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I did get Ethan’s birthday pictures posted today, and I just now finished the captions so those are available for your perusal. 

I had a good birthday today.  Ryan completely surprised me with my present, with something he knew I’d really like and never would have thought he’d remember to get.  He got me a fruit bouquet from Edible Arrangements and I love it!  I have a really hard time coming up with things I’d like when it comes to holidays so it helps me out a lot when he just remembers things from other parts of the year.  If you’ve never had one before, they are worth it.  It’s like getting flowers only you can eat them, and they have fantastic chocolate covered strawberries.  Yum!  And Ethan got me a book called I Love You Mommy; he has great taste. 

We had a fun evening out together.  We went out to dinner at the new outdoor mall near us, and I got a very tasty steak and some of the best spinach artichoke dip I’ve ever had.  Ethan really liked it too and I figured since it had vegetables and dairy in it, it couldn’t be that bad for him.    The other best part was our mall has had free outdoor concerts all summer long and this was one of the last ones.  So we got to listen to live music out on the patio, enjoy delicious food, and spend time together as a family.  We went and sat in the outdoor area after dinner and just enjoyed the music.  There were a surprisingly lot of people up and dancing and just enjoying themselves, which was fun to see.  Ethan really liked the music, especially the drum solo, and did some of his own dancing.   It will be fun to take him next year when he can actually get up and dance.  It was one of the best birthdays I can remember, and if this is what 30 is like, then bring it on!

I think having a baby is good for your health, in some ways that is.  Many pregnant people may argue with that, but hear me out.  Before having Ethan, we paid slight attention to what we ate.  It was mostly we shouldn’t eat this but who cares so we’ll eat it anyway kind of thinking.  Don’t get me wrong,  we did eat our vegetables and tried to avoid the really bad stuff, but once in a while was ok.  It still is, but it has to be once in a greater while now, and I don’t want to feed Ethan some of the same junk we eat and I don’t want to cook more than one meal, so if I want him to eat healthy and not spend the whole day in the kitchen then I guess I have to eat healthy too.  I find myself thinking more often about what I should buy at the store and cook for meals.  My own pickiness comes into play here a bit too because I just won’t fix some things no matter who they are for.  I did cook Ethan a scrambled egg for breakfast last week and I think that’s about the last time I’ll do that.  I gagged just about the entire time from the smell.  I know most of you think I’m crazy, but I just cannot stand the smell of eggs cooking.  Now, you put an egg in a cake batter and I’m good with that!  Breakfast is the most interesting meal of the day, and not just because it’s the most important.  I’m finding I really have to study my own eating habits and adjust them a bit for Ethan.  I’m usually pretty good with a bowl of cereal, but I haven’t really figured out how to feed him one yet.  We tried oatmeal the other day, which I don’t like and apparently neither does he.  I’ve got cream of wheat but I haven’t made it yet, again it’s a smell thing for me, and he hated baby cereal anyway, but maybe we’ll try that tomorrow.  We had pancakes and sausage today for breakfast, he really liked that!  And no, I didn’t give him any syrup.  I’m trying to avoid sugar and additives in his food, and maybe by extension I’ll get a little healthier too.  So far having a toddler hasn’t helped with my weight any, but maybe that will change once he can actually walk.    So now I find myself caring more about what’s in my food, like sodium, sugar, and ingredient lists that take up an entire paragraph on the label.  After all, when you by a simple food like fruit, shouldn’t the label just list the fruit?

I posted some new Ethan pictures from our trip to Missouri, after sorting through literally 600 pictures!  So I haven’t posted birthday pictures yet, but I’m getting there.  Only 600 more to go!

I know the whole first year of life is all about changes, going from completely helpless unable to even hold up your head to running around like a crazy toddler, babbling all the time, and expressing your opinions.  No, Ethan isn’t walking just yet, but he is crawling around like a crazy monkey.  It seems like the month you turn one is completely full of changes too.  Like I already said, Ethan is working on learning to walk.  He’s getting better, but he’s still really timid about standing up on his own, which significantly hinders the walking process.  His size has changed too.   He’s 50% taller than when he was born and weighs 3x as much!  My arm muscles get a workout from my 22 lb little guy!

We’ve turned his car seat around so now he can look out the front of the car.  We were going to wait since it’s much safer to have him face the rear, but he’s too tall now and his legs were really cramped.  He likes the change of scenery, I think it’s mostly because now he can stretch out his feet!  He finally learned how to hold his own bottle a few weeks ago after a screaming (him, not Ryan) dinner with his dad that I was thankfully not around for.  Now we’re in the process of switching him from formula to milk.  He seems to like the milk so far, but I’m mixing it about half and half with formula so we’ll see what he thinks when he’s changed all the way.  The last of the baby food is in the pantry, and there isn’t much left.  Once that’s completely gone, he’ll be on people food all the way.  The biggest change there is going to be for me, now I’ll actually have to make sure I have food prepared for him to eat rather than just opening up a jar.

One of the changes I witnessed today was when we were at the store.  Ethan likes to look at things on the shelf and today he found a big stuffed duck pillow that snored.  He liked that and was very sad when we had to put it back on the shelf.  He really threw a fit when we walked away and I told him he couldn’t have everything he wanted.  It was the first time (of many to come I’m sure) that I’ve taken away something he wanted in a store, well, besides that can of beans but I don’t think he really wanted that.  Some other changes we’ve gone through lately include me going back to work on a very part time basis.  So while I’m gone, Ethan usually goes to our friend Amy’s house to play with her little guy Evan, who is a week younger than Ethan.  He has lots of fun playing there and I know he’s safe and sound and in good hands.  Plus, Evan just had his birthday party too and now Ethan has lots of fun new Evan toys to play with.    I think that’s the most of the changes we’ve done lately, I’ll let you know what happens next!

My little man is now one.  I can’t even begin to tell you how many tears I’ve shed this weekend.  I really think that birthday cake is for mom, not the birthday child.  Mom needs the extra chocolate to get through the realization that her child is indeed growing up and won’t be hers forever.  I realize this may sound a it premature to some of you as Ethan is only one year old, but it all starts somewhere and the past year has gone by fast.

I will get pictures posted as soon as I can, as you can imagine there are quite a few to go through!  His birthday weekend went really well.  My mom was able to spend a few days with us and Ryan’s parents came in for the weekend.  Our biggest surprise was coming home to find his sister Lora here, she told us she had to work this weekend but really flew in to surprise us!  Ethan was the center of attention for days, I think he may be disappointed over the next few days to find out it’s only me now.    We had a party for him on Saturday with his friends and ours with lots of cake, toys, and general cacophony.  He was pretty exhausted by the time the whole weekend was over.

I can’t believe I’m about to be the mom of a one year old.  My little man is going to be one tomorrow, and I’m still getting used to having a baby.  It’s been a crazy year.  He started out as this tiny little guy, not able to do much of anything but cry and sleep and look around.  Now he’s getting into all sorts of trouble, working on walking, talking constantly (though I still don’t understand much of it), loving his toys and his parents, and just generally being a joy.  He’s enjoying having his grandparents around for his birthday and I’m looking forward to giving him some cake tomorrow and seeing what he does with it.  I keep waiting to blink and realize that really he’s off to school and somehow I missed it.  If the next few years go anything like this past one has, I’m sure I will do that one day.

I know, I know, I haven’t done a post in a while, let alone post any new pictures of Ethan!  Well, I just got them done.  Check out the Ethan, camping, and random pictures directories for all the new pictures as there are quite a few.

We had our second camping trip last weekend and it did go better than the first.  It did help that we didn’t have the option of leaving early like we did the last time though.  Ethan still had a hard night the first night, slept a lot better the second, and slept right through a thunderstorm the third.    I slept much better the second and third nights too.  It helped that we were about 2000 feet lower in elevation and about 10-15 degrees warmer at night too.  I didn’t have to worry as much about him freezing to death in the middle of the night, instead I had to be sure he wasn’t too warm – a much better proposition!  We had a fun trip to Mesa Verde with our friends and got to see the cliff dwellings.  It was a very long drive.  It was worth it, but we probably won’t go again.  The views on the way there were gorgeous.  Ridgway state park was very nice too, check out the view from our campground!  Stan and Melina stayed on that site, we were across the path farther away from the precipice.

Have you heard that there is a baby boom going on right now?  Apparently Ethan was a part of that as are many of our friends who have had babies recently.  Congratulations to Kate and Al on the birth of Maria, John and Lindsey on the birth of McKenna, Rob and Shannyn on the birth of Benjamin, and John and Amy on the birth of Ava!  And best wishes to all my pregnant friends Hannah, Jenn, Joy, Heather, Becky, Marie, Allison, Sarah, Emily, and her who I can’t mention by name yet !