3 Months Old Already!

I just can't believe my little guy is already 3 months old! (and yet it seems like the longest 3 months of my life sometimes!)
We've been through a lot so far, but I'm feeling like things are starting to come together much better. Naps are still (and will probably always be) an issue. But the important thing is that we may have our good days and our bad days, but overall, Ethan is a happy boy.

He turned 3 months on August 29th and I feel like we've kind of turned a corner since then. I've heard that babies usually take a turn for the better once 3 months rolls around and I have to say I'd agree. He still has some gassy issues, but nothing aweful like before (unless I have Oberweis icecream!:0) oops...
And even if he has a hard time taking a nap, we seem to make up for it later on. I felt like it was some kind of miracle on the day he turned 3 months - his naps were great and he even went from 10:30pm to 6am without eating! He woke at 2:30am, but I got him to go back to sleep and he didn't wake until 6am! Of course, that's the last time that happened, but I was still very excited about it.

And after this "miracle" day, I went and messed up his schedule alltogether and now we're kind of getting back on track. But the reason for messing up his schedule was worth it to me. My sister Jessie and her husband David flew in from Seattle on Thursday night and we had such a great week together. Saturday we went for a hike/walk at the Dunes and then we went for a boat ride out on Lake Michigan! Ethan did such a good job and didn't fuss at all until the very end of the boat ride. (He was wiped out at the end of that day - no surprise). Then Sunday I brought him to church where he barely got a nap and that evening Bethany and I sang in Leslie Rietveld's wedding, so I had to drag Ethan to the wedding and the dinner reception. He was SO TIRED by the end of that day I thought I'd damaged my child.

And of course sleeping at night still wasn't great, but I think that's because his naps were so terrible. You'd think if he got little sleep during the day, he'd sleep better at night, but that's not really how it works unfortunately. But then yesterday he took AMAZING naps - didn't even wake in the middle like he usually does. But then he was awake from 2:30-4am and it was hard to get him back to sleep. And of course today he was right back to his usual 30-45 minute waking during naps. So anyway, I'm not sure we'll ever have an entire week of good naps, but I'm just thankful to get some good days in here and there.

It was so fun to have Jessie and David in town. They left early this afternoon and I'm sad they're gone:( But they'll be back early next year and I hope to bring Ethan out to visit them in Seattle sometime in the next year. They both loved spending time with Ethan and he really loved getting to know them too:)

So back to the same old, same old. But it was fun while it lasted - and I'm hoping to bring Ethan to get some pictures taken soon. Gotta get those 3 month pics before too long.

And thanks for your prayers - God has been so good to help me have patience and really enjoy all of the precious moments I have with my son. He makes me smile everyday. I can't believe how much he's growing and cooing and trying to communicate already. He's such a joy and I wouldn't trade him for the WORLD!