17 1/2 months

Ethan has done a couple of cute things that I wanted to write down before I forgot. We went to the mall yesterday and Oz ran into someone he knew. Oz shook his hand and that of his wife and then so did I and so Ethan stuck out his hand to shake their hands as well. So cute! He did it again today when we had company.
Also, tonight when I was saying Ethan's prayer, he clasped his hands together and said "Amen" when I was all done, before I could say it.
So flippin' cute!
He is now obsessed with "Eh mo". He wants to watch Elmo dvd's every chance he can get. Also, he peed and pooped on his little potty yesterday!!! We were so excited. We have been trying to show him how we potty and yesterday, he just did it. Then, he stood up and a few minutes later he peed and pooped on the bathroom floor. I don't think he has any clue about when he has to go. We will keep trying of course, but aren't worried about it this soon. I did get him the "Elmo potty time" dvd. Now if they only had one about brushing teeth...
I am starting to feel the new baby move a little bit more, but still just a couple of times a day. I go for my big ultrasound on Tuesday which I am excited about. I got Ethan a book about being a big brother. Hopefully that will help a little bit. We'll see.

Ethan and Santa Claus

We have been super busy today! And Happy Birthday Don! Today we got up and went to church and then we went to see Santa at Aidan and Ashton's birthday party. Ethan did great. He tried to cry when I first set him in Santa's lap but got over it really quickly. After we left the birthday party, Ethan took a nap and then we went to our neighborhood cookie swap. Craig fed Ethan a lot of marshmallows and whipped cream from the hot chocolate and Ethan loved it. Then we went to see Don to wish him a Happy Birthday. It has been a great day, but I wish Oz was home. He will be out of town for the majority of this month.
Ethan is going through a "hold me" phase. He will not walk anywhere and pitches a fit if I ask him. He wants to be held all of the time. It is hard to do with me being pregnant, but I will hold him all I can. I am going to try to enjoy every bit of having him all to myself and vice versa before the baby comes. Lately he loves being kissed, kissing me, hugs, singing, listening to Christmas music and getting "toe sugar". That is when I kiss his toes. He also loves getting stickers while I change his diapers. He will put them on his hands and shirt and then rip them off and put them on Mommy or the floor, LOL. His absolutely favorite thing to do right now is read books. He wants to sit on my lap or in his chair and look at all of his books. He will look at one for a minute and then put it down and then look at another. His favorite book right now is Hop on Pop. I gave it to him in the car today and was laughing while listening to him say "No Pat No!!". As soon as he turns to the page with Pat sitting on a Cat, he remembers what to say. Too funny. His new word today was "airplane" because he got an airplane sticker during a diaper change. He said both syllables and the only other word he can say with 2 syllables (besides Mama and Dada) is "apple" pronounced "ap poo".

Happy Thanksgiving!

I certainly hope my posts become more frequent than all of the major holidays. Ethan and I have been so sick for the past few months - one or the other or both of us. I have never felt as bad as I have and have missed out on so many things I enjoy and catching up with so many of my friends that I care about. Also, I have been working so much lately and of course the holidays are upon us and so finding free time will be even harder - (nonstop complaining for the past few months and it has to stop, huh?). Ethan is feeling much better since he is on his 4th round of antibiotics for what the pediatrician called a "rip-roaring" ear infection in both ears. Poor baby. He will finish the medication this week and I will go in for a follow-up to see if they worked. I hope so because I don't want him to have to get tubes. We had a nice Thanksgiving. We had turkey here at home and Mom, Buck, Jean and Little Vickie came over to eat with us. The day after, we left for Hiawassee where it was cold and rainy and we had to stay inside. Oswald did take Ethan down to see the cows and chickens and he got a big kick out of that.
I am feeling much better. Aside from my lingering cold that is. I still have a horrible cough and stuffed up nose, but my morning sickness is all gone. I am officially getting huge again. I am now 4 months pregnant and go in for my big ultrasound in the next week or two. We have decided on a name for the baby, but we are waiting until after Christmas to tell.
Ethan is doing great other than his ear. He turned 17 months over the weekend. He is now signing to me "I love you" every time that I say it to him. It melts my heart. He is still addicted to the pacifier and I hate to admit, his morning and night bottle. I am going to get serious about working on that after the first of the year. He has been so sick the past few months that I have not wanted to take away his bottle. The pacifier, eh, I am not so worried about. Ethan's favorite things lately are ringing the doorbell, barking any time we pass a dog, books, books and more books. He loves to mimic all of the animals and the fish face is the cutest one of all.