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.