Where's Spot?

Every night, Jackson reads US this book.

Ethan and Grandma Betty

Last week, Ryan went on a "work" road trip w/ his male co-workers (really, they just went golfing) so I went and picked up my grandma. She helps me so much w/ Ethan and she loves loves LOVES babies! Ethan is her 7th great-grandchild and she just found out she's going to have an 8th! Pretty good for an only child! I'm so thankful I get to spend this kind of quality time with her and I must say, I have a pretty hot grandma for 80 years old!! :)

And this is what happens when Ethan LOOKS at grandma!!!
He gives her the biggest smiles and giggles... too cute!

LOVE

Ethan's First Playdate!

On Tuesday, my old friend Nicole came over for a visit and brought along her new bundle - baby Calliope - who was born Aug 2nd so she and Ethan are about a week apart. It was fun to compare notes and see the babies looking at each other.... So cute! Baby CC is a doll!!!!

Playschool Sass

Jackson goes to Mother's Day Out twice per week. He absolutely LOVES his teachers and gets very excited about seeing them and playing at "school." Well, his teachers have always given Jackson such glowing reviews. One of the teachers pulled me aside one day and said "please tell me your trick to having such a sweet, polite boy." Just the kind of thing a mom wants to hear! He's been in Mother's Day Out since he was 18 mos old - so almost a year and I've never heard one single negative comment about my angel... until last week!!! So Jackson, who is my nightmare of an eater, was sitting at the table w/ all the other kids eating his lunch. Apparently, he was enjoying playing w/ his lunch more than eating it so Ms. Dawn asked him to help her pick up the food off the table and put it back in the lunchable container... well, this made Jackson mad. He didn't want her picking up his food so out of frustration, he swung his arm across the table causing the food to fly all over and onto the floor. So Ms. Dawn calmly picked it all up and threw it in the trash. Oh, this made Jackson even madder. So he wailed until naptime and then she laid him down for his nap. Normally, he hasn't been using his paci for naptime at school but she said he really needed it this time, so she pulled it out of his backpack and fast asleep he went. When I picked him up, she was telling me the story and saying "I think Jackson is mad at me and I sure hope he forgives me." ha!!! I made him apologize to her and we've been talking to him about it ever since. This week, more glowing reviews. :) One incident in a year - not so bad! I'm thankful I have a NORMAL 2 year old child who is sweet and polite. :) Still, it's a funny story. Sadly, looks like Jackson may have mommy's temper. :)

Baby Gap Twins

Which one is Jackson and which one is Ethan? :)

Eden's 2nd Birthday!

On Saturday, our neighbors Heather and Josh had their sweet Eden's 2nd birthday party at their house, complete with a petting zoo!!! Jackson had a BLAST, needless to say! He cracked me up with the pig! He kept leaning down to it and saying, "hi pig, me jackson. oink oink!" over and over... So funny!!!




















Jackson and the birthday girl!














I am so in love with Holiday! She can do anything the boys can do - yet she can still be girly! She and Jackson kept running and then she'd tackle him to the ground!! This, of course, was so funny!!


Richie = awesome, amazing dad!! He was kind enough to take on - not only Holiday and Jackson on his back for a "pony ride" but - then we put Ben on there shot gun and Ben held on for dear life... to Richie's hair!!!!! I love these pictures of them and I will probably cherish them forever!! These kids melt my heart and just makes me so happy that we get to watch them grow up together as neighbors and great, great friends!

The Playdoh Track!

Yesterday Jackson was bored and Ethan was napping so we decided to make use of that time play some with some play doh! We have tons left over from his 1st birthday party and actually it's still useable! So at first we made some happy faces and I let him put the eyes and ears and nose, etc on but what did Jackson want to make? A train track, of course.... Once his mind was made, a train track was what we were doing and that was that. So off we went rolling and rolling this OLD playdoh to make a big huge train track. Turned out to be pretty cute and Jackson played w/ it for quite awhile... Good times!




Thomas was first to hit the track, of course.


















Then came James!







Soon he had several engines lined up and "coupled" as he likes to say!

Brazilian Kicks

I am absolutely in love with these little handmade shoes I got Ethan in Rio at a little booth at the Hippie Fair. Sadly, he has already grown out of them! But aren't they precious!?

Upper GI

I dreaded this morning like crazy but I'm glad it's done! Last night, we put Ethan to bed at 830pm knowing that he won't be able to eat after 330am because his procedure was at 730am and no food or drinks for 4 hours before.... So sure enough - poor guy woke up coughing his head off at 430am and try as we may, he didn't want to go back to sleep - he wanted that bottle! But we couldn't give it to him and sure enough, Ryan was able to rock him back to sleep. We've been trying to teach him to not need a bottle at night anyway but this time we didn't have a choice. So then 630am rolled around and Ethan and Jackson were still asleep.... I had to wake Ethan up - at the last minute since I knew he'd be so hungry when he woke up.... He was still drowsy, and he slept most of the time til his procedure. But when he finally opened those big eyes, we were still in the waiting room and he was HUNGRY! Thank God for pacifiers! Finally about 815am, they called us back. The nurse said she needed me to take anything that had metal on it off him... wish I would have known that since the onesie he had on had snaps on the back. So I had to take that off and put this huge hospital gown thing on him and I covered him w/ a blanket. They had me set him on the table on a pillow and gave me a bottle and told me the stuff in it has absolutely no nutritional value but he was so hungry, he didn't care. I stood at the head of the table and reached over and fed him the bottle while the doctor looked at the scans on this big TV thing. It was unreal how you could see the fluids going down his esophagus and then in his tummy. They had me turn him back and forth on his side and again on his back - which he didn't appreciate at all. Then after about 2 minutes, they said to stop. He wanted to see Ethan's stomach empty - which it did. So he said that was good. Then he wanted to see the reflux. So I started feeding him again. He said most of the time, they don't see it happening but in the "bad cases" you can see it and he could get a picture of it for the pediatrician. So I stopped feeding him - he had probably taken about a half to 1 oz total. You could see on the scan how all the liquid had filled his tiny stomach and we just waited for a second - another thing that Ethan didn't appreciate... that paci was not doing the trick to fulfill his hunger needs. After less than a minute after we stopped feeding him, fluid just FLEW up Ethan's esophagus. It was crazy! He snapped the picture and said, "ok-we're done. His organs look perfect but he most definitely has reflux. I got the picture so I'll put my notes in and send this over to your doc in 30 minutes." So I put Ethan's clothes back on and finally he starts screaming. He's tired of waiting and he's hungry! At this point, it's been 12 hours since he's eaten! So I rush him home and he gobbles up 4 oz of formula and was ready for a nap. Poor guy had a rough morning. I'm thankful that we know Ethan's internal organs are ok and working properly but I'm sad to hear how bad his reflux is. It's no wonder that he doesn't want to eat after 1/2 oz sometimes - that's about when his reflux kicks in and it burns! Poor baby boy. Everyone says he'll grow out of it on his own... I pray they're right.

As sweet as he is handsome!

I was just admiring my children the other day, as every parent should, and I just realized I haven't posted much about Jackson lately. He's really starting to look so grown up and handsome! He is constantly talking and Ryan and I are already discovering that he is picking up on EVERYTHING we say! We hardly ever argue anyway, but the other day we were disagreeing about something and Jackson just did not like that whatsoever! He goes "mommy, you ok? daddy, you ok?" really stopped us in our tracks and made us realize that nothing in the world is more important that showing a good example to our kids of what a great marriage looks like. We both looked at him and giggled, "yes, Jackson mommy and daddy are fine!" and we gave him big hugs and kisses. He's so impressionable right now and I am in love with how polite and considerate he is. I am so proud of my big boy!!!

Babywise Basics

We are finally getting our little man to eat better again... I've only had one big puke episode in the last 2 days, so that's a huge improvement and he's been eating about 23 oz/day! That's really really good for Ethan! Problem is - we DID have him sleeping all night w/ no bottle but that's come to a halt in the last week and half. I was so happy because yesterday I gave him 6 feedings (whereas for the last week and a half, he was getting just 5 feedings and taking his 6th in the middle of the night)... and he had 23 oz for the day already by the time I put him down for bed!!! I was so hopeful for an "all nighter" last night but sure enough - he woke up, stirred for about 20 min, then started whining, then crying.... I tried to just rock him a little to relax him and get him back to sleep w/o the bottle but he was so restless so I just made a bottle....

Here's the thing! All of those who know me know that I'm a big fan of Babywise! It fits my personality perfectly. I need structure and a consistent schedule just as a rule for my life. I started it w/ Jackson when he was 7 weeks old (mostly just cuz I got the book then). I was hard core - I let him put himself to sleep (screaming, crying - the whole thing) but after just a few months, Jackson was, and still is, an AWESOME sleeper. He learned to put himself to sleep and he learned that as soon as I put him in his crib, it was time for sleep and he just did it on his own... including when he woke up in the middle of the night. So I've been really lax w/ Ethan...Mostly cuz I couldn't get his feedings in order and I didn't want him to break out in a full-out scream cuz of his reflux. Well, I think my 14 week old baby boy has become a tad bit... spoiled! Maybe more than a tad! He pretty much whines and he gets what he wants... maybe it's cuz he's my baby and I want him to stay my baby or maybe it's just I don't want him to be uncomfortable but why was I so strict w/ Jackson and not w/ Ethan? Sadly, the time has come now. Ryan and I are so exhausted. We do take turns (every other night) getting up w/ the baby but unlike Ryan, I wake up every time the baby is up regardless if it's my night or not.... mommy radar. I have had a horrible headache for 4 days straight now and about 20 IBU later, it's not gone and I think I just need to REST. I need Ethan to start sleeping to make that happen. So he's about to learn a lesson is self-soothing. Today is the day. No time to waste. So for each nap today, Ethan is gong to lay down awake and there may be lots and lots of screaming today but I know I have a smart boy who will learn fast. I think having started this late, he will pick up on it very fast. By this point, Jackson was a pro at it so I think Ethan will do great and I see those zzz's in my future!

Halloween 2010

We started the halloween festivities on Saturday at our friend Rachel and Jamie's house.

Ethan was a pumpkin - and I might say, a really darn cute one. Thanks Aunt Karen!

Rachel and Annie, Jenny and Lily Kate, and Lisa w/ Ethan! I asked Lisa to step in for me since she was already holding Ethan and that way I could take the pic! I think was pretty happy w/ her holding him!

Jackson was Buzz Lightyear.... which my mom bought for him... so Ryan and I decided to buy him Toy Story so he'd know who Buzz was! :)

Daddy and the pumpkin

Mommy and the pumpkin!

Sunday is Halloween!!!
Jackson, Ben and Holiday: Their first house! So exciting... they kept going inside the people's houses.. oops!


After several houses, they needed a break to see what kind of candy they got!
Ben was a cute dinosaur - which is perfect since his favorite sounds is ROAR, and Holiday was Jesse from Toy Story... she looked the part perfectly!!

So cute!


A once in a lifetime pic - everyone is looking "toward" the camera!

Ryan held down the fort at home... Ethan was his helper!

They did lots of walking!

Jackson's new thing is to say "cheese" when he sees a camera.. but most of the time, he's not looking at the camera when he does it.

Another needed break!


Now, the whole crew is together!!! Ben, Jackson, Eden and Holiday!

Awesome Dad Alert! Ryan and J, Josh and Eden.

Ryan carved these pumpkins!!

I must say, I normally really don't like Halloween at all - but this year, I actually enjoyed it! I feel like I get to experience what's fun about Halloween through my amazing sweet boys.... That being said, bring on Turkey Day!!!