Ethan's first holiday in this world was Halloween. Anyone who knows Todd very well will think this is funny because Todd is not the biggest fan of Halloween. He just wants to skip over it and start thinking about Christmas and all the joy it brings our family (from the christmas decorations to the festiveness in the air to the time spent with family)
When they gave us our due date of Oct. 27th, we both looked at each other and laughed and said "a Halloween baby!" Then we said, "what happens if he is born actually on Halloween?" Well, he was born on Oct. 2nd so we are in the clear. However, I have to laugh at the way Todd has warmed up to Halloween. We were in Kirklands sometime this past September and I found Todd over by the Halloween decorations. He had this ceramic pumpkin in his hand that lights up and has the monogram D on it. He continues to say "let's buy this pumpkin and at least have one Halloween decoration in the house." I laughed and thought it was cute because we talked about how Ethan was going to be our fall/halloween baby and how could we not embrace the halloween holiday? I told Todd I was going to mark the calender when we got home that he purchased a pumpkin. We both had a good laugh that day. You can see the pumpkin in his pictures below.
As for dressing up Ethan in his outfit, we first had to decide where to get his Halloween costume. I had planned on pottery barn but the smallest size was 3 months. So, I checked Babies R'Us and they didn't have anything. I went back a few weeks later and we found a newborn Mickey outfit! Perfect! We love Disney! We didn't really do anything but hang out as a family at the house since Ethan doesn't have his shots yet, but we sure did have a good time.
The first week with Ethan at home proved to be very busy. We had many "firsts" and just can't get enough of our little peanut. We really had a chance to bond as our new little family. Thank goodness Todd was home with me for that first week. He took a total of 2 weeks off from work and I am so glad that he did. His first week off of work was pretty much gone since we didn't get home from the hospital until Thursday night. It is amazing how much stuff a baby needs - especially when you have a two story house. You really need double the stashes so you don't have to go up and down a million times. We got into our own little routine of feeding, playing, and putting him down for naps. The night time was exhausting as we had to feed him every 2 to 2.5 hours. We worked as a team and I was going to savor every minute of it before Todd had to go back to work. I think we fell in love every single day with him. Is that possible? We would enjoy going to his closet and picking out his clothes for the day. As if he had somewhere to go. haha. The little things that fill up your new world. We enjoyed cooing with him after his feeding and diaper change. He even smiled a few times and my heart just melted.
On our drive home from the hospital, there was a terrible thunderstorm and we were driving in horrible rain. Almost to the point of having to pull over type of rain. I asked Todd when was the last time we drove in this type of weather and he said it had been years. Of course it was the day that we bring Ethan home and mama just wanted to get home safely. The driveway couldn't come soon enough. On Friday we had our first peditrician appointment and we are very happy with Dr. Yarckin. He was a referral from my friend Bethany and we are excited to start our journey with him as Ethan's doctor. For his first week of life, we were able to get his weight up to 5 lbs 15 oz which is great because usually babies lose up to 10% of their body weight in the first week. The first few days he lost 4 oz but by the time the end of the week arrived he went right back up and then some.
We have started to use our play yard with Ethan and we noticed he rolled to his side! We literally ran to get our video camera because we didn't know if he was going to roll over! I was amazed. Also, we caught Ethan sucking his thumb one day after he woke up from his nap. It was the cutest thing. The things that we did catch on camera is a video of his first time doing tummy time and his first sponge bath. (see video's below) He wasn't crazy about either. haha. I think he wasn't crazy about the bath because he is so little he is still trying to regulate his body temperature. He does get cold easily and the poor little guy just wanted to get back into his comfy clothes and be swaddled.
On Monday, Todd and I took our first little stroll around the neighborhood. I couldn't do much and walked very slowly, but we at least walked around our circle. Ethan got to meet his neighbors and we enjoyed getting outside and getting some sunshine. Our direct next door neighbor, Vanessa and Sam and their two boys were so sweet and surprised us with a "It's a Boy" sign for our yard. It is definitely not your typical yard display. See below.
On Tuesday, we celebrated his 1 week birthday. My mom, aunt, and grandma came over and we had a cookie cake to mark the occasion. Of course he slept through the whole thing, but at least we got a picture. :)
On Wednesday, we had our first walk with Ethan's most favorite girl - Kayla. Kim came over and we walked the two babies. This fall weather has been absolutely perfect and I couldn't wait to get outside and work up a good sweat and catch up with Kim. By this day, I was feeling back to normal and we actually took a 2 hour walk! We always talked about walking with the babies when Ethan arrived and I can't believe we are actually doing it and he is here. It still is surreal to me that we are now a family of three.
Going to the doctor for his 1 day old appointment. Yes, 1 day old. How precious....
Mommy is exhausted at his 1 day old appointment, but she is glad to be there. :)
