6 Months Old!


Ethan is 6 months old today! It's amazing how much he has grown these last few months. He has already grown out of most of his 6 month old clothes, and he has torn holes in multiple pajama feet. The harness is now a thing of the past, and Ethan is become more mobile every day. He can travel across the living room by rolling, and he just started getting on his knees. He will be crawling any day now.
He is eating different solid foods now, including, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, and oatmeal. He loves breakfasts with Daddy, and Dinners with Mommy.

Well, Ethan has passed the 5 month marker, and boy is he getting big. He is now rolling over, and prefers to sleep on his stomach, with his butt sticking in the air. He is eating rice cereal once a day now, and he loves it. He actually finished a whole bowl tonight. Next week we will start him on a new food (perhaps bananas). He loves bouncing in his bumper jumper, and splashing mommy in the bathtub. He cracks up when Daddy tickles his chest with his beard, although it does leave a pretty good beard rash.

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving by hanging out with all of our wonderful neighbors. We weren't able to see our family, but we did skype Grammy in the morning. We hopped from neighbor to neighbor, mooching all of their food. We started at Adam and Andy's, moved to the Dolan's, and finished our night at The Heskett's house with a deep fried Turkey. We are so lucky to have such great neighbors.

Christmas is fast approaching, and we can't wait to see our family (who we don't see enough). Luckily, we are going to Jersey this weekend for the annual Rechenberg family hootinany, so we will get to see Daddy's side of the family.

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Well Halloween has come and gone, and the Shannon family really enjoyed the day. Our new neighborhood is perfect for trick or treating, and there were a ton of kids out. We even ran out of candy and had to borrow some from the Dolans. Ethan visited a few houses, but we think that he disagreed with his costume choice. There were actual reports of a crying monkey running around in the neighborhood. He got happy again as soon as the costume came off.

Ethan is almost done with his harness. He only wears it to bed now, and in a few weeks, it'll be gone for good. Now that his legs are free, he has become much more mobile. He has learned to roll on his side, and if he wasn't strapped in, he could climb right out of his swing. He can spend longer periods of time on his tummy, and he can even wiggle himself across the play gym. Now if can just learn to sit up without falling forward onto his face...

We are expecting visitors this weekend. Grandpa is coming down on Sunday to attend Daddy's concert, and to spend the night at the house, and not the hotel that overlooks the junkyard. Grammy Litsch and Uncle Joe are coming Monday to babysit, so Mommy and Daddy can go to dinner and a concert in DC. We can't wait to show everyone how big Ethan is getting already. Should be a great visit for all.

No more harness! (almost)

Great news! After our checkup with Dr. Tis, it seems that Ethan's hips are looking great! We can now start weening him off of the dreaded harness. He can have it off 4 hours a day this week, 8 hours a day next week, and so on until it's off for good. Dad is excited, because he really wants to find out how well both harnesses will burn in the firepit.

Weekend with Grammy Litsch

Ethan had a wonderful weekend in Bethlehem with Grammy Litsch. Mommy and Daddy had to go to Aunt Alina and Uncle Tom's wedding, so Ethan got to hang out with Grammy all weekend. She was so happy to see her grandson again. She played with him all day. She fed and changed him, and even put him to bed ay night in her room. Grammy didn't like the way he would wiggle out of his swaddle, so she put him to bed Saturday night without and swaddle, and wouldn't you know it, he slept better and longer than he has ever done before. This means no more swaddle, and after tomorrows doctors appointment, hopefully there will be no more harness as well. We can't wait until Ethan can spend the day without being in that harness, because he is clearly much happier and content without it. Ethan has been laughing more and more, and he even chuckled for grammy, which then made her chuckle as well. All in all a great weekend.

All Smiles

Well, Ethan turned 3 months old, and all is well. He is getting bigger and bigger every day. His hair is really coming in now. He is on a pretty consistent sleep schedule, with the occasional extra feeding during the night.
In the beginning, Ethan was a pretty serious baby, but as he's gotten older, he is really smiling and laughing a lot more (Daddy's chicken imitation usually gets a chuckle). He loves walks in the stroller during the day with Daddy, and in the evening with Mommy. During the walks he checks out the world, smiles and then usually passes out.





Tomorrow is the weekend of Grammy's! Grammy Litsch is coming for a day trip with Uncle Joe, and Grammy Rechenberg and Poppy coming in the evening, and staying the night (at a hotel of course, because Grammy is really allergic to Gypsy and Dinga). We don't see either Grammy as much as we would like, so this weekend will be very special.

First Laughs

Ethan laughed for the first time today. He had laughed in the past before, but only in his sleep. Mommy witnessed both of these moments. Hopefully he will laugh for/at Daddy soon He loves to hang out in his play gym in the afternoon, and he even started grabbing at the rings. He is growing quite well. We already have a ton of clothes that he has outgrown. We can't wait until he grows into the AC/DC and Aerosmith shirts that uncle Keith gave him.  His feet were too big for his harness, so we had to cut holes in the socks. His giant feet now stick out, and it's very cute.

 We met with Dr. Tis at Johns Hopkins, and everything is doing great with his hips. The doctor said that he should only have to wear the harness for another 6 weeks, which would be 10 weeks in total. He even stopped crying when we put the harness back on after bath time. We've all gotten pretty used to it. It actually feels a little weird when the harness comes off at bath time, but we can't wait for it to come off forever.

Weekend with Grandpa

This past weekend Ethan turned 2 months old, and had a visit from Grandpa. We all had a great time. Grandpa is so good with Ethan, and Ethan slept on Grandpa's chest for over an hour. We all went to a party at Adam and Andy's house, and then we went back to the house to watch football and drink milk. Ethan was all partied out and slept for 7 hours.

Today, we took Ethan for his follow up ultrasound for his hip dysplasia. We have to wait for the doctor to consult with us, but the ultrasound tech said that she saw improvement in his condition. If this is true, the little man will only have to wear his harness for 3 more weeks. Mommy and I can't wait until our little boy is free of that contraption.

Ethan Shannon

So Ethan is almost 8 weeks old, and in typical fashion, we are just getting around to documenting his life. Although we have a nice camera, we don't feel like we are documenting his milestones as much as we  should. We are still getting our system down, and trying to get little man on a routine that won't drive any of us too crazy. He just started smiling for us, and is pretty good at keeping his hed up during "tummy time". I am perfecting my system for getting him to sleep at night, and lulling him back to sleep when he is fussy. Jenn is doing great too. She has such patience when it comes to calming Ethan when he is in his witching hour. All in all, Mommy and Daddy make a pretty good team.