Haircut!!!

Mike finally agreed to let me cut Ethan's hair! I've included some before and afters. Sometimes the long hair was adorable, but much of the time it was out of control, especially the back.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Laugh Out Loud

Ethan is talking so much now and he cracks me up. Sometimes it just makes me laugh to hear him use complete sentences, but other times I'm getting a whole new perspective on his personality.

Ethan has been a daddy's boy his whole life, even as a newborn. He will now tell me, "mommy, go away!" "Don't touch me!" etc. Of course this sometimes hurts my feelings, but if I make a frowny face he will say "what's wrong? Don't be sad!" And give me a kiss on the head. He really likes that game and will ask me to be sad again after the kiss makes me smile so that we can do it again.

Ethan also gets upset if I take Mike's attention away. A very common phrase lately has been, "Mommy! Don't talk to daddy!"

Ethan still plays trains for hours every day. He has learned to enjoy the battery operated trains. They are much more obedient than we are in going where he wants and he can have multiple trains going even when playing by himself. I love hearing him talk and talk while he plays. He re enacts scenes from Thomas movies and creates entire story lines. He'll go on and on telling you the story if you ask. He has also started having two sided conversations between the trains. "Hello Hiro, how are you" "I'm fine.". That little dialogue made me laugh when I heard it from another room, especially since it is the first time I have ever heard him answer the "how are you" question, ever.

Last but not least, I wanted to document one of Ethan's nonverbal quirks. He uses his eyebrows A LOT! My favorite way is when he uses them to say yes. Instead of nodding or saying yes he usually wiggles his eyebrows way up and down. He's very expressive though when he talks; he'll his face closer to yours and making his eyes very big when he wants to exaggerate something.

I worry sometimes about how he'll handle having a baby around, but he seems to like babies. Last week my friend came over with her 3 month old. Ethan repeatedly asked to hold her and would whisper "I'm holding you" to her and kiss her head. So cute! I think he's prefer it if we came home with a toddler who loves trains, but someday they'll be buds!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

I finally finished blanket #2 for the baby.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

39 Weeks

Fridays are my low impact exercise and doctor days, so I go straight from water aerobics to the doctor. These pictures are right after my appointment so excuse the air drying hair and lack of makeup. I know a lot of people over-flatter pregnant women, but I actually agree with people who tell me I don't look 9 months pregnant. I've worked hard this pregnancy, and before, though, to stay in shape.

I have gained about 20 lbs so far. At this point with Ethan I had gained at least 30 and had started out 10 pounds heavier, so at 20-25 lbs lighter, I am feeling smaller and having fewer aches and pains this time. I have also kept up the same exercise routine through my third trimester (when I quit running).

Monday: circuit of uphill walking on the treadmill and upper body weights, about 60 min.
Tuesday: swim laps, about 35 min.
Wednesday: step circuit class, 60 min.
Thursday: kickboxing class, 60 min.
Friday: water aerobics class, 45-60 min.

I weigh 10 lbs less now than I did 3 months post partum with Ethan. I also weigh less than I did as a junior in high school. I keep meaning to post a picture of me then, an inch or two shorter and up to 10 pounds heavier than my current 9 months pregnant self (hard to say the exact weight difference with scale discrepancies).

Hopefully this post hasn't been obnoxious or too braggy, but I am proud of my success and want to record it!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Changes

This morning I woke up and it was overcast! And only 84 degrees at 730! As we were leaving the gym there were a few sprinkles. As Ethan put it, "it's raining! It's not sunny anymore!"

Today was my 39 week appointment. The last 3 appointmentd my measurements haven't changed. But this week I went from dilated "about 2" to 2+, 50% effaced to 80% effaced, and the baby dropped from -2 to -1 station. The doctor doesn't think I'll make it to 41 weeks, but I'll still plan on it so I don't get my hopes up too much. With my family's history, overdue is the safe bet (even though I am letting myself hope a little that I won't be induced). Two doctors have told me they think the baby is average or smaller. The doctor today said the baby feels like he'll be about Ethan's size (6lbs 12oz), but they thought Ethan would be big, so who knows.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

PS

Add to that wonderful weather that the pools, and after this weekend, the splash pads, are closed/closing and I'm getting a bit bored around the house. Thank goodness I can still go to the gym every day! This summer would have been so much worse without the gym!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Weather

Quoted from ABC15 (ugh, especially when full term pregnant):

We already tied a record for the first day of September. If our temperatures do not drop below 90 degrees at Sky Harbor today, we will tie the overnight record of 90 degrees, set back in 2007.

Thursday marks the 11th consecutive day under an Excessive Heat Warning (highs over 110, lows above 80), breaking the record of nine days set June 15-23, 2008.

This August is officially the hottest August of all time in Phoenix and the heat continues!

Our 110+ degree days continue and we tied the record of days above 110 this year. The record is 32 days set back in 2007 which we tied today. It also looks like we will add a few more days to easily break that record.

We are also approaching the record of most lows at 85 degrees or warmer. That record is 51 set back in 1981. We have several more lows in the upper 80s in the forecast through the holiday weekend.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

20 Minutes

In trying to establish some balance for us we now live by a timer. I get to be productive for about 20 minutes until the timer goes off and then I play with Ethan for 20 min, repeat, repeat, repeat...

Today I got out his little computer and fortunately he was into the mouse control games (I get a break from trains!). He likes one game where it tells you left or right, you move the mouse that direction, and the monkey jumps to an island. If you do it the wrong way he falls in the water. Ethan loves it when the monkey falls in the water, as you can see in this picture. He does know his right from left and will at times help the monkey get to the bananas on the island, but overall the reinforcement for choosing the right answer in this game is not nearly motivating enough! Silly kid.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Little Hands

I love that his hands are still kind of chubby with knuckle dimples.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Arizona Summer

Here are the rest of the highlights from our time at home this summer.  Please excuse the disjointed post.

Did you hear about the crazy "haboob" that came to Phoenix?  I didn't know it was coming so I didn't see the multiple mile high wall of dirt coming in, but I did notice how the sky matched the paint on my walls.  I went outside to secure things that were flying away and then go to the gym, and that was one crazy dust storm.  We have had a lot of dust storms this summer and they never cease to amaze me.  I have not been enjoying all the humidity.  What happened to, "but it's a dry heat"?!?

Another thing that has kept us busy this summer has been the tours my friends set up.  We missed a few, but here is one at the Hall of Flame, a museum of firefighting.

 Nana came out to visit a few weeks ago!!!  Ethan was very excited.  He has learned the word "Missouri".  He knows it is where Nana and Papa live, and also uses it as a synonym for far away.  As we read the scriptures at night, he also hears "misery" every time it is read and associates it with "Missouri".

Anyway, we got in a lot of quality time with Nana while she was here.  Here Ethan is playing with Nana at Grammy's pool.  Nana was a trooper and played the same game with Ethan for at least 45 min.  That's way longer than I made it!

 At Grammy's house Ethan will launch himself off the step along the side and
swim pretty far to us!

 While Nana was here we went to her pool, the aquatic center, and Grammy's pool.  We spend a lot of time in the water around here!   I even had to get a new swim suit because the elastic wore out in yet another one of mine.  At Ethan's request, Nana also came over and played trains with him in his train room.

Ethan will occasionally eat popsicles...here is one of those occasions.

 

Another tour we went on was to Cabela's.  I was totally impressed by all of the displays they had and that the animals were actually real, stuffed, animals!  Ethan loved it!

 Ethan had a great time with his new friend Larsen.

 One of Ethan's favorite parts was this tent.  He and Larsen chased each other through it for a looong time.

 And then they chased each other in this tunnel/cave.

 We got to feed these trout.  They would jump up when getting the food-very cool!

 And we got free tokens to try out the shooting range.  The whole trigger thing is still beyond Ethan.

 Of course this summer has been filled with BBQ to keep the house cool.  Mike can now grill ribs and corn on the cob with the best of them!

 This is Ethan's face when he thinks he is being funny and tricky getting away with something.

 On our 6th anniversary, Mike and I went to a quick dinner while Ethan was at a friend's house.  Then we took Ethan to our local ice cream shop to use his last free scoop coupon of the summer.

Ethan seems to have a sensitive stomach this summer, and he always looks so pitiful when he has a tummy ache!

With the exception of our big family reunion trip in July, I am about caught up on blogging, phew!

June 2011

This has been a fun, busy summer, so much so that I haven't really been blogging I guess.  We stayed busy with the kids summer movie deal at the Harkins near us, lots of doctor's appointments for me, going to the gym, and staying cool as much as possible.

In June we took a Wednesday-Sunday trip to visit Mike's mom in St. George.  This was about a week after starting potty training with Ethan (another thing that has kept our summer busy).  Here are some of the many faces of Ethan on a roadtrip:

 Notice the toilet that traveled with us so we could pull over if he needed to use it.  Through all of our road trips this summer, no accidents in the car!

 In St. George we were out for a walk and as Ethan walked along this spillway he slipped on moss and got covered in mud.  He was sad, but it was really funny too.

 Sweet sleeping.  Potty training really messed up Ethan's sleep routine, which has been hard on both of us.

 We felt like Ethan was stalled or regressing on progress, so Mike got him some jelly beans for going potty. We also got a jar and gave him a noodle (as opposed to marbles he could choke on) every time he stayed accident free all day or all night.  When it was full I would take him to the "water park", which means any of the many water featured parks in the area.  He loved this and has been doing great every since.

So that fills in the rest of June.

Full Term

I am 37 weeks today, meaning the baby is free to make his entry at any time, hopefully on his own in the next few weeks. Mike makes fun of me for not smiling in my self-portraits that I post, but it looks so goofy.

This pregnancy is going by SO fast!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Tipping

My feelings about having a second baby are like a teeter totter tipping between scared/overwhelmed and excited. Tonight I'm folding all our newborn clothes and that definitely tips me in the excited direction. So little and cute!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

36 week appointment

I'll post another picture soon, but today was my 36 week appointment. The baby's head is down and I am dilated to almost a 2, which was quite a surprise since I was not even to a 1 at 41 weeks with Ethan and at a 1 less than 5 hours before he was born!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Help!

I just washed and put together our Graco infant car seat, but I have this piece and I don't know what it is for...it looks like a headrest, but there is another one I used before and the one pictured here isn't on the pictures online. I also have two shades. I have the matching stroller and pack n' play with bassinet. Any ideas on where this headrest goes? Or the second shade?
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

After Church

Ethan and Mike come in to the Primary room to say hi each week after Nursery.  This week Ethan stayed with Mike a bit longer and got to practice the 1st Article of Faith: "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost."  This video starts at "Eternal Father".  I think it is so cute with him at the Primary microphone.  He'll make such a cute (wiggly) Sunbeam in a few months! (Sunbeam is the name of the 3 year old class in Primary).