Baby Mop

Well, Ethan isn't crawling yet, but he has figured out how to scoot around on his tummy, so I think I can buy this product now. What do you think? I like how the ad says "make your children work for their keep".

Christmas Time

Recently when Jared and I went out of town we had a little visitor move in. Little did we know, we were in the presence of one of the world's smartest mice. Here is some evidence so you can see what I mean.


We discovered the mouse on Wednesday. The next day we set out multiple traps. A few days later we bought 2 additional types of traps and set those out as well. And here is what happened:


The mouse found this sticky trap on our kitchen counter. (And yes- that is Almond Roca. He had expensive tastes). He put a paw on it and discovered it was sticky, so he pushed the trap from the corner here....



to here, where he could stand on the easel and eat the Almond Roca without having to actually step on the trap.



Yes- he seriously did that. I am happy to say that the next day we finally caught him and our house is now mouse free. It was a Christmas miracle...



Since people keep complaining that we don't post enough pictures of Ethan, here we are at Temple Square on Christmas Eve:


It was FREEZING! But luckily, Ethan is a very good natured baby and he still enjoyed seeing all the lights.

Bonnie Tyler Forever...

Here is a funny video Ken showed us. Its called a "literal video" because they make up lyrics for what is literally in the video.

Let's just say we were laughing so hard it scared Ethan and made him cry...

Mr. Potato Head

I would like to say thanks to my sister Natalie
who recently gave Ethan a Mr. Potato Head toy.

I hope you are not offended that he enjoys playing
with the package more than the toy...

I think he is going to LOVE Christmas- not for the new
toys but for the unlimited amount of wrapping paper.

Where have the Erbs been?

Hello! Yes, I know it has been awhile. I can't believe I haven't posted since July.

Well, a lot has changed for our little family. We are now proud residents of Lehi- the home of this cult classic movie. Every time that movie is on TV I can't help watching it for a bit because of how much the area has changed since they made the movie. We love our new house and will post pictures soon.

In the mean time here are some pictures of
what we have been up to:

Julie and Ken visiting from California.
At the playground near our house.

Ethan LOVES swimming.

Trip to California

Last week Ethan made his first trip to California! We had a great time, even though we were both sad Jared couldn't go. Here are pictures from the trip:

Ethan was a great traveler in the car. He slept most of the time.

Ethan's first trip to In-N-Out!

Smiling for Grandma.

Ethan with his cousins Ty, Luke, Taylor, and Audrey.
On this trip we discovered that Ethan loved Audrey's silky blanket.

When we got home, Ethan let us know he never wanted to go on a trip without his dad again!
(So sad, yet so cute...)

More Ethan Vids!!

The boy is doing incredibly well. He is happy and healthy and growing so big. We can hardly believe it! He is almost 3 1/2 months old now! He's started sleeping through the night, which is heavenly. He eats around 11:30pm, goes to sleep about an hour later, and sleeps until around 6:30am when he wakes up for breakfast. He'll then go back to sleep for 3 more hours before feeding again, and will usually sleep after that until noon. And when daddy gets home in the afternoon, he's always excited! He loves his daddy! And he's always a very good boy for mama.

Trying to catch his laugh on tape, we caught these fantastic smiles:



Here he is grabbing toys for the first time:



Finally caught that laugh!!



More laughs & smiles:



Poopy boy:



Our ticklish boy:

New Videos that I've Finally Gotten Around to Posting

The boy is 2 months old today! So we celebrated by making a little treat that we ate for him (since he can't have any yet!)

As you can tell from the photos, he wasn't really into it. He must be holding out for his first birthday where he gets a cake all to himself.

Shortly after he had his oxygen tank permanently removed, we filmed him playing in bed.



Here is a closeup of his scars. They are pretty remarkable.



It's so cute when he stretches! He shows off his touchdown stance and his Hallelujah! and his Superman pose all in one video.



I hope he forgives me for the junk shot, but this video he shows off how much fun he has in the bath.

Pretty Boy

Introducing Ethany!

(This is all my sister Natalie's fault for
giving me her baby's old clothes)

Truth be told, Ethan didn't really
like playing dress-up with mom.

Smiley Baby

I finally got some cute pictures of Ethan when he was in one of his smiley moods. He really is such a sweet boy- even if he drives his mom nuts at night because he wants to be held rather than sleep in his bed :)






Here' s the boy hanging out with his mama:
Enjoy the cuteness!!

Our Loving Boy

We've been a bit busy lately, but we've finally put some photos and videos up.

Weighing Ethan minutes after his birth.
I forgot to put up his stats: 7 lbs 11 oz, 20", born 8:00am 3/17/09

Brittney holding her son for the first time (before we knew about his heart defect which is explained below the photos).

Momma and son, the night before his surgery.

Closeup of Ethan before surgery.

During recovery in the hospital.

Daddy loves his boy.

Babies smell so good, you just want to kiss them all the time.

The money shot.

Loving sister Shelley.

Ethan's namesake (middle name that is): Philip Robinson.

Touchdown!

Sleepy baby with no more cords or wires!



We love our curious boy.

Home at last (with oxygen for now).


Transposition of the Great Arteries
Ethan was born with a congenital heart defect where the pulmonary artery and the aorta (which grow out of the heart) have grown in the wrong places. They're switched, and the solution is to switch them back. This involves open-heart surgery, usually done within the first weeks of life. Without surgery, the child will die, most likely before his first birthday.

When the heart develops in the womb, all sorts of things can go wrong. Some of these things can't be attributed to genetics, like TGA, which appears to happen at random regardless of family history. And Brittney kept the alcohol and tobacco to a minimum during the pregnancy, so it wasn't that. (By minimum, I mean none of course. :)

This image may be on the small side, but the idea is that the Aorta (big red artery coming out the top) should grow out of the Left Ventricle, while the Pulmonary Artery (big blue one coming out the top and branching out to the lungs) should come out of the Right Ventricle, like the image above. So blood from the body enters through the blue tubes into the heart, goes through the Pulmonary Artery out to the lungs, back to the heart, and then out through the Aorta to the body making a full circuit. Ethan's heart developed like the picture below:

Here was his heart, where the Aorta came out of the Right Ventricle and the Pulmonary Artery came out of the Left Ventricle. This represents a big problem: blood coming from the body enters the heart on the left side of this image (through the blue tubes), goes through the Right Atrium, down into the Right Ventricle, and out the Aorta which goes back to the body. That blood never gets oxygen from the lungs. This is because the blood from the lungs is entering the Left Atrium (through the red tubes on the sides), goes into the Left Ventricle, and then out the Pulmonary Artery back to the lungs. So the two pathways of blood are separate, and the body never gets oxygen.

Now Ethan's heart developed a temporary solution for this situation: It created a hole between the Left and Right Ventricles (not shown in this image). The hole allowed the oxygen-rich blood to mix with the oxygen-poor blood, so that his body could get some oxygen. Furthermore, we're born with a smaller hole up between the Left and Right Atria (which IS shown is this image). This hole has a flap and it usually closes shortly after birth. Also, the image above points out a vessel connecting the Aorta and Pulmonary Artery, and this too closes shortly after birth. In order to help with the oxygen mixing in his heart, doctors widened the hole between the atria (with a balloon tipped catheter that they ran through an artery in his leg to his heart) and kept the vessel open between the arteries with a drug.

Surgery was done by Dr. Burch three days after Ethan's birth. The surgery took 6.5 grueling hours. This involved putting him on a bypass machine (taking his blood out of his body, oxygenating it, and putting it back in his body and bypassing the heart), stopping his heart with medication, switching the two arteries by cutting them and re-stitching them, closing the holes between his ventricles and atria, and closing the flap over the vessel between the arteries. He didn't need the holes anymore since his heart was now connected the right way.

His recovery went well, although he got an infection in his stitches a few days after surgery. The infection was not in the deep tissue, just in the top layers beneath his skin. It required antibiotics, and a longer stay in the hospital. He's home now, with an oral antibiotic, a diuretic, a heart medication, and aspirin. They also sent us home with an oxygen tank just to make sure his levels are normal. We go back in 2 weeks when they'll decide what drugs to take him off of, and if he still needs the oxygen.

This has been an emotional experience, but we've learned so much, been through so much as a family, and love our son incredibly. We want to thank (and will continue to thank) all of our family and friends who have been so supportive, have prayed for us and visited us, and have given their love to our boy. We couldn't have made it through this without you.

Not Long Now....

Hello everyone! As of today I only have 2 weeks until my due date. Crazy!!

Jared and I thought we'd have a little contest before he is born. We want everyone to leave a comment on this post with your guess as to how much the baby will weigh. There will be a prize for whoever has the closest guess (although we haven't quite figured out yet what that prize will be...).


Jared thought it would be helpful for your guesses if I posted some pictures of my tummy's progression. So here are some photos:



I think I am about half way into my pregnancy in this photo. Yea- I totally thought I was huge. If I'd only known what was yet to come.....


I have 10 weeks to go in this photo.


Jared took this last week when I had 3 weeks to go. If you look at my maternity photos in the last posting (taken the week before this) you can tell I friggin' exploded in one week's time.


This picture was taken today now that I have 2 weeks to go. You can almost see the spot where he is kicking me in the ribs...(J/K).



Thanks everyone and good luck with your guesses!!

Preggy Photos

A special thanks to my sister Natalie for taking some cute pregnant photos of me. Here are a few of my favorites:

Only 4 weeks to go!!

Funny Videos

Hi everyone! Not much is new with Jared and me so I am posting links to some of our recent favorite videos. Enjoy!

(In this video the host's commentary isn't all that funny. We just like the clip from the show)



(I love the name they gave this video. Why is violence so funny?)



(Jared wanted to put this video up in my honor. When you watch it you'll see why- LoL)

Nesting

I'm now 31 weeks pregnant and it seems strange that the big event is now so close. With my spare time (which is now much more plentiful since I am newly unemployed) I have been trying to get ready to give birth- and also avoid the subject. Just tonight I was flipping through a pregnancy magazine and suddenly there were pictures of a woman giving birth. All I can say is- wow. Thankfully I have a little bit more time to avoid that subject.

I am definitely in the nesting stage of my pregnancy. This morning I had something explode in the microwave and I was really angry, but I just couldn't leave it there. I had to immediately clean it up.

Besides cleaning, I've been doing lots of other fun stuff to get ready for the baby. Like I have rediscovered my love for sewing. My very generous sister Natalie has given me a lot of baby hand-me-downs including this adorable cradle (which I kinda hoped would come to me since the moment I saw it after she had her baby) so I sewed new sheets, etc. for it. Now all its lacking is a baby....