Guess who?

Ryan decided to give Ethan a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie, he loved it.  Guess who tried to climb up on my shoulders and on to the top of the fridge the next morning to reach the cookies?

Here is what Ethan would look like with a mustache.

 He is asking for "more" with his baby signs. He can do 5 signs but is usually stubborn and only do "more"

It was a nice day and we took Ethan outside for a walk in the stroller. When we got back we let him walk on the driveway.  Guess who only wanted to walk in the street and not the driveway? 

Each time he walked into the road, we would bring him back to the house and he would immediately head back to the road.

Last week while Ethan was enjoying Ryan being home all day, he would follow him around.  He only wanted me when it was time to nurse! One time, Ryan was tired of holding him so he sat then laid down on the hardwood floor so Ethan couldn't tug at him.  Guess who tried to do the same thing except that he threw himself backwards?  Poor little guy hit his head pretty hard on the floor. 

On Sunday at church the primary president had finally gotten all the kids quiet.  Guess who decided to yell and do the war whoop (you know where you cover and uncover your mouth with your hand) as he walked across the front of the room?  Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Fisher for teaching him that last week :-)

Ethan needed a diaper change the other day and so as he was walking his laps around the house, Ryan blocked him from making another round.  Guess who stomped his feet, screamed and threw a mini tantrum? Tonight he stomped his feet after Ryan went outside to shovel the driveway and left Ethan inside.

If you answered Ethan to each guess who, you're right!!! Our little boy is growing so fast and showing more of his personality each day.  We still disagree where he gets his stubbornness from, I'm sticking to my guns and saying its all Ryan :)

 

Maryland

Last week we went to Maryland to visit Grandpa and Grandma Fisher while Ryan was on February break. We had a lot of fun even though we couldn't do much with all the snow. We did make it to the Smithsonian one day though.  Here are a few pictures from the trip. 

Here is the only picture not from the Smithsonian.  We kept forgetting to take the camera out. Ethan got lots of attention from Uncle Nate and Aunt Ashley.  They were nice enough to visit us two nights in a row!

 

Here we are braving the cold and snow to go to the Museum of Natural History.

Ethan and I in the live butterfly exhibit. Obviously the butterfly is more interesting than Ryan taking the picture. 

Here's our little cutie walking through the tunnel in the bug exhibit. 

So he's still a little young for the museum but he did enjoy playing with my phone.  Good thing we will always have a place to stay down there and he have many chances to see the museums.

Grandpa keeping Ethan entertained while we looked at the photography exhibit.

 

Our little family in the rotunda.

All that walking tired him out, he was asleep before we got on the metro.

My favorite thing about the trip, is that for some reason, Ethan started sleeping in while in MD and it hasn't changed now that we are back.  He now wakes up between 7-7:30 as opposed to 5:30-6.  Its been nice sleeping in, lets hope it lasts!

Birthday Outfit

I finally got around to taking pictures of Ethan in his birthday outfit last weekend.  I put him in his crib while I went to the camera and when I came back upstairs, he was just acting so dang cute I left him in there.

Photo shoots are just soooo tiring!

I should have stopped there.  Once he was out of the crib, he would not stay still!

"I can do that" Project

I often see things and say "I can do that" but rarely ever actually do it.  Well over the Christmas break, my mom and sister Rebecca were at the mall and we saw a triptych.  Ryan and I had just been talking the week before about wanting a triptych for the space above the couch.  We had previously had a great painting that Ryan's grandpa did but it was too small for the space. I saw the triptych and said "I can do that" so I took a quick picture with my cell phone.

Then I gathered the supplies. I used lefover paint from the dining room and accent wall in the living room. I brought out some canvases I already had (Thanks Mom for the 3rd one) and got to work.  Well, not right away, Ethan's party kept creeping closer and closer and I of course procrastinated starting. Finally the weekend before I started by painting each panel with a primer and then blue.  Then that week I painted one panel a night finishing on Thursday. Finally Ryan and his Dad hung them up Friday night just time for the party!

Here's the final product.  I still want to touch it up a little but for now its staying like that.

Since I had the camera out, I took a few more pictures of the inside of the house.

Here is the living room. I had originally wanted red couches but when we were offered the green couch for free, I said I love green!

There is the painting Ryan's grandpa did.  The TV takes up half the picture, if only a flat screen would fit into our budget :)

Here is the dining room.  I was actually standing in the 3rd bedroom. The previous owners took the wall down so right now its open between the dining room and study which came in handy with the 25 people at Ethan's party!

Ryan is an awesome photographer and has his own little gallery on the wall. 

You can see how open it is between the two rooms. We are on the lookout for a futon or couch to go under the window, you can't really tell but the room is practically empty. With most of our house furnished with free furniture from family or freecycle we are bound to find something eventually!

Eric Carle Museum

Last week we went with some friends to the Eric Carle Picture book Museum. We had a lot fun and the boys were able to run around and make as much noise as they wanted, we only saw 2 other families there the whole time.  Besides the 3 galleries, there is a movie theater and a library (organized by illustrator) with lots of neat toys. I didn't bring my camera but here are a few pictures I took with my cell phone.

The boys getting ready for the movie. Ethan didn't weigh enough to hold the seat down. He was not at all interested in the movie and preferred to climb the stairs instead.  The movies are the Weston Woods videos of classic children's stories. They showed one of my favorite books when I was a kid, Owl Moon. I even wrote a sequel to it in 5th grade!  

Eric Carle designed 4 huge murals for the hallway. They were in bold, bright colors and Ethan was enthralled by them.  Maybe I use them as inspiration for my next "I can do that" project!

Where did January go?

I can't believe its already February!  Our new years resolution was to be better at budgeting.  We created a budget and now that its that January's over, I can say we (just barely)met our grocery budget! Well, we met it as long as we don't include anything we bought for Ethan's first birthday party. Next year the goal is to meet our budget with his party, I'll just have to stock up on supplies slowly, instead of rushing out the morning of his party to pick up last minute items that *gasp* weren't on sale or that I didn't have coupons for!  Our budget is $175 a month for all groceries and personal care items (diapers, shampoo etc.) It works out to about $40 a week.  Its been helpful to have a set amount to spend because many times I have planned on getting something that we didn't really need. Its also forced me to plan our meals weekly based off of sales and now dinners are ready earlier instead of me scrambling to find something to make minutes before Ryan gets home.

Now onto what most people want to see on our blog, pictures of Ethan.  Here are a few recent snapshots of him around the house.

He loves to sit on top of the train table

He loves to go get the mail with Daddy, too bad it snowed again so he won't be going out any time soon.

He loves to watch the washing machine. He's really good at pulling the clothes out of the washer. If only I could get him to put them in the dryer to the right instead of on the floor!

He loves to watch Daddy outside. You can see Ryan shoveling the snow in the picture. 

He loves to walk and has managed to slip away from us several times!

He loves bath time, though he hates getting out of the tub. I'm surprised we could get a shot of him with the hood on.

He loves to pull out all the chinese takeout tupperware we've collected and stack them up. He tries to walk around the house carrying them but they are still too big for him to hold.

He loves to play with the computer now that he can reach the keys and mouse on his own.  He is also fond of pushing the power button, especially when I am in the middle of printing a coupon!