Squealing

I know it's past time for some new pictures. Here's a fun video from last weekend. Like I mentioned before, sometimes you can't tell squeals of delight from him being upset, but I promise, he's happy! Notice how as soon as Ethan sees me (and the camera), he won't laugh anymore - he just stares me down.






Other random pictures...
Church on Sunday
(I LOVE this outfit! If Grandpa Willis were here, he'd say, "Ethan, you look sharp!")


Poor baby, look at that hair!!!! If this were the 80's, he'd be the coolest baby in town!

Four Years Ago

Hard to believe, but today marks our four year anniversary!!!! Don't worry, I'm not going to get all mushy - I did enough of that on my Father's Day blog. But I am going to make you go down memory lane with me...



Rehearsal dinner at Johnny Carino's (if you don't know the story of why we went there, you should ask me sometime - it's funny!)
(and wow! was I tan!)

Getting ready for the big hoorah!
Love this picture...nothing like trying to cram the wedding dress in the van.

Holy cow... look at Lexi and Logan!!! They look the same, only munchkin-like versions of themselves!
Awwww....
Our first kiss as husband and wife!

Our first dance...

Just had to throw this one in there...look at Caden!!!! I don't remember him ever being that small!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture! It is by far my favorite wedding picture of all. (Thanks Mom and Dad for capturing it, since our crazy photographer had taken off at that point!)

On our honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Holy moley...was I really that skinny??? Talk about motivation to lose that baby weight!!! I need to plaster this picture all over our house. Funny, back then I thought I looked fat - I'd kill for that body now!

It's been a great 4 years!!!!

And what are we doing to celebrate?????? Branson!!! (If you know me well, you can sense the sarcasm.)

With a 4 month old, we couldn't exactly plan a big elaborate vacation, so we'll be going to Branson to go to White Water, and here's the big part - WITHOUT ETHAN!!! He'll be staying with Rachel on Thursday night and Aunt Betty on Friday night. He'll do GREAT with them! Our first night away. I'm not really nervous at all, just because Rachel and Betty have watched him so much and I know he'll be well cared for and loved. (And, Ethan has not been sleeping well the last week, so it will be very nice to get two nights of uninterrupted sleep!!!!!)

Happy Anniversary, baby!

Swimming, Take Two

The Grubbs came over tonight to swim so we thought we'd give Ethan another chance at swimming. I had gone to Target to get a floatie for him, hoping that might help. It's actually pretty cool - on the front it has seven pictures that make fun noises when you touch them (can't beat a floatie with a battery pack, right?). I picked that one out so in case Ethan wasn't enjoying the water, maybe the sounds would distract him. Here we are trying out the floatie in the house...

Yes, my son has a mohawk.

So...SUCCESS!!!! He was slightly reluctant at first, but once he got used to the temperature, he really enjoyed it! We didn't even need the sounds on the floatie.

Cade and Keira really enjoyed having Ethan to play with in the water. They worked really hard on not spashing around him! :)

My Little Fishy

We finally let Ethan get in the pool for the first time today. It started out okay, but sure didn't last very long! I don't know if it was just because it was a new experience, or the water was too cold, or if it was just to close to lunch time, but he wasn't crazy about swimming.
Maybe he'll do better next time!

Pictures from Father's Day

Look at my handsome men!

Please Pray!!!!

Melissa, a friend from college, is really in need of prayers right now. You can go to her blog and get more information, but I'll summarize the situation for you:
Melissa is 23 weeks pregnant and recently found out that there is a problem with the baby's kidneys. The doctor thinks it may be polycystic kidney disease, which is NOT a good diagnosis. Melissa was pregnant last year as well and it was at this point in the pregnancy that they found out the baby had anacephaly, a fatal birth defect. So they have already dealt with the death of one child and are feeling that this is more than they can bear. PLEASE pray for baby Brecken's kidneys, as well as for Melissa and her husband. I know that most of you guys don't know her, but please pray for her anyway. Melissa's sister is trying to get everyone to pray at 10:20 each morning, since Melissa's due date is 10-20-08 (but you can pray more than that!!!)
They go back in 8-10 weeks for another scan to see how the kidneys are looking, and we need to pray that they will be whole and fully functioning!
Thank you!

Allison is here!!!

Ethan's social circle is growing - he has another friend to play with!

Allison Isabella Harris was born this evening at 6:24. She weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces (same as Ethan!) She and Stacey are doing great! We can't wait to go see them tomorrow and take lots of pictures (which I will just HAVE to post tomorrow, too!).

Good job Kenny and Stacey! We love Allison already!

***And right as I was about to post this, we got a call saying Ethan's other friend, Chase Alan Johnson was born this evening too, weighing in at 8 pounds, 14 ounces. Babies are everywhere!!!!
(Now we just need Baby Olivia to get here!)

A Night with the Naturals

Is this not the CUTEST little boy you've ever seen??????? I got this outfit from my school shower and was waiting for the perfect chance to have Ethan wear it. We went to the Arkansas Naturals baseball game on Monday night with a group from church. I think Ethan really enjoyed it!

Awwwwww...

My Four Month Old Boy - Future Basketball Star????

Seems like each month passes by so quickly!

We went to the doc this morning for his four month check-up and HOLY COW!!!!

Weight - 16 pounds, 5.5 ounces (75th percentile)

Length - 27 inches (99th percentile!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is the length of an average 7 month old!) I can finally say he got something from me - although I'm not super tall, my family sure is! Most of my cousins, aunts, and uncles on my Dad's side of the family are over 6 feet tall, including the girls!

Doc said we can start on rice cereal if we want to, but we certainly don't have to until 6 months.

Here are some things that Ethan's been up to this month:

• He loves to stand up - if you're holding him the wrong way, he'll wiggle until you stand him up!


• He's gotta be about to get some teeth because he is drooling nonstop and always chewing on his fists.


• He's discovered his reflection in the mirror - he'll smile sooo big at that cute baby!


• He's getting really good at holding onto toys and even pushing buttons on the toys (totally by accident, though).


• He is sporting the mohawk look these days. His hair has pretty much completely fallen out on the sides, but not up top! But parts of it are starting to grow back already.


• He's decided that it's fun to be fussy between 3-4:30 each afternoon. That makes for a loooonnnnng hour and a half before Lonnie gets home!


• He loves it when I sing and read to him - especially any song with hand movements.


• He is SO smiley!!!! He loves to smile at pretty much anyone. (but I still think he smiles more for me!)


• He's started rolling over again, and he does it anytime I put him down for tummy time.


• His cooing has turned into squeals. Unless you're looking right at him, it's sometimes hard to tell if he's crying or just "talking."


• He LOVES to be outside. If he's fussy, usually a walk in the stroller or a good swing in the hammock takes care of it, sometimes just stepping out the door will work!

As always, here are Ethan's monthly football poses. He's definitely getting bigger!

One day:

One month:

Two months:

Three months:

Four months:

It's been a great four months!!!

Happy Father's Day!

This post is meant for my loving husband, so you may find yourself completely bored if you choose to continue reading.







From Ethan:



Top 10 Reasons Why I Have the BEST DADDY in the World:



1. He loves to give me a bath and make sure I get all lotioned-up afterwards. Daddy won't let me have dry skin!



2. He makes up silly songs just for me! (and makes sure they rhyme!)



3. He'll do ANYTHING to get me to laugh - zerbert my belly, make silly noises, sing silly songs, etc.



4. He hugs me the second he gets home from work (well, after kissing mommy - ewww!) and tells me how much he missed me.



5. He's already started teaching me about the important things in life - ESPN, NASCAR, checking the radar, driving, etc.



6. He's the best snuggler!!!!!!



7. He puts all my toys together so I have tons of things to play with and he replaces the batteries when the music starts sounding funny.



8. He's learned how to change my stinky diapers without a look of total disgust on his face! Now he just smiles at me and tells me how stinky I am. Silly Dad - he stinks too sometimes!



9. He'll sing the Jeopardy song 26 times in a row with each letter in the alphabet just because it keeps me from not crying!



10. He gave me some STINKIN' GOOD LOOKS!!!!!!!!!!







From me:



Top 10 Reasons Why Lonnie's the BEST DAD AND HUSBAND in the world:

1. He was my rock the first week after Ethan was born - he waited on me hand and foot when I was feeling miserable, he gave me a shoulder to cry on when I was too tired or in too much pain to go on, he listened to my worries, and he took amazing care of Ethan while I was recovering.

2. He is a NATURAL Dad. He makes everything look so easy, like he's been doing it his whole life. I expected to have to explain everything to him and teach him how to care for Ethan, but he already knew so much (although we did have to work on the diaper thing).

3. He is a very selfless person. He always finds ways to help other people, whether it be people from work, church, family, or a guy holding a sign on the side of the road. Lonnie has truly shown me how to put others ahead of myself (although I'm still working on it!)

4. Part of being selfless, he took AMAZING care of me during my pregnancy. He cooked dinners when I was too tired, helped me off the couch when I was too fat to do it myself :), and let me sleep anytime I needed to while he handled the house stuff.

5. He makes me laugh!!!! We have so much fun together. There have been many times that we've asked each other, "Do all married people have this much fun?"

6. He is our financial guru. He handles all the money stuff and I wouldn't have it any other way! We make a perfect match: money stuff bores me and I don't want to deal with it; he LOVES looking into investments, savings, stocks, etc. I always know that the bills get paid and that Lonnie is making the best decisions for our family. It's WIN, WIN for both of us!

7. We make a great team - he helps me with the cleaning inside (dusting, vacuuming, etc.), and I help him with the outside stuff (well, I mostly just do the edging while he mows). We get to spend time together and it goes much, much faster!

8. For all the reasons listed above, I think he's going to be a great role model for Ethan - showing him what a loving husband looks like, and what a caring Dad looks like. So hopefully he can grow up to be a loving husband and a caring Dad!

9. He can tell when I've had a long day and sends me away so Ethan and him can have some "Daddy time," when really it's a "sanity check" for Mommy.

10. He's good lookin'!!!! (see #10 above)

A trip down memory lane for Lonnie...

Happy first Father's Day, Lonnie!

And, of course, Happy Father's Day to my dad and Lonnie's dad! I think we can definitely appreciate you a lot more now that we're parents and have a glimpse of what you went through. Have a great day!