Happy Thanksgiving!

We had such a lovely holiday! It started with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which, as it turns out, no one in my house is interested in besides me (I know, it's absolutely un-American, but those boys of mine are total party poopers). Ethan was mildly interested when the Buzz Lightyear balloon floated by, but outside of that he was much more into playing with his wooden train tracks. And, while we're on the subject of the Macy's Parade, can we digress for a moment and talk about the fact that Newsies is now on Broadway?!?! What?!?! I was ridiculously obsessed with that movie back in the day. The performance of "King of New York" alone was enough to make watching the parade worth it. My boys don't know what they're missing.

Given that we're exactly two weeks away from meeting baby brother, I kind of cheated my way out of cooking this year. I cooked a turkey, but most of the side dishes were purchased from our local boutique supermarket already prepared. Call me crazy, but spending hours in the kitchen peeling/boiling/mashing potatoes and making complicated recipes from scratch does not jive with the big baby belly and end-of-pregnancy pains and fatigue.

We did most of the cooking preparing while Ethan was napping, but once he woke we pulled a stool up to the counter and let him "bake the bread" (roll up all of the crescent rolls and put them on the baking sheet). We set the table with "fancy" plates and real silverware, dimmed the lights, and lit candles. Music played in the background as we talked about holidays and family, and I almost burst into happy tears several times. I was too busy enjoying the moment to take any photos, which is a testament to how absolutely wonderful the evening was.

However, a Notch blog post would not be a Notch blog post without *some* pictures. As per usual, I'm horribly behind in posting (It's been over a month! Yikes!), so I have a few catching up photos cued up and ready to go.

Here's Ethan as a scary green dinosaur (don't let that goofy grin fool you - he's a vicious beast).

He began asking for a dinosaur costume back in August, I broke down and bought it for him in September, and he intermittently wore it around the house all through October. We got some serious mileage out of that zip up dinosaur suit.

While this was taken with an iPhone camera in my office, and not with one of Ryan's fancy cameras in just-the-right setting, I figured I should post it anyway. This year for Halloween I dressed up as Mother Nature (ba dum ching!). My amazing friend Stacie spent hours with me coming up with the concept and making the skirt and headpiece. I also wore it to Ryan's office Halloween party and when we took Ethan trick-or-treating, so I suppose I got some good mileage out of this costume as well!
I will do my best to post once more before baby brother arrives - I have some recent(ish) belly shots to show you, and should do so while they're still relevant!

Thankful

I am thankful for so many things. Countless things. But for this post, I'm going to focus on just one...


That guy.

I'm thankful that he's happy and healthy - incredibly thankful that he's happy and healthy.
I'm thankful for the way he shouts, "Mama!" and throws himself into my arms when I get home.
I'm thankful for all of his little quirks, the inflection in his voice, and the silly expressions of his face.
I'm thankful for his amazing sense of humor, and how it's always so easy to make him laugh.
I'm thankful for the time I get to spend watching him grow and learn new things.
I'm thankful for the way he makes my heart melt every time he gives me unsolicited snuggles.

I'm thankful that I get to be his mom.

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I sat for hours trying to come up with a narrative that would do justice to Ryan's images from our Thanksgiving trip to Sedona, Arizona.

I finally came to this conclusion:







Sometimes there are no words.

Gobble, Gobble!

We're back from Minnesota, still full from our delicious Thanksgiving feast! Ethan was happy to see Grandma and Grandpa Ventura again, and enjoyed meeting the rest of the family.

Ethan and his Grandma Ventura resumed their singing duets!

Cousin Logan (sporting Great Grandma's rain bonnet) tried to teach Ethan how to play with cars.

Ethan was a big hit with his ninety-year-old Great Great Aunt Frannie!

Ethan did a fantastic job with his first flight! He was sweet and quiet for the entire ride to Minnesota, but had a bit of a meltdown when we arrived. We think his ears were bothered by the landing, so you can't hardly blame him for howling. The plane ride back to California was a different story. He did a fantastic job for the take off and landing, but was very clingy for all of the parts in between. He was fine as long as Mommy held him and walked the aisles!


Ethan had his four-month doctor's appointment today, and received another glowing review. We're so thankful to have such a healthy boy! He weighs 17 lb. 14 oz., measures 26 3/4 inches in length, and is in the 97th percentile for both weight and height. Ryan jokes that Ethan should be in the 100th percentile. "Ethan is bigger than 100% of all babies on Earth," he quipped earlier today. "Call Guinness!"

The Godfather

We were happy to have our friend Ryan Hoke in town for a couple of days this week. We hadn't seen him in a few years, so it was quite a treat! While he was here, Ryan got to meet Ethan for the first time. He was very sweet with him, and gave Ethan lots of cuddles, smiles, and even a bottle!


Ethan had a fantastic time with Ryan, and we're really looking forward to him meeting Candace! We won't have to wait too long, as the Hokes will be joining us in Minnesota for Thanksgiving weekend.

It's also been a few years since we've seen our family in Minnesota. We're braving the airport crowds and will be taking Ethan on his first plane ride to Minneapolis for the holidays. We're having Ethan baptized while we're there in the church that Ryan's grandmother has been attending for years and years. We asked the Hokes to be Ethan's Godparents, and they will be making the trek up from Milwaukee to join us for the big event. We'll be sure to post pictures of the baptism when we return!