Little Ezra Esterly

Introducing Baby Sister Hazel Diane

2010-12-16T18:02:00.000-08:00

Ezra is now a big brother. A job that he is happy to do. He LOVES his little sister. He was excited about her the entire pregnancy and had big plans on what he would teach her and share with her. And his excitement continues.

On December 12, 2010 Hazel Diane was born. She weighed 8lbs. 13 oz. and was 20.5" long. She was 2 ounces heavier than her brother. We have big babies!

Hazel is now 4 days old and having her home has been wonderful. The hardest transition so far has been that Ezra has a nasty cold that leaves him out of breath and cranky. He is not sleeping because he coughs so much, therefore he is up all night long. I think that Hazel is actually getting more sleep than he is.

Hazel is completely a part of our family and seems to have always been here. We were anticipating her for so long and now that she is here that anticipation seems like a distant memory. We love her so much and love that our family is now a family of four.

Hazel is already so much different than her brother was as a baby. She is calm and content to hang out. She prefers to be held at all times. And so far she enjoys her car seat!!! This is a major plus considering that Ezra HATED his car seat for months, making any car ride nearly unbearable. And so far, no colic. Praise Jesus for that!!!

Ezra is 2!

2010-07-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to our sweet little boy! So fun being a parent to a two-year old. Ezra is truly a blessing and a wonderful sweet little man. We love taking him places, doing stuff with him and seeing him enjoy life everyday.

He has quite the vocabulary and uses sentences a lot. Once he figured out how to string his words together he took off. A favorite conversation we have is: Ezra, "where did daddy go?" Mamma, "Daddy went to work." Ezra, "whoa" Mamma, "does Mamma work?" Ezra, laughing, "no" Mamma,"Does Ezra work?" Ezra, "no." Mamma, "Does daddy work?" Ezra, "whoa!"

He has also begun his independence this week. Everything is "I do it" or "Ezra do it" or "Ezra work." It is great to see him have confidence in so many areas and want to push himself to do things that are a bit out of his reach (i.e. opening the door with the keys). It also is a good reminder to give extra time when we are trying to go someplace.

Favorites:
-the park
-swinging, jumping and climbing
-playing with friends
-playing with toys
-eating. He likes meat, eggs, berries, crackers, peas...
-the zoo. He loves all the animals. And now knows his way around the zoo by himself.
-Children's museum. He also knows where everything is here.
-chickens. Specifically Uncle Matt's chickens. (And Uncle Matt, and Uncle Matt's tractor, Uncle Matt's cat...At least a couple times a day he says, "I go to Uncle Matts")
-playing soccer and baseball
-trains, cars, airplanes, diggers and dumptrucks. Anything that has wheels.

We love you Ezra. And we are looking forward to seeing you be a big brother. You are already so sweet giving Mama's belly kisses, snuggles and listening to the baby.

19 months

2010-02-12T13:21:00.001-08:00

This is a bit delayed, but here it is nonetheless. Our sweet boy is 19 months.

Likes:

Animals. He is still mastering knowing all animals and their corresponding sounds.
Airplanes, trucks, cars and trains. He has an eagle eye out for these at all times. And one of his favorite things is to go play trains at various train tables around town. We are regulars at the Wallingford center (2 train tables!!!)
Books. Ezra loves books. He has his favorites and loves reading books all day long. A favorite he has had for a while now is BABIES by Penny Gentieu (thanks Grannie!). Ezra loves to look at the baby, especially the one baby in the book that is crying. To that baby he says, "sad, crying."
Puzzles. This kid loves putting puzzles together and taking them apart.
Food. Milk in particular, I think he drinks close to a gallon a week.
Snuggles and kisses. He is so sweet. When he leaves he comes over to give kisses and hugs. Then says "bye bye"
Talking. He is good with his words. He knows most of the things that are involved in his daily life, which is a big help when he needs something we can usually decipher what he is saying. This helps circumvent some of the frustrations for him (and us)
Snow and water. We went to Whistler in January and Ezra LOVED LOVED LOVED the snow. He would probably stayed outside throwing it, eating it and stomping on it all day. And he still loves water. Looks like lots of swimming and skiing are in our future.

We love Ezra so much and love being his parents. This age is so much fun. It is really fun to take him places to watch him delight and explore new and familiar things.

17 months

2009-12-06T22:04:00.001-08:00

Our little boy is 17 months old. Time has really flown by. Ezra has the sweetest little heart. He is gentle, kind and loves to help out. He is also stubborn and determined. Some of his favorite things right now are animals. He knows pretty much any animal in his books and the corresponding sound they make. He is also a little talker and chatters about as he does all of his important things throughout the day. He is constantly on the go and is always "working" on a project.

We have had a busy couple of months. We went to Hawaii for a bit and it was so much fun to take Ezra swimming, boogie boarding and to hang out on the beach with him everyday. He was the ring bearer for my sisters wedding, a role that he filled wonderfully. Ezra is a great traveler, he takes naps, eats his snacks and generally is up for anything.

One of the greatest joys that we experience daily with him is seeing his personality come out. He is now at the age where he is joking around with us and knows that he is so funny. Just this afternoon he was pretending to sleep, complete with a fake snore sound. When we would "wake" him he would jump up and laugh!

A daily activity for him right now is climbing and jumping. When he is ready to jump he says, "set! GO!" and then he jumps.

We love love love being his parents. And praise Jesus for all the wonderful months that we have had with him.

Lil' Pirate

2009-10-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

Making cookies

2009-10-30T17:09:00.001-07:00

Ezra helped make cookies today. So much fun!

Reading Noisy Animals

2009-09-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

Ball time!

2009-09-14T12:35:00.001-07:00

dinner time

2009-09-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

14 months

2009-09-05T21:52:00.001-07:00

14 months?!? Really?? Ezra is really into books these days! He loves to go to his basket of books and rummage through until he finds the one that he is looking for. He then sits down to read it or brings it over to us to have it read to him. He loves animals, right now some of his favorite animals (and that he can say or at least say what sound they make) are cows, pigs, fish, giraffes, birds, chickens and monkeys. He also likes trucks, buses and airplanes. Ezra is a water baby, he adores being in the water and will take any chance he can get to be in it.

Recently he has been into shoes. He will carry shoes all around the house and say "shoo, shhh" and try to put them on his feet. When he gets up from his nap in the morning he wants his shoes on. He now wears big boy shoes with real soles, not just robeez anymore.

He is truly a boy. He loves exploring, investigating and figuring out how things work. He loves to help us do things. He chats all day long. Now that he has been walking for a month he is starting to run.

He likes to go "bye-bye" and will often stand at the front door ready to go. When we open the door he goes out to the hall and waits for me to lock the door. Once the door is locked he starts heading to elevator, gets in the elevator pushes some buttons and waits at the door. When the doors open he heads out and stands at the front door ready to help me push it open. He likes to push doors open.

We love Ezra so much and are so thankful that we have been blessed to have been his parents the last 14 months.

Working on the car

2009-09-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

Ezra wanted to wear Jon's hat while working on his car today.

Pacifier?

2009-09-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th Anniversary

2009-08-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

It feels crazy that is has only been 4 years, but we are blessed to have such a wonderful family! Happy Anniversary Love!

Beach Family

2009-08-16T21:38:00.001-07:00

mmmm...sand....

2009-08-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

Ezra loves the ocean

2009-08-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

Long Beach Vacation

2009-08-16T21:20:00.000-07:00

Just hangin with Maddie

just workin'

2009-08-08T12:51:00.000-07:00

2009-07-27T11:41:00.000-07:00

mmm.. 12lbs in an hour.

2009-07-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

Ezra Loves the Berry

2009-07-27T10:53:00.000-07:00

Picnic

2009-07-21T20:49:00.000-07:00

Ezra Loves to Cook

2009-07-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

Breakfast Time

2009-07-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Tooths

2009-07-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys!

2009-07-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

Ezra Turns 1!

2009-07-06T21:38:00.001-07:00

Well it has been one year since we have been blessed with our little boy. We celebrated his birthday with family on Whidbey Island. New facts and stats: Ezra weighs 20lbs 12oz and is 28.5"tall. He has two teeth on the bottom and three on their way in up top. He is walking about 6 steps on his own and loves the water.
Although his night-time sleeping skills are still lacking, we love every minute with him. It is wonderful to see him grow and his heart beginning to show through. Some sweet things he has recently began doing; he will share his food & toys. He will give kisses and hugs. He sleep crawls, yes he crawls and plays in his sleep. This happens at night if he falls asleep in the bed. All the sudden he will get up and scratch the headboard or come over and lay his head on you. We think he is playing, but when we pick him up to put him back in his crib he lays passed out asleep in your arms. He snores and laughs in his sleep too. He has a vocabulary of muh (cow), mom, dada, ta (touch), bhh (bus), da (down), sss (snake), prr?(elephant) and heeh (when he is being tricky).
All that to say, we love him and thank you to everyone who has loved him and been there for us. We look forward to the next year to come.

Birthday Cake on Whidbey!

2009-07-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

4th of July

2009-07-06T21:26:00.000-07:00

Ezra Loves the Water

2009-06-03T12:40:00.000-07:00

2009-05-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

busy busy busy

2009-05-22T14:34:00.001-07:00

Slept through the night for the first time!!!!!

2009-05-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

He may be almost 11 months old, but this is a first for Ezra. He slept all the way through the night without waking up!!!!!! We can hardly believe the day is FINALLY here when he sleeps. Praise Jesus for sleeping babes!

just playin.

2009-05-20T09:20:00.000-07:00

First Truck.

2009-05-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

yum, pear.

2009-05-07T21:56:00.001-07:00

10 months!

2009-05-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

10 months already? Ezra is growing so fast. He is truly a delight and such a wonderful little boy. He likes to spend his days climbing, exploring, laughing, playing games and reading books. He likes to swing at the park, stroll in his stroller and is generally up for going anywhere. He is still super alert and is always busy doing something or looking at something assessing his world. He has been enjoying hanging out with his baby friends, I think that they are all getting to the age where they are beginning to understand playing with.

"How is he sleeping?" you may ask. Well, about the same is the answer. At night he is still sleeping only a few hours at a stretch. Hopefully this will be changing soon, mamma is getting REAL tired. I thought for sure that by ten months he would be sleeping through the night...wrong. However, the his naps during the day have been going great. He is taking 2 naps during the day and they are about 1.5 to 2 hours at a time.

Ezra also has gotten his first tooth. Yup, one little one on the bottom with another ready to pop through any day now. So sweet, our little boy is going to have a mouth full of teeth so soon.

As expressed before we LOVE Ezra and feel so blessed that we get to be his parents to raise him, love him, teach him, protect him and steward him.

mmmm....cracker pt. 1

2009-04-28T20:58:00.000-07:00

mmmm....cracker pt. 2

2009-04-28T20:56:00.001-07:00

2009-04-27T09:47:00.000-07:00

Spring is here!

2009-04-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

Don't mess with this bandit.

2009-04-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

2009-04-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

2009-04-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

2009-04-18T09:58:00.000-07:00

Happy 9 months to Ezra!!!

2009-04-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

9 months, really? Oh man, time really does go by so fast. Ezra is still a wild child, not sleeping very much. We were hoping that at 9 months he would not be waking up at all at night...no such luck. Not only is he waking up a bunch still he is now refusing to go to sleep. For a while there he was a champ at going to bed, he would go straight down and sleep for a few hours. Now he just stands in his crib hollering at us to come and get him! Back to square one of working on a bedtime with him.

Wild tendencies aside, he is so sweet. He still loves to be carried around and likes to look at everything. Ezra loves to eat food! He will eat anything that we give him. Current menu options include sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, avocados, applesauce, baby mum-mum crackers, quinoa and rice.

He crawls, mainly to get to something that he can climb. Climbing is his new favorite thing to do. As much as he loves climbing he has yet to figure a way to get down, which means he crashes, poor guy.

He is truly a delight and we love him so much. We probably say, "i love you" the most to him throughout the day. Our hearts just overflow with love for him. Even though most days look the same they are filled with so much laughter, delight and love. It is fun to watch Ezra explore his world and discover new things.

Weight: 18.13 lbs (25%ile)
Height: 27" (10%ile)
Head: 18" (50%ile)
Ezra is still a little guy!

2009-04-03T19:57:00.000-07:00

2009-04-03T19:55:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for Easter

2009-03-19T15:08:00.000-07:00

Still eating

2009-03-19T15:06:00.000-07:00

Ezra loves to eat!

Hanging out.

2009-03-13T12:16:00.001-07:00

Just wearing daddy's old onesie...27 years later

2009-03-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

8 months old!

2009-03-09T14:58:00.001-07:00

Yes, Ezra is 8 months old. He is mobile and switches between army crawling and "real" crawling. His favorite thing is to crawl after non-toy items. He also likes to be chased around the house. He is so much fun. He is strong-willed and very sweet.

YUM! Sweet potato!

2009-03-01T21:20:00.001-08:00

Doesn't taste as good as it looks

2009-03-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

Little bear out for a walk

2009-03-01T21:14:00.000-08:00

Family photo

2009-03-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

Carrots!

2009-02-24T10:36:00.000-08:00

all clean

2009-02-24T10:34:00.000-08:00

First cold: day 2

2009-02-12T10:43:00.000-08:00

Poor Ezra, he is still sick with this cold. He looks charming, and he is. If you look closely you will see the dried snot under his nose, from his constantly bubbling little nose. "They" say that when babies are sick they sleep more, not Ezra--he is actually sleeping less. At night he wakes up about every 1.5 hours. He also has a cough/sneeze combo that once he starts coughing it lasts about a minute...scary for him (and for us). Although he is sick and clearly does not feel well he is still full of smiles and cuddles. For the most part he is carrying on as usual and then the cough starts or his nose is so full that it bubbles over onto his face. I think that he is enjoying all the extra holds and the extra food that he has been getting :).

First Cold

2009-02-10T17:14:00.001-08:00

So sad! Ezra has made it past seven months without any illness. And now he has a cold. Runny nose, stuffy nose, cough, sneezing and no naps. Poor little guy. We knew he would get sick at some point in his life and seven months without any sickness is pretty good. Hopefully this will pass quickly and he will be back in action soon.

Ezra is 7 months old today!!!

2009-02-03T19:38:00.001-08:00

Wow, 7 months already??? He is getting so big for still being so little. He is becoming more and more a little boy. It is fun to see his little personality really begin to emerge. He is silly and loves to laugh, dance and sing. He is beginning to cuddle, a few minutes at a time. He is also very determined and goes after whatever he has his mind set on. Now that he is crawling he moves quickly to get to whatever object he is desiring. He is still demanding--I think that goes with being determined.

And the latest greatest news is that he is beginning to sleep! By that I mean that he is no longer getting up 6 times a night, it is now 3 times. (I will take what I can get!) He is a regular napper now and has a consistent bedtime without too much protesting. Hard to believe that we are going on more than half a year without having sleep. yikes! But now that he is sleeping a little bit longer, there is a light at the end of this long sleepless tunnel. (we still appreciate your prayers in this area)

Ezra has sampled some solid foods--avocados, banana and sweet potatoes. He likes all of them equally. I think that he really just likes sitting in his high chair and chewing on the spoon.

A common conversation in our house is how much we love Ezra and love to see him grow and experience new things everyday. We are sooooo thankful to Jesus for such a sweet wonderful little boy. It is wonderful being his parents. Having Ezra has been sanctifying for us on many different levels, and for that we are grateful.

Ready for a hike.

2009-01-29T15:08:00.001-08:00

All done.

2009-01-29T15:04:00.000-08:00

Solid Foods: Take One

2009-01-21T10:27:00.000-08:00

We gave Ezra some avocado for his first taste of solid food. He LOVED it!!!

6 month stats

2009-01-14T13:19:00.001-08:00

Ezra is just a little guy...at his 6 month check-up:
Weight 16lbs 12oz (<50%ile)
Height 25 1/4"( >10%ile)
Head was 17 1/4" (50%ile)

6 months!

2009-01-06T19:38:00.001-08:00

Ezra is 6 months old! Wow, already half a year has gone by. Each day with Ezra is such a blessing. He is truly wonderful. His sweet little personality is really starting to show through. He loves to smile, laugh, talk, chew on anything and be carried around. He enjoys playing on his tummy time mat, practicing rolling over and attempting to begin to crawl. Ultimately, he loves to be carried around looking at everything.

Seeing him become a calm little boy is such a change from the colicky infant that he was just a few months back. Now, if only we can get him to sleep at night...he is a strong willed little boy for sure.

Ezra's 1st Christmas

2009-01-06T19:32:00.000-08:00

Hello.

2008-12-20T17:44:00.001-08:00

Kisses for the little snow bear

2008-12-20T17:36:00.001-08:00

First snow!!!

2008-12-20T17:34:00.000-08:00

1st Christmas tree!

2008-12-07T12:53:00.001-08:00

To the mountains to get the Christmas tree

2008-12-07T12:50:00.000-08:00

2008-12-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

2008-12-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

Sitting up? (or being held up)

2008-11-20T20:06:00.000-08:00

A little boy

2008-11-20T20:04:00.001-08:00

We went for a hike...

2008-11-20T20:02:00.000-08:00

hanging out w/mama

2008-11-11T17:39:00.000-08:00

One Pea Pod

2008-11-02T18:41:00.000-08:00

Ezra's 1st Halloween

2008-11-02T18:34:00.000-08:00

little moose

2008-10-27T19:36:00.001-07:00

wild man

2008-10-27T19:32:00.001-07:00

2008-10-24T22:01:00.000-07:00

Much smaller from a different angle.

2008-10-24T21:57:00.000-07:00

So sweet

2008-10-24T14:05:00.001-07:00

We knew he was getting bigger, but...

2008-10-24T14:02:00.001-07:00

This is big. Maybe it is just the camera angle?

More, More By Request

2008-10-22T19:25:00.000-07:00

2008-10-22T17:59:00.000-07:00

2008-10-12T08:57:00.000-07:00

2008-10-10T15:48:00.000-07:00

Just reading

2008-10-07T09:19:00.001-07:00

3 months!

2008-10-07T09:17:00.001-07:00

Happy 27 Jon!!

2008-10-02T22:12:00.000-07:00

Sitting on the couch like a grown-up

2008-10-02T22:06:00.000-07:00

2008-10-02T22:01:00.000-07:00

If Ezra had no hair.

2008-10-02T21:57:00.000-07:00

Sleeping Man

2008-10-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

sweet sweet Ezra

2008-09-29T17:26:00.000-07:00

2008-09-24T20:03:00.000-07:00