What's New?!!

Well, now that my little guy is gettin older, he's learning more and more everyday. He loves grabbing everything and anything you put in front of him. But typical of a child, he prefers to grab things he shouldn't. :) He does very well on his tummy now and has figured out how to roll from his back to his tummy and back again if he wants to. But he seems to prefer playing on his tummy now.

He's figuring out how to scoot around, so I'm pretty sure he'll be crawling sometime in the next month. He's just so strong! I can hardly believe how well he keeps his head up and can push his upper body up for so long. He's also been pushing his rear in the air and sometimes gets on his knees, so it's really only a matter of time before he figures out how to get his front and behind up at the same time. It's very exciting, yet a little scary to think of him getting around on his own. My parents have been watching him get stronger and stronger and we're realizing there will be a lot to "baby-proof" once he's getting around. I'm sure we'll figure it out.

Would love to say that we've had a break-through with sleeping, but it's pretty much the same old, same old. This past month has been tough with all the night waking. He slept better during the night when he was 2 and 3 months old. So I'm not really sure what to do about that. And he wakes after 30-45 minutes during his naps (though there have been a few times he hasn't - there's hope!) and he usually goes back to sleep once I've given him back his pacifier or pat him on his back.

He's 5 months old, so I have to keep in mind that this should get better with time. I'm just hoping the night sleep will improve sometime in the next month or two. I'm so bad at letting him "cry it out" and I really don't want to have to do that if he's still waking as much as he is now. But I also know it's going to have to come to that if things don't improve. I just can't keep getting up 4 or more times during the night. It's wearing me out. And Ethan really needs to learn to sleep better too. So all in due time, I'm hoping.

Other than what he's been learning and how he's growing, he's just an overall happy baby. I tell him everyday that he's the cutest thing in the world. I think he already knows it. He loves to giggle and it just melts my heart when he looks at me with those beautiful blue eyes and gives me one of his precious smiles. I love my little Ethan Ryder. He's a good boy and I'm loving every minute I get to spend with him.

5 months old!

I can hardly believe Ethan's 5 months already. Yet it seems like I can't remember life without him too. I'm pretty sure my computer is going to shut off soon, so I want to add some new pics before that happens. I'll try to update more later.

First Tooth!

Ethan's on my lap right now, so I'll make this quick:)
I noticed last week, Sunday night, that Ethan was beginning to cut a tooth! Oh my goodness! I could hardly believe it:) And that would definitely explain the recent troubles with sleeping especially during the night. But he seems to be over the worst part now and it'll be fun to see the other teeth come in.

And of course he is reaching out for everything now, so I have to be more careful with what I put in front of him. We've also been doing cereal for this past week or so and he's getting much better at eating it. So lots happening - he's really such a joy. More and more fun everyday. I'll get back on soon to add some new pics.

Such a cutie!

I just thought I'd let you all know what a cutie my little guy is. He makes me giggle just about everyday now. I love watching him try to grab things and try to stick just about everything in his mouth now. And he's been grabbing his feet lately too - it's so fun.

I tried feeding him cereal the other day and he seems to like it. Definitely still getting used to swallowing it, but he'll get the hang of it eventually. And it seems we went from struggling with naps to struggling with sleeping during the night. I may have said something about it in my last blog, but for about a month now, I've been going to bed just PRAYING that Ethan would sleep better. I'm not sure what caused it, but he tends to wake at least a few times during the night. So I guess it's just another hurdle to get over.

He had to get his shots yesterday and definitely wasn't thrilled about it, but he's been doing very well today. In fact, I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but he took 3 GREAT naps today and didn't even wake in the middle like he usually does. I'm thinking it must have something to do with the shots and giving him tylenol yesterday?? I don't know? But if he sleeps better tonight, I'll be THRILLED!!! And if he doesn't, I'm already used to getting hardly any sleep, so I'll be fine.

Nothing else to report really. Though we did make it to homecoming last weekend and he got to meet my friend (Laura's) baby, Luke. And he saw my other friend (Katie's) baby, Lydia, for the second time. It was so fun to see the three of them together. Lydia was born May 12, Ethan May 29, and Luke June 4. So it was a fun visit! I'll have to get some pictures on once I can get my computer to work again.