Super Baby Time!

So back in September I gave Leann a gift card to Build-a-Bear for her birthday in anticipation of her wanted to build a bear for Ethan once he got here. This last week we took Ethan on his first outing to the mall and we made him his very first little Teddy Bear... the Bear's name is Max (or SuperMax).

For those of you whom haven't been the Build-a-Bear store is way cool! Although being two adults purchasing a bear for ourselves in the store was a little awkward... but for kids it's awesome! They have you pick out the bear (or other animal... Dog, Leopard, Turtle, etc...) and then you get to put a sound in the bear that they will hear when they squeeze it's foot or hand. After that you get to put a little heart in the bear and they make you kiss it and make a wish. After they they fill him with stuffing to the desired fluffiness level (we choose super squishy for SuperMax). Once you've filled him up with stuffing they sew him up and you head over to give him a "bath" (air shoots out of shower head looking thing taking off all the extra fluff that got out or any bear lint)... they also have you brush him (I"m sure there is no purpose behind this... but it's fun for the kids) which is really awkward when you are just two adults with a one month old in your hands and you are brushing a stuffed bear. Anywho, finally you pick out clothing, dress the bear and name him on a computer where you get a printed up birth certificate!

We created SuperMax as an object to take pictures against Ethan's growth... an idea that the awesome nurses at Scottsdale health care shared with us! As you can see from the attached photo... we choose to purchase not one, but two of the same outfits for SuperMax.... what was the second one for you ask.... humiliation I think (based on how that shirt fits little Ethan) :). Actually, Leann came up with the great idea to put him in the same outfit as SuperMax for the pictures so he could see later in life just how small he was! As it turns out he has done quite a bit of growing in his first month! Per our one month checkup last Thursday Ethan is in the 75th percentile for height (at 22 inches) and in the 50th percentile for weight (at 10 pounds). So he's grown an inch since birth and put on 3 pounds!

Anywho, I love this picture because he's got this look on his face like "Who's this guy... and why did you put me in a belly shirt?". Lots more pictures to be seen in our Picasa Web Album!

Enjoy!

JLC