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.


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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.