Notes from a First Grader

I just have to share a school story with you all...

One of my students was at the writing center this morning. At the writing center they get to write freely about whatever they want and in whatever format (letter, story, postcard, list, poem, thank you note, etc.).

I almost cried when I read this postcard that one of my students wrote:

"Dear Jesus,
Thank you for loving us so much you died on the cros for our sins. And ples forgive me for my sins."

On the address line he wrote:
To: Jesus
Heven


WOW!!! From a seven year old! I pray that Ethan can someday be so free and sincere in his relationship with God.

Needless to say, this uplifted my day! :)



***I've been trying to upload a video for two days, and I'm trying it again right now. I'll get it on as soon as the website will cooperate.

Playing Dress Up

After looking at all the pictures from the last week or so, it looks like we just play dress up with him all day! I have to admit, I love getting him dressed in his "nice" clothes, which most of these pictures show.

This is my favorite picture of all!!!!

Thanks to Jon and Becky for this adorable outfit!!!

Believe it or not, our child is under there somewhere!!!!

Thanks Aunt Nicole for the cute Bengals onesie. Unfortunately, he peed on the other one before he got to wear it (Lonnie says hopefully that's not an omen for the season)

Ethan's New Buddy

Our good friends Lance and Amanda just had a baby boy last Saturday night. Welcome Peyton Samuel!!! He weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and boy, does that seem tiny! Especially compared to our whoppin' 11 pound baby. But aren't they so cute together????

Lance and Lonnie grew up together and I think it's awesome that now our sons get to grow up together. They won't do the crazy, silly things that Lance and Lonnie did when they were growing up, right? And definitely nothing illegal, right? Not that they ever did...

Congrats Lance and Amanda!! (or as we like to call them, Amandance)

One of many...

This is one of many, many things that truly melt my heart about Ethan. I don't know what it is about Ethan's eyelashes, but I have been hooked on them since day one. I couldn't believe when he was first born how absolutely tiny his eyelashes were. I just kept looking at them and saying "They're so tiny!" All of a sudden, they're soooooo long!!! And curly!!!!! Take a look.... above is Ethan now, below is Ethan on day two or three, I think. What a difference!

Two Months Old

Two months: (sorry...he was too squirmy to get a very good picture)
One month:

One day:

A few days late, but...Ethan is two months old! He had his two-month check up this morning and the doctor said he looked great. Here are his stats:
11 pounds, 5.5 ounces
22 1/2 inches

Lonnie said Ethan screamed for about 20 seconds after he got his shots, but was fine after that. He hasn't been cranky at all today. I had several people recommend doing Infant Tylenol before the shots, so I think that helped.

Our Cooing Cutie-Pie

Lonnie says I'm not allowed to call him 'cute' (he's a boy, so he has to be handsome, right?), but he is sooooo cute when he coos!!! Aside from his adorable voice, he makes the greatest facial expressions when doing it. I had a hard time picking a video, because this one is the best one of his voice, but I have another one with GREAT facial expressions. I may just have to post that one, too.

(And what about that double chin???? WOW!!!)

And for those inquiring minds, I did survive my first two days of school. Yesterday was great - the kids were well behaved and the day went fairly quickly. I'll call that the honeymoon stage (teachers can understand that). Today, however, was not so great. Their behavior was less than desirable, so to speak, and the day seemed like it would never end. (It'll get better, though)

But it is so fun coming home at the end of the day. I get to cuddle, snuggle, sing, talk, and play with my sweet boy and forget the troubles of the day.

I'll post the two-month update tomorrow. He goes for his check-up in the morning, so I'll have pics and his weight and length to share.

Random pictures

What a stud! The ladies are going to be crazy about Ethan when he gets older. Isn't he handsome????

Ignore the deer in the headlight look in this picture and focus on how high he can lift his head! He's getting so strong!

A Sad, Sad Day

Today is my very last day to spend every moment of every day with my sweet little boy. That's right...my maternity leave is over! In some ways, it seems like it has flown by, but in other ways, it seems like FOREVER ago that I left school on Feb. 13 to go to my routine doctor's appointment. Things sure have changed since that crazy appointment!

LUCKILY...Lonnie will be staying home the next 2 weeks (thank you Walmart for paid paternity leave!!!), so that softens the blow quite a bit. I won't worry at all about Ethan- he will be well taken care of, loved, and kept on schedule!!!!! (a side note...Ethan has done SO well with his schedule. He works like clockwork these days: 7:00 - eat, 7:45 - play, 8:30 - nap, then repeat every 3 hours. It is wonderful!!!!!) But even though I am leaving Ethan with Lonnie all day, it's still going to be hard. And that's just the leaving Ethan part. I don't even want to think about the fact that I'm leaving him TO GO TO WORK (23 seven year olds to impart wisdom on for 7 hours a day). It'll be hard...

So, pray for me tomorrow! (And for Lonnie, who is still sick and will be at home all day taking care of our sweet little boy)

Not much going on here, but it's time for new pictures, so here are a few from the past couple days.

On my belly...

On my side...

Ta da!!!! On my back!

Pondering the meaning of life...

Us at church on Sunday.

We're working on a video of Ethan cooing. We got one this afternoon, but I'd rather get a better one to post. Ethan has been so interactive lately. He'll stare intently at your face and talk to you. We go back and forth with each other saying "oooohhh" for about 10 minutes at a time. It is soooooo sweet. He is always so happy after he eats, so we usually will spend the first 10 minutes just staring and talking to each other. My favorite time of day!!!! I hope to get a good video of it soon. It melts my heart!

Pouty Face

I've been trying to capture this face for a LONG time. It is hysterical. Just before Ethan starts to cry, he gives us the poutiest (if that's a word) face I've ever seen. He raises his eyebrows and sticks out his bottom lip. This picture truly doesn't do it justice. You can't see how adorable that bottom lip is! I'll keep trying to get a better picture of it, but this will have to work for now.

Of course, this is what comes after the pouty face. It's not as cute, if you ask me. :)

Rolling Over

I was finally able to capture Ethan's skills on camera. He's so funny though, he will only roll over once a day. After he does it once, I'll put him back on his tummy to see if he'll do it again, but no luck. Even if he rolls over in the morning, if I try to have him do it again in the evening to show Lonnie, Ethan will have nothing to do with it. How weird is that?

Willis family bonding

My parents were able to come visit for my mom's Spring Break this week. They flew in on Saturday and left last night. Ethan was so glad to meet his Grandpa for the first time! And he was happy to get reacquainted with his Grandma, who came right when he was born to help out for a few days. Unfortunately, almost everyone was sick, so we didn't do much of anything. We did a lot of lounging around the house - which is okay with me! Dad and I were the only ones to not get hit with the cold bug, and we're hoping it stays that way. I'm drinking lots of OJ to be sure! So here are a few pics from the last week. I realized with us not really doing anything exciting, I didn't take very many pictures. You can only take so many pictures of people sitting around holding a baby, you know...

Look closely, what is that on the table???? Scrabble, of course!!! You know the Willis' can't get together without a rousing game of Scrabble.

Thanks for coming, Mom and Dad! Come back soon!

Big news...

Ethan rolled over!!!!!!!!!! I set him down for tummy time yesterday morning, and within just a few seconds he flipped right over! He rolled over his right side onto his back. Luckily, Rachel was here to witness it, or I was afraid everyone would think it was an April Fool's joke! Everyone else missed it - Lonnie was at work and my parents had gone out shopping for the day.
So we tried it again this morning, and sure enough, he rolled over again! This time he propped himself all the way up on his elbows and held his head almost straight up for awhile, then just flipped over! My parents got to see it this time, but Lonnie still missed it (he's at home, but sick in bed - yuck!).
Ethan's also started cooing. He's been doing it a little bit for a few days, but just in short spurts. Yesterday, he let out a long, sweet "oooohhhhh!" It was adorable! He is showing so much more personality these days, and even though he hasn't been feeling well, he's been very smiley - and smiley in reaction to what you are doing or saying to him, not just random smiles. He's been a lot of fun!