Saturday, May 26, 2012

Ethan's birthday day...

Ethan woke us nice and early on his birthday (as per usual). After a quick cuddle in bed we thought it was time to open the family presents. Look how excited Ethan was!!!
Ethan loves his new balance bike but it is a little big for him at the moment.

The first time he spotted the new slide set was priceless! He couldn't move fast enough to get to it!!!
In the words of Granny, Ethan really is fearless. He has conquered the slide already, both up and down!!
Ethan stayed at home with Granny, Grandad and Aunty Leza while Jason and I went to work for the day! They had a great day with a visit to the park and beach!!
Both Jason and I managed to get home from work early to spend a little more time with Ethan in the afternoon!

All in all a lovely day and a fantastic first birthday. Thanks to Great Grandad, Nanny and Poppy, Granny and Grandad, Uncle Quentin, Jane and MacK, Aunty Camille and Summer, Aunty Leza, Aunty Tiffinee, Mark, Harrison and Hudson, Aunty Melissa and Uncle Tyson for making Ethan's day so special!

A photographic tribute to Ethan's first year of life!



13 week scan
39 weeks pregnant

First photo of Ethan and mummy
Ethan 1 hour old
First photo of Ethan and Daddy

Ethan's first bath

Ethan's first day at home
Ethan's first tummy time (in the dappled sunlight)

Ethan's first wedding (10 days old)
Ethan's first real smile for the camera
Ethan grew out of the bassinet quickly
The first time I held my head up for ages...

Ethan's first shower with Dad

 


Ethan and Dad's first fathers day
 
Ethan's first solids
Ethan's first tooth

Ethan's first roll

Ethan's first use of the high chair

Ethan's first time at sitting up
Ethan's first swimming lesson

Ethan's first trip to the beach
Ethan's first time in a tux :-)
Ethan's first Christmas Day

Ethan's first trip to the river

Ethan's first time in the fridge :-)

Ethan's first black eye
Ethan's first time standing unassisted
Ethan's first day at day care

Ethan's first time "mowing the lawns"
Ethan's first time climbing on the table, which led to his first time falling off the table!

Ethan's first birthday party
Ethan's first birthday
So there you have it, a year of firsts! I don't have one of him walking yet (although he is walking everywhere now)!

What is a Boy?

A wonderful message from a Great-Grandfather to a little boy on his first birthday!
Boys come  in assorted sizes, weights and colors. They are found every-
where - on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, 
running round or jumping to. Mothers love them, little girls hate them,
older sisters and brothers tolerate them, adults ignore them and Heaven
protects them. A boy is Truth with dirt on its face, Wisdom with bubble
gum in its hair and the Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket.
A boy has the a horse, the digestion of a sword swallower, the 
energy of a pocket-size atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the lungs of a
dictator, the imagination of a Paul Bunyan, the shyness of a violet, and
when he makes something he has five thumbs on each hand.
He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, the boy across
the street,woods, water (in is natural habitat), large animals, Dad, trains,
Saturday morning and fire engines.
Nobody else is so early to rise or late to supper. Nobody else cram
into one pocket a rusty knife, a half-eaten apple, three feet of string,
two gumdrops, six cents, a slingshot, a chunk of unknown substance
and a genuine supersonic code ring with a secret compartment.
A boy is a magical creature - you can lock him out of your work shop,
but you can't lock him out of your heart. You might get him out of your 
study, but you can't get him out of your mind. Might as well give up - 
he is your captor, your jailer, your boss and your master - a freckle-
faced, pint sized bundle of noise. But when you come home at night with
only the shattered pieces of your opes and dreams, he can mend them with
two magic words - "Hi Dad!"


Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Ethan's first birthday party

It's the eve of Ethan's first birthday and as I type this blog I think back to how different things were a year ago! This time last year I was 16 hours into my induction and feeling a little worse for wear! At that stage I didn't know that I had another 22 hours to go before meeting our little Ethan (that was probably a lucky thing).


On Sunday we celebrated our amazing boy's first birthday party with our friends from Perth, Ethan's Granny and Grandad Papps and Aunty Leza from New Zealand!

It was all aboard the Green Street Express for a celebration like no other!
After two weeks of rain we were blessed with a perfect weekend of weather, sunny and 25 degrees! The day before the party we blew up all the balloons with a home helium tank. We tested whether we had enough to make a little boy fly- it wasn't :-)

For a couple of weeks Jason and I had been preparing for the train theme, we did a train painting, built a craft train to hold the cake pops and of course the planning for the cake consumed many hours!
 Here's a close up of the train carriages!
Unfortunately both Ethan and I were sick in the week leading up to the party and we woke up on the party day a little worse for wear. I did consider cancelling but decided not to in the end!Here's the party boy himself (looking as happy as ever!).
 
 Ethan LOVES trains so in keeping with his theme we set up a train play station for all the kids!!!
 Here is Ethan with his friends from Mothers Group!
Jacob (mothers group and daycare mate) and Ethan trying to  decide who's train it is!

Ethan's mate Jacob is a bit of a hair puller, here he is going in for the kill!




We finished the day with the cake cutting!
Here Ethan is opening his presents and reading his cards!


Thank you to all our wonderful friends and family who made Sunday such an awesome day. It was such a lovely celebration of Ethan's life so far. We wished that my family, Ethan's Aunty Melissa and Great Grandad were able to celebrate with us!

Seeing as tomorrow is Ethan's actual birthday we have left the opening of his family presents until then! I will post a blog on that later this week!