Day in the Life Part 2 - Midday

When Ethan wakes up from his morning nap it is usually mid-morning and we have until mid-afternoon until he needs to go to sleep again, so we usually head out for the day. After his bottle we may run an errand or two, like going to the bottle depot, or any appointments, or go shopping like the picture below. Ethan loves the grocery store..I think because there is a lot to look at and really friendly people always chat with him.

After our busywork, we like to go do something fun! We do a variety of things, playgroup, visit with friends, swimming at the pool and lately - since it has been so hot - we go to the waterpark!It is generally kind of chaotic there, but Ethan loves all of the screaming, running kids and the water. He has never gotten totally wet because the water is pretty cold, but we usually put his feet and hands under the sprinklers and let him cruise around on the wet pavement. He slaps the water soaked ground with his hands over and over and squeals in delight whenever he gets sprayed. He doesn't really like to crawl on concrete or grass so he does his crabwalk.
Troy usually comes to meet us for lunch, or comes home to eat before we head out. Ethan really loves this visit in the middle of the day, especially when we are somewhere random and all of a sudden--Dad shows up!

So, we eat some lunch and hang out and get dry...

Get some lunch in Mom's hair...

And go back in the water because it is too tempting.

Than, I scoop my little buddy up and we go home to have a nap. After all of this action Ethan sleeps really well. I am super-wife and make dinner while he sleeps (most of the time) .

Cute - With a Capital "C"

Look what came by courier - baby Chuck's! I am a fearful paranoid web shopper but I had to break down and give out my credit card as these were too cute.

Perspective - makes them even cuter!

So, we put them on and they proved to be a little challenging. Shoes do not fit Ethan very well yet because his heel/ankle area is way smaller than his fleshy feet and and chubby legs. Since the heel is usually what holds the shoe on his little fat feet come right out of shoes as soon as he tries to move. To get shoes that are tight on the heel means basically cutting off the circulation elsewhere on the foot. So he usually wears socks or goes barefoot.

But the Chuck's fit pretty well as they are high tops. We got a bit of a bigger size and you can stuff his feet in there and tie up the laces so the shoes clasp onto his ankles. The challenge was crawling with shoes on...shoes that were a bit big and had some extra on the toes. There was a small period of adjusment....And he's off.

Housework

Saturday Afternoon: 2:45

Look at the beautiful stain on the fence. It matches the stain on the front of the house. To do one section front and back took 1 hour and 20 minutes! Of hard work.

In the HOT. AFTERNOON. SUN.

Ze fence - she is beautiful, non? If you multiply 1 hour 20 minutes x ...how many panels!!!! Oh dear God! And they don't even have the fancy top on them yet.

Fourth panel in shows fancy top (looks like a lot of staining for me - which I actually like but this quantity is a little overwhelming). And look at the nice yard jungle growing in around the piles of lumber. I used Ethan's nap time in the morning to mow the front yard but I am not moving piles of wood...it can grow until the fence is done. Woman's work... blah blah blah.
Saturday Afternoon: 2:50

Slackers! Wake up and get to work! Ze resemblance - she is uncanny, non?

***Note the blatant slanting of this entry implying that I do all of the work around here. I had nothing to do with ANY of the building of the fence and Troy had to work this Saturday and it ain't easy being as cute as Ethan so the naps are forgiven. I think my camera may be taken away soon...

Been Busy...

Week 37. I can't believe it has been a week since I last updated. It seems that time and Ethan's motion ability are connected somehow...the faster he moves the faster time goes. I should be preparing for warp speed right now.

I've heard that parenthood ages you - but it is my theory that more time passes between any opportunities to look in mirrors after a child is born (I mean REALLY look) so when you finally get a chance you have suddenly aged and where did all those wrinkles come from? This lack of time in front of a mirror also explains why I sometimes look homeless when I catch a glimpse of myself in a store window as I pass by. I had another theory that it might be the lack of sleep - but I'm getting lots, so I'm sticking to the "no-chance-to-look-in-a-mirror" theory because that also explains the lack of clothing co-ordination too. At least I have this cutie as an accesory...almost like the perfect little handbag FILLED WITH ROCKS!

Happy 1st Birthday Alex!

Sunday was Alex's 1st Birthday party! Alex is one of Ethan's friends that he goes swimming with or to playgroup sometimes. A group of friends that Troy and I have all happen to have little boys - so it is fun to get together once and a while. The party was great! All kinds of fun toys to play with and people everywhere and free roaming in the backyard!

Alex is now a super-pro walker - but look how cute he is to squat down and say hello to his bi-pedally challenged buddy! They were so sweet together.

Playing in Alex's cool new sandtable - the other side fills with water - and the kids just loved it! Someone was standing at it throughout the whole afternoon. I think Ethan liked it because he could stand like the big kids.

What a fun afternoon! But not so much impressed by the party hat...

Weekend Randomness

Saturday Morning - 8:00am

Troy played in a baseball tournament again this weekend and he had an early game. We had our first takers (aside from the usual suspects) join us on our early morning dog walk. Uncle Grant and Auntie Alicia and their dog Qimik came over for the walk and a visit before nap time.

Saturday Morning - 11:00am

My Dad came over to help set up the markings to dig the holes for our new fence to be. I took no pictures as I was so excited that the pile of lumber in our yard might actually be transformed into a fence (faster than the previous pile of plywood made it on to our roof).

Saturday Afternoon - 5:30pm

After a difficult day of fence supervising and slow-pitch observing we came in for a dinner that Ethan did not want to eat as both of his top front teeth were on the verge of permanently breaking through the gums. So he had a teething biscuit instead to make him (and me) feel better. All weekend long the teeth would show than the gums would swell over and various blood blisters would appear. OUCH!!! Thankfully he still managed to sleep through the night.

Sunday Morning - 11:30am

We visited Dad again at the ball bark and I had my camera this time as we were on our way to a birthday party! Already this morning Dad was up early and digging holes for the fence posts in our backyard with an auger that made him a little sore... and here he is exhausted with Ethan at the park after his first game. He went on to play more ball and than come home to finish digging and start construction on the fence! What a super Dad! I think for Father's Day we'll let him relax at home since it has been so hectic the past while.

Eight Months Old

So, eight months old and cruising! In the past couple of weeks you have started to move really quick and in the past couple of days you have become an expert at pulling yourself to a stand using anything as a crutch: a chair, an upside down laundry basket, kitchen drawers, or even the cat if he will sit still long enough. This is a far cry from your attempts to stand last week: you would crawl to the edge of the coffee table, clamp your hands on to the edge and muscle your way to standing - shaking and grunting the whole time - or collapse half way through and be hanging Superman style from the edge of the table. Now you just pop right up!

You want to eat everything we are eating - and always surprise us when we feed you something we think you won't like (like salmon or broccoli) and you come back for more and more. It appears you will not be a fussy eater unless we try to feed you proper baby food. When I feed you finger food like Cheerios and pieces of cheese you snap them up and cram them into your mouth as fast as you can now so I can only give you a few at a time.

We went to see Dr. Shoichet this week for your "six month well-baby visit" a couple of months late...whoops...but the doctor said you didn't even really need to come in for a visit because you are doing so well. He was glad that we came though and spent most of the appointment blowing raspberries on your belly and making you laugh! You are 28.5 inches tall and weigh 23 lbs. and 5 oz. What a big boy!

You look almost as big as your Auntie Tracy! You become more vocal everyday - especially to express your dislikes and frustrations. Every time you scowl at something me and your dad laugh at how serious you are and think that it is awesome that you know how to be grumpy - you look cute even when you are miserable - which is not very often.

It has become very entertaining to take you places because you are so excited by everything you see now. Grocery shopping, the park, the bottle depot or visiting Uncle Andrew with Grandpa Chris at the fire hall like the picture above. When we are somewhere new you concentrate very hard on taking in your surroundings - you want to touch everything - and when you get a hold of something your grip becomes vice-like and you twist it around to see it from all angles...and then have a taste.

Your favorite snack right now is "kitty". I'm not sure why Oscar still comes close to you - I imagine it is because he is attention starved and he will take whatever he can get. You are so rough with him... your little fists clamp on to him and you use him to balance so you can stand up or you dive on him and pin him like a pro-wrestler. He is a glutton for punishment and your favourite thing in the world right now. The dog is wise and keeps his distance except for stealth like maneuvers to gobble up soggy discarded finger food - to him you are a snack dispenser and he will only make contact to clean your face. I'm sure you'll be friends once you are less grabby.

You are the highlight of every day. You throw up on me every day. You are full of charm and humour. You make me crazy sometimes (when you squirm and squirm and whine and kick when I try to change your clothes on the change table - but I don't let you know it). You are unbelievably cute and squeezable and BUSY. I love you and you have made your Dad and me so happy (especially since you sleep all night now). I want you to know that after we sigh with relief having put you to bed at the end of a long day, your Daddy and I spend the next ten minutes talking about how smart, silly, and wonderful you are.

Love always,

Mama

Swingers!

Today for our morning walk we met up with some more baby friends and went swinging...oh how we love the swinging! This is Ethan's version of his biggest smile - complete with drool.
These friends all live in the same neighborhood so we meet up with our babies and dogs and walk to a park on the Gorge Waterway. These are our "swinging" friends Sam and her son Liam! Liam was born the day after Ethan and I used to go to high school with Samantha.

It is really hard to get a good picture of three swinging babies but here they are in action. The lady in pink up front is Charlotte - Mariann's daughter - and she is a few weeks younger than the boys. Mariann can be spotted only in the background of a couple of the photos as I was so focused on trying to capture impossible simultaneous smiles while being clipped by three crazy excited sand spraying dogs.
(You know - the dogs that spend all their time on the leash pulling your arm out of your socket trying to get away from you only to be knocking you over as they are wrestling underfoot once the leash has been removed. Poor dogs - the original babies of the family that became raging nuisances once the "real" baby arrived - I feel so guilty...they didn't even get in a picture. Where as pre-baby, this website would have been called "Super-Cooper" or something to that effect.) Anyways...

Siamese twins - joined at the diaper. Sam had a great idea to stick them in the same swing and they looked so cute. Lots of arm flailing and leg kicking going on...



And here is my weekly Thursday photo. I think it is week 34 - which is crazy.