Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Ethan at 19 Months

With Ethan on the verge of turning 20 months old (omg...seriously only 4 months away from 2...how does this happen???) I figured it was time to finally review his 19 month of life. A lot of things have happened in our lives this past month as a family. We have moved and traveled quite a bit. I've seen a few residual effects on Ethan (waking up more at night, being a cranky car rider) but for the most part he's handled all of these changes like a champ. 


This has probably been one of the most difficult months, but one of the most fun all at the same time. Ethan's energy is constantly up which can make certain things difficult (aka eating out) but at the same time he is always up to do something fun. The days I keep him out and about tend to be our best. If only I could bottle his energy and have some for myself I think all would be right in the world.


I love his fearlessness and his sense of adventure. He has also started cuddling even more with his mommy at night. He's becoming more verbal every day and I have to say life is so much easier when he can tell me specifically what he wants or rather in his words "needs".



Tuesday, May 29, 2012

A Moment to Remember

Sometimes there are little moments that you know will live in your heart forever. We had one of those this weekend with Ethan. Our Memorial Day was a little different for us than normal. It was just the three of us, no other family around and we did what we could to make the best of it and keep ourselves busy. 




After hearing an ad on the radio for fireworks, we just knew we couldn't pass it up. It sounded like the perfect way to end our day and celebrate the weekend. It ended up being at a marina about an hour from our house. We debated back and forth whether we should really drive that far not knowing exactly what to expect, but we decided to go for it. Ethan was surprisingly a fantastic car rider that night and we showed up just in time for the fireworks to begin.


He was a little frightened at first and wanted to make sure both mama and dada were standing close, but after we told him everything was more than alright his face began to light up and one of those little moments I was talking about earlier took place. I wish I could have gotten a picture of his face, but I'm pretty certain it's engraved in my mind forever. It was so dark I could only see his profile lit up by the fireworks. His eyes were wide and his eyelashes so gorgeously long. His mouth fell open in amazement and the sweetest and softest little "wow" came out. He was in pure amazement and continued to talk about all the "boom, booms!" until he fell asleep on the ride home. It was only a 15 minute show, but turns out it was worth a lifetime of memories. 



Wednesday, May 23, 2012

How I went from green to...well...not so much



If you have been following along here for any period of time you probably already know all about my adventures in trying to be more green. I will probably never be completely green because, well, truthfully? I'm too lazy. But....I've given it a good shot and actually had gotten into a fairly good routine with it.


However.


When we moved, all that crunchy, green stuff got tossed out the window and to be honest I'm probably less green now than I even started out to begin with.


- Being in a temporary home with no dishwasher is no beuno for this mama. Look, I've lived sans dishwasher in my past life and got along just fine. Now with an 18 month old and knowing that this is just a temporary thing I've hung up my yellow gloves for plastic utensils, solo cups, and paper plates. Yep, sorry Earth, hopefully this won't be the norm for too much longer. Please remember...I'm the girl that used real plates, glassware and silverware for Ethan's 1st birthday party with a guest list pushing 30. Deep down, I'm truly a prude who couldn't bear to sacrifice the look of my tablescape for an easy clean up. It really has nothing to do with the Earth, it just sounds better.


- I've proudly been cloth diapering my sweet baby's tush for 18 months, however the first day of our move I quickly discovered I'd be switching to the disposable way of life. Apparently a diaper sprayer IS crucial to cleaning off that yucky poo. Cleaning off poo is a sink with my hands was a little too much for this mama. The cloth has been packed away until the diaper sprayer is moved to our permanent home. P.S. I'm not sure if this is due to me switching to disposables or just a terrible stage E has gotten into, but he has gotten into a new habit of taking "shoo shoo's" out of his diaper while he's in his crib. It's not pretty folks...any tips? Looks like I'm currently in the market for footed pajama's again.


- Remember that whole foods diet thing I started at the beginning of the year? Or how about the baby food making stuff I did for E when he started on solids? Yeeeeaaahhh, we are more on a fast food diet currently. Did I mention that the oven in this house is completely unlevel and that we had just 1 pot and 1 pan here? Oh, and the hand washing...yeah. Sadly Ethan has switched from not being picky at all to only eating fruit and dairy with a side of french fries and ketchup.


The good news in all of this is....it's only temporary. In fact, we are now under contract for what is truly a dream home for us! Pending inspection of course! 
I'm sure I'll be back to my crunchy, green ways once everything settles down! Until then....Earth....I apologize. Truly.



Monday, May 21, 2012

Waiting for Our New Normal


Life has been moving so fast lately I feel like I can hardly keep up. Everything is going wonderfully, but when life is zooming past like this, I have a tendency to not be able to unjumble my thoughts properly. Sometimes I find myself just wanting to live in the moment so to speak. Soak it in, not worry about deciphering things, and just wait for things to slow down a bit before my thoughts can catch up. 


1. I'm about 90% positive that we have our old home sold. Everything isn't completely finalized just yet, but if all goes well, we will be rid of it by the beginning of June. Can we say that is just a major blessing! I thought I would be a little more emotional leaving the house that we brought Ethan home to, but I really feel like it was just a stopping place for us. It wasn't meant to be our long term home. I guess it always felt strangely temporary and to be honest, I'm excited to be able to move on. 




2. To say that I"m ready to get out of our temporary home is a complete understatement. I feel like we are constantly living in a state of disorganization and mess. I'm ready to have a home of our own and really start diving into living in our new town.


It's strange not knowing anyone here. In fact I don't know one single sole within an hour of me. In some ways it's super nice. I can go to the grocery store in yoga pants, no makeup and my hair in a messy bun and feel 100% confident that I won't run into anyone. In other ways though it's a little unsettling. I don't make friends easily and really don't look forward to having to get out of my comfort zone and actually make an effort, but I'm hoping that we will start looking for a new church home soon and hopefully enroll Ethan in a mother's day out program this fall if there are any spots still available. Hopefully between those two things I'll be able to meet SOMEONE! 


3. We have been out adventuring a little more. We made the hour drive to Knoxville to visit a friend and take our sons to the Splash Pad. Ethan was a little unsure at first, but after he warmed up a bit he couldn't get enough of it! We will definitely be returning. The fun he had was definitely worth the hour drive.


The only picture I got before my camera died!


Yesterday we revisited the state park for another try at hiking. I had taken Ethan back once more since our first trip with the same disappointing results. Thankfully, yesterday,  with both his daddy and Lola present he was happy as a clam and actually hiked half a mile with us! Maybe eventually he will come around to the idea of hiking with just me. Apparently he  has been picking up my bad vibes lol!


E's first turtle encounter.


Hopefully things will be back to some sort of new normal soon! For now we are just meandering our way through life at this point and waiting for things to settle out. 


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The First Official Haircut

This weekend was a big weekend for us. We were jam packed busy with activities back at home including getting an offer on our home! Now let's just keep our fingers crossed that all the details work out. But, one of the main things on the agenda was finally getting Ethan's first official haircut. 


Before
I'm not sure if I exposed this on the blog, but I attempted to give Ethan his very first haircut back in February. Let's just say I was very embarrassed that I couldn't blame the atrociousness of it on Ethan grabbing the scissors himself. It was pretty much a hack job in the back. You see, he has very little hair on top still, but is able to grow a mullet like a champ that ends up in a matted mess if we aren't careful. 


Before - Mullet Shot
After many, many comments I figured it was finally time to suck it up and get him a big boy haircut. One reason it took so long was that Michael was persistent on the fact that we needed to get Ethan's first haircut where he got his haircut in our hometown. It's special because not only does Michael get his haircut there, but so do both of our fathers. A family tradition you might say.




My dad tagged along to watch the event and Ethan did fairly well in the barber chair....at first.




He refused to keep the cape on his shoulders to keep the hair off and before we knew it he had hair all over him. Eventually it made it's way to his mouth (like everything else for that matter) and he was officially an unhappy wiggle worm.




The barber was brave (and thankfully patient) and even tried out the razor on him! I don't know how he managed to get around Ethan's ears without lopping one off, but I was very thankful that I was not the one having to do it this go around!


Before we knew it, Ethan was done and promptly rewarded with a lollipop that made him the happiest boy in the world. The barber gave us a certificate and an envelope of his hair to put in that baby book I never started. Overall I consider it a success. Not sure how happy he will be to get in the chair again, but I guess we will tackle that when we get there.



I can't help but think about how much bigger this haircut makes him look. He's truly turning into a little boy more and more everyday. Can't we just freeze time....just for a little bit?

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Traveling Toddler Style

Has anyone noticed how much more difficult it is to travel with busy toddlers? Traveling with newborns was so much easier! Unfortunately I didn't see it that way at the time. Sure there was more stuff to lug around, more feeding stops to make, but seriously....they slept most of the time! These days our traveling is filled with constant entertainment or when we get tired of doing that, very loud toddler screaming. Ethan might sleep for 30 minutes tops when we are in the car these days.


And hotel room stays....hahahahahaha. Oh goodness, we brace ourselves before we go in.


Please tell me what happened to carrying just an overnight bag? At some point life got a little more complicated!
The hotel manager gave us the pet owner speech stating that if we got two noise complaints due to Lola's barking we would be kicked out. My husband and I just laughed and simply said it wouldn't be Lola that got us kicked out. I'm pretty sure they don't kick you out due to toddler screams though....do they?


By the end of our stay, a hotel room is completely trashed and let's be honest....no one gets hardly any sleep. I just chalk it up to part of the "traveling with kids experience" though. One day I'll have to drag him out of bed at noon I'm sure. At this stage, Ethan is just so excited about life and all of it's experiences. Yep, that's what I'm going to blame the lack of sleeping on. It sounds good to me.


This weekend we traveled to Winston-Salem, NC for a cousins graduation ceremony. I refuse to drive over 2 hours and not sight see so we made an adventure out of it! We visited the historic Bethabara Park.




Ethan had a blast ringing the dinner bell. Seriously, it was probably the second best highlight of the trip for him. It entertained him for a good 5 minutes which you know is a lifetime in toddler time.



And we explored the old foundations of homes and businesses left from the first settlers in the late 1700's.


We also headed over to Old Salem to do some sight seeing as well. I do have to give Ethan a lot of credit because once we get out and actually start looking at things...he is perfectly content. The simplest things like steps or just wide open spaces to run keep him perfectly happy. At this point the biggest pain in our rear end was the dog who should have honestly failed all of her puppy behavior courses at Pet Smart!


The number one thing I wanted to do while in Winston-Salem was try out the Moravian Sugar cookies I had read about. Let's just say they definitely lived up to all the reviews! As well as the Lemon Cookies, the Ginger Cookies, and the Lemon Pound Cake....um, did I mention I have a weakness for sweets?

The bakery responsible for said delicious sweets! 
As much of a hassle as it is to travel with Ethan at this age, I can't help but think it will be challenging at any age and that I just need to relax and enjoy some of the easy things about him being a busy toddler. This trip probably would have bored a middle schooler or even early school age kid to death, but my precious little toddler? He was just happy to explore with us. In fact, his number one favorite thing about this trip was riding a statue of a lion...


It's a nice reminder to just take the simple joys of life in. To not overlook the little things. I'm pretty sure when I look back on this trip one day. I won't remember the hassle of dragging our whole world with us, or the sleepless hotel room stay, or the screaming 4 hour car ride both ways. Eventually all that will fade from memory, but what will stay is the fact that Ethan had a fabulous time and was thoroughly entertained with a stone lion that he would have done anything to bring home with him.

This is us during the graduation...yeah I said during, not at...oh the joys of toddlerhood :)

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Finding the Joy



Today I am honored to be guest posting for Katie over at Loves of Life.


Loves of Life




It's definitely a post you do not want to miss about finding joy.


Go check it out and leave me some love!


P.S. If you are not already reading Katie's blog, you definitely should be so check her out!



Friday, May 4, 2012

Friday Brain Dump

1. We are gearing up for another 4 hour drive this weekend. Thankfully, it is to somewhere new and different. We are going on a mini (very mini) vaycay I might say to Winston-Salem, NC to attend a cousin's graduation. Apparently we are gluttons for punishment as we will be dragging along both baby and dog! Wish us luck.


2. I'm finally getting things put away around this rental and things are starting to feel a bit more settled. I refuse to come back to living out of bags after this weekend. 


3. We've had the worst restaurant experiences lately with slow service which you know with a baby is pure torture. It took 45 minutes at O'Charley's yesterday at lunch to get soups and salads. Ethan surprisingly behaved fairly well considering, but by the time food came he was done. He threw his chicken tender across the restaurant and Michael swiftly took him out as I stayed to box up our food and get the check.


4. Doing laundry in the basement is for the birds. I know some of you ladies do this all the time, but this mama is not use to having a basement. I'm one of those people that refuses to make multiple trips, but ends up dropping everything along the way anyways and dragging stuff up and down steep steps into dark and scary dungeonville is not for me. I miss my freshly redone laundry room. 


5. I'm starting to get excited about looking for new homes. I'm hoping to start the process next week with the positive outlook that our old home will sell quickly. We have an open house this Sunday for our home and were actually able to reduce our selling price to something that I consider ridiculously low. I know this would normally be a terrible thing, but without going into too much detail, our relocation package allows us to do this without any monetary loss to us. Blessings...really. Now let's hope this home gets sold asap so we can move on with our lives :)

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Ethan's First Hike

Today my mission was to just get out of the house. Truth be told, I think we were all going a little stir crazy and I wanted to explore a little bit. I ventured out, new Garmin in hand, and headed towards a park. Turns out the Garmin is just about as directionally challenged as me and literally told me to turn "Off Road" aka into a big ole forest that honestly had no road in sight. I redirected and thankfully found a huge state park with a pool and tons of walking trails. Thanks for nothing Garmin.






Even though it is somewhere in the upwards of 90 degrees here, the pool was not yet open. It didn't really matter, we weren't prepared to do that anyways so I drove on in hopes of finding a short trail for me and E to try out.




I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned this before, but I am a Law and Order SVU fanatic. I say that semi loosely because in reality I never watch the new episodes, but I do constantly watch the marathon reruns that are always on. That said, I have a semi unhealthy fear of getting assaulted when I go somewhere by myself or with just Ethan. I can psyche myself out of taking a certain walking path because I'm afraid I'll run into some creepster, or I'll be on the verge of peeing my pants when I hear a stalker (aka a squirrel) in the field beside the very safe paths Ethan and I frequently use to walk. 




Needless to say, taking an unknown trail without Michael or someone else capable of fending off a predator is pretty big of me. For some reason, I was unafraid. I felt at ease with the fact that we could safely walk this very wooded 0.7 mile trail by ourselves without incident and I just knew it would be right up Ethan's alley. 



Turns out, Ethan has a lot of his mama in him. He wanted nothing to do with that trail. He gripped my hand tightly and humored me for a little ways. As soon as the parking lot was out of sight he turned quickly and said "car!" as firmly as his little 18 month old self could. I pressed on, just knowing that he would love it. If you know this kid he LOVES, LOVES, LOVES being outside. He usually can not get enough of it. We continued on with him sporadically turning and saying "car" until we saw the first sink hole.


He pulled me with all his might to get me to turn around. He was done. I gave in and we went back the very short distance towards the parking lot. Apparently, I was not going to convince him to love hiking today.


I had never seen him so happy to see the car. He actually climbed up in it and got into his carseat by himself. And that folks, is usually a battle. He does not usually like to be held down by that crazy contraption. 

The day was not a loss though. He surprisingly let me drive around aimlessly for over an hour just happy to have the windows down and listening to all the ka-ka's (aka birds) singing in the trees. We had a great day and he was one happy boy just cruising with his mama. 

We will try the trail another day...hopefully with Michael in tow. A little secret...I've always envisioned me and Ethan hiking together just the two of us and sharing our secrets. I've got a feeling he will come around one day, until then, I'll be happy with our little drives.



Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Temporary Home

Well. We made it. Ethan, Lola and I joined Michael at our new temporary home and are now busying ourselves with settling in and trying to figure out just what this new place is all about.





This place is much different than what we are accustomed to and I do think it will take some time to get use to the idea of living here. It's smaller, there is no dishwasher, no fenced in yard and of course none of the furniture is ours. I'm not quite sure it will ever feel homey to me, but then again, it's meant to only be short term.

We haven't ventured out much yet. I'm still trying to get everything in it's place around here. I did make it to the grocery store yesterday and even that is a much different experience than we are use to. No more new and overly friendly Publix in our neighborhood. Boo-hoo.

I'm hoping to get out a little later this week and find something to get excited about. It's easy to sit around here and wish we were somewhere else, but really what good does that do anyone? It's time to get excited about what IS here...like the upcoming Strawberry Festival in a couple of weeks. Hopefully I'll find a park that E and I can go to at some point this week and maybe I'll do a little research to find some more kid friendly activities around here. I just need to get out and do it.



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