Here are a few Chritmas pictures - Ethan wasn't too into opening his presents :( We got a couple pictures of him grabbing the first piece to rip off then he would crawl away.
Ethan would rather eat the ribbon . . .
His first present turned into breakfast . . .
Climbing on top of his box.
We bought Ethan a Tonka truck that he can ride like this when he's older, but for now, the seat flips up and he can push it in front of him as he walks. Right now he pushes it farther than needed and then does a frankenstien walk to catch up - hopefully soon he learns to bend his knees when walking.
My lime green super hero mom .. .
Me and Becky bought our husbands the same sweater for Christmas and then my parents gave them and Alex all hiking pants (I think Nathan got some too, but he is in Idaho, so I don't have a picture of him with them on) cause they all wear jeans when hiking and that's not hiking protocol, so they all have 'Kuhle' pants that zip off at the knee.
**NOTE - you can click on the pictures in the blog to see them larger if they're too small to really view on your screen**
I wore Ethan in the infant carrier and a lady told me that he was just about as big as me. I like the thought that someone thinks I'm the same size as my 20 pound son, but sadly it's not true. Trying to explain to Jasmine what a Charlie Brown Christmas tree was, and listening to her and Alex try to pick out a tree was funny. Alex said it had to be at least as tall as her, but she kept picking out ones that were about 3 feet high. It was funny watching Alex carry it out since he could hold it over his head and walk. We went for about an 8 footer which was harder to carry (not that I would know cause I carried the baby and didn't have to touch the wet and dirty tree.)
Ethan is still sorta grumpy that we have a tree in our living room - it takes away some of his play area, but he still won't really go near it. He keeps pulling out my tree skirt, so I've resigned to the fact that it won't stay pretty and only fix it every couple days or when someone comes over. We rushed to get the tree up and decorated Sunday before Church because Rick and Debbie (my in-laws) were supposed to come over for dinner, but then cancelled on us - so I rushed for nothing but on the up side, I had a really clean apartment. But since we did it so fast, Ethan was mad the rest of the day. I laid on the ground and from his angle of the floor, it really is quite daunting since it's up to the ceiling and has prickly pine needles on it.
We had our Christmas party at churh this morning. Ethan didn't really know what to think of Santa. He was kinda grumpy to begin with and then seemed mad that we sat him in the lap of some white bearded stranger. We took the pictures quick before he belted out a scream.
Then we added him in the picture with Emma and Lorelai (his cousins). Lorelai isn't too fond of Santa either . . . she never really has liked him.
Now, if I could have everyone's attention - take a look at Ethan's cute sweater. It is my favorite piece of clothing I have for him and this will be the only month he can wear it, so he may just end up wearing it several days in a row so that more people can enjoy it. I bought it when I was still pregnant with him last Christmas at Old Navy and I just had to buy it cause they never have the same thing there the next year/season.
We were watching MythBusters last night and they were trying to see if you could polish animal poo (gross, I know) without adding wax or polish stuff. So they had a guest come on who makes Dorodango - a shiny, Japanese dirt ball. Just adding water to make it muddy, they squeeze it to a ball and after a long, long amount of time, the water is all squeezed and evaporated or something and you have a shiny dirt ball. Michael really wants to try this, so we are going to steal some dirt from my parents back yard tonight when we go over for dinner (since we live in an apartment, we don't have dirt).
Ethan's first tooth didn't seem to bother him as it was surfacing. But he now has a 2nd tooth coming in next to the 1st one, and this tooth is making him cranky. He is calm if I'm holding him while I'm standing. But if I sit down or put him down to do something, more than half the time he screams at me.
He's lucky he's so cute and smiles all the time or he would be making me cranky. I don't have anyone to hold me 24/7 when I'm grumpy . . . life's not fair.
My mom made a lion costume for my niece Emma for her first Halloween and then Lorelai used it next, so it's getting passed down to each of her grandchildren. But we had a church "trunk-or-treat" on the 30th; since most of that party would be indoors, I decided to have a different costume for Ethan at the church party and use the lion costume on Halloween.
So for the church party, he was Charlie Brown. I figured I would embrace the fact that my child has pretty much no hair. There is some of it there, but it's bright blonde right now, so you can't see it. It was so hard to find a yellow shirt for him to use, so I ended up cutting the bottom off one of his 0-3 month size yellow onesies and hemmed it and then sewed on the black zig-zag stripe. I didn't want to buy such a small amount of black fabric, so since I'm so short, I cut off a few inches from one of my black pajama pants (and there are still several inches to spare).
For Halloween, we went to my Grandma's house as we've done for as long as I can remember (except when we were old enough to trick-or-treat on our own and wanted to hit a ton more houses (plus we lived in Nebraska then :) so that would have been quite the drive to Grandma's. Michael carried Ethan around to the houses with the other kids. I didn't want to carry him up there cause I knew people would say "I know who this candy is really for" and I didn't want to feel embarrassed. But Michael doesn't embarrass easily, so he didn't mind. 
So Jen tagged me to answer this questionnaire-thingy . . .
8 favorite TV shows:
1. 90210 (the new one - and don't make fun of me . . . i know it's a teenager show, but i like it)
2. Chuck
3. America's Next Top Model
4. Amazing Race
5. So You Think You Can Dance
6. Desperate Housewives (just started watching this one - i'm on season 3 from the library)
7. Survivor
8. CSI (all 3, but mostly the original series)
8 things I did yesterday:
1. finished preparing the craft supplies for Super Saturday for the class i was teaching
2. took my son trick-or-treating
3. RAN ERRANDS (this one was big cause Michael's motorcycle is in the shop, so he's been using my car for 2 weeks, and I've been stranded at home and couldn't do any of my errands . . . so i made him skip work to let me use the car - he's his own boss, so no worries)
4. took Ethan to visit my mother-in-law at her work so she could see his costume
5. fixed my hair (more than just the quick straightening)
6. wore something other than sweats or jeans and a sweatshirt
7. got to leave the house
8. didn't clean
8 things i look forward to:
1. buying a house
2. having a yard
3. buying a house
4. having a yard
5. having another baby . . . don't know when, but i liked being pregnant - a baby is fun too :)
6. staying perpetually 22 years old for a few more years, then moving it to 24 for a while
7. getting skinny again
8. fitting into my skinny clothes from before i got pregnant
8 favorite restaurants:
1. Desert Fire
2. Fat Burger
3. Subway
4. Chili's
5. the mongolion grill by my Grandma's house
6. New York Burrito
7. The pizza place i went to yesterday with my hubby
8. Red Robin
8 people i tag:
1. Kari
2. Tami
3. Minnette
4. Alex
5. Jasmine
6. Nathan (probably won't happen cause he hasn't updated his blog since about June . . . )
7. You :)
8. Them :)
So one of my college friends and co-workers (Emily) posted a comment on my blog about my profile picture . . . yes, I am at the Writing Center and proudly wearing my Writing Center vest! The background isn't very detailed, but she knew where I was. It probably helped that my hair was fixed all funky. . . and I think that was the day I managed to wear 11 different colors and I felt that I still matched. Too bad you can't see my outfit or my rainbow brite-ish socks. But if I'm remembering right, I used a straightner, a triple-barrel curler, a mini curling iron, and a crimper in my hair . . . and I was quite proud of it too.
For some reason we liked to buy plain cakes at the grocery store and then decorate them with weird things . . . this picture had toy horses and stuff, but we've used plastic army men and other random things too.
And Jen is in the picture too!! Hi Jen! I think this picture was right before Emily took off on her mission to Japan.
And this picture is when we made toothbrush bracelets. We had to pull all the bristles out with tweezers - that was way harder than we thought it would be. And I actually ruined my cool yellow tweezers.I heard some scratching noises while Ethan was supposed to be napping, so I peeked in his room to see if he was awake and scratching the sheets . . . but I found him standing in his crib. He's been pulling himself up to standing position on my leg or against the couch or some of his toys, but he hadn't done that in his crib yet since the railing is higher than the things he's been pulling up on so far. He didn't notice me, so I went to get the camera . . .
We went to Spooner Farms today with Michael's parents to find pumpkins. Ethan was really good; he was just very somber and wouldn't look at the camera. So for most of the pictures he was looking off to the side and not smiling. We had a couple where he smiled, but they weren't for the cute poses - like the pumpkin row or in the wheelbarrow. He just smiled when we were walking and taking pictures.
The only thing he didn't like was the air horn. There was a pumpkin sling shot where you could put mini pumpkins in a giant slingshot and try to hit targets at the other end of the field. When someone hit the target, they would sound off the air horn and every time, Ethan would spit out his pacifier and scream in fright - he looked so worried.
He likes to sit on Michael's shoulders but grabs at the sides of Michael's hair. I think it makes for a cute picture cause Ethan has this look on his face like "what; I didn't do it."
I decided to try brushing Ethan's gums since he seems to be teething and the pressure might feel good to him. He usually locks his lips tight whenever I try to feel around his gums to see if there are any teeth coming through. So I thought he wouldn't let me try a toothbrush, but he grabbed the toothbrush right away and tried it himself. I think the fruit flavor baby toothpaste helped.
2 - A lady at the Ben Franklin Craft Store was commenting on how cute Ethan was and then called his pacifier a "binky" . . . I ultimately HATE that word. It's a PACIFIER!!! Not a "binky." Binky was just a brand name of a Playtex pacifier but if you look at the text on left side of the picture, it says "pacifier." If my son had this brand, then I would permit people to say "binky" since this one is. But I refuse to buy that brand so I don't have any Binkys. So they are PACIFIERS . . . NOT binkys!!! And some of you readers may refer to them as a Binky, but if you're talking to me about them, it's a "pacifier" . . . I will correct you if you don't use the proper term . . . this was a pet peeve today, but it will always be one cause that word just sounds like stupid baby talk. Sorry if that offends or bothers anyone, but I despise that word.Where did the time go? For about 2 months, Ethan has been spinning in circles on his tummy not able to move anywhere but in that circle, so I was totally fine to walk to the kitchen or get something from his room knowing that he coulnd't get anywhere.
Saturday was his 6 month mark and he all of a sudden started to move forward. He kept his left leg straight and paddled forward with his right leg and pushing up with his hands. Our books say that most babies don't crawl by 6 months but a few do . . . well, he decided to be one of the few.
Then on Sunday he started scooting/crawling with both legs pushing but still on his stomach . . . kind of like a soldier crawl.
Yesterday (Monday) he started getting on his knees and hands and rocking back and forth. He's not crawling on his knees yet, but he's trying to. So it's only a matter of time before he's crawling full speed and getting into everything. It's hard to keep up with him already. He keeps grabbing cables that are tucked under the couch and then when I pull those away from him and block them again, I turn around and he's halfway under the coffee table (which is already pushed off to the edge of the room so he has a bigger play zone).
People kept telling me to enjoy his first few weeks/couple months of his life cause they're the best and he grows up so fast. Well, I agree that he grows up so fast, but his first couple months were the worst of it so far (the first week was fun though cause everything was so new and cute). But he wasn't nursing good - no matter how much my lactation consultant helped me, my body was taking forever to heal, he cried almost non-stop. . . except for when we were at church - I think he likes Jesus best:), and he wouldnt keep to a sleep pattern. He would sleep through the night for a couple nights then beging waking up every 2 hours again for a few days and so on and so on.
Once he hit the 3 month mark, he was adorable again and seemed to get a personality overnight and was fun to play with and slept through the night. My favorite time was the 3-5 month mark. Now that he's crawling, it's going to be a new challenge.
Lately, Ethan has been flipping his pacifier sideways and sucking on it for a while then flipping it back to normal. He can flip it with his hands or just with his mouth . . . he's a weird child. But it makes him look like he's smiling funny.
So Ethan has started eating baby food now and he definately has his preferences:
Rice Cereal = GREAT!
Applesauce = Delicious!
Sweet Potatoes = Indifferent, but fine
Green Beans = well, I think the picture below explains his thoughts on beans . . .
I tried feeding him the green beans the day before and he kept trying to throw up and was gagging. I felt bad, but at the same time, the faces he was making were too cute! So then yesterday he was eating Sweet Potatoes good, so then I tried a couple spoonfuls of green beans again and he tried to throw up again. He seemed hesitant to take anymore bites, wondering if he could trust me. But as long as I stayed away from green beans, he ate okay.
I think I liked rice cereal better cause it wasn't anywhere near as messy. It was also a white-ish, clear color, so you couldn't see the mess. Unlike the green and orange baby food he ate yesterday.
If I put Ethan in a sitting position, he can stay that way for about 20 minutes at most so far. He even knows how to balance himself if he starts to tip over. But when he does fall over, it's in a face plant instead of on his side. He never seems to get hurt or bothered by it and doesn't cry, just looks up at me confused or smiling. He kept making that straight lip'd smile - he hadn't done that before but seemed to be stuck that way for a while yesterday.
Over the weekend was Alex and Jasmine's wedding. Now all of my siblings are married. Jasmine looked beautiful. Halfway through the reception, they put on traditional Korean outfits called Han Boks (sp?) which Jasmine's parents has custom made for them and my parents too. The colors were so bright and beautiful. Nathan had one already from his mission that someone gave him as a gift when he was serving in Korea. His style is King's style . . . not surprising that Nathan would have the Regal look. :) But he says the lady made it for him without him knowing which style she was making . . . but I think she just knew him well enough to know that style would suit him well.
Ethan took to eating solid foods very well. He doesn't fight it - just wiggles around and looks everywhere - and keeps about 80% of it in his mouth as opposed to on the bib. He does better if I let him hold the edge of the bowl. So far he's only eaten rice cereal. I'm excited to go to baby food soon, but then not so excited cause that food has color and will be messier. Rice cereal is the same color as milk so it doesn't stain or leave visible messes. He seems to also eat better if Michael is standing behind me making faces at Ethan, but that makes him smile which means half the spoonful comes back out cause he's laughing or smiling . . . 
I think he likes his hand better than food . . .
The only walkers I could find at the stores were ugly. I found one by Chicco but every website and every store said it was discontinued or out of stock. But after a month of searching, I found one website that had some in stock.
I know lots of people think walkers are dangerous, but those are parents who put their kid in a walker to keep them quiet and don't stay in the same room. Ethan is only in the walker if he's next to me or within a couple feet of me. And we don't have stairs, so that's safer too.
After I put it together and put him in it, he was so happy that he was shaking and smiling so big. It has a musical insert that goes in the tray spot so he can play the keyboard and make other noises. 
I miss living in Redmond - we had the best Value Village in the world (or so I think). Since it was in Redmond with all the Microsoft folk, there was great children's clothing there. I bought probably $500 worth of kids/baby clothes for Ethan and only spent about $50. Everything was 50 cents to 2 dollars for the most part and they were all top brands (Old Navy, Baby Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, OshKosh, Gymboree, Children's Place, etc.) I have a closet full of clothes for him up to size 4T, so he's set for a few years . . . unless he keeps growing like he has been. He's around 15-16 pounds and he's only 4 months old (wearing size 6-9 month pants already). He's not fat or chunky, so I don't know where he's hiding the pounds. But my nieces were the same weight when they were a year old, so my doctor was right when she called him a Jumbo baby while i was only 6 months pregnant.
Since we don't live in Redmond anymore, I won't get to frequent my very favorite Value Village anymore, but Ethan has a Dr. appt next week in Bellevue, so since I'll be in the area I just have to stop by :) I haven't moved his pediatrician's office yet since he's supposed to have another check up on his kidneys/bladder around 4 months and want to keep the same pediatrician for that in case he needs another ultrasound at Children's Hospital. If everything's okay, he probably won't need to be checked again until he's a year old. So for now, I'll just drive the hour trip to Bellevue/Redmond and just happen to drop by Value Village.
Ethan loved his 1st 4th of July. He only jumped at the first couple fireworks and then was memorized by the colors and flashes of light. Then about 20 minutes into the show, he fell asleep and stayed asleep for the next hour or so through all the loud bangs and bright flashes. I still covered his ears, but he slept right through them.
Michael's new camera did a good job catching the fireworks too. And believe it or not, Mom had never lit off a firework in her life (besides a sparkler, but those don't count), so Michael gave her one of ours to light off and she teased Dad that she was going to light it off on top of his Porsche.
