Ethan and Carly

Ethan and Carly on Christmas Day at the Jablonski house, this video is the two of them watching their favorite show "Backyardigans"

Cutest video of Ethan and his cousins playing Ring Around the Rosie, check it out!

December and January

The past few months have been crazy in the Pulse household. We made it through the holidays in one piece, but barely =). Christmas was so much fun this year, Ethan was really excited about opening gifts, we saw Santa, family, friends and ate lots of good food. We went to Iowa the week before Christmas this year and got to spend time at Grandpa Ron's house and Grandma Pam & Grandpa Gary's house....Ethan was a trooper and had a great trip! I think Ethan's favorite gifts this year all had to do with cooking; it started out with a new kitchen from Grandma Pam & Grandpa Gary. To go along with the kitchen he got some pots and pans, food to practice cutting and a shopping cart; we are happy to announce he still loves them all! When we got home, we celebrated Christmas morning at home as a family, it was so much fun. When Ethan woke up Christmas morning, I brought him downstairs where he saw his new table and chairs with more gifts on top of it. When Ethan says "sit" it sounds like "shit," so we have him on the video saying "Oh Shit" when he sees the table....he loved it and we use it to color, play with playdoh and do puzzles. Ethan has grown so much, we can't believe it. He can actually occupy himself and sit still long enough to do a puzzle or listen to us read a book to him. That is a fairly new and very exciting milestone for us! He is really into his "Marley Goes to School" book from Auntie Michelle, he picks it out of a crowd of books each night as he says "Marley, Marley". By this time, Adam and I have memorized all the pages...So, for Valentines Day today we are giving Ethan some new Marley books that I found on amazon with a Marley stuffed dog. We will see if he has any interest? Adam and I sure hope so! Ethan's vocabulary continues to grow and grow and the boy has even started to give me attitude. The other day I was trying to get him ready for daycare so I could go to work and I said, "Ethan, please can we get your coat on?" He replied, "Mommy, OK...GEEZ." Yes, he said Geez to me! He has also started to question us, like if he asks for something or asks to watch his "show" and we say no, he will ask us, "Why Mommy." I really didn't think all of that would start so soon! He is starting to put words together more and he knows so many words I couldn't even begin to tell you them all, he just LOVES to talk. I foresee lots of calls from teachers in our future....

As I am sure most people reading this already know, Ethan is going to be a big brother! I am not sure Ethan can really understand what it means but he kisses my belly and says "hi baby." He says we should name the baby, "E" after him. I am not sure that will work for a little GIRL! Yes, that's right, Adam and I decided to find out the sex of the baby this time around, and all signs point to a girl. Poor little Ethan is surrounded by girls...thank God for his big cousin Brady! We are very happy, but really only care about a happy, healthy baby.

The past few months in the Pulse household have also been filled with more construction! We have decided to finish our basement and it is WELL on the way to being completed. It was a very big job but with the help of amazing family and friends we will have added an additional bedroom, bathroom and family room. At this point, who knows where we will end up, but at least if we stay on Elm Street we have an amazing house with somewhere to put all the toys!

Check out pictures from the past few months.......

To start off the Christmas season, we had a playdate with some new friends and Ethan and I made our first Ginger Bread House. From this angle it looks pretty good, but the walls were collapsing by the time Adam got home, oops...

Christmas in Iowa

Merry Christmas!

Ethan was not too happy with Santa this year! He was interested in looking at Santa from a distance or talking about Santa...but when we put him on Santa's lap he flipped out!

Christmas at Busia and Papa's; Ethan and Lorraine

Happy New Year! This year we found out about a kids new years party at a nearby restaurant. It was from 5:30-7:00 and they served a buffet dinner and had dancing and a countdown for the kids. Ethan and Carly loved it and danced the night away. We were all home in bed by 7:30, it was perfect! Next year we hope to plan better and have a nice group to go with.

Silly Ethan with his buddy Lucy

Ethan's first experience with snow, he actually didn't care for it as much as I thought he would. He was concerned about his boots getting wet. He seemed to be more interested in sitting inside and looking out the window at other people in the snow. I am SURE that will change soon enough.

"Sledding" with Papa

A Few Months of Updates....

Looks like we have some updating to do.....

Ethan had his 18-month doctor's appointment October 12; it's hard to believe that was already over a month ago. Anyway, the doctor said that developmentally he was right on track. We discussed his fussy eating habits, sleeping habits, playtime habits, and everything was just as she would expect; that was good news to us! He weighed in at 26 pounds and 10 ounces (50-75th percentile) and was 34 inches tall (90th percentile); we are still not sure where that height is coming from but are happy to know we have a healthy little boy!

His vocabulary continues to grow by leaps and bounds (we will try to get another video of this so you can see how far he has come). He has says all sorts of words and it is nice that he is beginning to really be able to communicate with us what he wants. Something new since the last post is Ethan's love for babies. There is a little girl at Ethan's daycare and he just loves her, so he spends lots of time during the day telling us about babies and asking me to see a picture of her.....its very cute! He even has a baby doll that he likes to feed and put in the swing; then the boy in him comes out and he throws her on the floor and moves on to another toy, but its cute while it lasts! We has some great news this month, Ethan became a big cousin so he was able to meet Evelyn Jablonski in person, he calls her baby Evie. Congrats to Mike and Angela and big sister Lorraine!

Catching up....

In September we took one last trip to Green Lake for Labor Day; it was a great way to end the summer. We were fortunate to have some friends come along with us, they have a new little girl and I think it may be a love connection! Sophia also happens to be the baby I mention above, she started at Ethan's daycare recently.

October was another busy month for Ethan. We took him to the Shedd Aquarium for the first time and we decided to become members for the year, I hope we will take advantage of this over the winter months! Mommy and Daddy had a wedding in Iowa this month, so we took a trip and Ethan got to visit with Grandma Pam and Grandpa Gary. This was a special trip for Ethan because he took his first ride on Grandpa Gary's Combine and got to go with daddy on the riding lawn mower. I tell you this kid takes after daddy.....

It was also, of course, Halloween! For Ethan's second Halloween he decided to dress as a pirate, the costume was adorable but he wasn't super fond of the hat. This year went much better for him than last....he was not sick so he was able to go to Uncle Ted and Aunt Michelle's and play with his cousins and even do some trick or treating. He didn't quite get the point, but he liked walking around the neighborhood and looking at the other kids, we were blessed with nice weather. Unfortunaely, mommy had the flu so I didn't get to enjoy all of their little costumes this year...hopefully daddy isn't sick next year?

Before Halloween this year Ethan went to his first pumpkin patch with Carly and Aunt Michelle. It was fun, we went through a maze of hay and went on hayrack ride through some corn fields and of course picked out some pumpkins.....
Searching for the best pumpkin...great team work!


Check out the videos in the next post..........

A Couple More Videos of Ethan

Sorry we have been doing a bad job of keeping this blog updated. It seems whenever we are home we are busy chasing Ethan around and trying to keep him from climbing onto tables and chairs or jumping off the couch and haven't been able to update this blog as much as we would like. I wish I had a camcorder sitting next to me 24 hours a day because it seems like minute to minute Ethan learns something new or does something different or sweet or funny and I wish my memory was much better at keeping all those things available for me to remember whenever I want.

The first video is of Ethan eating by himself like a big boy. It seems like he just woke up one day and decided he didn't need his parents for eating anymore and gets mad whenever we try to help / keep him from covering the entire kitchen with his breakfast, lunch, and / or dinner.

The second video is just a random time Cheryl and I were sitting in the living room watching Ethan play and LUCKILY remembered the camcorder and thought maybe we should record him for a couple minutes while he was being cute. I don't know what else to say about this one?

The last video is just a fun one about bedtime with Ethan. After he takes his bath and we brush our teeth and get our pajamas on, Ethan is allowed to pick out whatever book he wants us to read to him before he goes to bed. Well, Grandma Pam got Ethan one of those recordable books where she could record herself reading the book and gave it to Ethan as a present so she could read him a book at night even though she is in Iowa and Ethan is in Chicago. Anyways, it turns out this Ethan's favorite book and he picks it every night. Here is a video of him picking it out and then how excited he is once he hears Grandma Pam start reading to him...

New Videos of Ethan

Ethan talks to mommy - This video is super cute! Ethan chats a bit and then tries to show us his ears, but that darn hat got in the way.


This summer with Ethan.....

Summer's Ending......

We had a wonderful summer and unfortunately it is coming to an end. I ended up having some of July and all of August off of work and was able to spend lots of quality time with Ethan and we went on some amazing outings. At the end of July we went to a petting zoo here in Park Ridge; we found out quickly that Ethan loves the outdoors just like his daddy and was immediately comfortable letting the animals eat right out of his hand!

August was crazy for Ethan. In the beginning of August mommy went to California with some friends so Ethan got to hang with his daddy and Grandma Pam. It was hard to be away for Ethan even for a short trip, but when I got home I got a HUGE hug and smile. I also came home to a little boy who had learned the word NO - I couldn't believe how cute he sounded saying it.....I got over that pretty quickly and he hasn't stop saying it since. How we are working on him understanding what it means. This month we also went to our first water park with Auntie Michelle and Carly; Ethan loved it. The park happened to be 2 minutes from our house and they had a separate area for kids Ethan's age. He ran through the sprinklers and by the end of the day was able to go up the stairs and down the water slide all by himself. Later in the month we went to Brookfield Zoo with Carly and her cousins Gavin, Michael, and Molly. It was a nice visit we got to see lots of animals but most memorable was a beautiful lion roaring on his "mountain." After the lion finally stopped roaring Ethan started, it was adorable. After mommy's trip, daddy went away with the boys to Michigan for the weekend and mommy took Ethan to Green Lake with Busia and Auntie Jan. Ethan finally got to meet Charlie Peterson and they became fast friends; I worry about what they will be like together when they get older.....trouble! We visited Lamb's Farm in August with Carly, Aunt Michelle, and Busia. We had a nice time, but unfortunately it was a little run down, although Ethan and Carly didn't mind. Our last outing in August was to Papa's old firehouse. Ethan got to check out the fire truck and the fire pole and even meet some firemen. He was a little small and still a bit intimidated by the huge truck but we will definately be going back there again when he can slide down the pole and go on for a ride. I should also mention that Lucy turned 5 this month so we celebrated her birthday and Ethan gave her a birthday gift! Told you we were busy.....

Ethan has been surprising us everyday with the things he knows and understands. His vocabulary is growing like crazy some of his new words include cookie, garage, mower, please, and boom. I should explain that Ethan has become obsessed with the garage and mowing. The kid NEVER sits still and then one day we put him in his wagon and were doing yard work for like 40 minutes; he just sat and watched Adam mow. Since then, he points to the garage and asks whoever will listen to mow. Ethan now has 7 teeth and half of a molar is in...I think a lot more are on the way because his mouth is pretty swollen. Okay I think that is everything; check out pictures from the month.

Park Ridge Petting Zoo

Ethan's first pony ride

Waterpark Fun!Brookfield ZooEthan and his new friend CharlieHanging with Carly at Lamb's Farm

Just like daddy

Causing some trouble in the equipment room....

Happy Birthday Lucy