Ethan & Ella

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T21:17:00.002-05:00

Fall and Halloween pictures updated.

Vacation!

2010-10-28T21:22:00.001-05:00

Last month we took a long weekend vacation to Port Aransas. On the way, we stopped in Corpus Christi at the aquarium. The kids really enjoyed touching animals like stingrays and baby alligators. There’s plenty more pictures in the web album.

We had been wanting to take the kids to the beach, but weren’t sure how much they would like it. We knew there was a chance they would decide they didn’t like the ocean waves or the sand in their toes or a hundred other things. Turns out, our fears were completely unfounded. They both loved it. I think Ethan could have built sandcastles for a week without getting tired and Ella’s favorite was jumping in the waves.

We also got to take the kids on a dolphin watching boat tour one evening. We only promised a boat ride since we weren’t sure how easy it was going to be to spot the dolphins. Turns out it wasn’t much trouble as they were all around the boat, sometimes two or three together. They also put down a net and pulled in all sorts of sea creatures for the kids to touch, like shrimp, crabs, fish, and stingrays. In all, we had a great time and I’m sure we’ll be going back soon.

Birthday Boy

2010-08-31T21:24:00.002-05:00

Since we'll be out of town on Ethan's birthday, the celebration has started early. On Monday, Ethan had a playdate/party with his best friends.

The Saturday before, the family went to Kiddie Acres, which is a tiny little amusement park just their size. They got to ride a pony, a miniature train, and all sorts of rides. Then we went home and opened presents. I'll have more pictures uploaded later. Several videos are below.

The growing ups both need a nap now

2010-03-06T20:55:00.003-06:00

Mommy and Daddy were busy on Friday building the new playset, so both kids occupied themselves by starting a dirt collection in their hair, mouth, noses, etc.

We're all thrilled with the new playset. We celebrated being done with a trip to the Salt Lick, where the table of ladies across from us marveled at the amount of food both kids ate, and a man from the table next to us stopped to tell us he was deaf and our kids were really good. We enjoy getting positive feedback, although it probably never hurts to not be able to hear everything from our table!

Do child labor laws apply if you don't pay them?

2010-03-04T20:33:00.002-06:00

I'm pretty sure God makes them funny so you'll keep them...

2010-03-03T14:27:00.005-06:00

Ella has had several "milestones" lately that she's extremely proud about. She's been doing a really good job wearing big girl underwear, and has discovered that she can take off her own pants in order to go to the potty. She has confined this new talent to the bathroom, which may be a difference between boys and girls? She's also figured out how to climb the various ladders and climbing walls at the playgrounds (which can be pretty entertaining and exhausting to watch since her legs are really short). She also has coined a new phrase for milk--"cow juice". That makes me laugh almost every time. We recently put a picture on the wall over the stairs; it's an abstract piece with mostly rectangular shapes/colors on it. Every morning as we walk down the stairs Ella tells me what she thinks it looks like. So far her most common themes are religious-- "I think that's Jesus, Mommy."

Ethan has become preoccupied with when he's going to go to school. Today he told me that when he reaches the "final number" (which for some reason is his wording for any age that he will have to be to do something) he's going to drive a car to the bus stop and then get on the bus to go to school. He also gave me lots of kisses, followed immediately by a request to watch some tv. Some work to do on his subtlety! Last night he made me laugh when we were cooking--"Are you going to put some sneezeaning in that sauce?"

If you're wondering how to pray for me these days, patience would be high on the list. It's been challenging to model respectful communication in the face of the kids' frequent bickering with each other, whining, and flat out disobedience. I know you're not supposed to pray for patience since like most virtues it comes through the trials, but we're living the challenges and I'm hoping to use all of these opportunities with them in a way that glorifies God and shows His love. God has mighty things in store for these two little ones, and I'd like all of us to survive 2 and 3 to experience them!

Bouncy sticky fun

2010-03-02T15:50:00.003-06:00

We went to play with friends at an indoor inflatable place today. I was amazed to see my normally cautious little guy run around like a banshee climbing, jumping, and sliding on things. Only one rescue mission needed (and it's not a bad day when I have to do a little sliding on a really tall slide, now is it?), and then he went down that same slide repeatedly for the next half hour. It may or may not have been slightly influenced by the fact that his little sister climbed all the way to the top, looked down at me, and slid down with a squeal. Ella loved laying on her stomach and letting the other kids jumping bounce her around. Unfortunately she really liked doing this near the entrances, which led to more than one time of getting stepped on. Didn't seem to phase her much.

We also discovered today that you can trade in your toy at chick-fil-a for an ice cream cone. If you can let go of that reflex to catch all the drips, it's a super sweet sight to see those two attack an ice cream cone. Ella's reactions to the cold are pretty adorable---wish I'd had a camara to catch the faces she makes.

My favorite statement of the day so far was on our drive there. Ethan looks out the window and says, "Look mom, a dinosaur!" When I replied "a dinosaur?" he nonchalantly says, "or maybe a dog." Never saw what he was talking about, and he couldn't understand why I found that so funny.

Be glad if it's only your stomach he asks about...

2010-03-01T14:30:00.002-06:00

We had some trees installed in the back and side yard last week, so the kids are eagerly anticipating the arrival of birds. Even after explaining how it might take some time before there would be any birds interested, every time he walks by the back windows or door Ethan is greatly disappointed that there aren't any yet. He'll tell you all about how they like cherry laurels, and how they have different stomachs than us so they eat different foods. He'll usually then ask about some random person's stomach and if it's different than the birds. Apparently he's curious if there is anybody he can offer some of these off-limits berries.

Both kids have apparently decided that naps are for the birds; I think I've gotten one nap each out of them in the past week. On the positive side, they're going to sleep without a peep at night, and they both stay in their rooms for a quiet time (Ethan quietly reads and Ella sings and talks the entire time). On the negative side, NOBODY IS NAPPING!!! There is no time of silence during my day. This is probably not helped by the constant construction noise from the two lots on our street that are being prepared for houses. There is a full-size excavator with a jackhammer attachment digging through a huge mass of limestone that's at least four feet deep. Ethan has a direct view of all of this (and the basketball goal in the driveway where our neighbor's 5 year old plays when he gets home from school) from his bedroom window. Even for a kid who really likes to sleep, there's really no question of what's more appealing.

We worked in the yard again this weekend preparing some beds for a small garden and some herbs and shrubs. Spring preparation is in full force here, with a playset arriving this week and much more work to do getting the beds ready (the soil here is a challenge). We picked up some seeds for the kids to plant inside in cups on Saturday. They liked the dirt and watering, but are again disappointed that they haven't seen the results yet!

Everything's bigger in Texas....

2010-02-23T14:20:00.003-06:00

Except the snowmen. This weekend we had warm weather---we worked in the yard for a few hours and enjoyed the 76 degree afternoon. So of course today it snowed all morning! We waited until there was a light coating and headed out for some fun.

No love for the sweet potato

2010-02-18T09:58:00.008-06:00

This morning in an attempt to keep the kids out of mischief (they're feeling better and pretty squirrely but still coughing and noses running enough we're avoiding other kids) we made collage placemats. The theme was supposed to be foods. Ethan included a girl with a bow and arrow and Ella put a cat. We won't think too much about those, although I suppose that Italian tv chef who just got fired might be in solidarity with Ella.

At breakfast this morning I watched Ethan dip his french toast into his yogurt and gobble it up. This from a kid who gets greatly disturbed when the different foods on his plate touch each other and make the other "dirty". I tried to exploit the love for dipping things last night by serving a little ketchup with the sweet potato fries (insert disgusted shudder here). Of course this didn't work. Brent laughed at me for calling them fries (which they love) and setting them up for disappointment. I'm not sure why I'm on this quest to find a way to serve sweet potatoes that Brent and the kids will like. They eat other vegetables, and I just can't understand not liking sweet potatoes. I've tried them served with butter and caramel sauce, roasted with honey, as chips with some cayenne (which were actually really good but made Ella scrape her tongue desperately with her fingers---oops), and last night's attempt tossed in some olive oil and onions/garlic/herbs and baked/broiled. Guess I'll resort to fixing it just for myself, which at least gives the possibility that they'll want it. Stuff on my plate always looks better to them.

With a cough cough here and a drip drip there...

2010-02-17T20:50:00.003-06:00

Pretty non-eventful around here except for the hacking coughs that have me constantly worried somebody's going to gag. Fun times!

In between the non-stop nose running and accompanying whining [most of it from the kids ; ) ] the kids have been helping me vacuum (they both love the toy vacuum Ella got from Ethan for her birthday until the real thing comes out), grocery shop, and make crafts (because another instrument that makes noise was clearly needed around here).

Ethan's bedtime prayers lately are all-encompassing and often include phrasings that I assume have come from church? We cover everybody's health, the Holy Word, angels, protection, requests to help with fear, and thanks for all of creation (usually a detailed list, although one day after that he said "and all that other stuff" just in case something had been forgotten). Ella usually gets fidgety before he's done!

Off to enjoy a bit of silence before the evening ends...

I'M TWO YEARS OLD!!!!

2010-02-15T21:59:00.003-06:00

We hear that a lot around the house this week, except for the times she tells us she's 3 years old (which actually is pretty common). Ella had a great time on her birthday at an indoor play place with some friends. There were inflatables and several pretend play areas---Ella enjoyed the veterinarian area quite a bit. (I'm not sure why her neck has disappeared in this picture; I think she was trying to keep the stethoscope from falling off?)

It's good to have a two year audience for my cake-making skills. While extremely picky about many random details of her day, she was absolutely thrilled by her cat cake and not bothered at all by the oreo look that resulted from me trying to frost a chocolate cake with white frosting.

The kids have had lots of daddy time this long weekend since Brent took off work on Friday because I was having gum grafting surgery. They'll be sad to see him go back to work tomorrow after four days with us. My recovery has been pretty good, but now everybody else in the house is fighting a cold. Vicks on the feet for both kiddos tonight--the coughing has been pretty rough.

Happy Birthday, Ella!

2010-02-10T22:19:00.003-06:00

Zero...

One...

Two!!!

Just to be safe, let's hide all sharp objects...

2010-02-09T15:27:00.003-06:00

Yesterday the kids and I survived a day of errands in the rain that involved dropping my dad off for an outpatient surgery followed by SIX other stops (with everybody unloading and loading for each stop.) I'm pretty sure I was thinking crazy, but they actually all went pretty smoothly. Ethan is an excellent umbrella chaser and door opener, and Ella had all the ladies in the stores giggling about her pants which kept sagging (she was showing more pullup than usual because mommy forgot that pair of paints doesn't have an adjustable waist).

We seem to have clumsy days in cycles around here. So far today Ethan has pulled down their shower curtain on his head and fallen head first into the toilet (he did block his fall with his arm, so no injury but a serious amount of insult on his part). He would probably add to that list the tragedy of jelly on his pj's and a piece of grapefruit flying into the air and landing on the floor as he scraped the last bit of juice out. These were clearly major events based on the level of drama that followed. He likes things to be a certain way, that child.

Ella is very excited about her birthday and has been telling us repeatedly "I'm having a cat birthday!!!" I'm hoping that I am capable of pulling off the kitty cat cake. It's not at all complicated, but doesn't have much in the way of details for the less artistically inclined. Today Ethan proudly helped me make the cupcakes and a cake for her birthday--I'll try decorating without little hands helping.

The kids both enjoyed talking with cousins on Skype today and spent the rest of the morning doing Ella's birthday puzzle over and over again.

Let the birthday celebrations begin...

2010-02-06T14:55:00.007-06:00

[This is my second try at this post. It may just be me, but trying to move pictures and text around in this format is not obvious or easy. My general solution is to just go away and (maybe) try again later...we'll give it one more go. I'll go ahead and apologize right now for the weird formatting of the pictures!]

We started off our morning with Ethan coming downstairs and climbing into our bed. This was a surprise, since he generally stays in bed when he wakes up and calls out to us that he's awake. We got about 30 seconds before he declared the bed too crowded and made a motion that we get moving.

Ethan and I made cinnamon rolls while Ella slept in late (for her at least). Then we headed to the Children's Museum for some family time celebrating Ella's birthday (since Brent will be working on Wednesday when we play with some of her friends.) The kids had a lot of fun, although it's debatable which they were more excited about--the museum or chick-fil-a afterwards! Ethan enjoyed controlling a vortex. Ella enjoyed being a superhero in the wind tunnel and trying out the different headphones. We enjoyed the fact that we got there right when it opened, because by the time we left it was crawling with kids.

I'm sure you'll all be invited...

2010-02-05T14:07:00.002-06:00

At lunch today the kids started asking questions about my wedding ring. Ethan asked if he can have one when he is a "growing up". When I told him that he can buy a ring, but that a wedding ring would be if/when he decided to marry a girl, he immediately replied, "I'm gonna marry a girl. I'll be grown up in two months, and then I'll do it."

Cleaning day

2010-02-04T14:28:00.004-06:00

They take this very seriously...

Until they realize there is a camara in the vicinity....

While busily cleaning their own kitchen, Ella sings "We're gonna clean all day and all night!" (which I can guarantee she has NEVER heard around here!) Ethan responds, "No Ella, not all night." And after a bit of a pause, with a look over to me "And NOT all day either...."

Those of you not interested in potty news, look away for this paragraph. We had a momentous occasion today where Ella (who is wearing underwear around the house) actually told me that she had gas and needed to go to the potty, and then actually pooped in the potty. I have no illusions of being done, but this is a welcome progression from her current status of either going in her underwear or saving it all day and going in her diaper overnight.

Ethan surprised me today with his impressive laundry folding skills. He's been my washrag folder for a while now (Ella is our sock sorter and dryer sheet disposal girl), but I will confess that it took every ounce of my self-control to not refold the rags that didn't match up (that kid gets some of his obsessive streaks honest). Today he brought them over to the couch and I was so proud to see how neatly he had folded them. It's a day full of high fives around here.

I think my feet are still cold...

2010-02-03T16:16:00.003-06:00

The kids were good sports this morning for our scheduled activity of two different grocery stores. This was good, since 40 degrees and rainy isn't very convenient for loading and unloading those two plus groceries. Ethan wanted to hold the umbrella, Ella wanted to walk when it's easier to carry her and stand when it's easier to have her sitting, and nobody was happy that the cart only seats one in the front, but we'll take those challenges any day.

One day earlier this week as I sat in the rocker with Ethan before naptime he asked me if I had any kisses left for him. I told him that God makes sure mommy never runs out of kisses for him. He stopped and thought for a while then gave me a series of giggly kisses, and then said, "I took all your kisses. You need to pray to God and ask him to send you more, and tell him he can send some for daddy too."

Ella carried her Hello Kitty purse around all morning, and kept digging in it while mumbling, "Where's my kleenex go?"

2010-02-02T15:21:00.002-06:00

If I ever wondered what I must look/sound like to God, I get some pretty good glimpses of it in my life these days. What a blessing to have a Heavenly Father who is patient and gracious! Today we had a fun morning playing with Ethan and Ella's friend Jacob here at the house. At one point Ethan had a major meltdown because his playdoh snake got "broken". It took an unfortunate amount of time to get him calmed down enough to comprehend that the whole point of playdoh is the fact that it can be fixed over and over again. Once he realized/remembered this, he really got into the idea of seeing how many snakes he could transplant together.

The three kids got into a discussion about who was a big kid. Ella was sure that Jacob was, but Ethan wasn't so sure about it (Jacob is in between our kids' ages). Ethan's big sticking point? "His head isn't as big as this one" while pointing to his own noggin. Not many are, my son. Later in the day Ethan (apparently still thinking about the finer points of this) let me know that big kids can chew gum, and he's pretty excited about when that day comes. It's good to have goals, right? I'll be more inclined to consider that possibility when he makes it through more than a couple days without a crying fit because he bit his finger or tongue while eating.

Nobody wanted to nap today (at least nobody shorter than 3 feet tall), so quiet time was short and not very quiet. Hopefully they'll be tired early tonight?

And we're back...

2010-02-01T14:59:00.002-06:00

And somehow it's been over 3 months with no post. Oops! There are December pictures in the album on the sidebar.

Life has been a bit bumpy for our extended family lately. In the midst of it have been frequent reminders that God is good and we are blessed beyond measure. Ethan and Ella really enjoy each other now, and will often go off together into the playroom and play together happily for a while. This is a welcome respite for me, but doesn't always come without a cost. Somehow even with me staying within hearing distance they have managed some creative messes; our recent bouts into potty training with Ella have added extra challenges to this mix. The potty training is entirely at her request; she becomes indignant these days about putting on a diaper. She is relatively good about using the toilet, but again I am reminded that buying stock in the manufacters of oxiclean might have been a good investment. It works for all kinds of unimaginable (at least in my pre-children life) stains.

Ethan is still my constant sous-chef, and while Ella enjoys stirring things with us, she's more of a laundry fan. When our old vacuum died and we got a smaller, quieter model they both decided vacuuming was great as well. I see the humor in the fact that by the time they are actually helpful in these processes they will have absolutely no interest in helping me with them!

Ethan learned to hop correctly during our Christmas travels, and proudly does this all over the house. He loves to build elaborate structures with his blocks (frequently they're foundation heavy, and he will give you a long explanation of why you need a strong base for your towers). My brother in law Bruce might have said it best when he remarked at Christmas that Ethan often takes 5 sentences to tell you something a lot of kids would tell you in a few words. This was really validating to hear, as it frequently feels like I've heard far more than my quota of words in a day! He's really taken on the role of big brother, and loves to teach Ella things (and boss her around about them....)

Ella loves taking her of her baby dolls (and a dinosaur of Ethan's that she loves to bottle feed). Her vocabulary and verbal expression are just funny---you don't expect to hear such complex sentences consistently from a not yet two year old. Last week in the car she and Ethan were debating about whether we had gone through the gate at the park (which we had). Ella kept insisting, "We didn't go through the gate!" with Ethan getting increasingly frustrated as he told her that we did. I finally told Ethan to stop worrying about it and just let Ella talk. She repeats it again and Ethan protests...she then wails, "Ethan's not letting me say what I want!!!!" I think we're in for our share of challenges ahead.

Both kids are currently obsessed with listening to Peter and the Wolf, and will narrate the entire story to you as it plays. This leads to some funny questions that they repeat multiple times. You get some funny looks in the store when your kids keep asking, "What does greedy eyes mean?"

Hopefully I can get back in the habit of documenting our life on a more regular basis. So many funny little things happen that get almost immediately forgotten.

Off to make dinner before kids are up from their nap.

Halloween 09

2009-11-01T20:21:00.006-06:00

Sorry for the delay in updating. There's a ton of pictures added as of this evening to our web album, and I'll be making a couple posts over the next couple of days.

This year we went to a church Halloween party. Both kids loved their costumes.

Ethan was asked what kind of face he wanted on his jack-o-lantern. This was his suggestion:

I drew up a couple options and he chose the one on the right.

And here's how it turned out:

Ethan's Birthday

2009-08-31T21:50:00.001-05:00

Even though Ethan's birthday is not for another 6 days, he got an early start on the week with his new scooter from Grandpa and Grandma.

Black and Blue

2009-08-22T21:59:00.004-05:00

Ella has now had two pretty serious falls, both more painful than anything Ethan has experienced. Once she fell off some playground equipment (not pictured) and just recently she tripped and ran into a corner of Ethan's bed which resulted in the pictured black eye. Not sure if this is indicative of being more naturally adventurous than Ethan -- it's quite possible she's just in over her head when trying to keep up with an (almost) 3 year old. The eye obviously hurt her a bit, but she seemed more annoyed by the ice we kept trying to apply after it happened.

Walking!

2009-07-12T21:03:00.003-05:00

A day past 17 months old and Ella finally decided to break free and walk on her own. Yesterday she decided to go for it and started walking all around the room and standing up in the middle of the room on her own.

Of course, she didn't cooperate much when the video camera was pulled out, but here's a picture of her after church this morning.

Summer Daze

2009-07-09T21:25:00.010-05:00

It's 99 degrees at 9 pm here. Summer in Texas is an interesting experience when you're trying to get two toddlers into carseats when everybody wants to do things "by myself!" (I'm still in denial about this fact. How do they grow so fast? Although technically Ella probably doesn't count as a toddler since she won't let go of my finger while walking...except for when she thinks we're not looking and she wants to walk from one toy to another.)

Both kids experienced their first 4th of July fireworks this year. It turned into more of an outing than planned when we got stuck waiting for a shuttle out of the park and didn't get home until almost midnight. Foiled in our plan to try the smaller fireworks out at the lake in hopes that it would be less crowded than the Austin ones! Ella was pacified with some snacks, and enjoyed the first few minutes of fireworks before getting overwhelmed and laying her head down on my shoulder for the rest. Ethan really enjoyed the fireworks and even stayed awake for the drive home, chatting away about the night.

Ethan finished two weeks of swim lessons, and I got a lesson in adjusting expectations and relaxing about what others might think. (Let's just say that the other parents were highly amused at hearing Ethan emphatically tell me, "that's really enough" when encouraging him to try something new.) Putting your face in the water is overrrated, right? In a turn of events likely to be repeated many times in our future, Ella has proven to be far bolder in the water. This tends to encourage Ethan to stretch himself past his comfort level, and he has tentatively done some floating on his back and blowing bubbles in our neighborhood pool in the last few visits.

Ella has had some major developments in the recent months. She decided that she likes to eat now, and frequently puts away an amazing amount of food. While still pickier than Ethan, she has expanded what she'll try by quite a bit. She still chooses to keep me guessing by having no consistency about what veggies she likes or doesn't like. She's also added so many words to her vocabulary that I couldn't begin to guess how many she says now. She goes out of her way to talk in sentences; most of the things she says now are two to five word sentences ("I dropped food on floor" is a frequent one, as is "I do it myself"). She sings most of the alphabet song (recognizable with some mixed up letters), Jesus Loves Me, Halleluh, and Deep and Wide, and counts to 10 (skipping 7 every time). For a long time she would ask to sing a song from a Steve Green CD with the Bible verse "Do Not be overcome by evil". Nothing like having your 16 month old chanting "Come Evil" through the grocery store. In an amusing and somewhat scary turn of events, she's been begging to use the potty and has actually peed in it 4 times over the last few days. Almost 17 months and she won't walk by herself, but she's telling me all about what she wants! She LOVES her babies and animals and frequently makes everybody kiss, hug, and feed them with her. (She also happily drives Ethan's cars and trucks around and calls all loud vehicles a "fire truck"---having a big brother broadens her toy horizons!)

Ethan has also been keeping us on our toes. He decided about a month ago that he was done with diapers, and he's had very few accidents since. We now have a detailed knowledge of the public restrooms in every place we go. While he is actually able to go quite a while between visits to the restroom, he is fascinated by checking out other restrooms and usually wants to go to the bathroom as soon as we get to a place. This leads to some interesting juggling acts with both kids. It also leads to some really awkward conversations, like the one we had at Walgreens a couple weeks ago when a homeless woman was talking to herself and making some odd animal noises in the other stall. Errands take a lot longer these days.

He's also full of funny observations, questions, and philosophical discussions. He's informed me that God doesn't take a car to Heaven, but walks. We had a long discussion about lightning one day where he asked if it needed a ladder and a long cord to plug in for the electricity to work, and then asked me if it had a face, hands, etc. After multiple times of explaining that it wasn't a person but a thing, he got exasperated with me and asked if it at least had a hat.

He's been stalling at bedtime trying to avoid going to sleep. After several trips to the potty, when he's been told we're all done, he starts trying to get creative about why he's crying out for us. Lately he'll say, "I need something!" but never give you a specific thing. In frustration the other night Brent finally said, "okay, we'll get you something in the morning." Ethan woke up after Brent had already left for work, and within a few minutes told me that Daddy said he could get something in the morning. After more questioning I told him that I couldn't help him if he didn't tell me what it was he wanted. He walked into the other room to play, and I could hear him muttering to himself, "I wanted something and Daddy said yes but Mommy said no. I'm not happy anymore. Now I'm really sad."

We've been trying to beat the heat with water activities and indoor fun, so the kids got to experience their first movie in the theatre this week. Older movies are run each week for free, so we decided to try out a Veggie Tales "Pirates who didn't do anything" movie. The kids did great and have been playing upstairs by pulling out their toy bins and sitting in their "boats" for the last couple days.

Today we were on the way to check on the watermelon sorbet we'd started earlier in the kitchen and had to take a potty detour. Ethan paused and asked me, "The ice cream maker won't get my underwear?" Not sure where that one came from! He usually is worried about Ella taking his underwear (not without cause, as she has been known to take them and wear them on her head or hide them!)

They're enjoying each other more and more these days, and their play is a source of great amusement to me on a pretty regular basis. They're also tagteaming us these days, with Ethan often prompting Ella to ask for something they both want or to do something he thinks would be funny. I know I've said this several times before, but I'll try to keep up with the blog more frequently, if only to remember some of the random little things that happen around here. Hope you're all enjoying your summer!

Just Like Big Brother

2009-06-15T21:18:00.004-05:00

Most days Ella likes to emulate her big brother. Often it's just repeating the silly sounds she heard him make. Today we were surprised to hear her counting to five by herself, which she certainly picked up from him. On this day, while helping Mommy with the laundry, she decided to dress up like him by putting on his hat and sandals to go along with his underwear she found. Ethan is generally better dressed when he leaves the house.

Little Carnivores

2009-06-07T21:28:00.005-05:00

Ribs!

We'll be back soon with some updates. We have some catching up to do.

yes, they're getting bigger

2009-03-17T15:02:00.003-05:00

This morning Ethan pulled off his sock, examined his foot, and then proudly announced, "My toes are growing up Mommy! Look, they're getting bigger!"

This week we realized Ella is saying flashlight, phone, what's that? (this is a frequent one that sounds a bit like "wuzzatt?"), and want some (when she sees food she wants, while signing more, she says "wannsum?" -- this one I'm pretty sure is courtesy of her brother) She's also started consistently doing a sign (again her version of it) for eat, please, more, thank you, all done, and bath.

I realize sometimes that we're all growing in our own ways. I personally have an increased tolerance for embarassment in public, as our grocery trips frequently include the need for some snacks (sometimes resulting in colorful clothes and faces) and songs (often with motions) to keep everybody pleasant and in the cart. This increased tolerance should serve me well, as one of Ethan's most common phrases these days is "I smell something!" He will then tell you if it smells good or bad, and what he thinks it might be. While people smile and think this is cute/clever on the coffee aisle, I can imagine plenty of scenarios where I will wish his little voice wouldn't carry so clearly. As Ella gets older, she may wish the same thing, since if it's a less than pleasant smell he frequently asks her "you pooping Ella?"

Where socks go to die

2009-03-15T20:45:00.004-05:00

Our kids have a thing about taking their socks off and finding new places to stick them. On a regular basis we have to go fishing on the floor, behind the bed, in the toy chest, in my pots and pans drawer, etc. I just had to feel around Ethan's bed in the dark looking for them as we discussed (again!) how the neighbor's dog was barking. Some people's washers eat socks...I'm pretty sure our kids' beds eat socks. I frequently discover single socks behind their beds days after I've given up on them.

On Thursday we had painters paint our entryway. Ethan is fascinated by the fact that a man painted our walls, and he approves of the color ("It's really pretty!") Who would have that we'd all be so excited by mesa tan walls? We clearly live on the edge around here with all the shades of brown...

Last night we ate at Chipotle and Ethan ate SO much of his burrito bowl that he was complaining about his tummy hurting for the next hour. He was also in a super manic mode on the drive home. He started making up all kinds of things in the vein of "brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?" which pretty much sounded like "car, car, what do you see? I see a sign looking at me. Sign, sign what do you see? I see a bird looking at me." with giggles after each one. My favorite that he came up with was was "I see a FULL tummy looking at me!"

Ella decided that carrots are awesome this week. This means that more likely than not she will think they are disgusting next week! She's also showing more interest in wanting to "help" me with the cooking, dishwashing, laundry etc. She especially likes any chores that involve water --"wahwah!!"

Ethan has hit some highs and lows this week in his treatment of Ella. Last night in the bath when Ella started crying about something he said, "Don't cry Ella. I love you, Ella!" which absolutely melted my heart. However, he's also hit her several times this week when he was upset about something, so we've logged more time in timeout (we haven't had to use it much at all in the last couple months). I suppose the sibling love/conflict thing is only beginning!

Shhhh, what's that I hear?

2009-03-11T15:18:00.002-05:00

I'm currently enjoying some silence. We had a friend over to play this morning, and the kids were great, but they get like little monkeys screeching gleefully at each other as they get tired and/or more silly. Ella has learned to hold her own with the big boys, and in fact several times got a little pushy with one of the boys when they had something she wanted. And did I mention I found her halfway up the stairs this week when I left her in the kitchen to go put a load of clothes in the washer? She may show no interest in walking right now, but climbing is another story.

Ethan has become our little seed connoisseur (I just had to google that to spell it correctly). Any time he's eating fruit, he tells you whether you can eat that kind of seed and then goes into a long discussion of which ones you should and should not eat (we eat kiwi and strawberry seeds, we don't eat orange and apple seeds, etc.). Every time. And every time he's very excited, as if it's a new discovery.

We enjoyed some really nice evenings earlier this week; between the increased light from the time change and the great warm temperatures, we spent a lot of time outside. Today is cold and rainy. Thank you God for the rain! Our grass is absolutely crunchy; Ella picks up her legs and wrinkles her nose if you try to sit her on the lawn.

Daylight savings time has confused Ethan and he is all over the map on when he wakes up this week. His naps have also been shorter. He is still a wonderful sleeper, but I'm sad when my good sleeper is up earlier in the morning and from his nap. Off to get him...the silence was short lived but sweet!

no pancakes for breakfast?

2009-03-10T14:26:00.004-05:00

Ethan has a couple new sayings that make me laugh (with my back turned). One he learned from my sister at Christmas, but hasn't said much since then. Last night he was helping Brent put mulch on the new tree, and he stepped back and said, "It looks snazzy; very nazzy." He said the same thing as he barreled towards me after his bath last night, "Mommy I look snazzy!!!"

Sometimes lately he'll be playing and I hear a big , "URRRGH!! Mommy, I'm frustrated...I need some help!" (This is after a lot of time focusing on the fact that it's not okay to scream and throw things when they're not working the way you want them to work. It's still sometimes followed by throwing a toy, but we're working on it!) I tried to teach him to take a breath and relax, but this didn't sink in until he saw a Blue's clues episode where they practiced stop, breathe, and think. Side note: this felt a little bit like when I was working and a client would tell me they learned something revolutionary from Dr. Phil or Supernanny; often something that I had been working on with them with no results for quite a while. Somehow it's less frustrating when it's a 2 year old.

Ella has become quite the bookworm. Yesterday at the library I could barely keep up with her as she tried to pull book after book off the shelf. At home you have to distract her to be able to stop reading books. When I go to put her down for her nap she pleads "mo book, mo book?" in the most pitiful way possible.

While we were at the library Ethan asked me about a book that he's asked for several times (and I keep forgetting to request online). When I looked and then told him it wasn't there, he said, "some other boy borrowed it? He's gonna be SO happy." On that note, let me sign off and go put a hold request for "Pancakes for Breakfast"!

Back to school

2009-03-09T13:54:00.004-05:00

This morning we went to the children's research lab at the university and Ella participated in a study about how much one year olds can recognize different quantities of objects. On the way there we were discussing what was going to happen. I told Ethan I had gone to school there, and he asked "You played with the kids there?" (He's pretty sure that school must be great fun since his favorite neighbor kids are always at school during the day.) Ella enjoyed a little tv time, and Ethan had a great time playing in the waiting room with all the toys. He was shy at first, but after a few minutes when I went to the back he was happily talking with the girl about the viewfinder with Toy Story on it. When I came back 5 minutes later he was entertaining three college girls; all of them were cracking up about how excited he was about this magnet table with frogs and lizards in it that you could make jump around : ) Between the frog table and all the motorcycles parked across the street, I think he's decided that maybe he's ready for college. We'll just focus on potty training for the time being....

He's always willing to help out...

2009-03-08T21:47:00.002-05:00

Overheard in the back seat on the way home from church this morning:

"Ella, no crying. You go to timeout."

Daddy + home improvement store + work gloves = the happiest little boy ever

2009-03-07T11:05:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Brent took a day off, and he and Ethan had a guy morning. By the time the day was over, they had gone to the auto parts store twice, home depot twice, and lowe's once. They worked on the push and riding mower (changing oil, sharpening blades, etc.) It was a little boy's dream day. (You can tell by the above pic that it was a windy day, and that I had forgotten to check the lens. Somehow it mysteriously always has a thumbprint clouding up the pictures!) Ethan was especially proud of wearing Daddy's work gloves. They also picked up a small seed kit to plant some flowers/veggies. It's been decorated with stickers, and so far survived "I shaked it!" a couple of times.

This morning we went to a local plant nursery to look at some small trees. This nursery has a couple cats roaming around, and pens with chickens, goats, and donkeys, so it was a fun excursion for all. Ella happily "bok, bok, bok, bok"ed at the chickens for quite a while, and Ethan picked out which were the "nice" chickens and goats.

Ella continues to grow more interested in standing as she realizes the increased potential for getting into things. Yesterday I found her happily cooking away...

She will move her legs to walk if absolutely necessary, but usually under protest. (She yells at the walker as she moves her feet to keep from falling!)

She loves to tickle, and you can frequently hear her in the back seat squealing "sock" when she gets one off, followed closely by "tickle, tickle, tickle" as she tickles her own toes.

When Ethan announces "I'm funny!" (which happens probably once a day), Ella now says "ha!' and then laughs.

Last night we got another glimpse into the mind of a two year old and how they try to make sense of everything they're seeing. Ethan had cried out after being put to bed because a neighborhood dog was barking repeatedly. (This is a pretty common occurence, along with the several minutes of discussion in his bed before he will settle back down and go to sleep.) After telling me he heard a dog barking, he asked somewhat nervously,"Neighbors gonna take care of it?", followed by "They gonna tie that string around its belly?" Apparently this is what the dogs being walked on leashes in front of our house must look like to him!

some random fun...

2009-03-06T11:36:00.003-06:00

Apparently Ethan has had a falling out with one of his stuffed animals. Over the past week or so, he asks at bedtime if turtle is in the bed. Turtle has been in the bed rotation (we had to set a limit of 5 at a time in the bed that he gets to choose; he was running out of room!) and had always been a favorite. But now when he asks, it's because he wants to make certain that turtle is not in the bed. As he told Brent and now repeats if asked why he doesn't want turtle in the bed, "I don't like him." (Imagine this in a two year old's most emphatic and disgusted voice.) Apparently he's concerned that turtle will try and slip back up, because he keeps checking.

Last night after their baths, Ethan looks over at Ella getting her hair brushed and says in the sweetest voice, "you look handsome, Ella! Very handsome."

This morning Brent and Ella were watching a Baby Einstein DVD (baby mcdonald). Ella LOVED it. She called all of the animals (except the cows) "doodoo!" and all of the fruits/veggies/grains "apple!"

Do they have a daily word quota they're trying to meet?

2009-03-03T22:21:00.005-06:00

Looks like we're going to have two talkers on our hands. So far Ella is saying some version that we can understand of no (which is usually nononononono), mama (which she rarely says and ONLY when she's whimpering or wailing because she's not getting what she wants), daddy, poppa, baby, ball (the girl LOVES balls), dog (she says doodoo!), up (I hear this one a LOT through the day), please, more (which she recently started signing and now uses any time she wants something), cracker, book (which she'll say as she drags book after book to you for you to read), socks, hat (you can see her putting things on her head in many pics--she loves to pretend everything is a hat), dance (I know, in a Baptist home!), and hop (one of her favorites right now...she'll say it and giggle away as she tries to get Ethan or one of us to hop for her). She's pretty good at parroting back some version of most things we say to her these days (and unfortunately sounds like a parrot on many of them). Last night she was pretty funny trying to say chicken. I honestly can not imagine what it's going to be like around here with both of them talking our ears off.

She's still not close to walking, but can do the military crawl with the best of them (and has carpet burn on her arm to show for it). She loves to do the itsy bitsy spider motions, and begs for this little piggy over and over again. She loves puzzles and has pretty good fine motor skills....she'll clap for herself as she finishes something successfully. She "sings" along with Ethan on many songs, especially the ABC's (as this is still his favorite song to sing to her). She loves to crawl/"hop" up the stairs with Ethan, so most of our trips upstairs take a while.

As Brent says, we have an eater and a sleeper, and they're both the same one! Ella likes to be unpredictable on both counts. She LOVES avocadoes, cheese, and fruit, and some days will chow down on meat. Veggies are another story. I keep serving them and trying creative ways to make them appealing, and we get some in her, but it's been a surprising challenge after having Ethan eat anything you put in front of him.

Ethan is also keeping us busy and entertained. He has become quite the attentive older brother. One night at dinner when I was telling Brent about how Ethan was protective of Ella at the library (when a little kid was trying to crawl over her, etc.) Ethan absolutely melted my heart as he announced "I'll always take care of Ella!" He is indeed very sweet with her most of the time, although her increased mobility has increased his stress level greatly. She wants to be right in the middle of anything he's doing, which is obviously a problem when you're trying to build the tallest tower ever. He has learned pretty well that hitting is not an option, but tries to grab her feet and scoot her away when I'm not looking. He also thinks it's pretty funny to watch and/or assist Ella in getting into things that he knows are not allowed (like pulling the toilet brush down off the shelf for her), and then just waiting, quietly giggling, for me to discover the naughtiness.

He loves helping to cook, helping with the dishes, loading the laundry, going to church, playing with his friends, blowing bubbles, riding his tricycle (which he is finally starting to be able to ride somewhat by himself), playing with playdoh, and coloring. Lately he frequently asks for help to "draw my name". He's also currently infatuated with the Backyardigans, and asks to watch a particular episode repeatedly. (As a side note to Ohio family, this episode is called secret mission, and he always asks for the "secret michigan"---too many times of saying beat michigan? ) At least we figured out what he's asked for; the first time he asked about it we had no context and thought he kept asking Brent for a secret mexican, which made no sense and would have been a slightly uncomfortable conversation in any public place.

He made a lady laugh in the grocery store this week when he excitedly squealed "bok choy" when I picked him some lettuce (he had helped me pick some out the week before; the excitement was all about thinking he had recognized something, as we discovered I am the only family member that likes bok choy). He and Ella then proceeded to laugh and say "bok, bok, bok" like little chickens for the next 5 minutes. Maybe this is why the most frequent things I hear from strangers are "you have your hands full" and "are they twins?" (which I still don't understand, as they are clearly not the same age---17 months difference!)

Off to try and prep dinner before I have two "helpers" for the process. As Ethan responds to a farewell of see you later, alligator.... after crocodiles! to you all.

One!

2009-02-10T21:22:00.003-06:00

Today we celebrate and are amazed that our baby girl is one year old. One year ago today Melissa woke me up and told me that this might be the day. With a mixture of skepticism and experience we calmly ate breakfast, showered, made arrangements for Ethan, and packed before heading to the hospital. Ella was born that afternoon and since then our days and nights have been ~~exhausting~~ filled with joy.

This evening we ate a meal of foods Ella usually likes, enjoyed a cupcake, and opened presents from her parents and family. Take a look at our pictures to experience for yourself.

2009-02-06T21:21:00.003-06:00

We were just wondering last week how old Ethan was when he started pulling himself up to standing. We looked at some pictures and found he was doing it at a much younger age than his sister. Ella had been pulling up to her knees but no further. But then last weekend the light switched on and now she pops right up.

Better late than never???

2008-12-13T10:13:00.018-06:00

This post was originally written on December 13; I was waiting to download the pics and then forgot all about it! Sorry in advance about the formatting on the pictures; my highschool yearbook advisor would be sorely disappointed! I'll post our more recent happenings in the next day or so, but in the meantime, enjoy some somewhat dated pictures and news!

We've had our first "big boy bed" nighttime injury (there have been a couple of bruises from monkeying around during the day and falling off). As far as we can tell, Ethan fell off the bed sometime Sunday night and hit his chin on the way down. He apparently crawled back in bed and went to sleep, and we found him with a bloody mess on his face the next morning. When we asked him what happened he tells us that he fell off the mattress and hit his chin, cried, and then got back in bed. The only thing we heard was one little cry around midnight that ended by the time I walked across the hall from Ella's room to his door (Ella likes to burn the midnight oil on occasion....and by occasion I of course mean days that end in "Y".) Note the injury and extreme bedhead Ethan's sporting in this picture!

Some of our sweetest moments these days are right before the kids' afternoon naps and when Ethan wakes up from his naps or in the morning. Ella has decided that when we're all in Ethan's bed it's time to pounce on him and giggle. It's hard to read books with two kids giggling like crazy! When I ask if we're done reading since they are distracted, Ethan always says "no, both sit up!" which lasts for exactly ten seconds until Ella divebombs him and the giggling starts again. She gets SO excited to see him when we go to get him after his nap that I have to hold her back a bit so he can wake up before being tackled. He can be really slow to wake up, but it really seems to start him off in a better mood these days. It's hard to stay cranky in the face of this much cuteness!

Last night at dinner Ella was fussing about something, and Ethan looked at us both and said with a tone I'm sure he's heard around here before, "What's Ella crying about?" It had an implied 'now' at the end of that question! For some reason it really cracked me up.

Ethan has become very infatuated with a line in one of the songs on the Raffi Christmas CD from the library. In the song it talks about Santa Claus having a cherry nose. Ethan asked me earlier this week about the cherry nose, then laughed and said "Ethan has cherry nose!" When I told him it meant a red nose, and asked if he had a red nose, he got very serious for a minute, thought, and then told me "I have red tongue..." Now he randomly starts laughing and tells us that he or somebody else in the family has a cherry nose.

This week Ethan is learning "Away in a Manger". Learning means I get to sing the same songs over and over and over again! Sometimes you don't realize until you're singing with a two year old how many of the traditional Christmas carols are difficult to sing because of their range or their vocabulary. He also likes us to sing Rudolph, although he calls it the "red nose reindeer song" when he's requesting it.

Both of our kids are very much in a "I do it myself" mode. With Ella it's food; she'd consistently rather eat finger foods or grab the spoon to do it herself when you're feeding her. She takes a two-handed approach to things she really likes, especially grated cheese. She's also a big fan of pears, carrots, broccoli, and crackers these days.

With Ethan it's anything you can imagine. He wants to do every aspect of his day by himself. He's getting better at climbing up and down from his booster seat and carseat (which means an extra few minutes added on to each errand we run), and he's able to do some of his dressing and undressing. He's been really proud lately that he can put on his socks. The other day he took one off and put it on his hand so he could take some "hot pots" out of his play kitchen's oven.

He is so busy watching and modeling after us these days! He likes to put on his dad's chef hat and "use grilling tools". He also comes running to help anytime I'm doing laundry or working in the kitchen. It's an interesting adventure trying to keep food hygienic and still involving a little helper as much as possible.

Ethan has already gotten quite a bit of play out of his first Christmas toys (the first of approximately 5 Christmas gift exchanges was over Thanksgiving with Brent's family in Ohio). As you can see, this flashlight is a helpful tool that's become his almost constant companion!

Getting a posed picture of the two of them can be quite a challenge these days. Ethan likes to make silly faces, and Ella loves to mess with her brother or investigate the tree! Despite Ethan's dazed look, this is one of my favorites...
In this one they both look a bit like they just got busted doing something they weren't supposed to be doing (touching the tree, perhaps?)

We are thoroughly enjoying (and thoroughly exhausted by) the adventure of the holidays with two little ones. As you can see, it's a wonderful life. A messy, sleep-deprived, mischief ridden, giggle-filled wonderful life.

The sounds of Christmas are louder this year....

2008-12-05T15:50:00.003-06:00

So it's time to stop procrastinating until Brent gives in and makes a post....

I always intend to keep up with this so it's less intimidating when I sit down to do it, but I think sometimes my free time is spent recuperating from the little ones in our house rather than reminiscing about them! My sweet hubby is taking us out to eat tonight so I'm using meal prep time to catch up on computer tasks.

Our days are filled with funny sweet little moments, the occasional laughing out loud moments, the pull your hair out as you try to summon up your last bit of patience moments, and the occasional so yucky I'll spare those of you with weaker stomach moments as you clean up something that surely could not have come out of such a little person. We had one of those this morning, which allowed Ella one of her favorite pastttimes---waiting until Mommy is distracted with Ethan, maneuvering to the wipes box, and gleefully plucking them out one by one until she's discovered. This maneuvering is no small task, as she's not crawling yet. She likes to sit on her bottom and scoot around, or rotate around on her stomach around the room. She LOVED the wood floors at her grandparents' house, and pushed herself backwards all over the floor. Ethan has decided that he will help teach her how to crawl. A while back he was crawling in front of her across the playroom shouting "I'm signing crawl....I'm signing crawl!" Ethan has this sign language thing figured out, even if the signs are not official ASL!

We are also pretty sure she's saying her first consistent word (other than dada and mama); it's pretty funny that it's her variation of "pat". This is in response to her absolute love of pulling her brother's hair....she's heard "pat, Ella!" many, many, many times! Now she will lean over to him, start patting his head, and say "pah, pah" over and over.

Ethan is enthralled by the lights, trees, and music of Christmas this year. He asks frequently for the "christmas tree music". I'm pretty sure we must be one of the only families that does a countdown not only each time we light our tree, but also when we unplug it (as this is the main way we've found to avoid whining and/or meltdowns when turning off the "pwetty lights".) As Brent mentioned, he's become a big fan of singing, and will break into music throughout the day. Current favorites include row row row your boat, the ABC's (which he tells me makes Ella happy and offers to sing when she's crying), and halleluh halleluh (which he gets stuck on singing over and over until you help him end it).

I realized this week once again that I should be prepared to hear what I say mirrored back as I repeatedly heard Ethan respond to Ella crying by saying "I'm right here Ella...don't cry." I wish I could say that the sweet tone in his voice on this one was the tone heard most often around our house!

In one of the most recently posted pics in the web album you can see Ethan holding a cord up to his belly. This was in response to him asking me about his belly button and "what's in there?" After he wasn't satisfied with the easiest answer of "nothing" and "your belly is under there", I decided to explain that he used to have a cord when he was a baby in mommy's belly, and that the cord was how he got food. He immediately walked over to the power cord for Brent's laptop and stuck it in his belly button. He still brings that up every once in a while (with one of his most frequent expressions these days---"that's silly!"). Brent has thanked me for not explaining who cut that cord!

It's an amazing (and busy) time of the year, and it's so much fun with both kids being increasingly aware of the world around them. We're just at the very beginning of the journey of making decisions about how to enjoy all the fun traditions and family times and still keep central the birth of Christ. Currently his biggest fascination with the Christmas story is that Jesus slept in the hay around the animals. I get the impression that no room in the inn would have been a wonderfully exciting adventure rather than hardship in his little mind.

Ethan ends most phone calls to family these days with a big hug to the phone (complete with a little "ugh" to let you know it's a "big hug"), so if he was writing this post I'm pretty sure that's how he would sign off. You can all be glad that even though you miss out online on the great hugs, you also get to miss out on the unfortunate sliminess that comes with both our kids' kisses this week as they get over this cold. Hugs and wet, wet kisses go out to all of you.

Dashing Through the Snow

2008-11-30T14:08:00.003-06:00

We traveled to Ohio to visit with family and celebrate Thanksgiving (and Christmas) this past week. We had a layover in Dallas on our way up and the second flight was quite bumpy. A little too bumpy for Ethan who got sick just as the flight ended.

There was a good bit of snow on Tuesday and Wednesday at the grandparents' house. The picture above pretty much sums up the enthusiasm level.

We were also able to visit with the great grandparents on the same trip and see lots of family. As the week wore on, Ethan became more and more fond of singing songs for anyone who would listen.

Our flight back on late Friday went much smoother and we even got home a little early. It wouldn't be a family gathering if we didn't come home with colds, so the kids are currently trying to recover. Pictures from the trip are in the photo album.

New Furniture

2008-11-18T22:15:00.004-06:00

A couple weeks ago Ethan's furniture came in. He was doing so well sleeping on the mattress on the floor that we went ahead and set up the bed for him. He was very excited about it.

The newness of the "big boy bed" must be wearing off a bit, though, because he no longer insists on being tucked in with both the sheet and blanket regardless of the temperature.

Trick or Treat

2008-11-03T20:42:00.008-06:00

Friday evening Ethan and Daddy went out trick-or-treating to a few nearby houses while Ella and Mommy sat on the front porch and passed out candy.

Ethan was pretty shy when it came to asking for candy but not so shy when it came to eating it.

Once we returned home we all enjoyed passing out candy. The street we now live on is much quieter than our old one.

Many more pictures of a princess and a puppy are in our web album.

2008-10-30T21:01:00.002-05:00

2008-10-19T21:13:00.004-05:00

We recently purchased a twin bed, nightstand, and dresser for Ethan's room. It won't arrive for another week or two. We decided on Saturday morning to take out the crib and put the twin mattress on the floor for Ethan to get used to sleeping on. We weren't too sure how he would react to having a "big boy bed" but it turned out he was very, very excited. In fact, once we got it set up he asked if he could go to sleep. We waited until his normal nap time and has done quite well for naps and bedtime on both Saturday and Sunday. We're still waiting to see how he will handle the freedom of not being caged sometime when he is put down but still wants to stay up.

High Chair

2008-10-05T20:53:00.003-05:00

Here's a comparison shot of Ethan vs. Ella around 7 months old. Ella had a much slower start to eating solids but is really into it now. She is pretty much addicted to cheerios. I think it's mostly that she really, really likes feeding herself.

Welcome fall!

2008-09-15T15:40:00.002-05:00

And by that I mean, there are no temperatures forecast in the 90's for the next 10 days!!! This morning it was actually in the 60's. Ethan and I went out to play during Ella's morning nap. He walked out the door, stopped, and said "cold outside?" He seemed really confused by that! It was so pleasant. We ran, kicked a ball, he rode his tricycle. I made the mistake of picking him up and spinning him in circles. "Again, again, again!!" It was a dizzy funny morning.

The other thing Ethan says a lot these days that makes me laugh is "what's next?" or "what do now?" He leans his head all the way down to his shoulder when he says it, which he also does when he says, "whhheeeere is it?" about something.

Ella has moved to her highchair (pictures coming) and seems to be eating better in it. It's certainly easier than dodging her legs and arms and timing spoonfuls between bounces in the bouncy seat! I have, however, given her a spoon to let her get accustomed to the process. She makes a bit of a mess with it. Ethan is happy to give lessons on how to use the spoon; it's how I got him to finish his peas at lunch today! He also is teaching her how to sign more and all done. He gets a bit frustrated that she won't do it yet! She appears to not have the dairy allergy that Ethan did...this certainly will make things easier, especially when we're eating somewhere other than our house.

Ella is now using her knees to rotate in circles. She turns around so fast! Lately she really enjoys sitting up in the boppy seat and playing (preferably with Ethan's cars...she loves them).

Beginning our third year of this journey...

2008-09-14T22:00:00.002-05:00

I suppose it's actually longer than that, since I told Brent the other day between pregnancy and babies I don't think I've slept through the night in almost three years now. The blessings overflow, and the humor of it all is more obvious when you're sleep deprived, right?

Ethan had his two year check up last week. He was a little trooper, and only got upset about laying on the scale to get weighed. I'm pretty sure the automatic paper towel dispenser in the airport bathroom scarred him a bit emotionally to laying down on any surface away from home. Actually, he's never been a fan of public bathrooms. (My mom would tell you he doesn't get that from me, as apparently I never met a bathroom I didn't want to visit when I was a little girl.) The bribe of a sticker eventually convinced him he could do it, and the rest of the day he told me, "mory (what he calls nurse mary) sticker...brave...numbers (what he called the scale) scared." He is 32 1/4 inches tall (8th percentile), 24 lbs and 3 oz (9th percentile), and in the 85th percentile for his head size. At least it's not still the bicycle helmet cone head he was born sporting. I've never seen such a head shape!

Also last week we took a trip to the child research lab at the University for both the kids to participate in some research studies. Ella did one measuring whether 7 month olds would recognize changing number patterns. This involved being recorded while watching a tv screen. I had my eyes closed as instructed so I wouldn't influence her, but had a hard time keeping a straight face when my sweet girl let out a really loud belch in the middle. Ethan's study was trying to see how much two year olds trust adults to give them labels for objects. In the beginning of the study the researcher would pull out everyday toys/objects and repeat, "what's this...I don't know what this is." several times. When she pulled out the airplane, Ethan excitedly squealed "plane!"; each time she would repeat "I don't know what it is" Ethan would repeat "plane!" louder, as if to say, lady I have told you this repeatedly. For some reason when she pulled out the banana Ethan asked her to turn it on. Maybe too many toys with batteries?

Here are some frequent phrases from Ethan these days:
*What's Ella doin?
*Canyoufeelit? (usually about the air conditioner; he hasn't been practicing to be a pro wrestler!)
*What's that? (meaning "who's that?" about random people in the store)
*Ethan do it (or "I'se do it")
*Touch it? (usually said when it's something he suspects he's not supposed to mess with)

Two!

2008-09-08T20:39:00.005-05:00

Saturday morning Ethan woke around 7am. Melissa and I both went in and sang Happy Birthday before getting him out of bed. When we finished, he immediately said "cake?"

Melissa had planned a blueberry pancake breakfast for him (one of his favorites), so that was almost as good as cake.

That morning we visited our local fire station. The visit exceeded our expectations. We got the full tour of the station and they had their dispatcher send Ethan a special birthday alert over their system. They patiently opened each compartment of the fire engine to answer every "what's in there?" question Ethan could ask. They drove the fire engine out of the garage, turned on the lights, the siren, and let Ethan spray the hose. He also got to sit in the driver's seat and turn the wheel. As you can imagine, he did not want to leave.

We then went to the large park in central Austin to ride their miniature train and play on the playground. By the time we made it home the kids were exhausted and ready for lunch and nap.

We then opened presents, ate a dinner of things Ethan likes best, and (finally) had some cake. Melissa made a great monkey cake that Ethan loved. We thought he would giggle with delight when he saw it, but got more reaction from the fire on the candles. It was a day of great fun -- check out the album for more pictures from Ethan's birthday.

Fun with family and friends

2008-09-04T20:35:00.006-05:00

We left for Ohio on Saturday morning unsure if we had enough hands for the two suitcases, two backpacks, two carseats and stroller we needed to take. In the end through careful planning we managed just fine -- all the while wondering how we will make the same trip at Thanksgiving with winter clothes taking up much more space and Christmas presents in tow. An airport is a pretty exciting place for a two year old -- an almost endless supply of planes and trucks to talk about.

The kids did great on the trip -- we used frequent flier miles so we were able to get on a pricey non-stop flight for free. This was Ethan's last trip he could fly for free since he is still under two years old. Fortunately, we had an unused seat next to us that he could use which kept me from having to wrestle him for the entire flight. Melissa packed almost a full backpack of cars, planes, crayons, stickers, snacks and assorted other toys. It's a good thing, too, because he had no interest in sleeping.

We were able to spend time with both sides of my family -- and they got to see (and hear) Ethan in a whole different way than they did in May. On that trip he was sick and lethargic. On this trip he narrated every event, played in the pond, searched for cats, ran with his cousins, and checked out all the farm equipment. There's not enough room on this page for all the good pictures we got of both the kids and their cousins, so be sure to check out the web album.

We made a short stop in Dayton to visit with my college friends and their kids. We have all had our kids in the past few years, so they have lots of fun playing whenever we have a chance to get together.

Ella ended up getting a cold with a two days left on the trip. The combination of poor sleep due to the cold and different surroundings meant that none of us (besides Ethan) slept well the last couple nights. We're all glad to be back in our own beds and are sleeping much better.

We got to celebrate Ethan's second birthday a few weeks earlier with both family and friends. He is already a big fan of the "fire" and the "song" and of course, the "cake".

As promised, some randomness...

2008-08-27T20:33:00.002-05:00

Ethan is really enjoying pretend play these days. Today I was a tractor, polar bear, and a horse. We built tunnels, forts, and an igloo (which he calls an "eggen", so if he talks about it don't be concerned we were contributing to the delinquency of a minor by taking him to egg houses!) He cooks pasta and soups every day in his play kitchen, and uses Ella as his sous chef/taster.

He loves to play "hide an peek", but seems a little fuzzy on the concepts. Usually he tells you where to hide, or he hides in the some place repeatedly, or he hides and then comes out to chase you.

While we certainly have the end of the day pre-dinner cranky, the most consistently challenging time of the day around here is the lunch hour. Since Ethan just takes one nap, and I've mostly gotten Ella in a routine where she takes a short morning nap and then goes down shortly after Ethan for an afternoon nap, everybody is a bit tired and hungry by mid-day. (I'll raise my hand as the first in the cranky/hungry lineup.) Usually I get Ethan started on his lunch and then start feeding Ella while trying to grab some food for myself somewhere in the mix. This works if everybody is in the sweet spot of just hungry enough. If either kid is not really hungry or starving it makes everything a bit off. Today Ethan realized that I typically respond quickly when he says he's all done (so as to avoid any plates "accidentally" hitting the floor) and tried to exploit this fact when he didn't want me paying attention to Ella. The boy who cried done multiple times then lost his plate of food, and I became the woman who took food away from a child begging for it. One look at his belly will reassure any worried that he wants for food.

Ella has decided food is good again. She thinks peas are okay, really likes bananas, carrots and sweet potatoes, LOVES pears, and has repeatedly let me know that apples are clearly baby poison. Who doesn't like applesauce? In case it's not clear by the faces she makes, she usually throws in a couple gags. She's doing a lot more sitting up (longer times, but as soon as she loses her balance she can't recover) and is starting to pass objects from one hand to the other. She has a truly impressive reach and really enjoys grabbing and pulling. Ethan will frequently back up to her so she grabs his hair and then giggle repeatedly while saying "no hair Ella...no hair!"

Speaking of which, during the Olympics Ethan became fascinated by the athletes with shaved heads. He now feels the need to point out loudly "no hair! no hair!" While this hasn't yet happened while outside our house, it's probably only a matter of time.

Top phrases heard around our house:
*Hereitcomes!!!! (yelled with glee about ordinary daily events!)
*Lookit? (used whenever he wants to see anything of interest)
*Hi!! and Byebye! (used liberally; for example, he tells the water in the potty bye bye and night night)
*Putitindere (applicable in a surprising number of situations around the house)

Nothing says exciting like a medium brown...

2008-08-27T15:27:00.002-05:00

Cardamon, actually. Brent painted our bedroom last week/weekend. I love it, and I think the color looks great. After finishing, Brent laughed that we had looked at well over 30 paintchips to choose the perfect medium brown.

Last Thursday we took a little field trip to meet Andrea and Selina at Selina's grandparents' farm. Ethan LOVED the fact that there were chickens, roosters, ducks, dogs, cows, and horses. He and Andrea chased the ducks in the paddle boat, and he ran around the yard checking out the tractors and assorted equipment.

We've had a pretty calm week; trying to have some downtime and take care of packing for our trip to Ohio next week.

I've got many thoughts swirling around in my head these days...many recent reminders in the lives of people I care about that this life is full of joy and sorrow and laughter and tears. How glad I am to know that my God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I have many questions and far fewer answers, but I feel blessed that God has given me this moment, this family, and these opportunities to love the ones around me with everything I have (and often more than I have by the end of the day!) With that in mind, some random things (in no particular order other than as they occur to me) happening in our lives have seemed like things that might make somebody else laugh, or at least know what to pray for when they think of us! Many of them are things I am so thankful for; some are things I can at least laugh at, and all of them are gifts/challenges that just seem to come with this time in our lives:

Okay, I was just now getting to the part where I share actual kiddo stories (for those of you not enthralled by my brown walls) and Ethan woke up early from his nap. This seems right, as Ella took longer than usual to go down for her nap. Too much alone time just breeds laziness, right? I promise to get back to this soon!

I don't think they look like weebles?

2008-08-20T22:29:00.003-05:00

Ella had her 6 month appointment on Monday. She's 25 5/8 inches long and weighs 14 lbs, which puts her at the 48th percentile for height and 15th percentile for weight. In an amusing side note that I can only assume promises a future full of great things and many squeals when pulling on shirts, she follows in the lead of her brother and is at the 94th percentile for her head size. She was a bit fussy after the shots, and anytime the rest of the day that she would cry Ethan would look at her and say very somberly, "Ella doctor...medcin shot." He supervised from behind me the whole time, clearly wanting to protect her and yet not willing to risk any chance of getting a needle in his direction.

Lately when we read one alphabet book from the library Ethan does a where's waldo type game that took me a while to catch on; he kept saying, "mushwoom...where is it?" Even when I figured it out and told him it's a moustache, he still tells me about his poppa's mushwoom. This means when he talks about my dad, it's usually about his tractor, love of playing with water, and his mushwoom.

The kids both had fun this week with more guests....they are going to be so bored with just me next week! My sister made a trip over before her semester starts back and there was lots of giggling around the house. Brent and I got a little bit of time and made a run to Target to finish birthday shopping for Ethan. We live an exciting little life, don't we?

Maybe they should hand out sanitizer at the door...

2008-08-17T14:22:00.005-05:00

Brent reminded me this weekend that it's been a while since we posted. The kids and I all got a cold after the indoor playscape, so we had a few nights of unsettled sleep around here. Last week my mom came to give me a bit of a break. I did some shopping by myself, got a haircut without constantly handing somebody a distraction, and went for dinner and ice cream with Brent. It was really nice! I will admit to several times excitedly pointing out trains and dump trucks, only to realize there was nobody in the back seat to enjoy them.

Ella decided after getting her cold that she didn't like solids anymore, so we're working on getting her to eat them again. We're already seeing with both the kids what happens when two stubborn people decide to have kids together. Teen years should be fun! With the exception of when she's hungry or tired (admittedly frequent needs) she's such a good-natured baby. She absolutely loves watching Ethan play, and he's starting to enjoy interacting with her more. He's gotten quite good at bringing her toys. She's getting really good at grabbing things and manipulating them to explore, and her preferred positions are sitting up or laying on her tummy looking around. She has her 6 month well-check tomorrow, and I am a bit in disbelief of how quickly the time has gone.

Ethan had SO much fun with his Mamite. They went to the pet store, played with the train table at the bookstore, played in the fountain, etc. I think he's picked up some habits from her, however, as when driving anything (grocery cart, stroller, car, etc.) he always tells me to "turn right" (her typical choice when there is any question of directions...and she wonders why everybody but her thought the GPS was a really good Christmas present!) She also was the potty whisperer, and had Ethan using the potty a good 4-5 times per day when she was here. I wish I could say that it hasn't already become an issue that has potential for power struggles, but any of you that have dealt with pottytraining can feel our pain. Suffice it to say that he has realized the value to getting our attention quickly, postponing bedtime, and most importantly, the joy of the flush.

In a really heart-tugging development, she got Ethan to start saying "wuv you" when you tell him that you love him. Previously, he would never repeat it, and would blow kisses when you told him you loved him.

In just the last two weeks, we've seen an explosion in the amount of songs that Ethan will sing. Granted, many of these involve singing the last word or two of each line, but it's still pretty funny. A sample, and personal favorite around here, is "stinkle, stinkle....STAR...wonder...ARE...uppa uppa...HIGH....diamon....SKY" He also loves counting. He counts to 12 with no prompting, but will not say 7. Won't even repeat it after you. He's really interested in the words/concepts on and off, empty, and both lately, and uses all of them liberally in conversations. If you're around us, you will always know when the "air kish" is on or off; this is admittedly a valuable thing to know in the Texas heat, but you might be surprised how often it switches without you paying conscious attention to it. Everything in our lives gets commentary. Perhaps if I took the chance to be grateful for the everyday things in life more often, I would also feel the need to point out with glee that the air conditioner is indeed on...

Should they hand out helmets at the door?

2008-08-06T14:07:00.003-05:00

This week my friend and her little boy are staying/playing with us. Ethan is VERY excited by this, and Ella enjoys watching the little boys play and schreech like monkeys. It's a bit of a madhouse. We're having a lot of fun!

Today we went to an indoor playscape. Imagine trapping a hundred wild animals in a gym and giving them foam and balls to throw at each other and some equipment to jump off of and you'll have a good start at understanding the madness. The boys actually did really well and had a blast, and I only used my firm mama voice with a stranger's kid once. Ella was a bit overwhelmed but held up well. Good thing she's an easygoing one about such things.

How to cool off

2008-08-03T21:16:00.004-05:00

It has been a very hot summer. Through the end of July we've had 38 days at 100 degrees or higher. The only way to play outside is to get wet. This video shows Ethan playing in the fountains at a local outdoor mall.

As is usual for his personality, he starts out pretty tentative but really gets into it as he warms up. On this day we also enjoyed sharing some ice cream but I was too busy trying to get my share before Ethan ate it all to capture the ice cream on video.

Going to work!

2008-07-30T08:42:00.003-05:00

Every day Ethan narrates Brent's process of getting ready to leave. One morning last week soon after Brent left, Ethan picked up his flashlight and balloon (one must be prepared) and said, "kiss...work...bye bye" (Ella got the kiss and I had to settle for a wave.)

Catching up with the weekend fun

2008-07-29T22:17:00.006-05:00

As you can see, the kids had a great time at our playdate on Friday with some of the girls from our Sunday School and their kids. We had 9 kids under the age of 4...and next month is at our house (eek!)

Saturday morning our church had a preschool playday, with different rooms of the children's wing set up as a small town. There was a "beach", library, music room, construction zone, diner, bakery, dress up room, etc. Ethan had a ball! You can see several of the pics in the updated web album. This is one of my personal favorites...Ethan's first milkshake:

The straw never left his mouth!

On Monday the kids and I made a last-minute trip to visit a high school friend that was in the Houston area. We met halfway. I was anxious about how they would handle the drive, but since rural Texas is full of tractors, big trucks, and cows Ethan did quite well. Ella also slept like a champ and then woke up to make faces at her brother. Ethan did his first time on a McDonald's playscape. He was cautious yet giddy. I was not a huge fan, as when he got nervous and I crawled in to encourage him to go down the slide I found that they weren't really made for adults (imagine that), and it was hot and smelled like little kids' feet.

A few random bits:

Ethan has started telling us in the morning that the birds and the monkeys are asleep outside.

Ella has started rolling halfway across the room and then grinning proudly. She has also decided that oatmeal is tasty, and is now eating as fast as I can shovel it in.

Fire Chief

2008-07-28T09:52:00.002-05:00

We tried out a sandwich place close to our house called "Firehouse Subs." It's nothing particularly special, but they have a firehouse theme to the restaurant. They do have two big things going for them:

1) Kids meals come with a fire hat
2) Kids meals come with Oreos

Both can be seen in the above picture.

Imagine getting this call...

2008-07-24T14:55:00.004-05:00

Ethan made a special call to his grandparents today because he (let me put this somewhat discreetly since at some point in his life he will be horrified I posted this) had his first success story with the potty today! His summary of the event: "put wateh in dere!"

We have no illusions of being pottytrained this early, but consider it one small (joyous) step...

Fun times ahead

2008-07-23T15:29:00.002-05:00

Today we had the most extended period of time where the kids "played" together without anybody ending up in tears (I'll refrain from naming names). Ethan got so tickled that Ella would reach out to grab him, and he would tell us what she was grabbing (hair, hand, chin, etc.) He would then circle the bouncy seat talking away to her. She loved it.

I've noticed that Ethan is stretching out a lot of one syllable words into a longer drawl...puhleese would be a common example. Is that the Texas sneaking in, some Louisiana influence, or just the funny toddler language we'll be blessed with over the next few years?

Today we had fun outside with the kiddie pool and sprinkler. I'm sure the neighbors appreciated the squeals of glee and the loud counting to 10 as we jumped (Ethan trying to jump is pretty funny...he grunts and stretches his arms in the sky but his feet don't leave the ground at the same time) around the water.

"Fwends" are "kiand"

2008-07-22T14:15:00.003-05:00

These were the words of the day today. We had a playdate at our house with one of my friends and her one year old. I talked to Ethan before they came about how we should be kind to our friends and share (we've been practicing sharing with his toy dinosaur which is very cute but not the full experience, as the dinosaur doesn't protest when Ethan gets tired of sharing his cars!) Ethan walked around a good part of the morning saying "fwends" and "kiand". I can tell you that he is better at talking about sharing than actually doing it. We had plenty of teachable moments! I think we're very close to having more lessons on this, as Ella is more able to grab at things, and she has gotten a good hold of his hair a couple times as he's taken toys away from her.

There were challenges, but they both had fun. When they left Ethan stood at the front window crying "fwends! fwends!" in the most pitiful way.

Our first post

2008-07-20T15:49:00.008-05:00

So we're going to try keeping a "family blog" in order to better keep everyone up to date on what's going on in our family. We hope we'll be disciplined enough to update it regularly so you'll want to make a bookmark and check in from time to time.

Saturday morning we went to a local nursery that also happens to have donkeys. Ethan was pretty happy to be there when they were changing out their water for the day -- that process interested him as much as the donkeys themselves.

Our new house has a limited number of trees, so we're starting to think about putting some more in this fall.

That evening we tried to wash the cars and let Ethan have fun in the water at the same time. We couldn't remember the last time we washed either car, but we were certain it had been at least a year.

Things were starting to get crazy at this time last year as we were in the selection process for the new house, fix-up process of the old house, and Ella was on the way. I used to wash my car quite often -- with each major life addition it drops further and further down the priority list.