Merry Christmas!

We spent our first Christmas as a family of four in town...a far cry from the three-state tour we did last year. On Christmas Eve, we watched a few classic TV specials. Ethan was excited about putting out milk and cookies. Luckily we remembered to take the child gate out of the fireplace. The next morning the first thing he yelled was "He drank all the milk!". With the kids in bed, I started putting together the Kidkraft kitchen that we got for Ethan at 8:40pm. I finished just before 11 o'clock. I will say that this thing was constructed better than a lot of IKEA furniture and I expect it to last forever. Ethan is very enthusiastic and Liz and I are wondering how long until Ethan stops making us eat pretend food before every meal. Ethan also got the spaceship (space shuttle) he wanted. Liz got me an CycleOps indoor cycling flywheel so I can do cardio in the house. I got her some new boots and gift certificate for a spa through SpaFinder.com.

Click here or the picture for more holiday photos!

Ethan's 2nd singing performance

OK, Ethan got a nice introduction to stage fright with his Thanksgiving performance (click here) but the Christmas performance was a big step up...at night and in front of four times as many people since the church was a full house. He figures out where we are in the crowd around the 1:10 mark.

NASCAR here I come!

Ethan's buddy Steven followed up on his previous birthday party (that had a firetruck) with one where racecars (pulled like a train) were available for the kids! We were pulled at a pretty decent clip as you can see Ethan's hair blowing as he had a blast 'turning'. It's always fun looking at the neighbors staring as we cruise around the neighborhood on these crazy things every year.

Click here or the photo to see photos from the past month.

Recent Ethan Quote

"...but Mommy is the best." --Ethan

(Uttered while sobbing after Liz left for a mom's night out while I tried to console him)

Santa visit

Yesterday Ethan and Anneliese saw Santa at the mall. Anneliese was very good. Ethan wasn't scared when he was talking to Santa either, saying "I want a rocket ship." Santa asked if he wanted one to fly around in or just a toy one. Ethan went with the latter surprisingly. When it came to pictures though it was difficult to get Ethan to act natural...he's developed a really bad forced smile.

Click the photo to download a bigger one.

Leaves!

There's almost always something falling from our liquidamber tree out front, but plain old leaves are the most fun compared to the fruit (aka "stickerballs") or the spring blooms which turn the sidewalk and car yellow with 'dust'. Ethan helped Daddy rake them up and then we had some fun.

Click here or the album for photos from the past month!

Ethan's first stage performance

Ethan's preschool held a Thanksgiving performance and his age group performed "Five Little Turkeys", "Thank You", and "Jesus Loves Me". Keep an eye on the 1:40 timestamp where Ethan sees us in the crowd. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving in Grand Rapids

So we decided to have Christmas just as a family in Long Beach this year and went to visit Liz' folks for Thanksgiving. We were greeted with two different snow storms dumping six inches or so which was great for sledding and snowman (and snow-dinosaur) making. I also went hiking around Oma and Opa's house and took some nice landscapes in between snow dumpings.

We went to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum where Ethan had fun with lots of things, most notably filling a shopping cart to the brim with plastic fruits and vegatables. We also went to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo where we saw some pretty cool airplanes up close, Ethan got to go on some rides, and I got to do barrel rolls and flips in a flight simulator with Liz.

Click here or the photo above to go to the photo album.

We can't breathe!

Fires sprung up east of Long Beach yesterday and filled the sky with smoke. It smelled like ash everywhere and the sunlight was very orange all day like a very long sunset. Later in the day we had piles of ash around the house and car. Ethan and Daddy are having a rough time with coughs and stuffed noses.

Recent Ethan Quote

"Daddy, do you want to watch football with me?" --Ethan

(Uttered while I was washing dishes with Thursday Night Football on the TV so I could watch my fantasy players. I'm sure Liz is thrilled I'm exposing him early.)

Watch out David Beckham

Ethan has been taking Saturday soccer classes by an outfit called Kids Love Soccer. They do a good job of coming up with different learning drills about colors, animals, etc. to mask the fact that they're just making the kids dribble aka 'little kicks' from cone to cone. They do get to knock down cones and score goals. Liz came recently and got to play "lion jumps out and scares the giraffe" which I believe is getting them accustomed to stealing the ball from others. When I told Ethan "You need to not kick the ball too far when dribbling because when you play real soccer there's only one ball and the other kids will try to take it away" he responded, not suprisingly, "Why?". I think soccer with multiple balls could actually be pretty cool.

School Update

Ethan no longer whiles about going to school and is past his crying spells about missing mommy. We are getting a steady stream of craft projects coming home. We've been told that Ethan really like singing and going to Chapel once a month. There have been some noticeable changes in his behavior. He has picked up some mean phrases that he unleashes on us when he's getting in trouble. He's also gotten into trouble some times by pushing which is a bummer because he's always been very nonviolent with all the kids at Stroller Strides. Apparently one incident involved him taking a ball from a girl to give to another girl who'd said that she wanted it. The girl who had the ball initially took it back and Ethan shoved her. Chivalrous and mean at the same time.

The other wacky thing is how Ethan has started asking very philosophical questions about God lately. Questions include: Does God have a body? Did he lose it? Where is God? Did God make it so Oma & Opa live far away? Before I was born, was I with God?

Pretty weighty stuff.

Vegetables! Yummmmmm.

Anneliese has graduated from rice cereal with formula to fruits and vegetables. Liz is trying home-made stuff to save money, using the Cuisinart to mush sweet potatoes, peas, bananas, green beans, and even cauliflower. She freezes them in ice cube trays and then we just microwave a cube or two for 20 seconds. So far everything's been a hit though green beans get the most grimaces.

Halloween!

Well, after eleven months of Ethan wanting to be a triggerfish, his dream came true. It all started when he received a nature magazine that had a green triggerfish and for whatever reason he fell in love with it over all the other fish. He wanted to be a triggerfish in the Christmas pageant but we told him that there was no triggerfish in the manger scene. As the months went by he never wavered so Liz had to come up with a plan.

She got a pattern off the internet and asked Ethan what kind of triggerfish he wanted to be. As luck would have it, he wanted to be a clown triggerfish which of course doubled the amount of work we had to do because of it's complexity (that'll teach us to ask). Liz bought black fabric, batting, paint, etc. It took many nights of Liz sewing and me painting and finished the night before Halloween. Liz made a mermaid costume for Anneliese even though Ethan wanted her to be a pink cat.

Click here or the photo to go to the October photo album to see more Halloween pictures!

Puzzle Master Update

Well, it's been barely two weeks and Ethan is fully proficient with the 48-piece puzzle we mentioned in this earlier post. I help him separate the side pieces to speed things up and away he goes without any help. Amazing.

Here's a link to see the pirate puzzle.

Portraits

Liz had a lady show up at Stroller Strides to take "back to school" photos of the kids and we got some really cute ones (sorry I can't take credit for these). Click any of the photos to go to the album where you can download a full-resolution version for printing at home!

Liz survives bootcamp!

Well, yesterday Liz and her friends survived the 3-mile course at the Marine Recruiting Base in San Diego. There were a lot of guys in funny hats yelling at everyone and stopping random people to do pushups along the way. The obstacles caused a few bruises (see Liz waiting in line wearing a turquoise shirt).

After, we headed off to check out the MCAS Miramar Air Show. It took us well over an hour and a half to park the car but at least we got to see plenty of stuff happening in the sky while we waited. Once there, Ethan got to sit in plenty of helicopters and we all got our ear drums blown out by various overpasses by the Blue Angels (see Ethan covering his ears).

Click here or the photos to go to the photo album to see more pictures!

Puzzle Master

Ethan has turned into a real puzzle master, easily doing 24-piece puzzles without any help. He's adopted starting with the corners and is much better at matching up the picture rather than just relying on the shape. We got three new 48-piece ones but haven't tried them yet...stay tuned!

Recent Ethan Quote

"These grapes are scrumptious!" --Ethan

(We have no idea where he's learning these words)

Big Boy School

Ethan has started day care on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at our church. The potty training has gone well enough that he seemed ready. He had been showing signs that he might throw a fit when Liz left him and kept saying he didn't want to go because it was "going to be boring" but once the teacher showed him some dinosaur toys he ran off without saying goodbye. Subsequent days have gone similarly. At night he seems excited when he talks about playing games, eating a snack, doing art projects and playing outside. Liz is enjoying her two mornings alone with Anneliese.

Crib recall and rooming together

Liz' mom alerted us that Ethan's old Jardine crib had been recalled because the slats on a few had broken and caused abrasions. I tried to break the slats and couldn't but we sent in all the hardware (leaving us with all the wood) to get a voucher for Babies R Us. Anneliese had been getting her arms and legs stuck between the slats. She has turned into a real side sleeper and we've found her with all four limbs outside the crib. Long story short, our neighbor cut the crib up to burn in his fireplace this winter and since I had to put the new crib together anyway, I did it in Ethan's room so they are now sleeping in the same room. Ethan apparently is done being posessive of his room and was open to it. We've had a few nights where he woke up at 3am and then she woke up, but he's been good about leaving her alone when he gets up in the mornings.

Take us out to the ballgame...

I was treated to some free baseball tickets to see the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim take on the Texas Rangers. The seats were great, on the lower level down the third base line. Ethan spilled most of our five-dollar soda which was a bummer but we got so see the famous Rally Monkey come out in the 6th inning resulting in all three runs. Garret Anderson's had a two-run homer that got us fireworks and then when Ethan and I were on a potty run, Torii Hunter raced back on Marlon Byrd's drive to dead center reached back over the wall to nullify a near game-tying two-run homer.

Lightning McQueen

Ethan is all about Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars which we let him watch a few weeks ago. It was great on the airplane to visit Grandma. Ethan's first noisy toy came from our friend Rose for his first birthday which was a sit-on Lightning McQueen car. Now we've got stickers, underwear, coloring books, etc.

Grandma gets married

We all flew to Aurora, Ohio (near Cleveland) as my mom was getting married on the 23rd. The lucky guy is John Petrenchik. I was asked to make sure I videotaped their first dance and got some memorable footage involving Ethan and the cake. The still photos are from Mom's cousin Cindy Wiser. On a related note, at the reception Anneliese rolled on to her stomach for the first time.

Diaper Guilt

Liz had been feeling more guilty these days about all the disposable diapers Anneliese was using. Turns out a Stroller Strides mom was a marketing rep for Dy-Dee Diaper Service and got Liz a free month of cloth diaper service to try it out. We got some stretchy outer wraps to go around the folded cloth which makes it just about as easy as disposables. As you can see in the picture, Anneliese's behind looks a little bigger in her clothes due to the thickness of the diaper. I think we're going to stick with it.

Bottle Boycott

Anneliese's refusal to accept a bottle from Dad continues. When she was younger it looked like everything was going to be fine but after a few attempts she changed her mind. Confusing things further is the fact that she did take a bottle or two from her Opa when they were visiting. This could make it very hard to retain a baby sitter.

Ouch, am I sore...

Well, we went for a family run this weekend...just under two miles at about an 11-minute-mile clip. I'm amazed I survived at all given that my weekly exercise routine is 25 flights of stairs. Liz' friend convinced her after their pregnancies to do the San Diego Marine Corps Boot Camp Challenge 2008 on October 4th featuring a 3-mile course with obstacles used only by Marine Recruits at the Marine Recruit Depot. Participants get "encouragement" along the way at each obstacle by MCRD Drill Instructors.

Here's a video of last year for reference. All I can say is thank goodness I'm not doing it. However, I'm going to try to be the good husband and try to run with Liz heading up to the event. We'll see if she'll let me yell at her while doing practice pushups and situps.

Potty Training Update

Congratulations go out to Ethan today for making it through the day without any accidents! He even told us when he needed to go #2 and did it on the big potty for the first time in months. We've been trying in earnest for four days, bribing him with an M&M for peeing and two for pooping. He also got a Matchbox car from a new set we bought for being accident-free today. We're working hard to get him ready for preschool a few mornings a week at our church starting in September. Traveling to Ohio later this week for Grandma's wedding will be a real test.

She's a happy girl

Anneliese sure does smile a lot. She's very good natured and only gets upset when she's hungry. She's incredibly tolerant of Ethan's limb pulling, screaming and yelling in her face, etc. He still is pretty taken with her which is good. She's taken to sucking on her fingers a lot and blows bubbles/raspberries with her mouth. Her legs are pretty chunky now but she's only 15 lbs while Ethan was closer to 18 lbs. Anneliese is good at using her legs to roll but hasn't quite flipped over yet.


Click here or the pictures to go to see more!

Dinosaurs 24-7

Ethan is all about dinosaurs these days. Books, placemat, pajamas, sheets, blanket, figurines, flashcards, etc. We're well past the usual suspects and working on apatosaurus, dimetredon, and others. There's a live action show Walking with Dinosaurs - The Live Experience coming to town but we're afraid Ethan will get scared.

Recent Ethan Quote

"Mom, I'm going to squish your muscles so you get milk on your shirt." --Ethan

Ethan completes a board game!

Well, I had the pleasure of playing two games of Candyland with Ethan today. Apparently he'd never been able to follow the rules or deal with picking cards before so I was proud of him. If you're interested...we each won one game.

Ethan turns 3!!!

Click here or the picture to check out birthday pics from his Doggy-cupcake swim party!

Recent Ethan Quote

"Santa...he's a great guy." --Ethan

Firetruck Birthday Party

Ethan's friend Steven had a real firetruck at his 3rd birthday party! Lucky for us, Ethan was still cool with just having a swim party for his. Ethan got to hang out with his ex-girlfriend Avery (platinum blonde that moved away to Colorado) who was in town visiting.

Whoa, that's a really big plane!

So we 'sneaked' into Boeing Long Beach Family Day to show Ethan where they make the Boeing C-17. I had told him that it was an airplane big enough to drive a monster truck inside (he's very into monster trucks these days since he got one from his baby sister when he met her).

Heat wave and paintball

So Liz' good friend Rose invited us out for paintball which I'd never done. Liz dropped me off for a few hours of fun in high-90-degree weather where I got to don long sleeves, a facemask, and haul a gun that by the end of the day felt like it weighed 25 pounds. We ended up the day as a family again down at the water where the shade felt fantastic.

Dora and Diego

It's interesting to see how Ethan's television tastes evolve. He's only allowed to watch two shows in the morning. He's gone from Jack's Big Music Show to Blue's Clues months ago, got on a big Wonderpets kick for a while which was really a drag because there don't seem to be a lot of episodes, was very methodic and had creepy animals. Out of nowhere he then latched onto Oswald, a mellow octopus with a pinguin, flower, butterfly, and snowman as best friends. His most recent fascination is with Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego Go! which are fun because he definitely interacts with the characters by yelling at the bad guys, helping the good guys find animals by pointing, and speaking Spanish words. It's got some brutally catchy songs though that stay with me at work such as Rescue Pack (click to listen).

El Dorado Park & Nature Center Gallery

I've put together some of the pics I've taken when going to the park for walks with Ethan. Click here to see it larger. Enjoy!

Back to work

Well, vacation is over and Liz and I have to go back to work. Everyone's doing well. Ethan enjoyed having Grandma around. We're started Anneliese's workout routine on the play mat. The brown dress is what we decided to use as Anneliese's growth gauge (Ethan takes a picture every year on his birthday in one of Daddy's Hawaiian shirts).

Christening Dress Beauty Shoot

One stuffed animal as a model stand-in during lighting setup. Forty-two pictures taken. One breast-feeding break. One picture where she's looking at the camera without looking too distressed, priceless.

Baptisms all around!

Well, this past Sunday everyone but Liz got baptised for the first time. Word had it that Ethan stole the show up at the altar with his cute antics. Anneliese is now four weeks old, pushing past eleven pounds, and got evicted to the office after Liz' mother left. She sleeps great during the day but has the hardest time falling asleep at night. I'm trying to find what works and so far the dimmed recessed lights in the kitchen and the dishwasher seem to work pretty well. We may pull out the pacifier soon to see if that does the trick. I did successfully feed her 2 oz. from a bottle the other day which was fun. Our doc said to not let her decide when to eat during the night until she weighed 12 oz. so I'm putting her on the scale frequently in hopes of giving Liz an easier time at night.


A few more pictures have been added to the album, here
including those from the baptism.

All is well

Ethan is still smitten with his baby sister. Liz feels really good except for the sleep deprivation. Having Memmere (Sue) and Oma (Gloria) around to take on Ethan's boundless energy has also been great. Anneliese has has a couple of baths and is almost done molting a layer of skin. At her two week checkup she measured a pound over her birthweight and grew an inch to 21.25" so Liz has been cleared to allow her to sleep up to four hours before waking her up to feed (if she lets us sleep that long). She's been really finicky from 9-11 every night which makes going to bed rough.

Some traits that are different from Ethan are that she was articulating her fingers from day one whereas he had his hands clenched in fists for a long time. When she's sleeping or falling asleep, she makes lots of noises like squeaks and throat clearing sounds that sound like a velociraptor from Jurassic Park.

Click here or the image to get to her photo album with new pictures added of Ethan holding her.

Everyone's home

Well, this may be the last post for a while as tonight will likely be the first of many poor nights of sleep. Thus far, Ethan has been a real doll giving kisses on the forehead, saying "I'm giving my baby sister a kiss because I love her."


Anneliese (below left) definitely looks similar to her brother (below right) but with softer features.