8 months old

My little boy is over 8 months old now and amazes me constantly at the new things he can do. It is hard to believe that 8 months ago we were dealing with daily nicu trips. Rarely a day goes by that I don't think about how blessed we are with his progress and health. It was such a scary time for us.

He is doing a great job sitting up. He loves being able to sit up and play with Carter and Seth. He is also army crawling everywhere. He can get to anything he wants. This is very dangerous in a house full of tiny army guns, action figure lightsabers, and legos. We are trying to teach the boys that they have to clean up after themselves constantly (and that is not working too well). Ethan also likes to blow/spit bubbles while you are feeding him. Makes for quite a mess at feeding
time! :)

What a big boy! He loves his loveys just like his big brother, Seth.

He also loves to play with his feet. Every once in a while you'll catch him with them in his mouth.

He LOVES this ladder. It goes with his Little People Firehouse that Santa got him.

6 month pictures

I just got back Ethan's 6 month pictures (not because of my photographer, but because I kept forgetting to pick them up). They turned out so good!

My happy boy!

I just love his expression in this picture...not sure why, but he looks so serious.

Star Wars

Carter is obsessed with Star Wars. He definitely inherited this from his Daddy. Zach has never pushed him into liking it, but it has definitely happened. Several days a week Carter tells me that he and his friends play Star Wars on the playground at preschool.

So when we found out that Lipscomb was having a Star Wars day on Saturday at their men's basketball game we knew that we had to go. We got there right in time to see all the characters walk on the court and then sign autographs and pose for pictures. Carter and Seth loved watching them from our seats, but once we got close enough for pictures and autographs, they were scared. I was slightly surprised since they were not scared of any of the characters at Disney, but I guess 15 stormtroopers, Darth Vader, a 10-foot Chewy, etc... can be a little frightening. After several minutes of standing off to the side, with me trying to convince them to go say hi, one of the stormtroopers came over, took off his helmet, and offered Carter his gun. He was so nice to show them they were just regular people and nothing to be scared of. After that they agreed to have their picture made with just this one stormtrooper. Oh well, at least I got a picture or two!

Watching the game. Ethan loved watching all the movement on the court.

I know this post isn't about Ethan, but I love this picture (Katie, he looks SO cute in his little sweater - thank you!)

Carter shooting the stormtrooper with his gun.

Finally, close enough for a picture!

The only picture I got with both boys in it (even though it is too dark and blurry). They had SO much fun at the game.

7 months old!

It just seems impossible that my baby is 7 months. This last month has been challenging - poor guy has had 2 ear infections and hand, foot, and mouth disease. We are hoping for a better upcoming month. He is also working really hard to sit up by himself. He really wants to crawl, but for now, is satisfied rolling to get around. Look at this sweet face!

Christmas 2009: Round 3

We left Owensboro around 2 on Christmas Eve. Our church has had a Christmas Eve service for the last few years and it has become one of our favorite traditions. We arrived back in Brentwood right in time for the service. We were blessed to be surrounded by our friends as we sung Christmas songs and lit a candle in honor of His birth. It was special. After the service, we raced home to get dinner on the table. The boys were excited to get home because they get to open one gift on Christmas Eve from us. As I finished up dinner, they each opened a gift. After dinner, we sprinkled reindeer dust on our front yard, laid out cookies for Santa, and read "Twas the Night before Christmas." Finally, the boys were in bed. :)

The next morning was so fun! They actually remembered when they woke up about Santa and watned to rush down the stairs to check out their gifts (first year that they remembered). We spent a great morning together enjoying new toys and the boys' excitement.

Zach's family came down for lunch and spent the afternoon. Carter and Seth loved playing nerf guns with Tyler and Cody and Ethan enjoyed spending extra time in his Grandma's lap. Overall, it was such a great day!

Here are the pictures:

The boys hanging their stockings up before bed (Ethan had already been in bed for a while).

Cookies, milk, and carrots ready for Santa and his reindeer. (funny story - The next morning Seth was very disturbed to find the carrots gone. He could not believe that the reindeer came in our house to eat them. He said, "That is not supposed to happen!")

Running to check out their stockings and presents that morning!

They went straight to their stockings...didn't even glance at the gifts.

Making sure he gets it all out...

Carter's big gift - a bat cave. He loves it!

Seth checking out his gifts.

Carter helping Ethan open his presents. Ethan didn't mind because all he wanted to do was...

eat the paper! :)

Seth playing with his remote control truck and geotrax.

After all the unwrapping (and the 45 minutes it takes to get it all out of the package), it was finally time to play.

The rest of the day was either ax fighting (yes, they all 3 got a styrofoam ax in their stocking - not my idea) or nerf gun shooting. They had SO much fun!

Ethan hanging out with his Grandma and his new musical seahorse.

Our little superhero!

Of course, we can't leave out Wolverine.