Caleb's first 18 months in pictures

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I can see it

When I look at pictures like these, I can definitely see some similarities.

 Caleb

Ethan

Caleb

Ethan

With their eyes closed I think they look ALOT alike.  But they do have different eyes.  I think Caleb has mine and Ethan has his daddy's.  But they are for sure brothers.

Ahhh ..... sleep

Sleep, which wasn't around much a week ago, has finally made it into our home.

Ethan wasn't sleeping very well at night, which of course means that I wasn't sleeping very well either.  He did fine during the day, but even then, he needed to be held in order to fall asleep, and with a toddler running wild through the house I couldn't be holding him all day.

The problem began because we had Ethan sleeping in our room.  And our room happens to be right next to Caleb's room.  And Caleb happens to be a very light sleeper (he gets that from me).  So as soon as Ethan started fussing, I'd grab him up to keep him quiet, because the last thing I wanted was a wide-awake 1 year old at 3am.  That started the habit.  He wanted to be held every time he went to sleep.

Well, this had to be nipped in the bud because after a month of getting very little sleep every night, it was beginning to wear on me.  So I started putting him down for naps in his own room and decided not to pick him up, even if he cried.  And after a few minutes of crying, and a few paci inserts by me, he was off to dreamland.

After an entire day of naps in his room, going to sleep by himself, I decided he needed to sleep in his own room at night too.  So last night he spent the first night in his own room.   I fed him at 8pm and then it was bedtime, so I put him in his room and after crying for a few minutes he went to sleep.  I fed him again at 11pm and put him down.  (he pretty much stayed asleep during this feeding).  He slept until about 3:30am and then woke up hungry, so I fed him and back in his bed he went.  He then slept until 6:30am, which gave me time to feed him before Caleb woke up at 7am.

That's the most sleep I've gotten in awhile.  It was lovely.

I'm hoping that he'll stretch the time between his 11pm feeding and his 3:30ish feeding, and then we'll be well on our way to sleeping straight through the night.  Just the thought of it makes me smile.  I like sleep, what can I say?

So, sleep has finally found it's way here.  Let's hope this becomes the new normal.

Little Peanut

Ethan had his 1 month doctor's appointment this morning and he is still a little peanut.

He weighs 7lbs. 4oz. And is 20 1/4 inches long.

Everything else went great and he's right on track in his growth.

It's crazy to me that at 1 month old Ethan is smaller than Caleb was at birth.

Here's what Ethan's up to at 1 month old.

* He still sleeps a lot, and has gotten better about sleeping at night in the last few days.

* He likes to be moving, and prefers to be held or in his swing when he sleeps, but we're working on sleeping in his own bed.

* He eats every 3 hours.

* He likes being on his tummy.

* He doesn't love being swaddled.

* He likes his paci but is ok without it.

* He is still in newborn clothes and diapers.

* His hair cant make up its mind about which direction to go so it just kind of spikes up in the middle.
* He has gorgeous blue eyes.

* People say he looks like me.

* He is a very content baby and doesn't cry much unless he's hungry, tired or wants to be held.

* He has a great big brother who only occasionally gets mad at Mama for holding him instead of playing.

I said it when Caleb was younger and I'll say it again. This past month has flown by, but we've had a blast and are loving this little guy more and more every day.

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Ethan at 4 weeks old

It seems crazy to me that Ethan is already 4 weeks old, it seems like just yesterday we were leaving the hospital with him, but it has been a wonderful 4 weeks.  I'll write another post on Thursday when he's actually 1 month old and talk about what he's been up to, but for now, here are some pictures of my sweet boy at 4 weeks old.

My big boy

Caleb got this great tricycle from his grandparents for Christmas, and it was finally warm enough yesterday to take it for a spin. Although it has made numerous laps around the house since Christmas. He loved it, and I'm really looking forward to some warmer weather so we can use it more often.

It doesn't look exactly like a tricycle because it has different stages. His feet don't quite reach the pedals yet, but that's ok because it has a handle so it can be pushed and steered like a stroller. Love it!!

And just so you know.. new pictures of Ethan are coming tomorrow.

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Caleb's first hunt

You might be wondering if you read the title of this post correctly, surely our 18 month old baby didn't go hunting.  Well, you read it right, and yes, he did.

Charles has been wanting to take Caleb with him to the land he hunts in Arkansas for several weeks.  It's great for kids ... no standing in water, no boat rides to get there, just a flooded field full of ducks.  But it's been too cold and I was a little uncomfortable with the idea.  But this morning, my desire for sleep outweighed my concerns about sending Caleb along, so off they went.

They didn't go until about 9:30, but they saw ducks, which Caleb loved.  And although I wasn't there to witness it firsthand, he seemed to have a great time, and Charles loved having one of his boys out there with him.

For your viewing pleasure

It's been a few days and I said I'd do better with posting on here so ... without further ado, here are a few pictures.

Sorry for the poor quality, they're all from my phone.

Look at all those faces :)

Brothers

My sweet boys. 

And a few of Ethan with his bear.  It's as big as he is!

Snow Day!

Today was a snow day for us here in Memphis.  It doesn't happen often, and this is actually the first time we've had enough snow to play in since Caleb was born.  It may have happened last winter, I don't remember, but he would have only been 6 months old, so I'm sure he wouldn't have enjoyed it.

Unfortunately Charles still had to head into the office this morning so it was just me and my boys today.  I wasn't sure how Caleb would like the snow, but I wanted to find out, which was rather difficult with Ethan.  But we got him down for a nap and headed outside to play, with baby monitor in tow.

He loved it!!  He had a hard time keeping his balance all bundled up and in his boots, and once he would fall he couldn't really get up on his own. ( reminded me of the younger brother in "A Christmas Story" when he falls in the snow and is laying there yelling, "I can't get up! Ralphie!! I can't get up!")

He particularly liked making snowballs (or having me make them) and eating them.  We only stayed out for a little bit because it was freezing and I didn't want to leave Ethan in the house alone for too long.  But Charles just got home from work, and took him out to play again before it gets dark, so he's definitely getting plenty of time in the snow.

As I'm finishing this up Charles and Caleb came to the door, FREEZING, but Caleb did NOT want to come inside, so I gave him 2 more minutes and now I'm going to go run a warm bath to thaw him out once he gets inside.  

Hope everyone enjoyed their snow day!!

Picture Time

There's not actually any pictures in this post, sorry to disappoint.

I've noticed over that last week or so that I haven't been taking nearly enough pictures of Ethan.
I took tons of pictures of Caleb in the first few months of his life, but its a little more difficult with a toddler running around.

But I know I'm going to regret it if I don't change that. So I'm going to try my best to take pictures at least once a week.

So there you have it, one of my New Years resolutions. Hold me to it!

Schedule at 2 weeks old

This may be incredibly boring to some of you, or most likely, all of you, but it's helpful to me so I'm writing it.  It's nice to be able to look back at my earlier posts and see what Caleb's schedule was like at different ages, what he was doing, how he was sleeping, so I'm going to keep up with it for Ethan too.

We're just getting some sort of schedule established around here, but this is what it looks like so far.

He eats, I change his diaper, "play" with him for a few minutes, and he goes down for a nap.  I usually have to wake him up for his next feeding, and right now he's eating every 3 hours.

Playing isn't really playing at this age, its looking at him, letting Caleb look at him, "hold" him, putting him in the swing or bouncy seat for a few minutes, and that's about it.

After his feeding around 8pm he goes down for the night and I keep the exact same routine, but leave out the "playing".  Instead he eats, I change his diaper (sometimes I change him before he eats) and he goes right back to sleep.  He's eating once, sometimes twice during the night right now.  So he eats at 8pm, again at 11pm, and then at some point around 3 or 4am, and then in the morning.

He's been taking naps in his Moses basket in the den up until today.  We got a baby monitor for his bedroom, so today he's been taking his naps in the pack-n-play in his room.  I want him to get used to sleeping in the pack-n-play because that's where he'll be until Caleb gets a big boy bed.

At night, I still have him in our bedroom in the Moses basket.  Some people have a hard time sleeping with a baby in their room, but I don't.  I sleep fine, and it's easier for me since I'm having to get up in the middle of the night to feed him, but hopefully in a few months we can drop that feeding and he'll sleep in his own room at night too.

So that's how things are for now, boring post, I know, sorry.  Maybe something exciting will happen for me to post about later, I doubt it, but maybe.

Who does he look like?

I'm having a hard time deciding who Ethan looks like.  Sometimes I think he looks like Caleb, sometimes I see Charles.  Charles thinks he looks like me, but it's hard to tell.

When I compare his pictures to Caleb's newborn pictures I definitely see similarities, but still, something is different.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

                                                 Caleb                                            Ethan

Do you think they look alike?

Rub a dub dub ...

Ethan had his first bath the other night, at 2 weeks old.  It took awhile to get around to it, we're busy around here, besides it's not like he's running around getting dirty or anything.  So anyways, at 2 weeks old, he had his first bath.  And his reaction was much like Caleb's reaction to his first bath.

He didn't like it.

Here's the photo evidence.

But at least he's clean.  Maybe next time will be better.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone has a great day today to start off the new year.

Ours has been very lazy so far. Charles got up and went hunting so it was just me and the boys this morning, and now they are both down for naps, still in their jammies I might add.

We're still working on establishing some sort of routine for Ethan, so its a very nice treat when their naps overlap.

Ethan has just now started being awake more often. Being 3 weeks early and having jaundice made him a very sleepy boy for the last 2 weeks, and while he still sleeps A LOT I've just, in the last few days, noticed that he's awake more. Unfortunately he is the most awake after his late night feeding at 11pm, and I still have a very hard time keeping him awake at all during the day.

Hopefully that will work itself out soon.

I'll try to post some more pictures of this cute little guy in the next few days.

2010 was a great year for us! Watching Caleb go from a baby to a little boy and then getting to meet Ethan, although we weren't expecting him until 2011. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in this next year!