Today

Ethan is 3 now (as of Feb 19th)! He will tell you if you ask and hold up 3 fingers. He is more independent than ever, but still loves to cuddle and unfortunately whine....he quickly changes to his "big boy voice" when reminded THAT is how he needs to ask for things. He loves cars, trucks, puzzles, coloring, and imaginative play, singing songs, you tube videos of people opening toys-especially lightening mcqueen toys- among other things. We are working on going potty on the potty and dressing himself. His best friend consistently when asked is Evelyn, his cousin in Seattle. He loves playing peek-a-boo with Gavin and also poking him in the face...which doesn't seem to bother Gavin too much. :-) One of his favorite things to say right now is "of course" when asked to do something. Such as "Ethan can you please but on your shoes?" Ethan replies "of course!" However he doesn't always do what you ask!
I am working at a new outpatient office on Monday, Tues, and Thursdays (total of about 20 hours) and am enjoying the common problems that I see with my patients- upper respiratory infections, UTI, pink eye, annual check ups, knee pain, ect... Of course I wish I could be with the boys most days when I am at work, but it seems to be a nice balance for now. When I am working both boys go to Ang, our in home daycare lady. Most days she reports as GOOD! Ethan is perfect at her house and then lets down his guard and can sometimes be a pill in the evening for us. But overall we have some pretty awesome kids and wouldn't change them a bit!
Gavin is really happy most of the time, smiles a lot, and sleeps great! He is 5.5 months old and has consistently been above average on all the growth curves.  (currently wears 9 month clothes)! He rolls from back to front, is working on sitting, loves to bounce using his leg muscles, continues to be exclusively breastfed, nursing 5 times a day (or 6 oz from a bottle at a feeding), wears an amber teething necklace that supposedly has "healing powers" to help ease the teething process. No teeth have popped through yet. His eyes are still blue!He spits up a lot like Ethan did, but for a completely different reason. Gavin had laser surgery at 3 months old to correct a tongue tie. Recovery was quick and has relearned how to use his tongue. His latch will never be perfect, but we are managing alright! Gavin has several "toadie" equivalents including an elephant, monkey, and Mickey mouse but hasn't become completely attached to anything yet. Everything goes in his mouth these days and he is a drool machine! Other comments we often hear about Gavin include: what a content baby!, he's so cute, Smiley!, Oh, gross he spit up again, can you hand me that burp rag?, what a cuddler he is!, he looks like you Debbie, and he's so strong!
Ethan is an awesome big brother. He will imitate things he sees us do and has never been aggressive towards him. When he wants my attention he will say "can you put Gavin down, please?" or "give Gavin to daddy." It will be a different story when Gavin is able to take Ethan's toys. I can already tell Gavin will do just that on purpose to irritate his bro!

 Our own Chubby Bunny!

 Easter photo shoot at home...thank God for digital...you take about 300 pictures to get one decent one where they are both looking and hopefully not crying! And then there are those where you get one chance and it turns out like this:

Owen hopes to be this stylish as an old man!

 Again with the photo shoot- hats on, sweaters off! And Grandma Great in the background!

 Family photo Easter 2013

 Taken 4/3/13....typical morning- Ethan in background playing cars, Gavin playing on his mat, and mommy taking pictures with a borrowed camera!

 And this is what the floor typically looks like until just before daddy comes home. We try to clean up a little bit so he doesn't step on a toy. He gets really mad when that happens.

Handsome dude.