Wow, how fast time flies by!

I cannot believe it has been nearly 10 months since my last blog post!  My how true it is how fast time flies by!  In my last post I included pictures of Ethan at 4 months old and now he is almost 15 months!  In place of almost a year's worth of missing posts, I will provide you this update post and a promise to keep my blog more up-to-date in the future!  :)

A recap in the last 10 months of the Aasby household:
February 2011 - In February I became an Independent Consultant for Thirty-One!  I was invited to a Thirty-One party in January and loved all of the products.  Knowing we obviously could not afford for me to buy all of them on just Brent's income I decide to sign up as an independent consultant to receive a discount on the products.  Becoming a Thirty-One independent consultant has also offered me the wonderful opportunity to earn a little extra income for our household, as well as getting me out of the house to have a little girl time (which is much needed since my days are filled with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!)  Feel free to check out my website at www.mythirtyone.com/hollyaasby
 
March 2011  - Ethan got his first two teeth (within days of each other!)  He looked so cute with his new little pearly whites!  :)  He also started waving bye-bye...melt my heart!

April 2011 - Brent and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary.  My wonderful sister, Connie, babysat Ethan so we were able to go out to dinner to celebrate!  I cannot believe we have already been married two years.  I'm sure that every year I will probably say this exact same thing with the only change being the number of years we have been married!

May 2011 - Ethan started walking using his sit-to-stand car.  He also took his first steps at the end of the month!  Look out world - Ethan is almost ready to start walking!!!

June 2011 - At the end of the month Ethan started walking all on his own!  From this point on there was no stopping him and he became quite the little adventurer!

July 2011 - July was a busy month!  On July 4th I turned 30 years old...as I was just typing that I accidentally typed that I turned 20 years old...hmm, perhaps that is how old I was wishing I really was?  ;)  The day before my birthday Connie offered to babysit Ethan so Brent and I could go to a movie and out to eat.  After the movie I noticed a text from Connie saying that Ethan would not stop crying or take his bottle so she wanted to know if we could stop home first to calm him down before we went out to eat.  Brent didn't really seem to want to go home, but I told him we'd just go home and I'd nurse Ethan quick and then we could go to Red Lobster.  When we got home I went up the stairs and was welcomed home by "SURPRISE!" and the smiling faces of my family and friends.  Connie has planned a surprise birthday party for me!  The best part of it was that Ethan was actually a very good boy for Auntie, had not been crying at all and had drank his entire bottle - what a wonderful present for this mommy!

At the end of July we traveled to Montana for the 10th Annual Erickson Family Reunion at the Montana Wilderness School of the Bible.  I had only met a few of the Ericksons (Brent's mom's mom's side of the family) so it was a wonderful time of meeting new family (well for Ethan and me anyway!)  Brent and I, along with two other couples, are in charge of planning the next reunion for 2016!  Oh boy!!

After the reunion, we stopped at Glacier National Park for a few days.  Ethan and I had never been there so it was a great time!  Glacier had so much snow late in the season this year that there were some spots (that are usually green and lush with flowers) that were still covered in snow!
On the way home we also stopped by Frontier, SK (in Canada) to visit some of Harold's relatives.  I had never met these relatives and it had been years since I had been to Canada!  Ethan seemed to enjoy his first visit to another country as well.  ;)  This was also Ethan's first long road trip and he was such a good boy!!!

August 2011 - Ethan turned 1 year old on August 19th!  It is funny how turning 1 year just made him seem like so much more of a big boy!  He had a wonderful 1st birthday party filled with family, friends, many presents (aka TOYS) and CAKE!  :D

September 2011  - In September Ethan and I went on a play date with a friend to the Red River Valley Zoo.  This was Ethan's first visit to a zoo and he loved looking at all of the animals.  The Red River Valley Zoo isn't all that exciting of a zoo but Ethan had a great time anyway (even though he was also suffering from a cold!  That's my little trooper!) 

Ethan also had his first injury at the end of September.  His little foot/ankle got caught underneath my leg as we were going down the slide at the park one Saturday afternoon.  He would not put any weight on his foot so a few days later I took him in to the doctor and he had his first X-ray.  To say he did not want to cooperate is a huge understatement!  They were able to finally get a clear picture though and everything looked good - what a relief! 

The doctor assured me that Ethan would start walking on it again and to just give it a couple days.  He finally started walking on it but then he was limping!  At first this seemed normal but after a week had passed and he was still limping I decided to take him to my chiropractor.  Wonderful Dr. Jennifer Sabourin checked Ethan over and said she thought it was something with the meniscus in his knee.  She did an adjustment on his knee and a few days later he was back to normal.  This is why I love my chiropractor!  :D

October 2011 - Ethan went trick-or-treating at West Acres Mall.  He was an ADORABLE puppy dog and such a trooper - he even left the hood part of his costume up the entire time!  Unfortunately the material on the bottom of his costume was slippery on the nicely waxed floor so Brent had to carry Ethan around to all of the different stores.  Next year I will try to get a costume where walking (indoors and outdoors) will be possible!  He didn't really understand the whole concept of trick-or-treating; however, as soon as we were done he took his little pumpkin and dug in it for candy.  Apparently he did understand that people were putting yummy goodies in his pumpkin though!

Ethan Turns 4 Months Old

Ethan turned 4 months old on 12/19/10.  Of course I'm way behind on posting pictures, but at least I'm getting around to it before he turns 5 months!  :)  We had our usual photo shoot to commemorate this occasion.  Ethan is now getting a bit more active during our shoots and tries to grab for the camera many times.  He has also figured out that there is a sticker on his onesie (I have decals for each month that just stick onto his clothes for easy removal) and has started trying to remove it.  Even though every time I put the decal on I say to him, "Now Ethan, NO playing with the sticker and trying to pull it off.  We need to leave it on!"  :)

I love his face in this one!

Give me that camera!

Mama, what are you up to?

Wow...

I am TERRIBLE at keeping this blog up-to-date!  I am going to try really hard in the next couple of days to add some posts!!  Some things for you to look forward to are the following:

• Ethan turns 4 months old!
• Baby's 1st Christmas
• Crawling already?!

And I'm sure by the time I actually get those blogs completed Ethan will be turning (or will have already turned) 5 months old, so you can probably look forward to those pictures as well!

3 Months

Well since Ethan is now almost 4 months old I thought it was about time I posted his 3 month pictures!  :)  We took Ethan to JCPenney for his 3 month professional pics.  He fussed at first and then did what he usually does and stared at the camera...unfortunately, we did not capture any smiles.  The pictures below are the ones we purchased, but if you'd like to see all the photos they took you can view them here.

What's that thing?

I think I can grab the camera...

I want to put that camera in my mouth...

Are we done yet?

Cute little feet!

Faith - Hope - Love - Family

The Aasby 2010 Christmas Card

Faith Hope Family Religious Christmas Card

Personalize the christmas season with Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

It's almost that time of year...

It's almost that time of year when the Christmas cards start pouring in.  I've been thinking about where we should get our own family Christmas card through this year.  Last year I made them at Target, which was very fast and easy since I was still working there.  However, since I am no longer working (and find that having a baby means it is sometimes hard to go places exactly when I want!), I am thinking I'll just order our cards online this year.  That way they will be mailed right to me!    
I was looking through a friend's blog and came across a link for a great promotion through Shutterfly.  If you are a blogger as well, you might be interested in checking out the promotion too.  All you need to do is blog about Shutterfly's Holiday Card promotion and you'll receive 50 free cards!!!  How cool is that?!  I've been looking at the 2010 Christmas and Holiday Card options and there are so many cute ones it is going to be very hard to decide!!  Some of my faves are Christ Wishes, Christ is King, Nativity Blessing and Elegant Cross.  Now I just hope we can get a good family photo so we have something to put on our Christmas card!
P.S. For those of you that seem to always be late at sending your Christmas cards, Shutterfly also offers New Year's cards so that might be a better option for you!  :)

I'm a little pea pod

Ethan went trick or treating for the first time last Sunday (Halloween).  He didn't really do so much "trick or treating"; it was more "lounging in the stroller" and "having Mom carry me."

When I bought his costume I just thought "Ethan's going to be a pea pod; he will be so cute!"  I didn't really think about the fact that a pea pod does not have legs, which meant strapping Ethan into his car seat while wearing the costume was pretty much impossible.  So Brent and I had to do a little costume dressing in the parking lot of West Acres. 






Unfortunately, I don't think Ethan loved his costume all that much, mainly because he wasn't able to kick in it.  I originally bought him a 0-3 month size.  However, when I tried to put that on him I realized it would not be long enough so I purchased a 3-6 month size.  I attempted to try it on him in advance but he kicked his legs so much during my attempt that I gave up figuring it would for sure fit him since he wouldn't even be 3 months old yet and the costume was 3-6 months, right?  Wrong.  Well, he fit into it, just to the very end of it! 


The head part of his pea pod costume was a little too big so it didn't want to stay up on its own and the body part of the costume was too short so Ethan couldn't kick and he LOVES doing that!  Thankfully we were only at the mall for about 30 minutes and then he got to take off his costume.

My nephews, Cooper and Cole, with Ethan...I think Ethan is wondering, "Where is my sucker?!"

Daddy and Mommy with Ethan...Brent and I decided to go trick or treating as ourselves...it made finding costumes really easy!

 

Grandpa and Grandma Tang stopped by the mall to see the grandchildren!  Unfortunately, Ethan wasn't in a very smiley mood!  :(

All in all it was a pretty successful first attempt at trick or treating.  Let's hope next year (when Ethan's legs will probably be doing more walking than kicking!) will go just as well!! 

Mommy's Little Pumpkin & Daddy's Little Monster

This week I've been putting Ethan in all of the different Halloween outfits that I have for him.  Of course this also means that I need to take a ton of pictures in each outfit.  I don't think Ethan finds the photo shoots to be nearly as much fun as I do!  He is a good sport though!  :)

On Monday he was Mommy's Little Pumpkin.

 

We went shopping at Target and Walmart together and Ethan was a very good little boy for Mommy.  I didn't have to hold him at all while we were shopping and he even fell asleep while we shopped at Walmart.  See, he already knows that Target is a much more exciting place to shop than Walmart.  ;)

On Wednesday he was Daddy's Little Monster.  

 

 

 

I had a dentist appointment so I dropped off Ethan to Brent at work.  Ethan was a good boy for Daddy while Mommy was gone...except for spitting up all over his onesie...perhaps he no longer wanted to be called a little monster?!

On Sunday Ethan is going trick or treating as a ... 

well you'll have to check back to find out!!

A Day of Firsts

Last Friday we decided to try out a few new things on Ethan...

He seemed to really enjoy his Prince Lionheart seat (similar to a Bumbo seat) but he doesn't quite have complete head control yet.  Once he gets that down I think he'll like it even more!  

After this we decided to try out his activity gym. 

He wasn't quite sure about it. 

 

He liked the big blinking sun that changes colors and plays music, but he wasn't as big of fan of the other stuff.  At one point he got scared my everything that was hanging down.  I suppose it might be a bit overwhelming to have so many things suddenly in your face!  

Daddy playing with Ethan

Who needs a pacifier?

Ethan has never really been a big fan of pacifiers.  He sucked on them a little bit at the hospital and he took one last week when he had his cold but other than that he really does not like them.  He normally has one of two reactions when you give him a pacifier.  He either laughs because he thinks it tickles and you are playing with him or he makes a face as if he's disgusted and then starts screaming.  The latter one usually occurs when he is very tired. 

He has always enjoyed sucking on his hands but recently he has found his thumb!  He greatly enjoys sucking on his thumb and I think he's actually quite proud of himself that he is able to get it in his mouth.  :)




Yesterday, I took some pictures of him sucking on his thumb because he just looked so cute!  I am hoping to also get pictures of his two reactions to the pacifier.  The laughing one shouldn't be too hard but the screaming one might be a bit more of a challenge!  :) 

2 Months Already?!

Ethan turned 2 months old yesterday.  How did he get so big so fast?!  We took our usual monthly photos and Ethan was in a great mood during them and was a very good boy.

Unfortunately, I did not capture enough of his smiles.  He's a sneaky little one and always seems to stop smiling the minute I hold up the camera or my cell phone.  He will be smiling and when I hold up the camera he just stops and stares.  It really is quite adorable but a little annoying when I'm trying to document his lovely smiles!  :)

Today Ethan went to the doctor for his 2 month checkup.  Everything went well until the shots part of the appointment.  Poor little guy's face turned bright red and he just screamed.  :(  His doctor was very impressed with how he can hold his head up so well and that he is already able to roll over from his tummy to his back.  She was also amazed by his long lashes and his nurse said that he has the softest cheeks she has ever felt.  :)  Ethan already weighs 13 pounds, 2 ounces and is 23 1/4 inches long!  He has grown so much from his birth at 8 pounds, 8 ounces and 20 inches.  He is getting to be such a big boy!!!

  

Well they used to be cute...

I did laundry today.  I opened up the washer after the second load was finished and I thought, "I didn't think I washed that many pink items!"  That is probably because I had not and all of my "whites" were now pink!!  I couldn't figure out what happened because I had washed all of my pink items before and I knew they did not bleed.  I had also put a color catcher in with the load so I would have thought that would catch everything.

Brent was helping me pull out the laundry and he held up a pair of Ethan's pants and said, "Or was it these?"  Yeah, the pair of red pants with the cute little baseball on the butt that I had thought were so cute when Ethan wore them the other day were no longer cute!  I had sorted out my laundry into lights and darks but just threw all of Ethan's laundry in with the light load.  Apparently this was NOT a good idea.  I then spent the rest of the day trying to return my "whites" to their white status.  They are still not quite there but hopefully all of the dye will be removed soon! 

I don't think I'll ever again look at the cute little red baseball butt pants the same way...of course the baseball is now pink so perhaps it is best if Ethan just does not wear them anymore. ;)

It's all about the nose

As I was setting up this blog, I was wondering what I would possibly find to write about in my first post.  Since I am a multi-tasker I was also nursing my son, Ethan, at the same time.  I happened to glance down at him and what was coming out of his nose?  Milk!  Thank you Ethan for providing me a topic for my first post!

Now this isn't the first time that milk has come out of his nose.  However, last time it was just a little drop.  This time it was running out of his nose.  Before I had a child I never once thought about the fact that milk might possibly come out of their nose!  Being a parent enlightens you to all kinds of things you never imagined you'd find yourself seeing and doing.

Later in the day when Ethan was on his changing table I thought he was sounding a little stuffed up.  He has been suffering from his first cold/cough the past few days so he has been sneezing more than usual, which also means more stuff than usual flying out of his little nose.  The day he learns to cover up his sneezes will be wonderful!

We have this awesome tool called The Snot Sucker (by Nose Frida).  If you are parent of young children I definitely recommend it!  http://nosefrida.com/  The Snot Sucker does exactly as its name implies - sucks the snot right out of your child's nose.  You stick one end in your child's nostril and the other end of the tube in your own mouth and the suck (don't worry there is a filter to separate you from sucking in any germs/snot!)  So after I had sucked the snot out of Ethan's nose I was happy knowing my little boy could breathe a little easier.  That is until I stopped and really thought about the snot I could see sitting in that tube and how it was incredibly gross!  Oh the things we do for our children to keep them healthy and happy!

Being a mother for the first time is teaching me new things each day it seems.  Yes, there are some gross days, frustrating days and tiring days, but there are also wonderful days and at the end of every day I have to stop and remember that God has given me the awesome responsibility of being a mother and a wife and for that I am truly grateful.

Well it is now Friday, October 15th so I should probably publish Thursday's post!  Just another thing I've learned being a mother...nothing ever gets done by when you want it to be done!  :)