Four Months Old!

The big boy can sit in the high chair now.

Of course Ethan has to check things out.

He still enjoys the sling.

Holding a bunny that Nana got him for Easter.

You can actually see the love for his Daddy in his eyes...melts my heart.

This butterfly is his favorite toy. He fell asleep holding it.

Such a happy baby...as long as Mommy or Daddy is holding him and no one else.

He wants to crawl so bad.

I don't think he'll be in the swing much longer. He's already trying to escape.

Caleb went to the pedi today for his four month check-up. All was well. He weighs 15-8 which is the 90th%, that's up from 50% at his 2 month. His height was 26in. which is the 97th% (that means only 3% of babies his age are taller than him)! Maybe he's going to be tall like his Uncle Abel. I know he's been in a major growth spurt because he eats all the time! He still eats every 3 hours during the day and is still waking up at night to eat. She said he is old enough that he shouldn't be waking up at night to eat anymore. He used to go to bed around 8pm and sleep until 4am, eat, then go back to sleep till about 7:30am. The last few nights he has been up almost every 3 hours to eat! The pedi said I could try to give him a little water or just a pacifier to get him back to sleep so he's not training himself to wake up to eat. But he really is hungry when he wakes up! He drains a whole bottle. Mondo and I have tried to just rock him back to sleep and sometimes it works but then he's up again in about 30 minutes to eat. She said I could give him cereal 3x a day and then move on to food if he does ok with the cereal. He's eating me out of house and home already and he's only 4 months old!


Overall, she said he is doing excellent. He has great muscle tone and is doing everything he is supposed to be doing. He put on a good show for her. He was smiling and laughing and rolling all over the table. She could hardly keep him still to examine him! That is so opposite of how Ethan was at that age. He was like a limp noodle for his first year. He was content to let us do everything for him. Not Caleb. He is a mover and a shaker. He wants to sit up so bad. When he's in his car seat or the swing it looks like he is doing crunches because he is trying to sit up. He can roll over from tummy to back and he's really trying to go back to tummy. He is changing so fast it's making me sad. He'll probably be potty trained next month!


He has had the sniffles the past few days. A tiny little cough and a little runny nose off and on. I wasn't sure if he had a cold or was trying to cut a tooth. She said his gums looked "bumpy" but she didn't think anything was close to cutting through. She thought it was probably just a little cold. It doesn't seem to be bothering him too much.

He got 4 shots again. Poor thing. He did really well. He didn't cry with the first one but he did with all the rest. He was fine as soon as the bandaid was on...and he got the bottle back in his mouth. :-)

Mother/Son Day at the Zoo

I think I'm going to change the name of this blog to Wendy's Daily Disasters! I took the kids to the zoo today for a little mother/son bonding. I was looking forward to going without any friends and just enjoying the kids and spending the whole day there. I realized when I was waiting in the parking line that I didn't have my zoo pass (that gets you free parking) because it was in my wallet that was stolen. I guess I looked pitiful enough and didn't have any cash so the lady let me in. There were only about 30 yellow school buses in the parking lot...no joke! Every time I go to the zoo during the week there are about 30 cars total in the whole lot. The ticket line was all the way to the parking lot. We had to wait for 30 minutes to get my new pass and Ethan's new pass. That's me waiting with two kids all alone. As you might imagine, Ethan started wandering around and behind the counter and Caleb was screaming by the time we got out of there. We had some new person who had no idea what she was doing trying to help us. Once we got inside, it didn't get much better. There were so many kids that I was overwhelmed. I had Caleb in the stroller and Ethan was walking. There were a million kids at every exhibit pushing little Ethan out of the way. He looked so tiny next to those heithens. I asked him if he wanted to leave and we would go do something else super fun and we could come back next week but he said no...of course. I ended up taking Caleb off-roading down some stairs to get away from those kids and closer to the exit. Ethan didn't realize that he missed half of the zoo. I wanted to get him a shirt but the sizes were weird and were scattered all over the store. I ended up getting him an animal and waited for 10 minutes to check out. Yes, the stupid zoo people had one person running the gift shop during this super busy day. Once we got to the car Caleb had had enough so I fed him while Ethan "drove" the car. (He sat in the driver's seat and played with the windshield wipers, blinkers, any knobs that he could push or turn.) At that point, I really didn't care. Luckily both kids slept the whole way home while I tried to calm myself and de-stress! So much for my wonderful day!

A Day of Fun With Colton

Ethan went to Colton's house last week for a play date. They hadn't seen each other in a while and were so happy to play together. I'll let the picture show their day.

They actually posed themselves for this picture. Look how red Ethan's face is. They had been chasing each other around the house.

The hug was spontaneous too. So cute.

I think they were playing dead in this picture. Weird.

Yes, there will be a broken bone in our future! This child has no fear.

It's hard to tell but he was almost on the floor in this pic.

We went to McDonald's for lunch. They really didn't eat. They just wanted to play in this monstrosity. They kept saying they were stuck and Traci or I would have to go in after them. It is not parent friendly!

There's Ethan at the bottom of the slide.

This is Ethan showing peer pressure already. He's yelling at Colton, "Jump, jump, jump....." Colton didn't give in. To Ethan's disappointment, he climbed down carefully and chose not to jump.

Blessed

I have been keeping up with a blog about a little boy named Ethan Powell for the last year (www.ethanpowell.com). He was diagnosed with Leukemia when he was two months old. He has been in and out of the hospital (mainly in) since then. He just died today. He was a little over a year old. His parents had such huge faith and believed in the power of prayer. It truely was miraculous that he lived this long. It just really puts life in perspective. I am so blessed to have two healthy boys. I am blessed to have my four month old wake me up several times in the night. I am blessed that my 3 year old can run, and make me laugh like no one else. I am blessed to feel my two kids snuggle with me every night before bed. I am blessed when my child gets mad and throws a fit because at least he is here on this earth with me. I cherish every moment with my children. The thought of something happening to them is the worst possible feeling in the world. Life is so fragile and can be taken away so easily. I can't even write anymore through my tears. Basically this depressing entry was just to say that I love my kids and am grateful for every moment I have with them.

Getting Lighter

I haven't done an update about my weight since going on my diet. Well, I wouldn't call it a diet...just trying to eat better. It's been about 6 weeks and I've lost 13 pounds. Only 6 more to go to reach my goal (pre-pregnancy) weight. I think that's pretty good considering I'm doing no exercise. I just can't fit it into my lifestyle right now. I'm sure those last 6 pounds would already be gone if I could exercise and I would be a lot more toned. Maybe some day. I guess those daily chocolate malts really were pretty bad for me. I've probably had one or two in the last 6 weeks. So sad.....

Oh to Be Three

Just thought I'd write a blog about life with a 3 year old. I'm sure you could guess there is never a dull moment. Here are a few funny things he's said over the last week or two:

-He was playing out in the sprinkler and said that water was too cold and he wanted me to turn it warmer.


E: "The water's cold! Turn it warmer."

W: "I can't. The water outside is only cold today."

E: "Turn it warmer...you know...the knob (he pretends to turn one)...hot...warm...cold."

W: "The knob outside is only cold Ethan. I can't make it warmer."

E: "But my pee pee is warm." (he looks puzzled)

W: "Yes, that's true. But I still can't make the water warmer." What are you supposed to say
to that?!



-He was walking through the living room the other night and said "I'm distinguished." I asked
him where he got that and he said "Emily from Little Bear."


-He dropped the soap in the bathroom and said "What the hell!" Again, I asked him where he got that. He said "Marty." I asked him who Marty was and he said "You know, the zebra." (from Madagascar) I actually think he says what the heck but it's interesting that he got that from a kid movie. He also got some other choice words from The Sandlot and "Rookie of the Year". Who makes these kid movies???


-Every time he knocks on the door he says "It's the pizza man!" He said he got that from Alex. I said "Alex from school?" He said, "No, Alex the lion." (again, from Madagascar)



Here's the top 5 reasons not to leave a 3 year old alone:



#1. He might wake up his baby brother who had been fighting a nap. His excuse: "I just feel like bein' loud."

#2. He might sneak out in the back yard to pee.

#3. He might lock the dogs in a bedroom just to hear them bark while he laughs uncontrollably on the other side of the door.

#4. He might answer the phone and have a nice long conversation with whoever is calling.

#5. He might have been doing something but you will never know because you walk in just in time to ask "what are you doing?" His reply, "Nuttin" (nothing). That's the scariest one of all!

*And yes, all of those things listed above happened in one morning.

Enjoying ice cream on a hot day.

Chocolate goatee.

Belated Easter

Blake's daughter brought her two baby lambs for the kids to play with. They were a big hit. Ethan looks like he's about to attack it but he was actually really sweet with them. He wanted them to chase him. They weren't really into that.

He's trying to open an egg. I don't know what was in that one.

Mommy and Caleb. He was too busy checking out his egg to smile for the camera.

That's Nicole and Caitlin. She is about 1.5 months older than Caleb.

Decorating the bunny cake...an Easter tradition.

Yummy! (Actually it's not because it's covered in coconut...and kid germs!)

Caleb really enjoyed all the Easter festivities!

Ethan about to love on a lamb.I have no idea what face he is making at Hailey. He's just being silly as usual!

I'm finally getting around to posting about Easter. Unfortunately this year, Easter was over shadowed by our trip to San Antonio so we didn't do a lot of exciting things. The Easter bunny brought an Easter basket for Ethan with animal stuff in it and Caleb got a little stuffed blue duck. Of course, there are no pics of that because I had just come in from work and was trying to go to bed for a few hours before the festivities. We went to my mom's this year for Easter. We had a yummy lunch, the traditional bunny cake, then a cold windy egg hunt. I helped Caleb pick up eggs. Ethan picked up eggs and then threw them...same thing he did last year. He found the "prize egg" with a little help from cousin Blaine. The other kids weren't too excited about that. It's just a bigger egg with extra candy and some change in it. You would think there was $100 in it the way they all want it! But, I was the same way when I was a kid. Hope you enjoy the few pics that I remembered to take. I don't even have one of the two boys together! I was a bad Easter mom this year. Maybe next year.......