11 months old and counting

Ethan turned 11 months old today. Wow. And weird. I can swallow the fact that I have a baby but it is a little harder to believe that he will soon be a whole year old.

I haven't written in a while because we have been SO busy. I am almost done with school (thank goodness, only two weeks left!) and we have SO much to do before the end of the semester. General Conference was this weekend and Jean A. Stevens, first counselor in the Primary General Presidency, said that we must choose to have faith and to trust in the Lord. I am so glad that she said that. These next few weeks are going to be hard but I have been working on being patient and not getting stressed out. Now, I guess, is the time for me to choose to have faith and to trust that if I put the Lord first He will help me to get it all done without getting stressed out and taking it ot on those around me. I know the principle is true. I just have to have faith to try.

So, lets start from where I left of last post. On the 16th Trent left early (3:00 AM early) for Chicago and Student Career Days put on by PLANET. He has been preparing for it all semester now and was a little nervous about how he would do. On Sunday I got a call after the awards ceremony telling me how they did. BYU took first overall. Trent took first in not only Small Engine Repair (the one we knew he would do well in) but he also took first in Plant and Pest ID (which he had told me he was going to do terribly in...ha)! He couldn't believe it himself. I am so happy for him. He works so hard and deserves to finally win something. Now he is a National Champion. Twice. Pretty cool.

While he was gone my mom came to visit. She came down to help me with Ethan during my last week of teaching and help Natalie get ready for her BFA Illustration Show Reception. It was so fun to have her here and to watch her with Ethan. Trent came home at midnight on Monday and then my dad came down on Tuesday for Nat's reception (on Thursday). It was crazy to have so much going on during my last week of teaching but I loved having them here. On Wednesday night we went to my parents hotel to take Ethan swimming for his first time. It was so fun. He never smiled once during his whole time in the pool, but he didn't cry either. He just stared and looked around, presumably trying to take it all in. I am so excited to take him to the pool and the ocean this summer. He loves bath time and I hope he loves to swim.

Thursday, March 24th was Natalie's art reception. I asked if I could make the food and she said yes! (My first catering experience! I have this secret desire to be a caterer). Anyway, I made red velvet mini cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and almond cheese balls. It was my first time making either and I had a lot of help from Dad, Mom, and Nat. Luckily, they turned out good and were a success. I had a lot of people ask me for the cheese ball recipe and one lady wouldn't accept my offer to email it to her and had me give it to her off the top of my head! The best part about it all was that I had so much FUN. I LOVE cooking/baking. I just wish I had more people besides Trent and I to eat the food that I make. Here is a picture with Ethan, Nana, and Papa (my parents) at the reception.

Here is Papa reading to Ethan.

So Ethan is exploring and into everything but he is learning so much. Just a few stories to illustrate how fast his little brain must be working. About a week and a half ago I went to go to the bathroom and I shut the door most of the way but I left it open just a crack. My parents were in the living room but I heard Ethan crawling in to find me. I heard him crossing the little bit of linoleum and saw him peek through the crack in the door. I smiled because I thought it was so cute that he came to find me. Then, though, he reached up with his right had and pulled the door towards him, opening it. I was shocked. How did he know that to open the door he had to pull it towards him? I have seen him push doors closed but never pull them towards him. He was too much in the way of the door to open it very much so he scooted himself backwards and to the side so that he was out of the way and then opened the door, crawled in to the bathroom and pulled himself up to standing using my leg, and gave me a huge smile. I am amazed. I just can't believe that he knew to pull the door towards himself or even how to move out of the way so it could get by him. Second story. We have a couch and a chair that sit at almost a 90 degree angle to one another. In between them is an end table with computer and TV cords underneath. I was cleaning up and decided to put our little ottoman in between the couch and the chair so that Ethan couldn't get to the cords in the corner. Later, Ethan was walking along the couch and decided that he wanted to play with the little handle that hangs from the table (it is like a fake drawer handle that he likes to pull on). He couldn't reach it though because the ottoman was in the way. He leaned over the ottoman, reaching for the handle, but he just couldn't get it. He turned around and walked back down the couch. He went about a foot away from the ottoman before sitting down and rolling around a little bit. I wondered what he was doing because it just seemed kind of strange. Then I saw. From his position he reached out, grabbed a hold of a little rung on the ottoman and pulled it towards him. When he had pulled it as far as he could he rolled and scooted about another foot away, reached out and pulled the ottoman towards him again. I started laughing. I knew exactly what he was doing. He looked up at me and started to crawl to me but then he remembered the mission that he had started on, and he turned, crawled around the ottoman to the newly vacant spot, and pulled himself up the table so that he could grab onto the handle. I could hardly believe it. What must be going through his little mind to think: I want X. If I do Y, then I will get X!? Not only that, he is getting less sidetracked. He stayed focused on that handle the whole time. His brain must be learning so much about cause and effect right now. It is a pretty amazing process to watch.

Change of topic now.
This past Thursday was the Elder's Quorum Activity which was a Pinewood Derby. The wives were invited so Trent and I made a car together. Before we started we kind of had a lazy afternoon playing tennis (Trent barely won) and just kind of hanging out together. The activity was going to start at 6:30 so at about 4:00 we decided that we should probably start on our car. We knew people who had been working on their cars all week and we didn't want to be shown up too badly! We pulled out the table saw and started designing our car. When Trent went to cut it it splintered to the axle and ruined the block, making us realize that a table saw really isn't that great for making pinewood derby cars. Luckily we had an extra block. The second one survived the table saw but didn't look much better as you can see below. We tried to do one thing and messed up (hence the weird cuts in the front and up the sides) and then we just cut at an angle up the front and back to try to make it look a little better. We didn't have paint so we just colored it with markers. We also didn't have a scale so we had to wait until 6:30 to go to the church and use the scale there. Trent figured out how many fishing sinkers he could use and took his drill to the car, gutted it out, and hot glued the sinkers in! It was the ugliest car there! We were just laughing, we knew we weren't going to win. There were guys there who had some sweet looking cars and knew all about physics and where exactly to put the weight to get the most potential energy (in the back). Anyway, Trent named out car Trent & Cait, which is super romantic for him so I thought it was really sweet ;). When it went for its first run we beat the other three cars by a whole car length! We were shocked to say the least. It ended up winning all the other races and took first at the Derby. Wow. We laughed the whole way home in disbelief. Here are some pictures of the Trent & Cait.

Saturday was General Conference but Trent had to change the fuel pump in the truck.  I stayed inside watching Conference with Ethan while Trent worked on the truck and listened to the radio. He was getting pretty frustrated because he had to drop the gas tank to get the fuel pump, which means he had to crawl around on his back under the truck. After the first session and Trent had dropped the tank I went out to help him switch out the fuel pump. Ethan hung out at some friends house for a bit and then in the cab for a few minutes until it was time for his nap. He had fun pushing buttons and exploring. When he went down for his nap I went back out to help Trent. I ran the jack while Trent tried to balance the gas tank on top and then we rolled around underneath trying to screw all the nuts and bolts back in place and hook tubes/wires back up. Trent was so sore from being on the hard asphalt for four hours but we had fun working on it together. I love working as a team. I think that is what marriage it all about. I can't believe how cute it was to watch him work on the truck though! I was so proud to be married to such a man!

Standing up

Standing up. That is pretty much all Ethan does right now. The only reason for him not to be standing up is so that he can move to a different location and stand up there. Now we know the secret to happiness. It has been so fun. He has even started to cruise a little and takes baby steps along the couch, but only ever one or two, never more than that. He is always crawling to me and pulling himself up my legs (it really makes me feel loved even though I know it is because he wants me to take him around the house to look at things). The only problem with his new discovery is that he has learned that he can now stand up in his crib. He used to be such a good napper but now he just wants to play in his crib! Yesterday we put him down for his 1:00 nap but he didn't go down until 3:00!! Will the novelty of standing up just pass and he will start to nap well again? Answers anyone? I can only hope so.
Also, on Friday I got to babysit my friend Valissa's baby boy. Natalie and I have been friends with Valissa and her older sister Melea since we were 2 and Melea was 4. Last year Valissa and I found out that we were due within a week of each other (me with Ethan and her with her second child). What are the chances! Anyway, her and her husband were down here for a sealing and I got to watch Talis (her little boy that is Ethan's age)! Here are some pictures of our fun adventure.

A first and a second

I know I wrote yesterday but I just have to write two new things today. First of all, Ethan is pulling himself up to standing everywhere. He was doing it all morning and actually fell and hit his head three times because he lost his balance. Then, a few minutes after we laid him down for his morning nap we heard him talking and went in to see him standing in his crib. That was the first time he has done that, and I am sure that it will continue. I cannot say that I am too happy about that development!

We also discovered today that he is getting a second tooth! I keep feeling everyday to see if there is a new one and sure enough, tonight I felt the second one and I could barely feel the little ridges sticking up. You can see that it just broke the skin. He still has yet to be fussy while teething so I feel pretty blessed about that. He does have his tongue constantly hanging out of his mouth though as he rubs his tongue along his new teeth. I am sure he is wondering what is going on in there!
Anyway, I just needed to write these in here tonight. Everyday I am surprised at the new things he is doing and learning. I always knew I wanted to be a mother, but I never thought having a kid would be so much fun!

10 month old little boy

Ethan turned 10 months old this week and he is EVERYWHERE. It doesn't bother me really. I think it is so fun to see him exploring and checking things out. He is starting to pull himself to standing, open drawers, and follow us from room to room. The hardest part about it is getting him to eat! He will drink for about 30 seconds out of his bottle and then he is off and running. Today in church I had to strap him down tight in his car seat to get him to take his bottle! He fought me and kept crying out but eventually he got the idea that he better eat. I am a little worried about his weight gain now that he is more active and eating less. I might have to do a lot more strapping him in the car seat ;).
Ethan has now figured out how to pull open drawers. I followed my mom's example and put the Tupperware in the bottom drawer so that he can't break anything in it. He sits in front of the drawer, pulls it open, and tries to put his little arms over the top (so he really can't reach much). It is fun to watch him explore though.

Ethan was pretty sick this week. He woke up in the middle of the night crying for several nights in a row, refusing to take a bottle (which has never happened in the middle of the night) and I did not know how to comfort him. It was amazing though. I really felt like the Lord prompted me on ways to help Ethan calm down. I did things that I never would have done normally. For example, I never bring Ethan out into the light during his sleeping hours but when he started crying like that I just felt like I should I woke him up completely, playing with him reading books to him until he finally calmed down. Then I would rock him, transitioning slowly back to a dark room so he wouldn't started screaming again. There were other little things too and I know the Lord was helping me know how to handle and help Ethan without letting him cry to much. I am so grateful for all His help. It is so hard to be in school and have a kid and although I know that many people have it a lot harder than I do, I know that He watches out for me and cares about my small concerns. This was just one more testament of that.
Ethan is also starting to be more vocal. It is funny to watch him learn a new sound and have that be the only sound that he makes for days on end. The first sound he made was ga-ga, then da-da, then b-b (no vowel, really just breathy b's), then ba-ba, and this past week he started saying ma-ma. I know that he has no idea that ma-ma means me, but seriously, it still melts my heart when he says it! I just think it is so precious! When he was sick in the middle of the night this week he would say it crying maaaa-maaaa (if you can imagine)...my heart almost broke. I felt like he was calling out to me saying, "Mama, I feel so sick, please make it better." I know he was really just crying but I couldn't help but say, "Mama's here sweetheart." As a side note, I, of course, don't like it when he is sick, but it is kind of nice to have him be all snugly again like when he was little.
Here are some more pictures.

This shot was taken right after Ethan threw up all over me. Cute.

Weird faces.

The big mirror that Ethan LOVES.

A tooth?!

Trent called me over today as he was playing with Ethan saying, "Ethan has a tooth!" Don't judge me, but I exclaimed, "Liar!" I went over anyway and started to feel Ethan's gums. To my surprise I DID feel a tooth on his bottom gum and said, "oh my gosh! He does have a tooth!" Trent started laughing and said, "No way, I was just joking!" So, I guess if Trent hadn't been teasing me we never would have known that Ethan had a tooth! It has already broken through and everything...he could have had it for days! We had no idea. Mostly because we were expecting him to be really fussy when his teeth were coming in but he has just been his happy little self. Kind of makes me happy. I hope all the other teeth come in this easy.
Also, this week Ethan started saying "ma-ma-ma." No, he doesn't know that means ME, but it does mean he is at least able to make that sound when he does know. He also pulled himself to standing today for the first time. He was playing with an electronic toy that probably weighs half of what he does but only stands about four inches high. I looked over to check on him and he was folded at the waist-his hands on top of his toy, his legs straight, and his bum in the air! You always hear people say: "kids grow up so fast", but seriously, kids grow up SO FAST!

This is a toy Nick and Sylvia are lending us. Ethan LOVES it. He will go back and forth between this toy and the big mirror, entertaining himself for a whole hour!

Trent thought it would be fun to put Ethan on the roll-away. Needless to say, he almost rolled off of it.

How does he sleep like this?

Here he is crawling! He is getting around so well.

Ethan loves me!

So my little boy is getting pretty good at crawling. He still doesn't get into too much trouble but he is figuring out that he can go pretty much wherever he wants. After my class today I went to pick Ethan up from our neighbor who was watching him. When I opened the door I saw him on the other side of the room. He looked up from where he was sitting and immediately leaned forward and started crawling towards me! He has never crawled to a person before, only toys. So it was adorable to have him crawl all the way across the room to my feet and hold up one hand, gesturing for me to pick him up. I could have died. It was the sweetest thing ever. He hasn't crawled to Daddy yet. Ha! Not that I am gloating...I just am excited that my little boy loves me!

These aren't pictures of him crawling, just some recent ones that are kind of cute. 

 Trent put this cup on his head. No, I do not know why.

Here is Ethan and Daddy doing their trick. Ethan is obviously concentrating very hard. Trent is making sure he has the strongest core of any baby to have ever lived. Not that its a competition.

It begins...

So, Friday morning I was sitting in the living room eating breakfast, watching Ethan playing on the ground in front of me. He was up on his hands and knees, rocking like crazy, like he normally is. He has figured out the moving his legs thing, but not his arms (which means he face plants it when his knees get too close to his hands). Anyway, this morning he actually started moving his hands! He slowly lifted his arm way up high in a big circle before putting it down a few inches in front of where it had been. Then he moved his opposite knee. I yelled to Trent to come quick. As Trent ran in Ethan fell over. Luckily, he got back up to try again. This time he moved his one arm (still bringing it up high), followed by this opposite knee, followed by his other hand, you get the idea. He was crawling!! We kept moving him away from the inspire-er of this crawling, Trent's backpack, and watching him crawl forward towards it again. We were laughing and giggling like little kids. It was pretty much the cutest thing I have ever seen. I have been scared for him to start crawling for fear that I will not be able to get anything done, yet part of me wanted him to crawl because I was scared he would never figure it out! It was amazing to see that he did figure it out, all on his own. How does that happen? How do they know how to do it? I have no idea, but it is pretty cool.
Fortunately, Ethan has not figured out that he could move all around the house if he wanted to. For right now he only crawls when we set him down with everything out of his reach. Other than that he just rolls in his little five foot area like normal...so we are getting the best of both worlds ;).

Here is is just chilling in the morning, drinking his bottle, watching Trent and I get ready for the day.