Alphabet Boy

For the last month or so Ethan has become very interested in the alphabet. He started by pointing to letters on Mom's shirt and asking what they were. When we were visiting Grandma Taylor last weekend he had so much fun playing with her magnet letters and practicing naming them. We couldn't resist but get him his own letters to play with. They have been such a hit. He carries them all around the house telling us what they are (he doesn't always get them right yet). He never has really liked bath time before, but now we have trouble getting him to leave the tub. Learning his letters has really helped his vocabulary and pronunciation improve a lot.

We can't believe how fast our baby has grown!! This week she weighs approx. 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is over 18 1/2 inches long. Only one more week and she'll be full-term. Jen has been taking a break from attending her step aerobics class because she was concerned about contractions it was bringing on. After this week she plans on going back in hopes that she can work the baby out sooner.

Conference Weekend

We had a great weekend visiting family for Conference. We didn't get as much sleep as we would have liked (since it was too easy to stay up late visiting and because Ethan likes to get up at 6:30 regardless of how late he stays up). We had a fun time regardless. Ethan had fun playing with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was fun to show off all of his new vocabulary and he entertained us by playing daddy's harmonica.

This is about the only picture taken this week. Ethan got to pick out a pumpkin from Grandma Taylor's garden.
This week our baby is just over 18 inches long and about 5 1/4 lbs (like a honeydew melon). We can hardly believe we are so close to having her here!! It is a bit scary thinking about what is coming in the next few weeks. Although I won't know until next Monday the position of the baby or if I'm starting dilate, I can certainly tell that things are starting to happen as I get more aches, and contractions. Maybe it is wishful thinking, but I just have a feeling that she's going to come early. Ethan was a day late so I have no reason to think this, but still I sense it. Monday is also the beginning of my weekly visits (for those of you who are curious).

Not a very exciting week

This week wasn't too exciting and we struggled thinking of something to post for this week. Kyle started working a 4/10 work schedule. It seemed to go pretty well and it will be nice to have him off every Friday instead of every other Friday with his old schedule. Ethan however, has started waking up extra early (usually between 5:30 and 6:00 am) so Jen has been extra tired lately.

This weekend Grandma Taylor came to visit and help us bottle tomatoes. It was lots of fun having her come stay with us. Ethan loved all the extra attention. We were happy that we didn't have a tragedy like we usually do when she comes. It seems like every time she has come in the past, we get water in our basement. Ethan did wake up in the middle of the night crying after a loud thump. He had his first bloody nose. We aren't sure what caused it, but he may have fallen out of bed (even with his bed rail). Ethan loved to play with the boxes the quart jars came in.

For anyone who cares we found a new table and chairs on ksl.com and you can sort of see it in the picture below. It is vintage Drexel Heritage. We've been looking for the last year for a round table with leaves that wasn't oak to fit our bay window. Despite needing to replace the seat fabric, this set is in great condition.

Ethan climbed on the table the other day an I couldn't help but take a picture. Lately he has loved wearing his hat around the house. He loves to point at it and say "aat." He hated wearing anything on his head a few weeks ago, but now he loves to put on his hat.
This week our baby (soon we'll decide on a name...we hope) weighs 4.75 pounds like your average sized canteloupe, and is 18 inches long.

Day at the Zoo

On Friday we went to Hogle Zoo with Grandma and Grandpa Morrey. We took most of the pictures with Grandpa's camera, so we don't many to share. This was Ethan's first time to the zoo and he really seemed to enjoy it.
We went on the train ride.
For anyone who hasn't experienced the bird show, you must make an effort to go. It was really neat. It is really worthwhile. Here, Ethan is giving this bird a dollar bill which the bird then dropped into the box.


Kyle tried to coax Ethan to go in this shell, but to no avail.

Ethan loved feeding the ducks, but seemed to like playing with the food dispenser even more.

Yesterday, we went to Walmart and Kyle couldn't resist doing this.*
Ethan loves to help pick produce from our garden. He picked the banana pepper and . . . well, you can tell what else he added to the bowl.This week our baby weighs a little more than 4 pounds (like a pineapple) and just over 17 inches long (and Jen often feels like a beached whale).


*NOTE: The appearance of certain presidential candidates in no way reflects the political view of blogspot or this family and in no way is meant as an endorsement of such candidates.

Big Boy Bed

Yesterday we set up a twin bed for Ethan to start the transition before baby comes. We don't want him to feel like she is kicking him out of his crib. We had dinner at a friend's house last night and unfortunately got him to bed when he was overly tired and loopy. We first tucked him in all happy, but he got really upset when we shut the door. Later, we tried to lay down with him but he kept giving kisses and jumping on the bed. By about 10:00 we gave up and put him in his crib.

Tonight we tried again and he instantly jumped out of bed and started crying. We just left him in his room to cry. He only cried for about 10 minutes before we found him fast asleep in his bed. We've been stressing about this transition for weeks now since Ethan doesn't always want to go sleep, and now we feel like celebrating. Hopefully we'll be just as successful at getting him to nap in his bed.
Ethan has been fascinated by Kyle's harmonica for months now. He used to hum into it to make noises on it, but this week he figured out how to play it. He has actually gotten really good at it too. Unfortunately we haven't been able to capture more than a few seconds on video. Here is what we have and a little bit of him playing in a box.

Spring 2007 we planted strawberries in our backyard and it has since been our dream to have enough to make a fresh strawberry pie. They are such yummy strawberries. We finally reached our goal. It isn't much to look at, but mmm...boy! We came upon the recipe last summer and love it. It doesn't use any Jell-o or junket or Koolaid. You make the filling out of strawberries, sugar, and cornstarch. If anyone wants the recipe let us know. Making, or rather eating this pie was a highlight of our week.
This week our little babe is just under 4 pounds (like a large jicama) and almost 17 inches long.

Our 1st Yard Sale

We've been wanting to hold a yard sale all summer, and finally got around to doing it Saturday morning. We spend all day on Friday cleaning two rooms in our basement and collecting items to sell. It was a lot of work, but really nice to get rid of stuff that just sits around anyway. We didn't sell as much as we would have liked, but still came out with quite a bit of cash.
We sold the swing set that came with our house. It wasn't in too bad of shape, but it has been a major wasp nest for the last two summers and we really didn't like Ethan going near it for that reason. We'd like to get a nicer one in the future, but for now, he'll have to settle for the swings at the park.
Probably the hardest thing to let go was this little cheap raft. Kyle and I have some fond memories of it from when we were dating. We haven't used it in the last two years are tired of storing it. We'll probably get another one in the future that is a little larger. It was a bit cramped for the two of us anyway.

We were putting price tags on all of our stuff, and decided to put a price on Ethan. We're not sure if it's legible, but the sticker says "priceless." Nobody made any offers... Ethan has been such a funny little helper lately. He loves to help pick produce from our garden. When he sees mom and dad pick tomatoes he likes to pick small green ones to add to the lot.

We have a small plum tree in our back yard and were pleased with its production this year. They are really tasty, but tiny! Last year we probably had about 5 on the tree , but this year we had about 20.
We had another good day in nursery for Ethan (except for the nasty diaper that got mom taken out of Sunday School). His teachers say that he is really good. He is quiet and loves to play with the cars (especially the large pink Barbie car). They also said he is a good listener. He was also super cute during Sacrament Meeting today. We wonder if the nursery lesson was about reverence today because he kept folding his arms and walking around with his eyes shut tight. It was so cute!! He has folded his arms for us during prayers, but not usually with his eyes shut. We've been so amazed at how much he has learned over the last few weeks. This week he also started saying his own name. He calls himself "E-E."

This week our little girl is over 16 inches long and weighs about 3.3 lbs (about the size of 4 navel oranges). That is also about the size that Jen's mom was when she was born. She was born very early, but it is comforting to know that we've reached this point without any problems and that if something happened her chances would be good.

Getting it all back together

We are starting to get things back in place in our house from painting. It will probably take a while to decide where to hang our pictures. This week we purchased a nice mirror to put over our fireplace. We still have many things planned that will have to wait until after the baby comes. We eventually will replace the tile around the fireplace and put a tile back splash in our kitchen. At that time we will hopefully be able to get new counter tops too. Soon we would like to find a kitchen table that fits our bay window well, and get two chairs to go in our bay opposite of our couch. Kyle's mom knows how to upholster furniture so for fun we would like to build our chairs this winter. We'll have to see how it turns out. The wall color looks a bit too green in this picture. Yesterday we got this car for Ethan at a garage sale. He has been having so much fun with it. It kept him busy all morning. He has seen ones like this before and wanted to play with them so badly. It really has been 5 bucks well spent.
We went to a farmer's market yesterday morning and couldn't resist picking up a few cobs of corn (since we didn't grow any). Ethan loved his corn so much that he had to suck on all of our leftover cobs when we were finished. He also wanted to sit on the big chairs with us. He seems to not like sitting in his highchair anymore. We'll have to keep our eyes open for a booster seat. He also no longer lets us spoon feed him. He is a little messy still, but it is nice to be able to give him a bowl of yogurt or applesauce and let him feed himself.
We've been trying to get more organized in our house lately (thanks to Jen's nesting instincts probably). In doing so we brought the baby car seat up to help us get prepared for our little friend. Shortly after bring it up, we found Ethan sitting in it an playing. (Yes, he is playing with a fairy wand, which is NOT a regular occurrance we assure you).
This week our little babe is just under 3 pounds (like a cabbage) and approx. 15.7 inches long. Jen starts seeing the doctor every two weeks now. It is hard to believe that we are this far into it.