2 yrs ago.....

June 3, 2008 at 6 in the morning I checked into the hospital in preterm labor. By 7 that night my water had broken & Ethan was on his way. At 10:02PM Ethan made his entrance into this world 10 weeks too soon. He was only 3lbs 9oz & 16.5" long. With 10 tiny fingers, 10 tiny toes, & a full head of black hair he was perfect. He was only an hour old when I finally got to hold my precious baby. It was love at first sight. He had his eyes open & he wriggled his arm out of his blanket & grabbed my finger. Right then he was named Ethan Russell Pacholski. Ethan was the first name that came to mind when I got my first glance at him, Russell was my grandfathers name & it was just perfect. Ethan spent the first 52 days of his life in the NICU. It was a long road that seemed like it was never going to end. During that time we got to watch our little preemie grow & get stronger.

He was just a few days old when we gave him his first bath. He was so tiny the size of a football. He loved getting baths though.

There was always an opportunity to grab a few snuggles here or there. There was never a better way to spend time together than giving him hugs & kisses. The one thing about having a preemie is that there is the honor of being able to hold a baby that small. Not everyone gets to say they held a 3lb baby. There is really nothing like it in this world.

Ethan had quite the personality right from the start. His facial expressions showed the many sides to his. He became well know for his many expressions.

Finally after 8 weeks in the NICU Ethan came home on July 25, 2008. We couldn't pack everything up & get the paperwork signed quick enough. It had been a long road that we thought was never going to end. Then that day finally came & all we wanted to do was get our precious baby home so we could finally be a family.

So we packed him up & headed out the door. We were not going to have to return to the NICU again. At 3pm that day Ethan felt the sun on his skin for the very first time. He was put in the car & he was on his way home

Since coming home Ethan has done nothing but shine. He has grown & never ceased to amaze us.

He turned 3 months on Sept. 3, 2008. What a handsome baby he was.

He turned 6 months Dec 3, 2008.

He was 9 months on March 3, 2009.

He turned 1 on June 3, 2009. It's hard to believe that's the same little boy there that we see today. He wasn't even walking yet in that picture. Now he doesn't walk he runs & jumps.

Today Ethan is 2. He has turned into a little man. He loves Curious

George & his aquariums. He doesn't go many places without his buddy

Moose. Who would've thought that my 3lb 9oz little preemie would turn

into such a handsome little man. Happy Birthday Ethan MomMom &

Dada love you!!

Say that again.....

You know the saying "Kids say the darnedest things"? Well I think Ethan has topped the cake. Monday morning I was snuggling with him in bed & he was pointing to things of Matt's & saying "dada". So I kept saying "Yea that's dada's". So he comes back to me snuggles in again then grabs one of the twins & tells me "dada"! I was thinking oh my he's spending way to much time with his daddy. Ha ha ha!! I had to explain to Ethan that those belong to mommy. He didn't seem to think so.

Last weekend Ethan went with us to see Macey in her school musical. He loved every minute of it. They did Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory & he was all about sitting there & watching. Every time Macey came onto the stage he started pointing right at her. Ethan is into music. There is this one commercial that uses a Willy Wonka song & every time it comes on he stops in his tracks & watches it. He was so good during the show. Barely made a sound except to point out a ball or bubbles. I had a feeling that he would probably sit through the show. He loves when I sing to him & he likes to sing along to the music in the car as well.

Ethan is starting to talk more now. Not too many phrases just words. His newest words are door, garbage, moose, bike ride, side (outside), & wash. He likes to tell thing bye bye when we are leaving & he's quick to tell people bye bye when he wants to get moving.

Ethan is going to be 2 next month!! Where has the time gone. For his 2nd b-day we are going to give his room a bit of an upgrade. Since he is really into the aquariums we are going to give him an aquarium room. I found a cute boarder & wall decals, as well as framed art with different fish. I also found a cute aquatic lamp as well. He's going to get a big boy room since he's becoming a big boy now. He's going to love his room when we get it finished.

More pictures from the March of Dimes walk

These pictures were taken by Grammy Nett. If anyone else has pictures from the walk e-mail them to me & I will post them here on his blog.


Ethan climbing on his stroller

Here we are walking

Left to right: Me, Matt, Ethan, & Kaitlin

Grammy Marcia & Kaitlin

Ethan enjoying lunch after the walk

What a great day yesterday was. Ethan actually didn't crash until 6 so he slept in his daddy's arms for a little bit. Today he was his usual busy self. He was all about getting into everything he possibly could & of course he was all about "helping" his mommy clean up the house.

We want to thank our walkers for walking with us yesterday. It was a awesome fun day. We raised $645 for the March of Dimes. Up until having a preemie I never really thought about everything the March of Dimes does. We don't always realize how serious prematurity is. As we started out yesterday I thought of all the babies that are no longer with us. We spoke for them. I had 4 angel babies that I was walking for & 2 preemies that are fortunate to be here with us. I thought about putting a banner on Ethan's stroller with the names of the angel babies I was walking for but the rain forecast made me rethink that. Next year Ethan's wagon is going to be decked out to remember those babies as well.

I will have more pictures from yesterday to post soon. I'm having others send in their pictures to me so I can put them up for all to see.

March For Babies

Today we walked for the March of Dimes. We were very fortunate that the rain held off until 20 mins after we got back. The walk was 3 miles & it took us about 1.5 hrs to do. It was a lot of fun & everyone had a great time. We managed to raise $645 for our cause. Ethan "walked" the first half in his stroller with me & he did the last half walking with Matt. He was really into throwing his "buddy" , Lambie (Moose), out of his stroller. 5 times I ran over it with the stroller & once I stepped on it. Poor Lambie he became road kill very quickly. It was a great turn out of people all there to walk for our babies. After the walk we all went out for lunch at Jing Chuan, our favorite chinese restaurant. Ethan was the biggest ham at the table. He was all about begging for tastes of soup, stealing chicken wings from mom, & of course making his silly face. He had everyone at the table laughing. Once we got home we thought that he would want to go down for a nap since he has been up with us since 6:30 this morning. But it's almost 6 & he is still up. He's tired but it's too late to put him down for a nap so he will be going to bed at 8 tonight. It was a great day & a great time. I am really looking forward to doing it again next year.

Here are our pictures from the walk

Ethan when we first got there

Ethan playing with his Uncle Brian

All of us wearing our team shirts

The walk begins!! Here I am pushing Ethan

Kaitling walking with Grammy's Marcia & Jeanette

Ethan & Matt walking the last mile of the walk

My dad & Macey

Kaitlin walking with Grammy Marcia

Ethan & Matt after we got to the finish line

Matt & Ethan watching a side show

All of us gathered watching the show

The guy was balancing 7 folding chairs on his chin!!

Curiosity killed the cat

What does Ethan & Curious George have in common? Answer, their curiosity always gets them in trouble. So what did Ethan do this time? Well, on Monday I took him down to the basement with me so I could get in a quick workout on the treadmill. I have been trying to walk a mile or more each day during the week in an attempt to get myself back in shape & lose a little weight. Ethan was sitting in one of the pillow chairs with Lambie. He dropped his buddy & had to get down to get him & of course he was intrigued by the CD's in the rack behind the treadmill. So he was going for the CD's & when he lost his balance he grabbed the treadmill to help himself. His poor little fingers got skinned & a little burned from the track. He's OK but his fingers are a little sore. I have been keeping them covered with antibiotic ointment, gauze, & band aides. Fortunately it doesn't slow him down he just doesn't like it when we change his bandages. Today I just started putting just the ointment & the band aides on his fingers. I never realized that the track was actually that dangerous. We are always hearing about the dangers of all the wires & chords that are hanging so I made sure that those were all tied up. I am now looking for a used superyard with an extension gate to put around the treadmill to help keep him away from it while it is in use. I found one on E-Bay I am just watching it to see if any bids are made on it. For now I just am not letting him out of my sight. Ethan is not always one to learn his lesson the 1st time so it's important to keep him in my sights at all times. The joys of having an active boy right?

So this Sunday is the March for Babies walk. Our team has raised almost $500 which is very exciting. I gave up on the idea of making our team shirts it was just to freaking time consuming & I just wasn't very good at it so I ordered shirts instead. They have been delivered to my walkers who signed up for the walk. The company who did the shirts made a $20 contribution to our team & sent me an e-mail saying that next year to contact them so they can sponsor us. Also if I send in a picture of everyone wearing the shirts to them they will put my name in a drawing to win a $100 credit towards my next purchase from them. The shirts look great (much better than I could do on my own) & everyone is going to look awesome. We ae very excited about this walk. Too bad that it is going to rain. I went out today & bought a plastic cover for Ethan's stroller to keep him dry. We are all bringing our umbrellas too. After the walk we are all going out to eat to celebrate our success. Wish us luck. If you still want to make a donation to our team you can do so through tomorrow. Just click on the badge in the side bar. Be on the look out for pictures. Rain or no rain I will have my camera!!

Last weekend was a very exciting weekend for Ethan. We finally got the flooring down in the basement & it looks great. He was all about watching his daddy & grandpa's. He even wanted to get in on the action. I will post a few pictures at the end of this post.

Next week Ethan will be attending his 1st musical. My niece is in her High School musical they are doing Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. I wonder how well he will actually sit through it. Guess we will see. He loves music it's the one thing I can rely on to calm him when he's having one of his moods so he may do alright. Plus he might enjoy the live action. Macey goes to my alma mater & this is the 1st time I have stepped foot in the school pretty much since I graduated 10 yrs ago. I am so excited to see her in this play she is really having a good time doing it from what I hear.

Here are pictures of the basement:

Before

Ethan helping

The floor is down

After

Where we put everything

All cleaned up

Ethan showing how much he loves it

Completely done

Easter

Hope everyone had a good Easter. Ethan sure did. We took him Friday to see the Easter Bunny. He wasn't going to have any of that. He got upset that we wouldn't let him play with the giant Easter Eggs they had sitting around for decoration. That's my boy!! Easter morning we took Ethan out to the backyard for an egg hunt. The Easter Bunny left him a basket & lots of eggs. He had so much fun playing with his cousins & Aunt Katie that he fell asleep in his daddy's arms before we left his grandpa's house.

Here are some pictures from Easter

I took these a few days before Easter.

Pointing to a bird

Sitting on his airplane

Easter

Putting an egg in his bucket

Found a egg by some rocks

Found his basket

Hunting eggs with Grammy Marcia

.

Hunting eggs with Grammy Jeanette

Hanging out with Grandpa Frank

Throwing rocks with Grammy Marcia & Daddy

Just being cute