Sick

Thankfully, we don't get sick very often in our household. Colds occasionally, sure, but fevers are quite rare. But today, and last night, Joel has been sick. He is currently running a temperature of 100.5.

In Butler women temperatures that is nearly your deathbed;) since my normal temperature is more like 97.2!

He even relented to a bath last night. You have to understand that I have been trying to sell him on the wonders of baths for the entirety of our marriage. I was quick to break out the peppermint oil and such. And of course, he kept Ethan's tugboat in there to keep things manly (name that TV show)! I was pretty excited. But anyway, he is currently out of his covers feeling stifled but I'm sure we will be covering him back up with blankets and quilts soon enough.

Ethan is thus far separate from the sickness and is crawling all over the house oblivious to Joel's feelings of crudiness. Let's hope it stays that way!

My Pathfinder

This morning Joel graduated from Pathfinder school! I am so proud of him and man, am I thankful that God knows all there is to know about sling loads and landing zones! Each time Joel has one of these important Army schools to complete, we are afforded another opportunity to remember that it is not by Joel's ability but God's that he will get through it:). We are so glad that it is over and I know that his company is happy to have so many soldiers graduate.


This isn't a particularly informative picture. But it is a familiar sight for the family members of military personnel. You've got to love how hard they work to rid themselves of their neck?! You should have seen the way Joel had to screw up his face for the Fish "mean face" his freshmen year in the Corps...I did my best to keep him from making it in front of me...seriously.
Yay for diplomas!


Ok, also not very informative. I actually have no idea where Joel was in this formation:). This was after the graduation ceremony. Joel's company, Pathfinder company, sent 20 people through the school and 12 made it! The school previously had about a 15% pass rate?! So the Battalion commander was happy with their preformance, and letting them know it.

Congratulations Joel, I'm so proud of you!

There's a monkey an Ethan on your back!

Our next door neighbor was kind enough to let us try out her Sleepy Wrap last week. Ethan LOVES being cuddled up in a wrap and I have enjoyed the opportunity to get more done around the house! Yesterday I was catching up on much-needed vacuuming. You see, Ethan used to sleep through the sound of the vacuum-awesome right? Then he grew out of that, so I adjusted. I would clean while he played in the jumperoo or on a quilt. Then separation anxiety set in and things got complicated. Then the sound of one of the vacuums began to terrify him...So it had been too long since I had vacuumed:).
Ok, so back to the wrap. We had slowly been working our way through different wrap positions. It took some doing on my part, but we worked out the back carry wrap. Ethan giggled, babbled, nuzzled and generally amused himself. While I vacuumed the rug, and all of the floors. Instead of having a full-on panic when the vacuum scared him, this time he just nuzzled in between my shoulder blades:). So sweet. Needy. But oh so sweet!

It looks like I teased my hair and hairsprayed my bangs from this angle...ahh the wonders of being big-haired;)!

Wow, I started this post last week but I needed to go to bed so I saved it...and here we are...

Since I started this post I picked up a Navy cotton interlock remnant of 4 yards for $5 so now Ethan has at least one wrap all his own and maybe 2! Otherwise, I'm using the rest of the fabric to make a nice cotton dress. I don't have any pictures of the new wrap yet but we did try it out and he fit beautifully. If any of you out there are interested in a baby wrap don't spend $40-60 buying a Moby or a Sleepy Wrap! Just buy 4-5 yards of cotton interlock (if you want a fabric with stretch) or a thin, non-stretch fabric. All you have to do is cut down the middle to make the wrap between 25-30 inches wide! I am not currently planning on hemming or finishing my fabric since the how-to's I have read suggest that it was unnecessary for them. I may make a slight modification to the tails so it's easy to tie, we shall see. And if I do chose to make that modification, then I will likely need to finish the edges I taper. Either way, make your own wrap and enjoy! It has certainly made my "cuddly" baby easier to handle and my arms and back aren't quite so exhausted:). In other baby wrap news, I used Joel as my guinea pig for trying other back carry methods I found on You Tube and well...just watch...

Another haircut and eating out:)

We are the old folks that went to lunch at 11:15 so we're the only ones on the patio at this point!

Ok, so I really cannot blame our lack of "going out" social time on Ethan. Joel and I were homebodies before becoming parents:). But, we definitely have taken it to a new level since his arrival! We also have a bit of difficulty figuring out what to do and/or where to find things in the Fort Campbell area. So, this past weekend I had another hair appointment with my wonderful stylist in Nashville. Whenever I have an appointment we make a day out of it in Nashville, a lovely city, and one that we do not spend enough time in even though we're less than an hour away. After my haircut we went to this very tasty New York style pizzeria across the street from my salon. And, because I get rather giddy when I get a restaurant experience so I took pictures to mark the occasion:).

Not the sharpest shot but I wanted to show Ethan's setup, his first outdoor restaurant experience, his Mimi will be proud!

Ethan's giving me the crazy eyes because he was sleepy and not interested in his car seat.

And this is the solution we came to, Ethan cuddled up while I ate...yep we're closer than ever these days:).

We had a great time in Nashville and the whole family was worn out by the end of Saturday!

Ethan loves his Papa

Joel has had long days these past few weeks while his company is completing EIB (Expert Infantyman's Badge) training and testing. So this has mean leaving at 5:30 and getting home between 7-8 at night. I know, all of my Army friends are thinking 5:30, that's when PT (physical training) starts?! Ah yes my friends, but that is when the training is starting, not at 9. Plus, we are spoiled living on post and Joel usually gets to come home, shower, eat breakfast, and he gets to see us for a bit, before heading back to work.

So that long tangential statement was all to say that Ethan is really missing out on some of his usual Joel time so he is getting really excited if Joel gets home before he goes to sleep. Today Ethan was so giddy that he accomplished a new "trick" in the pursuit of staring at Joel!
Ethan stood all on his own with no (human) support. And what's more, he did this for 5-10 minutes while Joel told us all about his day! With so much of his physical feats, knowing mothers keep telling us, that he will be an early crawler/walker but man...Be still my beating heart:). Oh, did I mention that Joel was crawling by 6 months and walking before 9...yeah...

Presenting the Von Hilborn family singers

Joel sang to Ethan last night and he REALLY loved getting into the act and playing air instruments along to the music, with Joel's help of course. I had to take a video of this precious moment.

Joel has his Air Assault wings!

Joel and Tony-LT's for Pathfinder Co. and new Air Assault graduates

Yesterday Joel successfully completed Air Assault school and Ethan and I were there at his chilly graduation. Joel has Pathfinder school next on his school agenda after his company, a Pathfinder company so Pathfinder school is kind of important;), completes Expert Infantryman's Badge tasks over the next few weeks. Until then, we are thankful that he has this school behind him and it certainly is a great job skill. Just for fun I took some video of his graduation. The video I'm posting is of the students "pushing" in cadence because they didn't sing the 101st song well enough ...yeah...