Ethan's First Christmas

We had such a wonderful time celebrating Ethan's first Christmas. There was something extra special about Christmas this year, and our family has truly been blessed. Patrick had a week off work which was awesome and we really enjoyed getting to spend some quality time together as a family. I have so much to catch up on, so for now I'll post some pictures so you can see a little bit of our first Christmas as a family of three.

Reading together...Ethan is more interested in eating books than hearing me read to him but I'll keep trying (I so want him to love reading as he grows up!)

Ethan LOVES his exersaucer (and so do I...he is so easily entertained that as long as I have an eye on him it means freedom for me to get things like baking Christmas cookies done)

Getting ready to deliver cookie trays to our neighbors

It's Ethan Claus!

Go Panthers...hopefully a number one draft pick will help us not repeat this awful season!

Putting out milk and cookies for Santa and cheese and a small milk for Santa Mouse

Ethan opening his stocking that Santa Claus filled with goodies

Cuddling with Grandpa

Ethan in front of all his Christmas presents

Ethan's elephant music box from his grandparents

He's learning early...go Blue Devils!!

Ethan and I waking up to snow!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow (it was all off the roads the next day, which made this a perfect snow!)

Ethan - Week 21

What a fantastic weekend! Our dear friends, the Tenney family, came for a quick visit on their way to visit Jen's family in Florida for Christmas. Before they made it to Charlotte, we all met in Salisbury, NC with another of our friends from middle school, Jennifer (I still think of her as Jennifer Magoon even though she has been married for a number of years now!) so that we could take the kids on the Santa Train. It was wonderful to all be able to get together again. I realized during this visit that Jennifer does not live too far from my in-laws so hopefully we'll be able to get together a little more frequently in the future.

Ethan did really well on the 45 minute drive to the Santa Train and slept the majority of the way. He woke up once we arrived so he missed about an hour or so of his nap, but he seemed to be in pretty good spirits so I wasn't too terribly worried about it. Of course, feeding time was quickly approaching so I wasn't sure how he would act. I brought a bottle with me, but this child practically refuses to take a bottle from me. When I offered it to him on the train he was acting like it was choking him (even though he takes the exact bottle from Patrick without an issue from time to time) and kept pulling on my sweater. I had to break it to him that I was not about to nurse publically, with or without a nursing cover, so this bottle was as good as it was going to get. This prompted a big cry, and I kept looking around to see who was staring at the idiot who brought a 4 month old on the train. Nobody seemed to be giving me evil glares (thank goodness for the loud Christmas music that was playing!) but I was relieved to get Ethan back into the car where at least if he decided to howl only I would be subjected to it. He promptly fell asleep for the entire ride back as well (even though he now had not eaten in almost 6 hours.) At least the car trips were uneventful...if only he hadn't decided to lose it on the train!

Later that night we did our Christmas gift exchange with the Tenneys and I cannot wait to put Ethan in his new clothes from his Aunt Jen and Uncle Patrick. They are soooooo adorable. I will be posting pics as soon as the clothes are out of the dryer (yes, I already have them washed and ready!) It was a quick visit, but they'll be back on their return trip to WV and I cannot wait.

Patrick is on vacation this entire week, so I am enjoying having some time at home with both of my boys. All Christmas gifts have been purchased, wrapped and shipped so we can really just relax and enjoy hanging out this week. I have several Christmas treats I am going to make - thumbprint cookies, chocolate delight cookies, cherry bars and brown sugar shortbread and I am so excited about being a domestic diva this year. There is something so special about this time of year and to get to introduce Ethan to all of our family traditions (and make up some new ones) has made this especially fun. I'll try to keep the updates timely this week as we prepare to celebrate Ethan's very first Christmas.

I LOVE this (if only I had thought to grab Ethan out of his carrier it would have been complete!) We attended middle school together and now here we are 20 years and 3 kids later!

Jennifer & Ethan at the train station

So cute...Maggie got jealous when she realized her Mommy was holding Ethan

I love this...Ethan looks so serious while Maggie is smiling!

Morgan is all smiles!

Jennifer & Jennifer checking their cameras while Maggie & Ethan hang out

Poor Patrick Tenney rode with all our purses, diaper bags, and baby carrier for the majority of the ride...he was a great sport about it

Ethan wasn't too interested in Santa this time (I guess it was their third meeting after all)
Pardon my expression - I was trying to get Ethan to smile

Morgan & Maggie watching the world go by from the train window

Roaring Rex - it took two Targets before I found the last one!

Morgan loves to play with Ethan's Twilight Turtle so hopefully she will enjoy having her very own Twilight Ladybug

Patrick's Steelers Mr. Potato Head - I will have to watch to ensure that no harm comes to him :)

Scooby Doo movies - Morgan watched one later that night!

Ethan - Week 20

So I realize I am definitely behind in posting updates about Ethan during his fourth month of life, so here's my attempt at catching you up on everything that's been happening with Ethan and life in general over the past several weeks. Let me start by saying how much I am absolutely loving this age. Ethan is so interactive right now and smiles at just about everything, but still isn't mobile so that keeps life relatively simple for me. I'm not sure how it happened, but I may have the happiest child I have ever met. I'm such a stress case/worrier that I never anticipated having such a laid back child. Ethan laughs all the time, and all it takes is a funny face or voice or sound from me and he grins from ear to ear. It is so simple - I think I must have been a seriously high maintenance child because it takes so much more to entertain me. His favorite things right now are when I spin around with him in a circle, gently toss him in the air (and no, I do not let go - I'm too afraid I'll drop him!), when Patrick plays his "claw" game with Ethan (think of a Jim Carrey movie here - I'm not sure which one though) or when he can lay down and put his toes in his mouth. Yes, his favorite activity may be the simple joy of putting his toes in his mouth. Gross!

We introduced Ethan to the bumbo seat and exersaucer following his 4 month appointment since he had decent "trunk control" (I don't know why I find that term so amusing, but I love to use it!) He was not at all sure about the exersaucer at first and kind of slumped over in it for a few days. I'm glad we didn't give up on it though, because now he loves to sit in it and play with the various toys all around him. I still think he likes the mirror best (this child is in love with his own image!) I put the exersaucer in the middle of the kitchen and it has been a huge help to me in getting cooking and cleaning in the kitchen done while he is entertained. He's still not 100 percent sold on the bumbo seat. He'll do great in it for a few minutes and then for some reason he decides that he has had enough and will start arching his back and I'm terrified that he'll tip over so that signals the end of bumbo seat time. Maybe he'll decide he really likes it one of these days, but I'm not holding my breath. I can usually get at least 5 -10 minutes with it, which is more than I can say for tummy time.

Ethan still does not enjoy tummy time. Really, he never has. When I put him on his tummy now he will do one of two things. Now that he knows how to roll over, he will either immediately roll himself over onto his back or he will do push ups for no more than 5 minutes before his little face turns bright red and he lets out frustrated sighs. If I don't flip him over when this starts, he will start crying. (I found something that will make Ethan cry...yes, he can do it! Oh, and if I wait too long to feed him he will definitely cry then too!!) I'm not too sure what to do here because everything I read keeps stressing how important tummy time is but I cannot seem to get Ethan sold on the idea. I think he thinks I'm trying to torture him or something. Any ideas? I've tried getting on the ground with him, using a boppy to help prop him up, putting toys all around...I'm at a loss!

Right after Thanksgiving Ethan had another first (he rolled over for the first time the day after Thanksgiving as well)...he had his first cold. It wasn't too serious and he never developed a fever or anything that would require a visit to the pediatrician's office, but for a couple of days there we were both pretty miserable. Yep, I got his cold at the same time! I was pretty achy and had the runny nose as well, so staying up with my poor little baby at night was especially not fun. I slept in the chair in his room for a couple of nights because he was waking up every couple of hours. The worst though, was that I had to continually aspirate his nose (which he HATES!) If you think he doesn't like tummy time, he REALLY doesn't like having his nose aspirated. Fortunately we have put the cold behind us, and I managed to make it through with only two calls to the pediatrician's office :)

Last weekend my in-laws came for a night so that Patrick and I could go to a couple of Christmas parties. If you'll recall my post about the coolest Christmas party invite ever (a live tree with a bow tie!) then you know this party had to be good. We pulled up to a mansion and there were 5 valet guys out front. The couple had designer trees throughout their "home" (I use the term loosely because although I have been in some ridiculous houses before, I have never been in one like this!) The entire backyard was tented in elaborate fabrics and chandeliers, the pool had a plexiglass cover on risers so that you were dancing on the water, there were live bands, ice sculptures with shrimp, carving stations, every kind of passed appetizer you could imagine, and then to top it all off there were three live penguins that were flown in from a zoo in Ohio. The society pages were there taking pictures of people with the penguins and I almost laughed in the one photographer's face when he askeed if we wanted our picture taken. I guarantee they would wonder who we were when they were looking through the film because we don't frequent the same events that these people do! There were several hundred people there (and all I could think about was that each of these couples received a Christmas tree invitation as well!) I was talking to one gentleman who asked what I did with my tree - I told him I set it up in my foyer and decorated it. He smiled and then said he gave his to his maid who thought it was the best thing ever. Evidently I have quite a lot in common with his maid because I thought it was the best thing ever too! When the valet brought us our car to leave, there were bottled waters with the same design as the party invitation in our car and a Christmas CD as a parting gift in our car as well. It was an incredible evening and I am so glad I got to see how the other half live. It is a different world, but it was fantastic to be able to visit for a night. We had a great time!

We took Ethan to our neighborhood breakfast with Santa last weekend and it was fun to be able to meet some neighbors from around the neighborhood. We are really close to our neighbors in our cul-de-sac, but it was nice to get to meet some new people. I think kids really are an "in" to making new friends!

Neighborhood breakfast with Santa - Mommy & Daddy enjoyed all the treats and hot chocolate!

I love the ears on this suit!

Ethan in his Christmas snuggly, getting ready for breakfast with the big guy

A Prayer Request

I'm writing this post with a heavy heart. My good friend Jen (we met and bonded our freshman year of college in the dorms of Appalachian) lives in Tennessee. When she got married 5 years ago I was honored to be a part of her wedding. While in town for her festivities I got the chance to meet another of her good friends, Jana. Jana was so sweet to my friend Amber and I (Amber traveled to TN with me) that weekend and even offered to let Amber and I stay with her (even though she had never met either of us before.) Although I have not seen or kept in touch with Jana since Jen's wedding, I periodically hear about her since she is such a good friend of Jen's. Shortly after I found out that I was pregnant with Ethan, Jen informed me that Jana was expecting twins. Jana and her husband just lost one of their sons and my heart aches for this beautiful family. If you would not mind, please say a special prayer today for Jana and her family. I cannot even begin to imagine the heartache that they are feeling today. Jana keeps a blog (www.mcgregorsrus.blogspot.com) if you want to read about their journey. I'm sure that they could use your prayers not only today, but in the coming days and months as they adjust to life without Thomas. Thanks!

Ethan's 4 Month Picture

I realize that I am terribly behind with actual Ethan updates on here, so hopefully one day this week I'll get this blog caught back up again. In the interim, below are Ethan's "official" 4 month pictures. (Every month I pose him in his chair next to Winnie the Pooh so we can see his growth.) He is getting more and more grown up by the day! He's in a really fun stage right now where he talks all the time (I keep telling myself I hear "mama" but I know it is just wishful thinking) he rolls over pretty regularly, he loves sitting/standing with assistance, and he was recently introduced to his exersaucer and bumbo seat and is starting to really like both of those as well. Where has my newborn gone?!?!?!

Ethan & Santa

Today Ethan went to meet Santa for the first time. I think it was love at first sight!

Family Pic

I was loading some of the pictures my friend Erin took during our recent photo session with her onto my computer and thought I would share one so you can see the Strain family all together:

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...