Ethan's a big boy

I took Ethan to the ped today and he is getting so stinking big! He is 39 inches tall and weighs 34lbs. When the heck did that happen? Wasn't he just 3lbs 9oz yesterday? How did 3 years go by so fast? His Dr was happy with his physical development. She had him tell her the colors of the blocks which he did beautifully on (he knows his colors). She asked him what his favorite animal is. Ethan decided that was the right time to talk through his teeth. He told her Pooh Bear for his favorite animal. I then asked him not to talk through his teeth so she could understand what he was saying so then he starts jumping up and down and tells her again. She still couldn't understand him so I had him tell her one more time and this time he stood still for it. She had no idea what a Pooh Bear was so I told her he was referring to Whinnie the Pooh. She asked him what he had for breakfast and he told her toast and fruit. She asked what kind of fruit and he told her oranges through his teeth. So I corrected him again and he answered properly. Then she asked what he liked to do for fun at home and he rapidly has to tell her that he watches the garbage men pick up dada's garbage. He said it faster than his little mouth can talk so I had him slow down and repeat it at a normal speed LOL. So after she was done checking him out she tells me that she doesn't feel that he is easy to understand when he talks and that she was strongly recommending we get an eval from a Speech Therapist. We got a few opinions from Papa Paul, Grammy B, and Grammy Judy and they all agree that he talks fine but yes at times can be hard to understand. Matt & I know that he has a problem with words like "Please" "Blue" "Cloud" "Black" ect. We also know that his V's and F's sound like B's. We both correct him all the time but these are common issues in toddlers. I think that it will work itself out by the time he starts school next year. So we have decided not to take him into Speech Therapy. We don't feel an eval will hurt but since it's not really a necessity we don't want to bother with it. I would rather see where he is at by the age of 4.

Tues Ethan had an appt with Dr Horner. His phe levels came back this week at 4.1 so he is still right in the target range of under 10. There have been no changes to his diet he is still at  40g of protein a day which right now works for him. In June they want to order a complete nutritional blood panel and then depending on the results of that they might order a Dexascan or they might wait until he is 5. Realistically with all the things he has crashed into and not gotten a broken bone from it I'd like to think he has pretty strong bones LOL. He is one tough little dude.

Busy Ethan!!

Ethan has had a busy 2 days this weekend. Yesterday we took him (& Finlay too) to Frankenmuth. We had a blast at Bronner's where I was in Christmas decoration heaven. We spent 3 hrs walking around and didn't begin to see the entire store. Poor Ethan was on Christmas overload. He didn't know where to begin. It took him 10 minutes and he broke an ornament. He spent the rest of the time strapped into the stroller where he could do less damage. He was pretty cute when Finlay started to fuss from his carrier. Ethan turned around and was giving his little brother hugs and kisses and then kept patting him on the head and holding his hands. That was getting him a lot of attention from some of the workers who were milling around. It is always nice to see him love all over his brother like that. He can be such a good big brother (when he wants to LOL)

Today I took him to see Happy Feet 2 while Finlay was stuck with his daddy. I treated Ethan to popcorn and a small drink (yea I know I spoiled him LOL). He was pretty good for the most part although in the middle of the movie he decided he wanted to crawl around on the nasty floor and try to eat the popcorn he dropped. I think the movie may have been a little long for his attention or they showed way too many previews. I'm going to go with way too many previews. There had to be at least 7 or 8 previews and IMO that is just way too many for a child's movie. Kids are not going to have the patience to sit through that many previews. Towards the end he calmed down a bit and sat and watched the rest of the movie. He liked all the singing and dancing. It was a nice little outing for the 2 of us. Before we left he wanted to bring Finlay with us. He wanted to watch the movie with his brother. Too cute. When we left the theaters he wanted to save the rest of the popcorn for his daddy so we took it home. I don't think Matt really wanted the popcorn but he ate some anyways b/c Ethan wanted him to have it. Ethan spent a little bit of the afternoon outside helping his daddy finish putting up the lights. Every time we try to get the outside lights up it rains. Go figure. Mother Nature must not want our house to look pretty for Christmas this year.

As I write this Ethan is wrestling with daddy. I hope Matt is able to wear that child out b/c he has more energy than he knows what to do with. I'm sure Matt will get worn out before Ethan does. Amongst all the noise Finlay is sleeping through it all. Fin is going to be a good sleeper since he has big brother Ethan to sleep through.

I got Ethan's mobigo ordered. I found a decent deal on amazon.com. Every one is selling it for $60 but I got it for $50. Santa is working on finding a decent DVD player for Ethan's playroom. We don't want to end up with one like we had a while back where it played the DVD's but half the time it wouldn't eject them or it scratched them up. Ethan is going to have a electronic Christmas this year LOL. I am really excited to be getting him the mobigo. It's pretty cool, his friend Killian has it and he learned his alphabet in a couple days and now is already adding and subtracting (he's only 4) so it's going to be a great thing for Ethan. As much as Ethan loves the ABC game on Matt's Ipod he will love this.

We've been getting a lot of inquires of what Ethan needs or wants for Christmas. He really doesn't need anything. He's getting the mobigo from us and a DVD player and I've already suggested the games for the mobigo to someone else. He has become picky about his clothes so I don't need anymore clothes for him that are just going to hang in his closet and never get worn. He is more than good on jammies and I am going to be buying him snow boots in the next couple weeks. Board games were already suggested to someone and I don't need any more toys to add to the already overflowing toybox. He is specific on what toys he wants to play with the rest just get thrown out of the way and just make a big mess for me to have to clean up. I don't have a lot of storage space and the living room is being cluttered with Finlay's things. He's really into trucks. Lately he has taken an obsession to excavators. He has a book that he loves that is all about bulldozers, excavators, and dump trucks. He loves to sit and look at that book. He will sit and teach Finlay all about them (because Finlay cares oh so much about them LOL). There isn't much to suggest for him (or Finlay) They both have everything that they need and want. Ethan has a piggy bank and loves to put money in it. When it gets full we make a trip to the bank and he get's to deposit it to his college fund. Otherwise I don't have much to suggest.

Prematurity Awareness Month

Just to make you aware, November is Prematurity Awareness Month. Each year 1 in 8 babies will be born prematurely. Both Ethan and Finlay were born prematurely. Ethan was 30 weeks 1 day and he weighed 3lbs 9oz. Finlay was 35 weeks 4 days and he weighed 5lbs 12oz. Please help the March of Dimes raise money. If you would like to make a donation you can do so at the following link:
https://www.marchofdimes.com/giving/support_general.html?src=mod11_EDDpamFT_111101
It all goes for a good cause. The March of Dimes is also selling special Awareness products as well to raise money. You can go to the following link to purchase those products if you are interested:
http://www.awarenessproductsonline.com/mod_individual

Now that I got my sales pitch (LOL) out of the way onto other things.

Ethan is loving being a big brother. Finlay is very lucky to have Ethan for his big brother. Ethan likes to hold his little brother, help feed him, and is very loving. He likes to give him kisses and hugs all the time. Ethan is always talking about "When Finlay gets bigger....." and then tells us what they are going to do together. Last night it was "When Finlay gets bigger he is going to go trick or treating with me!" It was very cute that he is looking forward to going trick or treating with Finny.

Speaking of trick or treating, Ethan had a blast last night. Matt took him this year (although I really wanted to do it b/c I wanted the time with Ethan) and they went with Aunt Robin, Uncle Seamus, and kids. Ethan dressed as Spiderman (like every other toddler in the neighborhood LOL). They were gone for about an hour and when he got back he was having fun passing out candy to all the little spooks who came up our driveway. He was very generous giving out handfuls of candy to the little spooks. A few times the groups were just too large for Ethan to handle on his own so Matt had to help. If Ethan didn't get to give candy to some of the kids he would get very upset and throw the candy that was in his hands onto the ground and then put his hands over his face before picking the candy up. He just really wanted to give out the candy. It was pretty cute. He was telling me all about the houses he went to and the people he saw. He was so excited. We had a pretty good turn out of kids last night. I'd say we probably had 100-120 kids come to the door. Unfortunately I bought a ton of candy this year so we wouldn't run out (the last few years we have run out by like 7 at night and that's only giving 1-2 pieces of candy to each kid!). Unfortunately I bought a few bags too many and now we have a ton of left over candy LOL. We'll go through it all and Matt can take some to the vultures at work :-) Today Ethan doesn't want to take off his Spiderman costume. He has been running around all day with it on. I guess he isn't ready for Halloween to be over with.

Ethan is officially a big brother!!!

Ethan became a big brother to Finlay Matthew on 10/8/11. He has made an amazing big brother so far. It's been 2 weeks and he has adjusted very well to all the changes. We came home as a family Monday the 10th and since then Ethan has been nothing but helpful when it comes to his little brother. Tues last week Ethan unfortunately came down with a very nasty stomach bug. He started running a low grade fever Tues night and Weds he was sick to his tummy. He was miserable and it broke my heart. If you know Ethan well then you know he is perpetual motion. He never stops moving, not even when he is sleeping. Yet he was down for the count. He laid in my dish chair and watched the Lion King over and over never moving from his position. He was even sleeping in the chair instead of letting us lay him in bed. I hated seeing him that sick. He was down for the count Weds night but he was starting to feel slightly better Thurs night and every time he heard Finlay cry for his bottle he had to come in and check. He did that for several nights but it has now gotten better. Because he wasn't allowing himself to get much sleep at night it was leading to a very cranky toddler all day long. For the last 2 nights he has slept in his own bed all night and his mood has been much better. Him being sick though last week really screwed with his appetite and he hasn't been wanting to each much but I think he might be starting to get his desire to eat again back.


He loves to snuggle with his little brother. He wants to help feed him, help change diapers, he likes to hold him. He is always wanting to give him little kisses on the head or hold his hand. The other day Finlay was being a bit fussy and I was trying to calm him down. Ethan comes over and just starts patting him on the butt and tells him that it's OK, don't cry, what's wrong, ect. He was being very protective. It's great to see him being such a great big brother. If we ask him to get something for us he runs off right away to go get it (as long as it's for Finlay LOL). He is very gentle most of the time and very loving.


Last night we had a small incident where Matt got Ethan a little too wound up playing and Ethan threw a pillow accidentally hitting the swing Finlay was laying in. Finlay startled and started crying and then Ethan got really upset and he started crying. He was very upset at the thought that he had hurt his baby brother. He wanted to give him snuggles and kisses to make it better.


He's still adjusting and he doesn't always realize that there are just certain things that he can't do. He doesn't fully realize his own strength yet. That will come with time. He has just loved having his dada home for the last 2 weeks. I was told by Matt though that Sunday morning the day after Finlay arrived Ethan came into our room to wake us up and he got very upset that I wasn't there. Apparently there were tears. In a way that made me feel loved b/c I always figure he sees me all the time and he's always all about his dada that he wouldn't care if I wasn't there. When he got to the hospital he came running straight to me for hugs. So he was one very happy little boy when I was finally home.


Next week, especially Monday, is going to be interesting. Matt goes back to work and I think Ethan is going to go through Daddy withdrawl. He is not going to know what to do without his daddy around all day. I don't plan on going to lunch with Matt next week but if Ethan really needs the outing I will take the boys. Hopefully though I will be able to entertain him enough to distract him from missing his daddy too much.


This weekend we are hoping that the weather will be nice so that we can finally get Ethan on that hayride in Oregon that Aunt Robin got us tickets to. We were going to do it 2 weeks ago but his baby brother had other plans. We had a lot of fun activities planned for this week that ended up getting foiled by all the rain. We were going to go for the hayride, Zoo It, go to the butterfly house to do the Harry Potter Corn Maze, and hit up the pumpkin patch too. Let's cross our fingers that we can at least do the hay ride and pumpkin patch. Ethan has been bugging to do those things all week. If it's going to be cold and rainy we won't go. We don't want to take him into the damp weather and run the risk of him getting sick again.


We still need to get Ethan a Halloween costume too this weekend. I don't know what he is going to be. I'm just going to take him to the store and let him pick from whatever they have in stock. It's been a crazy busy month and I just haven't had a chance to get him out to pick out his costume. He will be going trick or treating with his daddy this year. I really enjoyed taking him last year and wanted to do it again but originally I was going to be 38 weeks pregnant and now I need to stay home and pass out candy with the baby. I would love the time with Ethan though it'd be fun but Matt is insisting he take him b/c I got to do it last year. I guess we are alternating years LOL. That's OK it means I get to see all the little cuties in their scary costumes come to my door and I get to give them candy and make them smile. Matt get's none of that ha ha ha! He gets all the leg work and Ethan gets all the candy (how does that seem right?).

Fair Day

Ethan has had a busy weekend this week. Yesterday we took him to Papa P's to watch the OSU/Akron game and then a few hrs later he went to see Grammy B at the St Joe's festival. He had so much fun there. He got to go on a camel ride, he rode the swings, the ferris wheel, and a pony. Then today we took him to the Fulton County Fair. He had a blast! He got to see sheep getting sheared, petted some cows, petted some pigs, and got to ride on some rides. He went on the crazy bus, the big swing, the motorcycles, took a pony ride, and the rockets. He rode them all by himself too. What a big boy!! Everytime he got off a ride he came running up to us with a big smile on his face and gave us hugs. We also let him play a couple games. He threw a dart and actually broke a balloon so he won a penguine. Then he played a game where you test your strength (you know smash the mallet to the pad and hit the bell). He didn't hit the bell but he got it half way up. The guy gave him a prize anyways b/c kids always win. Ethan picked out a Spiderman balloon bat. Go figure. Matt tried to win him a stuffed Elmo by throwing some baseballs at the bottles but he failed. I told him he lost his touch that he was throwing weak like a girl LOL. We hit the horse stables before we left. He loves the horses. Weather was super nice all day. It was over caste but it stayed in the mid 70's and there was a nice breeze so it made for comfortable temps. As we were walking out it began to thunder and then poured as we loaded the car up. So we were leaving at just the right time. Ethan crashed as soon as we got the car started and slept most of the way home. This evening he is full of energy. We on the other hand are exhausted LOL. It's amazing how much energy that child has!! I had a hard time watching him ride the rides all by himself b/c I don't want to believe that he is that old yet. He is still my sweet baby!! He can't possibly be ready to ride the fair rides by himself! But yet he did and he loved it. Tomorrow daddy is on call but we are going to try to get some things done in the nursery. He will enjoy having his daddy home for another day though. Ethan is such a daddy's boy.

Video Share

I came across this segment today when I turned the tv on to watch General Hospital and thought it was interesting. Since Ethan was born premature I thought I would share the link to the video. This was actually aired in Sept 2010 it was just a rebroadcast that I saw today.


http://www.thedoctorstv.com/videolib/init/2053

Day out with mom

Ethan and I went to the movies today. I took him to see the new Winnie the Pooh movie. I got him a small popcorn (which by the way they give free refills on popcorn) and a small drink (I brought my own drink). Sadly Mommy does not know how to tell time. I thought the movie started at 11:05 so I got us there about 10:45 and got our snack. Then I saw on the ticket stub it said 11:50 and first thought "Crap they gave me the wrong showing" and then learned that I just can't read. So Ethan and I had an hour to kill. We sat on a bench eating popcorn and watching this mother/teacher try to control some very rambunctious kids. Ethan kept saying "Let's just go watch the movie" and I kept saying "I would love to do that buddy but unfortunately mommy is not very smart and can't tell time so we have to wait a while" and he responded with "It's OK that happens, don't get upset. We'll just go watch the movie." Needless to say it was a long hour of explaining why we can't just go watch the movie. Although he pottied 2 times before we went into the auditorium and again 5 mins after we got our seat. That was interesting. I left our popcorn, drinks, and set Moose (yes Moose had to come too) on top of my seat as a way to save our spot. I was hoping someone would get that a very tattered stuffed animal wasn't just left there on accident. Then he pottied again right before the previews. When we got back I reminded him that we were not going to go to the potty every 20 minutes that mommy did not spend $14.25 on tickets to spend a good majority of the time in the bathroom. He made it 45 minutes into the movie  before needing to go and that was the only time during the movie he had to potty so I'm pretty impressed with that. I did have to repeatedly remind him to stop rocking his chair that it was vibrating the whole row and there were other people sitting in our row. Then I had to remind him to stop kicking the railing in front of us b/c it was loud and distracting. Other than that he was pretty good. He loved the movie. Every time something happened he would shout out "That silly old bear!" Or "What is he doing! He's being silly!" Good thing he was not the only 3 yr old in the room LOL. It was mostly 5 and under in the theater and there were not very many people so hopefully he wasn't too distracting. When the credits rolled he started crying and screaming how he wanted to watch the movie. I tried to explain that it was just over but he thought he was being punished and kept telling me how he was being good and listening. I told him we could watch the credits and that made him happy. Unfortunately we were the only ones watching the credits. He was just so sad that the movie was over. I told him that I will try to bring him to see it again another day when we can afford it. So now he is all excited that we are going to go back and see it again. After that it was hit the potty and then we walked the mall. I took him into the Disney store and let him pick out a stuffed Pooh Bear for being so good. Then I got him a fruit smoothie and we got in the car to head to my OB appt (See the other blog for info).

I will be taking him to see some other movies this year. The Lion King is coming back to theaters in 3D in Sept and I think he will love that, Alvin and the Chipmunks have a movie coming out in Dec and he might like that too. There is a muppets movie coming out I think in Aug that he will probably like. He seems to like being able to go to the movies. Hopefully it's something we will be able to do with him often enough.