Trip to Washington--Part 1

This month we took Ethan on his first vacation and plane ride!! We went to Washington to visit both of our families for about 5 days. It was a short trip, and as always, not enough time to see everyone we wanted to see, but it was a great trip. There are so many pictures that I'm going to have to post it a little at a time. I was a little nervous about how he would handle the trip (and how I would!) Here we are, hanging out before take off.

By the time we took off, Ethan was already having a ball.
Sorry, a little blurry, but this epitomizes how he did. He was awesome. I know that everyone around us just dreaded us sitting next to them because they didn't know if he was going to scream the whole time. But by the time we landed they were all amazed at how great he did. Looks like we have a traveler on our hands (thank goodness!).

My mom got us this sling-type thing from the Sky Mall magazine on her way down to see us. The good news is it was SOOOO handy. He was satisfied and strapped in and we were much more comfortable. The bad news is, he is already a little too big for it. The next trip we will have to figure something else out!

We bundled Ethan up for his first jaunt out in the cold winter air...when we got where we were going we found him like this in the back seat, asleep. We felt kind of bad, but mostly just thought it was funny!
Grandma and Grandpa Walker got Ethan a new play mat for Christmas and let him try it out while we were there visiting. Tristan decided he better check it out with Ethan to see what it was all about.
He LOVED this giraffe attachment that came with it.
Exploring what his new friends can do!

On Saturday night we met up with our friends Rich and Allisha and their little boy, Skyler to go to the Zoolights event at Point Defiance Zoo. This picture cracks me up because this is the first time that Skyler got to meet Ethan...here Ethan is, screaming because he just got out of the nice, warm car where he was sleeping and Skyler is just looking at him like, "What's your problem?!" Hilarious!

So to make a long story short, we had to ride a shuttle from the parking lot to the zoo...actually we CHOSE to ride it and it was a bad choice--enough said. Here we are making the best of it!!

Rich, Allisha and Skyler

Poor Ethan was so bundled that he reminded me of Ralphie's little brother in that movie, A Christmas Story...you know, his arms stuck straight out to the side and he couldn't put them down. Well, since Ethan already had a cold, we didn't want him to get sicker...needless to say, he never got cold to the touch on any part of his body. Poor kid!

Had to get a picture in front of the elephants!

Group picture!

Where this desert scene was they were offering camel rides...at the risk of sounding too crazy, I kind of felt sad for the poor camels. There they were in the FREEZING cold (keep in mind they're desert animals) in the middle of the night walking the same loop over and over again. I just kept picturing exhausted camels with colds the next day...poor camels.

Family shot!

Mt. Ranier in Christmas lights!

This is a view of the mountain and the bridges...you'll notice the white lights on one side and the red on the other--head lights and tail lights. You can't really tell here, but there are blue lights underneath for the water.
One of our favorite things is the "pink tree". We stopped to get some couple shots in front of the awesome pink lights.

Ethan didn't get a break from his exercised while we were visiting our families (much to his dismay!). But he is definitely getting better at tummy-time!

I don't know what it is, but for the last few years Louisiana has gotten snow before Washington did! This year we just got a small sampling and Ethan was sleeping. I didn't dare wake up a baby with a cold for pictures in the snow, so I was a little disappointed. Luckily for us, it snowed while we were up in Washington! More pics to come!

Ethan continues to grow and amaze us each day. He brings so much joy into our lives (and less sleep and free time, but the trade off is worth it!) Here is an update of what we have been up to in the last month.

This is one of my favorite parts of the day...I love seeing him smile first thing in the morning. Here's the normal routine:

He starts by making some noises so I know that he's ready for us to come get him...

We unwrap him and he makes a BIGGGGG stretch...
Still stretching...
Then it's all SMILES! I just love it!
We've been busy learning and growing this month. Despite his despise of tummy-time, we are finally making progress. Now he lifts his head every time we put him on his tummy instead of just lying there and putting his fist in his mouth.

We've also been working on sitting up using the Bumbo chair and anything he can be propped up against. You can tell by his face hear that he's not super impressed by this view of the world...

Ethan has gotten a lot more curious about the things around him in the last month. One day when I was folding his diapers he kept reaching for them...I figured this meant he wanted to help me do the laundry so I let him have at it!! I'll take all of the help I can get.

In the last month, Ethan has also gotten a lot better at gripping, holding and reaching for things, including his toys.

I thought these were so funny because he looked like he was actually talking on the phone...I guess he better get good at that with grandparents who live far away, not to mention good buddies! Pictures from our recent trip home are soon to come!!

One Room Down...

Well, it only took the work of half the ward and 3 months after Ethan was born, but we finally completed his room! Tristan and I had spent a long time trying to decide on furniture before the fire...which is not unusual for us! We take a long time to think through what will be the best functionality-wise and price wise and I, of course, want something cute!!! After the fire, having Ethan's room completed was my top priority. I wanted to be able to have someplace to retreat to and enjoy our first child. My friend, Becky, referred to it as wanting a "little piece of Heaven"...Well, my good friends here in Louisiana had a very special baby shower for us. As a part of the many surprises that day, they had taken up a collection from friends and family and replaced all of the furniture we had ordered, and when I say replaced, I mean they ordered it online and it was on it's way by the time I had my shower! They had also purchased my new bedding I had picked out and a lot of the other baby supplies we had already purchased. What a blessing it was! Tristan and I reflect on the experience often and I tell him that even though it was hard it didn't seem THAT hard. We know the reason for that is that our friends and family came to our aid and helped to bear our burdens...we truly know now what it means to have our load lightened. We are so grateful for the planning, sacrifice and love that went into completing this special room. I love it....it looks out to a green belt and is so peaceful! Thanks to those who helped us during our trial. This armoire was one of our shower gifts. We use it to hide our office stuff since we don't have another room to put it in now.

This is the crib that actually ended up being ordered 3 times in order to finally have it!! We really wanted it and it was a great price, so it was worth the wait! The bedding was another shower gift. I just HAD to have the mobile and the curtains, so I ordered them. It's a good thing, too, because Ethan LOVES his mobile. You put him under it and it's instant smiles!

My best friend, Kelly, came down to visit when Ethan was just about 2 months old. She really offered a lot of good advice about how to arrange the furniture and, since she's my best shopping partner, helped me find some cute finishing touches! This growth chart was one of our finds...it even has a spot to put pictures in as they grow...Love it!!

As you can see, many people know of my love for elephants and knew that Ethan would have to adopt that love. He has many elephant friends to keep him company in his crib.

The hamper and side table were also shower gifts...we are using the hamper to store stuffed animals for now since we don't want to ruin it with nasty, dirty clothes. You can kind of see all of the greenery out of his window.

The picture was a gift. The chair, oh what drama that was. We had the hardest time finding a chair that would work in the nursery for both of us. We finally decided on this on La-Z-Boy and, fortunately, had not purchased it before the fire happened. Our friends had collected money for us to buy the chair with. We LOVE it. It was worth all of the searching.

The changing table was also a gift. I found the mirror and the clock not that long ago. I had debated not getting a changing table and am so glad that I did. I use mine a TON and Ethan always seems to smile when he's on it. I found most of the green bins at the dollar store...it was like it was meant to be or something. After I picked out the new bedding all of these green organizational baskets and bins were everywhere, so I might have gone a little overboard--maybe just a little!
The dresser was also a shower gift...I know, it's overwhelming. I can't even express how shocked I was as I opened furniture piece after furniture piece...what wonderful friends we have!

Kelly and I also found this nightlight while we were out shopping together. I love it even more when it's lit, but it was too perfect to pass up!
This is the main bathroom and it also connects to Ethan's room. We had received the rug as a shower gift and I thought it would be really cute in the bathroom, so it turned into an elephant room also! You can never have too many elephants!
Once again, I would like to thank everyone who was involved in helping us pull this together! It is so nice to have one room set up the way we planned--even better than we planned. We are thankful for those who were our angels, sent on an errand from the Lord, who served us in such an unforgettable way.

Catching Up--Ethan's 2nd and 3rd Month

The last few months seem to have flown by! We had a steady stream of visitors throughout Ethan's second month, which is part of the reason why I think it seemed to go too fast. He is changing so quickly. There are times that I look at him and can actually picture what he will look like as a little boy! :( But we are really enjoying him and love him so very much. He is SO vocal now (except when I try to record it!) and is smiling all of the time. He has even started to experiment with laughing and giggling. He is also holding his head steady now and practices sitting up on our laps and on the couch. Here are a few candids taken over the last couple of months.

He seems like he's trying to hold his own bottle already and even has success if we position his hands right. Sometimes I think he does this so I won't take it out of his mouth!!

He is kicking and using his arms a lot more now...I know that rolling over isn't too far away! I can't believe how strong he is getting!

He really notices his toys and grabs for them and has even started trying to pull them into his mouth.

As you can see, he has been busy growing and developing, but we have also been having some fun as a family over the last couple of months:

Ethan got to attend his first birthday party in October. Natalie and Grace Miller turned one and our whole family got to attend their party together. He was practicing sitting up here so he could impress the girls!

We actually managed to get a picture of the whole family while at the party! It seems like more and more these days the pictures are of Ethan or of Ethan with just one of us.

Since we told Ethan all about Halloween, we HAD to take him to pick out pumpkins. We desperately tried to find an ACTUAL pumpkin patch, but we could only find places that piled pumpkins up, no pumpkin fields! So since Ethan is still little, we just went to our local produce stand.

We took our pumpkins over to Eric's house to carve them, however, I think Ethan was so worn out from picking out pumpkins that he didn't have much Halloween spirit left in him! Even though he slept we made some good memories!

Tristan was full of enough antics for the both of them!! We enjoyed our night, even though Ethan wasn't awake to party with us!

We celebrated Halloween a few days early at our church's annual Trunk-or-Treat. We were so glad that Tristan was able to stop by after work for the last few minutes of fun!

As many of you know, I was DESPERATELY trying to find an elephant costume for Ethan to wear this year, however, they only had HUGE sizes in the one that I could find. So plan B was this cute giraffe costume that Kelly and I found for Anderson while she was down here visiting. I ended up picking one up for Ethan also, so he and Anderson were actually twins (even though they live across the country from one another!). It was fun to hang out with his buddies, especially Drew. Isn't his cow costume cute? We joked that he was the Chik-Fil-A cow!
In true Ethan style, he slept through most of the excitement! It was sure fun to celebrate his first Halloween with friends...with many more fun celebrations to come!