Back to life...back to reality....

This week started the beginning of work and the beginning of day care. I have been dreading this day for a long time! I was afraid that I would boo hoo and need Kleenex's all day long! BUT, it went a lot better than I thought. I only cried once yesterday and once today. It was really hard to leave the house knowing that I was going to be without little man all day. Ethan's teacher was really nice and understanding and explained stuff to me in new mom terms. She was great! When I was saying goodbye to him both days is when I had to fight back tears. You just got to suck it up and leave. Today, I got back in my car and cried a bit. It was therapeutic. But, as soon as I got to work, I didn't stop. I have had to work late both days and it has been super exhausting. His teacher says that he is doing really well! He always has HAPPY circled on his daily activity sheet. Of course he is happy! He's a happy baby! He has even slept through both nights! Well, with the help of some ocean waves CD and a rainstorm CD. Those are great and I highly recommend those for new moms! We'll see if he sleeps through the night again. Anyway, other than that, things are going good!

Here are some extra pics!

Sleepy Head!

Big Ron comes to visit

Three generations of Wade Boys

Graduation Weekend

The day has finally come and gone. Nick is officially an college graduate, diploma and all!

The weekend was a great success! We had family and friends up to visit and celebrate Nick graduating from college. We took tons of pictures! I'll post a few on here, email me if you want them all. I doubt some of you want to see all 77 of them..hehe. Anyway, Nick had a great weekend of festivities! We went to the ceremony, which was pretty nice! The rain held off and then back to the house for BBQ and family time. Had a good time! Glad everyone was able to make it!

Yea, I know this isn't Nick, but some random old guy. His story is pretty incredible! He was a 1943 graduate of Athens State University. At his time of graduating he was unable to receive his diploma. He was sent to serve his country prior to being able to attend the ceremonies. So, this graduation, he was able to finally walk across the stage and receive his diploma. It was very cool to see him do this. I have no idea who this incredible man is, but it was pretty cool! It gave me chills!

Waiting anxiously....

So, all week I have been waiting anxiously for today. You might ask yourself 'WHY? That means you go back to work on Monday!' Yea, I know, totally bogus, but its because we go to the doctor to get our immunizations and for a weight check. Well, this morning Nick and I got up, got ourselves and Ethan ready and were out the door suprisingly on time. Ethan and I make it to our doctors appt and the first thing they do is measure and weigh him. I want you to take a wild guess at how much this child weighs!!!!! Nope, guess higher! I thought he was pushing thriteen pounds...boy was I wrong! This child weighs 16 pounds!!! Can you believe it?! What a chunker! He measured 25 1/2 inches long. This child is on the road to be linebacker (for AU of course)! I talked it over with the MD and she gave me so much information!

• His wieght is in the 99% for his age (ya, don't say?!)


• His height is in the 98% for his age


• His cute round head is not as big as we thought! Its in the 89% for his age

He is right on track and perfect for his age! She even mentioned starting him on some juice and cereal. Normally the books suggest not to start until 6 months, she doesn't start talking about until 4 months but she said for his age, if he doesn't seem satisfied to try a bit of cereal. Juice is of course for the gas/constipation in him. But that is a whole nother story (yea, I said nother).

Anyway, all in all, a good visit to the doctor. We will go back at 4 months.

The Road is Getting Shorter...

First, here are the cute pics I promised in a previous blog...

He's such a chunky little thing!!!

Well, not too much longer until I return to work. I am trying to get Ethan prepared. The formula is going well. I wish I was still nursing at times, but there are other times that I am thankful that we have made the switch. Now, other people get to help out with the feedings. Ronnie and my mom have been able to feed him and it was a big help! I think they enjoyed it too!

I start work on Monday. I told the girls I share an office with to go ahead and get the tissue ready. Dropping Ethan off at school is going to be super hard. We went by there on Tuesday to drop off his consents and information packet. Everyone there was really looking forward to Ethan starting. They showed me his room and crib and I was able to meet the director and some of the teachers. Ethan has a cute name card above his crib. One of the teachers walked out of the room and said "This must be Ethan (they were expecting him this week)...ooohhh he's a fat baby!" My baby isn't fat, he's just healthy. Theres nothing wrong with a chubby baby. Anyway, they answered all my questions and then I had to rush out of there. I was starting to cry. Its going to be hard on monday.

We go on Friday to get his shots and for a check up. Everyone is anxious to see how much he has grown. I think he is pushing about 13 pounds and is around 24 inches or so. We'll see. He is already in the 3 month old clothes and pushing the 6 month old clothes. I think we have a few weeks before the next growth spurt though.

For those who don't know, Nick graduates from college on Saturday. We are so excited! He is excited. He keeps telling me we have to hang up his gown so it isn't wrinkled walking across the stage. Its hanging now. The fam is coming up and we are all going to celebrate his day. Its going to be a big day on Saturday!

Here are some update pics. They are from our trip to AU recently

Just Bite the Bullet

Well Ethan sure is growing! I have discovered, after bouncing back and forth, now is the time. I am just going to have to bite the bullet and start Big E on formula. My original plan was to nurse him until I went back to work and then wean him down to the bottle and formula. SInce I got back to work in a couple of weeks, I have thought about starting, but totally didn't want to. He has been pretty fussy the past week or two and after talking it over with some of the moms I know, I have found that I cannot keep up with his eating habits. In other words, he eats like a pig...hence Big E. I went up to the hospital the other day to show him off and also talked with a few people up there about switching to formula. They were very encouraging and explained what they thought was the best way to try to wean from nursing. I procrastinated as long as I could and then on Saturday, Ethan was fussy again after a LONG feeding. I decided to try some formula. He sucked down 6oz. then (mind you that was about an hour after me nursing him) and then about an hour later he sucked another 4oz. down. That was over 10oz. in a 2-3 hour period! I felt so guilty that I wasn't feeding the poor kid enough and he was starving!

SO, long story short, starting him on formula from the breast isn't going to be difficult for him. I'm the one that is going to have a problem.

OH, Nick took super cute pics yesterday. Once he loads them on the computer, I'll post them.

My Baby is growin up...

It's official! We have moved on up in this world. Ethan is official in 3+ month clothes and a size 2 diaper. They grow up so fast! :)


OH, the book I was referring to in the previous blog is called 'The Happiest Baby on the Block". Very nice book. Very informative and gives tons of helpful hints!

Nick and I went to Books a Million yesterday. I wanted to buy some books to read to Ethan. I've discovered he likes that in the mornings! So, I go to the children's book aisle and pick up a couple of books. One is about Noah's Ark and the other one is about Joseph and his brothers. Lets just say the first thing I am going to do today is take them back! I have learned my lesson! I failed to read the books before I bought them thinking how can you mess up these stories. So, I get home, start to feed Ethan, and planned on reading the books to him then. Let me read to you the first paragraph from "Noah's Ark": 'A long long time ago God became very angry. He saw that people on Earth had become selfish and wicked. So, God decided on a terrible punishment. He would flood the whole world and drown everyone in it." Later on in the book it states 'Everyone that lived on the Earth was swept away and drowned' then on the last page it says 'Noah and his family and all the animals went back to their normal lives and had babies.' WHAT?!?! Are you serious? What kind of children's book is this. One that is going to be returned to the bookstore that is for sure! I even think Nick considered writing the publisher about it. What a terrible children's book!

Does it count......I think so!

I forgot to mention this in the last post.

So, yesterday was a tough day with Ethan. The morning started out well until I noticed that he was a little more fussy than usual and ate about every two hours. Not only was I running out of milk, I also was getting worried. He would eat a bit, sleep for about an hour, poop (of course), and cry a cry we didn't recognize and it was super difficult to sooth him. It seemed as if the only way to sooth him was to rock him to sleep. So, I was talking to Nick about it, and thanks to my book, we think Ethan is going through another growth spurt. "What!" you ask...yep, we think is growing like a weed. My book also told me to continue swaddling him and play a CD of 'white noise'. I had no idea what white noise was either. It's soothing noises like a rainstorm, waves, night crickets, etc. So, last night when Nick got home I ran to Wal-Mart to buy a CD for Ethan to sleep to. Poor Nick was at home with Ethan and called me when I was on my way back. Ethan was having a fit and Nick had done everything he knew of to try to calm him down. Once again, an hour after his last feeding, the only thing to calm him down was to feed him. Anyway, later that night after another fit or two, we did our bedtime routine at about 11:30 and I was finally able put Ethan down for the night and pushed play on the CD player. The sound of calming waves began to play. (we could hear them through the monitor...they put us to sleep too ;) ) The next thing I knew it was about 4:25am and Ethan was trying to wake up. He grunted around and then cried for his next meal about 4:40 or so. So, the point of the blog, does sleeping from 11:30 until 4:25 count as sleeping through the night? Yep, in my book it does!!!!!

So, I know its been a while since the last post so this one might be a bit long. Where do I start? Lets see....we've had a busy week/weekend. Last week E-man and I traveled to AU to visit with my parents and to meet his great grandmother. Everything went well! Ethan traveled good. Slept the whole way down there with a few grunts and it wasn't until we drove into the driveway until he started to screech. I was really nervous about traveling through the ham afraid that I would get caught in traffic and wouldn't be able to feed him or something like that and he would just scream and scream and scream...but thank the good Lord...he didn't and we didn't. Now I have a good idea of what to do when we travel. The next trip will be to Jasper sometime soon.

After the week in AU, we came back home and were able to spend the weekend with the other side of the family. Nick's family came up on Saturday and Sunday and everyone got to play with him and see how big he has gotten. It was a very nice visit! Aunt Co Co's parents came to huntsvegas to meet everyone. They are super nice people! Next time they see Ethan, he'll be about 6 months old probably. They won't be able to recognize him!

Lets see, what else...Nick has started to paint the kitchen again. For those of you who don't know, the red color was getting old and we were going to have to paint it anyway when we get ready to sell, so Nick started now since he is done with school. OH YEA, Nick is finished with college! He finished classes last Wednesday and A'ced his math final! Yippie! He is now an official college grad! Yea!!! We're going to celebrate on the 23rd after the ceremony if anyone wants to come!

Well, Ethan is just a smiling and growing! We are about to move into a size 2 diaper and are already in 3-6month old clothes. We don't go to the doc for another few weeks, so I am anxious to see how big he really is! I'll keep you posted!