Trip to Arizona: First Flight

Touchdown...in the Valley of the Sun!

Ethan had his first airplane ride on Saturday as we left Nashville to head (nonstop) to Phoenix, AZ.  We left at 4:10 in the afternoon and landed around 6:35 (MST) in Arizona.  Ethan was a real trooper on his flight -- we fed him a bottle on the way up, then he slept and played a little bit with Cayne before I fed him again as we started our descent into Phoenix.  The most exciting part was that Ethan had a diaper blow-out on the way down and while his diaper was leaking, our plane was stuck on the tarmac waiting about 15 minutes for another plane to get out of our gate...not fun.  Lucky for me, Cayne was holding him!

We had lots of luggage to maneuver at BNA.

It took us a while to get our bags (the Phoenix airport is slow) and then we had to ride the rental car shuttle to the separate building where all the rental car counters are to pick up our car.  I had reserved a minivan but the company (Thrifty) didn't have any minivans available.  After "throwing a wobbly" (according to Cayne) when they tried to "upgrade" us to a small SUV (a Ford Escape), I insisted we needed seating for 7 people in the car we rented, just like the minivan I reserved was supposed to provide.  Honestly, I'm not even sure our luggage would have fit in the Ford Escape with the baby!  Anyway, they relented and gave us a Chevy Traverse LTZ.  It was really nice to ride in and drive!  Because it was the LTZ model we had the fully adjustable leather seats (with seat warmers and coolers), a rear camera with cool night vision and a beeping indicator when we got close to other cars while backing up, we could open and close the truck door using the key remote, and it had a "memory" function on the seat adjustments.  We've been thinking of eventually upgrading our car to either a Traverse or GMC Acadia so I was super excited to get to have an extended test-drive of this car.  And we loved it, so someday we probably will get one of those two cars (they are pretty much the same).

By the time all of that was done and we had grabbed some dinner to take to our hotel, it was almost 9:30 when we checked in.  We all settled down for the night, although Ethan did wake up once in the middle of the night and wouldn't stop crying...I think the dry heat made him thirsty because after feeding him a few minutes, he settled down and eventually fell asleep and stayed that way until morning.

Our 5 Month Old!

Today, Ethan turned 5 months old!  He is getting bigger and bigger every day (although we don't have any length/weight stats this month) and is full of smiles and giggles!

Some things Ethan has done is the past month are:

• He can almost sit up by himself.  He is a pretty good "supported sitter" but he tends to fall forward (or to the side) if one of us isn't propping his back.  

• He has started to make "sentences" out of his "dah-dah-DAH-daaah-ddddah" sounds.  

• He is good at passing things back and forth between hands and reaching for things he wants.  

• He still likes to take his pacifier out of his mouth and put it back in sideways to chew on it.  

• He LOVES banging on the drum at his Kindermusik class.  

• His favorite book is Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? by Dr. Seuss because he loves the sounds Cayne makes while reading it.    

• His current favorite toy is his crinkly red saw (from a Fill-N-Spill Toolbox).  

• He likes to play Peek-a-Boo.  

• He can chew on his toes.  

• He stomps his feet like crazy when he is happy about something.  

• His laughs are infectious!

• His hair is starting to grow.  It's blonde, thin, and not very long but there is definitely fuzz on his head!  

We can't wait to see what developments the next month will bring!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Ethan's dancing a little Irish jig (or practicing his Lord of the Dance moves).

A Picnic in Edwin Warner Park

My cool-looking boys!

Today, Cayne and I took Ethan on his first "picnic" -- we went to Franklin to let mom and dad's dogs outside and to set up wireless internet in their house before heading over to the park for a walk.  It was such a beautiful day outside today (73 degrees) that we thought a picnic at Edwin Warner Park would be nice.  We stopped at Oscar's Taco Shop for some healthy super nachos and rolled tacos to take for our picnic.

Mmmm -- super nachos are perfect "lite" fare before a walk.  

We ate on some picnic tables by the Nature Center pond.  Ethan, of course, didn't get to enjoy any of our delicious food but he definitely acts like he wants to try some soon!  After our meal we got Ethan situated into his carrier and let him try out his new BabyBanz sunglasses for our walk.  He loved the sunglasses and seemed to enjoy our short walk through the park.

We didn't think he'd keep the sunglasses
on the whole time, but he did!

Any Baby Translators Out There?

Want to take a stab at what Ethan is trying to communicate?

To the Zoo with Aunt Sarah

Today, Ethan took his Aunt Sarah to the zoo with him.  We went through all the zoo trails and even stopped for a corn dog.  Ethan saw the elephants and giraffes but them fell fast asleep for the rest of the walk.  He was startled awake when the flamingos made lots of noise, though.  A great way to get out and a good use of our zoo membership!

"Oh, Aunt Sarah, won't you please give me an onion ring?"

Sarah really wanted that photo of a Meerkat.

A Stroller Hike around Radnor Lake

Cayne and Ethan on the road by Radnor Lake.

Today we decided to get out of the house and into the sunshine with a walk in the park.  We wanted to go somewhere new so we went to Radnor Lake, a park where some of the moms in Ethan's Kindermusik class go on weekly hikes as part of the Bambino Brigade.  It sounded like a nice place (a few other friends had mentioned it to us, too) and we couldn't let something so close to our house stay a mystery for too much longer!

It was a little crowded (we parked along Otter Creek Road in the overflow parking because the visitor center parking was full.  We walked along the road around half the lake before cutting over to the Lake Trail for our trip back.  We should have taken the Bambino Brigade baby carrying motto to heart because we really should have carried Ethan on the trail rather than taking the stroller.  That said, our Graco Quattro Tour Sport lived up to the "Sport" in it's name because it did a great job on the rougher terrain, all things considered!  The Lake Trail was an easy walk and Ethan got out of the stroller to explore the woods and see the lake (and he even cautiously touched a tree).  I'm sure Radnor Lake will be a beautiful place to walk this summer...and I'm definitely going to need to paractice my baby carrying so that maybe sometime soon I'll be able to do the "strenuous" Ganier Ridge Trail with him!

There's a turtle swimming in this photo -- can you spot it? 

Walking through the woods.  

Our stroller did an OK job on the trail!