Summer Update

It has been a while and I am sorry about that. We are having a super busy, but great summer! Here are a few updates on the past month and a half.

• Ethan finally got to meet his Uncle Logan and Aunt Stephanie! My brother and sister-in-law came home from California for a week and we had a wonderful visit with them. We love and miss them lots!
• Ethan also got to spend time with his Uncle Ty and new Aunt Erin. Curt's brother got married here and we had a great time getting ready for the wedding and celebrating with them. It was a beautiful day. We also love and miss them lots.
• We sadly said goodbye to our Volvo station wagon. :( My mom, Ethan and I were in a very minor accident but it was enough to total the car. We were thankful that no one was hurt but sad about the car. I had loved that car! So we joined the mini van club! We have come to love the new van and have really appreciated all the space in it.
• We spent a week at our grandparent's cottage for the 4th of July holiday and had a fabulous time. Ethan is a total water rat and loved being in the lake or the kiddy pool.
• We have also moved! Curt took a new position at Kuyper College (where we both went to college) as their Resident Life Coordinator. He has always wanted to return here to work with this unique community and to have the chance to grow professionally. It was a very bittersweet time for us as we left all we grew to love at Calvin. However, we are excited about the opportunities at Kuyper and are starting to really like our new apartment.
• Ethan finally got some teeth! :) He has two on the bottom and I think he might be working on a few more. It is totally adorable.
• Ethan also recently started "real" crawling on his hands and knees. He also loves to walk if he is holding onto our hands. We know it won't be long until he is running around!! He also figured out how to climb stairs, which is a new challenge as we have a second floor here at Kuyper.
• He also says "Dada" and "Daddy". He makes no noises resembling Mama or Mommy and I am trying to not take it personally! :)

We are soo thankful for Ethan's continued health and development and are really enjoying this stage and the beautiful summer weather.

Hello. I realize it has been a while since I posted anything, I am sorry about that. It is very hard to believe that Ethan is now 9 months old!! As I keep saying, he is as many out as he was in! :) He continues to be such a good baby and such a delight. Here are some recent Ethan highlights:

• He is a very good army crawler! He has not started to "real" crawl yet but he is super fast with the army crawl and is all over the place.
• He loves to stand holding onto something or us.
• He is now able to move from laying down to sitting up all on his own. I often find him sitting in his crib smiling in the morning.
• He is a babbler. Once he can actually talk it is going to be non-stop! We can't discern any actual words yet but he is making more vowel/consonant sounds.
• He still doesn't have any teeth. However, I noticed this morning that I can finally see and feel a tooth starting to poke through on the bottom. It won't be long! He is still nursing twice a day so I am totally fine with that tooth taking a long time to come through. :)
• He loves to eat! He still eats some baby food but he is also starting to eat more table food. He will pretty much eat anything we give him. He loves animal crackers and yogurt! He also enjoys a bit of Captain Sundae every once in a while. :)
• He especially loves being outside. We have gone on lots of walks, a few runs and a few bike rides already. He is a very curious and observant little guy. He has started to point at things. If only we knew what he was saying!

We are officially into the summer and loving it! Curt is done working until August and we are super excited about the first summer that we both are not working. We can continue to live at Calvin over the summer and enjoy not having the students around. :) We are looking forward to lots of time spent outside and doing fun things.

Long time coming...

I am sorry that it has taken me a long time to do a new update. Yesterday was Ethan's 8 month birthday! :) It is hard to believe that it has already been that long. He is such a fun, happy little guy and he brings us such joy! Here are a few highlights of the past couple months:

• We had a wonderful trip to Florida a while ago. Ethan was the best little flyer and didn't cry or anything. He loved the warm weather and being able to be outside and gets lots of fresh air and sunshine.
• He LOVES to be outside. He looks all around and smiles and smiles when it is actually warm enough to be outside.
• He sits great and is perfectly content to sit and play with toys for a while and is great at entertaining himself.
• He is close to crawling but no movement yet. He gets onto his knees but hasn't figured out how to continue the motion.
• He likes to stand and will pull himself up if he is holding onto our hands.
• He is a talker and is starting to make distinct sounds but no clear words yet.
• We still sometimes struggle with our nights and will have good nights and bad nights. I am hoping that the good nights start to outnumber the bad nights soon! :)

We are very much looking forward to summer with our little man!

We made it!

It is very hard to believe that Ethan is already 6 months old!! In the early days, I remember just focusing on this milestone and thinking that if I could just make it here I would be good. Well...we have made it!! :)

Ethan continues to be such a good baby and such a delight. I am cracking up at him all the time! Here are some highlights of his recent development:

• He is starting to sit up on his own for a bit at a time. He loves to roll around and is all over the place! When he is on his stomach he is starting to stick his butt in the air but hasn't yet figured anything else out.
• He loves to vibrate his lips, like all babies do. Sorry, I have no idea what to call that! ;)
• He continues to "talk" and giggle and make the most wonderful noises.
• He still puts everything in his mouth and especially loves anything he cannot have. He is super fast and so we have to keep a close eye on him! It is probably time to start baby proofing.
• He is a very tactile person and wants to touch and feel everything. He is constantly moving his fingers against things in order to feel them.
• He has started eating food! He is a champ at it and has had no problems with gas or constipation. So far he loves cereal, bananas and sweet potatoes. He is working on his love of green beans! I started him on jarred baby food and then tried to feed him homemade. He was not a fan of the homemade so we are going to ease into that one.
• He still has no teeth and there doesn't seem to be any progress on that anytime soon.
• He loves reading books and just stares at them. Of course, he also tries to put the pages in his mouth!
• He is starting to be better at naps and is getting a bit more predictable. I can usually count on a good morning nap but his afternoon naps are more hit and miss.
• His night sleeping comes and goes. He will have really good nights and then frustrating nights. I keep reminding myself that he will not be getting up at night the rest of his life! :) He continues to do well at falling asleep on his own so I am able to lay him down while he is still awake and he will fall asleep.
• He is excited for his first big trip! On Tuesday we are heading to Florida with my sister and brother-in-law and another couple. We are really looking forward to the vacation. We will be staying at a house in Naples with a pool and the beach nearby. I am excited to see how Ethan does in and around the water. We are also very ready for some warm weather!! We are flying so it will also be interesting to see how that goes.

We are continually blessed by him and I am constantly amazed at what a good baby he is! He rarely cries and when he does we know something is wrong. He is more and more fun and it is such fun to see his little personality start to emerge! We are VERY much looking forward to the next 6 months!

Sleeping and Playing

I meant to write about this in my last post but I forgot and was reminded this morning. :) We have been struggling a little with Ethan's sleeping. He is doing somewhat better with naps. He usually likes to only do a 30 minute nap but will sometimes go longer. He is a bit of a "cat napper". I am slowly being able to depend on a morning nap, afternoon nap and a couple evening rests. However, the night time has been a bit frustrating! He will technically sleep through the night and does not usually need to get up to eat. However, he has been waking up very often screaming! I thought originally that he was waking up because his pacifier had fallen out but I do not think that is the case because he can sleep fine without it at other times. It is still a bit of a mystery why he is waking up! The nice thing is that he will go right back to sleep once the pacifier is in so I am only awake for a minute or two.

All the frustrations of the night are usually forgotten in the mornings because of how cute Ethan is! :) He will wake up and just hang out in his crib for a while. He doesn't cry or anything but will simply play or talk to himself. It is the most adorable thing!! A few recent mornings I have gotten up and thought I would just check in on him and he is actually awake and hanging out in his crib. The smile I get when he first sees me is the best thing in the world! Sometimes I wonder how we got soo lucky!! :)

Time is flying by!

This past week Ethan turned 5 months old! It is hard to believe that we are already there. In a way it seems like just yesterday he was born. I remember at the very beginning focusing on getting to 6 months old and so I can hardly believe we are only a month away from that milestone. :) He is doing wonderful. He continues to be a super good baby and is very fun. He laughs and smiles a ton and does lots of "talking". If you put him on his back he will roll onto his stomach and is trying to figure out how to get back over. :) He loves to hang out in his Bumbo and his exersaucer. Ethan has an oral fixation and wants to put EVERYTHING in his mouth! He is not teething yet (thankfully!) but loves chewing on things. We find him very entertaining and are having tons of fun with him!

We thankfully survived January and are glad to have the month behind us. Curt was extremely busy teaching his class and doing his normal work and so he wasn't home much to hang out with us. He really enjoyed teaching and was thankful to have the experience. We are looking forward to the start of the new semester and to establishing a routine. This weekend Curt had the opportunity to play in a pond hockey tournament on Reed's Lake so we had fun getting bundled up and watching him. Ethan could hardly move in his snow suit so I am not sure he had any idea what was going on! :)

I am doing well and staying busy. I truly love staying home with Ethan and am very thankful for the way God has blessed us so that I can stay home.

Holiday Celebrations

Happy New Year! It is hard to believe that Christmas is over and we are into 2011 already! I figured it was time to update on our celebrations and how our little man is doing.

We had a WONDERFUL first Christmas season with Ethan. I ended almost every night thanking God for such a great baby and such an amazing family. We had a number of family celebrations and he did great at them all! He is a spoiled, blessed little guy! :) We spent Christmas Eve with Curt's parents and had a very nice day of relaxing and playing games. Then we were with my family on Christmas day. It was such fun to incorporate Ethan into our traditions. He received lots of books and clothes and a fun activity center that he will be able to use at Grandpa and Grandma Norton's house.

Curt was a bit amazed at how many pictures my sister and I could take of

Ethan! :)

Curt's brother and his fiancée flew home from California on Christmas day so Ethan was finally able to meet Uncle Ty and Aunt Erin the day after Christmas. He loved them! He smiled and smiled for Uncle Ty and seemed to love hanging out with him! We were able to spend lots of time with them while they were home, which was wonderful. We are super excited for their wedding this summer!

We had our last Christmas celebration on Sunday and are looking forward to getting back into our routine. I am also looking forward to "normal" eating after all the goodies of the season!

We also had a great New Years Eve. Our dear friends, Zach and Rachel, moved back to Michigan from Hawaii and so we were able to hang out with them and our other great friends, John and Laura, for the night. We went to Curt's grandparents' cottage. Ethan loved it and I cannot wait to go up there this summer to swim and play. John and Laura brought their son, Judah, who is 2 along and it was great fun playing with him. The boys slept great and I was excited to know that Ethan will do fine sleeping there this summer!

January is going to be a very busy and stressful month for us! Curt has the opportunity to teach an interim class here at Calvin. For those of you that don't know, it is a class that lasts for 3 weeks and that he will teach every day for 3 hours. He is co-teaching it with another person and has about 30 students. It is called "Life Hacking" and will take a look at the self-help movement within the light of Scripture. I think he is really looking forward to it and to the opportunity to try something new and see what he thinks of teaching. It will mean very busy days as he will continue to do his RD work. January is usually a busy month for that as well since students have more free time than usual, which can sometimes mean they are creative in their use of that time. :) So, Ethan and I are going to be seeing a bit less of Daddy than we are used to this month.

Ethan is doing fantastic! He is 4 months old now, which is crazy. He is doing a great job of holding up his head and will sit while being held. He rolls onto his stomach a lot and loves hanging out in his exersaucer. He smiles and laughs a lot and is a very happy baby. He is still quite the talker and I often wish I knew what he is thinking and saying! We had been having some trouble with his sleeping and needing to put his pacifier in his mouth a lot at night (sometimes every 15 minutes!). I had been told by other mothers that once they started sleeping their babies on their stomachs they slept a lot better, so I decided to give it a try. It was a bit scary to lay him on his stomach at first and I would often check to make sure he was still breathing! However, it seems true and he has been sleeping much better! I hesitate to say this because it seems that every time I talk about how great he is sleeping he reverts backwards so hopefully that won't happen this time. :) He has consistently been getting up only once a night around 4:30 am. Over the last few nights he has been going longer and longer and last night he didn't wake up until he was ready to get up at 7:30. I can handle that!! He has also been taking better naps and is starting to get a bit more predictable. It is nice to have time to get things done.

We have loved our holiday season and really enjoyed the quiet around campus! I am sitting here looking at the beautiful trees with the new snow and somewhat dreading the return of students today! :) I am super excited about the months ahead and absolutely love witnessing Ethan's new discoveries!