Happy First Birthday, Ethan!!!

It is hard to believe that it has been a year since Ethan joined our family. And what a year it has been-so many changes for us and for him. We are very excited to celebrate his first birthday.

Ethan was born at 7:43 am on Superbowl Sunday. For those of you who didn't know his birth story:
The day before Ethan was born, I was feeling a little bit like he was never going to be born and I was going to be pregnant forever. That Saturday, Jason and I took a long walk (nearly 5 miles!) to the beach and back--and that long walk might have been what induced labor. We went to dinner at a local favorite restaurant for an early bird special. The whole dinner, I didn't feel too well--I thought I overdid it on the hike. We went home to watch a movie, but now I was feeling worse--my stomach was crampy--did I eat a bad dinner?
By 10 pm, I realized that actually I was having contractions...and actually they were pretty regular. I was hesitant to go to the hospital (I did not want to get sent home...), but Jason was insistent that we went. And I am glad we did, because by the time we got there, the contractions were painful! Turns out I was in labor, and I was admitted. First things first, got my epidural, and then tried to rest the rest of the night (although I couldn't stop listening to the fetal heartbeat on the monitor and thinking about how our lives were going to change). It was apparently a busy night on the ward, so I didn't see much of the nurse..she came in to check me around 6:30 am and I was completely dilated and ready for delivery! We called our parents, and waited for the OB. She arrived around 7:15, and it didn't take long for Ethan to be born--a half an hour later we were parents!


Here's one of our first looks at the little guy:


Needless to say, we didnt catch too much of the Superbowl last year.


We are having birthday party on Saturday with a few local friends. For party decorations, I have made 8x10 pictures of Ethan by month. I tried to pick pics from the beginning of each month, so you can see how he grows. Since none of the followers of this blog are going to make it to the party, I've included them here. I think his biggest changes are between 1-2 months and 6-7 months..

1 Month

2 Months



3 Months



4 Months



5 Months



6 Months



7 Months



8 Months



9 Months



10 Months



11 Months

We celebrated at home tonight, just the three of us. Ethan had his first taste of cake--and he LOVED it!!

Wow, what a lot of change in one year. We are so lucky to have such an amazing little boy. Happy Birthday, Ethan!!