Addendum

I remembered a couple other little things I wanted to have on record.  I probably won't ever be this detailed about future children's growth, but Ethan gets all our first-time parent mistakes, so it all evens out in the end, right?  Er, right.  Anyway, I have the luxury of being able to now, so here goes.

I was so sad to see some of Ethan's hair go because it was SO soft.  Seriously silky smooth.  I loved to just stroke it.  His bald little head wasn't nearly as fun to stroke.  Now that his hair is growing back, stroking is again quite enjoyable.

When his head was still so little, cupping my hand on it took be back to that moment when he was crowning.  Amazing.

Ethan is getting quite good at grabbing things.  Not deliberately picking something out and grabbing it, but reaching out and gripping whatever happens to be close enough.

He has taken to "hugging" me.  I love it!  He'll wrap his arm around me when he's nursing or when I hold him up to my shoulder.  It makes cuddling with him that much better. 

Yesterday, he and I snuggled almost all day.  I wanted to do some badly needed cleaning, but I just could not get enough of him.  And I was tired, so we took a nice nap together.  I really haven't done that often with him.  I intended to, because I know I probably won't be able to do it with the next one, but most of the time I don't really feel like I need it, or else I'm trying to get stuff done.  I said foo to that yesterday and just enjoyed the fun side of mommyhood.

We introduced a binky to him last week when he turned six weeks.  I was so torn about giving him a binky, but we decided to just try it.  He took it.  I was a little surprised by how well he did with it actually.  He hasn't taken it since that night.

On my first Sunday back in Primary (that would be two Sundays ago), Terral stayed home with Ethan.  Ethan did take a bottle while I was gone, which worked out nicely.  I still have really mixed feelings about going to church.  It's hard, but afterward I always think, "That wasn't so bad."

Ethan is nursing a lot, which is quite understandable when you think about how much he has grown.  During this six-week growth spurt, he has been nursing pretty much every hour, except at night.  He is sleeping pretty well.  He usually has a long stretch from midnight to about 3 or 4.  A couple nights  ago he almost went five hours!  Then he'll wake up, nurse for a few minutes, then sleep again for a couple hours.  It's fairly consistent now.

I'm much more aware of how often he is nursing now because one of my friends gave me a nursing bracelet that helps you keep track of those kinds of things.  I kept meaning to write down his schedule to make it easier when I start teaching private lessons again, but I have yet to do that.  The bracelet i making it easier to at least take mental notes.