Family Update

In case you thought this blog was only about Ethan, I'll give you a family update.

So, in the last month and a half, we have had a lot of fun visiting with family, enjoying the new temple, braving the crazy winter weather, and celebrating Valentines and our anniversary.

In late January, Richard's father had an art show with 24 original watercolor pieces of the new Rexburg Temple put on display at the library here on campus. Some pictures of the paintings can be found at scottsamuelson.blogspot.com.
All of Richard's siblings came to celebrate it's opening, as well as their Father's birthday. It was great getting to see all of them, to visit and to see some of the newer additions to the family together for the first time --namely Ethan and his cousin Henry who differ in age by two days. We also all went to the open house of the Temple together. It was neat.

Luckily, most of this traveling and such happened before the huge snowstorms. Rexburg was walloped by number of them, and it left a good 3 feet on the ground if not more. Cars were getting stuck everywhere, including ours --twice in our parking lot and once at the church. The piles were twice as high as our cars all around the parking lot, and to climb the ones at Walmart you would need an oxygen mask! Okay, so it wasn't that bad, but they were big. I wish we had gotten pictures of it while it was in it's full glory, especially the big snow cornice on our roof that was overhanging the stairs. It made me nervous every time we walked under it, especially when Ethan would squeal.

Over the weekend that everyone was here, I had bronchitis, and I really hope I didn't give it to anyone. After they all went home, I braved the cold weather and went to the doctor to see if I could get anything for it. While I was there, I also asked for a Thyroid test -by the suggestion of my brother who is a doctor, and lo and behold I found out that I have extreme hypothyroidism. No wonder I still couldn't get my life together even now that Ethan is 7 mos. old and sleeping through the night. I thought I was just one of those people who needed more sleep, and that I was incapable of taking care of my house and family, or of losing weight for that matter. Now it all makes sense, and I am looking forward to getting a little bit of my energy back once the medication kicks in and we get things all straightened out.


Valentines day was nice and warm and sunny. Richard got up early and after his first 6:30 class, went shopping and surprised me with heart shaped pancakes with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, as well as eggs and sausages. I think the shopping thing was what surprised me most. Anyway, it was sweet. What a great way to start off the day.



A little while after that, we packed Ethan off to my sister's house, and we went to the wedding of a friend in the Rexburg Temple. He was one of the lucky ones who didn't have to reschedule when the dedication was delayed because of President Hinckley's funeral. It was beautiful, and the perfect thing to celebrate Valentines day. Later that day while Richard was at school, I decided to make sugar cookies. I put our big mirror down on the floor for Ethan to amuse himself with (which can buy me at least a half hour since Ethan loves his own reflection), and got cooking.



When Richard got home we decorated them and gave them to friends and neighbors. I wish I had taken pictures, they were really cute, and turned out very well considering I had to make my own heart-shaped cookie cutter out of a old jar lid ring with a pair of pliers. It was really fun decorating them, but we had forgotten to eat dinner and by the time we were done it was nearly 8:00pm and we still had a reception to go to. We went to it hoping that there would be food, but there was just cookies and candy. So, at 9:00 at night, we went out for a dinner of hamburgers and fries. Not very romantic I know, but oh well.



On Monday we celebrated our two year anniversary! Wow, has it already been two years? We packed Ethan off to his grandmother's this time, took a quick picture, and headed to Idaho Falls where we poked around at Barnes and Noble, and then caught a movie at the Edwards Theatre. We saw Spiderwick Chronicles and both really enjoyed it. We came back to Rexburg for a late dinner at Applebees, which was delicious, then we picked up Ethan, came home and crashed. Not as romantic as our last anniversary, but enjoyable still the same.

Crazy hair and messy faces --all in a day's work...

So, lately Ethan and I have been having fun with new kinds of foods, and new hairstyles. Biter biscuits are my new favorite thing not only because they buy me some time to get things done, but also because it's weirdly fun to see him get himself so messy. I know I won't always appreciate that, but for now, I think it's adorable.






Sometimes though, I'm the one that gets him messy, like the day I turned with a spoon of sweet potatoes in my hand to look at something just as Ethan lurched forward to try and get the food that was so temptingly close, and I ended up landing a dollop right on his nose. He couldn't figure out what I was laughing so hard about.




Another thing about biter biscuits though, is that they end up everywhere, including in his ears, and hair. If I can't get it all with a washrag, (which usually makes for fun hairdos) it's usually off to the bathtub to soak off those grimy messes. (If only it were so easy to get it out of his clothes).











Now that Ethan is sitting up, bath time is more fun and there's a little less splashing, but not much. I also have fun doing his hair.




By the way, in this second picture, if you look real close, you can see his new first tooth. It came in around the 8th. We are excited as he enters this new phase in his life, however, I'm not looking forward to what this means for breastfeeding. He's already proven himself a biter.





Anyway, this is all in a day's work for Ethan ...making messes, having fun. Speaking of work, our little man has gotten himself a computer keyboard and a cell phone all for himself.
Compliments of the DI of course, but without the keyboard I would never get an email or a blog done and without the phone . . . well it didn't last too long, but he had fun with it for a while before it succumbed to the slobber.

new tricks

So, in the last little while Ethan has picked up a few new tricks, and/or funny things he does.

First, there was the jumping in his jumper, but soon he improved upon it as he learned to jump forward and then swing!



Every night when I feed him his bottle he sits and examines his hands. "What fine pieces of engineering . . ."



Often in the morning, when he first wakes up, I'll hear him rustling around in his bed, and then he'll give a shout, or blow a raspberry. When I look over, he's usually peeking over the top of his bed at me. It's so cute! (sorry, the picture is so dark!)



He's still not crawling, which is fine with me, because I don't know how I'll keep him out of things once he does, but he still manages to get from point A to point B just fine. He has a sort of freestyle swimming crawl. It's pretty humorous to watch.