Update 4 of 4: Daddy

Mike is a great dad and Ethan adores him! Tonight Mike was walking around to try to get Ethan to go to sleep, but Ethan just couldn't take his eyes off Mike. He must have spent at least 10 minutes just staring as shown in the following pictures. Ethan is very into faces right now. I can make him laugh just by moving my eyes around while he is staring at me.

Update 3 of 4: Hiking

On Saturday we took advantage of the nice weather (50s or 60s) and hiked around on South Mountain. We live right by the mountain, so we try to take advantage of that while we can. Mike carried Ethan in our harness and Ethan stayed awake for all but about 5 minutes of it. I wished that we had thought to bring a hat for Ethan to block the sun, but besides the sun and a few cold little hands and feet, it went very well.

Great scenery with all the saguaros and Phoenix in the distance!
Behind us is the Ahwatukee which is on the other side of the mountain.

Tired, but just can't resist seeing all this new stuff!

Update 2 of 4: Bumpo

I had heard that the recommended age for starting babies in a Bumpo chair is 3 months, but Ethan just LOVES to look around and is very good at holding up his head, so we tried out our Bumpo for the first time last week. As I mentioned before, it was a hit! He loves all the new things he can see and touch while sitting up. Here are some pictures of his first few times in the chair.

Check out that chin!

This one is just to show off one of his new outfits that I love!

I know I've already posted a picture like this one, but he just looked so cute in this little outfit (that you can't really see behind the car seat straps). We were waiting in the Dr's office and he sat there for at least 45 minutes following his new rattle with his eyes as I moved it around. I think he looks a little like Lisa's kids in this picture too.

Update 1 of 4: Christmas

I have just uploaded the last week's worth of pictures onto my computer, so here they are.

Ethan had several adorable Christmas outfits. On Christmas Eve he came to work with me in this hat and a little red Santa suit from my Grandma and Grandpa Chaddick, but unfortunately I procrastinated taking a picture of it and he got it dirty...so no full out Santa picture.

Nana (my mom) got Ethan a whole bunch of awesome clothes and toys!!!

Grammy (my mom's mom) got him this hat with matching slippers and blanket--too cute!

I forgot to take a picture of Ethan in the snazzy outfit my sister Lisa got for him, but it is awesome, so you'll see pictures soon!
Ethan had an awesome Christmas thanks to many generous grandparents and relatives-thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Don't worry, I didn't leave him like this unattended.
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Cutie

Just thought I'd share how cute he is! He is currently very entertained by a rattle.
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Awake

Ethan spends a lot more time awake now which opens up a whole new world! He got toys for Christmas and actually likes using them. We put him in his bumpo seat for the first time and he LOVED sitting up. He was in it for like a half an hour and was. perfectly content. We gave him a toy and he tried to get it in his mouth. We went to the mall tonight and, because we forgot his stroller, we carried him the whole time facing out and he watched everything wide-eyed and talked the whole time. Then when we got in the car he started crying, so I got out a rattle we just bought him and it only took a few seconds of rattling for him to quiet down and then he fell asleep. It is so fun to get to play with him now!
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Sell me a computer please

We have decided for Christmas we are going to buy a new desktop computer. We looked at Costco, but the salesman there didn't seem to know much about the computers. Then we went to Best Buy where we asked someone to come help us and no one ever did. So, please sell is a computer. Give us your input on what we should get as far as brand, memory, anything. Thanks!
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Size Difference

Kiwi felt HUGE after we brought Ethan home! The first picture is of them today and the second was several weeks ago.
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Stats

Ethan had a doctor's appointment today. He is still 25th percentile in height, down from 50th to 25th in head circumference and up from 10th to 50th in weight! As a reminder, he was 6-12 at birth, 7-13 at 3.5 weeks, and now at 10 weeks he is 11 lbs 13 oz-he sure can eat!

He is very happy, alert, and talkative. Also, 3 out of the last 4 nights he has slept for about 7 hours straight! He likes his mobile now and hits the bears hanging from it. He follows things with his head and eyes constantly and has started blowing spit bubbles. He also has started coming to work with me for weekly meetings. I am working a few half days over the next two weeks while Mike is home (his office is closing at noon for several days), and Ethan gets to sit with me for a little bit before Mike picks him up on his way home. He is always well behaved and even showed off his smile for everyone today!

Well, I could go on and on about my little guy, but I will spare you from anymore gushing!
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Growing Boy

Sorry for three posts, but I have to post at least one picture of this rapidly growing little boy.
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Sleep

Ethan slept for 7 hours last night! Of course this caused me to wake up every few hours wondering why he hadn't started crying. I would then proceed to imagine things like, "maybe Kiwi is laying on top of him smothering him." I didn't let myself get up and go check on him though until 6.5 hours (Kiwi was outside, so it wasn't a real concern).

Then today I took Ethan on a walk. Unfortunately, it has been awhile since we've done this. Before, by the time we got to the next-door neighbor's house, he would be asleep. Today he made it all the way to Walgreens, the bank, and back to our neighborhood before he dozed off. He still woke up as soon as we stopped though, so that hasn't changed. He has always been very alert, and now that he can see better, he is always checking things out. I think he really enjoyed getting to see lots of new things today!

Teachable Moments

Most of you know that before Ethan came along I was an elementary school teacher. As a teacher I had, and looked for, many "teachable moments" every day, and I don't mean just in content areas. Now with Ethan, it is amazing how much I am teaching him everyday, even at this age. He finds being "thrown" by Mike amusing; he thinks my wet hair tickling his face is funny; he even enjoys diaper changes now. As he experiences these things the first few times he has that startled, "what the heck" moment, and before he gets a chance to freak out, he sees me or Mike laughing/smiling, and then he decides that maybe the experience isn't so bad, maybe even funny. It is amazing the influence we have!

To compare another set of teachable moments, I remember as a teacher anytime a student would "pass gas" it was a big deal among the students, but as a teacher I would encourage them to "be mature" and would frown upon all the giggles. Then I had a baby, and I can not help but laugh every time he lets one go (which is constantly). Take into account what I explained in the previous paragraph, and now I realize that kids are taught from day 1 to laugh at these moments--so who are the "immature" ones? :)

Mafioso Celebration

Last night was the CTS Mafioso Christmas Celebration. Here are our costumes (we won a fake tommy gun, so that will be in the costumes in the future):After a great dinner and really yummy desserts, we spent the night playing craps! I felt like I was in a movie. :)

Here you can see the whole outfit. Everything I am wearing came from Goodwill (I added the ribbon to the hat) and Mike's outfit he already had except the hat he found at Burlington Coat Factory.

My mom babysat, so we didn't worry at all, even though it was our first time leaving Ethan. When I got home I forgot all about my bright red lipstick and gave Ethan a kiss.

8 Weeks

Ethan is 8 weeks old today!!! He has become a very smiley baby! He is even laughing some now! This week he sat in his bouncer with the little teddy bear mobile hanging above him for the first time. He smiled and hit the bears quite a bit. I'm not sure if he was trying to hit the bears, or if in the excitement of seeing them, his flailing arms and legs did the trick on accident. We also put the batteries in this jungle toy. In the following pictures he is looking at some flashing lights and listening to the music as it plays. This also made him smile and pump his arms and legs.

On Saturday was our ward Christmas party. We started by eating dinner outside. This fall our activities committee organized a great project for the ward. A generous family let us use their land to raise a garden and pig. We irrigated the land, planted veggies, and raised a pig. For dinner we had pork, vegetables, and pumpkin desserts, all fruits of the ward's labor. I was very impressed!

After dinner we had a program of really fun musical numbers. Here is Mike performing in one. The cultural hall is packed--we really love being a part of this ward.

Ethan has pretty much mastered the art of getting his hand into his mouth. He spent most of the party sleeping or zoned out. There was a lot of noise and he was pretty overloaded, but he handled it very well.

And of course, what would be a Christmas party without a visit from Santa?!? Despite Mike's objections, we waited in line to get this adorable picture. After the party we bought a beautiful Christmas tree which is up, but not decorated. Hopefully after tonight I will have pictures of a decorated Christmas tree to post.

On Sunday Mom and Gary came to church with us, and then we went back to their house.

Mom got Ethan this cute singing giraffe which just so happens to match the giraffe pajamas we brought for Ethan to wear (thanks Heidi).

Mike and Gary made a very small dent in Mom's 20 or so boxes of Christmas decorations while Mom and I filled the kitchen with Christmas goodies!

Last night Mom and Gary came over to our place where Mom and I finished baking and Mike and Gary put our lights up. Mom and I made pumpkin cranberry bread, chocolate/peppermint pretzel cookies, miscottis (a family favorite passed down from an Italian grandma), sugar cookies (not yet frosted), rice krispie treats, and white trash mix (a yummy trail mix coated in white chocolate).

Look what we grew!

Last spring we planted a lemon and an orange tree. We have six lemons now! The orange tree still isn't on a drip line, so it hasn't produced yet. Next spring, a peach tree!
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Barrage of Pictures: smiles and work

I am back to work now, or trying to be. This is where Ethan sits while I work. I pretty much just work while he is sleeping, and by putting him here I can rock him with my foot if he starts fussing. He goes back to sleep, and I keep working. So far it is going pretty well. Now I just need to work cleaning back into the mix because the house is a mess! Aww...

Ethan has a pattern now. He eats, spends half an hour to an hour alert and smiling at just about anything I do, and then he sleeps. I've been trying to get some good smiling shots, so here are some of the best I've gotten.

He has started doing this shy thing when he smiles. He covers his face and turns his head while smiling--pretty darn cute!

Dimples! I wonder who he gets those from?

Half smile:

Have I mentioned how much I love this little guy? He is so fun! I am SO grateful for every day I get to stay home and be his mom!

Barrage of Pictures: Thanksgiving

This year we went to Detroit for Thanksgiving. It was so fun to spend time with my Dad, step-mom Dianne, and siblings. We don't get to see each other nearly enough. Here are a bunch of pictures from the weekend.

Ethan is becoming much more alert.
Dads and babies:

My new niece Ruth. She is 18 days younger than Ethan.

Future friends:

Ruth, her brother James, Ethan (these are all of the grandkids on my dad's side):

Awesome beanie from Grammy and Art:

Bundled up for a trip to the park-"I can't put my arms down!"

At the park. Thank goodness we had warm clothes for the weekend! Thanks to Grammy and Nicole for this outfit and Grandma Abegg for the warm pj's.

Mike, my dad, James, Dan, digging in the dirt.

So much to be thankful for!

On the way to the park:

Grandma Dianne and Ethan at the bowling alley:

Aunt Lauren, Uncle Joe, and Ethan at the bowling alley. Ethan especially loved being held by Dianne and Lauren!

Lisa's family:

Time for bed:

Family shot (without Dianne or Stephanie):

Ethan was loving this photo shoot:

Hangin' out with Aunt Lauren:

After eating one night, Joe started trying to throw a candy wrapper across the table into my glass. This evolved into the three guys creating a game complete with rules and scoring system. They sat for hours probably trying to get the candy wrapper in each other's glasses and keeping score with different colored Hershey's Kisses.

What a great weekend! Oh, and I slacked off and didn't take any pictures of Ethan on the plane, but he did awesome! He slept pretty much the whole time both ways and when he was awake he was very happy!