Vitamin E Deficiency

I have discovered that I have a major vitamin 'E' deficiency. Well, more like an imbalance. I am getting plenty, if not an overdose, of vitamin E1, but hardly any of the equally important vitamin E29. Have I seen a doctor about this you ask? No, actually that's the problem... Don't worry, I'll be okay. It just makes me pretty tired and irritable. And when I do get any vitamin E29 it seems like I don't take advantage of it, because I am distracted by all the vitamin E1 in my system. I'm really looking forward to this next week of vacation where I'll be able to dilute some of my E1 and concentrate on E29 a bit.

(I guess an overdose of E1 can't be too bad a thing... he's pretty charming.)

P.S.Thanks for the Christmas clothes Grandma Ursic!

Reading Time

Ethan got some blankets and snuggled himself in the chair yesterday. He was being pretty funny, so I tried to catch a minute on video. I need an invisible camera so he doesn't get distracted. I love how he gives the book a hug and then pretends to read it. So cute! if I do say so myself... :)

Ethan Tree

Ethan looks so excited every time he goes for our Christmas tree. I feel bad every time I have to tell him "don't touch". So last night I pulled out our little tree (courtesy of Grandma Ursic) and Ethan and I decorated it with his toys. He got such a kick out of it I think he forgot about the big one. We'll see how long that lasts.

That's why we had him!

Yesterday after church Eric found Ethan finally doing something productive. Ethan found the mop in the laundry room and dragged it over to the entryway to clean. This is quite impressive considering that I hardly ever clean the floors when he's awake. I didn't think he even knew what that mop was for.

Go Cougars!

I was surprised to find out just how many of my friends here in Spokane are Ute fans. So I feel kind of bad posting about how GREAT the game was! And I just want you to know that it is all Eric's doing. He single handedly (or footedly) won the game for BYU with his awesomely loud bleacher stomping during the Utah plays.

Thanks Uncle Steve for the great tickets!

This is a bad picture, but it's the best angle we could get with the cougar. It was super crowded.Eric wanted to rush the field, but we were trapped in by the old folks surrounding our seats.

Thanksgiving

Sorry, I've fallen behind with the blogging. I just haven't been feeling it lately. Ethan's sick... again. And when he's not happy... nobody gets any computer time.

We went to Utah for Thanksgiving. Ethan and I were there a week, but Eric just flew down for the weekend.

My brother-in-law Ryan had the great idea of making festive hats to get us in the Thanksgiving mood. They turned out really cute.

"why'd you steal my land mommy?"

I think Ryan was a little surpriesd at how willing we were to wear silly hats for dinner.

Ethan loves spending time with Uncy Sam. He cried when Sam left the room and followed him everywhere. Sam was great with him.

It was freezing, but we had a lot of fun playing at the park across the street.

It was fun strewing Grandma's kitchen utensils around the house for a change.

A peek into my day

Ethan opened a few boxes from the cabinet and decided to reorganize. I captured a few minutes on my camera and I thought I'd post it for those of you who don't get to see him very often.

Please excuse the diaper, he took his pants off earlier.

Gettin' my play on...

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the children's museum downtown. It was a lot like the one we went to in Seattle, only a lot smaller. However, there were plenty of buttons to push to keep Ethan happy for hours.
[Notice the brand new jeans. Ethan's on antibiotics still which caused him to have a little accident (well, more like a BIG accident) on the way to the museum. I lifted him out of his carseat and squish... his pant leg was full... Not wanting to turn around and go home, I ran inside and cleaned him up in the bathroom. Unfortunately, I am not the mother who has extra everything in her diaper bag, so he emerged from the bathroom pantless (which becomes less and less cute the older he gets). Luckily, the museum is located IN the downtown mall, so after cleaning up I ran into the nearest department store and bought some way too expensive new jeans. Victory!]

We then enjoyed the rest of our stay... They had a little doctor's office that I couldn't resist.
These are for Eric--

Ethan loved playing with the boats in the water, but he didn't like having his hand wet.

Not feeling so hot

For those of you who have spent any time with Ethan know that he sits still for no man... ever. That's why my pictures are always blurry, my hair is always frazzled, and why it has already taken me 10 minutes to write these two sentences (he's "sitting" on my lap right now). So, when he is calm and wants to snuggle with me on the couch, I know he's not feeling well.

No, he's not watching TV. He's just sitting there. I don't think he's ever been this lethargic.

I took him to the doctor on Monday, and the second we stepped into the waiting room, he smiled for the first time in days, and ran around the room giggling and babbling and playing for the first time in days. He also suddenly redeveloped the appetite he had lost, eating the entire food contents of my diaper bag all before the doctor entered the room. Another mother even asked me "are you sure he's sick?" Luckily, the doctor believed me that he's been nothing but sad and pathetic for days, and she checked him out and found his ear infection.
He's doing much better today having experienced the magical healing powers of the pediatrician's waiting room. (the antibiotics probably have helped a bit too)

So, we finally made it to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins. Going on the last Saturday before Halloween was not the best idea. The pumpkins were pretty sparse. We got a few to carve though.

Super Baby!

A few weeks ago, Ethan started lifting his arms and running around the room when you said either "super-baby" or "up up and away!" (a little something Eric taught him). So, naturally he had to be Superman for Halloween. We had a little Halloween party with our 'resident's wives' play group on Friday. Ethan was pretty tired at this party, so he didn't really show off this talent. We'll try again on Wednesday at the "Trunk-or-Treat". The cute doctor next to him is his friend Armour.

Appba

So, he used to say something like banana, and something like bread, but finally I think we can say for sure that he can say a word. As you can see, he only speaks when he feels like it.

Seattle

After Leavenworth, we drove over to Seattle. Ethan does not do very well on long car rides. I packed toys, books, and all his favorite food. Nothing was able to make him happy. Luckily Eric had the foresight to make a cd of his favorite music. No, not cute children's songs. Ethan isn't impressed with them. He likes Salsa music. We had to listen to hour after hour of his favorite song... Donde Estas Yolanda.

He loves to dance.

Seattle was fun. Ethan was great at letting us push him around in his stroller. We went to the usual tourist places. Pikes Place fish market, where we bought way too much seafood for two people to eat, the aquarium, and a fantastic children's museum. This place was the ultimate Ethan place. There was a huge area where he could run around for hours without getting into trouble. I didn't have to say no to him once! Eric and I just sat and watched him entertain himself for a while, then we took him to the art center and let him paint a picture.

Ethan touching a Starfish:

Playing with tentacles:
Baby Salmon How do I measure up?
Jelly Ethan: Jolly Ethan:

Space Needle: Little Picasso- I love this little apron.

Leavenworth

Eric had three days off in a row this week, so we planned an impromptu trip to Leavenworth and Seattle. Leavenworth is a small Bavarian town in the middle of Washington. All the buildings are painted and designed to look like their from a small German town. It was really cute. We had a great time window shopping and sampling cheese and gelato and fudge. They also had a great Christmas shop where I almost applied for a job. It looked like so much fun.

Ethan was so good. He let us push him around all day in the stroller. I think he liked all the flowers.


This was a huge suit of armor across the street from our hotel.

Is He Teething??

Is he teething?? This has been the question of the year. The only explanation that we can come up with for... lets say... unexplained behavior. Like, screaming for hours at a time in the middle of the night, or needing to be held 24/7 by mommy, or gnawing on everything in sight.

The past few days have been like this, but I can't see any teeth coming in. Two or three times a day I pin him down and pry his mouth open to see if there is a bump where a tooth is about to pop. That is my light at the end of the tunnel of fussiness. Last time I just pushed firmly on the bump and popped the tooth through for him. But, this time... no bumps.

So I was beginning to doubt that teething is his problem right now. Until this morning, when I had to go looking for him through the house. If he is quiet for too long, I know he's getting into something. I found him in his room. He had a disgusted look on his face and was spitting something out of his mouth. It was a piece of his favorite foam football. Minus a lot of foam. This football is pretty hard, I don't know how he got these chunks out of it with only 6 teeth. I swear he's a little puppy dog inside a baby's body. And YES I think he's definitely teething. Because if he's not, then the only other explanation is that he's losing his mind.

Sweet Potater Pie

Eric's been jonsing for some sweet potato pie. (Not that either of us have ever had it before). it just sounded good. I usually only make pies on Thanksgiving because somehow that has become my job at the Ursic house every year. Pies have always been a challenge, so I thought I'd take it on. I found a crazy pie crust recipe that is quite complicated but it turned out pretty good. The sweet potato part turned out just okay though. We're not sure how it is supposed to taste, but it was a little blah. We decided that pumpkin is better. We will probably throw the rest away. The baking was the fun part. Plus I'm making a birthday cake for Eric today. And that's just too much junk for 2 people... well, 2 1/2 people. (The dollop of whipped cream is because someone already took a fork full out of the middle. I'm not sure who it was, but Eric thinks it must have been Ethan.)

GQ baby

There is something wrong with the fact that my child is more fashionable than I am. When you don't have older siblings and you grow every month everything you own has to be brand spankin' new. I, on the other hand, try to avoid growing every month, so I still have and wear clothes that I had as a freshman. I can't help but be a little jealous.

Camera Shy

Ethan has taken up dancing. He often stands by the computer and points until someone turns on some tunes. Despite the many dance sessions we've had, I have yet to get a good video of him. He gets too excited and curious about the camera and stops completely. This video shows exactly that. I love the hand movement he's about to do when he spots the camera.

Lunds visit Spokane

Audrey's mom, dad, and Sam came to visit for the weekend. They only stayed two nights, so we had to give them the whirlwind tour of Spokane. Here we are at Manito Park

We tried out the carousel again. This time Ethan didn't like it as much. We ended up just sitting on a stationary bench, but he still screamed the whole time. I hope I haven't traumatized him.

My Dad was much more excited for the ride :)

Ethan's favorite indoor game...

He almost jumped out of his skin when I took this picture. He knows he's not supposed to be up there, but he just can't resist pushing buttons.

Steal the Stroller-- Ethan's favorite outdoor game!

Lately Ethan has been gravitating towards strollers-- any kind, anywhere. He loves to push and ram them into people's legs. Although he rarely rides in the stroller willingly, I have to bring it everywhere, because if I don't, he'll just grab someone else's.

If he was only strong enough to push me in it, we'd have a good thing going.

Pig-Out in the Park

Every year Spokane has Pig-Out in the Park. This sounded just up our alley, so we swung by there on Saturday. Every food vendor in town set up a tent. It was very hard to decide what to eat. We ended up getting some Jambalaya (well I only had a bite before eric dropped it on the ground) and a shredded pork burger. And, yes that is a funnel cake. We couldn't resist. Neither of us had ever had one, and it was worth every deep-fried calorie.