Celebrating Ethan

On the day before his birthday, we had a little party to celebrate Ethan with our family and friends. 

Even though he napped through the first half of it, the rest of us had a good time :)  We had some crafts for the older kids (cause with a December birthday, playing outside is not always an option!)

Kaeden opting for snuggles with Mommy instead

 Lunch with lots of friends:

And, of course, the cake!  

 

 

Big bros helping to blow out the candle

Ready to explore

He's always been such a big eater and definitely enjoys the sweeter foods that he has tasted thus far (like fruits and graham crackers), so I thought for sure that he would dive right in.  But, no - he showed a good bit of hesitation at first:

 

I had to show him that it was, in fact, food:

 

 He ate a little bit, but mostly just enjoyed smashing it.  At least he was happy, right? :)

Later in the day, we opened presents.  He got the hang of it right away:

 

And definitely enjoyed his ball pit from B & Grandaddy:

Many thanks to all for helping us celebrate Ethan's big day!

One Year Old

Dear Ethan,

The dreaded day has come and gone.  You are officially a year old.  Not a baby anymore, even though you will always be my baby. 

 

We've reached that point where you are just constantly changing and learning new things every day.  It is so fun and yet I wish we could slow down and enjoy each one a little bit more.

You are talking.  You've always been my most verbal baby.  You talk nonsense to me all the time, and I love it.  You've even started singing in the past few days.  You think that every animal says, "Moo."  I caught this awesome "conversation" on camera with your stuffed cow.   I like how every few "words" you throw a "moo" in (or "boo" as it often comes out)

You have a few words - as I wrote last month, your first word was "Go".  You also say "Ball" consistently, and my favorite is "Bubba", which is how you say "Teddy Bear." 

Snuggles with Mommy & Bubba

Speaking of teddy bears, our nursery has always been teddy bear themed, ever since we were expecting Ryan.  Neither of the other two boys ever seemed to care much about the multitude of teddy bears decorating the room.  But last month, you started pointing at them, and I would talk to you about them, but didn't think much about it.  Your pointing became more and more insistent, and so one day I took one down for you.  You instantly grabbed it and snuggled it and didn't want to let go.  Now, I'd been trying to get you to attach to a lovee for months now and you wouldn't really accept anything.  But you started sleeping with that bear and immediately all fussing for naps and bedtime ceased.  Soon thereafter, you started pointing to him (and all of the other bears) and saying "Bubba", so I have officially named him that :-)  If you had your way, I think you would sleep with your crib full of bears, but I've limited you to two for now. 

You've taken a step or two a couple of times, but you haven't taken off yet.  I'm sure it won't be long.  In the meantime, you're a super fast crawler, and you really enjoy pushing your walker (inside) or truck (outside) around. 



You have six teeth now, and you keep growing like a weed.  In the past 3 months, you grew an inch and a half and gained 3 lbs (up to 24 lb 4 oz) - still the biggest of all of my boys!  Fruit and crackers are by far your favorite foods, but you're a pretty good eater all-around. You only nurse once a day now, before bed.  Mommy's not quite ready to give it up completely yet, and you seem happy to go along with it. 



Of course, a lot of this month has been spent celebrating Thanksgiving and preparing for Christmas.  We went to Connecticut for Thanksgiving, and you were a good sport on the plane rides and enjoyed your time exploring Nana & Papa's house, pulling all of the paper out of Nana's paper drawer, and spending quality time with Nana, Papa, aunts, uncles and cousin.

 

You've also enjoyed the Christmas decorations at home, and you've been surprisingly gentle with the tree.


You like: your family, practicing new tricks (clapping, blowing kisses, etc.), balls, teddy bears, being outside, eating, baths, riding in shopping carts, playing in the play room

 



You don't like: car rides, being hungry, getting changed (diaper or clothes), being still.

Ethan, this past year has been incredible, and you have brought me so much happiness through the best of days and the worst of days.  You fit into our family far better than I ever hoped or imagined, and I could not be more pleased to be a mommy to 3 sweet, healthy, happy little boys.  I thank God every day for the gift that you are to me, and I love being your Mommy.  May you continue to grow strong and healthy and spread joy and love wherever you go.  

Love,

Mommy

Happy Birthday, Ethan!

My, how you've grown!

Peek-a-Boo!

11 months

Either I've been really busy or else I'm in denial about your first birthday being a month away, because it's now less than two weeks away and I'm finally getting around to writing your 11 month blog post.  I think "both" is probably the right answer, but anyway, here we are.  

 

You are definitely in the exploring stage, rarely staying in one place for any period of time and getting into everything.  No cabinet is safe from you!! :)  You also recently mastered stair climbing and have become obsessed with it, thus gates have become your biggest enemy.  You get so mad when I put it up at the bottom of the stairs.  

It's been a busy month... your first trip to the pumpkin patch, your first Halloween, your first wedding, celebrating Kaeden's birthday, etc.  You've had plenty of bonding time with family, and you love it.  Courtney might be your favorite person.  When you see her, you crawl toward her with this huge grin and a chuckle, and then attack her with hugs and kisses.  Unfortunately, this still feels more like an attack to her than love, but it's sweet nonetheless.  I love watching you two form your own little relationship.  Cousins are wonderful.

Aunt's aren't so shabby either :)

 

You love your brothers too, and you aren't afraid to show it.

 

Ryan is still your favorite playmate.  He can always make you laugh and is a great little babysitter when I need someone to entertain you for a few minutes at a time.

 You still love to eat, and definitely prefer finger foods to anything else.  You have 5 teeth now, so you're learning how to take bites. Crackers, fruit, and anything involving cheese are favorites.  You are nursing 2-3 times a day and regularly take 2 naps.

 I can't believe the countdown has begun to your first birthday.  It makes me so sad to think that my baby years are nearly over, but it is also such a joy to watch you grow and learn. 

Leaves

One of the benefits of living in the woods:  fall leaf piles!!  As you can see, the bigger boys had loads of fun running into/jumping into/burying themselves in/etc. their giant pile of leaves today.

  

 

Happy Fall!

Ethan's first word

If you don't already know this about me, I like nature.  A lot.  I also like deer.  When I was in high school, there was some group formed to try to get rid of a bunch of deer in my hometown because they were eating people's plants.  I decided that in defense of the deer, I ought to start the "Anti-kill-the-deer committee."  That's how much I like deer. 

Fast-forward a bunch of years.  We live on 15 acres.  Most of it is wooded.  In the spring/summer especially, those deer have over 14 acres of foliage that I am thrilled for them to eat.  Because I love to see them, especially their adorable fawns.  But apparently when we landscaped, we planted a gourmet candy shop for the deer because no matter what we do, they consistently come back and eat our plants.  They're in our yard numerous times a day.  And they're not particularly afraid of us either.  

So, what does this have to do with Ethan's first word, you may ask?

Mason's attempt at discouraging the deer from coming too close to our house (and plants!) is to go outside and scare them away whenever we notice them in the yard.  The older boys have become quite fond of this ritual and consider it a responsibility of theirs now to chase the deer away as well. They run out onto the front porch yelling, "Go away, deer!"

One day, Ethan crawled over to the window and started saying "Gah gah gah" over and over.  I'd never really heard him babble that way before and he seemed really intent and serious, so I wandered over and noticed that there were deer in the yard.  I thought it must just be a coincidence until it happened again... and again.... and again.  Apparently we have trained our 10 1/2 month old to chase away the deer as well, and his first word is "GO" :)