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.

Lots of learning going on around here

Ethan has started doing a ton of things this week! It is crazy how much he has grown and learned in just 9 months! I know it would be exciting if I told you that he finally learned to crawl...but I will not tell a lie. No crawling going on around here.

This past Monday Ethan started saying his "d"-sound. Now it is the sound he uses most, "da-da-da-da", I cannot wait until he finds out it means Daddy. On Thursday he turned 9 months old! Wow. These months have flown by. Trent and I were looking at pictures of Ethan as a newborn last night and oo-ing and aw-ing over how TINY he was. I feel like my little boy is all grown up! On Friday he started clapping! I have been practicing clapping for weeks with him, moving his hands together and clapping my hands, but, wouldn't you know it, he clapped first for Trent. I was getting out of the shower and Trent says: "Caitlin, come here, I taught Ethan how to clap!" As if clapping twice in front of Ethan is all there was to it! Although, with as much as he loves Trent, maybe it was!

Also, as this week has progressed, Ethan has become extremely mobile. He still doesn't crawl, but he can pull himself forward on his hands, twist his body, roll around and finally make it to where he wants to. It is so slow that you don't really realize he is moving that much, but if I walk out of the room for a minute, I come back to him in a completely different spot! It is nice to see what kind of things interest him and yet still not have to chase him around a bunch...I am scared for that day! Please let it not come until April ;).