Fearless with Complete Trust

Ethan will be 15 months old tomorrow. He is a busy fellow moving and exploring from the time he wakes to the time he goes to bed. He is completely fearless. And he has complete trust in us as his parents. Yesterday I was sitting on the floor in his bedroom, which also doubles as our guest room and houses a twin bed. Ethan was behind me crawling around on the twin bed and looking out the window. Apparently deciding he'd rather be down on the floor he dove off the bed headfirst over my shoulder. And when I say he dove, I mean he DOVE, like he was diving into a swimming pool. My back was to him so I didn't see it coming, but thankfully managed to catch him halfway to the floor. I understand why a mothers hair may turn grey early. Was he worried I wouldn't catch him? Nope! He was laughing and thought it was great fun, and given the chance I bet he'd do it again.

I find myself wishing I was completely fearless. I wish I had complete trust. If not in earthly things then at least when about my Father's business. But I lost that along the way. Ethan challenges me every day to think about my relationship with my heavenly Father and I can only pray I'll be a better Child as I learn from my own.

He loves to climb up on to the rocking chair...and then onto the bed.

Climbing again...I find him in all sorts of interesting places!

Look mom! I'm up high!

My Poor Abandoned Blog

The funny thing about a blog is that it doesn't lie. I can say to myself that I haven't posted for "a while," and think in my head that my last post was in December. But the data doesn't lie...yes, it was September! Ethan was 9 months old and we opened the Vimeo account I had forgotten about!

September was also the month our newly mobile Ethan decided he didn't want any more pictures taken and threw away our camera. Well, we think he threw it away or recycled it. He likes to recycle lots of things! The months have gone by so quickly since then. He is a toddler now and while I type is sitting on my lap laughing because he just figured out that when he moves the mouse it moves the arrow on the screen. :)

Recently I started a new blog named "Escaping Debt." Money is a funny thing. We all interact with it, we all need it, yet so few of us want to talk about it. I've been blogging for a while (anonymously) about our journey to becoming debt free (the journey continues...and will continue to continue for many years unless something exciting happens like winning the lottery we never play!) but wanted a place that I could share things with friends too. But my other blog is more about money and homemaking than TJ and Ethan and family things...though the two will probably intersect!

In starting the new blog I realized that my family blog was abandoned. And that maybe now is a good time to resurrect it! I don't plan to post often, maybe once every couple weeks as a goal. And if I find I post more often than that...great!

The sun has come out and the rain has gone, so I'm going to take Ethan out for a romp in the yard. And maybe today I'll even put the right size shoes on his feet. :)

9 months old

Well, Ethan is now 9 months old! He had his 9 month checkup today and is doing great. He weighed 21 lbs 10.5 oz (75th percentile), was 28 inches long (45th percentile) and had a head circumference of 46 cm. We'll be introducing more foods in the coming months and working to three meals a day.

We're planning to use Vimeo to upload little video clips to. You can check if we have any new ones here: http://vimeo.com/user4211642. 

Here are some photos of the last month:

He drug out everything into the middle of the room.

Making peach jam.

He found the box of crunchy treats, opened it, and was happily having a snack all before I even turned around.

Starting to figure out the sippy cup.

Loves the cat. That's our new loveseat.

The laundry basket is very fun to climb in.

Some of the peach jam.

August in Oregon

Hi everyone!

Yes, I have totally neglected our little blog here for quite some time. With facebook now I feel like there is some redundancy here. It's August now and not much has changed since the last time I posted. Our biggest excitement these last months is a new computer and printer purchased for us by TJ's new job! Well, they are reimbursing us any way. It is amazing to use the computer...for weeks now...and not have it be slow or do strange things.

I'm working on a dvd of Ethan photos and video to send to family without computers. And some family with computers since I never post any video! With the new computer I'm not sure how I'll go about uploading his photos to Picasa. I haven't downloaded any photos since the new computer came either. So many things to learn.

Here are some photos...

And a video if this works...

Happy For June!

Can it be June already? TJ and I are very glad that May is over. In May his truck broke, then he threw his back out for a week (hooray for the chiropractor!). Just after his back got better his tooth started hurting...did you know that dental offices (all of them!) are closed on Sundays? And if you don't have a dentist already you are pretty much sunk for help. He got a root canal, then a week later had the tooth pulled. The oral surgeon who pulled it said that the tooth had "failed" and there was nothing that could be done for it. We now have a dentist, and endontist and an oral surgeon and are very thankful for TJ's dental insurance! It was also an unseasonable cool and rainy May. The sun came out today and everyone is wondering what that yellow ball in the sky is!

We are now into June, and looking forward to Ethan turning 6 months old and TJ & I celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary. In June we plan to go to our annual Dixie Mountain Grange Strawberry festival and then go out for dinner and a movie for our anniversary in July.

Here are a few photos from the last weeks...

He is just such a smiley fellow!

Out in the yard on a rare sunny day.

I lay him down on his back in the middle of this blanket each day and he is mobile enough to move across the blanket!

Ethan loves hanging out with his daddy!

And not to be left out...the Sarah-Cat! She likes to hang out in the bathroom on top of the divider between our tub and toilet.

Things Ethan can do...

Here is a photo list in no particular order of things that Ethan can do these days...

Scoot! Either on belly or on back, Ethan can scoot backwards and in circles. I had laid him down centered on this mat...and have since found him in a complete 180 position.

Sleep anywhere.

Eat anywhere. (This is under a hazelnut tree!)

Wear cloth diapers.

Sit in the Bumbo.

Grab left foot...and actually, now he can grab both!

Chill out. We find him sleeping with one or both hands behind his head like that.

Play with daddy.

Roll on his side...he likes to sleep in this position.

Push himself up when on his belly. He has strong head and neck control too. He's also figured out how to crawl with his back legs when on his belly- just doesn't know yet he can move the front arms at the same time.

Stick out his tongue. When he's happy and wants to say hi he often sticks out his tongue and then smiles if you stick yours out back at him.

Grab items and take them straight up to the mouth to chew on. He's starting to teethe as well, we can see the little tooth buds under the gums ready to make their entrance.

He's also able to roll now from his belly to his back and his back to his belly. He is five months now and a healthy happy boy. :)

Issac turns 1!

Our friend's little guy Issac turned one at the end of April. They had a fun birthday party for him and these are some of the photos.

Isaac w/his aunt's cell phone...he just started walking too!

Friends- Roxanne is holding Ethan on the left, Craig and Donna are on the right, Donna is holding their daughter Natalie.

Isaac enjoying his birthday cake!

Ethan is just chillin'.

Tulip Fields 2010

Last month we visited the tulip fields! Here is a photo roundup...

Beautiful purple striped tulip.

Daddy and the boy.

We stopped under a hazelnut grove so Ethan could eat and get changed.

Family photo...note Detroit Tiger's cap on Ethan. :)

The steam engine was rolling through the fields...very fun to watch!

It was a nice warm afternoon, so the little guy decided it was time to nap.

April Update

Here we are in April and heading quickly into May. Life moves along here in our household. I am back to work three days a week and am so thankful for those who are watching Ethan while I am at work! In March I took a trip back home with Ethan to attend my grandfather's funeral. Last month we also went to the Aurora spinning wheel showcase. I got to try my foot at a spinning wheel and TJ & Ethan got to watch a bunny escape!

April marks the end of the second year at our rental house. We have plans yet again this year for a garden, but have scaled back our plans. For 3/4 the garden we plan to plant rye as a cover crop, then use the other 1/4 for plants. We also hope to do some plants in containers, and to start some seeds here soon. Ethan also turned four months old this month! He's now almost 18 weeks post birth.

Following are some photo highlights of the last few months...also a reminder that I update our photo album and Ethan's album more than I post here, so be sure to check there for photo updates! :)

Donna taught us how to get the photos from our phone out and into the computer! Also how to download sermons for TJ to listen to at work...he loves it!

TJ texted me this photo while I was at work...that's our little fellow!

I texted TJ this one- Ethn likes to put his hands behind his head these days.

We don't have Captain D's here so whenever I'm home I like to eat there- thank you Phyllis!

The Amy's & their girls holding the new babies.

My parents & Ethan.

TJ's parents & Ethan

His first airplane ride...he did great! Slept & ate the whole time.

Helping me with laundry... :)

Yes, he does cry.

On Easter we drove out to the coast & stopped at this restaurant on the way home.

His first Easter egg hunt.

Doug & Rosalyn came out to visit Amanda & we all went out to eat Lebanese food (then home to sew) together.

Becoming mobile...I laid him down in the center of this & turned around several minutes later to find he had moved!

He's not quite rolling from his back to tummy yet but we do find him on his side with his head kicked back like this when he's going to sleep. I tried moving him onto his back the other night and he immediately rolled over again!

We are beginning the cloth diaper journey! This is his first diaper...

Both my fellows in their overalls...so cute!

Ethan in his bumbo and Sarah hanging out nearby...hopefully they will be friends later and he won't torture her too much! :)