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Today, 1 year ago at 4:16 a.m., a miracle came into our lives. His name is Ethan James Crowder. I can not believe that a year has gone by! He has changed and grown so much over this past year. He is such a miracle boy. God is good!

Here's what he looked like then

Here's what he looks like now

To commemorate this day, of course we went and got pictures taken. Enjoy!

Night at the Museum

Every year, my mom's work has a special night at the Children's Museum in which the museum stays open, after it has closed to the public, just for the people at her work. So, my parents, my brother, Jonathan, Ethan, and I all went out to the museum Saturday night. Here's an overview of what we did.

The first thing we did when we got there was travel to Egypt where Ethan rode the sphinx.

And wrestled a crocodile

He then rode down the snow slide with Daddy

After that, he got to sit on the reindeer

And after an hour of waiting in line to see Santa, Ethan got to sit on his lap and this is what he did the whole time...

After seeing Santa, Ethan did a news broadcast with Uncle Michael

And drove a race car with Mommy

He then crawled through an ant hill with Mommy and Daddy

He LOVED the big ball circuit that is run by gravity and simple machines

And he loved trying to play in the water

By the end of the night we were all exhausted. I know that Ethan is kind of young yet for the museum but I think that he had fun, and I know the rest of us did seeing everything through his eyes.

Facing Forward

Now that Ethan is over 20 lbs and almost 1 year old we decided to turn his car seat around. He had really started fussing a lot more in his car seat and we thought this might help. It really has made him much happier. He likes being able to see us and to see out the front window. Just one more thing that means he's no longer a baby. Here is a picture of him on Thanksgiving day on our way to Muncie.

(I think he was getting annoyed with me taking pictures at this point)

Big Boy PJs

He's just so darn cute in his new big boy pajamas and slippers that I had to take some pictures.

Hanging out with Daddy and Jellybean, watching Monk, before bed time

A Boy's Best Friend

Now that Ethan can crawl and sit and is overall much more playful, Jellybean and Ethan get along quite well. They love playing together, their favorite game being tug-of-war. Here are a couple of videos of what they typically do throughout the day.

It All Began...

A year ago, this past Wednesday was when it all began. Nov. 18, 2008 was the day I went to the doctors for a checkup and ended up in the hospital for pre-term labor at 24 weeks. That day I found out that I was having contractions, was 4 cm. dilated, and had a bulging bag. (sorry if that's too much information!) It's hard to believe that our journey began a year ago and it's so amazing how far God has brought us.

A few pictures of my 'home' for 2 weeks

A Day in the Life of Ethan

These are just a few videos that Jonathan took of Ethan being Ethan throughout the day. Just thought I would share! (sorry, the second one is kinda long)

Drummer Boy

When Ethan plays, he likes to dump all of his toys out of his toy bin and hit on it like he's playing the drums. Jonathan caught this yesterday.

He's Walking!...Kinda

Ethan's newest accomplishment is walking with help from a walker toy thing (not sure what they are called). He is so proud of himself and smiles really big when he does it. He's not quite fluid yet but he's getting there.

Bath Time Fun

Watching the tub fill

Reaching for anything that he sees

Such a cute smile!

"Where's all that water going?"

Trick or Treat!

Halloween was a day of firsts for Ethan. While I was getting ready and cleaning up the house a little bit, Ethan watched "The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" for the first time. I think he really enjoyed it!

Then, we went to the church for Trunk or Treat. Ethan dressed up like a turtle. He was by far the cutest turtle in the world! However, I don't think he quite caught on to the whole thing trick or treat thing. But, he did do a good job of holding his pumpkin. He held on to it the whole time until the very end when he finally dropped it. At least he figured out that the important thing was holding on to the candy even if he never figured out how or why he got the candy.

After walking around in the cold, we went into the gym where they had chili and soup for all the trick or treaters.

A HUGE first for the night was his first candy bar, a 3 Musketeers bar. He wasn't to sure at first but he sure loved it after the first bite. He kept looking at it and waiting for daddy to give him more.

After enjoying his first candy bar, Ethan was ready to do what he loves to do most, move. He immediately spotted a ball and went full speed after it. He definitely does not move at turtle speed.

He crashed in the car afterwards. Until his sugar buzz from the 3 Musketeers bar kicked in at home.

He also got to wear his Halloween pajamas for the first time (thanks Uncle Jacob and Jenn!) and after a picture in them it was off to bed. I think his first Halloween was a success!

Visitors

Last weekend, Aunt Bethany and Aunt Alicia came to see us. Ethan had a lot of fun showing off his new tricks and playing with them. He thinks they should move closer to Indianapolis.

Ethan and Aunt Alicia w/ a real smile!

Aunt Bethany giving raspberries

Laundry Day

Today, as I was doing laundry, I turned around to find Ethan like this...

Hi Mommy!

I thought this video was so cute and I just wanted to share it.

Ride Em' Cowboy

We received an old style rocking horse from Jonathan's grandparents who live out in Oklahoma. It has been in the family for several generations and needed some TLC. Jonathan finally got around to it this past week and was able to sand, stain, re-sand, and finally put the horse back together again. It looks really good! It is smooth and finished looking now instead of worn and falling apart. Tonight was the first night we put Ethan on it. He loved it but he was so tired he really didn't show much enthusiasm at all. Jonathan started off rocking him slow but quickly picked up the pace when he figured out how to keep his balance.

Here is the slow gentle rock

And here is the more rambunctious rocking

Pumpkin Patch Fun

This weekend we packed up and headed off to Ohio to visit Jonathan's family. The main reason for this event? A bonfire for Jenn's birthday. However, since we had all day Saturday to kill we decided to find a pumpkin patch. We ended up at one that did not really have a pumpkin PATCH at all. It was more of an outside pumpkin store. The pumpkins were already picked which was disappointing. I had envisioned us going to a real pumpkin patch and picking a pumpkin off the vine and taking it home. However, they did have a really cool playground for the kids as well as animals. We ended up having fun anyways and it was free!

Farmer Ethan

It took several takes for us all to look this good

All the boys on the wood train

His first time down the slide w/ some help from Uncle Jacob and Daddy

I'm the king of the world!

He really liked the goat!

He had a blast 'driving' the fire truck

Now that he can crawl, he does so whenever and wherever he gets the opportunity...even down a train engine

I made it! But it's a good thing Jenn caught me

When Jonathan's mom and I got back from shopping, this is what we found.

Bowling

Friday night, Ethan experienced his first bowling experience w/ our church bowling league. He got held and passed around all night and did a pretty good job for being out so late. Here's a few pictures to document the big occasion.

Ethan checking out a straw for the first time

He LOVED playing with the cane

Ethan flirted with Leah all night

Ethan's first attempt at bowling