Ethan's 1st Birthday!

September 9th, 2009, aka. 9.9.09, was a special day for our little man, Ethan Zachary. Ethan turned one today! His mother and I both had the day off from work to hang out with him. We sent Camden to daycare to give Ethan our undivided attention. We didn't have anything specific planned except that we wanted Ethan to get his first experience with pizza on his first birthday.

As with most mornings, Ethan started his day at about 445am. He must have been excited about his big day. For that matter, Camden must have been equally excited because he was up shortly after that. After we got Camden to daycare, we let Ethan nap in the van a little bit while I took care of a haircut. Judging by the pictures, you're probably wondering why we don't take care of Ethan's too. As soon as we cut Camden's hair the first time, he lost that "baby" feel. I guess we want to hold onto that as long as we can with E.

We took Ethan back home and hung out with him in the backyard before taking him to our neighborhood park. Which was amazingly busy for a Wednesday morning. As usual, Ethan monopolized the swing. He also spent quite a bit of time on the big kids play equipment. While not quite walking, E's very adept at pulling himself and walking along railings and posts.

Ethan has such a cute little voice too. It's got a deeper tone than Camden's and a little raspy at the same time. We haven't really classified his first official word yet, but he appears to say things like "pop!" and "baahble" (bubble). Perhaps we're a little harder on our 2nd child and have higher expectations for the clarity of what a first word should be. Not like when I thought I heard and gave credit to Camden saying "hamburger" when he was about 3 months old.

After E's playground adventures, we came home and had some lunch. E conked out for his afternoon nap shortly after that. When he awoke, we headed out to Punch Pizza. Some say Punch is the best pizza in town. I tend to agree, but I know there are those that prefer other places. I think E would agree with those that say it's the best in town. We could barely keep a piece of pizza on his plate before he scarfed it down. He smacked his lips between each bite, each piece. It was very funny.

The final cap to the day was a cupcake celebration. By this time, E was wearing down after a long day and wasn't quite sure what to think. We put a chocolate cupcake and a carrot cupcake in front of him and let him go to town. He certainly made a fine mess of everything. His big brother, Camden, joined in the fun too. Although Camden enjoyed blowing out Ethan's candle over and over again versus the cupcake mess that Ethan was enjoying.

All in all, a great day of celebration with Ethan. Kimberly and I couldn't be happier with having a happy, healthy one year old in our lives. Sure it's challenging at times to have two boys so close together, but looking back we wouldn't have it any other way. Camden is really at an age where he understands Ethan and his place in our family. Ethan's an amazing young man. We love you E!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY ETHAN ZACHARY!