21 months old!

Easton is 21 months old today! I just can't believe how grown up he is getting! He is a little boy in every sense of the word and has become such a smart independent little guy! He brightens each and everyday in our home and brings us so much joy and happiness! Can't believe he is a few short months off of 2 years… is that even possible? I literally feel like we just celebrated his 1st birthday and here his is about to turn two in a few months and I have no idea where the time went.

Easton has become quite the little boy and by boy I literally mean the definition- Boy: n. a noise with dirt on it! He is definitely a noise maker and keeps our home filled with the best noises the ears can hear- besides when he is throwing those infamous terrible two tantrums then you should plug your ears but besides that he bring such sweet noises into our home. He has the cutest little voice EVER! If it was possible to bottle that little sound up and keep it forever I would because it really melts my hear to hear him talk. As far as language goes it is still a work in progress everyday but since 18 months he has made leaps and bounds and is actually wanting to learn new words (i.e.: when we say "say …..") His vocabulary consists of all of his previously spoken words and a few new ones including: mama, dada, "mamma" (grandma- adding more m's makes it grandma I guess), pup, more, "dank do", please, no, milk, juice, cheese, car (his favorite), tractor, truck, "Shush" while putting his finger to his mouth, "oh cool", bye guys (sounds more like "die guys"), horse, neigh, cow, moo, go-go, deer, elk ("el") he can bugle like an elk too which daddy is proud of, shoes, boo and he can sign a lot of these too. I am so proud of the smart little boy he is becoming each and every day. Easton loves to play with blocks so much now and will build all day long! This is one of the things that keeps his attention the longest.

He still loves his books and loves to look at the pictures. He enjoys playing with play dough and no longer eats it so that is a plus! He also loves to color and finger paint. He is a little artist with those scribbles ;) His favorite movie- Cars … yup you guessed it … he would watch it all day long if I let him… some days i'll be honest I hide it because I can quote that entire movie beginning to end its pretty pathetic haha! But it is pretty cute how obsessed he is with cars or any shape or size. He has to have his lightning mcqueen car and his mac truck out when he watches it which is adorable.

If we are out and about he can point out a car from a mile away! Today while were were at the library for story time he spotted a felt car on the felt board from the front of the library! He likes to watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Doc Mcstuffins, and Mickey Mouse in the mornings while he eats breakfast. In the past few months he has become a little daddy's boy and likes to watch elk bugeling videos on youtube.. I replay the same video about six times in a row some days! That is where the bugle comes from! Easton goes to preschool group twice a week and loves to play with the other kids. He has caught on to the whole structure thing really well and loves to participate in calendar and weather time. His attention span wanes every once in a while but for the most part he likes to do the activities. It is definitely a great social outlet for both of us and has been a great way to get us out of the house this winter.

He is still a good little eater but he has his picky days where he doesn't eat hardly anything. He loves cheese, yogurt, chicken nuggets, mac n' cheese, potatoes, and mom's green smoothies. He has been carbo-loading like crazy lately.. he loves to eat bread all day… he goes into the kitchen and asks for a piece of bread which is so weird to me that he likes it plain but whatever floats his boat. He won't eat most things I make for dinner unless it falls into his category of lovable foods but he ate salad at Olive Garden a few weeks ago… weirdo! What almost two year old eats salad?? And he had two helpings!!

We go to playgroup on tuesdays and it is funny to watch him try and keep up with the other kids. I think sometimes he gets so overwhelmed that he just comes and stands by mom and watches the chaos. He his a people watcher like his mom! Easton is a good little helper picking up toys and taking his diapers to the garbage. He went through a phase where I would tell him to "throw the diaper away" and he would huck the dirty diaper across the room. I got so frustrated by this but then I analyzed the specific directions I was giving him… to him he was actually throwing the diaper away like I told him so now I say "take it to the trash" and he does tons better. He lays down for diaper changes on his own and brings me the wipes when he has a dirty bum. He loves to sit on the toilet, though he hasn't really gone anything more than a tiny tinkle yet but I am hoping to make progress with this very soon! He loves to sit there for a minute or two then he grabs the toilet paper and shoves it between his legs and hops off. He gets a thrill out of flushing the toilet but what toddler doesn't haha!

He has definitely grown up in the past couple of months! I love watching him grow but it also makes me sad because the older he gets the further my little baby slips away! I know babies have to grow up but really if I could change the rate of that it would be fantastic! I do love watching him in the process though. It is pretty fun to be his mom and watch him accomplish and learn new things each day! Easton we sure love you and are so happy to have your noisy, happy, energetic soul in our family!

A While….

It's been a little while since I posted. Truth is not much has really been going on. But I thought I would share some of the littles that have happened in the past month or so. Mark started back to school after a 6 week Christmas break! It was really long this year for some reason. He is enjoying his last semester of his first year of graduate school. This summer he will take a couple of classes and in the fall semester he will begin his final year and internships along with class so that will be exciting the end is finally in sight! Easton and I have just been hanging out together. I love my little guy he is such good company. He is beginning to talk so much more and he just jabbers on and on all day. He is becoming very independent too which is both good and bad. We do preschool group twice a week, playgroup on tuesdays, and book babies on thursdays so that keeps us pretty well busy. Not much else has happened really… Valentines this year was a little interesting. We celebrated with Easton on Thursday the 12th because Samantha (my sister) decided she wanted to take a little trip up to my parents house and wanted Easton and I to join her. I wasn't sure when we would make it back up so I wanted to go with her. This year was pretty simple for Valentines … I made dinner at home which is becoming more fun that trying to get a table anywhere in town on such a busy night. I made for the first time homemade spinach stuffed manicotti. I wasn't sure how it would turn out because I completely forgot the eggs in the filling… I guess that is was makes it sticky and crumbly… oops! By the time I realized it the pan was sitting in the fridge covered in sauce and tin foil. But surprisingly it was still good… different texture but really good. I made skillet fried zucchini to go with is and french bread. We had martinellis sparkling apple juice which is always a tradition and Mark's favorite cheesecake for dessert. All in all it was a good night. We put Easton to bed early and finally got to enjoy some alone time sitting right next to each other on the couch (which almost never happens- Easton usually wants to sit between us). I feel so lucky to have the most amazing Valentine a girl could ask for. Mark really does the best job taking care of us and working so hard to prioritize school, his GA, and his family. We miss him a lot during the week but we are so lucky to call him ours everyday!

Anyway… Friday we headed up to my parents and got there in the late afternoon.

My sister Charlene and her kids were there when we got there for a little bit so Easton got to enjoy a little play time with his cousin. Chloe and Easton do play well together… you always know who the boss is though- that Chloe has a strong but cute personality and Easton just goes with it haha they are so cute together!

On Saturday (Valentines Day) I woke up and made Easton some pink pancakes.. he wasn't super thrilled and only ate a few bites which is weird because typically he loves pancakes! Maybe it was the pink hue that turned him off ;) They were rather delicious anyway.

We headed up to Burlington to watch my little sister Bethany cheer at a home basketball game. We stayed in time to watch her do her stunt which was a full extension and a pike drop off (I think that is what they called it) anyway it looked good no matter what. Then we headed over to Lovell for a sister crafting day. We had all gotten material to make Maxi skirts weeks before hand and were getting together to figure it out. It was much harder than you would think! We only slightly finished them and they still need lots of work (I need to take mine in about four inches on each side and hem the bottom haha). It was fun either way spending time with some of my favorite people.

We were supposed to stay until Monday because Samantha had Presidents Day off but a storm was supposed to hit so we had to head back Sunday morning. Here is a picture of Easton with is Grandma and Grandpa Bullinger early sunday morning before we headed back…

We ran into a little bit of bad weather but over all the drive wasn't as bad as we expected it to be. It did snow the next day in Laramie so it is probably for the best we came back. I really enjoyed our quick trip up to see my family even through it was a little too short lived for me it is always nice to visit them in any circumstances! Easton definitely loves his "mamma" and "papa" (he is so close to saying "papa" but he definitely has grandma down with mamama… at least he knows it is supposed to sound like mama!) He snuggled his grandma every chance he got and he loves to play with his papa! Anyway thats all… I'll be posting in a few days because well frankly I missed a couple mmonths but by golly I am going to add an update on our little mad for 21 months! I can't believe he is getting so big! Thats all for now….

Croup

We spent the morning in the ER today because Easton has been struggling to catch his breath and he has so much mucas in his airways that he can't sleep at night. We took him in to the hospital and they ran some very traumatic (at least to Easton) tests including RSV, X rays, breathing treatments and diagnosed him with Croup :( Poor little buddy isn't feeling well at all! He will be on the steroid for the next few days and hopefully he improves. It is never fun to have a sick baby :(