On The Charts

Caden just had his 2 month check-up and we are proud to report he is back on the chart! When he was born he was so big his weight was literally off the chart. Now at 14 lbs. 12 oz. he is in the 99th percentile. He measured at 24 in. long in the 86th percentile and his head was in the 97th percentile.

We are glad he is a healthy boy. We are loving the cute little smiles he is full of lately!

A Law of 3

Apparently when you have 3 chins...

It is time to move up to size 3 diapers!

And now 3 cute smiles from our little linebacker!

Just Me and My Dad - Camping Edition

Clark and Ethan love to read this book. All winter long they have been planning a camping trip, just the two of them, just like the book.

Since Clark has tomorrow off he decided tonight would be the night! And since this is their first expedition Clark decided the back yard was far enough.

The excitement level in our house has been through the roof, you would think Ethan just won the Super Bowl. He has literally been bouncing off the walls, spinning circles on his bum on the kitchen floor, and running around for the last 3 hours just waiting to go in the tent!

All ready for the trek through the grass with his little lantern and of course Brown Dog.

When Clark decided this week was the week I don't think he realized quite how hot it would be. I just checked the weather at 11 pm, it is partly cloudy, 85 degrees - but feels like 96 degrees. It is so warm and miserably humid, but Clark is the best Dad and there is no going back on this promise.

We made yummy camping treat S'mores in the microwave before they headed out.

I got a kiss through the mesh windows and a loud "night night Momma," and now I am enjoying my A/C! This really may be the BEST camping trip EVER!

You gotta LOVE these boys!

Edit: Clark was smart to have their first expedition in the backyard. About 11:30 2 boys came into the house dripping wet with sweat. Apparently the tent/sauna isn't very conducive to sleep. By the end of their expedition Ethan kept saying, "Ee-ee sleep in white home please." Too funny! Still gotta love these boys!

First Road Trip for our Family of Four

Saturday morning we loaded up the Jeep and headed east across the green rolling hills and corn fields of Iowa. After about 3 hours we crossed the mighty Mississippi River and arrived in Nauvoo, Illinois. I was laughing at how full our car was for an overnighter-we probably had more stuff than the pioneers had in their handcarts when they left Nauvoo for their trek all the way to Utah. The drive there was so smooth - Ethan watched Bob the Builder and Caden slept, I started to gain a little confidence that we weren't too crazy taking a 2 year old and a less than 2 month old on a road trip!

We met up with our friends in Nauvoo, ate lunch, and then saw one of the wonderful historic sites before Ethan and Caden had ENOUGH! While the rest of friends visited the sites of Nauvoo we retreated to the hotel for naps and a swim in the pool (Ethan's highlight of the whole trip)!

Ticked he had to get out of the pool.

After our little break we met back up with our friends for dinner and then headed to the pioneer style county fair and the Nauvoo Pageant. It was a lot of fun and the pageant was great despite the heat. The temperature was in the high 90's and super humid so we just sweated the whole night. Ethan soaked his entire shirt within minutes of running around the fair. Poor Caden was a little trooper. We also got to catch up with Sister Hansen (our Mission President's wife) and Jeff Dickamore (who plays Joseph Smith in the pageant) from our mission in Romania.

SO hot!

That night in our hotel we had 2 queen beds so I shared a bed with Caden and Clark shared with Ethan. Ee-ee was thrilled to share a big bed with his Dada! Clark got the short end of the stick on this one. Ethan is quite the thrasher when he sleeps and Clark got a few kicks and feet to the face during the night before Ethan completely thrashed himself right out of the bed onto the floor. Our night ended way too early at that point!

Here is a picture of our whole group at Carthage Jail on Sunday.

Shannon, Tyler, Margaret, Jessica, Bryce, Clark, Caden, Steph, Ethan

I wish I could say our ride home was as peaceful as our ride to Nauvoo! The 3 hour drive took us about 5, but boy was it an adventure.

We started out at Dairy Queen. Since the heat was so intense we had been forcing Ethan to drink a lot of Gatorade and water all day. I was planning on changing his diaper right after we finished eating before we hit the road...well, I was a little too late. While I was chatting with a really cool family visiting from Norway I looked over and Clark had a panicked look on his face. He grabbed the diaper bag and Ethan out of the high chair and ran him outside to the car. As he picked up Ethan I realized his shorts were wet and that there was quite a large puddle on the floor under his high chair...it became quite clear to me, the Norwegian family, and the old man sitting and glaring at the table next to us that Ethan's diaper wasn't doing its job. It was so wet is just stopped working so basically he had an accident all over the Dairy Queen floor. I ran up and told the worker we had a little accident/spill under our table, she asked me if it was water or pop...yeah it is something like that I told her. I had to keep from giggling out loud as I ran out to the car watching the old man stare in horror as the poor employee mopped up our mess! Oh my.

Our 3 hour drive home took about 5 hours with stopping to feed and take care of our cute little Caden who was done! But not all the stops were bad. When we stopped at along the side of the highway next to a train track a train came by and Ethan was thrilled!

We also drove the 6 miles off the highway to Eldon, Iowa to see the home that was in the painting American Gothic.

There is a Visitor's Center there where you can borrow farm clothes and a pitchfork to re-enact the painting. Unfortunately, we got there 30 mins. after it had closed and since no one was there to take our picture we balanced our camera on park benches and tried our own re-enactment.

This next one is my favorite. Ethan was so tired and sick of driving he was quite uncooperative. The camera caught Ethan's beloved Brown Dog in mid air getting ready to wack Clark on the head.

I told Ethan and Caden to put on their best serious faces in front of the little wire house. They listened!

Well by our 5th pit stop we were all getting a little loopy! That is when the real laughing started. Here is the little bug we found on our rearview mirror.

All in all it was a fun trip with my little family of four and our wonderful friends! Nauvoo really is a special place - I loved it as a little girl visiting my grandparents when they served a mission there, I loved it as a teenager visiting again when my grandma served her second mission there, I loved it as I lived there as a student for a semester, I loved it visiting with Clark before we had kids, and I still love it with a 2 year old and 2 month old in tow!

Deleted Scenes:

This was our last 45 mins. on the road. Not even a Thomas movie could keep Ethan happy, so we kept him going by singing the whole way home. He was so tired his words were slurring, I had to get a few little videos. (Watch at your own risk).

Motherhood

Everyday I am grateful for the 2 little boys that Heavenly Father has entrusted to my care. I love being a mom. The last 6 weeks transitioning to have a new baby in the family have been wonderful, hard, joyous, overwhelming, exhausting and sometimes comically unglamourous.

Today when Ethan decided it was time for him to use the toilet for the first time, of course Caden was screaming. So I was holding Caden and trying to hold Ethan from falling in the toilet (which he did twice) and I just had to laugh at myself - because it is moments like this that no baby expert book can prepare you for.

Anyway, I accidentally stumbled on to this video today and it was perfect for me to hear right now. It helps put the sleepless nights and my messy house into perspective! For all of you mommas out there I hope it makes you smile today too!

A Fun Week of Firsts

Clark took his first board exam and survived.

Ethan saw his first movie in a theater, Toy Story 3, both boys did surprisingly well and Ethan loved it! Last night in his bedtime prayer he was thankful for mama, dada, and the movie.

Caden got to go to his first I Cubs baseball game Weds. night. He slept through the first 8 innings. Ethan loved all the attention that people sitting around us were giving him (including 2 baseballs). The weather was perfect, it really was a perfect way to spend the evening. So great, we decided to go again tonight!

Ethan ran his first official race. Last Saturday, as part of the 4th of July festivities, Clark ran a 5K. After his race they had a race called the "Tot Trot" for the little ones. Ethan was seriously excited to be in a race! This kid has been racing from the time he could walk, he has one speed and it is turbo charged. He loves to race down the driveway, race up the stairs, race from the kitchen to the living room always yelling, "ready, steady, go!"

He lined up at the starting line with Clark and I was standing at the finish line. When they said "go" he started leisurely galloping towards me with a huge grin on his face! When he got about 10 feet from me, he realized he was going to have to stop so he veered to the right and ran away from me. Luckily, he saw the girl handing out popsicles to all the kids so he did eventually stop.

We attempted to catch a few of Caden's first smiles on camera. This video is as good as I could get. There is a little smile at the beginning and the end.

Ethan handled his first sparkler (with a little help).

Clark looks a little nervous!

And for me, well I did manage to sleep one 5 hour stretch this week for the first time in a long time...and that was just delightful!

My li'l Man

When it is just me and the 2 little ones getting from the house out to the car looks a lot like chaos. I'm usually carrying the baby seat with the crying Caden and all of our necessary bags and trying to usher Ethan out in front of us. If it happens to be a day when Ethan hasn't had much outside time he usually takes off 100 mph and starts running laps around the yard. He somehow always manages to get into dirt or mud and then I have to wet wipe him down before we can get in the car. Sometimes it is a 15 min. process to get in the car, which is fine, unless we are running late and I'm in a hurry.

The other day we were running late for a meeting at the church. Before I opened the door I told Ethan I really needed him to help me and go straight to the car. He looked at me and said, "Ee-ee be a men Mommy." He then did his little straight legged march straight to the car the whole time chanting "Ee-ee be a men!"

I have no idea where he learned the term, "be a man," but now when I need him to be obedient all I have to say is, "I need you to be a man Ethan." He gets so excited and starts marching and chanting and follows directions! It is hilarious!

This morning he was marching around singing his "Ee-ee be a men" song and I caught it on video.

One Year Older And Wiser Too

Today we celebrated Clark turning 27! Clark celebrated in the clinic on rotations and last minute studying for his board exam which is tomorrow morning! Luckily for Clark we are celebrating his birthday everyday this week...the real party starts tomorrow at noon after the test...yahoo!

In case you wanted to be here to sing "Happy Birthday," and blow out/spit out the candles I'm posting the video below so you can sing along with us!

It was so hard for Ethan to wait for his Dada to get home tonight, especially with all of his birthday presents sitting on the kitchen table. I'm still amazed they remained wrapped all day. Ethan was also very excited to help me make the cake. And help he did...

A little sprinkling mishap.

Enjoying the cake, it took some convincing that a chocolate cake is just as good as a Thomas the train cake.

Caden loving his first birthday party!

We sure do love you Clark!

Ducks, Bees, and Glo-Worms

Living with a 2 year old reminds me daily of how fun the simple things are in life. I had forgotten how much fun it is to feed ducks, chase bouncy balls and decorate the driveway with sidewalk chalk. He is constantly making us laugh with the his crazy antics.

I LOVE this little smile.

We got a good laugh at how his head is too big for his hat, Clark says it looks like a "Grandpa hat."

He loves the little rhyme/game that Clark plays with him: "There was an old bee that lived in a barn and all he could say was buzzzzzzzzz...sting-o." It is fun to hear the connections he makes, a few weeks ago instead of saying "bee" he said, "there was an old "A." He is into letters lately and apparently when he hears "bee" he is thinking "b." Today I caught him doing it to Caden, (by the time I pulled out the camera he was sting-oed right out and a little hyper.

And on a random side note, today I noticed how much swaddled babies look like glo-worms, he just needs the little green cap.