3 Zs

I guess by now any family/friends that read this blog have probably given up on seeing a new update! Life is busy but extremely good. I wish that we could live in these moments forever.

We have had a bunch of fun times recently- including a surprise baby shower for our little girl, a nice birthday cookout at my parents, a big 60th birthday party for my mom, a trip to Van Sant Airport ( a grass strip with a nice cookout), visits from the Sombats, and Alvin+Malina (with a trip to the zoo), a trip to Lakewood NJ to a minor league baseball game/Ethan's first fireworks/going to the beach at Seaside Heights, a trip to Lancaster with the Stragands w. a ride on the Strasburg railroad, cousin Maggie's graduation party, and nice mother's day celebrations. Soon, we will be having just as much (or even more) fun as a family of four!

We have 1 month to go before our little girl arrives and have never been busier with work and with Ethan. Right now, I feel reluctant to switch gears from research to baby care, but I know that once she arrives I will feel completely different. That is what happened with Ethan. I have been cooking a ton during this pregnancy. I've especially enjoyed cooking from "The Silver Palate" cookbook. Their recipes for zucchini bread, "Quick" tomato sauce, chicken Marbella, raspberry chicken and green beans w. tomatoes have been some of my favorites so far. The only cravings I have had were spicy food (early on) and generally healthy home-cooked meals.

The pregnancy has gone very well and now she is head down and "very low". Her movements occur with about the same frequency as I remember Ethan's but hers are what I can only describe as more fluid and graceful.

Steve must be pleased right now that Ethan has become a total daddies boy! He is busy at work though. His research has really started to take off and his boss (who calls him a "drill sergeant") has given him 3 students to mentor; an unprecedented number in my opinion. He is still flying traffic once per week but has cut back to only one flying student.

Ethan is learning new words each day and has started to put two words together. My favorite is "I got you"! Or he will say "Bye Gack Gack" (= bye bird) or "Bye room room" (Bye truck) and "Yes please". He also says "No way!" a lot, but we are trying to get him to say "no thank you" instead.

Ethan didn't have any comfort objects (aside from holding our fingers), but now it definitely seems that he has adopted having a ball and a sippy cup of water at bedtime as his comfort objects.

Ethan has started really getting good at baseball. He can swing a bat and actually hit a ball if it is pitched well to him. And he can throw really hard with pretty good accuracy. We all need to work on our reaction times! We are already scouting out the high schools with good sports programs! He also likes jumping in the air and likes jumping off of things, which scares us to death b/c he pays no attention to the heights he jumps from.

We think that it might be a really difficult transition for him when the baby comes. He doesn't like to share our attention one bit. When I was at his toddler graduation and another little girl came to sit on my lap, he totally lost it. He wouldn't even settle for the little girl sitting on one knee while he sat on the other. Also, when we were with our friends, the Sombats, his behavior totally changed when much of the attention was focused on their son, Luc. You could practically see the thunder-clouds in his facial expression. He even gets a bit jealous when our cat sits on my lap. He still thinks the baby is both in my tummy AND in his tummy, so he has no idea what is about to hit him. Ethan really likes helping me around with household duties though, so maybe he will relish his role as the big helpful brother.