smile :)

We caught a couple of cute smiles from Alayna on camera at Ethan's party.


I liked this picture of Grandma Hekman holding her....

Yesterday I took a little video of Alayna smiling. I realized I haven't posted any videos of her on my blog!

The ins and outs of our week

Tuesday was a great day. It was one of those days where I just loved being a mom. I took Ethan to the park and we had a blast. Alayna slept the whole time allowing me to just play with him. We stayed for an hour and a half (a long time for him). Later that day both kids took great naps and gave me a nice break. After Ethan's nap we played outside and had more fun. It was just one of those perfect days... and every mom needs that :)

I suppose a perfect day just has to be followed by a rough one.... right? Wednesday started off with Ethan waking up way too early and way too crabby. He then wouldn't eat any breakfast. I knew it was going to be a rough day with a start like that. I managed to get the kids ready and made it to Bible study in time. Ethan was not happy to be dropped off in the nursery and cried. I figured he'd get over it soon. About 20 minutes into the study I was paged. Ethan was still hysterically crying and would not stop. Thus, I had to leave and miss bible study. I was quite irritated as Ethan is plenty old to make it through nursery. He just didn't want to be there I guess. I figured since we were already out and about I'd do something else, so I took Ethan to the park for a little bit and then we went and took my mom lunch at work. He wasn't easy all day, and the afternoon wasn't much better. I kept reminding myself that Tuesday was great... that we do have great days :)

Today I am happy that I finally managed to get my house cleaned on my own (with both kids here). It was pretty filthy. On one hand it's been liberating to lower my cleaning standards. I used to be super anal and HAD to clean my entire house every single week. This just is not possible for me these days, and I've totally come to terms with that. In fact I'm okay with just cleaning every three weeks. I do pick up and vacuum in between, but that's it :) I love this little poem that Sarah Shenkel posted on my Facebook:

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow, for babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow. So quiet down, cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep." - that is my new mantra!

This is really random but I have to note it or I'll forget it. The other night we were outside and Ethan looked up at the sky. His face lit up, he pointed up, and exclaimed "big moon on!"

On a much more somber note, one of our good friends from college passed away on Tuesday. Lauren battled cystic fibrosis her whole life and finally lost the fight. She was such an amazing, Godly woman who touched so many people. My heart goes out to her husband and family. Her service will be on Saturday. While we celebrate the fact that she is now with the Lord and breathing easy, we mourn the fact that she isn't with us here on earth anymore.... she will be missed.

This is a picture of us in college, in 2002, with Lauren and her husband Brad (before we were all married).

Ethan's 2nd birthday

Ethan was so cute on his birthday. We kept telling him that it was his birthday all day and singing Happy Birthday to him. When it was time for his party he was very excited. I put out the cupcakes and he kept trying to get into them, so I had to put them out of his reach. We kept it small this year with family and a couple of friends. I didn't put up any decorations, but he didn't seem to notice :) We ordered a 3 foot burrito from Jose's and had chips and dip and a few other goodies.
My brother and my mom brought over her little bounce house. Ethan had a blast playing in it. In fact I think that was the most fun he's had in it to date. Here he is playing in it with his cousin Clayton.

My mom holding baby Jonathan Flores.

Jolene and Christian

The Odenbaughs

Matt's brother Mike and his son Stephen

Mike's wife Heather and Jenelle

When it was time for us to sing Happy Birthday to Ethan he got so excited. It was precious to see his face light up when he realized we were singing to him.

He LOVED blowing out his candle. In fact he kept asking to do it again, so I lit it about four times and let him blow it out.

He didn't bother using his hands... he just dipped his face right into his cupcake.

In fact I don't know if he even ate any of the cake... I think he only ate frosting

Next he opened his presents. He was very excited to do this as well and quickly got the hang of it. He kept saying "another present". Yesterday and today he's been telling me "I blow out candle, I opened presents". :) He got some fun new puzzles, cars, a Matchbox garage for his cars, a basketball hoop, a Thomas the Train set and a few other fun goodies. He's been having so much fun playing with all his new toys.

Now our little man is two!!!

Halloween

On Halloween the Oates had us over for dinner and Trick or treating. Faith made super cute drinks with little Jack o lanterns in them, and some yummy chili. It was fun to see the kiddos dressed up. We took Ethan trick or treating for the first time. He was a little confused at first, but soon figured out he was getting candy from people, and was all about that.

The Oates family was so cute as characters from the Wizard of Oz. Faith is Dorothy, Wesley is the lion, Zach is the tin man.

Here is James with Grady and Ethan... both dressed as pirates.

Faith, James and Grady... so cute :)

Thanks for having us over, we had a great time!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ethan!

Today is Ethan's 2nd birthday. I cannot believe he is two! I made a video of his second year. I love doing this each year for Ethan (and i will for Alayna as well). I think it's a fun way to combine all of my favorite memories from the year. The video is kinda long... 10 minutes, but fun to watch :) It has pictures and video clips from every month of his second year.

Ethan's second year from Jessica Hekman on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday sweet boy!

My pirate

Yesterday we met up with the mom's group from church at The Redlands Christian Home. This is an assisted living place for the elderly. We told Ethan he was going to go see lots of "Papas and Grandmas". All the kiddos were dressed up in their Halloween costumes. They got to walk around and show off their costumes. As they walked by the senior citizens they got to pick out candy. It was so cute. Ethan was mostly interested in eating the candy and probably ate his weight in sugar while we were there. I tried to take a cute picture of him in his outfit before we left, but he was not being very cooperative.

I told him pirates don't suck on binkies, but that didn't seem to convince him to get rid of his :)

7 weeks

Alayna is 7 weeks old now. She smiles all the time, but never when I'm trying to take a picture of it :) I got close to getting a picture of her smile, but not quite. I try to make sure to take pictures of her at least once a week, because babies change so quickly! Here are the ones I took this week.