January 27: Happy Birthday Dear Ethan!

It was Ethan's birthday last Friday. Can you believe it? I couldn't...the whole week prior. I kept finding myself reflecting on the situation and remembering exact moments from the same time last year. I went from...this is the day that I had cramping, to this is the moment I called Jon at school and he had to bring me in... it was all very surreal. I think about when they told me that they were going to have to deliver...3:30pm. Looking back, I now realize I had a weird reaction. Instead of panic or fear, I felt relief. We had just spent the last 20 hours wondering whether or not they would be able to hold off the labor. And the constant monitoring of Ethan's progress and all of the pokes and needles and no food or sleep were wearing on me. Not to mention the contractions. When they finally said it was time, I was relieved that something was happening. I remember being in the room where they did the C-section. It was so sterile and white and cold. It's like I can remember every minute of it. I just stared at the clock on the wall, watching the hands move slowly while I attempted to block out the anesthesiologist's idle babbling all the while keeping up an internal chant... "this too shall pass, this too shall pass". Then the little guy was here and it was like it was meant to be that way all along, no shock. All I was able to see before they rushed him off was this little monkey/alien type looking baby and I wasn't worried. I was just happy he was here. I still wonder why I wasn't more panicked or fearful?

Maybe I had some sort of crazy intuition that everything was going to be OK if we just got through that day. I don't know how, but the sense of calm when I first saw Ethan was enveloping and warm. I didn't see a little 1lb 15oz baby, I saw this incredibly cute little boy. I look back now and am shocked. There was nothing to him and he was, well, like I said, a little alien-like! But all I saw was the most handsome baby in the world. Which I told him repeatedly over the coming months by the way :)

I know I'm rambling, but I'm entitled, right? And where are we now? 1 year, 1 healthy, crazy little boy that doesn't slow down or show any fear. He will try to throw himself of the couch, the bed... any high surface without a second thought and finds it funny when you catch him in mid air or by the ankles. He loves to be swung around up side down. He loves to be rough housed and has a laugh that sounds maniacal. You can't help but crack up yourself every time he lets it go. I could never have imagined these things about him 1 year ago...he was so fragile, but I love it and it's a routine part of our life now.

Current Ethan update: I don't think I mentioned last time that he has 8 teeth...8! With all of the hair (5 haircuts to date) and the teeth, I really wonder if these are side effects from the hormones and steroids they were pumping in me just hours before his birth :) He had his 1 year check up on Monday and he's on track and doing well. He weighed in at 17lbs 14 oz. I was a bit surprised that he wasn't heavier, but he's in the 25th percentile for a 1 year old, so no one was concerned. He also has grown a lot taller, he now measures in at 28 1/2 inches, which is in the 33rd percentile for a 1 year old. Not too bad for being 9 months adjusted age :)

We had a 'little' birthday for him at Chuck E Cheese on Sunday. 30 of his friends and family showed up to join in on the festivities. I am the first to admit that Ethan is a little young to enjoy all that Chuck the Mouse had to offer, BUT it was fun to get everyone together. Ethan played games with Jon, enjoyed the virtual band, got a huge medal to wear around his neck and ate cake. The cake: I kinda went a little nuts... it was huge and green with monkeys. But it's his first birthday, and again...I'm entitled! Ethan got his first taste of frosting, which he loved. It was green and so was he by the time he threw in the towel, he looked like a miniature Hulk for the rest of the day. I have to say that the sugar rush stayed with him the rest of the afternoon. He skipped his afternoon nap and was still going strong when it was time to call it a night 6 hours later. Picture below illustrates his mood just minutes before he was whisked away to get into PJ's. :) and yes, that is his sock in his mouth.

On the downside, he's in the middle of his first cold. It's not bad, so I can't complain too much...it's a runny nose and a cough and isn't affecting his sleep or appetite, but he is a little snot faucet and seems to slime everything that he passes. Fun, fun. I follow him around with the battery operated bugger sucker.

Happy 2010!

Happy New Year everyone! Just a quick post as it's been so long since the last. The holidays flew by. I feel like we were constantly on the move, but didn't get to see everyone that we would have liked to.

A few congratulations to throw out! Congratulations to Colleen and Joe who were married on Jan 2nd. The weather may have been cold, but the wedding was warm and beautiful and I think Colleen goes down as one of the Top 5 most gorgeous brides I've ever seen. Great party guys!

Also, to Jody and Keith. Although we have not heard anything official, I've seen little hints here and there on FB. ;) We'll talk next weekend.

On to Ethan: he's crazy. He doesn't like to sit still. He went from crawling to pulling himself up on everything to cruising along furniture and now he is standing by himself for small periods of time. I have a feeling that walking isn't too far in our future. It's been a fun month watching him teeter around, gaining confidence and exploring his new world; not to mention exhausting. He does not like to sit still to get dressed or to have his diaper changed. It's a battle of wills almost every time. Sometimes Jon and I have to tag team him to get him ready for bed and it usually is a 15 minute endeavor. I've given in to letting him chew on whatever he pleases just to keep him still. Unfortunately, he really like to chew on his booger sucker thing. Although it's clean, it's still disturbing.

Funny story of the day: Grandma Kruse got a crash course on "diaper changing - Ethan style" over Christmas. Shell and I snuck out for a few hours to catch a movie. When out, Ethan made a mess in his pants, so mom...all alone, tried to change him on the bed. With so much room to move around, Ethan was crawling everywhere, wiggling free and pretty much wore her down. When we got home, I noticed that Ethan's pants looked weird. I looked a little closer... "Mom, are Ethan's pants are on backwards?" They were and she didn't care. Her response was that she was lucky even to get pants ON the little bugger. Shell and I understood all too well and I joked that his diaper was probably on backwards. I snuck a peak just as a joke and it was! I couldn't stop laughing b/c I could visualize Ethan crawling across the bed and mom chasing him trying to put the diaper on him with his little butt up in the air. Why can I picture this so well? Because this is a daily instance in our household. :) No harm, no foul...right? I'm sure diapers are just as effective which ever way they are facing.

The Big "1" is coming up quickly. Can you believe it? Chuck E Cheese, here we come!

November 22: 10 Months Old!

Ethan is 10 months old today! It's an age that I have not been able to even imagine. It seems like it came out of no where and I'm surprised every day on how much he is learning and growing. It seems to be all happening so fast. Maybe the time warp feeling comes from the sleep deprivation. One day, he's 5 lbs and we're bringing him home from the NICU and the next BAM! he's over 17 lbs and talking gibberish and crawling! But what a big boy he has become. He's so much fun.

Yep, he's now crawling. And life as we knew it has changed completely..again. We are constantly pulling Otis' toys out of Ethan's reach b/c Ethan's new favorite thing is searching for them and if we are not fast enough, licking them. And Otis's food dish has been moved into the back hallway because another favorite thing of Ethan's is to tip over the dish and slap the water around. Ethan's loving his new found independence and thinks all of the licking and slapping of water is awesome. To give Otis credit, he has actually handled the toy takeover well. He gently grabs his toy and moves them to another location. But his dish...that's another story. His dish has been in the same place since he was 10 weeks old and this is the one change that he is fighting us on. He has started staging 'sit ins'. He'll plop himself down exactly where he would to eat if his dish were in the proper location and stare at us. If we ignore him, he'll start whining. It's a little unsettling and I admit to having given in a few times already. Only to have Ethan come along and slap the water around. Then Jon comes by with a sigh and moves the dish to the hall again. I wonder how long this will go on? And who knew that moving a dish would be the change that put the dog over the edge :)

This past month we had Ethan's 9 month check up and the NICU follow up. Both went very well and Ethan now has his flu and H1N1 shots, so we're knocking on wood that we can keep him healthy this fall/winter. At the NICU follow up, he had to meet with a psychologist, a physical therapist and a neonatologist. It's all a little overwhelming. It's nice to have so many eyes on him and to hear the praises on well he's doing, but it's also confusing...more doctors means more opinions and they are not always consistent. We do our best to take it all in and then use our best judgement and intinct, that's all we can do, right?

He is now creeping up on 28" long and 17 1/2 lbs. He is officially on the charts for a baby his real age (no adjusted age talk anymore). Small for real age, but real age none the less. He passed all of his 'tests'. Although we were told not to 'walk' him anymore. That was a little disappointing to hear...it's was his top most fav thing to do. (above toy stealing and dish tipping). But the PT said that he was on the cusp of crawling and that if he knew we would help him around by walking with him, that he wouldn't push himself to crawl. She said if we were to stop, he would be crawling within the week. Turns out, she was right... 3 days later, he was cruising around the living room. :)

We're all looking forward to Thanksgiving (read: long) weekend. We'll be in Milwaukee at Grandma Koelsch's and it'll be nice seeing everyone and showing off Ethan's new skills. I'm really starting to look forward to Christmas as well. It's been a while since Grandma and Grandpa Kruse has seen the little guy. Not so much looking forward to the long drive with baby and dog in tow though. We had a really bad trip last year and hit a white out that was so bad, we ended up pulling into small town WI and getting a hotel room. I don't think I could handle that again, especially with Ethan in the car. It was bad enough doing it when I was pregnant. Let's hope for decent weather.

I'll end with a short video, of...you guessed it. Ethan crawling :) This was taken on Tuesday of last week. He's already gotten a lot better, but it's cute!

November 4 - Happy Halloween 2009!

We had a great Halloween here in Chicago. We were finally able to get out a little bit and see friends we haven't seen in weeks, the Nelsons (x2) and the Boutells...and Ethan got to catch up with his li'l gang - Beckett and Baylor. They made quite a cute crew in Wicker Park on Saturday. Although they did not participate in trick or treating or face painting (maybe next year), we all hung out in the play yard area and had a good time watching Maddie swing and run around. Can I also mention how good they all were!?! It was amazing. No crying or fussing at all. We even brought them all out to lunch. It took a while for all of us to settle in and I think the servers didn't know what to do with us, but I have to say it was a very successful group lunch considering the size and age range of our posse.

Ethan's big thing these days: walking. He wants to walk every where. Of course, he can't do this himself, so he recruits whomever is on hand to help him...Auntie Shell, Miriam, Mom, Dad. And in turn, we all have sore backs trying to keep up with the little man. It makes me wish that the old school walkers weren't thought to be such a hazard. (are they really that bad? I'm beginning to weigh the pro's and con's...)

Happy Birthday Mom (Grandma)!!! Hope you like the flowers that Ethan sent you. He's got pretty good taste, right? ;-)

Oct 28: Auntie Shell + New Camera = Lotsa Video

Wow, it's been awhile since I've updated! I can't believe it's been over a month. Work has been really crazy and it's been hard to balance life these days. I got my first (2) work trips under my belt. They were a little rough, but I made it through and Ethan is still in one piece. ;) It's good and bad. At this age, they don't really miss you...which is good. They just need someone to feed and play with them. The bad part? They don't miss you. Sigh.

We also took our first vacation since Ethan was born. Well, actually since our honeymoon. It was way overdue. It was not only our vacation, but Bob and Brandi's wedding in Las Vegas! It was beautiful and suh a good excuse to get out of the midwest and see some sun before the snow flies here in Chicago.

While we were gone, Auntie Shell came to stay with Ethan. She says she had a good time, although I think Ethan exhausted her a bit. I called to check in on her on Saturday night and she was sleeping...it was a little before 8pm CST. :)

Shell bought a new video camera for the occasion (and future occasions, I'm guessing). I've included a couple for you since I've been really bad at keeping up with pictures. You'll notice that his hair is out of control...again! I've cut it two times already and it's already grown out again. You can really tell it was me who cut Ethan's hair in these pictures ...yikes! I've gotta find someone who will do a better job!

Morning with Ethan and Auntie Shell:
http://sharing.theflip.com/session/13def5c13035bbb4a9d0c702dfceb767/video/6859347

Meal Time:
http://sharing.theflip.com/session/da693eefc9078991b889d523c5ffa79d/video/6894654

Ethan is sitting up alot now and is getting more sturdy every day. He still won't crawl; he doesn't seem to want to when he can roll to everything. But he does want to walk all over. I'm starting to think he'll walk before crawling. We'll just have to wait and see :)

I want to take a minute to give a call out to 2 of my very close friends today. I got a lot of good news.

1st: Congrats to Peni and Aaron...they are having a boy!! Pen, I know you wanted a girl, but I assure you, once the news sinks in, it will be all goodness :) Little boys have a way of wrapping their moms around their li'l fingers, so watch out. And remember, even a boy can have a little sparkle ;) Ha!

2nd: Congrats to Jen and Tom!! They will be bringing home a baby brother or sister to Katie this spring. Another impossibly cute baby on they way!

The baby boom continues into 2010!

September 20: First Annual Family Vacation

Last weekend, we had our first family vacation with Ethan. Theresa, Mom, Dad, Shell, Jon, Ethan, Otis and I all headed to the Dells for a weekend getaway. It was a lot of fun with just a few missteps along the way. We lucked out with perfect weather. The house we rented was beautiful and was on a private lake. The only issue I had was that the pictures made it seem like it was on a sandy beach with a swimming area, but in reality there were 50 + steps down to a murky area with one board thrown out to get to the paddle boat. Not like we were going to go swimming, but I had visions of plopping Ethan down on a blanket in the sand in his new little swim trunks and dipping his little toes in the water. Next year... :)

Of course, nothing can go completely smooth. At the last moment, Jon found out that his vacation request had been declined due to a last minute meeting that popped up with the President of the company. That sucked. It meant that I was alone to pack up the car and Ethan and myself, pick up Shell and head out of town. We decided that it would still make sense for me to leave at 10 am as we had originally planned and get there when Theresa and Mom and Dad were due to arrive, and Jon would take Amtrak straight from work and we'd pick him up.

I woke up at 5:45. Got a shower in before Ethan woke up. Right on cue, Ethan's eyes popped open at 6am and we got the first bottle of the day put away. I had packed most of our stuff the night before and Jon had brought the suitcase out for me, but I still had some odds and ends and also had to pack the car . Ethan usually is the best napper, but that morning, he decided he didn't need one. I couldn't get him to sleep. And b/c he missed his nap, he got cranky. I was starting to get a little panicky when it was 9am and I was supposed to be out of house by 10. I had managed to pull myself together, but I still had to pack the car with the cooler and misc stuff. I stuck Ethan in his crib screaming, and started to pack the car. Otis, seeing all of the stuff going into the car, figured out what was happening and got all nervous, not wanting to leave my side, thinking we were going to go somewhere without him, so I was tripping over him. I was really hoping the neighbors weren't trying to sleep in, b/c we had a screaming baby for 20 minutes while I loaded the car. I finished loading the car, got Ethan calmed down and fed him again, changed him and called Shell to tell her I'd be there in 20. I was only running about 15 minutes late that time, which is really good for me, b/c I usually was always 1/2 hour late everywhere I went B.E. (before Ethan). Proud of myself, I got Otis into the truck, cracked the window and went upstairs to load up Ethan, I picked up his car seat and noticed something was leaking all over my foot. I had trailed the car seat into the living room and up onto the ottoman, then looked back and noticed the trail. Although, I knew this couldn't be good, like a dumb ass, I stuck my hand in, pulled it out and smelled. WTF?!?!... Cat PEE!!!! I was furious. Ty is getting old and had been throwing up a lot, much to our frustration, but if he started peeing on things. That was it, I would have to do something about it. Once I calmed down a little, I realized that Miriam, our nanny, had washed the floors the day before, and had shoved Ty's litter box tight into the corner. Ty wasn't able to get to it. It also helped clear up the confusion on why Ty had whined at us the whole entire night before. Suddenly, I felt bad for him b/c he probably held it as long as he could then found the one thing that looked closest to his litter box. I was also relieved as he wasn't purposely peeing on our stuff. Didn't make the situation any easier, but at least Ty wasn't losing it. Again, I called Shell and told her I was going to be late.

If I would have had a way to get to a store with Ethan in tow, I would have just scrapped the entire car seat and bought a new one. Since I had no options and Jon was working. I set to work cleaning it. I pulled it all apart, soaked the cloth parts and cleaned it by hand, then stuck in the washing machine in hot water. Then I took the base, threw it in the sink, and filled the sink with hot water filled with Lysol. After a Lysol rinsing came detergent for the straps and then after the detergent I washed with color safe bleach. The thing was as clean as it was going to get. I set it outside to dry in the sun.

At this time it was 11:30. I had high hopes that we would be able to get out the door by 12pm. So called Shell, told her that I'd be there in 1/2 hour and then went to get the cloth parts out of the dryer in order to put the car seat back together. In my frenzy of finding the cat pee, I forgot how I took it apart, so had to go on line to figure it out. Got the directions, got it together, then realized that the stuffing inside the cloth was still wet. Not to be deterred, I came up with a plan to put a plastic disposable changing pad down, then a blanket, to keep Ethan from getting wet. Sounded good at the time and I was desperate to get out of the house. Of course, once I shoved Ethan in, I realized that the little guy would not be comfortable and he was all crackly. I couldn't bring my self to put him through all that and the possible wetness seeping through when we had a 3 hour drive in front of us. Crap. Out came Ethan.

OK, OK. Called Shell, told her it was going to be a little longer. By this time, I was 3 hours late. I saw that Jon was on line, so caught him on IM. He was surprised to see that we were still home. By this time, we were only 1 hour away from when he was going to catch the train, so it made sense to wait for him and during that time, dry the car seat completely through.

So, Jon gets home, we get Ethan fed again and loaded up; got Otis into the car and were on our way to Shell's ... only 4 1/2 hours late. I was exhausted before even leaving Chicago. Of course, we then had to call Theresa and Mom and Dad to let them know that we were going to be late :) Theresa got to the cabin early and got a little down time before everyone rolled in and Dad and Mom found a casino. All was good, for the moment.

That wasn't the end of our issues. Next, the GPS's. Jon and I and Dad have these wonderful little gadgets. And I love ours. I depend on it to get me everywhere and I rarely get lost around Chicago anymore. But, I learned last weekend that I'm a little too dependant on it. Thinking that the GPS can get me anywhere, I thought I wouldn't need the directions that were emailed to us earlier in the week. I believed in the power of the GPS. So, I found out, did Dad. Needless to say, Theresa, the only one to bring the directions with, had to come and find all of us on the back roads of Oxford, WI, as we were all lost.

Finally, at 6:30pm...4 1/2 later than expected ETA, we all had arrived and settled in and the rest of the weekend was stress free. As I mentioned, we had beautiful weather, Ethan was on his best and cutest behavior, flirting with all of his ladies. Jon and Dad got some fishing in...although no actual fish were caught. Otis got to go swimming and caused mayhem, but enjoyed himself thoroughly. He tried to follow Jon and Dad out by swimming after the paddle boat. He also swam up to our neighbor who was trying to fish and tried to 'fetch' his bobber. Thank god the neighbor found humor in the situation. We played some games, had some drinks and ate really well. Poor Theresa and Jon were subject to the Kruse rules while playing 500 rummy. What, doesn't everyone count the jokers and 2's as wild and count the queen of spades as 40 points?? Mom swears that this is the official 'rule book'. But no one could produce said book or remember the last time they saw it. There was also a crazy game of golf lasso, which Mom proclaimed Kruse's against the Koelsch's. Quickly following, I was unceremoniously dumped by my parents since I am now a Koelsch. I wish I could say the Koelsch's won, but those Kruse's are a mean bunch and we lost in overtime. There was heckling involved after. Just wait until next year.

August 28: Momma's gonna buy you a bottle of wine...wait. What?

Ok, ok. It's been a long time since I've sung nursery songs. I often find myself making up my own lyrics after one verse. Poor Ethan...the boy has no chance of inheriting any musical ability from us (well, from me at least, I won't speak for Jon). Not only do I mumble through the basic songs, I really cannot carry a tune to save my life. I've looked up a couple of lyrics on line, but, really, my brain is mush these days, and I forget them by the next day. So, I wing it. The other night after finishing up a long day of work and letting Miriam go, I catch myself singing the song "Momma's gonna buy you a Mockingbird" (is that really the name? I don't know). I actually know 2 verses to that. I get to "Momma's going to buy you a diamond ring, if that diamond ring don't shine, Momma's gonna buy you a bottle of wine" Wait, what? That can't be right... I had to think about it and re-sing it in my head. Nope, definitely not right...oops. I'm probably not going to win mother of the year anytime soon, but really, at that moment, I could have used a bottle of wine. :)

We've had a very busy couple of weeks. A lot of firsts for the little guy. Not only has he settled into a new schedule with Miriam, he started cereal AND, drum roll, please... is now sporting the very tip of a tooth! Yes, 4 months adjusted age and there you go... a tooth poking through. My sister wonders if I took growth hormones or something when I was pregnant. Shelly thinks that Ethan will be forever playing catch up without realizing he doesn't need to. Or maybe, Nancy, he may just be a one-upper, just like his mother :). At first I was elated and had to call the Grandparents. Then soon after found out it's not all that great. He doesn't have the motor skills to hold a teething ring, so he needs help to keep things to his mouth to chew and has been quite uncomfortable. It is what it is. And I'm sure once it's completely in, it'll be very cute.

He had a doctors appointment this week. 14lbs 2 oz & 24 1/4 in long. Getting SO big. His face is really starting to round out and so are his li'l legs and tummy. The doctor had all good things to say and is now viewing him as a normal infant, no longer a preemie. Of course, we still have to worry about his kidney. We have an ultrasound next month to see if there are any changes. But it's nice to know that his growth is going so well and he's on track.

Did I mention that he is now back to sleeping through the night? That's the best part :) Jon and I are getting (for the most part) uninterrupted sleep now and things feel like they are back to normal. Normal except that I am up at 6am every morning. That that will never be normal. But I have to say, I may grumble all the way to his room with one eye open, the moment I step over his crib and he gives me one of those toothless grins, it's not so bad all of a sudden.