Daddy and Ethan at Swim Class

Dave filled in for me today in taking Ethan to swim class. I went with to watch and capture the moments though. :)

Scar for Life!

This past Friday I had a thyroid lobectomy, which was the removal of the left side of my thyroid. I had thyroid nodules and one of them had gotten large enough to where the biopsy wasn't necessarily representative of whether there were any cancerous cells in there. They had to remove it and have the lab test it while I was still in surgery. If there were cancerous cells, they would've had to remove the whole thing. Thankfully, the left side was all they took!

Dave and I were up at the crack of dawn (4:30) and had to be at the hospital by 5:30. Grandpa came over to stay with Ethan and I was luckily home before he went to bed. They originally told me I was going to probably have to spend the night, but because I did so well, they allowed me to go home.

So, here's my permanent battle wound.

Hitting a Milestone while sleeping...

He did it...Ethan rolled over from his back to his tummy for the first time. Dave and I went in to shut off his music and night light before we went to bed last night and Ethan was in his crib on his belly sleeping! Of course, I was bummed that we didn't see it happen, but never the less, we were excited. Lately I'm not sure how this kid hasn't rolled over yet, because he's all over his crib when he's sleeping. I put him down at one end of his crib and he ends up sideways at the other end of the crib when he wakes up in the morning. Cute little boy!

Sunday

Just a few pics from when my Mom and family came to visit with Ethan yesterday. We helped Uncle Breck celebrate his 17th bday too!

Ahhh, I'm so loved! Afternoon bottle before my 2 1/2 hour nap. Thank you Ethan for taking a long nap...you don't know this, but Mommy and Daddy also took a nap ! :-)

Uncle Adam - since we know you read the blog, we missed you yesterday! Ethan wants to see you again soon!

Annual Hickman Summer Bash

So, here are the pics from our annual party!! Overall it was a great day and a very good turnout. We were supposed to get around 90 and I think we ended up with around 65 or so. Ethan was at the party for the very beginning, but then had his first overnight away from Mommy and Daddy and stayed at Dave's parents house. I think Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed having him overnight (besides the 1 hour awake session from 2-3a.m. that Grandma got him through - thank you Sandy!). When I picked him up Sunday, he was all smiles and giggles when he looked at Grandma and Grandpa, so I don't doubt that he enjoyed the quality time as well!

Here's a pic of Ethan with Luke. Luke is 2 weeks older than Ethan and is one of my co-worker's sons.

Some random photos from the party..

Crazy girls...

I took more pics, but some of them were to dark to put on here...I wish I had more pics, but I was running around being the host with the most making sure there was food and drinks for everyone! :-) Thanks for all of you who came and enjoyed with us!

Water Baby!

Saturday was the first day for Ethan to take swim class. I wasn't sure how he would do because he's still not sure of the bathtub it seems. Not that he gets upset, but I have lots of little toys swimming around him and he doesn't really do anything with him...he just kind of sits there. Anyway, he did great in the pool! He really looked around at the kids on either side of us (we were in a circle with all the kids most of the time). The girl on one side cried the entire time I think and the boy on the other side was quite a little fish. He couldn't have been more than a year old, if that, and he was splashing and trying to dunk his head - very impressive! By the end of the class, Ethan was splashing his hands and smiling a bit. The class lasts 10 weeks, so it will be interesting to see how he progresses and if he gets more adventurous! There was another Dad there taking pics of his wife and daughter, so I had him take this one of Ethan and I to celebrate our first swimming event. Next week Daddy will be taking Ethan to class hopefully since I'm having surgery and probably won't feel up for going to class.

Helping to make Jell-o Shots!

Okay, so maybe we went a little too far here, but when Dave and I were preparing for our annual party, Ethan decided that playing with the big bottle of vodka was fun! So, I had Dave take a couple of pics of Ethan helping Mommy and Daddy.

Belated Father's Day

Dave and I took the day off Friday to get ready for our "Annual Hickman Summer Bash" and so we met Dave's parents downtown Naperville to celebrate a belated Father's Day with his Dad. We went to sushi for lunch and then went for a stroll down the Naperville River Walk. Ethan was a GREAT little boy at lunch!! He even tried the tofu from our soup and didn't seem to mind it. The waitresses all adored him! I thought we weren't going to get a peaceful minute at lunch to talk amongst ourselves because the ladies kept coming over and playing with him and talking about how cute he was. Of course, he just kept smiling, so how could they really resist the little sweetie!

Here's a few pics with the Grandparents on the Riverwalk. I wanted to get a family photo with the three of us, but Ethan fell asleep on my shoulder while we were walking, so that didn't work out. Next time we'll snap a shot earlier on.

Smart Little Boy

Another new trick Ethan can do is put his balls into the little giraffe's head. He did this for Grandma first on Tuesday and then did this about 30 times in a row for me tonight. I had to quickly run and get the camera. Sorry for the poor pic quality - I really need to take videos with our video camera and upload - some day!

You can see in the video that this kid can definitely use both hands...like a pro. So, the verdict is still out on whether he'll be a righty or lefty!

Random Wednesday Photos

Here are a few pics from Ethan's playdate with Jaden and then a few shots of him once we got home - note that I'm not a very good photographer when I have to take the picture myself. Yes, although he's in two different outfits, they are all from today - Mr. Ethan had a major wet diaper after his second nap apparently. Thank goodness for the extra clothes he has! :)

Ethan and Jaden playing...Ethan liked to hammer his hands when he grabbed at his feet I guess. Thankfully Ethan didn't hammer his head!

There's that tongue again!

Happy 1st Father's Day

I think Dave enjoyed his first Father's Day. We didn't do anything too exciting, but it was a nice day to spend together with the three of us. We went to brunch at a new little family restaurant that opened up near us in Naperville and had great breakfast food. Ethan even had some cheerios and parts of my blueberry muffin. He also behaved excellent considering we had a bit of a wait. We actually put our name in and then took a stroller ride around some of the local shops and then went back within the timeframe they gave us, but they were still running a bit late. So, a very good boy indeed!! I only got one shot of the day, but it's awful cute. This is Dave and Ethan right before Dave opened his Father's Day gifts. We got him a new nice t-shirt for the summer and a car polishing/waxing kit.

Awe, my handsome boys!

Check out the Vertical!

All the sudden this weekend Ethan decided to take up jumping like a mad man in his jumparoo. I quickly grabbed the camera and put it on video mode to catch the action. Sorry you can't really see his face, I was being lazy and laying on the ground. But, you can see his vertical jump in action! I just hope the poor kid doesn't break a toe - notice he's jumping on his toes instead of his feet. His toes were all red once he got done with this workout!

Other updates and new milestones this weekend with Ethan include:

*He tried several times to feed himself. We took him out to dinner at Outback this weekend and gave him some of the great bread they bring out. We just set it in front of him and he actually reached out about 5-7 times and grabbed pieces and tried to put them in his mouth. We just couldn't believe it! We were so proud. Of course he didn't hit his mouth once because his hand released the bread before it got to his mouth, but he's honestly never tried this before!!

*He's also shown more interest in getting up on his knees to possibly crawl! He pulled himself up to a full crawling position a few times this weekend and then flopped right back down on his belly, but hey - it's progress!

Now, just a few pics I took of Ethan and Dave. If you look closely you'll see two little chompers on the bottom!

Grandpa and Uncle Patrick visit

Before I get to the pictures...a few things to say about Ethan:

*He really has been saying "ma ma ma mom" a lot. Some form of "ma ma" and "mom". Who knows if he really means it, but he really does say it a lot (Dave will vouch for me, I'm not just saying this because I'm his "ma ma").

*We've tried more adult food with him, just to see how he takes it and he seems to be okay with ham, baked beans, sweet peas, jell-o....obviously he only has 2 small teeth right now so we're not going crazy, but he needs to experience new textures etc.

*Oh yes and lately, this kid doesn't want to sleep much past 5:30! We can put him to bed at 6pm or as late as 7:30 pm and he is just cooing and smiling at 5:30.

*We're wondering if Ethan is ambidextrous (spelling?) because he seems comfortable with both hands (note in video below he's using his left hand for the top). I have no idea if this is determined by genetics or what??

I feel like there are more random Ethan stories to tell, but I'm updating this at work and can't remember everything. If I think of more stories, will be sure to update later.

Ethan and I having fun on Saturday...his favorite location - within reach of my hair!

Grandpa Rochford and Uncle Patrick came over to visit on Sunday...here's Grandpa playing with Ethan

Vent Session - I HATE the IRS

Okay, so I'm going to join the thousands of Americans that are complaining that they haven't yet received their stimulus checks...We were supposed to get our direct deposit back on May 2nd and we STILL haven't received it. I called 2 weeks ago to check on the status and the lady said they're asking people to wait until may 30th...well, I waited and called this morning. The man I talked to this morning told me they show they received my check and return, but he can't find the return in the system!!! So, they were quite fast to deposit my check within 5 days of when I mailed it but they proceeded to somehow then lose my return and now I have to mail in another copy. So, by the time you allow 6-8 weeks for the new return to be processed, we're looking at MAYBE August before we get out money. I realize it's extra "free" money, but the fact that ours was screwed up really annoys me!

Oh yeah and the man assured me I would not have to pay a penalty for a late tax return - gee, thanks...considering I did mail it back in early March!!

That's all, just needed to vent...hope you all are spending your stimulus money wisely, while we wait! :)

Saturday Morning Playtime

Ethan has recently caught on to how his top works. It's his favorite thing to do now is push down on the button and make the balls spin around - smart little cookie we have. :)