Busy Week

It's been an exciting week in Rexburg and it will continue to get busier as the weekend continues! Grandma and Opa Rindlisbacher came down to visit and spend time with their grandson, we got some pictures taken of Ethan to put in the birth announcement, and the occupational therapist came and worked with him for the first time. She'll come back once a week to work with him, and she sounded really positive about the improvement he has already made since birth. Hopefully this early intervention will give him a kick start on healing the damage that was done.
Ethan just continues to amaze us every day with his progress- This week we saw him smile for the first time, it was a really cute, big open mouthed smile. He is really good at tracking, and he will follow you around the room if you walk past him. We have a tall black lamp right next to the chair in our living room, and if you put him next to it he'll stare it up and down.
This weekend we will give Ethan a name and a blessing, and we're excited to see those who are going to come up for it!

He was way tired and wouldn't stay awake for many of the pictures so we took a lot of them while he was asleep.

This is Grandma Rindlisbacher's favorite one of Ethan.

The one we did get of him looking at the camera he was yawning :)

Still sleeping, but it was good because he stayed in any pose she put him in!

I know this one is sad but I think it's so cute!

This is Ethan right before the pictures-- of course he was awake and happy then :)

Grandma and Ethan

Just staring at Grandma

Funny faces; not so funny weather

Every once in a while, Eric and I will find Ethan making a funny face. Most of them are to fleeting to catch on film, but every once in a while we get lucky with our timing. Needless to say we are enjoying our time with him :) Here are a few we've gotten lately:

Hmmm....
He likes to suck on his fingers...this one would have been hilarious if his eyes were open.

Pacifier mouth- Eric had just pulled it out and his face stayed the same shape :)

Waving to the camera

On a less fun note, these pictures were taken of Rexburg this morning. We woke up this morning to snow! This is late May! Last week was really nice weather, mostly in the 80's, and today we get this. Eric was a little excited because it meant he wouldn't have as much work to do and might be able to come home early, but as he drove to Idaho Falls he realized this weather didn't continue 25 miles down the highway. We just got lucky here.
Doesn't this make you excited to come down, Mom and Dad? ;)

ha


Ethan's been home about a week and a half now, and is doing really well. He is eating a lot and filling out, he's starting to look like a chubby baby with some meat on his legs and arms and the beginning of a double chin. When we took him to the doctors the day after we brought him home, he weighed in at 7 lbs 4 ounces, which was quite a bit less than the 7 lbs 10 ounces he was born at. Friday we went to the doctor again (to have him circumcised, poor guy) and he weighed 7 lbs 14 ounces! Quite a bit of weight gain in one week, but I had just fed him about 4 ounces in a bottle on the way there, so that could have added a little extra weight. And he's healing well from the procedure on Friday.
Monday was my first day at home alone as a real mom. While my mom was here we spent a little time getting his room organized and decorated. But she left on Saturday and Eric is back at work during the days, so it's all me now! Ethan actually does really well during the days, he's on a pretty regular schedule of eating every 4 hours. After he eats he usually stays awake for about an hour either in his bouncy chair or swing, both of which he loves. Then he falls back asleep and wakes up like clockwork for his next eating time. Works out pretty well!
Nights are a little different, he doesn't like to be so good when Daddy's home. I think it's because he knows he can get away with more :)
But we love having him, he really has added an extra measure of joy to our home!

Baby Ethan is home!

Little Ethan was released from the hospital on Thursday and we are so glad to have him home! The ride home was a little stressful, but he did really well and slept most of the way up. I think he likes being home rather than being woken up every few hours to be poked and prodded at, and we are loving having him here. He's a normal little baby, just eats and sleeps and cries occasionally, especially when we change his diaper. He really hates the cold wipes, so we're thinking of investing in one of those wiper steamers that gets them warm before you use them :) Think he's going to be a little bit spoiled?!
My mom extended her ticket to stay another week, and we are very glad to have her.
So after a little bit of a rocky start, we are home and continuing on with life, with an additional bundle of joy! He is so amazingly cute and such a blessing to us, we can't imagine life without Ethan in it! Thank you, so much, to everyone for all your prayers and concern on his behalf and ours, we have sincerely felt and appreciated them all. We love you all and will try to keep this filled with more pictures and posts!