First Halloween

Yep... he's a banana!


Monkey Friends! My First Trick-or-Treating!

Chunky Monkey!!

Stat update:
14 lbs 2 oz.
24 inches long

So our little guy has gained 4 pounds in 1 month! I knew he was getting bigger but dang!

His appointment went well. He's in about the 90th percentile for his age...

We love our little chunk-a-monk! :)

Two Months...

Second Month
(September 20th-October 20th)

Our little man is 8 weeks & 5 days old.

Last month we started our new life with a baby, learning the ropes and following the advise I took from fellow moms and a few books that I had read. And though I was insured that "I would be just fine", I prepared myself for the worst so that I couldn't be disappointed lol ... and... there was no need. We were blessed with a wonderful easy-going baby (though I have been warned that doesn't mean our next one will be so kind. But that's fine I'll take what I can get ha!). This month has been filled with fun developments. Ethan isn't the 'sleeping all the time' newborn anymore. :) He's getting very fun!

Milestone #1: On Becoming Baby Wise was our reference of choice. It taught us to employ a 'parent directed' schedule of Eat, Wake, Sleep. He took to it like a pro. The book emphasized that a regular nap schedule during the day would allow for more sleep at night and eventually after 5 weeks sleeping all the way through the night without a feeding. And what do you know... the book was right! Ethan blessed us with our first full night of sleep on September 23rd (Our 3rd anniversary). Happy Anniversary to us! I will admit that I went into panic mode the next morning wondering why I wasn't woken up and rushed to make sure our little guy was still breathing...but there he was...sleeping like an angel :) Yay! Milestone met! However... my hopes were then deflated the next night. We then had to figure out the best bedtime schedule for him and a few nights later we found it. So we're good now :) Milestone #2: I got my first "Hey that's my Mom" smile on September 26th... it was so awesome! Dave then got his later in the day and we both were so excited.... we now try to make him smile constantly. :) So sweet. It melts my heart. And now he does recognizes our voices and smiles at us(and others) all the time...it's awesome!Milestone #3: His clogged tear duct finally cleared up... Praise the Lord! (so maybe not so much a milestone...but whatever I was happy).

Milestone #4: He can hold his head up for the most part. He still has the bobble-head motion going on a little bit but he's getting there! :)

Some other things that have happened this month:

* I heard my first half laugh about a week ago ... so cute... I'm just waiting for those belly laughs!

* His favorite thing is to just lay and kick and coo and smile. He LOVES his changing spot in his nursery that's usually where we get the best smiles and excited kicking punching Ethan. But he also loves his play mat/gym where he talks to his Octopus friend (who we have yet to name). Were trying to incorporate tummy-time into his daily play times, but he's not a huge fan. So we just do some pull/sit ups to work out those neck muscles.

* We took him out to get his first pumpkin at the pumpkin patch :) That was fun :) * I officially started back to work full-time this past Monday :( So he spends his days with Miss/Nanny/Aunt Nicole. I did better than I thought...but I miss him VERY much throughout the day. But I'm so thankful for my job...so I try not to complain. And I know he's in very good hands. Now just to get use to the new adjustment...

* He got to meet his Great Nana and Grandpa this past weekend who came in from Texas! So glad they were able to fly into town to meet him! We miss them.

Ethan is also becoming quite the chunk. Hehe I love it. He's gained about 2-3 lbs (we think...) since his 1 month appointment. His 2 month appointment is the 26th so we'll update you all then. He has outgrown most of all his 0-3 month clothing and is now in 3-6 months (though some are kinda big one him).

This coming weekend (October 24th) is Ethan's dedication...so we'll be posting pictures from that!! :)

Love you all!

Stats:

13lbs??

24 inches long??

Eating approx. 4 oz. every 3 hours = 28oz per day

The First Month

One Month Down!

(August 20th - September 20th, 2010)

I can't believe it... time has FLOWN by... and I know it doesn't have any intention of slowing down any time soon. :( So we're soaking up all we can...

As you know I had a c-section... and I'm very happy my recovery has been much better than I thought. I was walking around a lot sooner than even my nurses in the hospital thought I would be... so mobility hasn't been an issue at all. I stopped taking pain meds after about a week too so yay me! I did however have a tiny set back last week with a couple of my stitches opening...but I'm back on track now :) I've lost most of my water weight I think by now but by no means am I close to where I want to be... just waiting for the 6 week mark to start working out again.

Ethan is doing great :) He's the cutest little guy ever and we couldn't be happier. The first month with him was easier than I anticipated actually. He slept most of the time those weeks which actually allowed for rest and getting stuff done. We got him into the schedule of eat, wake, sleep and then just skipped the wake portion at night time. He went 2.5-3 hours between each feeding and ate like a champ... no issues there. He loves his food...Must take after both of us :) We put him in his crib from the first night and has done awesome. After the first week he started sleeping about 3 hours and then waking up for food and would go right back to sleep. Now he sleeps 5 hours and then goes right back down and wakes up the next time usually when we wake up... so I'm thankful he lets me get some rest.

We had some professional pictures done earlier this week and can't wait to see them! Thanks Coop!!

To all of our friends and family that has come to visit bringing gifts and food... THANK YOU SO MUCH!! All of your help has been VERY appreciated! Love you all!

We're so blessed and happy to be Ethan's parents :) He's a blast. It's crazy to compare his hospital pictures to his pictures now... He had his one month doctor's appointment today and he's 10 lbs 2 oz. and is in the 80th percentile for growth... my growing boy :)

Stats:
10lbs 2 oz
22.25 inches long
Eating approx. 3oz 8x per day = 24 oz per day

POOH!!

Officially THE cutest thing I've ever seen!! Thanks Nana for the outfit!! :)

Our new life soundtrack...

I absolutely love all of the new sounds that have filled our home since Ethan has joined us. His little sounds are absolutely wonderful... my personal favorite are his sneezes that sometimes just turn into very cute sighs... oh my gosh they're awesome. And yes even the crying is cute :) And then all of his gear (his swing and infant seat and pack 'n' play bassinet) plays the most soothing music which makes me want to cuddle up and sleep all the time... (as you can see ... it's happened a few times already lol)

I love it :) Just wanted to share :)

2 Weeks old already!

Hi all!

As most of you already know... little Ethan David Ackerman graced us with his presence on August 20th (his daddy's birthday) at 10:13am. He weighed in at 8lbs 4oz and was 21.5 inches long.

We're both doing well and loving spending time together :) I must say that I'm quite smitten ;)

The procedure when well... it was a very surreal (I know I use that term a lot but it was) and interesting experience. It only took about an hour. I didn't feel any pain, but I did feel everything else... i.e. pressure, tugging, pulling, 'things' moving around... yeah it was weird. Overall I did well. I only had one issue... I kinda had a slight panic attack because I couldn't feel myself breathe (since I was numb from my chest down)... so though I was breathing fine my brain thought I wasn't so yeah that was fun... but they gave me something to calm me down and we were smooth sailing from there :) Dave wasn't able to join me in the O.R. until I was prepped and set to start so he didn't witness the spinal or anything. Once Dave was in there I'd say it only took them about 15 min. for 'baby time' to arrive as our Doctor put it... Dave got to look over the curtain and announce what we had so that was really cool. Dave looked down at me and said "Little Ethan David is here" ... :) ... Once they pulled Ethan out he came into the world peeing all over the place apparently... all the way across the room to the warmer lol. That was when I finally got to see him across the room. My first thought was ... "Whoa... he's huge... no wonder I was so uncomfortable" ... and then, maybe because of the drugs they had running through me, it took me a little bit for it to hit me that he was our baby... very surreal. The closing up process took the longest. I had to lay there while Dave got to go over and be with him.. not fair lol.

So then from there we went into recovery where they waited for my spinal to wear off and make sure that Ethan and I were doing okay. That's where I finally got to hold him, he got his first bath, and him and I and Dave got to bond as a family for the first time. We were then moved to our mom/baby room where we spent the next 4 days.

We had many visitors while we were in the hospital and we were released to go home the following Monday mid morning. Since then I've been healing pretty well. I've been quite mobile from the beginning so I'm thankful for that.

So today marks 2 weeks since our little man was born. We love him so much! Every day is a learning experience... and I'm proud to say that I haven't had any freak out moments yet. Everything seems to be going well (knock on wood) ...

We're so thankful to all of our family and friends for coming and bringing us food, the prayers and for visiting. We're truly blessed :)