Happy Halloween!

It's been a crazy month as you might imagine. Halloween was not exactly top priority. but we did make an effort. The day of our ward trunk or treat it snowed all day. And not just a dusting, it was cold, wet, and white! Ethan went as a chef--Elizabeth had a cute cupcake hat to go along, but she decided to chill in the mothers lounge and eat instead. She actually grew out of the hat by the time Halloween came anyway!

To celebrate on Monday night (actual Halloween day) we carved Ethan's pumpkin and baked Halloween cookies. We had a great time and Elizabeth got to experience her first Halloween!

Introducing Elizabeth Rose Marshall

She is a joy. Born Wed. October 12th at 3:40 in the afternoon. She weighed 6 lbs 8 oz and measured 20 1/4" tall. She looks a lot like her brother and daddy (and if you squint like mommy) but mostly she just looks like our beautiful little Elizabeth. Nick names are still in the air.


Here is her baby blanket I finished the morning I went to be induced...a little late I know, but we only just found out she was a girl.

Proud Daddy!

Pumpkin Hunting

Saturday Oct. 8th was actually my brother Eric's wedding. We couldn't be in Utah for the big event since it was only two days after my due date. (Notice I am still pregnant anyway in the pictures!) So we decided rather than feeling sad we couldn't make it, we would find the perfect pumpkin instead. It was a blast and of course Ethan loved it--especially when he realized there were probably more bugs than pumpkins. Unfortunately the hay ride did not put me into labor as hoped.

In case you ever wanted to see a picture of a seriously uncomfortably, overdue pregnant woman....it's not pretty.

From baby to "Big Boy"

 Ethan has begun his journey to "big boyness". He is doing an amazing job at it. The last week he has enjoyed his own toddler bed in his room--both of which are new. He has also decided the last few weeks to start eating and talking some more. Ethan has been in speech therapy for a couple months now and has had great improvement. Some of his new words include: mama, dada, more, pee-yew, as well as many animal noises. His first "phrase" so far has been "bye by poo"--he yells this every time he hears a toilet flush--it's great at church:)

Another big boy addition has been the potty chair. I actually have no real desire to potty train him yet--he is only 22 months but several times he has come to me and said he needed to go pee pee. So I sat him on the toilet and he went. The other night we decided to buy him his own potty. After we brought it in he opened it up, pulled the potty out of the box, quickly undressed (squealing with excitement all the while) sat down and did his business. I couldn't believe it. Could I really be so lucky to have child who potty trained himself? Time will tell I guess, but the future is looking bright.

He has also been working on his "boyness" I think. The other day Ethan was rubbing something all over his face. I assumed it was his usual fuzz but then he wanted to share it with me. I held out my hand only to have a dead stink bug that had been rubbed all over his face presented to me. Then later that night I caught him placing another dead bug on my side of the bed. Guess I better get over any phobia of bugs because he LOVES bugs.


Because Ethan has been eating more he has also finally gained that extra pound we have been waiting four months for! He finally weighs enough to be in a forward facing car seat! Good timing since the new baby will taking his old baby seat! He has been enjoying his fancy new car seat complete with cup holder.
 

We are pretty proud of our big boy.

 

36 week ultrasound

It's a girl!

My doctor ordered and extra ultrasound at 36 weeks to check on a condition I had with Ethan called polyhydramnios (basically you have way too much amniotic fluid). Not super excited about the condition, but we got to have an extra peek at our little one and now we know it's a girl. 

She is unusually active they said because she has so much extra room with all the fluid. The technician kept saying, "wow, I have never seen a baby move this much this far along...your ribs must be killing you" hmmm...I could have told you that! Everything otherwise looked good they said so we are not worried. We are getting very excited to meet this little girl with my due date only three weeks away!

Ethan is getting ready in his own way. Every time we see a baby he pretends to rock a baby in his arms and then he comes and rubs my stomach. He also looks up at me every now and then and just laughs. I think he does this because he can't see my face when he looks up--only stomach--then he gently rubs my tummy and rocks a baby in his arms. I think he is excited to see meet her also.

Craig has also done his homework to get us ready for the big delivery. After extensive research and considering many options, he has invented his own birthing method. Craig suggests I consider the "jello birthing method" (the book will be hitting shelves soon he has informed me). Similar in some ways to a water birth, the jello he believes offers better relaxation and aroma therapy. It also cures the problem of any hunger or immodesty during delivery. If only the hospital would let us experiment with his groundbreaking methods.

As for mom--one day at a time:)

Pregnancy comments

People always react differently to pregnant ladies. I thought I would share some choice experiences of mine.

My primary class (4 year olds) last week needed to make sure I was aware that my baby had certainly gotten bigger (don't know how I could have missed that since I gained three pounds last week!). Their major concern however was how I was possibly able to fit behind the steering wheel in my car. Somehow I manage I explained.

When I was pregnant with Ethan I constantly got the "are you sure it's not twins" reaction. One that I will never forget though was our apartment manager explaining quite seriously to me that he would prefer to jump up and down until the baby fell out. Glad I didn't follow his advice.

I think my favorite comment though was the other night at the grocery store. We were at the deli ordering dinner. The man helping us asked me how far along I was and if it was my second child. I responded yes and that I was not far enough along. He could tell I was uncomfortable that evening and he said, "you know, my mother had four children. I don't know how she did it but I thank God every day that she did." I smiled and said thanks. Then I came home and cried and thanked God that this man had said something kind and encouraging to me. I am sure he had no idea.

Funny how little comments we make seem to have such an impact.

Sushi--what a domestic man!

Amazingly, Craig has never actually made his own sushi before--tons of other Japanese food but never the one thing Americans think of when they think of Japanese cuisine. He buys it all the time but never attempted to make it until recently.

Didn't it turn out pretty? He even made some special sushi for me (since I am pregnant and I hate sea weed). My sushi was the yellow wrapped rolls made out of soy wrappers with cream cheese, avocado, and cucumber--so good! I have one sweet husband. One night out of the blue a pregnancy craving hit for cold sushi and he got to work.

Here is Ethan trying to make the most of his chopsticks. We are still working on the idea of utensils but he sure enjoyed these fun toys.

Wal-Mart fun

Ethan got sick of Mommy looking at makeup the other night at Wal-Mart (fancy right?), so Daddy let him have some fun in the luffa bin. I love this picture. Everybody who walked by had to laugh and he was in heaven! We thought about posting it on Peopleofwalmart.com. but after further investigation of the website, and a good eye washing we decided the family blog was a more appropriate location. 

Cute, Cute, Cute!

Ethan loves to help in the kitchen. The other day he wanted me to put his chef hat on and get some pots and pans out. Then he went to his room and collected all his balls, measured them in a measuring cup, and one by one added it to his pot while stirring with a wooden spoon. What a yummy soup!

Yesterday morning I was making his instant breakfast when I needed to grab something from the back room. I came back to him standing on the stool pouring another pouch into his milk (double the powder!) and stirring it! The amazing thing is he didn't spill any! I can't even do that! I about died of laughter and he enjoyed SUPER SUPER milk that day. 

Train at Burke Lake Park

Ethan LOVES trains, cars, helicopters, trucks...anything that "goes" really. But trains have a special place in his heart these days. Saturday we took him to ride the train at a nearby park. Truthfully we all enjoyed it!
 

30 weeks and counting

30 weeks pregnant. For some reason it sounds so much farther along than 29 weeks. Who ever thought of counting a nine month pregnancy by weeks anyway? talk about tedious.

Well, I am 30 weeks pregnant....no more...no less. We still don't know the gender but I have a hunch it's girl. Ethan often points at my tummy and then pretends to rock a baby in his arms. I am not sure he really realizes what's going on (if any of us do) but he loves to kiss my tummy which is too cute. I have learned to be careful about telling him when the baby is kicking because the first few times I did he started kicking me in the stomach! In his mind he is the baby. Half the time we ask him where the baby is he points to himself with a big grin, but we are getting there. No doubt it will hit him most assuredly when our bundle of joy comes home!

My pregnancy has been healthy and I don't feel like I can really complain. I have so many pregnant friends right now on bed rest, or constantly medicated--so for a pregnant lady I am doing amazingly well. After a little scare when Ethan was born with my confused blood type we were thrilled to learn this time around that Craig is a B- blood type! Which mixes nicely with my AB- blood. I guess we were made for each other:) So things have been good, and we have been blessed.

When I was near the end with Ethan I really missed the agility that a smaller body offers....that is probably the hardest thing for me. Soon I will be able to run again--without looking like a penguin:) Until then I will enjoy my large feminine body the best I can, and thank Heavenly Father every day for the beautiful little boy already in our lives and our second blessing on it's way.

Happy Fourth of July!

This year we visited Craig's family in North Carolina for the fourth. The six hour drive was much nicer than the 17 hours we use to have from Texas! Although sitting for even that long as a big pregnant lady is not the easiest thing--we survived the drive and enjoyed the weekend. We spent a lot of time just hanging out and enjoying family and the yard.

The fourth was spent at Uncle Barney's with the annual fish fry. It was a great party! The torrential down pour made things a little more interesting but we all had a fun time. Also, important to note: the food was amazing! (A wonderful part about this stage of pregnancy is food is soooo good and you just can't get enough!!!)

Here is Ethan and Grammy at Nanny's for Sunday dinner. Nanny gave him a big stuffed frog that he is "riding". He LOVES it.
















Ethan climbed on top of the car all by himself! I was just getting to him when we took this picture! He couldn't ride in it, he had to ride on top. Wild little man!

A fun Saturday morning

On Saturday we went to Great Falls National Park. We enjoyed hiking and seeing the falls early in the morning before it got too hot. It was great to be outside.

And here is a picture of Ethan just being his usual cute self trying on Dad's shoes.

Happy Father's Day!

We sure love our Dad's and are grateful for their wonderful examples to us. Craig and I are very blessed to both have Fathers who raised us well and taught us what is truly important.

I am also grateful for the great Dad Craig is to Ethan and will be to our new baby. Since Craig has been working from home so much more Ethan has been in heaven. At least 100 times a day Ethan runs to Daddy to give him a big sloppy (usually very drooly) kiss. We had a fun Father's day enjoying pork chops, mashed potatoes and cinnamon apples for dinner. I think every-bodies favorite part though was the cookies at the end. We caught Ethan eating Craig's "cookie bouquet" while we were skyping with our dads--so I think he enjoyed himself!

Ethan and his garden

Ethan has LOVED our garden this year. He spends at least an hour on the patio every day watering (or pretending to water) the plants. We got him a little camp chair his size so he can sit out there. You can't see it in this picture but he even has his own little squash plant. We gave him his own since he insisted on pulling the plants up by the roots. His squash has endured many a baby assault but is surprisingly still blooming regularly! It is is however less than half the size of all our other plants but the beauty of it is that it is his plant and he loves it. If you ask him how his squash is doing he will run over and check for you every time. Here is a picture of us about to enjoy our first garden fresh pea--it was amazing!

National Air and Space Museum

This memorial day we had a chance to go to the National Air and Space Museum with Wendy (Craig's sister) and her kids. It was great. Ethan loved it to say the least. He slept for the drive over and woke to see his favorite cousin Callan smiling over his stroller. That was enough to make his afternoon but when he realized we were going to see hundreds of airplanes he couldn't contain himself. He laughed and pointed up at all the airplanes the entire visit.  We thought he would enjoy the museum but we had no idea how much!

A funny quark

Ethan has a collection of funny quarks, but here is one that just makes me laugh. To start, he loves his blankie. He doesn't love to to just cuddle with it though, he loves to rip holes in it and tear the batting out. Then he loves to rub the fuzz all over his face while he sucks his thumb. I have recently noticed he has a hard time doing all the little boy things he loves to do with one hand holding a ball of fuzz and the other thumb in his mouth so his solution has been to store a ball of fuzz in his ear. This way he has at least one hand free but has his "blankie" of sorts ready just an ears shot away.

Here is a little bit of Ethan being Ethan. Diapers come off faster than they go on around here and poor blankie is always being torn to shreds. 

It's a........well, it's not a duck!

We are having a baby! 

I am due October 6th...of course always give or take:) Today was our big ultrasound to find out the gender but our little one was shy and didn't want to give out the surprise. We are kind of assuming it's a girl because we never saw any evidence of a boy, but the baby also never opened it's legs at all! I walked the halls a couple times to get this child to move around but we have a stubborn little baby apparently! So I guess we are going the old fashion route because the technician said she simply couldn't tell us! The important news is everything looked healthy and we are very excited.

Here is a shot of our beautiful/handsome baby:)

Apartment style gardening

We were excited to discover we had plenty of sun on our large balcony to grow a little garden this year. Ethan of course loves playing in the dirt, adding worms he finds to each pot, and pulling leaves off. He also really enjoys smelling the tomatoes--he loves tomatoes so I think he will be very excited to learn one of his favorite foods will start growing soon from his already lovely plant.

Frying Pan Farm Park

One of our first adventures here in Virginia has been to Frying Pan Farm Park. We went on our anniversary actually with Wendy and her kids (how romantic huh?) actually it couldn't have been better. The weather was perfect and the cows were super friendly. It is an old farm that was functional 80 years ago. The county bought it up and turned it into a park. I kept thinking of my Grandpa's farm and how his must have been similar. There are still lots of animals, a garden, a functioning smoke house, and even the cute farm house can be toured. It goes without saying: Ethan loved it...though I am not sure who enjoyed themselves more, Ethan or Craig. It's only about a 15 minute drive from us through the woods and it was pretty cool.

Here at last

What an adventure. The Marshall family has arrived in D.C. (well, Oakton to be specific) and what a blessing it is. I want to give a bit of a travel log to point out the blessings along our path.

A while ago Craig's parents came out to visit us while in Houston. We enjoyed the wonderful early spring Texas is usually graced with. We also went to what has been rated "the countries best children's museum" (some parenting magazine I get) while they visited which was great. Ethan loved it and we loved having them visit.

The next week we flew to Idaho to visit Grandma and Grandpa Rose. My younger brother Eric was also home on military leave from Iraq. By some crazy twist of fate our flight was delayed by two days in Salt Lake City. Who has ever heard of a two day delay for a domestic flight? My brother wasn't even delayed that much coming out of a war zone!!! Anyway it actually worked out great and we visited our dear friends the Luthy's. We counted it as an act of God because it was the only weekend that month they were in town and they are really our family we are just not related to. I wish I had taken pictures but when you are having so much fun the camera just doesn't seem to make it out of the bag. Well, we finally made it to Idaho. We were there for two weeks and loved it. We even got to go to Idaho Falls to see my Grandma. It was a wonderful trip and we were sad to leave...but we had big plans:)

Here we are celebrating Dad's 50th. Eric and Ben insisted on doing "heavy heavy hang over" with his new 100lb garden cart.

We got home from Idaho and started to get ready for our trek across the country. Yes. We drove with a teething 17 month old, over Easter, across the country. To our surprise our movers were able to pack our things two days early. The unexpected punctuality inspired us to leave a little early. Thank heavens we did. We were able to pass through Alabama just two days before the tornadoes struck. Had we left on schedule we would have been there in the middle of the disaster. We prayed each day for protection as we drove and we somehow made it across the country with nothing more than a cracked windshield. We spent Easter morning in Layafette Louisiana. Ethan enjoyed an Easter egg hung in our hotel suite and we even made an hour of church before hitting the road again.

We were able to stop in North Carolina for a couple days with Craig's family before our final journey to D.C. which was a nice break from the car. We made it here on a sunny Thursday afternoon, checked into our apartment and here we have sat since--enjoying our dinners around a diaper box waiting for our things to arrive. We have also visited Craig's sister in Arlington a few times which has been a nice distraction from our empty apartment.

In case you actually read the exciting travel log, you will notice things just worked out all along the way. We have been blessed a great amount. It sure didn't feel like it was working out when Ethan screamed for hours in the car or we sat in an airport at 5 a.m. being told we would sit there for two more days....but everything has worked out. We are here. We all lived. And I am so grateful for this opportunity. Moving is always kind of a chance to start over, meet new people, and resolve to never gather that much junk again. We have family who we love and are blessed enough to have them love us back. We have a Father in Heaven who listens to our prayers and guides us even when we don't realize it. We have amazing opportunities and potential here that I hope we live up to.

Here is a snapshot of our apt. (we are on the upper floor) We would love for friends and family to come visit us--and since DC is just a train ride away we could have lots of fun!