Laura’s Life

Our baby is turning into a little boy!  Ethan has changed so much this past month I can hardly keep up with it.  He checked out at his doctor’s appointment as “healthy and totally adorable.”  He weighs 22lbs and 14oz (27%) and is 30.5 inches long (31%).  He has a grand total of 2 teeth.

Ethan’s vocabulary has exploded over the past month.  He is constantly talking and repeating words.  He especially loves animals and animal sounds.  He loves saying kitty cat, meow.  He also knows baa, moo, and neigh when he sees the respective animals or is asked what the animals say.  He is starting to say thank you and please at appropriate times.  He will also say no when he is not supposed to do something.  For example, if he is starting to play with the cat’s food we will say “Ethan, should you play with the cat’s food?” he will say “no!”  He is learning words that help him communicate what he wants (snack, milk, water, banana (which he says nena), applesauce, binky (bee).  He still loves music and singing and is trying to sing songs with us.  He loves baa baa black sheep (he will just baa on and on and on) and lately he likes to sing the alphabet (a, b, b, b).  He also likes to say “Go Dogs, Go!” (Doh Da Doh!) which is one of his favorite books.

Physically, Ethan is starting to walk very well and also tries to run at times.  He can now go up and down the stairs by himself, but we still have to stay close by when he is doing this as he is quite clumsy.  Luckily, he isn’t much of a climber.  He can climb into his chair but does not try to climb up on the couch.  He also hasn’t attempted to climb out of his crib yet.  He still enjoys tasks that practice his fine motor skills.  He is getting good at putting two blocks together.  He also likes tasks that involve using a spoon to put something in another thing.  For example, last week he spent 30 minutes scooping sugar from the sugar bowl into a coffee mug with the coffee scoop.  We ended up with quite a mess, but I got the rest of the kitchen clean and he was happy as a clam!

Ethan is still a very picky eater.  He enjoys crackers, waffles, and cereal.  He still likes bananas but won’t eat any other fruit or vegetable.  His doctor thinks it’s ok since he is still gaining weight.  We keep trying new foods but he doesn’t seem very interested.

Here are some pictures of our little man in action.

Watching Super Why (why why) in his chair (chae)

This is what most meals look like

This is why we don’t have many pictures these days.  Everytime I get the camera out he steals it from me, holds it up to his face and says “chee, chee”

Handsome man!

A couple of weeks ago we all headed to St. Louis for our second Christmas celebration with Jason’s family.  Ethan did absolutely wonderful in the car on the way there.  He was awake (and happy) for over 2 hours before we stopped and ate, and he fell asleep for the rest of the way.  On Saturday morning we went to Cotton Babies (a cloth diaper and natural baby product store).  Saturday evening we celebrated Lorelei’s birthday and celebrated the New Year (at a respectable 10:30pm).  Sunday we went to church (where Jason’s brother Stephen preached) and opened presents after nap time.  Monday morning we headed home.  We had a relatively uneventful trip home until we reached the Indiana state line.  It had started to snow and there were slide offs everywhere.  There must have been a wreck on I-70 (in addition to contruction) as we moved less than a mile in over an hour.  We decided to take the first exit we could and detoured around Terre Haute and stopped at Starbucks (Ethan got chocolate milk for the first time for being such a darling).  It took us about 6 hours but we make it home safely!

We had such a great time at Jason’s parents new house.  It is always fun to get all of the kids together and watch them play.  Julianne enjoyed being around her little cousin and frequently asked me if I needed to change Ethan’s diaper and if she could help.  Ethan and Lorelei especially loved the drums and piano at Papa and Gigi’s house.  Everytime Ethan saw the piano he would start doing the Itsy Bitsy Spider hand motions because he wanted someone to play the song on the piano.

Here are some pictures of our trip.

Being silly with daddy.

Our New Years Eve celebration – complete with Bride and Groom wine glasses from Mike and Karen’s wedding!

Jason reading with Ethan and Julianne.

Ethan playing with his new recycling truck.

Having a blast being pushed around in a box.

Ethan, Karen and Mike

Ethan and Lorelei

Ethan and Julianne

All the kids!

Ethan didn’t even make it to lunch on our way home.  Poor Jason had to eat his lunch while holding Ethan.

“Don’t care, got chocolate milk!”

Ethan’s Christmas present from us this year was his playroom makeover.  This room had been used for nothing more than a furniture graveyard since we moved in, and we were excited to make good use of the space.  So far he is loving the change the environment and having all his toys in one place!  He also loves that he can push the buttons on the tv!

BEFORE: White walls and a whole lot of nothing.

AFTER: A playroom fit for a king!

Lots of storage for toys.

Best idea ever – I made a screen to block the room to the litter boxes so the cats get in but Ethan can’t!

New coat rack to hold lots of tiny coats.

Art wall for all of Ethan’s creations from school.

Train set, garage and cars, and a perch for the cats.

There is still room left to add new projects.  I’m looking forward to all the time I will be spending down here with my little man!

This past weekend Jason, Ethan and I went to Bedford to celebrate Christmas.  I had to work Saturday morning so we headed out in the afternoon.  Saturday night we spent Christmas Eve at my Oma’s with my mom’s side of the family.  Sunday morning we opened presents and ate yummy pecan praline french toast.  Ethan enjoyed opening and playing with his new presents.  He did not sleep very well Saturday night so he was a bit cranky half way through opening gifts and had to go down for an early nap.  Sunday afternoon my dad’s family came over to my parents (as well as some other friends) and we ate and played dirty Santa.  We came back home Sunday.  It was a quick trip but we had a great time!  We are looking forward to spending this coming weekend with Jason’s family in St. Louis.

Here are some pictures of our little elf.

The closest we got to a cute baby in front of the tree picture.

All the gifts ready!

Jason’s favorite stocking gift.

SANTA!

I couldn’t resist the Santa jammies.

Checking out his new toys.

Ethan loves drumming with Grampy!

Today we went to the Children’s Museum to check out Jolly Days one more time before it closes.  Ethan did a great job waiting for the Yule slide and even yelled out “yeaaaah!” when I told him to watch the other kids.  He had a great time on the slide but was quite disappointed when he turned around to climb back up the slide and got carried away.  This resulted in a complete meltdown.  He also had a great time playing in the Jolly Days exhibit and riding the carousel.  His favorite part (other than the slide) was the giant light switch that turned on and off the Christmas lights.

Checking out the Reindeer grooming tools.

Sleepy boy on the carousel!

Our little man is getting bigger every day!  He is definitely much more little boy than baby.  I am amazed at how much he is leaning every day and the ways he communicates with us.

Ethan is starting to walk very well and even tries to run.  He frequently gets going too fast and falls a lot.  He is a bit clumsy and his gross motors skills don’t seem to be quite as refined as he would like them to be.  The poor thing has had several bruises from his injuries.  He seems to be advancing more quickly with his fine motors skills and loves doing things where he can practice.  One of his favorite games is taking the pump out of a lotion bottle and putting it back in.  He is doing really well feeding himself with a spoon (though he usually gives up and uses his hands) and does well holding and scribbling with crayons (though he prefers pens).  He also enjoys his shape sorter and especially loves “stirring” a bowl with a spoon.  Ethan still loves reading books and lately wants to read the same book over and over, 3 or 4 times before I tell him we need to pick another.

Ethan is becoming more and more chatty.  Daycare frequently tells us that he spent the whole daying saying mommy and daddy.  Ethan repeats almost every word we say.  He is picking up more words to his vocabulary and some words he repeats and likes to say even though he doesn’t have an association with an object.  New additions to his vocabulary are apple, down (dow), snack (na), no (na) and milk (mee).  He is also starting to sign “more” though he usually says more while he is signing.  We are working on the names of our family and he is doing well with Oma and Lorelei (yeh yeh).  Ethan is also perfecting a very whiney version of mommy.

Ethan is slowly becoming more independent but still loves being with his mama.  Some days are a bit of a struggle as all he is happy doing is reading books or being held.  He does enjoy getting out of the house.  We go to the library about once a week.  We are lucky to have such a great library with story time and lots of other activities for kids.  They have a nice play room with a train table and an area with big blocks to build towers (and knock down).  We recently got a membership to the Children’s Museum and Ethan loves to go and play.  It is challenging, however, because no matter where we go Ethan is determined to find the one thing he shouldn’t play with.  And since he is so clumsy I have to stay close to him so he doesn’t get hurt.

Ethan is doing really well eating – as long as he is eating something he likes.  His favorite foods include graham crackers, waffles, yogurt, cereal and muffins.  He still refuses to eat any fruits or veggies unless they are in puree form.  I’ve decided to stop fighting him and let him eat what he will and try to focus on him eating healthy.  He does have a sweet tooth and will devour anything that is sweet when he is allowed to.  He especially loves chocolate!  I was a terrible eater as a kid so I guess this is my repayment!

I am happy to report that Ethan is back to sleeping like a champ!  He will sleep 11-12 hours overnight and then take a 2-3 hour nap around 1.

We are all getting very excited for Christmas.  Even though this is not Ethan’s first Christmas it feels as though it is.  Last year I was so sleep deprived I barely remember Christmas.  And even though Ethan won’t understand what is going on, I know he’s going to love the excitement and he is going to love his toys!

The whiney face I’m seeing way too often these days (though it’s still pretty darn cute).

Ethan loves this bear at the library!

Playing in a boat at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

Ethan enjoying some ice cream and showing off his newest bruise.

Ethan is on the move!  He went from taking a few steps (for several weeks) to taking multiple steps, to standing up on his own and toddling with ease.  He is also constantly talking these days.  He will repeat almost any word that I say.  He is also frequently using mama and dada to refer to me and Jason.  His favorite words include kitty cat “kee ca,” puzzle “ba bul,” and hi and bye.  He also loves saying “uh oh” especially when he drops something (or throws something on the ground).  The other night he woke up around 4am and I went to settle him.  I picked up his pacifier and dropped it and he said “uh oh.”  It was pretty adorable and made being awake at 4am much more acceptable.  He is also mimicking a lot of things that I do.  After I brushed his hair the other night he grabbed the brush from me and tried to brush it himself.

Ethan still loves getting into things.  He loves opening doors and pulling things out.  He also loves bowls and spoons.  He will sit and “stir” a bowl with his spoon for a long time.  He especially loves a bowl when there is yogurt or applesauce in it.  He demands to feed himself, even though he can’t operate the spoon very well.  He usually ends up reaching into the bowl and picking up the yogurt with his hand and shoving it in his mouth.  Then he will stir his bowl for a while.  He ends up completely covered in yogurt, but he has a good time!

We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Bedford.  Ethan put on a good show for everyone and was adorable.  He seems to moving out of his grumpy phase and getting back to normal.  He is still refusing to take 2 naps a day, but is starting to sleep in a bit later.

Here are some pictures of our little turkey!

Toddling!

We cannot believe we have a one year old!  I am very late with my update as we have been very busy.  Our little guy is constantly on the go and keeps me on my feet!

Ethan checked out perfectly healthy at his 1 year appointment.  He weighed 20 lbs 14 oz (22%), is 29 inches (25%) and his head circumference is 51%.  He is a bit of a peanut but is right where he needs to be, as he was in the 22% in weight at birth.

Here is what our little guy is up to these days:

Sleeping – Ethan has recently deviated from his wonderful 2 nap a day schedule.  For the past few weeks he will not take an afternoon nap.  He first started sleeping longer during his morning nap (2.5 or 3 hours if I would let him) and then not falling asleep for his afternoon nap.  But now even when I wake him up at noon (his normal wake up time) he will not take an afternoon nap.  He will usually be quiet for a half hour to an hour, playing and walking around in his crib.  If I put him down later (11 or 12) he will only sleep for about 1.5 hours!  I have also been trying to get him to sleep in later than 6 so he can make it all day.  Sometimes he will go back to sleep, but sometimes he won’t.  We have also been putting him to bed earlier since he goes so long without a nap.  I think we are just in a bad in between time and hopefully will be back on a schedule soon!

Eating – Ethan is starting to do really well with table food.  The poor thing still doesn’t have any teeth, but really likes bananas and sweet potatoes.  He also still loves muffins, waffles, and crackers.  He is eating much better at daycare than he is at home.  The past few days he has decided he doesn’t want to eat anything except for Mommy’s frosted mini wheats, but I guess that is the age we are approaching!  I feel like I feed him the same things all the time because he is so picky, but I’m hoping to get him to try some new things soon.

School – Ethan just moved to the Toddler room at daycare and he is doing great!  He looks like such a little peanut compared to the other kids in the room.  There are a lot of changes in this room and I was a little nervous, but he is doing really well.  He can only eat table food provided by the school and he takes 1 nap a day on a cot instead of a crib.  Like I said earlier, he eats much better at school than he does at home.  Last week he ate a hamburger!  Goodness knows he wouldn’t even put it in his mouth here at home.  He also eats his meals at a little table instead of in a high chair.  He is doing well with his naps too.  He has never napped well at school and he is actually doing better because the room is quiet and the lights are off.  His teacher said that as long as he can’t see the other kids he will go right to sleep on his cot.  He loves his time there and is always happy when I pick him up.  It is so cute to see him sitting at the tiny little table with all his friends!

Activity – Ethan has really taken off with walking over the past few days.  He also loves climbing up the stairs.  He is pretty much constantly getting into things and making a mess.  Ethan loves putting things in things including his shape sorter.  His very favorite activity is putting things into trash cans.  We’re pretty sure we’ve lost several paci’s and blocks this way.    Ever since he stopped napping well he has been quite whiny and clingy.  I think it is because he is tired.  He wants my full attention all of the time and does not want to play on his own.  His favorite place to be is on my hip with his arm hooked around mine so I can’t put him down.   One day he was so rotten I ignored him, and after a few minutes of crying at the baby gate he got really quiet.  I went in his room to find him face down on the floor on his blankey as if to say “I’m sooooo tired!”  This makes me think he is just tired and hopefully soon he will be back to his well rested happy self!

Ethan’s vocabulary is really expanding.  He constantly tries to repeat everything we say.  He still loves “b” and “d” words but just recently started saying “mama” which is pretty cute!  Some other words he loves to repeat are kitty cat (kee caa), Uh oh, goof ball (boo baa), and the letter A.  He will try to repeat pretty much any word I say, but these are a few of his favorites.  He is almost always talking!  It will be so fun to see his language develop and becoming more refined.

Let me help you unload the dishwasher, Mommy.

Putting granola bars in the trash bag box.

This is what my house looks like most of the time.

And my handsome little dinosaur for Halloween.  We went to the Harvest Party at our church and spent time with friends!

I LICKED ALL THE CHOCOLATE OFF A TWIX BAR!!!

Better late than never, here is the rest of our Denver trip.

Sunday morning Ethan woke up early again and we walked around the hotel again and ate breakfast.  We went over to John and Mary’s to have our own “church service” which was lovely (Ethan napped the whole time).  Stephen provided a message and Mike played the piano.  After we went to lunch at Casa Bonita.  Jason described this place to me as a Mexican restaurant where someone would dive off a cliff, but it was so much more than that!  They did several skits, puppet shows, and had lots of places to play.  Ethan was a bit too young to really enjoy it.  After lunch we went on a short drive through the mountains.  Since Ethan isn’t a huge fan of the car we decided to keep it short (which worked out well since he didn’t nap very long in the car and was ready to get out when we were done!).  After some playing we went out to dinner and then headed back to our hotel.

After another early morning wakeup, Jason got up with Ethan so I could sleep in a bit (the man at the front desk asked Jason if he was giving me a break!).  We met Jason’s parents, Stephen, Allison, Julianne, Lorelei, and Ryan for a last breakfast together before we left.  We went to drop off our rental car and since we had a baby, they drove us (still in our rental car) to the airport instead of dropping it off and taking a shuttle to the aiport.  It was so nice!  We got through security easily.  There were several babies on our returning flight so we didn’t get quite as much help from the staff, but managed to get us and all our stuff on the plane.  Ethan was sleepy by this point, and luckily he fell asleep in his carseat on take off and slept over half the way home.  When he woke up he ate and played until we landed.  He was quite exhausted from the whole trip and slept 12 solid hours that night!  Overall we had a great trip and Ethan was such a darling.  It was so nice to see everyone!

He loved playing with all the new toys!

Checking out the shenanigans at Casa Bonita.

Asleep on the plane.

Playing with Daddy on the plane.

Last weekend, Jason, Ethan and I had a great trip to Denver.  I was pretty nervous about the whole thing, but it wasn’t nearly as stressful as I imagined!  I had the flu the day before we left and was terrified Ethan or Jason would get it too.  Luckily we all made it through healthy.  Here is a recap of the first 2 days.

Friday: Ethan had not been sleeping well the past few days, and he was in bed with us when Jason’s alarm went off at 3:45am.  He decided he was wide awake and ready to start his day then.  We quickly got ready and headed out the door for our 6:45am flight.  Ethan fell asleep on the way there and woke up when we arrived.  We parked and headed to check in, since we couldn’t check in online (apparently you can’t when you have an infant).  We also got to cut in front of the security line!  I brought quite a bit of baby food with us (we didn’t check any bags) and I was a little nervous about getting it through security.  They had to open two of the containers to check for explosives, but other than that (and our million bags) it was pretty easy.  We barely had enough time to get to our gate and grab breakfast and two VERY large coffees before we boarded.  Ethan did great on the flight.  We bought him his own seat so he could sit in his carseat.  He slept for about 45 minutes and spent the rest of the 2.5 hour flight snacking, reading, and playing.  We landed and were off to get our rental car and head to the hotel.

The rest of the day Friday was quite relaxed.  We had some breakfast with Jason’s parents, Mike and Karen and his younger brother, Ryan.  We then headed over to pick up Jason’s brother and sister in law (Stephen and Allison) and our nieces (Julianne and Lorelei).  We headed over to Jason’s Aunt and Uncle’s house (John and Mary).  We spent some time with his family and went to get some lunch (I was VERY hungry, as it was 2:30 Indiana time).  After our lovely lunch at Chipotle (where they have brown rice!), we went back to the house where Stephen and Allison were staying to spend some time talking while the kids napped.  Ethan took a monster nap while we spent time talking.  Later in the evening we went back to John and Mary’s house for dinner.  After we checked into our hotel (which was fantastic!) and crashed.

Ready to start the day at 4am.

Snackin on a mum.

His favorite sleeping position – he was tired!

Trying out a slide with Daddy.

Saturday: 4:15am Ethan was wide awake (6:15 Indiana time, so his normal wake up time).  I assumed this would happen!  I gave him a bath and got him ready for the day, then we went in the stroller to walk around the hotel.  Luckily, the hotel was huge and there were lots of places to walk around.  We got some banana bread and coffee from the coffee shop, ate, and walked some more.  I discovered there that Ethan LOVES banana bread.  I had to pick the nuts out of it, but he thought it was the greatest thing ever.  We eventually went back to the room and got Jason up so we could get ready for the day.  Of course Ethan was ready for his first nap when we were getting ready to leave, which worked out well  so he could fall asleep on the way to our breakfast destination, The Original Pancake House.  We put him in his stroller when we got there and he ended up sleeping for about an hour and a half.  We had a great breakfast – I highly recommend the Banana Praline Crepes!  After breakfast we headed to the Denver Zoo – by we I mean me, Jason, Ethan, Mike, Karen, Stephen, Allison, Julianne, Lorelei, Ryan, and Ryan’s girlfriend Liz, who joined us on Saturday.

Napping during breakfast – I got to eat in peace!

We had a great time at the zoo!  Ethan really enjoyed looking at the animals and also checking out all the other kids.  There was a little play area with a “splash creek” for kids to play in and he loved that.  He mainly loved it because it was covered in mulch and he tried his hardest to eat it.  He ended up taking a nap for a while in his stroller.  After the zoo we went to get lunch at Noodles and Company.  Jason and I both had pita sandwiches, not something we have on the menu in Indiana!  We were all pretty wore out at this point but decided to take a quick trip to Ikea.  Jason, Ethan, Allison, Lorelei and I headed over for a quick trip.  We both ended up with cinnamon rolls and a few other small things.  We then headed over to John and Mary’s for the family reunion.  It was great to spend time with Jason’s Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and Grandma.  There were lots of of little ones!  After our dinner we headed back to our hotel with a very tired baby.

Playing in the splash creek with Julianne – they both ended up quite wet!

Mulch!

Cuddling with Uncle Ryan… so sweet!

Petting the lion cub.

Everyone at the family reunion!

Check out the rest of the zoo pictures here.

Our sweet baby is only a month away from his first birthday!  They really do grow up so fast!

Ethan has been such a little darling this past month.  He is eating and sleeping well and continues to grow, change and learn every day.  He is still sleeping like a champ most of the time.  It is so nice to have a predictable nap schedule and for him to sleep all night in his crib most nights.  He wakes up around 6:30 every morning.  He usually takes naps at 10am and 3pm and sleeps around 1.5 to 2 hours each.  He will usually sleep until 5pm, or we will wake him shortly after 5 so he goes to bed on time.  He is in bed by 8 for the night.  He is doing really well with purees now and has expanded his horizons to include broccoli, spinach and peas, and pumpkin.  I got so frustrated with him not eating any vegetables so I decided to try some combinations.  I bought several Plum’s Organic pouches for him to try and he loves them all, so I am buying most of his food now instead of making it.  It has taken a lot of srtess off me, especially since he will eat it!  He is still loving his puffs and crunchies and does pretty well with bread items (crackers, waffles, etc).  He even got to enjoy a few bites of my apple cider donuts this weekend (and it was delicious!).  He is still not interested in feeding himself chunks of fruits or veggies.  I am trying to not get too impatient with him, as I know all babies develop differently, but he needs to be on full table foods before he can go to the toddler room at school.  They are doing a fantastic job of working with him at school.  He does still eat much better for them than he does for me!

Ethan has been showing signs over the past few weeks that he is ready to learn how to walk.  For a long time we thought it was a long ways off, as he didn’t seem interested in taking steps or standing on his own.  He was very content crawling, pulling up, then getting back down and crawling to his next destination.  We have been helping him play with his walking push toys and that has seemed to help.  Initially he wanted to stand and push his toy, but he did not want to take steps, so he would have fell forward.  We held his toys so it wouldn’t move so he could very slowly take steps.  After just a few days of this, he took off pushing and walking by himself!  The past few days he has stood on his own for a few seconds (until he realized he is standing on his own!).  I can only imagine what kind of trouble he is going to get himself into when he can walk!

Ethan is currently saying two words.  Well really only one word, but two meanings.  He started saying book (buh) a few weeks ago but it took about a week for us to decide he was really saying book and not just babbling.  But if you point to a book and say “Ethan what is this?” he will say “buh” or if you say “Ethan can you say book?” he will say “buh” which he does not do with any other objects.  Over the past week he has been doing the same for ball, which almost sounds exactly the same as book.  Sometimes it sounds a little more like “baa” but he will say it when he sees a ball.  Sometimes it seems like he is saying “dada” when he sees Jason but we’re still not sure if he is just babbling.  He has also started doing this funny thing where when he says book he lets the pressure of the “b” build in his mouth before he says it so it sounds more like “bbbbbbbbbbuh!”

Speaking of books, Ethan still loves to read.  We are accumulating a lot of books with frequent trips to Half Price Books and Home Goods.  His favorite new book is a lift the flap “noisey” book that moos, baas, and oinks when you open the right flap.  We also go to the library often, which is one of Ethan’s favorite places.  Not only are there tons of books, there are aisles that he loves to crawl up and down.  There are also other kids which always want to talk and play with him.  We are very excited to go to the 1 year old story time at the library in November.

Ethan still loves singing and music.  His new favorite song is “If you’re happy and you know it” and he is learning to clap his hands at the apprioriate times.  He has also started “dancing” when he hears music – wiggling back and forth when he is standing or sitting down.  I’m hoping that we can take a music class at Gymboree this winter.

We are loving every moment with our little boy, and as much as I would love for him to stay little forever, it is so exciting to watch him grow up!

Sitting in the hand chair at the library.

Celebrating Grampy’s birthday!

He loves riding on Daddy’s shoulders!

Sweet little boy.