Month Eight

This has been a busy month at the McDonald household. We started the month by traveling across the Atlantic ocean. It was a wonderful trip and E-man did a great job on the plane and with the time change. Here are some more highlights from the month: (I know that there isn't a lot of highlights, but the few have kept us really busy here.)

• E-man has two teeth now.


• He is crawling EVERYWHERE!!! He also has no fear when it comes to crawling. He came home everyday last week with a new bruise on his head. He is already ALL boy.


• He can pull himself up to a standing position. I know that one day is just going to let go and start walking. I am not sure that I am ready for that.


• We both started back to school. I think he is enjoying himself and comes home tired from playing.


• He is a great eater. Some of his new favorites are corn and blueberries. Along with the old stand bys of sweet potatoes and pears.


• He loves the puffs and yogurt puffs that just melt in your mouth. Maggie likes them, too.

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Denmark Part 3--actually Paris

Chris and I went to Paris for a night while we were in Europe. We left the baby with my parents and hopped on plane to France. We spent pretty much two whole days there, and it was a great mini-vacation. We went into Notre Dame, we saw Napoleon's tomb, we went up the Eiffel Tower, we walked through the Arc de Triumph, we spent a couple hours in the Louvre and didn't even see a quarter of all the art. We ate on the Champs de Elysees, we took a bus ride around the city, we walked for blocks and blocks, we waited in lines for hours and hours. We pretty much just had a wonderful time. We missed the baby, but it was nice to have time just the two of us.

Demark Trip Part 2

Hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's apartment

This is the car seat that came with the rental car. The first three days he screamed everytime we put him in it, but soon he was fine. Such a stinker.

Sorry this has taken me so long to get up...the middle of August always means crazy school time. Anyway, one of the days that we were in Denmark, we went to the Rosenberg Castle. It was actually the summer castle for the former Danish Kings. Today in 2010, it houses the Crown jewels of Denmark. They were pretty amazing and we enjoyed walking through the castle. E-man did epsecially, he squealed and giggled through the entire castle. We were even warned that down in the basement with the crown jewels there were sensors that did not like loud noises, so if he started to scream we would have to take him out. But, of course E-man didn't make a peep.

After the castle we walked to a tower that you can climb and see an amazing view of the city. E-man loved it, but he was being carried--sometimes being a baby can be so easy. The view of Copenhagen from the tower.

The next day we went to Sweden. We drove to Malmo and had lunch (and did a little shopping). It was a cute little town. We even saw an IKEA off the highway.

This is how Ethan ate lunch.

One of the most amazing things that we did when in Denmark was go to Mon's Flint. Mon is the island south of the island that Copenhagen is on and Flint is Danish for cliff. It was this huge cliffs that line the entire coast and are made of a chalk substance. We walked tons and tons of stairs down to reach the sea--it was harder to come up. It was amazing, we all took ours shoes off, and stripped a certain little guy down to the diaper (because it was just easier) and put our feet into the Baltic Sea. There was a nice breeze off the water and the sun was shining. It was simply amazing.

Our little Danish Baby

Our little World Traveler...What a good trip!

Denmark Trip Part 1

We had a great trip to Denmark. Ethan did great on the long plane ride, and adjusted to the time change really well. I am not sure how many parts I will have to put the trip into, we did so much and I took over 700 pictures. So, I will try to condense it to the exciting stuff and some cute pics of E-man (because I know that is what you all want to see).

Daddy telling Ethan all about the planes.

The first day we were there (after all three of us took a nap) we on a canal boat ride and learned all about the the city of Copenhagen. The next morning we got up and went to Kronberg castle. It is the setting of Hamlet, and where many Danish kings lived. It was really interesting we got to go down in the 'dungeon' and then upstairs in the bedrooms and the ballroom. The castle sits on the coastline facing Sweden. It was actually used as a fortress also. After we left the castle, we drove up the coast to a little fishing village. We walked out on the fishing pier and beach and Ethan got to put his feet in the Baltic Sea. He was actally pretty cute as he splashed around.

Grandma, Grandpa and Ethan before the canal boat trip.

Grandma and Ethan in from of the castle's moat.

In the castle's courtyard

The cool Baltic Sea

On Monday, we went to Tivoli Gardens. It is an amusement park in the middle of the city. Ethan took a nap while we were there, so Chris and I went on some rollercoasters. One of them made my head spin for two days. I am still not sure how he got me to go on it. Ethan rode the carousel. We had a lot of fun.

This wasn't even the bad ride. It was actually a pretty good rollercoaster. This one is the Dragon. the one that made me sick was called the Demon.

Month seven

It is hard to believe that another month has come and gone. The summer is almost over, and we will be going back to school soon. E-man now weighs fifteen pounds and three ounces. He is starting to get chunkier cheeks. It is pretty cute. Each night as I put him to sleep I always check for incoming teeth. He is showing all the signs—and finally TONIGHT one day before he is 7 months old, there is a little hint of a tooth coming in on the bottom—I know what you are thinking…just in time for the airplane...it was our first thought, too.

Here are some more highlights from the month…

Took his first road trip to Oklahoma and I know I am biased, but he did an amazing job in the car. I have such a good baby.
Celebrated his first Fourth of July, including fireworks and sparklers…such a good boy, never got scared and then slept right through all the booms.
Starting eating fruits and veggies…and loves them all, except green beans.
Had meat for the first time the other night, wasn’t the biggest fan—we’ll continue to work on it.
Is ready to crawl, moving more and more each day, we know it is only a matter of when now.
Can pull himself up to the standing position, if he is holding on to one of us, we may skip the whole crawling thing altogether.
Went swimming in a big pool at Uncle Michael’s house and LOVED it
Went to summer “camp” while mommy taught fine arts camp at a local church. It was actually just the nursery for the teacher’s kids, but everyone there loved him, of course.
His absolute favorite toy is the TV remote, Chris and I continually losing the remote, because we have to hide it from him.
And, Chris and I are falling in love with him more and more everyday!

First OK experience

A long car ride…Meeting Great-Grandparents, Great Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins…A craft show…Casa Bonita…and a long car ride home. It has been a jammed packed weekend, because we drove up to Oklahoma to visit family. E-man did pretty good in the car on the way up there, but we drove mostly after his bed time, so he slept most of the way. He also slept most of the way home also. It was a pretty good first traveling experience.

On Saturday, E-man went to his first craft show. We went with his Great Aunt Carol and Grandma M., he pretty much had the VIP treatment, about thirty minutes into the whole thing, and he ditched me and the stroller to sit on Carol’s lap in her wheelchair. She broke her leg a few weeks ago, and this was her first trip outside of the house that wasn’t a doctor’s office. We only spent a few hours there, because it was starting to get to be nap time, and we were going over to Ethan’s Great Aunt Linda and Great Uncle Brad’s house to have lunch with the McDonald family. We had a great time—thank you Brad and Linda for having us! Ethan got to meet his second cousins Braxton and James.

That evening, after a long nap (both Ethan and me) we went to Casa Bonita. This is a place that Chris and his cousins grew up going to and I guess it is a tradition that has moved to the next generation. We all enjoyed the Mexican food, while Ethan had pears, but he didn’t seem to mind, and even got to raise the flag to let the waitress we wanted more food. We then went to the arcade, and E-man got to watch all the lights, and once again got the VIP treatment on Carol’s lap.

We all had a great time spending time with family. It was a great trip!

The infamous Casa Bonita...Uncle Tim, sorry you couldn't make it, I raised the flag for you.

Ethan and his Great Grandparents

Ethan and Me, Megan and Braxton, Jennifer and James

Great-Grandpa McDonald and Ethan

Great-Grandma McDonald and Ethan

Braxton reading to Ethan...too precious!

Shopping at the Tulsa Craft show
Tickel Monster Great Uncle James...Ethan looks concerned, but he was really enjoying it!

It sure does taste good, Great Aunt Carol.

This is how Ethan spent most of the car ride. What a good baby!

Maggie and Katie deciding who was going to drive home.

Fireworks!

What a wonderful Fourth of July. E-man went swimming in a big pool for the first time. I am proud to say that he loved it, and wasn't ready to get out, but Mommy and Daddy thought 30 minutes was plenty of time. He then proceeded to take a really long nap, we finally had to wake him up about 7:00, I never thought he would sleep that night. But, he did actually right through all the fireworks. About 8:30, we went out to play with the sparklers. He was mesmerized by the sparklers and loved them. Then some of the neighbors started to shoot fireworks off. Surprisingly it didn't seem to bother him. He even followed some of them into the air as they exploded. He actually loved it, he was laughing and jumping all around in my arms. The only part he squirmed at was when I would cover his ears right before the explosion.

Grandpa L's little boy, going to love fireworks. :)