Ethan turns 2!!!

On Saturday my baby, I mean big boy, turned 2 years old! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. It seems like we just brought him home from the hospital and now he's so big and growing fast. He's doing a lot of things. He's talking a lot, most of it we don't quite understand, but you can catch a word here and there. He loves everything Elmo and loves playing with all his toys. He's very independent although lately he's loved taking Ken or me by the hand and walking around the couch for 20-30 minutes at a time. He's strong-willed, stubborn and loves to do things his way. I love this age. Everything is so exciting to him.

He likes to play at the park and walk everywhere including up and down the hills at the park. We've been enjoying playing t-ball in our backyard. It's so funny to watch him hit the ball with the wrong end of the bat.

He's been spending a lot more time with me now that I'm not working and it shows. I love spending my days with him. We've been learning how to fill our days so we're not bored by planning play dates, trips to the park, walks, and lunch with daddy. It's interesting trying to plan our days so that we don't spend any money.

It's hard to think of all the things he's able to do now, but I'll try to list some them. He's just starting saying "Here you go" or some version of it. I would say he says about 30-40 words that we can understand. The rest of the words he's saying he's very adamant when he says them. He has a lot to say and isn't afraid to say it. I wish I could understand all that he says.

Ethan still sleeps in his crib and I'm in no hurry to get him out of it. I'll let him sleep in it as long as he will. I don't look forward to training him to sleep in a toddler bed. He's a great sleeper as he's been since he was born. We get 2 to 2 1/2 hour naps in the afternoon and he sleeps all night all the time. He loves to go to bed. In fact, if you say "Are you tired?" he'll say "Night Night" and grab his blankie and Elmo and head to the gate to go upstairs.

We've been so lucky to have such a laid back baby. Now that he's a toddler he's much more head strong, but it's fun to see him develop his personality.

Once I get the rest of the photos from Ethan's birthday party I'll post about his party. Hopefully that will be in the next couple days.

13 months old

A few days ago Ethan turned 13 months old. It's hard to believe that this time last year I was taking care of a one month old.

Ethan can do so many things now. He recently learned to say the word "no" along with his usual mama and dada. He also babbles loudly. I'm sure our neighbors can hear him down the block. If one of us is in another room and he wants us he talks very loudly until we come back to talk to him.

We will know how much he weighs at his next clinic appointment in April, but we're thinking that he's over 23 lbs by now. He loves to play with balls and can throw the ball backwards and forwards. He likes to roll the ball to Daddy. We recently took a toy out from Christmas that has a ball blower and the balls shoot out all over the room. He loves to push the button and see all the balls fly. Last night we turned it off and it was pretty funny to watch him continue to hit the button, although a little sad too. He also loves to play in his own little tunnel from Christmas.

He has picked up on a few baby signs as well. He says "more" in sign language and "all done". Some of the time we have to ask him if he wants more and do the sign, but more and more he's been doing it on his own. He seems to be understanding and watching us do everything.

He loves to read and flip through pages of books on his own. He's a very happy baby, but also a little emotional and sensitive. For a long time he would cry if someone sneezed or yawned or if it got too loud. He is starting to be less emotional, but the sneezing still gets him.

He also has started throwing tantrums. Screaming tantrums. He tends to do this when we go to change him, say no, or when we take something away. It usually ends as quickly as it started, but also begins and ends with a Mariah Carey kind of scream.

He really is a great kid to be around most of the time. I wish other people could experience him during the times that I have him to myself. He constantly amazes me with things that he can do.

We'll see how much more he can do in another month. Maybe he will get up and walk!

Life As A New Mom

I love being a mom! Today Ethan is 7 weeks old. We just went to the Pulmonologist's office yesterday for a clinic and Ethan weighed in at 11 lbs! I can't believe he's gained 2 1/2 lbs since birth. He's also 22 inches long! My little boy is growing so fast. Yesterday we met with the pulmonologist, the dietician, and the social worker. I was pleased to hear that he has completely recovered from the Brochialitis! The dietician told us that as he gets older he will be able to eat normal food. We will need to make sure he eats a well-balanced diet and that what he eats is high in nutrients. We will have to keep him away from juice, soda, tea and eventually coffee. We were told that Cystic Fibrosis kids tend to not eat a ton so what they do eat needs to be high in nutrients and that's why they want him to stay away from drinking anything other than water and milk. Kids who drink a lot of juice, soda, etc. tend to not gain the weight they need to and CF kids tend to not gain a ton of weight anyways. We are very happy that he is growing very well and that proportionately he's in the 68th percentile with the goal being to keep him over 50%.

Ethan and I are beginning to ease into a routine. He's such an easygoing little guy. I think his personality is a lot like Ken's. He is calm, social, talkative, and laughs a lot! A few days ago I laid him down on his playmat and he talked and laughed at a picture of a rabbit for 10 minutes. It's so fun to watch him learn new things and to take everything in. He loves to have conversations with us too! We'll ask him something and he'll coo back and laugh. It's really funny! I'll have to get a video and post it in the next week or so.

I really wish that we could afford for me to stay home with him full-time, but it will probably be unlikely. For now, I'm on maternity leave for who knows how long. I have an appointment with the postpastum therapist on Monday to extend my disability as long as possible. I'm hoping that in the end I can get an extension of 8-12 weeks and then I'll have Paid Family Leave on top of that. If all goes well I'll be off through the end of the summer PAID! I joke about wanting to get as much time out of the state money, but really I medically need it. I have postpartum depression, which is even more common in people who have Bipolar disorder. I've been managing with Zoloft and trying to take it easy. I've learned a lot of coping strategies through the years and especially over the course of the last year and a half being off meds. I will be going back on my medication soon since I've stopped breastfeeding altogether. That's a whole other post :) It usually takes a few months for meds to start to take full effect and we have to start all over now that my body has changed through pregnancy. I'm hoping it can be done fairly quickly, but also that I can have more time paid with my baby. For now, we're doing pretty good and we'll have to wait and see what comes next.

I'll post more pictures later in the week. He's growing so fast!

2 weeks old!!!!

Sleeping on Daddy

Ethan finds his fingers to soothe!

A little Daddy/ Son bonding

1st time in his bouncer. It lasted about 2 minutes before he started crying.

He's already two weeks old! I can't believe how fast he has been growing and how fast times has flown by. I guess when you live in segments of time (eat, poop, sleep) with a baby the days start to go fast. Ethan is doing really well! He can hold his head up better. We need to start doing tummy time with him very soon. He's generally very happy and content especially if he has a pacifier to suck on.
We are sleeping as well as can be expected. Although, I do think that we have a good sleeper and are lucky that at night we can put him down drowsy and he usually goes right to sleep. He has his days and nights figured out. When the sun comes out he is much more alert and tends to stay awake for longer periods of time just staring at his daddy. He loves to look at our faces.
Lately, the funniest part of being a parent has been that it seems that whenever Ethan goes to Ken he poops. A few days ago Ken was holding him and Ethan let one rip, well he pooped, it just sounded really nasty. Ken kept saying "Take him, take him!", but I couldn't stop laughing and it was kinda funny to let him sit there with the stinky baby. Here's a picture:

A week ago, Ethan met his cousins. Ella fell in love with him almost immediately. We weren't sure how she would react, but she is a little mommy. She really wanted him to have his binkie in his mouth and would gently place it there and then say, "Eatan meh mehs (sleeping)!" then she would put her finger to her face and say "Shhhh!"

I love this picture! My friend, Lauren, came to take newborn photos when Ethan was 9 days old and he was not a happy camper that day.

Ethan cried and kept looking like he wanted more food earlier today so I gave him one more ounce of breastmilk in a bottle. A few minutes later this is what came back up. All because he just wanted to suck on something. Needless to say, he needed a small bath.