an upcoming birthday...

it is hard to believe that it has been almost a YEAR since miles arrived.

this was the night before our little guy arrived.

my family had come into town the day before and we were just having a fun (if chaotic with the kids in tow) dinner before we headed down to texas to spend the night before my induction.

i remember how nervous, excited, scared, eager and happy i was. so many different emotions. i could barely sleep the night before and it didn't help that we had to be at the hospital at 5AM. but it all worked out wonderfully and got another sweet little boy.

at the hotel at 4:45AM - getting ready to meet my guy!

now that the little guy is here, i can't even imagine a time without him. it seems like ethan and miles have always been brothers. i am looking forward to celebrating miles first birthday tomorrow and seeing how he will grow and change in the next year.

its been a busy week

not too much to report. i've been busy with work and prepping for miles upcoming birthday party. i have a great theme planned and can't wait to share all the pictures...but that will be next week. :)

i started a new work schedule back in june and it allows me to spend more time in the afternoon with my boys. we've been spending a lot of time outdoors in the great step2 pool i finally found on craigslist. both of the boys love it!

here are a few pics of ethan enjoying the pool and the sun.

miles was too busy trying to drink from the hose to get any good pictures of him.

but how cute are the brothers sharing together here?

a conversation with ethan

"i love you ethan."

"love you momma"

"aw ethan, that makes momma happy!"

"say 'love you ethan'"

"i love you ethan"

"that makes ethan happy"

soooo sweet! i love our conversations.

saturday morning at the park

just a few pics from our morning at the park.

ethan was very brave and went down the BIG slide several times and loved it. and miles enjoyed getting to swing and crawl around in the little tree house area.

why i love my boys

ethan

1. i love how polite he is becoming. it has been a work in progress (almost a please and thank you boot camp of sorts) the past couple of months and it is finally paying off. he has become so polite (most of the time) and will say excuse me, please, thank you, you're welcome and even i'm sorry. and most of the time in the right context ;) i know that our reminders will continue for quite some time, but at least we have a good start!

2. how compassionate he is. he realizes what you are feeling and will ask if you are okay if you seem sad. he'll ask if you are tired and need to go night-night if you yawn. he will come and find me and tell me that miles needs a hug when he is crying. it is so sweet to see how he is paying attention to how others are feeling.

3. how he asks for a hug. "momma, i need a hug" i know sometimes he is trying to buy more time from doing something. but sometimes it is just out of the blue. and how can you pass up one more opportunity for a hug.

4. what a little helper he is. he loves to help with miles and also just in general around the house. i need to take advantage of it now before he starts dreading chores!

5. how much he is talking. i love the things he says and the conversations we have. i especially enjoy when i pick him up from the babysitter and he'll tell me about his day.

miles

1. the way he looks right at you and grabs your face. he has done this from when he was very young. but he will grab and put both hands on your face and just give you the biggest smile. love it!

2. how he looks when he sleeps. you can beat those sweet little snuggles where his little bottom is up in the air and his head is scrunched into the corner of the crib. it doesn't look comfortable at all, but somehow there he is sleeping like that almost every night. it *almost* makes you want to wake him up and snuggle him. i do need to sneak in and get a picture though!

3. his little milestones. i told lance they are just as exciting the second time around as they were the first. he recently started clapping and i thought it was the cutest thing and just yesterday he waved for the first time. i get so giddy and happy when i see him do little things like that. this morning we waved goodbye to lance when he left for work and both of my boys waved.

4. his laugh! it is soooo contagious. and once you get him laughing it is pretty hard to stop. and of course ethan usually joins in on the fun.

5. those big brown eyes. and his wonderfully long eyelashes.

Potty Talk

a little update on ethan and his potty training.

things are going great! so much better than the first time we tried. looking back, he definitely wasn't ready and we should have stepped back earlier. but at least we'll know when we attempt this with miles! while he has accidents, they are much fewer and farther between and he often goes to the potty by himself and just lets us know after he is done. pooping, which was a huge issue when we first tried, isn't perfect, but it is so much better. i bet in a few weeks to a month, he will have figured it all out.

now, i am not sure when we'll start the potty training during naps and nighttime, but at least we made good progress with this and i am not as nervous about attempting that in the future.

and now for a fun little story...

friday night we went out to dinner with a friend from work and some of her family (most of whom i had never met). the boys did great during dinner and after i took them around the mall to walk arond a bit. fast forward to when we got back to the restaurant and i took ethan to the bathroom with me. well, he knows how excited we all get for him when he uses the potty so he must have decided that the whole table (along with plenty of neighboring tables in the restaurant) should be just as excited for me. when we got back to the table he proudly announced that "momma went pee-pee in the potty!" fun times! i am sure that there is much more of that in store in the future...

some xrays for miles

poor little miles has been having tummy troubles on and off since late last week. he seemed fine over the weekend, but they started acting up again on tuesday. i was able to get him in to see the pediatrician this afternoon and while he thinks that it is due to some constipation, maybe from his formula, he sent us to get some xrays. miles was a little trooper and did really well with all the waiting we had to do at the hospital and during the actual procedure...which was very quick! and we had two wonderful radiology techs who were very sweet to him, so all in all not too bad. not sure when to expect results, but hopefully it won't be too long. we were sent home with a prescription that i hope will help the little guy feel better, it makes me sad to see him feeling so bad. :(

here is a pic of my guy in the waiting room.