Homemade Sprinkler Park

Since Cory misses out on all our fun sprinkler park adventures during the week, I decided to make our own on the back porch so he could see just how much Ethan enjoys the water. My grandparents and aunt Paula gave Ethan the greatest water fun gift which included a kid sprinkler, pool, and bathing suit, among other things. So here's E trying them out:

He loved the sprinkler.

and drinking the water

then, he would crawl in the pool and back out again

and then do some laps around the sprinkler. It got a little slippery and it caused a few belly flops, which he thought was hilarious. He especially liked to chase us around the deck and splash. It was some good weekend fun.

And then here's a couple pictures from one of the big kid sprinkler parks we went to:

He liked it at first

but then I think it was a little intimidating so he would only hold our hands and walk around (here he's with the girl I nanny for, Rebecca).

The handsome boy taking a break and having a snack. How did he become a little man already?!?

More videos!

Ethan's first birthday:

Some shots of Ethan's first steps:

Ethan showing off his current tricks:

And the other day in the bath tub he started doing this, which was too funny not to get on camera:

Video time

So, we finally caught up on all our videos. Here's a few flashback compilations from his first year.

Ethan months 6 and 7:

Ethan months 8 and 9:

Ethan months 10 through 12:

I'll have some more recent ones tomorrow. (I had to take advantage and get at least two blog posts out of this).

Action Shots

See what the monkey is doing? Walking! It's about time, huh? It started a couple of weeks ago with a few steps here and there, and has progressed into long strolls. He still prefers crawling over walking, but he will do it quite a bit at home. I'm soaking up the time I have left before I'm constantly chasing him around.

We have video evidence and I'll post it soon, I promise.

Summertime is upon us

Since the weather has been warm enough, we've been enjoying the outdoors a lot more. Actually, it's pretty much just hot, so we're spending a lot of time around water.

Ethan received a water table for his birthday from our friend Don, and he absolutely loves it. We play with it almost every day. Here's pictures from when we first tried it out:




Can you tell he likes it?

We also took a trip to a sprinkler park for the first time. E was a little apprehensive at first, but after awhile he was crawling all over the place getting nice and wet. Only problem was, he kept trying to crawl away from the water onto the hot cement. He'd get mad at me for not letting him, and he'd get mad if he made it far enough for the cement to hurt his hands and knees. Crazy kid, I tried to tell him I was helping him out.

Checking out the water with his buddy Kinley.

Figuring out it's pretty fun.

Serving himself from the soggy goldfish buffet with his friend Connor. Kinda gross, I know.

We had a lot of fun though, and are going back tomorrow, and probably dozens of times before summer is over. Hopefully the heat won't kill us...

I'm back. About the Beach trip

Sorry there hasn't been any blog updates lately. I just haven't felt up to it, and it's mainly because of this specific post. However, I really wanted to share pictures from our trip to the beach, so I didn't want to skip the post altogether.

Explanation: Our trip to Port Aransas was bittersweet. It was Ethan's first time at the beach, but we weren't exactly there on vacation. My grandpa passed away on April 16. He had been fighting cancer for about 6 months, but the fight ended. He and I were very close, to say the least. He was like my grandpa, father, friend, and hero all wrapped into one. It has been rough, and I will miss him forever.

Papa wanted our whole family to go to Port Aransas and spread his ashes, so that's what we did.

Ethan really enjoyed the beach, just as any boy with Charles as a middle name should. He probably crawled miles along the beach checking out the sand and the shells. He even enjoyed the water once he got used to it.

It was actually a nice trip and it was really great to have Ethan there being his happy, hammy self. I can't wait to go back in the many years to come.

The obligatory 12 month post

Yes, yes, I know it's late and you're tired of hearing about Ethan turning 1, but I gotta do it. Don't worry, there are pictures, so you're welcome to skip all my blabbering about things I want to be sure to remember and go straight to the pictures if you want.

Ethan had his 12 month appointment yesterday, so I thought I'd wait until now to do his update. He's now 30 inches long (50th-75th percentile) and weighs 20 pounds (10-25th percentile). He went down on his percentiles a bit, but the doc isn't worried, especially because he's so active and was sick last month.

Nowadays, he's all about getting into stuff. He crawls everywhere (that's right, I said crawls, no walking yet), and he goes FAST. He loves to climb things as well, and can now climb up onto the couch with us. He hasn't been using his walker toys as much anymore, but he still loves them. His favorite past time is to be outside. He's happy to just crawl back and forth on the deck, although sometimes he'll bring a toy out with him or chase a ball.

He's now saying a few things too. His first word was "bye" and that started awhile ago. Now, he says "Avery" quite often. It sounds more like "Ehhvvvvee," but he only says that combination of sounds when he's around the dog, so I know that's what he's saying. He says "mama" and "dada," but I'm still not quite sure he really knows them yet, although I know he recognizes and understands them. He'll also respond when I say "Where's your foot?" by sticking his right foot into the air with an adorably goofy smirk on his face. I love it.

Eating is still a challenge. He'll eat plenty of what he likes, he just doesn't like much. It's all about the textures for him. He expects everything to melt in his mouth, and if it doesn't, he sticks his tongue out and spits it out. So he still eats some purees and lots of soft stuff.

The goofy laugh is still going strong. He entertained quite a few nurses with that one yesterday. He also loves to do this excited deep breathing thing, which is pretty weird, but cute. Oh, and he pants like a dog too, just for fun. I have quite a ham on my hands.

I think that's about all for the memory book stuff, so I leave you with a year of Ethan. Best year of our lives so far. He's absolutely amazing, and it's hard to remember what life was like without him. My heart swells with love for him; it's indescribable, as I'm sure you all know.

One Month (I just didn't have the stickers yet)

A few more from the 12 month shoot, since this is his 12 month post and all:




Happy 12 months Monkey! I can't wait to see what surprises you have in store for us in the next year!

Wordless Wednesday

Vents at Gramma and Papa's house are fun.