Johnston Journal

My angel

2011-09-09T00:12:00.003-05:00

Here are some Mason Milestones. (Pictures are all out of order... sorry!)

Always in 70-75% for height and weight. Woo Hoo Big boy!
9 Month Checkup - 28" 21.8#
Rolled over at 4 months (6 weeks to start, but at 4 months he consistently did it)
Sat up at 6 months - which he loved
Started crawling at 9 months - which he loved even more
First tooth was 8 months
Daddy has been saying for months that he didn't want to be a baby, he wanted to get down and play - he sure became super happy as he learned to be more mobile!
Started pulling himself up ALL the time at 10 months.
Says Mama, Dada, tries to say brother, night night, and AHHH! He screams at you when he wants something - usually it's food or to get down in to the office (he fell a couple of times off the step and refuses to get near it again!)
Mason LOVES showers and baths. He gets excited anytime he's around water.
He LOVES to drink -anything. Juice, water (ice water) milk, yogurt smoothies - whatever!
His hair is crazy - there is no combing it down- it pops back up!
He has two bottom teeth with a third coming in and both top ones coming in. Poor guy!

Ethan with his new brother! I don't think there could be a better big brother! Ethan is SO happy to have "his baby". His first and last thoughts of the day are of his baby.

First time eating green beans. He liked it, the FIRST time!

Watching Saturday morning cartoons with brother.

Giving his cousin Kayden kisses on his head. :)
Ethan fell asleep holding his brother. Such a sweet, tender moment for me to witness.

Mason at 4 months - yep, he was a chunker!

Mason at 10 months. He is loving the outdoors with his family!
Mason at 8 months! :)

Its time

2011-06-21T10:12:00.001-05:00

It's time I start blogging again. I've not done it for a LONG time. I have a lot to catch up on, but instead I think I'll just start from now so I don't get overwhelmed. :) Hopefully I can keep up with it and life! :)

Love my boys!

New Pics

2010-03-26T04:20:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since I've blogged. Life I guess... Here are a few of Ethan's new 2 year pictures. Geez, I can't believe my baby is nearly 2 years old! How did time fly so fast when it seemed like eternity waiting for him to get here? Words can't express the love his daddy and I feel for him and we are so grateful to be his parents! He has so much personality, so much joy and life, and he is so much fun to be with! We love you so much Ethan!!!

Favorite Meal

2010-01-22T12:48:00.003-06:00

Jeff and I always try to eat healthy at home. That's the problem... We do it at home - but the past year have started eating out constantly. I was so busy, tired or because we wanted to -whatever the reason, we ate out a lot. So our goal of the new year was to eat out only one time per week. We always make that Saturday because we are running around or plan an activity away from home. Jeff has been taking his lunch, we eat steel cut oats for breakfast and since before Christmas, we have only eaten out once a week. Wow, we have really saved some money!

One of the dinners that we have eaten a lot are black bean tostados. We discovered we really liked them and they are really healthy! A few people asked for the recipe, which I don't have one since I just "made it". But here is what I do...

BAKED BLACK BEAN TOSTADA
Shells
Brush corn tortillas LIGHTLY with olive oil. You can skip the olive oil, but they don't get as crispy. But just use a small amount. In a pre-heated oven at 350, place them directly on the rack. Flip often - wait until they are golden brown to pull from the oven. But be careful - they will go from nice and golden to nasty really quickly.

Beans
I used canned black beans. Rinse them well. All of the starch settles at the bottom which is just added calories. Smash the beans with a potato masher and add milk to make it a refried bean consistency. (Whatever you like) I add a little cumin, garlic powder, onion powder and salt/pepper. Let beans heat up and simmer for a few minutes.

Top with Lettuce, Tomato, onion and cheese if you want.

Variation:
We do everything the same except we add sauteed chicken with onion and red bell peppers. Season similar to a fajita.
Place chicken on top of beans & top with lettuce, tomato and cheese.

We calculated 135 calories per tostada. This is the bean only tostada. It will vary depending on the amount of cheese you add, the brand of beans, the shells etc.

2009

2010-01-06T10:45:00.002-06:00

This past year has not been an easy one... I am going to journal the last two months and END THE YEAR!

Thanksgiving - we usually go to my Aunt Celeen's for Thanksgiving. We LOVE going. My aunt Laurie and her family come as well as my Aunt Ann. We LOVE going and have so much fun. We play games, laugh, wrestle, and the SHOP the following morning. We love it. This year, sadly, we weren't able to go.
The morning before Thanksgiving my sister and mom woke us early banging on our door. (never happens). My mom was home alone all night. Around 4am, two armed men broke into her home and robbed her. They tied her up, pushed her to the ground and she laid tied up for two hours while they cleaned her house out of any valuables. A very horrifying experience. So we stayed home and had Thanksgiving at our house at the last minute.

Christmas - Christmas eve we had a ton of snow which "ruined" our Christmas Eve traditions. But we were so excited about the snow, we didn't care. It was beautiful! We stayed home and just hung out together, which was awesome. Christmas morning came fast and how fun we had opening gifts with Ethan! He is such a little man and was so excited for everything. He would open it, take the box to his aunt Sarah and then tell her to open the box. Then he would run to the next gift to open. He had so much fun! I loved watching him learn about Christmas presents.
Shortly after opening his gifts, my dear sweet little boy was attacked by our dog. Yes, our dog. She was old and I think senile. Thankfully my sister Sarah was sitting with them and she was able to open the dogs mouth while I pulled Ethan out from her grip. She bit and wouldn't let go of his cheek. We are SOO grateful that she missed his eye, nose and ear. She got only his cheek. Unfortunately, it was a rather deep bite and so the wounds were worse than they looked. We rushed him to the ER. Well, tried to rush. Because of the snow, we were snowed in and couldn't get our van out. Our neighbor, who we have never even talked to, came running out to help and they tried to shovel, dig, push the van but we couldn't get it out. We called a friend that has a truck and was pulling people out, but we were so distraught and it felt like he was taking forever. (He really wasn't -the blood just made it seem that way!) The neighbor said we could take his car (after we got it out of the snow) and so we took off to Mercy. Our neighbor can't know how grateful we are that he let perfect strangers take his car in the snow to take our baby to the hospital.
We spent a good chunk of the day at the hospital. But since Ethan had eaten, they couldn't sedate him so they cleaned his face and bandaged it. We were told to come back the next morning and the surgeon would repair his cheek. The poor little guy couldn't eat or drink after midnight and he didn't have his surgery until almost noon. I felt so bad for him. He was so hungry and in so much pain. The Dr (despite being a MAJOR JERK) did a great job on his face. Ethan had over 20 stitches on the outside and inside. So far he's been back to his office and had the stitches out, but has to wear the steri strips on his face for 4-6 weeks until it heals. We have to ATTEMPT to keep Ethan from crying or playing so that it can heal. He's become quite the spoiled guy because we are trying to keep him from crying. So if he wants something, he gets it. When he's done healing, the poor guy is going to have to go through baby boot camp. Hahaha

Jeff went to the basketball game with James Eddleman and friends for New Years Eve. Ethan and I spent a WONDERFUL evening home alone watching Wizard of Oz, eating pizza and going to bed early.

The last few months of 2009 were difficult to say the least, we are hoping for 2010 to be so much better!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2009-11-01T07:57:00.006-06:00

This is such a wonderful time of year in our home. Both Jeff and I love it and get very in to the holidays. This Halloween was extra fun because Ethan is starting to understand something fun is going on and he gets excited. This year he was a dragon / dinosaur. We didn't see the wings when we bought it so we thought he was a dinosaur.

We went to a church Halloween party on Friday night and then Saturday we spent the day having fun. We went to a fun lunch, made and decorated Halloween cookies to take to neighbors and family, carved pumpkins, and went trick or treating. Ethan loved all of it. He really got in to the trick or treating once he figured it out. He would grab his bag and put it on his arm before walking up to a house, hit the door (his way of knocking) and then when they would offer the candy, he would take it and put it in his pumpkin bag. It was so cute. Then he'd go running for the next one. He loved it! He probably would have gone all night if we had let him. Yay! Mom loves trick or treating and can't wait for next year when we can go all night!

Ethan is off to the races!

Going to his next house

He loves the pumpkins!

Church party - he got his face painted. Surprisingly he sat still and wanted her to paint his face.

Taylor, Nathan and Ethan

"Let me have my pumpkin!"

Taylor and Ethan playing the cake walk game. Ethan loved it becasue he got to pick his candy.

Starting our Halloween cookies.

Build a Dino

2009-11-01T07:51:00.006-06:00

When we went to the Disney Marketplace they had a Build-a Dino (like the build a bear). It was inside a fantastic restaurant that was all dinosaurs. Ethan picked his dinosaur and helped to put his heart (s) - he has two - in, his stuffing in, and then he picked out his clothes, including sunglasses. Danny the Dino's little shirt says "It stinks to be extinct". So cute!

Putting the heart in his new friend.

Checking the stuffing level. It had to be just right.

Introducing, Danny the Dino and Little Ethan

Para Sailing

2009-11-01T07:45:00.005-06:00

Jeff and Phillip went para sailing and jet-skiing out in the ocean. Jeff went twice and he said he LOVED it. I can't wait to go back so I can try it!

Starting out. They loved it!

They went SO high up. Some pictures all you can see is a yellow dot... The boat drivers would go real slow and let them "fall" down and drop into the water and then pull them back up into the air.

Florida

2009-10-31T22:11:00.009-05:00

Heading to the water.
Daddy and E playing in the pool.

Beautiful beach with a wonderful sunset.

Our last night - it was super dark out and a guy offered to take our picture, but it kept coming out blurry. But you get the idea.

ARRRRRg.....

Hold em up pirate - I want your gold. Really.

In front of the Lego store.

Ethan was super excited to share his frog with the dog.

Princess castle. Yes, the boys went in to the girly castle.

Ethan and Momma - we are waiting for our food at Rain Forest Cafe. Poor little E is waiting for the Motrin to kick and help him feel better...

Ethan and Momma on the pirate cruise. What a miserable (although I'm smiling, it's one of the few smiles on the whole adventure!) pirate cruise.

Daddy and E on the pirate cruise. This is the beginning when we didn't know how much it was going to drag on forever, and ever, and ever. Poor little Ethan was starting to get more sick and the heat bearing down on him was NOT a good idea. We had no idea this is what our $80 would get us.

Ethan was so hot he was trying to stick his face out of the boat and into the water.

Sweet little boy.

He was so sick he couldn't really enjoy the water, which normally he would have been so excited! But despite not feeling well, he loved going really far out in the ocean with Daddy.

Looking for sea shells.

Pooped after going to Sea World.

Ethan is wanting everyone to see the dolphins. He was so excited and kept pointing, but making sure everyone was looking at what he was seeing.

Dad and E waiting for the Dolphin to start.

Luke and Ethan at Sea World.

We had the best time when we went to Florida! Our poor little Ethan was sick. We think he had some sort of virus and then got over heated. At one point his fever was 104.2. But despite him being sick and my not sleeping (well, one-two hours a night), we had a blast.

Pumpkin Patch #2

2009-10-31T22:00:00.004-05:00

We went to the Orr Family Farm pumpkin patch a few weeks ago with a couple of friends. We had so much fun on the hay rides, feeding the animals, riding the big funky go=cart bicycles, and especially jumping on the big jump pillows! How fun!

Plenty of Pumpkins!

Some sort of funny bicycle/tractor/go-cart. So FUN!

Feeding the pig. Ethan laughed because it kept trying to eat his hand!

Going down the fun slide

FIRST horsey ride!

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-07T22:20:00.002-05:00

Taylor, Sarah, and Nathan all have birthday's real close together. This year we celebrated at the pumpkin patch! What a blast!!! Ethan had a blast with all of the little girls. Or maybe they liked carrying him around like a doll.... I'm not sure which. But he absolutely loved the animals! This boy is meant to live on a farm!

Copy-Cat push ups

2009-10-07T22:16:00.002-05:00

Ethan just adores his Daddy and copies almost everything Daddy does.

Tonight, he tried to do pushups like Daddy. It was so darling! He kept moving his torso up

and down and would really try hard to do a real push up! Adorable!

PJ's and the laundry basket

2009-10-07T22:09:00.002-05:00

We had Ethan's little friend over for Chili. They both were SUCH a mess after dinner so they had a bath, we dressed them in PJ's. Somehow a laundry basket ended up in the living room and they wore themselves out playing in it. They tried to push each other around, tip each other over, sit on each other, and even hugged each other while sitting in it. So cute!

WORN OUT!

2009-10-07T21:57:00.003-05:00

We had a wonderful time at the pumpkin patch for Taylor, Nathan and Sarah's birthdays. What a great time! Ethan really loved the RED cupcakes and wouldn't put his down. I guess all the fun wore him out!

Looks kind of like the joker! Haha

The CUTEST boy!

2009-09-25T06:55:00.003-05:00

I seriously have the CUTEST little boy! Here is a preview of some new pictures. You can see a few more by going to: http://kristens-pics.blogspot.com/ She did the pictures and was so cute with Ethan.

Ethan wearing Dad's tie.

OK - this is THE CUTEST picture ever! I can't stand it! I just want to kiss him so hard!

Awwwwww..... Dad and Ethan playing the guitar together.

Document

2009-08-29T20:27:00.007-05:00

I thought I would take a few minutes and document some of the funny things Ethan does. I don't know how I could forget any of it, but I'm sure that I will.

Some words that he says ALL the time:

Da-da

Dogs

Ball (sounds more like dogs, but we know what he's saying and so does he)

Ca-Ca (not sure how you spell that-but it is our family word for gross, nasty etc.) One day his feet were all dirty from walking around outside barefoot. He lifts his feet to his face and says Ca-ca. So cute!

Yeah - He loves saying this when you ask him something and the answer is yes. He smiles so big!

ELMO - this is his most clear word. He knows what it means. He will hand me the remote and say Elmo. Or in the car, he says Elmo and he wants his Elmo book.

Mama - sometimes. Elmo is said far more often. .

Hot - when we get in the hot summer car, he always says hot. It sounds more like Tssst

He says some other words, but these are his more common words.

Ethan knows all of his body parts. (has for a while - but I forgot to document it before). His favorite is the elbow. Or the nose. He loves to stick his finger up his or yours. Most of the time, you get both fingers.

Ethan can tell you how old he is. When you ask him, he tries to say ONE and will hold up one finger.

He loves to point out all animals. He gets very excited at even the birds. When he sees an airplane, he tries to say it and then jump out of your arms to reach it.

He yells OOOOOHHHHH, when he's excited. Which is a lot. He shakes his head and arm while he yells. It's too funny!

He LOVES to wrestle with his Daddy. He runs into the living room, throws his body down and grunts.

He will demand that you stop doing what you are doing and tells you you are done when he wants attention. (which is a lot)

He has to have two of whatever - one for each hand. (thanks again Dad!)

He likes to blow on you and make the farting noise. Yes, he's a boy. He also likes to stick his finger as far in your belly button as it can possibly go.

He doesn't like to be dirty. If his hands or face is dirty, he will tell you ca-ca and then try to wipe them. It's funny when his feet are dirty and he looks at them and says ca-ca.

He loves to swim! He's a little fish. He loves going to Little Gym and doing the gymnastics. He LOVES to read. He likes to help feed his dogs. He loves to sign MORE... One time is never enough. He loves to explore everything and touch everything. (Thanks Dad!) He likes to play with his friend Luke.

He LOVES popcorn, spaghetti, Mexican food - particularly the beans and rice, pizza, broccoli, chicken, and anything on Dad's plate.

We love you little man!!! You are the cutest thing ever and we absolutely adore you!

Old picture

2009-08-19T22:31:00.002-05:00

I found this old picture and love it. It's so Ethan and Daddy. :)

I'm cool

2009-08-19T22:28:00.001-05:00

Ethan loves glasses, probably as most children do. He thinks he is SO cool when he wears them.

Cute boy

2009-08-19T22:13:00.000-05:00

Wicked

2009-08-07T13:04:00.001-05:00

I went to the play Wicked last night with a friend. It was so much fun! The play is awesome and I highly recommend it! Tulsa has quite a few good plays coming up and I'm going to try to go to all of them! They are so much fun!!!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

2009-08-05T06:09:00.006-05:00

We have been looking at different areas around OKC to buy some land. We've been all over. One place we thought we'd look (it was a definite NO) was Guthrie. While we were there, we did find the cutest park and stopped to play. Poor Ethan had been in the car all day.

It was quite cute - everything Daddy did, Ethan had to do. EVERYTHING. It was litterally monkey see, monkey do. I guess we really have to be great examples!

The Little Gym

2009-08-05T06:05:00.003-05:00

I have been looking for a place for Ethan to interact with other children and to have a little fun. We tried the Little Gym and loved it. So we enrolled in the fall semester and are so excited!

Do I laugh, scream, or throw up???

2009-07-23T21:51:00.004-05:00

Ethan came running in to show us how adorable he is. Wait a second, he's all wet. Why is he wet??? He's already had his bath and is dressed in his jammies.....Jeff takes the camera and follows Ethan, knowing full well what Ethan is doing.

What is he doing?

He's drinking from the dog's water bowl!!!

Gross!!! Disgusting! Nasty!

Sleepy Time

2009-07-17T11:37:00.003-05:00

At night, Ethan loves to cuddle with Daddy on the floor. Jeff will usually horse around with him, but eventually, they gather pillows from the couch and they down with a blanket on the floor. It's so sweet to watch Ethan imitating his dad.

Jammin

2009-07-17T11:27:00.002-05:00

Ethan loves to copy Daddy. One evening Daddy was listening to a guitar tutorial with his headphones. Ethan came into the office and saw him and wanted to listen. So Daddy put some music on and Ethan danced all around - in his diaper I might add. So cute.

Corn on the cob

2009-07-12T23:02:00.003-05:00

One of the foods Ethan likes.

Are we eating a grilled cheese or ketchup

2009-07-12T22:56:00.003-05:00

It starts as the sandwich, then the sandwich dipped.... and then....

Omniplex

2009-07-12T22:51:00.005-05:00

One of our favorite activities is the Omniplex. Ethan has a ton of fun and loves exploring everything.

In the tornado tunnel. It's kind of cool! It blows wind all around you like a tornado would. The wind blows up to 75 miles an hour!

The water vest didn't last very long.

"I'm ready to go"

2009-07-12T22:43:00.004-05:00

Ethan loves to go. He is ready to leave the second you say "bye bye." Most of the time he is out of the door faster than we can catch him. :)

He wants to go swimming and is trying to get his little boat to go with us.

This is what happens when I tell him we are going shopping, not swimming.

Papa and Grammy

2009-07-12T22:35:00.004-05:00

My dad and step mom, Karen, came to visit. It was so nice to have my Dad here. We only see him a couple of times a year and he is Ethan's only grandfather. So we really enjoy when we get to see him! Ethan was shy at first, but warmed up quickly when Papa got out a book to read him. We love you Papa and Grammy!

At breakfast, Jimmy's Egg. We love going there for breakfast. Neither of them can just smile for the camera. It always has to be a silly face.

Right at bedtime. Ethan just kept laughing with Papa.

Smiles for Grammy.

Pelican Bay

2009-07-12T22:32:00.004-05:00

Our favorite pool is Pelican Bay. It's a great pool and we love going there. This day we went with our friends, Bev and Luke. You can't tell by his face on the slide, but he loved going down. He started becoming a little dare devil and tried to go down face first. He liked when he made a huge splash.

Ethan has so much fun when we go swimming and he has developed quite a nice tan. It's kind of funny because the tops of his hands and feet are so golden brown, but the bottoms of his feet and the palms of his hands are super white. Haha.

Swimming

2009-07-12T22:29:00.002-05:00

Our friend Christine invited us to swim at her pool one afternoon. We have been going swimming nearly everyday and it was nice to go with her family and the Cooks. Little Nathan is always so cute with Ethan, even though Ethan is a "baby" and he's a "big boy".

Cool Boy

2009-07-12T22:27:00.003-05:00

Spaghetti

2009-07-12T22:22:00.003-05:00

Ethan is a horrible eater. He just doesn't like to eat. So anytime we find something he likes, he really encourage him. He likes spaghetti. :) He had it all over his chair, the floor, the dogs, me, and it even ended up on the piano somehow.

Little River Zoo

2009-07-12T22:16:00.005-05:00

We wanted to do something kind of fun one morning so we looked up petting zoos and found one that had huge promises of a great time. Unfortunately it wasn't that fun. It was a LONG guided tour that was of animals we usually skip at the zoo. It was also really hot by the time the tour ended. But we made it fun any way and did have fun feeding the animals.

July 03, 2009

Choo Choo

2009-07-12T22:11:00.002-05:00

Ethan LOVES this train!

Play group

2009-06-01T22:10:00.002-05:00

McDonald's

2009-05-12T20:31:00.002-05:00

Ethan and I were so bored today and so I took him to McDonald's to play in the play land. I didn't think he would really have that much fun, but wanted to get out of the house. But he actually had a great time! He climbed all over everything and even up into the slide. He has become quite the climber! Ahhh!!!

Waiting

2009-05-12T20:27:00.002-05:00

It's always fun going out to eat and having to wait for a half hour. We took Taylor out for dinner and we waited what seemed like forever. But it was a nice evening and so Ethan and Taylor played out on the front waiting area. And they are so happy to pose for a picture. :)

Happy Birthday Jeff

2009-05-06T22:36:00.002-05:00

Happy 21st Birthday Jeff!!! I know, you think you are 21, even 31. But reality is you are not quite that young anymore. I love you anyway old man! :)

I took Jeff to dinner to PF Changs, one of his favorite places, on his birthday. He had the day off work and we just hung out all day. The following day we had my mom over for dinner for a little birthday celebration. I made a tiramasu cake for him since that is his favorite dessert. I think next year we will have a big party for him, but this year it was nice just to be together as a family.

Out of order

2009-05-06T22:35:00.001-05:00

There are a few new posts. Some are out of order and below some of the posts I made a few weeks ago since I saved them as drafts when I started to do them last month. I know, I'm a slacker. I'll try to keep up. :)

Baseball

2009-05-06T22:31:00.003-05:00

Trevver, my nephew, plays on a baseball team. He's quite good and is playing with a group of older boys. Ethan and I love going to his games! Ethan loves to watch them hit the ball and run the bases. I don't think he understands why he can't go play with them.
Trevver is sharing his nachos through the fence. It was the cutest thing ever!

Omniplex

2009-05-06T22:26:00.003-05:00

Ethan and I went with a friend to the Omniplex last week since it was so rainy. I was worried Ethan would be too young and wouldn't be interested in it, but I couldn't have been more wrong. He had a blast! He like all of the science experiments and really loved the kids discovery centers. What a great time! I forgot my camera and used my cell phone so the pictures aren't great but I'm glad I captured some of the great fun we had!

Demonstrating he knows how to say Hello and use the telephone. I couldn't get him away from this little area.

Entertain each other

2009-04-21T15:18:00.002-05:00

Sometimes shopping with little people can be so exhausting. But every once in a while you get some great moments. Jaycie, Nathan, and Ethan all entertained each other while we shopped. Great!

Guys Guy

2009-04-21T14:57:00.003-05:00

Ethan is totally a boy. He loves helping Daddy with everything. EVERYTHING. Jeff recently dropped all of the "TV" lines behind the wall and put in jacks so there would be no wires showing with the TV hanging on the wall. Ethan had to help. His drill wasn't quite manly enough so he kept trying to borrow Daddy's.

Easter

2009-04-20T21:50:00.004-05:00

Easter was great this year. What a fun day. Ethan LOVED his Easter basket. He got four from various people and loved each one of them. It's been a month but he STILL carries around Easter eggs. He loves those things!

My sister and her family, my mom and sister Sarah all came for dinner. We exchanged Easter baskets and then had a Wii tournament. What a great afternoon!

The neighborhood Stunt Man

2009-04-20T21:49:00.007-05:00

Sometime during Ethan's birthday party, everyone went to swing. There was a lot of fun in seeing who could swing the highest, watching Dan and Becca Martin swing while holding hands and watching the little kids swing. (or watching the grown ups push them!)

But I think one of the best moments of the day was watching our local neighborhood stunt man. Yes indeed, it was a sight to watch. I give him two thumbs up! Or at least an A+ for effort. :)

We love you Dan!

12 months

2009-04-20T21:47:00.010-05:00

Ethan is 12 months old. A full year. Happy Birthday Boy!!! Here are some Ethan facts:

He can now walk. What?? How did that happen?? He's pretty good at it for a little guy.

He throws balls and attempts to catch them.

Can say about 8 different words - his favorite is dog.

Is still nursing. Yes. Please don't give me grief. I get enough. It's down to naps/bedtime.

Has 4 fantastic teeth.

Turns off the lights.

Loves to swim.

Laughs about everything.

Likes to play tricks, especially on Daddy.

Can sign a few words. Milk, more, eat, cracker.

Has moved up in the height scale - he's now in the 25th percentile. Grow baby Grow!

Has great coordination and gross motor skills. He scored fantastic on his tests.

Has now had 2 big boy hair cuts.

Makes funny faces constantly and knows he's doing it.

LOVES sports, watching and playing.

Likes playing on the phone and attempts to say Hello (it sounds like Ho) He will use his hand if he doesn't have a phone.
Has both of his parents totally wrapped around his finger.

We love you little guy!!!

Birthday

2009-04-20T21:47:00.007-05:00

Happy Birthday to my dear boy. We celebrated Ethan's birthday at the park with a few friends. Of course we had to have an Elmo themed party since E loves Elmo so much. What a great time. Twila, AKA - Twink L. Toes - is a hair dresser at mom's salon. She came for a little while and most of the kids really didn't care so much about her. She wanted to do balloon animals for them but was afraid they would blow away with our tornado like weather. Wow was it windy! But we had so much fun playing at the park. The cake was fun and messy. Ethan loved the little toys that came on it. When it came time to open the presents, each friend that brought a gift helped Ethan open the gift. It was so cute! Ethan was grateful I think because he was SO tired by the end of the party. Thank you to everyone that came!

Your mom and dad love you so much! We are so blessed to have you in our lives!!! You are an amazing and sweet little boy who bring us an unmeasurable amount of joy!

The box

2009-04-02T03:38:00.003-05:00

We have a very long fireplace. It has been a real concern with Ethan crawling and learning to walk. So we built a "bench" of sorts around the brick. Jeff made the wood and then I padded and covered it. The padding came in a huge box. Ethan and Daddy had a blast playing in the box.

Dad stuffed himself in the box and would poke his hand out. Ethan would attempt to open the box and Dad would pop it open and surprise him. It was so funny to watch Ethan be surprised, EVERYTIME.

Good thing Dad is flexible!

Bordem

2009-04-02T03:30:00.003-05:00

It always amazes me how bored I get when I'm not doing something or being entertained. This past week has been a really long/hard week. I spent the majority of the week in the hospital with my mom and then she stayed the weekend at our house after she was out of the hospital. Monday I took her to the Dr. Poor little Ethan was about sick and tired of hospitals, waiting rooms, and having to be quiet. In an attempt to entertain him and keep him busy, my mom and I had a blast with him letting him wear her glasses. We laughed and laughed at how funny he looked. We didn't get the great shots, but it was fun still the same.

He reminds me of Ralph in the movie "The Christmas Story"

John Lennon look

Oh the lengths we will go to not be bored.

Little Sneak

2009-03-03T17:48:00.007-06:00

I love that Ethan is exploring the world. Today while I was at the gym, Jeff took some pictures of the little guy exploring our fridge. (It's a mess, I know) He looks quite pleased with himself! He loves sneaking past us when we are in the fridge.

Zoo

2009-03-03T16:13:00.003-06:00

We love the zoo! With all of the beautiful weather this past month, we have been doing a lot outside, including the zoo. Love love love it!

We love the gorilla's. They are our favorite!

What a cute boy!

Hair Cut

2009-03-03T15:47:00.004-06:00

Our baby got his first big boy hair cut. His Nana is a hair dresser and scheduled him his own appointment. He and Daddy both got cuts. So cute! Ethan had a HUGE spider bite on his cheek, but still cute as a button!

Daddy's Helper

2009-03-03T15:42:00.003-06:00

Our boy is truly Jeff's son. He loves the guitar like daddy, but also loves computers and helping Daddy fix him. He'll stay with Daddy for hours helping him! Daddy sometimes works in the garage on his work bench and Ethan loves going out there to help him. He even has his own keyboard, mouse and flashlight to help! A future geek! I love it! :)

Stud

2009-03-03T15:25:00.005-06:00

So my little man has his first little suit. I have been looking for a cute one and finally found one when we went to Chicago. I got it at a funny little store called Farm and Fleet. I was surprised because it's a little dump of a store that is mostly farm equipment. But I don't care, she sure looks like a little stud!

Little stinker has dress shoes but ALWAYS takes off his right shoe! He's so proud to show us he took it off.

10 Months

2009-03-03T14:55:00.007-06:00

Ethan's 10th month was a big month for him! He learned so many new tricks and has just blossomed so quickly! We came home from Illinois and all at once he:

Cut his first tooth (and had his second within a week!)
Started crawling EVERYWHERE!
Started pulling himself up on anything that doesn't move
Started standing on his own, until he realizes he isn't actually holding on to something
Started eating tons of big people food
Feeding himself, or so he thinks
Started to throw big boy fits
Started to get into EVERYTHING
Got his first hair cut
Learned to clap on command
Learned to wave on command
Can play patty-cake by himself
Is on more of a napping and sleeping schedule! Wonderful!
Learned to share, including his food.

He loves saltine crackers. When he first started to eat them, he loved the crunching sound. His first few crunches, he would "freeze" - he would stick his arms and legs straight out and only move his mouth until the crunching stopped. It was hilarious.

He really has certain likes and dislikes now. He hates peaches, won't even let me attempt to feed them to him. He loves the park. He zooms his little walker all around. He LOVES the play area in the mall. We usually go about 11 or 11:30 and don't leave until they kick us out at 2. He plays the whole time. He usually falls asleep before we get out of the parking lot. He loves the dogs, really any animal. He has a funny bond with Buster. He ooooo's and aaaaa's when Buster comes around. He loves being outside. He likes to go, go, go. He doesn't care if it's on a walk in the neighborhood or going to the store. He just likes going.

He is such a cute boy. He has a ton of personality! We love you Ethan!

Visit to Illinois

2009-02-18T21:36:00.003-06:00

Ethan and Katelyn immediately loved each other. It was the strangest thing - they just "went" for each other as soon as they met. There were never any fights between them. They shared so well -toys, food, parents - you name it. Katelyn could walk pretty good but Ethan was still in the walker. Katelyn had the cutest little pink walker. So Ethan started cruising in her walker. He didn't care that it was pink - he was delighted to use it. Katelyn thought he needed help so she taught him how to use all of the toys and she pushed him around. It was the cutest thing ever.

Dad made my FAVORITE breakfast, twice actually. Chorizo and eggs. Yummy. Thanks Dad! Katelyn shared ALL of her many, many toys. Ethan loved her new Elmo Scooter. He also loved her new ball popper. Everyone went dancing Saturday night. Jeff and I stayed home and babysat. It was nice to be alone for a little while. LOL - we did a load of laundry and went to bed. Haha. I have been asked by 100 people (not really, but it seems like it!) if it was awkward that my divorced parents were there together. No, not at all. It was so nice to have both of them to enjoy the kids. It is usually one parent or the other. They have a great relationship and thankfully are great friends. Now, if it were 25 years ago - we'd have a different story to tell. :)

We played the Wii quite a bit. Everyone loved bowling. We ate a ton of Dad's salsa and dip, laughed a lot, went to the pool, and just enjoyed watching the kids play.

Thank you Jerome and Kari. You were so wonderful to share your home with so many of us for SO long. We had a great time and we are so grateful to have been able to go!

Happy Birthday Katelyn!

2009-02-18T20:56:00.002-06:00

We went to Illinois to visit Ethan's new cousin, my adorable niece, Katelyn, for her first birthday. It was such a wonderful visit. I have wanted to visit her since she was born, but since she's only 10 weeks older than Ethan, this has been our first opportunity. It was so fun to go to Katelyn's birthday party. She had so many people there. Most of everyone was from Kari's side of the family. But my dad flew in from Arizona and my mom flew with us from OKC to be there. I made her cake, a Blue's Clues cake. it was such a disaster. It didn't all come out of the pan, which would have been OK - except I dropped a full tub of icing in it and ruined it. I felt so bad and started crying. But my mom helped me to KIND OF salvage it. It still looked horrible. But she had so many cute decorations and she received a TON of gifts. It was hilarious because she hated wearing the hat. But as soon as she tried the cake, the crying started to fade as a big smile replaced the frown. The poor girl was exhausted but was such a great party girl!

Oh, and Kari's mom made the BEST egg salad sandwiches and a salad called Taffy Apple Salad. Here's the deal - I told Sharon, Kari's mom, that I HAD to have the recipe for the egg salad. It was just fantastic - I hate it when I make it. She laughed and said she just added mayo and mixed it up. I felt so retarded. I guess I've always tried to make it too complicated. :) The Taffy Apple salad was so yummy and I really don't like apples, not even apple pie. So I was surprised when I loved it!

Happy Birthday Katelyn!!! We love you!!!

Bath Time

2009-02-18T20:51:00.002-06:00

While we were visiting cousin Katelyn, the kids took a bath together. It was so funny to watch them. I think I took 40 pictures. The thing that I loved so much is they seemed to be communicating without saying a word. They just looked at each other and it's like they knew what the other was thinking. Katelyn was such a little cutie with Ethan. She was so caring. She shared her toys, helped wash his hair and even taught him some naughty habits - standing in the sink. :) I will forever love pictures of our children in the sink. That is how my Granny and Mom used to bathe me and I love those pictures. Yea! for two sinks!

Park

2009-02-09T20:09:00.003-06:00

Today the weather was BEAUTIFUL! Ethan and I went to the zoo with our friend Lisa and her nephew Jacob. We had a blast. (Pictures to come later)
After the zoo we went to the grocery store. We still had some time before dinner when we were done so I decided we should go to the park. We had so much fun! I took Ethan's walker and let him run all around the park. He loved it. The wind was blowing pretty good but he just kept plugging along. I didn't have my camera, just my phone but I had to capture some of the fun on camera. After looking at the pictures, I realized he SO needs a haircut!!!

Lucky

2009-02-08T13:54:00.001-06:00

I have always wanted my children to have a great father. Growing up, that was important to me. When we visited my brother's family, it was so nice to see that not only did Ethan have a great father, but his cousin also has a great dad. I am so proud of my brother for being the father he is! Our children are so blessed!

Swimming

2009-02-08T13:46:00.003-06:00

While we were in Chicago, we went to an indoor water park. Living in Germany, we went all the time. So my brother and I thought it would be so fun to take our kids. Ethan loved it! We've been going to Water Babies at the Lighthouse so he was used to it. Katelyn only liked the hot tub (it wasn't really hot). The water in all the other pools was pretty chilly but we didn't care. All the "grown ups", if that is what you want to call us, went down the tall water slides. SO much fun! We had a blast.

Contest

2009-02-06T15:22:00.004-06:00

My friend Laurie is having a contest.

She is super talented and creates beautiful things! She has done all the vinyl for my house and signs that we gave as gifts! I SO want to be picked, since I know whatever she makes will be awesome. Sign up - you could win too!

Here is her blog.

http://foreveralwaysnomatterwhat.blogspot.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5561223
http://expressyourselfdecor.blogspot.com/

Craziness!

2009-01-28T00:16:00.005-06:00

I copied these pictures from my cousins blog (Thanks Brookie!!!) so that my purse loving friends could view the most ridiculous building. Louis Vuitton store in Paris... I am NOT into purses (I have one LV purse that was a gift, otherwise I wouldn't own one)- I have way better things to spend my money on, but clearly there are those that are. I would think, though, that this would be quite the shopping experience!

Gift

2009-01-27T23:56:00.005-06:00

I still haven't posted Christmas pictures, but tonight I am so grateful for a Christmas gift that I wanted to post my appreciation for it. It's currently pretty cold outside and we just had an ice storm. I LOVE the cold, the winter, and snow. One of my most favorite things to do is snuggle up with my hubby on a cold night and watch a movie together in our warm bed. For Christmas my mom gave us a mattress pad that has dual heating controls on it. At first I thought it was cool, but wondered how often we would use it. I have to say that we have used it EVERY night since Christmas and LOVE it! Jeff is so cute and asks me every night if I want my bed warmed up for me. He turns on my side and his so that when we crawl into bed, we are warm and cozy. It has been such a great gift and I love it! The first night we turned it on I didn't realize our controls were swapped. I had turned mine on low and Jeff turned his on high. I woke up SO HOT! I was sweating and turned it off. The rest of the night I was so hot and was irritated that it stayed hot for so long after I turned it off. In the morning Jeff said he didn't think his side really worked that great. LOL - We totally had the wrong controls.

Thanks mom for an AMAZING gift that we absolutely love!!!

Judgements

2009-01-18T22:26:00.004-06:00

As I am thinking about my life and all of the pieces that make up my life, I know that I am so blessed. I have been thinking about one of my best friends from middle school. We kept in touch off and on since 8th grade. I have always thought she had everything. She was beautiful, SKINNY :), smart, fun, funny, talented... you get the idea. When we got older, I thought she had the perfect life - husband, beautiful children, nice house.... again, you get the idea. But not too long ago, I learned of her personal trials. I cried for her. Cried because I felt guilty for being judgemental. I thought her life was perfect, she was perfect. I quickly learned that not only was her life not perfect, but in this moment, it is harder than I could have ever imagined for her. And yet, she still inspires me. She has a deep love for the Lord and faith that far outreaches mine sometimes.

We each have trials and struggles in life. And yet we all judge. We judge when we shouldn't because we rarely know the entire truth or story. We judge based on different reasons... Looks (be it beauty or not), talent, wealth (or lack of) - education, calling at church, job status, popularity, whatever... But what gives us the right? The problem is we don't have one.

I have been thinking about my personal goals for the year. Among the usual is a goal to judge less and love more. I remember this same friend telling me once, while we were sitting in the mall commenting on people, that if we make fun of someone, that something we made fun of will happen to us. I quickly started making fun of skinny people. Unfortunately I wasn't "punished" with that "misfortune". But as I think about the areas in my life that need improvement, judgement is at the top of the list. I have often sat with friends or even alone, and made judgements about people, even strangers walking by. Wondering why they wore what they wore, why they didn't comb their hair, why they chose that spouse, etc. Who am I to judge them? I think about all of the times and I feel horrible. I know that my Father feels awful that I would think such things about his children...

My goal of judging less, loving more I hope will bring me closer to my Savior and bring peace to myself. Wealth, beauty, status, etc. won't bring eternal happiness. Competing with the world for those things will only bring misery, because we can't win. I want to live in this world, not be a part of it's craziness.

I am so grateful for all that we have, both temporally and spiritually. I have struggled quite a bit this past year with many things. It's been a very hard year for me, but now that my "fog" is lifting, I realize how much I have to be thankful for. I am blessed to be a stay at home mom. I am grateful to my husband for always wanting that for our family. I am blessed to have a husband that serves so many without a second thought, especially his family. I am so grateful, SO GRATEFUL, for our son. What a tremendous joy he is! Every day is such an experience with him. I laugh constantly at him in his endeavours to learn who he is. I love being his mom so much!

And so, this post was meant as a way for me to document my journey to judging less and loving more. Now that it's out there for the world to see, I HAVE to do it. :)

Cool Site

2009-01-06T21:23:00.004-06:00

A friend in Utah sent me this link to a cool food storage place. I love their site and this month, they have a ton of cool give aways... So sign up!
http://funwithfoodstorage.net/welcome-to-the-party

Young Women

2009-01-04T20:19:00.005-06:00

Today I was released as Young Women's President. They re-organized YW, YM and Primary. I expected myself to feel one way, but ended up feeling totally different than I thought. It's been over 4 years since I was called to serve in YW. The first three years were amazing, but this past year has been so hard on me. I started as second councilor to one of my favorite people, Chris Tanner. When she was released I was called as President. I've loved working with the young women. I was shocked, still am, that my Bishop called me, but I am so grateful for the experience. I have served many wonderful, beautiful and talented young girls. I love them all. I had a "feeling" that my time was coming to an end. Although I am grateful to be released, I am also sad that I won't get to see my youngest girls move through the stages. I have so many wonderful memories of these girls. Girls camp, youth conference, Wednesday night activities and yes, even the sleepovers at my house were wonderful. My oldest girls are all grown up, some married, in college and or about to get married. The others have grown just as quickly and I am sad I won't be there to see them grow up. I think back to so many laughs we had over silly things. I think the hardest we laughed, and still laugh at, is Kelly Batt, another leader, bringing her fart machine to camp and hiding it in her pants. We were all horrified that she would toot right in front of us! So many great times over the years!

I have had the privilege of having wonderful councilors that I have served with. Kristal Cantwell was the first I served with - she was the first councilor and I was the second. We went to camp together and had so much fun. She remained the first councilor when I was called. I love her so dearly and have loved getting to know her. Lexie Sautter was our second councilor. I loved having her in YW. She was always so willing to help and has a million talents. I wish our time together wasn't so short. Kim Cook and Lisa Poling were my councilors when I was released. Oh how I love them. Kim, a dear friend anyway, rode with me every week. She understood my concerns and frustrations. She made me laugh and even laughed at me even during the difficult moments. Lisa, whom I didn't know when I asked for her to be called, I loved immediately. She has so many Divine qualities. I knew she would have to be great because her husband is. I liked working with him while he served in the Bishopric. Lisa was always so ready to do whatever was asked, and even the things that weren't asked. She helped me on more than one occasion when I needed someone. I will always love her and am so grateful to know her. Besides the wonderful spiritual qualities, she likes my husbands hair band music. :) Who would have guessed???
Not working with these women and the other leaders will be the saddest for me. I love them and am so grateful to them.

A Picture that Jeff made for each girl. He Photoshopped them into the picture.
Youth Conference and Camp pictures.

Tagged - 6-6

2009-01-04T20:11:00.003-06:00

I was tagged by Kim - thanks :) - I am supposed to display the sixth picture in the sixth album. It HORRIBLE!!!
This picture was taken by Kim (thanks again!) when we were at Turner Falls camping. It was SO hot and humid (which accounts for the frizzy hair) even though it was in October. I was about 4 months pregnant. I am wearing a youth conference shirt that I cut the neck in because I felt like I was choking... I wish it had been the 7 or 8th picture. They were much better!
I tag - Brittany, Brookie, Chanteal, Racheel, Angie, and Jana. Have Fun ladies!

Piano Player

2008-12-29T19:25:00.002-06:00

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

2008-12-29T19:22:00.003-06:00

Sneaky

2008-12-29T19:20:00.000-06:00

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

Lights

2008-12-29T19:05:00.004-06:00

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

2008-12-29T18:52:00.003-06:00

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

2008-12-24T04:59:00.003-06:00

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

2008-12-24T04:24:00.003-06:00

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

2008-12-21T21:13:00.001-06:00

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

2008-12-18T21:38:00.002-06:00

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

2008-12-18T21:22:00.003-06:00

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!

2008-12-12T08:28:00.009-06:00

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

2008-12-08T19:47:00.005-06:00

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!

2008-12-05T21:29:00.003-06:00

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

2008-12-05T08:17:00.002-06:00

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

2008-12-03T09:23:00.007-06:00

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

2008-12-03T09:12:00.004-06:00

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

2008-12-03T08:28:00.006-06:00

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!

Anniversary

2008-12-03T08:12:00.004-06:00

November 17, 2001 Jeff and I were married. We just celebrated our 7th anniversary. I just wanted to post a little note telling him how much I love him. You are an amazing husband and father. I am so happy to be your wife. Here are some things I love about you.

Generous heart
You are always willing to help, even after someone has taken advantage of you
Service you give to others
Undying devotion
Complete loyalty to anyone in your life
The Hotness factor (always a plus!)
You always put others, especially your family, before you yourself
You never quit anything
Your love for our son
Your love for all animals, even the smelly ones
I love that all children love you and that you are kind to all of them
Your love of music
You always let me choose (that is a blessing and a curse)
You are always protecting me and those that I love
You make me laugh, even when I'm down

I love you Jeff! Happy Anniversary!

7 Months & Monkey Costume

2008-12-02T14:37:00.005-06:00

Ethan is the cutest 7 month old that ever lived. :) Do I sound like a proud mama??? I am so grateful for him. His father and I totally adore him. His 7 month birthday was Halloween... Fun! He also got to visit the Dr. for his stats and of course shots... :(
He made the cutest monkey! Jeff loves gorillas and so I bought this monkey costume last year before he was born. It soon became evident that it was the right costume, as we call him Chunky Monkey. Or now it's ChunMonk. The costume totally fit.

Lola and Cousins

2008-12-02T12:19:00.003-06:00

While we were in Phoenix we were able to spend some time with Jeff's family His mother, brother, Chris, sister, Melissa, and their kids. We took the kids to Peter Piper Pizza one day and that was a ton of fun.

Daddy and Ethan on a roller coaster ride.

Ethan did NOT like Bozo the clown. Who does???

Silly boy

Me, Little Christopher and Jazmyn - I love you!

Ethan has such a fine example to look up to! :)

Lola and the grandkids. Frankie, Tatiana, Ethan, Emma, Jazmyn, Christopher

Tatiana and Ethan

Visit to Arizona

2008-12-02T12:06:00.007-06:00

Here are some random pictures of our visit to AZ.

Grammy Karen and Jimmy

My sister Stacey with Jimmy and Ethan

Daddy and Jeff

My sister Jodie... Crazy

Jodie and Ethan

Ethan loves his Papa. He would be content just sitting with Papa. He would laugh and laugh when Papa would play with him. He loved when Papa had Hida or Pearla (dogs) sit with them. We love you Papa!!!!

Visit with cousin Jimmy

2008-12-02T11:43:00.007-06:00

We went to Phoenix to visit my Dad. While we were there we had so much fun visiting with Ethan's cousin, Jimmy. They had a ton of fun cruising in their walkers. Jimmy was ready to walk so he was much faster than Ethan. He'd kind of help Ethan with his by bumping him. Ethan could only go backwards... The weather was beautiful at night so we spent a few nights eating outside and the boys loved it!

Aunt Stacey, Jimmy, Ethan

Cruising outside

Uncle Joe and Ethan

Little Jimmy

Playing so nice!

Cruising in the living room . Happy little boy!

6 months

2008-10-13T18:16:00.007-05:00

Ethan is now half a year old. He is quite the cutie! He laughs at most anything. He has started making this growling sound constantly and thinks he is cute when he does it. He sounds like a baby dinosaur. He loves his jumper, is getting the hang of his walker and loves to sit up. He can sit up on his own if you set him that way. He isn't quite able to pull himself to the sitting position. But he sure tries! It's kind of funny to watch him doing mini sit-ups. He still has no teeth (thankfully) but they are ready to come. He is VERY clingy with mom (that's me! :) and I don't get a lot done without toting him along. We are thankful for him every day and feel so blessed to have him in our home!

These are his 6 month pics from Penny's. They asked us to sign a release so they could use them in their "book" or whatever. I didn't care because we got some free! :)

His stats will come next month - we had to reschedule his Dr. appt.

Camping

2008-10-13T17:52:00.009-05:00

Ethan and his buddy!

- With our baby Kangaroo Friend(Yes, he's wearing a diaper!)

Ethan fell asleep on Daddy in the tent.
Next morning during breakfast.

Mom, Ethan and Nathan
Daddy and the baby fox.
Ethan is trying to jump out of my arms to get him!

He wasn't real fond of the turtle.
Daddy being silly
Roasting (BURNING marshmallows!)
Daddy Ethan and Nathan

Last weekend we went camping with some people from our ward. We went to the Tiger Safari Park. It was a lot of fun! We cooked dinner and then went on a hay ride (twice!). After which one of the employees took us to play with the baby animals. We saw a chinchilla, baby fox, a baby lemur, and my favorite - a baby kangaroo. I want one! Ethan really liked the animals. We let him touch the kangaroo and lemur. We roasted marshmallows, made smores, and had a great time! The next morning Jeff Poyner made a great breakfast with the dutch oven (yummy!). We also went on a tour of the park and saw a ton of animals. Ethan did NOT like the big turtle. He preferred his friend, the kangaroo.

Jeff wasn't feeling real good. He had what at the time we thought was a strained back/ arm / shoulder, which turned out to be a torn muscle in his back and one around his shoulder. He was pretty miserable and we ended up not finishing the animal tour. But despite his pain, we had a ton of fun! Ethan slept great, even in the cold. We left the tent top wide open so we could stare at the stars, which we did all night. It was awesome! The weather was PERFECT! I can't wait to go camping again!!!

Tired

2008-10-07T17:17:00.002-05:00

Everyone has pictures of their child asleep in some contraption. Until now, we didn't. Ethan didn't sleep anywhere except my arms or his bed. Once in a while the car seat. But now we have a "worn out" picture of him in his jumper.

Happy Birthday Aunt Sasa

2008-10-07T17:10:00.003-05:00

Aunt Sarah turned 17 last week. I asked her where she wanted to go for dinner. She said Outback. To most people, that would be a feasible choice - not one to balk at. In fact, I was thrilled because next to PF Changs, it's my favorite. But you see, Sarah is a vegetarian. LOL - so why she chose Outback, I'll never know. She says she likes their potatoes. And potatoes she ate. She had 1. Potato soup 2. Baked Potato 3. Baked Sweet Potato 4. Mashed Potato

Go figure! :) Happy Birthday Aunt Sarah!!! We love you!

Thanks Granny

2008-10-07T17:08:00.003-05:00

When Ethan was first born, Granny sent him this cute outfit and hat. I never got a picture in it for her until he was too big for it. but I wanted her to see him in it anyway. Thank you Granny! We love you!!!

Shower

2008-10-07T17:00:00.003-05:00

I felt inspired to have a baby shower for a woman in our ward that is fairly new and doesn't know a lot of people. I decided to make cup cakes instead of a cake. I also had to make a cream filled Italian Cream Cake for a dinner party my mom had. So I decided to make them all the day before. I spent ALL day making everything. The cupcakes were so yummy. I made two kinds - a vanilla cake with Cinnamon cream cheese filling and whipped frosting and then a chocolate cake with custard filling. They were great. I placed plastic wrap on them and put them in the oven for "safe keeping" over night. The next morning I knew I had a few other things to bake so I started to pre-heat the oven and went about doing other things - laundry, shower, made my bed etc. I walked into the kitchen and it was all smokey. I opened the oven and they were all burned and the plastic wrap was EVERYWHERE! Grrrr..... Where was my head! I had to make them all over again, so I just did plain ole' cupcakes. I just didn't have it in me to do them again. (Plus I was starting to get a cold and didn't feel good!) Anyway, it turned out really nice and I am so thankful I did it. I am not sure why I was personally inspired to do this for her, since I had never talked to her, but I know that she needed to have something fun in her life and am grateful I was able to help her.

Ethan had a total blast with her balloons! I don't have any pictures of her, Chris took them, but is a cute one of Ethan.

Softball & Beehives

2008-10-07T16:38:00.005-05:00

Ethan went to his first softball game last week. We had a lot of fun. We went to cheer on two of the YW. It was one of their last games and they were so adorable! I just love these girls. I am grateful that I have been able to get to know ALL of the YW, not just the Laurels. The Beehives hold such an amazing place in my heart and I just love them! Their joy to be in YW is overpowering sometimes and I wish that it would rub off on some of the other girls who have been in for a while. It seems they have forgotten how exciting it is to be in YW, out of primary... I love you Beehives!!!

The Polings were there and offered to let Ethan use their blanket. He really liked being outside in the beautiful weather!

Bath Time

2008-10-07T13:10:00.001-05:00

Ethan LOVES his bath time. He splashes and laughs through the whole thing. It's one of my favorite times of the day - when he is clean, smells YUMMY, and wants to cuddle after!