Santa

We went to see Santa at our neighborhood clubhouse today.  Nana and Paw-Paw even came along to see Santa.

Olivia and Savannah had worked on lists for him and proudly showed them off.  Emma did not have a list but said she could remember the things she wanted.  Little Ethan didn't have a list either. 

We got to spend a lot of time with Santa and got some cute pictures.  The girls all went first and when it was Ethan's turn he went over very willingly.  He sat on Santa's lap but was unsure of this guy and was pretty serious.  Later when his sisters joined him he didn't seem to mind who was holding him and we were able to get some smiles.

It was a special visit with Santa.

Thanksgiving

This year we had Thanksgiving at my mom's house again.  We didn't have as many people as usual but we had tons of food.  Denise and her family had gone to the Macy Day parade to watch Alex march in the band so her crew was missing.  Amanda's family didn't make it and Stephanie was working, though Jamie and the kids showed up at the end.

The smaller crowd was actually nice in some ways as there seemed to be plenty of seats and room to hang out.  The weather was nice in the high 50s so the kids all played outside for most of the time.  Since Ethan is only nursing in the morning and at night it was easier to hang out with everyone this year and not have to worry about his schedule.  He did need a nap but Scott volunteered to go lay down with him, they both had a good nap.

Scott wanted to head out to do some black Friday shopping so we headed out around 4.  He went to Walmart and Bestbuy but didn't have much luck at either place.  That is unusual because we usually don't have any problems getting what we want on Black Friday unless it is a super hard to find item.

Emma wanted to do some shopping (she even dressed up in a cute dress and high heels) so I took her to CVS later after Scott got home and we found some good deals.

1 year old

Our little boy turned 1 year old on Friday, we are all in disbelief at how fast this year has gone.  I really feel like it went faster than the 1st year for the girls.  We have all enjoyed watching him grow but are a little sad at how fast he is growing up.

Ethan loves to play with his sisters, and he tries really hard to talk to them.  His little noises are cute and I think he can tell them apart now.  He loves balls and cars and will push them across the floor and chase after them and push them again.  He does not like to be left alone but will play well by himself as long as someone else is near.

Ethan can say mama, dada and no.  We still fight about which he said first mama or dada.  He does tend to say dada more during the day but at night when he is crying in his crib he definitely calls mama.

He is a good eater most of the time he likes chicken and almost any kind of bean including green beans.  He will not eat avocado or pears.  His favorite treat is the yogurt melts which are like freeze dried yogurt, I agree it is tasty.

He still doesn't like to sleep unless he is in the car or being held.  He is such a sweet boy and loves to cuddle and give kisses (slimy open mouth kisses).  He is starting to walk with assistance and will walk around holding my hands.

Standing

Ethan has been getting more steady on his feet the last few days.  We have caught him standing on his own a few times but usually just for a second when he lets go of the couch or ottoman.  Today however he stood up without assistance and was able to stand by himself for a few seconds.  He seemed to be enjoying the applause he got from doing this and kept doing it probably a dozen times.  One time he even tried to move his foot a step forward and he fell but it was a good attempt. 

It has been a running joke with Scott and Savannah about Ethan standing.  Savannah was the first of the girls to stand unassisted and she did it on the day after her birthday July 25.  So Scott told Savannah that Ethan was getting close to beating her record.  She has been a good sport but doesn't always cheer him on like the rest of us.  We have not been able to get a picture yet of Ethan standing and we were able to get one of her standing (she stood while opening her birthday gifts so we had a camera in hand) so she said it doesn't count until we get a picture. 

11 Months

Ethan is 11 months old and we are all enjoying watching him grow.  He started using his knees to crawl instead of army crawl in early September and then after a few days he was standing and walking around using the furniture.  He is fast now when he crawls and we have had to use some furniture and the gymnastics mat to keep him in the living room.  He has gotten better about picking things up off the floor and eating them.  He still likes to pickup the dirt but he will now bring it to you instead and if you say thank you, he will give you a big grin.

He is very cuddly and will crawl over to sit in your lap or beg to be picked up.  His favorite toys are his toy hammer, vacuum and little house.  He loves to play with the girls and be in the center of attention.  We have baby proofed his room so that he can play in there alone, but he does not like to be alone for very long.

Most of the time he is a very happy and content baby unless you try to put him down for nap or bedtime.  This boy does not like to sleep and will often try to skip on a nap.  He goes to bed between 8:30 and 9 but often wakes up between 3-5am.  We have tried different things to get him to sleep longer and are hopeful some of it is just teething pain that is waking him up.  Speaking of teeth he now has 2 more teeth.  His front two teeth came in at the same time we noticed they had broken through on September 12th.

10 Months and a tooth

Ethan turned 10 months today and after church I found that he another tooth had broken through.  He does indeed have vampire teeth as it is his right incisor that came through.  It isn't through enough to really see though and the front teeth look like they might come in any day so he may not get the same look Savannah had.

We have seen lots of changes in this last month.  First of all we have started to see him voice his opinion and get very upset if you take something away he was playing with.  He is also crawling well, just this week he started pulling up his knees and going just a few paces on his knees before going back to army crawling.  He can get into things and we have to put him in his playpen or pack n play if we can't keep an eye on him.  He does not like not having free roam and usually gets upset at least at first when we put him in a confined space.

I am constantly surprised at how much the girls play with him.  They even crawl into his playpen with him so that he won't be upset.  He loves them so much and giggles at them all the time.  All of them are very sweet to him.  We are still working on picking up after ourselves though so that he doesn't find something that will cause him to choke.  He really does like to put stuff in his mouth I have caught him twice this week chewing on rug fuzz from the carpet.  He doesn't swallow it just chews on it like gum, yuck.

Another tooth and a wave

This morning, Sunday, August 13th I had finished feeding Ethan and we were laying in bed and I checked his mouth for teeth.  There was a brand new tooth on the upper left (looking at him), I had a feeling he was teething because Friday and Saturday he was chewing on anything he could find.  It is barely above the surface so you can't see it but I can feel it.  If he gets his other incisor in before his front teeth he will be like Savannah and have vampire teeth for a while.

Here is Savannah's vampire smile


This morning Monday, August 14th Scott was walking downstairs and waved at Ethan who was playing on the floor.  Ethan picked up his hand and moved it like he was waving back.  So Scott did it again and Ethan repeated it.  I guess he has figured out how to wave.  Scott was pretty excited about teaching him to wave.

9 Months

Our little baby boy is 9 months old and is such a sweet baby.  Things have changed a little bit over the last month.  The first thing we noticed is that he has an opinion now.  If he is upset he will arch himself backward with great force and you really have to hold onto him.  Usually he does this if he is hungry or tired but occasionally too if you try to put him down and he wants to be held.   He is almost always happy and I say we should all try to be more like him.  He thinks his sisters are hilarious and they can all get him to laugh easily.  Another change is that he is now army crawling.  We saw him using his arms and kicking off with his feet to get around just last week on July 27th which makes him 9 months exactly.  Over the last few days he has continued to get faster and develop this new skill.  On Saturday the 29th he decided to clap for us.  He is so proud of the ability to make the noise and we all love it and encourage him it is precious.  He still likes rocking himself when he sits in your lap he will rock back and forth in rhythm and will sometimes hum or chatter while he does it.


We are working on getting him on a more rigid schedule, he is not napping well during the day and we think it is time that he has a defined nap time.  It is difficult though because some days we can't be home for nap as we have things to do with the girls.  His nightly sleeping schedule was interrupted by our vacation and we are still working on getting him back to sleeping through the night.

At his appointment yesterday he weighed in at 22 lbs 3.5oz which puts him in the 75-90% and he was
29.75 inches long which puts him in the 90-95%.

8 year update

Another year gone and we now have 3 eight year olds.  Sometimes I look at them and wonder when they got so big.  I think it has been a good year for the girls but also full of changes.  We had the addition put on the house and Scott and I did some of the work ourselves so they had less of our attention for a while.  They mostly did well and sometimes even helped us with some of the projects.  Olivia was especially eager to help her daddy and was better than I was at using a hammer and crowbar to pull up the floor.  And of course they got a baby brother which they all have adapted to very well.

They have taken an interest in cooking and have made lots of things with the help of an adult including cupcakes, banana break, cookies, and cake.  We started listening to books in the car and we have done the 1 and 2 books of the Narnia chronicles which they have enjoyed. They all have their own mini ipads and love to play games like subway surfers and some kind of frogger game. Here is a little more about each girl:

Emma -- Emma is tall and thin just like her dad, she is 51.75 inches and 72% for height and she weighs 50 pounds which is 23% for weight.  She is a sweet sister and dotes on her little brother so much.  She is very helpful with him and will often play with him so Scott and I can get something done around the house.  She has also helped several times changing Ethan's diapers.  Emma is still very artistic and creative.  She loves anything craft related.  This summer she took up crocheting, she asked my mom to teach her and she has really worked on it. She almost has a whole ball of yarn done into a single line.  Emma also has taken up fishing this summer. Scott has taken her a lake at a nearby park twice and she loves it (even though they haven't caught anything).  She loves to snuggle and is very loving.  Emma is easily distracted especially when it is time for chores.  Her speech is improving but she still needs speech twice a week.  Sounding out words is hard for her and it affects her spelling, I find her writing hard to read, even though her hand writing is neat.



Olivia -- Olivia has a build more like mine, more of an atheletic but curvy build.  She is also 51.75 inches tall which is 72% for her age.  She weighs 66 pounds which puts her in the 79% for weight. Olivia loves to play outdoors especially soccer or basketball.  She is a daddy's girl and likes to play video games with him or help him outside or with any projects he is working on. I am surprised at how much attention Olivia gives Ethan, she seemed the least interested in his arrival but probably plays with him the most.  She sits on the floor and plays with him and his toys for long stretches at a time.  She is also quick to volunteer to feed him.  She likes to make money and she can get a $1 for 10 sticks so she is eager to help out around the house for sticks.  She is an easy going child and makes friends easily, she seems to play with lots of different kids at school.  Olivia struggles with reading and writing and her hand writing is sloppy but her spelling is getting better.  She is good at math and very quick with math flash cards.



Savannah -- Savannah has a different build from her sisters she is not quiet as tall but it seems like every year she is closing the gap. She is 51 inches which is 61% and she weighs 61 pounds which is 66%.  Savannah is a leader at school and home.  She is often the brains behind whatever they are playing.  Sometimes this causes some tension mostly between her and Emma who is also strong-willed.  Most of the time they do well together, they have spent hours together this summer building a fort in the small wooded area behind our house.  Savannah has a best friend named Ana that she likes to do playdates with.  They have been best friends for almost a year.  Savannah does well in school and reading seems to come naturally to her, she can read most anything she wants.  Her favorites so far have been Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Magic Tree House series.  She still loves to play barbies and will play by herself for hours at a time.  Recently she has taken an interest in horses which I think was influenced some by our neighbor Ella who is a few years older and also really likes horses.

8 Months

Ethan turned 8 months old and we all think he is growing up too fast.  He can scoot around on the floor pretty well and get to things.  We are all trying to make sure that things are not left on the floor, this has been a challenge for the girls as they tend to leave stuff lying around.  He will get on his hands and knees for just a little bit and then plop back down so I think he will be on the move very soon.

He is ticklish and I can just wiggle my fingers toward him and make him start smiling and laughing. He is starting to get some teeth on the top and I think it bothers him a good deal.  One day he was pretty fussy and Scott said 'where did you get this baby' because it really is very unlike him to be upset.  We let him chew on some ice and a frozen banana and by the next day he was his happy self again.

The girls are still very helpful and love him so much.  Emma has even changed a few diapers for us lately.

2 Funerals

It has been a rough few weeks, at the end of May Aunt Jean was put on hospice care in the hospital.  She had been in and out of the hospital 3 times in the past few months and her kidneys were no longer working.  I went to see her twice and the first time she woke up and could talk and recognize you for a few minutes but would then fall back asleep.  She must have dreamed of Jr. a lot because she was fussing at him in her sleep.  She died on Saturday June 3rd surrounded by her family.  We know she was ready to see her parents and Jr but it was sad.  The girls all went to the receiving but did not go to the funeral.  Scott and I went with Ethan to the funeral Wednesday and then he headed back to see their Greek performance at the school and I went to the graveyard.  They had a nice meal for us after the graveside and I actually made it back to the school to see the girls do their Greek performance (I walked in right as they were getting on stage).

My Uncle Tommy had been in critical condition in the hospital before my aunt died but he was doing better and moved to rehab.  He had been readmitted due to breathing issues on July 14th and then on July 15th he died from what we think was a heart attack.  His receiving and funeral was in Clover, SC and since the girls are out of school they came with us to both.

Through the sadness we are grateful that we know they are both in heaven.  It also allowed us to have deep conversations with the girls.  All of them have told us that they asked Jesus into their hearts and so they will be doing the baptism class at church in the Fall.

7 Months

Baby Ethan is now 7 months old and is ready to move, he can roll from his back to front now, he first did this at daycare on 5/25.  He also started rocking a few weeks ago when you hold him, he will sit in your lap and move front to back with a pretty good rhythm and strength. it is so cute I'll have to get a video.

He is still the happiest and easiest baby, I love it when I'm nursing him and he rubs my side with his little chubby hand.  He also likes top play with my shirt and twist it around his fingers I just love snuggling him.

We love to hear him giggle and found out if you hold him upside down he will giggle.  If you bounce him while doing this he really gets to laughing.  We call this 'shaking out his giggles'.

He has 2 teeth now, the 1st tooth that came in was his bottom left (looking at him) on 5/13 the day before Mothers Day and the 2nd tooth bottom right broke through on 5/23.

6 months

Ethan is 6 months old, and during these past 6 months he has captured all of our hearts.  He is such a sweet and happy baby.  His sisters love him so much and enjoy playing with him.  He is starting to sit up and so that allows him to play with more toys they often sit on the floor and help him situp and play. We all love to watch him and make him laugh.  He hardly cries unless he is hungry or tired and laughs, smiles and talks almost non-stop.  His favorite toy is his jumper he makes that thing really go and he will bounce for an hour at a time.  He reminds us of Savannah at that age she loved the jumper and could probably get it going even more than he does.  He also loves his bath and has a few toys that he plays with or tries to eat.  He likes to hold something when he goes to sleep he has several small blankets with stuffed animals that are his lovies that he will hold and cuddle until he falls asleep (then we move them out of the crib once he is asleep).

At daycare they say he is also happy and the other children love him.  He smiles at them and laughs there just like at home.  I guess he goes from one crazy wild house to another so it seems normal to him.

He eats some solids now he likes carrots and sweet potatoes and all fruits.  He does not care for green beans.  At home Emma will try the food we give him and she said the green beans are terrible but the other stuff is ok.  A few of them Emma actually likes and tries to eat the rest of his baby food if he doesn't finish it.  He doesn't seem to drink as much milk but I actually think that is because he is so distracted and doesn't like to eat very long.

He had his 6 month checkup and everything is good he is going to be just like his sisters tall and thin. He weighs 19lb 2.5oz which puts him in the 25-50% and he is 27 in tall which is 75-90%.

Easter

For Easter this year we changed things up just a bit.  Instead of going to church service on Sunday we went on Saturday night.  Our church was short-staffed for Sunday nursery so we all had agreed to help out with the nursery on Sunday at 11 and would miss the service since we are not good at getting there at 9:30 especially feeding Ethan and dressing everyone.  Going on Saturday was nice because it allowed us to have plenty of time to get ready and there was plenty of parking and seating for our large family.  The girls actually insisted we sit on the front row beside one of their friends.

On Sunday the girls got up around 8 to see what the Easter bunny had brought and they had plenty of time to find the eggs that were hidden around the house.  Ethan even got a few things from the Easter bunny but he didn't have to search for his eggs this year.

We got to church a little early to watch the 2 year old nursery we had about 8 kids plus our 3 and we took Ethan to his nursery.  Our girls are very helpful and made friends with some of the other kids, Savannah played with a girl whose favorite word was 'no' and she was serious about saying 'no' to everything but Savannah was able to befriend her anyways.

After church we headed to my mom's since she was hosting Easter this year.  We had a ham and lots of sides and desserts, it was great.  I had to escape twice to feed Ethan so I missed out on somethings but got to see the kids do their Easter egg hunt and even helped hide some eggs.  I think all the kids ended up with like 40 eggs each.  We had great weather and enjoyed celebrating the Resurrection.

Rolling Along

Ethan is rolling from his tummy to his back but I have yet to catch him in the act.  He did it once while my mom was watching him and the girl but they didn't actual see him do it, they just noticed he was on his back instead of tummy.  Then at the mountains on April 11th I had put him on his stomach and he was being fussy so Bethany went over to check on him and he was on his back.

Patricia his daycare lady said that she has seen him do it a few times too.  He likes to lay on his side a lot and I've caught him sleeping on his side some but he mostly sleeps on his back with his arms spread out, it is cute.

5 Months

Ethan just turned 5 months yesterday and he is so much fun. He smiles a lot and laughs a lot too.  He has really changed from a complacent baby to a happy baby.  He loves his sisters so much and will laugh at almost anything they do.  Which makes them want to keep being silly, we have fun playing with him.  On Sunday we all went to the park it was a beautiful day out.  We put him in a swing and he seemed to really enjoy it, his sisters enjoyed pushing him and making him laugh.  He can almost flip over from his back to his stomach and he scoots around in his crib a lot at night.  He is a good sleeper and will usually sleep around 7-8 hours.

He has been eating food for a while now and he is getting the hang of it now.  He eats his cereal easily but it takes him a while to get use to the other flavors like green beans.

He drools a lot and I keep expecting to see his teeth starting to come in but I haven't seen them popping up yet.

4 Months

Ethan is growing and is very big and healthy.  At his doctor's appointment he weighed 16lbs 13oz which puts him in the 75-90% for weight and he is 26 inches which is also 75-90% for height.

He is laughing even more now and you should see the things the girls and I will do to try to get a laugh.  We just started this thing where we call it 'shaking out the giggles'.  We found if you turn him upside down he will smile and laugh and if you bounce him gently he will laugh so we 'shake out his giggles' that way.

We gave him his first taste of oatmeal cereal tonight, the girls were so excited to watch him eat.  It wasn't very exciting though he didn't seem to know what to do with it and kept pushing it back out with his tongue.  I think maybe he ate a little bit but most of it was on the bib.

3 Months

Ethan is smiling a lot more and is doing great sleeping 8-9 hours at night.  I feel like we are getting back into a routine.  I started work a few weeks ago and Ethan started daycare at a lady's house down the street.  My co-worker introduced me to her and she had 1 part time position open so we were happy to be able to find someone and not send him to a large daycare.  Last night (the 29th) Scott was playing with Ethan and got him to laugh.  He called for me and I came over with my phone and he actually was able to get him to do it again.  We get lots of smiles from Ethan; he is a happy and content baby and we feel very blessed to have this sweet baby join our family.

The girls love their brother very much and kiss him constantly.  They are a big help and don't complain.  Emma told me the other day, "Mom, thanks for having my little brother." It melted my heart that she would thank me.  They have not complained at all about the crying.  They did give Scott a guilt trip one night for not playing with them and it made him feel bad.  His work has been super busy and he is suppose to be finishing up stuff on the house but he hasn't even had time for that.

A big difference in having just one baby is that at night when the girls go to bed Scott and I sometimes sit on the bed and play with Ethan together.  It is fun to have this time to make him smile and giggle and spend time with just one baby.  I wish we had been able to spend this kind of time with each of our girls but they came too close together, 3 minutes apart was not enough time to get this kind of individual attention.

We also finally got a picture of Ethan smiling.  Scott was swinging him up and down in his carseat while girls had basketball practice tonight and I was able to snap a picture before he noticed the phone.

Sleeping through the night

Last night (1/4/17) Ethan ate around 10:30 and was asleep by 11:30 so I was able to get in bed around midnight.  He woke up around 5am and Scott gave him his pacifier and then he didn't wake up again until 9am!  We were very impressed and I got a good nights sleep.  We will have to see if we can keep this up.  I would settle for a consistent 8 hours at night even.