Decorating for Christmas

We spent Thanksgiving at home, just the 3.5 of us. We had delicious "Thanksgiving chicken kiev", stuffing, and green bean casserole. Yummy! We also decided to try putting up our Christmas tree (we opted last year to have a small one on our counter top to avoid disaster). Ethan is quite confused as to why we have a tree in our living room. He walks by it, stops looks at it puzzled and says "tree, lights". It has survived 24 hours though, so I think we might be safe to put a few non-breakable ornaments on it!

Destruction...

Ethan woke up on Wednesday morning and realized within about 60 seconds that all of his toys had been neatly put away. He got a twinkle in his eye and the destruction of the house began. Sigh, will my house ever be picked up for more than 5 minutes?! Good thing he is so darn cute (especially in these Lightning McQueen jammies)!

18.5 weeks down...

Just a quick update on the pregnancy, everything is going really well. I am still wearing my regular clothes at 18.5 weeks (with Ethan I was in maternity clothes around 14 weeks). I feel good most of the time; I do get worn out quickly, but can't complain. My next appointment is December 1st and that will be the ultrasound. As with Ethan we will not find out the sex of the baby until delivery day. Stay tuned for further updates, just thought those living far away might want to see the growing belly.

Happy 2nd Birthday Ethan and Friends!

We had a birthday party at our house yesterday for Ethan and his friends, who will all be turning 2 in the next few weeks. I met this amazing group of mommies just after Ethan was born and don't know what I would do without them! Last year we celebrated their birthdays by having a picnic and taking part in the March of Dimes Walk. This year we decided to do something a little different and we had a potluck party at our house and collected food for our local food shelf. We collected kid type foods like mac and cheese, peanut butter, baby food, etc. We also had some that contributed "birthday kits" which consisted of cake mix, frosting, paper plates, napkins, and small party favors that will also be donated to the food shelf, in hopes that another child will be able to celebrate their birthday. I have a dining room table full of food and 7 birthday kits so far (and have more food coming in the next few days from people who couldn't make it)! The party was a success! Ethan had a great time and was fast asleep by 8:30pm last night (and still asleep at 8am today)!

Thanks to everyone for making last night such a huge success! And a big Happy Birthday to the most amazing 2 year olds I have ever met!

Poor Visken! :-(

Well Visken had surgery yesterday to remove two skin tags (basically benign skin tumors). The one skin tag was on his leg and was getting quite big. He was continually biting it so we decided before it broke open and got infected we would have it removed. The second one however was on his eyelid. He had this one removed in August when he had dental work done, but this one unfortunately grew back. It was causing pressure on his eye, so his eye was continually blood shot. Thankfully a really great friend of ours is a vet at the University of Florida Vet School (and watches Visken when we are away and loves him dearly), so we scheduled him for surgery yesterday. Surgery went well, however Visken has to wear this lovely cone on his head for the next 2 weeks and have eye ointment put in his eye twice a day. (The last time they just basically cut the tag off so he didn't have the cone, but this time they took off a fair chunk around the area so they had to stitch the eyelid back together.) Then in 2 weeks we will take him over to Julie and she will remove his stitches. Ethan was quite confused last night as to why Visken had this ridiculous thing on his head, and Visken was recruiting him to "help" get it off so it should be interesting if this actually stays on his head for 2 weeks. And...we have a birthday party at our house this weekend for Ethan and his playgroup friends, so we will have 7+ soon to be 2 year olds in our house. Poor Visken!

Spicy!

I have been doing some volunteer teaching at our local Red Cross, last night I taught first aid and after class I decided to stop at Bentos on the way home for dinner (Chinese/Thai/Japanese type food). When I got home and sat down to eat Ethan saw that I had noodles ("spaghetti") under my red curry beef. I told him several times that it was really spicy and he wouldn't want it, and finally I gave up and decided to let him try for himself. At first it was "m-m-m-m", then when the burning started to take place he stuck out his tongue and was trying to wipe it off...."ooo, ooo, ooo" and lots of whimpering. But then he went over to the wall and started to lick it! Needless to say Ethan wasn't a fan of the red curry beef!

Another funny story...Ethan refused to wear pajamas last night to bed and when we tried to put them on him he took them and tried to hide them under the couch!

The Foam Pit...

We took the cushions off the couch over the weekend to vacuum under there. Ethan thought "what a fantastic idea for a foam pit", ever since he has been happily bouncing and playing on the couch cushions. (He goes to a gym in town on Friday mornings for a tumbling type program and they have foam pits there which he has absolutely no fear of and happily dives in.) Who needs toys anyway?

As you notice from the picture Ethan is not wearing any pants. He has also discovered that he can take his pants off by himself (still working on the shirt). He is happiest lately when he is running around the house in just a diaper. I did catch him the other night running around without a diaper, thankfully that wasn't disastrous but I know our day is coming.

His vocabulary gets better everyday, although I feel as if we still have a ways to go. I asked him today what a lion says and he responded with "roar"! I also caught him today actually trying to "read" a book. One of these days he will be jabbering up a storm!

What's in a name?

I asked Ethan on Monday what his name was, he looked at me like I was totally crazy at first and then pointed to himself and said "Eeeeeee"! He did it a couple of times that day, but now of course refuses to tell anyone what his name is.

The exciting news of the week in our house is that Jake got a new job! (We are still going to be living in Gainesville, don't get too excited!) Jake is the new pharmacy residency coordinator. Basically he is in charge of the pharmacy residents and managing the residency program. It is a brand new full time position and something he has been working for several years to obtain, a major step in his career! Great job, Jake, we are so proud of you!

Misc. Ramblings and Stories from the Week...

All in all we had a pretty good week in the Tillmann house. Jake had off on Tuesday in honor of Veteran's Day so he took Ethan to Orlando to have lunch with Aunt Lisa. I on the other hand spent the day cleaning in the "pit" aka office, which will soon be Ethan's new bedroom. I got a lot done, but unfortunately still have a lot left to do. Wednesday our wonderful babysitter, Jennifer, came to spend the day with E and I got to enjoy a workout with my trainer followed by my first mommy to be massage. The bummer of the week however is that I have been suffering from bad sciatic nerve pain! No fun at all!

Funny/Amusing Ethan stories of the week...

1. The other day I was in his bedroom emptying the diaper Genie and I hear water running in the half bath. I was alarmed since it was just us in the house and Ethan can't reach the faucet...I walk in to find Ethan standing on the waste basket "washing" his hands. I decided it was time to get out the step stool and show him the proper way, before he fell off the waste basket and cracked his head open! He will basically move anything he can to reach what he can't get.

2. Ethan has this bad habit of throwing food when he doesn't want anymore. The other day it happened to be red Jello that went airborne. O' what a mess that was and Visken doesn't like Jello, but at first didn't realize that was what it was until he got a mouthful and then spit it back out adding to the mess!

3. We made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting the other day. We let Ethan have a few bites and he is now in LOVE with "cake". When we stopped at Publix the next day they had cake mixes on sale (buy one get one free), so I decided to pick up a couple. Ethan saw the box and insisted on holding it and did so until we got home when he put it down on the table in front of his booster seat. "Cake, please...cake, please"! I had to open the box and show him that it was a mix, no cake! He didn't believe me grabbed the box and had to look inside for himself, poor Ethan!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Go Gators!!

Congrats President Obama!

Congrats President Obama! I hope the enthusiasm shown during this election will continue, that ALL of us will realize that change can only come about in this country if we ALL work together. Our responsibility as citizens does not end on election day. Please give this man a chance to LEAD our country to a better place...be inspired to help others and get involved in your communities. Our children depend on it! Prayers to you President Obama, you have an incredible job ahead of you but have shown us all that anything in this country is possible. I am proud to be an American!! May God bless our country!

Would you like cream and sugar with that?

In the last few days Ethan has pulled out the half and half carton multiple times when we have asked him "what would you like?" while standing at the frig. I was quite confused as to why on earth he would "want" the half and half?! Then this morning I figured it out. He was sitting at the table contently eating his breakfast, when I poured myself a cup of coffee and poured cream in it. He all of the sudden got very upset and wanted cream in his milk. Two drops later and he was happy as can be again. :-)

One the things I admire (and at times drives me crazy) about Ethan is that he definitely knows what he wants and won't give up! I look forward to watching that trait as he grows, his possibilities are endless...will he be a pharmacist, professional football player, paramedic, doctor, teacher, will he cure cancer, be a father, or President of the United States, etc.? I hope he always has the determination he has today and all of his dreams will come true!

Happy election day! God bless our country!