wordless wednesday: mee-maw & grampies

thanks for coming out to visit! we had a wonderful time and i know the boys really loved having you out here!

our first trip to the er...

it was bound to happen at some point, but we definitely weren't quite ready for it early sunday morning. ethan had developed a slight fever (but no other symptoms) on Saturday and started to sound very congested on sunday morning. by sunday evening he had a really bad cough and was wheezing quite a bit. he wouldn't sleep - which is a huge deal for him since he basically sleeps through anything - so he stayed up with me until around 3AM. lance was able to put him down in his room for a little bit then, but stayed in there with him. ethan only slept for a very short time and then was up, so we decided to take him to the er then. luckily we got right in - no one was in the waiting room - and ethan did fairly well considering! he was diagnosed with croup and got a shot and then a breathing treatment to help clear him up. he HATED the breathing treatment, but his constant crying helped him get more into his lungs and he actually started sounding better by the time we got home. we were able to put him to bed and he slept until almost 9. it was definitely a scary night, but thankfully it turned out as well as can be expected and he is on the mend. hopefully we won't have to visit there again anytime soon!

ethan's 2nd birthday - part one

its a party!

we had a small early birthday party for ethan tonight since my parents were still in town. it turned out perfect! i didn't really have any big plans for it - we hadn't even really set a day or time, just played it by ear - so i wasn't sure how it would come together. i wanted to do a sesame street theme of sorts and i found a really cute cake idea that was cookie monster, so i went with that. my mom helped me do the cupcakes and decorating (we even made our own birthday banner!) and i am just so happy with how everything ended up. ethan had a great time and loved his cookie cupcakes...especially the blue sprinkles! the cupcakes turned out so cute, they'll be making a repeat appearance on his actual birthday.

birthday banner

the decorations

cookie monster cupcakes
first glimpse of the cupcakes
digging in!

miles and grammies celebrating!

merry christmas!

merry christmas!

we hope you had as wonderful a day as we did!

seeing his new trike - he was a little scared to get on it at first, so he kept peeking around the corner to look at it

mama and miles

shooting hoops
first ride on his new trike
daddy and milesthe favorite gift of the day - cousin carrie ann's doll stroller

aunt laura and miles

christmas jammies from aunt rebecca - so cute! miles's say "first christmas" and ethan's say "second christmas"

miles "opening" one of his gifts...with a little help from daddy

a merry christmas with my two boys

christmas eve

we spent the evening celebrating with family and friends. it was a perfect evening. there were tons of kids running around, so ethan had a blast. i believe there was a time during dinner when lance and i looked out and saw him following the bigger kids' lead at jumping off the ottoman onto the couch. even though he was the smallest one out there, he had no fear. it was adorable to watch. miles did well and enjoyed being passed around to visit with almost everyone there. the boys wrapped up the night in their absolutely adorable matching christmas jammies!

i am glad that we have this christmas eve tradition and hope that we'll keep it up for a long time. it is a wonderful time to connect and celebrate with people that we don't get to see all that often. plus you can't beat a house full of trains!

shopping for the boys

lance and i did some late christmas shopping for the boys yesterday...well, really mostly for ethan since miles is too young yet for toys and the hype of christmas. it was our first time as parents going out and shopping together (i did online shopping last year) and it felt kind of weird, like lance and i couldn't really believe we were parents going out to get the gifts that we'll assemble on christmas eve. the whole time, i was thinking about how excited ethan is going to be when he sees the gifts on christmas morning. he is still too young to really understand christmas and we haven't being doing much talking it up (he'll learn soon enough!) but he will still get excited and get a huge grin on his face when he wakes up christmas morning and sees his new toys. i can't wait!

decorating the tree - FINALLY!

our first christmas as a family of four!

so we are a little late on this one, but we've never been know to be early, so nothing new here! the tree has been up since tuesday night and we are just getting around to getting ornaments on it...but better late than never! ethan helped with a few, and other than getting frustrated with getting them to hang on the tree, i think he had a good time. i love decorating for the holidays and wish that i actually did it on time because the house looks so warm and cozy with everything up. i guess that is why we always leave stuff up a little bit into the new year. i am really looking forward to when the boys can participate even more in the christmas preparations.

little christmas elf

helping to decorate the tree

new hairstyle

ethan came home from his babysitter's the other night with this fun new hairstyle. if you can't see it that well, he has it spikey right up the middle. so cute!

wordless wednesday: naptime snuggles

he's growing up!

yay for the jumperoo! donna brought this down from storage and set it up for miles the other day. he loved it! ethan started in it right about this time too. miles is definitely bigger than his older brother...his feet actually could touch the floor where it took a while before ethan's could. i think he really liked being able to sit up like that. he loves seeing what is going on.

christmas craft

i got the idea for this super cute craft project from another mommy blog i read. it was easy and i just love how it turned out! i especially love how their feet are such different sizes right now...i have a feeling that will not last too long! miles was a complete angel and loved having his foot painted and did a great job letting me stamp it on the canvas, ethan on the other hand...he screamed and cried (and i even tried to bribe him with m&m's) the entire time. i felt kind of like a bad mom, but now that it is done, i am glad we went through with it, though it will be some time before i attempt a footprint again - maybe next christmas.

wordless wednesday: my two boys

happy 4 months, miles!

miles is growing so quickly! he is already 4 months old!

4 month stats:
23 1/2" tall
14 pounds, 4 ounces

some of the new things he is doing:
1. sitting up very well with just a little bit of assistance. he holds his head up without any problems, he just needs to be stabilized to keep from tipping over.
2. very interested in colors, toys and books. he loves to grab for them and tries to bring them to his mouth. has a very good grip and is getting better control of his hands.
3. really pays attention to faces and voices. he is interacting a lot more now. loves when his big brother ethan comes by to talk to him or give him a hug.
4. still growing like crazy! he has his 4-month visit next week and i am very anxious to see how much he weighs. he is definitely bigger than ethan was at 4 months old!
5. smiling and giggling. a lot of mornings he wakes up and chatters and when you go out to see him he gets this huge grin. it takes up his whole face. it makes up for the several nighttime wake-ups.
6. hit the 4-month wakeful period. this is not exciting to me at all. ethan didn't really have this, but miles definitely seems to have times during the night where he just won't go back to sleep and he definitely isn't consistent with his sleeping even though i try my best to keep his routine very similar during the day. i am crossing my fingers that it won't last too long!
7. getting close to rolling over. he can get himself about 1/4 of the way there (onto his side) - he seems to think it is fun and also uses it as a way to scoot around a bit.
8. still sleeping in the living room in his co-sleeper and the couch. its working and right now we don't have another place to move him to, so we'll just keep it up until we have to change! i mean at some point he'll have to go into a crib!

i'll be updating this with any information from his well baby visit and definitely his stats, so check back!

brothers

happy 23 months, ethan!

well, i am officially one month away from having a 2-year old! it is hard to believe it has gone by so quickly. some of my favorite things ethan is doing right now:

1. giving hugs and kisses! he will shout "hugs" or "kisses" and then run across the room and jump into my arms. so much fun!
2. says "i love you" all the time now, especially to little brother miles.
3. eating at the table in a regular chair (for the most part). he loves to sit with his sesame street placemat. the only time we try to contain him is when we are having a messy dinner.
4. talking up a storm. he will repeat most everything that you say now. we are working with him some on spanish words too. he gets a lot of spanish with his babysitter, susanna and her son martine, but a lot of the time lance and i have no idea that he is even using it.
5. reading. i wasn't sure he would ever like to sit in my lap and read, but now he brings us books to read all of the time. i love getting a chance to snuggle with him since it seems to be the only time he will ever sit still for longer than 30 seconds.

some of ethan's favorite things right now are:
1. his blue taggie blankie. he loves this thing and has to have it in bed with him.
2. bert (and ernie, though he doesn't use his name yet), cookie monster and elmo.
3. the wiggles! or wiggle bay (the name of a dvd)
4. almost any fruit. i can't get him to eat very many meats, but stick fruit in front of him and he will gobble it up. he favorites are definitely canteloupe, watermelon, bananas and strawberries/blueberries.
5. milk. the kid can't get enough milk.
6. his "coffee." he sees me drink my coffee every morning and has decided he'd like some too. i warm up some milk and put some chocolate syrup in for him and he drinks it from a travel coffee mug.
7. trains! he absolutely loves the trains and train tracks at grandmother's house.
8. brother miles. he gets so excited when he sees miles. he has learned to be gentle around him and loves to pat his belly and his head. just the other day when miles was crying in the car, ethan reached over and patted his hand. so precious!
9. daddy! he gets so excited when he hears lance's truck pull up or the garage door open. he runs right to see him.
10. going upstairs. this is a big deal for him since we rarely go up there. he has learned how to go up and down the stairs by himself while holding the railing.

wordless wednesday: fun with cousins

thanksgiving tradition

i saw this craft idea in an email and thought it would be cute to try out for ethan. plus i love doing crafts with him. i had found a pinecone during a run and kept it just waiting for a craft idea to come up. this was perfect! i decided to go with construction paper rather than leaves because i wanted it to hold up longer. ethan wasn't as interested in the actual craft, but he did love using the glue stick! oh well, maybe next year. i decided to list out all the things he is thankful for on each of the feathers - though right now, it is mainly a list of things he LOVES and can't live without - so i can keep track each year. i thought it would be a fun tradition to start for each of the boys. i didn't do one for miles this year, but definitely next year.

ethan's list:

bert, cookie & elmo (i am pretty thankful for these too!)

his blankie

BINKY - though only in the crib right now

brother Miles

family

trains & train tracks

milk

"wiggle bay" - his name for all wiggles shows/DVDs

here is the link to the craft:
http://totallyher.com/thanksgiving-arts-and-crafts-to-do-with-kids/?referrerid=7368

he is lance's boy no doubt - not a fan of pictures!

a laptop and sesame street

so i was a little bit desperate the other day and had to break out the computer (which i rarely do for ethan) to watch some sesame street on. i had lots of baking to do for thanksgiving and this was the only thing that would keep him occupied. he loved all the bert & ernie clips...they are his absolute favorite and neither of the dvd's we have shows them enough for him. he was really good though and didn't even touch the computer. i think he was too fascinated by the videos. and his non-matching jammies - picked out by him - and still on him at 2 in the afternoon! he LOVES his jammies and it is a battle each morning to get him out of them, so if i am home with him, we just do a jammie day.

happy thanksgiving!

a perfect thanksgiving! lots of yummy food, family and napping. and thanks to lots and lots of help from my sister we had rolls. i couldn't have made them without numerous calls for advice and questions. a note to myself, don't try a new recipe on thanksgiving! miles was perfect during dinner and chatted away in the swing while ethan played with the trains and zach's new remote control car. ethan LOVED being with all his cousins, especially since he missed out on seeing latesha and karen's family this week. i think he loved the excitement of having lots of kids around. the weather was perfect, in the upper 60's, so the kids were able to play outside. miles and i even got to take a little nap while everyone was playing. other than when he was in the swing, miles spent the rest of the afternoon in someone's arms and he loved it! he is such a little snugglebug! the day did catch up to him and he fell asleep in lynn's arms - so precious! i hope that everyone had as wonderful a holiday as we did! i, of course, wish we had been able to make the trip to maryland, but it was just going to be too much this year. we are definitely looking forward to it next year though!

wordless wednesday: thanksgiving one year ago...

sooner football

i didn't think i would find myself standing outside in the cold for 4 1/2 hours, but since becoming a sooner fan, i have done this at least once a football season. and i wouldn't change it for a thing! though it was a lot easier last night than at some other games. we were playing #2 texas tech, who was on fire and we had no idea what to expect. the stands were riled up thanks to an earlier comment by coach stoops saying the fans weren't getting rowdy enough. we stood almost the entire game, something that is pretty unheard of in our upper deck seats. i haven't been to as many games this season as i would have liked due to having another little one around, but i really wanted to make this game since it was the last home game of the season. despite the cold, we had a great time and now we are just looking forward to next week against osu. oh and you can bet we'll all be rooting for a&m when they play texas on thanksgiving!

jumping on the bandwagon!

so, i've decided to jump on the blog bandwagon. i have been keeping up a website for us, but decided that this might be the better way to go longterm. for one thing, it is free and i'll be able to customize it (once i figure out how), plus, everyone else has one!

so now you'll be coming to this to read all about the adventures of the windel boys. can't wait to see who comes along for the ride!