4 Months

Ethan is four months old. He is such a sweet baby and has so much personality. It is a joy and blessing to watch him interact and acquire new abilities every day. He seems to have grown so much in the last few weeks. Ethan is a man on the move. He will not sit still and constantly wants to be kicking his legs or playing or getting all the wiggles out. He giggles and smiles constantly. It is so fun to walk into his room in the morning and when he realizes that we are there he looks up and smiles and kicks his legs. He discovered his toes this month and every morning when we change him he immediately grabs his toes almost in an effort to make sure they are still there. The first time he found them he kept looking at me as if to say, "mommy, when did you get these toes installed, I like playing with them and can't wait to get them in my mouth."

Although Ethan is constantly babbling around mommy and daddy, we have found he is shy around new faces and people he hasn't seen in a while. He will quiet down and just watch in amazement but won't interact. We get glimpses of his real personality when he sees one of us and he just lights up. He is so similar to daddy and LOVES Chris so much. He gets excited every evening when he gets home and smiles and giggles with daddy. 

He now rolls from back to belly (and gets frustrated) and from belly to back. He does baby push-ups (family boot camp starts soon...:).) and seems to want to move more and more. He starts getting frustrated if he can't get the toy he is reaching for or something he wants. He seems to have a fascination with anything we are holding, especially our water bottles and wants to suck or gnaw on everything. Several times we have been asked if he is teething because of the amount of drool he seems to have. We are not sure on this but hope the teeth hold out a little longer. 

Clothes: he is mostly in 3-6 but some of the shirts/onesies are getting short so we are going to have to start pulling out the 6-9 month clothes

Weight: 16 pounds 6 ounces

Height: 25.5 inches

Diapers: he wears a size 3 and still uses cloth for most days. Diapers are our enemy as they seem to fail to do their job most days. Ethan is a pro at leaking from any diaper, no matter the brand or type.
Naps: He naps twice a day most days and I am still working on figuring out how to insist on crib naps. His morning nap is normally around 10:30/11 and he sleeps for 30-45 minutes. Afternoon nap is 2 hours or so in his crib.
Nighttime sleep: He normally goes to bed between 9 and 9:30 and wakes up between 7 and 8. Thanks to daylight savings time change he now is getting up before 7. I am not amused but oh well we can't complain.
Eating: we have a marathon eater but he is also very scheduled. he normally eats every 4 or so hours. 7:30-7:45 am, 12, 4 and 7:30 pm. These are estimated times and he lets me know when he is hungry. He eats for between 20-30 minutes a side.

Daddy and our sweet pumpkin

Celebrating Granddaddy's 60th birthday

Why play with toys when there is a chip bag?

and mommy's water bottle?

Playing and Happy!

3 months...A quarter of a year

Ethan is three months old. He is developing quite the personality and is so much fun to be around. He really wants to be on the move all the time and enjoys his playmat and exersaucer. He will sit and listen to us read. One of our favorite routines is putting him in the bumbo for Chris and I to eat dinner. He sits there and talks up a storm and sucks on his hands. He seems to enjoy being a part of the conversation.

He recognizes us really well and his face lights up when Chris gets home every night.

Stats: (estimates because no doctor this month!)
Weight: we think he weighs about 16 pounds
Height: he is tall and loves to stand up. I am guessing 24-25 inches
Clothes: he is wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes and some of the onesies may not last long for height.

His latest trick is rolling from back to belly. He does this when he sleeps and loves sleeping on his belly so we are swaddle weaning. Yesterday he did roll over while playing. He is a good sleeper for the most part and takes 3 naps during the day and goes to bed around 9:30, eats in the middle of the night and sleeps until 7:30 or 8. 

We started sleep training last night because of issues with swaddle weaning. For the last two years we have been meeting with the fabulous Jason and Jennifer Rickard as friends and for some mentoring. They have supported and encouraged us and walked us through some of their parenting choices in the hopes to help us make decisions in our parenting. They introduced to Ferber method sleep training,. We were hooked when we watched Russell and Meredith go to bed without any issues and sleep through the night before 6 months...we like to sleep. Night one went well and naps have gone ok. Praying and trusting God in this process. I will probably update on this process in another post.

Pictures from the last few weeks:

Dinner time with mommy and daddy hanging in the bumbo

Happy Boy

Playing/eating his monkey on his play mat

checking out his new mega blocks 

fun under the playmat 

instead of taking his hands to his mouth he takes his mouth to his hands

he loves his new exersaucer

joy of playing with daddy

sleeping during his first nap today. he likes his zippydee-zip

Mommy's birthday

This past weekend was my birthday. I am going to give Chris a ton of credit on making the weekend super special. Saturday morning he made pancakes for breakfast and then sent me out for a little bit of time by myself. I went to a consignment sale in search of more clothes for Ethan. When I got home to feed Ethan he went out and got food from our favorite Chinese Restaurant: Phoenix. After lunch we went to Celebration Station and played putt putt. We put Ethan in the stroller for most of the game but then he woke up and wanted to see what was going on so he went into the Ergo. I actually did better when he was on my chest. We came home and had dinner and then watched a movie.  It was a great day and weekend. Chris had Ethan carry out one of my gifts, a beautiful necklace with all our first initials. He also gave me a picture frame with the words from our first dance at our wedding written out and a picture from our wedding (I'm a Believer). I love you so much Chris.

Below a couple pictures and a video of Ethan(sorry its upside down) on my birthday.

Mommy and Ethan playing putt putt

Ethan was really into the game and confused by the stopping for a picture

Today we hung out with our good friend's two oldest children, Russell and Meredith. Russell is so sweet with Ethan and played with him for a couple hours. Russell is going to be a fun playmate for Ethan in the coming years and a great role model. Here he is holding Ethan today!

Farm day

Today Ethan and I went to our dear friend, Jessica's parent's house for a farm day with several other moms and little ones. Ethan got to ride a horse with mommy and go on a hayride. He also played in the grass some. He was so tired when we got home he napped for a long time. Thank you David, Lisa and Jessica for hosting us.

riding the horse

mommy and Ethan on Alice the horse 

friends playing in the wagon

In the grass on the blanket

on the hay ride

the whole group...thank you David and Lisa 

Two Months

Ethan is two months old now. He has changed quite a bit recently which is fun.

Weight: 13.05 (last Friday)

Height: 23 inchesClothing: we are preparing for fall and trying to dress him more but our very warm natured baby normally just wears a onesie and maybe socks or just a diaper. He is mostly in 0-3 months but may be graduating to 3-6 soon.
He is very smiley and social. He doesn't stay still unless he's asleep and that's even questionable. He likes to play on his play mat and go on walks in the ergo or stroller. I tried capturing his smile but I normally get flailing arms or legs and a blur so I took a video instead. I am going to get a smile on camera soon.

after a bath

various attempts at catching a smile 

 

the best I got...sweet boy 

 

8 weeks

Ethan is 8 weeks and growing and changing very quickly. He started smiling at us two weeks ago and shows so much excitement for things these days. He also started cooing and babbling and has long conversations with himself or us. Ethan is on the move all the time. He rolled over last week. At night and nap times he will move around so much, he ends up on the side of the crib or in a completely different spot than where we put him down. His legs and arms are always going a mile a minute. He also discovered this weekend that he can suck on his hand or fist and makes a slobbery mess. He is such a joy and fun little guy.

Here is the video of him rolling over.  

playing on daddy's putting green

ready for the golf course

 

happy baby

playing with daddy 

Memorial service and family reunion

This past weekend (labor day) we flew to California to celebrate grandma's life and passing into glory and a little family time. Ethan did super well on all four flights and was a great baby during the time there. He got to see Tito and Tita again along with Peter, Betsy and all three cousins. He also got to meet aunt Karen (yay), great grandpa Wuerth (oldest and youngest members of the family, 94 years old and 7 weeks old) and several great aunts and uncles and second cousins. He just started being more alert and smiling for people and he showed off for everyone. For me it was a blessing to be there to remember and celebrate grandma. We laughed and cried and enjoyed each others company. There were so many highlights. Seeing my entire immediate family, aunts, uncles and cousins I don't see often enough. We are so blessed by family and this was a great time. Meeting my cousin Nate's fiancé Kim was special. She is awesome. We are sad we are missing their wedding this weekend on Martha's Vineyard. Seeing grandpa. He is 94 and so sweet and dear to me. I am so glad he got to meet Ethan.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

family picture 

 

Grandpa, Aunt Vicku, Chris, Kristen, Liza and Ethan. Grandpa was holding Ethan, the youngest member of the family  

 

Rice/Johnson family with Grandpa

Family photo 

Ethan and Liza playing in the morning

 

blackmail pictures

 

Jonathan, my cousin scratched Ethan's head for like 20 minutes and he loved it. He was smiling and giggling and moving towards Jonathan for more 

sheer joy 

loving it, Jon thanks for holding him and I am so glad he met him before you move to India