Happy Birthday Easton!

Easton is officially two now! It still blows my mind how fast he is growing up. For his birthday we went and watched the movie, Up. It was a pretty good movie but I'm not sure that Easton felt the same way. For some reason he kept getting scared and would start to cry. Both Nathan and I had to take him out of the movie theatre. We are still not sure what he was scared of because he seemed to be crying for different reasons throughout the movie. I guess it was a good thing that we decided not to take him to the Wolverine movie a few weeks ago. After the movie we came home and had left over cupcakes and ice cream from his party. We still have way too much cake, cookies, and ice cream. Following cake and ice cream Easton finally got to open his gifts. He was really excited to open all his gifts and had tons of fun playing with them all. Thanks for all the gifts and for the phone calls. You sure made this day special for him.

Easton anxiously waiting to open his gifts.

Baseball glove and pitching machine from G&G Kelsey. Thank you! Notice the brand is Easton (haha funny).

Cars from Gma Whiting. Thanks Gma!

Easton also got a tool set, a dump truck, a magna doodle/chalk board, money (he's a rich boy!), and lots of cards. Thanks again for everything. Easton really loves all the things he got.

Letter to Easton

Dear Easton,

Today is your second birthday! I can’t believe how fast these last two years have gone by. Your dad and I want you to know how much we love you and how blessed we are to have you in our life. We thank Heavenly Father everyday for giving us such a special little boy. It was two years ago today that you joined our little family and what a joy it has been to be your parents. Although we aren’t perfect, we are striving daily to be like our Savior so that we can be the type of parents Heavenly Father wants us to be. We are grateful for your patience and love as we learn these things together in this journey here on earth. We couldn’t have asked for a better child. You are our perfect little angel and you definitely have a sweet spirit about you. I am so grateful that I can stay at home with you and be your mother. I love it when we teach each other new things and it is definitely rewarding as a mother to see you learn and grow. One of my absolute favorite things is when you run to me with a huge smile on your face and you wrap those little arms around me and give me your sweet little hugs (and if I’m lucky your little kisses). It just melts my heart and it makes being a mom the best thing in the world.
Life is about to change for you as you are about to become a big brother. I know this might be hard and will take some adjustments, but I know that you will be a great brother. I can tell already by the small little acts of kindness you show mommy’s tummy (aka baby sisa, Bair), that you love your little sister. She is going to be lucky to have you as her big brother. I know that you will be a wonderful example not only to her but the rest of your family as well. I am so grateful to be married to your father and that we are all sealed together as a family. How wonderful it is to know that we will be together forever. We love you baby boy and we look forward to many more exciting years to come. Happy 2nd Birthday!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Here is a picture summery of how you have grown in the last year:

1 year old birthday party May 08'

12 months (June 08')

13 months (July 08')

14 months (Aug. 08')

15 months (Sep. 08')

16 months (Oct. 08')

17 months (Nov. 08')

18 months (Dec. 08')

19 months (Jan. 09')

20 months (Feb. 09')

21 months (Mar. 09')

22 months (Apr. 09')

23 months (May 09')

More birthday pictures to come once Easton wakes up from his nap.

Doggie Party

Easton’s birthday isn’t for another two days but we decided to have an early birthday party for him (dog theme). With Nathan’s crazy schedule I figured it would be almost impossible to plan a party that he could attend without it being way last minute so I planned one with just kids and moms. It was a small party but I think it turned out well. The kids seemed to have fun and of course the moms had fun getting out of the house and visiting with each other. The kids got doggie ears and collars with their names on it when they first arrived but as I guessed they didn’t stay on for very long. I was lucky enough to get a picture of Easton right before he ripped it all off. We had a nice lunch and most of the food was gone (which was great but I really hope everyone had enough to eat). I had all the kids eat their lunch out of doggie bowls. It was really cute. After lunch the kids played a couple games.

The first one was to help the dog, Spot, find his lost spots. Surprisingly the kids got really into this game. They had fun searching for all the spots and putting them back on the dog.

Lucy, Barrick, and Easton putting the spots back on Spot.

I also had pin the bone in the dog’s mouth but Bella was the only one who seemed somewhat interested in it.

I was also going to have the kids do some kind of dog trick to receive a treat (sugar cookie in the shape of a doggie bone) but then I was a little worried that it might be too much goodies if we were going to have cupcakes and ice cream right after. Bella and Barrick, however, still showed us their cool doggie tricks (barking). I was hoping that Easton would show everyone his roll over trick but I got distracted and forgot to have him do it. After the games we sang Happy Birthday to Easton and then had cupcakes and ice cream. Easton blew out his candles all by himself but it did take him about three tries before he finally blew hard enough. After cake and ice cream the moms visited while the kids played, until it was time to go home and take naps. Each of the kids went home with a nice doggie bag full of goodies. I think Easton had fun playing with all his friends, even though he was forced to share his toys.

Closer look at the cupcakes.

Easton waiting for his friends to arrive.

Cute Bella all dressed up like a Doggie.

Lucy with her doggie ears on. I didn't get a picture of Barrick all dressed up : (.

Spot in the dog house.

Bella and Easton in the dog house. The dog house was a big hit!

Count Down

Let the count down begin... I only have 10 more days until my due date! Make sure to vote on the left for when you think Blair will finally make her appearance. Also, we are still having trouble with a middle name. The two we are currently thinking about are Marie and Abigail. Vote for the one you like best.

Don't forget to check out our Memorial Weekend post.

Memorial Weekend

On Friday I had my doctor’s appointment. Nathan was actually at his school that day so he skipped out of one of his lectures to come with me. He kept Easton busy so that was nice, especially since I had to get checked. I really see no point in getting checked since it really doesn’t seem to tell you anything. But for those of you who care to know on Friday I was dilated to a 1, 25% effaced, and -3 (almost -2). My next doctor’s appointment is this Friday so I guess we will see if I have made any improvements. Easton also has his 2 year doctor’s appointment. I can’t believe my little boy is almost 2 (well I’m starting to see it in his behavior but it has gone by way too fast). After my doctor’s appointment Nathan took me and Easton to lunch. Nathan had to leave early to get back and see what his schedule was like for that afternoon. Not too long after Easton and I got home, Nathan came in the door. I guess there weren’t very many appointments for clinic that day so they sent everyone home. That was a nice surprise and a great way to start our long weekend off. Once Easton got up from his nap we decided to go to a local farm and pick Strawberries. They really need to come up with a way to weigh little kids before and after they “help” pick strawberries. Easton apparently really likes strawberries. It doesn’t matter what they look like or what color they are. He will pick them and stick them in their mouth to eat (leaves and all). In the end I’m not sure if we picked more than Easton ate or if Easton ate more than we picked, but I will tell you that I think Easton ate more greenish pink strawberries than red ones. Here is a video of Easton picking and eating strawberries.

Saturday was just a relaxing day. We went shopping to pick up stuff for a BBQ on Monday but once we got home we both realized we really wanted the BBQ stuff then so we made half of it and ate it. It was really good. Here is a random video of Easton and Nathan tackling each other. Easton loves to tackle but for some reason he doesn't like to be tackled (he can dish it but he can't take it). Can we say faker?

Sunday I had to give a talk in church on the 12th article of faith and Memorial Day. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would. Surprisingly I wasn't all that nervous.

On Monday we decided to clean up the house a little bit and then go fishing before the BBQ. It was really hot but we ended up catching three fish (Nate caught two and Easton and I caught one). Apparently Easton is really scared of fish. I would have never guessed since he loves to go up to fish tanks and look at them. I guess he is the same way with dogs (he likes them from a far). I wonder now if he will be like this with all animals. We decided that after I caught a fish that we would head home. Luckily it didn’t take that long because as soon as we let the fish go it started to rain (pouring down rain). Easton was not happy to be getting wet. Nathan and I figured that no one would show up to the BBQ so we ate before we left. We were right no one was there. I guess no one wanted to play ultimate frisbee in the mud. Overall it was a great weekend. I love spending time with my family.

Fish #1. If you look really close you can see how scared Easton really is.

Fish #2.

Fish #3.

Baby Shower and Easton funnies

Some friends decided to throw me a baby shower this last Friday. I was so excited! I have to admit that I have been a little worried about the amount of clothes I have for Blair because for some reason I remember having a lot more for Easton (I guess that is just what happens with the first child). All my friends did perfect at picking out gifts because basically everything I got was clothes. Thanks everyone! Now I feel extremely prepared for at least the first 3 months of her life. Blair got lots of cute clothes (lots of dresses) which I am super excited about. Instead of playing games at my shower, Diana came up with a great idea of making adorable hair bows for Blair. These are much appreciated since Blair will most likely have no hair for the first year of her life (that is if she is anything like Easton). The hair bows will work perfectly with the interchangeable headbands I made a couple weeks ago. They will clip on nicely and my little girl will hopefully not be mistaken for a boy! I think Nathan thinks that I have way too many bows/flowers but I figure if I don’t have more bows/flowers than outfits then I’m okay (besides it is so much cheaper to make them yourself than to buy them). Thanks for the wonderful shower. One of my friends couldn’t make it to the shower but brought over her gift on Sunday. One of the things inside was a hippo stuffed animal. Easton of course snatched that as soon as he saw it and started cuddling with it. I told him that it was Blair’s and that he could play with it for a while but when she comes he has to give it to her. He looked straight at me and said, “NO! MINE!” and ran away. I think we might have issues with this once Blair comes.

Shellie making a bow for Blair.

Molly (kids: Niomie and Emilia), Katie, and Megan.

Easton, Lauren, Emilia, Erin, and Diana.

Toni and I are in the top picture. Aleese was nice enough to take pictures but unfortunately (for me) maybe fortunate for her I didn't get a picture with her in it. Sorry Aleese I do love you!

I forgot to write about this on last weeks blog and since Nathan thinks it is really funny I guess I need to write it down to record it. Easton was sick a couple weeks ago and had to take Amoxicillin for his ear infections (side note: why do they insist on coloring medicine? I personally don’t think kids are more willing to take the medicine because it looks good and besides it just stains…annoying!). Anyways, the first two days he absolutely hated taking the medicine and basically would refuse to take it. Because I love my son so much and knew that the medicine would make him better I had to find a way to get it down his throat. This one particular day he kept swatting at the syringe and getting the pink stuff all over him, me, and the kitchen rug (good thing the rug is dark and can hide stains). So I decided to sit on him (not really sit on him. I honestly don’t think I put any weight on him) close enough to his body so that I could block his hands from interfering. This is when he started shaking his head back and forth and yelling, “help mease!” “help mease!” over and over again. (translation: help please). At about this time Nathan walks in the room and starts laughing. I guess if I had an enormous pregnant lady sitting on me, I would be screaming for dear life for someone to help me too. I think Easton learned his lesson though because after that he was more than willing to take his medicine. He basically sucked it out of the syringe.

This last week I took Easton shopping to get a gift for Blair for when he comes and visits us in the hospital and also some birthday gifts for Easton. Easton picked out this pink bunny stuffed animal with a little blanket attached to it. It was really cute and funny because he wouldn’t let go of it (hopefully he won’t have a hard time giving it to his sister). Here he was sitting in his stroller cuddling with the pink bunny while I’m holding a tool set and a dump truck. It was a good distraction so that he wouldn’t see what I was picking out for his birthday but it almost felt like all I needed to do was buy another pink bunny and Easton would have been in heaven with that. I’m sure it would have been a proud moment for Nathan to see his son loving a pink bunny and ignoring the big boy toys. Here is also a picture of what I made for Easton when he comes to the hospital to visit. It is his big brother candy cake made of mini hershey bars. If you can't tell it says I'm A Big Brother!

Yesterday, Nathan asked Easton where Blair was and he came right up to me and pointed to my tummy and said “Bair”. It was really cute. I guess her nickname might just be Bear since that is what Easton calls her. Easton will also come up to me when I am sitting on the couch and pull my shirt up and say, “baby sisa” and then he will put his blanket over my tummy. I’m hoping this is a sign that he loves his sister because he doesn’t share his blanket with just anyone.

36 weeks, up coming artist, and golfing

I have less than four weeks to go (until my due date). I have officially gotten to the uncomfortable stage and unfortunately have also gotten back to the nauseous stage as well. As long as I remember to take my medicine I seem to be fine though. We are getting really excited to add our new addition. I think for the most part we are ready. I finally got the car seat that I have been waiting for for about 2 months. It was on back order and they kept changing the in stock date on me. I was a little worried that we might not get it on time but luckily it came in sooner than they thought. The only thing that I can think of that needs to get done before Blair comes is to pack stuff for the hospital and figure out for sure what we are going to do with Easton while I am in the hospital. It is a little hard to plan since I have no idea what Nathan’s schedule is going to be (if he will get time off and/or how much time he will get off). If Nathan can get three or so days off then we would only need someone to watch Easton the day I deliver and then Nathan can watch him the rest of the time. But if Nathan can only get the delivery day off then I will need to find someone (or several people) whose willing to watch Easton while I’m in the hospital. If only family were closer then things would seem a lot less stressful. Any family want to come out and help? My mom comes out the 14th of June so I guess if Blair wants to be stubborn like her brother and come late then my mom will be out here to help (that situation doesn’t sound too bad to me right now). Okay, enough about me.

The other day Easton decided that our walls needed some color. As much as I agree with him that white walls are boring, I didn’t agree with the choice of color or the approach he took to add color to the walls. Redish-orange wouldn’t have been my first choice. The funny thing is I didn’t even realize he was coloring on the walls until a couple of hours later. He often times plays with his cars on the walls (which I don’t like and generally tell him to stop and play with them on the floor) but because I was a little busy at the time I thought I would just let it slide just this one time. Of course it had to be crayon the one time I decided to just ignore it. Easton was lucky because he didn’t even get in trouble. I figured since it happened a couple of hours earlier, a consequence would mean nothing to him (he would have no idea why he was in trouble). I cleaned it all up and then realized that I forgot to take a picture of Easton’s talented artwork. I guess from now on I won’t regret taking a picture of something that was annoying to clean up because a couple of hours after that I realized that my picture opportunity had come true. Easton apparently found more than two walls to show off his artistic abilities. I still have no idea where he got this crayon nor do I know what he did with it. However, if I remember correctly I think I recall hearing him open the cabinet with the garbage can in it and throwing something away not too long after this incident. Apparently Easton is extremely smart to get rid of the evidence.

Nathan was watching golf the other day on TV (not sure why because I don’t think I have ever seen him watch golf but it was pretty funny to watch Easton). Easton got really excited anytime someone got the ball in the hole because the audience would clap. He of course had to clap along with everyone else. Along with clapping he now enjoys golfing in our living room. He figured out that he could golf with a toy mallet and a tennis ball. Here is a video of him golfing.

Good to have my baby boy back

Easton and I have been sick the last week with colds but Easton seemed to have it a lot worse than me. He wasn’t sleeping well, eating or drinking well and well to put it as nicely as I possibly can: He was a PAIN to have around. The first day was fine he just wanted to be held all day long which was fine with me since I wasn’t feeling too well myself. It was a nice and relaxing day. Then it went downhill from there. He just cried and whined all day long. He would tell me he was hungry so I would either make something or have him pick something out and then the next second he would tell me no (in his whiny voice), push the food away, and walk away. I can’t tell you how much food we either wasted or I ended up eating (I’m sure I gained unnecessary weight just because I didn’t want to waste the food). Then on Friday Easton started to not sleep through the night. He kept waking up with a fever so we would give him some Tylenol, comfort him a little, and put him back to bed. Then Monday night was horrible. He woke up again with a fever but there was no comforting him and definitely no putting him back to bed. After two hours of trying to calm him down and put him to sleep, Nathan got up twice to help out. The only thing that seemed to calm him down was to read him a story. So Nathan read the same story over and over again. Eventually Nathan gave Easton a blessing and then went back to bed. As long as Easton was distracted and awake he seemed fine so I gave up trying to put him back to bed and just watched a movie with him at 3:00 in the morning. Nathan (not to mention our neighbors) needed some sleep so a movie seemed like our only option. Luckily once the movie was over the Tylenol must have kicked in and Easton must have been extremely tired because he fell asleep almost the second his head hit the pillow. I thought with the rough night that we had that Easton would most certainly sleep in late. No such luck. He woke up crying and whining at 7:45 (yes this is sleeping in for us on most days but not the sleeping in I was hoping for). He did the whole hungry routine again and started to cry and complain. I figured I would call the doctor and see if they had any same day appointments. Luckily for my sanity they did. We only had less than an hour to get ready and be at the doctor’s office. It is about a 20 minute drive so we had to be fast. We were about 5 minutes late but we got in. Of course once we got to the doctor’s office Easton was the happiest I’ve seen him all week. He was full of smiles and excited about all the books, toys, and fish to look at. At this time I was thinking, “Great a wasted trip” but actually it turned out that Easton had two ear infections. Poor Easton. No wonder he was so unpleasant to be around. After some medicine, almost 14 hours of sleep, and some food in his tummy, he is almost back to his normal happy self. What a relief. I’m just glad that he is feeling better.

On another note, Nathan has been doing Plastic Surgery last week and this week. He seems to be enjoying it for the most part, especially when the patients have good reason to get the surgery done. One patient had breast cancer and had to remove at least one of her breasts and wanted to get reconstructive breast surgery. I definitely think that is a good reason to get plastic surgery.

Besides trying to get myself and Easton better, I have also been trying to be creative with making baby headbands. Here’s a sample of the very first one I made. I’m actually impressed with myself. It’s not perfect but it still looks pretty good (if I do say so myself). I don’t have a baby to model them on yet and since I’m definitely not going to use Easton as my model, I had to settle for a teddy bear. I only have a month to go until my due date!