It really is uncanny

I've posted about this before.

I'm not sure what the connection is but it's starting to scare me. This time the battery on our big car keeps getting drained and we didn't know why. Turns out the box controlling our lights has a faulty fuse that continuously drains the power.

This only started happening last week.

In Sickness and in Health

Mia got the flu last week. She got it hard: headaches, runny nose, fever, chills, fatigue. We were fortunate that Ethan was vacationing in Albany. Unfortunately, we didn't get nearly as much done around the house has we hoped because Edward screamed like a banshee.

Finally Mia broke down and bought a swing. It was amazing. Edward loves to be in the swing and will immediately calm down no matter how loud he is being. In fact... we are starting to think he likes swinging more than being held. Yikes!

At the end of last week, I got the flu. Mostly it was just a runny nose (I went through an entire box of tissues on Sunday) but when I get sick, I get hit hard with fatigue. I went to work on Monday and felt exhausted when I came home.

Fortunately, my mom has been in town so she's taken very good care of us. We've really gotten more sleep that we would otherwise with an extra set of hands around.

But, as I was telling Mia the other night, when I'm sick I realize how much I appreciate her and all the things she does. Maybe I just notice them more because I can't do them for myself. Whatever it is, when I'm sick it's more obvious to me how much I love having her in my life.

And now... more sleep.

Only Smaller

Ethan and I went to the mall on Saturday for some Dad/Son time. He's been getting kind of pushed aside lately because of Edward. Not that we want to push him aside but we can't be as active as he wants when trying to get baby Edward to sleep.

We stopped by Circuit City first, so I could browse around and try to spend my gift card. Ethan immediately wanted to go over to the fake living room areas. With the nice couches and the big TVs. He climbed up on a leather couch (and since it had been snowing) I told him "no shoes on the couch." He made it easy by just taking his shoes off entirely. Then he was able to climb around, and move between the different set-ups. He would have stayed there all night, I think.

But, we had to move on. In the mall, Ethan loves to run along the wide corridors, ride the escalator, and go into toy stores. He also asked if we could get ice cream after he saw some people eating some. Which we did before leaving.

One of the insights that I had while walking around was that tweens are like miniature horses. They look just like the real thing, only smaller.

The high cost of gas

Now, you might think that I'm talking about gasoline. Well, you'd be wrong.

This is a baby post, so you can guess what kind of gas is involved. As all conversations about babies eventually turn to poop, I'll just start this off with it and avoid beating around the bush.

Edward tends to get a lot of gas. And it's painful for him.

Now, with that context, please enjoy this anecdote.

I decided yesterday that we don't really do much as a family after I get home from work because Mia is exhausted and goes off on her own to take a break. I don't blame her after a day with the kids. But, yesterday, I suggested that we go out to dinner together. So we went to the Olive Garden.

Mia had a salad (I had the sausage soup, yum) and the Mixed Grill. She was very careful not to eat any of the vegetables she knows give her gas, including all of the squash and peppers that came with her meal. She was rather disappointed but we didn't want to deal with Edward getting even worse.

Jump forward to this evening. I came home from work and was trying to get Edward to calm down. Mia said she would make dinner for us. She poked around a bit and came up with a quick meal: Chili.
Wait, wait, I know what you're thinking and it gets better.

So, I'm dealing with Edward while we eat and as Mia finishes up her second (yep, #2) bowl of chili, Edward starts fussing and won't calm down. Mia looks up at me and says "He's probably still got some gas..." There is a pause "Oh no."

This was the moment we realized that she'd just eaten two bowls of what is probably the worst possible food for avoiding giving our baby gas. I have a feeling we are going to be in for a very exhausting weekend.

Facebook is an open book

I know that some of my friends and family are using Facebook now. If you haven't thought much about your privacy settings, please do a little research and make sure they are set how you want them.

Passing of a prophet

I was very sad to hear this morning that President Hinckley had died. I don't have time to write up all my feelings but he really was a defining influence in my life and in the growth of my faith.

He was the prophet that signed by mission call. As well as being the prophet that I really started paying attention to as someone revealing God's will to his children. I will miss him greatly.

Which came first?

Life or Blogging?

I've been doing a lot more living lately. Is that the right word for it? Life has been more busy for me anyway. Work, Family, Hobbies, all the things that get in the way of telling you the stories you want to hear about how we are doing.

It's an odd paradox. Do I go on with the living or do I take the time to record it. I know that journaling is an important heritage for the future generations. I'm actually glad that I'll be able to give Ethan and Edward a glimpse of their lives when they were too little to remember. (Like now when they are still so cute.) But, sometimes I take for granted the fact that I will have memories of these times though no one else will (except Mia). The boys are too young and the parents are too far away (for the day-to-day experiences).

It's amazing how fleeting the days really are. How quickly the time passes, even when Ethan's bedtime feels like it's dragging on forever. I suppose the new year is making me feel more of my age.

But, not to leave you empty-handed after my waxing philosophical. Here are a few stories of what's been happening in our lives.

Earlier this week, Ethan decided he wanted to wear ties to church just like dad. However, he didn't really have any button down shirts or (good) ties. So, he and Mia went out shopping and got him a little white shirt and green truck tie. He looked very handsome today wearing it to primary.

Edward has started giving us little smiles. Or at least we are interpreting them as smiles, they might still just be gas but we like to think it's otherwise.

Ethan loves to play with his Buzz Lightyear action figure. He knows all of the phrases he says, he loves to say them while playing with him. But just playing with a superhero, as he calls him, isn't enough. Ethan also likes to pretend that he is a superhero and makes appropriate poses before dashing off to rescue someone.
Edit: I should mention that Buzz's full name (per Ethan) is: "Buzz Lightyear To The Rescue Space Ranger." And, he calls him by his full name every time he's talking about Buzz.

Edward also loves to lie on his playmat and wave his arms trying to hit the hanging toys. Sometimes he is successful.

Ethan is big into making forts out of the couch cushions on the blue couch. He likes them built a specific way. Sometimes he wants a door, sometimes he doesn't. But he always wants a roof. Then, he likes to bust out of them to surprise us.
Also, related to that, Ethan always hides in the ruins of a fort when I come home from work. It's fun to walk into the living room and ask "Where's Ethan?"

So, those are just some of the things going on in our lives. Please tell us what's going on in yours.

Imagination Running Wild

Ethan has a very active imagination. If you've ever known any 3-year olds, this might be familiar to you.

Today a couple of funny things have happened:

1. He was lying on the couch (something that I was doing this morning) and told me he wasn't taking a rest but was just thinking. When I asked what he was thinking about he said, "Forts and TV shows."

2. Ethan and I were building forts out of couch cushions this morning. It's one of Ethan's favorite things to do.

3. During nap time, Ethan was lying in bed and pulled the covers over his head so the Evil Emperor Zerg couldn't kill his head. Then he put his hands out to see if Zerg would kill his hands. Then he put his feet out to see if Zerg would kill his feet. He pulled his feet back in saying, "No, I need those to walk."

4. He was captivated while watching an episode of Vroom Riders. Is that out on DVD yet. ;)

What a fun, funny little boy.

Memories of sleep

I know that it's been a while and I apologize. Unfortunately, my schedule has been extremely erratic lately for a few factors.

1. Edward. He sometimes sleeps well at night and sometimes doesn't. It's kind of a craps shoot. Last night he was up at midnight until 2am. Then he woke up again at 4am :(

2. Laptop. The power cord on my laptop broke, right near where it connects to the computer. This has made getting online to update my blog (or anything) much more difficult. I can't sneak in a few minutes before bedtime and the office computer is slowly dying.

3. Sleep. I fell asleep at 8pm on Saturday. That's how tired I was. This is not an entirely uncommon occurrence for the last few weeks. Some days we'll stay up late anticipating a rough evening with Edward, some days we'll go to be early anticipating middle-of-the-night troubles. Sometimes we guess right and sometimes we don't.

So, those are my pathetic excuses. I'll be getting up and running again soon (should have a new power cord in tomorrow and only 2 more weeks till Edward should start sleeping better). We do have some cute stories, pictures, and videos of the kids to show, please be patient and I'll get them up.

I'm Alive...

barely