Yesterday I had a very overwhelming experience with Ethan at church that I hope I never forget. The whole thing happened in less than 3 minutes’ time, but made one of those everlasting impressions. We were walking down the hall after Bible class heading toward the auditorium. Ethan was holding his papers from class and following me, but he kept turning around to look at something down the hall. I didn’t stop to see what it was, but just kept ‘encouraging’ him to come with me. Finally, we turned the corner and Ethan stopped and just stared. He was looking at a man at our church who is in a wheelchair. Granted, Ethan hasn’t seen many people in wheelchairs before (and none that he remembers), but it’s always a little bit embarrassing when your child is staring. The man he was staring at is Curtis, and from what I’ve been told he’s gone to our church for a very long time. I’m not sure exactly what happened to him, but I don’t think he was always wheelchair-bound. He can’t walk, has to have someone do most everything for him, and can barely speak. So, as Curtis turned the corner, I kneeled down to Ethan and asked him if he would say hi to Mr. Curtis. He looked up at me, handed me his papers, walked over to him and not only said hi, but also shook Curtis’s hand. Curtis just lit up and said hello back and Ethan just smiled. At first I was just so glad that Ethan said hi and didn’t turn and run, but then I just felt so proud of the little person that he is at 2 years old. I have no idea what I was like or what Clay was like at 2, and don’t know if we would have done the same thing, but I just couldn’t help being very proud of his actions. I hope I never forget little moments like these that make Ethan the person he is.

So, on a slightly lighter note, we had our trunk-or-treat event Saturday night with our church group and we had so much fun! Clay and I were complete losers for not decorating our trunk, but kept using the excuse that we just got a car on Monday and didn’t have time to get anything together. Lame, but we’ll make up for it next year. Ethan was a pirate and he was hilarious running around with his bandana and gold earring. He wasn’t at all into the candy, but several people had games at their trunks so he enjoyed that. We had a chili/soup supper after that in the gym and it was nice to just hang out with our church friends like that. So, next September we’ll be petitioning friends for good trunk-or-treat ideas so we can redeem ourselves.

I know that it’s 5 days late (I’m a horrible blogger!), but Ethan is officially 2! Things have been pretty busy around here lately, but it’s been a good busy. Clay and I decorated the outside of Ethan’s room Wednesday night so when he woke up Thursday morning he had streamers everywhere. He loved it. We had a special birthday breakfast and gave him his Elmo birthday coloring book. He had his 2 year checkup that morning and we got a very good report on his asthma which was wonderful news. He weighed in at almost 28 pounds and about 34.75 inches tall. That night my parents had a hamburger cookout for him and gave him his present – a big red car that he can drive. Now Ethan and the car are inseperable and it’s hilarious. He doesn’t always want to drive it – he just likes sitting in it. We found him out in the garage the other day sitting in his car with a coloring book just coloring away. Boys will be boys.

Then Saturday came and we had a little party for him at a park near our house. The weather was perfect, but the wind was out of control. It made the balloons, napkins, plates, etc. a little challenging, but we all survived and had a great time. It was neat because we had a lot of family there – my parents, Clay’s mom from Royse City, Clay’s dad from Mineola, my grandmother from Tyler, my aunt from Austin, my cousin from Idaho, and Clay’s brother and his family from Tyler. I hope Ethan knows how blessed he is to have so much family that thinks the world of him. It was a Mickey Mouse party and Ethan just kept saying “Mik-mey!” all day long. We had Mickey balloons and decorations, Mickey shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Mickey plates, and Clay and I conquered the task of making cupcakes look like Mickey Mouse. We got home and all crashed because we played so hard.

(Side note – you should check out my sister-in-law’s blog (it’s Ginny Parker on the list on the list on the right) to see a video of my nieces singing happy birthday to Ethan – I LOVE IT!)

I can’t believe our little boy is 2 years old. It really seems like yesterday that he was eating his first cereal and learning to sit up. Now he runs everywhere he goes, loves to climb stairs, chases his shadow, pretends like he’s driving our car, sings his favorite songs, gives us big hugs and kisses every morning, talks about his friends, and a million other wonderful things that make him special. Everyone says 2 is a challenging age, and I’m sure we’ll learn that first-hand, but I just love him at this age. It’s fun to see him grow more independent and learn from little things all around him. I’m starting to see a lot of Clay’s personality in him which makes me smile. I know that in the blink of an eye he’ll be turning 3 and then 4, so my prayer today is that I never forget what he’s like right now.

Things are back to “normal” now around here. I had my 24 week check-up at the doctor’s office today and the baby is doing great – right on track. I seem to forget from each appointment to the next how amazing it really is to hear your baby’s heartbeat and think about how God is making a new life inside of me (she’s kicking as I’m writing this!). I’ve had some strange stomach pains the past week, but my doctor assures me this is normal so we’re moving on. I got really excited at the appointment because I got a brochure for the hospital we’ll deliver at – it opens at the end of December and Clay’s firm is designing it. The LDR rooms are all suites, and they have couch beds and high speed internet and flat screen TVs and lots of other things that I’ll have no recollection of, but it’s nice to think about! Clay and I just keep praying for a completely normal and healthy delivery this time around.

As most of you probably know, fall is my absolute favorite time of year. I have the house all decorated for fall, and it’s great because you can have it up through October and November…yippee! Most mornings Ethan walks through the living room counting all of the pumpkins. It just seems like everyone is in a better mood, the colors are so pretty, and the weather is (sometimes) cooler.

Anyway, we did some fall celebrating this weekend and it was so much fun. Saturday morning we went to the pumpkin patch in Flower Mound with Brent & Nicole and their girls, and it was even better than I was expecting. It was a huge place with tons of pumpkins, bounce houses, hay mazes, hay rides, little booths for face painting, food, picture spots, etc., and the whole thing was free! Ethan and Lauryn had a blast exploring everything. Ethan’s highlight was probably climbing up the 20 some odd foot ladder to the bouncy slide. He wasn’t crazy about coming down, but sure did enjoy going up. After the pumpkin patch we went to lunch together in Grapevine where I ran into my high school/college boyfriend and his entire family. They all live in East Texas so it was incredibly random to see them there.

After lunch, we headed straight back to Arlington to meet up with some friends from church so we could take the kids to Boo at the Zoo in Ft. Worth. Well, little did we know that the event doesn’t actually start until Oct. 25. Oops. So, we had a bunch of kids, a couple of hours to spare before dinner, and no Boo at the Zoo. But it all worked out great because we ended up riding the Trinity Park Train. It was about a 50 minute train ride, and we all had a great time. The weather was perfect, and Ethan loved being on the train and going through the park. Then all 21 of us went to Pappasitos for dinner – yum.

And yesterday Ethan was thrilled because Jack got to come over and play for a few hours while Cara took Josie to the doctor. I’m not sure if something was in the air yesterday, or if they just really missed seeing each other these past few weeks, but they played so well together. They didn’t fight over a single thing! They even brought Jo-Jo into the fun when she got back. It’s so much fun to see Ethan playing with them – Cara and I talked about this kind of stuff in college, but never thought it would actually happen. Thank you, God, for the blessings of good friends.

So, happy fall from the SFB. We’re on the 2 day countdown to Ethan’s birthday – too bad he doesn’t really know what that means. But he’s getting better at holding up 2 fingers instead of all 5 when he says he’s turning two!

Well, this time last week we on our way to the emergency room at Cook Children’s for yet another bad asthma attack for poor Ethan. We had done back-to-back treatments at home, but he kept getting worse so we rushed to the ER. Thankfully, we knew what to expect this time, and we were sent straight to a room to start breathing and steroid treatments. Praise God we got to come home around 2:30 a.m. with a normally breathing child. And if any of you are wondering, it’s very hard to keep an almost 2 year entertained in a very small bed at 1:00 in the morning when none of you have had any sleep!

So, that was Wednesday which was followed up on Thursday morning by another trip to the pediatrician for an evaluation. We are so blessed to have a pediatrician who knows a LOT about asthma. While we hate it for Ethan, he’s on twice a day breathing treatments for the next few months – at least through flu season since he can’t have a flu shot (he’s allergic to the eggs in the shot, and he’s not old enough for the synthetic). But he’s back to 100% this week and we’re grateful.

On to Friday – we left Friday evening for College Station for my Aggies For Christ class of 2000 reunion. I’ve really been looking forward to this, and I knew it would be fun, but I had no idea how uplifting it would be to see all of those old friends – Christian friends – and for us all to be back on our old stomping grounds. I think I counted 21 kids under the age of 4, and about 7 of us are pregnant so we had lots to talk about and catch up on. It made me realize how incredibly blessed I was in college to be surrounded by all of those amazing Christian brothers and sisters, and to be able to make so many memories with them. We all met at a park Saturday afternoon, had dinner Saturday night (with babysitting), and all went to class, church and lunch together Sunday. I also want to thank Josh and Erin for letting us take over 2 rooms in their house for the weekend – we love you guys.

Oh, and we also took Ethan to campus Sunday on our way out of town and he loved it…already a good Aggie. (Unfortunately, I didn’t think to actually get any good pictures of us with “everyone”…just got pictures of “everyone”).

Now, on to yesterday (yes, there’s more). Last week Clay found out that he had a meeting to be at in Houston yesterday at 3:00. While it’s a very short flight there on Southwest, he really wanted to drive (if you know Clay, you know he’s not a fan of flying…especially in the rain and on small planes). So, after getting the oil changed and inspection done on the Hyundai, he left around 9:00 for the 5 hour drive. I get a call at work around 11:00 – yes, you know what’s coming, “Lisa, I’m okay, but I totalled the car.” After my heart stopped pounding out of my chest and he assured me a thousand times that he was okay, he got to the story: he was driving down I-45, hit a wet spot, hydroplaned, flipped over, and ended up in the ditch on the driver’s side. I haven’t let myself think about all of the horrible things that should have happened in such a bad accident, but rather am trying to focus on God’s amazing and unfailing grace and protection. He really did crawl out of the back of the car without a scratch or a bruise. There were lots of very nice people who stopped to help him – including the tow truck driver who took Clay to a Family Dollar store to buy new clothes since his were dripping with mud. He finally got a rental car and made it home safely last night – muddy laptop and all.

And I think that’s about it for this adventurous week (now you see why I haven’t posted in several days). Hope everyone else had a little less of an eventful week, and here’s to a much slower week for the SFB.

Well, we made it back from an amazing vacation at Sunset Beach in North Carolina. My brother and his family live in Raleigh, so we flew up there last Thursday and spent 4 days at the beach and then another 2 back at their house.

A friend of my brother’s let us borrow his incredible beach house, and it really could not have been better.

My parents were in heaven having all of their family there, and the kids had a blast playing together.

Ethan wasn’t too sure about the ocean at first, but after he realized that the waves weren’t thunder (we had to explain this several times), he discovered how much fun it can be to run from the waves. And he also really enjoyed hunting for seashells. He would find the tiniest ones on the beach and just be so excited to show them to us and put them in the bag.

It was the perfect vacation because we all just relaxed, went to the beach everal times a day, cooked dinner at the beach house and ate outside in the cool breeze, sat on the porch while the kids played, stayed up way too late playing Cranium and card games, etc. I think we’ll try and make this an annual Parker/Starr family trip from now on.

And the trip there and back was very easy. We had really been building up the plane ride to Ethan, so he was very intrigued by the seats, the lights, and especially the window. The only snafu we encountered was that my driver’s license was expired. Yes, I know my birthday was in April, but I guess I just never think about looking at my driver’s license. On the way to NC, all 3 of us had to go through the extra screening process which involved stepping in the apparatus that blows air all over you to make sure you’re not carrying any explosive devices.

Then they proceeded to take everything out of Ethan’s backpack and my purse, which resulted in me losing some lipstick, hand gel and lotion because I didn’t even think to put those in the ziplock bag with the rest of our liquids. Oh well. The trip home wasn’t as bad because they let Clay and Ethan go on through, and I just had to be patted down (that was fun) and then have my purse and shoes searched. But, still wouldn’t recommend travelling with an expired license…lesson learned.

I never thought we were really “beach people,” but apparently I was wrong because it was so hard to leave. Hopefully we’ll be back soon with little girl Starr. I’m sure they make very cute bikinis in baby sizes!