Growing Pains, or Confessions of a Bad Mom

Ethan's growing like a wild man and with his new developments, Josh and I have learned the hard way that we are going to have to pay a *lot* more attention to him.

1 - Last Friday we were getting ready to go to a neighborhood picnic (free Chick-fil-A!), and Josh sat Ethan in his carseat on the sofa but didn't buckle him up.  Josh went down the hallway to get his shoes, and I came out of the kitchen to find Ethan squirming around, arching his back then toppling forward out of the carseat and landing face first on the ground below. Then, to make matters worse, the tipsy carseat fell on top of him and clonked him in the back of the head.  ACK!!!  I wanted to die.  Thankfully he was fine, except for fright and a small red spot on his forehead. 

2- Ethan's been working on being able to sit unassisted.  He's lasted 30 seconds or so before collapsing in a small heap, but I'd say yesterday he truly mastered the skill.  I always sit with him and watch him like a hawk in case he should fall over, but after 10 straight minutes this morning, I must have gotten overconfident.  I looked away for literally 3 seconds to reach over to get my beeping cell phone and within that time Ethan had fallen over and clunked the back of his head on our hard floor.  Poor baby!!!  I've learned my lesson and don't let him sit unless he's surrounded by pillows now.

3- After I told Josh the story of Ethan hitting his head on the floor, he confessed that while I was walking Brownie tonight, Ethan fell off the sofa.  Josh had him propped up all cozy, left the room to pee, then came back and Ethan was laying on his stomach on the floor.  Thankfully, he wasn't crying but it did teach Josh about our son's wily ways.

It's amazing to me that a baby who can't yet roll over from back to belly has already found so many ways to get hurt.  And it'scary as a shedevil that there are probably a million more accidents in our future together.  I think I need to go get a nursing degree pronto!

Ethan on the Road

Ethan has never been a carseat sleeper.  As soon as he's strapped into it, he's wide-eyed and alert and stays that way until we reach our final destination.... even when it's 3 hours away. 

A few weeks ago we went to the Atlanta area to visit family and had the joy of listening to a LOT of backseat screaming on the way.  (Ugh.)  As a part of this trip, we spent a day in Gainesville.  We visited Josh's family, which involved going to his Grandmama's house, out to lunch, then to see his Granddaddy in a hospice type place, then we went to visit my grandparents.  With all that activity, Ethan didn't get a single "real" nap 9am til 7pm.  (In addition to not sleeping in a carseat, he doesn't like to sleep while being held either!)

We'd put him in the car as we'd go from one place to another and he'd wail for about 15 minutes, then *finally* begin to nod off, and we'd be to our next destination.  It was so sad having to get him out of the car again knowing he'd be wide awake within a minute.  Thankfully he was a perfect little angel baby for our relatives, but we got the brunt of his crankiness in the car.

A day or two after that, we drove 3 hours south to Warner Robbins for a college friend's wedding reception and planned to visit other friends north of Atlanta afterward.  What was suppsoed to be another 2 hour trek turned into 4 when we got stuck in all the spring breakers returning from Florida.  Ethan screamed a LOT that day... but in the end it was worth it:  he's learned to sleep in his carseat!!!  Now, even on our short drives around town, he'll nod off without crying first.  Praise the Lord!!

With Ethan's new skill handy, we decided to make a 7.5 hour road trip to Virginia to visit Joel, Steph, and Caitlyn.  Overall, Ethan managed better than I expected.  Of course, I had to sit in the backseat with him 80% of the way... and he did grunt, arch his back and try to squirm out of his seat the closer we got, but I can't really blame him.  That's a long time to be strapped into one place!

And just because we couldn't be so close and not visit, on the way home, we made a 2 hour detour to visit other college friends with a new baby in North Carolina.  All totalled, Ethan spent about 10 hours in his carseat that day.  Whew!!

When we brought him into the house, I immediately took him to his room and laid him down in his crib on his belly (his favorite!).  He immediately laid his head down, stroked the sheets with his hands and kicked his legs a few times.  Then, he lifted his head, looked at me and grinned the biggest toothless grin I've ever seen.  I started cracking up and Josh came in the room to see what was up.  Ethan gave him a big smile, too.  Who knew that even babies realize that there's no place like home?  :)