The title of this post is accurate, but not as dramatic as it sounds. While we had hoped we would skip the terrible twos, we haven’t quite made it out unscathed as we recently learned about the “threens”, and you are beginning to show signs of its effects. Now, like I said, it’s not as bad as it sounds, but it has been a bit more bumpy recently than in the past. You have begun to say “no” more often, throwing some tantrums here and there, demanding certain things (mostly foods) and putting up a bit more of a fight when sleeping. This is all I will touch on it though because compared to other children you are extremely tame, and still embody your sweet/caring nature and excitement for life.
Hard to believe but you still experienced a few firsts in the last six months. The first, your brother was born!
November 15th at 7:28am Ethan Charles Donegan was born. He popped out at 7 lbs 1 oz, and just like you, was in the 98th percentile for head size. 🙂
Ethan’s actual delivery was far less eventful than yours (as in he came out breathing fine). Mom was in labor for about 9 hours. Mia had actually come over on the 14th to watch you and your mom went into labor that evening and we headed to the hospital around 7 or so. When we arrived she was 4 centimeters dilated (exact same as you) and could not be admitted until she was over 5. Again, we went for a walk.
I documented our walk when you were on the way here, so I won’t reminisce too much, but it was pretty incredible that again we found ourselves walking the sidewalks of Boise in the dark getting ready to have our second child. We walked the same route, and talked about you and the excitement we were about to go through. You were home sleeping at the time, no idea that we were even gone, and would wake up the next morning as an older sister. Pretty incredible how life works.
After our walk we were admitted to the labor unit, and 9-10 hours later Ethan was here. The name was a debate, but just like with you I actually won that one. We liked both names (Ethan, Wyatt) but I always knew if I had a boy it would be named Ethan. The Charles part was easy, as it is a name in both your mom’s family and mine. He was born without issue, your mom even pulled him out (yes, this was as horrifying as it sounds). Dr. West was able to be there this time around, and soon after we were moved to the maternity ward.
I won’t go into too much detail here as this is meant to document your life (although Ethan is obviously a big part of that), but once we got there I noticed that his breathing was pretty labored and fast. We brought in the nurse and then some specialists and he was admitted to the NICU. Both of you just HAD to have some drama, should have known. There was never a major scare and it was determined that he just had a quick breathing pattern and over time it would fix itself. He was there for almost two days, but after that was discharged and perfectly fine. Soon after we packed up and headed home.
You met him when we got there for the first time (didn’t want you to see him the way he looked in the NICU), and was immediately excited about him. Honestly, I didn’t know a child could love something or someone so quickly. All you wanted to do was hold him, kiss him, help mom take care of him and be this amazingly empathetic child. We read about introducing children to their new siblings and all the pitfalls, you didn’t exhibit a single one. To this day nearly four months later, you are just as loving to Ethan. You are not annoyed when he cries or wants to hold a toy of yours, or when he demands mine or your mom’s time. It is unbelievable to us, we are so very lucky.
So that is the story of Ethan, and now you are not the only child in the fam! That said, we will not be adding any more. I went and got a vasectomy last month once we knew Ethan was good to go. Two kids (to me) is perfect, and we lucked out with getting one of each. Now we are just looking and planning for the future, and all the fun we will have as a four (five with Layla) entity unit.
While Ethan was the big first, you had some others as well. One that could have gone horribly wrong, but instead went incredibly well, was your first movie. We took you to Finding Dory (which you are now obsessed with, hence the cake you see in the pictures below) and you absolutely loved it. I guess what is not to love, you crushed popcorn and M&M’s the whole time.
More exciting than that, you spent the night in your big girl bed for the first time. With Ethan here, we needed to begin the process of moving you out of your crib and into a real bed. I went out and found a white four post bed, and your mom proceeded to buy the princess canopy you see. I spent the night with you down there for the first week or so, and you learned to love it. You still come into bed with us a few nights a week after sleeping down there, but you are now sleeping down there every night.
In other news, Halloween has become a favorite of yours. This year you wanted to be a ballerina, so we found you a full costume. But not only did you want to be one, you wanted me to be one too (there is a picture of it below). The other dad’s we met and went trick or treating with laughed, but you were absolutely ecstatic which made it more than worth it. We went all up and down Harrison, did some ballet dancing, and had an awesome time.
We also had the worst winter that Boise has ever seen. Boise averages like 9 inches of snow a year and this year, so far, we have received over four feet. It has absolutely crushed the city (we haven’t had trash pickup in over a month), but has provided you with the opportunity to play in snow for months (which you love). You and I went sledding the other day and I scared the life out of you, probably won’t do that again anytime soon. You are many things, but adventurous is not really one of them.
What was nice was that we did Christmas in Boise for the first time this year. Normally we head over to Sun Valley, but this year with the newly born Ethan and the crazy snow, the travel didn’t seem worth it. I got you your first elf on the shelf which you named Annie, and tried to get you to understand the concept behind her. You also cleaned up as far as presents go. This year was the first that you really understood what presents were, and you were a fan. Meticulous as always, you had to open each present and then play with the toy before opening another. Mom made homemade cinnamon rolls and we opened presents for hours. You will learn about my obsession for Christmas, and this years in my own house with just our family was the best I have ever had.
You continue to speak more often and with more clarity, know all your ABC’s (actually you have since you were closer to 2), can count to almost 20 and are absolutely beautiful. No joke, we get stopped all the time just to be told how gorgeous your hair and eyes are. You are also learning how to work me. Mom says we are screwed because I have a serious problem saying no to you and I need to reign it in. But just look at those pictures, how could anyone say no? We are three years in, and things are getting more fun everyday.
I love you more than you will ever know.
Love, Dad
(the pictures imported weird so they are not in order, just a heads up)
