Ethan's First Christmas

Ethan's first Christmas brought many blessings. Most notably for us, Ethan himself. Ong Noi and Ba Noi came to town to help us spoil the boys. Ethan is our little chunk of love. We were going to try to take the popular photos of "baby in a stocking" but E is just too darn big for that.

Unofficially, he's probably weighing in at about 15 or 16 pounds. He's nearly four months old and he's stretching his 6-9 month clothes. For Christmas, Ethan got a few more toys, some books, and a tray for his Bumbo chair.

Ethan is a very alert baby. He'll give you a smile without any prompting and he's generally a very laid back little guy. He doesn't take a nuk as much as his older brother did (or does). Ethan is still not very accepting of the bottle yet, but he seems to be taking it well at daycare. I haven't had much luck with administering a bottle myself. He much prefers bellying up to his mother's "bar".

Overall, we had a wonderful first Christmas with Ethan. We look forward to many more blessed Christmases to come.

Santa Baby

Enjoying the Chaos

Here's a quick post of a chaotic day in our household:

12:00 AM -- Camden's awake! Mommy performs a midnight diaper change and a little post midnight cuddle time.
12:30 AM -- A little shut eye for everyone.
3:15 AM -- Ethan's awake... hungry little man.
3:45 AM -- Ethan thinks it's play time... what a happy baby? Where's our sleepy man?
4:30 AM -- Ethan gets handed off from mommy to daddy.
5:15 AM -- Camden wakes for the day. A little more snuggle time with mommy.
6:00 AM -- Baby swap. Mom and E get a 30 minute nap while daddy and C get ready for daycare.
6:30 AM -- Snow Shoveling (daddy!).
7:00 AM -- Feed Ethan, Feed Camden.
7:30 AM -- Pack for daycare: Ethan's bottles, Camden's soy milk and snow pants, mom's pump, mom's computer, hats, mittens.... and more!
8:00 AM -- Out the door... late (but we're using the weather as an excuse).
8:15 AM -- Drop off: Coats off, Mittens off, Hat and scarves: check, check. Sign in, get Ethan out, get Camden into his breakfast chair (second breakfast of the day for him).
8:40 AM -- Finally, at work. Let the day begin!!!

So much fun, so little time! We were a little grumpy this morning but managed to overcome our sleepy states. The workday passed, for me anyway, in a blur. Then it was time to finish the day:

6:00 PM -- home late! (Daycare pick up took extra long to get out of the daycare door).
6:30 PM -- Soup's on. Literally... the microwave is broken. Healthy choice veggie soup was the selection for the evening.
7:00 PM -- Bath time. Camden first in the tub. Lots of play... while I managed to clip Ethan's fingernails.
7:30 PM -- Camden's prayers, books and nighttime bottle.
7:45 PM -- Camden protests sleep because he could here lots of noise in the hallway.
7:46 PM -- Ethan's bath time.
8:15 PM -- Ethan's bedtime meal.
8:30 PM -- Impromptu webcam with Mike and Mindi Myser.
9:00 PM -- Mommy succombs to a lifetime movie for the first time in ages... daddy is working on projects.
10:50 PM -- Mommy is wishing the laundry fairy put away the five loads of laundry that are unfolded in baskets.
11:50 PM -- Wondering why I'm still blogging. We're also wondering where the TV remote could possibly be. It's been missing for three days!

A little shut eye before our 3 AM feeding!

Ethan's First Day of Daycare

Today marked Ethan's first day of daycare. A bittersweet day for both Kim and me. There are a couple redeeming qualities that make us feel a bit more at ease about this transition. First, Kim is going to be working a part time work schedule, so she'll be at home with the boys for two days of the week anyway. Second, we absolutely LOVE the teachers at our daycare. Traci, Denise, Sheila, Carol (now retired), and Jamie are tremendous. They have given Camden so much love and we've seen Camden develop in so many ways and we believe that much of that is attributable to his care givers.

We're sure that Ethan will receive the same care from his teachers. Kim and I feel so comfortable having our boys there. It'll be interesting to see Ethan and Camden in the same infant room together. I imagine that it's pretty rare to have siblings in the same room, except in the case of twins of course.

In general, we're thankful to be happy with our daycare provider. It makes going to work a lot easier not having to worry about the care your children are getting when you're not with them. If Ethan is anything like his brother, he'll make all kinds of friends and charm all his teachers in no time.

"Don't worry, E. I'll protect you."