Growing Camp Family: One Month Update

Well I am officially terrible at keeping the blog up to date. It is not often that I have two hands free or sit down during the day. This is due to a few things...Ethan likes to be held, I like to hold Ethan, when I have him in a sling he doesn't like it when I sit down and it has been gorgeous outside so I haven't wanted to be inside on the computer.

I am an accountant so I thought I would give you a few numbers to help you get a picture of what we have been up to...
4: estimated number of hours Ethan eats each day
51: number of episodes of Pawn Stars I have watched while Ethan has been eating. I have since beat some game with 64 levels and have now graduated to reading Harry Potter.
26%: Ethan's weight increase in one month. 7lbs 1oz to 8lbs 14.5oz. He is on the small side compared to babies his age but the weight gain has been right on track.
0: The number of rooms in our house that don't have a baby related item in it. He has officially taken over, something I was trying so hard not to let happen.
12: On a scale of 1 to 10, my rating for the Birth Party Auntie Awesome (Brandon's sister Rayanne) threw for Ethan. She even made the cake from scratch.

Our amazing hostess Rayanne

Ethan's Birth Cake

I have really enjoyed my time at home with Ethan (and am not excited about how fast my last three weeks on maternity leave are going to go). He and I are getting to know each other better and it is so fun to watch him grow. It has been much quieter since our sisters left town and parents went back to work, but it has been good for me to learn to do things on my own. Besides eating, diaper changes and naps, we like to sit on the deck, go for walks, visit with friends and sing the Minnesota Vikings Fight Song (but we change the 'fight' parts to 'score' to make the song more Ethan friendly). In a month Ethan's neck has gotten much stronger, he can hold his head pretty steady for a while, he smiles (not sure if he knows it though), he is cooing and he is making eye contact....all very exciting for us.

We had a great Labor Day weekend at my parents' cabin. The extra hands to hold him were very helpful while I caught up on a little sleep.

Not that we have much to compare to, but we think Ethan is a pretty good baby. He definitely does his share of fussing but that is mainly because I refuse to feed him 24/7. He sleeps pretty well at night - especially when we use the 'magic blanket' and get a good swaddle (Brandon is better at this than I am). And he can sleep in his cradle as opposed to on one of our chests which he preferred at first. I think I sleep for about 5 or 6 hours each night. But that should increase now that Brandon is teaching me how to ignore every noise Ethan makes and he can take the 11pm feeding with a bottle (as long as I keep pumping which I am not a fan of).