Brotherly Love Hurts

See this boy... looking a bit worried...

Roll him over....




A quick 'procedure' and a few tears later...

Good thing Ethan is forgiving...

6 Months

If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times... but I simply can not believe my baby is 6 months old already!! Time has just flown by.

We had Ethan's 6 month appointment last Friday and he was 18lb 6oz (70th percentile) and 27 1/2 inches long (80th percentile).

Just for comparison for myself... Cade was 17lb 2 1/2oz (50th percentile) and 26 5/8 inches long (50th percentile) although his head was larger.

Prior to the appointment, Ethan was still like a newborn in his feeding schedule, waking every 3-4 hours and fussing, wanting to be held etc. It was not fun. On Thursday night I got up to him 9 times! 9 times! Are you kidding me! I have been really reluctant to let Ethan 'cry it out' as he has had these aspirating/choking fits and I FREAK out. Cade would always choke on food and that was scary and tainted me for life but Ethan chokes on nothing. I have since come to realise he does it for attention, when he gets worked up and wants to be picked up and held. Naughty boy!! So I have been really good about letting him settle himself during the day, which he was doing well at. He has always been a baby that likes to be put to bed awake and put himself to sleep... sweet! Since our appointment I have been trying some things differently. I have been staunch about getting him to sleep through the night. He has a last feed in the evening, about 8ish and is put to bed, sometimes awake, sometimes not. Then he seems to wake around 3ish and wants out of his bed. I have been going in, putting in his paci and making sure he isn't too hot and off to bed with me. He has done this for 3 nights now and cries for about 30 minutes and ends up nodding off and wakes for a morning feed at 6ish and then goes back to sleep for an hour or so. I can live with this and I think it is hard but is getting easier. He hasn't really been doing the choking thing, I think because I let him settle himself during the day it helps alot and he knows he isn't going to win at night. I am much stronger during the day I do notice though. Both the boys are in the same room and that stressed me about Ethan crying and waking Cade. He woke Cade the first night and since has not which is great.

Here are some particulars on what Ethan is up to at 6 months...
- Ethan is just a happy, delightful boy. A smile is NEVER far away. He has the most smiley eyes ever and we just adore him.

- Ethan LOVES Cade (and Cade LOVES Ethan). He thinks he is hilarious and we catch ourselves laughing along at the antics of Cade trying to entertain and make Ethan laugh. Ethan particularly loves when you move your head in a silly way or purposely lose eye contact and quickly regain it. He also loves you to swing your hair and jump (we found this out with my nieces while in Australia).

- Ethan has this cute habit of straightening his arm and flapping it back and forth against what he is laying by, my chest while nursing, his pillow while sleeping. It seems to be a comfort or security thing and I call it the 'whale' as that is what it is like, a whale slapping. He also waves his arm back and forth until he hits something he can hold while nursing, it is like his way of asking me to hold his hand. Very endearing.

- Ethan loves his baby food. He is quite partial to veggies and would choose those over fruits. He has a fruit with cereal at breakfast and can't quite finish it and has a veggie at night and gobbles that all. He seems to really enjoy pumpkin with pears lately. He has tried apples, pears, peaches, apples and blueberries, bananas, corn and sweet potatoes, squash, pumpkin with pears, carrots, mixed vegetables.

- He has been a fantastic nurser. Up until the last 2 weeks he was great, on, feed, off. But the last 2 weeks he has been not wanting to nurse during the day, which is really what the issue was with waking so much at night I believe. He seems to rather go without than to have a bottle. He has to be starving or will only take a bottle from someone other than me or Cory. I am OK with this as to me it tells me he still wants to nurse but sometimes it is a pain to have to always have something on hand if he refuses me.

- Ethan loves to play and will spend most of his day on his tummy. Last night he was showing great progress in the crawling department as he would lift his tummy off the floor just be on tippy toes and hands. It was pretty impressive. He rolls to something if he needs to get closer but for the most part just maneuvers where he wants to be.

- He loves to be in his highchair and would stay there all day if I let him. If I am needing to vacuum or about to feed him but want to get a load of washing on, I will put him in there with a bunch of toys and he will play happily. He gets SO excited when I walk by him in it and he will kick about and wave his arms with the cutest cheesy grin.

- Ethan gets SO excited for the tub. He just LOVES the bath. While we were in Australia my mum would bath him in the laundry trough and he was in heaven. Since being home I have let the boys bath together (Cade lives for showers or baths with Ethan, hehe) and Ethan about jumps out of your arms to get in that water. He does this suck backwards like of laugh in excitement and once in the water kicks like a frog the whole time. Very cute.

- He is by far way more cuddly than Cade at the same age. He loves to snuggle in your neck and relax. I love this and so does daddy!

- Ethan loves to suck your fingers and would gum them to death if you would let him. I think this is part of his teething (no teeth yet) but it is funny.

- He has started to drop things for me to constantly pick up, cause and effect, not such a fun game for mum, but Ethan loves it!

We are just in love with our little boy and are so thankful this precious man is in our lives. He is truly loved and adored, not just by us his immediate family but by our extended family too. What a blessing it is to have those you love, loved.