Winter Wonderland

Our little man Ethan is living the good life of a six month old these days.  He's crawling all over the place, getting used to eating a few solid foods a day and his parents are trying to make sure he continues to get good sleep (which is getting harder and harder the more active he gets!). 

Once Ethan started crawling a few weeks ago, it only took a day or two for him to start pulling up on things.  The little stinker has now figured out how to stand up in his crib.  This is what I walked into one day after he woke up from a nap.  Even as cute as he is with that proud look of figuring out how to pull all the way up on the bars to see over the top, we went ahead and lowered the mattress that night.

We did it to protect his head, as well as the furniture...

I love this picture - these are two faces that I see a lot these days.  They blow bubbles at eachother all the time, even now as I write this they are playing together next to me making this face at eachother and laughing.  Goofy boys.

Snow has come to Anchorage and now that its here we've been heading out to the trails to cross country ski.  Ethan rides first class, tucked in a carrier on skies!  The first day out our friend Hattie offered to pull Ethan while we got the hang of being back on the snow.  We called her our sherpa for the day.  :)  Now when we go out Aaron pulls E behind him and gets quite a workout on the uphill.

E stays snug and warm in his carrier.  We bundle him up in his layers and snowsuit, then tuck him in a fleece snuggly, then put a blanket over all. Its a good thing he sleeps as we ski because he definitely can't move much!  On cold evenings we put a hot water bottle in with him to add a little extra heat.  The carrier has a great plastic cover over the front to keep in the warmth and protect his cheeks from the wind. 

Before winter hit, Aaron and I decided we really wanted to be able to get outside even in the cold temps so I sought out advice from experienced outdoor moms and found out the secrets on keeping babies warm:  

Base layer is key!  Non cotton base layers are a must to make sure the kiddos stay dry since cotton clings to the skin if the babies sweat...and as you can guess from the carrier picture, there is a pretty good chance Ethan might get a little warm and sweat...  Here is Ethan in his long underwear before we headed out to ski.  He's 'helping' Dad put the bindings on. 

After the base layer comes the fleece layer for lots of warmth without a lot of bulk.  Also important to have a warm hat that fits snug to the ears (not always necessary for it to make his head look bigger than a watermelon, but it adds some style!).  This is Ethan playing in the snow for the first time.  I am pretty sure it confused him - he picked it up as a solid but when he put it in his mouth it was liquid...very strange...

The third layer he wears is a thick snow suit.  Once E is stuffed in all these clothes he doesn't move very well, but stays nice and warm.  This picture above was taken after we'd been out hiking for over an hour with it 20 degrees outside.  E was happy the whole time and even his hands and feet were warm when I undressed him.

Aaron, Ethan and I are truly loving Alaska now that winter has come.  Over the last few months I found myself dreading the day the cold and the darkness came, thinking that all our fun in Alaska was coming to a close.  Now that it is here I am happy to say that I love living here even more.  We are excited to get to start participating in winter sports and are enjoying the beautiful mountains and forests all covered in snow.

Anchorage has a fantastic park system with miles and miles of cross country trails all within minutes of our front door, most of which are lighted (which is helpful when the sun goes down at 4!).  This makes it so easy for us to get outside and enjoy the season, rather than stay inside (which is what I have always done when it's cold outside...) and let the dark and cold make us sleepy and sluggish.  Alaska has given me a huge paradigm shift on my outlook of being outside in the winter...hopefully it holds until next spring!