LeapFrog

At our friend's last night, Andy was all over this learning table thing made by LeapFrog. It says it goes up to 36 months, which is a plus. The downside is it's pretty big and costs $60. But it's educational, right? With all this crap we've bought/are buying, we almost need to have 12 more kids to justify owning it all.

More birthday presents

Andy's birthday keeps getting better and better. Today he got a package of goodies from Grandmother Dearest - several books (one of which he's sleeping on now) and this learning puppy. We were out at a friend's new place near Annapolis so he hasn't had much time to play with it, but it looks cool. We were checking out all the toys at Shelly's and they've got some fun ones I might need to invest in. One was this learning table kind of thing that he spent most of his time on while we were there.

Fury

It's been unseasonably warm here in Virginia so I've been encouraging Bjorn to drive the ridiculous blue boat -- a 1972 Plymouth Fury Convertible -- out front to keep it in working order. So today we hooked in the cool travel stroller/car seat and headed out. Andy seemed to enjoy it actually. We had him all bundled up just in case he got cold with the wind, but he didn't seem to have any problems with it. He did come back rather red eyed from our adventure, but he didn't really peep once except regular talking to us. It's a shame I didn't get a picture of us in it, but here's a shot of the beast in all it's glory from the summer.

DVDs

We have a bunch of kids DVDs now, but we haven't turned any of them on because it's such a pain to get our DVD player to work. We have older TVs and lack the requiste number of outlets so in order to get it to work on the downstairs TV, I have to turn the TV around without letting it slip out of the cabinet and land on my foot, unplug the TiVo, watch the DVD and then repeat. It makes me really want to watch something before I make that kind of commitment. But Andy seems to really be taking an interest in that kind of stuff now so I was going to try to hook it up to our bedroom TV, but that one is so old it doesn't have any of the right outlets.

So I made the executive decision that I wanted a new 13 inch TV. They sell them for like $59 and that would be that. Well, it's never that easy. We went to several stores not finding anything close to what would work and then got to Circuit City where we found a combo TV/DVD player for $99. Sounds perfect. Except they don't keep any of their TVs in stock. Seriously? Who's great business model is that? So I settled for the $19 converter from K-Mart and it works great. Screw Circuit City.

My new idols

Check out these Halloween costumes that a friend of ours did for their family. How awesome is that! She said they're homemade out of pieces of UnderArmour, which is even more impressive. I think the littlest is wearing a thong. I don't really want to know whose it is.

Practice

Andy isn't really close to walking on his own, but we do spend time (when he allows it) walking back and forth with him holding onto my hands. I do have to make sure he's got socks with tread on them or is barefoot, otherwise he slips and slides which undoubtedly is not helping his confidence. I think he's got all the muscles to do it, he just needs to decide he wants to.

Progress

Today was our first bottle-free day. The first one in Andy's entire life. Kinda of weird when I think of it that way. We ran out of formula over the weekend after mixing formula and milk for a week or so. Then we *tried* to go cold turkey to sippy with milk. It's had some bumps, but I think he's finally getting the hang of it (fingers crossed). He seems to like these Nuby sippy cups best and while they're close to cheating beacuse they're somewhat bottle-esque, they're an improvement.

I went to a precshool fair today. It turns out most of the preschools around here are half day programs at churches, which wouldn't really help me. Still, it was nice to see what all is out there in case circumstances change.

Sleepy Pete

I actually had to WAKE Andy up this morning at 7:45. In what universe does that happen? I think he has a little bit of a cold so he was up a couple times in the night. Perhaps he's a little groggy from not getting a good night's sleep.

Noah's trophy wife, part two

My friend Betsy did a bit of research on Noah's wife and sent me this passage. She cracks me up.

Noah's Wife: What was Noah's wife's name? There does not seem to be any passages in the Bible referring to her other than the account beginning in Genesis 7:7 which mentions Noah's wife. His wife is not named in the Bible for certain; however, according to Jewish tradition her name is Naamah. Why Tubal-cain's sister (a daughter of Lamech by his wife Zillah, and sister of Tubal-cain, a descendant of Cain) should be specifically mentioned is unknown. Jewish tradition made her Noah's wife. Her name, meaning "the beautiful" or "the pleasant one," reflects the worldly mind of the Cainites, who looked for beauty rather than for character as the chief attraction in women.

So not only does this poor woman have to repopulate the Earth, but the Bible didn't even bother to mention her name. Poor Naamah.

Noah's got a trophy wife

For this birthday, Andy got the Little People Noah's Ark - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00007A1S5/sr=1-3/qid=1137605123/ref=sr_1_3/002-4598752-8488067?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance. Although I'm realizing he got gypped because looking at this online, we didn't get a toolbox or Noah's wife. Anyway, there is a picture of Noah's wife inside the ark. What's kind of funny is she looks way younger than him. I guess if you have to repopulate the earth, you need someone of child-bearing age, but still - Noah has a trophy wife. Heh.

Computer savvy

Seriously. This kid loves sitting at the computer. I have to do it when it's off or he does weird stuff that I'm not smart enough to know how to undo later. This picture cracks me up for many reasons. First off, look how big he seems here? Almost like a, well, person. I know, I know, he's a person and not a baby anymore, but it seems weird all the same. Second, check out the new shorter do. It's an improvement although it's taking some getting used to. Third, do you see where he left hand is? The kid isn't modest so it's more a fluke of the camera, funny though it is.

We're transitioning from formula in a bottle to milk in a sippy with mixed results. He's been such a good natured kid about everything else that I'm spoiled. He's also discovered that crying *really* gets our attention so now he tends to do it whenever he doesn't get what he wants. Lovely. I have gotten some recommendations on books on discipline that I guess I'm going to have to read. Great.

High and tight

Here are camera-phone pictures taken after the first haircut. I don't think he minded as much as all that. Apparently it's fairly short. I can't wait to see it in person. Today is a holiday at daycare, but not for our offices so Bjorn is home today and took him for his first haircut, since I wasn't prepared to do it myself. I'll stay home in February for whatever holiday that is that neither of us get off either.

Sports fan

This picture is a little blurry, but I just love his smile here. Bjorn was proving that indeed his head is enormous. This is an adult baseball hat on the smallest setting and it actually kinda fits.

Let him eat cake

This is a cake I made. Seriously. I really did. Stop laughing over there. My mother-in-law makes a mean hazelnut cake that is the family tradition, but since he can't have nuts, it was on me to make the cake. It wasn't hard either. I wonder why I don't do this more often. I imagine when school starts and that kind of stuff, I'll have to get into baking at some point. I should probably enjoy this bake-free part of my life now while I can.

He didn't quite get the blowing out part and wasn't wild about it coming towards his face, but I did at least get one good picture out of it.

Happy birthday, part tres

We had the family birthday party today. He wasn't much into the cake or the present, but we had fun.

He's got a lot to say

Andy likes to attack the keyboards when he comes in the computer room so Bjorn plopped him in the the chair and he really enjoyed "typing." It looks here like he's really working on something. Perhaps I can get him to file our tax returns this year.

One year visit

We went in for his one year appointment today. I saw a few people there with tiny babies and I already can't believe Andy was ever that small. He was having a good time flirting with everyone though and walking around on my hands. He's getting much better at it. Now, on to the v. v. important stats:

Weight - 23 1/2 - 70th percentile
Height - 31 1/2 - 90th percentile
Head circ - 19 1/4 - 95th percentile

He's still a big kid, it appears. And his head is still gianormous.

He got FIVE shots at this visit. It normally would be four, but he didn't get the booster for the flu shot around Thanksgiving because they were out, and now they have it back in. He got four in his legs - two in each thigh - and one behind his right arm. Poor guy. It was terrible. He cried real tears and gave me a look like, "What the hell are you letting them do to me?" I did get him Tylenol before the shots and gave him a bottle immediately afterwards so hopefully that helped a little. He's had a bit of redness near one of the spots on his thigh so if that's still there on Monday, I may have Bjorn take him in to get it looked at.

More presents

He got an awesome Swedish/English dictionary from Grandmother Dearest and Pop. It even came in cool Swedish wrapping paper. It's a tough life he's got.

Stroller heaven

For Andy's birthday, my mom sent me an awesome thing called a Sit and Stroll. It's basically a car seat that can transform to have wheels and be a stroller. It will be awesome for traveling so I don't have to lug a car seat and a stroller. And since he'll need his own seat on the plane, this can fit in the seat for that, too. It's truly awesome. I'm only sad we just got back from a trip so I can't try it out immediately.

Welcome Henry

My friend who we were to have the baby shower for last week had her baby yesterday. I haven't gotten the details yet, but it's a boy named Henry. How cool that he and Andy will have the same birthday? And how fun that we could have joint celebrations (if we ever got that organized)? I'm psyched as I can pass along some of his clothes and toys. Since they're the same age, the seasons are right, too. We got a bunch of hand-me-downs that didn't work because they were the wrong season.

Birthday celebration

I went over to his babysitter's at lunch today to share cupcakes with the kids. It was really sweet actually and nice to spend some time playing over there. Andy seems to really enjoy it and the kids are nice to him. Once they realized it was his birthday, they kept coming to hug and kiss him. Aw. Funny though, he managed to throw up on himself this morning and get his shirt all wet. I had forgotten to bring an extra change of clothes in case so I had to stop at Old Navy on the way so he got a few extra presents. The shirt he's wearing in this picture I think is a 3-6 month so it's pretty snug.

One year later

Happy birthday, Andy! Hard to believe where we were just a year ago. I'm going to his babysitter's at lunch time to hand out cupcakes and celebrate with his friends. Bjorn and I both sang to him this morning and then watched him open a couple of presents. We'll have a family thing for him this weekend, I think.

More daycares

I took a tour today of the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virgnia, which has preschool starting as early as 18 months. A friend of mine who is pretty Type A when it comes to everything, especially child care, raved about it so it was worth a look. I really liked the center. They have a movement teacher come twice a week to help the kids get limber. They have a music teacher who comes once a week. It's a Jewish center so they teach their holidays, which would be a cool education for Andy. They even have a full-sized gym so if the weather is bad and the kids can't go on the playground, they can run around the gym. Unfortunately, the center doesn't take kids until their 18 months starting on Sept. 1, and then it's only from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Starting when kids at 24 months, they have an after school program, but he wouldn't be eligible until the following Sept. 1 so we're looking at another year and a half so it's not really an option short term.

Right now, my favorite was the Merritt Academy. I have an application in there and I'm hoping by late summer/early fall to have a place. It's nice, but rather pricey. On a side note, my office is going to a compressed work week, where you can work 9 hour days, 9 days and take the 10th day off. So I could basically go back to full time at work, work an extra two days a month and make 20 percent more. We'll see. My boss really wants me to do that, but I said I need to figure out daycare first once the office moves.

My son the cannibal

My little sister gave Andy this cute kayaker with a kayak (well, he has two paddles, but that's not the point). He could not be less interested in the boat right now, but the guy is very, very tasty. Every time he gets in the tub he has to stuff a foot into his mouth and chew on it.

On another note, he's starting to think about walking. The past few days he's been walking more and more holding onto my hands and he's had a couple of spurts where he stood on his own before realizing it made him nervous. I'm excited for the milestone, but worried all the same in that he will be faster at pulling things (especially the cats) and quicker to get into trouble.

He turns one on Wednesday. Hard to believe where we were just a year ago. I wanted to have a party and invite lots and lots of people, but I was talked out of it. Hrmph. Next year though, look out!

Great hair

Andy likes to watch me get his bath ready so I put some water in his hair and spiked it up. Klassy. That's right - with a K.

He really reminds me of someone (no, not myself) with the way his face looks in this picture, but I can't quit put my finger on who it is.

Real estate

For fun, we love looking at Dallas-area real estate. It's addictive to see what they have (at least how it looks online) and realize the possibilities. It would truly take an act of God to actually make this happen, but in the meantime, it's fun to shop. Check out this one - http://www.realtor.com/Prop/1052555006. By contrast, do a search in Fairfax for anything under $350,000 on http://www.cbmove.com/VCouts and see the difference. It's startling. And depressing. The thing that makes it hard - aside from the fact that we like our jobs, our friends, our house and neighborhood - is that we have no idea really about any of these places. They're just pictures on a map at this point. I've heard good things about Plano and Richardson ISDs, but that information is pretty much 20 years old at this point. Again, it would require a real change in situation to make this happen. It would probably take someone offering Bjorn a ton of money and offering to move us and sell our house on their dime, which isn't likely anytime soon. Still...the fantasy is fun.

Party

So we were supposed to be hosting a baby shower today for a friend on my soccer team, but the baby decided to ruin things as she went into labor last night. She hasn't had the baby, but the contractions are such that she's in no mood for the festivities as she worries if she's really going to have this baby today. We talked about having a party anyway, but everyone felt bad having a party without the guest(s) of honor so we're just hanging out instead.

Andy has refused to actually sleep either of the two times today that he seemed really tired so hopefully the nap I just put him down for sticks.

Zits?

Click on the picture to enlarge it and you'll see how the cottage cheese attacked his face. Pretty funny.

Snaggletooth

Behold, a picture of his three-toothed bottom smile. It still cracks me up that he is missing the fourth tooth. I like to joke that it looks like he was in a bar fight and lost the fourth tooth. At least it would be a good story.

If this picture is too small, click on it and you'll see a larger version.

Texas rocks

Who knew Texas would win last night? Andy did apparently. Check out that jacket. He's a fan.

Redskins Fever

I foolishly bet on the Cowboys/Redskins matchup. It's been a good bet before, but this year, well, not so much. The upside is I have a pig snout and a Redskins t-shirt if I wanted to be a Hoggette. Mercifully, the guy I bet against chickened out of making me wear the mumu.

Ew

I know all the books say that you're supposed to start phasing out the bottle at about a year. Andy isn't too happy about the sippy cup or even whole milk yet so I'm been putting some milk in a bottle and some formula in a sippy cup to sort of mix things up. We won't make the switch at his birthday exactly, but I'm going to try to get it by February or March. I didn't know how strongly I felt about that until I was at the mall at lunch today and saw a lady with her daughter who must have been closer to three who was sucking on a bottle. It kind of weirded me out a little so I'm going to do my best to make the switch. I feel the same way about pacifiers. He's now down to only a pacifier in bed. We make a dramatic show of flinging it back into the crib when he wakes up so now when he's ready to get out he flings it himself. Pretty funny. I'm not sure how long I'll let him have it at night. I'm sort of squicked out by thumb sucking for some reason so the binky doesn't bother me as much as that. Go figure.

Crib sheets

Dang, they sure make it tough to change crib sheets. I don't do it that often, but when I do I'm always reminded of why I don't do it more. Jeez Louise, those mattresses are sure wedged in tight and I find I have to haul the stupid mattress all the way out to change the sheet and then wedge it back in. There has to be a better design, but I suppose when mothers to be are buying this stuff you don't necessarily think about design details like this.

Santa

It's a long story, but Elizabeth had a full Santa suit and convinced Bjorn to dress up - partly because he knows I find the whole "take your kid and put him on the lap of some strange man and take a picture" thing sort of creepy. Andy wasn't afraid at all since I think he knew who it was, but Megan screamed.

Plush toys

So a couple of months ago my dad got Andy a cute stuffed dog. It has quickly turned into a favorite, so much so that we have to take it with us on trips for him to sleep at night. To safeguard against disaster, I'm looking for a couple of spares. It's made by Gund, called "Little Treynor" so I figured it wouldn't be hard to find. Turns out Gund is like Beanie Babies, they sell limited quantities and then move along so no regular retailer has them so I'm looking on eBay at some possibilities. This is also throwing me into a world of collectibles that I'm not particularly comfortable with. Who are these people that collect this stuff? I'm not even going to think about that.

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.