Imitation is an Art

I meant to include this video with the last post. B was off for four days so Ethan had lots of make-up time with Daddy. He was into shaking his head several months ago, but on this day he just couldn't get enough, and every time he looked at Daddy he would shake his head. We found it absolutely hysterical and were, needless to say, entertained all day long!

Here's what we've been up to

We've played outside in the snow, made a snowman and gone sledding.

This is from when it had just snowed a ton.

It's fun just to pull his sled over the sidewalks.

And, even when the snow is melting, it is still tons of fun!

King of the Hill!

Making another snowman.

"What exactly is this thing supposed to be?!?"

Snowy, Sun, & Smiles

Had our first poker party since last January 6th- not like I'm keeping track, but I was 5 months pregnant, feeling very preggo, not able to enjoy any tasty beverages, and very tired by 9:00, even though the games went on till about 2 in the morning. This year, baby was sleeping and everything was good, especially being able to enjoy the night with our friends and some of B's coworkers!

"Check out these rockets! That's right, I said I'm ALL IN! Man, these chips sure are tasty. Good thing I'm not up against this guy.....

...the Pro. Hey, aren't those some of Mommy's chips?!?"
Good thing B won all the games otherwise I'd be asking for those chips back :)
One of our poker guests, Little Miss Naya, Ethan's baby friend.
She was about a 2day old peanut last time we played;)
Naya cuddling with her Mommy.

Our friends, Chip & Liz.
Cute pic!

Food for Thought:

Since everybody's asking. Here's a pic of what Ethan eats in a meal.
The first course, in its frozen form, is carrots, sweet potato, chicken, broccoli.
The second course is Ethan's favorite- pear (I think this one happens to be Bartlett).
...In addition, to one 3/4cup sippy H2O, 4oz formula, yogurt or cheese, and a couple of finger foods (cheerios, puffs, yogurt melts, wheat bread, fruits, or a combination thereof).

Playing with his Buddies:

We met up with the Padgetts one day for a stroll around the mall and play time at the kiddie play area. I think Ethan loved this sporty red convertible. Liam & Ethan.

It was so cute watching Liam crawl around like a pro and Ethan trying to chase him with his little steps.
The Best of Buds.
Eli, and Liam came over to play. It's so amazing watching them grow up together.
Aren't Eli's overalls the cutest?!

Stepping out on his own:

Ethan got some walkers from his Aunt on Sunday. It's taken a couple of days to warm up to them. Yesterday he walked only with one of us holding his waist. Today he was able to push and take a couple of steps on his own. This was later in the evening and he's about spent.

Feel free to mute the video, otherwise you'll have to listen to me goo-goo over Ethan.

Kindof like when Dad let go of the bike without me knowing...

Yesterday was rather exciting, especially since Daddy was home.

Over the last month, Ethan's been getting so much better and gaining more confidence at pushing off and standing all by himself for a couple of seconds, and transitioning from one object to the next (moving from coffee table to sofa or basket to toy shelf type of thing). Nothing much, but he's getting there slowly but surely.

I happened to be holding him by the waist while he was walking, just a little support to make him put more effort into keeping himself upright, when I gently let go and..... he kept walking!!!!!!! With enough momentum and Daddy to distract him, he just kept going all by himself for a couple more(4-5) tiny steps. It was sooo cute! I thought it was just a one-time dealy, but I got him to do it 3 more times yesterday. Seems like we are finally getting somewhere with the walking. Very exciting since he just loves to stand and patter around the house (chasing Gershwin or his toys) and seems to show absolutely no interest in crawling. It's been several months now since he started to 'step' so I'm thrilled that he's gaining confidence to step out on his own. Especially, since my back has started to hurt from all the stooping I have to do ;)

Sink Your Teeth Into This!

We are into the throng of teething! I was getting flustered that he was soo fussy without seemingly any reason: he was well-fed, plenty of sleep, toys galore, plenty to drink, clean nappie, lots of cuddles and kisses...till I happen to find some more teeth coming in. Go figure! 'Fussy' protocol now includes checking for little teeth buds.

Count 1...2...3...4. Oh, and another one budding on the bottom as of today. He's got three on the bottom, and two on the top. His upper right one is hurting him since it is swollen/bruised. Poor thing. His gorgeous smile is going to be so cute with all his little pearly whites! Ha- no pics, he's done sharing ;)

As Alton Brown likes to say, "Good Eats!":

Lot has been changing with his eats, seemingly every day. He is a pro with finger foods (unless they get sticky and cling to his fingers). In fact, I think I did the whole finger foods backwards since we gave him the tiniest of pieces in fears that he would choke on bigger ones. Maybe we were supposed to do huge pieces that are easy for them to hold and they kind of gnaw on. Oh well, seemed to work just fine for him- he got the hang of the little finger pincher dealy right away . It was me who was nervous about him eating pieces of food, so after ditching Cheerios we started him on Gerber Puffs and Melts (beginning December) since they are astronaut food and essentially melt in their mouths. It was about a day before he was shoveling several pieces into his mouth, and now, he is comfortable eating pretty much just whatever, and we're back to the Cheerios breath. He loves finger food so much that it invades his mouth while I'm trying to feed him with the spoon. I think he would much prefer to only do finger foods; however, little does he know that we have a whole freezer full, and I mean FULL, of baby food that needs to be used up.

Pretzel boy.

He loves this snack but I still take the remaining nubby since I'm freaked he'll choke on it.

He likes to mix his munchies together and then eat them.

I've enjoyed not being the only vegetarian in the family; and I am very proud of myself that I was able to conceive, grow, and nurture a beautiful, healthy, brilliant baby boy; of course, with all the assistance and support from the biggest meat eater in the world- feeding me protein shakes, 3 PB&J sandwiches, and beans all the time!

I know everyone's been anticipating this moment- YES, of course, he eats/will eat meat. Little lads need protein to grow big and strong ;)
His first meaty delight were hot dog pieces. I was wanting to wait a month, but Daddy was way too eager. Fois Gras is next.

Chicken followed (mixed with sweet potatoes).

This is his initial reaction. I had the camera in one hand, and a cloth napkin in the other- muffling my laughter at his distaste- all while I'm saying, "MMM, yummy, yum!" :) He loves it now. I can't wait to let him eat Nuggets.

Crackers are yummy too. Now he eats with one in each hand.

And, don't forget the most tastiest thing of all:

Toe-sucking yumminess!
*Disclaimer: That toe has been tightly sealed in his sleeper footie all night long- it's a clean one.

Say What?!?!

A dog says, "Woof, Woof"!
A sheep says, "Baa, Baa"!
A cat says, "Meow, Meow"!
A horse says, "Nay, Nay"!
A duck says, "Quack, Quack"!
A frog says, "Ribbit, Ribbit"!
A pig says, "Oink, Oink"!

(This is one of my favorites:)
And, Ethan says, "Abba da ya ba ahh mm ba la ahhhh ya ya dah ah ba"!

He is such a 'talker', even though he isn't articulating any cohesive vocabulary, the child can talk. Sometimes I'll check in on Ethan while he's playing by himself and he'll be holding a toy or banging objects together just talking about/to it. I really wonder what in the world is going on in that little busy head of his!!!! It truly is fascinating!

HOLY COW- Didn't See This Coming!!!

I love it when others get to share in my surprise at a new thing Ethan can do, such as rolling over, walking, staying on his knees, eating with his fingers, etc.. It makes it that much sweeter. Our friend, Twyla and her 3month old daughter, Naya, got to witness me being sooo excited about finding out something new about Ethan- A new tooth!!! An upper! Oddly enough I've been checking his upper gums the last couple weeks, haven't seen anything. Guess I should have been looking a couple of teeth over instead of in the middle. He's probably had the tooth coming in for about a week now. Am I a bad mom for not noticing it sooner?!? Isn't it a little odd that it is one of the side teeth and not the middle ones?

Naya & Ethan
Naya's dad is a coworker and golf-buddy of Daddy.

Cuddle time.

It's only been five months since Ethan was that little, but I can hardly remember what toys he was playing with, how much he was eating, his nap schedule, etc. Things change so quickly. I hope I have it all written down somewhere.

I was so thrilled about this new discovery that I just had to take a pic (and share- ha). It took A LOT of work to get this pic! Maybe not the cutest pic for most people, but being his Mommy, I'm very proud of his new pearly white :) I can't wait to take him to the dentist.

There it is: Peek-a-Boo (nope, not the white part of his gum where I was trying to hold his lip, but that tiny white thing to the right of it:) ! Anybody else think his first top tooth should be coming in the middle??

And, then I had to make him laugh since I felt so bad about making him model his newest tooth.

Happy 8th Month Birthday, Ethan!!!!

Happy Birthday, Little One!!!

Ethan must have just gone through a growth spurt this past week. I was even starting to get concerned that he was sleeping from 7:00pm till 9:ooam, and then napping 4-5hours a day! And, given his 2.5lb weight gain within the last month, he certainly increased his quantity of food. He's realized that he can feed himself with his little fingers while he waits for Mom to bring him his veggies and fruits. He's feeding himself Gerber Puffs and Yogurt Melts, crackers, cheese, bread, Cheerios since December, which makes him Little Mr. Independent. He's also drinking 2-3 sippy cups of water a day- probably where half the weight gain comes from. New foods include papaya and parsnips, and vanilla yogurt. YUM.

He's starting to make all sorts of consonant sounds, but has yet to say 'mama' or 'dada', which is okay since he's still my little baby, but I keep repeating those words every day. He 'talks' a ton- he has 'conversations' with his toys and will even think there is something funny and say 'hahaha', which totally makes me feel left out of the joke. I love just watching him play with his toys and talking to them. We are still doing his colors, alphabet, and numbers every morning, sometimes probably too much, and then we 'review' them throughout the day- counting his puffs, singing the ABC's (probably 20+times a day- yeah, a lot), pointing to different colors, etc. I just like to incorporate learning into everything possible, especially when playing with his toys. Hopefully it will all come naturally before too long.

Since his 'growth spurt', I think his 12month clothes are feeling smaller, at least his sleeves don't need to be rolled anymore. Even some of his 18month sleepers are getting tight- might just be the chunky thighs and long torso. I practically laughed when he got 18month-24month clothing at Christmas, but he might just be wearing it all by his 1st birthday- yikes.

His giggles, laughs, and smiles are just adorable. And, I know I'm not just saying this because he is the most popular thing in any stores we go to. One day he entertained a long line of stressed out holiday shoppers at the checkout- something really funny about his Teddy going through a teething ring! He is such a sweet, happy, giggly baby!!!

Can't belive it's been 8months already. I've been putting aways some of his little, baby clothes, organizing them into a tote, and I practically cry the whole time seeing all his little clothes that he used to wear. I love folding and ironing his laundry cause it is just so darn cute.

It's been a whole new experience, dramatically different, sometimes not fun and stressfull, but mostly the sweetest time ever, and I already think my baby is growing up too fast, I just hope he's had the best 1st baby year ever!

A Moment of Total Joy

Amidst moments of total frustration of being a first-time, stay-at-home mom; for instance, assuming a completely new identity known only as 'Mom' to everybody/everything, are the moments that make it all worth while....

...Ethan standing all by himself for all of 5 seconds!!!!!!! Yea! I was just about to put him in his bath, he was standing in his adorable 'birthday suit', hands up against our tub, when he just pushed himself away from the tub and just stood by himself nice and still. Total self determination. I couldn't believe it! THRILLED! We're finally getting somewhere. ((Hope he does it again tomorrow, and the day after that..))

Just had to share my excitement for the day :)

Final Christmas Pics (I think)!

Here are the remainder of the pics that I wanted to post from all the Christmas festivities. It was such an amazing Christmas- just as exciting as it was when I was little.

Finalizing the decorations.

Ethan making sure that everything is up to his standards.

This made me just as nervous as him opening wrapping paper and putting it in his mouth.

Um. NO!. We don't eat those!
He loved his stocking a bit too much. He loves jingle bells.
I realized I take way too many pics when I found 120+ from just this moment in time sitting in my file waiting to be labeled- yikes!

The little elf on Christmas morning- coming down the stairs to open presents.

Just the way my sisters and I used to do it- minus the fighting on who gets to go first, and getting in trouble for peeking downstairs ;) Oh, good times.

Ethan's 8th month photo.

This was as good as I could get.

This was his attitude pretty much the whole time ;)

"(Yawn) Can we go play now?"

A cute pic of him in his Christmas outfit.

He loved the sparkly on the stairway banister's garland.

Since everyone keeps asking what he got for Christmas- here it all is.

The perfect amount of gifts for the little guy. We love all the new wood Melissa & Doug toys he got! I don't think this kid needs any more toys for at least 2 years. Thanks everyone!!

Very funny for a second, but as mentioned earlier, the headband antlers don't quite cut it for little boys ;)
"Mommy, can you see me?!?"
I loooove this pic!
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Happy 2010!!!

Side note: I can't believe it is already 'next year'. No more 2009: the year of Ethan- how sad!

What an incredible year: the birth of our precious son, no more career for me, B's stellar promotion, all the obnoxious home repairs we had to do, and all of our sweet friends' and families' support. And, yes, the decorations were down as of the 31st. We celebrated the day together with a delicious dinner of king crab legs, squash, and potatoes. CHEERS!