He did WHAT?!?!

Let me set the stage for you.... It's Sunday February 5th and mommy and Easton are hanging out in our sunroom on his playmat. I'm enjoying playing with him and singing to him and I'm singing him one of my favorite songs from my childhood. "There were 3 in the bed and the little one said... ROLL OVER ROLL OVER... so they all rolled over and 1 fell out, there were 2 in the bed and the little one said....". Easton is killing himself laughing over it and I decide to video it to send it to his grandparents and Nan. And then jokingly I say "Easton are you going to roll over?" and the kid DOES IT!!!!! And I caught it all on VIDEO!!! ahhhh!!! Needless to say I freaked out with complete happiness!! (Yeah I'm going to be one of THOSE moms...) I immediately turned him back to his belly and he kept doing it!!!! After the 7th time I knew I wanted daddy to not have to miss out so I made him his own special video so that he could feel like he was RIGHT there with us in the moment. It took little man a little longer to roll since I'd been "exercising" him since the first "roll over" but it's just so cute watching him do it :)

Since then he's now decided to roll everywhere as soon as he's bored on his belly. He is 90% able to turn from back to belly too! AHHH!!! Where is the time going? While we are so proud of him for these new milestones it has shown a new issue... sleeping in his crib. Our baby has been a belly sleeper since 2 weeks old. Yes, I know we are horrible parents but that's the ONLY way he would stay asleep and stay comfortable. Well with this new ability to roll comes rolling at ALL times including sleep times at which he rolls over and wakes himself up and begins playing in his crib. Awwww that's cute right? Well it IS... but not at 4 am when he decided to start that little feat:) He's gotten better at resisting the urge to roll over at night and is now back to his 830PM- 630AM sleep time.

Hope yall enjoy as much as we did!

                                                        FIRST TIME ROLLING OVER                                                      
    

Rolling over for DADDY!

Got Cereal?

We have started on the adventure known as rice cereal. For anyone who is a mommy or for anyone who isn't you can all relate here on this one. There are 1 million and 5 questions on how to "properly" begin rice cereal. In the bottle? In a bowl with a spoon? In the morning? At night? One scoop? Formula added? Rice or Oatmeal instead? These are only SOME of the questions I had to ask when beginning this adventure. After collecting many opinions we started Easton's cereal on February 6th at dinner time with a bowl and spoon. I guess because my child is so use to taking medicine, he took to the idea of a spoon very well. There wasn't the general cereal EVERYWHERE concept but rather just a little around the lips that we "scooped" off right after we snapped his picture when he had finished his entire bowl. I will say though that my child has his mother's independence. You know that time when your parents say "I hope you have a child JUST LIKE YOU!!" and you don't know what they mean? Yeah... well I get that concept now. Easton enjoyed eating his cereal but not getting to NOT hold his own spoon was not sitting well with him. I had to let him put his hand on top of mine and "feed himself". Yes. Many of you are thinking "awww that's so cute" but have you ever wrestled w a 4 month old with something colorful in his hand and on that said colorful thing happens to be rice cereal? Certainly makes for an interesting battle :) He seemed to enjoy the cereal and wanted MORE (of course!) so we are excited to start this new adventure known as the high chair meals with him. Easton has also taken to giving himself his Nexium. We normally give it to him in an eye dropper but he now grabs the dropper and sucks out all the medicine instead of letting us squirt it in for him. Our boy is growing up I guess. Pulls at the heart strings for sure. We are certainly enjoying all these milestones with him :)

Easton's First Laugh

Our little guy has decided to start laughing! It has to be one of the cutest things I've ever heard. Easton will laugh hysterically for his daddy but I can do the EXACT same things and he stares at me like "Mom... you're SO not funny...". So every night Trevis and Easton have some laugh time together. It's precious. This video is Easton FIRST laughing at Trevis! I just happened to get to capture it. Its right at the beginning so listen closely:)

E's First Award

Last June I was approached by a man at a Steubenville on the Bayou Youth Conference who placed his hands on my belly and said "I have a plan for your baby". At first I was taken aback. I was like "ummmm ok" (nervous smile). We both went our separate ways and at the end of the conference we met again. He explained to me this "plan". Without knowing our history or our baby, he wanted Easton to be the Pro Life Baby for the Houma- Thibodaux Diocese for 2012!!!! I was thrilled we were asked, but I didn't know if this man would really "find me" once Easton was born. Well sure enough, a week after he was born Mr. Kell hunted us down and reminded us of the award he wanted Easton to have!!!!

For those of you who don't know, the Pro Life movement is very important to Trevis and I, especially after the loss of our first baby. Trevis marched with the Knights of Columbus in Baton Rouge this year for the March for Life and we intend to bring Easton in the following years (he didn't go this year because of the bad weather).

The Pro Life Mass was held this weekend, January 28th and Easton was "center stage". My heart overflowed with love for my perfect man as he was brought before the congregation as the representative of the lives we are trying to save with this movement. As the priest lifted Easton in the air, my eyes welled up with tears. I'm so proud of him and he's only 3 months old. For me, Easton represents all that's actually "right" in this world. There was a reception afterwards that the KC's held and everyone was able to hold and enjoy Easton. It warms our heart as parents to witness the joy this baby has brought to so many and continues to bring.

Easton, Mommy, Daddy, and the KC Honor Guard after the Pro Life Mass. The man in the purple hat, right over Trevis' shoulder is Mr. Kell who granted Easton this opportunity.

First Illness

On Sunday, January 22nd we experienced our first "what the heck is wrong" moment. Easton had been congested and "not quite right" all day. At first we assumed a reflux exacerbation but after increasing his reflux meds, a steam bath, and countless other remedies didn't work, we knew we had something much more involved. Our friend, who also happens to be an ENT, saw him at home Sunday night and began antibiotics for some fluid he noticed in his right ear accompanied by a post nasal drip, but suggested we see our pediatrician during the week. We began a humidifier that night and hoped for the best. At 430 the next morning, I woke up to Trevis walking the halls with our poor child. He sounded like a freight train and had his eyes closed because he was so tired. But he couldn't stop wiggling around and trying to find a spot in his dad's arms conducive to him BREATHING! If there is anything I want to avoid it's watching my child struggling to breathe. As a parent you feel helpless and want to do everything in your power to make it better. I went psycho with the saline nasal drops and bulb syringe, trying everything in my power to remove anything blocking his nasal passages. To no avail. A trip to the pediatrician that day revealed that Easton had RSV. BLAH!!!! For anyone unfamiliar with this diagnosis, it's a lower respiratory viral infection that affects adults and children but is worse in children because of their tiny airways. Many children are hospitalized for this and that is NOT something we were hoping for for our 3 month old. Breathing treatments began every 4 hours, continued with the antibiotics and found new sleeping positions for Easton, often in our arms because that's the only way we could get him sitting straight up to breathe. Trevis stayed home from work 3 days and I stayed 2 days and by Wednesday our little guy made a great turn around. His lungs were clear at the doctor and everything left was just upper airway and nasal. 1 week later and he's down to 2 breathing treatments a day and sleeping in his own bed, back in his "normal routine". He's out of the sitter for another week for contagion reasons but he's doing great!!!!

Easton was a champ at breathing treatments! It didn't faze him at all. This is him and Daddy getting a middle of the night treatment. Yes Mr. E wants to hold his own treatment. Those little hands are constantly "going" and anything placed in their midst is immediately grabbed.

Happy little breather

These treatments didn't mess with his playtime...Played right on through them. We are so lucky he took to these well!

Side view of "treatment land"

Just a boy and his dog

Anyone that knows our families knows we are HUGE dog people so it was interesting to me when I was pregnant to watch Kota lay on my belly and enjoy "listening" to the sounds his little brother was making inside. When we brought Easton home from the hospital, Kota was fine with it. He didn't love it or hate it either way. He ignored Easton unless Easton cried at which he would come running to Trevis and I and "whine" until we got up and tended to Easton. As Easton has grown so has his love for Kota. Easton can be fussing and completely unhappy and the minute his eyes catch Kota he's smiling and laughing. One of Easton's favorite things is when Kota licks all over him which Trevis and I try to keep at bay. This is a glimpse into the lives of these two!

They catch sight of each other...

Kota sniffs out his brother. Note my hand on his collar holding him back. If this didn't happen he would be licking E all over!

Both of their ultimate happiness...

When Easton becomes mobile I can only imagine what kind of "adventures" these two will get into!

Swimming in the BIG TUB!

As we mentioned in a previous post, Easton's favorite time is normally spent in the bathtub. That being said, we thought it'd be a great idea to take Easton "swimming" in our garden tub. Needless to say he LOVED it. Though I know we won't bathe him there EVERY night, I think we've found our special "treat" for him for now :)

Trevis sat with him in the tub (note the hairy legs) as the "lifeguard on duty"

E loves sitting in the bumbo to splash in the water however he doesn't weigh enough yet to hold it down so Trevis had to hold it in the water!