For Ethan’s half-birthday, we bought him a doorway jumper. It came in the mail today, and he loves it! He knew what to do as soon as I put him in the seat. He really liked being at the same level as the pets, but I’m not so sure they feel the same way. Eris was a little spooked at first, very jumpy. Maisie just watched from afar, but Sister came close to let him grab her tail. She loves him though.

And here are a couple other videos:

Eating Sweet Potatoes for Dinner:

Sitting with some help from his Boppy and playing with his linking letters:

Ethan eats his first bowl of oatmeal:

Trying to drink milk from a sippy cup:

Screeching like a pteradactyl:

Loving on Maisie Cat:

This weekend, Aaron cleaned up the nursery and hung the blinds. I finished cleaning it up and organizing a bit today. Now that the nursery is clean, Ethan can start playing and napping in there. And maybe in a few weeks, he’ll start sleeping in his crib.

I took a few pictures this afternoon of Ethan in his nursery: yelling at his toys, sitting up, watching Eris and Sister and yelling at them too, playing with his little bear, trying to crawl naked, and laying in his crib. Click on any of the picture below to go to the 6 month photo album.

Ethan is 6 months old today! We should be celebrating, but instead, we are in bed with a cold. Luckily, Ethan doesn’t seem to be feeling as crappy as I do. He just has a stuffy nose and bit of a cough, but he’s in a pretty good mood. I, on the other hand, feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. headache, body aches, stuff nose and pressure. I don’t think I’ll get out of bed today.

I’m challenging myself to participate in the “52 Weeks – My kids and I” photo project. Each week, for 52 weeks, I have to take (or have someone else take) a new picture of me and Ethan.

This week I set up the tripod to do some self portraits. Aaron got me a really awesome tripod for Christmas – it extends very tall. I put the tripod in the master bathroom and set it on its tallest setting. The master bath always has tons of light from the glass block window. I pointed the camera into the mirror so that it would take a picture of our reflection, and I set it to receive a signal from my remote. The tripod setup worked out pretty well! We got some cute shots.

52 weeks, me and Ethan, Week 3:

Last night we have an impromptu family reunion at Granny Carolyn and Papa JC’s house. Aunt Gloria and Uncle Roy’s daugher, Jeannie, came to town to visit, and so did her daughter, Christy. I had never met Jeannie, and it was the first time for Christy to meet all of us. Aunt Mary drove in to meet her too.

I got everyone together for some pictures.

4 Generations:
top row: Christy, Jeanne, Dad, Me
bottom row: Aunt Mary, Aunt Gloria, Papa JC, and Ethan

Siblings:
Aunt Mary, Papa JC, and Aunt Gloria

The Gjertsen Family:
Uncle Roy and Aunt Gloria

Jeannie, Uncle Roy, Aunt Gloria, and Christy

Click on each picture to download the full size.

Here’s the video to go with the previous blog entry. Just listen to all the grunting!

Ethan just loves his feet! Its so funny – he could probably spend hours looking at them and playing with them, and now… chewing on them, haha. He has enjoyed grabbing his feet for quite some time now, but recently he has really been working hard on getting the feet to his mouth. When I take his clothes off to change him or whatever, immediately he grabs his feet and pulls them to his face.

He has struggled so hard to bite his feet. He grunts and holds his breath and turns red in the face. He gets a white knuckled grip and makes finger dents in his ankles he holds on so tight. Yesterday, he finally did it! And he squealed with delight over his accomplishment.

Seriously, every chance he gets, he is trying to chew on his feet. I took a video of him with my cell phone, but stupid youtube is under maintenance so I can’t upload it right now. I will post it later when youtube is working.

Also, Ethan is teething, or at least I am pretty sure that’s what’s going on. His bottom gums are pretty swollen and squishy feeling, and I think I can see the teeth just under the skin. Its hard to tell because I’m not exactly sure what its supposed to look like, and he doesn’t really like to hold his mouth open for me to look. He likes to chew on my finger, and he clamps down HARD. He also started biting me while feeding, but that only lasted a few days thank goodness. For the past few days now he’s been really crabby and fussy, and he’s been waking at night to eat. Night waking is NOT typical for him. He’s been such a good night sleeper for the last few months. He’s also drooling a ridiculous amount of drool – it seems like it pours out of his face like a stream. He had a few really great days of very little spitup, and then when all the drooling started a few days ago, he’s been spitting up a lot again. The drool also makes him cough a lot and he has had a little red rash and chafing on his chin and cheeks.

Anyway, that all sounds like teething to me! But what do I know… I really have no idea. I just hope he feels better soon. Tylenol seems to help, but I don’t like to give him lots of medicine. He has lots of teething rings to put in the fridge, and frozen peach mush to nibble on.