Five months ago today, Ethan St. Martin Hegarty was born at 5:59 am! He was five weeks early! He weighed 4 pounds, 9 ounces. He was 17 inches long. It's hard to believe my little elf looked like this:
Now Ethan weighs almost 16 pounds and he's over 25 inches long at 5 months!
So much has happened since my last post. A few days after he left the hospital he ended up back in the hospital for five days. The doctors tried three different times (many pokes) to do a spinal tap on our poor little guy. He was jaundice, but they were also concerned he had an infection. He was so sick, and we were all very concerned. We're pretty sure he was just very jaundice. A couple weeks later he was admitted to the hospital again with a fever. He stayed for just a couple of days. The doctors are guessing he had a virus.
He's such a good baby! When he gets cranky I have to remind myself that he doesn't get that way often, and it's usually because he needs to eat or needs a clean diaper. Thanks to my friend, Claranne, Ethan sleeps in his crib all night. For the first 3 to 4 months of his life he slept in his car seat. Like his brothers and dad he has acid reflux as well. The night he stayed with the Gleasons he slept in their crib! I couldn't believe it! The next night he slept in his crib. Now he sleeps from 9/10 till 7/8 in the morning! I love you, Claranne!! After John Michael and Aaron I was traumitized with the crib experience. It took what seemed like forever to get them to sleep in their crib without a struggle! Many tears were had by my boys and myself! So I was very reluctant to try it with Ethan. It has been a very pleasant experience!
On August 14th Ethan will be having eye surgery to correct his lazy eye (strabismus) at the St. Louis Children's Hospital. The doctor had us try an eye patch for over a month, and it wasn't working. I'm nervous about the surgery, but we've been told it is better to get it taken care of now. He will likely have little to no problems later on. He also has this strange pinprick bruising that pops up sometimes. We're seeing Dr. Muscleman, a blood disorder specialist, for this problem. Ethan has had quite a few blood tests done. So far we can only see that his blood clots slower than usual. Tomorrow I'm taking him in for another vampire visit. Last time I was able to take his mind off of it and I made him laugh! Cross your fingers and hope that it's just some freakish thing that means nothing!
On to something more cheerful! I stopped reading the "What your child should be doing right now" Bullentin. Ethan was five weeks early, and for a while he probably won't be up with his age. He's now turning to his side. He LOVES to chew on his fingers. He giggles and he's very vocal. He kicks and laughs at his 'friends' above him on his changing table. The animal mobile above the changing table is a hit!! He's very snuggly! Ethan loves to get kisses and he's very ticklish! His smile just melts me! Every time I'm playing with him on my bed and he looks at me with those big dark eyes I can't help but forget all of my worries!
John Michael will be starting kindergarten at the end of August! I can't believe he is five! This year he had another pool party at Grandma and Grandpa's for his birthday! I had planned on making it a small party, but our parties never end up being small. He had a great time with his friends! Whitney Lewis made the cakes and cupcakes! She did a awesome job!!
*Warning* Remember this blog is mainly read by relatives...so excuse my rant about John Michael's math abilities!We're so excited for him to start school! I can't wait to hear what the teachers think. His math skills blow me away sometimes. I downloaded a basic math application on my iTouch for him to play with. I figured he'd just use the addition. I accidentally went to multiplication. After I explained how to multiply he got 50% of the questions correct. He did fairly well on the subtraction. I've asked him over and over again how he figures answers out. I'd love to get inside his brain! FINALLY, the other day when he was showing his Uncle Ben and Aunt Shavonne his skills he explained outloud how he came to an answer. The question was 9+10. He said 10+10 is 20, and if you take 1 away it is 19. I think sometimes he guesses the answers, but the majority of the time he figures it out.
He's beginning to read, but he becomes frustrated with that quickly. I notice he does a lot of guessing on figuring out words. His patience runs short with reading. He's able to spell some words. I'm not worried. I know once a TEACHER gets a hold of him it won't take him long. Mom and Dad teaching him to read is a bit different than a teacher. I think he'll have more patience with her. He thoroughly enjoys listening to a book. We can read anything from Cat and The Hat or Magic Tree House to an informational book on space/human body/volcanoes/trains/etc... You get the point.
John Michael and Aaron have spent the summer playing with friends and hanging out with Bradley. Bradley has been such a HUGE help this summer! He tagged along to St. Louis, and we/the kids really enjoyed his company!
Aaron is 2 1/2... he is ALL 2 1/2! His smile can also melt me! He can also try every tiny bit of patience I have!! For a while we were concerned he'd never talk! He now talks!! He's getting very good at making sentences that we can understand! He keeps very busy! I think he worked mostly on his gross motor skills the first two years of his life! He is our little daredevil! He will be starting preschool 2 mornings a week at Faithful Friends in the Fall. I think he will really enjoy going to school! He always wanted to stay when we picked John Michael up.
We bought both boys bicycles in the Spring. The times Aaron would ride it he'd always go forward a tiny bit and then put his feet back on the brakes! Needless to say this was very frustrating! WELL, now he's a pro! He loves to put his helmet on and ride. He loves to build Legos with his brother.
There is so much more to say, but it is way past my bedtime! I will have to continue this later.
