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 :)
