Blankie & Thumb sucking

I know there are a lot of people out there who would prefer that their kid not suck their thumb, but I'm not one of them. Sure, he will probably have a harder time giving it up when he gets older than he would with his binkie. I know we can't take it away like the binkie, but it's so convenient. The only thing that worries me is the germ aspect especially since we need to keep him healthy as much as possible. He tends to suck his thumb during the day when he's awake.
He loves his blankie. It's about 18 inches by 18 inches so it's the perfect size to cuddle with. When I put it between me and him to rock him before putting him in his bed he nuzzles up with it and gets the satin inbetween his fingers. He takes a binkie to go to sleep, but the blankie is a must have.
I love that he loves his thumb and his blankie because I used to suck my left thumb and had a blankie. Can't wait to get a picture of him using both.

Parenthood

When I dreamed about becoming a mom, I didn't think it would be like it is in reality. I'm not saying that I don't like how it is. It's just much different than I envisioned. I thought that as a mom and an experienced nanny, that I would have it all together. Sure, I'd have a few battles with sleep training, sleeping through the night, getting the baby on a schedule, but no biggie.
Then I became a mom, and all of that went out of the window. Now I know that being a mom requires constant switching it up. When you think you've mastered something it crumbles or you have to start all over. Being a mom with all of these difficult aspects to overcome is completely worth it, but my bubble has been popped. I'm 4 months in and sometimes I feel like this "job" will never end...and it won't. I love my job as a mom, but it's the stuff in between that sometimes makes me wonder what I was thinking before when everything looked so easy.
I have a great little boy, who is so easy going, follows a routine/schedule and eats like a horse. I still worry constantly about whether he's getting enough to eat or whether he's sleeping too much or too little. Just when I get him to sleep I start to worry that he's not breathing. I worry that I will fall down the stairs while carrying him or that someone won't take care of him as well as I would. I know from talking to other moms that all these things are just how moms think. You never stop worrying about your kids and I'm no different. This is just the beginning of the joys of parenthood and I'm up for the rollercoaster ride, even if it means constantly worrying. He's a great kid and I wouldn't trade him for anything. (Not even a years worth of full nights of sleep ;)

Visiting GAG (Great Aunt Glo)

GAG & Ethan

Stark Cousins minus Ben :(

A couple weekends ago, my mom, sister, niece Ella, Ethan & I drove to Clearlake to visit with my Aunt Glo, otherwise known as GAG. It was a very short day, but it was great to finally make it back to Clearlake, see my aunt & uncle and to spend the day with most of my cousins. We were missing Ben, but the other 6 of us were there. Here are the pictures from our trip:
A picture of Ella & Ethan on our car trip.

GAG, Ella & Ethan

Nana & Ethan

Tucker & Ella

Auntie & Ethan

Teething

Oh how I loathe teething. I assumed that Ethan would get teeth earlier than most kids since he started drooling a lot around 2 months old. About a month ago he started knawing on his hands and a week ago he started looking like he was in pain. We have turned to Hylands homeopathic teething tablets & Tylenol. We always use both since the teething tablets give us just enough time to soothe him until the Tylenol kicks in. It seems to be working for the most part.
On Saturday we celebrated Father's Day, Ken's birthday and my brother-in-law's birthday at my parents house a few blocks away. Ethan was okay for the first couple hours. He just wasn't eating as well as usual. By 2pm he was inconsolible and by 3pm he was screaming so much I was almost in tears. Luckily, even on his special day Ken took over so I didn't lose it. He finally fell asleep with Tylenol in his system and although it was a short nap was able to eat much better for the rest of the day. Like I said before "I loathe teething". I know it's going to get worse and come and go. It looks and feels like he's getting his upper left tooth, but I have a sneaking suspicion that there is more than one tooth coming. Oh vay!

Rockin' Out

Here's a copy of Ethan's rockin' out video:

Visiting the Weaver's

Last week Ethan and I went to visit the family I used to work for, the Weaver's. We had a ton of fun. The kids loved talking about Ethan's mohawk hairstyle and their youngest son is 13 days younger than Ethan so we took comparison pictures. We concluded that their youngest,Brandon weighs more an Ethan has a bigger head. 90% last time we checked. Here are the photos that their new nanny took while we hung out by the pool. Here's a video that the Weaver's new nanny, Theresa took of Ethan talking. I will have an update on our 4 month old on Friday after his doctors appointment.

A Blast From the Past

Rachel Reed Keys, Brittany Harmon, me, & Elizabeth Reinking Tosspon
- My 16th birthday party.

I recently bought a negative reader so that I could take all of my old 35mm film and convert it to digital. It's actually a really easy machine to use and I've already converted over 500 pictures by doing it for the equivalent of 2 hrs a day over 3 or 4days whenever Ethan goes down for a nap. I still have a ton of pictures left to do.
I've found some old photos from high school and college. It's so interesting to look at the clothes I wore, how I styled my hair (or actually did something to it!), and remember all those old memories of youth group, jazz choir and boys...lots of memories of boys! I was a "little" boy crazy and DRAMA, DRAMA, DRAMA. That's another story for a later time.
Here's what I found:

Lauren Bryant Jenkins with her hotel hair thingie @ State Youth Conference '98


Sarah Thompson & Pamela Jones Perry @ my 16th BD Party


The guys: Alex Callan, Matt Modica, David Bohl, & Graham Munday


Lauren Bryant Jenkins' obsession with the pencil sharpener @ Mission Trip somewhere.


Alison Oldham Johnson & Me @ State Youth Conference '98

Emily Callan Maurer & Alex Callan receive their secret pal gifts. Wow!


Shelly Rogers Epler playing her trumpet @ Mission Trip to Spokane, WA in '98


Me Singing in Spokane, Wa

Best Friends in the Making

Ethan & one of my good friends little boy, Sean had their first playdate on Friday. They didn't interact really, but Pam & I had a nice time catching up. I think that's mostly what playdates are for. Here are the pictures from their playdate. Pam & I hope they enjoy playing Little League, soccer and many other sports together in the near future. Oh, Sean's 9 months old.

Camping with Grammy & Grandpa

This past weekend Ken & I took Ethan to go camping, well 5th wheeling, with Ken's parents. We weren't even there 24 hrs because of a jam packed weekend, but it was so much fun. The weather was gorgeous. It was in the upper 60's or lower 70's. Ken's parents have a 5th wheel that is 2 rooms. One room has a bed, the shower, sink and toilet and the other is the family room with the kitchen. Ken's parents let us take the bedroom with the baby so it would be easier for him to nap and sleep at night. We hoped that Ethan wouldn't wake them during the night. Later Gary, Ken's dad, said that he only heard us once.
Ethan slept really well, from 645pm-2am, woke up and ate 5oz and went back to sleep. At 330 I thought he was waking up so I got up, which means trying to find the floor in the 2 inch space between the wall & bed, turn on the light in the bathroom and check to see if he was really up. He wasn't, but he just kept making more noises. Finally we tried to feed him a little more from his earlier feeding and put him back to bed. At 4am he was wide awake and full of smiles, coos, and gurgling. We decided to put him in bed with us in hopes he would fall asleep, but he kept talking. I put his binkie in his mouth and he kept talking. At one point, Ken said, "Put his binkie in his mouth" while we lay in the dark and I replied, "I did". Ethan just kept talking until I pushed him closer to me and he finally zonked out for another 90 minutes. Needless to say, Ken and I don't like sleeping in the same room with Ethan at all. Ethan slept well, but mommy and daddy did not.
We didn't do much on our trip, but we did play cards, go for a couple walks and it was a great mini-vacation from the real world.
In July, Tahoe here we come with my family for a whole week in a hotel!!!

Weight Check

On Wednesday, we went to see the pulmonologist for clinic. Dr. Leong said that Ethan sounds really and for the time being we can stop nebulizer treatments. We are still doing the vest and just started doing it for 20 minutes twice a day.
They weighed him and he was 13 lbs 4.5 oz & 23.5 inches long. He's in the 60% for proportionate weight to height and in the 30% for weight & 30% for height. Dr. Leong and the dietician were pleased with his growth. We will be starting rice cereal and a few others in less than 2 weeks. I'm really excited to put him in his highchair which will probably be way to big.
Here are some pictures of him in his jumperoo. He can't jump because he is still too short so I have to do it for him. He seems to like being in an upright position to see the world from a different angle.