Mom got in today on her way to her master's classes this summer. We were excited to see her and she was excited to see Ethan.

Even though she was only in town for one night and one day, we had a great time. Ethan loved the attention (he always does) and Mom loved getting to spend so much time with the boy.

It is amazing how much he has changed since Christmas. He is so much bigger, more alert, and seems to learn new things every day. This weekend he decided that he wanted to laugh just as much as possible. Every time someone picked him up he would smile and laugh. He has the cutest laugh too. Mom caught some great pictures of him smiling, something we have been trying to do for a while.

I find going to the dentist to be almost relaxing. Maybe that is quite the right word for it. Let me explain.

Once I am in the chair and the dentist is in the room, I fold my hands across my stomach, with the fingers interlaced, and close my eyes. As long as I don't see the needle going into my mouth I am fine. Once I am numbed up, the rest is easy for me.

I had a root canal done today. At least the first part of it, and I think that I dozed off near the end. So, maybe relaxing is the right word after all.

Another thing that I find interesting about the Dentist is how oddly sensory it is. Like I said, I close my eyes so vision is gone. And the dentist numbs your mouth pretty well, so most touch is gone as well. Our dentist uses the rubber dams to keep stuff from getting into the tooth he is working on, but it also keeps his work from getting into your mouth, so taste is gone too.

This leaves only hearing and smell.

The smell of getting dental work done. It's impossible to describe the exact smell of hot tooth as the dentist drills, but I find it very distinctive. It's an interesting smell that reminds me of where I am. Hearing the drill whir and smelling the smell of teeth getting heated from the friction is a powerful memory of my dentist visits.

However, even though I can relax during it, I'd still much rather not have to go to the dentist for fillings and such. Just regular cleanings and check-ups.

Well, today is my first Father's Day. It's quite the feeling to know that I have a little boy to take care of for the rest of my life. I'm glad that we have him though. He is such a cute boy and brings so much to our family.
Sometimes we get a little worn out trying to keep up with him, but when he laughs or smiles or plays with us, we forget about all that and it's worth it. The last couple of days have been especially fun because he has been getting all excited to see me when I get home from work.

He starts waving his arms and smiling at me and making faces. We usually play until it's time for him to go to bed, then I get him ready and put him down.

He is such a cute, cute boy and so much fun to play with. I look forward to being here with him as he grows and develops.

Ethan slept through the night!!!

I have been sleeping on an air mattress in the living room the last few nights. Fortunately it's not for anything I did :)

We are trying to get the boy to sleep through the night on his own. Up until now his mother would get up and feed him once or twice a night to calm him down and put him back to sleep if he woke up. We decided that this needed to change because neither of us was sleeping very well.

He is actually doing alright. He still wakes up but he also has been putting himself down after a couple (read: 20) minutes. So, Mia was able to get some sleep and I am hoping to catch up once he stays down for a full night.

We went up to look at some pictures of Ethan today, and we also decided to go to the beach. It was quite an adventure. We layed out our towels and set Ethan down to get some sunscreen on. He promptly kicked sand all over himself, including up by his eyes which he then started to rub. He was already a little tired, and fussed and cried while we put the sunscreen on him. Once that ordeal was over, he was a little happier and we took him out to the water.

He has really grown to enjoy bath time so we thought he would like the water too. He didn't mind it, but it wasn't his favorite. And if I took him out to where it started to get cold, he really didn't like it.

So after about half an hour we packed up our bags and headed home. It wasn't quite the beach trip we had hoped for, but next time we will know better what to do.

First I should mention the new pictures of Ethan that are up. There are some cute ones, but then it's hard not to take cute pictures of our boy.

We also had to put in our ACs this weekend. Amazing that the weather was so cold and rainy up until about a week ago. This week has been pleasant and then the weekend hit and it's humid and hot. That's Boston weather for you.

But fortunately they are easy to install (especially since this is my third time doing it). And we are up and running without too much trouble. We are a bit worried about Ethan's room, because it gets so humid in there, but we are working with fans to see if we can figure something out.

We were going to clean our house all day. The living room is mostly done, just needs a good dusting. So in the morning I started on the kitchen and she started on the bathroom. I went through all our cupboards to see what was useful and we was not. We are making an effort to get rid of all the things in our house that don't get used. It feels good to know that next time we clean there won't be as many things to worry about. So, I took care of the kitchen, and did the toliet.

Then we got a call about going with some friends for a Memorial Day barbeque. We decided to take a break and had a great time cooking some steaks, eating some watermelon, and playing frisbee. Getting outside on such a beautiful day was just what we needed.

Both of us had been feeling pretty exhausted after our trip, especially with nothing but a day of cleaning to look forward to. It was nice to talk with some of our friends (most of whom are now pregnant) and relax on the holiday.

We went out to Albany this weekend for Dorothy's graduation party. She is going to be working as a Nurse and once she passes her board exams will be an RN. David hosted a barbeque for the family and friends. The weather cooperated and it was a very nice evening.

After that we spent the night with some friends who just bought a house in the Albany area. It was a nice split level home with a backyard, high ceilings in the living room, and plenty of bedrooms. It made us wish that we could afford to buy a house of our own. Of course, we also talked with them about the repairs they have to make to the house, and the extra taxes they have to pay, and quite a few other headaches that come along with owning a home. So, we are happy now with our apartment, especially happy with our rent for the area we live in.

The car ride out and back went pretty smoothly. The boy slept most of the time both ways. The couple of times he did wake up, he was not very happy about being in the carseat and we had to pull over so that he could be fed and calmed back down. Overall, the trip was not bad, but we don't know if we would want to do much longer with him.

So another thing that he has been doing this week is taking a bottle by himself. He's very funny about it though. We lie him on his back, and then put the bottle into his mouth and rest it on his chest. He usually starts to suck, but doesn't grab it. We have to keep holding it, or picking it up if it falls, for a minute or two. Then after that the boy will grab hold of the bottle and start to drink (or play with it) on his own.

The funny thing is, if we try to hold him while giving him a bottle he won't take it. But if he is doing it himself, then he's fine. Kids are weird. :)