Happy Thursday

It's a gorgeous day outside today! Ethan's down for his nap and we're going to go shopping with Mammaw after he wakes up. I just wanted to give an update on what's been going on with us!

Friday morning we took Ethan to get his picture taken with a live bunny. They do it every year at Glamour Shots of all places, lol! It was fun seeing Ethan interact with the bunny, but it was a little crazy trying to get a 15 month old to stop and pose with a bunny. We picked two shots and they should be back soon :)

Friday afternoon, we went to Ethan's 15 month checkup with Dr. Leanza. It went great! Ethan was very interactive with Dr. Leanza, babbling away, playing with his car, reading a book, and showing off his drawing skills. We haven't really gotten into letting him color yet, and Dr. Leanza gave him a pen and paper to see what he would do. He held the pen like a big boy and scribbled away. Dr. Leanza was very impressed that he was immediately "tripod-ing" the pen and holding it correctly like a big boy! We talked about all the skills Ethan's doing and he was very impressed, saying he's at or above where he needs to be developmentally. I was a little nervous about his communication because I feel like he's not saying many words, but after we sat down and talked about it, there are quite a few words and sounds that he repeats, and Dr. Leanza said those count as words too. He got his 4th Pc vaccine and only whimpered for a second. He weighs 22 pounds, 11 ounces, and is 30 1/2 inches long!

Saturday, we went to breakfast with Grandma Gabbard for her birthday. It was yummy! Happy Birthday!! Then we met Mom, Haley, and Brianna and went to the zoo and used our family pass. It was crazy busy! They had festivities going on for Easter until 2, and then it started to clear out some. Mandi, Jason, and Lucas came and we got to hang out with them for a bit too! It was a great day for the zoo... clear and a little cool, so perfect for walking around! Ethan and Lucas loved looking at the fish and the manatees. Ethan was all about being right up on the glass and looking in, so I guess another trip to the aquarium is in order soon - we got passes there too but haven't been in awhile. There was a scuba diver in the tank and he swam right up to Ethan and put his hand up to the glass and they gave eachother five's - too cute!! My favorite part of the day was riding the train... we were riding over the lake and the ducks were swimming in the water... Ethan started saying "guck" and "duck"!! I totally did a double take, but he was definitely saying them both!!

Sunday was a very busy day for Ethan's 2nd Easter! We went to church with Mammaw, then to Karenetta's for lunch and for Ethan's first Easter egg hunt!! He did a great job surprisingly! He walked around with Aunt Haley finding eggs and putting them into his basket :) I will post pics and a video soon! We went to visit with Grandma Joy Joy and Bur Bur for a little bit, and then we went to our church for the egg hunt and carnival. The egg hunt was absolute madness... there were 10,000 eggs and I bet they were gone in less than 30 seconds!!

Monday, Ryan started his new job!! He's working for a company that does all the IT work for GE. It's right by school so he is closeby to finish up his coursework over the next few months too :) The guys in his department are all around our age and in similar places in life, so it seems like it will be a really good fit. He really likes it!

Tuesday, Ethan and I went to meet our friends Jennie and Caleb for a playdate at this cute toddler play place called Jumping Joey's. It is filled with soft flooring, balls, soft play things to climb on with tunnels. The boys really had a lot of fun!! The last time we tried to get Ethan to go through a tunnel was a few months ago at Mason's house and he was not having it. He went through the tunnels today independently so I was a very proud Mama!

Yesterday, we went to dinner PF Chang's. I had seriously been craving it and they had a special 15% off for tax day. Ethan is so funny, he loved it all! He really loved the filling for the lettuce wraps, and ate up the chicken fried rice and Mongolian beef too. Sometimes it's a challenge to get him to eat certain things, but he loves Chinese of all things (he loves lo mein noodles too!) Afterwards we went to church for our first small group with Pastor Brad, he's doing a series on finances with Dave Ramsey, and it was nice to meet some new faces at church. Ethan had his first nursery experience and did great!! The two mom's in the nursery said he did excellent at communicating and would shake his head no and answer yes when trying to get his point across! We're so proud of our little guy!

In the last week, Ethan has started saying "yes", "Ta-da!", "duck/guck", "dah-dah" for dog, and "Nigh-nigh"!!! He has also started saying "Mama" again after a long hiatus, so my heart is melting all over again! There is nothing sweeter to me than him saying Mama and giving me love :) When we say, "Give xxxx some love, Ethan", he will give you hugs, pat you, grab your leg, put his head on your shoulder, etc. Love it!