and I sung to him... "You are beautiful, my sweet, sweet song" as it played on his cd player. As the song went off, and the next notes started, I asked him if he was ready for night-night and he said "mmm-hmmm" this time and gave me hugs and kisses. I am going to miss the days when I can no longer cradle my baby in my arms, and moments like this and days like today make me so very happy and thankful that God blessed us with this wonderful little boy. It was such a sweet ending to an uplifting day, I believe a sign that things are going to be better and making me feel ready for a whole new day tomorrow :)

Sarcasm [ENTER HERE]

Dear Dr. Blacik,

I am not usually a whiner but OMG this wisdom tooth experience has been the worst thing ever!! All 4 came out on Friday and I have been taking Percocet and Ibuprofen, ran out of Percocet and they called in Vicodin. The major sensitivity and nerve pain I have in my other teeth is incredible. The past two days it hurt to even open my mouth and talk, the air just moving by my teeth was awful! It goes from sharp to throbbing to deep aching. My whole jaw hurts and I can't concentrate at all!! It doesn't help that every night I wake up every 1-2 hours either. I came to see you today and you tell me "everything looks good" as you ran in and looked in my mouth for 0.2 seconds. I was bawling in your office and you are all chipper like "it's normal for some people to have this pain" just stay home and take it easy and don't go back to work yet since you're feeling so bad. I guess I was hoping for some miracle words and cure! I cannot hear myself think and feel a little delirious one way or the other, my head spins from the incredible amount of pain I'm in, or spins from being on the pain medicine itself. Where is the happy medium? Thankyouverymuch for helping me do this "elective" surgery. Why did God give us "wisdom teeth" again?

Your patient,
Miranda

Fun playing in the leaves!

I thought it would be nice to get out this afternoon after Daddy got off work since Ethan and I have been cooped up in the house the past few days resting. We met him at Sharon Woods to let Ethan play in the leaves. He had a BALL!!! The colors of the trees right now are simply amazing and there were leaves everywhere! As soon as we got out of the car, Ethan took off running and laughing, kicking the leaves, hearing the rustle, chasing Mama and Dada... it was so much fun. He loved sitting down in them and throwing the leaves up in the air! He would just crack up and throw them up over and over again. It was a great evening :)

Happy Halloween!!

I'm feeling pretty good today after my oral surgery yesterday, so we decided to take Ethan to the West Chester Portrait Innovations to get his Halloween photo retaken (we didn't have a great experience when I took him to Colerain on Thursday and the background looked awful). They were SO busy since it is Halloween today, and surprisingly people are getting Christmas photos taken already as well. We enjoyed some family time strolling around Target and then went back for Ethan's photo shoot. The photographer was really good with him, and even though they were so busy and Ethan was distracted she managed to get some great shots and one that we thought was just perfect!!



After we left the studio, we headed over to Marla and Rich's to go trick or treating with Jack, Phillip, and Mia. Marla made Phillip the coolest SpongeBob costume. Ethan normally LOVES SpongeBob and points to him whenever he sees the character, but he was very leary of Phillip tonight! He wasn't sure what to think. We had a blast trick or treating. We pushed Ethan around and he walked up to some of the houses. Any time we walked up together, he would sit down on the porch stoop next to the people handing out candy. He just wanted to sit there and chat and play in their bowl of candy, lol! After we got back we had some pizza and Ethan had a blast playing with his cousins!

Can I elect not to get my "elective" surgery?

I'm off to surgery to get my 4 wisdom teeth cut out... oh this is not going to be a fun weekend!!

Perfect Fall Day

We took Ethan to Irons Fruit Farm today to go to the pumpkin patch. We went there last year and loved it, so we decided to go back :) Ethan's new words of the day are "Mud" and "Pablo". Parts of the field at the pumpkin patch were muddy from the rain a few days ago so I kept telling Ethan to watch out for the mud, and he would walk up to it, point, and say "mud, mud!" and then walk around it, lol! We had a fantastic time at the pumpkin patch. Ethan ran around and got all dirty just like a little boy but loved every minute. We picked out a great big pumpkin to carve, and a couple smaller ones. Plus we got fresh apple cider and cider donuts. Yummy!! We spent way more time in the patch than we thought, so we headed to get dinner when we left at Outback. There was a balloon artist making balloon animals for the kids there. She had made a penguin for the little boy next to us, so we asked her to make Ethan a blue and orange penguin. He got it, and started calling him Pablo!! It sounds like "Pa-Boo". After we got home, we ask him to go get Pablo and he immediately looks for the little balloon. We are going to be in trouble when it starts to deflate!!

What a mess.

Ethan and I got up early to try to avoid mad paranoia with Hamilton people trying to get flu shots at the Health Department... Ethan's pedi is completely out of vaccines and not getting anymore, so that was my only option! We got there right when they opened and there was already a line. We got up to the door and there was a sign that they were out of flu shots for children under 3! Ugh!!

I spent all afternoon calling around to all the pharmacies trying to find some place to get a flu shot for him. I'm just a little freaked out since I am exposed to the flu at work all the time and would feel a little safer gettin him vaccinated this year, especially since the flu outbreak seems to be happening so early this year.

So, the only place I could get him a flu vaccine is by going to Urgent Care and telling them I am self pay and not saying a word about having insurance. They are only allocating flu shots for those on Medicaid or those without insurance!! It really aggravates me that we pay for insurance and can't be "eligible" to receive it if we are insured. So we had to be a little sneaky!!

Finally... Ethan's flu shot = done! And he was such a trooper and super energetic afterwards!! We took him to Frisch's afterwards and got chili spaghetti, and he ate it up!! His new word of the day today is "FOOD". How fitting considering he just got his appetite back today after getting sick!

Not over yet :(

We thought we were in the clear after Ethan had 2 good days! He hasn't had much of an appetite but had not gotten sick and has been energetic. I had even been sleeping in his room because I was afraid he would get sick in his bed. All was well and I decided to sleep in our bed tonight, and of course it happened... he woke up crying and had gotten sick all over his bed!! Poor little guy!! Daddy got up and got dressed to go to the store to get more Pedialyte and we had a little Backyardigans fest about 2am so we could get him hydrated. The sickies are still here :(

Pumpkin time of year!!!!!!!!

I had Pumpkin soft serve at The Cone in West Chester last night... it is heaven! Can't believe it took me this long to discover it... and so sad that they close on Sunday for the season! Head over to The Cone to check it out while you can!

Not a good night!

I think we need to invest in another mattress protector after changing the sheets, my clothes, and Ethan's clothes twice in one night. Right after we finished our bedtime routine tonight, Ethan proceeded to sit up and throw up all over me. It came out of nowhere!! No sooner had we gotten cleaned up that it happened all over again. I took him right into the bathroom and we got a whole bath. I can't believe how many kiddos are getting sick! Come back soon, summer...

Long day today. I got put on call and thankfully got to stay home with my little guy. Ethan woke up at 6:30 (usually up at 9), with a croupy cough and runny nose, but still full of energy. I need to be more careful with him while we're out :( We did so much last week and he was around so many kids. The humidifier and baby vicks have been our friends today. Flu season is upon us!!

Cracker :)

I came home from work tonight to discover Ryan sitting at the table on the laptop creating a Facebook page, and Ethan sitting in his high chair eating Ritz. Ryan smiles at me and looks at Ethan and tells him to say cracker. He immediately responds, "Cack-er" :) Loving it. It is the cutest thing. And I thought "Ah-pull" was the cutest thing! Now we go around him pestering him, "Say cracker, Ethan! Say cracker!" He's going to think he's a parrot, lol!

Labor Day Fun

Saturday, we went to Alexus' birthday party. So hard to believe she is 3!! Ethan had fun seeing everyone, and we took him swimming in the pool. He loved hanging on to the "noodles", and we would put him in swimming position on his tummy between Ryan and I, and Ethan would kick his feet while we held his midsection. I think swimming lessons this year would be great for him!! After Ethan's late nap, we headed down to Kenwood Towne Center to check out the new primitives store!! I am in heaven walking in primitives stores. There is a new location of The Olde Farmstead, which is the same store that is at Fairfield Commons where Ryan got my awesome handmade frame with Ethan's ultrasound photo in it. We got a yummy candle and a cute carved Welcome pumpkin, and headed to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. They do something cool for kids, they bring a banana and bread plate out when you arrive. Very nice :) Ethan loves looking through menus and there was a picture of fireworks inside the menu. He kept pointing at it, and when we would ask him to find the firework, he would flip to that page :)

Sunday, after church we went to lunch at Cracker Barrel with Mom, Jim, Lindsay, and Shawn. Ethan loves his cousin!! They boys played really well together during church too. We went home to get Ethan's naps in because we went to the WEBN fireworks!! Ethan loved the fireworks and enjoyed them like an old pro :) He sat and pointed at them all, but when the waterfall display went off, he stood up and clapped. LOL!

We got up this morning and headed out to have some family time... I have been determined to make a day of it going to Winton Woods Parky's Ark (water play area) and Parky's Farm. Today was the last day the water park is open for the season. We got there right after it opened at 11 and had the whole area to ourselves. Ethan had lots of fun!! He seemed a little hesitant touching some of the water areas, but with a little nudging from Daddy, he loved putting his foot down over the spurts of water and making them spray all over Mommy. We had a blast :)

Afterwards, we headed over the Parky's Farm. The first animal we saw was a roaming chicken. Ethan started chasing after it, and he would stop and bend down, hit the palms of his hands together trying to get the chicken to come to him, lol! We checked out a gigantic hog, the horsies, sheep, donkeys, more chickens, and even went in the pen to pet the goats. We went for a walk to check out the garden area and Ethan took a stumble. He went down on his hands on a gravel path and one of the rocks cut a little strip on his palm. First big boo-boo! We got it all cleaned up, but now he walks around looking and then pointing at his hand, and saying a really sad "boooo-boooo". Not good that he got the boo-boo, but good that he learned a new word :)

19 months :)

Our little man is 19 months old today. He had his 18 month checkup a month late because Dr. Leanza has been a very busy man!! Ethan is in the 50th percentile across the board - he weighs 25 pounds, 8 ounces, he is 32 5/8 inches tall, and his head circumference is 48 cm. Ethan was very friendly with Dr. Leanza, and loved playing with his stethoscope and pen light. He was impressed by all of his signs and words and he is at or ahead on everything developmentally! They had us fill out a big questionaire that would point to signs of autism, and our happy active boy had absolutely NONE of those :) He got his dTAP vaccine, and Dr. Leanza talked us into getting the chicken pox vaccine as well.

You know you're a parent when...

You know you're a parent when you spend your Saturday evening hunting down a cool park in Mason, and go to Chickfila for dinner (and then proceed to crawl through the tunnels after your toddler in their play area, of course!)... resulting in a very fun evening :) Had a fun night with my boys tonight!!

Ethan's 18 month photoshoot

We had Ethan's 18 month photos taken a few weeks ago. He was a complete grump, would hardly look at the photographer, and would not smile. I was so nervous!! But we are extremely happy with how they turned out. Huge rave for Sonja B Photography!!

Time to potty train?

I was supposed to work 12 hours yesterday and today, but got put on call from 7-3 both days per my request so it was nice to spend time with my guys :) Our new GPS got delivered yesterday, so Ryan was excited to have a new gadget to play with while I went to work! He tested it out by driving to Ft Liberty Playland, and taking Ethan for a walk and playtime. They got to enjoy the pretty part of the day!!

After they got home, Ryan brought Ethan's froggy potty upstairs. We have been debating starting working with Ethan on potty training since he seems so much more aware of what is going on and sometimes we can see some cues about when it might start.

Here is Ryan's version of the story:

We were watching tv and I noticed Ethan grunting
so I asked do you need to potty
and he said mm hmm
so I said lets go potty and he walked to the bathroom
but he had already gone poopy
the end

LOL. Here we go down a fun road :)

We also went to Mom and Jim's for a family birthday celebration today. We were there just a few minutes, and through the kitchen goes a walking Ethan saying "Doy-Doy" (Joy-Joy, the grandkids' name for her). She and I kind of did a double take... but it was clear as day!! So cute!

Lots of new signs and activities!!

We have been really working on signs with Ethan. He understands SO much but he is taking his sweet time saying a lot of words. For the longest time, he would just sign "more" and "all done". Tonight, he started signing "please" (rubbing his hand in a circle on his chest) AND "thank you" (touches his fingertips to his chin and then moves his hand backwards away from his face). In the past few days, he learned to sign "eat" (touches his fingertips to his lips). In the past few weeks, he learned to sign "milk" (opens and closes his fist, like milking a cow!) and "drink" (holds his hand in a C shape like he's holding a cup, and tips it toward his mouth). Tonight when we were putting Ethan to bed, Ryan and I were talking about this while Ethan was nursing. Every word that we said that he knows the sign for, he would do automatically. It made us so proud!!

Signs he knows:
More
All Done
Bye Bye
Where (he pretty much does the same as all done for where, with an accompanying "hmm?")
Milk
Drink
Eat
Please
Thank You
Where's Jesus/Thank You Jesus - he raises his hand high in the air
Diaper (pats his diaper - there is a "Dirty Diaper" signing song they do at the library storytime, so we are working on "dirty" and "change")
Points to all his body parts

Words he says:
Mama
Dada
Nana
Pop Pop
Maa Maa (Mammaw)
Mmm Hmm (for yes) - and shakes his head up and down appropriately
Nope - and shakes his head back and forth appropriately
Fishy
Daw Daw (Dog)
Mo Mo Mo (more)
See!
Tasha or TaTa (Tasha from Backyardigans)
Ty-one (Tyrone from Backyardigans)
Duck or guck
Cack Cack (when we ask what sound a duck makes)
Moo (when we ask what sound a cow makes)

Recent activities:
-He comprehends what you say to him, gets things that you ask him to get and follows commands/questions pretty well!
-He knows what clean up is, and likes to clean and wipe up things himself. He is doing well at putting his toys away. He likes his own wipe or cloth to clean up his tray, wipe off his hands, etc. It is cute! He also likes to take things out, like from our lazy susan cabinet, and then put them back away.
-He has figured out cause and effect with light switches. He loves to flip them up and turn around to see the light come on, and flipping it down and turns around to see the light go off. And again, and again, and again :)
-He is climbing on EVERYTHING. He can climb up on our dining room chairs, the couch, the rocker in his room. He loves to climb up, get down, climb back up, get down, and again, and again, and again. Do you see a pattern? :)
-He loves to kick or throw a ball or a balloon. He has a pretty strong overhand throw!!
-He is doing really well with getting dressed. He will put his head through the top hole, and then reach up each of his hands to lift his arms through. He will put his legs into his pants or shorts, and he sits on the bottom step of our stairs to try to put his shoes on.
-He loves closing the doors. When we walk into or out of a room, he wants to close the door behind us. He pulls the door almost closed by the door frame (and he has done very well and never pinched a finger - knock on wood!), and now he is tall enough that he can reach up and grab the door handle to pull it closed behind him.
-He likes to try to walk up the stairs like a big boy. He likes to hold your hand with one of his, and try to reach the handrail with the other.
-When we are putting him down to bed or naps, we have been asking him if he's ready for night-night, and his answer is always "mmm-hmm!"
-We have been working on doing the binkie just for sleeping. So when he gets up, the first thing he wants to do is get his binkie and put it in his mouth. We tell him to leave the binkie in his bed, that the binkie is for night-night. He will reach in through the crib rails and drop the binkies inside. Success!! :)
-He thinks wrapping his arms around your leg and holding on tight while you walk around with him hanging on is the funniest.thing.ever. :)
-Water, water, water. Anything having to do with water.
-And of course, anything with music as usual! Drumming, singing, dancing, playing the piano, and strumming the guitar :)

What a great day :)

Ethan and I hung out at home today, had some yummy homemade zucchini bread and tuscan melon for breakfast, and just enjoyed the day together. He has become a bit of a Backyardigans lover. We were walking around Target a few days ago and he was looking at one of their books. All of a sudden he points and says "Tasha". He loves to give her kisses in the books we got from the library, too. It's pretty cute. He will point at the other characters but she's the only name he will say. Sometimes it sounds like "Ta-ta" (LOL!) and sometimes he makes the "shh" sound and really says "Tasha". We are loving it! The show is really cute, and there is lots of music and dancing involved, which is right up Ethan's alley! At the end of the show when they go back home for a snack, Ethan waves bye-bye to them. We have become a Backyardigans family :)

Then, my wonderful hubby brought me beautiful flowers and a romantic card home just because he said he loves me! So sweet, and completely unexpected! He wanted to take Ethan and I to PF Chang's for dinner. Ethan ate some sweet potatoes at home before we left... he is doing a lot better using the fork. We've discovered the past few days though that he sort of gets mad when we give him a plastic fork/spoon and he likes to use our adult silverware. He seems much more content with the kidware with the silver tips. He acts so much older and bigger than he is, and is so independent. It is funny! So, we went to Chang's for dinner and had our faves, lettuce wraps, chicken fried rice, and mongolian beef. We gave Ethan a little bowl of rice and he gobbled it up! He has been really picky eating lately so I was so surprised. He was even chopping on the little carrots. Then, he started trying to steal the mongolian beef off my plate :) We were very happy with him!! After dinner, we walked over to the fountain outside and Ethan was a very happy guy! Water is his favorite thing ever.

How did I get so lucky?!

A flood of memories

Wow. Aunt Sheila has really been on my mind this week, as well as my grandma's for sure. I watched So You Think You Can Dance tonight and just broke down over this dance. It was incredible...



Seeing the movements Melissa portrayed, the fragileness in the movements of her body... I look back and question myself, how could I NOT have known? How could I watch her grow weaker and more fragile and just not put it together? In such a short time period she went from being always on the go, high energy, full of exuberant life, to hardly being able to hold her precious granddaughter, or even just walk around??? It makes me incredibly angry at myself. I think about all the patients I see, that have the opportunity to FIGHT. I feel like she was cheated. Why didn't she get the chance to fight? Sometimes I just have to leave the room of my patient. It is really hard to deal with sometimes, seeing someone I am taking care of going through a similar situation. Questioning myself why I didn't make them take her to Bethesda. I feel like there is such an awesome, incredible, compassionate group of doctors and nurses there to take care of oncology patients. So many people working to help patients, and their families, to find all the answers, to do what ever treatment necessary. Why couldn't she have gotten treatment?? Would it have made a difference??

I know it is not my place to question God, and most days I do not. Moments like now, I just feel so helpless and saddened by what happened. By His grace, He has pulled me through a very difficult place. I would just like to make a bigger impact for Him, be a better witness for Him, a better inspiration for the life and the witness that Sheila was!!! God, I miss her so much.

Mammaw misses her immensely. Sheila would be so happy for her and Mammaw wishes she was here to see all that has been going on at her house - a complete bathroom remodel - who would have ever thought??? Maybe it is Sheila's way of shining down on her. Mammaw says she has everything she could ever want now to make her happy, so she can go to Heaven. LOL. I'm not ready to give her up yet :)

Sweet boy

Dear Ethan,

You melt Mama's heart sometimes. Tonight after we said our bedtime prayers with Dada, I was rocking you in your room. I leaned down to give you a kiss and nuzzled your forehead, and then I sat back up. You reached our your hand to my cheek, and pulled my head right back to you for more kisses. I couldn't help but smile! I nuzzled you again, sat back up, and you pulled me right back! What a way to make me feel special. You did this about 5 times, over and over again, and it made me giggle. You smiled around your binkie, and your little cheeks puffed up. I love you so very much, and are so happy that you are my little boy.

Love,
Mama

"Head, shoulders, knees, and toes..."

The song goes a little differently at our house, but Ethan is definitely learning his body parts! It is so cute and we love asking him to point things out! It goes a little something like this:

Ethan, where's your ears? He will tug at one of his ears.

Ethan, where's your eyes? He will blink his eyes or squint them and point at his eyes.

Ethan, where's your mouth? He opens his mouth and sticks his finger in the middle.

Ethan, where's your belly? He lifts his shirt up and pats or rubs his belly.

Ethan, where's your hands? He rubs his hands together like he's dusting them off (he does this when he falls down on his hands or is cleaning up too :)

Ethan, where's your feet? He will lift his feet up or reach down to tickle his toes.

And our favorite... Ethan, where's your nose? He would usually reach out for our nose instead, and we always say "honk-honk!" as he pinches our nose. Just today he started grabbing his own nose and making a "hmmm-hmmm" sound as he pinches his nose, or he grabs our hand and reaches it toward his nose, and makes his sound when we pinch. Love it!

He has also learned to smell... he loves to smell candles, and wrinkles his nose up and sniffs. He is starting to learn to blow... he loves bubbles, and we are working on him blowing them himself. He puffs out a little blow, but isn't quite blowing the bubbles yet :)

Thank you, Jesus :)

Ethan has been doing very well with us doing his bedtime prayers and at mealtimes. We will ask him, "Ethan, where's Jesus?" and he will raise his hand up and smile. He also does it when we say "Thank you, Jesus!" Yesterday, he and I were at Mammaw's and he raised his hand and we actually heard him say "Day-doo, Dee-Dus" Wow!! He is constantly talking and saying so many different sounds, but it was clear as day to us what he was saying :) I think there is a lot more in his vocabulary that he understands, and we've just got to listen to figure it out!! Very proud Mama moment :)

Happy 16 months, sweet boy!

Ethan turned 16 months yesterday and I wonder every day where our baby has gone.  I was just reading the "Your Toddler This Week" update and this could not sound more spot on!!   Where, oh where, has your baby gone? You have a full-fledged toddler living with you now. Walking and running still top the agenda, but take note of how complex your child's movements have become. When she crosses a room, she'll squat to pick up an interesting toy or stop to stack some blocks. If she's particularly ambitious, she'll figure out how to push a stool or chair over to the kitchen counter so she can climb up for a better look — all the more reason to make sure your house is as childproof as it can be. Ethan is very inquisitive and loves being in the middle of everything.  He pushes whatever he can around the house... the barstools and his highchair in particular.  He loves to pickup the laundry baskets and the basket I keep his toys in.  You wouldn't think that such a little guy could tote those things around!  He is very funny to watch.  Last night he was playing with his Fridge Farm and was busting some new moves... Ryan and I were cracking up.  We got a video, so I will try to upload it.   We went out yesterday after church and had a picnic and walked around Ault Park.  It turned out to be a very pretty spring day!  We went to the aquarium afterward and Ethan just had a blast.  We have passes but haven't been since last fall.  He loved running around looking at all the fishies, and he kept pointing and saying "see! see!"  We had a lot of fun.

Our little water lover

Ethan loves playing in the water. Bathtime is his favorite time, and he does his little "flashdance" while we're getting the water ready. The water coming from the faucet is like a huge treat for him... he will stick his hands and toys under the water coming from the faucet and just giggle away. Sometimes he will take a shower with me too - we have a handheld sprayer and he just loves the spray from it. We've been looking into getting a sand and water table for outside since he loves playing in the water so much. Well, this morning we were downstairs and I heard a sound like the little door stoppers boinging. He came to get me and wanted me to come with him, and his hand was wet. He walked to the refrigerator where I noticed water streaks down the door, and he reached up on his tip toes and was pressing the lever that the water comes out of on our fridge! I cannot believe he can reach it already. Ryan was just saying that he seems taller! So it looks like we will start using the lock button, or we will have a mess all the time :) I guess he was thirsty!!

Follow the leader!

I had a really bad headache this morning so Ethan and I stayed in the mother's room at church so I could watch the service with the lights off. I had the door closed and Ethan wanted to wander. He came to me, grabbed my hand and kind of pulled at me so I would stand up. Once I was standing, he kept ahold of my hand and walked me over the the door, and reached up towards the door handle. This is the first time he has led me over to something. Pretty cool!!

Grandma Anne's birthday was yesterday so she and Grandpa came over to have lunch with us today. I tried a few new recipes and they turned out pretty yummy! We went to Jungle Jim's to get some fresh produce and I got some rosemary, so we had roasted rosemary and garlic red potatoes, and I found a great marinade recipe for Grilled Rosemary Garlic Porkchops. Very highly recommended! Ethan loved having some playtime with Grandma and Grandpa. Happy Birthday, Grandma Anne!

Playing hide and seek

Ethan's new favorite thing to do when we're getting ready is playing hide and seek in the closet. He has discovered that he can push Daddy's shirts aside, and he runs behind them against the wall. We will say "where's Ethan? I can't see Ethan?" And he will run out and start cracking up. It is very cute and tickles us to death :)

Time to toddler proof the toilet...

Ethan loves having a cup of cold water, dipping his binkie in it, and then sucking on it. He will do it over and over and over again. Well, this morning I was on the computer and heard some noises in the bathroom. I walk in there and he is standing there DIPPING HIS BINKIE IN THE TOILET! I about died. He must have thought he had died and gone to heaven with that gigantic "glass of water" to dunk his binkie in. Who knew those toilet straps they actually sell for babyproofing might come in handy??

Today I believe we have reached teething hell. Ethan has been a wonderful teether and I have always wondered what usually happens with other kids because they haven't seemed to bother him before. He's had eight teeth for a long time, 4 on top and 4 on bottom. Last week, he got one of the right bottom molars, and a couple days ago he got one of the left bottom molars. He's been a drool machine with a runny nose, but that's about it. Today was a completely different story! His left canine tooth is coming in now, and he turned into a little monster at times. He was mean and fussy most of the day! He would get into things over and over that he normally does not do, would throw a fit at the drop of a hat, hardly wanted to eat, and even scoffed at his fave cheese and crackers. The old ice cube in the mesh feeder was a godsend at dinner time, and then Daddy went out to get some of the Hyland Teething Tablets I've been hearing about and it really worked wonders for him. It was close to bedtime, but he had been super fussy after dinner, and he really seemed to calm down and not be in pain pretty quickly after taking the tablets. I hope they make him feel better!

Check out this photographer!

Jessica from my mom's group is an awesome local photographer! She's also doing a great giveaway for two photography service gift cards! Check out her website and blog to see her amazing work and her cute kiddos!

Memories That R Precious Homepage
Memories That R Precious Blog

Happy Thursday

It's a gorgeous day outside today! Ethan's down for his nap and we're going to go shopping with Mammaw after he wakes up. I just wanted to give an update on what's been going on with us!

Friday morning we took Ethan to get his picture taken with a live bunny. They do it every year at Glamour Shots of all places, lol! It was fun seeing Ethan interact with the bunny, but it was a little crazy trying to get a 15 month old to stop and pose with a bunny. We picked two shots and they should be back soon :)

Friday afternoon, we went to Ethan's 15 month checkup with Dr. Leanza. It went great! Ethan was very interactive with Dr. Leanza, babbling away, playing with his car, reading a book, and showing off his drawing skills. We haven't really gotten into letting him color yet, and Dr. Leanza gave him a pen and paper to see what he would do. He held the pen like a big boy and scribbled away. Dr. Leanza was very impressed that he was immediately "tripod-ing" the pen and holding it correctly like a big boy! We talked about all the skills Ethan's doing and he was very impressed, saying he's at or above where he needs to be developmentally. I was a little nervous about his communication because I feel like he's not saying many words, but after we sat down and talked about it, there are quite a few words and sounds that he repeats, and Dr. Leanza said those count as words too. He got his 4th Pc vaccine and only whimpered for a second. He weighs 22 pounds, 11 ounces, and is 30 1/2 inches long!

Saturday, we went to breakfast with Grandma Gabbard for her birthday. It was yummy! Happy Birthday!! Then we met Mom, Haley, and Brianna and went to the zoo and used our family pass. It was crazy busy! They had festivities going on for Easter until 2, and then it started to clear out some. Mandi, Jason, and Lucas came and we got to hang out with them for a bit too! It was a great day for the zoo... clear and a little cool, so perfect for walking around! Ethan and Lucas loved looking at the fish and the manatees. Ethan was all about being right up on the glass and looking in, so I guess another trip to the aquarium is in order soon - we got passes there too but haven't been in awhile. There was a scuba diver in the tank and he swam right up to Ethan and put his hand up to the glass and they gave eachother five's - too cute!! My favorite part of the day was riding the train... we were riding over the lake and the ducks were swimming in the water... Ethan started saying "guck" and "duck"!! I totally did a double take, but he was definitely saying them both!!

Sunday was a very busy day for Ethan's 2nd Easter! We went to church with Mammaw, then to Karenetta's for lunch and for Ethan's first Easter egg hunt!! He did a great job surprisingly! He walked around with Aunt Haley finding eggs and putting them into his basket :) I will post pics and a video soon! We went to visit with Grandma Joy Joy and Bur Bur for a little bit, and then we went to our church for the egg hunt and carnival. The egg hunt was absolute madness... there were 10,000 eggs and I bet they were gone in less than 30 seconds!!

Monday, Ryan started his new job!! He's working for a company that does all the IT work for GE. It's right by school so he is closeby to finish up his coursework over the next few months too :) The guys in his department are all around our age and in similar places in life, so it seems like it will be a really good fit. He really likes it!

Tuesday, Ethan and I went to meet our friends Jennie and Caleb for a playdate at this cute toddler play place called Jumping Joey's. It is filled with soft flooring, balls, soft play things to climb on with tunnels. The boys really had a lot of fun!! The last time we tried to get Ethan to go through a tunnel was a few months ago at Mason's house and he was not having it. He went through the tunnels today independently so I was a very proud Mama!

Yesterday, we went to dinner PF Chang's. I had seriously been craving it and they had a special 15% off for tax day. Ethan is so funny, he loved it all! He really loved the filling for the lettuce wraps, and ate up the chicken fried rice and Mongolian beef too. Sometimes it's a challenge to get him to eat certain things, but he loves Chinese of all things (he loves lo mein noodles too!) Afterwards we went to church for our first small group with Pastor Brad, he's doing a series on finances with Dave Ramsey, and it was nice to meet some new faces at church. Ethan had his first nursery experience and did great!! The two mom's in the nursery said he did excellent at communicating and would shake his head no and answer yes when trying to get his point across! We're so proud of our little guy!

In the last week, Ethan has started saying "yes", "Ta-da!", "duck/guck", "dah-dah" for dog, and "Nigh-nigh"!!! He has also started saying "Mama" again after a long hiatus, so my heart is melting all over again! There is nothing sweeter to me than him saying Mama and giving me love :) When we say, "Give xxxx some love, Ethan", he will give you hugs, pat you, grab your leg, put his head on your shoulder, etc. Love it!

*More!*

Megan is on Spring Break this week so Ethan and I drove over to Indy to meet her at the outlets. We thought it was going to rain but it turned out to be another gorgeous spring day! It worked out well that Ethan napped in the car, which was a good thing because I totally got lost. Mapquest routed me on some random route through the country roads in Indiana and I would have gotten so lost had my hubby not directed me on the phone. Mapquest was SO off! Plus one of the random country roads had a bridge out, which was less than helpful. So I guess I will have to stick with google maps, or invest in a GPS :) We had yummy lunch at Max and Erma's and just enjoyed walking around and doing a little retail therapy.

After we got home Ethan was eating some crackers in his highchair. We have been working on doing some sign language with him and got little flashcards to help. He was finished with a cracker and I picked up the pack, and he started signing "More"! Woo-hoo! I was so excited and proud of him :) More is signed by pushing your fingertips together on each hand, and then tapping your fingertips together. I got so excited when he signed more, I was saying yay!, good job Ethan, and he started clapping! I love our little guy :)

Hello again :)

Welcome, April, and beautiful spring weather! My apologies, as it has been way too long since I have written about our little piece of the world. I have just not felt like writing, it has just been to difficult emotionally to do so. I guess I have just liked coming here and seeing Sheila at the top of the page :) I placed the final order for the marker for her place at Rose Hill yesterday, and went to visit her, and I guess I just feel at peace about things now. I will be very happy in the coming weeks when the weather is better and the marker comes in so we can honor her with it. It may sound funny but I am excited about it because we chose something that is very pretty and decorative and really honors her.

SO... today got me so excited and gave me inspiration to write again.

Today was simply gorgeous outside. We took Ethan to Fort Liberty Park to play. It was so different than the last time we went, which was last year... he was very indifferent to the swings last year. Well, today he had a BLAST! We started off going down the slide - he would climb up the steps with Dad and then slide down by himself and I would catch him. As soon as he got off, he would run back to the steps to climb back up again. Then he swung on the swings and giggled and said "eeeeeeee!!" the whole time. Ryan was swinging next to him, and he kept looking up at the swing chains and at Daddy's feet... it was like he was thinking "how's he doing that by himself?" We went for a walk on the walking path and Ethan actually managed to keep on his hat until we were heading back to the car! I was very impressed :) Most of the time it seems pointless to buy hats because he just rips them off his head. But he must love his new hat as much as I do :)

There is a smaller playground down the walking path that has this cool foam bottom that you walk on, which is great for Ethan to run around on. There is also some "old fashioned" playground gear... a metal slide, merry go round, swings, monkey bars... Ethan LOVED the merry go round. I don't know why it surprises me, because he loves anything adventurous. I held him at first and Ryan pushed us around and around. Anytime we would get off, Ethan would want to get right back on. He held on like a big boy and stood there as I *gently* pushed him around in circles. You would have thought he was in heaven :) This kid loves to be spun in circles, run around with you carrying him sideways, sitting up on your shoulders... he laughs uncontrollably! He is an amazing little boy.

He also had fun playing on the metal slide, and he kept trying to crawl back up it. He also loved beating on it like a drum, because drumming is still his ultimate favorite activity!

Just connected our camera to the computer and seeing the first photo on our memory card, I realize the last time I did this was the day before Sheila's funeral. There is so much I have missed out on keeping track of and writing down, but all the memories are there. I will start trying to write some updates on what has been going on with us and all the changes that have happened with Ethan :) For now, a few pics of our great day today:

In memory of Sheila Denise Gray...

We had Sheila's visitation and services today. We had an absolutely AMAZING celebration service for her. I would not even call it a funeral! We had the visitation and service at her church. She was the first caucasian member of a church that was all african-american when she started attending, and she broke through so many bonds and changed so many people's perspective and I think it ended up being really symbolic that her services were on MLK Day kind of like one of her last ways of making a difference!!! Her husband was from the south and his dad still has a lot of those outlooks on black vs white, so she led her husband to the Lord and they were members there, which was a major accomplishment and blessing!! The church choir that she was a member of started the service singing a beautiful uplifting song, everyone was up clapping and worshiping! The service was filled with people getting up to share stories about Sheila, reading poems and scripture, singing songs, and singing the song that my aunt had been the soloist in the choir. It was an incredible way to remember her. She looked beautiful and even looked like she was smiling :) Ryan said it's not often that you can go somewhere feeling down and sad and leave feeling uplifted and happy. I can only hope that I make as big of an impact in my life that she did in hers. I want my rememberance ceremony to be as uplifting as hers!! I have never been a part of something so wonderful :)

We lost a wonderful woman yesterday

I guess it is difficult for me to sit down and write about this because it is so hard to put into words.

Wednesday of last week, the doctors told us that they could not do any treatment to help my Aunt Sheila because the cancer had progressed so much. They transferred her home with Hospice Friday afternoon. We ended up packing things and staying there Friday night, we thought we were going to lose her then. She held on strong and stabilized, but I wanted to be there so Ryan, Ethan, and my grandma have stayed there all week. She had very few moments of even having her eyes open or being responsive, and was the majority of the time in a coma-like state, which was so hard to see!! The little moments of her squeezing my hand when I didn't think she was aware, and watching her pull all her strength together to lift her arms and hug my grandma and my cousin are the things I hope I will remember most. My family spend the week at her side, talking, singing, praying with her and growing closer as a family. She passed away to Heaven yesterday morning at 5:45. It has been an incredibly difficult and emotional week, especially yesterday, and I'm sure it will continue for many days to come. However we are so happy she is in a better place, and hopefully God and time will help to heal our wounds, but she will be with us forever.

Thursday thoughts

The past week and a half has been a blur. I feel guilty like I have neglected Ethan... I have been at the hospital every chance that I could get, often until past his bedtime, and he has been such a trooper being there most of the time with us. I finally decided to take some time and stay home during the day today so he could get a real nap in his bed. The three of us took a bath in the big tub together and he just loved playing in all the water with his toys and splashed all over... and gave our walls a bath too :)

Ethan had his one year checkup yesterday with Dr. Leanza. I had tried to reschedule, but he is very busy, so we kept our appointment. Mr. Ethan is now 20 pounds, 4 ounces, and he is 28¾ inches long. Dr. Leanza was very happy with his development - walking independently, climbing the stairs, self feeding - and his social skills. He said Ethan is perfect, and is at or ahead where he should be with all of his development :)

In a way it is nice having Ethan at a time like this. He provides a happy distraction when life around us seems to be falling apart. I am so thankful for him :)

Yesterday we got very bad news about Aunt Sheila. For the past week and a half, we have been waiting on a treatment plan. The doctor came in yesterday and said that her liver has shut down and there is no treatment that they can do to help or stop the cancer. We have been forced to come to terms with this, which is incredibly difficult to do. They are planning to send her home tomorrow with Hospice. I am in complete shock... I can't believe that just a few weeks ago, we found out that she had a mass on her kidney, and then shoot forward to now and there are no treatment options. It seems so completely absurb to me as a medical professional that there is nothing that they can do. But cancer is such an unpredictable, destructive disease, and it has just taken over. I don't know how much longer she will be with us, unless God decides to intervene and heal her. The good news is that she seems comfortable now and hopefully she will stay that way, and maybe being back at home will help. The pain medication is so strong that she is asleep so much, and it is hard to see her so unresponsive a lot of the time. I miss her so much already.

Ethan's First Birthday!

One year ago today at 4:19 am, our precious baby boy, Ethan Christopher, came to this world and changed our lives forever. He is a precious gift from God. We are so thankful for him. Ethan is such a wonderful little boy... and I don't think we can call him "Baby Ethan" anymore!! He makes us laugh all the time, and is constantly changing. We had his first birthday party this evening... it was crazy and our house was full, but it was filled with love, family, and friends - everything you could ever need. We are so appreciative to those who came and those who sent their well wishes. Ethan seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself!! Ethan's new developments today... he wasn't able to walk too much during the party since we were filled to the brink, but after everyone left he took off like a little wild man walking across our entire first floor! He was going nonstop... must have had a sugar rush from his cupcake!! He is very steady on his feet now and just travelling around the house like he's been doing this forever. Yesterday, he also started holding the phone up by his ear and turning his hand in over his shoulder and he'll say "Ah?" like he is talking to someone. It is very funny to watch! He LOVES telephones... cell phones, plug in phones, cordless phones, toy phones... you name it, he knows what it is, and he will find it!! Simeon got Ethan his first toy phone, and he carried it around as he walked everywhere! Along with our photobooks we got the grandparents for Christmas, Ryan put together DVD's of home videos and also made a slideshow of Ethan's first year. We chose a few songs that were important to us and songs that described how we feel as parents! (Working on getting it uploaded... youtube is being stubborn!)

With everything going on with my aunt, this week has been completely overwhelming for me and everyone in my family. We've been at the hospital once or twice every day, and Uncle Rod has been staying with her around the clock. Trying to plan and get ready for Ethan's first birthday party tomorrow almost seems wrong to me to be planning a celebration while my aunt is doing so bad. Ryan took Ethan to his mom's because Dr. Weisenberger was supposed to come back this evening and thought her kidney biopsy results would be back. She ended up coming in around 7:45 with the results. She does have Stage IV renal cell cancer, bone mets, lymph node involvement around the kidney, and questionable liver involvement. She's contacting Cleveland Clinic and U. of Chicago on Monday for additional opinions on treatment. They're talking about doing either an IV or oral treatment, but are doing a brain MRI and echo this weekend and working on pain control until they decide what to do. Right now the focus is just trying to keep her more comfortable, so they changed around the settings on her pain pump before we went home. We were at the hospital most of the day, and Sheila had many visitors, and many prayers!! Aunt Emogene and Marty came up from North Carolina Wednesday night, and we got to visit with them this morning and have breakfast, so they got to meet out little man. It was so nice to see them :) We headed up to the hospital and then they had to make the trip back home. Quite a few members from Sheila's church came to visit and fellowship. It really helps her to have them near. God spoke in Room 310 many times today, and I'm sure He will continue to do so.

My (not-so-funny) story of the day... I decided to order Ethan's cake instead of making it myself (cupcakes in the shape of a 1) and went to pick it up and they used the wrong colors even though it was written right there and I provided them with a picture as well. I know that is so trivial compared to what else was going on, but I just wanted something to be taken care of that I wouldn't have to worry about. I burst into tears and couldn't even talk to the poor bakery lady, Ryan had to talk to her, and then I kept apologizing. I guess I just had everything built up inside of me and was trying to be strong for everyone and my family. I feel embarassed about what happened but I guess that is just the moment that all my emotions decided to come out.