Glasses for the Kid

Ethan's glasses came in yesterday, to the anxiousness and chagrin of his parents. Actually, they really aren't that bad. We tried them on him last night at the optometrists office and naturally he hated it, so we were pretty unexcited about having to repeat that process every day. But this morning, we put them on him before he even got out of his crib, and he really didn't seem to mind them! Honestly I think it's more of an adjustment for Eric and me than it is for Ethan. He only tried to take them off 3 times the whole day, and he was in a happy mood all day. When he reaches up to his face and feels something there he sometimes gets a confused look on his face, but we try to distract him before he tries to pull the glasses off. I think he realizes that he can see better with them on. Hopefully every day will be as good as this first one has!
Ethan needs glasses because he's farsighted. Babies are usually at a +2 to +3 prescription, but he's a +6 in his right eye and +6.5 in his left. The difference in vision between his two eyes was causing cross-eyedness, so thats why we took him in to the doctor in the first place. They think he'll have to wear them till he's about 10 give or take a few years, but they said kids usually grow out of it. The best news was that it has nothing to do with the brain damage or complications; it is just plain ol' inherited bad vision. I don't know if that's cause for celebration but we were happy!

Cheesy grin on a nerdy boy! Gotta love it

I tried to get him to look at me so I could take a picture, but apparently he was involved in an intense conversation with a giraffe.

He loves oranges! We got a bag of clementines and he loves playing with them. Today he ripped a tiny hole in the side and sucked out the juice. When I took it away, the half of the orange near the hole was shriveled and pulpy.

Heads Up

I'm trying a few things with the Blog to try and make it look better, but in the process I might make a few mistakes so bear with me. Prime example- this header- It looks really cute where I created it in Photoshop but it loses a lot of color and quality when I insert it here as a jpg. Any ideas or suggestions?

Its Snow Fun

Eric went fishing (In February?!-you ask. Yes, even in February.) today so I decided it was time to take Ethan sledding. It's been below zero here for the last few days but today it warmed up and was a balmy 25. Plus, we just got a little snow yesterday so I decided it would be fun. We got all bundled up and walked over to the hill that is by the mini park in our complex. Now I didn't realize that in order to walk to the start of the sledding hill, you had to walk through a pile of snow about 2 feet deep. But we were already bundled up and out there so I did it, and we got on the sled. After about 3 times down the dinky 20 foot hill with no response, not even a smile from Ethan, and having to hike back up those 20 feet in 2 feet deep snow, it didn't seem so much fun anymore. He liked the bright orange color of the sled though, so after a few minutes of playing with that and the snow, we called it a day. Maybe we'll try again next year.

All bundled, ready to go!

Sitting on the sled- it's hard to take a picture trying to hold a sled in place, hold Ethan, and get him to look at the camera :)

He liked playing on the sled better than going down the hill

Mom, can we go inside yet?

Tagged

Tag! Your IT!

I was tagged by my aunt Jenn (thanks :), and I normally don't do these things, but this one was kinda fun!!

1. Your Rock Star Name: Pepsy Kia
(first pet and current car)

2. Your Gangsta Name: Chubby Hubby Chocolate Chip
(fav. ice cream flavor, fav. cookie)

3. Your Detective Name: Red Tiger
(favorite color, fav. animal)

4. Your Soap opera Name: Leigh Anchorage
(middle name, city where you were born)

5. Your Star Wars Name: Rinje (haha)
(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)

7. Superhero Name: The Green Italian Soda
(”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)

8. NASCAR Name: Donald Shelby
(I know Grandpa’s first name is John but Shelby sounds better here!)
(the first names of your grandfathers)

9. Your Rockstar Tour Name: The Crocheting Hail Tour
(”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)

10.Witness Protection Name: Lynn Allen
(mother’s & father’s middle names )

11. TV Weather Anchor Name: Grabowski Graceland
(Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)

12. Spy Name/ Bond Girl: Autumn Lily
(your favorite season/holiday, flower)

13. Cartoon Name: Kiwi Jeansie
(favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)

14. Hippy Name: Cereal Oak
(What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)


I’m going to tag Emily, Kristen (Moss), Amy, and Mandy! Have fun!!

Ethan's Escorts

On Friday, Eric got a call from the ophthalmologist's office confirming Ethan's appointment for Monday morning. Nothing special, but I noticed he was chuckling as he got off the phone, so I asked him what he was laughing at. Apparently the message said that during Ethan's appointment his eyes would be dilated, so we needed to make sure we had someone there to drive him home afterwards. We were slightly amused :)

Big Sitter!

We're so excited, Ethan's been sitting up really well on his own! It add a whole new dimension, he now gets frustrated when he's stuck on his back. He can't pull himself up into sitting position yet, but we're working on that.

So here's Eric playing with him while he's sitting up. Ethan really liked drinking the water out of the squirt bottle when he gently squirted it into his mouth.

Ok maybe not so gentle!

So cheesy! He's gotten some really cheesy grins lately...

Also, a little bit of bad news, Ethan's left eye has been going cross-eyed lately when he tries to look at things that are far away, and my pediatrician said he thinks he might have to have surgery to correct his vision. They also might be able to correct it with glasses or an eye patch. We have an appointment with an ophthalmologist on Monday so we'll see what happens.

...and the Pictures!

Here are some pictures of Ethan at 8.5 months! His first Christmas, and it was in Alaska!!

(Great) Grandma and Grandpa Stastny got Ethan the cutest outfit with pengins! Thanks G&G!

Ethan actually got into the whole opening presents ordeal, he really likes paper

Man he got spoiled, G&G Rindlisbacher got him an amazing Fisher Price train set. Don't ask us how we got it back to Rexburg :) He loves it!

He also got a warm outfit to wear outside; it worked out really well in Alaska and now it's gotten really cold in Idaho so it's perfect. Eric's not too much a fan of the bear ears, but it's way soft and I think it's cute!

These are the only pictures I have from my camera, I used my dad's a lot and he's sending me a CD so I'll post more when I get them.

Winter Update

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It's sad I have to put all of this onto one post, I know, again I'm sorry! And another disappointment, I don't have all the pictures from Christmas and Alaska yet because most of them are on my dad’s camera. So we’ll have to do a Christmas in February post or something to make up for it. But Alaska was so much fun! It was great being able to see everyone again, and it was so nice to have a break from school. Thanks Mom and Dad (both sets J) for making it possible!

Ethan was pretty shy at first and had a hard time with the transition from being with only his parents to having many people around who wanted to hold him, but after a couple days of freaking out he calmed down and let others take him. Jayme, my little sister, was so funny with him! She constantly wanted to hold him which was fine by me, and made so many funny noises and faces that I think he forgot to cry. Opa was one of his favorites as well because he would always walk around with him and he let Ethan play in the water.

Christmas was fun, we spent Christmas Eve at my house doing the traditional fondue (love it!) and nativity reenactment. My grandma Audrey surprised us and came up, it was fun to see her again. Christmas morning we spent at the Rindlisbachers, we opened presents and ate amazing buttermilk waffles. That evening we went down to our Grandma and Grandpa Carters house for dinner with everyone. It was so much fun and we ate so much those two days!

The flight to Alaska went really well, but the flight back was interesting. We left at 1 am and Ethan was so tired he wouldn’t go to sleep. We were worried because while we were waiting to take off we just kept him entertained, but then they turned the cabin lights off and everyone wanted to sleep, so we tried to put a blanket over him to get him asleep but he wouldn’t hear of it. Eric held him for a screaming minute and tried to get him to fall asleep, but I knew he wasn’t going to go. I said a quick prayer, and as soon as I said amen he fell silent and slept for a good chunk of the first leg. I’m so grateful for a father in heaven who watches out for his children and cares about even their insignificant requests! I hope everyone had a good Christmas and happy 2008!

Well, my connection is being so slow it won’t let me add pictures, hopefully this text will get added and I’ll put pictures on when it’s working better!