Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas with the Wade Family

After opening our Christmas presents and feeding Ethan, we headed over to my parents' house for Christmas with the family.




It's Mackenzie's First Christmas too!!!!


A Corduroy book with a Corduroy doll from Sarah. 

Lots of presents under the tree!


Someone opened something good!



Opening a sweet keepsake alphabet block with Ethan's birth details...
from Russ, Ashley, and Mackenzie.








Something new to entertain Ethan.  Frosty sings and dances!
A gift from Uncle Kenny. 
The gift all of the kids got mom for Christmas.

Ethan's first baseball cap...a gift from his Grandma and Grandpa

After opening presents we headed over for a delicious brunch at the Marriott in Coolsprings.








Some celebratory champagne.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Photos

Our family's first Christmas Eve in our new house. 
With Grandpa on Christmas Eve.  
Cayne reading The Night Before Christmas to Ethan.  




Christmas morning!
Ethan's First Christmas was a White Christmas!

Yay Pressies!  Now it's time to get ready for Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's house...
But first, some play-time and talking with Mommy:  



Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas!


It's hard to believe that Christmas is already here and that Ethan is 2 months old today! He is the best present ever! It has been wonderful to have our first decorated Christmas tree in our own house and to keep putting beautifully wrapped pressies under the tree in the days leading up to Christmas. Since it's a fake tree, we've added holiday fragrance with a trusty candle. :)














Ethan has changed so much since the day we brought him home from the hospital. Life is starting to feel "normal" with him as well. He is babbling and smiling more and more every day. I think his two introverted parents may be raising a little extrovert! Here are some fun facts about Ethan, the 2-month old:
  • He weighs 12 pounds, 9 ounces and is 23.25 inches long.
  • He has outgrown all of his newborn outfits and the legs on some of his 3 month outfits are already looking a little short.
  • He has a big belly -- we call it his Buddha Belly!
  • He will sometimes go 6 hours between the start of feedings at night -- during the day the longest he has gone is 5 hours.
  • He sleeps great at night but only likes to take short "catnaps" during the day...and prefers to be held during those "catnaps", something we need to try to wean him from.
  • He has the cutest snore!
  • He takes a bottle (of breastmilk) eagerly...good news for Cayne and I if we want to go out alone!
  • He hardly fussed getting his first round of vaccinations at the doctor's.
  • He still hates tummy time.
  • His head is even more stable now...he can't hold it up all the time alone but we are helping him support it less and less.
  • He no longer screams every time we try to give him a bath (thank goodness!).
  • He usually starts crying when I try to sing to him. I knew my singing voice was pretty bad, but I had hoped he wouldn't notice. We'll just have to stick with me talking to him (which he does like) and recorded music (which he also likes).
  • His smile melts my heart it is so beautiful! And he has the cutest giggle.
  • He LOVES to stare at light fixtures and Christmas tree lights -- they have a true calming effect on him!
  • BUT...when he's eating or sleeping, he likes to cover his eyes with his hands to keep the light out.
  • He definitely tries to imitate sounds when we talk to him.
  • When he goes out into the cold (or back into the warm house) he pokes out his tongue as if testing/tasting the temperature with it like a little snake. 



Monday, December 20, 2010

First Bottle

Cayne even used the Boppy yo make it seem like a "normal" feeding.
Back at the very beginning of December, Cayne got to give Ethan his first bottle of expressed breastmilk. We wanted to make sure we'd be able to go out without him for more than a couple hours. We weren't sure how the bottle-feeding would go -- our doctor had told us some babies will just take the bottle, but for others, if mom is in the house they absolutely do not want the bottle -- they want the real thing. Well, Ethan just latched right onto the bottle and enjoyed being fed by his daddy! Ethan didn't mind that I was there either -- I think that all he cared about was eating some yummy food! It was sweet to see Cayne getting to feed Ethan (and it made me a little teary-eyed too).


Gaining Immunity

Waiting to get his shots at the doctor's office.
Today, I took Ethan to his 8 week doctor appointment where his received his first round of vaccines.  I've been talking up this day to him for the past couple of days -- so that he knows how important it is to get vaccinated.

The doctor said Ethan looked great during his check-up.  He now weighs 12 lbs and 9 ounces and is 23.25 inches long.  He does have a bit of dry skin on his scalp (aka "cradle cap"), so we just need to keep using a baby brush on his scalp to gently stimulate the oil glands -- the doctor did say we could also use some baby oil or mineral oil to help.

When it was time for his shots, Ethan was a real trooper!  He got the oral rotavirus vaccine first and then received the other 3 shots in his legs.  He only fussed for a few seconds out of surprise and was perfectly fine by the time I picked him back up.  He even smiled at the nurse before she left (Ethan is going to be such a flirt)!  It wasn't easy to see him get the vaccinations but I'm glad he got them and that he handled the visit so well.  Hopefully, he'll be this easygoing for every shot he needs to get!  He had a long nap this afternoon as we drove around Nashville with Chris and Christine (Cayne's friends who live in Germany that are visiting us before Christmas) but seems pretty normal -- no signs yet of fever or more-than-normal-fussiness caused by the vaccines.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays this way.

Our little boy is really growing up -- I can't believe little Ethan is already 8 weeks old today and that he'll be 2 months on Christmas!

Happy to be home after his visit to the doctor's office.


Look at that big belly!

Look Mommy!  Matching band-aids!


What, me worry?