Ethan is 9 months!

What a big boy we have!! Ethan is crawling nonstop, pulling up to stand, and even starting to cruise a little.  He can also climb a little bit, and has yet to show any fear, so I'm afraid we may be in for it!!! He is 22 lbs 3 oz and 30 3/4 inches tall!  That is over the 95% in height and just under the 90% in weight.  He is definitely "thinning" out a little bit.  Ethan has not found a food that he will not eat.  He even takes medicine like a champ! Ethan only nurses 4 times, and has really transitioned to that schedule very well! He is a great sleeper and has really turned into a really good napper this past month.  He typically takes two naps a day, unless we have a super busy morning, then he gets by with only one.  He is a very happy boy, who loves to wave at people and smile, especially at the ladies!  This past month, he has gotten so cute with how much he loves his Daddy.  He definitely wants mommy for certain things….but when Daddy gets home from a trip, or just from work at the end of the day, Ethan gets so excited!!!  He crawls right to him or leans over for Daddy to hold him.  Ethan loves to play in Hannah's kitchen and at time stresses her out a little bit with the "mess" he makes.  It's pretty amazing how well he can occupy himself, though he doesn't like for me to leave his sight.  Whenever we turn on the vacuum, Ethan will find us in seconds and just follows us around trying to touch it.  He also loves to grab things out of the dishwasher.  He babbles a lot, and has begun saying mamma when he is hungry or tired.  Other than that, he says baba, dada, blows raspberries, and squeals with delight!  He is truly such a joy to be around!!

Hannah and "Baby Caroline" were feeling left out of the monthly pictures!

February

Where does the time go?  Winter is nearing an end and we couldn't be more thrilled!!  We had another "little" snow at the beginning of the month.  By the ruler I put on our deck, we got around 8 inches!  We really wish Daddy had been home for it, but unfortunately he was stuck out of town.  Luckily, he was able to drive to St. Louis and join his parents on their flight to Charlotte, so while we had some "snowed in" days, they led to a wonderful weekend!!!  We had a great time with the Seiters, and Hannah and Ethan just adore their grandparents.  Hannah loved having Grandma put her down for naps, help her get dressed, decorate with stickers, and do just about everything else with her!  Ethan was his usual happy self, and took to them both right away!  We are thankful that this little guy makes people feel so loved by his quick "warm up" to them!  We spent Saturday morning at the Carolina Aviation Museum and really enjoyed our time there!  It was really neat to see airplanes from The Wright Brothers' plane to the US Airways plane that crashed into the Hudson River a few years ago.  The span of history was really cool.  Hannah loved getting to sit in 3 different cockpits and said that she wanted to be a pilot one day.  It was a quick weekend visit, but we had so much fun and Hannah cannot stop talking about getting on an airplane to go visit Grandma and Papa in a couple months.

We've had a few days of nice weather this month, and have been able to get to the park a couple of times and we even had a little picnic one day!  We have been going to the YMCA on Monday mornings for toddler playtime in the gymnastics center, and it is so much fun!!  Hannah just has a blast, and it is fun seeing her motor skills develop so much! We have a hawk hang around our yard a bunch lately, and he has been really fun to watch.  He mostly just sits in the trees and occasionally we spot him soaring over to another limb.

At the very end of the month, Matt had the opportunity to go skiing with some of the men from his new company.  It was a great opportunity for him to do something he loves, and also to get to know his new company coworkers a bit better.  While he was gone, my parents came up for a visit, and again, the kids just loved having their other set of grandparents here!  Hannah had "Mama" put her to bed one night, and Grandaddy the next two nights!! We had a great time being with them and I was so thankful for their visit!  Grandaddy hung up our bird feeder, and we spent a morning at the Billy Graham Library.  Hannah now frequently talks about Billy Grammy, and the talking cow.