GREAT Grandparents

This weekend Dave and I took Ethan down to Champaign to visit the Great Grandparents (they aren't just 'great' grandparents by name, they are truly GREAT!). We headed out early Saturday morning right when Ethan takes his morning nap. It worked out perfectly, he woke up about 10 minutes before we got there! We pretty much just played, watched a few movies and visited. We felt bad Sunday morning because we basically got up, ate breakfast and then left again, so Ethan could travel while he was sleeping. As always when we visit, we had good meals, desserts and company. I always say that I probably put on an extra pound or two just from eating when we go there.

Here are some great grandparent pics from the weekend..Great Grandpa was very playful with Ethan. Note in the second picture Ethan looks reluctant to share his bug...ha ha









Smiling with Great Grandma Lucille













We also wanted to visit Uncle Adam since he's at school at U of I, but he was out of town with some friends. We hope he comes home soon to visit us! I guess we'll have to go visit again next fall when he's down at school again!

Happy Easter

Ethan was fortunate enough to see almost all his grandparents at some point this weekend! I actually had the day off Friday, which meant that Grandpa Rochford lost "his day", so he came over to visit a bit with Uncle Patrick. Ethan left his mark on Grandpa...notice the carrots he spit up on him! ha ha

On Saturday Grandma Hughes came out and went shopping with Mommy to buy me some 9/12 month clothes. Daddy was proud of mommy because she found some cool clothes with cars on them. I'll definitely be a stylin dude this summer! After mommy and Grandma got done shopping I got to play with Grandma for the night because Mommy and Daddy had date night and they had a lot of fun (although missed me very much). Grandma even got me an Easter basket with a new summer outfit, 101 dalmation movie and this soft blue bunny rabbit!

On Sunday morning we made pancakes before Grandma left to go back home. Mom and Dad said I couldn't have any, but I sure did want some....maybe in a few months once I have a few teeth I can talk them into trying a few bites! Sunday afternoon we went to Grandma and Grandpa Hickman's house for a nice Easter lunch. There were some new toys for me to play with over there as well..yipee!!




















Cute little Easter boy!
Grandpa and Grandma love me!

Happy 4 year Anniversary!

Yipee...today is Dave and my 4 year wedding anniversary. About this time 4 years ago I was with all my bridesmaids getting my hair and makeup done!! And, I remember being really, really nervous!! :) One other thing I remember is that I didn't have to wear a coat because it was nice weather outside...um, why can't it be like that now?!

Anyway...congrats to Dave and I. ha ha. We're going out for our official first date and anniversary celebration this Saturday. We're going out to a nice dinner downtown and to see Wicked, which I've heard is marvelous! Ethan gets to spend time with Grandma Hughes while Mommy and Daddy are out!

Of course we can't leave Ethan out of any blog post these days....remember when I thought he was maybe teething or something because he seemed bothered? Well, I took him to the doctor Tuesday and he has a slight case of thrush, so he's on medicine for a week (4x/day we have to rub this medicine on the inside of his cheeks) and he also had a slight sore throat - poor boy! But, he does seem like his normal self these days, so I'm happy about that. He was so cute yesterday when I picked him up from the daycare lady's house and we got home. When I got him out of his carseat, he seemed to reach his hands out to my face...oh, i can't believe my little boy is 5.5 months old!! He also likes playing with my hair lately (well, he does tug on it a bit). But, when I change his diaper and am leaning over him, he reaches his hands in the air and tries to grab my curls and smiles! Of course, I don't like the pulling, but I still let him grab my hair because it seems to make him smile.

Weekend with Mom and Dad

Some pictures from this weekend...I try to take some new ones so I can always update the blog for those of you that log on first thing Monday morning to get your fix of new Ethan pics. I can't wait until the weather is nice and we can get some new outside scenery pictures or pictures while we take a walk in the stroller. I have more faith that winter is finally over, after the weather we got this week. I drove home Thursday and it was beautiful outside...kids were outside playing and I was just in a good mood. I really hope this cold stuff is about done!!

Anyway, this weekend was like most others, we basically stayed in except Saturday we went to meet with a landscape company to talk about a job we might have done this spring. Ethan was a good boy there...he fell asleep in the car and slept for most of the meeting. Here are some pictures from Saturday.

I am such a big boy, I can sit on the couch by myself! Notice the toy on my lap is a favorite of daddy's...he is always making me practice how to drive a car!!





















Do you think Daddy would notice if I slobber all over his remote control?

Not much else to report...I'm a little curious as to whether Ethan is starting the teething process. Today he just seemed to really be chomping on his teething ring and he seems to keep rubbing at his mouth. They say it usually happens around 6/7 months and he's a few weeks away from 6 months, but I think the process starts earlier than when you actually see the teeth pop through. Just a thought...he just seemed out of sorts today like something was bothering him....I guess time will tell!!

All the Flavors of the 1st Foods

Ethan has now successfully tried all the flavors that a baby starting "1st foods" could imagine! We've had pears, apples, bananas, prunes, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots and sweet peas. Let me tell you, he loves his food! He is now getting fruit and cereal in the morning, veggies at lunch and cereal and either a fruit or veggie at night. The kid can't get enough of it! As soon as he takes a bite, he's already opening his mouth like a little birdy for more! I can't wait for the weigh-in at his 6 month appointment in another month - ha ha! And since the last post I left you with discussed our constipation issue, I'm happy to say we're through that phase and Ethan is blessing us with his poopy diapers again - let me tell you, the introduction of foods definitely isn't as exciting and good smelling when it comes out the other end!! Makes me not as excited to introduce meats...okay, okay - enough poop talk I know!

There isn't too much more to report on Ethan, he's doing great at daycare and we're really happy with the new lady! He still isn't rolling over like crazy, although he really looks like he could flip onto his tummy from his back any day now. He gets basically on his side when he really wants to, so he just needs a little more push to flip over. He can sit by himself for a short period, which is very cute! I honestly can't believe he's going to be 5 months on Tuesday!!

So, here are some pics from the last two weeks. The ones if him eating is his first day with prunes ! (I gave Daddy the honors in case he wasn't thrilled, he wouldn't correlate Mommy with bad food - he he)









Mommy with her little boy!









Daddy, I had so much fun with you last night that I'm absolutely exhausted this morning! Mommy thanks you too, because she went to "Girl's Night" and was able to enjoy some adult time!! This is how I found Ethan this morning - he managed to get almost sideways of how Dave put him down last night to sleep. That's how we find him a lot these days, usually up in the corner of the bumper pad! Such a little angel sleeping!!

And the constipation continues..

For my fourth and final blog tonight...the more intriguing title I'm sure! For those of you that read my entry from last week, you'll remember that I mentioned Ethan was having a bit of a "poop issue". Well, we thought it cleared up, but it came back to haunt the poor guy again this weekend. Courtesy of Daddy...you'll get the true emotional pictures below. Yes, Ethan is having troubles getting used to the solid foods, so we've now tossed the rice ceral in the garbage and are sticking to oatmeal cereal and our fruits and veggies. Ethan tried sweet potatoes, squash and pears this weekend. He seemed keen on the sweet potatoes and pears, but when we tried squash for the first time tonight, he wasn't so sure. We've been doing 3 days in a row of each thing, so we'll see how tomorrow goes. He'll start bananas at daycare tomorrow - I'm sure he'll like those.

Anyway, I'd just like to say that I hit a milestone in parenting this weekend. Never in my wildest dreams would I ever imagine I'd have to give my child a suppository, but Ethan was so bad off on Saturday that I was on phone with a nurse at 8:30 sharp when they opened their office. Funny, I went to the pharmacy to pick them up and wondered all the way home if I could talk Dave into doing the "dirty deed" but when I got home I just did it because I was heartbroken that he was hurting! I was even crying Saturday night when I thought he was still having problems. But, today was a much better day and we were able to get #2 with no outside helpers...mommy was very thankful!

Silly self-portraits

Okay so I feel like we never have the opportunity to have a family picture, so I was being silly one night and held the camera myself and tried to take a few shots. These are (surprisingly) the best ones that I took. The rest are usually half of either Dave or my head and sometimes just the top of our heads...I'm much better standing behind the camera.

My Jumparoo

Ethan just loves his Rainforest Jumparoo lately. When he used to sit in this, he'd just look at the lights and listen to the music and maybe jump a bit. But, more recently he actually turns himself in the chair and reaches out to touch the toys and make each little toy shake or spin. We even had to adjust it up one notch because he was getting too tall for the lowest setting! I caught some good action shots this weekend..

Tummy Time Push-ups

Every time I put Ethan on his tummy, I am more amazed at how strong the little guy is!! He can completely straighten his arms and hold himself up - very impressive! I actually put him on his tummy today and he rolled over to his back right away! He's also making strides to roll from his back to his tummy. I try to put toys on his side and a bit above his eye level and he pushes off with his feet to get partially on his side to see the toys. I'm sure he'll get there soon!

First I get into position...

Half-way up..














Full extension














And a BIG grin to finish up - ahh...what a workout! Soon I'll join Daddy in the gym!

4 Month Statistics

Ethan's 4 month appointment was today and here are his stats:

24.5 inches (total of 4 inch growth since birth)
14 lbs even (total of 6 lbs since birth)

He got 4 more shots and an oral vaccine. He took the first shot well, I think it caught him off guard, but then he wasn't happy!! He did calm down quite quickly though - poor little man!

We can start fruits and veggies now if we want. I think we'll wait until the weekend so Mom and Dad can have the first experience with the new flavors. Quite exciting though!!

He also started at the new daycare lady's house today. He was a bit on the sleepy side and napped more frequently, but I think he's just adjusting and taking it all in, so that's okay.

Here are a few pics I just took of him sleeping in his Pack 'n Play next to me, as he zonked out on the way home from the dr. appt.

Daycare

This is a picture of Ethan taken at his daycare, at the end of January. They had photographers come in and take pictures of all the kids and just this week they were available for purchase. A good sales scheme as far as I'm concerned...who would pass up a cute little picture like this one! I can't believe this is only a few weeks after his 3 month photos and he just looks so different!!

This past Thursday was Ethan's last day at daycare, he will be starting at an in-home daycare next week, which Dave and I are pretty happy about. One of our biggest challenges before we had Ethan was narrowing down a good daycare center to take care of our little one. Although we thought we made the right choice at the time, it just wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. In Ethan's 5 weeks at daycare, he definitely had a variety of experiences (realize although it was 5 calendar weeks, that's only a total of 15 days because he was only there 3 times a week)...

• Diaper rash on his first day
• He was sent home with an "ouch report" - he got scratched on the head..my poor little boy!
• He could last all day with basically ONLY 1.5 hours of sleep! Only to get home with Mommy and Daddy and then sleep the whole night! Yes, a god send for some parents, but not when I haven't seen my little boy all day, I want an awake little man!
• I was called one day stating that he had drank ALL 3 bottles before 1pm - ugh, don't these people know that you don't just shove a bottle in the kid's mouth every time he's crying - he just might be tired!!
• He was fed 3 times the amount of rice cereal I asked them to feed him - um, don't they read my instructions on the paper I fill out each morning?!!!
  

So, that's me ranting about his daycare, you can see just some of the overall reasons we just really weren't comfortable with keeping him there. Anyway, he'll now be taken care of by a woman with a 22 month old daughter and two other little girls that will be starting at the beginning of March (he'll be the only little stud there...he he). Of course, Grandma Hickman and Grandpa Rochford still have their days with Ethan, which is nice for him not to have to be carted out in the cold every morning!

Other random things around here....Ethan giggles when Sasha gets into a crazy mood and runs in circles, we tried oatmeal cereal today instead of the rice we'd been using (although, we might halt cereal for a day or two after the constipation we had today...he was NOT a happy camper), He's getting very good at sitting up - it will still be a while for him to do it on his own, but I'm impressed with his balance, he's rolled over from his tummy to back a handful of times - just a matter of time before he's rolling all over the place!! And finally, we have his 4 month appointment on Wednesday of this week. Daddy gets to take him this time and be the supportive parent while he gets more shots.

Big weekend for Ethan

Well, this weekend Dave and I took two big steps in parenthood...

1. Letting Ethan fall asleep without being rocked - he was a champ!
2. Starting cereal!!

We started Friday night with letting Ethan fall asleep by himself in his crib. I had spoken with many friends who are parents on how they started this and we formed our own gameplan. We did our usual night routine with a bath and book. Then, we put Ethan in his swaddle blanket in bed with his pacifier and told him he was going to go to bed on his own and left the room. Our plan was to slowly increase the time we'd let him cry by 5 minute increments. He didn't cry right away...but then he started and we hit the 5 minute mark - I went up to give him back his pacifier and he was fine for about 10 minutes and then started crying again. I went up at the 10 minute mark of crying and calmed him down. At the 15 minute mark, Dave went up and that was it! He was out for the night!! He even slept 11 hours!! We've done the same for every nap since then and he's done REALLY well! We only had one rough nap Saturday afternoon, but I think it was because he was hungry! So, he's on his own for falling asleep now. What a BIG boy!

And finally, the most exciting part of the weekend for me at least was trying cereal with Ethan. We video-taped the first day and he had quite a few amusing expressions. So, here are a few pics from day #2 of cereal, which was 100% better! He seemed to get excited when he saw the spoon coming towards him. He still only eats about 50% of what's in the spoon - thank god for bibs!! But, I know he has to get used to the spoon and the new textures. Wow, to think he'll be on veggies and fruits etc. in another month or so. We're starting a bit early since we couldn't get in for his 4 month appointment until the 20th of this month!!

Thank you Uncle Breck

This post is dedicated to my Uncle Breck..thank you for my very cute "Dad's Team" uniform for Christmas. I had mommy take these pictures so you could see me wear it! Hope to see you in a couple of weeks!

Ethan's 3 Month Pics

Well, it's about time..here are a few shots from Ethan's 3 month pictures taken a few weeks ago:

Our Little Jail Bird

First of all, thank you Jason and Corey for this very cute outfit for Ethan! I can't believe he's already wearing 6 month clothes!! Dave said Ethan looked like a 'jail bird' in the outfit because of the stripes. Anyway, we had a great weekend together and Ethan was especially happy and playful after his Saturday afternoon nap. He and I played in the living room while Dave hung some pictures up and he was all smiles!

Our First "Unscheduled" Doctor's Appointment

We hit a "milestone" of sorts yesterday...making our first unscheduled doctor's appointment for Ethan. He started getting a red bumpy rash on his tummy and legs and I was just SURE that he caught some nasty skin disease at the daycare...but turns out the poor kid has dry skin (eczema - or however you spell it). So, I now have to torture him with putting cold lotion on his body in the morning and at night. The kid cracks me up when I touch his skin with cold hands. He kind of blinks his eyes real fast and inhales loudly, while flailing his hands. I'm sure if he could talk, he'd ask me what in the heck I was doing to him - it's torture!! Anyway, I was happy to hear that it wasn't something he "caught" at daycare!

Other cute things he's been doing lately is playing the shy game sometimes. If I'm holding him and Dave comes up to talk to him, he grins and buries his head in my shoulder for a second or two. Well, he's either playing the shy game or he doesn't like Daddy's morning coffee breath..ha ha ha. He has also started to giggle at times. To my amusement yesterday I was unpacking our first shipment from "diapers.com" (moms, this is nice...you don't have to shop for diapers, they come to your door!) and there was a sample of a lotion in a plastic wrap package. I was just looking at it and he started grinning, so I crinkled it in front of him and he just giggled at it. I thought it was so cute that I had to call Dave on speakerphone from home for him to hear it. Amazing what amuses kids - who needs to buy toys when you have plastic wrap that makes a funny noise!!

First Week Back to Work

As you can all tell...I made it through my first week back to work. But, it wasn't without some tears and frustration. Tears that I had to leave my little boy for SEVERAL hours and deal with only seeing him awake for maybe 3 hours at best each day (including a 3a.m. feeding - although I wasn't complaining last week, I looked forward to seeing him - even if it was 3a.m.!!!). But, we made it through and I know his grandparents loved the time with him. I can't say I was as excited about the daycare though and that's where frustration came in! Diaper rash the first day...it was even worse the second day, an outfit that had been urinated on and my son was still wearing it when I got him home! UGH! Needless to say, mommy and daddy are on the case to find a new daycare! We are looking into the in-home option as well and might just have a good lead at this point. So, that's my venting for now...on to the more important part of this blog, a few updated pics from this weekend. (I look horrible in these pics, but Ethan is too cute to not post them).

Mommy...please stop kissing me...I know you've hardly seen me this week, but come on!
I guess those kisses weren't so bad..

This is my big sea turtle that Grandma and Grandpa Hickman got me for Christmas..

Man, this monkey tail tastes GREAT!