Well, Thanksgiving went great. It really is one of my favorite holidays.

When I lived in Utah, Monica and I, along with our cousins, would pile into the car each year and drive down to California to visit Grandma and Grandpa Jo. Those were great trips, and having the big dinner with them was always fun.

Since we have been in Boston, we've done Thanksgiving with our friends. It's a whole different experience when you have to do the cooking and cleaning at your house. I'm still trying to get all the dishes clean from Thursday. :)
This year was Ethan's first Thanksgiving and he absolutely loved it. He loved getting some of the Jell-o fruit salad and being around all the people. He's such an active, social boy that being around so many people really wound him up.

Even today he was so happy and talkative. He walked around (with his car or a chair) so much today. He wanted me to chase him around the house when he was crawling. And he took two really, really long naps. We think he must be growing again.

I'm taking some video this week, I want to get some good footage before his birthday, then I'll make tapes and get them out to the family for Christmas. You can then show off the cutest boy in the world to all your friends :)

Our little boy just gets cuter and cuter every day. We were in the living room this weekend and Ethan was being quiet by himself looking at a book.
All of the sudden he makes about three short quick breathes. Mia and I both look over, and he has his book open to a page that has 10 dogs on it (it's a counting book).

Well, in a different sign language for babies book, their is a page for dog, and the sign is making a panting sound. Mia and I both do this when we read to him, and it was so cute to see him doing it on his own.

When we went over to look at what he was doing, he did it again. I can't believe how fast he is growing up.

So, I didn't get to see much of Ethan walking yesterday. He took a step or two, but still knows it's faster to crawl around.

However, he very much enjoyed standing up. He got next to one of our couch pillows on the floor and kept pushing himself up on it. This is different from using something taller than him to pull himself up. So, it's quite a big step... well, not step exactly, but it's big.

We are trying to get some video of him walking, I think we are going to end up with alot of him standing around before we get anything :)

Well, today was a big day for Ethan. According to Mia he took about 4 steps today and didn't fall over.
He's napping right now, but I'm excited to see this for myself. I'll keep you posted on how he does.

Poor little Ethan has a cold. And a yeast infection. And his cheeks are chaffing.

Needless to say it's been a rough week for the little guy. We have been trying to do what we can to comfort him, but it isn't always easy. Especially since he can't really blow his nose, so it either runs down his face or down his throat. I think the down his throat option has been what wakes him up at 4:00AM.

But, it's been about 3 days and he is on the mend. I think he got my immune system. :)

In other news, he will let go of whatever he uses to stand up and just stand by himself for a few seconds (quite a while it seems like) before sitting back down so he can move. We've been trying to help him walk to things, but he knows that crawling is still faster.

So, now that Mia is back, I've stopped blogging as much. D'oh.

This has been a pretty exciting week. First, it's been great having Mia back, even though Ethan makes quite a fuss in the morning when I leave for work, or even go to the shower for that matter. I feel so bad when I head out the door because he starts crying.
If you know Ethan, he doesn't cry very often. Only when something has really upset him. I'm glad that he loves me, but it's sad that he doesn't understand that I'm going to come back for him. I don't want him to think that I'm leaving for good.

I also got some good news at work. After having my review with my manager, she's decided that with the job responsibilities I've been taking on, I haven't really been a Marketing Assistant. So instead of giving me a raise, I got a promotion and salary adjustment (read: better than raise).
She said that it was easy to sell our CEO on the idea because he's been very happy with the work, suggestions, and improvments I've been able to make. I'm glad to be with a company that I can contribute to in a meaningful way.