New toy!

Nothing too exciting going on these days, but I thought I at least owe you some pictures, so here's a couple of E playing on his new mat. We liked the other one, but it just wasn't cutting it anymore. He's now interested in the toys and grabs on to them when he can, and this new mat has a lot more to it.

Tummy time

Discovering his hands

Blowing bubbles

And this one is from Sunday when we went to watch Cory play volleyball. He had to dress the part, so he's wearing the board shorts Daddy got him and a tshirt from Mommy that says "When I grow up I want to play volleyball just like my dad." This picture was taken before we even left the house.

Oh, and the little monkey is going to be 3 months on Thursday, so more pictures to come!

Father's Day, the lake, and Ethan's first "swim"

Yep, that's what you call a busy weekend. We spent both Saturday and Sunday (did not spend the night) at Lake Granger. It was nice to get away, relax, swim, sail, eat, and visit with the family. Ethan enjoyed spending time with his Nana and Gramma while his Mom and Dad went swimming and sailing.

On Saturday, we headed out there and Cory and I went sailing with my aunt Paula. It was so nice to sail again, it really has been a few years. We decided to go across the lake and "park" while we took a little swim, and we made it there quite successfully. The way back, however, was another story. We were essentially stuck in the middle of the lake and going nowhere because our rudder broke. Yep, that's what you get for not taking the boat out for a few years. We eventually made it back with the help of a paddle and some creativity, and all in all, we had fun.

Afterward, we decided to let Ethan have his first swimming experience. Cory and I had gone to ToysRUs and loaded him up with a cute float with a canopy and UV swimwear (which we pretty much just bought on a whim after trying the hat on him and seeing just how dog-gone cute he looked). I'm sure you agree:
He really didn't seem to mind the water either way, so it was kind of uneventful. He happily chilled in his float while we happily snapped pictures.

He also spent some time out of the float just splashing with Dad.

Love this look on his face:

And then all tuckered out drying off:
On Father's Day, we pretty much just swam and lounged around the campsite. I think it was a pretty good first Father's Day for Cory. E and I sure are lucky to have him, he's a great Dad.
Here's Ethan with his great-uncle A.J.:
Saying bye to Gramma (his great-grandmother)

And at home chilling with Dad on the couch after a long weekend:

JUMPEROO!!

Little Monkey has been doing so well holding up his head lately, and he loves to stand and kick, so we thought we'd put together the 'ol Jumperoo that Aunt Amanda and Uncle Wes got him (thanks guys!). He wasn't too sure about it at first, especially since his parents had trouble getting him in it, but now he's absolutely into it. Here's some pictures of the little man using it (notice my cookbooks are finally being put to good use).

Rookie Mistake

The other day, I decided to get out some of the teethers and other toys E has gotten since he's starting to grasp things and play with them a little. So of course, I went to sanitize them first. I usually do this with all his bottles and pacifiers in a steam bag in the microwave. So I threw them all in the bag, not really thinking about it first. I walked away to go grab E, and thought, "Hmm, some of those are soft plastic with water in them... perhaps they shouldn't be..." and was interrupted with loud popping noises coming from the microwave. Yep, there's my answer, they should NOT be put in the microwave. Here's the mess I found in the steam bag:


Oh well, brain fart for Mommy. Sorry about your toys E, at least I didn't ruin ALL of them.

This one's for Nana

For those of you who don't know, Ethan's grandma is away in San Francisco for the week, and therefore, is probably missing Ethan terribly. She usually sees him at least once a week, but usually more on the weekend, and she left early Saturday morning and won't be back until late Thursday. So here's a picture I took for her to tide her over for a while. Love you and miss you Nana!!! (P.S. - Bring me and Mommy sussies!... he he)

Updates from last weekend

Sorry I've been a little behind, but as I'm sitting here recovering from the storm, I decided to catch up. We're okay by the way, it just scared the bejeezus out of me thinking tornadoes were so close. I was seriously planning how we would crowd into the half-bath with the dog and lighting a candle just in case the power went out while Cory hurried to put my car under a neighbors carport (note to self - clean out garage).

Anyway, Ethan was able to fall asleep despite the thunder (unlike his fraidy-cay mommy) so I'm taking some time to share pictures with you all.

This past weekend was Nana's Birthday (my mom), so Ethan joined us at dinner and behaved quite nicely as usual. We're seriously considering making a cd of restaurant noise for his room because he's so relaxed at restaurants. Anyway, no pictures of Ethan there, but here's one of Nana (I know she's thrilled that I'm posting this).
And here's one of my grandparents cracking up at the gag gift they got her:
Too bad the camera batteries ran out at this point because I could have had some more pretty funny pictures. Sorry about that.

On Saturday, we had another family garage sale at my aunt Karen's house. It reminded me of the one we had last fall where we sold soooo much stuff and managed to earn a lot of money for Ethan's room and various supplies. It was not as profitable this time since we didn't have much to sell, but it was fun. Especially fun to see Don get rid of a bunch of stuff that was loooong overdue (we're talking junior high stuff). Anyway, here's a couple of pictures from the day.

Helping Daddy sell

With Great Aunt Paula
Ready for his close up
A family picture (we don't have a lot of these, too bad this isn't a very good one)

Sorry this post is a little lacking, but I'll try to get some more pictures of the monkey to share soon.

2 month checkup

Well, the little monkey had his 2-month checkup yesterday, and we thought we'd share the results. He weighed in at 11 pounds and 15 ounces, which actually surprised us (we thought he'd be heavier), and that puts him in the 50th-75th percentile. As for height, they measured him at a whopping 24 and 1/4 inches, which is the 75th-90th percentile. So he broke the 2 foot mark, which also surprised us. Being so tall and not equally as chunky just means clothes don't exactly fit him the right way, so we might have to bring out the 3-6 month size and just let it be baggy.

Otherwise, the doctor was pleased. He's right on track with the eating, smiling, eye-contact, and cooing, and he's a little ahead of the curve with the sleeping (did we mention he's gotten up to 6-9 hours?!?!?) He did have four shots yesterday and an oral vaccine, and handled it pretty well. Cory held him since I'm a big wuss, and he had his pacifier to console him during the shots and the bottle to console him afterwards. He wasn't quite himself the rest of the day (sleepy and a little lethargic), but he's back to normal today. We took a couple pictures of him for you doing his usual stretching on the changing table. I also have a few more updates from the weekend that I'll hopefully get up soon.

Taking a nap...

So, this morning I went downstairs for maybe 10 minutes and came back upstairs. As I walked into our bedroom, I stumbled upon Mommy and Ethan taking a nap together and how could I resist not taking pictures! How cute! This is Cory by the way.

2 month pictures

2 months old!

That's right, today Ethan is 2 months old (already). It has gone by so quickly and he is seriously growing like a weed. He doesn't have his next doctor's appointment until next week so I can't give you his current stats, but it seems to me that he's huge.

Some of Ethan's favorite things right now include his pacifier, which he is borderline addicted to. He needs it every day, especially in the evening, and sometimes when you give it to him he'll grab your hand and gets this look on his face like"Oh yeah, that's the stuff, give it to me NOW." But that said, the blessed pacifier does make our life a little quieter and enables us to get through dinner and trips to Target. Ethan also loves to hang out on his tummy in the morning, to swing, to sleep in restaurants, and to kick his legs. He's also infatuated with his tongue lately and still loves his hands.

His smiles are consistent now and you can usually catch one if you talk to him in a high-pitched voice or smile at him. He also likes it when you tickle his feet or play with his cheeks and nose. The smiles also tend to come in a sort of coy way after he's done something not so good like fuss loudly for attention (or after he escapes from his swaddle blanket). He should be giggling soon so we're looking forward to that (we may have heard a couple already). He still giggles and smiles in his sleep though, which is adorable and hilarious.

Oh, and the little monkey is starting to sleep through the night, meaning about 6-7 hours. We of course LOVE this, but it also means he doesn't go back to sleep very well after that long stretch. He'll probably be moving into his own room soon, which for some reason makes me very sad. For being so laid back about almost everything else, this is sure bothering me a lot. It's just more of that I-can't-believe-how-fast-he's-growing-up mom thing I do.

Speaking of, I'll be taking his 2 month pictures today and will post them soon. Hopefully he'll give me some great smiles. Stay tuned...