Where to start? Well, first, I'll start with an example of why I love having a little girl. I love having a boy too, but for completely different reasons. I love having a girl because I can do this, and even she will say, "Pitty (pretty) hair Mommy!"



Friday night we went into Kirkland to meet up with some of Jason's old friends from Spokane. They had a daughter just two months older than Gwen. It was interesting because their little girl was born 2 months early and had lots of complications (which I didn't really see to be quite honest, she seemed right on course to me, but I did only see her for an hour) yet her and Gwen were the same size and weight. Both Becki (the girls Mom) and I were happy that we finally found another child who was as tiny as ours.

Ethan acted abominably (he's so so so 3) and the whole dinner was a major stress-out. TGI Fridays is not a good place to meet people you haven't seen in ages, with children, and then try to converse.

Saturday, we went to the Seattle Children's Museum with Lisa, who I met through Becki (she invited me to Lisa's stamp party). Becki met Lisa and Mike through her Star Wars costuming group. Anyhow, they have three girls, one of which is Ethan's age. We met down there early in the morning to see their Bob The Builder exhibit. You can imagine how fun/dreadful it was.

Ethan was really apprehensive at first... as if he couldn't believe the characters from his favorite shows were life-size and touchable.


Soon though, he was running from place to place, taking a ride on his favorite characters.

Muck


Lofty


In Bob's trailer, checking the faucets


Benny


Working the "water" pump for Farmer Pickles. Ethan started getting really bossy here and we had to drag him away so the other kids could play.


Gwen showing her love for Mr. Builder :)


Ethan using a hammer to fix Roley


Digging veggies out of Wendy's garden


"I ride Pilchard Mommy!"


Planting flowers at Wendy's house


After we left the Bob exhibit, we actually ran into Bob himself, which really scared the kids! It was pretty funny actually. We then wandered through the rest of the museum, ending up in this section that was created to look like an Filipino village.

Ethan directing Gwen on how to drive (hmmm... I wonder where he learned this?)


Playing the xylophone (I think that's what it is) while I tapped on some drums. He loved this and would have played for hours.


Inside a model house, Gwen found a bed and took a rest. It was funny because we were watching Ethan in the kitchen and couldn't find Gwen... we walk down the hall and there she was, all by herself, on the bed!


Ethan in the village store/restaurant telling me to eat.


In the model house, cooking of course!


The day was VERY long and we were all extremely tired upon arriving home.

Today, we went to church, then out to lunch with about 20 people. It was fun to meet and talk with them, but the kids were dreadful AGAIN (no more restaurants for us for a while) and Ethan spilled milk all over me. We dealt with it ok though and it was all good. We're going to be having dinner at the Pastors house this week which should be fun.

Finally, my little Goth baby, Gwen. Nah, she's not Goth, but she did get into some kid-safe stamp pads and pens and decorate herself. You should see the inside of her mouth. It was completely dark blue. Luckily, a shower washed it all off.

Here are some pictures from tonight.

Les & Karen sent a box of things for Easter and some gifts for Ethan. He was so happy to have gifts to open today because our gift to him won't be here till next week!


Right after dinner, we gave Ethan his cake. He has been talking about cake for weeks now!


Getting lessons from Daddy on how to blow out candles


The strange thing is that after the candles... he didn't want any cake. Not even a little bit. Thats a 3 year old I guess!

Gwen, on the other hand, fully enjoyed it as you can see.



p.s. I know that my children look completely filthy and somewhat poverty stricken. Dinner time is the messiest time of day and they get thrown in the tub right afterwards, so you are quite literally seeing them at their worst :)

Happy Birthday to Ethan!

Today my little boy is 3 years old

From this:



To this:

(Please excuse the drool and puffy eyes. Poor little guy is dealing with allergies!)

I've been asked to put up a list of things that the kids might like for their birthdays that are coming up (Ethan on 3/22 and Gwen on 4/25).

Fisher Price Geo-Trax (i.e. train set). We have the Working Town set, but any other sets or pieces would be greatly loved!

Blues Clues Notebook (the dry erase version)

Toddler backpacks (Blues Clues, Dora, Thomas are all good themes, or even just plain ones)

Kitchen play set and accessories. J and I will likely be buying them a kitchen, but anything to go along with that would be awesome.

Gwen wears a size 18-24 month, Ethan 4T.

Sandbox (something like this so the dog stays out of it)

Bath toys

If I think of anything else I'll post later!

Excellent news... Toby does not have cancer. Woo hoo! The two lumps are just fatty tissue and merely cosmetic. If they get larger we can have them removed, but otherwise, there is no need to fret. We are relieved :)

Tired. So very very tired.

Sick kids (never ending, it seems). Infected dog (too gross, you don't want to know). Broken car (Jason's, AGAIN. Though he seemed to have McGyvered it to work). Have been working out every day but its not yet making me more energized.

All for now.

I had called to have our piano tuned a few days ago and ended up exchanging emails with the guy so that he could see all that needed to be done (we had a broken wire, etc). He had originally quoted me for a tuning, but after seeing the pictures and studying them, he said that he would not do the tuning and would suggest that we not bother trying to fix the piano because many of the other strings are rusty and about to break. He suspected that it was stored outside, or some place with very high humidity to get that kind of rust. As neither of those things happened in our home, it must have been there when we purchased it. He estimated that it would cost $3,000+ to get all the strings replaced and really make it ok for long term play. Obviously for this price we could buy a new piano (or a couple!). I'm saddened, because Jason bought that piano for me and I loved it. So, we are looking for another piano. At least this time, we are more educated as to what to look for.

Yesterday, we went to MOPS. Ethan was doing a lot better, though he still had a low temp (around 99). Ethan loves his class. Gwen is still uncertain. I had to leave her crying and when I came back after the meeting, she snubbed me. Those who know Gwennie will know what I'm talking about. She was being held by a lady and I reached for her and she turned her head and raised her nose. Quite the little snob!

Before leaving for MOPS, the kids made an enormous mess on the kitchen table. Two bowls of cheerios with milk, left to soak, the milk sipped out, then the cheerios dumped on the table. I didn't have time to clean it up before we left, so it fermented for a few hours. Let me tell you, cheerios in this state closely resemble, in texture and odor, dog food that has been vomited up. It was hard for me to clean up without gagging, even though I knew that it was just cheerios and nothing gross.

Later yesterday, I took Toby to the vet to get his shots and have these two lumps looked at. The vet did a fine needle aspiration to remove some cells. The one on his chest looks like a fatty tumor (ie, harmless) because she only got fat out of it, no cells. The one on his leg though, she did get just a few cells so they're going to send it in. Toby is also a tank. A really big tank. The dog weighs 96 lbs! This is too heavy for him, though he does not look fat. Part of it his winter coat (which is thicker than usual due to the very cold weather we've had this year), but he does need to have his food cut back and more exercise. All around though, he was perfectly healthy and well adored. The vet even rolled around on the ground with him!

This morning we went to the mall *shudder* to let the kids play and so that Jason could return some shoes to Nordstrom. Ethan didn't play at all, and ended up going with Jason. Its been his thing lately to be very grouchy, bossy and all around party pooper for the last couple weeks. He's really been challenging his limits and expressing himself in ways that constantly surprise us. These changes are rough on him as they are on us.

After we left the mall we foolishly decided to have lunch at Macaroni Grill. Service was s.l.o.w. and kids were c.r.a.z.y. So not worth it! Ethan was in a roaringly bad mood and screamed for 15 min when we got home. I ended up rocking him in our room until he calmed down enough for me to get him prepped for bed. He insisted on sleeping with his coat zipped up. That kid.

WHAT a day!

The Lord surely blessed me with enough energy to get it through it though. It didn't stop until just now, when I put the kids to bed and washed up. I wanted to share our stressful day before passing out on the couch :)

This morning we went pretty early to visit Poppa (my Grandpa) in the hospital. He's been very weak and is being weaned off some seizure meds and needs to be in the hospital while doing this.

Wait, I have to back up.

Last night, Ethan woke up at 10pm, crying, saying that his head hurt. This is something he's never ever complained about. Concerned, but not really sure what to do, we gave him some ibuprofen and put him back down. He woke a couple times after that, but didn't mention his head.

Ok, so back to my original starting point. We're driving on the trestle and Ethan starts clutching his head and saying, "owie, owie, owie", "hurt, hurt hurt". This continues for a few minutes. Then peace, then he starts saying that his neck hurts too.

My mind really starts whirring and I immediately think meningitis. But he has no fever, no other symptoms. I left a message on the pediatrician nurse line. We arrive at the hospital and see Poppa and Grammy (which was so great, despite the rather dour surroundings) and I get a call from the nurse advising that we wait and see. If he starts vomiting, has a fever or the headache doesn't go away with meds that we should bring him in ASAP. At this point, I'm thinking, "Ok, great... they aren't worried, I'm not going to get overly worried".

We head home and Ethan conks out (unusual, especially at the early hour). I get him home and lay him on the couch and take his temp. Its 102.9. CRAP.

So I call the doctor, they want me there ASAP. Out we go again. Ethan barely wakes up through all this and sleeps on the way to the doctor.

To make an already long story short, they checked him all out, had him move his head and neck various ways and he does NOT have meningitis. He appears to have some sort of viral thing and we should enforce the usual treatments (water, rest, etc). You can imagine how relieved we were.

We got home around 1:30, I put the kids down for nap, then whipped up a pineapple upside down cake for Jason, got dinner started (Cincinnati Chili) and did dishes. At 3:30, my Mom came to watch the kids while I went out and did errands (library = 12 books. w00t!) since I canceled my therapy before I knew Ethan was ok.

Mom and Jen stayed through dinner (bless them) and made our evening run much smoother. Traffic was horrendous today and it took J two hours to get home.

Finally, here are the pics from the message board get together back in February.

Gibson


Gwen loved this horse!


Gibson and Lydia


L to R, Gibson, April, Lydia, Sarah, can't remember the baby's name, Ethan, Me, Gwen


Later, after Sarah and Lydia left, we visited the small playground next door. I snapped this pic just a few seconds too late, because they were all looking at me and it would have been so cute!


Running races back and forth. They did this a long time.


The "gang" disobeying en mass by getting too close the road.

I guarantee that watching this video will put a smile on your face! This was taken right before Christmas in Spokane (a mere few hours before we all fell deathly ill). The reason he finally was able to sing all the way through was that Jason turned around the viewer so Ethan could watch himself. Otherwise he just wanted to push J around and around and around.


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