Some good news folks!

The four of us in Baltimore :)

A trip to the big apple

Ethan in his fire engine bed

Bathtime

Ethan and his buddy

The Sombats in Baltimore


Now I can tell you all why I have been so bad about updating the blog lately. We are expecting our second baby on July 18th!!!!! (And as a result, I've been pooped the past couple of months!). We are obviously incredibly excited that Ethan is going to be a big brother! Ethan knows something is in my tummy. When we ask him where the baby is, he lifts my shirt up, pokes my belly and giggles. He has learned to say "baby" and "big brother" (kind of). (Sorry, I cannot seem to download the pic of the ultrasound, but email me if you want to see it and I can send you the file).

A few days after I realized I was pregnant, Ethan suddenly stopped nursing. He went from nursing at least several times per day to nothing. I guess the pregnancy changed the taste of things. After that it was something of a challenge for me to learn to comfort him in other ways (especially at bed time), but within a week or so he was finally sleeping through the night on occasion. Now, most nights he sleeps in his fire engine bed after being cuddled to sleep. Then he wakes up in the middle of the night and wanders into our room. He frequently either sleeps with his whole body on my pillow or gives Steve only the tiniest sliver of his side of the bed.

A weird pregnancy symptom- starting at 3:00 p.m. each day- severe itching over most of my body (worst on hands and feet) with hives developing by evening. Then, by about 10 a.m. the itching and hives would completely disappear. This went on for about 5 days. The only thing that would help was soaking in an ice cold bath of water. Anyone ever heard of this happening or know what causes it?

We all had a wonderful Christmas this year. Besides telling our folks the good news, Ethan really knew that something special was going on. He ran out to the tree Christmas morning to see his presents (many of which he liked, but a couple scared him). Steve got him the hokie pokie Elmo, but he had to do surgery on him to make him work. Ethan cried when Elmo was doing the hokie pokie with wires hanging out everywhere.

Ethan is so full of energy and personality and is a constant source of fun for us. He adores music of any kind and bops his head, taps his toe and shimmies to every beat. He sits at the table like a big boy now and is eating better. I believe this is partially because we are not pressuring him to eat in any way whatsoever or even praising him when he eats. He also loves airplanes (big surprise!). When he sees one in the sky he points to it and says "Da Da!".

More later (hopefully not too much later). I have to give a talk to a pretty critical bunch of folks next week and better get down to business so that I don't get harassed too badly.

Happy New Year to all of you! Drop us a line when you get a chance!