the blues game that wasn't

Pete has been pretty excited for quite some time now to take Ethan to his very first St. Louis Blues game. We finally decided that we would try taking him to an afternoon game this past Monday. Pete was such a happy papa to take his boy to watch his favorite team!

We got to the stadium all decked out in our Blues attire and got settled in to our seats. We fed Ethan his lunch while we watched the pregame warm ups. Ethan was pretty enthralled with all of the lights and action happening all around.

But then. The buzzer sounded, the crowd erupted in cheers at the start of the game and Ethan was absolutely terrified. Crying, huge tears, the works. I stepped out with him to get him calmed down but as soon as I would try to head back in to our seats the crowd would cheer and we were right back to tears and major crying. And so that was that. We didn't even make it through the first period and all left feeling pretty sad - Ethan because he was scared and overstimulated, Pete because he had been so excited about this game and I was worked up because my poor boy was having such a hard time!

We understandably did not take a whole lot of pictures but here are a few snapshots:

Here is Ethan and I right when we got in the stadium. Ethan was too busy looking around to smile for the camera.
And here we are making our way to our seats.
Right when we were leaving the stadium we realized that we hadn't even taken a group shot and so took a quick pic. You can see Ethan is already on the upswing now that he was away from all the loud cheering and noise!
The Blues ended up losing the game anyway, go figure. And I guess there is always next year to try another game!

swing time

We have been taking advantage of the spring time weather that's made an early visit here in St. Louis and have taken Ethan to the park a few times to enjoy the swings. The last time he went swinging was in early November and I can hardly believe how much he's grown since then! Since that time he's gotten a couple teeth, learned how to roll over, gotten taller (of course), has started to prefer sleeping on his tummy, has started to eat a lot of solid foods, has learned how to give a high five, sit up pretty well on his own, and is just generally a whole lot more active. What a difference a couple of months makes!

happy valentine's day! (part 2)

Ethan and I had a little Valentine photo shoot this morning in celebration of his very first Valentine's Day! These photo shoots are becoming a little bit more difficult as Ethan is getting older and trying to grab, chew and/or eat most anything that is near him. But we got a few good shots and sure had a fun time in the process.

Here's how we started off - he's actually holding the paper heart for a moment!
And then things started to unravel...
So I was glad I had made a "back up" paper heart. This time I put the heart just of reach...
But this little guy know what he's doing and soon it was heading toward his mouth.

The end of the paper heart...
We sure had fun. And we sure do love our sweet and very smiley Valentine!
We hope you all have a very Happy Valentine's Day!

happy valentine's day!

Ethan's celebration of Valentine's day started last week - lucky guy! He received his first two valentine's from his friends Jake and Violet at our mom's group on Wednesday.

Then on Thursday a pink package arrived from Grandma Sheila and Grandpa Dean with a few Valentine packages inside!
Ethan had some fun "opening" up his presents with some help from mama.

He really loved the pink tissue paper (way to go Grandma!) that made so much noise!

I mean REALLY loved!
We were excited to get some big boy plates and some new books for his collection!

8 months old

Sometimes it is just too unreal how fast time seems to move. Our little man turned 8 months old on Sunday - also the day that the Packers WON THE SUPERBOWL!!! In honor of the big game Ethan was decked out in his Packer gear for his 8 month pics.

At 8 months old Ethan is getting more and more expressive all the time. I swear it seems he is noticing something new, learning a new skill or being really expressive about what he wants or doesn't want.
-He has learned how to give a "high five" - I was practically giddy when he did it by himself the first time.
-He likes to "roll" his ball back and forth to me and/or Pete - aka kind of push, sometimes throwing it to the side, back or on top of himself - but he is getting the hang of it.
-He is learning how to sit by himself very well. He still will launch himself backward to his favorite position of laying flat on his back but he is for sure getting stronger every day.
-All of a sudden he likes to sleep on his tummy. We still lay him down on his back but at some point throughout the night he will get to his tummy and stay that way.
-He is now (for the most part) sleeping through the night!!! He did this on his own for the first time around 7 1/2 months and this mama is absolutely thrilled!
-He is a big time kicker - not sure if that means he will be a soccer player someday but he LOVES to kick his feet while he lays on the floor, stands in his bouncer or even while we carry him. I've started to lovingly call him "Happy Feet" from time to time.
-He loves touch and feel books with soft things for him to feel on the pages - he giggles every time we get to a new page. He especially likes the polar bear in his Wild Animals book.
-We moved him up to size 4 diapers and he is still in size 12 month clothes although we're starting to put him in some 18 month outfits little by little.
-He is eating about 14 oz of solid foods per day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) in addition to nursing. He is a great eater so far and has eaten everything we've given him!

In honor of the big game Ethan was decked out in his Packer gear for his 8 month pics.

This could be my new favorite picture of Ethan. Look at his teeth!!!

the magic house

Ethan and I got to have a lot of quality time together last weekend as Pete went to Raleigh, NC for the NHL All-Star game to get autographs for a long weekend. Because it was my birthday on Friday I thought we'd try out The Magic House - which is St. Louis' childrens museum - for a special birthday treat. Pete's sister Sara and her son Julian met us there to join in the fun. We headed straight for the "Under 2" section and let the babies explore.

Julian is only 2 1/2 weeks older than Ethan but is already crawling and is all over the place!

Ethan is getting ready to go down the baby slide.
Then we went to the ball pit.

Ethan enjoyed sitting on the edge and kicking the balls around.
They also had a little kitchen to play in.

Sometimes the back of Ethan's head is too cute.
After we finished up in the baby area we wandered around the rest of the museum but most of it was for bigger kids. We did make a stop in the Executive Branch room where they have the President's office. Here's a picture of Ethan in the President's chair.

All in all a fun afternoon - it will be fun to go back especially when Ethan is a little bit older!