A Week Without Daddy..........

Well, we survived a week with Brad in California! However, it would NOT have been possible with out the help from my awesome family! Grandpa Bob and Connie helped out in the beginning and grandma Lori came on Wednesday.
Here is the deal on Grandma Lori, any project that I mentioned was a "someday" project turns into a "next day" project for Grandma Lori who is a work-aholic! We actually nicknamed her the Migrant Worker. She travels north from Iowa and works around the clock with no pay. Here are just a few things she accomplished...Painting our formal living room, master bath, and sitting room in our bedroom, mopped the floor about 3 times, vacuumed everyday, cooked every meal, organized my milk supply, helped take care of Zoie, hung curtains, AND woke up with me almost every feeding in the middle of the night to help rock Ethan!! I believe it was one 3am feeding where I noticed she really wanted to start hanging the valance in Ethan's room and I do believe she was about to go get the drill and start working, when I told her no! So, needless to say, not many pictures of crazy Grandma Lori because she never sits down!! She is even moving when holding Ethan. We call this the grandma dance!

Here is a precious one of her and Ethan both very tired after a day of projects! I don't know what I would have done without you mom!! THANKS A MILLION!
On Wednesday night, I went and got Zoie from our friends Neil and Jaci who GRACIOUSLY have been watching her since Jan. 13th!!! They did a fantastic job and I think they even taught Zoie a few manners while I was gone. I was SO excited to finally see Zoie again! I cried when I went to pick her up. She is doing SO well with Ethan. She has been quit the protector of him. She gets made at me when he is squeeking and I do not do anything about it for a bit. The first night she woke up every single feeding and came and laid right by my feet while feeding Ethan. Since then, she has decided that is too much work and stays sleeping for most of them! Here is a picture of us the first night. This was the first time I had made it downstairs to our family room to watch tv since I had been home. I have 2 of 3 family members all on one couch!

Friday was a BIG day! Brad came home AND aunt Katie came to visit!! Here is a picture of what Brad brought home for Ethan. I thought it was too cute for him to go and buy something for him!And for the arrival of aunt Katie, here are some videos of her first meeting Ethan. Pretty FUN!

Holding the little guy! Katie is having so much fun with Ethan. She goes home on Tuesday it will be hard for me to say goodbye and for her too I believe! We have caught some very funny momemts of aunt Katie on video, but I promised I would not put them on the blog. Let's just say, she likes to sing to her iPod when doing projects for me and while she is working out. And, if anyone knows the history of singing for the Butcher girls- well, let's just say we are never going to try out for American Idol. I think we get that lack of talent from our mother!

Mom and Katie inventoring my HUGE milk supply! Our freezer is officially FULL!

Ethan update: As of Sat. Ethan is 6lbs 4oz. He is gaining about an ounce a day. He is eating more and more from his bottles, last night he took almost 3oz! We are still just doing 2 bottles a day and the rest of the feedings he is nursing and doing a great job! We are still working on the burbing to help with the reflux but it seems to not be as bad as before. He is a picture of Brad trying to get a burb out of him! He is having more and more awake times during the day which are very fun for everyone! We just love him more and more everyday! He is still working on sleeping for longer than an hour during the night, but hopefully he will get that figured out!