Ethan's Birthday Party Trailer

I had a lot of fun putting this together on iMovie.

A little too much fun, really.

It captures the birthday party in under a minute :)

Ethan is 2!

Our sweet, baby boy is 2!

It really seems like once Ethan turned 1, the year flew by!

I wonder why that is... 

Maybe it's partly because E flies/runs everywhere (on his chubby little toes, laughing and squealing all the while) and therefore I too am "flying" after him.

Maybe it's because he is - at times - more fun than he is work. A walking (usually running), talking person is more FUN to interact with than a baby blob... cute as he was!

Or. Maybe. It's because we sleep more in our house and so, time really does fly more restfully!

Here is our Ethan Boy when he was a week old:

{The beautiful newborn pictures were taken by a very talented girlfriend of mine, Megan Squires}

Now look at the boy!

I should be better at recording milestones... bad Mommy!

So I'll start today, with as much as I can remember!!

I bought a journal and wrote in it before Ethan was born. Each year on Ethan's birthday, Mark and I write in it so that one day, Ethan will have a collection of letters from his Mommy and Daddy for each year of his life. 

I think he'll really appreciate this once he has kids of his own!

Maybe this year I will incorporate his milestones up until his 2nd birthday...

Oh memory, don't fail me now!...

Ethan was born on Monday, February 8, 2010.

His expected due date was on his cousin Hannah's birthday, February 17th.

6lbs 14 oz

20" long

He did not come out pink and screaming but kind of a grayish color with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. Dr. Phelan quickly snipped the cord (in fact, I never knew of this until much later!).

The first peak I got of his little, grumpy face... I was in love!

Of course I questioned why he wasn't screaming... it took a few seconds and then Mark and I heard the sweetest baby cry ever! Love, love, love!!

We both were so overwhelmed with joy, we cried.

Here is our sweet boy, color starting to come back!

Ethan never liked being confined or bundled up. He always liked to sprawl out... 

Ethan has always been a good eater and sleeper. 

In the middle of the night, he would only wake to eat and then it was right back to sleep!

To this day he plays hard and sleeps hard.

Once when Ethan was just under a year old, our fire alarm went off in the house and Ethan slept soundly through his nap. I would have been concerned for his hearing except I could tell at a very early age that he had excellent hearing... and he still does!

On the subject of sleep, E slept 8 hours at 3 months and then 12 hours at 5 months.

Ethan slept in our bedroom until he was 3 months old in his bassinet. 

Ethan smiled at 6 weeks.

Sat up independently at 5 months.

Ethan's first solid food was avocado at 6 months.

Rolled over at 7 months.

Ethan's first babysitter was Bethany and she first watched him at 7 months.

Crawled at 8 months.

Ethan got his first tooth at 10 months.

Allllmost walked at 10 months but took his first trip to the hospital and spent 4 nights there due to breathing issues.

He officially walked at 11 months

Started running at one year...

His first day trip was to the Jelly Belly Factory at 6 weeks old with Grandma and Grandpa Young, Uncle Scotty, and his soon-to-be Auntie Jennifer (we still call her Auntie though).

This was also the day of his first blow out diaper ;)

His first vacation was when he was 4 months old. Grandma and Grandpa Wager came with us to Kauai.

(I picked this group picture because it captured your nappy nature)

On this trip, all of us rode a helicopter for the first time...

His first word was "dada" but can't remember when he said it!

Ethan was a late talker... but by 16 months I have recorded that he could say:

Daddy/DaDa

Om-Pa/PaPa (Grandpa)

Mama

Eys (Keys)

Gog/Dah (Dog)

Baby

Hahhh (Hot)

Haah (Hat)

MoMo/Mo (More)

Nana (Banana)

Baw (Ball)

Orse (Horse)

Cah (Car)

Hi (Hi)

Bye-Bye

Hope that makes up for it!

He started using a fork at 16 months and at the same time could clap, bow, run in place, stomp, kick, splash on command.

At 20 months Ethan started to swing on the big kid swing by himself and displayed phonemic awareness for /t/ and /a/

By 23 months, Ethan knows all his sounds and can identify almost all his letters by their sound.

He speaks in mainly 2-3 word sentences

Some of his favorites are:

"Pirates coming!"

"Mommy's here."

"Daddy's home"

 although just before nap time today he said "love you so much".

*melt*

He is just now taking an interest in books and I think it's mainly because he likes pointing out the letters to Mama. 

Every night after Daddy says a prayer with us, we rock, read a few books, and then I sing him any of the following songs 

(most of the time, I sing them all):

Dragon Tales (God Speed by the Dixie Chicks)

How Long Do You Wanna Be Loved (Dixie Chicks)

I'll Love You Forever

Be Strong in the Lord (The Words I would say)

Micah 6:8 (Courageous theme song hook)

The Lord's Prayer (not sung)

His Favorite TV shows are: 

Veggietales:

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

Queen Esther

Duke and the Pie War (new favorite)

Leap Frog Letters Factory

Thomas the Train is a new hit

Or as Ethan calls him, "Thomaf"

He watches way too much TV, especially when he's taking his breathing treatments. 

He loves his buddy, Emma and adores his cousins Andrew, Hannah, and Titus.

He loves going to church to "see the kids and learn about Jesus" as we explain to him every time.

Emma is Ethan's first buddy and she is still his favorite!

Cousin Love :)

When Ethan is really excited, he runs in circles.

He still isn't too hot on babysitters but looooves his Grandmas and Grandpas.

Everything is plural:

Oatmeals

Mamas

Daddys

Gammas (Grandma)

He is part fish and loves everything about the water.

He loves to splash, go under, blow bubbles, "swim", jump in it...

He is fearless (and Mama is fearful!)

He is persistent when working on a task... sometimes frustrated but never gives up.

He is a fantastic climber and thrill seeker  (much to his Daddy's delight)

He has become a sweet little snuggler this second year (to Mommy's delight)

At Age 2 he is our traveling buddy!

So far, you have been to:

Kauai (4 Months Old)

Tent Camping at Big Basin twice (6 months and 18 months)

Grandma and Grandpa Wager's Cabin twice (7 months and 19 months)

Hilton Head and Georgia (16 months)

Seascape/Aptos twice (5 Months and 17 Months)

Disneyland twice (17 Months and 20 Months. Free until 3!)

Cabo San Lucas (23 months... that's right!... still eligible for a free flight!)

First time being a Ring Bearer for Auntie Christina

Ethan's favorite foods are oatmeal, blueberries, macaroni and cheese, broccoli, pizza, ham, peas, popsicles, jamba juice, and of course... chicken nugget happy meals at McDonalds :)

If I could choose one photo that best describes our boy... this would be it.

Happy, active, heroic, playful, and interactive.

Ethan loves to race Mommy, tackle Daddy, dance - dance - dance, sing, jump, and sword fight with anyone who is willing.

Ethan is full of life, curiosity, and love.

He is thoughtful and spontaneous.

But above all else, he is ALL BOY!

Happy Birthday, Ethan Mark!

We love you very, very much!!

It's a Jungle Out There! Playroom Make Over with a Heart Attack!

The Playroom Got A Makeover!

It didn't take much since it was a clean slate to start. So maybe it was just made and not made over? 

Either way you slice it, it's better than it was! :)

Here are some "before" pictures:

We put a play hut out for Ethan to crawl around in... otherwise, I used the room to work out.

(however many days that was in the past 2 years?!)

Lots of empty walls!

Lots of potential... maybe??

We found a freelance artist through one of Mark's dental buddies, Dr. Higgins. 

Her name is Natalie and she used to be his dental assistant.

She also painted his kid waiting room at the office.

She came up with the sketch below based on the theme I wanted for the room: Jungle/Safari.

She "carved" Africa into the tree and put a heart where Ethiopia is per my request.

Ethiopia is kind of shaped like a heart anyway :)

Now before you are blown away by her mural, I wanted to introduce an equally talented artist in our family:

Ethan Mark Young

(never trust a clean artist)

Not only does he paint pictures, he is so talented... he colors hair too!

Trendy white and red streaks were added to his deep, dark, chestnut locks this afternoon.

Making valentines is a messy job...

With left over hearts, I wrote out what LOVE is.

We could all use the daily reminder in our house :)

So as part of the play room decor, we added a heart attack to our jungle!

The space where the heart attack took place is meant for a TV... we are thinking about putting a tension rod between the shelves and hanging up some dress-up clothes.

I went a bit crazy during the after Halloween sale :)

It's a playroom, not media room... although that's what the room was designed for supposedly.

Hey! What do you know?! The room is a makeover after all!! :D

Anyway, we bought all furniture from IKEA.

These are the "after" pictures:

An attempted 360 of the room starting from the door...

Unfortunately there weren't a ton of jungle themed playroom ideas that I liked out there in the world wide web.

I thought it was a pretty common theme, but turns out... no one had one that I liked exactly.

So I picked all my favorites and made my own (like mama always encouraged ;)... it's true!) 

I loved the idea of a tree with shelves on a few branches. 

I'd seen them in baby nurseries... so cute!... why not a playroom?

(Shelves from Target - picture frames came with the package... still haven't put our own pics in yet!)

We personalized the tree by adding Mommy and Daddy's initials to it.

M+A

I read somewhere that the best thing your can give your children is a strong marriage.

It makes them feel safe and loved.

I tend to agree with that statement and think it's healthy for them to see this and have it as part of their space... hopefully to help make it "safe and loving"... 

that, and I was thinking of adding a mommy cam riiiight where the + is.

Mommy knows and sees all... :) j/k!

We extended the branches over the cubbies to connect the art to the other wall... 

Sometimes, things need to flow, ya know? :)

When I taught Pre-K at Park Street Kids in Boston, one very talented teacher had a prayer area. 

She made it very homey with a rug, comfy seating, a map...

I loved it!

The class prayed for children in Haiti and they put pictures up on the wall so the kids could see who they were praying for...

I wanted to do the same thing but make it a prayer corner. 

The speech bubble is a chalkboard and the idea bubble is a whiteboard. This way we can write out our prayer requests.

Both bubbles are magnetic so we can post pictures of our World Vision kids (or whoever) so our kiddos can see who they are praying for...

I liked the idea of the big leaf (IKEA) because I want to make the space cozy and intimate.

We bought a comfy chair that flips out to a mat from Wal-Mart.

I thought about getting a kid couch but I wanted something big enough where adults could sit on it too!

Right now we just have a bible verse up...

I loved this idea (another one I stole!)

Stacked animals to make a height chart.

They sell a lot of them in vinyl sticker varieties on etsy... but knowing our boy, we didn't want anything that could possibly tear off!

So Natalie drew this up instead!

I saw something similar to these solid/print squares in someone else's playroom online... and it looked great!... but the colors were a little too muted for me. The whole playroom was more toned down, actually...

While I didn't want our playroom to scream at us from across the house, I wanted color... it's for kids!

So this is what we came up with...

The green and purple squares have magnetic cork board on them to post artwork.

The black square under the zebra print is chalkboard.

What looks like another black square next to the zebra print is actually a deep purple square with a black magnetic dry erase board on top.

I wanted this room to be functional!

And now for the mural!

(still pretty muted... but this is what you see right when you open the door and therefore, across the house if the door is open)

The last detail was kind of an after thought.

I made this "artwork holder" at MOPS during a craft day.

It's a paint stirrer with clothes pins glued to it... crafty! (didn't make this idea up!!)

So there you have it!

Our hodge podge jungle play room that is currently surviving a heart attack.

What will happen next?