ethan's first movie!

i've been hesitant to take him to a movie because he gets kind of scared with loud noises and i knew the movie theater would be very loud. every 3 weeks or so they show a thomas movie at the local theater. if any movie would hold his attention that would be it. plus it is only 1 hour, so doable for him.

miles stayed home with lance and ethan and i met nikki at the theater. we loaded up with our drinks and snacks, which included a huge bag of the welch's fruit snacks (ethan LOVES these) and some popcorn and headed into the theater. we timed it so the thomas movie would already be on when we walked in.

he had a really good time and lasted through 45 minutes of it and then was ready to go. it was a perfect first movie trip and i loved getting to spend some time just with him. he especially loves when we get to do stuff that is just us and it is nice (and relaxing!) to just be able to focus on him.

foodie friday: easy chicken pot pie

my sister gave me this recipe several years ago and i LOVE it. easy to make and is perfect for leftovers.

preheat oven to 425 degrees.

you'll need:
1 jar turkey or chicken gravy

white meat from one rostisserie chicken (or a large can of white meat chicken in a pinch)

1 box of pillsbury pie crusts

frozen veggies of your choice (i don't like cooked carrots, so i just buy separate bags of peas, corn and green beans and mix together)

combine chicken, gravy and veggies in a bowl. place one pie crust in a greased 9" pie pan. pour chicken and veggie mixture into pan and cover with remaining pie crust. cut vent holes in crust and bake for 40-45 minutes. place foil over the crust for remaining 10-15 minutes to keep crust from burning.

i'd like to try it making individual pot pies and i think it would work well other than requiring a few extra pie crusts.

wordless wednesday: mr. smiley miles

*thanks to nikki for this adorable pic!

brothers are FUN!

foodie friday: favorite food blogs

so this is my new thing. i'd like to branch out the blog a little bit to not only be about the kids. even though i started the blog to be about the boys, and i could write about them all day long, i'd like to start adding me into the mix more. i am starting small though, one post a week about one of the things i love: cooking, baking and eating!

i think food blogs are one of the best things ever started. i love how people chronicle recipes they've tried, food tips and tricks and pictures, so many pictures! most of the recipes i make now are from food blogs or the internet rather than a cookbook because it seems more personal to me. not only do i love reading the blog authors insights, but i enjoy seeing what others say about the recipe.

while i don't neccesarily read these food blogs everyday, they tend to be the ones that i go to when i am trying to figure out what to make.

in no particular order, my 10 favorite food blogs:
1. The Pioneer Woman
2. Good Things Catered
3. Bakerella
4. Our Best Bites
5. The Way the Cookie Crumbles
6. The Brown Eyed Baker
7. Little Spatula
8. Annie's Eats
9. Smitten Kitchen
10. Confessions of a Foodie Bride

the great binky wean of 2010!

oh how i have been dreading this for, i don't know, a year at least! i knew it was coming, i was just in denial about it. ethan loves, loves, loves his binky. at about 17 months, we cut him back to binky just in bed and he did pretty well with just a small regression for about a month when miles was born (he was 19 months old). but when he had that binky, he was just so happy and content.

we have been telling him (well, more lance than i, since i was still trying not to think about it) that when he turns 3 there will be no more binky. 3 is a big boy and big boys don't need a binky. he seemed to take it okay coming from lance...but of course he still got to have the binky, so no big deal.

when we got home from our ski trip, we went for it. just took it away before bed one night. he slept okay, just needed a few times of reassurance before he fell asleep, but stayed asleep pretty well. naptime was a different story. not having it. i had to lay down with him for about 10 minutes and then he ended up calming down enough that he could fall asleep.

this was about a 2 weeks ago and now he seems to be doing really well. not that he doesn't grab one and try to use it if he finds an extra one of miles, but he doesn't need it for bedtime or naps now. i had initially started doing a sticker reward chart for him after each nap (once he got 5 stickers he could get a prize) but he wasn't interested, so i just dropped it. so i guess our approach was more cold turkey and he took to it better than i would have thought.

it did bring up some other sleeping issues. he was scared up in his room and apparently not having the binky anymore really brought it out. after a few nights of sleeping in the hall and one night of him actually coming downstairs with all of his bedtime stuff and hiding behind a chair in our living room, we decided to move him into miles room temporarily. right now he is just sleeping on a makeshift bed on the floor of miles room. he is doing a million times better. falls asleep right away and they both have been sleeping the whole night without too much of a problem. so i guess it is a good transition for us before we move to the new house where they will really be sharing a room together.

20 week pregnancy update

how far along? 20 weeks

sleeping: no real change

total weight gain? 9.5lbs

movement: definitely feeling her move now! not anything regular yet, but little kicks every few days. i just love it! like ethan and miles, she is especially active at night.

food craving: not so much on the mozzerella sticks lately, which is a good thing! i have been dying for some red lobster, but we haven't been able to make it to one yet. laughing cow cheese! coke.

what I miss: nothing right now. i can still sleep on my belly, so that makes me happy.

what i'm looking forward to: decorating the nursery! we'll start building our new house very soon and i am already thinking of how we'll do her room.

milestones: as i already posted, the ultrasound was very positive. baby girl looked very healthy and was growing right on track.

how i'm feeling: good! i even started exercising again. it had been a while. the morning sickness killed me and then it took me a while to get back into the swing of things. hopefully i can keep it up for a while. i exercised a lot when i was pregnant with ethan and it really helped me feel good and helped A LOT with my recovery. been getting more heartburn lately, mostly at night, so i am trying to eat smaller dinners and earlier and then sit up and read or watch tv when we first get into bed. next appointment is february 8th.

i'm back!

and couldn't be more excited! after a long weekend of not being able to access my blog or email, google has come through and i have everything reset. i love having the internet and love being able to communicate to family and friends so easily, but i hate the fact that others can get in and mess with my personal stuff. even when you try to be careful, they can still get through. i guess there is only so much you can do. for now though, you can bet i will be regularly backing this blog up and on my schedule for this week is a blog book - time consuming, but it will be WELL worth it, i know.

i also have a few posts from this weekend that i'll be trying to catch up on, so it might be a little slower than usual on here...

but yay for being back! while my blog was down, i contemplated moving it, knowing i'll have to change the name in june with the arrival of baby girl. for now though i like blogger and i like my set-up so we'll see what happens. feel free to throw any name suggestions my way though! :)

a daughter...

wow! it seems so crazy to be able to say that. even today, a few days after finding out, i am still kind of surprised! though i was hoping for a girl (not so secretly either, i know), i still thought deep down that we were going to have a boy. for some reason, i thought i was destined to have 3 boys. i know i would have loved having 3 boys, but i am grateful that i will get a chance to experience a daughter. there are so many things that i look forward to doing with her. i know ethan and miles are going to be great big brothers to her and i love the fact that she'll have the two of them to help take care of her and protect her.

she is healthy. we got lots of photos of her. and we even got to see her yawn, it was so cute! she is very active and was moving around a lot. all of her measurements look good and i was only 1 day off from the original u/s, so due date is still the same. the doctor told us right away that she was a girl, but i needed a lot more convincing than that...he had to tell me about 4 times before i believed it. i was just expecting something so different that it took me a while to get it in my head that she was a girl. lance didn't quite believe it either. he was so sure it was a boy going in. but he was almost as excited as i was...he even included an exclaimation point in his text he sent out to family and friends letting them know. if you know lance, he is NOT an exclaimation point kind of guy! especially in text form.

as we walked out of the hospital, we kept talking about how we were going to have a daughter. it sounded so wonderful to say. on the way home, i celebrated by buying her first outfit. pink, with ruffles on the pants. so fun!

here are a few pictures of baby girl at 19 weeks, 4 days:

a little yawn...

little hands - the doctor said we got lucky to see an open hand since a lot of the time their hands are in little fists

little feet!!

ethan's 3 year stats

we had ethan's 3 year well baby visit this morning.

weight: 28lbs
height: 36"
between 10th & 25th percentile, so on track with where he has been

he did really well and was actually excited when i told him we were going to the doctor this morning after we dropped miles off at the babysitter. he remembered the last time we went he got to play a game on my phone. he likes to help the doctor check his breathing with the stethescope and also help use the little light. was right on track with all his milestones. i did ask about walking on tip-toes as he will do this every now and then and he said as long as it wasn't all the time it was fine and he'd grow out of it. sadly he had to have a shot and while he did cry, the TWO lollipops the nurse offered him afterwards and a little thomas video on youtube (ethan figured out my phone could play videos today, how perfect!) seemed to help the tears go away pretty quickly! next well child visit will be when he turns 4.

a ski trip and a birthday party!

we had a wonderful ski trip to colorado this year! perfect weather, the most beautiful house imaginable, time with family and lots of skiing. couldn't have asked for anything better.

ethan turned 3 in colorado and we celebrated with a thomas the train cake and his first time skiing.

ethan is THREE!!

happy birthday to my sweet, wonderful boy. i can't believe that he is 3 already. sometimes it has taken forever to go by, but most times it has just gone by so quickly. it is hard to imagine that three years ago i was in the parking lot of a sam's club in texas and my water was breaking. even though there have been rough times (potty training comes to mind among other things) all of the bad times are easily overlooked by the good. and ethan is always able to make me smile and is always ready to get a hug or give one. he has such a personality and it has been so fun to see it develop over the years.

i am very lucky to be the mom of two wonderful boys...maybe three...we'll find out soon!

we're on our annual ski trip right now, so this will be a short post. i've put up a picture of one of the ways we celebrated ethan's third birthday - his first time skiing! it may have been the pregnancy hormones, who knows, but i was bursting with pride and about to cry watching him with lance. he did great! more pictures to come when we get back from our trip...for now, just this one. enjoy!