9 Month Dr Appt

Ethan has been fussy lately and guess what?  Its NOT teething....he had an ear infection!  OOPS!  Well I feel like crap! We went today for his 9 month appt and it went well, other than the whole ear infection thing.  The doc said he is perfect height and weight (27 inches and 18 pounds) and right about where he is supposed to be developmentally.  He's not crawling or even scooting yet but the doctor didn't seem to care.  He also said that it is perfectly normal for babies not to have any teeth at 9 months.  So leave me alone haha!  He's not crawling, pulling himself up, or teething but he is perfect and he will do those things when he is ready.  Our doctor also set up an appointment with an ENT (ear, nose and throat specialist) so we can see maybe why Ethan got croup so badly.  He mentioned that Ethan might have a narrow airway to begin with.  He also commented on how happy Ethan is and how well he sits up and moves around to grab EVERYTHING. 

Can't wait for company to come!  Details later, I have to go right now!

March 2011 Pics

 Sleepy Head!

 My Dad had someone make this awesome quilt for Ethan and we just started using it as a playmat for him.  I love the way it looks!  It is based on the book "Brown Bear" which is illustrated by Eric Carl.  Too bad Zoey thinks it is for her.......

 Parker in the crib with Ethan! 

 Ethan has figured out how to get the dogs to come to him.  He takes his rice puffs and holds his hand down over the edge of his high chair!  Smart baby.....fat dogs!

 Ethan is thrilled to have company.  What do you think Parker is thinking?

 Yup.  That's our boy!

 Ethan pants like the dogs.  Caught him in action!



Ethan's Bedtime

Ok, so Jeremy and I have analyzed what works best for Ethan when it comes to sleep.  He likes to be swaddled, rocked and sang to.  He needs his pacifier and his fan blowing for air circulation and white noise.  He also has to take his baby Zantac before bed to prevent his reflux from bothering him.  His mattress is on an incline in order to help with the reflux.  He has been stuffed up lately so we have been using baby Vicks.  The Vicks also helps with his cough that he still has leftover from the Croup.  Oh, and the doctor said we needed to run a humidifier at night to help with his cough.  He is showing signs of teething (drooling, rubbing his mouth, bump on the gums) so a dose of tylenol before bed seems to ease the pain.  He needs to be thoroughly burped before I put him in his crib because sometimes he will wake up, simply needing a pat or two on the back.  After all this, there is about a 10% chance he will sleep through the night, a 40% chance that he will wake up once and need his pacifier, and 50% chance that he will wake up frequently and Jeremy and I will rack our brains trying to figure out what we did wrong. 

Seriously..........

Ethan vs. Tissues (Long)

Ethan vs. Tissues (Short)

Technology

Ok, I consider myself a smart person but not today!  I have had such a tough time with anything math or technology oriented.  I'm about to throw my phone and computer through the window and then take a hammer to them both!  I was TRYING to make it so I could take a picture on my phone and then post it directly to the blog but instead, I wasted about an hour of my vacation messing around with the system and then I ended up messing up my phone messages too!  Ahhhhhhh!  Tomorrow I have to go to the Sprint store just to get my phone back to what it was.  So, hours later, I still can't post pictures to the blog from my phone......wish I had never even tried!  I hate it when things don't go what they are supposed to do!  One time I bought  a 3-pack of headbands that PROMISED that they were no slip and would stay in your hair.  I thought, "wow great!  I always have that problem when I'm working out!  I'm so glad someone made no slip headbands!"  When I tried them out, those stupid cheap headbands slipped off my hair so frickin fast it was like they were made of pure silk.  I threw a temper tantrum, swore a lot, and said I was going to return them on the grounds of false advertising.  I never returned them for some reason or another but that's not the point.  I hate false advertising. 

If things worked the way they were supposed to, you would be looking at pictures from Ethan's hospital stay and his first swinging experience at the playground today (he had a blast by the way!).  Instead, you just wasted minutes out of your day to read my rant.  I'll post something better next time!

Mobile post

March 2011

Here are some pictures from our overnight trip to Nashville, Ethan's new duck tub, and some other randoms pictures from this month. He is so cute!

No don't eat that!

Bathtime is very serious

I'm so tired but I still love my baths!

Never too old to fall asleep on Mommy!

He moves so fast!

We went out to eat as a family and Ethan was mad because Jeremy had fish and chips, I had a blue cheese and sundried tomato pizza, and Ethan had mashed green beans. Yum!

He loves his new car seat and I love that Jeremy did his research and picked out the best one!

Ethan is so sweet and offered to pay for the meal but we told him that he should save his money for college.
Naked time!

Yay for my great camera work! Ethan is ready to go out to eat in Nashville! Check out the new shoes.

Find the baby

Hotel lobby

Down time

Nashville Skyline

Probably the best picture ever taken!

Hospital Visit

Ok, here is the whole scoop. Tuesday, I picked up Ethan from daycare and he had a fever of 101.8. I thought, "Great! He's getting a cold! Poor baby just got over the flu." The rest of the evening went as planned and he went to sleep around 8pm. Around midnight, he woke up and was breathing really heavily so I stayed up with him, hoping that if I held him upright then he would breathe easier. His breathing got worse as the hours progressed and his chest started to retract. Jeremy and I both decided it was time to go to the hospital.

We went to the ER at LeBonheur Children's Hospital and found out that he was the 8th baby they had seen with this 'croupy' like breathing (come to find out that he was the winner had the worst case out of the bunch). I actually asked the triage nurse if we would be out in time for me to go to work at 7:15. She looked at me and said, "no way".

Anyways, when the doctor finally got to us, he looked at Ethan and said, "oh yea, we need to keep you." While we were watiting for a room, Ethan had another episode of stridor so they did what they call a soft tissue neck and found out that his throat was swollen and the doctor said that Ethan had to go to the ICU. He was offically diagnosed with croup/stridor.

We ended up staying in the ICU for about a day and a half and then as he got better we moved to another room that was less intensive care and more observation.

Long story short, Ethan is more than ok. It is like nothing even happened. I am so glad that he won't remember it and I wish that Jeremy and I could forget it too.

This Summer

Hello Friends and Family,

Jeremy and I have come to a harsh reality and that is that we probably can't afford to come to Maine this summer. We were hoping to be home for Ethan's first birthday (June 28th) but with the way gas prices are rising, we are looking at $800 just in plane tickets. Also, we would have to board the dogs and pay for a rental vehicle for the week. Yikes!
We are bummed but we really need to use that money for a moving fund or keep it in our savings. (savings.......haha.......)

Anyways, just wanted to let people know ahead of time that our plans to come up this summer aren't looking too good BUT there is always this blog and skype! Kinda the same, right?

Love everyone,

Jeremy, Emily, and Ethan.

Just a couple of new pics!