12 months

Ethan is 12 months old. A full year. Happy Birthday Boy!!! Here are some Ethan facts:

• He can now walk. What?? How did that happen?? He's pretty good at it for a little guy.


• He throws balls and attempts to catch them.


• Can say about 8 different words - his favorite is dog.


• Is still nursing. Yes. Please don't give me grief. I get enough. It's down to naps/bedtime.


• Has 4 fantastic teeth.


• Turns off the lights.


• Loves to swim.


• Laughs about everything.


• Likes to play tricks, especially on Daddy.


• Can sign a few words. Milk, more, eat, cracker.


• Has moved up in the height scale - he's now in the 25th percentile. Grow baby Grow!


• Has great coordination and gross motor skills. He scored fantastic on his tests.


• Has now had 2 big boy hair cuts.


• Makes funny faces constantly and knows he's doing it.


• LOVES sports, watching and playing.


• Likes playing on the phone and attempts to say Hello (it sounds like Ho) He will use his hand if he doesn't have a phone.
  
• Has both of his parents totally wrapped around his finger.

We love you little guy!!!

Birthday

Happy Birthday to my dear boy. We celebrated Ethan's birthday at the park with a few friends. Of course we had to have an Elmo themed party since E loves Elmo so much. What a great time. Twila, AKA - Twink L. Toes - is a hair dresser at mom's salon. She came for a little while and most of the kids really didn't care so much about her. She wanted to do balloon animals for them but was afraid they would blow away with our tornado like weather. Wow was it windy! But we had so much fun playing at the park. The cake was fun and messy. Ethan loved the little toys that came on it. When it came time to open the presents, each friend that brought a gift helped Ethan open the gift. It was so cute! Ethan was grateful I think because he was SO tired by the end of the party. Thank you to everyone that came!

Your mom and dad love you so much! We are so blessed to have you in our lives!!! You are an amazing and sweet little boy who bring us an unmeasurable amount of joy!

The box

We have a very long fireplace. It has been a real concern with Ethan crawling and learning to walk. So we built a "bench" of sorts around the brick. Jeff made the wood and then I padded and covered it. The padding came in a huge box. Ethan and Daddy had a blast playing in the box.

Dad stuffed himself in the box and would poke his hand out. Ethan would attempt to open the box and Dad would pop it open and surprise him. It was so funny to watch Ethan be surprised, EVERYTIME.

Good thing Dad is flexible!

Bordem

It always amazes me how bored I get when I'm not doing something or being entertained. This past week has been a really long/hard week. I spent the majority of the week in the hospital with my mom and then she stayed the weekend at our house after she was out of the hospital. Monday I took her to the Dr. Poor little Ethan was about sick and tired of hospitals, waiting rooms, and having to be quiet. In an attempt to entertain him and keep him busy, my mom and I had a blast with him letting him wear her glasses. We laughed and laughed at how funny he looked. We didn't get the great shots, but it was fun still the same.

He reminds me of Ralph in the movie "The Christmas Story"

John Lennon look

Oh the lengths we will go to not be bored.

Little Sneak

I love that Ethan is exploring the world. Today while I was at the gym, Jeff took some pictures of the little guy exploring our fridge. (It's a mess, I know) He looks quite pleased with himself! He loves sneaking past us when we are in the fridge.

Zoo

We love the zoo! With all of the beautiful weather this past month, we have been doing a lot outside, including the zoo. Love love love it!

We love the gorilla's. They are our favorite!

What a cute boy!

Hair Cut

Our baby got his first big boy hair cut. His Nana is a hair dresser and scheduled him his own appointment. He and Daddy both got cuts. So cute! Ethan had a HUGE spider bite on his cheek, but still cute as a button!

Daddy's Helper

Our boy is truly Jeff's son. He loves the guitar like daddy, but also loves computers and helping Daddy fix him. He'll stay with Daddy for hours helping him! Daddy sometimes works in the garage on his work bench and Ethan loves going out there to help him. He even has his own keyboard, mouse and flashlight to help! A future geek! I love it! :)

Stud

So my little man has his first little suit. I have been looking for a cute one and finally found one when we went to Chicago. I got it at a funny little store called Farm and Fleet. I was surprised because it's a little dump of a store that is mostly farm equipment. But I don't care, she sure looks like a little stud!

Little stinker has dress shoes but ALWAYS takes off his right shoe! He's so proud to show us he took it off.

10 Months

Ethan's 10th month was a big month for him! He learned so many new tricks and has just blossomed so quickly! We came home from Illinois and all at once he:

Cut his first tooth (and had his second within a week!)
Started crawling EVERYWHERE!
Started pulling himself up on anything that doesn't move
Started standing on his own, until he realizes he isn't actually holding on to something
Started eating tons of big people food
Feeding himself, or so he thinks
Started to throw big boy fits
Started to get into EVERYTHING
Got his first hair cut
Learned to clap on command
Learned to wave on command
Can play patty-cake by himself
Is on more of a napping and sleeping schedule! Wonderful!
Learned to share, including his food.

He loves saltine crackers. When he first started to eat them, he loved the crunching sound. His first few crunches, he would "freeze" - he would stick his arms and legs straight out and only move his mouth until the crunching stopped. It was hilarious.

He really has certain likes and dislikes now. He hates peaches, won't even let me attempt to feed them to him. He loves the park. He zooms his little walker all around. He LOVES the play area in the mall. We usually go about 11 or 11:30 and don't leave until they kick us out at 2. He plays the whole time. He usually falls asleep before we get out of the parking lot. He loves the dogs, really any animal. He has a funny bond with Buster. He ooooo's and aaaaa's when Buster comes around. He loves being outside. He likes to go, go, go. He doesn't care if it's on a walk in the neighborhood or going to the store. He just likes going.

He is such a cute boy. He has a ton of personality! We love you Ethan!

Visit to Illinois

Ethan and Katelyn immediately loved each other. It was the strangest thing - they just "went" for each other as soon as they met. There were never any fights between them. They shared so well -toys, food, parents - you name it. Katelyn could walk pretty good but Ethan was still in the walker. Katelyn had the cutest little pink walker. So Ethan started cruising in her walker. He didn't care that it was pink - he was delighted to use it. Katelyn thought he needed help so she taught him how to use all of the toys and she pushed him around. It was the cutest thing ever.

Dad made my FAVORITE breakfast, twice actually. Chorizo and eggs. Yummy. Thanks Dad! Katelyn shared ALL of her many, many toys. Ethan loved her new Elmo Scooter. He also loved her new ball popper. Everyone went dancing Saturday night. Jeff and I stayed home and babysat. It was nice to be alone for a little while. LOL - we did a load of laundry and went to bed. Haha. I have been asked by 100 people (not really, but it seems like it!) if it was awkward that my divorced parents were there together. No, not at all. It was so nice to have both of them to enjoy the kids. It is usually one parent or the other. They have a great relationship and thankfully are great friends. Now, if it were 25 years ago - we'd have a different story to tell. :)

We played the Wii quite a bit. Everyone loved bowling. We ate a ton of Dad's salsa and dip, laughed a lot, went to the pool, and just enjoyed watching the kids play.

Thank you Jerome and Kari. You were so wonderful to share your home with so many of us for SO long. We had a great time and we are so grateful to have been able to go!

Happy Birthday Katelyn!

We went to Illinois to visit Ethan's new cousin, my adorable niece, Katelyn, for her first birthday. It was such a wonderful visit. I have wanted to visit her since she was born, but since she's only 10 weeks older than Ethan, this has been our first opportunity. It was so fun to go to Katelyn's birthday party. She had so many people there. Most of everyone was from Kari's side of the family. But my dad flew in from Arizona and my mom flew with us from OKC to be there. I made her cake, a Blue's Clues cake. it was such a disaster. It didn't all come out of the pan, which would have been OK - except I dropped a full tub of icing in it and ruined it. I felt so bad and started crying. But my mom helped me to KIND OF salvage it. It still looked horrible. But she had so many cute decorations and she received a TON of gifts. It was hilarious because she hated wearing the hat. But as soon as she tried the cake, the crying started to fade as a big smile replaced the frown. The poor girl was exhausted but was such a great party girl!

Oh, and Kari's mom made the BEST egg salad sandwiches and a salad called Taffy Apple Salad. Here's the deal - I told Sharon, Kari's mom, that I HAD to have the recipe for the egg salad. It was just fantastic - I hate it when I make it. She laughed and said she just added mayo and mixed it up. I felt so retarded. I guess I've always tried to make it too complicated. :) The Taffy Apple salad was so yummy and I really don't like apples, not even apple pie. So I was surprised when I loved it!

Happy Birthday Katelyn!!! We love you!!!

Bath Time

While we were visiting cousin Katelyn, the kids took a bath together. It was so funny to watch them. I think I took 40 pictures. The thing that I loved so much is they seemed to be communicating without saying a word. They just looked at each other and it's like they knew what the other was thinking. Katelyn was such a little cutie with Ethan. She was so caring. She shared her toys, helped wash his hair and even taught him some naughty habits - standing in the sink. :) I will forever love pictures of our children in the sink. That is how my Granny and Mom used to bathe me and I love those pictures. Yea! for two sinks!

Park

Today the weather was BEAUTIFUL! Ethan and I went to the zoo with our friend Lisa and her nephew Jacob. We had a blast. (Pictures to come later)
After the zoo we went to the grocery store. We still had some time before dinner when we were done so I decided we should go to the park. We had so much fun! I took Ethan's walker and let him run all around the park. He loved it. The wind was blowing pretty good but he just kept plugging along. I didn't have my camera, just my phone but I had to capture some of the fun on camera. After looking at the pictures, I realized he SO needs a haircut!!!

Lucky

I have always wanted my children to have a great father. Growing up, that was important to me. When we visited my brother's family, it was so nice to see that not only did Ethan have a great father, but his cousin also has a great dad. I am so proud of my brother for being the father he is! Our children are so blessed!

Swimming

While we were in Chicago, we went to an indoor water park. Living in Germany, we went all the time. So my brother and I thought it would be so fun to take our kids. Ethan loved it! We've been going to Water Babies at the Lighthouse so he was used to it. Katelyn only liked the hot tub (it wasn't really hot). The water in all the other pools was pretty chilly but we didn't care. All the "grown ups", if that is what you want to call us, went down the tall water slides. SO much fun! We had a blast.

Contest

My friend Laurie is having a contest.

She is super talented and creates beautiful things! She has done all the vinyl for my house and signs that we gave as gifts! I SO want to be picked, since I know whatever she makes will be awesome. Sign up - you could win too!

Here is her blog.

http://foreveralwaysnomatterwhat.blogspot.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5561223
http://expressyourselfdecor.blogspot.com/

Craziness!

I copied these pictures from my cousins blog (Thanks Brookie!!!) so that my purse loving friends could view the most ridiculous building. Louis Vuitton store in Paris... I am NOT into purses (I have one LV purse that was a gift, otherwise I wouldn't own one)- I have way better things to spend my money on, but clearly there are those that are. I would think, though, that this would be quite the shopping experience!

Gift

I still haven't posted Christmas pictures, but tonight I am so grateful for a Christmas gift that I wanted to post my appreciation for it. It's currently pretty cold outside and we just had an ice storm. I LOVE the cold, the winter, and snow. One of my most favorite things to do is snuggle up with my hubby on a cold night and watch a movie together in our warm bed. For Christmas my mom gave us a mattress pad that has dual heating controls on it. At first I thought it was cool, but wondered how often we would use it. I have to say that we have used it EVERY night since Christmas and LOVE it! Jeff is so cute and asks me every night if I want my bed warmed up for me. He turns on my side and his so that when we crawl into bed, we are warm and cozy. It has been such a great gift and I love it! The first night we turned it on I didn't realize our controls were swapped. I had turned mine on low and Jeff turned his on high. I woke up SO HOT! I was sweating and turned it off. The rest of the night I was so hot and was irritated that it stayed hot for so long after I turned it off. In the morning Jeff said he didn't think his side really worked that great. LOL - We totally had the wrong controls.

Thanks mom for an AMAZING gift that we absolutely love!!!

Judgements

As I am thinking about my life and all of the pieces that make up my life, I know that I am so blessed. I have been thinking about one of my best friends from middle school. We kept in touch off and on since 8th grade. I have always thought she had everything. She was beautiful, SKINNY :), smart, fun, funny, talented... you get the idea. When we got older, I thought she had the perfect life - husband, beautiful children, nice house.... again, you get the idea. But not too long ago, I learned of her personal trials. I cried for her. Cried because I felt guilty for being judgemental. I thought her life was perfect, she was perfect. I quickly learned that not only was her life not perfect, but in this moment, it is harder than I could have ever imagined for her. And yet, she still inspires me. She has a deep love for the Lord and faith that far outreaches mine sometimes.

We each have trials and struggles in life. And yet we all judge. We judge when we shouldn't because we rarely know the entire truth or story. We judge based on different reasons... Looks (be it beauty or not), talent, wealth (or lack of) - education, calling at church, job status, popularity, whatever... But what gives us the right? The problem is we don't have one.


I have been thinking about my personal goals for the year. Among the usual is a goal to judge less and love more. I remember this same friend telling me once, while we were sitting in the mall commenting on people, that if we make fun of someone, that something we made fun of will happen to us. I quickly started making fun of skinny people. Unfortunately I wasn't "punished" with that "misfortune". But as I think about the areas in my life that need improvement, judgement is at the top of the list. I have often sat with friends or even alone, and made judgements about people, even strangers walking by. Wondering why they wore what they wore, why they didn't comb their hair, why they chose that spouse, etc. Who am I to judge them? I think about all of the times and I feel horrible. I know that my Father feels awful that I would think such things about his children...

My goal of judging less, loving more I hope will bring me closer to my Savior and bring peace to myself. Wealth, beauty, status, etc. won't bring eternal happiness. Competing with the world for those things will only bring misery, because we can't win. I want to live in this world, not be a part of it's craziness.

I am so grateful for all that we have, both temporally and spiritually. I have struggled quite a bit this past year with many things. It's been a very hard year for me, but now that my "fog" is lifting, I realize how much I have to be thankful for. I am blessed to be a stay at home mom. I am grateful to my husband for always wanting that for our family. I am blessed to have a husband that serves so many without a second thought, especially his family. I am so grateful, SO GRATEFUL, for our son. What a tremendous joy he is! Every day is such an experience with him. I laugh constantly at him in his endeavours to learn who he is. I love being his mom so much!

And so, this post was meant as a way for me to document my journey to judging less and loving more. Now that it's out there for the world to see, I HAVE to do it. :)