Swimming!

Last night one of Dave's friends had a surprise birthday party at the local rec center. So we went. And we brought swim suits. :) It was Ethan's first chance to go swimming!

Daddy and Ethan getting ready to go for a swim.

Ethan loves his bathtime so we were hoping that that would translate well into a swimming pool. And the pool at the rec center is pretty awesome... there's a great section for kids, including a gently sloping entry with a soft bottom and a fun structure to play on. There's a lazy river type thing and a pool as well. And for the adults- a hot tub and a lap pool. Dave and I grabbed Ethan, put him in his little swim shorts (and a swim diaper) and headed for the pool. I'd like to think that Ethan loved it- I could see the wheels turning in his brain as we went in. Unfortunately the water was just too cold for him to be able to enjoy it. Poor little guy started shivering after just a few dips in the water. After that we sat by the edge of the pool where we could put his feet in the water and keep the rest of him warm. A good friend of ours watched Ethan for a few minutes so Dave and I could run off and go down the slide a few times. Also our friends told us about this awesome underwater/waterproof/kidproof digital camera... I think that's going to have to be a must in the future.

The first dip (just the toes and bum for now).
Ethan hasn't figured out that the water isn't as warm as his bath yet.

Ethan is still trying to figure out what is going on.

A little bit deeper- Ethan is starting to figure out this "bath" isn't nearly as comfortable.

Smiles

I love Ethan's smile. In fact I carry a camera around with me constantly in hopes of capturing pictures of it or of the other cute things that Ethan does. I think I've written before about how Dave and Ethan must be sick of seeing me behind the camera. Anyway... when Ethan smiles I just can't help but to smile back...

The Big Smile. Dave is so good at getting Ethan to smile.

The "For Mommy" smile

Beware the Cute!

Where do I even start? Ethan and I went to Cali last week. It was so much fun! And we planned it perfectly so we missed the first storm of the year (well, there was lots of rain in the valley and snow in the mountains). We met up with Aunt Kenny and Uncle Doss, Uncle Lewy (sorry bro if I butchered that) and his fiance, the soon to be Aunt Steph, and Grandma and Grandpa. I had so much fun and I think Ethan was glad to see some new faces and see Grandma again. And we had a chance to see some of my old friends. :)

It was a great vacation for us. Ethan was great on the flight there and only a little grumpy on the way back. And I had a chance to relax and kick back while everyone else played with Ethan. :)

Pictures? Why Yes!

I love those cheeks and that smile!

Chilling at Laguna Beach.

Hat and mommy's home made sun shade.

Ocean!
Blog Cross Over. :) Lunch with Heather, Myka and B. :)

Random Updates

Hi Folks! It's been a bit hasn't it? Life seems hectic to me lately. I have been feeling a little overwhelmed lately but I think that's going to be about standard for the rest of my life. Ethan is doing well. I can't stress enough what a cutie he is. :) When he wakes up in the morning the first thing he does is smile. I love it! And the best thing? When Ethan smiles, it's impossible not to smile back at him. It just lights up his whole face. Someday I'll be lucky enough to catch it on camera. But for now I am content just looking. :)

I am heading to Cali at the end of the week. I am meeting my family down there to visit with Bro as he is on leave from Iraq. I am bringing Ethan with me and I am already so stressed about it! (proof? I am already packed because I am so worried about leaving something important behind). Our flights are at his usally nap times so I am hoping that he'll just sleep. The bad news? Lately Ethan has been refusing to take a bottle- from me or anyone. That doesn't help the situation at all. I'm excited to get to Cali (and to come back) but I'm not too thrilled about the flying part. I am looking forward to seeing my family and also meeting up with some old friends from Hawaii (Hi Heather and Myka and B!).

And the other thing that I am really excited about, but I'm not really going to talk about (sorry!) is that I am getting my endowments. I still have to make the appointment, but I want to go to the Salt Lake Temple.

Anyway, that's the haps from around here. Fall is marching its way in. The trees on the mountains around my mom's house are turning vibrant Red. I love it and wish she were here to see it. Oh yeah, I guess that's another thing! I don't know if I mentioned it before but about 3 weeks to a month ago my mom's retina spontaneously detached. There was a trip to the ER followed up by an emergency surgery. As soon as my mom was travel ready she headed down to Cali (to meet up with my Bro) and where she could get some follow up health care. Well, this past week her retina detached again, so she had to go in for surgery #2. :(

Okay One More...

Ethan's Halloween Costume- He's going to be a Monkey... My Chunky Monkey to be exact. :)

I love this picture too...

That's a big baby (Mommy's work out)

My best friend April had her baby, Sylas, 2 weeks after I had Ethan. They're going to grow up to be best friends. The babies were roughly the same size- Ethan was 7 lbs, 9 oz and Sylas was 7 lbs, 1 oz; okay so there's some pretty good difference there, but still...

Anyway... Keep in mind that these 2 babies are only 2 weeks apart...

The proud mommies with the future friends.

Yes, that big buddah baby is my "little" Ethan. And that's Sylas... It looks like Ethan could go on a rampage and eat Sylas as a mid-day snack. I love it.

Ethan's 2 month appointment is on Monday so I'll find out for sure what he's weighing in at.

Oh yeah, bonus- Ethan is bigger than most of the other babies in our wards and he's the youngest. Dave and I were the runts of our families... kind of makes you wonder...

Lottery

So we drove up to Idaho (Malad to be exact) to pick up some lottery tickets and scratch tickets. We go up every once in a while to fill my need to go on road trips (even small ones) and because it's just fun to scratch those little tickets.

It was the first time we had taken Ethan on a long trip (my marathon errand running sessions don't count). Silly me. I was thinking that it would be a quick trip up and then back down so I skimped on bringing the baby stuff. I learned my lesson quickly. We pulled into the parking lot to discover that Ethan had a blow out. A big one too. His onesy and his blanket were covered. Yuck. So I had to get him out of the carseat and into the gas station changing table without spreading the love around. The really fun part was trying to get his onesy off without spreading the poo all over him... I'm glad I brought a huge wad of wipes to clean up after that. Luckily there was an extra diaper hidden in the bottom of my diaper bag but I didn't bring an extra change of clothes. So Ethan had to class it up by sitting naked in his car seat while we scratched our tickets and then for the car ride home.

Anyway, Ethan's first road trip/scratch ticket:

Pictures

I promised to post some of my favorite pictures of Ethan... so here are my 2 current favorites.

Just before bathtime. I know it's playing with fire but I just love my little naked baby and we had to pause to get some good pictures.

I don't know why this one is popping up like this but honestly I am too tired to try to figure out the problem so just tilt your head for the full effect.

Handful- More like an armful

Well my little chunker is keeping me busy. His personality is definitely emerging. And he's still the cutest little boy around. :) Ethan is the sweetest little boy in the morning- all smiles and giggles (yes- he's working on giggles now) but by afternoon it's a different story. Ethan gets more high maintenance as the day goes on, so by about dinner time all the attention has to be on him (makes making dinner quite the task).

I am up at my mom's this afternoon (Hi Mom! I'm watching your place). She's in Cali getting ready for a little family reunion. My brother is heading there for 2 weeks of leave from Iraq. I had really hoped that we would be able to go down and meet him as well, but it's just not going to happen. The most we would have been able to do would have been a long weekend and most of it would have been spent driving and the thought of trying a 10 hour drive (twice) with a 2 month old was a little deterring. So I made a whole bunch of videos for bro and sent them with mom. And as soon as I find my connector cable I'll post one or two of them on here. Ditto for some pictures.

Speaking of pictures, I took a photography class in High School and learned that while there is definite skill involved in taking pictures, by sheer multitude one can come up with some amazing pictures. I have so many favorites of Ethan (I plan on posting many here) but we recently took the most amazing pictures of him. I know it's not fair to talk about the pictures without sharing, but like I said, I need a connector cable. That and I just wanted to brag about how photogenic my boy is (but really are there any unphotogenic babies?).

Anyway, life goes on. We celebrated Dave's 30th (!) birthday this weekend. Amazing! Now I get to tease him about being old for the next few years... at least until I turn 30. Then we'll talk about how young we are. My husband looks darned good for a 30 year old, actually he's pretty hot for any age. :) (Hi baby!).

It's now the middle of September, I dropped into work yesterday and everyone wanted to know when I'd be back. I can't believe I only have another few weeks of "official" leave until I have to return to work. I guess I keep waiting for something to happen to cause time to stop or keep me in my little bubble. I am also hoping that something will happen so that I don't have to go back at all. :) (Speaking of, I guess there's a big pot for the lottery.)

Still not eating...blah

Well I'm still on my pseudo-liquid diet. I should say squishy food diet. Okay, I'll admit it, I've been pushing it... I just can't do squishy foods/liquids only. My dad is heading back to Hawaii tomorrow so we all went out to breakfast this morning... so I got the french toast, the bacon, and the eggs. And I don't regret it! (Don't tell my dentist). I took little bites and pretended like it was all squishy/liquid food. But that's been my only cheat so far. Over all I feel a little bit better so that's kind of nice.

Dave is at the US vs El Salvador World Cup Qualifier this evening. I am excited that he was able to go. In about 20 years, be sure to watch for Ethan to be on the US' national soccer team. :)

We got Dave the new My Touch phone for his birthday. Those things are pretty cool!

Other wise not much going on here. Wish there was more to write but I've been on pain medication all weekend and I am thoroughly useless.

Oral Surgery

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I finally have regular internet access and I still don't have time to write. :) Ethan, David, and I are all doing great. Dave is busy at work and Ethan is busy at keeping me busy. :)

Let's see- last week my mom had a spontaneous detached retina. That meant a midnight trip to the ER and a follow up surgery the next day. So that kept us pretty busy last week- I was taking care of Mom as much as I could. Much to my mom's joy, my dad flew in last weekend to help take care of her so that was pretty awesome.

Then this week was my turn for surgery. Yesterday I had a molar pulled and an implant put in. I have had a problem tooth for a while now and finally the dentist and I said that enough is enough. So no more tooth. Unfortunately my mouth hurts a lot now so I'm taking it pretty easy this week. Down side- liquid diet for the next few days. Commercials suck. The second I couldn't have any of it I started craving hamburgers and french fries and pizza and those commercials just made everything look so tasty. Why aren't there any soup shops? Anyway, so I'm pretty hungry and I'm already sick of pudding, ice cream, and yogurt and it's only been 1 day. Great. It's going to be a long weekend.

Ethan is growing so quickly. I love it. He makes the cutest faces and does the cutest things and is generally the most wonderful little boy. :)

One Month

Ethan turned one month on Thursday. :) It's been amazing to think that it's been a month!? Time flies, as I am sure all of you mommies will agree. My little boy is turning into quite the chunker and I love it! :) I love everything about him, but his face (and the expressions he makes) just cracks me up.

Life is going well here... it has its ups and downs but we try to take them as they come. I've been trying to follow Dave's example- he's great about keeping faith that everything will work out. I love my husband so much. :)

Anyway, here is a picture of Ethan looking totally cute right before bathtime. :)

Bumbo

I was bored the other day and thought I would see how Ethan liked his bumbo. He has been working out his neck by doing his little baby push ups so I figured this could be pretty amusing. Plus Ethan really likes being able to sit and watch what is going on in the world. Anyway... Here are some pix of Ethan in his bumbo... isn't he cute?

Borrowed Computer

Well I wish that I could post some pictures right now and have more time to type but I am at Dave's work using his computer. Daddy is off showing off his first born son. :) I can hear Ethan crying down the hallway- funny how I am so in tune with that.

I thought that staying at home all day meant that I would get restless and go stir crazy. Not the case! In fact I have been busier than I have ever been.... I'm just off running all day long. My plans to post lots of pictures of Ethan growing and all of his little cute things has been delayed, but I'll get back on track. I am definitely still taking lots of pictures. :)

Anyway, we're all doing well, if not a little tired.

More Pictures

Okay guys, just another quick update... still no regular internet access- next week things will be a little more stable and I'll be able to write more. I just thought I would add some pictures real quick.

Start of the smile. :)

:)

And then there were three....

Ethan David :)

Sorry for the long delay in getting an update to blogger. We don't have the internet at home so I had to get my tushy in action and get to where there was access. So... you probably want to see pictures. And I won't disappoint. I think Ethan (and Dave) are already starting to dread to sight of my camera. But there are just too many cute moments that I can't pass up. Unfortunately this means that for the most part I am behind the camera so there are only limited pictures of Ethan and I.


Anyway... so the details. It was a long weekend/build up for Dave and I before Ethan's arrival. We went in to the hospital on Saturday night and I thought for sure that Ethan would be making his arrival the following day (our anniversary). Unfortunately we were sent home that night- I was in early labor and there wasn't enough going on to warrant keeping me at the hospital. I was told that I'd probably be back at the hospital in about 24 hours.

Sunday (our anniversary) was a quiet one with me just relaxing. That night, against my will (I thought for sure that we would just be sent home again), Dave dragged me back to the hospital. Turns out I was in labor for real this time. After a long night (filled with contractions that lasted upwards of 8 minutes- AGH!) I finally got an epidural in the morning and spent the day pretty comfortable. Advice for those of you thinking about epidurals- they are so wonderful. :) At about 4 PM I began pushing... and kept pushing for about 4 hours. Dave was with me for every moment, encouraging me and helping the nurses where he could. He was also very good about taking care of me when I was a mess and scared and excited and completely worn out. The two memories that really stand out for me were the moment that I realized I was about to start pushing. It hit me then that I was about to have a baby. The second moment was when they put Ethan on my stomach right after he finally made his way out. Reaching down and realizing that there was a warm, squishy, and wiggly baby right there blew my mind.

Ethan finally arrived at 7.57 PM. He weighed 7 lbs, 9 oz and was 21 inches long. And he is the most beautiful little boy in the world (sorry all you other mommies).

It's been an amazing week since then. :)

Anyway, let me get on to the fun part already- pictures. :)


Mom and Ethan at the hospital the day after.

Proud Daddy. :)

Father/Son moment.

Beginning of the family pictures- 3 generations: Grandma, Mom, Ethan.

Ethan is already getting tired of the camera. :)

Ethan sleeps just like Daddy does. :) Deep in thought already.

Last Pregnancy Update

Okay Folks... this is your LAST pregnancy update. After this they're all going to be BABY updates! Yay! The big news first- the end is in sight! Ethan's official due date is TOMORROW! We'll see if he is going to be a punctual baby or if he's going to make a late arrival. But the really good news is that... even if Ethan makes a late arrival, there's still an end in sight- TUESDAY! At the very latest this little boy is going to meet his mommy and daddy on Tuesday.

So sit patiently by your phones and wait for pictures and phone calls- cause it's going to be happening soon! :)

And on a side note... I know that this is totally impersonal (personal notes are in the mail)... but I wanted to express my gratitude for all of the love and support that Dave and I have received over the past months from all of you guys. There have been so many people that have gone out of their way to make things easier for Dave and I and to give us encouragement and to provide us with lots of baby stuff. Dave and I are so greatly appreciative and blessed to have you all in our lives. Thank you so much. :)

Book Recommendation

Okay so I just saw the movie trailer for "Time Traveler's Wife" and it reminded me how much I really liked that book. Actually, I never really forgot because it's consistently been on my favorite books list, but I hesitate to recommend it to some people because, well, there's lots of sex and some of the people I know would be turned off by it. Anyway...

So I guess I'm saying that you really should look into reading this book because it is just a fantastic story. In fact, I'm probably going to read it again here real quick. And check out the trailer. I don't know if the movie will be bad or good, but I'm excited to go see it anyway. And I'm going to make Dave take me. Hahahaha. :)

Still Around

Just thought I'd let you know, I'm still around- and Ethan still hasn't arrived yet. 5 days until the official due date.

On another note.... Mom finally got into town on Friday afternoon. We promptly went out for some frozen custard (YUM!) before heading home to let Mom unpack and relax. The rest of the weekend was a good one- and a lazy one. I have been meaning to work on some sewing projects and I finally got the energy up to do it. I love it! There have been some baby supplies that I have wanted to make (wet bags, diaper wipe holders, and snack bags) that I finally got some fabric for and made them. :)

It has been so much fun having mom around. :)

Not much to say...

Just thought I'd give a quick update... I'm still here- and Ethan's not. 9 more days (give or take)- or as I like to think of it (optimistically, and probably unrealistically) any day now...