6 Months

Our little man is six months now, its hard to believe that he has been in our lives for that long!  Today we went to see Dr. Campbell for his six month check up.  It was so cute to see him sitting up on the huge table all by himself.  He is a healthy boy, he is 26 inches and some change and a whopping 17lbs 14oz.  Dr. Campbell said "ok lets go over the milestones he is suppose to hit this month."  As she started reciting the list we would say "oh yah he already does that." Turns out our boy is a genius, way ahead of the game (well thats what we like to think can you blame us?).  The appointment wasn't all flowers and song birds, poor little guy had to get four shots.  The saddest sight is seeing that little face go from smiling to confused to pain ridden.  On the brighter side we were given the green light to go ahead and feed him solids.  This is a day I have been looking forward to for awhile.  Lately if Ethan is in your lap while you are trying to eat anything he is reaching for it and trying to grab it from you.  Plus the fact that my mom got us the awesome baby food maker that is an all in one deal.  Matt and I decided that if we were going to make his baby food we wanted to use organic veggies and where else to go but Wegmans (for those of you who don't know about Wegmans all I can say is it is the best grocery store I have ever had the pleasure of stepping foot in).  This afternoon we made a trip there and later made our first batch of baby food.

Ethan sitting waiting for Dr. Campbell 

Sweet potatoes were our first stab at it.  It turned out to be incredibly easy to do.  I was so jacked about giving him food, picturing him going crazy and shoving it in his mouth.  Well lets just say that is not how it went at all.  He looked at me like "mom what the heck are you trying to do here."  If you have ever been around Ethan when he doesn't want to do something he makes a noise like he is growling.  Soon him and I had a growling match going, and when he would open his mouth to growl I would shove the sweet potatoes into his mouth.  I tried everything, making the spoon swirl and swoop with sound effects, showing him by taking a spoon and eating it myself, putting it on my finger and letting him lick it off, nothing really won him over.  Matt sat by with the camera snapping away and laughing at all of my antics trying to get him to eat.  He loved every minute of it because if you know Matt you know he is a devote sweet potato hater.  I honestly believe he was proud of Ethan tonight because of his dislike for sweet potatoes, oh but don't worry we will have round two!

Ethan investigating what we were feeding him

I don't think so

Not a fan

Since Ethan was six months we wanted to have some photos taken.  But we went to Sears for his one month photos and had a horrible experience, and his three month photos a friend took but we never saw them after they were taken.  So we got to thinking that we had a professional camera and a tripod thanks to my brother Shane what else did we really need?  A white sheet and some of Ethan's toys completed the list of things we needed to do this photo shoot ourselves.  It was a lot of fun, Matt and I got to be really creative and control the whole thing.  Whinny baby... oh lets just put him down for a nap, something you couldn't do if you went to a portrait studio.  If you ask Ethan or Tucker I think they would have told you something a little bit different by the end of the shoot.  Lets just say Tucker went out in the backyard for a good half hour and laid on the deck to "decompress."  We were just having too much fun capturing our two favorite boys.  Both of us are really proud of them and think that we did better than Sears could have done, and the icing on the cake was it didn't cost us a dime.  In case you are wondering how we got such an adorable bear costume my brother Matt and his girlfriend Chandra got him that from the Anne Geddes store in Disneyland.  And no we didn't plan the identical match of its color to tuckers fur.
                                               Here are a few:

Our boys

Matt's Favorite

I love this one

California Here We Come

Ethan and I made a VERY last minute trip to California.  Matt was traveling the snow had made us have cabin fever and my mom had offered to fly us out if we wanted. Since it was so last minute we decided to surprise everyone!  My favorite surprises was with my grandparents (I did this to both)  I left Ethan in his car seat on the front door step, rang the doorbell and then hid around the corner.  It was funny to see their reactions to finding a baby on their front doorstep!   I am so glad we decided to make the trip because it was absolutely beautiful there, eighty degrees in February only in California!  Not only was the weather great but we got to spend some quality time with the family.  While we were there it was my cousin Mj's 25th birthday so we got to celebrate and see everyone on my dad's side at his party.

(Ethan & Uncle Mj)
They spent some quality time together

While we were there Ethan decided that he no longer wanted to lay down on a blanket  he wanted to sit up and play with toys.  It seemed like over night he figured out how to sit up and that was it all he wants to do now is sit up and play with toys.  My Aunt Kathy and Grandma Nancy got him the coolest

little fisher price dump truck and tractor which have become his new favorite toys to play with.  

Big boy sitting up

My girlfriend Tiffani in which I have known for years now had a little boy Clark exactly two weeks after Ethan was born.  We went to lunch with Clark and his Auntie Kristin since his mommy had to work.  Me and Kristin had a great time with the babies, they sat on the blanket and had a whole pile of toys to play with.  Of course they both wanted the same toy and so when Ethan wouldn't share Clark looked up at us and let out a cry like "why won't he give that to me" of course Ethan was oblivious to the whole thing.  I mean he is only six months (almost) give him a break, he just got his dexterity to even hold toys!

Ethan and Clark playing together

Another great thing about our trip was spending some time with my Aunt Kathy.  She was diagnosed a little after the first of the year with cancer.  She has been so strong through the whole thing, taking the bulls by the horn and being so positive.  Ethan and I had the pleasure of spending the Friday before we left with her in Santa Rosa.  It was great to be in my old stomping grounds and spending time with her.   There is nothing like a baby to take your mind off things and have some laughs.  I played ball with her doggies while her and Ethan laid on the chase lounges in the sun.  Maddie her yellow lab is obsessed with playing ball and every time she would bring it back she would drop the ball between Ethan's legs and of course this would send him into a fit of laughter.  We had a great time, but are so happy to be home with Matt and Tuck.  We even brought some of that great weather back it was 70 here yesterday.

Here are a few other highlights

Ethan's first super bowl.. he was upset the Steelers made a touch down  he was rooting for Uncle Joel's Packers

Sunny day/first grass experience he loved pulling it

My cousin Christina took this while we were there had to share because she is so talented