Piano Player

Ethan discovered the piano and loves it. This particular night he finished eating and without wiping his face or hands, his Lola took him straight to the piano.

Funny boy

Sneaky

Ethan tried to sneak a peak when we weren't looking.

Lights

Last year we drove with our friends the Cooks to Chickasha to view the Festival of lights. This year we went with Jeff's mom and brother. It wasn't as cold as last year so we were able to walk around quite a bit. I really enjoyed it. I loved playing with Ethan on the swing and slide. He had so much fun even though he was cold. He laughed and laughed on the swing!

Chris being silly with the rhino.

Christmas with the Cooks

Jeff has been wanting to get Jaycie a gumball machine for over a year. He finally ordered one and so we decided to get the kids some things for Christmas. We had dinner and then Jaycie especially could hardly wait to open her gifts. It was so cute to watch them.


So tired, ready for bed. But he was so excited to play with his toys with the "big kids".



Little Nathan with his gum. LOL!!! Too cute!

Jaycie with her new back pack that had her sleeping bag in it.

Nathan got a bunch of cars. Ethan loved them. LOL

Taa Daa.... The gumball machine.

Christmas Tag

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper!!!!

2. Real tree or Artificial? REAL of course! But we have an artificial because it's less mess.

3. When do you put up the tree? Weekend after Thanksgiving. Family Home Eve!

4. When do you take the tree down? New Years! We like to keep it up until the new year!

5. Do you like eggnog? Yep, some brands.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Cabbage Patch Doll when I was 6

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes

8. Easiest person to buy for? My mom! She's so fun to buy for! Ethan is SUPER easy and Jeff isn't too bad.

9. Hardest person to buy for? My dad. He has everything.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Good ole fashioned snail mail cards! Pictures are great!

11. Worst gift you ever got? They are all great!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Any of the Lifetime Christmas movies. I used to watch Anne of Green Gables every year, but it's been a while. Who has 8 hours to watch movies???

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? October. I'm usually done by December.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas Gift? Not Christmas...

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I love it all!!!!!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night, of course.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes, if I sing it...

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One Christmas Eve (pajamas to wear Christmas Eve night and the rest in the morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The massive amount of people in any store! Driving!

23. What is your ornament style? Homemade. Little German ornaments we have.

24. What's your favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey! But Ham is great too.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? For everyone to be happy. For the less fortunate to have a place to go and something to open. To have Christmas be more about our Savior than Santa...

I tag whomever has the time to answer... Most likely that would be no one. :)

Little Santa

I found this Santa suit at Babies R Us and normally I'm not really into things like this, but I couldn't resist! It even has a beard!!! So cute! Ethan was not about to wear it but it was fun anyway. We made Christmas boxes again for some of our clients and Jeff took Ethan with him dressed as Santa. How fun! I am taking him to get his pictures with Santa today and he will wear it again. So cute!

He couldn't stop laughing at me.

Christmas Books

So this year I decided to make my mom and dad books or Christmas with pictures of them together. My dad's looks a little different than moms, but I forgot to take pictures before I mailed it. I used scrabble letters to spell out Papa and Ethan on the cover. The whole book is of Ethan and Papa together. Moms is very similar. I had so much fun making them!

Concentrating

It's so funny to see Ethan TRY to go Poop. Babies just do it, but when they get a little older, they start focusing on it. It's so funny to see the look on his face when he's trying. So serious!

Good boy

Ethan is such a good little boy. Most of the time he is content to play or even just sit and watch Elmo. (I know, I am a horrible mother that I let him watch TV) He loves playing with his blocks and has recently started to try to fit them in his mouth. If I let him sit on the floor, I often find that he as rolled all over the room, and of late under the Christmas tree!
I am so grateful for such an amazing little boy. He is so happy, always smiling or talking. We love you Ethan!!!

Sleep!

This is for Ethan, when he's older and has his own kids.
So Ethan was a great night sleeper from the get go. By two months he was sleeping through the night in his own room. I loved it. Even though I don't sleep well, it's great to be able to when I was actually able to sleep. He's always been a poopy nap sleeper, but great night sleeper.

Right before we went to Arizona, than got a cold. He was up most of the night and so I brought him to sleep with us. When we went to Arizona, he wouldn't sleep in the pack and play and since I didn't want to wake up my Dad or Karen, I just let him sleep with us. I do NOT like him sleeping with us. Jeff always says he likes it or doesn't mind, but I do mind. When we got back from Arizona, I went to Missouri, then we went back to Missouri for Thanksgiving. I would try to put him in his own bed when we were home, but he would cry and it made me sad so I always brought him back.
I decided that enough was enough. He wouldn't take naps unless I was holding him or would lay with him in our bed, he wouldn't go to sleep at night without me. That was it. I am worn out and not doing real great anyway. So I asked the Dr. and she said to let him cry it out.

Day 1:
Morning nap, I laid him down about 11:30. He screamed (of course). I did what I read, which was to go in after 5 minutes, console him for a minute without picking him up and then leave again, even if he was crying. Then give him 10 minutes, then 15 and so on. Each time, I think it made it worse when I walked out. It was horrible. So I quit going in. I tried to keep myself busy, which should have been easy, but it was AWFUL! I couldn't think, I was sad he was crying... the whole bit. My friend Kim came over for lunch. He was still crying. She said to let him cry, he would stop eventually and go to sleep. After 2 hours and 15 minutes I couldn't take it anymore. I ran in to get him. The second I opened his door, I regretted it. I looked at him and 1. he had NO tears and 2. the second he saw me, he had a big smile on his face. I KNEW he was smiling because he won.
Afternoon nap: He cried for about 35 minutes and fell asleep, but only slept for about 20 minutes.
Around 7 he fell asleep in my arms, for about an hour. I knew Jeff was going to be home late and we were going to go to dinner late, so I wasn't going to put him to bed right at 8. So I let him sleep.
Night time: We got home a little after 9. Ethan played with Dad for a little bit. I knew he was exhausted, but I wanted him that way. I fed him in his rocking chair, sang to him a little and put him in his bed. He cried for about 30 minutes and was totally out. He woke up about 5 times in the night, but always fell right back to sleep on his own. Once he cried longer than usual and instead of running in there, I turned the monitor off. He was asleep in about 3-4 minutes. He slept until 7 this morning. WOOT WOOT!

Day 2:
Morning nap is a little early. He is so tired, I think from getting up early and going to bed late. I nurse him in his rocker for a few minutes. But he's crabby. So I sing to him and then lay him in his bed. He screamed bloody murder for about 2 minutes and then just cried for about 45 minutes. He's asleep now. Yeah. Oh wait. He only slept 15 minutes...
After nap: He cried for about an hour and 15 minutes. He woke up after about 15, but I KNEW he was still so tired. He cried for about 20 more and then fell asleep again. He slept about an hour.
He's improving!
Night time: This was the hardest so far, not because of him, but me... I wanted to hold him and snuggle with him for a while... I fed him, sang to him, rocked him until he was pretty sleepy. I laid him in his bed. He freaked of course, but he started freaking before I even made near his bed. He knew what was coming. He cried for less than 15 minutes, and it wasn't even crying. It was more of a moany groany yell... But it wasn't loud, more irritated than anything. He slept till 8am, only waking up once! Yeah! It's getting better!
Day 3
Morning nap - on the road in the car seat. Piece of cake. :)
Afternoon nap - he cried about 5 minutes, but only slept 30. He did this twice
Bedtime - Ahhhh... He cried not even two minutes and was out.

It's hard, so hard to hear him cry. But the older he gets, the harder it will be to break. I refuse to let him sleep with me until he goes to school. That is MY bed. I like my space at night, i like to flip around and so forth. So I am determined to help him RE-learn to sleep on his own.

So it's now day 5. The nights are beautiful. He sleeps from 8-8. Cried tonight for one little wimper and rolled over and went to sleep. The naps are still a pain, but getting better too. I'm not fighting those as I am so grateful for the 12 hours at night!

Worried

As mentioned in my last post, we went to the OU Children's hospital for Ethan's ultrasound. The stupid ultrasound tech guy told us he looked great, but even as we sat there - I wondered. He spent a lot of time on Ethan's one side. But when he said it all looked good, then I didn't worry as much. We had an appt to get Ethan's second flu shot today so I reminded the nurse to try to get the results.


Dr. Adair called about 6 and said that Ethan has hydronephrosis. She said it had progressed since his last ultrasound. They told us when they first found it that it was just physiological and would be fine. Today, she said that on one hand his kidneys were growing and normal in size but she had a contradicting report that said they were too small... She said the hydronephrosis was a level 1, which means not severe. But we have to see a urologist to see what he thinks.
I am sure that everything will probably be just fine, but I am so scared...I just want my little boy to be healthy and happy.



Update.... Our appointment is not until February. When I freaked a little about waiting so long, I was told the Dr. reviewed his reports and scans and they felt it was OK to wait that long, that he was in danger... So that is a HUGE relief!

Busy Day!

Today was a super busy day for us. We woke up early and started the outside lights. I had to make pies and green bean casserole for the ward party. So I ran to the store, started the pies and started the outside lights. Ethan had a Dr. appt at noon. We had to go ALL the way down to OU Children's hospital. He had a renal ultrasound scheduled. We had to be there a half hour early. All so we could wait for 45 minutes on top of our 30 minutes. She told us it was for paperwork, but the only paperwork we had to "fill out" was one signature. Retarded. The actual ultrasound was only 10 minutes. LOL - what is that about????

We went to lunch at Toby Keith's "I Love This Bar and Grill" in Bricktown. They have fairly good (but expensive for what you get) food, but it is fun to go there just the same.

After lunch we went to Cirque Du Soliel's Saltimbanco. We've been to a couple of other Cirque's but this one was a ton of fun! Ethan was totally mesmerized. He just stared until he finally fell asleep. His head just leaned on my chest and he was out. But it only lasted a couple of minutes. He was so interested in the music and people. We enjoyed this MUCH more than the Tran Siberian concert last week. We loved this!

After Cirque we went to our ward Christmas party. We had a great dinner and we were able to hang out for a little bit. Santa didn't come, which was so disappointing. We didn't want to have to go to the mall for pictures, but I'm glad we went anyway. I can never get enough turkey dinner! Ethan was exhausted and couldn't stand being awake anymore so we left about 8:30. He was asleep in about 20 seconds once I laid him down. Poor guy was pooped! But we had such a great day together as a family. Days like today make all of the other days tolerable.

Strep

Our little boy has been so sick this past month. Before we went to Phoenix, he got a nasty cold. We came back and went to Missouri and then got sick a week later. I took him to the Dr. fully expecting them to say he was fine, but he had strep throat. Poor little guy. Forcing the nasty pink amoxocillian down his cute little throat was horrible. He hated it, which made morning and night doses awful.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a favorite for most. I love it. I love the days building up to it, the actual day and black Friday. I love the whole weekend. For several years we have gone to Missouri for Thanksgiving to be with our family. We usually stay at Aunt Celeen's along with my other aunt, Laurie. This year Brittany stayed the night too so that we could all go shopping together. I love this time we have together, getting all of the good bargains and just laughing. I always laugh so much when I'm with my family. We love playing games and wrestling! Our newest favorite is Ticket to Ride!

This year we have SO much to be thankful for. Our little one, Ethan, was born this year. We have been waiting for him to come join our family for so long. We are so grateful for him. Our hearts are so full of joy when we think about him, look at him and even hear him cry. I can't imagine my life without him. I don't know how I carried on before him. We are both so grateful to our Heavenly Father for bringing him to us.
We are thankful for our business. House Calls has been a great provider for our family. It is a lot of stress and a lot of work, more than a normal 9-5 job, but we are so thankful to work for ourselves. We are grateful that our business allows me to stay at home with our son. We are grateful that Jeff is able to do something he loves. We are grateful that despite the financial crisis that so many are facing, it has not slowed down our business.
I am thankful for my Savior. I am grateful for my knowledge of him. I am grateful for the sacrifice that he has made for me. I am grateful for Eternal families. I am so thankful that we can be as a family after this life. I am grateful that we don't end when we die.
I am grateful for my family. I have an AMAZING husband and son. I have a mother and father whom I love, I have a grandmother who has been an angel to me for my whole life and I have amazing aunts that have helped me to be who I am today. I am so thankful for all of them.

Old

I am now 31. I am old. I am decrepit. I am ancient. I am an old fart, geezer... Whatever.

Actually, I am no different that I was when I was 25. But it was my birthday. I had such a nice birthday. It was one of the few years that I actually enjoyed. It's always around Thanksgiving which makes it hectic and sometimes even forgotten (which is GREAT with me!). But this year, I had a great time. Jeff took me to lunch at Red Robin, which I love. And then for dinner we went to Cheesecake factory. Since we had such a big lunch, most of my dinner came home with me, as did a piece of cheesecake. Yum. :) We also went to the Thunder vs. Suns game on Tuesday night. How fun! We love the Suns since we are both from Phx. We had such a great time! Even Ethan liked it. Thanks Jeff for making it a great day!!!

Blessing

Ethan and I went to Missouri for our cousin's blessing. Brittany had little Benjamin blessed on November 2nd. She made his cute little blessing outfit. She's is such a talented person! Welcome to our family little Benjamin!!!!

We had such a nice time. Ethan LOVES being around his little boy cousins. He loves watching them wrestle and play. Ethan and I stayed at Aunt Celeens house. We always have so much fun going there. Cousin Brigham shared his blocks with Ethan, which we discovered he totally loves. So we had to get some when we got home. Thanks Brigs!