Sleep!

I unsuccessfully sent a post from my phone a few weeks ago saying, "I made it!" The first 3 weeks of Ethan's life, I thought I would never sleep again (especially after Mike's mom left). But, at 3 weeks he started getting 4-5 hours at night, and at around two and a half months hestarted sleeping 8-10 hours/night. This week, he has been "sleeping" 11 hours/night! I say "sleeping" because I don't think he actually sleeps that long. For example, he went to bed a little after midnight last night (we went to see Lion King in the theatre-post on that later). I checked on him at 7:30-eyes open. I check on him at about 9:30-moving around. Now it is a little after 11 and he is just starting to fuss. I have a great baby!!!

Craigslist

I have a love/hate relationship with craigslist. I love getting a great deal and not having to pay shipping. I HATE it when people don't delete listings after the items are sold, when they don't call back, when they say they will come by and then no show, when they sell something you say you wanted, or sell it so fast you don't get a chance to buy it. Despite all those hates though, I still love you craigslist.
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Call me Betty Crocker

My rice krispie treats always get really hard and crunchy for some reason. Today we had a nacho bar and chocolate fondue for a birthday get together for Mike. I was determined to make chewy rice krispie treats for the fondue. When it said low heat I didn't push it and when it said stir constantly, I didn't leave the pan, and they're chewy! Hooray! The fondue wasn't quite as successful unfortunately....
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Picture This

Picture Mike, dust buster in hand, chasing a fly around the kitchen. This memory will be entertaining me for days to come.
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"Birthday Suit"

Here is the jacket for the suit he bought.
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Surprises Never Work

I have pretty much given up on surprises--I never seem to be able to pull them off. This year I wanted to take Mike to the Fogo de Chao restaurant that just opened in Scottsdale because (1) he loves Brazilian steakhouses and (2) he helped engineer it, but missed the fancy open house for everyone who helped create it. So, I conspired with my Mom and Gary, who are so generous in babysitting for us whenever we ask, and dropped Ethan off at my mom's office with enough time to show up at Mike's work and park next to his car 10 minutes before he got off. Of course he was pretty confused to see me sitting there.

Me: "We're going to dinner."
Mike: "Ok...is it somewhere where we can take home leftovers?"
Me: "Um, well, I wanted to take you to the Fogo place *there goes the surprise.*"
Mike: "Because Patrick and Mike (friends at work) took me out to lunch for my birthday and I just ate the leftovers."

Well, of course we couldn't go to a Brazilian steakhouse without big appetites, so instead we drove by it so Mike could see the finished product, went to a Trader Joe's next door to it because Mike had never been to one, but was very interested, and then spent a few hours at the outlet mall near us. Mike used his birthday and leftover Christmas money to buy a new suit and a tux for his future concerts.

So, no surprise yummy dinner, but we still had fun. And, hey, maybe now we won't have to think so hard about what to do for Valentine's Day.

I think he is darn cute

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Congratulations!

Congratulations to Mike for being accepted into the Tempe Symphony Orchestra! For those of you who don't know, Mike was a serious violin student from ages 3-19. He then went on a mission for the LDS Church. He hasn't played much since then--10 years ago! In November he found out about this volunteer orchestra and asked if he could audition. He has been practicing a Mozart concerto since then to use as his audition piece. He sounds awesome! The judges thought so too. They said that he was "an excellent musician" especially if he really hasn't been playing for the last 10 years. I am working on getting Mike to let me record his audition piece to post here, so you may be able to see him in action soon.

For those of you in the area, we would love to have you at his next concert. It is on February 23rd at 7:30pm. They play at the Tempe Center for the Arts at 700 W Rio Salado Parkway and it is free!

Mike is excited to get to play challenging music and get back some of what he has lost in the last 10 years. Ethan and I are excited to get to hear him play more. Ethan loves to sit with me and watch Mike play.

P.S. Tomorrow is Mike's birthday if you want to send him a Happy Birthday wish.

New friend

In March I am going to start watching my neighbor's son during the day. He is 3 months older than Ethan. He and his mom came over today to help him start getting used to being here. He and Ethan were very interested in each other. Ethan stood up (with me balancing him) so that he could get a better look. Then he started giggling a whole bunch. It was hilarious!
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New Favorites

Here is the awesome cross-stitch Lisa made me (my theme is nursery rhymes):
I can't believe she actually stitched all that! Here it is framed with the other picture my mom got me to go with the nursery rhyme theme. We are still working on hanging them and getting other wall decorations up in the nursery.

Ethan's new hooded towel from Uncle Nate (Mike's brother), Aunt Cecilia, and Cousin Valerie.

Just cause it's cute:

Ethan was playing with my phone which totally mesmerizes him. I was trying to get a picture of him holding the phone and here is the resulting photo shoot:

This is Ethan's first time holding the phone, but he likes to stare at it and listen to people talk on it. Mike does not particularly like cell phones and is pretty determined that we will not get them for our kids, but, as I like to point out, he was the first one to have Ethan talk on the phone. :)

I think this is my new favorite picture of Ethan (the camera mesmerizes him too if you can't tell):

Roll-over

Ethan rolled over!
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Fancy outfit

This was Ethan's fancy outfit for Christmas Sunday but I forgot to take a picture then. Thanks Aunt Lisa!
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New Toy

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Beautiful Eyes

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What do you think?

You know those return address labels organizations send when they want donations? We have a few sets of those and Mike and I disagree on whether or not we should use them. What do you think? Is it okay to use them or should we discard them because we did not donate any money?
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A necessary transition

This picture is of Ethan's first nap in his crib. He has been asleep for an hour, so I would say it is going well. Good thing because the whole reason I finally put him in his crib is that he managed to soak through all his layers and his bouncy chair last night and I haven't had a chance to wash the bouncy seat yet.
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Feet!

Ethan has an amazing attention span for staring at his feet!
I also included a sound clip of his laugh, hopefully it works. I will work on getting a video, but for now imagine a big open smile and dimples taking over his face as you listen.
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Toys!

Ethan is working hard to get toys into his mouth. It is funny to watch him try so hard and then get frustrated when his hands come up empty or when he finally tastes the toy and realizes it is fuzzy, not filling.
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Blessings

1. Ethan's Baby Blessing
In the LDS church we do not baptize children until they are eight, but we do give them blessings as infants in our main church meeting. Yesterday was Ethan's blessing. I was so grateful to all of the family members who came! All of my Arizona family came: Mom, Gary, Grammy, Art, Great Uncle Martin, and Great Aunt Helen. Mike's parents also came down all the way from Utah! Here are some pictures of the big day:

All the Men
Three Generations

Our Little Family

The Women

Dad and Son

Mom and Baby (candid apparently)

The Star of the Show (actually keeping his hands out of his mouth!)

2. Employment

We are so blessed that Mike and I still have jobs right now. This economy has really taken a toll on Mike's company and they have been reducing hours and laying off employees since April.We are so blessed that he has had this job for so long.

I've also been thinking what a blessing it was to leave school early last year because of fifths disease. I felt terrible leaving my students, but I was put on leave the very day that someone no-showed for the job I got this summer. It is very comforting to know that if/when Mike has to start looking for a new job, I can help support our family right away.

3. Nursery

Last Night as I was rocking Ethan to sleep in his room I started thinking about how much I love that room. This is partially due to it turning out like I had in my mind, but what really makes it special is all of the love that went into that room. Mike spent hours on end helping me pick paint colors and tape and paint stripes. Mike and Gary spent a lot of time planning, purchasing, and installing chair rail and shelving just the way I wanted. Mike, with the help of a great hometeacher, installed a ceiling fan (which Grammy and Art donated). My mom was my "right-hand man" in making it all come together with her donations of my favorite crib, an adorable lamp and picture to fit the theme, and awesome curtains and bedding. My sister Lisa made the most amazing cross-stitch I've ever seen! You may think cross-stitches are silly, but we have one for each kid in the family with his/her birth information, and Lisa started working on Ethan's before I was even pregnant! It is incredible! I will post pictures once my quest for the perfect frame has ended. Ethan's closet is filled with toys, clothes, and books from so many wonderful friends and family members: Dad and Dianne, Joe and Lauren, all my friends from the ward and teaching, Mike's parents and siblings, Candace, Lisa, and my mom who planned baby showers. There isn't a thing in that room that doesn't remind me of someone's love for our family, and I feel SO blessed!

4. Primary

The last three weeks I have gotten to substitute in Primary. I have actually never worked in the Primary before, but I am loving it! I don't necessarily miss being a school teacher, but I miss getting to teach kids, so this has been really fun!

5. Sleep

Lately, Ethan has been sleeping 8-10 hours a night! He actually out-sleeps me because I have not gone one of those nights without getting up to check on him. :) Mike has been really great in helping with Ethan too so that I can start catching up on all that missed sleep. Now we just need to adjust Ethan's schedule away from the Holidays because he has been waking up from his nap at 7 or 8pm and going to bed at about 1am-shame on us.

Changing Size

Ethan
I never knew I could care about clothes so much until I had to pack away Ethan's newborn clothes today. I was so sad to put away those adorable little outfits I loved putting on him when he was so tiny! I had him wearing them so long, that now he is almost too big for some of his 0-3 month clothes and I feel like I need to hurry to make sure he gets to wear all of his outfits before he grows out of them.


Me
Last January I got diamond bands for my wedding ring, but I couldn't wear them all summer (pregnancy + heat=bigger fingers). Now I can wear them again and I am SO excited!