A mostly Ethan update

Now that we're back into our groove I don't have an excuse not to update the world, who I know is waiting in raptures, on our little but interesting lives. Derek is back in school. That means he is almost never home, but my mental mantra to deal with this is "last semester, last semester, last semester." He'll have to update you on the details.

I am finding my way. I have lost twenty pounds so far on my weight loss journey. Only forty to go! That sounds sarcastic but I really am excited. I attribute any future weight loss to Billy Blanks and Derek's iron fist. He's supposed to help me keep away from the junk food. I'm also finding ways to incorporate more into my day. I'm reading a little more, learning how to draw, and I've finally tried to focus on the most important things rather than try and fit everything in. I'm much less stressed this way. Instead of seeing the day as an impossible and endless to-do list that regenerates over night, I'm learning to enjoy my life. Yay!

And now, the real reason your still reading, the Ethan update. Ethan is about 8 1/2 months old now. He's as adorable and sweet as ever. He's still teething but no little bits of white are popping out yet. He eats a ton, averaging two 4 oz. jars of baby food or an 8oz. bottle each sitting, but seems to have his daddy's metabolism. Thank goodness for that! He's cranky the rest of the day, or night, if I stop feeding him too soon. The major development is that he's very mobile now. I spend most of my time carrying him away from the array of 'don't touchs' and trying to interest him in his toys instead. Unfortunately, power chords, trash bags, and our blinds are far more interesting. I think I play with his toys more than he does. By the way, he does not like learning what 'no' means. He makes this high pitched, closed mouth whine that gets to me. Ahhhhh!

He crawls, but in the most difficult way possible. The basic motion is the same his knees just don't touch the ground. I think he's trying to walk but hasn't quite made it yet. He's learning a ton of new things, but unfortunately, this also includes slipping, falling and banging his head into things. Derek and I always fear he'll have brain damage because of us.

He does love chasing the cat. Polly uses these times to prove how evil she really is. This is usually what happens: Polly comes into the living room and sits down. Ethan sees her, gets excited, and crawls to her at relative light-speed. Polly waits, looking at him with haughty disdain, until he can just touch her and then walks across the room. This can go on for a while, until Polly gets bored and leaves the room. Ethan gets so frustrated sometimes he ends up crying. Eventually I'll pin her down and try and teach Ethan to pet her softly. Her punishment is that he doesn't understand how to pet softly yet, so he ends up grabbing handfuls of fur and pulling. That's me, the peacemaker.

Sometimes I try to put a movie on to entertain him, and get a break for myself, but the only way he pays attention to it is if there's music constantly. There's only so many times I can watch "Fantasia." If you want a gift idea, Disney movies, or good musicals are always good.

I would add pictures to this post but we're not good at remembering to take them. I did try taking some today but Ethan wouldn't sit still, so you just end up seeing a white, red and gray series of streaks with a homey background. I do have a little video. Thank you Ashely for the camera chords!



I'm a little rusty with the writing, and my memory ( I just know that once I post this I'll think of a million other more important things to tell y'all), so hopefully our next post will be both informative and entertaining instead of me taking up space and writing anything that popped into my metaphorically fuzzy head.

Oh yea, its snowing today...again.

THE END