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.