Long update...

Friday, October 3, 2008

I'm already really bad about updating this thing. Someday I'm really going to regret not writing more about Logan, I know I am. :(

So, let's see. What's happened since Ethan's birthday? We ended up having to cancel his friend birthday party because Shawn and I both woke up sick that morning. :( So he was pretty bummed about that. So instead of a party, we took him to the library for the first time, and it was a hit! They have trains that you can check out and play with on a table, and of course he loved that.

For his actual birthday, we went to lunch at the All Aboard Diner in Downers Grove. It was awesome! The counter has a train track running around the inside edge, and a model train brings your food to you! Ethan was a little freaked out at first, but our server was awesome and she let him push the buttons that control the train, and after that he wasn't so scared. They gave him a free cupcake for his birthday, too, which was great! They also have a little model train setup where you push buttons to run the various things, and Ethan loved that as well.

After lunch, we went to the Toys 'R Us a few doors down and played for a while. We still hadn't bought his birthday present, so we were trying to find something good while we were there. No dice. After that we went to the mall and let him play in the play area for a bit, and then went to Target to get a cake and look for presents again. We ended up getting a Viewmaster with Thomas and Incredibles discs, and a Play-Doh Fun Factory. He loves them both! And it's a nice change from his beloved cars. Though, I was hoping in the last 20 years since I had a Fun Factory, that they'd have made the hole round instead of square. Sadly, no. And it's still just as much a pain to clean out as I remember.

He picked out a Spongebob Squarepants cake, and he did a fabulous job of blowing out the candles. :) My big 3 year old!

We'd been planning to get Ethan a Power Wheels at some point, though we didn't think it would be for his birthday as they're a bit pricey. But I got extremely lucky and happened to check Craigslist at the right time - someone was selling 2 Power Wheels - a Jeep and a Silverado truck - for $25! What a deal! So we went to get them on Tuesday of that week. She said they wouldn't come with a battery, but she did end up giving us one that didn't hold much of a charge so we could at least be sure they worked. Ethan didn't take long to catch on to how to drive them and he's been having a lot of fun! Shawn got lucky and found a like-new battery and charger on eBay for $22.50, so now we have one good battery and one not-so-good battery, and a charger, plus the two vehicles, all for less than $50! I love Craigslist and eBay!

The following weekend we headed to Iowa City/Kalona for Iowa's homecoming - it's an annual tradition among our college friends. We got there on Thursday night so we'd have plenty of time to get to Iowa City for the parade on Friday. We met up with friends at the parade, and didn't really watch much of it. We were in kind of a bad spot for watching, and I got in a little fight with some other parents while trying to find Ethan a spot to sit, so he ended up watching while Grandma held him. After the parade we went to the Vine with Jon and Daisy and family and had wings, just like old times. :) And I breastfed in a college bar. THAT was interesting. LOL

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to go to the BBQ. It was going to be at City Park, but CP got flooded pretty bad in June, so we moved it to a different park. Well, nobody from the parks dept. came by to unlock the water/electricity, which sucked. They also told Daisy when she called that there was a grill - well, they were wrong. So we ended up bringing a portable propane grill from Shawn's mom's house. So no harm done, though it did suck having to rely on game updates from Bobo's Blackberry instead of being able to listen on the radio. The Hawks blew it anyway, so it's not like we missed much. Sigh.

It was good to see everyone, though, and lots of babies have been born since last year so it was fun to see all the new little ones. Ethan had fun playing with the other kids and was quite worn out when we got home - he crashed and took a 4 hour nap.

Unfortunately the day's excitement wasn't over yet, as Shawn's aunt Shirley, who was down for Ethan's b-day party, had a fainting spell in church and we ended up having to call an ambulance for her. Margaret went with her and was at the hospital until 3am, so we had to do a rush-job on the party preparations. I went to bed around 3:30am, Shawn finally came to bed around 6am, and Margaret didn't sleep at all. But everything got done, and the party went off without a hitch. Ethan was very excited to see everyone, though having 4 different grandmas in the house was a bit confusing. LOL (Margaret, my mom, my grandma, and Shawn's grandma)

And now this week, which hasn't been the greatest week. I'd forgotten that Abbie needed booster shots, and she was almost past the point of being able to get them without re-starting the series, so she had to get those on Tuesday morning. Then Ethan had preschool, of course, and I had scheduled a root canal for Tuesday afternoon. Too much activity for one day! To top it off, Logan has been really fussy and not sleeping well this week, so Shawn had his hands full taking care of him while I was out running around and didn't get a lot of work done that day. Oops. The pain from the root canal/temp crown was payback enough for me, I think.

Ethan started out having a great day in preschool yesterday - he didn't fight me when it was time for the art project, and he was playing with more than just the cars, as he usually does. Unfortunately, one of his classmates was bothering him while they were playing with the fake food, and Ethan shoved him down into the corner of a cabinet. It was very scary, and I felt absolutely awful. :( I never know if I do the right thing in situations like that - I ended up putting Ethan in time-in (holding on to him and talking to him about what he did and why it was wrong) and I think I got through to him, but I always second-guess myself. At least the other boy wasn't hurt.

Not sure what's going on this weekend - I have book club tonight, and Court and Tara are supposedly coming over tomorrow, but other than that we don't have plans. Maybe a trip to the library, or to one of the apple farms. That'll depend on the weather, I suppose. I love fall. I hope we have a nice long fall this year, because I am SO not ready for winter yet.

Will attempt to work on pictures tonight. Don't hold me to that.