Sleeping Great Now!

Ethan's been in a toddler bed for a while now, and aside from a few hurdles, he was doing OK about going down to bed. However, the problem was having him stay there through the night. He would wake up a few hours after falling asleep and cry. Sometimes we'd take him right into our bed, but often we'd get him back to sleep in his. But then he'd wake up a short time later again. And if we'd get him back to sleep again....he'd wake up a short time later. However, when he was in our bed, he'd sleep until morning. I had a feeling it was less about being with Mommy and Daddy and more about the comfort of the bed since he'd go down OK in his bed, but just couldn't stay asleep. Well, about 2 weeks ago, our neighbors were getting new beds for each of their kids and called me quick to see if there was any chance we wanted a twin box spring and mattress that had belonged to their eldest child (before the mattress company hauled it away). She said this one was still in good condition and accident free :) So, uh, duh....we took it! Now Ethan has a new (to us) Serta mattress to lay on, and he's slept through the night every night since :)

Ethan's New Bed

August 24, 2010
While we were away in Maryland, Daddy was home working hard at work, as well as at home. One of the many projects he completed was to take down the crib and assemble the toddler bed. He also picked up another surprise for Ethan...Star Wars sheets!! As soon as Ethan walked into his room when we got home, he was grinning ear to ear!!! He hopped right into bed, got under the sheets, and just lay there. Since it was still hours from bedtime, we handed him a few books to look at while he enjoyed his new bed:
Madeline wanted to test it out too:

I think Ethan thought it was a bunk bed:

After sitting in his room for a while, I just wasn't comfortable with the level of baby-proof in his room, but we weren't quite prepared to take care of the few things that needed to be handled before bedtime. So Doug came up with this:

I thought it seemed a little "animal-like" but, hey...it did the job!

Ethan went right down to sleep that night and never left his bed. I'm typing this post about a month and a half later, and he's still doing just as good with it. He may be a wild-child, but he sure loves bedtime....and he sure loves his bed :)

Family Visits for Ethan's 1st Birthday

September 3rd,my mom, sister, and nephew, Taylor, flew in from Maryland to help us celebrate Ethan's 1st birthday! Later that day we went across the street to our neighbors' house so they could give Ethan a gift. They were going out of town, so they wanted him to have it early. Here we are watching Madeline "help" Ethan open his gift:

I guess I never got a picture of what the gift actually was, but it was the Little People Airplane. Madeline has a pink one and now Ethan has a blue one:)

Madeline wanted Marmie to play out back with her. She asked Marmie to bring the golf set to the back of the yard. She was insistent that it be pulled up there, not just carried.

This has me hysterical...she had my mom drag this back all the way to the back. You would think they were then going to play some golf, but no:

Apparently she just wanted to watch Marmie pull the bag! too funny!

On her way back to the porch, Madeline found something for me:

Here's lil Taylor enjoying some snacks. We were so excited for him and Ethan to get to play together since Ethan's only a couple months older than Taylor:

Saturday morning we were to have a little party for Ethan. But we had a pleasant surprise first thing in the morning! A knock at the door and balloons delivered for Ethan from his Mom-Mom and Poppy in Maryland!! That was such a nice surprise!

Here we are after Ethan's attempt at the cake. He was really tired at this point so most of the icing got on his face just because he kept trying to rub his eyes:

Our lil one-year-old smurf:

All of Ethan's cards:

and the insides:

Feeling better after a bath and a nice nap, he's looking out the window at Marmie. I'm finally getting this post up on my blog three weeks later, and Ethan still carries the box around that some of his Thomas trains came in:

Now Taylor is looking for Marmie:

Did she really think she was going to be left alone for a few minutes??

The next day we went to church and then drove into Augusta for lunch and a walk on the Riverwalk.

I was setting up the timer when a couple said they'd take this picture for us:

Ethan wanted to stretch his legs a few times during the walk and here he is doing one of his favorite things, collecting leaves:

There's a really pretty waterfall of some-sort on the Riverwalk. Madeline loves to stare at it for long periods of time every time we go. Here she is enjoying sitting on the "rock":

In case you didn't know, the girl LOVES to sit on rocks!

Stopped at the playground for a little fun:

Daddy ALWAYS has to play rough!

She was laughing....honestly!

The next day, Labor Day, was Ethan's actual birthday. Here he is hanging out in the stroller at the mall:

Although is was Ethan's birthday, Madeline had quite a special day too! Her first Build A Bear!

She was AMAZED by everything used to make her bear (cat):

Ethan just watched:

Madeline had so much fun picking out everything for her cat:

She wheeled this cat around EVERYWHERE for days!!

Here's the little guy before bed on his birthday. Wow that was a fast year.

Just like big sis (9-11-09)

Ethan wants to do anything and everything his big sister does. I've noticed recently that if he gets a hold of a crayon (or other writing tool) it doesn't go straight to his mouth. Instead, he actually tries to doodle on paper. So while Madeline was coloring the other day, she and I decided Ethan needed to color with her. Here he is at his first real attempt to color. He spent the first few minutes just holding the crayon and laughing. I think he couldn't believe that I actually gave it to him and let him keep it! Then he tried to draw. He had a hard time getting much color on the paper because he wasn't pushing hard enough, but he sure had the idea down!

1 Year Ago...

...our little Ethan was born. So perfect then......still so perfect:

Not only do we love watching Ethan grow every day and become his own little person, but we love watching the bond grow between him and his sister:

More Walking (kinda)

Ethan Walking!!!

Well, I finally caught Ethan walking on video. He's been doing it for a couple weeks, a few steps here and there, but I never had the camera at the right time. Here is a little sample of our little guy on the move!!

M O M

Earlier today I was upstairs with the kids playing with Ethan while Madeline was drawing. She brought me over this picture, all excited, and said, "Look what I drew for you!" I knew these were her typical drawings of people, so I said, "Is this Mommy and Madeline?!" She looked at me like I had 6 heads and said, "No, it's Mommy and Ethan!" Well, I told her how much I loved the picture and I was going to save it because it was very special. So she said, "Wait, let me put your name." I thought I saw her doing the "up-down-up-down" letter and I could see her do an "O." She brought me the paper and this is what was on the bottom:
It may not be clear to everyone, but that's my little girl's M, O, and M. I said, "Madeline, what does this say??" (just because I wanted to make sure she knew) and she replied, "MOM!"

7 Years Ago 7/13/2002

Annapolis, MD 7-13-02

The Party:

Waiting for the reception to begin:

There are so many captions I could think of for this picture, but none can do it justice.

Father/Daughter Dance:

My Grandfather at our wedding. He broke his hip the other day and is recovering from surgery in the hospital. Please say a prayer for him :) He turns 92 this month.

The Flower Girls. On the left is Doug's cousin, MaryMegan. On the right is my cousin, Mary.

In my parents back yard before the wedding:

Doug and his Mother:

My cousin, Maggie, handed out the programs. I had to put this picture up because I can't believe how much she's grown since I was married!! And Will is still Will

Doug's Grandmother Harkins (on left) and my Grandmother Grant:

Doug's cousin, Rachael played the harp at the wedding:

The garter and flower catchers:

My Gram with Mary:

The Gavigans. This picture brought back a lot of memories of my teenage years and babysitting, so I had to post this one.

Hope you enjoyed a look back at our wedding day. Doug and I enjoyed looking back at the pictures, which we haven't looked at since before Madeline. What a wonderful day.