Last Wednesday, Randy and I had our first time apart from Ethan. Mom volunteered to babysit while we went to Altoona to pick up our pictures at JCPenney Portraits. We had a few other things to pick up, as well (formula was at the top of the list!). And, Randy and I planned to have a date.

Just as we arrived in Altoona, we got a call and could hear Ethan’s frantic cries in the background. He wouldn’t eat lunch and he wouldn’t be consoled. Randy and I hit the fast forward button, got the essentials, and called Mom to see how he was doing.

Ethan was okay at the time, so we opted for lunch at Tijuana Flats Burrito Co. (our first time there), which we thought would be quicker than Marzoni’s where we had originally planned to go.

After the initial crying spell, Ethan was back and forth between cries and being okay. His grandma soothed him with an early bottle, found a new toy for him to play with, and entertained him with the speaker phone.

After being away for about two hours fifteen minutes, we arrived at Mom’s. As soon as Ethan saw us, he came scampering across the floor toward us, panting heavily! Needless to say, he was very happy to see us (and us, him ) How wonderful to be loved and missed so much!

Ethan remained somewhat clingy that night and into the beginning of the next day. This all makes us a bit apprehensive about our first Sunday back on April 20. But it’s all part of the ongoing process!

After giving Ethan some time to adjust to his new home, we took him to a professional photographer at JCPenney Portraits a couple of weeks ago. This week, we picked up our prints.

As a nice touch, JCP offers (for $5) online access to all of the pictures that were taken (including the many that we did not buy). This allows us to share them online, including posting them on our blog.

These were our favorites …