My mom and sister came for a quick visit last Sunday and it was so nice having them in town, even if it was just for the afternoon. It hasn't even been a month since my trip to Raleigh, but Ethan has changed so much in that short period of time and they were having fun watching all of his new tricks. My mom was content to just watch Ethan play (which he does all the time these days!) His favorite toy right now is his ring stacking toy. He loves to take off each of the rings and then grasp one in each hand while banging on anything in sight. He also trys to chew on the actual post that the rings stack on, although that doesn't hold his attention for more than a few minutes. He continues to play with his sillytown (video coming soon...promise) and has figured out that there is one character on wheels. He flips that one over and turns the wheels over and over again. He has a train toy that he does the same thing with. He is all boy already - facscinated with cars and rolling the wheels around. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with our adventures into the land of little boys because this is a whole new world for this girly girl who grew up with two sisters, female cousins, aunts, etc. etc.
Ethan is in love with his Aunt Carolyn. Since she doesn't live too far away we've been able to get together about once a month and he goes right to her. Ethan doesn't have stranger anxiety too badly yet, but he does get a little anxious with both sets of grandparents. Carolyn is really good with him and it is so nice getting to watch their special bond develop. We always had a special relationship with my mom's sister, and to watch my sister and son in the same way makes my heart so happy. Ethan is one lucky little boy, because he has an extended family that loves him so very much.
On Sunday evening Patrick, Ethan and I drove up to the Great Wolf Lodge because my in-laws were staying there with our nephews for the night. My mother and father-in-law take their three grandsons (Ethan's cousins) each year and since it is only a 25 minute drive or so we usually go up to have dinner with them and hang out for a little while. I had so much fun seeing the boys. I only get to see them a couple times a year and they are such sweet kids. Ben, the youngest, is five and he told me that he wanted to marry me again. (He told me this several times at Thanksgiving too.) He's too young to quite understand what that means, but to know that he loves his Aunt Melanie is pretty cool. I got to hang out with the older boys for awhile in their cabin, and it was fun chatting about all the happenings in their lives. Bailey kept telling me that he really wants a girl cousin and that I need to have another baby soon. While I would love to another, I think it's way too soon to be having that conversation. I need to at least get Ethan sleeping through the night first :)
Speaking of sleep, Ethan finally started sleeping for 11-12 hour stretches for a blissful week and I foolishly thought that we were done with the middle of the night wakeup calls. Alas, I think that teething has begun and there was one night this past week where he woke up 7 or 8 times and seemed to be in a lot of pain. I ended up giving him a very small amount of generic infant Tylenol (who knew that the real stuff was no longer available?!) and that seemed to help. He's been a lot better since that night, but still wakes up/makes noise about once a night (usually when he has managed to creep to the top of his crib and realizes that he can't scoot up any further.) If we hear him start whining when this happens and we're able to get there fast enough, we can pull him back down to the bottom of his crib and he will stay asleep during this process. If we're not fast enough, the whining will wake him up and then he'll be awake for anywhere from 5-30 minutes. He is such a mover and a shaker - always on the go these days.
Ethan continues to roll anywhere and everywhere to get where he wants to go. If he sees a toy that is out of reach he will lay down and then roll over to retrieve it. He also moves like an inchworm a lot too...he'll put his butt up in the air and then flatten out, making minimal forward progress. He'll keep doing this until he figures out that rolling will get him there a lot faster and then he'll commence rolling.
Ethan has shortened the length of his naps, and now only naps for a little under three hours a day. His morning nap usually lasts about an hour and a half and his afternoon nap lasts about an hour and 15 minutes. (This child is nothing if not consistent!) I work for the vast majority of Ethan's naptime during the day (and most evenings during the week as well.) Since the weather has been so much nicer lately, Ethan and I have resumed our daily walks in his stroller. I forgot how much I enjoyed taking a daily walk with Ethan - I love it! I've also taken him over to our neighborhood playground a few time. I wish it had baby swings, because I think Ethan would really enjoy them. Since there are no baby swings, I sit with Ethan in my lap and swing. It brings back lots of memories of childhood for me to just sit and swing. Life is pretty good if this is how I get to spend my days!
Earlier today I started this season of consignment shopping. This sale had a strict no stroller policy and since Patrick works on weekends I had to bring Ethan along with me. I was pretty nervous about how Ethan would behave, but I strapped him into his Baby Bjorn and he thought it was the best thing ever. He loved looking around at all the other babies in their carriers (thank goodness I wasn't the only one who was walking around wearing my child!) and for a mere $25 I came home with shorts, overalls, shirts, pajamas and two new toys. (Name brand stuff too - I love these sales!) After disinfecting the tap-a-tune toy like crazy I presented it to Ethan who immediately started banging away on the keys. It's fun watching Ethan love all these musical toys (his drum, the little piano, takealong tunes, etc.) There is zero musical ability with Patrick and I, and probably won't be any with Ethan if genetics has anything to say about it, but for this moment in time he is a mini musician.
I'll try to upload a bunch of pictures in the next day or two, so stay tuned. In the interim, happy seven month birthday to my precious little angel. I love him more and more each day, and I am truly blessed to be his mommy. I can't believe that it's already been seven months since the day that we welcomed Ethan into our lives. Every detail of that day is so vivid in my memory and I can't believe how much Ethan has grown and changed in such a relatively short period of time. I am so lucky to have Ethan as my son :)
Ethan eating sweet potatoes at Aunt Carolyn's house 
Ethan and I with Lindsay and Graham at the park
