Happy Fall!

Happy Fall, everyone. I think that Central Illinois had the full span of Fall weather this weekend, with a truly icky day of mist, wind, and cold rain all day Saturday, but beautiful sunny skies today! Ethan and I enjoyed some time outside on the hammock. :)
Besides the beautiful fall weather, we're enjoying a great visit with Ethan's Grammy Barbara from Cincinnati. I love that Brian's family is as laid back as the Joneses, because when we get up, we get up (though Ethan rushes that a little), when we eat, we eat, and when we nap, we all nap! It has been great to spend so much time together, since this boy changes weekly.
One of the things that we've enjoyed about Ethan so much lately is his interest in the very very ordinary. His favorite toys? A tupperware container filled with plastic spoons & old pacifiers. An empty formula container produced lots of giggles as we rolled it across the floor the other day. And how dare we recycle that Cheerios box?!
His first birthday is coming up very soon (!!!) and I'm recommending that his friends and family wrap up anything they can find sitting around in drawers that they don't want. Plastic kitchen utensils that need to be replaced? Ethan would love to put those in his mouth. A box from that new TV you just bought? That will be lots of fun for the whole family. And if you've got anything that could be remotely dangerous, he is especially interested in any of that.

If you look closely, you'll see that on Ethan's shirt are lots of clouds, some very stormy. :) That shirt was given to us by Brian's meteorologically-savvy friends Ed and Lucia, who are now the proud parents of little Luciana. We haven't worked out the details for the arranged marriage yet, but we're working on it. She's a cutie.

The First Babysitter

I used to think that Ethan was a kid who took awhile to adjust. To new people, new situations, etc. I think I'm projecting. He's fine. :)

Since I heard that Capitol Steps was heading to Champaign-Urbana, I knew I had to go. And better yet, Brian and I should go together! And we should take my parents to thank them for all that they've done since Ethan has been born. They've really been amazing. Needless to say, we haven't really be able to take them out since they were our only in-town babysitters for awhile. This has really pushed us to make a big move and get a babysitter for Ethan.

Now, my friends with Ethan-age children are out of town, and other folks I know have tons of family in town, or babysitters who they have known for ages. With the university across the street and poor college students wanting to make money, you'd think we'd have babysitters banging down our door. But we wanted something a little more reliable than walking up to the door of a sorority house, knocking on the door, and asking who was free on Saturday night. So we found two lovely women online. Shocking, I know! Though with this website (Care.com) we were able to run background checks, call for references, and meet them many times before actually hiring anyone. And the two we decided on using are absolutely wonderful - one is an early childhood education major, another is a CNA, they both have been babysitting for at least 8 years and have past clients who absolutely love them...and Ethan loves them both! I have to just shake my head at this boy and how quickly he starts to flirt with pretty girls. My sister, the women who work at the Infant Cognition Lab, these babysitters...he is giggly and jumpy within 1 minute!

I think that the best compliment that we could ever have is how happy this baby is. Brian's sister Kim said months ago that he was the happiest baby she could remember, Vilma says the same thing (poor Vilma, with a new little boy there who screams daily), and now his babysitters are bringing out the giggles and squirminess as well. What a cutie.

Be careful what you wish for!

I apologize to all of you out there who are waiting anxiously for the next picture of Ethan - recently, most of my time with him has been spent with my hands trying to protect his little diapered behind.

Ethan is moving all over the place. And he's almost always moving toward something we don't want him to have - oh, the plants (choking hazard), an exposed cord (yanking hazard), or the cats (clawing hazard).
And then there are our floors. I never thought I was a neat freak, but I didn't think I lived in filth - but having the little boy all over them is making me so paranoid! With the four cats tracking in cat litter, we are vacuuming all the time and have plans to shampoo the carpets ASAP. But we are so delighted that he has found this new independence that we don't want to hold him back too much...

His favorite way of giving his mother a heart attack this weekend is to pull up on something, cruise a few steps, turn, and then LET GO. He has such a false sense of security, which I'm sure I've helped along, since every time he falls, I catch him just before he smushes his face or breaks an arm.

Whew.

He is such a delightful, happy boy! We've had such fun recently taking him outside and playing with him since the weather is so wonderful. (And there aren't any cords or hard corners outside.) He is at this great stage where he loves taking things out...out of the drawers, out of the hampers, out of boxes...so recently, I took an old lidless tub and filled it with little toys, balls, etc. It was a hit! He takes it all out, I put it all back in, he takes it all out...repeat as necessary!

Wild Man

Well, it's been a wild few weeks with Mr. Ethan! First of all, the boy is getting yet another tooth...or two. And this one is not coming without a fuss! Poor little boy, "cutting a tooth" really means that those little sharp things have to push their way through his little gums, and I think we're all glad that we can't remember how that feels. But I can't figure out if it's going to be just one or several...he's got a couple little bumps on his gums that look like they're ready for business.

Besides that, he is so ready to crawl! Since he's had such strong legs from a very early age, there was some discussion among the family that he might walk before crawling. However, he walks like a drunken sailor, and only with lots and lots of hand holding, of course. :) I think he either needs to work on his balance or lay off the vodka. He's been much happier on his belly these days, because he's learned to go from a sitting position to his stomach, inch his way along the floor, roll when he wants to go sideways, and even get on to his hands and knees and rock front to back! That is so funny to watch...Today, I tried to capture the experience, but he loves the camera so much (yikes) that he would usually stop whatever he was doing when he knew I was taking a picture. So I just put the camera on the floor, watched him squirm toward it, and took mystery pictures. They are better than I could have imagined! (Cue the music to Jaws...)

Brian and I are totally encouraging this crawling thing while not having done more than the barest childproofing around the house. I have a feeling that we'll be doing it in a huge rush very soon!

Happy Birthday, Brian!

One week ago, Brian had his x0th birthday. I'll leave it at that. :)

To celebrate, he wanted to go to Chicago. We haven't been since last year when our car was broken into and we had to drive back to CU with a bubble wrap and duct tape window. (But it's mostly because we just had a baby that we haven't been back since - we weren't really mad at Chicago.) Anyway, we did all of our favorite things with Ethan this time - a run down by the lake, a trip to the Apple Store, and breakfast from Corner Bakery! But this time, Corner Bakery delivered so that we could enjoy it with all of the friends and family that joined us in our hotel room. Brian's sister and mother drove all the way from Cincinnati, my parents came up and stayed with Anda, and Brian's nephew drove from Madison to join us for the morning. It was a great time!


Most of Brian's gifts were gag gifts, and we're really lucky that he has a sense of humor! But he did get some really thoughtful pictures, books, and even a PowerPoint that a friend of his made with lots of old (not that old) pictures. In it he referred to Brian as the "man who doesn't age". I agree!

Simple Pleasures

Things have been a little hectic around Chez Jewett-Jones recently, so I haven't taken many pictures at all! A pretty busy week was spent at work during our history grant Summer Institute on Reform (coolest topic ever) - this week included a trip to Chicago for some tours and a visit to Hull House, which I just loved.

So we took it pretty easy here this weekend! The weather in CU is gorgeous right now, and we spent almost all day outside - weeding (desperately needed), a short jog for Mr. Ethan and me (also desperately needed), and a nice walk at the end of the day for all of us. While his parents weeded the front yard, Ethan was a great little boy who played with his super books and plastic rings. We've recently discovered that he loves to see things fall - I thought it was the bouncing of objects as they hit the ground, but nope, they just need to fall....

Beach Boy

It's really hard traveling with a baby. You know, someone who gets whiny on the plane when their ears hurt, who wakes up early and cries, who needs regular naps to be happy and sociable... but luckily, Brian and Ethan only had to put up with me for a week! :)

Really, Brian and I were so proud of Ethan on this trip. He doesn't really sleep in the car like he used to, and his first plane trip was way too exciting for a nap, but the overtired boy was still charming and delightful (for a few minutes, anyway) when we arrived in Nags Head. He adjusted to the rented crib just fine and was a really good sport every time we gooped him up with sunscreen for the beach. (Considering his gorgeous, soft baby skin and a family history of skin cancer, we were extra careful - sunscreen reapplied every so often, a great little tent that he hung out under, and a cute little hat that covered his ears and neck (and a lot of his face when he got impatient with it!).


Interestingly enough, it was rare to find all five of us at the beach at the same time! Everyone in the small household is a naptaker (thank goodness) and so it was fairly common for one or two people to be napping or eating while others were sunning themselves. Ethan was often down for his first nap before the rest of the world was awake - not surprising considering how early he gets up! But Brian and I really made the most of our time there doing beach-like things that involved more than sunscreen and sand. We rented a baby jogger (since I like ours so much) and used that to go for a run with Ethan early one morning. We had a baby backpack there as well, and tried Ethan in that instead of the Baby Bjorn (since he's getting so darn heavy) for a walk on the beach. Besides his delight in pulling my hair as we walked, it went pretty well. :) And much of our playtime was spent out on the deck of this condo, enjoying the breeze and the gorgeous view of the ocean.



You may have noticed that Ethan is smiling a lot in these pictures. It's obvious that he is really enjoying his time at the beach, but we discovered that he almost always smiles for the camera these days! What a ham...