A note from Ethan

As everyone should now be aware my mommy has been putting together a team for the March for babies walk on April 25. This is a really important event. Each year millions of babies are born with complications, prematurely, or still born. The March of Dimes does research to find out why this happens so that they can try to prevent it from happening. I was born 10 weeks early at 30 weeks gestation. I weighed 3lbs 9oz at birth. Fortunately I didn't have any major medical problems due to my prematurity. I spent 52 days in the NICU when I came home I weighed 6lbs 11oz. Now I am almost 21 months old, I weigh 25lbs, & am a happy healthy little boy. I want to encourage everyone to make a donation to our team. Our goal is to raise $100 for the March of Dimes. The money will go towards research & to help families who can't afford the medical bills. Please help my mommy raise money by making a donation. You can make a donation via the link in the side bar of the blog.

Thank You,

Ethan

Busy busy busy there's so much to do

Ethan has just been a busy boy lately. Thurs he & I were out running a few errands. While we were in one store picking up a few things this little girl came up to us & was reaching for Ethan's hand. I was holding him so that he didn't grab things off the shelves. She looked like she was about his age. I looked around but there was no one else around other than the store clerk. So I got down to her level & took her hand to keep her near me hoping her mom would come looking for her. A few secs later she did. The little girl was so infatuated with Ethan we let them visit a few more mins. I asked how old she was her mom (grandma?) said she was 18 mos. When I walked away tellling her bye she did not want to go with the lady quietly. As I was paying I saw Ethan looking at something with this coy smile on his face. The little girl had come back & was standing in the aisle waving at him. Then later we went to BW's for dinner. Ethan was interested in the claw games. So Matt decided to be a cool dad & win something for his boy. He made 2 attempts came up with squat. The a guy from a table next to us walks up & wins on the 1st attempt. Soon after another table next to us won 2 bouncing balls & then the other table won 2 balls so Matt decides he can win a ball for Ethan. Nope. I was going to try when a little girl about 3 came up with her mom & asked Ethan if he would like to have one of hers she only wanted 1. Ethan smiles coyly & flashes his baby blues then nicely took the ball from her. After he finished eating we let him out of his high chair & he went right over to the little girl who gave him the ball wanting to play with her. It was really cute.

On Sunday Ethan went to Aunt Robin's to play with Kaitlin & Colin. After a while Matt noticed a stain on Ethan's upper lip. Robin remembered there was chocolate cake on the counter but didn't think Ethan had gotten into it. Sure enough he had. There were little finger marks in the frosting. So Aunt Robin was cool & gave him a little piece of cake. Ethan of course had a blast playing with his cousins. They wore him out that's for sure he slept good Sun night.

Ethan has been doing much better with sleeping in his big boy bed. The 1st 3 nights were horrible. He wouldn't stay in bed, constant screaming, waking up every few hours. We were all very tired. By night 4 he was sleeping till 4 then by night 6 he was sleeping to 6:30. By night 7 he was sleeping to 8. Monday night (night 11) he had a set back & kept waking up every hour & didn't want to go back down. Last night he was up at 2 again at 3 but he eventually went back down and was up around 9. Hopefully tonight he will be back to sleeping all night. He's 50/50 yet with naps. Sometimes I can get him down by just singing a few songs other times he won't calm down. On the times that he won't calm down he gets a few warnings & then I just have to leave him & let him calm himself down. I like having him in a big boy bed. Now he can just get up when he's ready & not have to wait for us to hear him & then come get him. Now he just comes & gets us.

Ethan is getting to be a big boy. He's growing up right in front of our eyes. It's so cool to watch him grow & learn new things.

Ethan's a big boy now

Ethan is growing up right before our eyes. Thursday night we moved him from his crib to a twin bed. He did great the 1st night since then however he has refused to go down w/o a fight. Friday night it took over an hour for him to go down, same for last night. We have tried a no cry method but even though he doesn't cry he also refuses to relax & settle down. Instead he wants to bounce on the bed, turn the light on & off, ect. So in the end we have resorted to just letting him scream himself to sleep. Each night his screaming has become shorter & shorter. So it's been 3 nights of getting no sleep for all 3 of us. Ethan is so tired he can barely keep his eyes open yet he fights sleep when he's laid down in his bed. Oh how we hope he will get used to his bed soon. I don't know how many more nights Ethan will be able to go w/o getting a full nights sleep.

In other news on the Ethan front Ethan is now a forward facing toddler. We turned his car seat in Matt's car yesterday. I'll turn it in my car when I have to go out next. So many new things happening to him this week. He's getting to be such a big boy.

I took him out to play in the snow after we had that big storm come through. He loved trying to walk through the deep snow but he hated when he would fall in it b/c he couldn't get up. I took some cute pictures of him in the snow as soon as I get them loaded onto the computer I will have them posted.