I don't know what exactly is going on with Ethan, but for the last week he's been coughing really hard again, and ever since Saturday he's had lots -lots!- of diarrhea. Every, very frequent, diaper change. The poor boy is coughing so hard that he gets all red in the face, and his bottom is getting red and sore to match. He hasn't wanted to eat, either. It doesn't matter what it is, he turns his head as far as he can away from an approaching spoon, and if Mommy still tries to persist, he then blows raspberries with his lips and screws up his face in a definite "look, I said I don't want it, okay?!?" expression. Still, every meal I again persist, hoping that he'll change his mind this time. And all because I know if no solids get in that little belly, he'll still be hungry (the boy is always hungry, solids or not), so I'll end up having frequent, marathon nursing sessions. (Having a liquid diet sure doesn't help the diaper issue either.) Other than the coughing and diaper problems, he doesn't act like he's feeling all that bad, though he hasn't been sleeping well at ALL for the last week, though, either. Mostly because he just wants to nurse constantly. (Therefore I haven't been sleeping this week either.) I took him in to see Dr. Kern early last week, when the coughing started up again, because though it was probably nothing, with Ethan's history I wanted to know for sure. Dr. Kern said that Ethan's lungs sounded good, so that meant it was probably attributed to (yet another?) virus, and that it should clear up within a week. Well. I don't know about these viruses; Ethan seems to get every one that passes by and then some. His coughing got worse as the week wore on, and then the diarrhea began this weekend, so if something doesn't improve within the next couple days, I'm going to give him a call again. His coughing is what bothers me the most, because it is SO hard and forceful. 

Ethan has learned forward movement, though it still isn't a typical crawl. But at least he's not seeing something he wants ahead of him and then crawling backward, away from it. That made him very frustrated! He has two methods of forward momentum, which he uses interchangeably. One, is when he gets up on his hands and his tippey toes, and then hurls himself forward, just catching himself on his hands again, right before his head smacks on the floor. The other is when he pushes his arms way out in front of him, and then pulls the rest of his body forward using his arms, dragging his knees and feet across the floor. Both methods are effective for getting him exactly where he wants to be, but hopefully he'll just get the hang of the standard, forward, crawl too. It will save me from having to "spot" him when he dives forward, head first, and it will be much more effective than dragging himself around. Though "effective" will mean "faster" as well, and we really don't need to encourage that.

We've almost gotten our new place put together. This weekend I got a bunch of pictures put up, and we finally got our bedroom put together (so we're not sleeping on the floor anymore). We're in the process of an offer negotiation for our house, so hopefully that will be done in the next day or two! We got an offer on Saturday, but it was really low, so now we've been going back and forth a couple times. Their latest offer might be acceptable, but we're still trying to decide for sure. It's not as much as we were hoping for, but "a bird in the hand..." as the saying goes. We're really enjoying our new place. Phil and I have been taking turns after Natalie does to bed, going over to the workout room. It feels really good to be getting active again. Plus that's time for ourselves, AND we get to watch some of our favorite shows on cable while we're in there! Last week I went over during the day with the kids. There's never been anyone there during the day, so I plopped them down in the middle of the room and got a workout in. I brought a few toys for Ethan, and we were there when Dora was on, so Natalie was excited. She shocked us the other day. We were in the car, and we turned onto old Brice Road, which is out here by us, about one farm away. (That's how I've been explaining our area, in terms of how many farms away from whatever.) She piped up from the backseat, "Is this Brice Road?" Phil and I looked at each other in surprise, and I answered her, "yes, yes...actually it is, honey." Natalie said "I like Brice Road" and then went back to whatever little song she had been singing at the time. I'm sure we've probably mentioned the roads we turn on around here, but I don't remember discussing Brice Road at length! (This is a completely new area for all of us, so we've been driving around a lot, just to see what's out here and where the various roads take us.) Well, I've known for a long time just how observant she is and how fast she picks up on things, but I don't remember paying attention to street names, other than the one I lived on, until I was driving! (I know you're laughing, Mom.) Natalie's one smart cookie, I've said it before, but still she shocks us with what she picks up!

April 13, 2005
Ethan is 8 months today! When I weighed him on our bathroom scale, it said he was 26 pounds. That's probably about right, but my arms and back say he feels heavier. He has his next well-baby checkup next month, and hopefully we won't get an "official" weight until then. We've spent too much time with Dr. Kern these past few months! 

Just in time for his 8-month birthday, Ethan learned to sit up by himself! Last night, I wasn't looking directly at him (I was watching Amazing Race), but he was playing on the floor, creeping around on his hands and knees and tummy. Out of the corner of my eye I saw vertical movement. There he was, sitting up -- and looking mighty pleased with himself, too. A few minutes later he went back down on his tummy, and then popped right back up. What a cute kid. Today I had a tough time getting him to sit still for his birthday picture with "photo bear" (as it's been dubbed). Ethan wanted to jump off the couch. So the pictures I got of him today show him in all his wiggly-ness, trying to lean right off of the couch.

Ethan is also "talking", a little. I think I mentioned before that he was babbling "dadada" pretty often. Lately he looks right at Phil when he says dadada, and also looks around the room for him while saying it, so we think that counts. And sometimes lately, he looks at me, and often while reaching/lunging toward my arms, says "mmmmmm! mmmmmmm!" When he says that and then sees me respond, he reaches for me.

April 10, 2005
Well, we're getting there. All that's left at our old house is trash, and it's in the garage waiting to be taken out on Monday. We had our big move day last Saturday, which was the worst day of the year so far. The weather was like a bad day in February, with snow, sleet, cold rain and hard-blowing wind all day long. The day before, and the next day, was sunny and 60 degrees. We had to do the move on Saturday, though, because that was when we found a bunch of people to help us. We've been sleeping here at our new place since last Saturday, but we're still living in pretty much chaos. We haven't gotten Ethan's crib up yet so he's been using the pack n' play, and our bed is still just sitting on the floor, Japanese futon-style. 

We just haven't had the time our energy to unpack too much yet. All last week we pretty much got up, went over to the old house, and cleaned the whole day, getting back home after dark (since the time change that's close to 9 pm), eating a late dinner of take-out, falling to bed exhausted, and then doing it all over the next day. I was over there with both kids every day (except Friday when I took the time off to take the kids to Slate Run park and farm in this area). Several days last week, Ethan decided he didn't want to be put down, so I was working with him in the backpack carrier. The hardest part was when I had to reach down for something while wearing that extra 30 pounds -- I basically did deep-knee lunges all day. (The good side is that on Friday I got back into my skinny jeans!) The poor kids; we really have been pushing them hard, and any semblance of a schedule that they had is currently nonexistent. We'll be getting back to normal soon, though. All that's left to do at the old place, besides take out the trash to the curb tomorrow night, is to wash out the oven and sweep the basement floors and put white paint on some discolored spots in the basement. Then we can start making some real progress on these boxes all around us here. At least maybe get our clothes hung up and the beds assembled; that would be a good start.

We really love our new place. Natalie does too, which has helped make the transition pretty easy for her. She loves having her own room. She even picked out her own room - we figured she would have the bigger room, but instead she wanted the slightly smaller one, but it's the one with two big picture windows, and a roof right out one of them where birds like to perch right where she can watch them. Good choice, Natalie! We haven't been home that much yet, but she likes to play up there whenever she can. (That was a part of our plan; most of her toys are now in HER room instead of our living room being one big toy box!) Early last week, as I was packing/cleaning more at the old house, I started to feel a little sad, looking around at the place where both my babies came into our lives, but then once we got here, it just felt like a breath of fresh air; it just felt good to be here. 

I've been so busy that not only have I not been able to write, I haven't gotten my camera out either. I kept thinking about taking pictures of the packing, moving, cleaning, and moving in process, but the camera just never made it out until Friday. Here's our first photo at the new place:

As you can see, we have no grass yet, but the landscaping started going in this week so it shouldn't be long. The porch is nice to play on, though. It wraps around both sides of our house, except for a little there in the middle (where those bushes are in the photo), where the building's utilities are located. As much as a deck is nice in theory, I'm going to enjoy the covered patio more, because I don't like sitting out in the sun when we're out there to play. Natalie was playing with her sidewalk chalk for the first time, in this picture. On Saturday we brought over her sandbox and our patio chairs, so that's over on the side now. I'll get inside pictures taken once some of the boxes and clutter get under control.

In the last couple weeks, Ethan is crawling (albeit backward!) even more, and often getting up on his hands and tippy toes too. It's cute to watch him pop that little bottom up and down as he's doing his push-ups. He gets around, but he's often frustrated because he sees something he wants, and then crawls backwards, away from it. Which generally leads to a screaming fit. (Have I mentioned that this boy has got some strong lungs??)