Yummy and Yuck!

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.

New Skill - Sitting alone

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.

Lightning

So there was a very loud thunder/lightning storm on Saturday night. The thunder was so loud it shook things. So I'm guessing the storm was right over us at that point. The thunder woke us up and scared Ethan awake. So while I was trying to calm him down by rocking in the glider, Michael was setting up his tripod and camera to get pictures of the lightning. With his extended exposure attachment, he was able to get some really good ones. We missed some of the awesome lightning strikes since there's no advanced warning when the next one will be.

Eating Rice Cereal

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 . . .

Ethan loves his new walker

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'm missing Redmond

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.

Firework Fun

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.

"One Million Dollars"

Yesterday, Ethan was obsessed with sucking on his pinky with his hand flipped over. I was trying to feed him and he was more interested in sucking on his pinky finger than nursing. Then he would start crying cause he was hungry so I would have to pull his hand out of his mouth and then we would start all over again . . . a vicious cycle so that feeding lasted about an hour since he wouldn't cooperate.

But I thought Ethan looked like Dr. Evil on the Austin Powers movie where he says "one million dollars" when he has his pinky up to his mouth.


Today he prefers to suck on all four fingers and keeps gagging himself. Fun times! But at least he is happy about it.

Jester Hat

I don't know if Grandpa Otto would approve of Ethan's Ferrari bib . . . we should look for a Porsche one instead. Ethan got this hat from a Baby Shower - it was too big for him a month ago and now it's almost too small. He's growing so fast!!

I haven't been sleeping well - I'm a worry wart and stress about things too much. So Michael let me sleep in while he got up and fed Ethan and dressed him . . . all in blue :) and brought him to me in bed while he got ready for work.

Ethan's First steps caught on tape!

Michael was watching Ethan at work and he turned his back for a moment and Ethan crawled up on one of the kitchen counters and walked along the edge all by himself!!! Just kidding, Michael had his new camera on rapid fire and photoshopped out his hand then strung the photos together for a video.