Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Today is the day! Ethan officially turned 1 year old at 5:10 this evening! Hold on.....let me wrap my head around that....Ethan is 1???? Where has this time gone! I remember everything perfectly sitting with my teammates (who I will forever brag were more supportive than they ever needed to be) while I was waiting for Alex, my mom, and my sister to travel the three hour trip to Billings to be there with me!

I remember Kalli saying to her mother that if they didn't get here in time she would be ready to go in! I still question if she REALLY would have been ready for that!
I remember Alex telling my sister that this better be good birth control, as I was in the most pain of my life!
I remember Hannah wetting and rewetting cold washclothes because I had never been so hot, EVER!
I remember ripping out my IV and pulling off my gown, there was no modesty in this process! HA!
I remember my mom pacing back and forth literally doing cheers for me!
And then.....I remember meeting Ethan for the first time, it was truly the most unforgettable moment of my life! He was truly a little miracle! To think that Alex and I made him from scratch is so amazing to me! His smell was so wonderful, his skin, so soft, and the way he trusted us from the moment we met him was such a special feeling!

The year has flown by so fast but there is something that I remember fondly from every month of his 1st year on earth :)

March ~ The month you were born. March 13, 2009 @ 5:10PM. March was also your first trip to the ER, extreme constipation they called it :( You were 3 days old when they began giving you suppositories, it was so heart breaking, but they changed your formula to soy and you seemed to get better within a week or so! You also celebrated your first holiday: St. Patricks Day in March I even bought you a shirt that said "Mommy's Pot of Gold" So sweet and so tiny!

April ~ April was Easter where you got to meet alot of your extended family for the first time! We still lived in Billings with Jett and I only had 1 month left of school, April was a very busy month for us!

May ~ We moved home and it was now the 3 of us in our little apartment. It was so nice moving home, having extra help, and being able to spend every day as a little family! I also graduated in May and so did Hannah! You were there to support us both! We also took a trip to Salt Lake! This was your first vacation and the first time you met Grandpa Alex and Gramma Betty! You were soo easy in the car then, you slept pretty much the whole way!

June ~ June was full of baseball and we spent the majority of our time watching Daddy coach the Legion team or we watched Uncle Gavin in Babe Ruth! You also went swimming for the first time in June. We went with Leah and Laiken and you LOVED it!

July ~ More baseball...and we took a very special trip to Big Timber over the 4th of July for our annual McPherson family reunion! What a blast we had! You met so many of your relatives and I know this is going to become a place that you remember forever. I just know you will love the trips to Big Timber as you grow older!

August ~ I got a job working full time and you were off to daycare 2 days a week! I will be honest I did cry the first day I dropped you off. I had no idea what to expect and I wanted them to spend all their time and attention on you! I realize now that daycare is a great place for you to learn social skills and you are so happy there! You have little friends that you walk right to every morning when I drop you off. Zane is your favorite, but there are so many others that you adore!

September ~ You took another trip to Salt Lake, but this time it was just you and your daddy! I had to stay home and work but thankfully Grandpa Alex bought me a ticket and I was able to come out and surprise you for a few days! It was so much fun, you even got to meet your Great Grandma Rivas from Venezuala! We spend a couple days in Vegas while I was there, yes, that's right E you went to Vegas for the first time at 5 months!

October ~ Halloween! You were a rooster for Halloween and I will never forget how cute your skinny little legs looked in those orange leggings! So precious!

November ~ Basketball season started and I think that was the first time you were introduced to the great game! Since then basketballs have almost been like a security thing for you! You take one everywhere and if you don't have one and someone else does, you immediately want theirs! I don't complain though, I love watching you pretend your dribbling and shooting just like the big kids! I know in my heart you will be a little all star someday! :)

December ~ Christmas! You loved the balls off the Christmas tree, of course! One day you were even trying so hard to get one of the balls down that you pulled down the whole tree! You weren't in to the presents very much this year, and the boxes and wrapping paper were much more entertaining! Mommy and Daddy also got engaged on Christmas, it was a wonderful day for all!

January ~ We took another trip down to SLC to see Grandma and Grandpa and your cousins! It was nice seeing them, but so much more difficult than it was when you were younger! 11 hours is way to long to spend in a car, and I didn't blame you for getting sick of it one bit!

February ~ You learned how to walk! I think watching Ali walking while we were in SLC made you realize that you, too, could do that! It wasn't 3 days later and you were walking all over the place! Daddy and Mommy also got married in February, it was such a special day and we are now officially the Rivas Family!

There, my little man, is a recap of your first year! And what a fun packed, fast paced, thrilling, exhausting, memorable, year it was!

Ethan I love you more than words could ever explain and it was such a pleasure watching you learn and grow over the past year! I can't wait for all this year has to bring! You are such a smart little boy already and it amazes me some of the things you know how to do!

Happy Birthday E!

Love, LoVe, LOVE,
Your #1 Fan ~ Ma-ma!