Happy Halloween!

There has been blogging silence for a very good reason, but until I have time for that post, here's a glimpse into Halloween at the Marks Griffin household:

A Moment to Remember

This morning, I asked Ethan if he wanted to go take a walk. He grinned, ran and got the ring sling from the chair I'd put it on, and brought it to me, beaming. As I took it and prepared to put it on, he began giggling maniacally, bouncing at the knees in excitement. Once it was on, he grinned and lifted his arms up to me. And once I put him into the ring sling, he snuggled against me.

I've known all along that Ethan loves to be worn just based on how it calms him down and how he snuggles into me. But this was such a sweet affirmation and one I really needed after a bit of a rough week.

From Office to Office/Playroom to Playroom/Office

I love our house. It's open, light, and has plenty of room for a growing family. One of my favorite rooms is the loft:


When we moved in, we designated that as our office area, which was great since it meant we didn't have to give up a bedroom. After Ethan was born, it still remained largely an office, but gradually some of his things began to creep in as I sought a way to keep him entertained while I did school work. First it was just a couple of toys. Then we moved the Jumperoo in. Finally, I bought a piece of furniture with cubbies for toy storage. And up until recently, this sufficed to make for a mixed-use office/playroom.

However, I only have about a year left in school, so my need for a designated office will not be as acute. And Ethan's toy stash is growing. And I really wanted him to have a train table to play with, but we didn't really have any room for it. After some brainstorming, we came up with a redesign to convert the loft into a playroom/office, and we FINALLY finished it this weekend! So, without further ado, here are the before and after pics:

Before:


After:

The sofa bed is the cats' new favorite hangout, but once you brush the cat fur off, it makes for a nice place to sit and work or play with Ethan.

A close-up of the train table Ethan's daddy made him. He put four drawers in so we have storage for Ethan's train set, wooden blocks, and any other toys/supplies in years to come!

The original bookcases were from Target, but he made cabinet doors and put them over the lower three shelves to provide baby-safe storage for office supplies! We had one of them in the office originally, but the other was sitting empty in the guest room so we pulled it in. The structure inbetween the bookcases is our original filing cabinet/printer storage, and our black and white laser is behind the upper doors. The only thing that might still possibly be changed is the relocation of the records or a replacement of the record table.

The office portion of the playroom/office, plus the original toy storage from when it was an office/playroom

A close up of the office section. We sawed our original table (which was actually a dining room table) in half and mounted it to the wall. It fit PERFECTLY in this space! All of the cables, router, modem, etc. are secured underneath so there aren't wires hanging out.


And finally, just for fun, the playroom/office from Ethan's view:

I couldn't be more thrilled with how it turned out, and I look forward to many years spent playing and working there!

State Fair!

Today was a first for all three of us as we ventured to our first state fair. It was a lot of fun (though I'm still sad I couldn't track down the cupcakes-that-look-like-hot-dogs that were on the news all week or the apple cider slushies that I've heard so much about)! We ventured down after Ethan's morning nap, I wrapped him on my back, and away we went! We lasted about 2.5 hours before we needed to head back for Ethan's afternoon nap. Unfortunately, that was just enough time to give Ethan a touch of sunburn on his cheeks and nose, leaving me feeling like an awful mommy! So far, he doesn't seem any worse for wear, though. Anyway, on to the pictures:

Our first stop was at the petting zoo

Ethan then went on his first merry-go-round. I tried to get him excited about it...

But he remained pretty blank throughout.

Then we grabbed seats to wait for the pig races. I'd read online to get there at least 30 minutes early, so we got there 40 minutes early only to find the stands were already full! Ethan needed to eat, so I sat down on the gravel to nurse him. Apparently, the sight of an apparent single mother (Daddy was off getting lunch for us) nursing an infant on the ground elicited enough sympathy that some people made room for us to sit, so we wound up with seats after all!

Ethan got a taste of funnel cake. You can't see it as well in this picture, but he had a paste of powdered sugar on his lips!

Pot-bellied pigs!

Billy goats!

Ethan decided he was cuter than the racing animals so he insisted he be the focus of the picture instead.

After the races were over, we just walked around the midway. Maybe next year Ethan will be big enough to enjoy the Ferris Wheel!

Toddler-wearing?

As some of you may already know, it's International Babywearing Week (yay!!!) so I figured I should do an update on our babywearing practices now that Ethan is a toddler and is constantly on the move. When I think back to wearing him in those early days, I realize that so much has changed and yet not a lot has changed at all! Being worn still comforts him. He still likes cuddling into my chest. Babywearing still allows me to get things done around the house and with schoolwork. And it still puts him to sleep. I don't wear him quite as much, perhaps, but I still wear him any time we're running errands, for our daily walks around the neighborhood, and sometimes around the house if he needs to cuddle but I need to be hands-free.

I remember defending my choice to let Ethan nap in the wrap past the 2 month "recommended" cut-off by saying I would make him stop eventually. I mean, he wouldn't still be one and napping in the wrap, right? Heh. The main difference is now I don't feel the need to defend it. Ethan does take his afternoon nap in the crib for consistency since I have to leave during his nap two days a week, but he will continue to take his morning nap in the wrap until he drops it. It's our morning non-nursing cuddle time, and there's no way I'm giving it up as long as he wants it! It also forces me to be still for a while since he stirs more easily now, so it makes me take the time to relax and just enjoy him.


So what am I carrying him in nowadays? The Moby is long gone, of course. He takes his morning nap in the Amazonas woven wrap, but that's about all we use that wrap for now, unless I'm putting him on my back in a Double Hammock. The ring sling is still my go-to for quick errands and often for our walks. My (semi-)new Girasol woven wrap (aka Glace), which is featured in all these pictures, is my go-to for longer errands (like grocery shopping) and for our walks, though I've been known to use it for quick errands too since I love it oh so much! The Ergo lives in the car trunk just in case I forget to grab one of the others on my way out the door. And the mei tai is currently living in my closet since I'm just not reaching for it as much lately.

Isn't he getting heavy? Maybe, but I don't really notice it. The funny thing is that I DO notice how heavy he's gotten if I'm carrying him in my arms for any distance, but in a carrier, his weight is distributed evenly enough that it doesn't bother me at all.


Am I worried carrying him still will make him lazy or delay him developmentally? Well, he walked at 9 months, despite being carried a good portion of his life to that point. I'm not concerned. Sometimes even big kids need to ride. Would it phase you at all to see a one-year-old in a stroller? So why should it bother you to see one in a carrier?

While I know babywearing may not feature as prominently in our daily lives as the months go on, I will continue to wear Ethan as long as he wants because it's just one more way for us to bond. It makes my life easier, which makes me a happier mom, which makes him a happier toddler. And at the end of the day, that's all I can really ask for!

Thirteen Months

Dear Ethan,

I hadn't planned to continue to write you each month after you turned one, but you are still changing and growing so much that I have to record all you're doing. This month has seen several steps forward and some steps back, and I think we've almost ended up back where we started in some regards. For about a week, you were sleeping in every morning, sometimes sleeping for over 12 straight hours! Then, all of a sudden, you reverted back to waking between 6:15 and 6:30. I think it's because you're teething again (molars!), but maybe you just like to keep us guessing. In the wake of my going back to school, you began fighting your afternoon nap horribly, as mentioned in previous posts, but I think we're finally back to normal since you are only fussing a few seconds now, if that. Your appetite also seemed to pick up for a few weeks and you seemed more willing to try new things. Now, again perhaps due to the teething, you're refusing almost everything and are also rebelling against your high chair, preferring to eat while you play and roam. You definitely keep your mommy and daddy on their toes!

You are learning so quickly! You cuddle with your stuffed animals and your cats, laying your head on them while you reach your arms around to hug. You hug, cuddle, and kiss on demand. You stack the rings of your ring stacker, you put together your MegaBloks, you even are figuring out your shape sorter! You are a master manipulator, running to us and hugging our legs as you bury your face in our knees if we tell you "No." You've even mastered the fake cry, covering your eyes with your hands and making "boo hoo" noises before peering out with a huge grin. This mimicking, while adorable, could be dangerous if we don't watch what we say and do around you!

You babble and make noises almost constantly, but you still are very reserved in using your words. It's been weeks since we heard "night night," you still won't say "bye bye" for mommy and daddy, and you don't seem interested in expanding your vocabulary. But you understand so much! If I don't know where you put your sippy cup, I just have to ask you to bring mommy your milk, and you're off, searching until you find it and then running it back to me with a grin. If I don't want to go get the block you threw during clean-up time, I just ask you to bring it to me, and you do. I don't know how long this obedience thing is going to last, so I'm taking full advantage while I can!

This next month may see your first new teeth in months if any of your molars decide to break through. This weekend will also be your (and our) first trip to the State Fair. And it'll be your first Halloween that we actually dress you up and show you off. But mostly, it'll be another month where I realize just how blessed I am to have you as my son.

Love,
Mommy

Mommy Must Haves: The Later Months

It's time for the (semi-)final installment of my Mommy Must Haves, my series on my must-have baby gear for the first year. You can read the Early Months (0-4mo) here and the Middle Months (4-8mo) here. Since most of the must-have gear was purchased prior to these last months, this edition will be slightly more abstract in nature =)

Must Haves:

1) Ring Sling (specifically a Sleeping Baby Productions Slingified BBslen Wrap Ring Sling in Passionfruit)


C'mon, you had to see this one coming, right? While I still use my woven on a daily basis and the Ergo whenever I'm running to the store, the ring sling has become my go-to for short tasks (like when Ethan's refusing to be set down when I need to wash bottles), walks around the neighborhood, and even quick errands. Since he started walking at 9 months and loves to get down and run around, I needed something I could quickly pop him in and out of but that didn't leave me holding onto a bulky carrier while he played. I've already talked a lot about ring slings in my intro to babywearing, so I'll wrap this up by saying I wish I'd had this earlier, and it's my new must-have carrier for older babies/toddlers.

2) Baby Gates (specifically the KidCo Gateway and Safeway gates)


After Ethan crawled 1/4 of the way down the stairs when his daddy was supposed to be watching him (but was actually playing a game on the computer), I quickly researched baby gates and ordered these from Amazon. They were fairly easy to install (though they have both been reinstalled to fix things I didn't think of when I hastily put them up), and they do the job without being too complex to figure out. Ethan loves throwing balls through the slats of the one at the top of the stairs and hanging onto the one at the bottom of the stairs, so they double as toys (though I doubt the manufacturer would recommend this usage). With an active baby, gates are CRUCIAL!

3) Push Toys/Walkers (specifically Chicco Toys Play 'N Ride Train)


I hadn't originally planned on including toys in these lists, but, honestly, there wasn't as much new gear for these months, and Ethan LOVED his walker. Plus, I think it really helped him with his coordination for learning to walk. If you'll recall, he was pretty good at cruising around with it from the beginning, as seen here, and his first steps were taken to reach the train, as reenacted here. And it also helped him learn opposites like "open" vs. "closed" and "in" vs. "out" as seen here. Even months after he learned to walk, he still loves pushing it around, putting toys into the seat, and playing with all the buttons and levers. He hasn't quite figured out riding on it, yet, but our 3-year-old neighbor loves doing that when he visits, so I'm sure it will continue to grow with him. My only complaint is that the backrest/handle comes out extremely easily so Ethan often yanks it out and throws it, but he has trouble getting it back in by himself so then he gets frustrated.

4) Puffs (specifically HAPPYBABY Organic Puffs)


Again, we're low on gear for these months, but I don't know what we would have done without puffs. They were a great first finger food and provided reassurance that my child could indeed eat table foods, despite all the evidence otherwise. We still had a rough initial start with puffs, but he soon had it down like a pro, as you'll see here. While they aren't extremely nutritious, they got him used to chewing and are a great thing to have in the diaper bag. For a couple of months until he was able to eat off our plates, we would keep him busy with puffs if we went out to eat. Even now, I'll dole out some puffs at a restaurant while we're waiting for our food to come. Both times I've flown with him, puffs have been key to a happy baby (as seen in the photo above). And if he's in a mood where he's refusing all the food I offer, I know I can always count on him to scarf down some puffs so he's at least not quite as hungry. I know some people never even bother with them, but puffs will always have a place on our shelves when there's a baby in the house!

5) A sharp eye and a sense of humor


From years of playing with and working with babies, I've always said my favorite age is 6-9 months. And while I still have loved the months since then, I think this was foreshadowing my having a walker at 9 months and all the mischief he can get into! I seriously cannot take my eyes off him for a moment or else he's trying to climb on top of tables, finding inedibles to eat, or yanking the cat's tail. Is it any wonder the house hasn't been this dirty since he was a newborn? In all seriousness, these months are a lot of fun, but if your child is anything like mine, you'd better keep on your toes!

Such a little boy!

Ethan has turned into such a little boy lately. He puts his MegaBloks together to build towers. He stacks and knocks over his wooden blocks. He hugs his stuffed animals. And he crawls around on the floor pushing a toy car.



Nothing warms my heart like him!

Learning to use the spoon

The past few days, Ethan has finally started to rebel slightly against being spoonfed. At first I thought he just didn't want any more of whatever he was eating. Then he reached for the spoon and began feeding himself, with a little guidance from mom when eating more liquidy things like yogurt. This morning, he wanted some of my oatmeal, and it's thick enough to stick to the spoon so he ate all by himself! I managed to grab our new video camera to capture one spoonful:

Atlanta Adventures: Flying Solo Edition

So two weeks ago, Ethan and I prepared to head to Atlanta, my first time flying with Ethan by myself. It got off to a rocky start since we ended up leaving Saturday morning instead of Friday evening after my flight was delayed 4 hours, which would have gotten us in 3 hours after Ethan's bedtime. But we finally made it, and Ethan did great on the flight down, nursing and sleeping the whole time.

On Saturday, we just enjoyed spending time with Grandmama and Grandpapa:





On Sunday, a college friend, Mary Helen, came over to play with her son, Damian. You can read all about them at her blog, Pup and Tot. No, seriously, click on over there. I'll wait. Damian is quite the cutie, and Ethan enjoyed flirting with Mary Helen:






On Monday, we were supposed to get together with a friend of mine from elementary school and her daughter, but my friend woke up feeling poorly and didn't want to expose Ethan. It all worked out, though, because instead we got to have lunch with a friend from jr. high/high school and her boyfriend. She's expecting her first baby in November, so it was a lot of fun to catch up and talk babies!

That afternoon, we headed over to my cousin's house to play with her daughter, who is only 3.5 weeks younger than Ethan. She's not really mobile yet, so my cousin hasn't really babyproofed. Ethan tried to explore every inch of her house, so now my cousin knows what she has to look forward to, at least =)







On Tuesday, we headed to Newnan to have lunch with my dad's mother. Ethan was in a bit of an odd mood so he did a lot of glaring, and we didn't get very great pictures as a result. That evening, after a struggle of a nap, we had dinner with my mom's mother, who had come to town for a dr.'s appointment. It was so wonderful to see the great-grandparents, though I wish we had more time to visit and got better pictures!



On Wednesday, we had our final meals and prepared to head back home. After some anxiety due to seat-switching, everything got worked out, and Ethan spent the flight playing, nursing, and eating dinner. As we began our descent, he spied a man a few rows back who began playing peek-a-boo with him. I held him firmly in my lap as he peered over the seat and ducked back down, grinning and giggling away. Then, out of nowhere, the flight attendant sprang out of her jump seat and began yelling at me to put my seatbelt around Ethan! I explained to her that wasn't possible (no way would the belt fit around both of us), but she kept shouting at me and insisting. I told her I couldn't, and she sat back down, shaking her head at me and glaring. I tried to get Ethan to sit down in my lap, but he burst into tears and began screaming since he wanted to keep playing. After about 15 seconds of screaming, I relented, and he joyfully sprang back up to resume his game. The flight attendant continued to glare and shake her head. I tried to talk to her as we got off the plane, but she ignored me. Needless to say, this put a bit of a damper on the flight home, but I felt a bit better a few days later after sending Delta a complaint (no final word back, yet, but they did give me an extra 3500 SkyMiles as an apology).

All in all, it was a great trip, and I was sorry to return to class. However, Ethan was thrilled to get back to his daddy, as was I! Thanks again to Grandmama and Grandpapa for making our visit so wonderful!

Ethan Oliver's busy, busy house!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, thus the blogging silence. Between a trip to Atlanta with just Ethan and me (more on that in an upcoming post) and a lot going on at school, I just haven't had time to sit down and write about all we've been up to. So here's a brief catch-up.

Classes are going well. We're rapidly approaching midterm, but since I have no midterms, that doesn't mean much. However, it does mean that I don't have to go to class at all next week due to mid-semester reading week. So yay! The past couple of weeks have involved a lot of work, though. From papers to exegetical questions to a presentation, all on top of seemingly endless reading, I've been staying up late and working through naps trying to get it all done. And so far I have, though I'm ashamed to say cleaning the house sometimes gets left behind, hopefully to be made up on weekends. I've done well with cooking dinner, still, so that's something at least, and the crock pot and I have become BFFs. I know this will all be worth it when I have that degree in my hand, but it seems like such a long road to get there. And that's partially literal since the commute is probably the worst part, mainly because it feels like pointless time away from Ethan.

So how is Ethan adjusting to the change now? First of all, he LOVES his sitter. Like, to the point that he will reach for her when I'm holding him. Clara has finally gotten the diapering down for the most part, and she accepted the challenge of getting him down for his afternoon nap on Wednesdays with gusto. Speaking of the afternoon nap, things have finally gotten closer to normal. He still cries when he's put down, but it's down to just a minute or two on most days. So I think he's finally adjusting. I hope.

In more general terms, Ethan is just awesome. For the past week or so, he's been sleeping late in the mornings, once even till 8:15! I figured this would mean a decrease in naps, but he's still taking a 1.25 hour nap in the morning and takes at least a 1.5 hour nap in the afternoon, though lately it's been closer to 2.5 hours! He's also been extremely cuddly since we got back from Atlanta and gives kisses AND hugs on demand now. The kitties have been subject to this extra-cuddliness, too, and his favorite new thing to do is run up to them, wrap his arms around them, and bury his head in their fur. He also waves anytime someone says "Say bye-bye/night-night!," waves at animals he sees on our walks, and even waved at a neighbor who waved from her passing car! He has now said "bye-bye" in front of both Grandmama and Clara, but he's yet to say it within earshot of his mommy and daddy. The little mischief!

Before this turns into one of my usual novels, I'll wrap this up with promises of a picture-filled post about our Atlanta trip, plus the next installment of "Mommy Must Haves." If I can ever find the time!