Happy First For Our Second

WARNING... might be a bit of a long post.... but there will be photos!!

Today is Ethan boys 1st birthday!

Can you believe that.... I can't. (that c-section is still very real in my mind)

At 8:02am on this day, a year ago, a 7lb 12oz baby boy made his appearance. I remember thinking he was huge (with that 37cm head it was deceiving) and looked like my side of the family. I was just so, so happy that he came with hair, not sure why, I just never thought I would have a baby with hair, and dark hair at that. I kept talking about it I remember. Funny thing to be focused on but... I was tickled.

Ethan is a beautiful, happy (most of the time), smiley little man and we just adore him. He and Cade are the best of buddies (most of the time) and we so enjoy the little spirit Ethan has added to our home.

Here are 12 things Ethan is doing...or not doing... at 12 months old!! A YEAR... CRAZY

- Ethan loves the tubby, he loves water period. He is fearless and would swim in even cold water to his little hearts content. It was fun to watch him this spring break getaway swimming and just loving every bit of it.
- A few of his favorite eats are fish crackers, grapes, blueberries, carrot cake, pumpkin and pears baby food, yoghurt, ice cream and oranges.
- He loves balloons, balls, his pacifiers, pillows, climbing and squealing!
- Ethan is totally not into his baby food anymore, is very willful and lets us know we he does or does not want something.
- If we ask him where something or someone is he looks, points and says, "Daretis" as if he is he saying, "There it is!" Cory was the one that noticed this and we were impressed!
He tries to say certain things, and mimics the sounds we make alot. I swear that while one the phone with my mum the other day he said "Brother" but has not said it since, thankfully mum was a witness to it while on the phone or I would think I was a bit nutso!
He says, Mummum, Momma, Daddad, bubbub, ball, hittis (here it is), daretis (there it is) Botbot (bottle).
- Ethan still does not sleep through the night... grrrr. We have been doing the 'hard love' route this week and letting him cry a little more in the hopes he will self settle better. I am sorry to my poor neighbors that have to hear a screaming baby at 2am in the morning, it will be worth it in the end!!
- Ethan is alot of fun, he is funny, likes to bump his head on things on purpose. If he is sitting by the door or a wall he will tap his head backward to make a noise and crack up at it, easy pleased!
- If you take something from his 'death grip' he will cry the biggest crocodile tears and chuck a fit that you pried it from his hands. He is a determined little mite and it is a struggle sometimes to get things from him!
- He STILL had NO teeth...grrr. I said to Cory, what a waste of him weaning, we could have made the most of this no teeth thing!
- This little boy loves to cuddle and snuggle and we just love it. He will still lay his head on your shoulder for a good cuddle too. He likes to be by you and will go get what he was playing with and come back and sit on your lap to play with it.
- He, for the most part plays really well by himself or with Cade. Lately I think he is going through a seperation anxiety thing with me and will want me on the floor playing with him which is new.
- Ethan is not walking yet but will stand for longer periods of time balanced without noticing he is doing it. He is a climber and a few of his favorite places to climb are on our TV stand (it is not a high TV stand as our TV is wall mounted), on Cade's tool bench, over the couches and on Cades bed. I found him 2 days ago on the second shelf of Cades bookcase, SCARY!

Now for the photos....
Birth


One Month


Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

Six Months


Seven Months

Eight Months

Nine Months

Ten Months

Eleven Months

1 YEAR OLD

Our Sping Break

Our little family has never taken any time to do something over Spring Break and considering this is most likely our last 'Spring Break' with Cory graduating we thought we would make the most of it.

We didn't know if we would make it as Cade was sick at the start of the week and Ethan was a P.I.L.L. each night and we thought he might have had a little something too. By Wednesday afternoon the boys seemed good so we went ahead and left on Thursday morning.

Thursday we went the Denver Zoo and the boys just loved it! Cade is huge into animals and we thought Ethan would at least like the ride in the stroller and being outdoors on such a nice day. It was beautiful weather that day. We were so surprised at how much Ethan enjoyed himself. He just loved it. He would point out when he saw animals and was way more enthusiastic than I thought he would be. Cade liked the elephants playing with a hanging ball and the giraffes and bears. The tapir put on a good show and was swimming about which was fun to watch.







Friday, the weather was terrible and blowy. It literally snowed all day. We met up with out friends and went to the Aquarium. It was fun. My personal favorites were the Otters and the Sting Rays. Cade liked the sword balloon and embossed shark coin he got he tells me. But he seemed to enjoy patting the swimming sting rays too. We went and ate yummy food together at The Cheesecake Factory downtown which was soooo good.








We stayed in Loveland Friday night and just enjoyed the hotel, swimming and playing and relaxing after driving in yucky weather. Saturday we met up with our friends again and shopped and ate and just had a good time.

If you ask Cade about the things he liked best he will tell you about all the activities of the weekend and I am glad he seemed to enjoy it all. I did too!

It's that time and honestly I do enjoy Spring Cleaning. There is something about clearing away physically that doesn't something emotionally for me. Life can get hard and with all up in the air, when all else fails, cleaning doesn't!

Here are some quotes I hold to -

~ The motivational power of clearing up clutter and getting organized is enormous.

~ When the material rubbish of the house is cleared away, the rubbish of the mind tends to follow. This allows new thoughts and energy to come in.

And just because we live in Wyoming....

~ Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. Doug Larson

~ The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. Henry Van Dyke

Woooo Cool Moves

I was talking to my mum today and thought I should record this one for future memories....

Last week Cade and I were in the store checking out and he was messing around playing with the toys in the isle. I told him to move to me as people were trying to get their groceries unpacked and he was in the way. After the third request, those toys were apparently all too appealing as he didn't move quick enough so I grab his arm and picked him up and in one swift motherly movement I moved him to the other side of me.

He goes, "Woooo mom, that was a cool move!"

The people by me cracked up laughing, it was pretty funny.

Here I thought it might be considered somewhat abusive, but apparently not to the boy on the receiving end!