Ethan's Second Month

It's hard to believe how fast time is passing. Ethan hit his two month mark on Tuesday. He has been very busy leading up to his second month birthday. I started home schooling for some friends from church and Ethan comes with me on the days that Tristan is working. He does a great job. Also, he got his first shot and just got his second round (on his birthday...poor guy!). He was such a trooper through both rounds and cried only briefly. I have to be honest, I hate it when he gets shots!! I just hate that "I'm in pain" cry.

There have been many firsts in the past month. Here are just a few:

Ethan finally took his first real bath. The first one didn't go so well...he was really upset and MAD! This is actually a picture of the second one, but as you can see he is sleeping...very relaxed. So relaxed that he decided it would be a good time to use the bathroom...a very funny but gross moment!

First visit from Grandma Bernard...We were so glad that Annette flew in for Ethan's blessing. It was fun to spend time together as a family! We were able to show her some of the sights of the Baton Rouge area and just hang out.

He also started wearing his cloth diapers more regularly. We still use disposable when we are out and about, but we love the cloth diapers and are working into using them exclusively. Here he is in one of hi diapers that matches Grandma's blouse!!

He had his first visit from Grandma and Grandpa Walker. My mom also flew in for the blessing and my dad flew in a week later. It was his first time visiting us in Louisiana. Ethan was very spoiled in his second month by all of the love and attention he received from his grandparents.

First cuddle with Grandpa! This was the starting position....

Several squirmy minutes later this was how he ended up...not sure what he was trying to do here, but it was hilarious!

First visit to the swamp...we headed out to the Bluebonnet swamp in Baton Rouge. It was first for Ethan but also for both Grandmas!!

First visit to LSU campus (with Grandma Walker and Grandma Bernard)

First iPod?!! No, Tristan was just being silly and taking advantage of his sleeping son!

First friends!! Ethan was so lucky to have his new friend Anderson visit from Washington--it was his first friend to visit from home.

Ethan gained almost 3 lbs. in his second month, which bumped him up into some of his 3 mo. clothing! Here is one of his first 3 month outfits he wore and some fun pictures we caught on that day.

And now for one of the firsts we've been anxiously awaiting!! This month Ethan has started smiling and "talking" to us (and himself) a lot. There is nothing more rewarding than having him look up and smile in response to us. Here are a few smiles we managed to catch on camera.

Don't you just love those chubby cheeks?! He is looking a lot like I did when I was his age, which is kind of weird for me. I guess you never know what to really expect, but I figured he would look a lot like Tristan. Instead, we find that he has a good mix of both of us in different features. These are truly the moments that melt your heart! We love having Ethan as a part of our family.

Catching Up--Trip Home to Washington

Well, this is a little belated, however, we had such a good time visiting our family and friends that I didn't want leave it out! Pretty much every June we go home to spend time in Washington. This trip was particularly important because it was the last trip home before Ethan was born and I also got to spend time with my best friend, Kelly, who was expecting Anderson just a week before I was due. We each got to attend each others' shower and see each other prego...it was a special time. I don't have pictures available right now of the showers, but we had a blast and it was definitely a highlight for me! We spend most of our time with family and here are some of the things we did:

We enjoyed a day at the beach with our family and the boys loved getting to play in the sand with their Uncle Tristan!

We have many dear friends that we love to spend time with when we visit home. We enjoyed getting to see Rich and Allisha and their new little one, Skyler. What could be better than a day filled with a walk in the park, bocci ball and Jack in the Box? Doing it with good friends!

We enjoyed going to church with our family while we were home and decided to take the opportunity to get some family pics in afterward!

We enjoyed spending time with both of our families while we were home. Tristan's sister, Krista, and her family planned a trip home at the same time as us, so we got to see them for the first time since we got married 3 years ago! We were actually disappointed that we were only going to get one day to spend with them, but then our plane had engine complications and we got to reschedule our flight and stay for 5 extra days!! We truly loved getting to spend time with them.

We also got to spend some time on BBQs with my family. Here is a picture of one of our times together. My brother's girlfriend, Brenna, even joined us!! Don't feel sorry for my dad not being in the pic...he was on a fishing trip in Alaska, not suffering at all!!

One of the best parts of our trip home was getting to see Tristan get to know his nephews...it was a fun sneak preview to what I can look forward to when Ethan starts toddling around! We loved our time home and can't wait to visit again, with our little one with us! Thanks to everyone who made our trip so special!

Ethan Lynn

Finally! Ethan is napping and I finally have a chance to update our blog fofr the first time in months. With all that we've had going on with the fire and then scrambling to pull things together before Ethan's arrival, I haven't been very good about posting "belly" pics. Here's the last one, taken as we were leaving for the hospital to be induced.

Our first moments as a new family

Some of Ethan's first visitors!

Home at last!! We were sure glad when we were finally released from the hospital!

Because of his jaundice, Ethan had to spend the first few days at home on this "bili bed". We jokingly called it his alien tanning bed, but it really was no fun. We hated that he was so lethargic and could hardly stay awake to make it through a feeding. We sure are glad that he has got his jaundice in check now and we can cuddle him whenever we want!

Bath time--he has grown to like baths a whole lot more since this first one!

An awake picture--finally!! This is one of my favorites so far!

Gotta' love baby hands and feet. Ethan is famous for his loooong fingers...maybe he will play the organ like his Grandpa Bernard did!

Lots of naps, although not necessarily when we would like them to be!

First tummy-time! He's not sure how he feels about it yet!

Another nap time photo-op! Tristan calls this his "Moses pose"..."Let my people go!!" Not only is he practicing stretching out his legs, but his arms as well.

Ethan's umbilical stump, or "belly button ring" as I like to call it, finally fell off at about 2 1/2 weeks. Here he is, showing off his new belly button.

I love this picture...Tristan and Ethan we tuckered out after church! Ethan is learning all about Sunday naps already!

O.k., so this was taken upside-down, but Tristan and I were cracking up. Ethan is our little "frog boy"--he likes to have his knees tucked up to his chest because he was so jammed inside of me! Lately he has been "spreading his wings" a little more. As you can see, he was really enjoying all the space he had to take an evening nap before bed. We love our little man!

We are so blessed to have Ethan as a part of our family. Thank you for all of the thoughts, prayers and hugs that have gotten us to where we are. We are so thankful to have everyone's support!

Trip to New Orleans

O.k., o.k., I know it has been way too long since I've last posted, but every time I've tried I have had problems getting our pictures to upload.  So finally here's an update!  A couple of months ago we made a day-trip to New Orleans to celebrate our friend, Rio's, birthday.  We had a full day planned, but had plenty of time to goof off before the festivities started!  It was a fun day!

We had some time to enjoy the beautiful sunshine along the Mississippi River.

The rest of our crew:  Becky, Rio and Eric.

We decided to take in an IMAX in 3-D.  We saw one about the ocean, which if you know me at all, is right up my alley!!

We stopped for lunch at the House Of Blues...no music but excellent food!

Our next stop was the new Insectarium that just opened in New Orleans.  It is basically a zoo that houses only bugs (living and dead).  I wouldn't have thought that a place about bugs could take up a lot of time, but it is definitely a whole day thing!  There were many rooms that were each dedicated to something different.

One room in the Insectarium was about Louisiana habitats...not sure it belongs with bugs, but at least he was cute (while he's small!!)

One of the rooms had all of these dead bugs in it, which should be gross but it was actually really beautiful.  This dragon is actually made of different beetles--it's amazing all of the varieties of animals that Heavenly Father made.

On of the last stops we made in the Insectarium was the butterfly house (it's a lot like the one at the Pacific Science Center for you West Coast peeps).  I always love all of the beautiful flowers they have in those rooms!

We had kind of a hard time getting any good shots of the moths and butterflies since they were being a little camera shy, but here's one of the many that were flying around!

The gift shop was the last stop at the Insectarium...Tristan was being silly, as usual.  I'm sure glad that I married someone who makes me laugh!  He doesn't have any monkeys on his back, but he does have one big spider!!

An updated pregnancy pic for the moms!  This was taken at about 24 weeks, I think, so I've grown more since then...I'll have to post an updated one soon.  I took my glucose test last week and haven't heard anything back, so I'm assuming no news is good news!  I can't believe that I'm starting my third trimester.  Time sure does fly and we can't wait to meet our little boy!

We've also made a lot of progress on our nursery and preparing for our little one's arrival.  As soon as the room is in good shape I'll post some pics!