Ethan Turns ONE!!!

Wow, last blog.....January!! WEAK, I know. Well Ethan just turned one, and we can hardly believe how fast the first year goes by. Ethan is doing great, he crawls everywhere and is close to walking. He now has 4 teeth, 3 in the last 2 weeks. He has had his share of runny noses this winter, and had one bout of pneumonia that landed us in the ER. However he has fully recovered and back to his happy, energetic self. He seems to be more "boy" everyday. Exploring everything, and liking to climb on anything he can get on. He weighs about 20lbs, although he feels like he has gained a few pounds in the last week. Hope this finds everyone well, we are happy and healthy here. The Hoovers

We're Back!!

Yeah, my computer fixed itself!! I can now download pics again. So here is a quick update. January has been flying by. Ethan is now 10 months old, and growing up way too fast. He weighs 19lbs and is 28.5 inches tall. He is a crawling machine but prefers to be on his feet. He is always pulling himself up on furniture, and loves to have you hold his hands so that he can walk across the room. He is starting to eat solids yet still has no teeth. It's pretty funny watching him gum stuff to death. He is in a "clingy" phase and is constantly pulling himself up my legs. All is good with Travis, he has been working hard and helping out a ton with Ethan. They really enjoy their "boy" time. Days that I work they hang together. It is such a comfort for me. I have been working part time in the ER and have launched my new company Nouveau Post Surgical Care. We provide personal care in a private setting for people that have had day surgery. It's our philosophy that no "surgery is minor" and even if you have had outpatient procedure your recovery is vital to the healing process. That's where we come in, we recover you in a private hotel suite, adhering to your surgeons protocols, staying on top of your pain management and pampering you throughout. All for less money than you would pay to stay at a hospital. Our website should be up in the next couple of days, check us out at http://www.nouveaucare.com/ I have been having a lot of fun with this and have been working hard, we'll see how it goes.

Hope this finds everyone doing well. The Hoovers

Snow Storm 2008

Hello Family and Friends: It has been way too long since posting a blog. My computer has a virus that I am starting to deal with......however it dawned on me today I could use Trav's computer to post. Most of you know, but for those not in the area we have had a winter storm that has left approx 20 inches of snow. We have been snowed in for the past 3 days. We are making the best of it although I was very disapointed as the snow has stopped my family from MT making it to us for the holidays. We will greatly miss them, however have decided to not let the weather stop us. We are just shifting our celebration to the weekend after New Years, when we can all be together. At this rate, Allyson (who lives across town) will be lucky to make it to our house for Christmas. However in many ways we are blessed, I had stocked up on food so we are set there, have plenty of diapers and I am not scheduled to work for the next 4 days. So basically we have everything we NEED at the house. Our neighbors are awesome and made a trek to the grocery store today and picked milk up for us. (I made chocoloate chip cookies yesterday.....and we burned through our milk!) Anyway enough about that......le's get to the good stuff. Ethan!

He is 9 months old now and such a little boy!! He started crawling last week, and is already pulling himself up on everything!! He loves to stand, and is learning how to protect his head when he falls over. You can literally watch him learn. At first crawl he would bump his head on so many things because he was always looking down at his hands. He figured that out quick. Same with tipping over.....it only took a day to figure out that if he tucked his head it was less likely to bounce off the floor. Our new phrase of the week is "Your ok, your such a big boy!!" He buys it pretty quick and the cry has been getting less and less with the wipe outs. Baby gates went up, he found the back stairs really quickly...and is very curious. It's as though everything that could be dangerous calls to him. The stairs, the iron cord, the outlets ect. He is a true boy!!! Although he hasn't gone after the Christmas tree yet. He is still happy as ever, and his little giggle delights us all. Trav and I were just saying that if we are ever having a bad day all we need to do is spend a little time with Ethan and the world is right again. He is eating more and more everyday and get's his veggies down if they are disguised with fruit. He often eats peas mixed with apple, or carrots drenched in pear. Still no teeth, fine by me. I am nursing still, and it's going well. We are still up once a night, and I probably just need to cut it out but I haven't minded it and actually love the time with him. He wakes screaming and is so happy to see me, nurse and within 7 min. back to sleep in my arms. See......probably unneccessary for him, but I haven't been ready to let him "cry it out" . So I continue to get up with him around 2-3am. Here are some pics from the last few days. Enjoy!! Hope everyone has a very Happy Holidays. The Hoovers

Snow Storm 2008

We are Still Here!!

Hi family and friends. Sorry for the long delay in the blog. I am having technical difficulties with my computer. I can no longer download pics to it for some reason. I am still working on it. So I don't have new pics to put on. All is well with us, we had a great Thanksgiving and are looking forward to the Christmas Holidays. Ethan is so close to crawling, he get's up on all fours and rocks...then back to the belly. He is also eating a lot of new foods. He is now eating solids 3 meals a day......and it's hit and miss with how much he get's in. He is napping great; usually a 2 hr nap in the am and then about an hour in the afternoon. Everything still goes into his mouth...but no teeth yet. He has the best giggle and loves peek-a-boo. We feel very fortunate to have such a happy, healthy baby. Hope everyone is doing well, and is enjoying the holiday season. The Hoovers

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween Everyone! Hope everyone has a day full of fun, candy and costumes!! Here is our little man as a penguin!! We had so much fun this morning. I am headed to work this afternoon, and Travis, Heather and Ethan are going to hang out. We had some excitement last night while carving our pumpkins... I stabbed my wrist with the knife and ended up in my ER to get a couple of stiches. Thank goodness Heather was in town, she drove me in while Trav kept an eye on Ethan. Be SAFE!!! The Hoovers

Pumpkin Patch

We took a hayride, found the perfect pumpkin...or three, drank hot cider, and participated in the pumpkin sling shot contest. It was a great afternoon at the Sauvie Island pumpkin patch. Weather was beautiful....crisp fresh air. Cousin Heather, Ethan's godmother is in town and joined us. Now we have to carve our pumpkins.......I mean GET to carve them! :)

Fall is Here

Ethan and I enjoyed a beautiful Fall day today. We went for a walk and then worked in the yard a little. Ethan was great helper. Here he was playing in the leaves that I had just raked up. Hope this finds everyone well. The Hoovers

October Travels

It's been a busy month for our family. All by our choice, and a lot of fun......but boy are we tired!! We travelled to Montana to see my family, Bend (twice), and to Bandon to help with Harvest.

Montana was a blast, and Ethan found his true cowboy! We celebrated Grandma Margarets 90th birthday, and had the opportunity to catch up with a lot of our extended family. It was a very relaxing trip.

Bend: We headed to Bend for a golf tournament that Trav's college friends host, known as the Frosy Mug. Our friends the Diani's joined us and we had a ton of fun. While the boys golfed the ladies joined by the little men shopped. We also had the opportunity to welcome the newest Swedenborg to the family. Greg and Shannon welcomed new baby boy Owen Finley to their family on Oct. 16th. He was 7lbs, and 21 inches long.....healthy!! We are so excited and happy for them.

Bandon: I really should write a seperate blog for this one! We headed to Bandon to help our great friends Daren and Juanita with harvest.....cranberries that is! We have always wanted to experience and help with harvest, this year we made it happen. It was truly a highlight. Daren and his family showed us the ropes and Trav, Ethan and I helped harvest one of the bogs. From the very start (removing sprinklers) to the very end (cleaning the fruit and loading it up on a truck to be shipped to the buyer). The Robisons built their own cleaning plant this year, and not only clean their own fruit but also many of the other farmers in the area. It was very exciting to be part of the process, and learn the in's and the out's of cranberry harvest. Ethan was a trooper and spent most of the afternoons on my back helping in the bog and the cleaning plant. Our days were spent outdoors in the fresh air, working hard and our evenings spent eating great food and relaxing. Daren and Jaunita's son Cody is 3 months old, so he and Ethan hung out......playing on the floor together (well sort of) We had so much fun that we are going to make it a tradition......hopefully the Robisons will be in on our plan!!:)

We are looking forward to being in town the rest of the year. Hope everyone is ready for Halloween. Look forward to seeing everyone's costume!!! Love the Hoovers

Bend Weekend

We had a great weekend in Bend. Ethan was a great traveller. Three hours in the car isn't always the most fun. It was nice spending time with family and relaxing. We enjoyed cruising through the booths at the Fall Festival in downtown. I didn't buy anything.....surprisingly. Ethan started swim lessons this week, and seems to be enjoying the pool. He didn't cry at all, and had fun kicking his legs. He had more fun dipping his hands in the pool and then sucking the water off them. We are off to MT tomorrow morning. Hope everyone has a great weekend. The Hoovers

Another Week Gone

Where do the days go? I swear they fly by way too fast. I can't believe it's Oct. All is well with us. We are headed to Bend this weekend, but I wanted to get a post done since it's been awhile. This past week we hung out with Jack (see pic) and cheered on the Beavs, and started solids! Ethan seems to like rice cereal ok, however he still has his tongue thrust so eating has been a challenge. I would say we get 25% in, and 75% of the food down the front of him. I tried sweet potatos and he makes the funniest face, so we're sticking with rice cereal at this time. Maybe we'll try avocados this weekend. Hope all is well with everyone. Our love The Hoovers.

Six Months!!

Six months already!!! E-man is doing great. We are starting solids this week. He is so very close to sitting on his own. He loves to roll over to his tummy and is getting ready to crawl. Once and awhile he lifts his bottom up in an attempt to move but then his head falls forward. Whoops! He loves being outside and loves playing superman with his dad. His new sound is the raspberry, and it cracks us up. On the flip side of things his sleeping pattern is getting worse. We were down to one feeding a night, but the past 2 weeks we (Ethan and I) have been up 3-5 times a night. I am getting very tired. Due to this I have been joining Ethan in his morning nap. (See pic) So after a discussion with the pediatrician and Kate we are now down to the cry it out period. Tonight will be the first attempt. Lord give me strength. Ethan please just start sleeping more!! Hope this finds everyone doing well, and enjoying the Fall season.

The Hoovers

Go Buffs!

We were in Boulder, Colorado this past weekend visiting family. We had so much fun and the weather was gorgeous. It was Ethan's first trip out to Boulder and he was a trooper on the plane both ways. We went to the Colorado Buffs game on Thurs night, complete with tailgating prior to. Ethan loved cheering CU on with his great grandma Betty and great aunt Peggy. CU beat WVU in OT... very exciting game!. We got to celebrate cousin Heather's (Ethans godmother) birthday with her and spend a few relaxing days with the family. It was so hard to say good bye to everyone... Hopefully we can get another trip to Boulder planned soon.

Labor Day Weekend

I just typed out a long wonderful description of our great weekend in CannonBeach. However, I then somehow deleted the entire thing! I am now tired and frustrated!! Sooooo, here is the low down with some pics!!

Saturday: Trav golfed; Ethan and I hung out on the beach and window shopping. Saturday afternoon we attended Jess and Chris's housewarming party--had a blast. (pictured-Ethan and cousin Chris)

Sunday: Trav and I golfed in the morning, Ethan hung out with grandma Allyson. That afternoon we came home in time to watch the CU game. Ethan played in his new jumper from cousin Karen and Brian. He loves it!!

Monday: I worked. Trav and Ethan hung out.....after Trav golfed......anyone else see a theme here?!!

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. Welcome September!! I can't believe it!

The Hoovers

Five Months Already!

Two posts in one day! Ethan turned 5 months on the 17th of this month. With it has brought so many changes. He is sitting in his Bumbo chair, rolling over..both ways, and is big enough to play in his excer-saucer his buddy Brady loaned him. Ethan is doing fabulous, and although periodically we have a tough day....he is as calm, cool and relaxed as ever. He has proven to be a great traveller. Travis and I often count our lucky stars regarding having such a good mellow baby. We are looking forward to the Fall and have thouroughly enjoyed our summer. Although it went by way too fast. We are headed to Cannon Beach for Labor Day weekend. We hope everyone has a safe, fun long weekend. The Hoovers