Daddy's little buddy

Here's an update for those of you who still read our blog (even though I haven't posted for almost two months)!

I am now 28 weeks along, and definitely feeling like I'm in my third trimester. I'm feeling much bigger, and slightly more uncomfortable. However, in general I feel good so I can't complain. The baby has been kicking and rolling all the time...sometimes I wonder if Baby moves around a lot while sleeping because it often feels like there are no rest periods. Although it can sometimes be painful, it sure is fun to feel Baby move!

My stomach isn't the only thing growing lately...Ethan has been growing lots too! Not only is he getting bigger, but he's also learning so much. He's learning new words, understanding more of what we say to him, and most importantly, he's getting better at golf:)! Ethan has become obsessed with golf - he'll pretend that any object is a club and practice swinging with it. He can even hit a ball off a tee, and putt a ball into the hole. Needless to say, Dan is thrilled that our little guy has taken up his favourite sport:)!

Now for a few pictures...

Some silliness in the tub...Ethan loves putting this foam toys on his head!

"Okay, I'm ready to go skiing!"

A few weekends ago, we had our first road trip with Ethan. My parents booked a cabin up at Sun Peaks, so the whole family went there for the weekend. For those of you who don't know, Ethan is not the greatest traveller...he doesn't like sitting still, so being strapped into a car seat for several hours can be pretty challenging. Thankfully we all survived the car ride and had a fun time away with family!

Snuggling with his toy puppy

Holding one of his favourite things...a Roll up the Rim Timmy's cup! (He loves that it has a picture of a car on it, and points at it over and over!)

Enjoying a nice glass of water at Timmy's with Dad! Yep...definitely his father's son!

Finally...my first post of the year!

Well, as usual, it's been a long time since my last post. I guess I'll start with a quick baby update. I went for my second ultrasound (18 week) a few weeks ago, and got the results back. The doctor said everything looks good and there are no abnormalities. It's always nice to get good news! I've also been feeling a lot of kicking lately. If fetal movement is any indication of how active a baby will be, then this baby's going to be just as active (if not more so) than Ethan! Here's a picture of what Baby looked like 3 weeks ago...

Ethan's been a busy little boy this last month, and he's learning all sort of things! He's saying lots of new words (or at least his version of the words) and he's communicating better all the time. But for some reason, Ethan completely skipped the "mama, dadda" stage and just says "Dad!" (For both mom & dad.) It's pretty funny - he's completely capable of saying "mom," but chooses to call me "dad" anyway! When I'm working at home in the office, Ethan often comes to the door yelling "Dad! Dad! Dad!" and then knocks to get me to come out. It's really cute:)! One time, Dan took a picture of it... Ethan has also been busy playing lots of golf with Dad. He loves going to go to the putting green to practice with his new putter (care of Grandpa Loewen!). It's a 3-5 year old putter, so it's the perfect size for him to use. He even holds it properly, and hits the ball really well! Ethan loves playing golf so much, he fell asleep with his putter the first day he got it...After he fell asleep, Dan tried taking it away, but each time, Ethan would tighten his grip. He was finally able to take it away after about a half hour. That little boy sure is determined!

Now for some random pictures from the last month...

The cousins had fun scaling Grandma & Grandpa Loewen's window. (This was taken on Boxing Day when Tim, Charlotte and Myra were visiting.)

Watching TV with Grandpa

Reading a book in his second favourite "chair" (AKA his tunnel).

Trying to do push-ups like Dad. Dan uses these to do push-ups all the time, and Ethan always sneaks up and crawls underneath him. Dan just keeps going, and Ethan doesn't seem to mind!

One time Ethan woke up with really cute bed-head, and Dan tried to take a picture of it. You can see a bit of the crazy hair, but I thought the pose was really cute.

Ethan loves self-feeding, and he's gotten really good at using a fork. (He can even eat Cheerios by piercing each one - I'm not even sure how he does it!) This was the first time he put some food on the fork all by himself, and he was so proud!

I put one of Dan's shirts on Ethan while I was folding laundry, and decided to grab the camera for a quick picture. It turned into a bit of a photo shoot because he kept posing so he could look at the picture on the screen afterward.

Well, that's what we've been up to! Until next time!

A long overdue post

I can't believe it's been so long since my last post - I guess I have a bit of catching up to do! A lot has happened in the last month and a half, so here's an update.

I am now 16 weeks along, and the morning sickness is mostly gone. Every so often, I get hit with a bout of nauseousness, but in general, I'm feeling much better. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time at our last doctor's appointment, which is always fun. Then in January, we get to go for our 18 week ultrasound - can't wait!

As for Ethan, he's learning all sorts of new things, and keeping us entertained:). Here's what he's been up to lately...

Ethan recently started letting us put his sunglasses on him (before, he would rip them off right away). Now he likes to put them on and then look at himself in the mirror:).
A quick smile for the camera while playing underneath his table.
Ethan loves books, and this is one of his favourites.
Hugging his teadybear

About a month ago, we took Ethan for his first haircut! A friend told us about this great place for kids, and we were pretty impressed! The hairdresser was friendly and quick, and there were lots of toys and distractions. As soon as we walked in the place, Ethan pointed at the kids' seats and started making his sound for tractor. As soon as he sat down, he was happy as could be! He had no problem letting the hairdresser cut his hair, and sat really well for the whole thing. We were so happy it was a good experience for him! Here are some pictures of the event...

Pre-haircut, sitting in the tractor.

During the haircut. This is pretty much how he reacted to her the whole time - like a fly kept buzzing around his head.

Our stylish little dude, showing off his new haircut!

Now for some more pictures...

Ethan was out on the deck helping Dad put up the Christmas lights, then he came to the patio door to pose for this picture.

Still "helping" Dad with the Christmas lights:).
We tried to take a family photo, and this was the only one where Ethan was actually looking at the camera.
Ethan pushing around his builder man after very carefully putting him in just the right position.
Showing off his hat

I just thought this picture was really cute:).

And finally, here's a video of Ethan golfing. Dan's been teaching him, and he's getting really good!

Our smiley boy:)

A few weeks ago, we bought Ethan a table & chairs set from Ikea, and he loves it!  He climbed up on the chair as soon as I put it together.  Soon afterward, we decided to pull out the crayons for the first time.  Ethan had a blast!  After he was done, Dan put them away where Ethan couldn't reach them.  Somehow, he found them anyway, and begged Dan to get them down so he could colour some more!  Now he points to them all the time to show us he wants to colour.  As you can tell from the picture, colouring is one of his new favourite activities:).          

Of course, Ethan might also be smiling for a different reason...

he's going to be a big brother!!!

That's right, folks!  Baby Loewen #2 is on its way!!  We're very excited, and I'm sure Ethan will be too...once he understands what's going on:).  You probably have lots of questions, so I'll do my best to answer them.  First of all, I'm due June 10, 2009 which means I'm 10 weeks along.  We told our families a few weeks ago because we knew it would be too hard to hide from them.  (Much to my dismay, I've already been gaining weight, and I'm starting to get a bit of a tummy.)  I've been feeling pretty nauseous for the past month, and it's definitely been worse than last time.  With Ethan, I was only nauseous when I was hungry, or if I ate (or just thought of) the wrong food.  Now, I get nauseous for the same reasons, and for no reason at all.  I don't have any cravings so far - just aversions to everything.  Thankfully, I have a very wonderful, supportive husband who helps out with everything!  

In case you're wondering how we got an ultrasound picture so early, its because the doctor ordered a "dating" ultrasound to verify my due date (so I can hopefully avoid being induced this time).  As it turns out, the calculated due date is correct.           

Well, I think that's about it!  I'll try to keep you posted as the pregnancy goes on.  Have a great weekend!

A late Halloween post

Life has been really busy for us lately, so I haven't had much of a chance to post anything. I still don't have time to do a very big post, so here's a quick update of my little dragon:). As you can probably tell from the picture, Ethan was a dragon for Halloween. He had a so much fun going up to each house and getting candy. We don't let him eat candy, so it was more for the experience. But I don't think he minds - he was more interested in the pumpkins and lights. He got so excited about everything that was going on that instead of walking from house to house, he would run and scream at the top of his voice, "Ah, ah, ah, ah...!" It was loud, but it was so much fun to see him get so excited:).

Daddy's little golfer

Has it really been a month since my last post?  Yikes!  Well, as always, life has been keeping us busy.  But amidst all the busyness, Ethan continues to be a source of joy... and entertainment:).  He is such a fun little guy, and he's learning so much!  He can now sign a handful of different words, and can even say a few things too.  Whenever I say, "do you want to have a bath, Ethan?" he points towards the bathroom and says "Baa!  Baa!"  And he's gotten very good at saying "Dad."  He calls out for "Dad" whenever he hear's Dan's voice, or sees a picture of him (it's really cute!).  Ethan has also learned how to back his little bum into his kiddie chair.  It's pretty entertaining to watch him start backing up from a few feet away just to sit down:).  He's learning to copy actions more and more as well.  For example, Dan & I have always pretended to be surprised by silly things to get a laugh out of Ethan.  Now, Ethan's the one who's gasping when he lifts the lid of a toy to get a reaction out of US!  It's so much fun that he likes to play games with us:). 

Another game that Ethan enjoys playing is (of course) golf!  He got a set of clubs from Auntie Joanne for his birthday, so the next day, Dan took him to the golf course to practice on the putting green.  It was so cute!  Here are some fun moments from that adventure...   

Here are some other fun pics from the last month!  

My little guy sure loves his bath time!  We were having fun balancing toys on his head.  Then he would tip his head to let them fall, and he thought it was so funny!

Here's Ethan giving his toy octopus the evil eye...

I'm not sure what happened, but there's still a lot of tension between the two of them:).

A few days ago, we let Ethan try on his new winter boots.  He loved them so much, he cried when we took them off!  Somehow, he went from hating shoes to loving them.  (Although I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that he figured out he usually gets to go outside when he wears shoes.)

Ethan recently learned how to climb on and off his ride-on truck.  He's a pro now!

Here's my little guy just being silly:).

Happy Birthday, Ethan!

I can't believe that a year ago today, our little guy came into the world. We were so excited to meet our precious baby. Ever since he was born, Ethan has brought us nothing but joy! We have watched him grow from a tiny, fragile newborn, to an active, fun-loving little boy. We look forward to all the new memories and experiences this next year will hold as we watch him continue to grow and laugh and learn.

Here are some pictures from the last year to show how much he's changed.

Ethan at the hospital

Two weeks old

One month old

Two months old

Five months old

Seven months old

One year old

Here are some pictures from his birthday party which we celebrated on Sunday:

Having a little fun with Grandpa Roth and one of his favourite toys...a wrapping paper roll!

And of course, everything in the mouth:).

It wouldn't be a birthday party without birthday cake.

There were also presents...

more presents...

and still, more presents.
And lots of balloons (Ethan LOVES balloons!).
I thought this was pretty funny:)...the balloon-static trick works really well on baby hair!
Since Ethan loved Dan's musical birthday card, I just HAD to get Ethan one for his birthday!
And yes, even the card went in the mouth:).

Happy Birthday Ethan!