is it thursday?

It is? Right?

Already in competition with his sister, Ethan was just being dramatic. Tuesday night they took him off oxygen, then the nasal cannula altogether. And by yesterday afternoon he was back in the room with us. Being all sorts of normal.

Emmie came up to meet brother and she was not at all interested. She was much more interested in mommy's owwie's though she did give him a Dora sticker, so I think he's in.

Today was a good day as well. We just hung out in the hospital room and did our thing. Ethan is a total cuddle bug and I love it. This time Em was a little more interested in baby brother.

We're heading home tomorrow and we're quite excited.

Enough talking, more pictures.

Paci patrol.

 

Not gentle with brother at all. I think Nana had a few panic attacks.

Pretty excited to find out he had two ears.

A boy cousin for Liv!

Ethan Michael Fellows

He's here! Well he's here, but now he's in the NICU.

We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 this morning, surgery began at 7:15 and he was here at 7:30.  7 pounds,  15 ounces. 19 3/4 inches long. Just a peanut compared to Emmie.

While I waited in the recovery room for Ethan and Dad to come in....I just kept waiting. And then the nurse came in and started telling me how wonderful Ethan was doing and I waited for the "but". Yep, he was pulling the exact same stunt as Emmie. Low oxygen blah blah. Baby heading to the NICU. Ugh.  We were so hoping not go back there, but if that's what baby needs, that's what baby gets.

Thankfully they did wheel him in so I could at least hold him before he headed to the NICU.

He's doing well. And mom is doing a lot better after a two hour nap.

 

Poor Em is too young to visit Ethan in the NICU, so I'm not even sure when brother and sister will get to meet. But I'm pretty sure she will fall in love like we did.

last weekend as a threesome

This weekend we spent preparing to become a family of four.  We finally packed a bag. We worked on his name. We cleaned the house.  Nothing makes you want to clean like a baby coming home.

And today we bought me a new laptop. Yeah, with Emmie I got diamonds. This time around, I get a computer. Apparently this is how it works now that there's another boy entering the family.

Did I warn you yet that this is going to be a totally random post?

I've been crying a lot. You know, just a hundred weeks pregnant, prepping for baby number two while still trying to be present for baby number one.

Speaking of present.

I told Emmie that the baby was going to give her a present, trying to woo her from the get go. And now any time we talk about the baby, she just says presents. So, he better get her something good huh.

We did buy her a baby doll. How hard is it to find a baby? We didn't want a crying baby or a baby that pees herself or a baby that stares you down when you walk out of the room. We literally went to three different stores and ended up just taking the batteries out of this one to make her normal.

We gave Emmie the baby and asked her the baby's name. She said Maaahneee. Which is Emmie for Molly. How sweet is that?!

And speaking of Molly, look at this sweet little Owl that belongs to Matt and Alicia! Ohmahgawd. Can she be cuter? I think not. Don't worry, I checked with mom before posting pictures of someone else's kid on the internet. But really, I think you all wanted to see her right?

And with that, it's time for bed. You know how exciting it is to have three months off, no schedule etc. And you want to stay up and watch tv just because you can. Nope, not here. Still asleep by 9.

Happy Halloween!

And no holiday would be complete without a little parentfail.

She gets up, we get her dressed, I go to take a picture with the "real camera".....dead battery. Damn!

So, phone photos will have to do.

She was a lady bug. And though the pics don't really do them justice, those are sequined black boots. And no one rocks a pair of sequined black boots like a two year old. And she loves them...and they're from Walmart. Gasp.

Mom, why you smugglin' that pumpkin under your shirt?

 

Andy dropped Em off at school and then emailed me this:

 

She wasn’t the only lady bug at school today, but her outfit was way better than the other girls.

 

I don't care how old your kid is, that's all a mom wants to hear.

 



I just wanna tell you his name already!

I was all, let's hang up the baby's name in his nursery and then the idea went down the drain because it's kinda hard to hang a name above a crib when the crib is still in the big girl's room being occupied by said big girl.

Yeah, we gave up a little too easy on the big bed transition and she's back in the good ol' crib. Why? Because we all like sleep, that's why. And I don't think we were ready to commit to the whole back to bed 157 times in one night thing...so we'll wait until there's a second baby crying through the night...that seems super logical right?

Ugh.

Anyways.

We took a family shopping trip to Gordmans this weekend. Because that's also a super fun thing to do with husband and almost two year old. We were looking for lamps...but came home with this!

 

 

Ohmygawd! Baby boy has something on his wall! I'm not going to lie, Gordmans really does come through in some random ways. It's boyish, it's cute, it takes up a few feet. Yay!

 

So, the name...how we're going to get it on the wall, where it's going, not sure yet. I have plenty of options, but no ability to commit.

 

As you might remember I got these super adorable, but still manly, over sized flashcards at Anthropologie this summer:

 



And the chosen flashcards..................

 

Ethan.Michael.Fellows

 

We're quite excited about the name. Ethan, just because we like the name Ethan. And Michael after my dad. (As much as we liked Andrew for a potential middle name...Ethan Andrew reminded us a little too much of Ethan Allen.) 

 

I think it's a solid, strong name. I can envision a little Ethan running around, but I can also envision a successful business man...or soap opera actor. Either way.

 

There you have it!! Baby Dos officially has a name. Now just to meet this little fella.

the upstairs

Upstairs we have the laundry room and baby's room to the front, extra bedroom, bathroom and Emmie's room to the back of the house and the master at the end of the hallway.

 

 

The 4th bedroom. We decided that using the extra bedroom as an additional toy room/tv room/den for the upstairs was a better use of space than a guest room that would rarely be used. And we are loving it so far!

 

 

Kid's bathroom. I can't tell what the colors are looking like online...this wall color is Cornhusk Green.

 

Big mama. I was really just trying to highlight the framed mirror. Another one of my random wants turned into need.  It's one of those things that we would say we would do down the road, but then never actually do it. Again, I'm super happy with it, even though our cabinet guy thought I was nuts.

 



Emmie's room! (Grand Hotel Mackinac Blue) Yes, that's the light fixture from her nursery in the other house. I just couldn't stand to let it go...so we asked to take it!

 

Baby's room (Feeling Blue). A super light, bluey grey for our little fella.

 

 



The master bedroom (Woodlawn Colonial Grey). And see out that window...the house that's being built...we actually know those people! Don't worry guys, the blinds are already up.

 



The master bath. This is the very first time Andy and I will be sharing a bathroom. A pretty big deal. We believe that separate bathrooms and DVRs are key to a happy marriage. So let's just hope that separate vanities work the same way. Did you know Andy's super neat and tidy and I'm...not. Especially in the bathroom. I've been really good so far though...and I credit that to the outlet in the linen closet so my flat iron and hair dryer are never seen again...best thing ever!

 

(And the master closet off of the bathroom.)

 

That's about it!  We're slowly getting around to decorating the joint and once there is something else to show...I'll post it.

 

Maybe baby will finally get a name hung up on his wall....



I interrupt this house tour to ask you: when?

When?

When did I become the person that had use all my power to stop myself from posting on Facebook and screaming to the world that Emmie pooped in the potty?

I know.

It's ridiculous that I was so excited. And clearly, no one else cares.

Anyways, you're still reading and I assume you know what this post is about by now, so I'll continue.

We've got a list of things to take care of before this baby arrives...in like a little over two weeks. One of them being, oh you know, pack a hospital bag. (Holy under prepared for Baby Dos.)  Anyways, the other big items on the list are moving Emmie to the big girl bed and starting some potty training.

This week we decided to move the potty we bought months ago to a more useful location...like out of the box in the garage and actually into the house for starters. And I won't go into the details of the actual pottying event (though I really want to) but sadly it was a fluke because it hasn't happened since.

So, on to the big girl bed. We've had the crib and a new big girl twin bed in Emmie's room since we moved in. Every night she declines the offer to sleep there. Finally, on Saturday night we didn't give her the option...she was a little miffed at the situation but fell asleep anyway...stayed there all night and woke us in the morning with the universal I'm awake signal...banging her water cup on the wall. Hmm...that was kinda easy I guess...said the idiot.

We headed into naptime on Sunday...Em was not so interested in the bed this time. Andy got her settled in and then she proceeded to dick around for a solid 45 minutes. We were watching tv upstairs (okay Andy was watching tv and I was sleeping) and I opened one eye to see Emmie saunter into the room with a shit eating grin on her face...so proud of herself that she figured out how to get out of bed. Andy walked her back and tossed her in the crib...where she proceeded to dick around for another 45 minutes. I finally gave in and went to get her and found her pantless and diaperless, happy as a clam.

Needless to say, bedtime this evening took about 30 seconds and she was asleep, in her big girl bed.

We'll work harder on potty training another time.