!!Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!! Here are some fun festive pictures!
So it is overdue but here is the story of Max. He was born November 19, 2008 @ 2:31. 7lb 1oz. 19 inches long and head 14 in. I think that is larger than average. He was born very healthy. In his first 2 weeks we had a few trips to the doctor but everything looks good. The next week was Thanksgiving. We got to spend time with family and that was lots of fun. Ethan had fun with all of his cousins. Especially his boy cousins Charlie and James. Of course, everyone adored Max. One of the pictures I got was of Max's oldest cousin, Maddie, holding him. She looked comfortable holding him and even fed him his bottle once or twice. Too bad she's not close enough to babysit :) Ethan has LOVED becoming an older brother. He always wants to hold him and kiss him. He is great at helping mom and dad hold his bottle and give him his pacifier and he's even really good at helping mom clean. We are so happy to have our growing family just in time for the Holidays! We are still feeling the need for more sleep but overall we are very well! We wish all of our friends and family a Merry Christmas!

Max!!

Here are some of the first pictures we have of him! We will surely have more VERY soon. Also if you are interested in seeing the "Hospital Pictures" here is the link to the site that has it. Sorry if it doesn't take you there. We'll post more about the event soon. Until then, enjoy the pics!

Last Day as a Family of Three

So I know these pictures are really not that great. Trust me I tried to no end to get some decent pictures. But the nature of our fun just really doesn't translate to a picture. We decided that for our last day as a family of three we would go out and have some fun. After Ethan got out of school, we had lunch and took off to a black light indoor mini-golf place close by. My belly is big enough that I didn't even feel like doing it. So I watched and attempted to get some good pictures. After golf we went to the movie Wall-E. Ethan loved it! We weren't sure that he would because there is so little talking but I think the robots and space ships kept his attention. On our way home Ethan fell asleep hard but we still had to wake him up for dinner and a bath. Today after school he is going straight to Grandma and Grandpa Peterson's for a 3 day long slumber party. He is excited to see baby Max though and wants to come see us at the hospital. Our next post will undoubtedly be about our next three days!

Are we done yet?

We are all ready for Max to get here! Except for Max. We had Ethan's Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor appointment check-up for his tubes. We have the crib set up. And the other picture is of Ethan buckled in with his buddy Mickey (he made sure Mickey had his seat belt on too!) on our way home from Grandma and Grandpa Peterson's after our 2nd false alarm trip to the hospital. So, if Max hasn't decided to make an appearance yet by Wednesday the 19th we are scheduled at the hospital for a 2:00 C-Section. We'll let everyone know when he gets here!

Raking Leaves

At grandma and grandpa Hanks' house, Ethan was helping grandpa and Jordan rake up leaves and then jumped in them! He thought it was the coolest. There wasn't much to it but I got a few cute pictures of it.

Happy Halloween

Ethan was a pirate for Halloween and he LOVED it! His two favorite parts were trick or treating and getting to yell "ARRGHH!". We went to our ward trunk or treat and then to one house which we were told that we couldn't miss. Next time you see Ethan ask him what a pirate says. (I wish I would have gotten more pics of Halloween, but I didn't. So here is the one I did get and the one that was left out from the pumpkin patch.)

Gaming at the Hanks'

This year we got a Wii! We love to play. Ethan is definately the big video game lover in the family but we usually only pull it out on the weekends. He is quickly gaining skill at Mario Kart and Wii bowling and loves to "play" Guitar Hero. The other picture is of when we had Lee and Ashley over and we played. As you can see, everyone had fun. Good Times with the Wii!

soo...

The time is quickly approaching the birth of our new baby boy Max. Officially he is due on the 25th. Which isn't that far, but I won't go that long for at least the sake of feeling well and not being in the hospital on Thanksgiving, the 27th. I'm starting to swell (nothing compared to last pregnancy) and my doctor is getting ... watchful of my blood pressure, since I have other symptons of preeclampsia. So we'll see. PS. My doctor just scheduled me for a c-section on the 17th if I haven't had him already. I am just feeling big and ready to be done. I usually post pictures with my post but I don't have any new and exciting pictures to post. So I guess I'll get some, today maybe, and post again soon. Definately I will give updates about Max's arrival.

Field Trip to Pumpkin Patch

Today Ethan's class went to the pumpkin patch! Holy cow, it was colder than I thought it would be. Of course it probably would have been warmer if I could close my coat. Ethan got to pick out a pumpkin to take home. He had a hard time picking and got tripped up by the vines some, but finally decided on one he liked. We also rode the hayride, and then Ethan and his classmates played in the haystack maze to warm up (another picture I thought I got but still need to change the settings on the camera)! We had fun! I think next week Eli and I are taking Ethan to the corn maze so we will get some pictures of that too!

Craft Day with Anthony and Kasia

Last Thursday Anthony and Kathy came over for craft day. The boys made spider bracelets by tracing out four fingers on construction paper and then they painted pumpkins. We thought we had a picture of them showing off their pumpkins but we didn't. And Kasia and I painted our own pumpkins. We actually did get a picture of us showing off ours. It was a fun day of crafting, followed by some yummy cookies (not shown:D)

Sick Day

Ethan's first stay at home sick day from school. Poor kid. He's hoarse and coughing. He had red puffy circles under his eyes, so I am glad that he actually fell asleep for a nap. Today is actually the day I could hang out with him and do stuff and instead he needs to rest. So I am just bumming around the house, doing some crafts, making sure bills are paid, checking our budget, etc...

Cascade Reunion

Our Cascade reunion was just my immediate family. That is always fun. Maybe just being the youngest sibling I really enjoy the time we get to all spend together. Ethan enjoyed spending all of his time with his cousins. It was just fun all around. We got to go on a hike, play by the river, LOTS of family dinners, and Ethan's favorite, we got to ride the Thunder Mountain Express (train). He and cousin Charlie thought there was nothing better in the world than to get to ride a real train! It was lot's of fun. With Autumn right around the corner we have more excitment to look forward to. Baby Max will be coming soon! But first we have Halloween!

Albuquerque

Our trip to Albuquerque was for Eli's grandma's 80th birthday celebration. There I met all of Eli's aunt's and uncle's (which is the first time I've seen a lot of them) and some of his cousins from his dad's side. But there are a lot I still haven't met. Most of our time there we kicked back and got to visit with his family. We also took a trip to old town, we went to the aquarium, and we took the tram to the top of the mountain and it rained on us the only time that it rained while we were there. The rain would have been nice while we were walking around old town. It was HOT! While we were at Eli's grandparents house Ethan tripped and ran into a very solid corner piece of cement bird bath that was in the backyard. Thank goodness there was a doctor in the house! We would have taken him to the ER! We thought he needed stitches. Dr. Grandpa said we just needed to super glue it. So we did. I think he's going to have a scar for the rest of his life (one just like his dad has on his forehead) but he is healed and we had fun in New Mexico.

Peterson Family Reunion

This was a reunion for all of my grandpa's siblings families. So I didn't know most of the people there. But I was able to see all of my family and my favorite cousins. Seeing my grandpa was the highlight though. I rarely get a chance to go see him so it was really special.

Ultrasound

So I thought this was REALLY cool. This is the ultrasound of Max dancing on my bladder in June. It's neat! Enjoy!

Ethan's 3rd Birthday!

This year he actually understood the whole birthday thing. He chose a Mickey Mouse theme. So we had Mickey favors, a Mickey cake, and we even ventured to make a Mickey pinata. The kids loved it! We had it in Eli's parents backyard. It was a bit cool outside still but the kids all got to run around, play in the sandbox, jump on the trampoline and even in the inflatable jumphouse that was rented specially for his party (it was a train jumphouse). What a blast for the kids! Ethan had all of his best friends there. His cousin Aleia and friends Anthony and Tanner. He still can't stop talking about the "birthday train" and can't wait until next year!