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

Let the terrible 2's begin!!

It's official Ethan has entered the terrible 2's. He loves to put our patience to the test. We will ask him to stop doing something & when he doesn't he is put into time out only for him to go right back to it as soon as he gets out of time out. He loves to throw a tantrum when he doesn't get what he wants when he wants. Since he's not even 2 yet does that mean that this phase will be over with by the time he's 2? I know I know wishful thinking there.

On the flip side of that he has become quite helpful around the house. If I'm getting ready to vacuum I will ask him to help me pick up his toys & books. He will go around the room picking a few things up at a time & either bring them to me or he will place them in the toy box himself. When I'm cleaning up the kitchen I will ask him to throw something away & he will take it right over to the garbage & throw it away for me. Of course these good deeds don't go unrewarded. We hug, kiss, & clap for him. Now if only I could get him to leave the dirty dishes in the dishwasher when I am loading. That would be a big help.

Ethan has fallen in love with the fish tank I set up in his playroom. Every morning we go in & "wake" the fish up by turning on the tank light & feed them. All day he will drag us into the room just to show us the tank. On Friday Granpa Frank came for a visit & the 1st thing Ethan did as soon as he walked in the house was show him the fish tank then insisted on taking him to the basement & showing him that fish tank. When we are leaving the house he likes to stand at the top of the basement stairs & say "Bye bye fish" while waving to them. At night he has to "tuck" the fish in for the night & tell them bye bye. It's very cute.

This has been a month for words with Ethan. He has had quite the word explosion this month. He now says Oh No, Uh oh, Bird, Side (outside), Darts, Grass, Duck, Bye bye Fish, & a few others that I can't think of off hand.

It's amazing how much Ethan has grown over the last 2 years. He sure has come a long way since his 3lb days. Now he is running, jumping, talking, & being a happy little boy. He's mommy's little angel

Don't forget the March for Babies is coming up on April 25. If you haven't made a donation you can do so by clicking the badge in the side bar. I will be working on our t-shirts next weekend. For those that have said they are walking with us & haven't yet signed up to do so please get it done soon. I am no longer going to be accepting anymore walkers after this week. Our team goal was $100 & thanks to the teams hard work we have raised almost $300. WAY TO GO TEAM ETHAN!!! Let's keep those donations coming in!!!

A picture story

Ethan had quite an exciting day yesterday. Here he is waiting in line.

Here he is with his daddy & Beanie Wells former player of the OSU Buckeyes current player of the Arizona Cardinals. He also go to meet Doug Worthington, Thaddeus Gibson, Kurt Coleman, & Lawrence Wilson. Also players of the OSU Buckeyes. Worthington tried to get Ethan to give him a high 5 but Ethan decided he would rather pick his nose instead. Gave the guys quite a laugh.

After we got home it was play time. He was having fun making silly faces.

Here he is at the end of the day.

Can you find Ethan?

I think the pictures say it all don't they? He had a busy & exciting day.

Makeover!!!

"Curious George the curious little monkey"

I figured since Ethan is so into Curious George why not put him on his blog. George is one of Ethan's favorite books & he loves the cartoon. Hope you like the new look!!