Ethan at Six Months

 

Ethan is now half-a-year old!  I wouldn't say that the time has flown by, because it definitely has felt like it's dragged, but God has done some amazing things in HIS perfect timing with our little one!  I marvel day after day what an awesome God we have who has thought of such infinite details in His creation.  Just think, babies are small and flexible...perfect for when they are learning to sit and crawl and walk so they don't have as far to fall and can bend in so many fun ways as they are learning!  They are absolutely adorable which makes you WANT to take care of them even though they are demanding and their crying gets on your nerves. :)  Their brains soak up so much information that they learn an immense skill set in such a short amount of time.  I could go on and on!  God is just so wise!

 

Ethan has definitely become an infant now and no longer a newborn.  His little personality is just blossoming!  He will smile and "talk" to lots of people, though he does seem to need to warm up to them first (this only takes about a minute, but this is longer than Caleb was).   He's becoming a lot more opinionated when he's not happy and has learned to throw temper tantrums.  You would really think he was two the way he flails his body, kicks his legs, and screams when the bottle isn't coming fast enough or he wants his pacifier.  We will have quite the little firecracker on our hands when he reaches toddlerhood!  On the flip side he can be SO agreeable and happy.  He will laugh and coo at Caleb's funny antics just egging big brother on to do more and more.  His favorite is when Caleb fake laughs.  It can really get him going.  He is very ticklish, especially closer to naptime when he's tired and the slightest things can get him giggling. 

 

We have found that we need to be a little more careful with where we leave Ethan, or what we leave in his path.  He has now discovered how to move, well, roll really.  Though he will only roll in one direction and so will roll across the room until he bumps into a piece of furniture and gets stuck.  He just refuses to roll the other way.  Being on his tummy is still not pleasant, though, so when he rolls onto his tummy he immediately begins to complain and then rolls onto his back.  Then he reaches for something and finds himself back on his tummy again and the process repeats.  The funniest is when he rolls onto one of Caleb's games while we're playing.  All the pieces go flying and he thinks it is SO much fun!  We also have noticed that he likes to scoot on his back by lifting his bottom with is legs and pushing off.  Kind of like an upside-down army crawl.  Silly kid!  Ethan has also finally discovered how tasty his toes are.  Though he always prefers his pacifier, when it's not handy a toe will do!  This puts him rather off balance when he's sitting up, though, because putting your toes in your mouth makes it WAY too hard to sit!  He can sit for very long stretches of time unsupported unless the toes are too tempting, a toy is just out of reach, or someone does something behind him and he turns to see what it is.  Then he begins to tumble!

 

The high chair has been pulled out of the closet and cleaned for the much anticipated time of feeding him baby food.  Caleb is really the only one who is anticipating this, because Momma and Daddy remember how much extra work it is to feed a baby!  We'd rather just not start down that road, but Ethan's ready and six months is here!  We have given him his first taste of water in a sippy cup.  The look on his face was priceless as he tasted the water.  It definitely does not have the flavor of formula!  The cup does not always get to the mouth, but it is definitely fun to play with.

 

Sleep is still hit and miss.  We are now taking much better naps during the day.  Yay!  This gives Momma time to play with Caleb in the morning and get a few chores done in the afternoon.  It's been great.  Unfortunately, we still haven't mastered that sleeping through the night on a consistent basis.  He'll sleep most of the night one night and then not do it again for a couple of weeks.  We know he CAN do it, he just doesn't seem to want to yet.  We're praying that he starts wanting to sleep all night, every night.  Momma and Daddy need their sleep!!!

 

Ethan is such a joy and delight in our lives.  We are loving watching him grow, learn, and become his own little person.  God has blessed us so richly! 

 

Aunt Amy Visit

We were blessed to have Mike's sister, Amy, stay with us for several days during Mike's first week of school.  Aunt Amy is AMAZING!!  She had tireless energy to play with Caleb and loved to help out with Ethan.  Kati was able to clean the house from top to bottom while she was here and take Ethan to his six-month check up without big brother.  Thanks Amy, for being such a blessing!

Creative Aunt Amy indulged Caleb's love for Chuck E. Cheese's by creating the games we played there into physical games at our house.  Caleb asked her to create more games every day and she did a fabulous job figuring out how to make them work and be fun!

 

Amy and Caleb with the monkey game.  (Momma thought this one was the best out of all of them!)

 

Amy loves to cook just like Mike does, so Mike had her help out making homemade pizzas from scratch.  Even the sauce and crust was homemade!  Here Amy and Caleb are adding toppings.

 

 

Mike's latest pizza craze is basil pizza with "real" mozzarella cheese.  It is delicious!

Aunt Amy with Caleb and Ethan.  (Someone forgot to tell Caleb to smile!)

 

Ethan loved having Aunt Amy here to hold him whenever Momma was busy with something.  He would give her the biggest smiles!

 

Back in the kitchen...we made a couple of things out of the Dora Cookbook Caleb got for his birthday.  One was a different recipe for monkey bread than the one Kati makes.  We had to blend the two recipes since we didn't have all of the ingredients, but it turned out fabulously!  Kati is definitely changing her recipe card!

 

The finished, yummy, product.

We even got to play outside some!  The night before this one Amy and Caleb played in the sprinkler system, moving as a different set turned on.  This night there were no sprinklers, so they played on our beautiful new patio.  (Which we are LOVING!!  It is ten degrees cooler under the patio all day long and it's so nice to still be able to play outside when it is pouring down rain!) 

 



 

Here they are playing pirates and buried treasure in the sandbox.  Caleb wants to play "Tinkerbell" with pixie dust the next time they play in the sandbox.  (Thank you library for opening up the world of fairies to our four-year-old!  Even his cars and trucks get pixie dust now and fly around the house.)

Thanks, Aunt Amy for a fabulous couple of days!  We all appreciated your help and company.

Patio

The school year is already swamping us!  Mike is spending late nights and EARLY mornings getting things ready for school.  Though I completely understand that he wants to get stuff done and off his "thought radar", I'm missing him!  I guess the good thing for all of you is that I'm actually getting my blog entries done and posted!  I think I'm finally up-to-date.

We are nearing the end of having a beautiful, working patio.  For those of you who remember the raised, wooden decking, here are a couple of pictures of the past week's progress.

Mike pulled up all the old deck and he and Caleb started digging the dirt down a bit so it will be ready for the concrete.

We also needed this little bit fixed since the rain seems to back up against the house right here.

After the first day of construction crew coming, Caleb and I watched them finish digging dirt, tamping down the dirt, build the frame, and run the metal poles.  It was interesting (though noisy!) work.

Day two they brought in the cement mixer (one of Caleb's favorite trucks!) and poured the floors.  Once again, it was a fascinating process.

Yes, one of the workers left his water bottle in the middle of the floor!

Day five they came back and cleaned up the gritty stuff and where the concrete splashed on the house and posts.  Here is the (nearly) completed patio!  Just one more fan to install where the old patio was and arrange all the toys and furniture.  What a beautiful addition to our home.  Thanks for all of the hard work Mike and Kendall (Mike's dad!)

High Chair vs. Swing

We pulled out the high chair to get Ethan ready for his big step into "solid" food at six months.  He is loving being up where he can see everyone and Momma is loving that he can't slip sideways out of it like he does the Bumbo!  He does look pretty little in there, though!  So which is his favorite place to play?  The new high chair or the swing?  Hard to tell.

Look at all these fun toys he has to choose from (or throw on the ground!)

One breakfast Ethan sat like this the entire time.  He had to have woken up sleepy, because no toy is EVER used to rest on.  They are only meant to shake, chew, and throw!

I had time to zoom in and take another picture.  See how he didn't even move??  He definitely woke up earlier than his little body wanted to!

What a happy little man!

Since Ethan has begun to kick so hard in the swing we have to make sure he's belted in.  So we decided to raise the swing to the more vertical position and put the toy bar on.  Ethan loves it!  Though I must say, this little boy hates to recline at any angle!  He'd much rather sit straight up whether he's in the bathtub, swing, chair, or your lap.

The swing, as you remember, was left by Uncle Kyle's renters, so he let us borrow it.  It has been SUCH a blessing, though I must say that it leans to one side.  We straighten it and the next thing we know it's tilting again.  These pictures do make it look a lot more dangerous than it truly is.  No worries, Ethan is safe!

Our curious, adventurous one has been trying so hard to reach this mobile and now that the seat is tilted up, he can!  He was so proud of himself!  (Though Mike tried to get this picture a dozen times and every time Ethan heard the camera he'd put his hand down like he was "caught".  Mike had to get sneaky in order to get the shot!)

Snuggle time for Momma and Caleb.  It was a long night for Momma with Ethan up every hour and Caleb agreed to pretend to be asleep for this picture.

Laughter and Tears

I've been meaning to add this little blurb for awhile, but keep forgetting to!  My two boys definitely have the mantra of laughing with those who are laughing and crying with those who are crying down pat!  All Caleb has to do is laugh (even a fake laugh) and Ethan will think it's the funniest thing he's ever heard!!  One night Caleb tried to kiss Ethan on the cheek without being grabbed (one of Ethan's favorite things to do), so he kissed him quick and then backed up and laughed.  Ethan laughed because Caleb was laughing and then Caleb laughed because Ethan was laughing.  This went on for TWENTY minutes!

Unfortunately, the reverse is also true.  When Caleb gets really upset and begins to cry, Ethan will cry right along with him even though he doesn't know why he's crying.  If Caleb is so upset that he's throwing a temper tantrum and screaming, Ethan will get this high-pitched squeal and look at us like, "Do something to help my brother!"  Though absolutely endearing, it sure does make a bad situation worse!

Chuck E. Cheese's

Caleb was so excited when he earned a trip to Chuck E. Cheese's and out to Gringo's for lunch.  Mike and Kati asked Grandma Brandon to come over and watch Ethan so they could have some much needed one-on-one time with Caleb.   Aunt Amy was able to come with us which just added to Caleb's fun!  What a great day for him.

What kid doesn't ask to ride these ridiculous things at every grocery store?  It was great that Caleb got to ride several and they only took tokens!

This horse ride was a Kentucky Derby race and the horse actually moved a bit.  As you can see Caleb enjoyed it.

We arrived about 45 minutes after opening on a Friday and it was great!  We were the only ones in the place for a long time and it never did get crowded.  Amy went around when we first got there and collected all of the free tickets that the machines spit out when they're first turned on. 

Thanks Aunt Amy!!

Twice while we were there Chuck E. Cheese came to "gather" kids to dance this dance and then pick up free tickets that he threw out.  Caleb was SO CUTE trying to do the dance!  My musical son couldn't dance, but he learned a good portion of the song and was singing the song the rest of the day!

When Grandma Brandon asked what Caleb did one of the things he mentioned was, "Getting a picture with the REAL Chuck E. Cheese"! 

Caleb was pretending to be in Mary Poppins as he rode this ride.

I do not think the creators of this game had in mind for THREE people to play at one time trying to hit the targets!

Mike was phenomenal at this basketball game where the hoop kept moving.  He had that machine spitting out tickets left and right!  Kati preferred ski-ball though she was no where near as good!

Such concentration need to "whack a shark".

Momma and Caleb played a game of air hockey.  Not one of Caleb's favorites, so Aunt Amy and Dada took a turn during the same token time!

Like father, like son!

Mike did this "electrocution" game where you have to hang on to these metal joysticks as long as you can to rack up points.  Mike held on all the way to the top and then convinced Amy to have a try.  What a trooper!  She made it all the way to the top as well, but her poor hands were rather red afterward!

At the front there was a little blue screen where you could "be on TV".  Caleb really didn't understand what was happening and didn't really get into it and start dancing until Aunt Amy showed him how it worked!

They even had a little climbing structure with a tube slide.  What fun!

Caleb was a little short to pedal this bike and make it move up and down, so Daddy did it for him.  You should have seen those pedals fly!

After collecting the tickets they now have you feed them into a machine that counts them and gives you a receipt with your total on it.  (Let me tell you, this is WAY smarter than when I was a kid and you'd take your wad of tickets up to the prize counter!)  It even made a gulping sound like it was eating.  Just as fun as the games!

I completely forgot to take a picture of Caleb holding his prizes while we were there, so I had to have him do so another day!  Daddy suggested the CD since Caleb loves music so much (though I must tell you that with only five songs and only one that he wants to hear over and over, I almost have Homework memorized!)  Anyhow, Caleb was adamant that he had to have this bizarre rubbery chicken!  With its open mouth you can squeeze air out of it or place it over your finger and when you squeeze the bottom a fried egg squishes out and in (it's attached so you can do this over and over and over...)  Surprisingly, Caleb LOVES this chicken who has gone everywhere and done everything with Caleb lately.  Too gross!!

When all is said and done it was a fabulous outing!!  Cheaper than going to the movies and we even got worn out and have tokens left over for another time.  Caleb's already trying to plan when this will be!

Family Day

Our family is very unique in the fact that all of our birthdays fall in the month of February and all within 18 days of one another!  This if fun unless you consider the fact that we then have no one to celebrate the rest of the year.  So, we decided to create our own holiday!  The last Friday in July, right before Daddy goes back to work and school starts, is now officially "Family Day".  "What is Family Day?" you may ask.  Well, it is a day where we do something fun just the four of us, go out to eat somewhere special, exchange gifts, and spend the day enjoying each other and celebrating what a great family we have.  We started the first annual Family Day off right by decorating the house and getting ready for the festivities.

Daddy went and got us one of our favorite, special breakfasts-donuts and kolaches!  Yum!  We also ate breakfast in the living room so we could watch Mary Poppins together.  It was Caleb's first time watching the movie and he LOVED it.

Ethan was a good sport while the rest of us ate and played in his swing with his beloved football.

Sometimes he kicks so hard the whole swing shakes.  Yes, we've started belting him in now since he arches his back to reach up and touch the mobile birds.  So active!

One of the gifts Caleb picked out for Ethan was a stuffed crab.  It's name tag read "Caleb the Cute Crab" and when you squeeze one of its claws you can hear fun castanet music.  Ethan loves this toy.  Especially all the fun places to grab and chew.  Caleb thinks it especially funny when Ethan chews on one of the crab's eyeballs.

Dada and Momma got Caleb a fun lego set that he put together later that afternoon.

Though Momma and Dada got Ethan an adorable outfit to wear, he was much more excited to play (and try to chew) the tissue paper!

Ethan got Caleb a couple of books as well as a magnetic calendar so he can see what's coming up.  (Maybe he'll give his parents a little break asking us continually what we're going to do next, maybe!)

Some brotherly love!

The boys got Momma a new rug for the laundry room since our other one was disintegrating.

The boys gave Dada a new jig-saw so he can make new and fun projects.

Ah, to be content with just the packaging.  What an age to be!

Caleb enjoyed the packaging too, though not eating it.  He threw it up in the air all over the living room.

After Ethan's nap we headed over to the mall.  Neither of our boys have ever been to a mall before and it was a fun experience for both of them.  (We had to stick with an inside activity since Caleb was still getting over a VERY severe sunburn and couldn't be outside.)  Though this mall didn't really have a lot of fun stores for kids, it did have the Disney store and Build-a-Bear.  Both of which were really fun.  At lunch we ate at the food court.  Another first for Caleb, at least the first time when he remembers.  There were so many yummy choices to pick from.  We all decided to try out the Japanese food (which was yummy!)

Caleb even got a yummy drink!  A blueberry, pineapple smoothie.  Though it may not sound so good it was quite delicious!

Making wishes in the fountain was also fun.  Caleb wished for Chick-fil-A to be closer to our house so we could eat there ALL the time (I agree!) and another baby (nope!  not going to happen!)

Ethan REALLY enjoyed the mall as well!  There were so many fun things to see and so many people to look at.  He was fascinated with the food court ceiling.  Maybe it was the numbers of fan, the skylights, or the palm trees.  Whatever it was he had fun.

 Our mall has a little play area in it so kiddos can let off some energy after shopping with their parents.  The small climbing structures were really too young for Caleb, but since we had never been there before, the novelty made it fun.

What a cutie!

Back at home that evening Dada was pretending to sleep on Ethan which made Ethan giggle.  It also made Caleb laugh really hard.  And because Caleb thought it was funny Ethan thought it was even funnier!

Here's a little video of the fun!

This is Ethan's "happy laughing face".

We also spent time just playing with one another.  Here Caleb is giving Ethan a shoulder ride.  Not sure if Ethan liked the ride, or just liked grabbing Caleb's hair. 

Thank you, God for the gift of a wonderful family!  You have blessed us a hundred times over!!