Already 6 Months Old!!

Ethan turned 6 months old today.  This year is just flying by.  He's not independently mobile yet but I'm sure he will be zipping around the room soon and I'll really be missing these early months of babyhood.  He is still a super happy baby and I love seeing him enthralled with the world around him.
Here are some updates:

·         He is 27 inches long and weighs 17 pounds, 4 ounces. He has gained exactly 2 pounds since the last time he was weighed (in February) and has grown 1 and a half inches! He is still in the 50th percentile for weight and head size and 70th percentile for length.

·         Ethan is still sleeping through the night. He goes to bed between 8:00 and 8:30 and usually sleeps until 7:00-7:30ish.

·         He is getting better at napping during the day (probably because he is more active) but no matter how hard I try, I can't get him on a real napping "schedule".

·         He tends to roll onto his side to sleep. And he will only stay napping if I lay him in his crib on his side.

·         He turns around 180 degrees in his crib during the night, so that his feet are where his head was when we put him to bed. We're not sure exactly how he does this because we never seen him move like this, but it's cute to find him in a new position every morning.

·         He went on his first airplane ride to Arizona.

·         He went to his first National Park: The Grand Canyon.

·         He caught his first cold coming home from Arizona.

·         His thighs are so big! They are Thunder Thighs! He looks like a mini rugby player, according to Cayne. Yesterday, we discovered that his thighs are bigger than Mackenzie's. This is good news for her (she is a girl, after all) but it's hilarious that he's so bulky already!

·         He likes to play with his cousin, Mackenzie...at Easter he even tried to hold her hand!

·         His favorite toy is his jackrabbit puppet. He likes to pet it and put his fingers in the puppet's mouth. His jackrabbit makes him giggle so much, it is adorable!

·         He is very good at sitting by himself now. He falls over when he gets excited but for the most part balances himself well.

·         He gives hugs and slobbery "kisses". His Aunt Sarah calls him a Koala bear because he is so cuddly.

·         He has had his first food: rice cereal. I have also tried giving him pureed apples but he spit them all up. :( We will keep working on getting him used to new tastes.

I love this look.  

Happy Easter!

Ethan celebrated his First Easter with the Wade family today.  He dressed in his Easter best and headed to his Grandma and Grandpa Wade's home for a delicious Easter lunch.  His Uncle Russ, Aunt Ashley, and Cousin Mackenzie were there too and he had lots of fun playing with them.

Mackenzie had fun getting both balls, and then sharing Ethan's ball.
He got her pink ball sometimes too!

Where did my cousin go?  

We even had a small Easter egg hunt where the babies got to try to find eggs hiding in the trees, bushes, and on the ground.  I think Mackenzie did a better job finding eggs than Ethan did!  I, however, found a tick on me (yuck!) while helping Ethan find some eggs.

Grandpa helped Ethan find an egg.

I think this might be the first time Ethan sat in the yard.

The Easter Bunny hid these eggs a little high for babies.

Mackenzie had fun too!

Mackenzie found a Magnolia leaf and Ethan found grass!

Grandma helping Ethan.

Grandpa helped Mackenzie too!

A successful hunt!

Sarah and Nathaniel come over once they were finished at work so Ethan got to play with them for a little while before heading home for food and bed.

Before bed, we let Ethan play with his jackrabbit puppet from Tim and Diane Bowden -- he loves his bunny so much we couldn't resist getting a video of his giggles while playing.

Easter Egg Hunt at Kindermusik

Ethan's Kindermusik class ended with an Easter Egg Hunt this morning and he ended up enjoying it more than I thought he would.  Miss Amy told the Easter Bunny to hide eggs all over the courtyard and we went out with the babies to find what we could.  I was holding Ethan (of course) as we walked around looking for eggs.  Granted, Ethan really just wanted to see everything in the courtyard and grab a hold of some of the plants but he did actually see and try to pick up one egg I held him in front of that was balancing on the leaves of a small bush.  I "helped" him find a few more before we went back inside to play with our eggs.  

Ethan loved playing with all the plastic eggs and his basket inside -- eggs were rolling everywhere and shaking and being dumped out.  All the babies had fun with their new treasure!  Findley's mom, Donna, also brought everyone a pop-up Easter book and Ethan had fun playing with the book too.  We had so much fun that Ethan didn't want to leave, so I let him play with his Easter Eggs again when we got home.  I guess it's time for him to enjoy "fill n' spill" games.  

Meeting the Easter Bunny!

Today, Ethan and I went with his Grandma Wade to meet the Easter Bunny at the Coolsprings Galleria.  Since we were able to go during the middle of the day, there wasn't a wait, which was good, because we had lots of time to try to make Ethan smile for the camera (something I have a hard time doing sometimes).  Unlike with Santa Claus, Ethan was wide awake for this adventure and was giving smiles to everyone before I introduced him to the Easter Bunny.  He was happy to see the Easter Bunny, but when it came time to "smile for the camera" he was much more interested in looking around...he was so mesmerized by the Easter egg trees and other decorations that he didn't smile at all -- he just wanted to take everything in.  We ended up with a cute bright-eyed photo anyway!!  I'm sure the Easter Bunny will bring him some fun treats on Sunday!

First Solid Food (Rice Cereal)

Ethan was happy after his first "meal" of rice cereal. 

Today, after getting back from the zoo, we decided to (finally) give Ethan at small taste of solid food.  The pediatrician had told us we could start giving him some food anytime after 4 months, but we decided to wait until closer to 6 months to give him his first spoon-fed food.  Today was just a test, really, to see how well he'd take food from a spoon and he did surprisingly OK.

We only gave him a 1/2 tablespoon of rice cereal mixed in 1.5 tablespoons milk, so it was pretty runny but thick enough to scoop up with a spoon (and make a mess on Ethan's face).  He really got into it and wanted to grab the spoon after he had eaten a few spoonfuls.  Most of the cereal made it into his mouth too (although it may not look that way in the photos).  He did a pretty good job of getting the food off the spoon as well, although Cayne and I have a lot to learn about holding the spoon so that he can eat off of it!  Our next phase has started...more solid foods will be on their way in the coming weeks...once we (as parents) get the hang of this spoon-feeding thing!

Ethan has no idea he's about to get food!

He always likes to watch us eat...but this time, the food is for him!

He's not too sure about that first bite!

Now he's getting the hang of it.

My turn to feed him!

To the Zoo with Mackenzie and Aunt Ashley

Mackenzie and Ethan enthralled by the noisy flamingos. 

Today, we finally made it to the zoo with his cousin, Mackenzie, and Aunt Ashley after rescheduling due to rainy, cold weather yesterday.  Ethan had fun seeing his Aunt and his Cousin in the beautiful weather (and so did I).  Today, we even ventured into the reptile and fish house, where Ethan had fun tugging on Mackenzie's cute smocked dress.  But I think Ethan had the most fun sitting under a big shade tree watching Mackenzie eat her yummy-looking lunch while he played with his toys.  I think we will definitely need to start giving Ethan some solid food very, very soon -- maybe today!  Since Russ and Ashley decided to get a zoo membership too, I think we are going to have lots more fun family outings this sumer!

Well, at least 1 person is looking at the camera! :)

To the Zoo with Daddy

Today, Cayne and I took Ethan to the zoo together -- it was the first time our whole little family got to go together.  Cayne had fun showing Ethan all the animals that were out and about.  Ethan had the most fun in the alligator shack, where we got to see lots of little alligators and listen to some bluegrass music playing.  Since Cayne was holding Ethan, Ethan was stomp-stomp-stomping to the music for as long as he could still hear it.  Very cute!

Ethan is holding on tight while Daddy drives!