Family Slumber Party!!

What a FUN weekend it's been!! Daddy was out of town in St. Louis so Ethan and I spent the entire weekend out at Papaw and Ginka's house! It's always nostalgic spending the night there since that was our home for the first four months of Ethan's life. Every time I go in the basement it really does bring back memories of those first couple months...introducing him to his room for the first time, the baby snuggles on the couch, the late night pacing in the hallways trying to get him to sleep, oh my...the pacing in the hallways...haha! One of my more "vivid" memories - feeling like I was the only human awake at that hour praying he would just.fall.asleep. The joys of being a new mommy =)

It was an extra special weekend because Great Aunt Terri and Great Uncle John were visiting from Colorado. They just love baby Ethan - they first met him when he was a couple weeks old and such a teeny, tiny baby. Aunt Terri has special memories trying to soothe him, singing lullabys to him, holding him so I could shower, etc. I love reflecting back on those early times because look how far we've come! They are amazed how much Ethan has grown and what a happy boy he is!

One major change to update everyone on is I am officially the newest employee at Williams Jewelry!! Mark needed some help for about two months and I was so happy he asked if I could work!  I found two babysitters to watch Ethan during the week (more on that soon!) and my first day of work was this past Saturday! It was so much fun! Ginka and Aunt Terri watched Ethan and had an absolute ball. Terri laughed at the 'schedule' I left because she said Ethan was right on cue - I said nap time was around 2:15 and sure enough at 2:10 he started rubbing his eyes! He is like clock work! Today, Daddy got home from St. Louis and made it over to the house in time to wake Ethan up from his nap. Yea! My heart just melts because I know Ethan is SO excited to see his Daddy...he just buried his head in his shoulders when he woke up =) Then, Uncle Dave, Aunt Arynn, and cousin Hutch came to visit!! We were soooo excited to see baby Hutch and how much he has changed!! He definitely got passed around so everyone could get baby snuggles in! It was a fun afternoon of family, chili, pumpkin pie, and football!

 

 

 

I must admit I love hearing people compliment Ethan on what a good baby he is. He really and truly is a happy, low-key, relaxed baby and I absolutely love that. Since I'm with him every day, I probably don't 'appreciate' all the changes like I should. When I'm around other people that notice how much he's changed since last time they saw him, it brings me a lot of joy. He is doing so well. He is learning, he follows simple instructions, he babbles, he plays peek-a-boo, he waves hi and bye to anything, he's charming, he blows kisses, he sleeps, he eats, he crawls really fast, he loves animals, he loves his family, HE IS WONDERFUL!! =) It feels amazing to be this proud of Ethan and he's only 14 months old!

This will be my last week with Ethan before I go to work part-time. I tentatively have scheduled about 25-30 hours a week at the store. I've been volunteering as the General Advisor for my old sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha, for about a month now. When working at the store came up, I immediately knew I had some built-in babysitters and asked a couple girls if they would be interested. I found two girls that I'm really excited about...Shelby will be watching Ethan M/W/F and Olivia will watch him T/TR. Both these girls have a lot of babysitting experience and I feel very fortunate I found them. It's going to be a win/win for everyone...the girls will be able to play with Ethan and do homework while he naps, Ethan will have some new play buddies who will give them 100% of their attention, and I will be able to work part-time and help out the family!

It was such a great weekend and I'm so happy we were able to share it with our family. Keep an eye out this week for Ethan's 14-month update! =)