A New Post!

Whew. I made it back to the blog before 2 months have passed. I hate that I was not able to update for a while, but I'm hoping that now that I am done with my second job (well, almost), I will have more time, at least until the baby comes! There is always plenty of material to blog about, which is part of the problem. Ethan says and does funny things daily, but I just cannot always find the time or energy to record them. One day soon, I want to write down all the goofy things Ethan says and make that a blog post. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, here's what we've been up to, besides what is shown in pictures. We had a very nice Thanksgiving celebrated over two days. We didn't take pictures at either side's celebration, but, trust me, it was all lovely. We had a lot to be thankful for this year, as always. A week after Thanksgiving, we travelled to see Will's Grandbob near Indianapolis. We spent the night, sadly sleepless, in a gorgeous guest apartment where Grandbob lives. Ethan swam in the pool, enjoyed riding the elevator over and over, and behaved well at a big family dinner with Will's grandfather, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We left the second night after dinner to go home and get some sleep! Now, here we are getting ready for Christmas. I'm really doing well with my Christmas shopping and have very little left to get. I've even wrapped quite a bit. Will is home from school next week, and I didn't want to have to spend that time with shopping/wrapping. We plan to do some fun family things like maybe a museum or trip to the zoo.

That's all for now. We've been in the house for 3 days straight as Ethan battles his second bought with croup in about a month. I love my playgroup but it seems the only thing the kids share are their germs!

And here's a picture tour of our pre-Thanksgiving whereabouts:

Taken on a rare day with his bed made, here is a picture of Ethan's "new" room.

Same bed, different view.

Bookshelf number 1
#2 This is our Dinner Club, a group of great friends from high school/college. We get together every 3 months for dinner all together.
Three of the four ladies are pregnant, due between early February and mid-March. We did not plan this!

These next pictures come from a photo shoot with my friend Anna. She is a teacher at LT but also has a side photography business. She is kind enough to take our pictures, free of charge, which has been amazing when it comes time for Ethan's photo. He does so much better for her than a stranger at Target! None of these made it to our Christmas card, so I thought I could share them.

My absolute favorite!

Family pic on the porch.

He had such great smiles this day.

FYI: Anna's website is www.annamariesphotography.com for those interested. Ethan's picture, from a previous shoot, is featured on the site.

This is from a day when Ethan's congested nose was stopping him from a nap. Finally, I put him on the couch with me and popped in Frosty the Snowman. He fell asleep shortly thereafter.

Stretching with Dadda.
A new favorite, Ethan and his vacuum. This session allowed me to start dinner!

Ethan enjoying our first snow.

This snowsuit belonged to Will when he was Ethan's age. His parents kept it and gave it to us this year. Very cute, but not as warm as his newer one. Couldn't resist getting some pictures of him in it. Here, he is eating snow, which is pretty much what he did our whole time outside while I shovelled the driveway.

My kitchen helper. We made gravy (meat sauce) for Will's birthday dinner. Ethan insists on holding the top since he has watched me do that.
On Friday, December 11, my side of the family came over to celebrate Will's birthday. My mom made this garbage can cake (too cute) that said Reduce, Reuse, Recycle on it.

The next night, Will's side came over (curse of a small house is that having everyone together would have been too crowded). We had a big dinner of baked manicotti, meatballs, sausage, Ceasar salad, and yummy appetizers. My mouth is watering thinking about it!

Dinosaurs Go "Roar!"

We had a really great Halloween. It was so fun this year because Ethan knew a little bit more about what was going on. If you can't tell from the pictures, Ethan is a dinosaur, and a mighty cute one at that! We borrowed this costume from my sister's neighbor. We lucked out that it was pretty cold that day since his costume was pretty much a snowsuit. All the other kids had to bundle up over their costumes, but not Ethan.

We had coached Ethan on what to say and how everything would be working and he had practiced all the time in the week before. Basically, he knew that you ring a doorbell, say trick or treat, someone gives you candy (his favorite part), and then you say thank you. We started Ethan off with the town Halloween walk. Basically, we waited in a really long line, in the bitter cold, in order to walk through town and collect candy from the businesses. We waited for about 30 minutes and only walked about a block before we had had enough of the cold. Plus, Ethan was pretty slow and a bit confused since there were no doorbells to ring. The business owners stood outside their businesses and gave out the candy. Pretty much, it was a Trick or Treat assembly line. I can see how it's great for older kids since it's an opportunity to get a ton of candy, but I think we will skip it for the next few years.

For our real Trick or Treating, we went to a friends house who lives a few blocks away in our neighborhood. While our block gets very little traffic, hers is busting with kids, so it was a lot of fun. Ethan was slow at first and really very wounded that he didn't get to ring the doorbells. Since there were so many kids out, most people were just standing at their open door or even outside. I had to ask a couple of people if Ethan could ring the doorbell since he kept talking about it. It was cute. Once he got the hang of it and realized that he got candy at every house, he was a bit faster and more efficient. But the hardest part was when the people would tell him to choose his own candy. He would stand there forever, mulling over the decision until I would finally have to choose for him. The worst were the many houses that had bowls out on their porch with signs that said "Pick one." Then, he had even more time to sit and think about whether he would pick the "brown one" (Hershey bar) or the "orange one" (the Reeces peanut butter cup). I always tried to push the orange one myself.

After covering about a block and a half, both sides of the street, we went back to our friend's house. The kids all played and the adults hung out. I had made two kinds of chili and brought them over, so we all ate dinner together. And Laura came by with the triplets, so Will was able to meet them and even hold one of them for quite some time. He was holding Elizabeth, who is the most difficult to settle, but he had her asleep in minutes.

I'm already looking forward to next year, when we'll likely have one child in a stroller and Ethan running from house to house. It is really fun to have friends in the neighborhood, too, so that our kids can have fun and make memories together.

Ethan waiting in line before the town walk. He liked seeing all the other costumes and really just had a great time walking around in his costume.

Here's Ethan and Derek, trying to decide which candy to take.

Trick or Treat?
Getting braver, he went up by himself this time.

Playing at the house before leaving.

Here are all the kids. Derek the firefighter, Minnie Mouse Erin, and Supergirl Megan.

Adventures in Beds

My lack of blogging lately is twofold: I started teaching online again after a break and we have been transitioning Ethan into a bed. The extra computer work, as well as a lack of extra sleep then, are the reason for my absence.

Ethan has been in his big boy bed for over a week. We started two Fridays ago, but we gave in to the crib at 10:30 pm, when Ethan was still awake. Saturday night, though, he did sleep in his bed. It's just been a week of adjustments for all of us. Sunday and Monday, he did not take naps at all and played in his room the whole time he should have been napping. Although when I came in to get him after his non-nap, he did look me in the face and lie, "I just woke up, Mama." Little rascal. Those days he didn't sleep made the nights easier, though, since he would fall asleep while reading for bedtime. On Wednesday, I left him alone for nap, and after 15 minutes or so, he was in bed asleep. Success! Will's been leaving him at night, too, and closing the door, but he's taking a while to get settled and has been up until 9 most nights. We adjusted our schedule a bit and started putting him down earlier last night, which helped since he was asleep by 8:15. He's been up in the middle of the night most nights this week, though, which we've had to get used to. (He has fallen out, despite our safety rails, twice!) When he's up, we're having to stay in his room until he's back asleep, which can take a while some nights. And the biggest adjustment is that he's been up at 6am every day but one. Ugh! It wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't also up at night, but I'm used to going in to his nursery around 7:30 to get him. Now that he can get up by himself, he comes running into our room yelling, "Good morning! Good morning!" It would be cute at 7 am. 5:45? Not so cute. We need to fix his door, which gets stuck, so we can close it all the way easily. We can do it while he's still awake, but we've been checking on him before bed and then we don't close it all the way to avoid waking him up. Plus, we are having to unplug his light at night or else he will just turn it on or off or, worse, pull the plug out of the outlet. It's been a week of discovering how to make his room the most safe, and least fun, to assure that he can be in there without us. I don't know if other people have these kinds of problems, but our kid is very curious and mischeivious. Really, besides the new wake up time, which is probably good for me to get used to less sleep, I'm pretty happy with how the transition is going. After the first couple of days, I thought it would take much longer. He hasn't asked about his crib at all and knows now that he sleeps in his "nyoo yoom." I know that soon he will sleep a little later (I hope!) and that he will stop getting up in the night, so I'm just trying to stay positive. I'll post pictures of his new room soon, as soon as I have time to get it back in order. We've rearranged things, and taken things out, most every day, trying to make it has boring/safe for him as possible.

Other than the new bed, we've just been getting used to being inside more as we've had a lot of miserable weather lately. We did have a few nice days early last week and over the weekend, but then the cold rain returned. And since Ethan is no longer going to school, we have four days a week with nothing definite to do. We have playgroup Monday mornings and that's it. I signed up for a couple of Park District classes that start in November, so that will be good. I've also started going to Lisa's about once a week to hang with the cousins. Ethan has a great time there, and we discovered I can even have him nap there if I want since the two older boys don't nap during the day anymore. No need to have a pack 'n play anymore, and there's two big comfy beds to choose from! Lisa and I really want our kids to grow up together since we were so much older than our little cousins.

Most people who see Ethan lately comment on how much he's talking. He really does talk a ton now (non-stop), and it is very fun. Here are a few of his great stories from lately:

*Ethan has two favorite songs: "Hey Yo (Snow)" from the Chili Peppers and "Poker Face" from Lady Gaga. Every car ride, Ethan requests "Hey Yo," and while I try to resist for a while, I usually end up turning it on after 10 minutes of "I want Hey Yo!!" coming from the backseat. The other day, we had a longer ride, and I think we listened to it five times in a row. Thankfully, we don't have the Lady Gaga cd, so we just have to sing that one from time to time. He has taken to singing it, as well, and there's nothing funnier than a two year old singing "Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa -pa-pa-pa-Poker Face." I have to sing it before naps, too, since he interrupts my lullabye and requests "Poker Face." What can I say? My kid is ahead of his time.

*Another favorite song of Ethan's all of a sudden is the ABC's. We didn't even know he could sing the whole thing until last week, when he just busted out with it at dinner one day. He has a "microphone" he carried around with him and he asks Will and I to sing it for him. The funny thing is, while we sing it, he holds the microphone up to his mouth and lipsincs.

*One thing we captured the other day on video is Ethan's new saying, "I have issues." The other day during the news, Ethan asked Will what an issue was after hearing the word. Will was telling me this at dinner that night and I said to Ethan, "What's an issue?" He responded, "I have issues!" and then added "...in the garbage can." We laughed so hard. Then he said, "I need to throw them away." If only it was that easy to get rid of issues. Later, I realized he was thinking of the word tissues since his favorite pasttime is pretending to blow his nose and then throwing the tissues in the garbage can. Of course, because we laughed when he said it, he has started announcing, "I have issues!" all the time now.

*The first morning Ethan slept through the night in his new bed, he came out of the room around 7:15 (he only did this once) and literally bounced through the living room into the kitchen, where Will was eating breakfast. With each bounce, he said, "Hallo! Hallo! Hallo! Hallo!" Will said it was pretty funny, especially since we are not used to Ethan being able to get out of bed on his own. He really is waking up in the best mood - it's hard to be mad at him for being up so early.

And now for a ton of pictures I've been waiting to post.

My friend, Laura, had triplets in August. They are doing wonderfully (and their mom is supermom!), and I usually see them at least once of twice a week. This, I think, is Elizabeth.
Here's my friend Catherine with Anna.

And here is sweet little Kate, who slept through most of my visit that day.

Elizabeth?

Here's Supermom, Laura. She is eerily calm all the time!

Here's Ethan at Sonny Acres Pumpkin Farm. He didn't actually ride this because he freaked out when he realized we couldn't stay with him, but I snapped this picture beforehand.

Lisa and Matthew riding the slide.

Ethan loved this little obstacle course - I think he did it three times, which only cost us $6!

The Berkleys

Us - Did I mention how freezing cold it was this day?

This is the first night we had Ethan in his bed. Of course, he didn't sleep in it this first night. :(

Last weekend, we went to Graue Mill in Hinsdale. Etha ground corn with an old man who called him Brad the whole time. He also made flour with a giant millstone. It will be fun to be so close to here when he's a little older.

Not sure I've mentioned the great fort Will made for Ethan in the beginning of the school year. He found this giant box and school and made Ethan a palace complete with windows, a skylight, and a doorknob. We got pictures of it recently because it was on its last legs and we wanted a record of it.

Poking through the window with the fort on its side.

Ethan's been having a lot of fun in the leaves lately.

I know, he needs a haircut - bad.

But he's so darn cute!

I love that you can only see him from the top up.

Here's Ethan asleep in Drew's bed this past Sunday when we were there for the Bears game. Proof that he can sleep in a big boy bed.

I LOVE this picture of the cousins.

A family that dresses alike, well, they look like nerds. :) Just kidding.

This is a picture from a playdate with Ethan's bff Derek. They like to make a "beaver dam" out of the couch. It is very funny. Ethan kept asking, "Where'd the beaver go, Mama?"

I realize it's a bit cold, but I've really been enjoying the fall weather around here lately. Mostly, I think I am thrilled because I have a lot of borrowed maternity clothes for winter, as well as my own. I did not have a lot short sleeved items, and I stain one every day, it seems, so it is good to have more options now. Plus, I just love brisk weather like this sometimes. But I am also very aware that soon it will be more than pleasantly brisk (this weekend even), and Ethan and I will be exiled inside for the duration. But, we're making the most of the not so brutal weather as much as we can.

The last couple of weeks, we've had quite a few fun outtings, including a trip to the Morton Arboretum with my grandma, lunch at Millenium Park with my friend Brent, and several trips to the library and around town. I also took a day trip myself, traveling to Augustana for the day with a great friend. It was a very fun trip, and I loved seeing the campus again. I made my college decision based on this campus, so needless to say I love it. Most every building smells exactly the same, and it was a comforting thing for me. I like thinking that the students there now will have similar memories of mine, visual and olfactory. Of course, we stopped at our favorite sandwich shop for the best sandwich in the world, and we rounded the trip off with ice cream from the famous ice cream shop.



I'm going to have to cut this post short, as some nagging nausea is getting the best of me. Time to go keep the couch company for a while. Enjoy the pics.

He he
Grandma and Ethan at the Arboretum

Running in one of the treehouses

Wading in the frog pond

Navigating the web

My amazing sandwich from Arthur's

View of Old Main from the side of Denkman language building

View of the walkway to the admissions office

Slough picture from the new bridge to the new dorm

Planetarium

Clock (and Kristin taking a picture of flowers by the clock)

Kristin and random cab like car outside of OlinView of the slough

Pretty bench set up by slough with new bridge in the background

Another campus view

Back view of Old Main

A look at the house I lived in senior year, a little worse for wear

Future Viking sporting his new shirt