another new toy

thanks, papa & grandma joy, for mommy's new favorite toy!! this baby einstein activity center is just perfect for ethan right now. he can turn around to play with the toys surrounding him, and he can practice standing in it as well. he has perfected the art of banging on the animal noise buttons while chewing on the toy next to it all at the same time. :) he loves to watch mommy unload the dishwasher while he plays. (mommy would love to switch places with him!!)

as you can see in the picture, ethan figured out how to stick his tongue out today. it's pretty funny to see for the first time. you say, "what's the big deal?" i know! who cares, right? he's sticking out his tongue. well, yesterday he couldn't do it, and today he can! that, my friends, is what i call development. :)

by the way, that is NOT a flower in ethan's hair. it is a toy on the ever-entertaining activity center.... just to clear that up.

the teething begins... i think.

so ethan woke up at 1:30 a.m. on sunday night...he has GOT to be teething. in 30 seconds, i was teleported back to the days of middle-of-the-night feedings... which i haven't seen, thankfully, in over 4 months. my child obviously needed to be comforted. he had a rough rest of the night and following morning, which meant mommy had a rough rest of the night and following morning. i am thankful to say that he took a great afternoon nap on monday and has been back to his routine since... but still no little white thing poking through his gums.... i know it's his teeth, though.... he is drooling all over the place, and he is biting down HARD. i wish a sign would stick out of his left ear that says, "i'm teething. comfort me" so that i don't worry that i am unnecessarily spoiling him. i'd rather err on the side of comforting him anyway, but it would just be nice to know. i've been told that after his first tooth comes in, i can look back to see his signs of teething and be able to tell better for the next ones. but i'm such a planner. i need to know for this first one. :) (brian is rolling his eyes right now, i just know it!) motherhood is one HUGE tool that God uses to remind me that i am so not in control here.

take me out to the ballgame...

ethan LOVES this new toy! the cowden's gave him this for christmas. it entertains him for at least 15 minutes at a time. now he has figured out how to get the ball to swing all the way around... he also loves to pull the whole thing towards him and eat the blinking stars on top. this toy has really motivated him to sit up!!

new year's party animal

after we came home from the schneider's on new year's eve, ethan was wide awake!! he had slept most of the night over there, so he thought it was time to play when we got home!! this video is just a CLIP from the first 30 minutes in his bed that night. sorry it's pretty dark, but i didn't want him to see me. i think the audio is enough. you can't see this, but he's having a dance party with his bumper pad. :)

happy ethan

these are for nana...

(ha! he kind of looks like a pirate with the play button over his eye!!) :)