He's CRAWLING!!!!!!!

Sunday was a very big day for Ethan. He officially CRAWLED!!! (I do have a video of this but it wouldn't upload so I'll try later.) He has been so close for so long and he's taken a few 'steps' at a time but on Sunday he started to really take off. He is now very mobile and moving all over the place. The doctors and his therapists are very impressed that he is already crawling since, according to some of his doctors, he is only 5 months. (His age depends on who you talk to. Some of his doctors go by his corrected age, 5 months. Other doctors and his therapists go by his real age, 8 months. Whatever.) Either way, we have been very blessed to have him come this far already. He loves to come find us wherever we are, whether it's the kitchen, the entryway, or the bathroom. My little boy is growing up!

Here is Ethan crawling!! (I sound mean in the video but I'm really not!)

On another note, everyone says he looks exactly like my dad. On Sunday, my dad got out the same pillow and blanket he gets out every Sunday for his afternoon nap. However, before he could lay down he got distracted and Ethan took his place.

It's my dad's mini-me

First Birthday Party

Ethan went to his very first birthday for one of his friends from the nursery at church. Maria turned one and invited many of her friends to celebrate with her on Saturday. Ethan had a lot of fun watching the older kids jump in the big blow-up bouncy thing and 'talking' to his nursery friends. I meant to get pictures of Ethan and his friends but I was, again, talking too much.

Ethan spent forever picking out the perfect books for Maria

Physical Therapy

Ethan had physical therapy today. Basically his therapist just stretches him out and feels his muscles and ligaments to see how tight he still is and where at. When he started therapy, his PT said that he was like a little baby Mr. Universe because his muscle tone was so tight you could see all of his muscles continually contracting. However, he is now only like that mainly in his hamstrings which we are continually working on by giving him massages every night and we are working on getting muscle relaxers for him. Without them, he won't really be able to sit. Anyway, we LOVE his PT and all the work she puts into him. Here is a picture of her working with him. I meant to get some more but we were too busy talking and I forgot.

His PT is checking the progress on his legs

Something new....we'll see

I thought I would give this a try. Ethan is already 8 months old and growing so fast and I know his grandparents that live in Oklahoma and Ohio miss out on stuff. This way, I thought that maybe I can keep them more up to date with pictures, videos, and such. We'll see how this goes.

For now though, Ethan is so close to crawling! We are constantly holding our breaths and intently focusing on him whenever it looks like he is about to move his arms and start moving forward. We then do a collective sigh of disappointment when he ends up just flopping down on his stomach and rolling along the ground on his way.

We are also still struggling with his reflux and I think we have just compounded the problem somewhat. It's not really that he's spitting up more, it's just that now it is yellow, or orange, or green, or purple depending on what he has eaten. We have taken to lying down huge blankets on the living room floor just to keep our carpet from looking like a rainbow.

Ethan on his big blanket on the floor

Look at that smile and blue eyes!

Yes, I know he is still in his diaper but he spits up so much, it is just easier when we are at home. I do dress him when we go out though. He can't sit up yet b/c his hamstrings are so tight because of his prematurity. However, we are working on that with deep tissue massages every night.

Here's a video of his attempt at crawling and sitting.