old pics, including ethan a few minutes old

Saturday before Memorial day

Playing in the stream coming out of the pipe.

Memorial day. Of course it's freezing and pouring.  One of the last pics of baby brother inside of me.  I had no idea he would be born a week later

Tucker pointing out a sea anenome

The hike back to the car

Whitney was throwing a fit, saying she wanted banana fish when I offered her a banana or a fish cracker.  Papa shoved the fish into the banana and gave it to her.  She thought that was funny

The pic Whitney drew when she didn't want Papa to know what she was drawing.  It was a portrait of "pokey papa"

Ethan minutes old in the NICU

Hours old in the NICU recovering from the whole ordeal

Our newborn

Whitney putting noodles on Tucker's plate of french fries while in the hospital visiting Mommy

Visiting baby Ethan for the first time.  Jeremy, can't you cut nasty swollen Mommy out of the pic????!!!  Ethan one day old

Eating a pickle in the hospital cafeteria

Whitney holding Baby Ethan just before we took him home from the hospital as a family

The dirt pile when it was first created

Ethan three days old at home

T:

I heard Tucker run into the bathroom the other day.  He exclaimed "oh!  You're right Whitney!  I DO have a beard!"  That is what they say to each other when they have food on their faces after a meal.  They have learned to wash it off.  Tucker is a little better at washing it off than Whitney.

Tucker learned how to rinse and put his dish in the dishwasher.  I love this new skill, although it comes with a little supervision because the reason he wants to do it is so he can use the spray nossle on the sink.  BUT he does have the skill.

Tucker absolutely loves holding and cuddling baby brother.  He also likes to take him to his bed and pick out the next diaper.  I didn't realize the diapers have alternating Disney charactors, including Goofy and Donald, two of his favorite.

I love how Tucker says "Oh THANK YOU" when someone helps him.

He did a bunch of cooking with Papa today.  All those hours of pouring have come in handy.  He is very good at measuring out liquids.  He measured out teaspoons and tablespoons of various liquids and did an excellent job of it.  Jeremy did it, otherwise I wouldn't have let him do it, but he is most excellent at filling it to the right amount.

He hates the sound of our new blender.  Funny.  This one seems less piercing and loud to me, but maybe I'm deaf to that noise because he runs out of the room and tells me to wait until he's out in order to turn it on.

Today they were playing Batman and princess.  The princess was walking Batman through her garden.  Batman commented on how beautiful her garden was.

He also noticed a bunch of flowers that had been picked by someone and stuck into the sand when we were at the beach yesterday.  He walked by and said "oh how BEAUTIFUL!".

Someone commented on how they liked his toes while we were in public.  I was mortified but Tucker took it with grace and told them they were blue.  yes.  That's right.  I need to take that nail polish off when he is sleeping.  He didn't want me to cut off his blue when I trimmed his nails the other day.

He has gotten to the point where you have to read all the parts of the book.   He has several memorized and will tell me that I need to read the parts I tried skipping over.

W:

Will touch lots of things that Tucker won't have anything to do with.  She touched an inch worm and a turtle the other day, both of which Tucker enjoyed observing from a distance.  I'm more of a from a distance person, too.

She is very good at drawing tulips, daisies, suns and people at this point.  She is also getting very good at coloring in the lines.

The best part of having baby brother around now is how much book reading time she gets in these days.  She usually goes to pick out books and lets me read to her while Tucker plays with Fiery Flynn or Cheep Cheep (one of many birds that Tucker has plucked off the mobile my mom painstakingly created and hung from the ceiling.  You don't want to know how the birds get down).  That adds up to about 2 hours minimum of book reading she gets a day.  We need to go to the library more often these days.  They found the Franklin books and Whitney wants to read them all.  Jeremy doesn't particularly care for those franklin books. They are not my favorite, either.

E:

Continues to eat and sleep.  He is usually awake in the day for two long periods during the morning and evening at some point.  I don't get how someone so little can stay awake for two bouts of about 2 hours each day.  I keep trying to get him to regulate his awake time to spread out through the day, but whatever.  At least it is during the day he is awake.  If he is awake at night he has had the courtesy of not crying unless he is hungry.  Good thing.  This mama has realized she is too old for this gig.

He is starting to hold his head up just a bit for a few seconds on his stomach. 

He is starting to coo.

He continues to laugh and smile in his sleep, and sometimes during waking moments.

He loves to snuggle.

He reminds me of Tucker, but has a definitive Ethan look.

He is really good at pooping and going through 2-3 diapers a feeding time.  He poops to make room for food and poops after eating.  Seriously, Ethan.

Makes for a lot of diapers on the front porch.  I fully do not believe in diaper pails and put them in a bag hanging from our screen door handle.  I throw the full bag out once a day, after bedtime.  Apparently this grosses out every friend and family member of mine.  EVERYBODY comments on it.  One neighbor of mine did have the best comment.  "Oh! You have a baby!  You have diapers on the front porch. Most people put out balloons, but you put out diapers"  Whatever.  Hold your breath and no visitors that don't love us will be bringing their germs around.

W and T

Love playing Thomas games.  Thomas is real.  When Tucker watches Thomas episodes, it's like it's a football game.  He shouts out things like "Oh no!  What's going to happen???!! What's going to happen?!"  They like playing Creaky Cranky lots right now.  I'll show  a pic of that later.

Random thoughts

My hubby liked a saying that someone told him a few years back. It's something along the lines of:  there are always three points of view.  Yours, mine and the truth.  It strikes me how that is so in some of their conversations.  One time we passed a house that was under construction.  Whitney pointed out that "they are building a house, Mom, just like Lowly (from the richard scarry books)" at the same time Tucker pointed out "Look Mom! a potty".  Both things were true and present on the lot, but they noticed different things.  Like the watermelon today.  They had a big discussion about the color of watermelon.  Whitney insisted they were green and Tucker insisted they were red.  Sigh.  I guess this is why marriage is so fantastically difficult at times.

Speaking of which, has anyone read the book "Flap your Wings" by PD eastman? It is a children's book that I can't really read to Tucker and whitney because it makes me laugh so hard.  They look at me like I'm weird and get frustrated that I take so long to read a page.  It makes me laugh because of  how the different views of child rearing between men and women are protrayed.

reality hits. hard.

making owls and birds with grandma.  check out ice cream maker on the side.  Totally works

snuggle nap with aunt B

photo op, 2 weeks old

photo op 2 weeks old.  Reminds me of a pose of tucker when he was 2 months old

smile

ok!

Whitney found a sunny spot and sat down.  Don't blame her

crab plates they made that they used for dinner that night

Mommy and Ethan at the beach, but in the shade.  Too hot for Ethan, this WA sun

First real bath after cord dried up

another craft project done with grandma. 

W and T:

They invented some new outside games.  Like sledding down the dirt pile and being birds in the rhody bush.  the whole thing was shaking.

E:  He keeps laughing and smiling in his sleep. Neighs like a horse

for the paparazzi

Making squirrel and bird treats with Grandma An and Aunt Hannah

Throwing the Frisbee to Papa

Ethan during craft time

Ethan playing Frisbee, sunbathing WA style

Tucker removing the nail polish from W and Mommy's toes.  He's actually very adept at it

Whitney removing her OWN nail polish

Another use for sleds

Heavy duty pools

climbing into the pool

Tucker explaining his father's day craft to Papa.  "Look!  There is candy in there, Papa!  Look!"  He gave him Reese's pieces with a sign that said "I love you to pieces"

Whitney giving Papa her "papa rocks" coaster with rocks that she collected.  It's their shared hobby, collecting rocks

swinging baby Ethan.  Tucker's dolly is waiting in line

Each of their babies is in the swing and they are swinging it "really high"

Baby birds in their eggs on the playground



For Auntie Jill and Dad

Aunt B snuggle play

 

Tucker chucking 10 pound dive weights around

Whitney holding Ethan

Tucker holding Ethan

The week with Grandma Kim:

Strawberry picking:  Between everyone, 2 flats of strawberries were picked.  Aunt B was the most focused.  T and W picked baskets worth and gave the baskets filled to Grandma.  They liked going under Grandma's tunnel (through her legs).  Tucker wouldn't pick dirty strawberries.  I guess they were defects.

All adventures include bathroom adventures.  Tucker didn't want to use the honey pot.  Whitney started calling them honey pots.  Tucker supervised Whitney in the honey pot and at the hand washing station.

On the way home from the strawberry patch, Aunt B got out of her seat belt.  Definitely against the rules.  She heard about it from Tucker all the way home.

Crafts:  Grandma came prepared with crafts.  They made sharks, jellyfish, crabs, masks and mobiles.  Grandma mostly made the mobiles.  Put them up on the ceiling and everything.  The next morning I heard them planning on how to get those birds down.  Whitney told Tucker she couldn't reach them. Tucker said he could, if he could get on her bed.  He reached up and ripped one off, probably by jumping off the bed to do it.  Then Tucker didn't have a bird.  So Whitney politely gave him permission to rip another bird off of Grandma's mobile.  Then Mommy didn't have one.  Anyway, even though there are three birds ripped off, they have had a lot of fun playing with those birds.  Grandma put them on sticks and they are even more popular.

Going for a walk:  T and W don't particularly like going for walks, especially around the neighborhood.  Only Ethan gets roped into those walks.  He likes looking at trees moving in the wind.  But on a walk they went at a park.  They found lots of banana slugs and could dig in the sand at the end destination, so it wasn't a half bad walk. 

Yummy treats:  Cookies, ice cream, brownies, frozen yogurt.  And a pound of chocolate for Mommy that Ethan didn't like so much.  Darn it.  No chocolate for Mommy unless Mommy wants a fussy baby.  Rats and more rats.  but then, maybe eating a pound of chocolate in a week isn't good for anyone. hah!

Aunt B:  Took them  to the park and found lots of caterpillars and slugs.  Tucker told me about that about 20 times in a row about how "Aunt B said 'Tucker!  Watch where you are stepping'"  And he also prayed that night how he was thankful to "play with his friends" and "for the treats I ate".  Aunt B took them to the store and let them pick out a treat.  Definitely a thing for an aunt to do.

Beach and kayaking:  It was a beautiful day and I was so tired of missing out on all the outings.  So I decided to go with everyone to the beach, too.  It might have been a bit much for me and Ethan.  Still debating about the wisdom of that.  But it was also lovely to be in the sun.  I watched as Tucker splashed and jumped with Jeremy in the water, Whitney freak out about the plethora of dead fish on the shore (I had to agree with her on that one), Grandma kayak with T and W, and Aunt B hold Ethan in the shade.  He was pretty warm, so we thought he'd like a dip in the lake with just his feet.  Not so much.  But he isn't sick, even though Mina I(originally from Mexico) is certain he will catch his death with those behaviors.

Naps:  Mommy took a nap every day and pretty much stayed home.  Boring, but very necessary.  But I also got to snuggle Ethan lots and take a snuggle nap most days with Ethan.  He likes it!  And so do we.

Ethan continues to be adorable, snuggly and most days his alert times are in the day.  He tolerated his photo ops of changes of clothes fairly well.  He likes to smile and laugh in his sleep.  Or the chocolate effects are cute in his sleep.....  He has lots of cute poses and faces that we can't quite capture. 

One time I was putting him down and he raised his index finger and arm above his head, as if he was saying "Wait!  I still want your attention!"

Grandma An:

Park every day!:  I took naps or took Ethan to the doctor's every day while Tucker and Whitney got to go to different parks.  Ethan had four doctor visits in one week.  Why do they do it?  The favorite park was the beach park.  They got to dig in the sand and watch the tractor add more sand to the park.  New sand feels a bit crunchy.

Library:  They checked out the big down town library for the first time and picked out books that were in English and Japanese, plus lots of papa books.

Crafts:  They made the cutest father's day crafts.  See above.  My favorite one is the foot print one.  Not sure if Jeremy appreciated them, but I sure did.

Ethan weighed 7 lbs 3.5 oz on june 14.  No problems with eating.  He got his tongue clipped as one of the doctors appointments.

Both grandmas cooked and cleaned so mommy could heal.  Thank heavens!

Tucker likes to play gas can in the bathtub. He fills up the empty bubble bath container with water then inserts my hospital mug straw, then puts the straw in the boat to "put the gas in". He can also drag the kayaks about 10 feet (one at a time).

Ethan hates the cold, diaper changes and his arms stuck in a blanket.  Just like Whitney. 

W,E,T updates

Ethan's first home bath

getting dressed after bath

Getting hair brushed

Tucker was being very gentle, contrary to popular belief held by Ethan

Picnic bottle

Best chalk footprint of Whitney's.  She stepped in wet chalk, then on the driveway.

Papa helping her foot get enough chalk

W:

Whitney likes to draw faces on the white board.  One day she was in the office and wouldn't "tell papa what I'm drawing".  She drew a pic of pokey Papa.  Jim has it on his Iphone.  Maybe I'll get it sent and connected to this post.  She draws faces and people all over the driveway with chalk, too.

When Tucker plays batman, she plays princess.

She generally likes baby Ethan.  The first day he was home from the hospital, though, was  a major awakening for all of us.  W commented that baby Ethan "is happy a little and cries a lot".

Once we started getting more used to having him around (and Grandma and Aunt Hannah were here to play with them), she started making comments like "He is SO CUTE!", cuddling his toes and rubbing his head.  Occasionally she wants to hold him.  She also noted his cute nails.

Baby Ethan gave them presents when he got home from the hospital.  Whitney got a magna doodle.  She really, really likes that thing.  She has spent hours drawing on it.  The first night she drew an "E for Ethan".  She came up with that on her own.  She also used the triangle magnet to draw spikes for a dinosaur. 

Another night they were playing trains with Papa. He made a figure 8 track using some plastic Tupperware to hold the track above the other.  Whitney grasped the concept and used her blocks to support the train tracks on either side of the container with the right amount of block.

One night before bed Whitney told me "Ethan loves us because we help him". 

I showed her how to not touch the part of the binki that goes in Ethan's mouth.  She totally honed in on the germ thing.  She is very careful in handling the binki.  She likes to give Ethan his binki, too.  One night I was trying to hold him off a few minutes so I could finish bedtime with the big kids.  I let Ethan suck on my finger.  Boy, was that a no- no.  I got told I was giving Ethan my germs.  Yep, you are right, Whit.

The first night I was home from the hospital, Whitney asked me to sing the "I'm so glad when Mommy comes home" song.  A little adapted to show that she missed me.
E:

A very good eater.  He can slurp down 2-2.5 oz bottles in about 5 minutes.  At his 5 day check up, he had only lost 1% of his birth weight.  At his 12 day check up he was at 7 lbs 3.5 oz.  Eating?  No prob, Mom.  He was in the NICU for a little less than 48 hours after his birth for a temperature, not breathing and no tone.  Apparently the only thing going for him was his heart rate.  Whatever.  I think he was just pooped from all that long labor business.  It's his own fault he was tired and didn't have any energy for anything else.  All that stuff he had, I felt I had too, with him.  He livened up quickly, though, and started drinking plenty of fluid (see above), so he was discharged about 9 hours after me.  Way easier than 3 weeks in the NICU. 

He is also a fairly good sleeper and a calm baby thus far.  Granted, he is a newborn and just loves sleeping in general, but he doesn't fuss when Tucker and Whitney want to snuggle him or play with his feet and likes to play "peek a boo" with them for short periods of time.   Halleluh!  I'll take it for however long it lasts.  Probably not long.

He also can have long alert periods, longer than I thought possible for newborns.  Thank heavens thus far they are usually during the day or early evening.  He usually goes back to sleep after eating at night.

I should have known he would have been born around 9 pm.  He was always the most alert between 8:30 and 9:30 pm when he was inside me, too. 

He's a good little snuggler.  Either he has lots of gas or already likes to make facial grimaces that look like smiles. 

He is good at going potty on himself, too.  Once he got himself in the eye.  Cried about that.  Another time he got himself in the cheek, but he was also hungry and so was mouthing his hand like crazy.  He accidently got some of the "moisture" on his hand and sucked it up thinking it was milk I guess, but was really mad about the new taste.  Don't blame him.  That was really gross, Ethan.

Once he got rested up from all that being born, he has been happy and healthy.

T:

Tucker has remembered the food and the visits.  He told me about how he got a lollypop the day he stayed with my friend while I was in labor.  Whitney told me about the braids she got in her hair.

He also remembered about a week later going to the hospital to visit me and baby Ethan.  He was looking at my drinking mug two days ago and pointed to it, "there is the hospital!".  He got lots and lots of treats while I was in the hospital.  But amazingly, Jeremy also fed them lots of healthy snacks, too, and kept them fairly well on their sleeping schedule.  Thank heavens!

The first time Tucker came to visit me in the hospital, he was getting over a cold, so he couldn't go see baby Ethan in the NICU like Whitney could.  No prob.  He walked into my room, said hi to me and then patted my stomach and said "Hi baby brother!"  Nothing like honesty.  Then we had to have a whole discussion about how baby brother is no longer in Mommy's tummy (even though it looks like it).  I showed him how he could press on it really hard and nothing kicked back.  So they smashed in their stomachs, too, to show there are no babies in it.  Although, Whitney seems convinced there is a baby sister in there now.

Tucker has only asked to hold baby Ethan once or twice, but likes it when Ethan watches him do stuff.  He also likes to smile at Ethan.

Tucker has started a new thing.  Blaming things on "baby Tucker".  If something got wrecked or drawn on, then it was baby Tucker that did it. 

Tucker got Fiery Flynn as an addition to his Thomas tracks from Ethan.  Um... No one is allowed to play with Fiery Flynn.  Jeremy noted that Thomas is like Woody and Fiery Flynn is like Buzz.  Yep.  Thank heavens for Thomas that there is Whitney.  Since Thomas got set aside by Tucker, Whitney now has a train to play with.  She plays with Thomas and another train (could be James one minute or Gordon the next) while Tucker plays with Fiery Flynn.  It's not Flynn.  It's Fiery Flynn.  No nicknames, please.

Oh yeah.  I also had forgotten all about the tree guys.  They came at their scheduled time, the next morning after Ethan was born.  Hah!  Apparently one more thing for Jeremy to do while home with the kids.  It ended up being great, though.  I had asked them to leave the wood chips for our yard.  Um, yeah.  Tucker and Whitney have been playing on that pile for the last two weeks.  For hours and hours.  I think Tucker might be a bit allergic, though.  It really set off his asthma for a few days, but he's adjusted.

Tucker also has had fun playing with water in Papa's SCUBA bins, making footprints with their barefoot feet wet in the water or with chalk on them, making circle prints with the sieve while wet, looking at catepillars while at the park or on Papa's shoulders on the back deck, throwing the Frisbee around, giving peanuts to the squirrels, and playing batman with his baby blanket Grandma Kim made.

W and T:

We had a first episode of things happening while Mommy is tied up with nursing.  There were dry erase markers out, unbeknownst to Mommy.  We now have a green Tucker drawing of lines and a green Whitney drawing of a face on the carpet.  Hmmmm.  Guess Whitney will have to move into her new room and her bed will always be in the same spot.

While they were at the park one day, they found a new game.  They were running barefoot, but with their jackets on.  A compromise of what is and isn't summer.  Anyway,  They took turns holding each other's hood like a leash and the other crawling around.   They were pretending to give their doggie a walk.  Pretty cute.

They also showed a park playmate the "button" game.  There is a large circle that has the brand name of the playground equipment brand at the bottom of the slide.  Tucker and Whitney always "push the button" and then the other other one slides down the slide.  They showed another girl how to play with them, so the three of them could take turns.  It was pretty cute. 

Papa got them more sand toys, including a plastic wagon each.  The thought was that they could help move wood chips to the back yard.  But they got otherwise distracted.  They have built ramps in the dirt pile, as well as steps and ovens to make all sorts of games.  They call the wagon game "red wobble"  I don't get it, but it does involve parking the wagon.

Once we ate at the hospital café as a family.  I was having a hard time moving then, so I wanted Tucker to come to me to share some of my food.  No success.  My own rules bit me in the butt.  They couldn't stand up in their chairs to reach, because that was dangerous.  They couldn't get down to come around and get a bite because that meant that their tummies were full and happy (something I enforce because I hate cleaning).  Aaggghh!  but I guess I'm glad they understand.

I think I'll upload pictures later because they are really slow in uploading right now, but there you have it.

Oh yeah.  My brother Scott was visiting the night I went in labor.  You can ask him about his adventures in navigating the roads around here.  But he didn't miss his plane, even though I was in labor when I was supposed to be taking him to the airport.  Details.