Refrigerate after opening, part deux

It also turns out that Pedialyte needs to be refrigerated after opening. Duh. I haven't been doing that and I hope that it hasn't led to additional stomach troubles when I'm giving it to him due to stomach troubles. Because that would really suck.

Today we went out to run a couple of errands along with the rest of Northern Virginia. Andy was sporting his awesome new Texas Longhorns sweatsuit and got lots of comments. Who knew there were so many Texas fans in Fairfax?

Refrigerate after opening

For the past couple of months I've been trying to stock apple juice in the house to try to convince Andy that sippy cups are a good idea. The weird thing is that after about a week, the juice got little bits floating on the top. I immediately blamed the boys for drinking out of the top, to which the first time they confessed (I know, ick) and from then on they swore not to have touched it. Turns out, juice is pasturized and needs to be refrigerated. Duh. In my defense, Bjorn didn't catch on either so it couldn't be THAT obvious. Right?

Christmas outfit

Here's a picture of Andy in the adorable Christmas outfit my cousin got him. He never really got to wear it on Christmas so my mother is going to be kind enough to see if the store has an Easter outfit instead. It was a beautiful little suit though and it gave me a chance to get Andy and my dad together for a photo.

Another sweater vest

Here's a picture from the annual Christmas party. What sucked was it started about his regular bedtime eastern time so by the time folks starting arriving, I had already gone to put him to bed. He slept off and on despite all the noise, but I couldn't hear over the crowd and kept checking in. Once I found him crying, which about broke my heart thinking he was scared to wake up in a strange place where it was dark and noisy. It also stunk that he wasn't up so I could show him and his awesome sweater vest off.

Go Texas

Andy sporting the top of his new Texas Longhorns outfit. He's psyched for the game next week.

Standing

We were trying to get a picture of the cousins standing next to each other, but they refused to stand at the same time. We did catch Megan standing on her own though. She's not yet walking, but she's minutes away from it.

I think we're all still recovering. Andy slept until 8 am (a record in this house) and then took a solid hour nap this morning. I managed to sleep from about 11 pm to 7 am and didn't even wake up when Bjorn was repairing our toilet handle that cleverly broke just as we were packing up to leave for Dallas.

More pictures

Megan driving away with Andy's toy

Blackmail photos for the year 2020

Close encounters of the Megan kind

Merry Christmas, Part Deux - Travel

Merry Christmas, ya'll

We have hit a milestone with this trip, and not necessarily a good one. I think Andy is officially too old and wiggly to not get his own seat on the airplane. We held him there and back and it was a lot of work. He managed to go to sleep after much fighting both ways, but then that involved holding a sleeping almost toddler, which was hot and uncomfortable. And, of course, just before getting on the flight this morning he managed to spit up all over me and himself - a full two hours after getting his first bottle. Apparently some kids outgrow spit up by six months, but not mine.

Fortunately, my mom has an extra car seat so we didn't have to lug that around which made it easier to justify not getting an extra seat, but seeing the other babies on the flight (and there were probably 6-8 kids under 2), the ones snug in their car seats in a seat seemed to complain the least. And having an extra seat would mean an extra two bags and for all the goodies Santa brought, that might have come in handy.

We're back

We back from our seven day adventure to Dallas. I took tons of random pictures that I'm downloading today and will post more later. It was stressful getting ourselves there and back, but it was great to see everyone and get to celebrate together. We got more good presents and toys that need to be unpacked and played with and have lots of thank you notes to write, but for now we're just going to unwind, in our own beds.

The cats seemed to survive without us just fine. I was too busy to worry much about them, but got in a panic last night when I worried it was cold and one had gotten out and was freezing to death. Fortunately, everyone seems alive and well. That goes for us, too.

Wave bye bye

So after months of trying to get him to wave, he finally did it. Turns out he can only wave with his right hand for now, but it's a wave nonetheless.

Christmas vest

Here's a picture of Andy in his Christmas vest. I'm totally digging the sweater vests. I figure I've only got a couple of years when he has to wear what I think he looks cute in so I'm going to enjoy it.

Santa

So Santa came to our block tonight. Interestingly, Mr. and Mrs. Clause are tromping around Fairfax on a firetruck. I had just gotten Andy out of the tub and was looking out the window to see what was up only to see them. Since we were upstairs with the lights on, they actually paused and waved to us for a bit. Andy sort of got it, but I did and thought it was really sweet. A good use of my taxpayer dollars? Probably not, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

We leave for Dallas day after tomorrow and I have a killer cold and sore throat. I've started packing our stuff, but the bulk is just going to have to wait.

Birthday photos

Someone sent pictures from the December birthday party. These are some cute ones of Andy.

Stairs

So Andy's new trick is he can sort of go down stairs. I didn't teach him this, he just sort of figured out how to scoot backwards on his stomach down the stairs. It's rather funny to watch. He still has to be supervised since he could wipe out easily still, but it's huge to see the progress he's made.

I just thought this one was funny.

Merry Christmas

We had Christmas at my mother-in-law's today. I was apprehensive about nap times, etc., but it ended up working out very nicely. I was expecting Andy to only be interested in the wrapping paper, but he really dug a couple of the cool toys his cousins gave him.

Here is the present the grandchildren gave Fafa. Check out Andy's "handprint" in yellow. It's more of a smudge, which is too bad, but the sentiment was there.

Grody

Apparently crapping outside the diaper is a theme this week. I was drying Andy off after a bath tonight when he promptly pooped - on the floor. I normally dry him off on his changing table so it was just lucky that I happened to get doing it on the floor tonight. Lovely. So I spent a good 15 minutes on a Friday night cleaning excrement out of the carpet. I was never much of a partier per se, but this isn't something I envisioned. We have hardwood floors under the carpet and although I got the carpet seemingly clean, we may need to rip it up and throw it away pretty soon. Ick.

Haircut

It's almost time for Andy to get a haircut. It's a little straggley in spots and long in others, but even knowing that, I can't bring myself to take him in. It's weird, but I don't feel quite ready for him to be a big boy yet.

Munchies

So Andy woke up about 4 this morning and wouldn't be settled back down. Bjorn tried first, but Andy wasn't having it. Then I tried. Then I changed him, which wasn't the problem. Then I tried to give him water, which he wasn't having. After that, I tried 4 ounces of formula and he gobbled that right up and was mad when it was done so I made another 4 ounces and he ate all of that, too. Mind you, he usually doesn't get 8 ounces at a sitting currently so he must have been really hungry. After that, he settled back down until about 7:30, which was good because I was tired.

It's snowing here and looks really amazing. They're calling for 1-2 inches during the day and then sleet and freezing rain tonight.

Chompers

This is a terrible picture of Bjorn, but you can really make out Andy's teeth in this one. They're definitely coming in. He bit another mother at playgroup last week (I secretly think he has a crush on her due to her phat English accent) and he bit my shoulder tonight. It's weird that he's doing it now that they're almost all the way in. I would have thought earlier when they were just popping through would be more painful.


Here's a better picture of the two boys that is great. This was before bath time. I used to let him roam around naked for a bit, but after the great bedroom bowel movement incident, I'm rather reticent.

I have a new online addiction at work -- www.popsugar.com. Good times.

Busy, Busy

The relatives are in town from California for the week. I haven't seen my nephew, Zane, in over a year. It's amazing how he's changed. They also came loaded down with a suitcase full of 18-24 month and 2T clothes, a lot of which are summer-ish and will be perfect for spring. It was nice seeing Andy and Zane, who is 3, see each other although when they finally got to my house last night it was a little past 7 and Andy turns into a pumpkin at bedtime and isn't particularly friendly. Between work and bedtime, it's hard to entertain during the week!

I just thought this was a cute picture. It also makes his hand look gianormous.

Merry Christmukkah

Hey look - we can dress up and actually leave the house once in a while to go out - together.

I was attempting to organize a couple of nights ago and found several 12-18 and 18-24 month one piece pajamas that my cousin donated to the cause. I'm sorry I didn't find them earlier as the 12-18 month ones are a little snug. This is the bigger size and it's still a little long in the feet, which looks pretty funny.

Phew

After such a rough Saturday night, I was really nervous about last night, especially after he woke up about 9. Fortunately, he went back to bed and slept all night. Phew. He had been perfect all day Sunday although he was great Saturday, too, so it's hard to tell what got him going.

We're expecting more snow later in the week. I'm psyched.

Boots

We've had a bit of snow over the past couple of weeks, but I've been hestitant to plop Andy in the sled and pull him along because I didn't have any shoes for him really. I thought his little leather mocassins would be too easily soaked and I was afraid to venture out without proper footwear, you know, since he can't walk. I went to Target today and found some cute rain boots. I bought a bigger size than he can probably wear in six months even, but they're big enough to pull on over a couple of pairs of socks and keep his legs dry at the same time. They just look adorable on him (partly because they come all the way to his knee) and they're even Swedish colors.

Charmed, I'm sure

So with all the drama last night, I forgot the real gem of yesterday that still cracks me up. I had made a bath and was letting him crawl around naked as I got things set up only to come into my bedroom and find that he had, er, crapped on the floor and then crawled over it. Blech. Fortunately, I had the bath ready to plop him into. Still, gross, gross, gross. We wiped down the floor pretty good (fortunately, it was on the hardwoods so it was easy to clean up).

After the late night, he had two really good naps today and is hopefully on the mend. No crying jags so that's a good sign and he seems to be eating and drinking normally. I'm ready for him to be able to tell me what hurts.

It's a gas, gas, gas

So last night Andy decided not to sleep really, at all. It was miserable. From about 11 to 3:30, he wailed off and on and was just inconsolable. I finally called the doctor at about 3:30 who said to take him to the emergency room. Although by the time I got off the phone, he had finally fallen asleep. The nurse said when he woke up (assuming he wouldn't stay asleep again) to take him in, but that's when he decided to stay asleep until 7:30. Looking back, I think he had gas pains that took a while (a long while) to work out. Poor baby. Poor parents.

Christmas shopping

We're off to do a bit of Christmas shopping, which may prove to be a terrible idea. We just have a few more to check off for Christmas with the Virginia folks. I'll have to do some shopping in Dallas once we get there for the things that are too big/bulky to carry. So much pressure! I'll be relieved when it's over.

A date, sort of

My office Christmas party was tonight. My neighbors, Ernie and Doris, who are perhaps the nicest people out there, graciously offered to babysit. It was nice to get out and weird all the same.

This is from my ill-fated "art project" idea. Turns out he's not ready for finger painting and neither am I. This was in the beginning before it ended up everywhere. He didn't seem to have my interest at all and didn't like his hands messy.

Here is the picture of the blueberry incident. I love how it looks like he has a cut above his eye when really it's just baby food.

Blueberries are messy

Ages ago I bought a Beachnut apples and blueberries stage 2 mixture. Wow, is it ever messy. Andy has decided he likes to streal the spoon from me while I try to feed him. That little sucker is surprisingly strong when he decides he wants something so I usually give in (if I can) or else the spoon and its contents often go flying. Turns out blueberries are not a good food to give to a kid at this age. By the end, it looked like he'd been in a fight - it was all over his hands, face, forehead.

Dang it - it's not letting my upload any of the pictures. Blogger has been acting quite odd the past couple of days. I apologize for the inconvenience. Feel free to send me snacks to help pass the time.

Rebel yell

So lately Andy has decided that he likes to yell. He doesn't have anything to say, yet, so every once in a while he just looks at me and screams. Not upset, just making a statement. It always makes me laugh so he gets my attention and keeps doing it. I'm sure it will be annoying shortly, but right now it's pretty darn cute.

The snowman

Andy has a new favorite book - the Snowman by Raymond Briggs. The story isn't that great (frankly, most of these have really short, lame stories), but the flaps and pictures are very interesting for him.

The marketing part of the book is what really gets me "Over 35 flaps inside." Can't they just say it has 37 flaps or whatever? Why try to make it sound more grand? Do people really decide not to buy if it's got 36 flaps, but if they see the over 35 then they won't? Of course, what's really at issue is the use of "over" rather than "more than." My mother always said, if you can count it, it's more than or fewer than, if you can't, it's over or less than. I got this lesson every time we went to the grocery store and they had the short line. Some of the newer grocery stores use proper grammer and I always consider it a moral victory for Mom.

Choking is bad

I cut up some apples last night for Andy to feed himself during dinner and apparely cut up apples need to be really cut up in order to make it down without getting stuck. He doesn't chew at all (of course, although I didn't put that together) so Bjorn was watching as he proceeded to start to cough because he couldn't get a piece up or down. It wasn't stopping Andy from trying to keep putting more in his mouth. Bjorn smacked in on the back and he was fine moments later, but it was pretty scary for us.

Snow daze

It snowed yesterday. A lot. Well, a lot for us, in that it was about 3 inches or so and snowed most of the day. Andy didn't seem that interested generally, but I haven't gotten the sled down to pull him around in it yet. Part of my problem is he doesn't have a good winter coat nor any boot type things that are warmer than his little slippers. I need to get out to get that stuff, but I just haven't had time.

Sharing is caring

His new trick it to try to put something in my mouth. Usually it's his fingers checking out my lips or teeth, but the last day or so he's decided he can put bath toys there. He did share Cherrios with his dad this morning. Better yet, he would suck on them, pull them out and then share. Tasty.

What am I, a fire hydrant?

So we're getting ready to the bath and Andy is standing up in the bathroom naked as I get things ready. Then I look down to notice he's holding onto my jeans and peeing on my leg. Charming.

Now everyone's happy

See, we're not ALWAYS abusing him by trying to take a picture of his teeth. Here he's very happy. Later on, Bjorn took him to a football game where Andy actually cheered along with the crowd. Good thing, too, he's definitely going to have to be a sports fan to survive in this house.

Here's one

He's not particularly happy about it, but I did get a shot complete with teeth. While I'm excited to the milestone, I'm surprised how sad I am that his smile will be forever altered.

Waaah

I've been trying to get pictures of his new smile, complete with four teeth on top, but someone is failing to cooperate.

Another daycare

I scoped out another possible daycare today. The lady was nice although the woman that scheduled my tour clearly didn't write it down. That has happened at two of the three I've looked at. It was nice although I wasn't crazy that starting at 2 years, there is 10-1 ratio of students to teachers. That seems pretty high for younger kids. There are positives in that starting age 2, they start working on potty training, which would be cool. I liked that they turn the lights down for naps and it has a huge playground, two actually, one for infants and one for kids 2 and older. Actually, three playgrounds, one for the babies, one for 2 year olds and one for 3-5 year olds. They don't have any openings until next December so I might put my name on the list so I have options next year. So far, everything has really be just fine, but I haven't found anything I'm just in love with. Yet. Hopefully.

Look, Ma, I can feed myself

He's experimenting with feeding himself, to somewhat mixed results (although the one result that is certain is the mess that comes with it). Here he's using the cool spoon-type thing my mom got him.

Top 5 Tips

Someone asked me my top five tips for new mothers. I'm no expert except in my own personal experience (and then sometimes not since my memory is ALREADY a little fuzzy), but here goes.

5. Find other new mothers. If you've been working up until Junior was born, chances are you don't have a lot of friends who are stay at home moms. Find a group. It will help with your mental health. A lot of hospitals and pediatrician's offices have groups for new moms or breastfeeding support. Join Gymboree or find a walking group. Whatever. Taking care of a baby is overwhelming - period so finding others in your same shoes helps you realize you're not a failure and your kid is progressing nicely.
4. Get out of the house every day. The first couple of weeks, baby naps well and so can you. But at about a month, they don't usually take a long nap so do what you can to get out of the house. You'll feel better talking to adults and baby will sleep better getting some outside exposure. If it's cold or hot, you can always hit the mall for a stroll. Some big department stores even have mother's rooms where you can meet other new moms.
3. If your mother wants to visit, let her. Even if you have the best relationship with your mother, you're probably worried about letting her come visit for two weeks. Let her. You'll be exhausted and scared about what the heck to do and it's nice to get a refreshed person you trust in the house. It will also bring you closer to your mother and give you a new appreciation of her.
2. Tag team sleeping. I now understand why sleep deprivation is a form of torture. Try to alternate sleeping with your husband so you can each try to get 5-6 hours solid sleep. If you're breast feeding, pump a bottle to let daddy get a shot at feeding. This will also stave off babies who refuse to take a bottle.
1. Borrow, borrow, borrow. If people offer stuff to borrow, say yes. Alot of the infant stuff -- baby carriers, car seat bases, infant clothes -- are only good for a few months so borrow what you can. Save your money for stuff you do need long-term like a high chair or a convertible car seat.

Mia and Andy

We went to a friend's last week to watch the Redskins game and show off how beautiful our kids are. As cute as they were and as many pictures as we tried to take, THIS is the best of the lot. I'm sure you're glad I uploaded it for you.

Seriously, how cute is that? I found a hat from last season that still fits him (rather a miracle since his head is gianormous) and put it on. Then he had to go and look all cute.

Training

I'm in training all day today. Thankfully, they haven't turned off my Internet access so I have some diversions (thank you www.PerezHilton.com). The best is we'll probably get out early (like 4) so I'll get to pickup my chicken earlier. Yay!

I bought DOTS, my favorite sugary treat next to gummy bears only to get up to the session and find they're stale. Damnit. They're almost crunchy and really stick to my teeth - and not in a good way.

My Favorite Klingon

So Andy is starting to put together different sounds and syllables. It's so startling because it sounds like words so I listen in but it's not. I did think I heard "at" for "cat" tonight but it's so hard to tell. He didn't do it again so maybe it just sounded like that.

My little martian also has discovered it's easy to pull the door stops out of the wall and promptly try to put in his mouth. Great. Now I get to worry about him finding one somewhere and poking out an eye with the screw end.

I counted up my Christmas list today to get organized - 19 names on the list and that actually doesn't include Andy. Granted, for him the boxes are probably more interesting than anything that could come in them at this point, but that's weird since he'll probably be the only one of a few kids that would still be eligible for Santa. I'm looking forward to Santa for next year. That will be pretty cool although since the Swedes do Christmas and the Juletompte on Christmas Eve, it's going to be tough to try to keep it all straight. I need to ask my brother-in-law and his wife when I see them how they handle it. Thinking about it, they're never with us on Christmas proper since they live on the West Coast so I guess it's not an issue.

Teeth grinding

Yeah, so his new trick - teeth grinding. It's so irritating it gives me chills just thinking about it. I'm hoping this phase passes sooner rather than later. It's so weird. I'll be holding him and then look around to hear a noise only to realize it's coming from him. It's like listening to chalk on the chalkboard. I now need to read to see if it's perfectly normal or not.

Seeing what's to come

We went to a friend's yesterday and saw two kids that are two and 18 months. Wow. The differences were amazing. Both those older kids can walk and kind of talk. It's hard to believe that's where we'll be in just a few months.

Christmas card debate

And the votes in the great Christmas card debate were fairly evenly split between the red which is more holiday-ish and the green/non-matching picture that was more relaxed. So I ordered some of both. Turns out at Costco is was like $2 more total to order 75 of each so I did. That may turn out to be way too many cards, but Bjorn may try to use some for his work contacts.

Beautiful precious darling angel baby

So after a day of being the spawn from hell with a lot of crying and carrying on, today he's been a perfect angel. I can only think that staying up way past his bedtime Thursday is what really threw him off yesterday. I need to remember to do my best to keep with his sleep schedule around the Christmas holidays so that he (and me) have fun and try to avoid days like yesterday.

Invisible

So what is it about women with small babies that makes them invisible? I had to go to the mall today (I know, terrible idea on the Friday after Thanksgiving) and people were downright hostile, knocking me into racks, banging into the stroller. And all the stores had all their crap way too close so you couldn't even get in and out. I swear people, there will be plenty of crap to buy tomorrow!

Andy stayed up too late last night and as a result, was weird and cranky all day. He took three naps (normally only two) and each seemed to make him crankier and more upset than before. It was quite odd. I'm hoping that a good night's sleep tonight will put him back as his happy self. I wonder if he's a little sick, but so far no fever or cold symptoms (crosses fingers and knocks on wood).

More Christmas pictures

Here's the other option for a Christmas card. Thoughts?

Thanksgiving feasts

We had a great day of feasts. We started at the home of an old family friend's for omlettes and Bloody Marys. There was a good crowd of nice folks. Andy was a champ, thankfully, and played for the couple hours we were there and then home for a good nap. Then out to Fafa's for the full feast. Bjorn made sweet potatoes and some awesome cranberry sauce (with tangerines and port, yum). It was late, but good. Bjorn did manage to cut his hand really badly opening a bottle of wine with an old wine opener. The cork got stuck and then the neck of the wine bottle broke and really cut his hand. It seems to be better, but I'm planning to take a good look and really clean it out tonight.

A long day today, but we have a lot to be thankful for - including good friends, good families and good food.

Mad props

Thanks for the mad props on the Christmas card picture. Indeed, those are good looking kids. I'm going to see if I can get something a little better today, otherwise, I'm going to order these and be done with it.

Snow

So it's snowing here. It looks beautiful. It won't stick, but for now it's pretty magical.

I think this may be the Christmas card picture. If you're reading this, pretend you haven't seen it so you'll be surprised when you get it in the mail. It's slightly out of focus, but it was the best of the day.

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow will be Andy's first Thanksgiving so to mark the occasion I will be dressing him in one of his almost Christmas outfits and taking lots of pictures in between stuffing myself with all kinds of fat-free foods.

Self feeding

Andy insisted on stealing the spoon tonight. It was amusing. And very, very messy. He also figured out that the toilet paper roll is a toy.

Christmas cards

I got all three kids together for Christmas cards - not a small feat getting everyone together at the same time. I'm not overwhelmed with the results, but at least it will be something. I was going to use KodakGallery, formerly Ofoto, but it looks like Costco is half the price and I can pick them up sooner. Perhaps that will make me wait until after Thanksgiving in the hopes of getting a shot where everyone is smiling.

Lazy days and Sundays

Phew. Glad today will be less hectic than yesterday. Andy slept from about 6:45 last night until 7 am this morning and he's just gone down for a morning nap. I bet he's tired. The pictures from Santa Lucia didn't turn out at all, but I did get a couple of cute ones earlier in the day.

Party people

We had three parties to hit today, no small feat considering they were in upper northwest DC, Haymarket, Va., and Chantilly, Va. Phew. I'm tired. Andy was a wonderful sport. I managed to keep him awake until 7 pm and he fussed for about a second until he realized he could finally go to sleep.

Rats

Robinson lost the football game last night to Westfield so they're out of the playoffs. Everyone is very sad. It really stinks since they beat Westfield last week, but due to a BCS-type playoff determination, they had to play again last night even though the team both Westfield and Robinson had beaten was ranked number one and played Annandale who they had all beaten. So if Robinson had lost to Westfield last week, they likely would have won last night, which makes no sense. Mark had three catches though and has his name in the Washington Post, which is always exciting.

Big head, big head, big head

My mom got Andy a great new hat and mitten set last week only it was too small for his gianormous head. I took it back only to find out Buy, Buy Baby didn't have any hats that fit over that noggin. I'm going to have to start shopping in kids/toddler stores.

Sippy cup

We're working on transitioning from bottle to sippy cup. The transition is, ehem, a little messy.

REI

I swung by REI at lunch yesterday and checked out their bike trailers. Very cool, but very expensive. Here is the Burley, which people rave about. I don't know enough to know the differences except the price.

Naps

So after not really napping Monday and Tuesday, Andy decided to take two full, two-hour naps at his babysitter's yesterday. She was surprised as I was. I was thinking that would make for a late night, but seemingly on cue, he was ready for bed about 7:00, lights out by 7:30. I was trying to keep him active and awake until his dad got home. I was also thinking that encouraging lots of crawling around would help him sleep better. Fortunately, he was awake when Pappi got home and then slept through until 7 this morning. I may have to get him a pony.

Bikes?

Dang. It's way more complicated than I thought to find a bike accessory for Andy. They've got the over the wheel kind and the behind the wheel (trailer) style. Of course, prices are all over the map, too, from like this one for $30 for the behind the seat kind to $1,000 for the trailer from REI.

Sleep, beautiful blissful sleep

So guess who slept from 7:15 last night until 7:15 this morning? Can you say the best baby ever? Of course, now that he's so fun it kind of stinks that he goes to bed so early. I am finding that he's generally much more fun to be around though now that he's getting a good night's rest. His babysitter is reporting that he is trying not to have an afternoon nap this week. She says he has slept like 15-20 minutes in the afternoons Monday and Tuesday and that after that, he played quietly in his crib for a little while. I read somewhere that quiet time is actually good for babies, that they're so overstimulated that they need time to play quietly, but it's weird to think he's awake and just chilling out.

Brrrr

It's going to get into the 30s on Thursday. I'm a little nervous about getting us all bundled up properly. Mom got Andy a cool hat and gloves, but unfortunately, they're too small for his enormous noggin so I need to return them this weekend for the next biggest size. Fortunately, we have his cool other hat he can wear. It's not as warm, but it looks great!

Arkansas

We're not Arkansas fans, but Andy had the shirt on at a party last week and just looks precious.

Bikes

For our anniversary, Bjorn got us his and hers bikes. I'm psyched! I've been coveting a bike for sometime and have never gotten around to it so this is great. Now I need to find the right kind of bike trailer so Andy can ride with us. Like the stroller, it turns out there are all different shapes and sizes (and prices, of course). I may put this on my Christmas list - assuming I can wait that long.

Haircut

Actually, it was more of a trim than anything, but I did take scissors to his hair this morning. He had like 5 strands that were ratty and in his eyes so I cut them off. It looks much better now although I'm sure I'm the only one that noticed. I'm not sure if that officially counts as his first haircut. I'm going to say it doesn't since I didn't take enough off to even save for a baby book if I wanted to.

Back in the routine

Today we got back to our normal routine - me back to work and Andy to Nasrin's. He was excited to see her today and actually reached out for her when we got there, which was sweet. I imagine he'll like getting back onto his regular schedule. The little boy at daycare he likes the best, George, was on vacation in England all last week so he's back today so I imagine that will be fun, too.

New trick

His new trick is to pull the "dishwasher safe" top off the high chair tray. This is going to make meal time even more messy. Mom said she used to put newspapers down under the highchair when we were little. That's a pretty good idea actually.

Great weekend

What a great weekend with my parents. Here are a couple of choice photos. I love the sweater vest Mom got Andy. I also love that he can finally wear his jean jacket with Byron written on the back. Very cool.

Oh, and I'm tinkering with the picture format. You can click on these to see a bigger version.

Precious angels, everyone

Another nice day with the family. Andy (thankfully) slept from 7 pm last night until 7 am this morning. You just can't get a better baby than that unless he got up, changed his own diaper and made us coffee. We'll work on that for next year. We went to Fafa's for brunch in her new house in Gainesville. It was really a beautiful day and a nice visit. We stopped and did some of the civil war stuff in Manassas on the way back, which was pretty cool. We couldn't have asked for a prettier day -- cool weather, good breeze and sunny.

Tonight we're going to dinner with Mom and Dad at a nice restaurant in Arlington called Willow (www.willowva.com) for our anniversary. It should be fun.

Looong day

Long, but fun day today. Mom and I hit the birthday party, which was a tad overwhelming. Lots of dads, grandmothers and babies as well as moms and babies that we haven't seen in a while. Andy had a weird morning nap and was a little cranky. We headed home for an official nap, but that didn't work out either. Later, we went to the mall where Grandmother Dearest got him a darling outfit for Christmas. It's precious. Sweet corduroy pants with a long sleeved shirt and a reindeer sweater. I love it! Dad babysat a very asleep Andy (he'd had a long day, to say the least) while the rest of us went to the Robinson-Westfield football game. It was very exciting and Robinson won 14-10.

Birthday bash

Today is a birthday party for all the November babies in the playgroup. Rather than celebrate one by one (although I imagine many parents will have separate parties at home), we're having them for the month of the babies' birth (baby's? No, babies' since it's plural babies birthdays?) November will be the first month where kids in playgroup are turning one so it should be a celebration of excess. I offered to bring lunch meats. Well, it was suggested I bring that. I am also bringing champagne because while these kids are a year, we as mothers have survived the year as well and in some ways that's just as momentous.

Pop

Pop and his namesake, who turns 10 months old tomorrow.

Phat New Hat

Andy's phat new hat Grandma got him today from the Children's Place.

The Grandparents

My folks are in town. We saw my dad for just a minute and we spent most of the day with my mom. Here Grandma lets Andy play in a fountain at the restaurant.

Election night, cont.

So it's the day after the election and now I'm getting calls asking me if I voted and how I felt about the election in general. They never tell you who they're calling on behalf, but based on a couple of the questions about how I felt about Bush, it's probably some paper or think tank wanting to know if I did/didn't vote Republican because I hate Bush. They did have some odd questions about the NRA and several about illegal immigration, neither of which I remember being mentioned at all during the election.

Grandma and Pop

Andy's grandparents from Texas arrive today. Yay! We probably won't get to see them today, but we have big plans the rest of the week. I'm taking off work tomorrow to play with Mom and then Friday we will be hitting a birthday party for the kids in my playgroup with November birthdays. It should be a riot.

Election night

We're anxiously awaiting the results of the election. So far it's looking like Kaine, the Democrat, won over Kilgore. It's been a fierce election for Governor, but the delegate race has been brutal. Apparently Marsden, the Democrat, accused Golden, the Republican, of being for marital rape. And Golden accused Marsden of some other hideous crimes. I tend to not believe any of them. This has been a hot election since we've been getting two or three pieces of mail every day for the last two weeks. The nice thing has been they're big and glossy, just the kind of material Andy likes to "read." And by read, I mean, chew, rip and destroy.

Peas and carrots, oh my

Tonight Andy got some defrosted peas and carrots. He wasn't crazy about the carrots, but he really liked the peas. It was fun watching him search the tray looking for the peas. I guess we're officially moving into finger food and slowly away from jars. This may force me to start eating healthier to be able to feed him something off my plate. I imagine Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (with processed cheese bits, no less) isn't so great for babies.

Hair

I came across this picture at the office. It's several months old, but still cracks me up.

Fall

It was a beautiful day so we sat on a blanket outside Sunday. I like this picture because it looks like he's directing a symphony or something.