"Oh, perfect!"

He he he... Ethan cracks me up! This morning he woke up and had cRaZy bed-head hair. So, to show him, I put him up on the bathroom counter so he could get a look in the mirror. He did not like his crazy hair and wanted me to fix it right away! So I put some water on his hair to smooth it all down and then ran a comb through it. Just as I was finishing, Ethan took a look in the mirror and said, "Oh! Perfect!"

Well... so glad he liked it! Silly kid.

April Recap

Oh man! Didn't I just post the March Recap?! The months are really flying by now. I hate that. It makes me feel old. This month marks another year closer to turning 30, not to mention that next year will be my 10-year high school reunion. Ugh. But Sean's is this year... ha ha ha!!

Anyway. We had a very busy month. Luckily, I seemed to do a pretty good job of keeping up with the events on the blog so I won't make you read about them again, just provide the link to the original post. Oh-so-thoughtful of me, I know! Alright, here we go!

* Ethan's 2nd Birthday (April 9th) & Party (April 17th)

* Easter

* Biggest Loser: It's official. I'm a loser and did not get on the Biggest Loser show. I looked around online and from what I can tell if you were going to hear anything back from them it would've been by the end of April. It's alright, but Bob and Jillian you are seriously missing out on a good candidate for your next season of torture, I mean training! Oh, and for those of you that are interested (I've been getting questions) a guy who was on season 3 said he got paid $500 for every week he was still on the show (that was a concern for some people).

* Gym: And speaking of training, etc. Me and the gym have not been best buddies this past month like I would've hoped! I still made it in a couple of times a week but between birthdays, holidays and a boat-load of church meetings eating up my evenings I just didn't have that much spare time I was willing to take away from my family. This month is a crazy one too, but mainly just the Saturdays. I'm hoping if I don't make it to the gym I can at least take advantage of some of the sunny days we're supposed to have and go for a walk/run. I'll report back next month!

* Take your kid to work day: No, Sean did not take Ethan with him to work, but there was a young man at our church who had asked if Sean would take him clear back in January. Sean got the ok, and as you can see, Sean has a very exciting job!

Of course, I don't think having to be there (with over an hour commute) by 6:45am helped.

* 6 Staples: This was NOT a fun experience, but they are out now and Ethan's head healed quite nicely. With his hair you can't hardly see the scar.

* Tory's Home: Yay! We are so excited that "uncle Tory" is home from BYU! He is like a "little" brother to me and Sean (he towers over both of us though!) and we love having him over to play music (he is an amazing pianist and organist), play games, eat our food :) and just chat. He is finishing up his mission papers, though, and plans on leaving later in the summer. We will miss him so we're taking advantage of having him home!

* Spamalot: "We eat ham and jam and spam-a-lot!!!" Technically we went to go see this in May (on the 2nd) but I'm still counting it with April's events. Sean, Tory and I went to see this broadway musical while it was at the Hult Center and it was awesome! Sean and I saw it a couple years ago in Portland and were excited to have another opportunity to go The actress playing the Lady of the Lake was fantastic and we also had a 'celebrity' in the show - John O'Hurley (from Seinfeld) played King Arthur.

* BBQ: We had some beautiful weather mixed in with the rain last month and we're hoping it keeps getting better. Sean is the BBQ master in our house and we've both been sure he's been using his skills on nice days. We've enjoyed yummy BBQ burgers and hot dogs on several occasions already and we're just getting started! I've already put in my request for a BBQ for my birthday/memorial day weekend.

* Baby/Bridal Showers: The season is upon us. One Saturday last month I went to one of my friend's baby shower and then turned around that same day and went to another friend's bridal shower. This month there are already 3 weddings, a bridal shower and a baby shower on the caldendar. I'm thinking we can no longer afford to have any friends! ;)

* Jury Duty: Ugh. No, actually, this was a double Ugh! because I actually made it on to a jury. We broke for lunch just as I took the spot of the first juror that was dismissed on grounds of cause or something like that. We got almost a 2-hour lunch (no wonder a trial takes so long!) and then I was the 2nd juror to be dismissed once we reassembled. Wahoo! My service is up.

* Lizzy's Birthday: My baby sis is officially a teenager! How can this be?! Her birthday was the 30th (same day I had jury duty) and I surprised her at school with a rose, ballon and cookies! We celebrated with family the next day with an Oregon Duck themed party. Her friends brought over their Dance Dance Revolution game for Wii and I think everyone but my dad took a turn. It was especially entertaining to watch Sean and Tory go head to head!!

* 17 Again: I almost forgot our "movie-of-the-month"! Sean and I got out to see 17 Again with Zac Effron and Matthew Perry (as in they star in the movie, they didn't actually accompany us to the theater - that would've been awesome, though). It was hilarious! We would highly recommend it. I liked, too, that it wasn't a total formula movie.

Favorite quote from the movie:

Ned (Mike's best friend, still an adult): What are you eating?

Mike (Zac Effron's characater): I don't even know. All I know is that I'm hungry.... (as he squirts more Cheez-Whiz into his mouth) ALL the time!

I won't even begin to list all that we have going on this month (see the previous 3 weddings comment), but I already had a great Mother's Day and am looking forward to my birthday in 2 weeks! Oh yeah, and here's a couple Ethan videos (for the grandparents!) - the first is from an outing to the park and the second one he is fighting a losing battle to falling asleep in his high chair! Notice, though, that every time I say the word "nap" his eyes pop open for just a sec!

Bohemian Rhapsody

Ha! I tricked you with my non "Happy Mother's Day" post title.... decided not to follow the masses this year. ;) It just so happens that Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody is the first song that usually pops into my head when I hear "Mama" (Ooohhh ooOohh oohh Oh!)

Can I just say a huge "Happy Mother's Day" to all the moms out there? And I say "mom" in a very broad sense... anyone who loves a child and helps them to learn and grow is pretty much a "mom" in my book.

We have had a lovely Mother's day. We went to my parents' ward for church today and then over to their house for a fabulous pot roast lunch. My sisters and I were "sneaky, sneaky" this year and decided to go old school on my mom and make, yes make, her gift. We bought a couple of mosaic stepping stone kits, decided on designs and got busy on Friday night so they would have time to dry. Here are the finished products:

"Greg & Julie Est. April 6th 1981"

"Jennifer * Christine * Elisabeth"

And then from Sean and Ethan I got white roses (a favorite), some chocolate (another favorite) and the DVD 'Notting Hill' (now I can finally get rid of my VHS copy!) - they were 3 for 3! I also got a wonderful card from Sean... Mother's Day cards always make me cry because Sean always writes such nice things in them. I think my favorite, though, was this from Ethan (made with love in Nursery at church). My very first set of hand prints!

My heart melted when I saw it. :)

I love, love, love being a mom. It is super challenging, but also super rewarding. I know I've said it before, but I truly enjoying watching as Ethan learns and experiences new things every day. I love listening to him talk and communicate and seeing his excitement over cars, trucks and other vehicles. He is one smart, beautiful and amazing little boy and I feel privileged to have him call me "mommy"... one of the best words ever!

I also have to pay tribute to my mom... she was my first and greatest example of how to be a good mom. I'm so thankful for all you do for me and my family. I'm thankful that my little boy gets to spend time with you 4 days a week while Sean and I work and not at some random daycare. You are an awesome grandma and I love that Ethan learned how to wrestle from you and that you have a cool stash of hot wheels cars for him to play with whenever he is over! I love you! ("Chase me, chase me!" "Don't chase me. That scares me!" He he he!!)

And I can't forget Lynnie, my mother-in-law. Thank you for helping to raise such a wonderful man and for welcoming me into the family with such open arms. I have always felt so at home and so comfortable when we come to visit... even before Sean and I were married. You are a great host!! Thanks for making our stays special - I know you go out of your way to do so. I wish we could visit more (I'm really wishing we could do another quick Memorial Day weekend trip this year!) but even still I know Ethan loves his Nana and I do too!

With my little "punkin".

FIRE TRUCK Party!!

Yes, I realize this post is overdue AND that Ethan's birthday was almost a month ago AND that his party was 2 1/2 weeks ago (AND that Lynnie has been dropping "subtle" hints to post pictures). What can I say other than I'm sorry, we've been busy and at least now you can enjoy it!! All is forgiven... right? :)


So I decided to do a fire truck themed birthday party for our little Ethan because he is currently obsessed with fire trucks and ambulances, due largely to the fact that we live across the street from a fire station... Go figure. I did a little research online and learned that you can pretty easily set up a tour of a local fire station with just a phone call. Unfortunately we were unable to go to the NEW 2-story, 2-fire pole station across the street (not open to the public until June and you can bet we'll be there!) so we opted to tour another station in town. Sean, Ethan and I met up with my mom and sister, Lizzy, along with my cousin John's wife, Steph, and their two boys Jackson (2 1/2) and Baron (4 mo.) It was a pretty interesting tour, learning more about the equipment on the trucks and the specific jobs each crew member has. As a sidenote, this post could have easily been titled "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" because that's exactly what Ethan did! We had to wake him up from his nap to go to the tour and as much as he loved looking at and being inside the super-cool fire truck, listening to the guy talk about everything didn't exactly hold Ethan's attention for very long. Oh well. Also, notice the little kid with yellow helmet at the bottom of the two pictures above? Yeah, this kid was in almost every shot we have except for the ones at the end. He was dressed in his "firefighter" outfit, complete with raincoat (what??), safety goggles (um, ok) and that weird yellow construction hat/helmet. He was a "funny" little kid who shooshed Ethan several times during the tour. (Yeah, yeah, my cranky 2 year-old's a little fussy... now beat it, kid!)
After the tour was over, they let the kids explore the fire truck a little more and then Ethan was very happy! They even took turns "driving" the truck... SO COOL! A dream come true for little boys. :)

Carefully watching the road like a good little fire truck driver.

And, of course, he had to wear one of his fire truck shirts (I think he has like 5 different ones now... thank you Kohl's for your $5 shirts).

Cousin Jackson was all grins! He was such a good boy on the tour... I was really impressed (and wishing my 2 year-old would cooperate just a bit more)! Thanks to Steph for making the drive down from Portland with her boys - it was great to see you! (And I'm realizing now that I have no pictures of you or Baron from that day.)

Even Lizzy-Lou took a turn in the driver's seat!

Thank you Fire Station #4!

And now... on to the party! After the tour, we headed back to our house and while Sean went to pick up the pizzas, cousin Jeff, Shalene and baby Summer and also Gramma Sandy and Grampa Chuck showed up to help us celebrate.

We had the dining room all decorated... red streamers, red and orange balloons and a giant mylar fire truck balloon! And then, of course, there... was... the... CAKE!!

The lady who decorated Sean and I's wedding cake for our Oregon reception is in the process of going in to business for herself. I got her number by word of mouth and she agreed to make Ethan's cake. Originally the plan was for her to just draw a fire truck on to a 1/4 sheet and call it good, but she asked if she could try sculpting it and this was the final product!

We were very impressed by her attention to detail. She even went to the station to take pictures of the fire truck that Ethan always sees across the street.

There were a few more "issues" with our birthday boy that evening... going back to the whole "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to" deal. Thank goodness Jackson was willing to share his new toy car (again, wishing Ethan would cooperate a little more)! We had a great time with all of our family and missed those who couldn't make it. Thanks for helping us celebrate Ethan entering the "terrific" and yes, sometimes "terrible" twos!

Sneaky Sleeper

This is how we found Ethan tonight....





















Asleep... in his doorway...














He had climbed out of his crib, and this was as far as he got!














But not before emptying out a package of diapers all over the floor!

Easter Delights

Ok, so is everyone thoroughly grossed out by the pictures of the staples in Ethan's head? Is it time to move on so that's no longer the first thing you see on our blog? I think so. Let's think of happier times... like Easter! I've been meaning to do this post for a couple of weeks but with Ethan's birthday just a few days before Easter, we had a very busy weekend and I'm still a couple posts behind. I've got one for his party and just a general update on him with dr. appt. stats, etc. both in the works.

So! Day 4 of Ethan's Birthday/Easter weekend... Birthday on Thursday, cake/presents on Friday, egg hunt/park on Saturday and then Easter on Sunday. Phew!

That morning we did not have to worry about Ethan getting up before us and getting to his Easter basket... we learned our lesson from Friday morning (see previous birthday post) and put a gate at the end of the hall (to force him to come into our room). So this was his basket of goodies this year: new sippy cup, 'Prince Charming' frog jammies, Elmo book, small chocolate bunny (that I have yet to let him eat any... ), a couple marshmallow peeps (didn't know they made sugar-free ones, though!) and 3 frog plastic eggs with a new matchbox car, fruit snacks and some funky/spiky ball things.

And the Easter box from Nana and Papa - even more treats in there... had to quickly snatch most - not all - of them up to be doled out later. No need for a sugar rush first thing in the morning!

After the excitement of the all the treats, it was time for breakfast and also our Easter crafty, totally cool silk tie-dyed eggs project! I learned how to do this on Best Bites and just had to try it this year. These were the ties I bought at Value Village - 99cents each on blue tag day. Sweet!And after carefully following the directions, these were our results. I was pretty impressed by the whole idea and will definitely do it again next year... maybe a new family tradition!Sean had choir practice before church, so Ethan and I got ready and then met him there... Unfortunately this meant NO NAP! And it showed. It was a bit of an exhausting sacrament meeting because nothing seemed to hold his interest. But! At least he looked great! Freakin' adorable little boy all dressed up in his new Easter shirt and tie. Notice the cars on his tie? I'll bet you wished you had a tie that was so cool!

We only stayed for sacrament meeting and then it was a rush to get home, change clothes and head out to (great) grandma and grandpa Toftdahl's for dinner. Ethan got a little nap on the way, but was one tired, hungry and cranky little boy when we got there. He was in and out of having little crabby fits, but finally after getting some food in his belly (he decided that it would be a good time to be a picky eater... thanks, bud), a breath-holding spell at the dinner table (lovely) and a little down time in the spare room with just mommy he was doing much better. Finding great grandma's stash of cool, new (to him) toy cars, trucks and tractors didn't hurt either. He was fairly enjoyable the rest of the evening. Dinner was fantastic and in between rain showers we headed outside for a quick egg hunt... Ethan was finally getting the hang of it! After some yummy desserts - grandma's marionberry and strawberry rhubarb pies and my lemon and lime tarts - and a round of hugs we headed for home. Another enjoyable (and labor free... I'm never gonna forget that one) Easter!

Six Staples In His Head

I was standing right there! Ugh... sign me up for the bad moms club.

My baby's barely two years old and has already been to the ER twice! Well, technically we didn't go to the ER last night, just the after-hours clinic, but we would've gone to the ER if not for the clinic. If you'll recall, last May we went to the ER in southern CA before we learned that Ethan has breath-holding spells and had "only" had a severe attack. [[sigh...]]

Here's last night's story... I'm just getting ready to make dinner when Ethan pushes a dining room chair to the counter by the phone. The chair is facing our back door and I tell Ethan to get down because he is wanting to play with the phone. He loses his balance and WHACK!! falls straight on his back with his head hitting our back door on the way down. I hurry and grab him, praying for no blood, but I already see it. Dang head wounds bleed so much! I put pressure on it and we head to the bathroom so I can get a better look. I yell for Sean to get a clean towel and once I can wipe some of the blood away I see that it's a fairly good size gash in his head and it's definitely going to need some stitches. By this time the bleeding is already slowing down quite a bit, so we grab the diaper bag, my purse and some sweatshirts and head out to the car. Sean drives while I hold the towel on the back of Ethan's head. We called my parents to let them know we are on our way to the ER, but my mom suggests trying our after-hours clinic first (which I had already been debating). Hang up with my mom and call the clinic. Get put on hold. Gee, thanks. Get the front desk, explain everything to her as clearly as possible in my best calm-mom voice (only some quivering... I do pretty good in "emergency" situations) and she puts me back on hold. Get transferred to a nurse and have to repeat the whole story and she starts talking about not letting him sleep too much, getting him up and talking/walking around every couple hours. I'm thinking, "uhh... he needs stitches tonight. Preferably NOW!" Then she finally looks up an appointment just as we pull into the parking lot at 7:30pm. "The earliest we have is an 8:30pm appointment. Do you know where we're located?" Ha! Funny, lady. If you only knew, we're in your parking lot right now! We turn around and head over to my parents to wait. This gave me a chance to wash my hands (which were now covered in dried blood) and for Ethan to eat some pasta (I'm pretty sure he was starving!).

We headed back to the clinic for our appointment and at this point the bleeding had been stopped for a while, just the huge gash in his head. The doctor on call that night just happened to be my old pediatrician, Dr. Strimling. First he trimmed some of Ethan's hair and then shaved the spot covering the gash. He was really good to not shave too much. Then he washed the area and then came the hard part... He numbed the site with an injection needle. I was holding Ethan and he was screaming. Rip my heart out. This took a little while and I finally stopped the doctor because it had sent Ethan into a breath-holding spell. The doctor finished that up and then it was time to lay Ethan down on the table. It took Sean holding his feet and legs, the nurse holding his head and me holding his arms. Dr. Strimling decided that staples would be the best treatment, but Ethan squirmed when the first one went in, so it was off-center and in at an angle. That one took a while to remove and the gash was bleeding like crazy again. We didn't realize until then just how deep the wound was... it went clear to the bone! Finally the doctor got the 6 staples put in and that slowed the bleeding way down. A few minutes later it had fully stopped and Ethan was also calmed down. I had gone into mom mode then and just held him super-tight. It did the trick and helped him to stop crying and control his breathing. This picture (below) was last night before we had a chance to give him a bath this morning (doctor said to wait).

Ethan is a trooper! He is doing GREAT today! We've kept him on fairly regular Tylenol and also put Neosporin on the wound, but other than that there is no swelling or signs of infection. The staples can come out in 7-10 days.

Magic Trick

"And now, for my final trick of the night, I will make an upright grand piano appear in our dining room."

* POOF!! *

Ok, it wasn't quite that easy... but I'm sure that Sean and the guys from church who helped him move it wish it had been! We have been blessed with a major act of generosity. A woman in our ward at church recently lost her husband after a long battle with cancer. She is in the process of moving to Arizona to be closer to her kids and was having no luck selling her piano. So... rather than donating it to Goodwill, she decided to give it to us because she knew it would be going to a good home and that we would take care of it. Saturday afternoon it was moved from her place up the river to ours and believe me, Sean has already been putting it to good use. It's been so great to hear Sean playing again... I always forget just how talented he is! He's been like a kid in a candy shop having his own piano now - it was really hard for him the past couple years being without a piano and he was constantly checking on craigslist for a good deal.

Anyway... here's a close-up of the beautiful carving on the front panel.

We just need to get it tuned up, other than that it is in pretty good shape and we are very happy to have it! [Now maybe I'll finally learn bass clef!]

mEGGa Hunt and the Park

Continuing on with Ethan's birthday weekend... Last Saturday we went to the Willamalane MEGGA Hunt and it was sunny!! Absolutely beautiful outside. This was Ethan's first real egg hunt. He hadn't quite made an appearance in 2007 (so close, though) and last year Easter was in March. March + Oregon = Rainy Easter... I mean, c'mon, nice Easter weather in Oregon is pushing it just for April. So, this year I wanted to be sure Ethan got the experience.














It did take a while to catch on, though - he was more interested in picking up the eggs and throwing them again instead of collecting them in his bag!














After 2 times through the 2-yr. age group egg hunt (the first round we got all hard candy... umm, who gives hard candy to a 2 year old?!) we headed inside for a little visit with the Easter Bunny.














Ethan really enjoyed showing E. Bunny his new truck, but that was about it!














Then it was back outside, where we enjoyed some of the live reggae music and headed back to the car. But not before a pit-stop at the park.














Ethan has grown so much since the last time we were at a park. He needed no help climbing the stairs, crossing the bridge and going down the slide, so he did it over and over and over again! Last time we had to help guide him along the play structure and then be ready to catch him at the bottom of the slide... not this time!














Ignore the kid on the right who appears to be picking his nose and just look at how much fun my little guy is having!

Sneaky little kid got into the chips later that day when we weren't looking. Looks pretty guilty here, huh?

Here's just a funny video from that day... Ethan blowing bezerberts (Southworth term for raspberries) on his arm and just being the crazy kid we love. I thought uncle Todd and uncle Ryan would enjoy the progress of silly noises!

And here's one of my new favorite pictures! My handsome little stud... takes after his daddy!