Gone Sledding

We took Ethan sledding for the first time yesterday before dinner. He wasn't too sure about it all at first, but after a couple times down the hill he was smiling. Sorry the videos are so dark next time we'll go earlier in the day.

18 Month Stats

Ethan is 18 months and here are his statistics from his last appointment

Weight: 19lbs 11oz 0.53%tile

Height: 31" 15.77%tile

Head Circumference: 18 1/4" 14.36%tile

He actually lost 1 ounce from his last appointment, grew 1 1/2 inches in length, and his head measured the same. The doctor said keep trying to get him to eat. No snacks in between meals and if he doesn't eat at one meal then hopefully he'll be hungrier at the next meal. He also is back on Pediasure. The doctor said the only way she knows to make a child eat is feeding through IV, but she said there's more options before going to that extreme. Maybe some metabolic testing in the future. Ethan will have a weight check in a month to see if he's gaining weight then we'll go from there.

Christmas 2009

We spent Christmas morning with Spencer's family this year. We got up around 6-6:30am and showered before going to Bryan and Hilary's house at 7am for opening presents. It was fun to see everyone (Bryan, Hilary, Kyleigh, Toni, Rick, Austin, Ridge, Jackson, Logan, Jen, and Kameron) that morning. It took about 2 hours to open presents and then we had a yummy breakfast made by Jen. We stayed and played till about 11:30 then went home and Ethan took his nap and Spencer slept a little too.

He began his night shift christmas night :(

Around 3:30pm we returned and had dinner then hung out till bedtime.

It was a fun-filled event!

The Presents:

Sledding Gear

A shopping cart and blocks from Cook Grandparents, laugh and learn puppy, busy ball popper, spiderman 4-wheeler, train set, pound a peg, doodle pro with shapes, animal pop-up, light saber sword, and more blocks

(quick funny/scary story: I went to walmart to return one of the boxes of blocks but didn't have the receipt so they asked for my driver's license. I showed them and they said "Sorry we need a valid driver's license to return this" I thinking my license is valid, what do you mean I don't have a valid license? Then they showed me it expired 8/22/2009. Oops! I've been driving with an expired license since August!)

More toys...fridge phonics and animal magnets

and a new easy cleaning high chair (one without any nooks or crannies to clean out the leftover food, Hurray!)

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

A New Playroom

I moved the computer desk and bed out of the spare bedroom and made it into a playroom for Ethan. This way he can play and I don't have to constantly clean up the toys. I can just shut the door to hide the mess if I like. So much better!

I built Ethan a fort out of the alphabet blocks one day. He liked pushing all the letters out and then pushing the wall/door out too.

Spencer climbed in too and showed Ethan a new "door" to crawl through. I think it was the letter "o"

Such A Big Boy

Ethan is growing up so fast. Right now he's determined to feed himself with no help from mommy.

Did you notice he eats with both hands? The applesauce is with the left and the dinner is with his right.

More Walking in Cold Cold Temperatures

So I unloaded the camera today and I found a picture of how Ethan looks when we take Sierra for walks (well when we can get thru the snow with the stroller)

This time he had actually fallen asleep during the walk.

So Cute!!!!

A Small Christmas Gift

Okay I hate to ruin the surprise of a gift, but who knows how much the box will get jumbled before it gets to its destination? I don't want my family to open their box and see buttons, paper, and little bits of gloves and think "What is this mess?" So I thought I would provide a picture of what the gift is suppose to look like.

Yes, its true I made one for each on you...sorry baby Hunter none for you this year :(

***I wrote your names on the back seam probably under the scarf***

Also sorry to Mckenna and Nathan for how the hats on your snowman look. The candy was just too big for the regular sized "hat". I had to make due with what I had.

Enjoy the Candy Snowman Everyone!

I think I'm crazy

I think I'm crazy because I just took Sierra for a walk around the neighborhood with Ethan in the Snugli (it's a baby carrier that I strap to me) The last time I put him in it was when he was only a couple months old now he's 17 months old and weighs a lot more! I'm going to feel it tomorrow! Great exercise though.

Oh and I forgot to mention why I put Ethan in the carrier...there was snow on the ground so the stroller wouldn't work. Bring on the snow!

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken by our wonderful sister in law, Hilary, back in October but I need help picking a print to hang on the wall. Which do you like?

Look What I Can Do

Ethan has learned to....

...climb into his seat by himself. Its his new way of telling me he wants something to eat. Now if only he could get his own food and clean up the mess afterwards. Only in dreams right?

Happy Halloween

Ethan was a dragon this year for Halloween. He really enjoyed our Ward Trunk or Treat last weekend, but he wasn't too happy for the real holiday. I'm not sure why. Oh well...there's next year and the years after for that.

Ethan enjoying a mouthful of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup

Ethan's ALWAYS on the go...as he runs away while I try to capture the last picture

No No Ethan

So Ethan really doesn't get the whole "no, no" or "don't touch" thing. Here's an example:

I had to move the gate to in between the movies and TV rather then outside the movies because Ethan figured he could just move the gate to get into the TV equipment. BIG DANGER! It's a little harder to move the gate this way because its almost wedged in there, but it leaves the movies out in the open....

...thus allowing him free access to pull them out whenever he wants. It wouldn't be that big a deal I guess, but I like the movies to be alphabetically organized so it takes a little more time to put it back together again.

15 Months Stats

So I know Ethan is 16 months old, but I didn't post is 15 month stats. Here they are:

Weight: 19 lbs 12 oz

Height: 29 1/2 "

Head Circumference: 18 1/4 "

He's actually gone up in percentile in all three categories, but I don't remember what percentiles they were. The doctor said that he was doing well enough to take him off Pedisure. He gained almost 2 lbs in 3 months. I remind myself that slow and steady is better than nothing.

The Past Month's Comings and Goings

So I know it's been awhile since I lasted posted but it's not entirely my fault. Spencer changed our password and forgot to tell me. I had been trying to enter the blog for weeks before I asked him what was wrong with it. So this post is kinda a long one to update the past month.

Here we go...

Ethan loves to climb

I've moved his toys away from the window, but he still climbs on his toy box.

Spencer suggested taking him to a local kid center, "Blast Off" to let him climb and tire him out a bit. They have two playgrounds with tunnels, slides, balls, obstacles, mini golf, laser tag, arcade games and pizza and ice cream. We've gone three times. Ethan loves it there!

We have also had our share of illness. Both Ethan and I got the stomach flu. It was scary. Ethan started vomiting wednesday afternoon and was vomiting every 30 minutes. He couldn't keep anything in his tummy. It lasted about 6-7 hours and then he was able to sleep thru the night without vomiting. The next morning he vomited a couple more times and then was done. Friday night he started having diarrhea. Luckily it was only 3-5 times and then it was done too. All was well....till Sunday. I woke up sunday and started vomiting and diarrhea. Luckily it only lasted 6-7 hours and then I was fine. This all happened when Chris and Melissa came to move their stuff to CA and Spencer was gone hunting. Thankfully Spencer's mom was able to watch Ethan for the day I was sick.

After we where done being sick it took awhile to get up energies back, but when we did the weather wasn't nice enough to go outside for a walk so I got creative. I made a tunnel out of diaper boxes (it was pretty narrow but Ethan fit just fine), made slides out of the couch cushions, and then turned on the radio and we danced (Ethan dances...well wiggles... whenever he hears music but its only for a couple seconds; I couldn't get him to do it on camera. Maybe next time!)

There I did it. I updated the blog.

(Sorry most of the videos are at the end but it seems that is the only place that they will play...this is another reason I don't blog very often...it takes forever to upload a video and then actually be able to play it too! So frustrating!)

Ethan got a little scared from the music of one of the arcade games.Whenever it played he stopped moving and got a scared look on his face. Once the music stopped he was fine.

When Ethan was tired of crawling thru the tunnel he wanted to knock it down and then run it over with his bus again and again...Such a boy! Destruction makes him smile and laugh.

Ethan and Ducks

Spencer took Ethan to the Greenbelt by the Temple to see and feed the ducks. It seems they enjoyed themselves. I took Sierra for a walk.

Walking!

Ethan is walking more and more every day...

(this video is only 3 days after he took his first steps)

...and he's getting more and more vocal too!

Walking?

I went visiting teaching this afternoon and Spencer told me Ethan took two steps while I was gone so of course I had to see for myself. After lots of encouragement and coercing he took 8 steps! Good Job Ethan!

Ethan and the Tower

Ethan loves to knock things over, especially blocks. Spencer would put him in the kitchen and then run back to the living room to see how tall he could build a tower before Ethan crawled in and knocked it over. It was pretty funny to watch.

Funny and Not So Funny

The funny: Nathan and Lisa's bellies are almost the same size.

The not so funny: Ethan tipped over a chair and it landed on my foot.

Wolf Creek Family Reunion

My side of the family got together at Wolf Creek in the Odgen, UT canyon. All 24 of us were together for a whole week. We did lots of activities including jet skiing, playing in the sand, tubing behind the jet skis, horse riding, gun shooting, family relays with water balloons and beach balls, swimming at the resort pool, playing games till the early morning hours, and crafts. It was a very fun week! Can't wait till next year.

We went to a Dinosaur Park on the way home. Ethan enjoying playing paleontologist while uncovering a fossil in the sand, playing on the dinosaur playground, and hanging onto the guide bars around the dinosaurs outside.

Last picture is all my parents grandchildren from left to right oldest to youngest... Kaylee (9), Kirsten (8), Kiera (7), Zach (6), Kassidy (6), Jessi (4), McKenna (4), Caleb (3), Tanner (2), and Ethan (1) plus another little boy coming in October