Yum! Yum!

This little boy LOVES meatballs! He was so intent munching on his meatballs at dinner that he realized his bib was getting in the way. No problem, he just turned it to the side and kept on going. By the time dinner was over, he had sauce all over his face and in his hair! This was one meal that took us straight to the bathtub.

On another note, of which I disappointedly have no pictures to document, we had quite an interesting afternoon one day last week. While Mommy was cleaning up the bathroom, Ethan decided to do some investigating in the drawers. In a matter of moments, he found a nail polish bottle. As he was trying to get it out of the drawer, he dropped the bottle on the tile. As I look down, all I see is a splatter of red polish everywhere! Thankfully, the bottle broke into 2 pieces and I was able to scoop them up quickly. But, Ethan had pretty red feet and we were left with red tile, red grout, red baseboards, and a red wall. Did I mention that our house is on the market right now? In my haste to try to quickly get as much up as I could before the nail polish dried, I did not snap any pictures of this priceless moment. I SOOOO wish that I would have at least taken pictures of his feet! In the last week I have tried to erase any indication of our catastrophe, but little did I know that paint does NOT cover up nail polish and once it is in grout, it is there to stay.

Ethan's 1st Tri-State Tour

This is the FIFTH time in a week and a half that I have tried to make this post, but my computer has NOT wanted to cooperate so hopefully I'll get through it this time.

We just returned from Ethan's first Tri-State tour. This is what we call the trek that we make to visit the whole family which covers basically 3 states. We started out traveling through the night from Rockwall to Guntersville, Alabama, where Ethan got to see Mimi, Maw-Maw, Uncle Chad and Aunt Ashley. We also got to spend time with Miss Betty, Jody, and Alisa as well! Ethan had a blast playing with everyone! His favorite toy...a little blue dog bone that Maw-Maw washed for him(her dogs had never used it). Why should Mommy bring his toys when we have dog toys to play with! He also spent most of his time torturing Maw-Maw's little dog Bo. You can see the "I've been caught" look on his face.

After the visit in Guntersville, we made our way over to Gainesville, Georgia, to visit with Aunt Melissa and Uncle Mike, cousins Cherie and Daniel, John Michael and Heston, Uncle Gary and Aunt Lynn, cousin Jared and Stephanie, Aunt Wanda and Trish, Pop and Nana Lynda, Uncle Harry and Aunt Robbie. We spent some time on the lake, at a family B-B-Q, eating at favorite restaurants, swimming, and lots of playing! We even scouted a few houses and neighborhoods.

Pop got this tricycle out for Ethan to give a spin. It was Ben's when he was little! He loved it!

You can see Pop's concentration to make sure that Ethan doesn't lose his balance.
Then Daddy took Ethan swimming. He thought it was hilarious when Ben stuck his face under the water to blow bubbles. We "tried" practicing this earlier in the summer at swim lessons.

Yep! Mommy was lazy that day, skipped the swim suit, and went straight for the swim diaper. But Ethan and Daddy had a blast anyway!

After swimming, we did what all little Georgia boys like to do...play in the back of the truck half- naked! It was too hot for clothes!

Once leaving Georgia, we made our way down to the sourthernmost part of Alabama touching the Florida line to visit Grandad, Granny and Grandpa, Uncle CJ, Aunt Cheryl, Aunt Cindy and cousin Jacob on the farm.

Daddy and Uncle CJ had some fun hitting golf balls and of course, Ethan is making Daddy proud with his interest in golf as well!
Grandad was so excited to take Ethan on a ride in the big tractor, but this was Ethan as soon as he heard the tractor coming. You can't see the look or terror on his face or tell that he's running in the opposite direction, but it was priceless!

He soon warmed up a little bit and let Grandad take him up in the tractor with him.

I soooo wish I had taken pictures of him with the horses and chickens. He wasn't too sure about the cows. I don't know how I forgot to grab the camera, but I did! We had a blast on the farm and can't wait for our next visit!

After our visit with Grandad, we headed back home. I must say, Ethan was a trooper up until the last few days. With so much car time, he finally decided he had had enough of the car seat and was ready to go home. We are so proud of him, though! He was comfortable everywhere we went and went to everyone...which says a lot for our little boy who will normally only go to a few people!

Birthday Boy

It's hard to believe that 12 short months ago, our baby boy started out here...

and now is here...
We celebrated with a triple party at the Hickory Ridge Spray Park joined by 2 other birthday buddies in our Sunday School class, Reid and Keller. Cupcakes were had by all!

The guests of honor started out in a little pool that Keller's Mom and Dad were smart enough to bring. Keller and Reid are in the pool with Ethan and little Claire is helping Reid as he attempts to escape.

Soon our little man got adventurous and started rambling about through the sprinklers and fountains. Needless to say, Mommy, Daddy, and Ms. Kristin got soaked chasing after him. He had an absolute blast splashing through the puddles and getting sprayed!

After splashing around, it was time to sing Happy Birthday and dig into some special cupcakes for the birthday babies!

Yummy!

We love you, Birthday Boy! You have made Mommy and Daddy's dreams come true!

I'm THAT Mom

Several years ago, I was sitting in a parent-teacher conference discussing my concerns about one of my students while the child's mother entertained her 9 month old with a piece of notebook paper. As the baby in her arms proceeded to EAT the piece of notebook paper while she paid no attention to him, I couldn't help but think, "Oh my goodness, I will never be so inattentive as a parent that I would let my child do that!" I let the mom know what was happening and she, of course, did the finger sweep and looked appropriately embarrassed. That event made a lasting impression on me and I still think back on it to this day. Well, at least up until today...

I'm that mom! Since Ethan has been born, I have always tried to do our big grocery shopping after Ben is home from work and Ethan is in bed. Today, I decided that we would venture out and attempt this feat together. I was prepared with toys, sippy cup, and snacks. He did GREAT, I am so proud of him! He only tried to crawl out of the cart once and even started talking about the time we got to aisle 14. That was also the point that he decided he had had enough of his distractions and started throwing everything that I attempted to give him on the floor. Even so, he was a terrific shopper and I was finished. As I was unloading the cart to quickly get checked out, I placed the notepad that had my grocery list on it beside Ethan. The next thing I hear is the nice lady behind me say to him, "Does that taste good?" I then look up to see that he has a wad of paper in his mouth! As I was doing the finger sweep at that very instant all I could think was "I'm THAT mom from the parent conference!"

As a mom, I now realize there are going to be times in my life when I am going to wish that the only thing I have to worry about is paper in my child's mouth. As a mom, I also now have a very hard time judging other moms for I do not know their character nor their circumstances. It's amazing how God uses events in your life to teach you lessons even years after it has made an impression. I am so thankful that he is a forgiving God.

First Birthday

Even though Ethan's official birthday isn't for a few more days, we had a small birthday party on July 4th when family was in town. I can't believe it has almost been a year! It seems like it was just yesterday we were welcoming him home from the hospital!

I'm not sure why, but this picture is turned. I promise it wasn't like that when I uploaded it! Anyway, this is the cute cake that my friend, Paige, made for him.

He did NOT like the birthday hat!



Although he didn't know what to think of his little smash cake at first, he quickly figured it out!

And Uncle Chad's Cozy Coupe was a complete hit! We ride in it every day!

My great uncle, Jim, was in town for the birthday celebration and Ethan was absolutely fascinated with him! I think Uncle Jim was a bit smitten as well. They were thick as thieves! That says a lot for a little boy that truly accepts only a handful of people into his world.

This weekend, we will have a triple birthday celebration with 2 other friends, Reid and Keller. Reid is 3 hours older than Ethan and Keller is 1 week younger than he is. Fun times ahead!!

Hawaii

Ben and I just returned from a wonderful week in Hawaii with great friends! This was our first venture away from Ethan. Prior to this trip, we had never been away from him for even one night. So we were both worried about how not only he would adjust but also how we would handle being away from him. After hearing his giggles on the phone, we knew we had nothing to worry about and Mimi had it all under control. So, we sat back and enjoyed our trip...here are a few of the more than 400 pictures we took.

The awesome view from our balcony

A 5 a.m. sunrise at 30,000 feet atop Haleakala. It was a toasty 40 degrees.

Our group after biking down a volcano. I made it half-way, then decided to relax and ride the rest of the way down.

A sunset dinner at fabulous Mama's Seafood!

Ben playing a Kapalua's PGA course

Snorkeling on the Pride of Maui

Ben learning to surf

The Diesch's and the Le's learning the Hula

A gorgeous view from our sunset dinner cruise

A visit to the 7 sacred pools




While there was a small twinge that we hoped that Ethan was home missing us, we soon realized that he was having the time of his life with Mimi and Ms. Kristin...As evidenced by the numerous picture messages we received of our baby boy having a blast at home.

He spent his week...

Playing in his water table

Playing with his push toys outside

Playing in the tunnel at the park

Swinging at the park

And playing in his pool (Thanks Kara!!)

It was great to know that he was so entertained while we were gone. I'm not sure if he even knew that we weren't there! He has been in great spirits ever since we got home and only Mommy and Daddy know how much they missed him! Not to mention how much he grew while we were gone! Before we left he was walking 4-5 steps at a time and now he's walking across the house. Before we left, we were working on waving bye-bye and now he's clapping and playing Pat-A-Cake. All in 1 week!! That will show Mommy and Daddy!

Our First Swim Lessons

I guess everyone is taking swim lessons this summer! We started our lessons the first Monday after I got out of school and took a Mommy and Me class at the YMCA. There were 6 Mommy's and their little ones in our group ranging from 7 months to 3 years. We played games, sang songs, and learned a few things about swimming.

We learned that it is OK to not always be in Mommy's arms in the water. We can trust others and swim to them.

And we learned a lot of songs to help us remember how to practice doing "ice cream scoops," blowing bubbles, and kicking our feet. We have a lot of new moves to show off!