A Real Update!

It has been a while since I have given any real update as to what is going on in our lives, so here it is...

Ethan is walking, practically running, perfectly these days. He has become a chatter box and I love it. He says words like milk, Mike, bread, dog, Dad, Mom, more, and a lot of grunting. Ethan has also started this fun pointing game where he points at everything. Sometimes I mistake this for his telling me wants something and we end up wondering around the house pointing at things. He has started appreciating story time every night and will sit on the couch next to you and listen to all the words very carefully, you have to let him turn the pages though. He is such a joy!

Michael has finished Basic Combat Training (BCT) and has started Warrant Officer Candidate School (WOCS) @ Ft. Rucker, AL. This is only 7 weeks, a lot shorter then BCT, so we are looking forward to his life not being like prison very soon. His graduation from WOCS is June 5th. He will then get 10 days of leave that we will spend moving to Alabama and finding a place to live. In October we drove across the country from NC to UT, that must have been practice for the drive from UT to AL but this time we will have Ethan. There is still a couple years of training & flight school in Michael's future that is honestly looking forward to.

I am still working diligently on my MBA. I would really like to finish sometime between January 2010 & July 2010. It is a lot more challenging then my undergraduate degree but will be worth it when I finish. Work is busy as usual. My team has gone through some reorganization as team members go to pursue new opportunities. It is exciting for me to see them taking on new challenges. I also have numerous small projects I will be tackling in the next few weeks. Besides being Mom, working, and going to school, I will be packing up the house in preparation for the movers. Surprisingly looking forward to that!

We, as always, are super happy and I still have to pinch myself everyday to make sure this is real. As I tell everyone all the time we completely recognize how fortunate we are and love every single day of our life together.

Michael Basic Training Family Weekend!

We had the best weekend! Michael is amazing and doing fantastic. We did some well needed smiling & laughing. Seriously one of the best weekends I have ever had, really enjoyed our time together!

Adios Week 8, 9, & 10! We are on the final week!

It has been a while since I have blogged about Michael & his basic training. He is doing great! He improved his PT score & is now #2 of the warrant officer canidates. He has done some fun things with big weapons and blowing stuff up. Also, has done combative training and earned his level 1 certificate. He has been keeping busy but things seem to be slowing down now that basic is coming to an end. They have been allowed to watch movies & order pizza.

We have 7 days left until Family Weekend and we are very excited to finally see each other. Michael's gift came & turned out perfectly. Thank you to everyone who contributed.

Hope everyone is doing well! Will blog again after my big trip! :)

Ali

Disneyland!

We went to Disneyland earlier this week & had the best time.

These are jsut a few pictures from our adventure. More to come! :)

Ethan Walking!

Video finally of Ethan walking! He got a big blue ball to play outside but the weather turned icky on us again. He still loved playing with it inside. He is getting so big!

Michael's Graduation Gift!

Hello!

I know I sound like a broken record and I apologize for that. However, I need the pictures for Michael's graduation gift by Sunday, March 22nd. I am going to place my order that night. I have got a few but need more!

Hope everyone is having a good week!
Ali

Playing Outside... Love this weather!

Today we played outside for the first time ever!

We are loving this weather and will enjoy it while it lasts!

Goodbye Week 7... You delivered challenges & good news!

Today is the end of Week 7 of Michael being away, and the end of Week 5 of Basic Training.

This week Michael was fired from being squad leader (along with all the squad leaders), a planned tactic by the Drill Sergeants. He described it as the "truly a great day," as he didn't enjoy loosing his freetime to babysit. He went through a suicide awareness training which was pretty cheesy from what I could understand. He actually got to shoot his gun which of course he was really good at; it caught of the attention of the company commander who gave him kudos.

As you all know Ethan was in the hospital, Tuesday Michael received my letter about Ethan and was able to call. WOOO WOOO! Seriously made all 3 of feel so much better. We also got a date for the end of Basic Training. April 10th I will be headed to Georgia for "Family Weekend" where Mike will get 2 days off post. His actual graduation isn't until April 24th but he will be shipping off to Warrant Office school on the 13th or 14th. So no actual graduation but glad his other schools are not being delayed. Right now we are waiting on word if I will be able to drive Michael from Ft. Benning to Ft. Rucker (2hr drive). That will give us another day together. Cross your fingers!

Overall this week was a little tough. All 3 of us had some bad days. We are looking forward to Ethan being well and the next 29 days flying by.

Hope everyone is doing well! Cheers!
Ali

Ethan's Trip to the Hospital

Thursday night Ethan started to show his spots again, very very beginning stages. Friday morning he woke up covered in spots, NBD right, we have seen this tons of times. A couple hours after he woke up his feet were black, red, and spotty. His temperature was rising, and he was not a happy camper. We went in to see his Pediatrician who calmly but with urgency told me to take him to Primary Childrens Hospital. We arrived at the ER about 11am and all the doctors were quickly on the case. He had numerous tests done, 18 to be exact, which required lots of poking & proding. Friday afternoon Ethan was admitted to the hospital. The doctors wanted to do more tests and try to find some answers. Thinking it would just be an over night stay we ended up being at the hospital for 4 days & 3 nights. We got home Monday evening.

The diagnosis, which is what everyone wants to know, Acute Hemorrhagic Edema of Infancy. I am going to call it AHEI to make it easier. Did your head start spinning? What it means is when Ethan gets sick, any kind of sicky, his body almost turns on it's self. His vessels swell and his blood leaks, for lack of a better word, which is when we see spots. Due to gravity the leaked blood settles in his feet which causes the black, red, and spots. This last time was the first time that he swelled up like he did from the feet up, I anticipate I will be seeing the swelling again with future episodes. What triggered the most recent episode is Adenovirus, which is a respertory virus and is very common. Also, very contagious. There is nothing we can do for AHEI except treat whatever triggers it. This time the Adenovirus has no treatment but let it run it's course. Ethan is taking Zyrtec daily now.

Friday we have a follow up with the Dermatologist at Primary Childrens, she will confirm the diagnosis and deliver the biopsy results. Monday we will meet with Ethan's Pediatrician, who will take out his stitches from the biopsy. Being home now Ethan is acting more and more like himself. He seems to be doing much better. A little creative planning this week and working to get him back on schedule and life should be back to normal.

Thank you to everyone who came to visit and has sent their best wishes. Ethan is going to be just fine and we love all the support.

Michael Called! End of week 6 update!

Sneaky Michael called last night! I was so so excited, and still am. His battle buddy, Mansfield, had to resolve some bank issues and luckily you go everywhere with your battle buddy. Michael took the opportunity to make a phone call as well. We got to talk for about 15 minutes and ee got to talk to Ethan who kissed the phone, cutest thing ever.

Michael has been designated as the squad leader, natural born leader, and is not loving it. He spends the majority of what should be free time taking care of the other guys. I told him to be proud! ;) He also said he is getting skinnier, I told him I better lay off the delicious girl scout cookies then. Today they are actually going to shoot the weapons they have been using as a weight to hold over their heads or in front of their bodies during physical training (PT). The PT has not been too bad for him and he is enjoying the other things he is learning. He didn't however love the getting & giving of IVs. His battle buddy was a firefighter/EMT before joining the military so when giving Michael an IV it was no big deal. Michael on the other hand was not so awesome at it and poor Mansfield was his test dummy. He passed though and that is all that counts! :p

This week signifies the end of week 6 of Michael being gone and the end of week 4 of Basic Training. They are in white phase now (after red phase, before blue phase) and he likes it a lot better. He does not anticipate being "allowed" to make phone calls anytime soon but the letters are awesome and we will take what we can get.

Ethan & I are going better every week. We are staying busier and just getting used to him being gone. Still hate it though! I am back to sleeping in our bed and not on the couch. When talking to Michael last night he said "Yeah that was weird sleeping on the couch." All I could is laugh and thank him for not telling me that while I was still sleeping on the couch.

If anyone would like to send anything I am putting together a package of some letter & cards our friends have sent. Just let me know! Also, don't forget to contribute to the graduation gift. Hope everyone is doing well.

TTFN,
Ali

Pink... Nothing wrong with pink!

Ethan and his pink bink and pink barbie hair brush, NBD!

We went to the Zoo!

Maddi Grace turned 3, cannot believe it, last Thursday 2/26. This weekend we went

to the Zoo to celebrate. Had a wonderful time!

Adios Week 5... You were not so terrible!

Week 5 is over... Week 3 of Basic...

No one is sad to see week 5 go. We will celebrate next weekend when week 6 is past us and we are over the hump, the half way point if you will.

This week Michael did land navigation and obstacle courses. He was an all star at both to no ones surprise. He really enjoyed the land nav stuff as it reminded him of boy scouts and hope it is part of his real job. Land nav & flying helicopter... hmmm they don't seem to be in the same job description but you never know with the Army. Michael also did his first ruck march. He said he was good 3/4 of the way through before his feet really started hurting him. Apparently the warm weather boots are not his fav and he was going to sneak the cold weather boots the next day and see if he can get away with it. Have not yet heard the result of that. Also, Michael is very proud of the fact that he has not been singled out once or caused everyone to get smoked (worked out for screwing up). The guys that have are on his sh*t list for sure. Last weekend they got to go to a carnival of sorts on post. It was set up by some outside vendor for the guys in basic. Michael enjoyed a coke even though it didn't have rum in it (haha). The next morning they paid for it with just a few push-ups so well worth it.

He is finally receiving our letters and I can tell! The tone of his letters is a lot more upbeat. Sundays are the hardest days for him. Although he enjoys a day of rest and freetime it is boring and gives the guys too much time to think and miss home.

For Ethan & I this week was much better. The fact that we have real communication back and forth I think has helped. Miss Michael like crazy and cannot wait to see him in April. Love you all and hope everyone is doing well!

TTFN,
Ali

Michael's Basic Training Graduation Present

Hello Everyone!

First, I am a planner so I have been thinking about this since Michael left for basic and finally think I has a solid idea for his basic trainign graduation gift. A little cheesy but he is definately going to appreciate it.

The idea is that I gather pictures from all of our friends & family (groups or individually) holding a sign saying congratulations however you would like to say congratulations to Michael. I want these pictures to have your own personal flair to them. For example, I will take a picture of Ethan & Ace dressed in camo with a sign that says Congratulations Dad. I am then going to order a photo book with all the pictures.

So think of how you would say congratulations to Michael and take your picture! Everyone email or text me your pictures by Friday, March 20th so I have time to put them together and order the book.

Please all of Michael's friends or family know.

Thanks!
Ali

Em. alisonlynnmcgregor@hotmail.com
Cl. 801-652-2040

Easy Like Sunday Mornings

Most relaxing Sunday ever. My baby boy is getting so big.