Second Month

Well, time has flown by since the last time I posted. Ethan is now two months old and had his checkup and first round of shots. At two months he was 12 lbs 7 oz. Here are some photo highlights from the last month:

Ethan is sleeping here in his pack and play. When he is sound asleep he often can be found with his hands above his head like this...so cute!

A common scene...Ethan and the cat both wanting to cuddle with me. :)

Isn't he cute in his little reindeer outfit?

Ethan is becoming more alert and focusing on us more. He also likes his pacifier, which in pictures always looks almost as big as his face!

TJ holding Ethan on the left and Caleb (who is two weeks younger than Ethan) on the right.

Spring comes quickly to the northwest. At the beginning of February our bulbs began to sprout up. This bulb sprouting up is a new tulip we planted last fall! My heart is always happy to see this new life arrive at the end of our rainy winters.

I was at a birthday party and he fell asleep...cute little outfit!

TJ got a carseat base in his truck, but it has to be in the front seat, so we get to hold Ethan's hands while we go down the road...it's a treat!

He's smiling more and making faces.

We attended our friend's Brian & JoeAnn's wedding! It was very nice and fun to hang out with lots of friends.

Family photo at 2 months at the wedding.

My aunt came to visit! We had a nice time showing her around the area and introducing her to our little fellow. Also note in the picture...our cat, Sarah, who pretty much hisses and growls at any new person for the first two weeks made friends with my aunt in one day!

I have been attending a mom's group through our church. These are three of the babies in attendance...David, Ethan, Caleb (L-R).

I returned to work this past week. It is painful and torturous to have to leave Ethan, but for a while it is necessary. Fortunately I have amazing friends who are watching Ethan for a few hours while I am there. We will trade childcare with each other and hopefully it will work out to continue this as the months progress.

It is a beautiful day here in Oregon and I'm going to sign off and go plant some Valentine's flowers with my hubby and son.

First Month

Well, we have now officially made it through our first month as parents. Ethan is 4 weeks old now and doing well. TJ is back to work 6 to 7 days a week and I'm adjusting to life here at home- trying to find the balance of taking care of Ethan and getting chores done and food made. It's a whole new world and finding what our new normal is will take a while I think. I am off work through the end of January for sure. I hope to be off through the middle of February but we'll see. Here are some highlights of the last month:

Ethan has a had a lot of firsts: first car ride, first doctor's visit, first bath, and really anything else that he does is a first!

He also had his first Christmas!

My mom was able to come visit us when Ethan was born. It was great having her here to help in those first sleepy ouchy weeks home from the hospital.

This is our core family here- Craig & Donna w/Natalie in the middle and Bryan & Lisa w/Issac on the right. Each of the kids is spaced out about 2 - 3 months.

He has had several sets of visitors. I think this is a cute photo of Scott, Wes and Ethan. Wes was 6 months in the womb when I moved to Portland and is now six years old!!

This is my friend Katie with her new son Caleb. Ben & Katie had Caleb exactly two weeks after Ethan was born. We are excited to see our sons grow up together.

Ethan was introduced to our church family the first Sunday in January. At our church the baby is announced and then the father walks down with the child to pick up a rose from one of the pastors. This was our rose. It was great to see TJ go get our rose.

I'm learning different wraps (thanks Adele for this wrap!) to carry Ethan in. It's great to be able to wrap him up and get things done- we're both quite happy with the arrangement and from all the studies done on carrying I'm doing good things for him too!

I celebrated my 31st birthday this month. Lisa & Donna came over and treated me to supper and an ice cream cake!

Ethan is becoming more and more alert as the days pass. It's fun to see him grow and change.

I will continue to update photos of Ethan to our picasa web album here (scroll down to end for most current photos): http://picasaweb.google.com/tjandcheryl/EthanWillard?authkey=Gv1sRgCMCO7Yap87fjEg#

That's about it for the updates. I'll probably be updating this blog monthly for a while, but will update our photo sites weekly.

It's a Boy!

Ethan Willard, born at 12:55 am Wednesday, December 16th. 7 lbs, 4 oz; 19 1/2 in long. Ethan is very healthy and good natured. We are home now but I won't be on the computer much during these first weeks. As I'm able, I'll update photos to this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/tjandcheryl/EthanWillard?authkey=Gv1sRgCMCO7Yap87fjEg#

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We're hanging in there as best we can for being new parents!

Odds & Ends Photos

No, no baby yet, but here are some photos from the last few days...

Cat is curled up on a new hand quilted baby blanket from one of my co-workers...it has flannel & between that and the sunshine she was a content kitty.

39 weeks- somewhat dorky photo but that belly does stick out! :)

Baby's room...l - r, guest bed & chest of drawers (w/quilts my grandma H quilted), crib, changing table, and fun floor mats (thank to Katie L)!

Our new three shelf bookshelf that I put together today (at 39 1/2 weeks)- TJ was home but I wanted to put it together myself. :) Thank you to everyone for these books (Katie L- thank you again!).

This is our "second" nursery...it's really our craft/laundry room, but now has the port-a-crib and a portable changing station. Hopefully when baby is crying in night I can come over here and not keep my hubby or mom awake as they sleep on the other side of the house where our bedroom and the guestroom are.

More Christmas decor photos!

The house is one of our favorite additions this year.

And here's what I normally look like...we were heading out of the house but really until the moment we leave my robe stays on. So here's 39 weeks with my robe. :D

December, & No Baby Yet!

December has arrived but no, the baby has not. :) I am due officially on the 18th and am now on weekly visits to the midwife. The baby could come at any time from now till the end of the month, so we're just trying to be patient. My last day at work was on Monday. I am working on odds and ends around the house & I think will have enough projects that if the baby waits till after Christmas I'll still have things to do! Baby is running out of room & I can feel the little knee & foot pushing quite a bit.

It's been cold here- under 20 I think! Fortunately we've not had snow yet...snow is super here when you can just stay home. So we vote for snow the day we arrive home with baby!

TJ is working as much as ever, averaging about 76 hours a week. He got last Sunday off though and we enjoyed going to church & visiting with friends.

Two household Christmas photos!

I changed our sheets and came in later to find the cat curled up under my pillow! I guess it was warm and cozy there. :)

November Wrap Up

Where has November gone? I'm certain that a few days ago it was the start of the month, and yet here we are at the last weekend before December! I've been preoccupied most of the month preparing the house (& my work) for the arrival of baby. TJ's been averaging about 76 hours a week at work...a very tired husband I have! Our friends have been so wonderful in helping me with some projects while he's at work.

We had three furry visitors to our yard at the beginning of the month. TJ said it is a doe and two adolescent fawns.

We've had some rainy days now that fall is here...this was a day I thought it looked like what I imagine Ireland might be...very green!

Lisa & Donna threw me a baby shower earlier this month! It was very lovely.

A good belly shot from 35 weeks.

The cat found the swing seat I'd set aside. She was happily curled up here for hours!

We had friends over for Thanksgiving. Everyone brought a bit of something and we had a feast!

Donna, Lisa & Tamara

TJ had two whole days off for Thanksgiving and enjoyed spending time with friends. On his second day off we got our Christmas tree and decorated the house for Christmas, went to IHOP for brunch and saw A Christmas Carole in 3D! We are pretty much ready now for baby to arrive. I plan to finish the baby's room today and do some pre-baby paperwork, and then relax. I have several boxes of projects waiting for me and plan to work on these until baby arrives. I'm 37 weeks now and baby is considered full term. The head has dropped and I am on weekly visits with the midwife. It's hard to believe we'll soon have another member to our family!

Photos from Last Saturday

Mid October and 30 Weeks Along

Can we already be in mid-October? Really life just goes by so quickly. We've had a busy start to our October. The biggest news is that TJ got a job! He started last Monday and we are very thrilled. He's working a lot now though- last week was all 10 hour days and this week 12 hour days. Next week he'll start second shift on 10 hour days. The guy before him took 5 weeks to train before he could get to 2nd shift and TJ's only been there a week and a half and has already been promoted. I am a proud wife! They've also said they will give him a week off when the baby comes. We are pretty thrilled about that too!

Our friends Joe & Janet had their baby last week. After our childbirth class we went upstairs to visit them with our other friend Katie! This baby has the most adorable face, just so cute!

Katie's baby shower was last week also. It was fun to hang out with the ladies and see what fun gifts she got! Katie is due the week after me, and her sister is due the week before me!

Katie opening a gift.

They had a fun game but it involved popping balloons! I've never liked the sound of balloons popping and still don't! Included this photo b/c I think it's a good belly shot for the week.

We didn't have school last Friday and Monday and I took the days off to rest, clean the house and get started on the baby/guest room. It used to look quite nice but has gotten a bit overrun...now I hope to have it nice, organized and usable by mid-November. This is a before photo.

Baby is doing well. I had a midwife appointment yesterday and she told me that I have the kind of pregnancy they like and we want- the boring kind where nothing happens except what should happen! My belly is now 30cm and baby's head is down- wahoo!

Everyone's been asking if I can still see my feet and I've been saying yes, but now I'm thinking the answer might be "not so much!"At work I was going down the stairs and was rather startled to discover that when I looked down only my toes were showing. And when they had me step on the scale yesterday I looked down to see the number and it wasn't there- it's very strange! So I peered around my belly instead.

Baby is still very active and has just now begun to get the hiccups. I decided today that baby doesn't like them very much b/c there was lots of squirming happening that seemed more in response to the hiccups than to general boredom. :) I have an ultrasound next week and am looking forward to seeing the latest pictures! I imagine this will be the last one before baby arrives...only 9 1/2 weeks left!

This photo is for my mom...I made lemon meringue pie but my poor meringue never got nice and poofy! I think my cream of tarter is expired. Tasted just fine but looks rather funny I think!

I think that's about it on the updates. Somehow since school started life just seems much busier now!