Kidney Stones & Ladders

Today started with a bang...literally. I heard Steve hit the floor this morning when he tried to get out of bed. He was clutching his back and moaning in agony. He is generally good with pain, so I knew something major was going on. I got Ethan dressed quickly and we ran out the door to the ER. Steve was diagnosed as having kidney stones after having a CT scan. So, our day was pretty hectic. Steve is now pumped full of morphine and is doing much better. He is so sweet when he is doped up and is saying nice things to everybody. It's cute.

That was the kidney stones part of this blog, now on to the ladder. My mom and dad have a nice little play set for the kids at the church to play with. Ethan, of course, benefits from this. There is a ladder and a climbing wall to help kids get up to the slide. We've always just put Ethan up on the platform, assuming he couldn't climb. The other day he just took off and climbed up the ladder. My mom and I still get pretty nervous, but he does really well! Here's a little video of my all-star climber.

Catching Up

Ok, so it's been a while since I last blogged. A lot of craziness has happened in the past few weeks. Steve was scheduled to have his ankle reconstructed (for those of you that don't know, his foot was hurt at work...a delivery driver dropped a 250 lb box on his right foot). At the last minute the surgery was rescheduled for the 13th of this month, so the waiting game continues. Steve still has to limp around and is in a lot of pain.

Ethan had his 18 month checkup and continues to do really well. Amazingly his height is between the 75th and 80th percentile. He's just a little more than 2 feet shorter than I am. He definitely isn't getting the height from me! He weighs around 25 lbs which is a bit on the light side for his height, but he eats well. He's just a very active kid and loves to run around. Ican't believe how big he is getting. I get nostaligic for the baby stage, but I also am enjoying his new more independent personality as well. He definitely knows what he wants and how to get it.

Silvia and Alex came down for the July 4th weekend. The boys LOVED playing on the new playset that my parents have setup at their house. They took turns going down the tunnel slide. I didn't get a picture of them playing together, but I think my mom did. I'll post it soon. For now, I just have a pic from my cell phone of Ethan at the end of the slide.

Tagged--6th folder, 6th Picture

My Grandma Decker and I at Lark and Aaron's Wedding

Ok, this is for you Shawna.

Oddly enough, this picture was also taken when I was pregnant. Shawna, you didn't even look pregnant in your picture! I wish I could say the same about this one lol. My cousin Aaron got married to my friend Lark so of course I had to help out (I felt slightly responsible for the marriage as I had them sing together at my own wedding. They exchanged phone numbers and had to spend time practicing together, and a romance blossomed). I manned the guest book table and made sure programs were passed out while teetering on 3.5 inch heels...not the easiest thing when you have a gigantic stomach. I am 37 weeks pregnant in this picture. It was a beautiful wedding and a very good day.

Tagged: Silvia, Missy, Jaime, Jennifer, Rachel, Beth

Fun in the sun

Playing in Grandma's flowerpot

We got Ethan a little slide for the back yard. He loves it!

Ethan is really enjoying the warm weather we've had for the last few weeks. He wants to be outside constantly. Here are a couple of pictures of him playing outside.

Pictures from Easter weekend

Ethan's easter basket...it was cute with lots of plastic sports things (hocky sticks, golf set, baseball set). Let me explain the plunger in the picture lol. Ethan adores playing with plungers...not sure why. So, I bought him his own to carry around. Hence the plunger in the living room.

Climbing the car at the play area at the mall.

Happy Easter

We had a wonderful long Easter weekend as a family. Steven and I had Good Friday off of work, so we took Ethan to the soft play area at the mall. He had a great time playing with the other kids there, and I got some shopping done too :-). We skipped the Easter Bunny pictures since there was quite a line. On Sunday, we went to church. Ethan was all dressed up in his new easter outfit and looked absolutely adorable. My friend Beth snapped this picture of us together after church.

My little helper

Ethan is getting to be such a big boy and LOVES to help me around the house. I've put a couple of clips here of him cleaning with Grandma today. He gets so excited to dust and clean windows...let's hope he keeps that up.
Ethan also jabbers constantly. He jabbers and then laughs like he said something funny. It cracks me up. He still only says about 10 "real" words, but he understands and obeys (most of the time) some simple commands. I can't believe how quickly he is growing up.

Ethan telling a joke

Ethan dusting with Grandma

Ethan cleaning Grandma's mirror

Bedtime Prayers

Every night as part of our bedtime routine with Ethan, we pray (albeit a very very short prayer to accomodate a one-year-old's attention span). We always kneel by the couch as a family, just to get into the habit. We've been doing this for a few months now, and a few weeks ago, Ethan started coming to the couch on his own when we tell him it is time for prayer. On Saturday, we did the routine as usual, except when Ethan went over to the couch, he said, "Jesus." I thought I must have misheard, except my mom and Steve also said they heard him say it. We thought it must have been a fluke, so we went on with his routine, reading a bedtime story. Then, my mom suggested doing prayer again, just to see what Ethan did. Sure enough, he came over to the couch and again said, "Jesus." We got him to repeat it at the end of the prayer as well. It was so sweet to hear his little voice say. I'm so proud this is among his first words!

New Things

Ok, I have no pictures from Christmas to post yet...I'm one of those people that never takes pictures, relying on other family members to take them and then email copies. Instead of pictures I thought I'd write a little about new things Ethan is doing. It seems he is learning something every day. These past few weeks he has:
1. Started to say "see" and "up" (in addition to his vocabulary of "mama" "dada" "uh oh" "hot")
2. Dubbed my mom "nana" (he came up with that himself...we've always referred to her as grandma)
3. Gives kisses on demand (well, that may be going a bit far...he gives kisses on request when he is in the mood)
4. Learned to open the back door, which is a bit scary. I'm starting to make sure the deadbolt is always locked!
5. Started waving bye-bye to anyone that puts on their coat.

He is an amazingly sweet little boy. I'm such a proud mom, if you can't tell :-)

Ethan's 1 Year Pictures

Ethan turned 1 on November 12th. I can't beleive a year has gone by so quickly. His pictures turned out so well!

Thanksgiving

Ethan was fascinated with little Braedon.

Alex and Ethan playing in the dishwasher.

Playing with grandpa.

Testing the baby-proof cabinets

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. The immediate family was there, and Jim & Beth, Aaron, Lark & Braedon joined us as well. It was so nice to spend time with them all...and the food was good too :-).

Alex and Ethan were so cute together. They both R-E-A-L-L-Y enjoyed helping grandma with the dishwasher. Ethan was also quite taken with Braedon.

Happy Birthday Ethan

Playing with his toy from Uncle Mikey and Aunt Rachel

Ethan's reaction to cake.

Ethan's personal-sized cake.

Ethan's "real" birthday cake--actually made up of cupcakes.

We had a little family birthday party for Ethan today. He enjoyed himself and loved his presents!

First Haircut

After

During...the hair falling tickled his nose--hence the look

This is actually the first picture of the group...Ethan's initial reaction was to cry.

Ethan got his first haircut today. He wasn't too thrilled about it at first, but he did ok once he got used to the idea. He looks like such a big boy now. My little boy is growing up on me...sniff.

Update on Mike

Thanks to all who have been praying for Mike. He came through open heart surgery successfully on Thursday, October 22nd. His aortic valve was repaired (he was born with a birth defect that progressively worsened over the course of years). He came home on Monday afternoon, only 4 days after the surgery and was on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, he develop pericarditis, which is the retention of fluid and inflation of the pericardium around the heart. So, he was admitted to the hospital again on Thursday--one week after his surgery. They changed his meds and sent him back home on Saturday. Hopefully this time it's for good!

He's doing extremely well, considering what he's been through. He's pretty thin though (weighing 138 pounds).

Here's a pic taken yesterday evening of his chest. It look pretty good for 11 days post-op I think. The two slits beneath the long incision are from where his chest tubes were inserted.

Beth & Seth=Love Forever

Johanna and I waiting for the pictures to be over.

Phil, Seth's Cousin, and I walk down the aisle.

The platform...the tress have candles in them and were gorgeous when lit.

The vestibule.

The beautiful bride and Sarah...getting ready for the ceremony.

Lark, Aaron and little Braedon. He was such a sweet little guy!

All ready for the wedding to start.

Ethan wanted the petals after the wedding.

Planning something devious.

Beth is now a married woman. She was absolutely beautiful, and the wedding was amazing. Seth teared up when she came down the aisle, which was very sweet. I am so happy for my dear friend and know she is incredibly happy. Congratulations, Seth and Beth! (By the way, I stole these pics from Kurtis and Johanna, so they may look familiar :-)