Easter 2008!

We had a great Easter this year! We woke up early, before church, to give Ethan his Easter basket. I guess the Easter Bunny knew how much Ethan loves balloons, because there was one tied to his basket! He sat up in bed, and pointed at the balloon! He also got a little golf club set that he immediately wanted to open. He just likes to drag the golf clubs around with him wherever he goes! After church, we went to brunch at Oakridge Country Club with the family. Ethan met the Easter bunny there, and he was interested in her, though a little nervous. After that, we had an Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's. Ethan wasn't too interested in finding toys and eggs, but he loved being outside! He found a plastic bat, and just dragged it around behind him. After our busy day, we went home and just rested as a family! It was a nice day together and we of course made sure to think about the great blessing of the resurrection in our lives! We love our family and friends so much, we are eternally grateful for the opportunity we have to live with them forever!
Our other big news is that we bought a new car yesterday! We loved the Audi, but we it was an expensive car to maintain. We now have an Acura TSX. It's silver with black interior, and we think it will be perfect and practical for our life right now! Ethan had a great time helping his daddy shop for it. He would run around the dealership showrooms pointing at all of the cars! He was so well behaved, and everywhere we go, people just fall in love with him! Now, I have to get my stuff together for class. Tuesdays are always kind of hard because I have to leave Ethan, but I only have about a month left in this semester and then it's summer break (though I will be doing a few workshops then too)!

Our Little Scare

This last few weeks has been a little bit crazy; we spent some time taking care of Collin and Ian while my parents went to Disneyland, and I've been swamped with school work. But there was one thing in particular that made these few weeks stressful. When I took Ethan in for his one year check up, the doctor felt like he should have an EKG. He has a slight murmur and Collin has heart problems, so they wanted to make sure his murmur was nothing more serious. We got the EKG done that day and the next day the doctor called with the results. She told me that the EKG was showing that Ethan's heart was larger on the left side and that we should meet with specialists at Primary Children's as soon as possible. Naturally, I was really upset when I got off the phone. I didn't know what to do, so I just started to cry. Ethan just snuggled into me, and giggled whenever I'd sob (it sounded like hiccups), because he thought I was playing. When PJ got home from work, we discussed it and decided not to worry too much about it until we met with the Primary Children's doctors and learned what this all meant.
On March 12th we went in to Primary Children's. Ethan was so good that day and all the doctors and nurses said that he was the best baby ever because he was so well behaved. He would just smile at them and he only cried when they were doing his chest X-ray and we had to leave the room. PJ had given him a blessing that morning, and we felt pretty calm going throughout the day. The doctor came into to talk to us after some tests and said that he felt the original EKG was wrong, and Ethan's heart was okay! He said EKG's are not the most reliable, and with the chest X-ray, it looked like he was a healthy boy! He still has a murmur that we'll have to watch, but the doctor thinks it's benign! With this wonderful news, we left the hospital feeling relieved and excited! Our little Ethan has become the joy of our lives and it's such a great thing to know that he will not be limited in the things he wants to do because of his heart!

Ethan's 1st Birthday!

Two days ago, on Monday February 25th, was my little Ethan's first birthday! I cannot believe he's already a year old! This past week I have been very nostalgic thinking about a year ago, when I first held him in my arms. He was so tiny and helpless, it's hard to believe he's the same little boy who's running everywhere and trying to get into everything! We had a party for him on Saturday, and a lot of family and friends came. It meant a lot to both PJ and I that so many people were there to celebrate with us! Sarah, Gary and Aiden came up from Texas, and PJ's family drove down from Logan. We ordered pizza, watched Ethan open presents, and ate cake! The funnest part was watching Ethan eat his cake. I don't think he knew what to do when I wasn't stopping him from making a mess. He went really slowly at first, just putting his hand in the frosting, but when everybody cheered, he started to get into it! He, of course, was spoiled beyond belief! I'm still trying to figure out a place for all of his stuff! I'm not complaining though, I won't have to buy another thing for him until Christmas!
On Monday, his actual birthday, PJ had to work, but I was lucky enough to get to spend the day with him! I got all of my homework done early, so I wouldn't have to think about it, and we played a lot! We decorated the house, which Ethan loves. He will point to the balloons and say "Wow!" We also got him another cake, and my family came over that night to eat dinner, cake, and watch Ethan open a few more presents. It was a nice, relaxing day! Now, I'm back to real life and trying to squeeze in time for everything, but it's okay. I've still got wonderful people who help me everyday, and the best little family I could ask for!

Valentines Day and Aiden's Birthday

We spent the night of Valentine's Day flying on a plane to Texas, so PJ and I celebrated a little early. PJ surprised me by taking me to a comedy club where Joel McHale, the host of The Soup and one of my favorite comedians, was performing! We got to meet him afterwards! It was very fun. and a very nice surprise!
Ethan loved being in Texas because his cool older cousin Aiden was there! Ethan spent most of his time following Aiden around and playing with his toys. Aiden was very good about sharing with him, and they seemed to have a lot of fun together! We, of course, were down there to celebrate Aiden's 5th Birthday with him! We went to Cheesecake Factory on Friday night to celebrate and Chuck e Cheese's on Saturday! Everyone had fun, especially PJ at Chuch e Cheese, where he won over a thousand tickets playing games! He used his tickets to let Aiden pick out a prize. The trip was over too fast, but we're excited for this coming weekend when it will be our Ethan's turn to have a birthday! I can'r believe my baby is almost one, but it's been so fun watching him grow!

Pictures

Ethan on Christmas!




















Our Family at Universal Studios


















Ethan walking around at Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's!

Ethan is almost 1 and walking!

I have been awful at keeping up to date with this blog, but after looking through Niki's, I am inspired to write more! Over the last months Ethan has crawled, then walked, and is now trying to climb everything! We went to Texas two more times (and we're going this Thursday), and to Disney World for Thanksgiving! Disney World was so fun because we got to spend a lot of time with family, but it was also a little overwhelming for Ethan. His first Christmas was so wonderful! It's amazing how much more fun Christmas becomes when you have a child to share it with. He loved opening presents (though he didn't really care about the actual presents themselves). Everyone would cheer for him and he would look up with a huge smile on his face! Two weeks from today my little monkey will turn one, and it's making me feel very nostalgic over the past year and my pregnancy before that. He is growing into such a fun, expressive little boy! he is very busy and loves to play "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," and "If you're Happy and You Know It!" He loves animals, especially our kitties, and spends a lot of time chasing them around the house! He also loves being outside, so I'm excited that we're headed into Spring, so maybe we can go out more (for those of you who don't live in Utah, it has snowed almost nonstop since Christmas)!
Besides that I have been busy with school. I started my masters degree in September and am now in my second semester at Utah State! I love school, and I am so glad that I made the decision to go back, though I fear I underestimated how hard it would be to do school and be a new mother. Luckily, I receive a lot of help and support from family, so I have been able to make it work! PJ started a new job installing Digis internet! It's actually been a job he has wanted forever, but they weren't hiring. The job has been great because he gets paid well, for not a lot of hours! Our little family is doing great, and just enjoying this time in our life! We're excited to go to Texas this weekend for Aiden's birthday! I will try to be better with my posting, but be patient with me!

Back from Texas

So our week in Dallas is already finished. It's amazing to me how fast something goes by when you've been looking forward to it. Ethan was incredible on the plane, he either slept, ate, or was just happy. I don't know if Heavenly Father gave him to me as my son because I couldn't handle a harder baby, but I'm grateful. We stayed at Sarah and Gary's house, which is incredibly nice. We spent the week hanging out, shopping, watching movies, and just being together as a family. It's so rare that we get to do that now, that it was just really nice. Aiden was excited to help out with Ethan, and was incredibly cute with him. We took Ethan swimming for the first time on Thursday, and though he was a little apprehensive, I think he enjoyed it. Posted is a picture of Ethan and Aiden in their matching swimsuits. We came home Friday, and now we're having Collin stay with us for a couple of days. Ian's having surgery and my parents will be at the hospital with him for the most part. So Dallas was a nice getaway for everyone before poor little Ian has to have yet another surgery.