Ethan's One Year Old

I can't even believe I'm writing this! My sweet little Ethan is one year old today! Happy Birthday Bug! I am so blessed to have such an amazing little boy! As I am writing this post I am remembering the day he was born. It was truly a day to remember! I experienced so many emotions that day, that even as I write this, it makes me teary eyed. But most of all, I was overjoyed that forever and always, I would have this incredible gift; my sweet baby boy, Ethan! So, for this very special occasion I am going to post my traditional monthly update, and in addition to that, a list of some things I want to remember about Ethan, and a letter to my baby boy (so, beware, it's gonna be a long post). So here are a few fun facts about Ethan at one year old and a little comparison to Little Miss Leah at this same age :)

Weight: 16 Pounds 13 Ounces

Ethan isn't even on the growth chart for his weight. He is still teeny tiny :)

Height: 27.5 Inches

Ethan is in the 1 percentile in height.

Clothes: Ethan is still wearing a size 9 months in clothes.

Food: Well Buddy, WE DID IT! STRICTLY BREAST MILK FOR ONE WHOLE YEAR!!!! I never bought a single can of formula! Wahoo! I am so proud of both of us. We are now in the process of switching Ethan to whole milk and the transition seems to be going great. We are doing some things to try to help him gain some weight, such as adding Ovaltine to his bottles twice a day. We are also working on switching over to a sippy cup. He does pretty well, but gets kind of sloppy with the cup, so I try to give him that at meal times since he's a mess then anyway.

Ethan loves to eat! Some of his favorites include: blueberry muffins, pancakes, diced carrots, diced bananas, Gerber Cheetos, Gerber puffs, mashed potatoes, fries, Mum Mum crackers, graham crackers, yogurt, frozen gogurt, any of the baby food dinners, arrowroot cookies, ice cream, popsicles, cake :)

Diapers: Ethan is still wearing a size 3 in diapers.

Sleep: We are entering new territory as of tonight. Up until this point Ethan has been waking up one time during the night to nurse and then he goes right back to sleep. But, as of tonight, we wont be doing that anymore, so we'll see how it goes. It has been a little challenging putting him to bed each night. He seems to start to fall apart around 5:30pm which is obviously too early for bed, so we use dinner, bath and other things to try to distract him until about 7:00 pm. But even as tired as he is,  he hasn't been going down without a fight. So usually by the time he goes to sleep its more like 8-8:30 pm which seems a little late, so we'll have to work on that one. The time he wakes up in the middle of the night is random, but after that it's back to bed until 7-7:30am. Usually a little after Sissy wakes up, which isn't surprising since she has some volume control issues :)

Likes: Momma, Daddy and Sissy of course :) Ethan is still using a passy for comfort and loves his blue
Tigger blankie. He still loves to play with Little People and Leggos. Ethan got some new trucks and boy toys for his birthday, that he thinks are pretty cool. He loves to push buttons, like on the DVD player or the TV. And his favorite past time is dumping all the shoes out of the shoe box and chewing on them.

Ethan is also getting good at pulling himself up on things...

Dislikes: Ethan is having some severe separation anxiety/stranger danger stuff going on right now. He is very clingy, especially to me. He starts sobbing if I put him down and walk away . And even when I sit down and play with him, he either has to be sitting right in my lap, or at least close enough that he can reach over and touch me to make sure I'm still there. He is terrified of new people. If anyone else tries to hold him in my presence, he squirms and wiggles trying to get back to me. And even when someone he's familiar with wants to hold him, he is very unsure. He will look to me, Jed or even Leah for comfort.

Ethan ~ 1 Year Old

Leah ~ 1 Year Old

Dear Ethan,

I can't even believe this day has come...You are one year old! You are such an amazing little boy! I am so very proud of you and totally ecstatic to be your Mommy. You make me so happy and I can't imagine my life without you in it. The name Ethan means strong, optimistic, solid and enduring. And you have certainly lived up to that name. Right from the start you faced many challenges. But, even being born 7 weeks early, there was no stopping you. You are strong! You are a fighter! You are absolutely amazing! I am so impressed each and every day at how you grow and develop. Each day you learn something new. You are intelligent and beautiful, inside and out. I can't say enough how blessed I feel to have you in my life. Always remember how much I love you. I will always be by your side, in good times and in times of trial. I hope that in the future you will come to me when you are in need of guidance or advice. As your Mom, I want you to look up to me and consider me a source of experience, wisdom and strength. I will never take you for granted. Thank you so much for being you. I know that you are going to grow up to be an incredible man, because your greatness shows already. I will always love you unconditionally, never forget that!

Love Forever & Ever,
Mommy

From this...

To this...

Ethan ~ Here are some things I want to remember about you at One Year Old...

~You are always smiling! You are the happiest baby I have ever known!

~You're totally a Momma's boy! If you could you would be attached to me at the hip, and some days you practically are :)

~You love the sound of your own voice. You are always making random noises and sounds.

~You can say a few words, sometimes it seems like you use them appropriately, other times they are just part of your endless chatter. Those words are Ma-Ma and Da-Da. We have been working on Ni-Ni and Ba-Ba. And sometimes you say them, but only when parroting what we say.

~ You think your sister is totally awesome and hilarious! You just crack up at everything she does.

~ You love bath time. Just bringing you into the bathroom, you starting flapping your arms and kicking your legs. You get so excited :)

~ You laugh out loud when Daddy blows bubbles in the tub.

~ You love real food. We are introducing more food to you each and everyday and it seems as though each food is better than the next.

~Your nicknames include: Bug, Bugga Bugga, Bubba, Buddy and Bud.

~You love to play with Little People and Leggos

~You're not really interested in TV yet, but Backyardigans will occasionally catch your attention.

~You are a finally crawling! Most of the time you do a kind of half crawl, half scoot, but you get around, and you are getting faster everyday.

~You have having some separation anxiety right now, and don't really go far from sight, but if you are feeling adventitious, sometimes we'll see you head off to Sissy's room to play with all of her cool toys. 

~You love to push buttons and your favorites include the one that opens the DVD player and the power button. Which really pushes your sisters buttons and that makes you laugh.

~You give great, big, wet open mouthed kisses! They're totally awesome! Except when you bite :(

~You are still just a teeny tiny little bug and I just love it.

Happy First Birthday Ethan! You mean the world to me! I sure do love you!