Sweetness

Just sharing a few pictures of the sweetness in my life...

Ethan trying on Daddy's winter hat.

Cuddling with Daddy and cheetah after falling against the coffee table and giving himself a bloody nose!

I'm pretty sure that it doesn't get any sweeter than this!

It's a...

We had our ultrasound today--

It's a

BOY!!!

When will it end?

Is winter over yet? I'm so tired of snow, but it looks like we are in for it all day today.

Last Thursday we went down to Columbia to get Ethan's button taken off. He was a champ. He didn't make any fuss and just laid there quietly the whole time. The nurse was shocked at how good he was. She must have had some bad experiences, because she was pretty nervous about how he was going to be while she was snipping the string to get the button off. The appointment really took about a minute or two. Ben could have done it at home, but we thought that we were going to have a little post-op appointment. We were wrong...that happens in 4 months when we go back to see the doctor and make sure the testicle stays down. Anyway, everything looks good for now and Ethan is button-less.

My parents came to visit us this weekend for Ben's birthday and, of course, to see Ethan! We had a great time. I just hope they make it home okay in all this snow! Ethan misses playing with them already.

Ethan has really been coming along with his walking this weekend. He's so fun to watch. I love seeing him learn new skills. His smile says it all!

Happy Birthday Ben!

It's Ben's birthday today! He had a long day at work, but then we were able to enjoy a dinner out with the Schuermann's. It was a nice meal and then we came home to have some cake. Ben got lots of phone calls, cards, and some nice gifts.
Here's Ethan telling Daddy Happy Birthday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to our family and friends!

We aren't doing anything too special today. Ben and I kind of have a tradition of making pizza at home and just relaxing together in the evening. Our first married Valentine's day, we decided to go out to eat, but didn't even think of getting a reservation. Everywhere we went the restaurants were just packed and had a huge wait, so we just came home and made pizza that night. It was so nice, we just contined on with it. Plus, my birthday and Ben's birthday are so close to Valentine's day that we don't really feel like we need to do too much.

Ethan is still doing great. He has been a real champ. He is starting to get a pretty good bruise, but he doesn't seem to be bothered by it in the least.

In the past week, Ethan has really been coming along with his walking. He isn't all the way there yet, but he is becoming much more controlled. He still gets excited and lunges sometimes, but we are getting somewhere. I love how is tongue is hanging out in the picture below. He gets that from his mama. I have to have my tongue out to concentrate, too!

Here's a short clip of Ethan taking some steps. It won't be long until he has mastered this walking thing!

Surgery Day

Today was Ethan's orchiopexy. We got moved up to the 7:00 case, the first one of the day. So we had to get up super early to be there, but it meant that we didn't have to keep a hungry Ethan happy all morning. He was actually very good beforehand. I expected him to really miss breakfast, but honestly, he didn't even seem to notice that he hadn't gotten food until really close to his surgery time. Here are a couple of pictures before his surgery started.

The surgery itself went really well. It took a little longer than we expected because they found a pretty large hernia and repaired it while they were in there. I guess we got two for the price of one today. He has a little button on the outside to hold the testicle in place. We go back next week and he will get that removed in the clinic during his follow up visit. The nurses said Ethan did really great coming out of anesthesia and just cuddled with them. He started crying as we were coming back to see him. I think he realized how hungry he was! After some juice, water, a snack, more juice, and some milk, he was much happier. He was pretty tired and slept a good portion of the way home.

He has done so, so great today. We have been shocked at how happy and normal he has acted. He's been much more sore and cranky after his shots than he was today. He is obviously still swollen and has some dressing over his incision, but overall he has recovered remarkably well. Ethan had tape on him to hold down tubes and IVs during his surgery, so today he had all that adhesive stuff all over him. Anyway, that's what is on his face in this next picture.

Quick Update

I am just going to post a quick little update. I will post more details and a few pictures later.

We made it home and everything went well with his surgery. Ethan is even pretty happy, considering.

Cute baby

Who me?

Yeah, definitely!

Going to the Doctor

Ethan and I had doctor visits to go to this week.

I had an OB appointment on Tuesday. Everything looks and sounds good. I am a little over 15 weeks along now. The doctor said the heart-rate is in the "boy" range. I'm not sure how accurate the heart rate is at predicting the sex of your baby, but maybe Ethan will be getting a little brother. We have an ultrasound scheduled on the 23rd, so I'm excited to see what it tells us. The doctor asked me if I wanted to know if it was a boy or girl and I said that I did, for sure. He told me that I must like to open my presents early. He's right...I do.

Ethan had his pre-operative visit in Columbia today. So, we headed down there bright and early. It was a fast appointment and they really didn't do anything but take his vitals, listen to his heart, and such. They told us that he is scheduled for surgery at 8:30 in the morning next Friday, so it will be nice to have an early time. I hope he handles having no breakfast. That may be the hardest part for him! I can't believe his surgery is so close. I'm trying not to think about it too much. It will be just fine, and they say he will recover really quickly, but I sure will be glad to have it over with.

This is a picture from a couple days ago but I thought you might need to see my cute boy. He's been pulling the pillows off the couch and laying down on them all the time lately. He looks so sweet when he lays his little head down and cuddles into the pillow!