Birthday Fun

Last weekend we had Ethan's 3rd birthday party at the local JW Tumbles gym and everyone had a blast. Ethan invited his closest friends, aka The Red Rail Gang, and was in heaven. Since he has been going to JW Tumbles weekly for gym classes for over a year he feels very comfortable there and was so excited to share what he calls "my gym" with his good buddies.

Eli, Carson and Ashlyn, the next generation of Red Railers, loved watching all the big kids.

After playing some games for an hour it was Ethan's favorite part, pizza and cake. Ethan is currently is obsessed with Curious George so that was the theme to his party. I love this picture, he just looks so happy and clearly loved the attention of being the birthday boy.

The Red Rail Gang (minus Rowan who couldn't make it)

Ethan was lucky enough to have his Meme and Poppa Don in town from Boston to help him celebrate his special day.

It was a fun but exhausting afternoon and Ethan is already looking forward to his party next year!

Proud Mamma

I just couldn't resist...aren't they the cutest??

Fall fun

The leaves are turning colors, the air is getting crisp which means fall is here or so it should but alas, now that we are Californians, fall takes on a whole new meaning and we've been experiencing a heat wave with temperatures in the 90s! Regardless, the past few weekends, we've been enjoying doing some of the typical fall activities, namely apple and pumpkin picking.
We drove down to Jullian, CA with our neighbors, the Taylor family, to pick some apples. It was a beautiful, scenic 2 hour drive and thankfully Ethan and Eli did great in the car. Ethan loved the orchard and that he could pick apples right off the tree, take a few bites and then throw it on the ground. He and his buddy Dylan had a ball doing that for a while.

Even Lauren got in on the action, is she not the cutest ever!!
Afterwards we went into downtown Jullian which was flooded with people coming to experience the infamous homemade pies they have this time of year. We ate at a great BBQ restaurant and then went hunting for the best pies in town.

Dylan and Ethan post-pie eating, they both have that devious twinkle in their eyes.

Our next outing was to Irvine Regional Park where there was a big pumpkin patch for the kids to run around and choose pumpkins. There was also a train ride and mini John Deere tractors that were a big hit with the boys.

We even got a chance to take our first Phillips family photo with our two boys.
Hard to believe that Halloween is right around the corner. Ethan is really excited and seems to finally be at the age where he understands holidays so needless to say a holiday where you dress up and get candy is one that he is looking forward to!

Birthday Boy

Ethan is officially a three year old (where did the time go?!) and to celebrate we bought him a real big boy bike. He is in heaven and rides it constantly. Bryan brought it home in the back of the car and when he got home from work and gave it to Ethan, his eyes lit up. Ethan ran across the alleyway to Bryan screaming, "my new bike, thank you daddy!!". He is a little speed demon on the bike already and loves zooming around...our little crazy man!

Mini Photo Shoot

A few week ago I staged mini-photo shoot for Eli and here are some of my favorite shots. He was about 2 1/2 weeks in these pictures so he's grown and changed so much just since then. It sure is hard to take pictures of an infant who is constantly squirming, flailing and sporadically crying. My neighbor Cristy gave me some good tips and I think I got some decent shots. She is more of a pro when it comes to infant pictures and will hopefully take some of Eli and Ethan. Since these pictures, Eli has started smiling and holding his head up much more. He is getting more interactive and when sitting in his bouncy seat is constantly cooing and kicking his legs. Ethan loves dancing for him and trying to make him smile which Eli does all the time as he loves watching Ethan.


Yesterday was Bryan's birthday and we had a nice family celebration. Ethan was so excited to come to the grocery store to buy cake and ice cream as a surprise for Bryan. Of course, no 3 year old can keep a secret and the minute Bryan walked in the door Ethan ran over screaming that we bought him cake and ice cream. Ethan was excited to light the candles on the cake and belt out Happy Birthday. It was really cute and he seemed to understand celebrating someone ELSE's birthday, yet he knows that once Bryan's birthday comes, his is only a few short days away. Every morning he asks me if it is his birthday. On Friday, he is bringing in a treat for his class and I will be reading a "birthday book" to his class.

Plugging along

The craziness in the Phillips household continues and we are keeping up as best as we can. Ethan's mouth injury is pretty much completely healed and at this point he has not had the injured tooth removed. The dentist wants to take a "wait and see approach" and he has a cleaning on Monday so they will check it then. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it remains status quo but have a feeling it will need to be removed at some point. Ethan does not seem fazed by the tooth and goes about his daily routine. He is getting so excited about his birthday next week and even more excited about his birthday party in 2 weeks. Time flies, can't believe he is going to be 3!
Eli is growing like a weed. I brought him to the doctor last week as he continues to be very congested and wanted to make sure it was nothing serious. He checked out fine and weighed in at 10 pounds 1 oz. That means in the month since he was born he has gained just about 3 pounds...the kid can eat! He is getting much more alert and Ethan just loves playing with him trying to make him smile. Eli is smitten by his older brother and will turn his head whenever he hears Ethan's voice and wants to watch whatever he is doing. Sleeping is slowly getting better though often I find Eli sleeping in bed with me when I am too tired to rock him back to sleep. Someday we'll get back to sleeping through the night and in our own beds!
Bryan's new job is going great, and there are opportunities available that he was not expecting which is encouraging. Yet, he is putting in some long hours which makes for long days for both of us, but we knew that would be the case. Hopefully as he gets going, things will calm down a bit more. Since I haven't posted pictures recently, here are some of my favorite pictures.

Rolling with the changes

There has been a lot happening in the past three weeks aside from the addition of little Eli. It feels as if every week something changes and keeps us on our toes. Firstly, Eli continues to be doing fantastic, starting to develop a nap pattern and making slight improvements sleeping at night. Tonight was the first time that Bryan (along with Ethan's help) gave Eli a bottle and he had no problem downing 3 1/2 ounces. Hopefully we can continue to use the bottle as a way to give me a break from feeding so much and get some needed rest. He already is starting to hold his head up for longer periods of time and has rolled over a few times, though I think it was an accident. He just looks bigger each day and is starting to fill out his clothes a bit more.
Then there is his big brother Ethan who gave us a huge scare the other day when he tripped over his scooter ending up with an injury that required us to rush him to the ER. After a 4 hour wait, we were relieved that he did not need stitches in his lip but will need to have one of his front teeth pulled as he knocked it back and the tooth is dead. He will need to have a root canal and thankfully they will put him out during the procedure. He is tough as nails, barely cried the whole time, I think I cried more than him. Ethan didn't miss a beat and was back riding his scooter like a crazy man the following day. So, he'll look like a hockey player for a few years until his adult tooth grows in. There are worse things in life and we are just thankful that he was wearing his helmet. He returns to the dentist next week after the swelling has gone down and will most likely have the procedure next week as well. Then to top it off he woke up with croup so now we are dealing with that on top of everything and I am not sure if that will affect the timing of his dental procedure, only time will tell. Oh vey!
Then, there is Bryan who resigned from his job last week and is starting a new job tomorrow. He was unhappy at his old job and was ready for a change and feels good about the new opportunity that he is undertaking, albeit it is a big one, and is excited about what the future holds. Needless to say, any change is stressful.
Finally there is me, just trying to get through each and everyday, sleep as much as I can and keep up with my boys!
**Given all that has been going on, we've had not had a chance to address our computer issues, I am working on it so I can upload some recent pictures**