Happy 4th Birthday Ethan

Ethan is 4 years old today.  Funny saying that he is "finally" 4, because it feels like he's been 4 for a while.  We kind of skipped right over the 3s.  He didn't wear size 3 for very long.  He moved in to the 4's room when he started school (aka daycare).  Most of his friends are 4 or 5.  So in my mind, I guess he's been 4 for a while.  Not that I would ever try to rush past these preciously heart warming years.

Ethan is a lover.  He loves his teachers, his friends, his family, his dad, his brother, his sister, and me.  He calls me an angel, his angel.  "I love you my angel" said with a tilted head and his quirky half smile. 

Over the past year:

Ethan has become a big brother

 Learned to ride a bike

Learned to drive a John Deere Gator

Started preschool

And warmed my heart day after day

I love you Ethan James

xoxo, mom

Oh the Anger...

I spend a ton of time putting a post together for Ethan's birthday.  I went to post it from my iPad and the entire thing vanished.  I think I threw up a bit... I seriously spent hours over the past week putting that post together...

Ethan's 4 Years Old

Fever

I want my happy smiley baby back.

Fevers are horrible, colds are horrible, daycare germs are horrible.  Building an immune system is some serious business... and it's horrible.  Poor Carter started a fever last Sunday.  I took him to the walk in on Monday and they said it looked to be just a nasty viral bug.  I was kinda hoping it was something that could have been treated, but not pumping his little body full of meds is better.  Made me sad that I took him to the walk in though.  There were so many people coughing and wearing face masks and looking all germ-infested.  It gave me goose bumps to sit in there next to all of them.  Luckily they call the babies in right away so we didn't have to sit in the germ-breading-grounds for very long. 

Carter's fever finally broke on Wednesday morning.  Things were looking up and back to normal and his second tooth popped through.  Maybe the fever was from teething?  But, they say high fevers aren't from teething, right?  So, my poor little man must have been teething and fighting a fever bug all at the same time.  :-( Oh I wish babies could talk and tell us what's wrong. 

Last night Carter's fussiness started all over again.  He was screaming at us, moving his head from side to side, and crying non-stop.  I gave him some Advil around 8:30 because I knew he was in pain, but had no idea what was causing the pain.  Cory got him to sleep around 8:45 ~ thank you Cory!  Then Carter was up on and off throughout the night whimpering and looking to snuggle.

This morning his temp was 99.6.  I took him to daycare and got a text a little while later saying his fever was up to 100.4.  So, back to the doctor we went.  This time we got in to see Carter's pediatrician.  He checked out Carter's ears and found a nasty little mess in his left ear.  Carter has his very first ear infection.  No wonder our little man has been so fussy lately.  He's been hurting. 

Hoping for the meds to work soon and for Carter to feel like his adorably happy little self.   

 

Oh Ethan, I love you to the moon and back

Ethan has a personality the size of the biggest dinosaur that ever walked the earth.  Ya never know what you're going to get with him.  Take these pics for example...

Yup, that's food on his face and a headband in his hair.

 

And some oh-so-blurry-pictures taken with my ipad captured the moment perfectly.  

Carter 6 months

Carter turned six months on Christmas day so I guess this post is a little late... Too say we had a couple things keeping us busy is a bit of an understatement.

At Carter's six month check up he weighed 17 pounds 12 ounces. He's our perfect little chunky-monkey! He also has... TWO teeth! Which makes nursing him a bit more challenging at times. His first tooth came in on Christmas Eve and his second tooth came in on Jan 4th.  Hopefully he's done teething for a while, because teething is some serious business which results in a screaming baby and no sleep for this mama.

We started him on cereal at 5 1/2 months. He wasn't too sure at first, but he is loving it up now. Think we'll introduce some fruits and veggies soon. Look out Carter, the world has big things awaiting you.

 Love you my little "Stud Muffin" xo

Yes, Yes I Can Get Anotha Room Up In Here!

The request.  "Can I Get Anotha Room Up In Here"

The solution:  Another room!

So much decorating I shall do!

Step 1:
Move everything out of Cory's office.

Step 2:
Locate a new office space in the basement.

Step 3:
Paint Carter's new room! Turned out a bit more blue than I wanted, but I like it. 

Step 4:
Move Carter in to his new room.

 ~curtain change~

yes... that is a fish tank in his room... no it will not be staying

moved the new curtains to my room ~ don't they look great with my pillows ;)

 

Step 5:
Bring a new (old) dresser in to Ethan's room.

 I will eventually get some nicer looking handles for this dresser to update it a bit.

  

Ta-Da! 4 bedroom house with a fabulous office in the basement! Happy Dance, Happy Dance!

Project Breakdown:

Thanks to Menard's amazing clearance paint section where they keep all their miss-tint paints..... (drum role please).... $5, $5, and $1.  Mix in a splash of blue paint that I already had... Total paint cost for the lovely new room = $11 Ah-May-Zing!

Husband's handy cable work = FREE thanks to extra parts that we had around the house.
Husband's handy electric work = $50 for five outlets, one cable connection, two light switches and some extra wire.

Curtain rods for Carter's new room = $30 just a regular great price at Target.
Curtain panels for Carter's new room = $108 due to four $10 off coupons for JCPenney that I've been saving up. But... I kinda stole the curtains from Carter and put them in my room and moved my brown curtains to his room.  Much better look for both rooms!

Wall for Cory's new office = $100

I love this picture.  Ethan is such a great helper.

Door for Cory's new office = FREE (we had it on the wall to the playroom)

Before: on playroom wall

After: office looking through to bar

 After: bar looking through to office

Finishing the wall to the playroom where we removed door = $20

Total project cost = $319
I feel like I am missing something.  I can't believe we made all of these huge changes for just $319. 
Woot Woot!

Future plans if all goes well and the money tree rains down on us:
Build a retaining wall outside Cory's office and add a look out window.

Oh how I love projects like this. I'm jumping around doing the happy dance right now and making a fun squealing noise! ;)

By the way... we did this in FOUR days.  Yeah, we rocked this one!

Not As Planned

Well, I didn't really have a plan, but if I would have put a plan together... this would not have been it. 

2012

Day 1: I had a horrible migraine and Carter started his first fever

Day 2: I had to call in to work to stay home with Carter and take him to the walk-in and sit next to tons of germ-infested people only to find out that Carter has a virus and nothing can be done right now to make him better. By the way... I used all my days for maternity leave so any day off through the end of June is unpaid.

Day 3: I went to work and left Carter home with Cory ~ which Cory enjoys, but is completely heartbreaking for me.  Then I took Ethan to daycare ~ which he normally loves ~ but today he clung to my leg and cried until a teacher peeled him off of me and tried to comfort him.  Yup, another heartbreak. 

One, Two, Three strikes your out....

Is there a reset button? 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2011 Year in Review

January: Ethan turned 3 years old

February: Cory turned 30 and I threw him a surprise birthday party

March: Ethan started Preschool

April: I turned in to a mini-van-driving-mama

May: Mariah got confirmed and graduated from junior high

June: Carter Oliver was born ~ true blessing

July: Cory and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary

August: We took a family trip to Mall of America

September: I went back to work after a lovely 12 week maternity leave

October: Mariah went to Homecoming

November: We moved a ton of trees

December: We moved Cory's office to the basement and gave Carter his own room

Hope everyone had a fabulous 2011. 

I wish you all a healthy and happy 2012.