Did he really say Mommy?

I was a little sad to come back to Ethan's page and to realize that the last time I posted, there were leaves on the trees, our header read 'summer edition' and Ethan and I were in swimsuits. Where the hell did the last 5 months go? I guess I just completely missed fall.

There is no way that I can give a good update on everything that has happened over the past 5 months. Ethan has turned into a full fledged little boy, where he tells us 'No' constantly and when we ask him why he has done something suspect, he puts his hands up in the air and answers 'Cuz'. I have a perfect picture that sums up how he manages to 'win'. That's the only way I can describe it. He is all energy and runs and runs like the energizer bunny. At some points, I give up. Case in point below, the picture is blurry as I took it with my phone and I really can't get a handle on how to take decent pictures with it, but I think you can get the gist...

Note the defeated dog just lying under the mess, Ethan looking victorious with purple crayon in hand about ready to color my couch. Yep. That sums up a lot.

A lot has actually changed in the Koelsch household since my last post. I've started a new job. It was a big step after being at Avanade for almost 10 years, but I don't regret it for a moment. I'm now working for a marketing agency out of Canada who primarily services the tech industry, with Microsoft being our biggest client. It's been a bit of an adjustment since I was their first full time US employee, but it's all well worth it and the work is rewarding.

We had a great 1st ever family vacation with the Kuchynski's and the Rosten's. Note: I've been vacationing with the likes of Kev, Shell and Pen for years now...and this is not how we usually roll. There were no late nights, long dinners or days wasted at a pool bar somewhere down south of the border, our usual type of vacation. Although, we were able to sneak in a happy hour or two by the lake, it was a lot of chasing two toddlers around and working around nap times. :) I, personally, could barely make it past 10 on any given night. God bless Shelly, who managed to do so and still had energy during the day. I don't know how she does it.

We had Ethan's first real trick or treating adventure and it was a blast. Jody and Keith, being new single family home home owners now (this is a rare thing in the city of Chicago), threw a party and we all met up, let the kids play and then set out in their neighborhood for some old school trick or treating. It exceeded my expectations. 1) they live in a fun, young neighborhood and all the neighbors were out and passing out candy. 2) it was a beautiful day/night, so nice to be outside running around. We couldn't have asked for a better time.

We did a trial run with his costume a couple of days prior and he cried like we were beating him when trying to put it on. We did not think we'd ever get him in it. But mom got creative day of the party... I got a handful of cookies ready and when I brought out the costume and he started to look like he would cry, I offered him a cookie, got his foot in the costume, offered him another cookie, pulled the costume up and got his arms in, another cookie, you get the picture. I was rather proud of myself, once on, he was fine and even let us put the monkey hood up. He was absolutely adorable if I do say so myself.

Ethan and I also made a trip up north to see Grandma and Grandpa. Ethan's first plane ride and my biggest fear; flying alone with a toddler. It went better than I had ever imagined it would, but that was mostly because I was surrounded by mom's and very nice MN women, who helped me 'manage' Ethan. We went in October and had unseasonably warm weather, so got to spend a lot of time outside. We even got Dad out to a Pumpkin Farm. ha! The highlight there was Ethan's cheek to nose encounter with a very gentle, very large horse. The horse was actually nuzzling Ethan. Ethan at the moment didn't seem to care, but everything after that was 'horse-y, horse-y'. Later that night, there were 3 deer in the yard at dusk, so I brought him out on the deck to see them. He proclaimed "HORSEY!" When I said, "No, they are deer", he looked at me with that look only Ethan can give you when he doubts what you say, nodded his head and stated "horse-y". that was that.

Ethan went to two other pumpkin farms in October. That's got to be a record of some sort. The one we brought him to in Chicago had goats. They were a hit.

So, for the biggest news of all in FY10. Ethan is going to be a big brother. :) His sister is set to arrive in late June. Although, he refuses to pay any notice when I try to tell him about it, he'll have to own up to it sooner or later. We're already stressing about our lack of space and may be giving the kids the master bedroom while Jon and I move into Ethan's very small room. But that's ok. We're thrilled. I haven't been feeling well. With the new job and the morning sickness / utter exhaustion, you can understand why I haven't been on top of the posts. A little girl! It's hard to wrap my head around at the moment. Sparkly stuff, I'm ready!

Here we are...right on top of Christmas. We are planning our travel extravaganza, which will take us to Grandma Koelsch's on Christmas Day. She has moved into a new home (exciting!) which is 4 hours away (not so exciting :)). We will then head towards MN for 4 days. Me, Jon, Shell, Ethan and Otis...winter road trip 2010. We have no idea what we'll do next year when we have the new addition to consider...will Shell be sitting in between two car seats with a fat puggle on her lap??? Stay tuned!

Ethan's new stuff: so, so much.We're very proud of him, he knows every letter of the alphabet and can identify numbers 1-14. He's been doing this for a couple of months now and I'm still amazed at how he can easily spout out letters and numbers. He loves watching Wheel of Fortune and will call out the letters. As I mentioned earlier, he's getting sassy with his No's and Cuz's, but it's not anything too terribly horrible. He's a pretty good kid overall. He says thank you  for everything; which is sweet. When he trips or falls, he always yells "I ok, I ok!'. Nice of him to let us know. There was the one time...actually right after the purple crayon picture was taken... that he rolled off the couch onto the floor yelling "I ok!" the whole way down to only whisper under his breath once he hit "Ow".

He loves Mickey Mouse and would watch all day if we let him. With the pregnancy, he probably watches it more than he should, but whatever, how much harm can Mickey do? He knows the whole cast of characters and yells their names when he sees them. 'Bickey! Pudo! Foofy!' it's pretty damn cute. I swear that's where he's learning a lot of stuff...he can identify harder shapes like cones and triangles (ti-agle), diamonds (di-oms)hearts and stars. Gotta love Mickey. And what a long way Ethan has come.

Of course, the biggest thing. He's FINALLY calling me mommy. I've been daddy for months now and out of frustration, started calling him "Brian". Of course, it was all lost on him. But the last two weeks, he's slowly starting to consistently ask for 'mommy' and it's like the best word in the world. Mommy. :)