Tiedeman kiddo updates

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We celebrated a weekend early with the Tiedeman clan and went to George to have an early meal with Phil's family. Olivia loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa and her cousins. She loves playing with Declan! Ethan was a camp-champ for the road trip (and so was Olivia)! We left Woodbury on Friday around 5pm, then stopped in Owatonna for dinner. Then finished the trip and made it George around 10:15pm. Olivia was so excited that she didn't sleep during the drive and kept saying 'I see Grandma's house!' (even though we had just left our house) :) The rest of Phil's family got to George on Saturday afternoon and then we had a big meal Saturday evening. We left Sunday morning to drive to Brookings, so we could say hello to the BSC family and introduce Ethan to everyone. It was so wonderful to see the athletes and their parents! Sadly, we had to head back to Woodbury after a quick visit. 

The next week, my dad flew in to meet Ethan and have some Poppi cuddle time with the kids. I quickly put him to work and he was a rock star with cooking dinner and entertaining Olivia and holding Ethan while I got things done around the house. For Thanksgiving, we drove to St. Cloud to have a meal with a few of the Chmielewski relatives. Once again, Olivia was so excited and talked the whole way up there and didn't nap. But, she zonked out within 5 minutes of getting in the car when we headed back home :)
Ethan is growing and is slowly phasing out of that newborn phase. Don't get me wrong, I know he's still a newborn, but it's fun to see him start to change physically and start to become more alert. However, those alert times can stop occurring from 10pm-1am. I took him to the doctor today, as he's been extra fussy the past few days and I wanted to get things checked out. He currently weighs 10 pounds 13 ounces! So, no problems with gaining weight! He is dealing with some reflux issues, so we are trying to figure out the best ways to keep him comfortable. At a 7 weeks old, here are a few tidbits about him:
Wearing size 1 diapers
Starting to wear 3 month clothes
Eating 3-5 ounces every 2-4 hours
Sleeping 2-4 hours at a time (although he did almost 6 hours the night he turned 6 weeks old!)
Starting to smile and coo, as well as track
Has great head and neck control
Likes to grunt and make noises while he sleeps/when he's starting to wake up  

Olivia is a great big sister! She like helping in any way possible (even if help isn't needed at that moment). We are currently going through the potty training phase and it is a very slow process. She was doing great with things when my mom was here for Ethan's birth. But then she regressed (which I heard would happen), so we took things back to square one and moved slowly. So now she's getting back on the train and I'm hoping things will really click by the end of the year. 

The kiddos and I are heading on an adventure this afternoon, as we fly to Colorado! Phil wasn't able to take time off of work, so it's just me and the two minions for the flight- yikes! We fly out this afternoon and will return on Wednesday, so just a quick visit with my family. Prayers and good wishes are greatly appreciated (as I was the silly one that booked a flight during Olivia's nap time... not my greatest mommy move, but hopefully her excitement of being on a plan will overshadow any crankiness)!