Beating the heat

Just as my luck would have it, we've been having an unseasonably early heat wave this past week with temperature hitting 100+ degrees for the past 6 days! June is not supposed to be that hot so who knows what the rest of the summer will bring! So, to beat the heat, we've been playing with a lot of water and hitting the pools. Ethan loves going across the street to his good buddy, Nolan's house and playing with him. Below are some pictures of the goofy boys. They play so well together and just crack me and Cristy (his mom) up! They were having a water fight throwing cups of water on each other and giggling. Such boys!

The water fight begins...

Although this looks like Ethan is strangling Nolan, he is really just

hugging and posing for the picture:)

I also moved Ethan's water table from the back patio onto the front porch since it gets so much shade in the afternoon as well as a nice breeze despite the oppressive heat. Like all kids, Ethan loves water no matter where he is and constantly dumps it on himself, my feet, the plants, the ground or the house. As long as he is happy and cool, I could care less.

On the weekends we head to one of the many pools in Ladera to cool off. Today our little man suffered his first bee sting on his finger while we were at the pool. It was no fun for anyone as he was petrified not to mention I am sure it hurt a lot. Bryan had to pull the stinger out as it was in was pretty deep. Luckily there were no allergic reactions, just a swollen finger and a hysterical little boy. Some TLC, Benadryl and frozen yogurt later he was on the mend and talking about his "bee bite" like a proud soldier returning from battle.

Busy, busy times

I know it has been forever since my last post, I'm a blogging slacker. We have been busy getting into the swing of summer as well as recently had a visit from Meme and Poppa Don. A few weeks ago Bryan and I took Ethan to Sesame Street Live. He was mesmerized and transfixed the entire time. I think I had more fun watching him experience the show than I did watching the show myself!



Then came the big arrival of Meme and Poppa Don. Ethan was so excited to see them and remembered them instantly. We went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park which was fabulous and just as great as the San Diego Zoo. Ethan was in heaven having his grandparents here to play baseball, walk to see the tadpoles, play beach ball (his absolute favorite indoor game) or read with him. He basically just followed them around the house wherever they went. He always had to know what Meme and Poppa were doing. Poppa Don had to go back to Boston after a few days but Meme stayed for the rest of the week and had a ball with Ethan. We went to the beach, flew his kite, went to the water park, the park and everything in between. Here are some pictures of our adventures throughout their visit.

However, the highlight of their visit was that Bryan and I actually got a chance to go away for the night without Ethan!! We went to Big Bear Lake for the night. We left early Saturday morning and returned Sunday afternoon. Ethan did great while we were away (or course being spoiled by Meme didn't hurt) and I must say it so nice to have some adult time with Bryan. Big Bear is absolutely beautiful and we walked around the town, ate out and saw a movie. Let's just say I don't recommend seeing "Don't mess with the Zohan", definitely a rental! So, all in all it was a great time and Ethan was very sad to see his grandparents go. Little does he know the next time he sees them, he will be a big brother!

Return to normalcy...we hope!!

For the past week or so Ethan has been very "off" so to speak. We are not really sure what is going on but the one thing that is obvious is that the poor little boy is clearly stressed. No doubt it has something (or totally) to do with the idea that he will be having a sibling in a few months. Since we told him about the baby he has been asking lots of questions and always appears very excited, but I of all people, a psych major and someone who worked with troubled kids for some time, know that there is more to meets the eye. We know it is all developmental and normal and all kids go through it but there have definitely been some pretty rough moments. So, after 4 straight days of no naps, limited eating, cold sore break outs and some pretty erratic behavior it appears that Ethan has started to turn the corner and to feel a bit more secure. He finally napped today for three hours and seems much calmer. The past few days were worrisome for Bryan and I and we know there will be more to come but no one likes to see their child distressed, it just about broke my heart. Nothing a little TLC can't fix!

Living the good life...

Nothing too exciting has been going on lately in the Phillips household, just trying to stay cool during this mini-heat wave we are having. If this weather is foreshadowing a brutally hot summer you can be sure that there is one pregnant lady who is going to be VERY unhappy. Ethan continues to be obsessed with playing baseball and has even starting narrating games to himself. I took Ethan to get his haircut last week and the past few times that he has gotten it cut he gets his hair washed and loves it. I remembered my camera this time and the pictures of him I took while he is getting his hair washed are so funny. He looks like he is in heaven while getting his head massaged. It was really funny, I thought he was going to fall asleep in the chair!

My new gadget

My latest gadget,a new camera is my current obsession. I received the camera as an early birthday present along with two lenses. One lens is for more close up shots and the other is a more basic lens. I never thought taking pictures could be so challenging and complicated. I have a whole new respect for professional photographers as I stumble my way through shutter speeds, aperture speed, lighting needs etc. I am posting a few of my rookie shots that I have taken so far. One is a nature shot (good still things to practice on!!) and the rest are of my favorite subject, Ethan. My goal is to become a pro by the time Baby Phillips #2 makes his arrival. More to come....

The Littlest Red Sox

Although he is not much shorter than Dustin Pedroia, Ethan has become quite the little baseball player. He often begs either Bryan or I to take him outside to play baseball whenever we can. In just a few short days, he has gotten the hang of it and can really hit the ball, something that we think is pretty darn good for a 2 1/2 year old! He mimics the professional players by slamming the bat onto the street saying "let's go", and dropping the bat after each hit to run the bases. He even attempts to spit on the ground which in his words is "like Big Papi". Boys will be boys I guess. I have attached a short video to show off our little baseball player since it is pretty hard to imagine a little toddler hitting the ball with just a wiffle ball bat!

What a week, whew!

Whew, it has been quite a week in the Phillips household. It all began last Saturday when Ethan woke up from his nap with a low grade fever. We thought nothing of it, gave him some Tylenol and went about our day. We had been planning a "bye-bye diaper" party for him now that he is potty trained and should have known something was wrong when he did not eat any of his cake. This is not a kid who has ever passed up a piece of cake in his life. We had promised him that we would go to the LA Angels game that night and decided to go ahead with the game. He absolutely loved it, his eyes were as wide as saucers as he watched the game, though once again he did not eat anything, even throwing away his ice cream! He made it through 7 innings and then we came home only to find that he had a temperature of 103.5 and was extremely lethargic. That was only the tip of the iceberg. For the next 4 days his fever stayed extremely high, at one point getting over 104. Each time it would respond to medication, only to spike by the time the medication wore off. The doctor checked him out, even did a chest x-ray but felt that it was viral and it had to run its course. So, needless to say, it was a long 4 days for us, no one got much sleep as Ethan was so uncomfortable at night he was up every 2 hours (back to the newborn stage!!). His fever finally broke today and he is pretty much back to normal, except his appetite. He still really has not eaten at all since getting sick but I have no doubt that his appetite will return with a vengeance.
Here are a few pictures from the game, we got a share in season tickets to the Angels so I am sure Ethan will go to his share of games this year. Even in these pictures, Ethan looks miserable, guess we had no clue how sick he really was.


The other part of this week is that I had my 20w ultrasound and all looked good. They were able to confirm that we are indeed having another boy and we are thrilled. There will be lots of soccer, baseball and sports in the Phillips household and I think Ethan is going to love having a little brother. I am anxious for them to be at the age where they can play together as ever since we went to the baseball game, Ethan is obsessed with me pitching the ball to him while he hits. I swear I think we did it for about 2 1/2 hours today and it was tiring, definitely something brothers can do together! So, all in all, things continue to move along, I am finally starting to look pregnant and feeling good.