Prayer request...

Please pray for my friend Theresa's niece who is currently at Children's in the NICU (her name is Olivia). She had fluid on her lungs and struggled to breath when she was first born on Tuesday. She has since been taken off of the respirator and breathing on her own, so that is great.

MANY of you who read this blog know the stress and anxiety that go along with having a baby in the NICU so please keep this family in your prayers. With Ethan's birthday coming up next week I'm reminded of our week there and how much we were blessed by other's prayers and support.

I'll give you any updates as I receive them.

Signing Fool

Sometimes I get a little frustrated or disappointed that Ethan doesn't use sign language as much as I would like. Then I remind myself that I need to do it ALL the time so that it is reinforced in his little mind. Well, I've made an effort the last couple of days and boy has it paid off. Today at Walmart Ethan signed that he was hungry, then asked for milk. Later when we were in the checkout line he was slowly clapping his hands. I thought to myself, that's curious because nothing exciting has occurred. Then I realized that he had finished his cracker and he was asking for more!! I'm going to make an effort in the next week to "catch" him signing on film. In the video below he does sign that he wants to eat right at the end, but I'd like to have a few more pictures of him communicating with us.

I've also started to introduce new signs (as you can see on the right). Introducing these new signs helps me remember to sign often and then Ethan will too! I would suggest sign language for any family. It empowers your child to communicate with you before their little mouths and tongues are able. I've really enjoyed the "Sign with your Baby" book and DVD.

Getting caught up...

Okay, so I have been busy, but now I'll take a chance to get everyone caught up. Two weekends ago (June 7th) Ethan began feeding himself with a spoon and fork. He gets upset now when he does not have utensils of his own at meal time.

Even though this picture shows him "eating" a pear,
he actually spit them all out.

So from the 9th to the 13th I organized a Science Academy for elementary and middle school teachers in the county. Everyday Ethan went to Carmen's house and spent the day with Carmen and her mom Nancy. Carmen is now 6 months pregnant so that is exciting! They had a blast. Ethan even helped out with their garage sale. The Academy went really well, but as always when planning a big event I'm glad it is done.

Since then Ethan and I have been recovering from our big week. I'm still going to stroller strides three days a week and that helps us get up and out of the house. On Wednesday we had a play date at our friend Betsy's house. Her twins are two and half months older than Ethan and she also has a three year old. She is my model mom. She has a couple of great blogs including "full tummies", "LiterariTea" and "The Tarnished Teapot".

Last weekend Ethan had his first full day of finger foods. It is awesome! He likes green beans, hot dogs, canned peaches, canned pears and we discovered last night that he LOVES Chef boy-r-dee ravioli. I cut up about six of them and he wolfed them all down! We have also dropped all bottles (better now then when he is attached to them) and since Walmart was out of formula, we also have made the switch to real milk. I filled up his cup yesterday with whole milk and he never missed a beat. So good-bye Avent, Similac, and Gerber. We'll catch you on the flip side, or maybe we won't!

I think that is it for now....the next week and a half will be all about planning Ethan's birthday bash and prepping for my mom and sister to visit. That'll keep me busy enough I think.

Going Down?

While at our friend Carmen's house today Ethan climbed all the way DOWN the stairs! Yeah for going down!

(Betsy: your tip worked so thanks so much for that!)

Busy Mommy

Last week I was working for the county and it has been really hard to not post with all of the new things that Ethan has been doing. I've posted some new pictures on flickr. Here is a new video that shows off Ethan's dancing, waving, and his sign language (look for "eat" right at the end).



New things include feeding himself and a record of 6 steps!

Funny Face and Video

There is a picture of me eating Lemon Meringue when I was little. I would make a terrible face, but then I would open my mouth to take another bite. Well, little Ethan and I were at our neighbor's pool and I was eating a frozen lemonade. Even though Ethan didn't seem to like it he kept opening his mouth for more!

Now also, is a really funny video (at least it was funny at the time):


Since this video we are learning that it is not okay to throw food from our tray. It is a hard lesson to learn :(

It's been a while

Since my last post we have:

• Celebrated our 8th year of marriage by going on two dates (thanks to the youth at our church for one and Nanny Sara and Parrain Curt for the other)
• Celebrated Mother's Day (by going to Dairy Queen and having Ethan in his cute sweater vest)
• Flew (Ethan and I) to Louisiana to celebrate Auntie's graduation at LSU

We had a lot of fun in Louisiana. We went to breakfast at Another Broken Egg Cafe the morning of Danielle's graduation. It was awesome! Dad and I had omelets with lump crab meat on top and the middles were stuffed with cream cheese. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. According to the website there will be one in TN soon, I just hope it is Knoxville or Chattanooga and not Memphis!

Ethan did well at graduation. It was scheduled right during his nap time so we took turns pushing him around the auditorium in his stroller until he fell asleep. I actually had a classmate of mine recognize me, but she was busy with her own son at the time. If it wasn't for Facebook I would have never known that she saw us.

You can't visit Lafayette, LA and not go to Southside Bakery for beignets! Mysteriously Ethan got powdered sugar on his mouth and shirt while I was up refilling my coffee. My dad claimed nothing happened, but since Mimi's face turned red and she choked on her beignet laughing so hard, I have my suspicions. Here is Ethan loving on his new friend Flounder at Southside.


We also went to the park while we were in Lafayette. Good old Girard Park! Philip and I's old stomping ground. We saw lots of momma and baby ducks. Ethan even went down the slide with Auntie!
Poor snooks ran fever the WHOLE time we were there. I was up with him the first night we were there from 3:30 - 5 am. We got to watch some really bad storms come through town while we were up. He didn't really have any other symptoms until early Saturday morning (4ish) when his nose started leaking bright green "crud". Here is a pic of him snuggling with my dad at midnight the night that I was packing. He did not feel good! It was sad to see him not feeling well the entire time we were there. He ran his last fever the Sunday we flew back, but then Monday afternoon he was pulling on one of his ears. Even though he woke up happy on Tuesday I brought him to the doctor, and viola: double ear infections! I think that fluid from the cold got pushed back into his ears on the plane and then caused the ear infection about 24 hours later! We are on day 7 (of 10) for his antibiotics and he hasn't had Tylenol in a few days, so that is good.

While Ethan and I were in Louisiana Philip was busy making our new end table. This table has come about so that Philip and I can have flat surface area that is safe from the little one!
It has a finished bottom now too and seven coats of tongue oil! I'll post a finished picture on flickr soon.

This weekend we built a gazebo on our back deck. Here is a picture of Ethan watching Daddy assemble the outer frame.

I haven't taken a "finished" picture, but I'm sure I will soon. We also got a rug and a table and we are waiting on chairs to be in stock at Home Depot.

I've got one week of work left and then glorious summer (at least for one week before more work)!

One last thing! While in Lafayette Mrs. Cindy (Ethan's Mawmaw) bought Ethan a little stuffed Elmo. I just thought it would be fun for him to have a little Elmo since I want to have an Elmo themed first birthday party. He was immediately attached to it! He even cried when I had to hand Elmo to the cashier for her to scan it. Well, since then I have bought him and Elmo "straw" cups and an Elmo video.
He watched this video for about 7 minutes which is huge for an 11 month old. I don't ever encourage him to watch TV, but for those 7 minutes when Elmo was on TV, he was entranced.

I don't know if you can tell the difference between this picture and the one on top of it, but Ethan got a make over! Philip helped me use the shears to cut Ethan's hair. It is short now in the back and now he looks like a little boy! It looks so good, I'm excited that it came out so well.