Comfortable as can be!

Bye Bye Bottle...I'll miss you.

The bottles have been cleared away and replaced with sippy cups!!! I am glad to say the transition wasn't too painful and hopefully it didn't scar Ethan too bad. Plus, I think he enjoys the sippy cup because it is more mobile than a bottle. He is constantly moving about and has found a hiding place behind the TV. When I start telling him to get out of there he will crouch down and close his eyes thinking that if he can't see me, I can't see him. It is so cute the way his mind thinks.



Helping Daddy build the office chair. He wouldn't let go of the screwdriver.

Almost there!

Without a notice Ethan has said goodbye to his bed time bottle. It seemed like he didn't even notice that we switched it. I think the last time we tried to switch he wasn't feeling well and just wasn't ready to lose something of comfort. Therefore, we held off until a couple of days ago and he has done a lot better than expected. I think he has also realized that the sippy can hold the same stuff as the bottle. We are in the final stretch and hopefully we will soon be saying bye-bye.

This past weekend Ethan went to his first bowling alley. We went with some friends of ours and their son who is 1 month younger than Ethan. We didn't know how the boys would act and I just kept thinking that Ethan was going to be running down the lanes towards the pins. Thankfully, Ethan enjoyed watching us and then would clap afterwards. He would try to follow us to the line but with my fear of a ball to the head; he was kept off of the platform. On the lane next to us there was a family that had an 18 month old little boy who was bowling. I couldn't believe it because he didn't look under the age of 3 and he even picked up my ball by accident to bowl with. I can't wait until Ethan can join us in all the fun, but I will be amazed if he starts to play at 18 months!

Digging Out

We got about 4 inches of snow this morning. We desert people are freezing and are surprised by the amount of snow. Here are some pics of Ethan playing.

Addicted to Nilla Wafers

Last night I hosted a Creative Memories party and the dessert I was making had Nilla Wafers in it. Of course, Ethan got to have one and instantly become addicted. He will show me which cabinet the wafers are at and once I play dumb about the cabinet being locked he shows where the lock is and gives me a look that says “You open this cabinet any other time, you can open it now". Once I do fold and get the box out he is happily moving his head up and down, giggling and already reaching for a wafer. It is so cute when he moves his head in the "yes" motion and it has really helped on figuring out what he wants. Ethan has also understood that when I say "pa pa" it means we are going to eat some food and follows me to the fridge. Then once I tell him to go to his highchair, he will walk over to it and impatiently wait for me to put him in it. He has also realized that the things you wear on your feet are called shoes. If we are leaving I will tell him that it is time to go bye-bye and he needs to go and get his shoes. He looks down to see if they are on his feet and once he notices they aren't he will see where I am pointing and then goes and brings them back to me. He has also mastered that the proper way to get off of the couch without falling is to turn around and slide down feet first. Yet, he hasn't learned how to get on the couch, but that doesn't mean he isn't trying.
I am amazed at what he knows and really do underestimate him sometimes. It is when the mischievous boy kicks in and starts to feed Jager his toys after being told for the 100th time not too. He will wait till I am not looking and then when I go to get whatever toy out of Jager's mouth; Ethan is already running away with this guilty smirk on his face, looking for a new toy to tease the dog with, ugggh!

Daddy goofing around with Ethan.

Staying strong

With the New Year there were three things that I wanted to get accomplished with Ethan.

1. Change from formula to milk--Done! That wasn't hard. He is a milk baby all the way and doesn't even notice the difference.

2. Change from baby food to table foods--Ethan did that for me by protesting baby food so no fuss there.

3. This is the KILLER, weaning from the bottle. --I have him doing good during the day but I have no clue how I am going to get him to stop on his morning and night time bottles. I have tried giving him his sippy cup at those times and he will push it away and won't calm down till I get a bottle. We are going to need to work a little harder!

Happy Birthday Ethan!!

Yesterday Ethan had his very own 1st Birthday party. We invited a couple of friends over who have children right around Ethan's age. We had a so much fun watching him eat his cake and open his presents. He wasn't really into getting dirty with the cake but really liked the icing. I wanted it to be a special cake since this was a very speical birthday so I made him a homemade rocket ship and although it may not look like Martha made it, it is the thought that counts. (Don't laugh) Our living room is bombarded with gifts from Christmas and his Birthday that he is set for a whole year. Thanks Everyone!





This is one of the presents that Eric and I got him, a radio flyer wagon. Now if only the weather could get nicer, we could use it.

Ethan turns the BIG 1!

Today is Ethan’s Birthday. I can’t believe that he is 1. Where does the time go? He has gone from rolling, sitting up, crawling, and walking all in one year! A year ago we were in the hospital impatiently waiting for him to arrive. Once he did arrive, we were so amazed of the little person that we had made. He has tremendously changed our lives in this one year but it has only been for the good and Eric and I would do it over again in a heartbeat. It’s not to say that there weren’t obstacles or times of uncertainty but that is what makes parenting unique. We will always be blessed that God gave us such a wonderful son!

Today we went to Ethan’s 1 year well baby checkup. Ethan enjoyed the fish tank in the waiting room and I enjoyed seeing all the cute newborns and remembering when he was that tiny. We learned that in one year Ethan has put on 14 lbs, and has grown 10.5 inches since birth. Unfortunately Ethan had to get 5 shots and they even had to draw blood. I understand about the 5 shots because of the chicken pox and the flu shot along with his normal ones but I couldn’t believe that they needed him to give blood. The doctor assured me that it is always done at 1 year to see if he is anemic and it would be pinprick. Once we got to the lab, the technician said that the doctor told a small fib and that they needed to go into his arm vein to fill a tube. When Ethan gets his shots I don’t get that nervous but when he started the needle on his tiny arm, I started to cringe. I have had blood work and it never bothered me but seeing him go through it was a little nerve wrecking. Of course, Ethan barely flinched and the tech made me realize that I was more freaked out than Ethan was. Oh well, he is my baby! Below are some pics of Ethan today and some when he was a newborn, to show how much he has changed in this one year.

Also, today is mine and Eric's Wedding Anniversary- 3 Years

Such a big boy!

4 days old, such a cutie!

2 days old, coming home.

Back to School

With enough delays and excuses Eric finally accepted the fact that he had to go back to school. The 10 week courses seem to be taking a toll on him. I have never seen Eric study so much. During college Eric was one of those lucky kids that always got A's without ever picking up a book. However, all of the reading that is assigned keeps him busy. With all of the pressure to get good grades it is a struggle to divide time between family and school, but we do the best we can. However I think Eric will do fine on the future semesters because he got a 4.0 on his last semester. I just keep reminding him that Graduation (March 08) will be here before you know it and we will be shipped some where else.

Thankfully Ethan is doing alright and is no longer having any sickly symptoms. It seems that we couldn’t catch a break; he was either throwing up or running a fever during December. However, now he is doing fine and acting like his normal self. I think the fever is due to new teeth coming in because he now has 6 teeth and is cutting the fangs. I just keep the orajel on hand at all times. With the new teeth, Ethan decided to put up a strike on baby food. Therefore we have started to give him regular foods and he has been doing great with it. It has been a lot easier than I expected and he seems to enjoy it a lot more. He really likes Spaghetti!

I am just busy trying to keep up with our home, scrapbooking, hosting some parties and planning Ethan's 1st Birthday party.

We hope that everyone’s New Year started out great and that the year continues to be good to you.