Memorial Day on Cape Cod

It just doesn't get much better than that! We had absolutely perfect weather all weekend. Our family split up, but my family was around! Steve stayed home in Wilmington to work on some projects around the house. It's tough to get too much done with all of us home so Steve was very productive without us. In the meantime...Ethan and I had a blast on the Cape.

It wouldn't be a weekend at grandma's house without a sprint into the back yard to catch a glimpse of the train. This time I sprinted after them and caught a little of the waving. Just an aside...this is the spot where Steve and I were married.



Another of Ethan's favorite things at grandma's house is Charlie...aka Yeow. Ethan cannot get enough of the Yeow but the yeow has definitely had enough of Ethan. That's not entirely true. He does put up with a lot of tail grabbing before getting too upset.



Saturday afternoon we went and visited with Great Aunt Jody and Cousin Antonina at Great Grandma Nancy's house. Does anybody out there know what my cousins are to Ethan? 2nd cousins? We're not sure but Ethan had a great time playing with Nina. I did not take a single picture which is so unlike me! Saturday night I was out at Baxter's with Carina, Jayna, Renee, Kim Long and Fitzy. Chris B was bartending and it was all very fun catch up. Alicia made an appearance on her way home from work and it was great to see everybody! It was good to be out and kind of celebrating Figawi even if the boats were on Nantucket that night.

Sunday we had breakfast at Grandpa's house. Ethan loved dancing to Grandpa's guitar playing. I do have video but it's too big for the blog. Stay tuned for a vimeo email on that! Grandpa's new house has access to a pond so we took a walk after breakfast to check it out. Not too shabby...

Ethan loves to push the stroller. Normally he insists on being held so he can push with the handles. My back was happy that he was content to do it on his own.

I love this picture. It looks like the 2 boys are sharing a private joke.



Ethan was all tuckered out after all the fresh air an sunshine. He's got quite the life!



I did manage to make it out for a run on Sunday and Ethan discovered my ipod. He loved hearing the music through the little ear phones!

Sunday was also Grandma Jan's birthday. We headed to Dowses Beach for sunset and we were not disappointed. It was a gorgeous night and the best part of all was that Ethan decided he wasn't afraid of the water anymore! There were kids swimming and he wanted to get in on that. I started by taking off his shoes and socks, then his pants and finally his sweatshirt. You wouldn't have caught me in that water but I didn't want to discourage him from going in. He loved walking and splashing in the water.

Before heading to bed, I would like to ask that all who read this take a moment to reflect on the true meaning of Memorial Day...Goodnight.

Happy Birthday to Linda

Ethan and I both got to spend time with Linda for a change! We went to The Willows in Salem, MA for her birthday. We've been talking about spending time at this gorgeous spot since last summer so we went for it last Friday. Unfortunately it was extremely windy and we didn't get to take a very long walk. We did however have a very nice time on a very nice day. At one point we ducked into the arcade to get out of the wind and found out that Ethan is very into the driving games.






After lunch, the wind had died down enough that we ventured out to the sea wall. A sea gull stole my ice cream when I put it down to take a few pictures! I suppose that's just as well...

A day in the life

Ever since the weather got remotely spring-like, we have been outside, outside, outside. Ethan insists on it every chance he gets. Although outside for him is "ball" or "bow" in Ethan-speak. We have many balls for him to play with. He loves golf balls especially.





Apparently this tree is hilarious and somewhat of a dance partner. Ethan does this funny breathe in laughing thing all the time and we love it. I caught a little bit of it here.



For the gardeners out there, you might not want to watch this next clip. We taught Ethan to blow dandelions. Our "lawn" is pretty much non-existent so we don't mind him seeding with dandelions since we're pretty much going to have to start from scratch. I just think the whole blowing thing is funny. You have to really pay attention, but close to the end you get a really good one from him.



Part of our bedtime routine with Ethan is that he gets to play on our bed after bath time. He loves to get up, fall down, and climb all over. We love how it tires him out! This night he was cuddling right into our pillows which was really cute. Especially with his baby belly sticking out.

He's Back!

Ethan finally turned back into his super fun, super hungry self on Wednesday. He was really not feeling well for a really long time between the virus, the cold and the teething. He was finally really happy at school this week and has a new friend...Cole. He says Cole all the time now! We have a picture of the 2 of them painting in our room and I couldn't tell what he was saying until I realized he was pointing at the picture. Although I have to say that right after that we looked at the "Wally" book and now sometimes Cole is Wally, but it's all fun. He may have said his first sentence this morning. I swear he said "I throw" after he threw a ball this morning. Steve doesn't agree, but what does he know. It still amazes us how he's starting to communicate and say every word.

We had some entertainment last night with his dancing. The dancing part is nothing new, but this kind of looked like ball room.



I got to relive my teeny-bopper days this morning when I got ridiculously giddy to see NKOTB on the Today show! It was very strange to be waving my arm to Hangin' Tough with a baby in the other arm, but it was a very exciting morning for me. I recorded it so that I can watch it again and again and am now on a mission to get to one of their upcoming concerts. Ethan wasn't sure what to make of how loud I turned up the tv or how excited I was to see them. Since I forced him to stay inside and watch tv with me until their segment was done, we went straight outside at 9. I brought my purse out with me and he got a hold of my Blackberry. He had fun pretending to be an important businessman.

We had a quick visit with Carina who came over between appointments today. She had missed the Today show so I was happy to share with her. Then Ethan and I were off to lunch with Katie and Caleb who we haven't seen in weeks! It was really nice to catch up and Ethan was his super happy self after only a 10 minute nap in the car. He was the greeter saying hi and waving to every customer in line. He ate his whole grilled cheese sandwich and some of his french fries. I ate his cookie. It is nearly impossible to get both of the boys to look at the same time and red eye reduction is completely inadequate unless you're looking right at the camera so the pictures of the boys aren't great but you get the idea. They had a blast running all around and found each other very amusing. It was very exciting for Ethan to see a gigantic Wally.

A Beautiful Mother's Day

It took us 3 hours, but we did make it to The Cape for Mother's Day! We knew we were going to pay for leaving at 3:00 on a Friday afternoon, but I really wanted to get down there so that Ethan could have a normal bedtime. He just wasn't himself this week so I wanted to start the weekend off right for him. I'm not sure 3 hours strapped into his carseat...awake...was really the way to do it. He was a pretty decent trooper and we made it without a total meltdown!

He was happy to take all of the teddy bears off of Grandma Jan's little bench to make himself right at home.



He was in true monkey man form and devoured bananas all weekend long. Auntie Jamie enjoyed helping him stuff his face.



This was a true bonding moment for E and Josh. After not napping all day, he finally fell asleep in the car on the way to Grandpa Cliff's house for a bbq. He was all out of sorts when we arrived, but he chilled with Josh for a while and then they were best friends the rest of the night.



Hey look...a nice picture of us!



Ethan loves to carry bags around. And suck on his finger of course. That thing is never far from his mouth these days. He is getting one of his top front teeth so we're letting it slide...as if we have a choice!



We are still struggling in the self feeding category as you can see. He pretty definitively said "no" today. That was a first and I'm sure it won't be the last! Can he be at that stage already?





It's amazing how hilarious it can be to roll golf balls down a slide at Grandma's house.



Ethan has some pretty fun new words. As a true member of Red Sox Nation, he now knows how to identify and say Wally. He also loves to call GJ's cat "yeow". Do you think that I was able to catch either of those on camera? Oh no. Mr Talkative clams up whenever mom's got the camera. Here his is saying "ball" (or "bow") pretty clearly when I'm trying to get him to say "Wally".





This is the bench that was by the tent on our wedding day so it felt special to sit the little man down where Steve and I sat as very newlyweds. I like how I captured Serious Ethan and Silly Ethan!





It was a really beautiful day and a friend and family filled weekend. It was nice to have Ethan healthy, even if we had to have Steve unhealthy. He spent most of the weekend feeling really bad...I'll spare you the details.

I have to say that I am one lucky woman. Nothing could have prepared me for how much I love being a mom to this little munchkin. This weekend really made me realize how much I love that but also how much I love being a wife, sister, daughter and friend. I have a lot of wonderful people in my life that make me feel special every day. To all of the mom's, grandmom's, and great grandmom's who read this...THANK YOU!!!

A Visit with Grandma and Pop-Pop

I'm sorry for the delay in reporting on Ethan's adventures in Florida. The boys returned late Monday night after a series of delay's and Mr. Bethan came down with a terrible virus on Tuesday. He was a sad little man all week but was almost all the way back to his fun little self yesterday afternoon. He can't seem to shake the low grade fever, but we like to think that maybe that's just because he might actually get more than the 2 crooked half teeth he has now...

Steve and Ethan left last Friday afternoon to visit Grandma Suzanne and Pop-Pop. While Ethan just learned to say "mommy" ("daddy" has been a favorite for a while now) and isn't quite ready for "grandma", he says Pop-Pop like a champ, but with a twist...it's always a whisper. The boys did great on the way down thanks in large part to the portable DVD player and the row of seats that they had to themselves. The weather was great and they got to play on the playground, in the sand and all over the house. Unfortunately Ethan was terrified of the pool. We're not sure what happened between our Christmas visit and now, but he would not go near the pool even with Steve in it. Hopefully we can remedy this come summertime! Last year he was crazy water baby!

Here are the pictures from their adventure...





I love this picture. It looks like he can't figure out how the heck to get inside.



Then he looks back for help...what's up with this you guys?

Saturday night was party night and Ethan was all dressed up in his summer casualwear. I hear he was a big hit with the neighbors.

He has become very interested in his belly and belly button. He also loves when his shirts have something on his belly...as you can see from the next few pictures.

Here are some videos from the beach. He does love the sand! I love how he stays very still while GS buries his legs...