15 months old!

We just returned from San Antonio, where we visited with family and friends this weekend, and Ethan got to play with his second cousins, Olive & Gage!

Ethan stealing toys from someone half his age - Gage!

Olive & Ethan battling it out over a bow.

Ethan had his 15 month doctor appointment today. He is 25 lbs 11.5 oz (86th percentile - his highest yet!), 33.75 inches tall (99th percentile - was off the charts last time) and his head size is the 98th percentile.

Happy baby before shots!

We let him have his paci since the doctor is so traumatizing!

What a view!

This month, we left Ethan in the loving and capable hands of his great Grammie (Austin's paternal grandmother) and Gigi (Austin's mom) while we went to Germany. When we came back, he was saying "bye!" much more clearly, was much better with his sign language, and picking up new words almost daily. I think hanging out with Aunt Kristin and cousin Jackson helped in that area!

Ethan & Jack with Pop-Pop while we were in Germany

Though our vocabulary is expanding, we're frustrated by our inability to communicate. Since he really only says a handful of words clearly, Ethan sometimes just lays on the floor and pouts when he can't tell you what he wants. Sometimes he's hungry, sometimes he's tired, and sometimes you're sitting where he wants to sit (or something silly like that). If he keeps learning new words at the rate that he has this week, I think we will be in better shape by our next appointment! I'm now staying at home full-time, so that is one of my top goals.

We have played with our nativity from the nativity-collecting
Grandma (Strickland) every day this month and last!

For Christmas, we got some awesome gifts from our family - including a new wagon, a new tool bench, a fire truck, Noah's Ark, lots of fun cars and trucks, and a raceway tower. He definitely has enough stuff to keep him distracted! We did purge a few toys to make room for the new ones.

We've already used our awesome new wagon!

Happy New Year, y'all!

xo,

December Pictures

Groupon is a wonderful thing. Without it, we would have paid well over $100 for the photos we took at JCPenney's on Sunday. Instead, we paid $20 and we get prints, too! I can't wait to hang this one in the house:

There were a lot of photos, and we had to pick our favorites for the prints, so we picked one with just Ethan & I for Austin's desk at work (his idea - and a really sweet one!):

Here are the rest of the pictures we liked:

And here are the pictures we took with Santa (not nearly as cute, but we managed to get it done with a cranky baby and a hyper puppy):

In other news, we got the first quote on our Master Bath remodel. Apparently, the remodeling business is slow around the holidays so they said they would give us 10% off... just in case anyone else is getting bids at this time of year! We did pull the trigger on getting our 40-year-old windows replaced... it is just too drafty for us! We are hoping to save some money on heating & cooling if at all possible now that I am working from home and running heat or A/C all day. If it weren't for Ethan, I'd rough it!

We're getting ready to remember and celebrate the life of a sweet friend's father tonight and tomorrow, and ask for your prayers for the Moore family as they celebrate Rob's life.

love,

PS - we have a lot of bronze accents in our master bath right now and I'm having a hard time imagining that we should buy silver fixtures, but it may be cheaper than buying more bronze stuff. Has anyone else noticed that the prices of bronze fixtures are 2x what nickel fixtures are?! (I'm talking lights, faucets, toilet paper holders, you-name-it!) Sigh...