Meeting Santa!

17 months old!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween everyone from Andy the purple dragon

Andy's 16 month photo with he bear

My little man is growing up!

This past month he learned to walk up and down the stairs by holding onto the handrail (or my hand) instead of going on his knees. He says even more words ("juice" is a new frequent one), and he just (finally) managed to be able to tilt his sippy cup up and drink from it!

Andy sings "Twinkle Twinkle" (hums is probably more accurate) and "The wheels on the bus...". He loves to read, and be read to, and he can sit through about 30-minutes of a movie or TV show. He loves to put things into other things, and I often find plastic sandwich bags all over the house because of it.

He is wearing a size 6-6.5 shoe, and size 24-month clothes. and he finally keeps a hat on! He LOVES animals, and knows what a puppy, lion, tiger, and a fish say.

Andy plays so well with other kids too! He loves to play dress up, and he tackles Owen pretty good sometimes! And he tickles too - it is so cute! And it isn't just some nasty scratching like it was with Owen (thank goodness!).

But Andy is still Andy and he loves a good temper tantrum. And he has perfected his fake cry, but now when I call him on it he just s,miles and stops. He is such a riot!

Andy's word count

Andy’s words…

1. Daddy (Da-yee)

2. Papa

3. Hi

4. Mama

5. Juice

6. Andy

7. Grandpa (Grak-ka)

8. Cheese

9. I love you

"I love you!"

Grandma came over today, and she and I were saying “I love you” to Andy, and he said it back!!!! He says it “I la you.”, it means ‘I love you’! And then tonight I called her so Andy could talk to her on the phone, and he said it first, she repeated it, and he said it again. How sweet! Andy called his Grandma to say ‘I love you’ to her! What a good Grandson!

at the pumpkin patch

Andy's 1st haircut!

Andy got his first ever haircut at 1st Choice today. Owen got one too, and I went home with both their hair in little baggies.

15 months with the bear

15 months old

Andy is 15 months old! This has been an amazing month! He seems to have really grown up this month.

- Andy got his first haircut (which really makes him look older)

- Andy talks on the phone to people (you still can’t understand what he says, but he jabbers on there all the time and loves hearing whoever is on the other end)

- He is in size 18 month pants and pj’s that are one piece, but size 24 month tops, and 2-piece pj’s. He doesn’t wear onesies anymore. He is a size 6 shoe all of the sudden – I think he wore is size 5 and a half for no more than 2 weeks!

- He is 31” tall and 26lbs

- He says “Mama”, “Papa”, “Daddy”, “Juice”, “Grandpa” (which sounds like “Gradka”, so it might be ‘Grandma’ too, but he follows Dad around the house and says it over and over, so I think it is meant as ‘Grandpa’), and that is pretty much it. He has said “Hi” and “Bye bye” before, but only once or twice, and not for a looooong time now.

- He crosses himself every time he hears us pray, and he LOVES to pray! It is really so cute!

- He sits behind me in the car, in Owen’s old black car seat.

- He has MAJOR temper tantrums when he doesn’t get him way, or when he is tired, and he rarely listens to us call his name or tell him ‘no’.

- He loves to open the kitchen cupboards, and has lately been getting into the drawers in the big room. He also LOVES keyboards and computer mouses. I’ll often come to my computer to find a bunch of weird windows open thanks to Andy.

- Andy still loves to play outside, and always follows Owen around.

- He can ride on little ride-on toys or bikes, and he can go forwards and backwards all by himself.

- He likes to play games and will initiate hide-and-go seek, tickle games, laughing, and copying games.

- Bath times are a lot shorter now as Andy splashes soooo badly, and he’ll often put his head under water until he wants to get out. It’s pretty exhausting!

- Andy loves to dress up in costumes just like his big brother.

- Also like his big brother, Andy has a horrid fake laugh. It is so loud and so fake, but sooo cute!

- He’ll take out his soother, and cluck his tongue to tell you he is hungry.

- He understands a lot – if you ask him to take out his sucker, give something to you, pick something up, put something down, close the door, open the door, sit on his bum, come here, go there, etc. And he knows what it means when I ask if he is hungry, tired, thirsty, and he is pretty good at letting me know the answer.

- Andy and Owen started a new daycare this month, and they both LOVE Joyce! Andy jumps right into her arm when I drop him off in the morning, and she has never really had a hard time with him. Although, when I go to pick him up he usually jumps into my arms and waves goodbye to Joyce. J

- We took down all the baby gates. Andy is great going up and down the stairs. And he is trying to walk down, as opposed to going down backwards. He still needs help with it though. And he goes up the stairs one foot on each stair

14 months with the bear

Doesn't he look so big all the sudden? Well he is so big! Andy is now 31" tall, just under 26lbs and wearing size 24-month clothes, and a size 5.5 shoe!

My little climber!

I find Andy on top of chairs, tables, couches - you name it, he's climbing it these days!

But at a friends' birthday party, he couldn't get up on of anything besides this chair rail.

Spaghetti is bliss!

13 month photo with the bear

12 month photo shoot with the bear

My wee little man is a year old now! And why, do you ask, is his 12 month shoot in pants and a sweater? Well, I say, because this weird weather is refusing to be sunny and nice, so here we sit, inside, with pants and sweaters, waiting for the sun to shine. 

Andy's 1st birthday!!!!!

It is Andy’s birthday today! He is one year old! Yay!

We had a joint birthday party for 3 kids from PG – Andy, Matthew, and Sarah. It was a Curious George theme.

I felt bad because Andy couldn’t have cake or cookies or ice cream today lik

e the other kids, so he got a new food treat today – watermelon! And he LOVES it!

11 months with the bear

ANDY IS WALKING!

Andy took 4 steps to me just now - yayyyyyyy!!!!!!

Almost walking!

Andy now walks when only holding one of our hands! And he can stand on bis own for a few seconds too! It won't be long before he is walking on his own!

Andy's beer bash!

A half drunk can of beer was left on the end table over night. Silly Gabe. So Andy found it in the morning and knocked it over. He wasn't interested in the can, he was interested in the liquid that was now all over him and the table. So he splashed it all over and then began to slurp it off the table as we ran over with cloths and towels. Most of it was absorbed into his short, but the small taste Andy got made him smile! He now goes crazy for all cans!

10 months with the bear

6 teeth!

Andy’s 6^th tooth came in! Finally! Tonight was a rough one for him, the poor little guy!

"Mama"

He says “Mama”! Yay! And he knows it is me! Woo hoo!!!!!!!

my water baby!

Andy LOVES water! He loves the bath, he loves washing his hands, he loves to go swimming, and now I can say that he loves to play in a big bowl of water at Grandma's house!

It started with Owen playing with his boats in the water, and then turned into a bath/pool party with Andy eventually dumping bowl after bowl after bowl of water onto the deck. They both had such a great time, and I got some awesome pictures!

Ok Mom, no more pictures!

Andy and I went for a walk down at the river today (under the Agassiz bridge and it was a lovely day, but enough was enough after a while, and Andy wanted to go home. 

Andy's new teeth!

Andy has top teeth, but you can never see them unless you do 'squishy face'. So here you can see his top 2 teeth, and the 2 beside them that will (hopefully) come through very soon!

Day at the river

bath time!

Our library visit

Yesterday we all went to the library to see the ducks and get a few new books. 

5 teeth!

I saw another tooth today – Andy now has 5! It is the one next to the top two on his left (right side if you are looking at him).

I gave Andy a full cheese string to munch on this morning. He loved it! He really likes being in control of what he eats, and he eats little more than finger foods these days. He didn’t come close to choking, and when he had bitten off too much, he simply spit it out. Way to go Andy – I am SO proud of you! He was pretty proud of himself too! ☺

popsicles

Owen shared his popsicle with Andy tonight and he LOVED it! He would make awful faces but then always want more!

9 month photo with the bear

Isn't he so frickin' cute?!?!??!!!

My beautiful boy

Tooth #3!

Andy has a third tooth! We only saw it today. But it looks like it has been there for a few days already. And he is a drool monster today, so cranky, and has a major runny, nose, so maybe the other top tooth is coming through. The one he has already is the top left (from his point of view, top right if you are looking at him).

8.5 month update... kinda...

We all went to the Jordan’s house last night and Andy did great. He ate well, had fun chasing a remote control car around, went to sleep in the play pen well, and even transferred to the car and then to bed well when we went home. And then he slept until 5:30, ha d a bottle, went back to bed, and slept until 8am.

And now Andy’s schedule has changed once again! He is usually up at 7:30, goes for a nap at 10 and then again at 2pm, and usually one more around 6, with bedtime at 8:30 or 9pm. But I want to try and take out the 6pm nap and get him just to go to bed at 7pm. We’ll see how that goes over tonight.

But he is eating great – 3 bottles a day – first thing in the morning, after his afternoon nap, and right before bed. And he eats nice big meals (2-2.5 jars of food) at breakfast lunch and dinner with snacks throughout the day (toast, cheerio’s, yogurt, Mum Mum’s, etc.). And he loves to eat – he mow’s down his food!

And he is such a happy baby these days too. It has been wonderful to have such a happy boy lately, I hope this lasts a while.

Muscle man!

At Moms house today Andy pulled himself up on the dining room table – he did like chin up, where he was holding onto the table and lifted his feet right off the floor, and pulled his face up to the level of the table. Man is he strong!

New foods and new schedule - good, good, and more good!

Andy had a lot of new foods today – plain yogurt (he makes awful faces but always wants more), toast (with and without butter – he ate almost a whole piece twice today!), and veggie Mum Mum’s (the new foods in them are spinach and pumpkin).

Andy has had a good schedule for the last few days – I hope it lasts! What he has been doing is waking up at 7:30, having a bottle and then breakfast, then napping at 9:20-9:30 until 11 or so, having lunch, napping again at 1pm, having another bottle at 3, having a snack, and then dinner, either having a short nap before or after dinner, and then going to bed around 8:30. It’s a good schedule – I like it!

Speedy little boy!

Andy is soooooooooo quick with his crawling and cruising! He can pull himself up on anything (and I mean anything), and he can get across the room and up the 4 stairs from the play room to the kitchen in about 3 seconds. I have to watch him all the time – every second!

More pictures of Andy cruising!

Good times and bad

Andy needed his soother and rocking twice again last night. I hate how he is now dependant on us rocking him back to sleep at night. Every since he got used to pulling himself to a standing position at night it is harder and harder (if not impossible) for me to just lie him back down. He just screams if I do that so then I have to pick him up and rock him.

Andy was happy in his highchair for 30-45 minutes eating Cherrios this afternoon while I cleaned the kitchen and made diner. It is the first time in a loooooooong time that he has been content, and restrained, for that long. It was nice. It felt normal! ☺

Andy is crawling up stairs! Agh!

Andy crawled up the stairs today – all by himself!!!!! Aggghhhhhhhh! First he went up the 4 stairs from the playroom to the kitchen, and then he went up 7 of the stairs to upstairs! And he didn’t fall backwards, or even almost fall or anything. He was so quick too! Oh my word! He did one stair about a week ago, but Gabe picked him up right away. This time I just sat behind him and held my hands out just in case, but I let him climb the steps.

New foods!

New food: applesauce with apricots. Andy like it. He likes fruit more than veggies now. It was always the other way around. He doesn’t like peas anymore, and he doesn’t care for the meals with chicken or beef in them. He still loves corn, green beans, sweet potatoes, and turkey. But now he really likes applesauce, pears (not by themselves though), raspberries, blueberries, pineapple, and apricots as well!

Andy and Matthew - best friends and wagon buddies!

Still not sleeping through the night on a regular basis

Andy slept through the night! He has needed a soother and rocking once a night for the last few nights. Once isn’t bad, but I would sure like him to start sleeping through all the time now! Please?! ☺

Sheesh!

OK, Andy is already better at cruising. He can now walk around by holding onto furniture, and he can go from one piece of furniture to another as long as they are close enough together. Sheesh! He is going to be walking on his own so soon! And he is only 8 months old!

My baby is getting bigger!

I heard Andy coughing at 6:30 and then it got eerily silent, so I quietly opened his door, but he saw me. I went back to bed, but he was calling out for over 5 minutes, so I went back in to get him. I opened the door and found Andy standing up in his crib and shouting. It was as if to say “Hey! I’m awake! Come get me Mama!” He is so cute!

And man Andy wants to walk! He can pull himself up on anything – furniture or people (that happened in the last week or so), and now he does it ALL the time. And he tries to go from one object to another. That and the fact that he can walk good while holding your fingers (I mean REALLY good), makes us think that he’ll really be walking pretty soon.

Another photo shoot!

He may not sit still for me for very long, but Andy is always happy to pose for me for a little while!

22lbs already!

Gabe took Owen to Church this morning, and I stayed home with Andy. We had a really fun time playing. He is such a chub-chub these days! I want to weigh him again. I think he gained 2 pounds in the last week!

Owen woke Andy up this morning by going into his room, throwing all Andy’s stuffed animals into the crib with him and then yelling “Don’t you have a lot of animals in your bed, Andy?” and laughing and playing. Gabe and I were in bed sighing at it all. Owen did the same thing yesterday, but Andy had been crying and yelling for a little while. So when Owen went in, Andy was happy, and Gabe and I lied in bed and just listened to them play and laugh. But today, Owen went in without Andy even being awake. It’s a sweet though, but we might have been able to get a bit more sleep out of him. Oh well.

I weighed Andy – he is 22.2lbs with clothes on! He gained so much in the last few days!

Mmmmmmmm... pineapple!

Andy did have a new first today – pineapple pieces. He’s had pineapple in a fruit cereal before, but today I gave him small chunks to eat and he loved it! He didn’t have much, but he did down the small amount I gave him. He wants to eat our food, but I tried to give him 8-month old fruits and veggies, but the pieces are too big and they make him gag.

Andy's 8 month picture with the bear!

So far, so good...

Andy did good last night. He got up once and I fed him. Unfortunately, it was a long process, so I was up for an hour, but Andy was only up the once, so that was good. And he was really sleepy again all day today – lots of little naps, and he wasn’t awake for longer than 90 at all today. No fever, and no adverse reaction to the shots so far.

Well it looks like Andy is reacting just fine to the immunization shots. He is so happy today! And he has a huge appetite! He wasn’t really eating well for the last few days, and he has been pretty cranky (we thought he might be teething and he is fighting a cold), but so far we haven’t had to give him too much Tylenol or anything today.

Andy had only 1 dose of Tylenol today, and no other drugs.

Round 2 of immunization shots...

Andy got his 2nd set of immunization shots today. He did much better than last time. We were forced to wait 2 hours from the time we got there until the time we left after the shots, and Andy was hungry and very tired, so he did really well in spite of all that.

The nurses name was Mary this time, and there was a nurse-in-training as well. Andy cried hard after his shots and in between them as well, but he calmed down quickly afterwards, drank a whole bottle, and fell asleep in the car on the way home. And he has been happy and very sleep all day. A nice change after what happened last time!

We got the full shot, including the pertussis, so we will be watching Andy carefully to make sure he doesn’t have a bad reaction like he did last time.

While at the Health Clinic, I weighed and measured Andy. He is 21lbs, and 27.75” long.

OK, so maybe he is reacting a bit. He had a good 30-minute scream-fest this evening, but then I gave him Camilia, and he had a good nap after that.

Yummmmmm!

Andy's favorite foods right now are sweet potatoes with turkey, creamed corn, and green beans. He isn't a big fruit fan.

Selling all Andy's too-small clothes...

If anyone is interested, I am selling all the boys too-small clothes, That is everything from NB - 12 months (5lbs - 20lbs).

I have pictures of it all, and a lot are on my blog,and it is all on Craig's List too. And I can email them to you if you are interested. I have HUNDREDS of items, and I am selling it all for very cheap - no more kids for us!

:)

Happy Valentines Day!

... from Owen and Andy!

Going for a walk...

 Andy, Owen, Grandma, and I all went for a walk along the river this afternoon. The weather was just too nice to stay indoors all day. Andy went in the double stroller today for the first time (not in the car seat, I mean). He didn't care for the back seat, but he really liked the front (he had a better view),  and even fell asleep by the end of our hour-long walk.

We saw a donkey, an eagle, fishermen, lots of people and babies, and lots and lots and lots of puppies!

My gorgeous little man!

Andy is almost 7 months old. He is getting so big! He weighs over 19.5 lbs, babbles, eats like crazy, is almost crawling (he can only go backwards), and is wearing size 9-12 month sized clothes. He is such a happy baby now! Yay!

Andy is 6 months old now...

Andy was 6 months old at Christmastime. He can now sit up on his on, roll over both ways, and is so very close to crawling! He is eating sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, apples, bananas, oat, rice, and barley cereals. 

He is wearing size 9-12 month clothes, a size 4 shoe, and a size 3 diaper. 

He's babbling and blowing raspberries all the time, is sleeping through the night most nights, and is a pretty happy baby when he isn't teething (he has one and a second will be through any day now). 

He's turning into a really great kid!