What does a Dog say?

This photo cracked me up!

6 Weeks!

Ethan is now 6 weeks old! That means it's report card time, right??

So how has Ethan been doing? Well, if I was Ethan's teacher these are the marks I'd give him:

Eating- E for Excellent. He eats plenty!
Sleeping- N for Needs Improvement. More on this later.
Pooping- E for Excellent. Self explanatory.
Smiling- S for Satisfactory. We just don't see smiles as often as we'd like!
Traveling- S for Satisfactory. He does pretty well given his age!
Watching stuff- E for Excellent. His fish mobile and light bulbs capture most of his attention.
Cuteness- E for Excellent. Socks that look like animal feet go a long way in this category.

Overall score? His Daddy says he gets an 89 but that if he starts sleeping better he could be bumped up to an A-. ;-)

Ethan's days and nights aren't mixed up as bad as before, but he's still a night owl. Only now that he's alert more during the day he no longer goes down for naps in his bouncer. Sometimes he'll take an hour nap in his swing, but I can never count on it. Most time he sits in the swing for 10- 15 minutes and watches his mobile while I get dressed and try to quickly grab something to eat. Pretty much they only way I can get him to nap is by putting him in his sling, or sometimes I just hold him if he falls asleep after his bottle. I'd love for him to start napping in his bed, but that is something that we are working on. As for the night times, he wakes up several times between his feedings. If I keep a hand on him he'll sleep but he wakes up a few minutes after I remove my hand. We usually can't get him down for the night until between 1:30-2:30 AM. If I fall asleep with my hand on him though and I don't remove it he'll typically go a 2 hour stretch at one point during the night.

Here are some pictures from Tuesday (the day Ethan turned 6 weeks!):

That boy loves his flying fish!

















Now bath time is a breeze!















All done!

















Ethan all clean and ready for bed! (Is he sleepy? No)
























Dinosaur feet!














What are you doing, Dad?

















This is not a sleepy boy!

Rock your baby!

(Garrett either has too much time or mixed up priorities) ;-)

Fuss bucket

Okay, so when I posted a week and half ago I said that Ethan was a little bit fussy and I thought he was probably going through a growth spurt. Well, I weighed him two days ago on the Wii fit balance board and he now weighs 11 lbs! Holy cow! No wonder the boy has been fussy. Thats a lot of growing to do! The Wii fit is pretty accurate with weight measurements too, so its probably right. Two and a half weeks ago it said he weighed 8.8 lbs.

Well, I packed away his newborn clothes yesterday. They looked so tiny! Its hard to believe that they used to be big on him. Some of his size 0-3 clothes are baggy on him and some fit well. We also took the newborn insert out of his car seat. I can't believe how much he has grown in the five and a half weeks that we have had him. I'd be fussy too if my bones were growing that fast.

So, what has been going on with fuss bucket other than growing?

Well, we had to switch him to fast flow bottle nipples because he would get frustrated with the slow flow nipples and cry instead of eat. Unfortunately the Playtex Ventaire bottles that we are using (and love!) don't have medium flow nipples. Just slow and fast. At first he would kind of let the formula run a bit down his chin but now he has gotten good at using them. Unfortunately he has also learned to down a bottle in 5 minutes flat. Not good. Then he doesn't register that he's full for another 15 minutes. I started burping him at every ounce which helps slow him down but then he started getting frustrated because I'd take the bottle away to burp him and he'd cry the entire time. My latest trick is giving him an ounce, then giving him the pacifier while I burp him (yes, this actually does work!) and after he burps I give him another ounce, etc. This has slowed down his bottle to 15 minutes and has kept him from crying so much. He also spits up less.

Ethan has started to fake cry as soon as I put him down. He also has decided that he no longer likes tummy time and he'll start his fake cry. After it turns into a real cry I'll pick him up, but I'm trying to get him interested in tummy time. Otherwise we're going to have to start calling him Flat Head Moring!

Well, life in the Moring household isn't ALL fussiness. Ethan HAS decided that he likes baths now! Well, maybe like is a bit strong, but he does tolerate them. The only thing that he has decided he loves is his new sling. That and the fish mobile that hangs on the baby swing. He will swing for a little bit too but the swing and bouncer no longer hold the same magic for him. Currently the only tried and true method for stopping his crying is for me to don the sling and walk around with him. After a while I can sit down with the sling on and he'll sleep. Wish he would sleep in his bed, but at least he's not crying!

This is just a phase, it too shall pass. It's just a phase....just a phase....

I now know why God designed babies to have two parents. :-)

So a week and a half ago when Ethan started his fussy phase Garrett was singing a little song to him. "Go to sleep, little creep, Daddy's tired and wants to sleep..." I said, "Don't call my sweet little baby a creep". Well, last night I found myself humming the song. LOL! I hope he forgives us for this little song one day! At least he didn't know what we were saying.

And yes son, I DO love you! Especially when you give me one of your rare smiles. And when you sleep, you look like an absolute angel. Yes, God definitely knew what he was doing when he designed babies. I can be tired and frustrated but as soon as I see that smile the last few hours just melt away.

Well, here are a few pictures of Ethan from the last week!

















Okay son! You know what time it is? Its Tummy Time! Now where did we leave off...oh yeah! Circle circle, square square square. You can tell by his furrowed brow that he's not too sure he likes this activity.

















Ethan watching the fish on his mobile. He has really taken an interest in them lately and has even cooed at them a few times.

Snow!

Last week we got snow here in Dallas! Here are a few snow pictures taken in the morning and afternoon. We didn't have time while it was light outside to take pictures outside together but anyways, this documents Ethan's first snow, right? He didn't go outside in it, but I guess it still counts. I showed it to him from the window. :-)





































































And in case you were wondering, our cats LOVED watching the snow fall! It kept them glued to the window for hours. :-)

Oh and by the way, Ethan has now lived in Dallas longer than he has in College Station. Wow...