Ahhh! My baby is six months!

In all the chaos that has been our lives lately, we've had a baby growing up. I told Ryan last night that there has to be a way to pause a baby's life. I am missing it!

LIVING
He loves his brothers. If I can get them to stop wrestling or arguing with each other long enough to look at him, his whole disposition changes. He smiles ear to ear and can giggle with full-on belly giggles. He loves when Brennan calls him "Eeffie." We also call him "Eef" for short. He's super adorable, and I really mean that. He's flexible and happy almost all the time.

SLEEPING
As of his 5-month mark, I'm no longer nursing in the middle of the night. Sometimes he'll wake up once, but Ryan can usually re-swaddle him and he'll go back to sleep after a few minutes. Hooray! During the day, his napping is kind of a mess. I always have to wake him to get his brothers to something, but I'd say he is still getting 3-4 naps per day. He prefers sleeping in his bed over his car seat, but often that isn't an option.

EATING
He has two little teeth on the bottom that poked through the week we left Illinois and drove to Colorado. Good timing, I know. I can attest to his really strong bite as his nursing mother. :-(

We started him on solids as soon as we got here (5 months), and he is really going to town now - about four small jars per day. (Ha ha - no homemade food so far this time around.) Yesterday I cut back his nursing to every four hours, and that seems to have been the right choice. He likes all the pureed foods (green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, bananas, pears, peaches) but hasn't liked the baby cereals.

He's been taking 1 ml of Zantac twice daily since he was two months old. We experimented with a 1/2 ml dose last week, but the carrot stains on the carpet prove that wasn't a good choice. We increased it back to the full dose this week, and he's doing much better. We'll try to wean him off of the medication again when he turns one.

MOVING
He has the rolling thing down pat. He can roll repeatedly in the same direction, rotate, and roll in the opposite direction. He loves being mobile. He loves to suck and chew on fingers, toys, clothes, blankets.. anything he can get into his mouth.

GROWTH
We had a thirty-day waiting period for health insurance with Ryan's new company, so Ethan doesn't have his 6-month well-check until May 5th, but I predict he's about twenty pounds.

He was 17 pounds at four months, and he's definitely chunkier and heavier now. I can barely haul his carrier around, so as soon as he can sit independently, I'll switch him to the rear-facing car seat. Shouldn't be much longer now. He's in 6-9 month clothes now too.

Stop growing, Ethan! I want you to be this age FOREVER. I love you, Eefie.

Easter

I've lived in the Midwest so long, I barely remember that it can actually be dry in April. Every time rain is forecasted, I naturally figure we'll have to stay inside all day long. Nope. We are lucky if we get a 5-minute sprinkle! That being said, the trees are all in bloom despite the grass being brown, dry and crunchy. Here's the best picture I could get on Sunday of the family.

Oh Brennan. You will be the child who teaches me the most, particularly about patience. Good thing he's so blasted cute.

While Brennan was "too tired" to brush his teeth, I got these handsome ones of the cooperative children.

Aren't they adorable?

Collin's preschool hosted an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday morning. It was CRAZY crowded, and we'll be finding another community event next year. Here he is with the Easter bunny. As usual, Brennan opted out of this photo.

Don't miss the cross around the giant rabbit's neck. Who knew the Easter bunny was Lutheran? Lol.

After church, I wanted to make up for Brennan not getting any eggs at Collin's school's hunt the day before. Unfortunately, despite massively low expectations, Brennan didn't earn participating. Ryan and I hid the eggs and let Collin hunt alone for them during nap time.

Collin loved being an only child, if for only a small moment.

And in an effort at keepin' this blog real, I must mention that the Easter bunny hasn't actually visited our home yet. The Big Boys have been really struggling with bedtime since moving here, and Saturday night Ryan gave them one last chance to stay in their room and go to sleep... And we had to follow through with the consequence of no Easter bunny. They are currently working on five good bedtimes in order to have Mr. Bunny stop by another night this week. So far, so good. We'll see.

We also decorated the coolest, most awesome Easter eggs ever this year, but I can't find the memory card with the pictures on it. Sad huh? Our eggs included a cheerleader, a sweaty athlete, two bald babies, an octopus, a mummy, an Italian gestapo agent... If I find the card, I'll post them. It's amazing what a glue gun, stickers, pipe cleaners, cotton balls, pom-poms and Ryan's brain can create.

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And as an update on our Illinois house... It sold! It was on the market 31 days. We signed and mailed our paperwork last night, but the buyers are closing for real on Thursday. Hooray! We're really happy with the price, and in the negotiations we were able to waive the radon inspection, kitchen flooring replacement credit, and three minor repairs resulting from the inspection. Yahoo! Smoothest process ever.