Ethan

He amazes me!  In just 3 more days our baby will be starting full day, every day kindergarten.  These past 5years have flown by a lot faster than I was planning them to and while I am so excited for him to start this adventure, I am also tearing up as I type this knowing that my little boy will not be little for much longer. 

I am forever thankful that I was able to be a stay-at-home mom for almost all of his first 5 years and having the privilege of watching him learn and grow.  He is one smart cookie, as well as one stubborn one.  His imagination is awesome, his talking is nonstop, and he makes us continually laugh like no other.  Each year with him has been both a joy and a frustration at times and I think 5 may be the hardest yet. 

This past Thursday night we went to "Back to School night" and met his teacher, Mrs. Brocka.  She is going to be a strict one and both Jeff and I were excited as we listened to her talk her expectations.  She is very proactive in the kids learning to be independent responsible individuals, which we strive for at home with Ethan as well so I look forward to working with her this school year.  His best buddy, Peyton, as well as many of the kids from his preschool class will also be in his class this year. 

Just over 5 months ago my mom graciously put her life on hold and left my dad at home to care for himself to come live with us and take care of Ethan, as an opportunity came up for me to return to the out-of-the-house workforce.  I was hoping that I could have put it off until now and apply for something as the summer was ending, however, my transcription workload was decreasing severely and the new opportunity came much faster than I was expecting.  I have enjoyed working at OHSU in the Perinatology (high risk OB) office for the last 5+ months.  When I started they needed additional help in the fertility clinic medical records so I was working there in the afternoons getting full-time hours.  They were recently able to hire someone for that position and this past week was my first week of working only the part-time hours I was hired for.  In addition, I was also approached to take on an additional 8 hours a week doing administrative work for childbirth education. Though I do start my day extremely early, getting up at 4:30 to be there by 6 am, it is awesome to be off at 1 pm.  I am disappointed that I won't be able to take Ethan to school, but Daddy will do a great job of that and I look forward to getting to pick him up from school.  While I do miss being at home with Ethan, I am a people-person and do enjoy being back working with them. 

Next weekend we will be making the extremely long drive back to Utah to take my mom home.  We appreciate her more than she knows for her willingness to help us out this summer with Ethan so that we didn't have to put him in daycare.  He has had an awesome summer with Gram filled with many fun activities and a 2-week vacation to Utah with her, and we will really miss having her here with us, as I am sure she feels the same...well, except for her missing our dogs, especially Charlie. 

 
Funny stuff with Ethan:

Earlier this week we were talking about Ethan needing a bigger bike.  My mom got a bike for Ethan at DI for $6 when they were in Utah a few weeks ago and she thought it was bigger than his current bike so we were thinking that we may be able to box it up and bring it back on the airplane with us next weekend.  As we were telling E about that, he says, "You know Dad, I have been riding that bike since I was 5, and I do it pretty good!" 

Ethan has finally grown tall enough that we were able to take our makeshift blocks off of the pedals of his tag-a-long bike, and we also have Papa Steve to thank for finally getting Ethan to tie his shoes.  Both my mom and I have tried for several months to get him try it and his stubbornness prevailed.  He spends 30 minutes with Papa when they were in Utah a few weeks ago and does it with no problems.