Baby Blessing 2010

Ethan was honored at our church's Baby Blessing tonight. At the end of the blessing, all of the babies born in the past year and their families were presented on stage, and the elders surrounded us and prayed for us. It was so neat to look around and know that I was looking at Ethan's future friends. We're so blessed to be part of a young, vibrant church.

The kids did remarkably well given that there were quite a few things to sit through before we went on stage. Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about Ethan or Kaitlyn making too much noise because it was very loud in the auditorium with all the other crying babies and restless children. Thank goodness for nurseries during regular church services! Below is a picture of Jeff and Ethan before the service started.

Ethan's name being called...

All of us on stage. Kaitlyn is holding a Bible and blessing book that was given to Ethan.

This year, there were 35 new babies born in our church! 35! That's approximately 1 baby born every 10 days! These 35 families nearly fill the stage, and they are only a small fraction of the families with children at our church.

Afterward the ceremony, we joined everyone downstairs for a celebration dinner. There were balloons at each table, and Kaitlyn was thrilled to get to take one home. We attempted a family shot, but as usual, the kids were not interested in looking at the camera.

As I said, Kaitlyn loved her balloon and wanted it right by her side when she came home. Actually, I think she was clutching it so tightly mainly because she wanted to keep it away from Ethan. Her fine hair was attracted to the balloon like a magnet. We got a few good laughs out of it.

And I couldn't resist getting a few more pictures of Ethan since he was looking so handsome tonight. Notice all the drool...it's a constant fountain these days. I keep thinking he's teething, but I don't see any teeth about to pop through.

Such a happy little boy!

Puzzle Fun

This one's for you, Papa Greg!

I think Kaitlyn may have inherited her dad's (and granddad's) love of geography. One of her favorite activities lately is putting together this map puzzle. She dumps all the pieces out (each piece is in the shape of a state), carefully turns them over, and goes to work. She usually does the puzzle on her bed so that Ethan can't disturb her. She is adamant about doing the puzzle all by herself and she can finish it pretty quickly. She can even name several of the states.

Here she is at the beginning...

...almost done...

...and SO proud of her accomplishment at the end.

Ethan at 11 months

On Saturday, Ethan turned 11 months old! I can't believe that his birthday is only one short month away! I'm happy to report that everyone has been healthy for the past couple of weeks (knock on wood!) and it has been so nice to have things back to normal--at least for a little while! Ethan is starting his separation anxiety phase and has cried the past few times we've dropped him off at our church nursery. And not just sad whimpering for a few minutes, but all out mad screams for 30 minutes or so. He follows me around the house like a little shadow. I keep reminding myself that when he is a teenager, he will not want to be around me at all, so I'm trying to enjoy all this attention while I can :) But it does make it challenging to get anything done at home these days!

Although he's not walking by himself yet, he loves to "walk" around the house while holding our hands. He has started taking more of an interest in books. He's always loved it when I read to him, but he now spends time each day flipping through books on his own and studying the pictures. He loves to open and close doors, cabinets, etc. and is fascinated by anything with wheels. He still has no interest in feeding himself finger foods yet, so mealtimes take forever! But we'll get there.

Kaitlyn enjoyed Valentine's Day yesterday. She got candy and a special flower from Daddy. In the picture below, she's modeling her Valentines outfit.

And this morning, we woke up to snow again. One or two snow storms a year is fun, but we're on our third or fourth one now. We didn't get a lot of snow this time, but there was a layer of ice under the snow that made the roads pretty dicey this morning. I think most of us in Nashville are ready for the winter weather to go away. Bring on the spring!

Trying to make the best of it, Jeff took Kaitlyn out this morning to build a snowman. There wasn't a ton of snow, so the snowman is small. But she had a lot of fun anyway.

Snow and Sickness

This weekend, we enjoyed several inches of snow in Nashville--a rare treat considering that the last major snowstorm was in 2003. This was definitely the most snow that Kaitlyn had seen and she couldn't wait to get outside and play. Until she discovered that fun snow was covered by a layer of ice! She did not like walking on ice at first. She cried for a while and wanted Daddy to pick her up. In the picture below, you can see her walking very cautiously across our yard.

But as with everything, she gained confidence along the way and was soon running and romping in the snow. The snow wouldn't stay together for snowballs or snowmen, but she had lots of fun picking up ice chunks and throwing them across the yard to watch them shatter into a million pieces.

Kaitlyn and Jeff.

Sadly, this was our only excursion outside in the snow. Poor Ethan never even made it outside this time because he was sick with a bad cold. But we did enjoy other cold weather activities like drinking hot chocolate and making snow cream. Jeff braved the icy roads a few times--being from NJ taught him a thing or two about winter driving. And he also rescued me when I got the XTerra stuck on a hill today taking the kids to the doctor. Alas, being from the south, I haven't had many opportunities to hone my snow-driving skills. I freely admit that I have no business driving on icy roads. But when your kids are sick and your husband has to go to work, you do what you have to do!

Speaking of sickness, we are officially calling January the "Lost Month." We have had so many illnesses this month that we barely even remember anything else that happened. A stomach bug that went through the whole family. Kids with prolonged bowel issues. Severe diaper rashes. Nasty colds that turned out to be RSV. A baby who wheezes when he breathes. Ear infections. Seriously, for a family who rarely gets more than a mild cold, this month has really taken a toll on us. I'm sure it's because Kaitlyn is in preschool now and is picking up all sorts of germs that she's never been exposed to. And then she inadvertently "shares" them with the rest of us. But we're (desperately) hopeful that February will be a better month for us.

On a happier note, when Ethan is not sick, he's a busy, busy little boy. He loves to empty all of his clean clothes out onto the floor. Too bad he doesn't know how to clean up after himself yet!

And just for fun, here's a picture of Kaitlyn doing the exact same thing when she was his age.

Ethan at 10 months

Ethan turned 10 months old last week. I'm a little late posting his monthly picture because we were all sick with a nasty stomach bug last week. It's no fun having two little ones sick at the same time! But thankfully we're all doing much better.

I actually got both kids to look at the camera at the same time! Now we just have to work on smiling :)

"Snow" Day

Most of the schools in middle TN, including Kaitlyn's preschool, were closed for a snow day today. Which would be fantastic if there were actually snow to go along with the snow day. The weather forecasters were calling for 1 - 2 inches of snow, but as it turns out, they overestimated by a bit. Around mid-morning, we finally got a few of the much-anticipated snow showers, and we wound up with a light dusting that was just enough for the kids to play in.

Kaitlyn eagerly bundled up to go outside. Fortunately, she thinks any amount of snow is great. The first thing she wanted to do was build a snowman. Kind of tough when there isn't much snow. But we managed to build a tiny one, and she was thrilled. Here she is showing off the work in progress. Sadly, the finished product wasn't much bigger!

And since this is officially Ethan's first snow, I had to snap a picture of him too. It was a little challenging managing two small ones outside in the cold, wet snow by myself...especially when one is a crawler. So Ethan wound up in the safe confines of the stroller so that I could keep him off of the ground and still have hands free to tend to Kaitlyn and take pictures. I did get him out later and let him touch the snow. He wasn't very impressed and kept pulling his hand away. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of him playing in the snow because I would have needed 4 more arms to manage all of that. Maybe next time!

Christmas Celebrations

For the first time in our married life, we were able to be at our house for the whole day on Christmas! No traveling! My mom and Jim were gracious enough to break with tradition and come to our house to celebrate this year so that we didn't have to travel with both kids. Kaitlyn was looking forward to Santa coming. She dutifully left out cookies and milk the night before. But when I went in her room the next morning and told her that Santa left her a lot of presents, she threw her face into her pillow and mumbled something about not wanting to see Santa. She thought he was still in the house! After finally convincing her that Santa was safely back home at the North Pole, she decided to come out of her room and investigate the presents. Eventually she warmed up to the whole thing and enthusiastically opened presents. It took a while to get through them all, though, because she wanted to stop and play with every toy that she opened.

Ethan didn't know quite what to make of everything, but he enjoyed playing with his new bus.

When mom and Jim came in with their presents, it was like Santa had come all over again. This helicopter was a big hit with Kaitlyn. In fact, her favorite toys were a train, a bus and a helicopter. Her fascination with transportation and vehicles continues! She's already commandeered Ethan's new Thomas the Train book and his Cars book.

Ethan will eventually like his new bath boat, but right now he's much more into eating wrapping paper!

Kaitlyn is showing Gran her new Dora book.

The next day, we went to Memphis to celebrate with Jeff's family. Everyone converged on Jess' house for a few days. 12 adults and 4 small kids all in the same house! But it was tons of fun!!

As always, Kaitlyn loves playing with Papa Greg. She's showing off her new blocks to him.

Noah got a new drum set for Christmas (Jess and Adam are much braver than I am!!). I really thought Kaitlyn would hate it since she's not a fan of loud noises, but I guess seeing Noah play it put her at ease. She eagerly took her turn at the drums and pounded to her heart's content!

One night, some friends came over for a jam session with Jeff and Andrew. Noah was eager to join in the fun with his drums. When he got finished, Kaitlyn took over and tried her hand and playing with the boys. I really hope she inherits some of Jeff's musical abilities. She's getting nothing musical from my side of the family!!

A family picture

Gigi and Bobby with Ethan

Kaitlyn and Ethan at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. One day, I'm going to get a picture where they are sitting beside each other and both are looking at the camera and smiling. One day.

Ethan at 9 months

I took Ethan to the doctor yesterday for his 9 month checkup. As it turns out, he has a mild ear infection, which may explain his fussiness lately. It's either the ear infection or those two enormous front teeth that are slowly coming in. Although they've broken through the gum now, they still have a way to go. Ouch!

Ethan weighed in at 26 pounds (97th percentile) and is 30 inches tall (90th percentile). He's crawling like a maniac and gets into everything! He requires constant supervision these days and does not like to be contained. He's pulling up to standing on a lot of things. I can tell that he wants to walk so badly, but fortunately (for me!) it's going to take him a little while longer to figure that one out!

Preschool Christmas Party

Last week, Kaitlyn had her Christmas program and party at her preschool. It was her first time on stage "performing" for an audience. She's sitting in the middle on the front row. The kids on stage were from the 2's, 3's and 4's classes. They were so adorable in their Christmas outfits. The whole thing lasted about 15 minutes and they sang several cute Christmas songs.

Kaitlyn didn't really sing or do any of the hand motions. She was content to look around at all the people in front of her and smile.

After the program, we went up to her classroom for a Christmas party. Santa and Mrs. Claus came for a visit, but she was having none of that this time. She was too enthralled with her snacks :)

Even a festive Ethan got in on the fun. He'll have to wait a couple of years before he gets his own preschool party.

Here's Kaitlyn with her beloved teachers, "Miss" Sheryl and "Miss" Sarah. They both are wonderful women and teachers and they make things so much fun for the kids. I'm convinced that they are a big part of why Kaitlyn loves school so much.

Opryland

Last week, we made our annual trek out to Opryland Hotel to see all the Christmas decorations. The kids were so enthralled with it all that they weren't remotely interested in posing for pictures.

Ethan was perplexed by the prickly Christmas tree.

Here's Kaitlyn reluctantly posing for a picture in front of the poinsettia tree.

And now a cheesy smile. Something in between would have been nice...say, a natural smile???

We bundled them up to enjoy the outside lights. Kaitlyn insisted on wearing my scarf which looks big enough to wrap around her entire body. She loves pointing out all the Christmas lights that she sees as we're driving in the car. But I'm pretty sure that this display left her speechless!