Darling Ethan

One day I sent Ethan upstairs to take some things up while we were cleaning. He didn't come back down so I went up to find him. I found him in my room organizing my shoes. I couldn't believe it. (I wish I had a before picture - it didn't look good at all.) Seriously, this kid is amazing. I've never heard of a toddler that is more organized than his mother. This is the result. I'd like to say I taught him everything he knows, but it would be a big, FAT lie!

June 2010

I love this picture of the hottie and our boys. It was Father's Day when I took it. Ethan loves his dad so much. I wouldn't say he is a daddy's boy or a mommy's boy necessarily, but he absolutely adores Steve. (Who wouldn't?) Ethan looks up to him so much and I'm so grateful that he has someone he can look up to. Tegan is lucky too - he gets to look up to both of them.

Like I said in the previous post, spring in the NW was lousy this year, so we spent a lot of time inside. We like to play on the bed in the morning, waiting for the day to begin.
In June, Tegan really started to slober a lot!!! He also spit up alot. (Ethan didn't do this, so it was new for me.) He has had rashy neck issues because of it, but we do the best we can! He probably goes through about 2-3 onesies a day. He also loved to start standing, with support, in June. He really LOVES to stand. Sometimes he will only let me get him dressed if he is standing while I do it. Funny. He hates tummy time still.

In June, we did get to watch "Momma bird" build her nest on top of a column outside our front door. She sat on those eggs for a good three weeks, faithfully. One day, two baby birdies "appeared." The birds were as quiet as mouse unless momma bird came back with food. As soon as she came back the babies chirped and chirped LOUDLY. The minute she would leave they would immediately stop chirping. I found it to be quite interesting. A day after I took this picture, all the birds were gone. I guess the babies learned to fly!

Garage sales in the NW are the best - things aren't too used and abused, AND ... there are sales and neighborhood sales every weekend. I bought this beauty at a sale for $100. I wasn't sure I like it so I decided to post it on Craigslist for $225. Someone bought it that night for $200. I made a $100 and bought one I liked for $75. WOW! I'm awesome! Some other great finds were: Le Creusset heart pot/lid $7, 12 gold chargers $6, Geotrax airport $5, thomas trains/tracks $12, lawn trimmer $20, almost new eliptical $40. Gotta love it.

We also had a HUGE patch of strawberries this year. I made at least four batches of strawberry jam and we enjoyed strawberries every night for dinner in June. It was fabulous.

May 2010

Tegan started sleeping through the night, as in 8 pm to 7 am, when he was about 11 weeks old. Bless him. He truly is our sleeper and he can't function without it. From about 12 weeks old to now (6 1/2 months old) Tegan has needed three naps. I'm a prisoner in my home! I suppose I shouldn't be surprised because his eyes were closed the first 6 weeks out of the womb (except in the middle of the night). People kept saying, "Does he ever open his eyes?" Over Memorial Day weekend, the Connell family sans some member went up to Camp Zarahemla, aka Camp Z. Grandma was able to get Tegan to sleep while Steve, Ethan, and I went on a canoe ride. I still can't believe she got him to sleep like this. He will never let me do that! Side note: He will also never sleep on my belly like Ethan did. Aunt Shannon is the only one who has been able to get him to do that while being held at church.

There's his eyes. Most of the time they are gray-blue. Sometimes they have a little green in them. I don't think they have decided what color they are yet even still today. Regardless, they are definitely NOT brown.
Us on said canoe trip. Hey, is that "two-ton tilly" next to Steve? Anyway, we had a great time in "the woods." I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills ... One of the highlights of the trip was when Ethan randomly came flying down on his bike at the campground during the family talent show. He did not use the breaks and thankfully did not hit a tree. He even commented on how fun it was.

Four-month photo shoot.

Ethan had his last day at "Joyful Learning" preschool in May. He was there for five months and had a pretty good experience.

But as you can see in this picture, I'm not sure this environment was his cup of tea. Doesn't he look happy? wink wink.

Ethan has really gotten into building things out of Legos and he's good at it too! He decided one day he was going to build this truck all by himself and he did it from start to finish. Problem is - once something is built, he does not like to take it apart, thereby making it difficult to make other things.

What do you think? A self-photographer in the making for sure. Glamour shots by Ethan!

The spring in the NW was dreadful this year ... I'll be the first to complain!! I almost went nuts. In fact, people who have lived here for years and like this weather almost went nuts. Everyone kept saying it was the worst spring ever. On the bright side, I live in a more spacious house than we did in Seattle and we at least had room to think and move. And ... there were rainbows and double rainbows regularly. This one was outside Ethan's window right before bed. He said he stayed up watching it.

Ethanese Series Again

Ethan currently has a runny nose. He came up to me and said, "Mom, I have issues." [Don't we all?!!!] I laughed and asked him if he meant he needed a tissue. He said no. I asked him if he meant boogers. He said no. I then asked him if he knew what issues are. He said no. I said issues are like problems. He then said, "Okay mom, my nose has problems." I know it doesn't quite make sense and you kind of had to be there, but I just thought it was a cute exchange.

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We flew to Utah recently and before we landed Ethan said, "Mom, I don't like the runway." [meaning 'I don't like the part where we land.'] I told him it was okay and that he could hold my hand. After we landed, he said, "Mom, do you know why I don't like the runway?" I asked him why to which he responded, "Because it makes my heart pound." That response made my heart melt.

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By the way, sorry if I've already written these things before ... I can't remember what I've already written or not.

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About three or four months ago I was putting Ethan to bed. I was telling him all about his wonderful qualities. He stopped me midway through and said, "Mom, I have to go potty ... but when I am done I'm gonna come back to bed and I want you to keep telling me how good I am." Hilarious ... but especially because I used to do the same thing when I was a little girl. Hey, everyone likes a good compliment every now and again, right?!

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I've started making my own yogurt and it is fab. I sometimes eat it twice a day. My mother-in-law taught me how to make it in a crockpot, of all things last time she was here. While I was doing something upstairs, she asked Ethan where his mother's crockpot was. He abruptly replied, "A crockpot? What's a crockpot?" She then said, "Ya know, some people call them slow cookers." He immediately responded, "Oh no, my mom's a fast cooker."

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I think I've mentioned before how Ethan has to say goodbye about a million times when someone leaves or if he is leaving. Well, the same is true with saying goodnight. When we put him to bed he says, "Love you, night night ... Don't bite the bed bugs ... see you in the morning ... have a good sleep" ... and our personal favorite that he learned from us: "NEVER EVER GET UP - EVER EVER!" Classic. He says each one about five times each.

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I don't know if I've mentioned that Ethan learned to ride his bike without training wheels about a week before the fourth of July. (Pics later - and yes, mom and dad are so proud.) We thought for sure we were going to need to buy a bunch of padding because Ethan is sometimes more safe than we are, but no. Our little OCD son showed us who is boss. One day, he just said he wanted to try it. We went to the church parking lot let go of his seat, and off he went without a hitch. He hasn't stopped since, except for when he occasionally runs into a parked car or stationary bush. Anyway, yesterday Tegan was napping and Ethan and I were outside. He was riding his bike FAST up and down the road. On one run, he got off the bike and ran to me to give me a hug. He then said, "I just wanted to give you a hug and a kiss." Magical moment.

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Like I said, we went to Utah recently, particularly for my dad's 60th birthday and my grandparents' 60 wedding anniversary. While there, we visited a lot with my grandparents. I just wanted to mention how sweet Ethan was with Grammy. Some kids are shy around older people or family they don't see often. But Ethan went up to Grammy, gave her a hug, kissed her on the cheek and said I love you Grammy Great without any prompting when it was time for us to go. It was something I just wanted to remember.

Ethanese Series

The other day we were cleaning out the bathroom drawers and I said, "Hey Ethan - look - the dental floss." The floss happened to be right by the Q-tips. Ethan then said, "Mom, I need to floss my ears."

For Your Viewing Entertainment

Born to be wild!!! This is one classic pic. I told you Steve was obsessed with motorcycles (see story in next post). Baby + WHITE blessing outfit + Motorcycle makes for quite the picture.

Hey blue eyes! Are they going to stay blue?
Best brothers. Okay, they seriously used to look alike and now they don't at all. Ethan is the best brother. I love it when he comes into T's room with me to get him after a nap. He always says, "It's okay ... there, there" to help calm T down.

Fat boy in a little chair.

Um ... Mom, where are you? Um ... come and get me - I'm falling out!

What the Hottie Does in His Spare Time

Steve's new passion (and no, it doesn't involve yours truly whatsoever). Dear Mr. Dirt bike, Why don't you hit the road, literally!? If only I could get Steve to look at me the way he looks at you! Sincerely, Yours Truly.

This is all in jest. Steve really loves me the most; however, he loves his new motorcycle too. And I am so excited he has found something that he really likes to do. After four years of hard work and school, now he can continue to work hard and play a little on the side. It is so fun to see how excited he gets about it - like a kid in a candy store. And as you can see from the picture above, he's in good company.
Just a random picture for good measure. We just really need to buy a ladder!

Ethanese Series

Ethan was starting to plan his next birthday, which is in like 10 months, and I told him I only do friend birthday parties ever other year. I said we could always have a party with family, but I just didn't want to do a friend party every year and that's my rule. Then he said, "Mommy, I hate that rule a hundred thousand times." Well alrighty then!

I had my mom describe me and each of my sisters in a few words. Then Ethan asked if we knew what word described him. He blurted out, "Humble!" (Obviously - super humble!)

Mr. T's Blessing - Um ... Six Weeks Ago

Happy Blessing Day to our newest angel! (Blessed April 11, 2010 by Daddy)

Funny.
Deer in headlights.

Silly.

Our Family. Love it.

Tuckered out on the actual day. (Looking quite bald too.)

Dad and boy.

Tegan's blessing was the same day as Mikie's baptism (our nephew). So we made it a Connell weekend extravaganza. My parents and grandparents also flew up for the occasion and stayed with us. It was a special weekend for us to have mom and dad and grammie and grandpa all to ourselves. I felt such overwhelming love and support all weekend.

Grandma Eileen and T.

Greg and Shannon were gracious enough to hold the grand event at their house after church. Shannon and Mr. T actually share birthdays!

Mandatory picture of the four crazy boys.

Grammie and Tegan. Grammie bore her testimony on Sunday about the importance of family - it was wonderful to sit by her at church.

All the Crazy Cousins.

It was wonderful to see all of the men surrounding Steve and Tegan in the circle. We have a great family. My Uncle Allen and Cousin came over from Gresham as well.

Grandpa Dave and the dudes.

Grandma and Grandpa Connell and the tired dude.

Grammie Lou and T.

And one picture of me and the grandparents just for the heck of it.

Fun Pics

These pics seriously just make me happy. Like I said, Tegan is really easy-going. He just goes with the flow and watches the world pass by.

Last Tuesday Ethan decided it was "Sunglass Tuesday." We all wore our sunglasses for awhile, but these two definitely look the best. Classic.
On a nice day we went for a walk around this lake by our house. Gotta love the Northwest.

Aahh. Look at my hottie.

Our First "Mall Fit" ... Dangit!

Well, I can honestly say I never wanted to be one of those angry mothers who yells at her child in the mall, but I suppose one can't evade the inevitable. It finally happened to me. When Tegan was about five weeks old, my sissy Meagan came to visit. (She just HAD to "get out of Provo.") Anyway, we decided to go shopping in Portland. It was a Saturday and super crowded. Ethan wanted to push the stroller. Awe ... the joys of adjusting to two children. I let him push the stroller, which contained Tegan, until he hung on it and it FELL OVER! Um ... no more! I told Ethan I needed to push it and the war began. WOW! Ethan started screaming, yelling, and gnashing his teeth! I told Meagan to take Tegan and go to the stores she wanted. Ethan and I proceeded to sit on a bench in the middle of the mall, where he screamed. I stayed as calm as possible and even found myself laughing. I told him to sit on the bench until he could calm down. By this point, everyone is staring - or maybe it just felt that way. By this point he was hysterical and started to want to sit on my lap while throwing a fit. I told him, no way - I wasn't going to comfort a boy that was screaming at me!!! This made him super-hysterical. Then the real kicker ... he yelled at the top of his lungs, "I WANT A HUG!" This lovely phrase echoed through the walls of Washington Square. By this time, I was a bit frustrated, so I grabbed my child's hand and held on tightly as we walked rather briskly out to the car. All the while, Ethan continued to yell, "I WANT A HUG!" How ironic and laughable. When we got to the car, I put him in and let him wage the war solo on the inside while I said a prayer of patience on the outside. An experience I hope to never encounter again. But that may be wishful thinking ...

Tegan's Story ... Pretty Low Key ... Just Like Him

So Tegan is now 3 months old, and I can hardly believe it. He is a delightful baby. I haven't been much of a blogger/recorder, so I wanted to document his birth. It was pretty low key/stress free ... and I was so glad! My mom flew in Thursday night so she could watch Ethan all weekend. I stopped eating/drinking that night and I got an okay night's sleep. I was really hoping for a fabulous sleep, but anyway. I started crying while I laid next to Ethan that night because it wasn't going to be just him and me anymore. Of course, we were totally excited for the baby, but it was just Ethan and me for a long time. Before we went to bed, Steve looked at me and said, "Babes, I know this baby's name is Tegan." Oh, so you're pulling that card on me are yah? (His name was still "in the works for a few days after.) The next morning was stress free too (outward appearance showed that, but inside I was totally freaking out). I packed my bag, got a blessing, and we drove to the hospital. We checked in and I got to lay on a bed, wearing a warm air suit. Every time I would start to freak out, I would just look at Steve. Already, the experience was so much more stress free than the previous two births - it was about 10:30 in the morning - nice. The nurse came in to put in my IV. I asked her if she was good at it. (Steve later mentioned that health care people hate those types of questions - it makes them nervous.) She said she was good, but alas, she had to try a few times. She finally got it in the hand. I was scheduled to go in at noon, but the doctor was there early with nothing to do, so he asked to nurse to hurry on the preparations so he could get going. Imagine, a perinatologist with nothing to do??? Oh, I forgot ... when we got to the hospital, everyone kept asking me to detail the procedure I was having. So I would say that I was having a C-section to bring a baby into the world. Then everyone would follow up with, "And then you're tying your tubes, right?" Um ... NO! (Yes, everyone was serious.) For some reason, someone had written on my chart the previous day that I wanted my tube(s) tied. Um ... never said that! So when you get annoyed for doctors/nurses asking you these questions over and over, just deal with it. They want to make sure they're doing what you want them to do, and I'm so glad they did. I still have my tube open, thank you very much!

So, the nurse finished the prep, Steve and I said one more prayer, Steve got dressed in a ghostbuster-type outfit, and I was wheeled into the OR. My brother-in-law (bless him) in an anesthesiologist (no, I did NOT let him work on me) and he got one of his partners to work with me. He was great! I was so nervous for the spinal, but it went fine and he stayed with me the whole time. He kept asking if I wanted more of this or that, and helped with oxygen - the whole nine yards. But let's not forget Steve was there too. Sure, he wasn't pushing the drugs, but he was holding my hand and watching the whole surgery. I'm not quite sure how he did that, but he said it was interesting. Yes, they let him watch and peek over the blue curtain/barrier. Steve also took some great pics. The anesthesia really affects me, but I remember a bit. It was really relaxed in the OR. The docs were just talking, almost as if I were at the dentist ... just another day in the OR ... FOR THEM! They were seriously fast! All of a sudden I heard the doctor say, yep, that's a unicornuate uterus, and then he said in an even louder voice at 11:56 a.m., "HERE HE COMES!" Then I heard Tegan cry, and I felt joy. There's nothing more glorious than the cries of a newborn, especially after you've heard nothing from a stillborn. It was glorious. Then Tegan peed on the doctor, who of course commented about it. Tegan's cry was robust, but he stopped as soon as he was wrapped. Steve got to hold him right after he was weighed and I was alert enough to keep my eyes open and focused on Mr. T. Steve brought him right over to me and Tegan opened his eyes and just stared into mine. It was a moment and face I'll never forget. I felt like he was saying, "I'm finally here mom, and I'm glad." I'll tell you what, the docs were fast. I was out of there in no time and in post surgery. I got to nurse Tegan right away, which I wasn't expecting and overall, I felt really good. Seriously, night and day difference! Steve watched Tegan get his first bath, and he liked it! I got down to my room an hour or so later. The only thing that was really bugging me was the itchy eyes.

Ethan and my mom got there about 3 pm. Ethan came in looked at me, looked at Tegan, and said, "I want to watch a show." Are you kidding me? Is that all you have to say? Anyway, he quickly warmed up and held Tegan. Mom started to cry and was so happy we finally had another baby. That first night wasn't too bad. Tegan was a good eater/sleeper from the beginning. The only annoying thing is that the machine that measured my oxygen ran out of batteries and started beeping like crazy in the middle of the night. Aaah! Hospitals! The nurse was sorry she had forgotten to plug it in, but what can you do? We had gotten her to agree to taking off those shin, blow-up leg thingies, so that was good. The next day, I did well. I took so walks and started eating. Tegan did great too. I was determined to get us home soon. On Sunday, I told the doctor I wanted to go home and he said I could, but said my insurance covered time for two more days. It's always scary to actually go home because you don't have nurses to take care of things, but I always feel better when I get home. It was great to get home and sleep in my own bed. I think Tegan liked his bed too.

Mr. T was a lot more quiet than Mr. Ethan. In fact, he was so quiet, he stayed in our room until he was 8 weeks old. Steve evicted Ethan when Ethan was 3 weeks old. After about a month, Tegan was able to sleep from midnight to 5 am. It was nice to have the Olympics on so I could watch while I nursed. (You all know, you just nurse all the time at the start.) Tegan loved to be swaddled and held. Like most babies, he still is not a big fan of tummy time. I could never get him to sleep on my belly - I suppose it's because he could smell me. He still loves his binkie. This kid is a dream baby - really! He never cries. Sometimes he'll just yell a little, "Aaahhh!" but that's it. He loves baths! He just sits there and stares at you. One time Ethan dropped a whole cup of water on his face. Tegan just gasped, got really big eyes and then he got over it! He is 50th percentile in everything and gaining weight like a champ. He's kind of chubby already! The only problem he's had is that both his big toes have ingrown toenails! Ouch. But they don't seem to bother him and they are now doing better. He finally started smiling at about 8 and a half weeks and it melts your heart. At about 11 and half weeks he started sleeping through the night ... he now sleeps from 9 pm to 7 am. Thank you Tegan! Now the dude is settling nicely into a schedule and I am finally emerging from the fog. It's nice to be back. Now, I just gotta start exercising! Oh, by the way, Tegan gave us his first little giggle 2 nights ago when I tickled under his arms and chin.

I'm so thankful to my Heavenly Father for this wonderful miracle. I only hope I can be a good mother to such an angel. I never thought I would be blessed with 3 wonderful boys.

Mr. T and Mr. E
My main men. Um ... I don't know how we got a blue-eyed, blonde child, but isn't he cute?Ethan loves having a brother. He calls him, "Bobble-Head Blue Eyes" (?) and "Teegee."

Just a fairer version of Ethan.

His first smile ... it melted my heart so much that I didn't remember I was exhausted.

Now that Tegan is three months old, he loves to sit in his swing and his bouncie seat. He now grabs for toys hanging over the seat. He has started to suck on his hands just for fun. He also loves music. When I sing to him he becomes a cooing machine. He is a joy to be around and we're glad he's in our family. Let's not forget the best big brother - Ethan. He is a big helper ... he loves to give him a bottle (which I started at about 4 weeks old), he loves to put diapers in the diaper genie, he loves to get Tegan's binkie, he loves to go in Tegan's room when naptime is over. He is a great big brother!