Go, Hogs, Go!

Yesterday was the first Razorback football game of the season - yea! Lonnie's had season tickets for 10 years now, and I've been joining the fun for the last 4 years. Even though I'm not exactly a sports enthusiast, I LOVE going to the games. We have a good group of friends that we go with, and the atmosphere is so exciting - the band, the cheerleaders (yes I watch them), the cheering crowds, the ice-cold fizzy Cokes, oh yeah, and the football. Of course, this year was a little different having a child in the mix. Since he's obviously too young to enjoy the action, he'll be having some quality time with various family members for the five home games. This time around Rachel got to keep him (I make it sound like it's such an honor - ha!). Since we wouldn't be getting in til quite late, she offered to keep him overnight, which we couldn't turn down! Sounds like they had a lot of fun - see her blog to read about it and see some cute pictures. And of course, he slept ALL NIGHT for her. Figures, huh?

Here we are, one happy Razorback family.

The time has come...

Even though Ethan is only 6 months old, MY BABY NEEDS A HAIRCUT. There, I said it. I told myself I would NOT cut his hair, but I have let one person's recent comment affect my decision. Last Sunday, after I had made a comment about his crazy mohawk, someone told me she thought I had cut his hair to make it look like a mohawk. Meaning, she actually thought I had taken a pair of clippers and cut the side and back so my sweet, innocent, pure little baby boy would have a mohawk. RIGHT! Combine that with Lonnie's constant comments about how long Ethan's hair is (notice I did not say nagging), and how I brush Ethan's hair out of his face about 100 times a day, and I decided that it was time.

So, Crystal is coming over on Wednesday with her magical scissors and she's going to make my baby look more handsome than ever! These pictures are for her so she can get an idea in her head of what she's dealing with, but everyone else can enjoy them too. They're not very good pictures, but you get the idea.




Very blurry, but you can see the hair hanging over his ears!

Good luck, Crystal!

Sick Boy

So...Ethan survived his first fever. We got a call from daycare yesterday around 2pm saying he had a fever of 102 degrees (yikes!). Lonnie and I had already decided that if Ethan ever got sick, that he'd be the one to go pick him up since 1) they don't have to call a sub for him and 2) I need to save up sick days so we can have Baby #2 some day. So Lonnie took off to get him, but since it was so close to the end of the day, and it was his first fever, and the fact that I had the carseat, I decided to leave early from work and go get him (luckily a friend could cover the last 15 minutes in my class).
Ethan's cheeks were really red and he felt really warm, but he really wasn't very fussy. I think he has a high tolerance for pain. Once we got some Tylenol in him, he cooled off and felt better (see pictures below - same night). Ethan isn't allowed back to daycare for 24 hours, so Lonnie had to take today off of work. He was already scheduled to take Friday off, too, for our daycare's annual in-service day. So Ethan and Lonnie get a 5-day weekend! I'm not at all jealous. (ha!) Don't worry, Lonnie brought his work laptop home, so he has plenty of work to do.
Ethan's been pretty good today. He's felt warm at times, but Tylenol has been helping.




Ethan is always so interested in what's going on OUTSIDE the tub. We've learned to be a little neater, since the clutter we normally leave on the kitchen counter is a lot of FUN to Ethan.
And in case you're wondering about Ethan's sleep...
Monday night - slept all night
Tuesday night - woke up once (but stayed up for an hour)
Wednesday night - woke up twice, about 20 minutes each

So, that's a big improvement! We were a little less strict about our no picking him up rule with him being sick, and he's still done well. We're headed in the right direction!

Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ethan slept all night last night!!!!!! This has not happened in over two months! It's quite ironic that it happened last night...

Lonnie and I have been completely exhausted lately. We decided last night that we HAVE to do something about Ethan waking up several times during the night. We knew we were enabling him by picking him up and rocking him in the middle of the night, but he sometimes wouldn't fall back asleep without us doing it. So Lonnie and I laid out a plan last night for some tough love. We decided that we would not go in his room unless he's cried for at least 15 minutes. Then we would NOT pick him up - pacifier only. If he didn't go back to sleep, let him cry for another 15 minutes, then try the pacifier again. So we went to bed early and geared up for a long night of crying. Lonnie fed him his bottle at 8:45 then laid him down. He slept for about 2 minutes, then woke up crying. I let him cry for 15 minutes, went in and put his pacifier in. Big mistake!!! He was so mad that I did not pick him up and started screaming. He cried for about 10 minutes, then fell asleep. It's now 6am, and I still haven't heard a peep from him. I went in to check on him earlier this morning and he had rolled over and was sleeping on his belly, so I don't know if that made a difference to him. (sidenote: is it okay for him to sleep on his belly now?) Also, he actually slept at daycare yesterday - he took a 3 hour nap in the morning and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, which is almost unheard of (he only slept for one hour all day on Friday!).
Sooooo... I don't know what all contributed to him actually sleep all night, but I'm hoping it happens again tonight! (greedy, I know)

And oh yeah... I realized I forgot to post his official 6 month stats from the doc:
Weight: 18 lbs, 14 oz. (not 20!)
Height: 27 1/4 inches (I choose not to believe this - he was 27 inches two months ago - I'll stick with my measurement of 28 1/4)

Eating Veggies!

Sorry for the long time with no post. School started this week and I have been EXHAUSTED! The first week of school is always exhausting, but add to that waking up several times during the night to pacify a baby, and you feel like a walking zombie. I told Lonnie that for Christmas I want a sleeping pill (wrapped up with a pretty bow on top) and 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep. But school has gone well. I think it's going to be a really good year.



Ethan got his first experience of eating real baby food on Tuesday. We started with carrots, and he really liked them! We did that for three days, and then started green beans last night. Although he ate them, I could tell he didn't care for them like he did the carrots. He kept sticking his tongue out, making it almost impossible to get the spoon in. Next up on Monday, squash! Yum, yum!
I have a funny video of Ethan eating carrots that I'll try to post later tonight. Right now the laundry is calling me.

New Big Boy Jammies

Saw these jammies and HAD to buy them - TOO cute!
He looks like a big boy!

Happy Half-Birthday, Ethan!!!!

Holy cow...I almost can't believe what I'm writing. There's no way my baby has been here for half a year!!! What a blessing he has been in our lives. He becomes more and more fun every day.

Here are Ethan's unofficial stats: (we'll get the official doctor-version on Monday)
weight: 19.8 pounds (hey, that's not twenty!)
height: 28 1/4 inches

What Ethan's been up to this month:

• SITTING UP!!!! YEA, ETHAN!!!
• EATING CEREAL!!!! Ethan has really started to enjoy his rice cereal. He wasn't crazy about it for a long time, but would usually eat it as long as I sang to him. Now he'll eat most of it without me having to entertain him.
• He just started making his first consonant sound yesterday - he says "bu, bu"
• Smiling a lot! Any look from Mommy or Daddy can usually get a good-size grin
• He went through a 2-week spurt where he didn't really care to eat, but we're back on track now
• He eats 8 ounces at 7:00, 11:30, 4:00, and 9:30ish (before we go to bed), and also eats rice cereal at 6pm.
• Bedtime routine: 6:15 - cereal, 6:30 - bath, 7:00 - bed (sometimes earlier if he didn't get good naps at daycare)
• Going to daycare - harder on Mom than on Ethan! He doesn't always get good naps, but he's doing better
• No teeth, but still drooling and gnawing like crazy!
• SLEEPING! Okay, still not through the night, but he's doing better! Lately we've only been getting up 1-3 times each night. Yea for sleep!!!!
• SCREAMING! Most of the time it's just for fun - he screams at the top of his lungs, just because he can. It's hard to tell sometimes if he's having fun or if he's upset.

Guess that's about it.

Here's my baby on Day One:

Three Months:
Six Months: (excuse the PJ's - now that he's so wiggly, I've learned to do this right before bedtime so he's almost conked out)

Happy 6 months, Ethan!!!!