Bedtime Troubles

After I posted the blog on Saturday, I went into Ethan's room to check on him - big mistake!! Although he was in his bed lying down, he wasn't sleeping. Once I came in, he got up and was up until 11:00 p.m. The past two nights have been a bit better. Sunday he was asleep by 10:30 p.m. and tonight all is quiet as I type (9:30 p.m.). Once he is asleep, he doesn't make a peep. The problem is getting him to stay in bed so he can fall alseep!!! He hasn't had a nap there yet, it should be fun!!!

On Sunday we went to St. Catharines to my brother's house to celebrate Caitlyn's birthday. Michelle and I also went to see my dad in the hospital - he had to have his appendix out on Saturday. He looked good and is in good spirits, all things considered. We a nice dinner at Scott's and visited with the gang. I was too busy with the kiddies to take any pictures...

Today, Olivia, Nana and I went shopping in the States to get some fall clothes for Ethan and Olivia. The shopping trip was quite a success, lots of clothes for very little money. You can see Olivia checking out one of her new dresses in the picture. The picture of Ethan is from our visit to London.

Scott won't be home until late tomorrow night, so bedtime is going to be quite a challenge. At this point, it is definitely a two person job. A special note to Jerry and Michele who are currently in the process of having their son Truman - can't wait to meet him!

Ethan's New Room

As I write, Ethan is now sleeping in his big boy room. Although I am little sad because it's another sign that my little guy is not longer so little, he fell asleep without any trouble.

We had fun tonight. We arranged the furniture so Scott could attach it to the wall - on the off chance that Ethan decided to climb on it. As we were in the process of doing this, Ethan showed us ways to climb that we hadn't anticipated. It was funny! Hopefully the set up now will work!!

We had a busy week. On Wednesday we went to Bronte Creek to see the animals, swim and have a picnic lunch with my friends Dana, Lynn and Suzanne, as well as all their kids. There were 8 kids in total, the only other boy is Carson, who is 4 months old. So Ethan had a great time playing with his girlfriends. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera, so no pictures!

On Thursday, we went to Unionville with Lynn to check out one of her other friend's new baby store. Lynn and I are considering opening up a pre-teen clothing store and wanted to talk to her about some ideas and how she got started. All six of us went in Lynn's minivan. Ethan had a lot of fun playing with Shelby (and waking up Olivia). Only problem was that he didn't nap, which made him very tired for soccer (on the positive side, doesn't look like he will be giving up his naps anytime soon)! Thursday was his last night for soccer. They gave out ribbons to the kids. He might play again starting in September (indoor this time).

Yesterday, Dana and her kids came over for lunch. Ethan was a little bit tired from Thursday and didn't really want to share with Charlotte, but overall they still had fun. Jerry stopped by for pizza and a coke on his way to court in Hamilton, Ethan is always excited to see him. Ethan showed Jerry his new trick of unlocking and opening the front door. Uncle Kirk came by earlier in the week to put a second chain lock to prevent Ethan from escaping, but it wasn't on when Jerry was over. Luckily he didn't get very far (we heard him open the door).

Today we went for a family run (see picture). I managed to somewhat keep up with Scott. Olivia and I went grocery shopping (see picture) - isn't she cute? Other than that we just did some organizing to prepare for Michelle's arrival in late September.

All is still quieton the Ethan front, will report on his first night's sleep tomorrow!

Ethan's an Angel

This morning Ethan woke up around 9:15 a.m. He then cuddled with me on the couch for about 20 minutes, had breakfast, got his diaper changed, got dressed and let me put on sunscreen without a word of complaint or protest. He also didn't cry at all when I dropped him off at daycare. He was a perfect angel. I am hoping that the trend continues when I pick him up today. He's alway a sweetie, but today he was extra sweet!!!

Olivia did her first mini push-up on her tummy today without any protest. I am so excited!!! We went to Toys R Us today to buy her some new soothers. She only had one and I was afraid that we would lose it somewhere. She sat in the front part of the shopping cart for the first time, what a big girl!!

Yesterday, Ethan spent a lot of the day riding his bike. He rides it so fast now you almost have to run to keep up with him. He rode it around the block with Scott. In the afternoon, Ethan and Aidan rode the bikes together, racing to try to keep up with each other. It was fun.

Great Uncle Kirk came over for dinner. We hadn't seen him in a while. He is doing well and has a new "friend" name Joanne. They are hopefully going to come over for dinner when Wendy comes in September. I am attaching some pictures from Ethan's soccer game and our visit to London.

Ethan finally got to play soccer on Thursday. We missed last week because we were in Victoria and the two weeks prior to that it was cancelled due to rain. He had a great time. They learned throwing in the ball and then had an actual mini soccer game at the end. None of them really got the concept, but they had fun chasing the ball.

On Friday, we went to the mall to try to find Ethan a Car's backpack. Unfortunately, the Disney store was all sold out. We were able to get a Car's lunch bag. Ethan initially didn't realize the difference, but figured it out today when he tried to put it on his back and there were no straps. So if anyone comes accross one at their local Disney Store, let me know. I am told they are in very high demand and most stores aren't getting anymore.

Today, Ethan, Olivia and I went to Nana Charlotte's house and hung out with Nana and Auntie Michelle. Scott has been gone most of the day/night at Jamie's stag. Ethan had a funny conversation with Scott today while we were at Nana's house. Scott wanted to talk to me and Ethan said "No, it's my turn now, you can talk in a couple of minutes" - sharing when it suits him - too funny. Actually, he is generally a pretty good sharer.

His newest thing is now when you ask him to do something and he says no, it is followed by because...(and then a reason). At first the reasons didn't make sense (i.e.: I can't get dressed because it's sunny) but over the past couple of days the reasons are starting to make a little more sense, even if the reason is only because he doesn't want to.

Olivia is doing great. She is wanting to stand all of the time now and is greatly improving her tummy time!!! I am once again having technical problems with the transfer of pictures and my technical expert is not home, so I am going to post some from our trip to Victoria.

Storybook Gardens

Today we went to London to spend the day with my friend Erin and her two kids, Nico and Emelia. It was a lot of fun, even though we got seriously lost on the way there - long story. We took them to Storybook Gardens. Ethan and Nico had fun playing in the splash pad, the pirate park and on the merry go round. I haven't downloaded the pictures yet, so I will post them later this week.

Olivia and I had a relaxing couple of days on Monday and Tuesday. Michelle came to visit and we went to Gymboree. Olivia is at the very early stages of crawling. When she is sitting up she rocks back and forth, lifts her bum and propels herself forward. It's cute to see!!

The kids are getting back to their "normal" schedules. They have been going to bed by 10:00 p.m. and getting up around 9:00 a.m. - which is nice. I get my best sleep bewteen 6:30-9:00 a.m. Ethan is starting to try to crawl out of his crib, so I think this weekend we are going to move him to his big boy bed - should be fun trying to get him to stay in bed!!!

I am attaching some pictures from Victoria and earlier this week - Ethan and Aidan riding their bikes and Olivia in her jolly jumper.

Back From B.C.

We arrived home on Friday after a great week long vacation in Victoria. The plane ride was quite an adventure, 5 hours is a long time for Ethan to sit still. We thought we timed it so that he would sleep on the place but despite being overtired both ways he was awake for most of the flights. Olivia was an angel, barely made a peep either way. Olivia also made a new friend - her soother. I thought I would try it for the plane ride for her ears and she liked it!!! She doesn't have it during the day, but it's nice for nap time!

While we were there we spent lots of time visiting with Scott's family. Ethan had a great time and made some great new friends, especially Uncle John - he was a big hit. Ethan also had fun spending time with his nanas, grampy, auntie Jen and the rest of the clan. His great aunt Karen gave him a teddy bear which he loves and now sleeps with every night.

Some of the highlights of our trip were a wedding, a play, lots of sight seeing and a trip to Vancouver - just to name a few. Ethan had a fun day with Nana Wendy while the rest of our were in Vancouver. He is still talking about feeding the seal. Overall, it was just nice to see the Sullivan clan. As usual, at the end of every visit I am left with the feeling that it would be so nice if everyone lived closer!!! There are lots of great pictures from the trip, so I am going to try to space them out over the next week.

On return home was uneventful. After a long flight, we came home and had some pizza. Although it was 11:00p.m. our time, it still felt like dinnertime!!! On Saturday we went next door for dinner, which was great, continuing my trend of not having to cook!!! Today we went swimming at Bronte Creek. The kids had fun. Olivia was talking up a storm - "ma ma, goo goo, gaa gaa" - it was funny!! We are still trying to adjust to the time change. The kids have been going to bed around midnight, the only good part is that they don't get up until 10:30 a.m. or so. Ethan went down tonight around 10:30 p.m., but Olivia is still awake now!!! I am off to get her to sleep!!!