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. :)

Memorial Day Pics

As promised a few cute pics from Memorial Day. I just honestly can't believe how much of a little man Ethan is turning into!

I think he was laughing at me shaking my hair here (if I remember right). He LOVES my hair. He even wants to play with it while I feed him dinner and sure enough he wants to put it right into his mouth. Does baby food do wonders for conditioning the hair?? :)

Swinging

These are from mid-April when Ethan and I visited with a few of my friends for breakfast and then went back to the house and Ethan had his first swinging experience...how can you resist this cute little smile!!

We had an outside picnic of sweet potatoes...although the sunglasses are pink, they are still cute on my little boy! Eatin' in style!

Just chillin' while mommy pushes me in the swing!

Now the smiles - once I know this new contraption is safe with all the sweatshirts packed around me so I don't fall out!

Does this kid ever stop smiling? Melts your heart!

Busy Memorial Day Weekend

Although Dave and I took off the Friday before Memorial Day to have a little more time off work, our long weekend wasn't WITHOUT work! Friday we painted our bathroom. We had been putting it off because we thought it would be a royal pain with all the nooks and crannies, but we finished in a little over 2 hours and we're real happy with it. Saturday Dave dusted the cobwebs off of the Camaro; he changed the oil, spark plugs and took it for the first spin of the season. Sunday we visited with the Rochford side for a few hours and then took Ethan for his first bike ride in the gorgeous weather. Monday, we finally were able to celebrate a belated Mother's Day and Dave's bday with his side of the family since his Mom was out of town during both events. Then, once we got back home I was able to plant some flowers (note that when I got home from work today the bunnies had already eaten 4 of the flowers completely to the ground!!) So, Dave invested in some coyote urine - eww - and I hope this salvages the rest of my work!

Here are the first bike ride pics....mixed review from Ethan as he seemed smiley in the bike carriage but ended up crying on our way home. I think he was just hot and the seat is a mesh material so it's not very easy to be comfortably sitting up without much support. I'm sure he'll like it as he gets bigger!

Mom, I'm just going to sit here and monitor your planting progress!

It was kind of funny when Dave and Ethan were out with me yesterday the sprinkler system turned on and we had to think quickly to get Ethan and all of his stuff out of the way of the sprinkler head - Dave and I laughed!

I've asked my Father in law to send along pics from their house the other day since I forgot my camera - will post more once I get them!!

Highlight of my Day

Yesterday Ethan played with his buddy Jaden at Lauren's house (daycare lady). Jaden is her nephew and is about a month younger than Ethan. Actually Jaden's mom might watch Ethan while Lauren is on maternity leave for a month. Jaden comes over at least once a week to play with Ethan, which is so nice! Anyway, Emily (Jaden's mom) sent me these pictures at work yesterday and it just brightened my day!!

Gianna is Lauren's daughter and she calls Ethan "Effie". :)

Dave calls this Ethan's G.Q. look. Cute little spark plug boy! :) Socks are compliments of Grandma Hickman, they're too cute - they look like shoes!

Just a quick blog with some pics....Saturday Ethan spent time with the Rochford side of the family while Dave and I went to a wedding. Here he is getting his bottle and playing with Uncle Patrick

Few pics from the wedding...

Cuttin' a Tooth!

Dave's favorite saying lately is "cuttin' a tooth" and that's just what our little man is doing!! Today when Dave and I got home from work we had Ethan sitting and playing. During one of his big grins, I was at just the right angle to see that his lower gums looked a bit different!! I reached my finger in there to feel and sure enough, the tip of a tooth is poking out! Yipee!! I'm not sure how long the whole process takes, but once you can see his pearly white, you'll be sure to see a picture on the blog!!

Random Things...

First of all, here is a pic from a few weeks ago that I never posted and I think it's very cute!

Now for some random things to answer some people's questions and just to note a few things about Ethan lately...

1. As far as meats...he's not too keen on them, unless they're mixed with some sort of fruit or veggie. So far the ones he will at least humor us in eating are: chicken noodle, apples & chicken, chicken, squash and corn combo. I tried plain chicken this weekend and got a very disgusted looking face! (Judith - almost like Bella's lemon eating face, like...my gosh Mom, what are you feeding me?!). We've also taken up the puffs again, he seems to take them down nicely if we break them into 2-3 pieces. I break them up and put them on his tray and he sometimes will play with them and at least show interest in trying to pick up himself.

2. Much to our surprise last week Ethan discovered his thumb can be substituted for the pacifier. Normally he just puts his fingers (or whole hand at times) in his mouth and chews on them, but he actually did suck his thumb for a couple of seconds. It seems he's not so interested to make it a continued habit. But, he does look awful cute when he does it! :-) Stay tuned on that one!

3. Monday was a rough day for Ethan at daycare...he just seemed very sad and uncomfortable per the daycare lady and he didn't have a very good nap, so I brought him home to get a catnap before dinner. Normally this kid is a perfect angel when he goes to bed. He basically doesn't want to be rocked, just put him down and you don't hear a peep until he's up from his nap. Well, Monday was a challenge for me as well and so I decided to rock him to sleep, because I basically never get the opportunity with an already Mr. Independent! Anyway...he fell fast asleep as I rocked him and although I still had to unload the car with my work things, I sat there for 10 minutes just rocking him with his head on my shoulder - Mommy's little boy gave her a treat! :)

4. One last Ethan story...again about sleeping. Ethan has been going to bed around 6/6:30 and will sleep through until the next morning for 12 straight hours. Dave and I have a routine that we get ready for bed and then go in and gaze at our little boy for a few seconds and then turn off his music and nightlight and go to bed. Much to our surprise last night, when we started to enter his room, Ethan's feet were straight up in the air moving all around and he was WIDE awake! Since he wasn't fussing, we just went to bed thinking he'd fall back asleep. Well, not sure if he was up for 1 1/2 hours or just woke back up because about 11:15 I woke up to a bit of fussing and a little boy that just wanted to babble. He woke up again around 12:30 doing the same thing and then finally at 1:15 I decided I should try to help him back to sleep, otherwise he would sleep all day today. Well, Ethan wanted to play with my hair and face and goo and gaa at me...with no signs of being tired at all! I finally rocked him back to sleep by 1:40 and he woke up again 45 minutes later a bit upset. We finally decided to give him 2 oz of a bottle, thinking he was maybe thirsty and Dave put him back in the crib and he fell back asleep until morning after that! Who would've known a bottle might've done the trick?? I didn't realize how good I had it with my sleep until I had a night like last night, which was like the first few months of motherhood...bring on the sleep tonight!

Last thing in the Hickman household going on is that I've finally "talked Dave into" giving up his snake. Now, I'm sure first reaction from the men out there is...just another woman trying to change her husband after they get married - not my agenda at all (and those of you that truly know me, know this!) :) Anyway...my stance on this is that when he first got the snake, he had different priorities in life and now...10 years later, priorities have changed and he has a son and a car that he really wants to spend time with, so the snake would be better off with someone who can spend more time with it. I even did the research myself and found a place in Wisconsin that comes to the IL reptile shows and will pick up from your house. So, it looks as if Merlin might be leaving us sometime. Dave has promised to contact the guy by this weekend with pics etc.

That's it for now! Hopefully soon I can post pics of our bike rides and picnics - come on sunny, warm weather!

Happy 1st Mommy's Day to Me!!!

As predicted, we woke up for Mother's Day to pouring rain!! So, I decided to opt for Dave to cook the breakfast in the comfort and warmth of our house instead of going out in the elements. Dave did a GREAT job; he made bacon, egg and cheese biscuits, pancakes and more eggs for the side!! Mmmm, it was a great way to start off the morning!

The chef at work...
Mommy and her little boy (now, remember...this was pre-shower, so don't mind my appearance..ha ha)

The magical meal!!

Ethan got me a real nice gift...a picnic basket so we can do some meals in a park this summer...if this weather ever gets nice!! We also went out after Ethan's morning nap to get a new bike for me, as well as a trailer for Ethan to sit in and be pulled around in like a little prince! :) Come on summer!

Visit with Grandpa Hickman

Saturday evening we invited Dave's Dad over for some steaks on the grill for dinner. Dave's sister was in the hospital for a few weeks with pnemonia and is thankfully home and recovering, but his Mom has been out in PA helping with our niece and so we figured that Bert could use some company!! Ethan showed Grandpa how he's a big boy now and sits up all on his own to play with his toys....(although he still needs help with balancing sometimes, because shortly after these pics Ethan rubbed his eyes and lost his balance and conked his head).

Grandpa, you're so wise!! (I love this shot, because Ethan seems to interested in Grandpa)

Hi Mom...just playing with my puzzle

Afraid of heights?

Last weekend we borrowed scaffolding from the neighbor and Dave put up our ceiling fan in the family room as well as the curtains I've had for the tall windows for almost a year now. Let me tell you that there is no way I would've gone up to the top unless Dave ABSOLUTELY needed me!! But, enjoy some pics of Dave in action











Posing for the camera...

Ethan giggling

This is from probably a month+ ago, but I just now uploaded it...love those giggles!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Dave's birthday was yesterday and normally Ethan is ready for bed by 6, but he actually took a really long nap and didn't wake up until 4:15, so we took advantage and went out to dinner as a family! Ethan was a GREAT boy and was up until 7:30 for the big event! He got many compliments on how cute and smiley he was! Dave wanted to go to Famous Dave's for some ribs, so that's where we went...Ethan even had some mashed potatoes!! For dessert, Dave and I shared a cookie from his 'cookie bouquet' that Ethan and I sent him to work.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Sasha Trick

This is a trick that Sasha taught me...you put the toy in your mouth and people laugh at you!

Playing with Daddy

I'm a ham and like to smile for the camera now!