Catching Up: Grandma and Grandpa Walker's Visit

Here I thought I was all good and caught up on my blogging and then I realized that I never posted from when my parents came to visit---in MARCH...oh well, at least I'm trying! Both my mom and dad came for a week and we had a great time. We made the mistake of going to do the tourist attractions in New Orleans on a Monday...apparently, everything (aquarium, IMAX, zoo, House of Blues, etc.) is closed on Mondays. We ended up walking around and enjoying the PERFECT weather for being outdoors!

Santa was here on vacation, too...o.k., I'm not trying to be mean but if this guy isn't really Santa, he should get a job being a Santa. Doesn't he just look like one of those Santa figures dressed up in Hawaiian gear? Tristan spent a lot of time trying to discreetly get a picture...
Family pic in Jackson Square

We decided to do a self-guided tour of the USS Kidd while they were here as well. Since my dad served in the Navy, I thought he might enjoy it. We all ended up really enjoying it--even more than I thought we would. We learned a lot about my dad's time in the military and got to see some interesting items in the museum and the ship.

Getting a boost from Grandpa...

Our family in front of the USS Kidd
Hangin' with Dad...

On one of their last days here we decided to take Ethan on his first trip to the zoo!

Checking out the monkeys with Grandpa!

The aquariums were, by far, his favorite part (which made me even more sad that they aquarium in New Orleans had been closed)!
He was fascinated by each new aquarium and just looked up and stared and stared!

One of many stops for a photo with the proud grandparents!

We made a quick stop by the giraffes to get a picture for his buddy Anderson in Washington.

Getting some love from the grandparents...

Of course, no visit to the zoo is complete without a stop by the elephant exhibit!
Overall, it was a wonderful and busy visit! We look forward to another one soon (especially Ethan who was obviously spoiled by the attention!!)

Here comes TROUBLE!!!

I really have to update this more frequently so my posts aren't so long!! But this little guy keeps me VERY busy! He is busy, busy, busy! He is constantly moving and doesn't want to just sit in a lap anymore! He is super curious about everything and if I walk out of a room to go to the bathroom, answer the phone or anything else, I never know what I'll find! On this occasion, I returned to find that he had pulled apart his changing table and dumped it all out on the floor. What a mess!

Sometimes when I'm in the middle of changing his clothes I'll have to run and go get something. Usually I'll return to find that he has started taking off his diaper...not good!
One morning he woke up, but he was just babbling away happily in his crib, so I stayed in bed for a little while longer. When I went to go get him, I found out he had been chewing on his crib! It's really only been since his two top teeth started coming in that he's been doing this, but he chews on all of the furniture!

We find that keeping him busy is often the best bet! I'm so glad that we have access to a pool at our apartment and ever more happy that we have a water baby on our hands!! Here we are, getting ready to go to the pool!

Not diggin' the sunglasses OR the hood!

We weren't able to get a good picture to prove it, but Ethan LOVES the water! Be it a bath or a pool he is in 7th Heaven! The first time we got in the pool he acted just like he does in the bath tub--only larger! It was so bright that he was too busy squinting to smile on this day. But he really does laugh and splash like crazy! This is actually his second trip to the pool...we went earlier that week with our friends Drew and Grayson, but this was his first time with Dad!

Ethan loves bath time. When I go in and get the water started he will crawl at full speed toward the bathroom! This has it's drawbacks also...bath time has become another time for trouble! I will walk out for just a second to grab something for bath or for after bath and I never know what I'll find. You can see in this picture that he has discovered the joys of toilet paper...Needless to say, our toilet paper rolls are out of commission for now!

Don't you just hate it when it sticks to your foot? :)
Again, while getting ready for bath...Ethan decided to get a head start on taking his diaper off!

Here he is checking out the tub to make sure we're preparing it correctly!

Those bubbles sure look interesting!
You can't do anything without him noticing these days. He wants to be in on the action all of the time. The landscapers were here mowing the lawns and he was riveted as they drove back and forth by our patio!

He has really gotten a lot better about finger foods, which means that if he finds anything on the floor he thinks it IS finger food!! I vacuum almost everyday! He's all about Cheerios right now!

It seems like everyday he learns a new "trick"! So while I was doing this (Girl's Camp--and yes, I am rockin' a side pony with my girls!)...
...Ethan was doing this! He will stand on his own for 30 seconds or so (or until he realizes he is standing on his own). Once he realizes he's not holding on to anything he either grabs something really quickly, or he slowly squats down to the ground. It's amazing how quickly things happen! I was only gone for 2 nights!!! I'm so glad Tristan thought to get pictures!

He now understands that just because he can't see it, doesn't mean that it isn't there. So we finally had to put child locks on the kitchen and bathroom cupboards. I was hoping he would just never get interested in them, but I think that was wishful thinking! We left a few of the cupboards open so he could entertain himself while we cooked. So often I find myself wondering, "Why buy toys?"

BUSTED!!!
His latest "trick" is pushing things around the house...I'm wondering if this stems from his dad pushing him around in that tupperware bin...

He really liked pushing the laundry basket around because he could stand up and push it!

I have a funny feeling that he will be walking before we know it--then he will REALLY be trouble!!

9 Months of Fun!

Ethan's 9th month was a blur of fun and energy (his, that is!)...His crawling is in full effect now, which means we are constantly on the go at all times! He wants to be wherever we are, following us around as we move from room to room. He especially likes to "help out" in kitchen when we're working on dinner, which makes me nervous. He likes to crawl up to us and then use our pants or shorts to pull himself into a standing position and hold on to us. Needless to say, he wears us out! He is still sleeping well, with a short morning nap, a longer afternoon nap and then a 7:30 bedtime. He sleeps until 7 in the morning, too, which is nice for us!! :) Hey, I'll take it while I can get it! It's hard to believe that he's already 10 months old today!!! Even Ethan can't believe it!

He still loves playing with his dad...even when he puts him in strange objects for pictures.
We moved him to his big-boy car seat (I still need to get pics of him riding in it) and the box provided days and days of entertainment..."Dad? I know you're in there...I just saw you!"

He wasn't even scared to climb into this dark thing and be shut in there!

"There's Dad!!"

Another recent development is that he has discovered that he can jump on his mattress. He stands at the rail, holds on, and bounces. I guess it's a good thing no one lives below us...this might lead to a bad habit as he gets into his real bed!
Just having a good ol' time...I did have to finally take the mobile down. He kept pulling on the elephants and I was afraid he would break it!
He is doing well with eating. He's pretty comfortable using a sippy cup now, but it's hard to get him to sit still long enough to drink. He also doesn't understand to tilt it back yet, so he has to lay down to drink. It's a work in progress...This is prune juice--yummy!

He's been trying lots of new foods! We've been working on getting him to like chunkier textures, but he has a major gag reflex. Cinnamon was a bust. He didn't like the organic apple cinnamon oatmeal jar...yet! We're going to try again another time. I think that's the first thing he didn't like. He's also eating yogurt now, which he loves.
Finger foods got off to a rough start...I tell you, this kid has a major problem with texture!

Trying to bit REALLY hard!

He is doing much better now! We recently went to Sam's and picked up some fresh blueberries and raspberries and fed those to him in small pieces and he did great! He also loves his cereal puffs and veggie puffs. He's pretty much a pro now!

We have been gearing up for hurricane season and I thought it would be a good idea to get a kid's poncho for his 72-hour kit...but it turned out to be a little (o.k., a lot) too big!

His hair is getting really long! One day he woke up from his nap like this...we didn't do anything to it, it was literally standing on end!!!

It seems like his favorite toys aren't toys at all. He loves to explore all of the things around our house and play with them...I guess it doesn't hurt that Dad teaches him how he can make these ordinary things fun! (In case you can't tell, Tristan is RUNNING from room to room while pushing him in the tupperware container...good thing I moved the coffee table out of the living room, huh?)
Loves playing with Dad

More and more I realize that this kid will make a toy out of anything! He loves to climb in, over, around and under things...It's quite a workout keeping up with him!
I'm sure glad that Tristan has the energy he does...someone's gotta' keep up with this kid!
So it's been 9 months of fun (and exhaustion) but we love it! Bring on month 10!