Ethan's First Trip to the Movies!

We finally took Ethan to his first movie on Sunday. We saw Kung Fu Panda. I thought it would be good for him since he loves animals and karate. He did great. He even made a few kung fu noises during the fight scenes. I got all choked up after it was over because he suddenly seemed so old. We left Caleb with my parents. It was nice to have a little Ethan time alone.

He played with one of those projection things while Mondo was getting the popcorn.

All grown up with his little movie meal.

He wanted to wrestle with the Hulk. He looks so tiny!

This was outside one of the theaters. We're going to take him to see that next.

Pimp My Yard

After talking about it all year, we finally bought a swing set. Then we had to discuss whether or not to put it together ourselves. After lots of conversation, we decided to hire someone to do it. That was the best idea ever! It only took 2 guys about 6 hours to do it while I stayed nice and cool inside the house. Ethan has been on it all the time. He usually starts out with clothes on then strips down to his underwear once he gets too hot. At least we can go out in the morning and evening and it's not too hot. I'm going to get a baby swing for Caleb this week so he can enjoy it too! So far, it's the best investment ever!

I couldn't get him off of it long enough to get a picture without him on it.

Here he is about to slide. He will go up the ladder, then down the slide over and over. It's great to get out some energy!

We got this pool about 2 months ago. I thought it was a good purchase, but now I think maybe next year I'll go with a hard plastic pool. The slide is already deflated and so are some of the toys that came with it. He still loves it even without the slide. He puts Spiderman and Batman in it with him.

This was the first day we got it. She how everything is nice and inflated? Oh, and it is also smaller than the picture appeared.

Caleb enjoyed a very messy push-up pop while Ethan played on the swing set. He had to go for a dip in the pool after that. My hand was stained red all day.

Powerless

We had a nasty storm on Thursday morning right when the kids woke up. It was so dark in my room (at 0745) that I thought it was still night...maybe that was wishful thinking. It never really rained that much but was really windy with lots of thunder and lightening. Both boys were already awake and in the bed with me watching Little Bear. When it would thunder, Ethan would say, "I'm going to shoot my web-slingers at the thunder!" Then he would stand up on the bed and shoot spider webs at the windows and say, "Be quiet thunder!" I guess he didn't inherit my crazy fear of storms. At 0800 there was a huge clap of thunder and the lights went out. Ethan looked a little concerned with this new development but got pretty excited when I told him we needed to go light some candles and find the flashlights.

I opened all the blinds but it was still really dark. I decided that maybe God did this so I could spend some quality time with the kids without having to worry about doing laundry and running the dishwasher. It was fun for the first hour or so playing with flashlights and sitting around the candles. I told Ethan to sing some songs to Caleb. I told him to sing Jesus Loves Me. So he belted out his favorite song "Don't you Forget About Me" from the Breakfast Club and refused to sing Jesus Loves Me. Where did I go wrong? Oh well, Caleb didn't care what he was singing. He just enjoyed the entertainment. We also got out the Spiderman tent and put pillows and blankets in it and camped out for a while.

Fast forward several hours. It is now 1:00pm and I still have no power. After several different phone calls to several different people and having to wait for an automated system to call me back, I found out that the power should be on by 3:30pm. That was doable. I got the portable DVD player out of the car and prayed for battery power. Whew, it worked. He watched Ice Age 2 while Caleb and I dozed off and on on the couch. Well, 3:30 came and went and still there was no power. The house was getting hot and the natives were getting restless so I escaped to mom and dad's. We stayed there till Mondo got home from work then it was off to Chuck E Cheese for dinner. Joy.

We got home around 8:15pm to find lights on (I hear they came on around 7:30pm). I never realized how much I take for granted. It takes electricity to run everything!!! I will gladly pay my bill next month without complaint.

My Tiny Baby is Half a Year Old!

This was on a day when he was really fussy and nothing I did would make him stop...until I put him in his floor and let him tear up his toys. He loved it!

He weighs 17 pounds 13 oz. He is 27in. long so he's still tall for his age.



Caleb just turned 6 months old. Where has the time gone??? He had his check up last week. I had to take Ethan with me. I thought it would be a complete disaster but Ethan is quickly showing me that he can be grown up and listen when he wants to. He was a little upset that he wasn't the one getting the exam. He was laying on the table waiting for her to come in. She said that Caleb looked great. He showed off for her. He was laughing, sitting up, and ripping up the paper on the exam table. He tried to take everything she was using to examine him. I told her he keeps me busy! He's still waking up at night once or twice. She said he can train himself to wake for feedings so to feed him less each time or start giving him water for night feedings so maybe he won't be interested. The problem is that once he is awake he doesn't want to go back to sleep! I'm usually up for an hour or two trying to get him to sleep. And yes, I do leave him in his bed awake so he can put himself to sleep. Sometimes it works, sometimes he cries after a while and I have to go get him so he doesn't wake up Ethan. Anyway, he got 1 oral med and 5 shots!!! I warned Ethan that he would cry a lot and told him to help me comfort Caleb. When the nurse was giving him the oral med, I looked over and Ethan had his hands over his ears waiting for him to cry. I told him that he wasn't going to cry yet and he said, "Oh, ok." and put his hands down. Once the nurse got the shots ready, I warned Ethan that Caleb was going to cry so he put his hands over his ears and started singing to himself! So funny. Caleb did great with them. Didn't cry with the first one but did with all the rest. He stopped pretty quick after I picked him up. Then it was off to the lab to get his finger poked. He did good with that too. Only cried at the end of the three tubes of blood that they took.


This is his "I'm about to cry" face. So sad!


So, what is Caleb up to these days? (Besides not sleeping?!) He is wanting to crawl so bad. He can get up on all fours and rock then ends up going backwards and gets so mad. He'll probably have it in the next couple of weeks. He has been eating fruits and veggies for the last 2 months and doing good with that. We'll start him on some meats now. His favorite thing to do is sit on the floor and play with his toys. He still goes in the exersaucer on occasion but it doesn't hold his interest very long. I think he feels too constricted. The Bumbo seat is out now. He can quickly crawl out of it. It was good while it lasted. He loves to play in the water. He splashes in the bathtub so much that I'm just as wet when he gets out. We took him to the pool a few times and he loved it. I think he might have swam by himself if I would've let him go. He's very busy all the time. You'd think he would sleep more! Everything goes in his mouth. If there is a plate in front of me and he's in my lap, his hands are immediately in it. He's my little wild man.




Hanging out in the hammock at Aunt Ree's house.

First time swimming at Nana's house. His little legs were kicking like crazy!

Just ignore me and Ethan in this pic. Caleb was chewing on the handle of his floatie. He thought it was a built in chew toy.

Adult Weekend Getaway

Last weekend we ran away to San Antonio with our friends Joe and Katie. I was beyond sad leaving the little critters but we had this trip planned for a long time so there was no turning back. My mom and dad kept the kids all weekend. I'm sure they were glad when Sunday rolled around! Caleb was really good for them. He slept till 6am both nights. We stayed at a new Hyatt on the Riverwalk. It was awesome. The first night we had dinner at a great italian place called Paseanos on the riverwalk. On Saturday we went tubing on the Guadalupe. It sounded like a good idea but it ended in the worst sunburn of my life (really). We floated for 3 hours and all used sunscreen but I was the only one who got jacked. Mondo got a pretty good burn on his chest and stomach but it has now turned into a nice tan. Not so much for me. By the time we got back to the hotel my legs were on fire. I took a shower which consisted of me jumping in and out of the water because any amount of heat burned like crazy. I didn't sleep at all that night. I covered my legs in aloe vera and wet towels and had chills like I've never had before. I looked like I was having seizures. I had the top of my body wrapped in a blanket and had to lay flat on my back...that's how I "slept" for the next 3 days. I am a stomach sleeper so you can imagine the amount of sleep that I didn't get. We left on Sunday and I had to keep a wet t-shirt on my legs for the entire drive home or else I was in lots of pain. By Wednesday my legs were swollen and I had no ankles. The pain was almost unbearable. I called my Dr and he said there was nothing to do but put aloe vera on it and wait it out. Thanks for nothing. So now, Saturday morning at 1:30am, they are no longer swollen and red. Now they are purple and splotchy. Yes, purple. I think I am having some circulation issues. They still hurt when touched or when I stand for too long. This has been the worst sunburn of my life...and yes...I used sunscreen!!!

This was our hotel room.

Awesome pool.

Our travel buddies, Joe and Katie. I used to work with Katie. She recently transferred hospitals to be closer to home.

Well, you know who we are. This was obviously before the burning incident...look how happy I was. :-(

This was Saturday night after tubing. We used the same sunscreen...what is wrong with this picture???

Hmmm, look at those pasty white legs just screaming for some sun!

Here's what SPF 30 gets you...a whole lotta nothing!!! Next time I'm wearing a wet suit! (This was Saturday night in the hotel).

Notice the burn line. Can you tell I was sitting in a tube?

This is from Friday afternoon. They really don't look too bad in this pic. I need to take one after I've been standing for a while and they turn purple!

Ethan's Last Day of Preschool

My little Ethan finished his first year of preschool last month. He seems so much older and more mature than he did when he first started. It was so cute to see him with his little friends and hearing him talk about his day. I thought it would be really hard to go all summer without having my little breaks on Tuesday and Thursday but it hasn't been so bad, of course it's only June! It has been nice to not have to get up and get out the door by 8:45am and look halfway presentable. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a morning person! Anywho, here are some pics from his last day of school when they had their program. So cute...and I didn't get too hysterical.

Here he is walking in with his class.

Waving at family in the audience.

They sang a song called "America". He could sing the whole song at home without even blinking but I don't think he sang one word during the actual program...none of them did.

They were all busy playing with each other's lei's and waving to parents.

My baby is all grown up!

My Tiny Baby

So, the other day Ethan decided that he was a tiny baby. He refused to walk or talk. He would sit with his hands out and babble for me to come get him. He had to try out all of Caleb's play areas. It was actally pretty funny. He can do a great baby impersonation.

Here he is fake sleeping in the bouncy seat. He played with toys for a few minutes then rolled over and "went to sleep."

He laid in the bed forever looking at that mobile! I thought he might actually go to sleep. He would reach up and gently tap the mobile while making baby noises...hilarious!

He squeezed himself into the exersaucer. I don't know what the weight limit is on that thing but I'm sure he exceeded it! His legs were folded up under him. He spun around a few times then decided that maybe it wasn't too comfortable for him after all.

He looks so funny in the Bumbo. His little butt fits right into it. He actually sits in it a lot when he watches TV. He is playing with Caleb's toys and babbling like a baby in this picture.

Caleb's Fist Day of Bible Class

This post will be short and sweet. I finally got Caleb to his first bible class a few weeks ago. I thought I was right on schedule with Ethan but I think Ethan was actually younger when I first took him. Caleb looked around and listened to some songs then they kicked me out so I could go to class. I left to go check on him after about 15 minutes and I could hear him wailing before I even got to the door. They talked me into leaving him for a few more minutes but when he started crying again we were out of there. It took Ethan several months to make it through the whole class. It usually falls during a feeding time or nap time.

Main Street Days

Traci and I took the boys to Mainstreet Days in Grapevine a few weeks ago. I left Caleb with Dad since it was going to be hot and I wanted some alone time with Ethan. It was so easy to go with just Ethan! No bottles, diapers, carriers. We stayed for a few hours and had lunch at a mexican restaurant where I discovered that Ethan loves queso dip. The hot sauce was too hot for him. The first half of the day he was in his jeans because it was a little cool. When it heated up he refused to change into shorts because he loves his jeans. I got lucky when he spilled water on his jeans at the restaurant so he could change into his shorts! Weirdo.

This is his first pony ride. He wasn't that excited about it. He actually almost slid off a few times. Those things need seatbelts!

This was outside of the carnival. He looks so tiny...and dorky with those blue socks and blue shoes. Remember, he had jeans on before that!

He loves riding the carousel. He picked the zebra of course. Look how red faced he was!

This was a pretty stupid train. I think they might have been a little old for it. They weren't impressed.

This was a dumbo airplane ride. I got dizzy watching them but they enjoyed it.

The petting zoo is always a big hit. I didn't even have to pay for a cup of food. He decided to go steal the hay from the goats to feed the other animals.

Colton and Ethan petting a tiny baby goat.

They would've stayed like this for hours. There were kids racing big remote control cars. I thought it was boring but they thought it was cool.