A little over 7 months:)

Welcome back to the Dye Family Blog:) Here is what has been happening with our fam since our last post:

We have had lots of reasons to celebrate: Andrew's 27th Birthday and Cameron's 26th, our 3rd year Anniversary, Cameron's first official Mothers Day and Andrew's First Father's Day:) We also got to see Amanda off to the Former Soviet Union for the summer, Daniel graduated Valedictorian from High School, and R. J. received ANOTHER promotion at work:) Way to go guys! Ethan has started sleeping through the night on a regular basis too! Praise the Lord! We really can't remember the actual date this started happening (sleep deprivation and over stimulation has taken it's toll on our ability to remember non-vital things;), but we are thankful for this change. Andrew surprised Cameron with a dinner and a movie date (in an actual movie theater!) a couple of weeks ago, and it was a blast! We also both continue to work and are thankful for God's provision for everything. Lots of good things to celebrate. Ethan continues to reach his developmental milestones and is finished with his 2,4,and 6 month shots! He sits up well, but still has his moments of poor balance. He continues to love being on his feet and would prefer to be walking around the house with your help, than sitting on the floor or playing in his Exersaucer. We need to start baby-proofing because he is so eager to move about independently that I don't think there will be much of a transition period when he does become mobile. He laughs more and more and can now reach the objects on his swing's mobile when he tries hard. He continues to have his meal menu expanded and just started in on mangoes this week. He has started biting and is thus fed more often than not from a bottle. He has about 1/2 formula and 1/2 breast milk for his meals, and it is working out well:) He enjoys being read to, but is picky with what books and for how long he is read to. Some other firsts include: going swimming, going to the zoo and sucking on his toes!

Ethan's parents have also reached a parenting developmental milestone: they just started letting him stay in the nursery Sunday mornings while they are in church service. They have done well with this new change and are thankful for the opportunity to focus better on the sermon. Ethan has done just fine and has not had stranger or separation anxiety. Ethan also stayed with the Lambeth family when his parents were on their date, which was his first time staying at a friend's home by himself. Phew! Andrew and I are growing:)

Our house is coming along and we are finally starting to decorate! It is real nice to finally see it take shape and become our home. We have also lined up for a landscaper to come and give us an estimate on doing our backyard. This area of our home has literally been a desert since we moved in and we would love to have grass and trees! So hopefully this week we will be able to meet up with the landscaper.

There you have it in a nutshell. Have a great week!

6 months old!

Our First Family Portraits

This sounds so cliche, but time sure does fly!

Ethan is 6 months old now and a lot has been happening in his life since we last updated the blog.

There was a big lull in our lives for about two weeks back in April, because first I got sick from an Upper Respiratory Tract Infection type thing, and then I passed it on to Ethan:( I know that I felt misserable and so I can't imagine how it felt being in his little body. For about a week no one else in the house showed any signs or symptoms of feeling sick, but then it hit. Ethan began to have a runny nose and then low grade fevers. He became real fussy and pale:( He wasn't eating as much and continued to have diarrhea but didn't show any signs of dehydration. We had read that when a breast fed baby catches a bug from the mother that it often isn't as severe nor does it last as long because he has ingested the antibodies her body has already produced towards it. So we tried to wait it out, but he only got worse. We ended up taking Ethan in to see the MD twice and the second time Ethan was placed on oral Prednisone and Albuterol nebulizer treatments. He did not enjoy these treatments, but he stopped wheezing and started sleeping a little bit better during the nights. The MD had also instructed us to start him on a lactose free formula with the suspision that he was lactose intolerant. His diarrhea went away in a couple of days! Sheesh poor fella.

Andrew escaped getting sick but had to endure his first polygraph test at his work. This was very draining for him but he made it and the people running his test agreed that he is not a spy

We are now over being sick but Andrew and I just can't seem to get caught up with stuff around the house and with friends. Plus Ethan had only been waking up once during the night prior to getting sick and then afterwards starting waking up about 4 times a night. We just feel very tired.

We celebrated Ethan's first Easter here at home and had my Mom, Grandma and Stephen over for an Easter feast!

I have started going back to the Mother Goose mommy/baby group on Wednesdays and just started attending a Mother/Baby stroller group on Tuesdays and Thursdays to get some exercise and fresh air.

Ethan is now rolling over like crazy from his back to his stomach, enjoys playing with his feet, and is eating three solid food meals a day. We make his baby food half the time and the other half we use pre-packaged. I think that once we are sure of what he is alergic to or not then we will start making more of his food. He is eating rice cereal, squash, carrots, peas, pears, zuchini, and sweet potatoes. He really likes eating:)

We got to have a dedication of Ethan to the Lord this last Sunday at our church and it was good to have our families present with us for this public commitment.

Solid Foods:)

Ethan just started eating solid foods this past week and Andrew was able to capture the memorable moment on camera of course:)! First on the menu was rice cereal mixed with breast milk. He didn't care for it, but his face was priceless!

Needless to say, he spat up most of it about 15 minutes later!

I was printing out pictures on the WalMart website this morning and came across some super cute pictures I also wanted to share:

I love this picture of my two sleepy-heads!

Have a great week!

A little more than 4 months:)

Hi everyone!

We apologize for not keeping you up to date! Ethan is now 17 weeks old and a lot has been happening:)

Here is a quick update on the little fella and our fam, as well as a ton of pictures!

• Ethan will be having his 4 month check up and shots tomorrow. We will find out his official height and weight then, but when he gets onto the bathroom scale with me, he weighs in at about 16 pounds. With the measuring tape he is 26 inches long! He is wearing 9 month old clothes and sometimes 12 month old clothes!






• He is now tolerating more tummy time and can hold up his head 90 degrees:) He has found his hands and enjoys munching on them when ever he is awake. He also likes watching his toes move but hasn't decided to put them in his mouth (Cameron's glad!).





• Ethan likes standing up (with assistance of course!) and walking around the room. He especially likes to walk up to the mirrors on our closets and then smile at the baby he sees looking back at him. Sometimes he will start screeching at the other baby as if to say "There isn't room enough for the two of us!"



• Cameron has started working again at the Advanced Care Hospital of Southern New Mexico but only twice a week now. Ethan stays with his Nana on Friday mornings through the afternoon until Andrew comes home from work and then Andrew is with him all day Saturdays as well. Andrew is now permanently on a day schedule at work and it is so nice because it is predictable and he is always home at night!





• Cameron and Ethan have been a part of a "Mother Goose Story Time" group, which meets every Wednesday at our local library. The group is made up of about 8 Moms and their babies and our group leader. We sing songs, read a story and then there is a time for the kids to play together while the Moms visit with each other. It is offers support, a chance to make new friends, an excuse to get out of the house and a place to share germs! Overall we enjoy it (in spite of the germs!).




• Our Sunday School class has become a huge blessing. Most of the couples in our class now have children and this offers a big support for everyone. It is a joy to get together every Sunday, share stories, learn together and relate to each other. After we had Ethan our class brought us meals a several times a week for a month- - - we never would have eaten so well during that time without them. It also offered stress relief not having to worry about making a meal for that day.




• Andrew continues to have opportunities to prepare and deliver sermons at the Baptist Student Union at NMSU and at First Baptist Church in Truth or Consequences. He hopes to enrol in seminary classes in the future and continue to take the opportunities to preach when they arise.



• Andrew also started taking an oil painting class at Hobby Lobby and made his first painting last month. See below for a picture of him showing it off:)

Thanks for keeping up with us! We appreciate each of you!

Chubby Cheeks at 10 Weeks!

So this last Saturday Ethan turned 10 weeks :) The Wednesday before he had a scheduled check up and Ethan was found to be weighing in at 12 pounds 2 ounces and is 23 1/2 inches long! Yowza! He is getting some super cute cheeks on him too and his eyes seems to be changing color. His eyes have been a deep gray blue since he was born but recently are starting to turn a light brown in the centers of his eyes. If you do a punnet square on what his possibilities are he has a 50% chance of having brown eyes and 50% chance of having blue or a blue green combo. We shall see!

On the 18th Andrew and I got to travel to Albuquerque for a Sam Bush Band concert. This was my Christmas gift to Andrew and boy did we have a great time! This was the first time that we had seen this new-grass band live and they are all very talented musicians. This was also the first time that we had left Ethan alone over night. My Mom stayed with Ethan and it sounded like they had a great time together. Although it was kinda sad to be away from Ethan for so long and Andrew and I talked about Ethan frequently while we were gone, we weren't worried and really enjoyed the alone time together.

Every year since we were engaged, Andrew and I started celebrating the length of time we have been together as a couple. We started dating January 25, 2004 and the tradition is that whenever January 25 rolls around we go out to eat at the Mall's Food Court and then take pictures in the photo booth. We have four sets of pictures now and Ethan got to join in on the fun this year. See below for how these pics turned out.

Ethan was given/bought a lot of fun "toys" after he was born, but didn't really like most of them up until recently. He no longer throws up every time we place him in the swing, but seems to enjoy it and will often fall asleep in it. He is staying in his bouncer for longer periods of time, which gives us both the opportunity to get ready in the mornings or clean and have him near by. He is also now falling asleep in his baby carrier when I place him in it. He will make this grunting noise for a while after I initially place him in it, but then relaxes and seems to not mind it.

I have been going nuts over all the great sales that have been going on lately and have bought some real cute cloths for the kiddo to wear down the road. He now has a winter jacket, a shirt/vest/tie ensemble, swim trunks and super cute cargo pants that have all been sized to fit him through out this year. Hey, I grew up hearing my Dad always say, "Be prepared, it's the motto of the boy scouts!" I can't help it:)

Great Grandma Shirleigh's Birthday-
it took my Mom and Grandma a couple tries to blow out THE candle, haha

Ethan meeting his Great Grandma Rosa and Great Grandpa Ramon for the first time- my Dad was treating us to dinner at Furr's, yum!

Sam Bush Concert

We do everything we can to make Ethan smile on a regular basis and can get pretty goofy.

We love this kid!

Our annual Mall Photo Booth picture.

Happy New Year!

We are ringing in the new year as a family of three and thank the Lord for getting us through the first few weeks of this transition! Ethan is not AS fussy these days, which has really given us the opportunity to just enjoy him rather than always trying to find ways to sooth his crying. We are so grateful for this change in his attitude.
Ethan is now 7 weeks old and counting! He is growing up daily and we are doing our best to soak up every minute that we have with him as well as cherish him at every stage of his life. We measured him last week and found that he is now 24 inches long (he was born 19 inches) and although we don't have an official weigh in, he has bulked up all over and is heavier to carry:) His cries have become more distinct based on what he needs. For example he has such a sad/pitiful little wail when he is bored or lonely- - - like a weak cat with a dry throat. He often provides us with this cry when he is going down for a nap or when he is in his car seat but doesn't want to be there. I just want to scoop him up and cuddle him whenever I hear it, but often I have to just let him get that little cry out and then he is fast asleep or I provide a pacifier and he calms right down.
I have been trying to spend time daily with Ethan playing on the floor, which lends itself to spending time on our bellies:) Ethan kinda fusses the whole time that he is on his stomach, but is getting stronger at holding his head up. When you place him on your own chest while lying down, he can lift his head about 80 degrees. He also practices holding his head steady when we hold him upright. We get so excited over these accomplishments!
Another fun milestone has been watching him offer us a smile here and there as well as sweet cooing. When Ethan woke up from his last nap today he was all smiles! He also puts on a show stretching his limbs every which way right when he wakes up. What a cutie!
Ethan has now celebrated his first Christmas as well as New Year. He cried most of the day on Christmas (maybe all of the family being over was too much stimulation for him?) but was pretty calm for New Years Eve. We had a few good friends over for Chinese food and games. We had a great time and were so glad that they were able to celebrate with us. Ethan slept for most of it both in his crib and then later in the arms of one of our friends:)
Right before Christmas my younger brother Pierce came into town. It had been a year since we last saw him and it was great to have him here. The day he came to stay the night at our house a huge tumble weed came to visit us! A pic is included to show you just how big it was! Then my big brother R.J. came into town to visit and see his nephew:) I love having family come to visit.
Here are some pictures from the past month:

Great Grandma Freda holding Ethan


Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...

Who do I look like?

Many folks have been commenting on who Ethan most looks like or what facial features reflect which parent, and so we have decided to post a few pictures from when we were itty bitty along side some pics of Ethan. Tell us what you think:)! Usted Decide


These Pictures are of Cutie Patootie Andrew
These are of Cameron




And here is our Little Mister