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.