E is for...

I'm so proud of my little guy. He has learned his letters and sounds and can even recognize a few words. One word he recognizes is his name Ethan. He knows E is for Ethan... When he sees an E, he says, "E, Ethan." Now he not only says "E, Ethan" he says," E for Ethan and Emma." Yep, you guessed it! Emma Joy Newman is the name we are planning to give to our little girl.

Farewell and Goodbye!

After 2 years I'm saying goodbye to the Maggelet Family. As most of you know, I taught privately for a family homeschooling a few of their kids. After 5 years of teaching public school I had to make a decision, either continue to work part time and put Ethan into day care or accept this interesting offer from Crystal. It really was a no brainer... I got to continue to teach and best of all I was able to bring Ethan with me, so no babysitters. It was a lot of fun getting to know the family better. I taught 3 of their 4 kids in public school and I also had the opportunity to teach the same kids at their home these past 2 years.

It was an amazing opportunity that I had to walk away from. Within the next month my little girl will be born making this situation too difficult to continue. I'll miss the Maggelets and the girls and I know Ethan will miss the girls and the balls he had so much playing with, but it is time to say goodbye. Scott seems to think I'll be bored here at home, I'm sure he's right, but this is for the best right now. Now I get to prepare for my new little one and continue being a mom to Ethan.

The Great Outdoors!

It has been perfect spring weather lately and Ethan begs daily if not all the time to go outside. He sits by the sliding glass door and tries so hard to get it open. He watches neighborhood kids jump on their trampolines and wants to play with the guys, has he calls them. Too bad they are a little too old for him. He loves to help outside with Scott. Usually Ethan just shovels dirt into a bucket, but it is loads of fun for him.

Ethan's first sprinkler/water toy. I think he rather just play with the ball. He absolutely loves his new swimsuit and was begging me for the longest time to wear it. He had to wait until it got warm enough to turn the water on.

Ethan helping daddy.

Planting pumpkins!

Mine!

Ethan has learned a new word... "mine." Everything is "mine" now.

• My spot
• My trike
• My bed
• And my favorite... He was looking outside and saw a bird, his response... "Hey bird, that's my grass!"

I have to say, I'm loving this talking thing.

Being a mom...

So I know, Mother's Day was last week, but I finally have time to write. Mother's Day was wonderful. Spent the day going to church and visiting family. My favorite moment was to hear Ethan say to me, "Happy Mother's Day." He has no clue what that means, but to hear my baby say something so special to me, just melted my heart.

Being a mother has been something I wanted ever since I was a little girl. When I finally had Ethan, my life changed. I have moments in my life that stands out to be the most memorable... ie.. graduation, marriage... having my first baby. Motherhood is hard. I never realized how hard until I brought Ethan home from the hospital and didn't sleep more than a few hours for the first 2 weeks. I never been so exhausted or overwhelmed in my life. Things got easier. I've been blessed with a little boy with a sweet, sensitive and shy personality. Tough in social situations, but so loving and obedient at home. Here I was thinking, oh, I can do this.

No, it hasn't been easy, but it has been so much fun watching Ethan grow and develop. He is learning new words and phrases daily. He surprises me what he comes up with next. This was what being a mother is like. Watching what I put my whole heart and soul into and seeing the reward. I am blessed to be Ethan's mom and I can't wait to see him be a big brother in a few weeks and see how he handles that role.

Life is good. This is what I always wanted. Ethan, I love being your mommy and hearing your sweet voice and seeing your adorable, mischievous smile even if it is 6:00 in the morning. I love you, baby!

Temples

A few weeks ago the lesson for nursery must have been temples. Ethan now recognizes pictures of temples and loves the "temple song" as he calls it or "I love to see the Temple". I'm glad he is finally learning something from church. Last night Ethan was overly tired and I held him and sang the temple song and he calmed down immediately. Very cute!

All Lubed Up!

That is Ethan and that is lotion all over his hands and arms. He likes putting lotion on like his mommy. This time he did it himself. He found my lotion and gave himself a very generous amount of lotion. What is funny is he went back for more after I wiped off the lotion. At least he didn't slime everything in the process.

Travelin' Man Update

Herndon, Virginia (2)
New York City
Dallas, Tx
Boston, Mass.
Schaumburg, IL
Toronto, Canada (2)
Mexico City, Mexico
Amsterdam, Netherlands

A question I am asked all the time is, "how do you do it?" Meaning... How can I watch Scott go away so often. Trust me, it isn't easy. I would love it if Scott had a 9-5 job and comes home to me every night, but right now that isn't happening. Having him gone is something that I've got used to. It is part of my life right now. He has been doing this traveling job for almost 2 years now. It definitely has it ups and downs. Ups... he's home when he isn't working. I mean home, doesn't have to go to work. The pay is nice; this allows me to be a stay at home mom, for the most part. Downs... He's gone, of course. He misses out on being a dad sometimes and going to extended family outings.

He was able to go Amsterdam this past week. It was a long week and I know he is very tired. He isn't even home yet. Check out his blog (found on my blog list on the side) he included some pictures and some things he did. I'm looking forward having him home. There is something about him going international that I don't like. I guess if he is in the U.S. he feels closer. Probably because I can call him and there isn't an 8 hour time difference.

There are more travel to come for Scott, but I look forward having him home this next week.

Our Week in Review

Wow, what a week. I could have post many entries this week, but I'm going to try to fit it all in one. First of all, Scott was home this past week and I'm so grateful that he was. Tuesday I threw my back out. At first it was just an annoyance, but by the evening and into Wednesday I had a hard time moving. All I did was pick up Ethan, my 30 lb. bag of potatoes... That was enough to break the this girl's back... Thank goodness it is getting better, but I came to realize that this will be a continuous problem until the end of my pregnancy. I'm carrying the baby low, putting more pressure on my lower back and my hips. I often go to bed in pain because of just living and trying to be a mother. I'm very thankful for Scott, without him, this last week would have caused me to break down, which I did the other day. I feel horrible seeing Scott work so hard while I sit by and watch. Scott hasn't shown anything but remorse and wants me to take care of myself. Putting more pressure on Scott to complete things around the house, inside and out, that I could be doing. I'm so grateful for an understanding husband that is willing to work hard.

On Thursday, we finally got our shed. It is so exciting! We've been looking at sheds and wishing for one for the past 3 years. We don't have a basement so storage space is hard to find. We found a company, thanks to our neighbors, that was a reasonable cost and they can come and build the shed all in 1 day. Scott spent time on Friday cleaning out the garage and putting everything into the shed. It is so nice to walk into the garage and fit between both cars without wiping my tummy on the dirty cars. Plus we still have a ton of room left in the shed.

We are going to paint it, eventually. We are thinking of painting it gray to match the house. Here is picture of our garden area that Scott worked on this week. It was pretty much covered with weeds and had rocks instead of woodchips. Scott worked all day Monday finishing this up. We have strawberries planted on one corner and we've already planted some tomatoes and peppers on another corner and the middle will be my pumpkins.

So if you think that was enough for one week, Scott also put the chair rail up in the baby's nursery, planted flowers, and was a dad. He has been busy and now he is off and traveling again this week. I'm so lucky to have a wonderful husband who loves his family and isn't afraid to work hard.