Friday, October 31, 2008

Boo!

One more Halloween photo for your viewing pleasure... enjoy!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Happy Halloween!

We're very excited about Ethan's first holiday! Sure, he won't know the difference between the 30th and the 31st, but it's still fun to celebrate. Though he won't remember, we're looking forward to starting our holiday family traditions. Sarah is also looking forward to getting free candy again... babies who go Trick-or-Treating do get candy, right?

We used all of the goodies we got from the pumpkin patch to shoot Ethan's three month photos. He wasn't a big fan of being stuck inside of the slimy pumpkin, but was much more content once we lined it with a blanket. We can't believe that he's already three months old! He's about sixteen pounds now, and has gained a lot of strength and skills in the last month. Sarah was shocked to find Ethan on his belly when he woke up about a week ago. It's official - he can roll over - but it's about a 20 minute process that usually only happens when he's agitated. He loves sleeping on his side, and can hold himself in that position for a loooooong time. He's able to hold up his head for much longer periods now, too. No propping necessary for this photo shoot... he got a great neck muscle workout supporting himself the entire time!


He's losing his hair, which is both sad and exciting. We hate to see his baby locks go, but can't wait to discover what color his "new" hair will be. Do you think it will be dark like his Daddy's? Ryan's hair was actually blond until he was about three years old, so who knows if this new batch that grows in will be his true hair color.

We couldn't resist getting him a Halloween costume. Usually there aren't many options for a baby his age, but since he's so huge he was able to fit into a 6 month-sized costume, which opened a lot more possibilities. We chose (what else?) the cutest little monkey costume we could find. Actually, we chose the cutest little monkey costume that Aunt Mary found!


Ethan sends his love to all of his grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends that are far, far away. He also sends instructions to mail all of your leftover candy to our house, addressed to him in care of Sarah. Happy Halloween!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

I'm Only Gonna Tell You Once...

Seriously Daddy, if you don't put down the camera I will start screaming!


You have been warned.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Punkin' Pickin'

We took Ethan to his first pumpkin patch over the weekend. He 1) had just woken up from a nap and was still drowsy, and 2) is far too young to appreciate holidays, so you can definitely tell in the pictures that we were enjoying it much more than he was. There was a petting zoo with pigs, goats, and bunnies that we observed from outside of the fence (Sarah wasn't sure that she wanted the baby to get too close to the critters). It turns out that Ethan is just as interested in farm animals as he is in Max... he barely even gave them a glance. He'll love that kind of stuff when he gets older, but for this outing he was largely unimpressed. That didn't keep us from having fun with it, though!




In other news from the weekend, we're happy to report that the swaddle-free sleeping is going really well. We had expected to wake up a lot to a crying baby, but Ethan (as always) is sleeping through the night. He's actually sleeping longer than he ever has - almost twelve straight hours on average! Yes, we're well aware that we're spoiled, and are prepared to pay the price for our good fortune with a super fussy baby the next time around!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Say Cheese!

Our little smiley one was particularly happy the other day, so Ryan grabbed the video camera and got some great footage. Ethan smiles a lot lately and we get such a big kick out of it. SeƱor Chubbycheeks is getting more and more expressive every day, and will "talk" to us in a cute coo that makes our hearts melt. Seemingly overnight, we went from "I think that's a smile" to the big, obvious grins that you'll see in the following clip:



We know we write about it in almost every post, but Ethan is growing so quickly! We officially said goodbye to the memories of our eight pound infant, packed up all of his newborn clothing, and pulled out the 3-6 month size items. It was sad to see his cute baby onesies get put away in boxes, especially the sentimental items like his coming home outfit. It was fun, however, to hang up the big boy clothes such as overalls and collared shirts. We took the newborn insert out of his carseat, removed the sleep positioner from his crib, and, since he's busting loose, will attempt bedtime sans swaddle tonight. With every goodbye comes an introduction to a new and exciting phase. It's bittersweet to watch the traces of infancy begin to disappear, but such a joy to witness all of the changes.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Where Does the Time Go?

The days have flown by, and our baby boy is already ten weeks old! He's changed so much over the past two and a half months, and we delight in seeing what each day brings. Our favorite development is Ethan's smile - he lights up and it shows all over his whole face, which is so cute! We weren't fast enough to catch the big smiles on these shots, but you can see a glimpse of our happy, happy boy!


He's holding his head up more and more, and is getting super strong. He'll "stand up" and bear his own weight if he has someone balancing him. We recently had to start buckling him into his bouncy chair, as he'll kick and wiggle his way right out of the seat. He's no longer a limp sack of potatoes - our strapping boy is all muscle and solid as a rock. Ethan is very considerate and sleeps for about 10 or 11 hours straight at night, which we know is unusual for his age. We are lucky, lucky, lucky to have such a good baby!

In the last few weeks we've found Ethan at the opposite end of his crib when he wakes in the morning. We're amazed by how he can squirm his way around when he's swaddled and doesn't have use of his appendages. He's also a budding Houdini, and has managed to escape from his Miracle Blanket on more than one occasion. For those of you who haven't seen the Miracle Blanket before, it's essentially a little baby straight jacket, and is as impenetrable as Fort Knox - unless you're 15 pounds of sheer muscle. No blanket can match the brute strength of our little brusier!