Summer is finally here and Ethan is now 6 months old!

What's up?

We took Ethan in for his 6 month check up on June 17th.  He always surprises us with his statistics.  Here's where he's at right now:

Height: 28 inches (95th percentile)
Weight: 22.6 pounds (off the charts!)

Head Circ: 17.2 in (50th Percentile)

He's off the charts for his weight and in the 95th percentile for height.  I asked the Doctor if I need to adjust Ethan's eating habits, but after going over what the kid consumes in a typical day, he said that his diet is fine, it's probably genetics.  But once this kid gets crawling and walking, I'm sure he'll even out.  He's super active and is always wanting to move and do things, so I'm interested to see what'll happen when he can actually crawl and walk.    

What Ethan is doing now:
-Babbling, saying this like Da, da, da.
-Blowing spit bubble raspberries.
-Standing holding onto something.
-Putting everything and anything he can get his hands on into his mouth, including his hands!
-Pulling Mommy's hair.
-Giggling and smiling of course!
-Played with a puppy the other day and thought that was neat! Kept laughing at him, especially when he got licked!
-Loving taking baths and splashing around with his rubber duckies!
-Had his first swim at our gym pool today and absolutely loved it! I dunked him under a couple times and he was totally cool with it.  He splashed and looked at all the other kids and just had a good time!
-He's eating solids now.  I even made my own baby food by roasting up a butternut squash and blending it nice and smooth for him to eat.  He's eaten everything we've ever offered him and he enjoys getting to eat when Mom and Dad are eating. 
-Rolling over from his back to his tummy.  This isn't his favorite, but he can do it when he wants to.
-Sitting on his own.  He'll fall over from time to time, but he's getting better at this everyday! 

He was very interested in getting to Mommy's phone.  Aren't all kids wanting their parents phones?  They see us using them all the time, what's all the fuss about they think.

Hanging out in our little playground by our condo. Ethan was pretty happy to be hanging out there, holding himself up with the bars.

Still loving his sleepy pal Lenny the Lamb!

 

 

 

 

Here's Ethan the big boy, standing up all by himself!  Well if it weren't for the pole it wouldn't work out so well!

This kid loves to stand up! He constantly wants to be up and likes to balance on his toes! I can't believe how strong his little grip is.  He can't pull himself up yet, but once he's standing and holding on, he does pretty well.

Here's the big boy sitting up on his own.  I think that look on his face is saying, "Yep, I'm a big boy, and look at what I can do."

Pictures from Spring Break! Finally as promised!

Ethan and Mommy at our first stop in Scipio on our way to St. George for Spring break back in April.  They have a petting zoo there just next to the gas station with the Dairy Queen.  Sort of a random place, with lots of random animals as you will soon see! 

Here's the baby Zebra that came over to get a drink.  Ethan wasn't too impressed with the uniqueness of this baby Zebra and just quietly observed him as he did with all the rest of the animals.

This guy was a friendly fella.  He was the first to make our acquaintance.  He thought we had food!  We didn't and he quickly lost interest.

Gotta smooch those cheeks!

Here are the baby pygmy goats, just 10 days old!  They were so small!  The woman who takes care of the animals said that someone stole the 4th baby goat just the other day!  How sad! 

Get a load of this guy!  His glowing yellow eyes were reminiscent of the desert people creatures from Star Wars, you know the ones that sold the droids to Luke's family.  You can tell he really gets into his food! He did come closer and was pretty creepy.  Now I know why they call them the "Black sheep of the family!"

Here's the zebra coming over to say "hello."  What a cutie!

This place had everything from rabbits to lama's and even Emus!  The woman working there said that if you can catch a baby bunny you can keep it!  Apparently they have plenty and more come all the time!

Daddy and Ethan having a cute moment!  Ethan loves his Daddy and enjoys getting his attention especially when he can hit him in the face when Brandon is still sleeping when I bring Ethan into our bed to snuggle in the morning.

All geared up for a walk around Grandma and Grandpa's new house in St. George!  I think Ethan enjoys walks, he tends to act like he's zoning off, but I think he's looking around at stuff.  Walks make him a bit sleepy.

A view of the checkerboard something or other, can't remember it's name, but it is in Zion Canyon and pretty cool looking.

A view from the canyon overlook trail.  Not a good idea for those who don't like heights!  It was pretty awesome!

Part of the trail up to the overlook had this cool hanging ceiling that you got to walk under.

Here's our happy boy entertaining Mommy!  He loves to hold our hands and I love it when he does it! 

This is not a smile, oh no!  This is a warning sign of things in the works! That trip to St. George Ethan was not feeling too good in the diaper department!  Poor guy, pooping every 2-3 hours! 

People often say he looks like Brandon, but I think he's a good mix of both of us! We love our Ethan boy! 

Just checking in with some new pictures and milestones.

Smiling it up on his blessing day.  We were so busy running around getting everything together that we didn't get the chance to take any pictures with the family and Ethan, so this was taken at home afterwards.

Ethan loves his fingers.  You'll often find him sucking and chewing on them, producing a lot of drool.

Brandon made the print on the front of Ethan's shirt.  It says "Daddy's Boy," on it, and that's totally true.  Today was the last day that Daddy will be staying home with Ethan because Brandon is starting his new job on Monday!  Exciting, but he'll miss the time that they shared.

Oh so reverent.  Ethan often clasps his hands together in a prayerful pose, even while preparing to bounce in his jumper!

Tummy time anyone?? Ethan can now roll from his tummy to his back in both directions.  At first he favored his left side, but now is pretty adept at both.  He also likes to raise one of his eyebrows at you when he's wondering what you're up to!

Ethan is now 4 1/2 months old!  At his 4 month appointment he had these stats to report:

Weight: 17.9 lbs.

Height: 26 inches 

He grew 3 inches in 2 months and gained 4.4 lbs! He is in the 90th percentile for these benchmarks.  Definitely a big boy!  I think I have tendonitis in my wrist from lugging him around! It aches and sends a piercing pain when I move my thumb in certain directions. 

The doctor gave us the "ok" to start him on rice cereal, and he had a hard time at first, but is starting the get the hang of it.  We give him just a little bit close to his bedtime, hoping a fuller belly means a longer night sleep for both Mommy and baby!

Sitting in his bumbo, preparing for his first rice cereal meal.

We think he may have got more out of his mouth than in, but we know he'll figure it all out soon!

Other than that, not a lot of news to report.  Last week we drove down to sunny St. George for my Spring Break.  It was great escaping the cold, wintry weather of the North for the sunny, pleasant weather down South.  We helped Brandon's parents move from Hurricane to a town on the South end of St. George called Bloomington.  It's much closer to where they work and will save them a fortune on gas money. We stayed there for a few days and had a good time visiting with Ethan's grandparents.  We went for a lot of walks and just enjoyed getting to be outdoors.  We'll post some pictures of that trip as soon as Brandon gets them downloaded. In the meantime, hope you enjoyed a few newer pics of Ethan.

Ethan meets his new cousin and other news!

This is Thomas, my younger sister's new baby boy, born March 28th,! He's 3 1/2 months younger than Ethan.  It's hard to believe, but Ethan was actually just a little smaller than Thomas when he was born!  Now look at him! This kid is growing so fast! He isn't quite sure what to make of his new cousin but in a few months I'm sure little Thomas will catch up to Ethan and the two of them will be buddies! 

Brandon took these pictures of Ethan and Lenny.  I just love this one, it's my new screen saver at work.  Don't you just love the chubby arms! 

Ethan is the proud new owner of his very own jumping palace!  We got it a couple of weeks ago and let me tell you we love it maybe even more than Ethan does!  He was bouncing while we held him, and making our arms tired!  This kid has got to be over 16 pounds already. The jumper has saved our arms and given Ethan an outlet for his energy.  Not only that, after the first few days with the jumper, Ethan started sleeping longer at night!  Worth every penny!

He isn't quite tall enough for it, so we had to put a skinny box underneath it and we covered it with a rug for grip action. 

Ethan and his Daddy practicing his balancing act for future jobs in the circus.  Apparently balancing kids on your hand is a "Pack" thing.  Brandon's dad and uncles did this with their kids, and now Brandon can do it with Ethan.  He started doing it with Ethan sitting on his hand, and now we're up to standing and "yes" it makes me a little nervous sometimes! 

Ethan and Lenny, still good pals!

Ethan meeting his Aunt Lesley for the first time! 

Oh so peaceful! He let himself get rocked to sleep in his swing.  You wouldn't believe how this kid's stuff has taken over our living room!  


Some good news!  Brandon got a job offer and is set to start in a few weeks.  It will mean that he and Ethan will no longer get to hang out during the day and we're now in the market to find a sitter, but we're still very excited for Brandon's job!

Lenny the Lamb

Just as a bird leaves the nest and bear cubs leave their dens, Ethan has moved on. He has found someone new to hold him, cuddle him and keep him warm. We fully expected this to happen, just not on his 3 month birthday! Lenny the Lamb has captured all Ethan's attention and affection and I am afraid we just have to accept it! They have quickly become vast friends. And it is one of the cutest things you will ever see!

Ethan fell asleep this afternoon while he was holding Lenny

I am sure Ethan and Lenny will have many fun packed, adrenaline filled adventures together!

Saving Cent by Cent!

My good friend Lisa has been working on a blog that will save you money and offer some fun free deals!  If you'd like to check it out, her site is savingcentbycent.blogspot.com/
She's done a good job with it. She even offers monthly prizes for those that follow her blog! Go Lisa!

Everybody, Everybody loves Ethan Boy!

Here's Ethan smiling it up while Brandon sings one of his made up songs to him.  Ethan is usually happiest after he gets up in the morning ready with his smile that melts our hearts.

Me and my little dude, catching a quick moment when I ran home before I had to go back to school for Parent Teacher Conferences.  Those were a sad couple of days last week, being gone most of the day! If you look close enough you can see a little spit bubble on his lips.