Bedtime Prayers

Every night as part of our bedtime routine with Ethan, we pray (albeit a very very short prayer to accomodate a one-year-old's attention span). We always kneel by the couch as a family, just to get into the habit. We've been doing this for a few months now, and a few weeks ago, Ethan started coming to the couch on his own when we tell him it is time for prayer. On Saturday, we did the routine as usual, except when Ethan went over to the couch, he said, "Jesus." I thought I must have misheard, except my mom and Steve also said they heard him say it. We thought it must have been a fluke, so we went on with his routine, reading a bedtime story. Then, my mom suggested doing prayer again, just to see what Ethan did. Sure enough, he came over to the couch and again said, "Jesus." We got him to repeat it at the end of the prayer as well. It was so sweet to hear his little voice say. I'm so proud this is among his first words!

New Things

Ok, I have no pictures from Christmas to post yet...I'm one of those people that never takes pictures, relying on other family members to take them and then email copies. Instead of pictures I thought I'd write a little about new things Ethan is doing. It seems he is learning something every day. These past few weeks he has:
1. Started to say "see" and "up" (in addition to his vocabulary of "mama" "dada" "uh oh" "hot")
2. Dubbed my mom "nana" (he came up with that himself...we've always referred to her as grandma)
3. Gives kisses on demand (well, that may be going a bit far...he gives kisses on request when he is in the mood)
4. Learned to open the back door, which is a bit scary. I'm starting to make sure the deadbolt is always locked!
5. Started waving bye-bye to anyone that puts on their coat.

He is an amazingly sweet little boy. I'm such a proud mom, if you can't tell :-)

Ethan's 1 Year Pictures

Ethan turned 1 on November 12th. I can't beleive a year has gone by so quickly. His pictures turned out so well!

Thanksgiving

Ethan was fascinated with little Braedon.

Alex and Ethan playing in the dishwasher.

Playing with grandpa.

Testing the baby-proof cabinets

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. The immediate family was there, and Jim & Beth, Aaron, Lark & Braedon joined us as well. It was so nice to spend time with them all...and the food was good too :-).

Alex and Ethan were so cute together. They both R-E-A-L-L-Y enjoyed helping grandma with the dishwasher. Ethan was also quite taken with Braedon.

Happy Birthday Ethan

Playing with his toy from Uncle Mikey and Aunt Rachel

Ethan's reaction to cake.

Ethan's personal-sized cake.

Ethan's "real" birthday cake--actually made up of cupcakes.

We had a little family birthday party for Ethan today. He enjoyed himself and loved his presents!

First Haircut

After

During...the hair falling tickled his nose--hence the look

This is actually the first picture of the group...Ethan's initial reaction was to cry.

Ethan got his first haircut today. He wasn't too thrilled about it at first, but he did ok once he got used to the idea. He looks like such a big boy now. My little boy is growing up on me...sniff.

Update on Mike

Thanks to all who have been praying for Mike. He came through open heart surgery successfully on Thursday, October 22nd. His aortic valve was repaired (he was born with a birth defect that progressively worsened over the course of years). He came home on Monday afternoon, only 4 days after the surgery and was on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, he develop pericarditis, which is the retention of fluid and inflation of the pericardium around the heart. So, he was admitted to the hospital again on Thursday--one week after his surgery. They changed his meds and sent him back home on Saturday. Hopefully this time it's for good!

He's doing extremely well, considering what he's been through. He's pretty thin though (weighing 138 pounds).

Here's a pic taken yesterday evening of his chest. It look pretty good for 11 days post-op I think. The two slits beneath the long incision are from where his chest tubes were inserted.