Happy 2nd Birthday!

Can my little one be two already? Whether I realize it or not it has been two years since he was born. Here's a photo each month (mostly) from a later ultrasound to December 2012. Interspersed in the photos are tidbits on what Ethan is like at 2. I may add more of these tidbits later, but wanted to get this posted today. Enjoy!

He loves trains, tractors, trucks and airplanes. Really anything with wheels that moves. 

He's just started talking more. For a long time he just said "that?" a lot...A LOT...but now tries to repeat what he hears. He'll also combine signs with words now, for instance, saying "peese" and signing please at the same time.

Lately he's been trying to grab things off the page in picture books. He really wants to eat those pretty strawberries and is terribly sad that they won't come off the page.

 

He loves to try and share with the cat. He gives her his pacifier, food, toys and tries to include her in his games. The cat does not appreciate this. :D We're hoping this desire to share will extend to his sister when she is old enough to appreciate it.

Although we're not officially potty training we are trying to teach Ethan the basic idea of the potty, what goes in it and when. He has taken to putting dolls and frogs and stuffed pigs and a duck into the potty chair so they can use it, even if he doesn't want to himself. It's very cute.

A couple times that he has peed in the potty chair he was very excited to take it to the toilet, dump it out and flush. Hopefully that excitement will continue when he really does get trained. :P 

He's noticing things that are the same. For instance, the penguin that appears at the back of the book also appeared on an earlier page. Or, like when I got him up this morning, he pointed to the cow printed on his sheets and then across the room to where we had been reading a book last night that had a cow. Then when I got him out of the crib he ran across the room to point directly to the book. 

Ethan listens to the Bullfrogs and Butterflys CD's daily, much of the day. There is a song that the chorus repeats, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus..." and Ethan loves to sing along although it sounds more like he's saying "chica, chica, chica..." :D

TJ is at work all day then attends night school four days a week. Ethan misses his daddy but now happily walks around saying very confidently, "daddy, work!" I hear him in his crib sometimes saying "work, work, daddy, work." The only catch is he also says that when TJ leaves the room, so I'm not sure he's quite getting the whole message. 

Out in public he has started waving goodbye to people. For a long time now he shows any stranger who will pay attention all the lights in any given place. He loves lights!

Starting to Get Settled

It's been a few weeks since we moved in...I can't believe how fast the time has gone! Here are a few photo updates.

Ethan happily exploring that which will later be off limits to him.

A fellow from our new church named Jay volunteered to help & brought his truck and trailer! This trailer load was the contents of our storage unit.

Bookshelves, mirror, boxes of books and a space in the middle...perfect spot for a toddler hang out.

Ethan and the cat. Lines on Ethan's cheeks are from some stamping markers he discovered that day.

More marker face.

The cat is happy to have a new home too. :)

Living room/library/music room.

View on the other side.

Looking in to the dining room.

Back hall.

Kitchen

Kitchen looking into office/laundry. Note that much of what you see strewn about the floor is what Ethan found and drug out. It's nice now to have things put away a bit and be able to have "off limits" areas.

Playing in boxes is so fun!

Aunt Irma came to visit, played with Ethan and unpacked our library! Thank you Aunt Irma!!

Back hall cleared of boxes with photos hung.

Bathroom with pictures hung, some decor.

Our bedroom. The cat loves this spot to sleep.

TV area, cleared with pictures hung.

Music area.

Library

It's sure fun getting unpacked and rediscovering treasures. More to come later. :)

Our New Home

Well, it's been 6 months since we last had a place to call our own. We left Oregon thinking that within a few months we'd be settled in a new job, home and life. For whatever reason the Lord had other plans for us. We have put an offer on this home that has been accepted and are now living here as renters until the loans close. We're hoping this happens soon. It's a bit of a leap of faith to move in and become invested in a home that isn't "officially" ours yet, but it has made the most sense to do so, especially considering I start the third trimester tomorrow and am already quite sore from the move. 

I feel like I've had a pause button on my life. We left Oregon, hit "pause," and only now are starting to live again. For me these last six months have been survival mode, just making it through one day at a time and praying we'll be able to get settled before the baby arrives. TJ's been grieving the loss of our Oregon friends and family pretty hard these months but I'm just starting. With the holidays coming it's harder because this year, while we'll celebrate with our biological families, we won't be celebrating with our adopted families. I've lived in several places now and it never gets easier to leave dear friends behind and start over. I wish it would, but then, if it did, maybe that would mean the relationships made were not as deep and strong as they should have been. 

I thought it would be fun to share some photos of our new home. These are all "before" pictures. The outside of house has been painted now and we have lots of stuff on the inside...but before pictures are always nice to see! I'll try to update as we start to get settled in more. The big question on my mind today is, "where will all our cloths fit?" The first two homes we lived in had lots of bedroom closet space. This house has lots of closet space, just not all in the bedroom. :) I've been blessed with a lot of maternity cloths this pregnancy and am excited to get them put away somewhere so I can wear them! I now have more maternity cloths than regular ones. Isn't it funny we don't hand down our regular cloths when we're done with them? Of course, maybe we're not ever done with them!

The tornado siren is being tested right now...10 am Monday morning. Ethan is very concerned that the siren just goes and goes and never stops. :)

Upstairs: Ethan & Elsie's Room. It's a large room with a fun narrow closet.

Upstairs: Bathroom; our home hasn't really been updated since the late 50's...but it's all in great condition!

Upstairs: Hallway with two closets on the left and two rooms on the right.

Upstairs: This is currently our box room, but in time it will become our guest room, craft room and "museum" as TJ likes to say (where we'll display some of our "please children don't destroy these" items.)

Upstairs: Cedar closet.

Upstairs: Landing at the top of the stairs.

Downstairs: Hallway with built in storage

Downstairs: Bathroom with shower tucked away out of sight of the photo.

Downstairs: Kitchen...well, half the kitchen. Yes, that is carpet on the kitchen floor. No, we do not think carpet on a kitchen floor is a good idea. Yes, we have plans to change that! :)

Downstairs: Dining Room

Downstairs: Family Room/Music Room

Basement: Built in pantry/canning storage. I'm excited to be settled and then clean out the basement. It has these really old wood beams in the ceiling...really old, really hard. We think if we ever wanted to finish the basement we'd have to have the floor dug down rather than the house lifted up.

Ethan happy with daddy, sitting on the stairs.

Main entrance of the house for guests. Pretty good size porch too! That large window looks into our family room.

Ah! There were more photos here but for some reason they were cut off. I'll have to include them next time. :)