Random acts of kindness Saturday, Jan 31 2009 

Uncategorized rowanthefrog 11:57 pm

I forgot to talk about this in my NYC post….

So on Thursday night we went on a date and left Ethan with another mom at their house. He hadn’t met her before last night and apparently when we left, he burst into tears and cried for about 30 min because he knew we weren’t there and he didn’t know where he was. Anyway, we were on the train into NYC, had been gone about 20 min when the babysitter called, asking if he could be gassy or anything else since he had been crying so hard.

Of course when I got off the phone I had tears in my eyes. I asked James if we should go back. He kept telling me he would be fine and trying to distract me by changing the subject.

A few stops later, the girl who had been sitting in front of us got off the train and HANDED US A NOTE and walked away?? We looked at each with confusion and read it. It said something like this,

“Sorry I couldn’t help, overheard about the baby. I used to babysit for my nieces and when my Aunt would leave she would leave a dirty shirt of hers behind and when the kids would get upset they could snuggle with it and it really calmed them down. good luck”

Wow……so unexpected and what a great idea. I think its awesome that she decided to give us a hint. And, I’m going to try to pay it forward to a stranger when the time arises. It makes me so happy and inspires me to see people going out of their way to help out someone they don’t know. It reminds me that everyone is human and we all have our own problems and issues and a hand extended should never be pushed away.

To that girl, whoever and wherever you are…..THANK YOU!

 

Happy Half-Birthday Ethan! Friday, Jan 30 2009 

Uncategorized rowanthefrog 8:47 pm

Today Ethan is 6 months old!!  That’s right, it is his half birthday.  I can’t believe its already been six months…the time definitely does fly.  Here are some pics from the last week.

Happy half-birthday Ethan!

 

Today he tried green beans for the first time and wasn’t a big fan.  Last night James and I went on a hot date in NYC!!  For Christmas James bought tickets to see the NY Philharmonic.  Colleen, from my mom’s group, graciously agreed to watch Ethan for us, so we dropped him off at 4pm and hopped on the train into the city.  We got into Penn station about an hour later, walked through Times Square into Hell’s Kitchen and had dinner at a restaurant called….Hell’s Kitchen.  Very yummy upscale Mexican place, I definitely recommend it!

We took a cab to Lincoln Center and went to Avery Fisher hall and heard the NY Philharmonic.  The first act was Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #3, performed by Radu Lupu.  It was beautiful.  He was a very dramatic pianist.  I was fascinated watching the violins and just the whole thing.  The second act was Scriabin’s Symphony #2.  I had never heard of Scriabin, but I actually liked the second act better than Beethoven!!  All in all it was  a wonderful night.  We caught the express train back to NJ and picked up Ethan around 11:30pm.  He had apparently missed us quite a bit, but did have some fun with Colleen, her husband Don, and their 13 month old son Harrison between the tears.

 

Some updates on a snowy, rainy day Wednesday, Jan 28 2009 

Uncategorized rowanthefrog 2:09 pm

The snow had all melted.  It was just about gone.  Then it went and snowed again last night.  About 3-4 inches or so.  Now its raining.  Snow+rain+cold=ice.  Ice=Amy doesn’t go outside.

Ethan is having a marathon 3 hr nap right now so I’m going to blog while I can!  The past couple of weeks Ethan has done many fun new things: held his bottle and fed himself, entertained himself with a toy or in his bouncer or exersaucer for 15+ minutes, gotten very interested in books, started signaling to me when he wants me to swing him around again, new noises and shrieks.  He has expanded his repertoire of foods that he eats.  Despite the rough start with sweet potatoes he now loves them.  In fact, he has loved everything we have given him so far, including rice, oatmeal, peas, carrots, and squash.  Next up is avocado and meats.  Then we’ll do fruits.  He opens his mouth wide whenever he sees the spoon!  He also drinks water from my glass and seems to love that as well. 

We think he has a tooth coming in, but its been taking its sweet time.  We’ll definitely get a pic once it makes its grand appearance!

I’ve been getting out more and meeting some new people through the mom’s groups that I joined.  Its been a lot of fun and I’ve met some very nice women with adorable babies.  All the babies are within a few months of Ethan’s age, so he will have some playmates as he gets older.  So that has been great.

Ethan just woke up so this will have to be cut short.  I’ll post more later!

 

The Christmas post Tuesday, Jan 20 2009 

Ethan and Family rowanthefrog 10:44 pm

Christmas was wonderful.  I was in town for a month.  James was there for 2 weeks.  We spent great time with our families, attended and were in James’ brother’s wedding, hosted an awesome New Years party and generally just enjoyed our time in Atlanta.  I wish I had kept things up to date as it all seems like such a blur now, so I’m just going to post some of my favorite pics from our time in Atlanta.  We loved getting to see everyone and already miss you terribly!!

 

 

 

Ethan and kitty cats explore the snow Tuesday, Jan 20 2009 

Ethan and New Jersey rowanthefrog 10:12 pm

Today our back porch door was open and Henry and Jambo were milling around acting like they wanted to go outside.  There is about 2.5 inches of snow on the ground.  We thought it would be funny/interesting to let them out…so we did.  Jambo went out first (big surprise there….) she stepped out and immediately beelined for the corner of the porch where there was no snow.  She was very confused about what all the cold white stuff was.  She started to explore the porch, shaking her foot after every step to get the snow off.

Henry finally made his way outside too (he’s a little more cautious about these things.)  He stepped out a foot or so and then scooted back inside, putting his feet where his paw marks already were so he wouldn’t step in the snow.  After a minute or two, he went back out, also quite confused about all the white stuff.

Then (because we are mean..) we shut the door to see what they would do…..Henry ran right back inside.  Jambo had made it down the steps into our yard but didn’t seem to know how to climb back up them in the snow.  She finally figured it out and came back inside too – it normally takes hours for her to come inside, but needless to say I think they are both discouraged from going outside until it warms up.  I wish I had taken pics  of the cats, but I didn’t. 

Yesterday I bundled Ethan up and we went out into our front yard to play in the snow.  I couldn’t find his mittens so he is wearing socks on his hands.  Ethan wasn’t quite sure what to make of the snow…he kept staring at it (or maybe it was his own feet, he’s very into his feet these days.)  But I got some cute pics.  You can see them below.

James found Ethan’s little soccer ball shortly after we got home from Atlanta so he has begun “drills” with him every day.  Mostly these drills involve James putting the ball on Ethan’s legs, Ethan either grabbing it with his hands or kicking it away and then James fetching the ball and starting all over again. Hey, Beckham started somewhere too.  When we hold Ethan standing he kicks at the ball.  I think he’ll be hitting goals any time now.

 

“It’s warm outside today…its 30 degrees” Sunday, Jan 18 2009 

New Jersey rowanthefrog 4:58 pm

James actually said this to me today.  He is obviously delusional.  We got 2 more inches of snow last night and he says its “warm.”  I am thinking about calling a shrink to check his head.

 

Some FANTASTIC professional pics of Ethan Saturday, Jan 17 2009 

Ethan rowanthefrog 10:15 pm

We got some professional pics taken of Ethan just before Christmas and we finally got a sneak peek at how they came out…..I am DYING to see the rest :)

http://jodylynnphoto.com/blog/?p=939

Scroll down a bit!  Once I get them all back I’ll definitely post a bunch for you to see.

 

Re-entry into NJ Thursday, Jan 15 2009 

Uncategorized rowanthefrog 10:54 pm

Hi guys!

I was waiting to post until I had pics to share, but editing all of them is taking longer than expected, so I figured I’d just update on what was going on now and the big Christmas post will come when it comes.

So I flew back to NJ on Monday and its been quite the re-entry into my “real life.”  James kindly cleaned the house for me so I came back to a scrubbed bathroom and organized basement!! Thanks baby! :) Also returned to piles and piles of mail, Christmas cards, toys needing assembly, Xmas presents to be put away etc.  Ethan is a different baby from a month ago when we left, so we have been figuring out his new routine…solids, playing, etc.  Its been an adventure.  I got sick yesterday and have been feeling pretty icky.  James has been great help coming home and giving me some relief to sleep when possible.

When I got home there was snow on the ground…..last night it dropped to SEVEN degrees and we woke up to more snow.  Not a lot, but it was coming down.  I stuck my arm outside the door this morning and took a pic, and then ran back inside, I’m such a wimp. 

I will bring Ethan out to play in it and take some pics when I’m feeling a bit better.

Today Ethan tried peas and seemed to like them! It was his first non-sweet food.  Of course he got it everywhere.  He has also learned how to stick out his tongue and does it constantly.  Its so tiny and pointy and it makes us laugh.  Whenever James comes home from work or appears from around the corner Ethan laughs and laughs…..its so cute.

Its 10pm and one of my resolutions was to get to bed at a normal hour, so its bedtime and James is begging for me to scratch his head.  He came home from work early today to take care of Ethan so I could sleep and get better, so I should probably oblige.  I’ll add pics soon, probably this weekend when I have time to go through them all!

 

Holidays post coming soon – but a funny video to tide you over Tuesday, Jan 6 2009 

Ethan rowanthefrog 9:53 pm

HOlidays are crazy and I haven’t posted in awhile.  When I get back to NJ next week I’ll upload pics and tell you all the stories about our wondeful but hectic holiday.

In the meantime, Ethan started solid food a few days ago.  We started with sweet potatoes.  I’ll let you watch the video to see how it went….I assure you, it was MUCH funnier than we thought it would be.