Ethan's Eating Solids

On Sunday, April 18th, Ethan had his very first bowl of rice cereal.  I'd say overall he really seemed to enjoy the taste of it.  His little tummy didn't enjoy it so much.  The next day he ended up constipated with a belly ache so we opted for oatmeal the next time.  This ended up agreeing with his little belly much better.

Today I tried my hand at making the first batch of homemade baby food.  We received our first delivery of Farm Fresh organic fruits and veggies complete with carrots, avocado, apples, pears, and bananas.  All with the purpose of making baby food for Ethan.

For our first batch, I really wanted to puree avocado but they weren't soft enough yet.  Instead, I opted for pureed carrots.  To start, I peeled the carrots with my new handy dandy battery operated veggie peeler.  I've got to say I absolutely LOVE this gadget.  I was able to peel six full sized carrots in a matter of minutes without the aching hands, scraped knuckles, and flying peels.  Plus, when you're making baby food during a short 30 minute baby nap, it's even more important to do things quickly.

I then cut the carrots into small chunks and placed then inside a steamer basket for about 20-30 minutes.

Just when the carrots were soft enough, I put them in the food processor with a bit of breast milk to form the puree.

I store the pureed carrots in these 2 oz. containers in the freezer until it's time for Ethan to eat them.

He tried his first batch of carrots tonight and I'd love to say it was a success, but that just wasn't the case.  After trying the carrots on their own, he fake gagged, turned his little nose up in the air, then proceeded to spit everything down the front of himself!  I think Ethan ended up wearing more than he actually ate!

Thumb Sucker

On Thursday, I noticed Ethan sucking his thumb.  Rather than just shoving the entire hand in his mouth like he usually does, he chose just to use the thumb.  I think it's adorable...as long as he doesn't do it when he's a big kid.  Picture to follow...

5 Months!

Ethan is 5 months old today!!  I  know I say this just about every month but I can't believe how much he's changed in just one month.

You didn't have to go to the doctor this month so we don't know how much you weigh or how tall you are.  You'll go back for your 6 month visit in May.

You continue to sleep through the night and tend to fall asleep around 7:00.  While Mommy was on spring break you even extended your bed time to 8:00-8:30 a few times.  We're trying to teach you how to fall asleep on your own and, for the most part, you're doing a great job.  Mommy and Daddy lay you in the crib awake and then leave the room.  You whine/and or cry for about 15 minutes but we do check on you every few minutes, give you your paci back, and rub your belly.  You're definitely getting the hang of it!  Two times this past week you fell asleep later than normal (8:00) and fell asleep with absolutely no crying!  We were so excited when this happened and hopefully it'll continue.

We do not swaddle you at all anymore because you've broken out of it and accomplished a new task that makes the swaddles dangerous (more on that later!)  I continue to wake you up for a final feeding of the night around 10:00 but I think I may begin to wean you from that.  Instead of giving you 15 minutes or so to feed, I may stop around 10 minutes.  We'll see how that works out.

You still tend to wake yourself around 6:00 in the morning, just in time for breakfast before Mommy and Daddy go to work.  We've had a few nights this month where you wake up around 4:00 in the morning but you just spend that time babbling until you fall back asleep.  We don't even have to get up because you've learned how to fall back asleep.  Since Mommy was on spring break this week, you were allowed to sleep in most days.  You woke up anywhere from 6:45-8:30!  You don't even cry when you wake up anymore.  Most of the time, we hear you talking to yourself and babbling away through the monitor.  When we go in to get you, we're always greeted with the most adorable smile.

You are eating every 3 hours for the most part but are starting to stretch that out at times to 3.5 hours or so.  Lately you've become very distracted when eating so you tend to pull away and look at what is around you.  You also love to feel the texture of everything while eating, scratching your little nails against the chair, your pant legs, Mommy's shirt, or your own hair.  When at the sitters, you eat (4) 5 oz. bottles.  You're still spitting up but it seems like it's not quite as bad as it has been.  Hopefully that will stop in the near future and we won't have to do as much laundry!

We're finally tackled the nap issue.  One weekend, Miss Dawn let us borrow the swing you sleep in when you're with her.  That weekend you took 1-2.5 hour naps and woke up such a happy baby.  Mommy immediately ordered the same swing for you to have here at the house.  However, after learning that it would take almost an entire month for the swing to show up, we decided to test out the car seat swing to see if your naps would be just as long.  Ever since your naps have been WONDERFUL!  I just place you in the swing, turn on the water noise, give you a blankie and paci, and let you swing away.  Sometimes I even just let you sleep in it without the swinging motion and you STILL do just as wonderfully.  I'm just a tad worried that you'll be swinging in there for naps until you're in college but hey, whatever works!

You now wear entirely 3-6 month clothing and some of that is getting too short for you.  You are such a tall baby that you're outgrowing clothes too fast!  Luckily Mommy's work friend gave you LOTS of clothes so we have plenty for you to choose from.  Right now you are still in size two diapers but I'm thinking we're going to have to try either 2-3 or 3's.  We've had a ton of blowouts this week and things are getting really messy.  In fact, we've bought special nighttime diapers for you because I hated having you wake up soaking wet and dirty EVERY SINGLE MORNING.

You've learned how to roll over from back to belly!!!!  This first happened at Miss Dawn's house and Mommy was very sad not to have seen it first.  But within a short amount of time, we saw it for ourselves.  This past week you woke up crying for us at 4:00 in the morning.  When we walked in to your room, you were laying on your belly!  Since we never put you to sleep this way, we knew you had accomplished your new skill.  This is another reason why we're not able to swaddle you at night.  If we did, you'd have a very hard time flipping over and you'd scream and cry for us.  While you've done an amazing job showing off your new talent, you seem to have forgotten how to roll back over from belly to back.  Once you get sick and tired of laying on your tummy, you cry in frustration until someone flips you back over.  Once we do, you just roll over again.  It's quite an amusing little game but I'm hoping you remember how to roll back over again soon.  In fact, we may have to look into buying a baby gate very soon.

You've also started to reach out for people when they hold their hands in front of you.  We practiced this quite a few times yesterday when Grandma was holding you and you kept holding your hands out for me!

We thought you had your first tooth coming in at the beginning of March but that turned out not to be the case.  Mommy's still not sure what she saw but the doctor thought it was a tooth too so I'm not completely nuts!  I'm secretly happy that it wasn't a tooth because then you won't bite me just yet!

Your favorite toys is now Sophie the Giraffe.  She's rubbery, squeaks, and is very easy for you to hold onto.  The only problem we've had is trying to keep it away from Maggie! 

This month we celebrated your very first Easter.  The Easter bunny visited you and we spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa Becker's house.  You had such a good time and were such a sweet boy.  Your family members were just so excited to see how much you've grown.

You continue to make our lives so much better than we ever thought it could be.  Thank you for being such an amazing little boy.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

101 in 1001 (WIP)

I stole this idea from another blog I read and thought it was a cute idea.  The idea is to come up with a list of 101 things you'd like to accomplish within 1001 days.  That means this list should be complete by January 2, 2013.  To figure out your completion date, click here. 

Family
1.  Take Ethan for a walk around my dad's lake
2.  Begin Ethan's First Year Photobook
3.  Take Ethan to the beach. ( Tybee Island, GA 6/11-6/19, 2010)
4.  Get family pics:  May photos
5.  Ethan's 6 month pics:  May photos
6.  Go on a date with my hubby 1 x per month (2/24)
*  Tera's birthday part 7/2
*  Louisville for Jersey Boys 8/31
7.  Baby #2??????
8.  Resize Chris' wedding ring
9.  Write a will
10.  Attend at least 1 UFC event with Chris(Indianapolis)
11.  Buy Ethan's photo album
12.  Create a memory box of Ethan's stuff
13.  Take dogs on a walk at least 1 x per week for a month(0/8)
14.  Plan Ethan's 1st birthday (Mod Monkey Party planned for 11/13)
15.  Teach Ethan the ABC's
16.  Take Ethan swimming:  First time in the plastic baby pool 5/23
17.  Take Ethan to the zoo
18.  Make a batch of homemade baby food
19.  Call Granny (10/24/2010)
20.  Visit Grandpa in the nursing home (4/10/10)
21.  Breastfeed until Ethan is 6 month:  (5/11/10 and still going!)
22.  Tell Chris "I love you" every day for a week
23.  Give Chris a hug every day for a week
24.  Send birthday cards to immediate family members
25  Send anniversary cards to parents (1/2)
26.  Give Chris a kiss every day for a week
27.  Be...um...intimate at least once per week for a month (1/4)
28.  Visit my mom
29.  Go to a Reds game with my dad and Ethan
30.  Breastfeed Ethan until 7 months(6/11/2010)
31.  Breastfeed Ethan until 8 months (7/11/2010
32.  Breastfeed Ethan until 9 months
33.  Go to the Newport Aquarium (July 2010)
34.  Take Ethan to the Festival of Lights

Home
3.  Plant a tree in the front yard. (Mother's Day 2010 gift!)
4.  Dig up dead tree in backyard (5/23/10)
5.  Plant new cherry tree in backyard. (5/23/10)
27.  Buy a shed
53.  Make my bed every day for a week (0/7)
55.  Plant daffodils
56.  Plant gladiolas
Hobbies
2.  Read 10 books (a HUGE challenge since Ethan's birth) (1/10)
 *  Dear John(  Book was decent but the movie was a bit of a let down)
*  19 Minutes  (Awesome book.  Definitely a must read!)
24.  Take a picture of something non-Ethan 2x per week for a month


Health
7.  Walk Matt's 5K in April (4/18/10)
9.  Get weight to pre-pregnancy figure (5/10/10)
10.  PP Weight - 5 lbs. (Week of 10/17/2010)
11.  PP Weight - 10 lbs.
14.  Floss 2 x per week for a month (4/8)
41.  Go back to church
47.  Buy organic fruits and veggies (Farm Fresh, baby!)

61.  Limit soda to 2x per day by May 2010
62.  Limit soda to 1x per day

Finances
6.  Deposit $10 or more per week into Ethan's savings for one year. (1/52)
26.  Pay off a credit card
28.  At least $1000 in savings
64.  Pack my lunch for work every day for 1 week (0/7)


Just for Fun
13.  Go on a cruise
15.  Go on a picnic
16.  Go for a walk at the park
17.  Eat at the Cheesecake Factory!
19.  Have a grill out in the backyard (7/4/2010 with Dad, Linda, Josh, and lady friend)
20.  Play cornhole (7/4/2010)
21.  Get a pedi (4/9/2010)
29.  Get a massage
33.  Catch up on Grey's Anatomy
34.  Catch up on Private Practice
35.  Catch up on Nip/Tuck
36.  Have a play date
37.  Hold a new baby (I stole this one but I LOVE it!) (Thanks Jen!)
44.  Hang up Steve's drawings in Ethan's room
49. Eat dinner on the back patio
54.  See a play (Jersey Boys July 31, 2010)
56.  Donate to charity 2 x per year (2/4)
63.  Organize my 101 in 1001 list into categories
66.  Buy a new car for myself
67.  Buy new living room sofas
68.  Contact an old friend
70.  Paint my toenails red. (4/9/2010)
73.  Find a new sitcom( Modern Family)
74.  Get my wisdom teeth pulled (eek...)

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Whenever I start typing this post, I think of Limp Bizkit's "Rollin'."  What an annoying song to have in your head all day!

Ethan woke up at 4 am last night.  Very strange considering he almost always sleeps through the night.  Chris changed Ethan's very full and very stinky diaper followed by me nursing.  Typically Ethan falls asleep after a middle of the night feeding but last night he had a very different idea.  After laying in his crib cooing for about a half hour or so, his little cries began to filter through the monitor.  Chris and I both walked into the nursery to find Ethan laying on his belly, stuck!  He had managed to roll from back to belly in the middle of the night but can't seem to remember how to flip back over!  He did the same exact thing two more times when he woke up around 7:00.  The kid's been rolling from belly to back since before he was 3 months old so why is it that he's forgotten now?!  I'll just chalk it up to Ethan wanting to show off his new skill to Mommy and Daddy.

Domestic Diva

Domestic Diva...that's me!  Being that today was my first official day of Spring Break, what did I spend my day doing?  Well, what every domestic goddess does...everything!

1.  Grocery store
2.  Shred paperwork
3.  Vacuum entire house
4.  Steam clean carpets
5.  Pick up Ethan from the sitters
6.  Prepare home cooked meal of meatloaf and mashed potatoes
7.  Laundry
8.  Bathe and feed Ethan
9.  Relax
10.  Goodwill donations
11.  Shop for new coffee maker, box fan, drip pans
12.  Clean guest room
13.  Pedi?

I should be on Spring Break more often!

Easter

Have you ever had one of those days where everything seems to be picture perfect?  Almost like it's straight out of a movie?  Ethan's first Easter was one of those days.

Around 7:30 Easter morning, I awoke to the sound of little baby babbles gurgling from the monitor.  I wished Ethan a good morning and a Happy Easter followed by a morning breakfast.  Chris was still asleep after Ethan ate so we crawled into bed to greet Chris as he awoke to the beautiful morning.  The windows were open, a breeze was blowing, the sun was shining, and it was shaping up to be a beautiful day.

After cozying up for awhile, we decided it was time to hunt for Ethan's Easter basket left behind by the Easter bunny.  After searching high and low, we ultimately found his basket in the refrigerator :)  While Ethan is definitely too young to enjoy all the Easter treats left behind by the Easter bunny, we sure had a fun time searching for the basket!

After Ethan's afternoon nap, we packed ourselves up and headed over to the Becker's for Easter lunch.  Since Ethan decided to only take a half hour nap earlier in the day, he used the drive time as a chance to catch up on sleep.  In hopes of presenting a jovial Ethan to the family, we drove around for an extra long time to keep him napping.  We drove through Sayler Park's historical area with rows and rows of houses more colorful than an Easter basket.  Cherry trees lined the streets presenting their fresh blooms and creating a Mayburry-esque feel to the little town.

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out with family members that haven't seen Ethan since Christmas.  Little guy sure was the center of attention.