I Don't Want to Forget

That first cool morning that signals the near closing of summer and predicts the soon arrival of Autumn.  I stepped outside yesterday morning in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and felt a slight chill.  I was holding Ethan and even had the fleeting thought of "should I take the baby inside and at least put socks on him?"  Ahhh, my favorite season is just around the corner!

Ethan's First Reds Game

For Father's Day this year, we decided to take Ethan to his very first Reds game with Grandpa Craig.  After months of waiting, we finally made good on that gift today.  Chris, Ethan, and myself headed to Great American Ballpark to watch the Reds vs. Marlins.  Ethan was so excited to see the Reds win that he even tried on Chris' batting helmet ahead of time just to make sure it fit.

Today's terribly hot temperature of 93 degree made it completely unbearable for all of us to enjoy the game.

We sat in our sunny seats long enough to sing the National Anthem, watch the first pitch, and half of the first inning.

Poor little Ethan was dripping with sweat and getting crabby after only 30 minutes.

The rest of us appeared as if we had just come OUT of a swimming pool.  It was all so incredibly uncomfortable that we decided to head to a restaurant called the Machine Room inside Great American.  Ahhh, air conditioning never felt so good!

While Ethan guzzled back sippy cup after sippy cup of water, the Reds continued to fight the Marlins.  Apparently in the end the Reds ended up winning 2-1 and Ethan got a certificate commemorating his first Reds game.

9 Months!

Ethan, you're 9 months old today!  It's crazy how fast time is flying.  This month has been no exception.

You go to the doctor for your well visit on 8/20.  We'll update your stats at that point.

This month you have pushed your bedtime anywhere from 7:00-9:00.  Most of the time you manage to fall asleep around 7:30 but you've definitely pushed those limits.  You've shown us that sleep is not as much of a priority to you this month by waking up between 6:15-7:30.  Those early mornings sure can be difficult.  They have been especially difficult the past few mornings because you have been waking up in the middle of the night.  For the past two nights you've waken up around 3 am and absolutely refuse to go back to sleep for about two hours.  You are a complete wreck when you wake up and nothing mommy does makes you happy.  Last night I let you fall asleep on my chest and we slept on the recliner until morning.  I think you are so eager to practice your new skills that you don't want to waste time sleeping.  Or you wake up standing and don't know how to get back down.  Either way I'm hoping you learn to sleep through the night again very soon.

You are eating almost entirely finger foods at this point.  Any time I try to feed cereal, yogurt, or other pureed foods, you try to take the spoon out of my hands.  When you're successful, you tend to smear the food all over your face, tray, seat, and the floor.  Finger foods allow you to control the food and we get to eat at the same time!  We're expanding the list of foods to include some pretty different items like tofu, lentils, and cheese.  Just like the other foods, you seem to like them all.

You continue to go down fairly easily for naps but you have not been sleep as long as you did in the past.  The morning nap typically lasts about an hour and your afternoon nap is only 20-30 minutes.  I've relied on having you sleep in the car more often this month because you wake up a happier baby.

You are still wearing 6-9 month clothes but some of them are getting a little too short.  We'll be moving up to 12 month clothing very soon.  You are now wearing size 4 diapers.  You still hate having your diaper changed and outfits fastened so we are sticking with quick and easy clothing.

You have accomplished so many milestones this month that it is physically difficult to keep up with you.  You began the month by army crawling across the room.  Within a few short days you actually began crawling!!!

You are all over the house all the time.  You've also learned how to climb up on things, specifically furniture, dogs, and steps!

Maggie absolutely loves tagging along with you and playing but Molly does not appreciate being climbed on.  We're trying to teach you to play nice but it is a work in progress.  We've installed baby gates throughout the house and anchored furniture to the walls to protect you during your climbing practice.

Grandma Connie visited you this month and you had a great time.

We spent much of this month attempting to stay cool by visiting the pool and hanging out at indoor spots.  We visited the aquarium for the first time and checked out TONS of books at the library.

You also spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa Craig while Mommy and Daddy went out of town.  I'm going to miss finding new things to do with you each day when I go back to work.

Birth Stats

7 lbs 11 oz. (50th percentile)
21.5 inches long (95th percentile)

1 Month Stats
8 lbs 15 oz. (25th percentile)
22.5 inches long (80th percentile)

2 Month Stats
11 lbs 11 oz. (50th percentile)
24.5 inches (75th percentile)
Head Circumference........... 16 inches ( 50th percentile)

4 Month Stats
15 lbs 4 oz. (50th percentile)
26.25 inches (90th percentile)
Head Circumference.......17 inches (60th percentile)

6 Month Stats
17 lbs 7 oz. (45th percentile)
28 inches (87th percentile)

7 Months Stats
18 lbs. 7 oz. (44th percentile)

9 Month Stats

20 lbs 7 oz. (50th percentile)
30.5 inches (off the charts!)

Looking forward to many more exciting days Little Man.  We love you!

Just When I Thought I Knew What to Do

I learned tonight that I have no idea how to comfort my baby in the middle of the night.  Ethan's been sleeping through the night consistently for so long now that I haven't had to get him back to sleep.  Back when he was just a tiny little guy, I knew I just needed to nurse him and possibly do a diaper change and everything would be fine within a short period of time.

Not the case tonight when Ethan woke up screaming and crying at 2 am.  Although I knew he wasn't hungry, my instinct told me to attempt to nurse him back to sleep.  No such luck.  He would fall to sleep on my chest while rocking but wake immediately after placing him in the crib.  So, here I am at 3:08 am with a crying baby, standing in the crib just waiting for mama to come back and save him.

Family Followed by Not so Fun!

This weekend was one of those that I often long for when our monthly agenda gets jam packed.  Just the three of us spent the weekend hours being just that...a family.  We swam, toured unknown neighborhoods and dreamed about what could be, had professional photographs taken of Ethan, and ended it all with quiet story time and snuggling babies.

With such a quiet, calm weekend having just past, I almost hated to begin the day today with plans of preparing my classroom.  But, I went anyway while Grandma hung out with Ethan.  My room itself is almost complete and I'll soon be focusing my attention to actual lesson planning.

Unfortunately, that sweet cuddly baby from this weekend was nowhere to be seen when I returned home from school.  For the better part of four hours, little guy was completely inconsolable.  Perhaps he awoke too early this morning at 6:45,  the naps were too short, or he just plain missed his mommy.  Either way, the early 7:00 bedtime was definitely needed today.

Sure there's not 30 Hours in a Day?

Things have been so crazy hectic around here lately, I'll summarize what's been going on lately.  Last Saturday Ethan stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while Chris and I went to Louisville to watch the Jersey Boys play with his family.

Seeing a play was one of my 101 in 1001 items so I was very excited to be able to scratch that one off the list.  In addition, it really was a great production.  I was familiar with many of the Four Seasons/Frank Valli thanks to my parents ALWAYS having Oldies on in the car when we were younger!  We hung out at Fourth Street Live after the show and enjoyed some yummy adult beverages and entertaining restaurant personnel.

This past week Ethan has really mastered the art of crawling and pulling up on everything!!!

Since we really didn't baby proof the house entirely prior to this, we are definitely needing to do it now.  Ethan crawls around the entire downstairs level of our house and is attempting to climb the stairs.

He pulls up on coffee tables, couches, and even curio cabinets and DVD towers that weren't anchored to the wall just yet.  Needless to say, that's what we spent the better part of Saturday doing.

With the beginning of August comes the end of summer and the beginning of school.  Ethan and I went to my class on Wednesday to survey the damage of the recent transformation to an elementary school and, luckily, found my room to be moderately effected.  While attempting to replace fallen posters and empty new supply boxes, Ethan thought it would be fun to explore computer cords and mouth the disgustingly nasty desk and chair legs.  I accomplished nothing and decided to hold off until this upcoming week.

I'm attempting to savor these last few summer weeks hanging out with my little guy and just enjoying being a temporary stay at home momma.  I love being able to spend the days with Ethan and watch him change in such a short period of time.  I feel like this time with him has allowed me to truly get to know my baby in a way that wasn't possible before.  For that I am grateful.