Happy Birthday Ethan!

We are so glad that Ethan is in our family. He is such a smart, cheerful, fun boy! Ethan is at the age where he loves to be a smart alec, sometimes it is funny and other times it drives me crazy. He is constantly asking "why" to everything. But he doesn't do it because he is actually wondering why, he does it to be funny. He is curious about everything and loves to find out new things. He's a great reader and reads an hour each night before bed. He's read two of the Harry Potter books and is so proud of reading books that are so long. Ethan is always trying to figure out ways to make money because there's always something he wants. Every summer he sells popsicles and has made several dollars at a time that way. He also likes to do chores around the house as long as I'll pay him for it.

I'll include Ethan's birth story. This might be boring for some of you, but I want to make sure I have this somewhere. I wish I had written it down sooner, I've forgotten a lot.


A few weeks before Ethan was born the doctor was a little bit concerned because I was getting really swollen and my blood pressure was elevated. October 12th he told me that I was effaced 90% and I was dilated to a 2. On October 18th I gave notice at work that my last day would be Friday the 22nd. My doctor had told me that I needed to take it easy to try to keep my blood pressure down and I figured that it would give me a week to get my house cleaned and ready for a baby since he was due on the 31st.

On the 19th the doctor told me that my cervix was really thin, and my blood pressure was up again. He told me to come back in if I wasn't feeling well. Two days later my car broke down at the intersection of 800 North and 900 West, there I was almost 9 months pregnant trying to push my car out of the middle of the road. Luckily someone stopped and helped me get the car out of the intersection.
My last day of work was Friday, October 22nd. We went out to dinner that night and I kept having contractions all through dinner. We visited my parents after, and the contractions didn't stop. They were getting stronger but I didn't dare go to the hospital yet, I didn't want to be sent home. We went home and I straightened up and vacuumed. We finally went to bed because they weren't totally regular yet.
On Saturday the contractions continued. We took a few walks and I made sure that my hospital bag was packed. I went to the store to pick up a few things I needed for the baby. At 9pm that night we finally decided to go to the hospital, my contractions were about 4 minutes apart and I was dilated to a 4. They checked me again after an hour and I was still at a 4 so we walked around the halls in the hospital for a while. I still hadn't changed but my doctor told them to keep me and at midnight he came in and broke my water. That started my contractions going much stronger and faster, they were coming every minute. I had an epidural at 1am and slept a little. At 5:45 they checked me and I was complete so I started pushing. It took an hour of pushing because he kept getting stuck, but finally at 6:46am Ethan was born. My family was out in the waiting room right outside our room and they were able to hear his first cry. He weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces, and 19.5 inches long. A great size, especially a week early!
I thought he was perfect and couldn't believe that he was mine! Ethan was very sleepy for the first few weeks and it was hard trying to get him to nurse because he would just fall asleep. Luckily he finally got the hang of it and did just fine.

Two weeks before Ethan was born:

Right after Ethan was born:

He loved to sleep during the day.

But at night he'd be wide awake.

Ethan's first Thanksgiving:

The day he was blessed:

A few pictures from his first year of life:

Ethan, age 1:

18 months:





Age 2:

One of his first obsessions was playing with the vacuum.

When we visited Grandpa Buzz and Grandma Susan with his cousin Drew's family he and Drew loved "cleaning":

Age 3:



When he became a big brother:

Age 4:

Age 5, this was when he was obsessed with dinosaurs:

Preschool graduation.

Age 6:

(The beginning of his Spiderman obsession.)

Age 7:

Age 8:

And now at age 9:

We love you Ethan! Happy birthday!