Life of the party

Our happy boy woke up this morning all smiles and sat up and chatted with Mommy and Daddy in bed for awhile before breakfast, then we headed out to go to the farmer's market on Union Center. Mommy and Daddy picked out some yummy green and golden zucchini and yellow squash for them to have for dinner and also to puree some up for Ethan! Ethan slept most of the time we were there, but woke up at the end and watched the pretty fountains.

After we got home, Daddy worked in the yard and Ethan supervised Mommy while she cooked food for the Tastefully Simple party. He was eyeing the shiny silver packages the dips were in, and got his hands on one and had some fun chewing on it. Mommy persuaded him to finally give it back, but Ethan wanted to play with one of the bowls. Remind me again why he has all these toys, when he seems to favor playing with bowls, cups, and spoons??!!

Ethan woke up from his nap and was the life of the party - he loved being able to talk to everyone and just kept on laughing and smiling! We had a lot of fun hanging out and chatting with Mammaw, Papaw, Grandma and Grandpa, and Bill and Carrie and enjoyed the yummy food! Ethan was all tuckered out after the party, but he was up to eating some sweet potatoes!! Daddy fed him while Mommy helped keep his hands still, and Ethan went diving mouth first, spoonful after spoonful, until each little morsel of sweet potato was gone! Tomorrow we will try a new food... hopefully he will like everything else just as much!

First trip to the fair

Ethan woke up this morning and had his bottle for breakfast, took a nap, and then headed to Mammaw and Papaw's. He took a nice walk with Aunt Sheila, Aunt Haley, and Rylee! Mammaw said he had a good nap after the walk, and then he had some cereal and sweet potatoes. They are really enjoying seeing him eat and he loves the sweet potatoes! He made a bit of a mess on his clothes and bib - he gets so excited and wants to grab the spoon and bowl! We are going to get him some more of the Bumkins bibs to keep at the grandparents houses - they are awesome bibs and we highly recommend them to use when feeding solid foods!! They are waterproof, have a catch-all pocket, can easily be wiped off and re-used... we are a walking advertisement for them :)

Mommy had a super busy day at work, and Daddy went to school and aced his exam... he is doing so great and we are so proud of him! He will take the first part of his A+ certification next week :) Daddy went to pickup Ethan and then they met Mommy at home so we could get ready to go to the fair. We met up with Aunt Sheri, Alexis, Bub, and James, and also ran into Mommy's friend Jessica from school! We had a lot of fun hanging out. Ethan took his first carousel ride with Mommy and Daddy... as soon as we set him on the horse, he grabbed onto the pole with both hands just like he knew what he was doing! He loved looking at all the lights on all the rides. He was mesmerized all evening! We even ran into Mammaw, Haley, and Brianna too! Ethan was such a good boy all night. He snuggled up with Mommy in the sling while we were walking back to the car and fell fast asleep.

29 weeks!

Happy Thursday! Ethan is 29 weeks old today!

Mommy got put on call today so she got to stay home with the boys. We hung out this morning and Ethan had a cube of pears and rice cereal for breakfast. Yummy! He ate it all up. After naptime, Ethan went to Granny's so Mommy and Daddy could get some things done. While Daddy took Ethan to Granny's house, Mommy made Ethan some cantaloupe cubes from the fresh melon Dadddy bought. Mommy also had to work on reorganizing Ethan's clothes in his room. This boy has a ton of clothes!! It's sad going through his smaller clothes and having to pack them away. He still fits in his 0-3 onesies and most of the 3-6 months clothes, but then there are so many cute summer outfits we want him to get to wear, too! It is not fun doing laundry for a baby because you constantly have to sort through the sizes and weed things out!! Mommy also scored at Once Upon a Child over the weekend - they were having a summer clearance sale where you could get a bag full of goodies for $10 for anything that you could fit in the bag! Mommy got tons of shorts, tee shirts, and polos for Ethan, mostly for next summer. So Ethan's room currently has piles of clothes in all different sizes waiting to be put away... we need to get some spacesaver bags for all the small clothes we'll save for Baby G #2 in the (far) future!

Ethan was a bit fussy for Granny... he's become so much more aware of things, sometimes it's more difficult putting him down for naps without the swing. He's also been more fussy at bedtime - he used to go to sleep on his own if we put him down awake or drowsy, but the past few weeks, most nights he will fuss and need to be picked up and consoled or rocked before he will go to sleep. Mommy was reading today about 6 month olds having night-time separation anxiety, so that explains why this might be happening.

We went to the Village Green tonight after picking Ethan up to hear a Beatles tribute band, 8 Days a Week. We spread a blanket out on the grass by the water and the three of us enjoyed the gorgeous weather and fun music!

We've also discovered a new "activity" of Ethan's. He is a lot more active when he nurses and kicks and looks around a lot more. He likes to hold on and is pinching... and sometimes it hurts!! He has also been holding onto the nipples on his bottles while he is eating too. It's kind of funny, but we've got to teach him that he can't pinch!!

Yum-o... sweet potatoes!

Daddy and Ethan had boy bonding time this morning and gave Mommy a break and let her sleep in. Thanks, guys!! When she got up and walked downstairs, Ethan immediately started talking to her and reaching out for her. When she got close he reached up for Mommy to pick him up. So cute!! We are loving this :) After Mommy picked Ethan up, he gave her big wet kisses on the cheek and then turned and smiled at Daddy. It sure feels so good to know you are loved!

We tried giving Ethan water in the sippy cup but Ethan doesn't really seem interested yet. He stuck the little sipper in his mouth right away but just munched on the nozzle instead of really sipping it, and played around with the cup. But, we did try sweet potatoes for lunch and he absolutely L-O-V-E-D them!! This has been the best reaction yet. He was ready for another bite one right after another. It was the quickest and messiest feeding yet :) He was constantly reaching for the spoon for more! Looks like we have a new favorite!

Ethan went to Mammaw and Papaw's for awhile and went to church with them. Mommy and Daddy were going to stay home to clean and reorganize Ethan's room/clothing, but Daddy had a surprise for Mommy! He made food and packed a picnic in our picnic basket and took her on a surprise date to Harbin Park. We had a very nice picnic and then went hiking. We didn't even know they had hiking trails, lol! It was a lot of fun. Soon after we got back home, Mammaw and Papaw brought Ethan home and he woke up all smiles to nurse. He fell asleep quickly, and Mommy took him upstairs to bed while Daddy had ran to get us a sandwich. Ethan woke up and was fussy and crying for about ten minutes. As soon as Daddy came home, he calmed down, Daddy read him "Goodnight, Moon", and then he went to sleep. I guess he is used to both Mommy and Daddy putting him to bed, and he just wasn't having it!!

Rise and shine!

Ethan decided to rise and shine early this morning at 6:30 right after Mommy left for work. His tummy must have been bothering him - he was fussy for a little while and then went back to sleep for Daddy. After he got back up, he went to Mammaw and Papaw's for the day. He ate 3 tablespoons of Earth's Best rice cereal and a whole bottle at lunchtime and took two good naps. He has also fallen in love with cups... there is a little blue cup at Mammaw's house and she said he played with it all day! Any time he dropped it or it rolled away he would get mad and wait for you to get it for him! He was snoozing when Mommy came to pick him up, and woke up smiling!

Ethan is also reaching out for us now, which is an amazing feeling! When he sees you he will reach out to be picked up, or will reach with his arms and body towards who he wants to get him :)

Our Little Swimmer!

Ethan was very excited to go see Granny and Grandpa Jim today after they got back from their vacation to Destin! He went for a walk with Granny and Daddy from the Waterworks Park to Joyce Park this morning and then hung out with Granny and Grandpa while Daddy did some studying. Granny said he was such a good boy, and he ate all of his cereal and pears for her. He even got to sit in the big boy high chair at her house and did really well!! Although Granny had to come to our rescue after a bee got in the car when Mommy came to pick him up... Mommy is petrified of bees!! He had so much fun, he fell asleep in the car on the way home.

Ethan played in his exersaucer while Daddy cooked dinner, and Mommy and Daddy made Ethan some organic pureed avocado cubes. We tried peas again tonight and Ethan did not want any more after a few bites, so we are thinking we'll have to move onto another food and try peas again later on.

Fun news - Ethan had his first swim in the swimming pool tonight!! Mommy and Daddy got a blue blowup pool at Target and Daddy pumped it up and filled it up a few days ago. We've been letting it sit out in the sun a few days for the water to get warmer. So, Ethan got his Little Swimmers and his cute swim trunks on and we headed outside to his pool! He absolutely loved it. He sat up all by himself the whole time and started splashing around right away. He just sat and splashed and splashed!! He is our little water baby! Playing in the water wore him out, so he nursed and went night-night very easily :)

Happy Birthday, Rylee!

We had a very busy day today! Aunt Heather's bridal shower and Ethan's cousin Rylee's 1st birthday party were both today. Mommy and Ethan set off for the bridal shower first and Ethan had fun hanging out with all the ladies and he sat up in a chair quite well and played with Madison! Then we went to meet Daddy and the rest of the family at Harbin Park for Rylee's 1st birthday party. Rylee got a Radio Flyer wagon and Ethan cuddled up with her and tried it out. Then we watched Rylee dive into her own little princess cake... what a mess!! Now we know what we are getting ourselves into in the next 6 months! After we got home, Mommy and Ethan both slept over 3 hours... we were exhausted! While we were sleeping, Daddy enjoyed playing some Call of Duty with Rylee's daddy, Simeon. After we woke up, we tried peas with Ethan but he just wasn't having it. So, we had bath time and Ethan splashed all over the place! He will lay on his belly and kick around in the water, he looks like a little fish :)

Hot air balloons!!

Today was Mommy's Saturday to work so Ethan hung out with Daddy this morning, and then they came to bring Mommy lunch at work and hang out for a little bit! It was Ethan's first time visiting Mommy at work since he's been born, and he got to meet some of her co-workers. He was doing his happy grunt and making them laugh!

After Mommy got home from work, Daddy rocked out on some Guitar Hero, and we sat down to nurse and Ethan started making his little "puh" sound... he has been puckering his lips together and making a "p" sound and blowing air... it is so funny!! Then Mommy and Ethan fell asleep again... Mommy has a lot of sleep to catch up on!! After we woke up, we drove to Smith Park in Middletown to see the Hot Air Balloon Festival. We didn't get there until around 8:30 or 9, but it was awesome timing because we wanted to see the balloon glow! We got to see a lot of the balloons inflate, and they had countdowns and then all of the balloons would light up together! It was really a lot of fun and Mommy thinks it's the best festival she's ever been to. Ethan loved looking at the bright colors of the balloons and seeing all the people! We are looking forward to making this a family tradition and heading back as he gets older - there were tons of activities for kids!! Daddy was happy because he got all three of his favorite festival foods - fresh lemonade (from a stand that was on Food Network's Unwrapped!), funnel cake, and a yummy corn dog. We really recommend the festival if you are looking for something fun to do!! It looks like it is an annual event in July. Check out their website: http://www.ohiochallenge.com