Ethan at 7+ months

WOW! I can't believe he's 7 months old!! It's scary how fast this time has flown! Here's a little update of things our little guy is doing these days.
Ethan is trying to get around and is using any means possible. He's not crawling, but I don't know how I'd describe how he gets around. He's very close to crawling though...his little chubby legs are starting to creep up under his belly so it's only a matter of time. In this picture you'll see a little McQueen car in his hand. I think this has to be his single most favorite toy. We keep a little pile of "Ethan toys" next to Madeline's kitchen set so that when he's sitting there, he has something to play with. But lately he has been noticing the collection of cars...the red one is his favorite. I try to hide it from him, but he always sees it and wants it! Notice the little bump on his eye? That's a result of getting the car in his hands. He still looks happy though, doesn't he? :)
I've been placing Ethan in the front of grocery carts now. He does very well there and Madeline just walks along my side while we shop. When Doug, the kids, and I went to Lowes this weekend, Madeline saw the "car carts" so of course, we had to use one. I wasn't sure if Ethan would support himself enough in there. I thought he would keep falling forward and bumping his head, but he did awesome! And they both loved each other's company while shopping! Ethan kept trying to eat Madeline, and Madeline found it hilarious.

Today we went to the bookstore, or as Madeline calls it, the "Thomas Bookstore." They have a Thomas the Tank Engine train set there, so she's always more than happy to take a trip to the bookstore. (This is great for rainy days!) I sat Ethan down on the floor next to the train table and he immediately tried to pull himself up so he could see what Madeline was doing. He wasn't strong enough to pull himself up, but once I helped him he was able to hold himself up pretty well. He was so happy doing this!

Easter Egg Hunt 2009

We were supposed to go on an Easter Egg hunt about a week or two before Easter, but it got rained out and was rescheduled for the Wednesday after Easter. It was a beautiful day, so we were excited to have something so fun planned for the day. Madeline, Ethan and I went.

Here is Madeline with her friend, Owen shortly after we arrived. Owen and Madeline are starting to become good buddies. They love to hold hands!
A little bit later they were running (while holding hands) and Madeline tripped over a rock, fell and started crying. I tried to console her, but all she wanted was to hold Owen's hand...so he took her hand and off they went again.

Yes, the tail stayed on the whole time we were there. The ears and hat eventually came off, but the tail was on ALL day.

This is on the hay ride to go listen to a story and find eggs. She's sitting with her buddies, Liam and Owen.

Madeline loved listening to the story. When the lady was done, Madeline asked her if she could hold the book. She sat on the log and read it for a moment before I convinced her to go join the other kids looking for eggs!

I was blown away when I asked Madeline if she wanted to sit on the ground and hold Ethan for a picture and she said "yes." In fact, I was so blown away that I couldn't get a good shot! I was too busy taking in the moment to concentrate on a good picture...lol

Here's Madeline with one of her best buds, Mariah.

Easter 2009

I know I'm a little late, but I'm just now getting around to posting about our Easter this year. Doug's parents and sister had been visiting for the previous several days and were to be leaving after Easter Mass.
The morning started off with seeing what the Easter Bunny had left. Madeline was very excited about this, but was patient enough to let me get her in her dress that Marmie sent first. The two of them looked so cute! Ethan was wearing and outfit that his Mom-Mom brought.
Ethan loved his new toy. Madeline saw this when I was at Walmart one day and she was completely in love with it. It was at the end of the isle where the baby food was and she just parked herself on the ground in front of it and played with it the entire time I stocked up on Ethan food. It's really not a very exciting toy when it's still in the box, but I figured if it could entertain her for as long as it did, it would probably be great for Ethan! So I told her we would get it for him for Easter. She thought that was a great idea! (even though she didn't really understand what I was telling her).

The Easter Bunny brought Madeline and Aunt Mary recorders. Actually, the Easter Bunny had sent me a special note that said Madeline could have hers early because she's been such a great big sister, so Madeline had had some practice for a few days before Mary received hers. they played a few songs together before Mary had to head back to MD.

Madeline made sure everyone got plenty of hugs and kisses! I was surprised at how well she handled them leaving. She never got upset. I thought that maybe she just thought they were going to the store and she'd get upset later, but it never happens. I guess she knows she'll see them again soon enough. She did, however, look for Aunt Mary each morning for the next few days.

I asked Madeline if I could take a picture of her in her Easter dress. She's not crazy about getting her picture taken (probably because I overwhelm her with it!), but she said, "with Penny?" I agreed, and this is the best I got.

After Mom-Mom, Poppy, and Aunt Mary left, we opened the boxes from my mom and dad (Marmie and Pop). Madeline LOVED the bunny ears and tail she got!! She wore them the rest of the day!

She even wanted to keep the tail on when we went to the park.

Lamby doesn't normally go to the park with us, but since it was Easter we thought the whole family should go.

Everyone was tuckered out after a long morning and quick trip to the park.

Visit from Family

Doug's parents came to visit from Maryland on Wednesday. For those of you who don't know, Doug and I grew up in MD and moved to GA a little over a year ago. Anyway, Doug's mom, dad and sister, Mary drove here and got in late Wednesday. The kids were already asleep and we couldn't wait until Madeline got to see them in the morning. Of course, Madeline and Ethan were awake before anyone, so we patiently waited for the crew to begin to wake. She was beyond excited to see Mom-Mom, Poppy, and Aunt Mary when they finally started stirring. Actually, we couldn't wait for Aunt Mary to wake up, so we sent in Madeline (and Penny) to give her a nice wake-up call :).
We really enjoyed their visit. It was well-needed and so relaxing. We had beautiful weather for the most part. The storms seemed to hold out for the evenings, so we were able to get out and about and show them Evans and Augusta.

On Thursday we took them to the Riverwalk in Augusta.
Ethan was very good the whole time. He did need a little break for a fill-up, but other than that he was awake the entire time and very happy. He loves to have new and different things to look at. We had him in a stroller some of the time, but he wanted to be held too because he could get a better view of everything.

While I was feeding Ethan, Madeline had some quality time with Aunt Mary. Aunt Mary picked a few beautiful flowers for Madeline's hair. Although she loved the flowers and kept them in her hair quite a bit, I didn't seem to catch any pictures showing her decorated hair.

I had a good time having Mary around. It was so nice having another female adult to chat with on a regular basis.

This is the waterfall that we passed walking up to the Riverwalk. Madeline loves water and always wants to touch it. Here, Mom-Mom is helping her reach.

Madeline loved having so many hands to choose from when we would go for walks. I haven't had my hands free this much in a looooong time.

On Friday we took the family to see the Savannah Lock and Dam. Another beautiful day to enhance the beauty we saw.

I LOVE this picture!! I have a bunch more of him sitting up on this wall looking at the Savannah Rapids and he is as happy as can be in every picture. I'm holding him and Doug took the picture. He had me move my hands down so you couldn't see that someone was holding him, but don't worry, he was safe :)Here's Doug and Ethan looking at the Savannah River and Historic Augusta Canal. You have to be careful around the canal because they have alligators that show up. They even have a sign that informs you how to safely observe alligators. We have yet to see one and I hope it stays that way!

We saw a few turtles at the Riverwalk, but we saw a ton at the Savannah Rapids. Every time we saw one, Madeline would say, "hold one?!" Maybe she needs a pet turtle?? Maybe we should start with a goldfish.Thanks Mary for the photos you took! You rock!

This waterfall was small but beautiful. The kids were mesmerized by it.

Madeline wanted to get closer but I told her it was too dangerous.

Then I turned to see Doug walking/climbing down to show Ethan. At first I was very nervous, but I'm glad we got closer. It wasn't as scary as I thought it'd be and again, the kids loved it!

Thanks again for the pics Mary. I think Doug was the only one who knew you were taking a pic!

Again, Madeline LOVES water. She would have sat here all day and just looked at the water. She liked putting her hand in and watching/feeling the water run through her fingers. She did this for a looooong time.

Then she wanted to put her hair in the water! Shortly after that we left :)

On Saturday morning, Liz and I took Madeline and Ethan to Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. They started the morning by telling the kids the story of Jesus' resurrection. Surprisingly, Madeline was a very good listener and seemed to enjoy listening to the story. Then we went into another room to dye eggs (pics didn't turn out). Then we went outside for a little bit to play while they set up a craft inside.

Madeline and Ethan love the swing. Madeline has just recently began to like it. When she was "younger" she was never fond of it. Ethan loves it and would probably sit in the swing all day if I let him!

Having fun with the parachute. You can't see it in the pic, but they through Easter eggs on top of the parachute to bounce in the air.After playing outside for a bit, we went inside to do a craft. Mom-mom helped Madeline decorate an egg. She was supposed to paint some glue on the egg and then stick tissue paper on it, but all she wanted to do was paint with the glue. The girl just LOVES to paint!While we were "painting," eggs were being hidden outside. Madeline was so excited to see so many Easter eggs! I thought she would run all over the place but she just started with the first egg she saw and picked up every one in her path. Some kids ran to look for ones that were hidden better, some kids shook the eggs to make sure it had something in it, and some kids only picked up their favorite colors. Madeline had no preference. She just wanted to pick up eggs! I don't even think she realized goodies were inside until we went inside and Mom-mom helped her empty out her eggs.While we were having Easter fun, Doug took his father to show him Fort Gordon and a few other things. Mary stayed back and worked on some papers she had to do for school. When we all got back home we spent quite a while playing outback: bubbles, drawing, kickball, football, Frisbee, etc.

We had such a wonderful visit with the Harkins and can't wait to have more visitors!

Good Eats

I was holding Ethan at the dinner table today and he reached over and grabbed Madeline's spoon that she had been using to eat her applesauce. He put it right into his mouth and enjoyed sucking the leftover applesauce from the spoon. I've given him spoons before, but this time he seemed to have real good hand-eye coordination so I decided to go ahead and strip him down and let him have at his own bowl of food. I let him keep Madeline's spoon and gave him another one to use because it had a softer end to it and I thought it'd be easier on his gums. My plan was to sneak the other one away, but he did so good with two spoons that I just let him use both...plus it kept his hands from going into the food too much. For those of you who are wondering, he is eating a vegetable and chicken combo. mmm mmm mmm

We went straight to the bathtub of course! Only one thing could have made him happier than making and being in that mess....a bath. Ethan has always enjoyed bathtime, but these days he LOVES a bath. Tonight he cried hysterically when I finally took him out. This isn't the greatest shot of him, but "something" kept showing up in all the other pics, so I just put this one on here :)
I took a video to really who how happy he was during this event.

Musical Moments

Madeline has been fascinated with the flute recently. She would go around the house pretending to play her imaginary flute....sometimes using another object, sometimes just using the air. While we at Target the other day they had recorders for 2 bucks, so I couldn't resist. We picked one up for her and one up for Aunt Mary. Madeline picked out the colors. I told her she had to wait til Easter to play it because that's when Aunt Mary would get hers. But of course, we weren't home very long before Madeline was going around the house pretending to play her flute again, so I caved (this tends to happen a lot). I gave her her recorder and she was in heaven! When Daddy got home from work she wanted to play a song with him...

Ethan's New Sunglasses

We finally got Ethan his own pair of sunglasses. Whenever we're outside or going for a walk he always gets blinded by then sun and I have to resort to using pink sunglasses on him...poor child! Well, now he has his own BLUE sunglasses. They even have cute little baseballs on either side. He was so funny when I put them on for the first time. He got such a kick out of it!

Yesterday, we went to the mall to get the kids' pictures taken with the Easter Bunny. Afterwards, we went to the food court and had Chick-Fil-A. On the way back through Sears to go to the car, I noticed they had one of "those" signs up that said get a free 8x10 at the Portrait Studio...so I figured why not. I took them by there and there was no wait, so they had their photo shoot. They both did great. The girl who took the pictures was awesome. She was so patient and good with Madeline and she had a real good eye for a good pic. I had only intended on getting one free picture, but (of course!) I loved the one of the two of them together so I had to order some copies of that one. I can never get a good picture of the two of them together...usually because Madeline isn't interested in posing with her brother. I also loved the picture of Ethan and decided to order that one too. When Madeline was little I got pictures taken of her all the time, so I figured I should go ahead and order one of Ethan. And I can't order one of Ethan without getting one of just Madeline. So my free print ended up costing me a little more than free.

moral: nothing in life is free (for megan)

This is a picture of Ethan while I was waiting to look at the pictures. He was soooo good the whole time.