Easter in Connecticut

 I survived!  My first airplane trip by myself with 3 children under the age of 5... check! :)

Thankfully, everything was on time, and with the exception of both younger boys pooping on the airplane (leading to a rather adventurous 10 minutes in the tiny airplane bathroom), it all went quite smoothly.

It's always great to be at my parents' house - which I still call "my house" on occasion... I did live there for most of my life, after all.  Being away from the to-dos of home, but still feeling comfortable as though I'm at home, is a wonderful break for me.  The more kids I have, the less of a break it is, but they're worth it!

Of course, the main event this trip was Easter.  We started out the weekend dying some Easter eggs.  The boys were very excited, and Ryan was overly obsessive about Kaeden not breaking the eggs.  The adults ended up doing most of the work, but at least they enjoyed watching (and telling us what to do!)  

The finished eggs

Pretending to fly

For Easter Sunday, the boys all wore their matching outfits in preparation for church.  They were moderately cooperative for photos. 

It occured to me after I took that last photo that all 3 of my boys have spent their first Easter at my parents' house, and I happen to have photographed each of them on the same chair.  Here are the other two :)

Ryan - 11 months old

Kaeden - 5 months old

We had a yummy second breakfast at church, followed by an Easter egg hunt, and then the service.  

Happily finding eggs at church

Ryan enjoyed helping his cousin, Gwen, find some eggs too!

And, that afternoon, we had another hunt at Nana & Papa's house.

These two pictures crack me up.  Kaeden is clearly trying to go for the egg that Ryan basically already has.  And then he looks confused and disgruntled that he didn't end up with it.

Yes, there was still a small pile of snow :)

Watching the action

And, that night was the Duke game, which meant the kids were exiled to the dining room to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the iPad.  Hey, March Madness only comes once a year :)

Besides Easter day, we had plenty of time for more fun!

We got to see my best friends from high school, two of whom are pregnant and one who is getting married in September.  Lots of excitement in the group this year!

I had to trick Ryan into taking this group photo.  He was in a foul mood and didn't want to take it, so I asked Kaeden to do it instead.  Within about one minute, Ryan had taken over, and we got our picture.  Sigh.

We got to spend lots of time with cousin Gwen.  She is still terrified of my boys for the most part.  If they're playing quietly from a distance, they're okay, but how often do little boys do that?  Still, I got some good smiles after the big kids went to bed :)

 

Peek-a-boo!

 We also went to the children's museum nearby.  Their favorite part was the water room, but they really loved building with these boards too.

 

 

Hundreds of balls + water = hours of fun

Kaeden was completely soaked (and freezing) by the end

And, of course, there was plenty of play time at Nana & Papa's house.

Puzzles for the big boys

 

"This is the way the lady rides" with Nana

 And giggles with Papa:

 

Happy Easter, everyone! 

3 months

Dear Ethan,

What a month!  Not only have you changed a lot in the last month, but you've given your mama a few scares as well.  

Let's start with the bad and move on to the good :)  On the night of Feb. 27, I picked up your monitor to go upstairs to bed and heard a weird noise.  I walked up the stairs and could hear it from the top of the stairs coming from your bedroom.  I quickly went inside and you were wheezing very loudly.  I turned you on your side and it mostly stopped.  And then I spent the rest of the night worrying, checking on you, and changing your position to try to keep it away.  The next day, you acted completely fine, so I wrote it off as a fluke thing.  And then that night, it started again.  I took you to the doctor, thinking I was being overcautious and they'd say it was just some weird thing and send me home.  Surprise, surprise.. the pediatrician was concerned enough to consult the pediatric pulmonologist at UNC, and he was concerned enough to have me bring you in for a chest x-ray.  You did NOT like that!  Thankfully, the x-ray was clear, they started you on some reflux medicine, and after a week of wheezing in your sleep, it has mostly gone away.  I'm hoping and praying that this will not continue to be a concern.  I love you a whole lot, so just keep on breathing, okay?

 

Otherwise, it's been a good month.  You got to meet your Uncle Kyle, Aunt Debbie, and cousin Gwen. We also had an extended visit from Nana that included a brief visit from Papa.  It was so wonderful to have their help and visit with them.  

Talking to Papa

 You also had your first visit to B & Grandaddy's farm.  It pretty much ended up being a Mommy-Ethan day, since the other adults were busy carting the big boys around on golf carts and tractors and playing angry birds, but we didn't mind! :)  And there were lots of new things to look at for you!

You have changed a lot in the last month.  For one thing, you grew another 2 1/2 pounds, so you are now weighing in at a whopping 16 lbs!  That's a pretty impressive pace, but you are going to need to slow down soon, okay?  Either that or learn to walk really early!

 

You have been consistently rolling over from your stomach to back... so much so that it's hard to convince you to have any tummy time these days.  In the last few days, you've started turning onto your side from your back, so I'm guessing you'll be trying to roll over that direction soon enough. 

 

You are also starting to show more interest in toys.  Instead of just staring/smiling at them, you are reaching out to try to bat at them/grab them.  In addition to using them for play, you are also putting your hands in your mouth all the time.  Every now and then, you'll get a finger or two in and start sucking, but nothing to indicate that you'll turn it into a habit.  Mostly you just kind of gnaw on your fist.  We've also started reading books together, and you really seem to enjoy that.  Some of your other favorite play-time things are "giddy-up horsey", "flying" on my knees, and just talking to/smiling at people. You started giggling this month too, which is so fun and adorable.  It's not easy to get out of you, but so rewarding when I do :)  I've also learned that you are quite ticklish.  You must have gotten that from me, and for that, I apologize!

In the amazing sweater that Nana made for you

What you DON'T like are loud, sudden noises (but really, what baby does?).  Unfortunately, Kaeden has discovered that this gets a big reaction, so some of his favorite ways to pick on you now include dumping out a whole large basket of duplos when you're lying nearby and screaming loudly near you.  Don't worry... he will get nicer some day.  

Matching outfits... but you look rather concerned.

Ryan continues to be one of your favorite people, although even he can get a little too loud/enthusiastic for you at times.  I just love these pictures of the two of you.  It looks like he's teaching you something very important, and you are listening intently.  

 

 

 In addition to your wheezing (and probably contributing to it), you had a pretty bad cold this month.  Because of all of that, you went through a phase of consistently waking up during the night again.  I can't say I blame you!  We've just begun sleep training though, and you've slept through the night 3 nights in a row again, so I'm optimistic that it will once again be the norm.  You are not much of a napper.  You went through a brief phase of taking long naps in the swing, and then suddenly even that stopped working.  You consistently sleep for only 30-45 minutes per nap, but if I go in and rock you back to sleep and then put you back in your crib, you will often sleep for a couple of hours.  Unfortunately, with two other boys around, the opportunities to do that are few and far between.  You pretty consistently eat every 3 hours... around 7,10, 1, 4, and 6:30/7. 

 

We continue to work on brainwashing you & Courtney to be the best of friends, although it's hard to get you together at times when you're both awake and not eating.  I'm so excited to see the two of you grow up together!

 

 I love you, handsome!