How Did I Not Know About This?

I was home from school for 3 days between Andy and I being sick. On Monday I finally began a project I'd had on my mind for a while. I made Andy a no-sew fleece blanket, with Mickey Mouse on one side and cheery yellow on the other. Oh, and I might add that I've never made one of these before. The thought had never even occurred to me until I was at the craft store and saw the Mickey fleece and just knew that Andy would love it.

Thank goodness for Google! I was able to very easily find instructions for how to make these blankets, as well as samples and even You-Tube videos about it. I took all of that and came up with my own way to do it.

And now I realize that I am likely the last person on the planet to learn how to make these super simple blankets. Even worse, I can't believe that I didn't know how easy it would be!

Anyhow, I made the Mickey blanket for Andy for Christmas. By the time I was finished I knew that I also wanted to make blankets for my niece and nephew for Christmas.

Well, yesterday I was home again with Andy because he STILL had a fever and I needed to take him back to the doctor. On the way home we stopped at the craft store and bought fleece for blankets for Ashley and Ryan. Andy saw some fleece that had cartoonish little cowboys on it and he kept saying "Woody, Woody". (Yup, his favorite movie is Toy story).

And today, well, Andy was home again, but this time with Brian, for yet another trip to the doctor. He's having a really bad allergic reaction to the antibiotics he was taking for his ear infections. He's got a head to to rash of little red raised bumps. I feel so bad for him!

After school this afternoon I made yet another trip to the craft store and I found some actual Toy Story fleece. I brought home a yard and a half of the fleece and managed to get the blanket made while Brian cooked dinner (Yup, he's a good man!) and clean up afterward (I told you he was a good man!).

When I finished I sat on the couch and covered up with the blanket, then Andy came and sat next to me under the blanket. Andy pointed out all of the characters on the blanket and then I told him it was his blanket. We watched Toy Story for a few minutes then it was time for bed and Andy headed up the stairs with his new blanket. My boy crawled into bed and went to sleep under his new blanket.

And I'm the one with the warm fuzzies tonight.

You Knew This Was Bound to Happen

Honestly, I just can't help myself! Is there a self-help group for moms (how cool is that . . . I still get excited when 'mom' refers to me) who just can't help but have pictures taken of their super adorable munchkins?

So how are you and your kids dressing up for Halloween? And what kind of treats are you handing out?

That's My Boy!

I dropped off Andrew with his babysitter, Donna, much later than I usually do. So, when he arrived he had already had breakfast and was ready to play with the other kids. There is another little girl, Mary, who is just a few months older and he adores her. "Baby Andoo" as the little girls call him, made his way to Mary to hug her. As soon as his hands touched her she recoiled backwards in horror. Well, this upset his balance and my sweet Andy-Pants fell into her and knocked her over. Mary cried. After both kids were picked up and dusted off my persistent boy attempted another hug, with the same disastrous results, and more tears from Mary.

After picking up both kids again I told Andrew to go give Ryann a hug (she's almost 2 1/2 and he's been good friends with her since birth). He toddled off to give Ryann a hug. As soon as he hugged her she embraced him as well, and then proceeded to give him a big smooch on the cheek!

It was just the cutest thing ever and I truly wish I had a camera in hand to capture the moment. I guess it's just a moment I'll have to save in my mind's eye . . . .

Bye-Bye Mullet

Andy still doesn't have very much hair. I mean, his scalp is covered and all, but he sure doesn't have much to spare, especially on the top and sides. Except. Except for the mullet that was beginning to make it's way down his back. For weeks I've just been encouraging the hair on the back of his head to just curl up into delicious little baby curls. However, that just resulted in these little wing like things that sprouted behind his ears.

This weekend, before our trip to Baltimore, seemed like a good time to get Andy spruced up by taking him for his first haircut.

Andy was way excited to get started! He got to sit in a car with a steering wheel that moved, he wore a spiffy cape, and a Baby Einstein video played just for him.

In just one snip the mullet was gone. I saved it in a little baggie. Is that bad?

Now the "wings" are being attacked . . . .
Such a cooperative boy!

The "after" photo. I think he was sad because it was over.

Andy was such a trooper. There were no tears or anything! Not even from me.

Rub-A-Dub-Dub

I'm the very first to admit that I just can't help myself. And really, who can blame me?

Well, Andrew might blame me if any of these pictures make an appearance during his teenage years.

But in the meantime I'm so going to totally gush over how completely precious he is. And I'm also going to completely redecorate his bathroom. With duckies. And cute baby with duckies pictures.

So, since school is starting tomorrow and I don't have time to run all over town, please tell me where I can find ducky bathroom accessories, towels, shower curtains and the like.

My Birthday Boy

Even though today is Andrew's actual birthday, we celebrated with a party last Saturday. The festivities actually began on Thursday night when Eric, Kari and the kids arrived. Once Friday rolled around I literally spent all day making and decorating 4 dozen cupcakes and Andy's cake. Well, I did a few other things too. . . prepared the party favors (for both kids and adults), the party games for the adults, and all the other "stuff" that needs to get done when you are having a houseful of people.

Andy was so good for his party! He was great with having so many people around and was just Mr. Personality. The older kids were swimming, but the little ones played in the house since it was so hot. Click below to see some of the pictures from the party, as well as some of the portraits I had taken on Monday.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Oh, and the adult favors (well, for almost everyone really) were really cute. See?

There were Hershey chocolate bars hidden in there. A bit of work to put them together, but totally cute. I just couldn't resist!
Today we are having just a little family celebration after B gets home from work. This is really fun. I can't believe it's been a whole year since we first met this little guy.
Once Andy wakes up from his nap I will take his 12 month picture with his bear. I'd also like to take a picture of B's hand with him! Tomorrow Andy has his 1 year old well baby visit, so we'll get a weight check then. In the picture above he was just 6 pounds and 18 inches long.

Oh! What a day! I'm just a giant, teary mess!

Time Flies When You're Raising a Baby

I so can't believe this! My sweet boy is going to be a whole year old next Wednesday! How did that happen?

We are having a party for him on Saturday and I'm so looking forward to it. I just wanted to do something simple here at the house. After all, Andrew doesn't know that it's his first birthday, and he sure doesn't know that it is a big deal . . . to me anyhow! So, we are having my family over and a few friends and we'll "enjoy" the record setting heat while lounging (read: splashing) in the pool. We will just order in pizza so that we don't have to fire up the bbq and I'll make a pasta salad and cut up some fruit and we'll have lots of cool drinks. I'm also making cupcakes and a small cake for Andrew. I've been preparing for weeks, buying supplies, learning to make buttercream frosting, and learning to create fish out of icing.

I still have lots to do though. I need to spiff up the house just a little bit since we are having people over, but also because Eric, Kari and the kids are staying with us. I have a couple of last minute grocery items to pick up and party favors to assemble. I'll spend Friday baking and decorating a couple dozen cupcakes. Oh, and at some point I need to do some shopping. I don't even have any presents for Andrew yet! I suppose if I get desperate I can always just wrap up some old tupperware and some wooden spoons . . .

All His Names

Andrew

Baby Andrew (this from the other daycare kids)

Andy

Andy-Pants

Munchie

Munchie-Boy

Monkey


Monkey-Boy

Monk-Monk

Sweet-Boy

Scootcher



At this rate he will never learn his name!

The Call

One year ago today, when we very least expected it, we got it. THE call. Of course, we didn't exactly know it at the time. At the time it just seemed to be A call. Our home study and profile had been active with our agency for 3 months. We had previously been called to see if we would give permission to show our profile to a specific situation. We weren't chosen that time. We had previously been called to say that we had been chosen, but we declined the situation. That had been a mere two weeks before. One year ago today I received a call from the owner of our agency to verify that we were still interested in an open adoption. We were. She told me that in the evening they would be showing our profile to a birth family. She gave me a little bit of information. The birth mother was currently 8 months pregnant with a baby boy. She asked if this would be OK with us. Umm, yeah, it was OK.

I called B to tell him what I had agreed to, and he was OK with it. Truthfully, I didn't think about it much over the rest of the day. After all, we had only been waiting for 3 months and I was prepared to be patient.

That evening I went to my Resolve infertility support group meeting at Mimi's. Part way through my cell phone rang. It was B. There was good news and bad news. The good news? We had been chosen. The bad? Well, we may have to postpone our vacation to Alaska that was scheduled for 2 days later. Let me just tell you that I didn't consider that to be bad news!

Within a mere month we could say with complete certainty that the call had indeed been THE call. My sweet baby boy is now 11 months old. A year ago it was impossible to know the sheer joy that THE call would bring to us over the next year. But from here, from now . . . it was THE call that brought joy back to our lives and made everything right with the world.

Finally, a Chance to Take a Breath

Wow, these last couple of weeks have been pretty brutal on the intensity and hectic scales. It seems like so much has happened since I posted about going to California for my birthday weekend!

First of all, our trip was great, but way too short. It was hectic getting ourselves together and even getting out there, and upon our return we hit the ground running. B's dad drove back with us and stayed at our house until Sunday. B's grandparents are moving back to Baltimore, so his dad was helping them pack up and then driving them back. We will miss them and how much they always loved on Andrew. Of course, they will still love him from Baltimore, but it was nice to be able to see them enjoy him.

Yesterday was my last day of school, and my fellow teachers will know just what kinds of craziness and pressure and stress I've been dealing with over the past couple of weeks.

I have lots of material to blog about in the coming days and weeks (open adoption and how it's working for us, our next steps, summer happenings, things I'm excited about, etc). So, for now, I'll leave you will some pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Andrew is such a busy little guy! He loves to just play and entertain himself and just do his own thing. Don't get me wrong, he loves to be played with, but he is equally content with just hanging out on his own.
During this time my baby turned 10 months old! Just look how big he is now compared to his bear!
Andrew is busy exploring all the time. He really liked crawling through the coffee table while visiting Nonnie and Papa in California.

Andrew's cousins still fuss over him like crazy and just can't get enough of him. Ashley wants to be holding him all of the time. I just love how he is able to be close with his cousins. This just adds so much to our life.

Getting ready to go somewhere is so much more fun with Andrew playing underfoot in the bathroom. I love finding little handprints on my mirror.

Well, that's it for now. I'm looking forward to the slower pace of summer, and with that will come more blogging. Promise!

Mealtime Madness with Molly

It was bound to happen. I knew it would happen. It was just a matter of time. And the time is now. You see, we have been telling Molly ever since Andrew joined our family that one day she would come to love him. Don't get me wrong, she has been really, really good with adjusting to life with a baby in the house. Molly has been very watchful and is the first one to get to him if he cries. She has also been exceptionally tolerant of having her ears pulled and eyes poked. But . . . you can just tell that she's waiting for him to leave.

When Andrew started eating solid foods, specifically finger foods like those little puffy things and Cheerios, Molly learned to listen for the little tasty bits hitting the floor. (My sister-in-law Kari comments about our clean floor and I'm always quick to remind her that Molly's middle name is "Hoover".) Well, tonight Molly discovered a whole new world. Tonight was also a night when Andrew was feeding himself his main course. See for yourself . . .
OK, I realize the organic pasta primavera is not traditionally a "finger food", however, Andrew was not interested in eating from a spoon . . . he wanted to do it himself.

Molly has reared up and made an interesting discovery.

Apparently there's enough to share . . .

Andrew doesn't mind sharing . . .

Ewwwww! Did you see that beagle tongue?!?!?! However, I must say that it is more efficient than a measly wipey.

I think Andrew may have been horrified by the beagle tongue curling between his fingers. And no, I didn't make him continue to eat with a beagle spit covered hand. I cleaned him up, removed the tray, and we started over again with the meal Andy really wanted . . . barley cereal with apples and cherries. With a spoon.

The Best Medicine

This video only lasts for a minute, but it's the one minute of the weekend that makes all of the hard work during the week totally worth it. Be sure to turn up your volume, and thanks for sharing my greatest joy with me.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Nine Months of Glory

My precious little bug, Mr. Andy Pants has continued to grow, and change, and entertain us in many ways. He now weighs 19 pounds, 12 ounces (putting him in the 45th percentile) and is 27 1/2 inches long (putting him in the 35th percentile). We sure can't complain about that, since we all know that I consider him to be perfectly chubalicious. This boy is a champ of an eater. He likes everything and is always eager to try something new. I've also finally found (after buying 4 different kinds) a sippy cup that Andrew will actually drink from. Still no crawling, but lots and lots of rolling and carpet swimming. Yesterday B lowered the crib down to it's lowest setting. Andrew isn't pulling himself up yet, but I sure don't want to find out that he can do it at 2am. If I'm completely honest I'll have to admit that this made me a little sad, but I think I'll get over it.

I also found out that our little monthly photo shoot with the giant teddy bear is getting to be a little more difficult. You see, Andrew is no longer content to just hang out next to the bear. He wants to grab it and chew it and roll all over the place. Here's the evidence . . .

This is the best we could do, but that's OK because this is who the little Bug is.

I also took Andrew to Penney's again last weekend for his 9 month pictures. The people who work there absolutely love him. He is so easy and agreeable to everything they do. Our sittings always last about 5 minutes and he is always completely pleasant the entire time we are waiting. Due to some uncooperative families we spent a total of about 2 1/2 hours in the portrait studio. Ugh! But, because my boy is so wonderful they gave us all kinds of free sheets because of our patient dispositions. Here's how we did . . .

Well, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed our pictures.

Loose Ends and Stuff

I've realized (thanks to some phone calls and emails) that I really need to follow up on a few things that I've posted recently. I tend to post about whatever is in the forefront of my somewhat cluttered mind. The proper thing to do would be to follow up once something else happens, however, by the time some sort of resolution pans out it seems as though there is some other burning issue to occupy my aforementioned somewhat cluttered mind. So, I'll attempt to fill in some holes here.

First of all, my dad's surgery went very well. Surgeons removed a very gangrenous gall bladder just in the nick of time on Friday. Unfortunately, while he was actually still in surgery, a representative from their current home health company found my mom and cancelled their service. Again. So, my dad will be in the hospital until a suitable home health company can be contracted.

The April 15th deadline for teacher layoffs came and went and didn't directly affect me. However, contracts aren't expected to even be offered until May 15th. It should be interesting to see what is presented. We are hearing that pay cuts up to 12% are being considered by the school governing board. Oh, and class sizes are expected to go up to 40. The thought of 40 third graders for 12% less pay is really pretty sickening. I'm really trying not to think about it right now.

The book I was going to read the weekend B was otherwise occupied with Nascar and his California buddies? Well, it didn't happen. General life just got in the way. For one, I took Andrew to his little friend Addie's first birthday party. Aren't they cute? Notice that Addie is 3 months older than Andrew, yet he out-chubs her by a pound.


Andrew also got to do some swinging with his friend Ryann. He really liked being on a swing that doesn't require batteries.
Andrew has also been trying to get the hang of transitioning from carpet swimming to crawling. Unfortunately, he gets about this far, then falls flat and continues carpet swimming and rolling.

Our bath time routine has morphed from the island in the kitchen to our bathroom. It's great for Andrew to be able to splash more, but it's much rougher on our knees, despite the little foam knee pad.

My little Bug-a-Boo loves, loves, loves each and every mealtime. Here's his happy, happy face, showing off his 8 teeth. Little Bug is smiley like this all day long, with few exceptions.

And this last face? Well, let's just call it like it is. It's his poopin' face. I see it towards the end of nearly every meal. Apparently this makes him sort of happy too.

I think this just about sums up the latest happenings and worries in my life and mind. Next time I'll share Andrew's nine month pictures. Nine months old!!!! Can you believe it?

I Just Couldn't Help Myself!

Several weeks ago I was meandering* through the one and only big box baby store and came across adorable litle bunny suits. And guess what? There was one in Andrew's size! From there we went to the local department store portrait studio and low and behold, my boy is totally and completely bunny-licious!

I initially kept the whole thing a secret from B, because c'mon, he's a guy and he just doesn't get this at all. I even hid the bunny suit in the house! Once he saw the end result there was no denying it . . . our boy really is bunny-licious.

I'm sure there will come a point when Andrew truly hates me for this (like maybe on his prom night), however, it was just so much fun that I'm willing to risk it.

And is it really bad if I want to take him to church on Easter Sunday in his bunny suit?

(And maybe I should mention that we go to a really easy going, casual Lutheran church.)

* In the interests of full disclosure I must admit that I never meander any more. It was really more of a mad dash.

Clucker

My boy is very vocal these days. Andrew says both vowel and consonant sounds, but his favorite way to talk is to cluck. Yup, like a chicken. And if you cluck back to him he gets really happy, like it's the best conversation on earth.

So, take 30 seconds out of your day and click on the video below to watch Andrew in action!

Oh, make sure your volume is turned up so that you can hear him.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Chubalicious Glory

Remember this picture? It's my boy, shortly after bringing him home from the hospital. He was such a shrimpy little thing, weighing in at about 5 1/2 pounds.
And now here he is in all of his 8 months old chubalicious glory!

I don't know what he currently weighs, as his 8 month wellness visit isn't until Wednesday, but I do know that he is measuring in the perfectly perfect percentile. Andrew sits up very well on his own, and for long periods of time as long as he has something to do. Otherwise, he rolls over to the side and then rolls all over the place on the floor. He isn't crawling yet, though he practices his carpet swimming every day. And even though he doesn't crawl he does travel great distances by just rolling around. Andrew is also very vocal, always jabbering away and carrying on great conversations. He loves clucking with his tongue and is especially delighted when we respond in kind to him. Andrew loves when everyone, even strangers, looks at him and talks to him. There is no such thing as stranger or separation anxiety yet. We are all still blessed by his incredibly pleasant personality. Seriously, this kid only cries or fusses when he is hungry, not being fed quickly enough, or just about to drift off to sleep.