Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween! The pictures posted in reverse order, but you get the idea! Here is a picture adventure of my little frog.

Trick or Treating in style with cousin Jackson
"Hello pumpkin!"

Fun games at "school"

So cute.

He just makes me smile

Today Ethan and I ventured to Target. I stopped by the restrooms before our shopping adventure. He was in the stall with me and after I finished he waved to the toilet and yelled, "bye bye pee pee" and blew a kiss. I just had to laugh. What a silly boy. Thankfully he didn't try to kiss the actual toilet because I would have had to baptize him in a bottle of sanitizer!

Melting pot of thoughts

This is a melting pot post because there are so many different things I wanted to write about.
First one being that I LOVE being a mommy. Ethan is just at a really fun stage right now. He is so cute! His favorite thing right now is to listen to "Wheels on the bus" on a toddler veggie tales cd. He will ask to listen to it at least 50 times a day. (No exaggeration!)
He has also developed a love/lust for peas. He will eat all of them first out of his mixed veggies. Then he eats the carrots, then all the green beans and saves the corn for last. What a goober. I started making him peas only because he loves them so much! I will always capitalize on a vegetable obsession from him!
Another recent thing that cracks me up is that he has started coupling the words "thank you" and "your welcome". So now when he asks for juice he will say, "thank you welcome!" He also says "please" with such passion. The more he wants something, the more passion he puts into saying it. He has really started putting words together to form small sentences. "Daddy work". He runs through a list of people he loves on a daily basis asking me where they are. "where... granddaddy, dee, mike, jacks, ki ki (courtney), papa, mammy, woof woof (papa's dog)" then he ends with "work". Because all of those people must be at work if they aren't with him! He's so silly.
Ever since I was out of town for our women's retreat he has been in love with his daddy. Yesterday he fell and started crying and asked for daddy. Matt is loving this because Ethan has always been a mama's boy.
Ethan's not-so-fun recent obsessions are hitting and saying "no". This morning in his class where I work he said, "hit" then hit someone. I talked with them about this behavior and told them to not tolerate it at all. So they sat him in time out. He didn't do it the rest of the morning. He doesn't hit hard or maliciously he just informs you that he's going to hit and then does it. I really cannot wait for this phase to pass! We are being as consistent as we can with him. Saying "no" has gotten a little bit better but my little smart alec will say "no" then when I tell him that "we do not tell mommy no" he will look at me and then mouth the word and not actually say it! Can you believe that??!!! Wow, he is just like his mama. Matt and I know that we have to keep a tight rein on our precious little boy because he is a stubborn one!
Anyhow, in other fun news I just started a new bible study. It is Beth Moore's most recent called Stepping Up. So far I just did day 1, but I am already SO excited about learning about the Psalms of Ascent and growing closer to the Lord. I do not want to idolize Beth Moore herself in any way. But I am so encouraged by her passion and love for God and His word. She has a way of writing studies for women that just challenge and strengthen us. I hope I walk away from this changed. If you have any questions about what it means to follow Christ and live for God, PLEASE leave me a comment and I would love to talk to you about it. If you are a woman in the Raleigh area and are interested in joining this study, PLEASE let me know. You do not need to go to my church just to do this study. It is open to you!
Anyhow, I hope to post a cute picture soon that I took. I took it last week before we were leaving for "school" and he actually looked at the camera and with a big smile said, "cheese"! So I snapped one. I'll post it soon. Happy Fall!!!

I'm back!

I am back from the women's retreat and I had a blast! It was so great to be away from distractions of the world where we can come together as women and study God's word and have fun! This morning when I woke up I barely had a voice, not because I am sick but because I laughed and talked so much that I actually almost lost my voice! Although I had a great time, it was definitely nice to be back home with my family. I missed my little boy and hubby so much and boy did I sleep good last night! There's just something about your own bed that is so comforting and peaceful!
Here's the answer to the trivia question from the post before. How many monitors make up the entire Wheel of Fortune puzzle board. 52! My friend Elizabeth got it right! The rows go 12, 14, 14, and 12. Go ahead and write it down in your notebook of random useless information, ha!

Trivia

Here is a little trivia question to tide you over while I am out of town for our churchs' women's retreat. Maybe this will produce some comments on my blog, because I haven't been feeling the love lately. (sniff, sniff)
In the TV show Wheel of Fortune, how many letter spaces make up the huge display puzzle? Phrased another way, how many monitors could Vanna potentially touch to reveal a puzzle. (If you watched the show the other night, then you know the answer to this!) Just leave a comment with your guess and i'll reveal the answer Sunday night!

I won!

So remember that race I blogged about that was a few weekends ago. The 5K that I came in 3rd in (3rd from last place)! Well everyone that entered the race got put into a drawing to win a 4 month free membership to the Aquatics and Fitness Center. Guess who won?! ME!!!! I never win anything! Who'da thought that you could come in almost last place, but end up winning! YAY! I'm going to run/walk in races more often.

Recent fun

Before I reminisce on the past few days of fun, let me tell you a quick story. So, I went to use our video camera a few months ago and it was completely dead. I tried to charge it but I was getting nothing. I was very upset thinking that the camera was broke. Today I was telling Matt that I would like to get the camera fixed before the holidays. Matt decided to take one last look at it before we took it to a store and boy am I glad he did. He discovered that I had a complete blonde moment (no offense to my blondie friends)! I was putting the charger into the wrong outlet in the camera, I was plugging it into the AV/Output hole. What a dope! Of course it was dead and won't charge if you're not plugging it into the right place. DUH!
Anyhow, off to my recent fun.
Matt's old college roomate and his wife and daughter all came up to spend Monday night with us because Tuesday Danny and his wife were going to a conference all day. So I would be watching their daughter, Rhyan. (Boy did that give me insight into having 2 kids- but i'll save that for another post!) So I watched Rhyan all day Tuesday and boy did Ethan and her have a BLAST! They are less than a month apart and Ethan was following her everywhere. Sharing his toys and food and even his beloved puppies! For those of you that don't know he sleeps with 2 puppies and they are his loveys. He kept calling Rhyan, Ashlyn which is his cousins name. Even thought I corrected him many many times, he insisted that she was "Ash-in".
Tuesday night before they went home we decided to hit up the NC State Fair. We were given admission and ride tickets as a gift, so all we were going to spend money on was the yummy food! It was also the first time I got to try out my new double stroller. Definitely handy to have but is a lot bigger than our standard stroller. We all enjoyed the animals and we even went on a carousel with the kids. It was a great evening minus the fact that Rhyan got so tired and over stimulated that she had a screaming fit and ended up vomiting in my new stroller and all over herself. Yikes. Overall we had a blast and always enjoy hanging out with Danny & Jess!
Today my little one has been in such a great mood and so much fun. He and his daddy had a blast rolling a toy car across the dining table as I was fixing our lunch. A great American classic : chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. We had a great night as a family being silly and loving on each other. I cherish these times together as I know some weeks are way more hectic than others and with new bible studies starting up soon we won't have any week nights together.
This weekend is our women's retreat and despite the forecasted rain, it will be a BLAST. I am really looking forward to it and i'm so happy my mom will be able to come! More pictures to come I am sure.

Daddy & Ethan having some pre-lunch fun!
Riding the carousel

Ethan and Rhyan having a lunch date!

Candy?!

So, I kinda am doing a little tricking with my son. We call his multi-vitamin "candy". So now when he sees the bottle he begs for "candy"! At his age we can call anything candy and he'll eat it. Is that bad?! HA! I mean honestly, they do look like a sweet tart and taste berry flavored. So what is the definition of candy? Maybe we'll just buy him a couple bottles for halloween! Trick or Treat.

Sentencing (Is that even a real word in itself?)

Ethan is learning to piece words together to form sentences. Today at lunch he was just mr. talkative at our dining table. "Milk...please...more!" and "All gone...pizza." It is so fun to hear him talking more and knowing that he definitely understands us. We are reasoning more with him during discipline. We have officially begun the use of time-out. His spot is near our front door. He knows whats going on when he gets put there. Then we always "talk" about why he was there and hug and kiss before he gets up. I want him to associate discipline with love because that is why we are doing it. Anyhow, he really is growing up before our eyes. It's amazing being a Mommy!

$2.98!!!!

Today I got gas for $2.98! All of you Morrisville, Cary, and Apex readers: the gas station that is in front of Lowes Foods near High House and Davis Drive had cheap cheap gas today! There was a huge line. I just happened to stumble upon it while driving home from Target. So go fill up! I topped off at this same station 2 days ago for $3.14! YAY for cheap gas.

"Uh oh, pop-carn!"

Ethan eating his favorite snack
This is what happens when you walk away for a second! As Ethan said, "Uh oh, pop-carn!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

...27th birthday to my wonderful husband!! We love you so much and are so proud of the man, husband, father, friend, lover, pastor, student, employee, and more that you are!

...20 month birthday to my little boy who is growing up TOO fast!

On the up side

Ethan is finally getting better. After 4 days straight of a pretty high fever he is now feeling better. This morning was the first morning since last Friday that he woke up without a fever. He slept in until 8:30 this morning. I actually had to go in and wake him up because I wanted to make sure he was ok because he was sleeping so late. He woke up smiling and happy. The past few mornings he has just cried and wanted to be held and wouldn't even eat breakfast. This morning was a different story. He was jabbering away while eating cheerios and bananas. While this sickness was far from life threatening, I am so glad to see him feeling better. It is so hard to see your child sick and just whining and crying and wanting to be held 24-7. It's also hard to understand that they are sick, but not letting them get away with misbehavior just because they are sick. He is definitely one that acts out when he isn't feeling well, so that was a bit of a challenge. Anyhow, I hope to post some pictures soon but I need Matt's computer for that since this one is a bit ancient. I'll be posting again soon.

You know your child is sick...

...when they fall asleep while having their temperature taken rectally! Wowsers. Ethan not only fell asleep but he also slept without eating any lunch and took a 4 hour nap! I decided to take him to the doctor because he's had a snotty nose for about a week then developed a fever (102). He is now on an anti-biotic for a sinus infection. So i'll be staying home from church tomorrow. Bummer. I LOVE going to my church every Sunday so i'll definitely be missing out. Say a prayer for Ethan that he will get well quickly!

Great Pumpkin 5K Road Race

Who knew I could finish a race in 3rd place!!! 3rd from LAST person to cross the finish line. HA!
This morning I participated in our community's 5K race. My neighbor, who lives below us, asked me if I would walk it with her. She isn't much of a runner so I said I would walk it with her but we were going to run some of it. WELL, little did we know out of the 60 some people that were in it, we were the ONLY ones walking it. I mean there were some serious runners out there. Marathoners and some tri-athletes. There was 1 other man who finished last and he was 80 years old! I was going to feel like such a loser if even HE lapped us! HA HA! It was a fun morning, but we certainly thought we weren't going to be the only walkers. People were cheering as we were crossing the finish line, "way to go, you did it!" I just wanted to yell out, "We don't need your pity cheers, we were WALKING!" I mean we saw people walking HOME because they finished the race as we were about half way through. It was so funny. Matt decided to come work the race so he was stationed mid-way through and was just laughing as we were walking by. They practically were cleaning up the cones as we were finishing. HA! What a comical morning. After that my neighbor and I decided that we were going to start running together on a weekly basis. I am excited because my running partner is out of commission the next 9 months! So now I have someone to run with and she is a beginner so I don't feel like i'm running with someone who would leave me in the dust.
Another short story about the race...after you finish there are fruit and bagels and stuff for you to eat. I went to get a half of a bagel and was cutting it with a plastic knife. The knife slipped and cut open my finger. I thought it was deep at first because it started bleeding a lot. I was like, If I finished 3rd from last in a race AND need to get stitched because I cut myself with a plastic knife I can officially tatoo the word loser across my forehead. What a morning!

Misbehavior

This morning I spent time with my mom and my niece. We went to a park and then to chick-fil-a for lunch. After we ate lunch we went into the play area so Ashlyn and Ethan could play. This is the first time I let Ethan go up into the play area all by himself. He did so great! He LOVED playing like a big kid. When we first got in there Ethan went way up into the play area and was getting ready to go down the slide. When I saw a little girl (about 5 years old) and her younger sister go barreling through the play zone. I saw this girl go up to Ethan and say, "GO!" and pushed him down near the entrance of the slide. I yelled up there, "Excuse me, please do not push!" She said ok and it was over. I was apalled that some older girl who clearly knows how to interact with younger kids would push a small child. Especially when he could have fallen down the slide. I was livid. Her parents weren't in the play area, of course, but I sure didn't mind reprimanding her. Then towards the end of our time playing I saw Ethan push another little boy. You better believe I climbed up in that play place and yanked him out. I DO NOT tolerate misbehavior like that. I believe that Matt and I have been pretty consistent, but today made me want to buckle down on him even more. I know "kids will be kids" and "he's an active boy", and "he's still young." But that is NO excuse, we will do our best to raise a child that is respectful and knows right from wrong and will hopefully choose right. Although I am not expecting perfection. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the task of shaping my child into who he will be as an adult. Praise the Lord I don't have to go through it alone... I have my wonderful husband who is a tremendous father and I have the Lord. I just pray my friends and family will support us in raising a child who respects and loves others, and most of all who will grow up loving God!

Health Intervention

We need to pull a health intervention for my husband. I forgot to mention that on the way to the zoo yesterday Matt pulls out his "breakfast" that he grabbed from the apartment. It consisted of a Sunkist and a rice crispy treat. What in the world?! He may be thin and athletic but I know his arteries are probably screaming!

Zoo

Today our family got to go to the zoo! (It pays to do your parent's yard work...literally!) It was a gorgeous day and Matt was out of class for the day because of Fall break. The zoo was practically empty and it was SO nice to not have to fight millions of kids and people to see the animals. Ethan is getting to where he really looks and enjoys the animals...however he protested to being put in the stroller. Mr. Independent wanted to walk everywhere and at his rate we would still be at the zoo! We enjoyed our family date, now on to some of the highlights.

Sitting in a helicopter at the new Elephant exhibit
Riding the tram, or "choo choo"!
Looking at the sea lions...he actually kissed the glass trying to kiss them!
Sliding down the slide in the kids play zone
Watching the otters sleep
Daddy & E looking at the bison or "doggies" as Ethan called them
We saw the grizzly up close and personal...he was taking a bath, look at those massive claws!

Bridge Family Fun Day

Saturday afternoon we had our event and the park. It was a huge success. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, Rita's Italian ice, mini-golf, and an inflatable bounce house. Tons of people came out because it was such a beautiful day. I do have to say my husband did a great job planning it. And we also have wonderful people at our church that love to serve and are very family oriented. We are blessed to be in such a great community.
Ethan had a blast yesterday. At first he wasn't sure about the bounce house. But by the end of the day we couldn't keep him out of it. He loved going through the obstacle course with Granddaddy. I also realized yesterday how much my son has a love for running. He was running all over the soccer field and I must say he is fast too! I took a lot of pictures, but I didn't realize until the end that most of them are blurry because I had a finger print on the lens of my camera. So here are some good ones...

Obstacle course with Granddaddy
Getting ready to go down the slide with Riley
Ethan really wanted to hold Keegan
Playing golf...or should I say stealing people's balls and putting them in the holes.
Bouncin'!
Me and Ethan getting ready to go down the slide
Peek-a-boo!

Saturday morning

All growing up my dad would make a big breakfast for our family on the weekends. We would have pancakes & bacon or biscuits & gravy. Every now and then when we have a free morning I will try to make pancakes & bacon for Matt and I, to pass on the family tradition. This morning was the first time Ethan actually ate with us and ate what we ate. Matt always likes his pancakes plain but I like to throw a few chocolate chips in mine. This morning all we had were M&M's, but they did just fine! Ethan was a bit confused as to why the M&M's were IN the pancakes, but as soon as he figured it out, he chowed down. While we were eating Ethan decided that his favorite part of breakfast was dipping his bacon into syrup and eating it! He ate more bacon and syrup than pancakes! It was a great morning in our household! (Ethan didn't wake up until 7:15 too!) This afternoon we have a huge family event with our church at a local community park. It is GORGEOUS outside, so it should be a great day. More pictures of that to come!

"WHY are the M&M's IN the pancakes?!"
"Yummy, this is good!" OR maybe he's thinking "Mom, are you REALLY going to take a picture of me eating breakfast?!"
Dippin' bacon in the syrup.

p.s. "Check out my cousin's website with cool pictures and a video of us having so much fun together."

Sleeping woes

This week has been such an abnormal week for my wee little one. He has been waking up at 5:00a.m. and 6:00 and has been wide awake. Ethan usually wakes up around 8:00, so this is a little out of character. Today has been HORRIBLE as far as sleep goes. This morning he decided to wake up before Matt (4:50a.m.) and stayed awake for 2 hours, jabbering and fussing towards the end of his wakefulness. Eventually he fell back asleep around 7:15 and slept until 8:15. I am such a light sleeper that I basically laid in bed for 2 hours listening to him. WELL, this afternoon I put him down a little before 1:00p.m. for his afternoon nap. It is now 3:20 and he has yet to fall asleep. I shouldn't be stressed or bothered too badly because he hasn't cried or fussed but he is WIDE awake. Just jabbering, playing, talking, and laughing. He almost took off his whole bumper. Normal people could maybe just ignore him, but I can't. I just sit here thinking, "why isn't he falling asleep...when will he fall asleep....will he fall asleep....we have a birthday thing to go to tonight, will he be cranky now...how will this affect his night sleep!" As I am sitting here typing, this is what I hear: "night, night....b-ball....mee maw....puppy....pass.....juice....milk.....hi...
....b-ball....shoo shoo, buggy.....night night....mommy....night night....mommy....b-ball ....meeee maw...." and on and on and ON. I guess I am going to get him up. I mean he has been in his crib almost 3 hours, if he hasn't fallen asleep by now, I guess he isn't going to. And even if he were, then that might affect how he sleeps tonight. Good gracious. I thought I was done with sleeping issues when he first started sleeping through the night at 9 weeks old. Why is it that the little things in life stress me out the most?! Maybe because I can't control it and that bothers me, who knows. Off to go get him up...

"go pee pee"

So I know I am posting twice in one day, but this is too good to pass up. You may know I posted a week or so ago about us trying potty training with Ethan. He kept telling us when he would "poo poo". While we thought he was too young we went ahead and tried it. He did great, but wasn't telling us he had to go at all. We assumed he was too young and cognitively wasn't ready so we stopped after 2 days. Well guess what the little booger did today out of no where? After his nap he walked up to me and said, "go pee pee". I looked at him in shock and said, "pee, pee you need to go pee pee". And he proceeded to walk to the bathroom. So I went in there and sat him on it and he went pee pee and had a dry diaper. About an hour or so later he said, "pee pee". So we went in again, his diaper was still dry and he went pee pee. What in the world?!!! Is he ready now? I am so at loss as to what to do because he is still pretty young. He turns 20 months on the 16th of this month. So any ideas or suggestions?! Should we really do this afterall?

"School"

Today was Ethan's first day coming with me to the Y. I now work there 3 mornings a week. I worked it out so that I could be in the same room with him in the beginning because I wasn't sure how he would do since he has been home with me from birth. We walked in this morning and he acted like he owned the place. No worries at all. I walked out of the room several times and he didn't care one bit. So I told them I was going to work in another room with the babies because he was doing so well. He did great the whole morning! I was so relieved. When we were driving home I said "yay for school!" and told him we would be there tomorrow and was asking him how his day was. (Even though I know he can't fully carry on a conversation with me) A few minutes later he started clapping and was going "yay 'cool, yay 'cool"! I am so glad he loved his first day at "school"!

"Pop-carn"

Ethan has a love for popcorn (pop-carn)! It is a snack that he and daddy sit together and share and he eats it almost as fast as Matt. Today he kept saying "popcarn, popcarn, popcarn"! He saw our Carolina bowl that we specifically use for eating the buttery snack on the counter. I dumped out the left over kernels in the trash can and showed him the empty bowl and said, "Ethan, all gone!" Hoping this would end his demand for "popcarn" I sat down to check my e-mail. Within a few seconds he had gone over to the trash can, popped open the lid, and reached inside and pulled out some and ate it! YUCK!!! As I was reprimanding him for eating out of the trash he looked up at me and just smiled and said "mmmm....popcarn"! He is obsessed.