Eli Andrew Novotny

We would like to announce the birth of our son, Eli Andrew Novotny, born January 21 at 4:57 PM, weighs 6lbs 12oz., and 19 inches long. Melissa and Eli are doing well. Enjoy the few photos - http://picasaweb.google.com/mnovotny/EliAndrew

Creative fun

Ethan has continued to amaze us as he develops. His ability to create games out of nothing and mimic our actions is truly remarkable. With these fun activities however, comes the not so fun stuff. Ethan has developed quite a temper when he doesn't get his way. All Michael and I can do is ignore his display of frustration and anger and hope he learns that such outbursts will get him nowhere. He sure has one big personality!! In addition, we are still trying to get him to talk more, but he is not showing much interest. We are trying to sign and talk to him instead, but it is hard for us to remember all the signs and it takes a lot of patience!! Each day bring more amazment and challenges for sure. Walking is improving for Ethan, but he thinks he can run and often finds himself face-planted on the floor. He doesn't like when that happens, but he is still plugging away.

Turning One

Ethan had a simple birthday. He opened a few gifts, ate cake and then the next day took his first steps. What a week for his birthday! We were more excited than he was!! Sweet, simple, messy, and priceless. Ethan was covered in cake, but he sure loved the frosting. Enjoy the pics! We simply can't believe a year has come and gone. Ethan has grown and changed so much.

Busy Boy

Ethan is growing up more each day. He is really starting to look like a young boy instead of our baby. It is great fun to watch him make toys out of nothing, crawl all over the place and babble, squeal, and raise a ruckus. Never a dull moment for us! Ethan now has five teeth - 4 on the top and one on the bottom. He looks kind of silly, but oh well. He favorite thing to eat is cheese. I think he could live on the stuff. Other than that, he is just doing normal baby stuff right now. I cut his bangs a few weeks ago - what an experience. Hopefully we will have pictures up of that soon. Life is busy for us and to think it is only going to get busier!!

Boy Oh Boy...

Boy Oh Boy is only the tip of the iceberg. Ethan is growing bigger, stronger, braver, and Boy Oh Boy is he curious and full of energy! In addition, Ethan is going to be a big brother to a little brother. Boy Oh Boy will we have our hands full in a few months. Ethan is finally teething. At ten+ months, I finally felt his first 2 teeth poking through this morning. He is getting all four at the same time(we have had quite the crabby baby for the past month due to this mouth full coming in all at once). Nothing like getting them all at once. In addition to the teeth Ethan is standing, dancing, clapping and trying to walk along the furniture and behind toys. The biggest challenge for us has been breaking him of the bottle and trying to get him to use a sippy cup instead. We have less than 2 months to accomplish this as the Doctor and daycare make this a goal in the first 12 months of development. What a challenge for Mom and Dad!! We've upload tons of pictures and videos for September and October and we also have the new baby pictures up from the 20 week ultrasound. Enjoy our little ones!! They are growing soooooo fast.

Getting Braver

Ethan is getting a lot braver as he begins to figure out the mechanics of crawling. This morning he became bored with the toys we offered him on the floor in our bedroom while we were getting ready for work. Normally he would just pitch a fit and expect us to give him something more fun to play with, but this morning he up and decided to just army crawl away from the toys and into our hallway. Once there he was confused by the new floor texture, but it didn't take him long to deal with that change and sit up on his butt to explore the hallway, shadows, and the air exchange vent. Once he figured out the air vent made a great "string" instrument, he went to town making music by strumming the vent guard. He then proceeded to use his pacifer as a drum stick on it as well. It was great fun to watch him discover a whole new world outside of the confines of our bedroom this morning. The world seems to be at his fingertips now. What will be his next adventure???

Rolling Rolling Rolling...

Ethan finally rolled over from his back to his belly on July 31st. He now can't stop rolling all over the place. Right now it is his mode of transportation and he is already getting himself into mischief. It will be loads of fun when he puts all his coordination together and starts crawling. We are enjoying watching our son grow up (but it is all going much too quickly). I just want to bottle him up where he is right now and save all these precious moments.
Ethan is also beginning to use sign language. He first word/sign was milk on Sunday, August 9th. I am so excited that he is learning from Michael and I. Can't wait until he learns another word.