Comparison...

What a difference 1 year makes...

3 weeks old

11 months 25 days old...

I think he might have been maxing out the weight limit but I couldn't find it marked anywhere.

"I'm Lightning McQueen"

Ethan was thrilled when the UPS man dropped off an early birthday present from his Grandpa Joe. He loves "Lightning" so much and can't get enough time playing with it. He'll walk all around the house pushing it around and has figured out how to push himself along while sitting on it.

Thank you Grandpa!!!!

Baby Gymnast

Ethan's friend, Gabe, had an awesome birthday at a Kid's Gym nearby. Ethan had a great time playing on all the mats and chasing balls that the other kids were dropping.


This boy sure does love his Daddy. The world stops when Chris gets home and all Ethan wants to do is play with "da da." Ethan officially said his first word last Friday, April 25th when Chris walked in the door from work and pointed at Chris and said "Da Da."

Since then he seems to be trying to mimic us with a few other words but nothing clear yet (my favorite is that he's trying to mimic me when we read a book about a duck and he makes a funny noise like he's trying to "quack.")

Seasons of our Lives

I often find myself thinking too much about the future. Sometimes long term and sometimes short. I think about what I'm going to do when Ethan gets up from naps, what we're going to do during the upcoming weekend, then looking forward to things in our life that will come later in the future. I think about when we're going to move into a new house, have another child, when Ethan will start walking, talking, etc. Almost like our family life isn't going to start until we have a bigger family. I love and appreciate what I learn from General Conference so much because in the last week I have been reflecting on a talk given about young mothers. About all that is required and how it can sometimes be tiring...but for me I feel like I'm not busy enough. I look around me at so many great mothers who always seem to be busy and have their hands fun and I know I'm crazy to think this but I sometimes wish I was in their shoes. Having only one child and being a stay at home mom can be monotonous and boring sometimes. Even though things have become a lot more fun since my little boy started crawling, I still crave the busy lifestyle that I had when I was a teacher. I'm not able to sit still for too long. Anyways, I know this post is kind of going in different directions the point it...in the talk Elder Ballard mentioned that we need to appreciate the various "seasons in our lives." He gave a statistic that we only have our kids in our homes for 1/4 of our lives and are only small for about 1/10. That made me realize that I need to appreciate this season of my life. I know I will look back someday and think about this special time that I was home with just Ethan. Just as I remember time that I spent with my mom.

Hopefully I'm not as crazy as I feel...

Did any of you that are moms of more than 1, feel this way when you had only 1???

Easter Bunny Time

For Easter, after church we headed down to Queen Creek and spent the day with our friends. We had a great meal and enjoyed time together. We loved having a nice relaxing Easter day. I didn't make an Easter basket for Ethan this year since I didn't think he'd really care but we did have some plastic Easter eggs at the house that he enjoyed playing with. Here is our little Easter bunny and Kami with her cute Easter dress on:Notice the tongue out...this has been his latest thing. Don't ask me why, but his mouth is always open with that tongue out. Trying to catch some flies I guess?Here is little Kami in her Easter dress. Her mommy loves to dress up her little doll.

FYI: I was so behind when I did his 10 month post that I pretty much encompassed anything new he's done at 11 months with it. He's really just getting better at all the things he learned at 10 months...crawling really fast and walking along all the furniture. Lots of babbling sounds but no words yet! All caught up...Finally!

Oooooo....Giraffes!!!

A few weeks ago, I went with a bunch of friends from my neighborhood to the Zoo. Ethan, of course, is still a little young to be really excited, but we had a great time being outside in our beautiful weather. He really liked the animals that were pretty close up or made noises like the monkeys, javelinas, camels, and lions. Of course, I forgot my camera for this first fun trip to the zoo! Sorry!!!

A couple weeks after that, the zoo was having a free night so we went again with another family. Unfortunately, this time, there weren't many animals that we were able to see. But, right when we walked in we went straight over to the Savannah where the Giraffes were and there was one RIGHT in front of us. Ethan absolultely loved it and was pointing and saying "Oooo...oooo....oooo"

Here are a few pictures from our experience.

Notice there are no pictures of me...I realized after looking at the picture of Ethan and I from the zoo that my smile is so messed up now that I have braces (it was the first picture I've seen of myself since getting them, crazy huh?) So to keep myself from being too embarrased I left them off...and for all of you who see me every day...I promise I don't look so goofy when I smile without braces.

A New Friend

Still catching up...

March 12th, Our great friends, The McClures had their new baby girl (2 weeks early) After over 24 hours in the hospital, little Kamryn Ann was born....7 lbs. 3 oz (only 1 oz. different than Ethan) and 20 inches long.

Here is Ethan while we were waiting in the hospital waiting room for some news...

Check out how wet he is...looks like he spilled something all over, huh? Nope...drool!!! YIKES!
And here is little Kami shortly after she was born...BIG YAWNAnd here she is the next day after everyone had gotten a little rest...