They Live!

Some of you have been wondering if the boys are still alive considering the recent lack of documentation. Well, I've finally got something for you.

First, are the recent uploads located on Flickr.

And here's a little video that I uploaded to YouTube. (It didn't work when I tried to upload it through my blog.) So, if you've been wondering what Edward is up to, here is his latest accomplishment.

Movie Quotes by Ethan

Ethan watches a couple of movies over and over. No surprise for a 3-year old. And because of that, he has some favorite movie quotes. Here are some samples:

Toy Story: To Infinity and Beyond.
Toy Story2: Not today Zerg. *motions to arm for laser and makes shooting sounds*
Incredibles: I'm Dash.
Cars: Ka-chuga, ka-chuga.
Blue's Clues: I skeedoo'ed into the picture.

And, then, just yesterday we got an unexpected one. He was holding the folded poles to his tent, one in each hand, he turned to me and said, "Say hello to my little friends."

WHAT!?! Where did he pick that one up? We certainly haven't been letting him watch Pachino movies. It must have been a reference in one of his other shows but it still caught me off-guard. Not to mention, carried much different connotation for me than he intended.

Forget the Easter Bunny

We have a new favorite Easter animal in our house.

When we came out in the morning, I found in my basket a very cute, cuddly looking plastic cow. When you push him down, he poops out a jellybean. A brown jellybean.


The first time I did it, Ethan just stared at it for a few seconds. Then he said, "That cow made a poop on the carpet." The cow was really calling into question his reality because poop on the carpet usually gets a bigger reaction from mom and dad.

So, I told him that it was just a jellybean like he got in his eggs. But, he didn't want to eat it anyway.

Fast forward to me coming home from work today. One of the first things Ethan said to me when I walked in the door was "Do you have the poo-poo cow?" He wanted to see it make another poop.

Of course, he still says he doesn't want to eat it afterwards.

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.