HAPPY HALLOWEEN

From the SWAT man Cade and his Kangaroo buddy Ethan!!

Ethan... photos

Well, I finally got some photos of the growing boy for those that had mentioned wanting to see some pics (Netty) hehe!!

Ethan is SOOO close to crawling. In these photos I could totally deceive and say he was as it truly looks like he is, but alas it is not so. He is constantly up on his hands and knees but when he wants to get anywhere is still army crawling. He is the master at that, very quick. I love that he is happily mobile without the pulling and climbing on things. That was Cade all over so Ethan is less of a stress (at this stage) when it comes to that! Phew!!


Enjoy the boy...






**See mum, in the second last photo you can really tell Ethan no longer has the comb over 'crazy professor hair' going on!

Ethan 7 Months

Had to share that Ethan boy is now 7 months old. Today he had his first haircut and it was needed. It was bittersweet though, him losing his 'crazy professor' hair. No more comb over for this little man. He did fantastic, was so, so good about it. No pictures as I was holding him while he was getting it cut and daddy was getting his hair cut at the same time.

Cade, at the same time was filling his pants with pee and poop!! ARGH. He has done so very well. Went poop yesterday on the potty for the first time. We went out of town for the afternoon, no accidents and he was letting us know when he needed to go to the potty and he even slept with big boy undies on all night and woke dry. Then today... oh well, what can you do?? He is back on the band wagon and doing well.

Ethan at 7 months is still a delight. He is doing better at night, a lot better, but I hope not to jinx myself with that statement. He is trying to self ween from breast feeding and I don't know how I feel about that. He was always so good about it but lately I seem to not be satisfying him as I use to. Not sure what the go is there, but I will persevere. He loves his food. Breakfast and dinner he has baby food and he just gobbles it up. He still loves the water, if he hears the water running he breaths heavy with excitement and anticipation and kicks about trying to get in there or if he is on the floor he is in the bathroom in a shot! Pretty funny. He is really getting around, he is army crawling, left, right co-ordinated. Just a matter of time before he is putting it all together and is up on his knees doing it. He really is a beautiful little boy and we just so love him and enjoy his pleasantness. Cade adores him and they are so excited to see each other after naps or being apart for any period of time. What a blessing.

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.

How Slack Have I Been....

Don't answer that!! hehe

I am awaiting a disc of photos from my sister in Australia hence the fact that there have been no updates!! I do have some pics but they are from my last day spent in Aus so I want to get the others up first.

I have been a slacker on the home front too. Just really tired, jetlag seemed to totally kick my butt this time it seems. I can finally say I am all caught up on my housework and organising, it only took 2 weeks!!

I am very glad to be home but really, really miss my Australian life too. I think that is normal and to be expected. I miss the constant company, the help at a moments notice from a very willing Nanny and Aunties. The instant friends for Cade and the numerous open arms for a fussing Ethan. I miss the sister lunches and the family dinners (drama and all!). I miss my friends and the play dates we had, a the catch up and gossip sessions!! Oh I can feel myself getting emotional... better change the subject!!

Bout time for an update...

This little boy is.....

...ROLLING!!!




...EATING!!!




and having a great time being spoilt with cuddles and loves and constant play with cousins!!

Ethan seems to have grown in leaps and bounds the last 2 weeks. It just amazes me. He is trying so hard to pull his legs under himself in order to crawl. My goodness, do things happen quickly! He is a noisy little one and squeals and growls and chatters. His new thing is to wake in the night and make this growler noise which to me sounds like Chewbacca (good thing he is not as hairy, good thing he is so stinkin' cute as he wakes more here than at home.

He gets very excited to see me and loves then attention from his ever doting cousins and Aunties! He is one spoilt boy.

Cade has been a treasure. The poor boy is exhausted at the end of the day especially when a nap has been missed during the day. He has been in the wars and has been getting hurt easily when tired but he is a tough little mite so soldiers on. He just loves his cousins and it is hilarious, when he forgets their name he calls them honey. He says, "Hey, honey, honey... what's wrong?" when they are done playing with him. It is a crack up. We all get a laugh out of it.
He had a sleep over at my sisters last night, which wasn't planned but he wanted to stay when we went for a visit in the evening and he was a good boy apparently so I am glad for that. He is really comfortable here which I am so grateful for. He has been asking the last 2 to 3 days for Daddy and to 'go to Cade's house' but other than that, there haven't been any melt downs as yet in that regard. Daddy is very, very missed, not just by the boys but me. Oh how I miss him.

The flight over was... L.O.N.G!! 27 hours of travel all up and by the time I got some sleep, it had been about 37 hours or something since I had slept. CRAZY!! I was feeling it. I got a whole hour and a half the whole flight (15 hrs). It was not fun. But we did it. I was so exhausted when I got off the plane and when I saw mum I just about cried. I swore I was never doing it again! Too bad I have a flight home right!! It is amazing how your perspective changes with a good shower and some one to take a baby from your sore, tired arms and that a cooped up toddler can run outside to his little hearts content.

I have been busy shopping and chatting and catching up with my sisters and their families. I was particularly teary when I got to see Kallan. I held him like I never have before and just couldn't take my eyes off him. He is a dead set champ and I am thankful he has a clean bill of health and got through his cancer treatment! What a blessing to ALL of us! Here's to continued health for him.

Wow, this was way longer than I thought... more to come!!

Surprise Visitors...

...all the way from Tasmania!!!

Thursday mum had me thinking was our 'quiet, stay at home day'. The sneak had been tipped off that my good friends Tim and Helene and their cute kids were flying in and driving up to see me.



TALK ABOUT SURPRISED!!

I could not believe it.

THANK YOU SO MUCH TIM AND HELENE. I just loved, loved, loved seeing you. Time has not changed us at all I think!! Just a few kids in the mix now, you know how it is!! hehe

Cade...

...has a concussion! BOYS... what do ya do with 'em?

*He was climbing trying to get to his candy that daddy had put at the top of the stove and we hear a huge BANG followed by some little boy crying. Cory even heard it in the shower with the fan going. He was super lethargic and his eyes were dilated so off to the doctor... again... sure enough, a concussion. He walked in the door after going to the doctor with daddy and lay down by my feet and fell asleep on my foot, poor little boys I have!!

ARGH... control I do not have

Well... Ethan and Cade both came down with runny noses yesterday and I simply thought it was allergies seeing as we have been in and out of the house, between hot and cold etc but last night was AWFUL. Ethan was miserable with his sinuses and couldn't seem to breath properly. I got up to him twice an hour until 4am and then I was just exhausted and Cory took over. I took them to the doctor this afternoon and Cade simply has a bit of a cold but poor Ethan has a double ear infection! Right in time for a HUGE flight too. My poor baby. He is choking all the time on his drainage, has a runny nose and weepy eyes, a fever and all this with a double ear infection! Poor darling boy.
We have him on antibiotics and will have a quick follow up on Thursday to see how he is doing and if the doctor isn't happy with how he is doing, will give him a stronger antibiotic. He was due for his 4 month shots but we are delaying them until he is healthier, but the doctor wants these before we fly out so we'll see how quickly he heals.
I am a huge worrier, and I try to control as much as I can but this is something I obviously could not predict or control so now the worrying has set in. I worry about his little ears on the plane, the fact that we are travelling for 24 hours and 17 of these are in flight. I just hope and pray that he will be so much better before then and that we can get both our boys healthy and well and that they stay that way!!