Crawling and Eating!!!

Ethan was such a good boy today! He crawled for the first time. Also other firsts today: ate some french toast without throwing up, 10+ small flattened pieces. My baby has learnt how to swallow. I am soo proud of him, I feel like my heart could burst! He also finished 2 TABLESPOONS of brown rice mixed into a porridge. We used to be able to get like 2 baby spoons, so today is a BIG day for my little darling. He also held his own bottle to drink milk, not first time but still, today is a big day for my Ethan. It's worth it just to go through a tough day to hear about how my little baby is growing up.

Ethan's 2nd tooth popped out!

and now he's no longer as keen on teething biscuits. My mum's worried cos the teeth look a little crooked. Have been trying to remember to ask Eileen what to do. So many things to do and sooo little time!

Ethan also has been practising sitting up by himself and he's really very quick now, from stomach to seat and also from sitting to standing by holding onto a wall or something. Still can't balance when he's able to stand up without aids. Also my mum noticed a lot of babbling and trying to communicate.

Ethan also has some Moby characteristics, hahahaha. Ethan held my head with his hands in my hair and then he kicks me!!! Naughty boy! We've been teaching him not to do that by smacking him. I do hope we don't raise too much of a brat.

Turds away!

Ethan's got constipation big time. The poor little angel cried through his last poopy session 2 days ago cos them turds just won't come out. So in the end, my mum had to stick in a suppository. My poor little baby!!! Anyway the turds came with a little blood, ugh. This is what happens when I dry up and little Ethan takes in more formula.

We'll be trying to stick more water into the little tyke and trying fruits. Hope it works!!! I'm still smarting from his pain!

Ethan stood up today!

without holding onto anything! Yeah lah he did cheat a tad tad bit cos he could push the back of his butt against the sofa, but hey, that's still an achievement in my books!


Ethan stood up by self but still cannot balance so butt pushed against sofa 

Ethan and his daddy :-) 

recent swimming session at my mum's. Ethan loves his pool time. July 17th 


splashing around July 17th 

Preparing for a new "special time"

No doubt about it, I am drying up. I only had to pump about 5pm today. I was really uncomfortable but it did take until almost 5pm before I didn't care about what happened and come hell and high water I just needed to get the milk out of my system. So looks like I will have to face the fact that I won't be breastfeeding soon. and that's SAD.

I'm really going to miss my special time with Ethan. Shame really, cos Ethan has such a clear preference for boob juice direct from boob. So I was thinking of what we can do in future to replace that, so that we can continue to bond. I'm thinking maybe it can be stories. I love fairy tales and have been reading all sorts of stories to Ethan since he was 3 months. His interest in stories and books has tapered somewhat compared to months ago, when you can see the pure joy on his face when he knows it's book time. Looks like it'll be book time versus boob time. What the heck, so long I get to spend time with my little precious Ethan!

The other thing I noticed about Ethan taking in more formula, he's not quite as "turgid" or as "solid" as before. His flesh has become a little softer, like ripe durian, and I truly believe it's got a lot to do with less boob juice. I'm just thankful though that he's stayed healthy, maybe it's the breast milk antibodies or maybe not, I'd like to think it is.

I will be treasuring whatever boob time I have left, session by session, minute by minute. I might even want to keep a video.

My baby makes me happy. June 18th at family lunch celebrating dad & bro's birthday along with Father's day. 

Bathing Ethan at home, taken June 19th 


Ethan trying to stand in the tub 


Ethan loves to suck on his towel :-D 

Milestones

Ethan's now able to push his butt high enough and fast enough until he gets enough momentum to sit up!!! I should try to capture it in video, it's amazing! and so utterly cute!!!

Ethan now is trying to learning how to stand up by himself, without holding onto anything. Ethan's been able to pull himself up (see other posts) for a while already and still hasn't quite learnt to balance. I don't see how he'll be able to successfully stand up unless he learns to balance but we're happy to let Ethan learn and explore his world.


Ethan in motion. Ethan walks so well now! with some help of course! July 15th  

With his fledgling crawling skills (still backwards and circular)and his can-do attitude, we're terrified he's going to seriously hurt himself falling off the bed. The other day, think it was Thursday, we got home early, and I was feeding Ethan on my mum's mattress on the floor. Ethan flipped twice and landed on the floor on his back, hitting his head a little. Lots of crying. I still feel bad about my slow reaction time.

7.5 months and I felt he visibly grew up in a few days. Ethan suddenly feels taller and heavier. His cute feet seem to have grown too, and like, overnight!

We just took a batch of photos, but as usual will have to wait for his daddy to burn me a CD then I'll be able to post the photos up for this blog.

Ethan's also been super manja.


manja Ethan holding onto Daddy June 11th 

When I carry him, he now puts his head on my shoulder and he's been snuggling up when we sleep. When I feed him, he puts his feet on me, thighs or elsewhere so that I can't go anywhere. This weekend, he's been using my boobs as a pillow, literally. He flips on his belly, reaches over and then rests his head on the nearest boob. It's touching cos it takes Sooo Much effort for Ethan to do that. Ethan even leans forwards to rest his head on me when I let him sit on my stomach. He then leans forward liek sit-and-reach, with his arms out and then "hugs" me with arms and head. I never want to ever forget how sweet he is. Really, this is one of those "die happy" moments.

I'm still storing up on hugs. And kisses though now "kisses" is more like tongue slobber but hey! It's how my little one does it - I'll take it any way it comes... First "kiss" was last week I think, maybe over the weekend. I really should blog more often.

Ethan's first tooth

Yo! I can't believe how long it's been. I've missed blogging about Ethan but it's work, crap! Ethan's daddy drove me home on Friday when my mum proudly announced the eruption of Ethan's first tooth. It's the actual thing!!! And it's so tiny, but clear as day, caught in the right light.

My little baby actually bit my nipple again and thanks to the little tooth, my nipple was bleeding. Ugh! Think he was protesting the lack of milk forthcoming. It's been tough and now I fully understand why some say breastfeeding is best even in terms of convenience. With less milk now, it's been tough on weekends cos I have to rely on someone else to get Ethan fed. Today he sat on the bed and held his own bottle to drink. He always could but was never willing, must have been really hungry today. Still only took 20ml and then we had to hoist Ethan off to my mum's to get fed. One hour of trying to feed little Ethan and 20ml was all he took and it had been 3.5 hours since last meal, so we had no choice. My nipple was still in pain, and now still sore, so off to my mum's.


Ethan only eats the very sweet. Thank goodness my dad's the best at picking out super-sweet fruits. Ethan therefore wants his water apple. First time he opened up his mouth to eat a fruit! 16th June 

Nope, Ethan still not quite eating, so it's still pretty much milk, breast or formula, thank goodness he'll willing to take formula. But like his father, Ethan has a sweet tooth. Me and my mum think he's going to develop what I call "emperor tongue" like his daddy. Emperors get 1000 dishes and they can only get through it by eating only the best and the sweetest from each dish.