Smarty Pants

Well we all knew that once he started talking there'd be no stopping him! And it has happened. He literally picks up at least one new word a day and rarely loses one but does occasionally. As of today we count 20 words or so that he says! We made a list for you. Also for those of you that don't see him often you will be very surprised by all he says the next time you talk to him. It seems to go so slowly here since we are with him all day every day and constantly trying to teach him new ones but looking back it really is going very fast. Most of these have come up in the past 2 or so weeks.
Dada
Cat
Uh oh
Mom mom
bubbles
baboo – nurse
pop
ew
ock – socks, chocolate, rock, chalk (this sound means all these things depending on the situation)
go – also means green because I say "green means go" when we read a certain book
hello
yellow
up
down
poop
bobop – powder, both baby powder and baking soda
out
juice
hot
op – water

Some of these "words" are hard to understand unless you know what he means like water, but we've figured out what he's saying by asking him to show us. We always say things the right way after he says them his way and I have complete faith he will figure it all out soon enough. For now his little baby words are about the cutest thing in the whole damn world! I absolutely love it!

And for those that have yet to hear him call me when he needs me, it is very funny. Sometimes he just says Momom. But sometimes he screams it with a very raspy scratchy sound to his voice Mom MOM! It is so funny! I giggle about every time.

And honestly that list is incomplete. I swear he says more than that but we can't think of them all and some of the things we hear him say he's only said maybe once. Tonight he was working on banana. He was asking me for a mananana and just kept making those sounds, but he'd been making them all day I wasn't sure if he was meaning something yet or not. I finally got him to point it out to me and then Andy and I tried to work with him on the right sounds for banana. But he's very close!

In addition to all of these verbal words he says he also has many animal noises he can make and he does sign language for many of the more simple things, please, eat, drink, more, to name just a few. He doesn't really try to say these words and we don't push it. Again, he'll get it when he gets it! As long as he says please in some way I think we're doing pretty well.

I know we may be a bit biased but I really think he is pretty smart. Even if he can't say all the words he knows most of what we are saying. And sometimes when I think he isn't understanding me, I realize later that he did, he just didn't agree with me! He totally has a mind of his own and is very independent for the most part. Unless he's sleepy!

He got a very high fever last week and scared us a ton but we got it under control easily and he didn't really seem to out of sorts for long. It did take him a little while to recover like get all caught back up on sleep but he is back to his usual self for sure now. I think whatever little bug he had, his system was strong enough to wipe it out quickly without him getting too terribly sick. It also forced me to do some more research on fevers and look in to things I haven't read about since he was a baby. I feel we handled it fine and did exactly what we needed to but next time I think we will have more trust in his body and feel more confident in his ability to fight off whatever is in him. He's a tough little guy!

As for me, eh, I'm big! I feel like I am farther along than I think I am and I can't imagine my belly getting any bigger than it already is. But as much as I think this I know deep down this baby will not appear until October and by then I will be truly enormous not just a little uncomfortable! Feeling the little one move is the best. The position he's (we say 'he' for the sake of convenience it could be either way!) in isn't the best. Oh he's head down but his legs or something sticks right into my right hip. Which is my sore hip from a high school injury and the place I had the most pain when I was in labor with Andrew. It almost feels as if this baby is laying on my hip at times. I have even considered chiropractic care but I'm not completely sold on it yet. For now I do stretches and we go for nightly walks even in this God-awful heat. The heat bwt is a whole other issue for me. The days that got up to 103 around here were killer. I could barely even move around the apartment even with the AC on. I was so exhausted and so hot. I wear nothing more than a giant Vneck men's Tshirt and still feel like I want to just lay under a fan with a mister. I am so grateful we don't have to leave the house every day! I would be miserable.

Those are really my only gripes though and I think that is pretty darned good! Pregnancy is tough on the body and mine seems to handle it well relatively speaking. It's different this time around because i have a toddler. Also because I feel more excited about the end game. With Andrew I had little idea of what to expect so I was just enjoying my pregnancy. This time I know what's coming. I know what it's like to have a sweet newborn baby to hold and nurse and care for and I can't wait! Oh sure I am still very much enjoying this pregnancy but I am also much more looking forward to labor, delivery and the baby than I did with the first one.

Speaking of the first born son! Here's a couple of pics I wanted to show you all that make me laugh!

One is from January 2007 (3 months old) and the other is from last night (almost 22 months old). Same chair. Tough to tell which is which! ;)





More videos are ready to go but I'll wait a day or so and let everyone get caught up!

The Wedding

Andrew was honored to be the ring bearer for his aunt's wedding a few weeks ago. Rachel, Andy's sister on his dad's side married a great guy from the army and they took off a few days later to live in Korea for the next year!

We went to the rehearsal on Friday night and Andrew perfectly walked down the isle carrying two little rocks and handed them right to the best man. Andy sent him off from the back and I was at the front to greet him and help him see who to give his rocks too. He had much more fun playing in the huge back yard of the house the wedding took place at! But he did very well at practice.

Then the big event came. He was super cute in his tux but it was 100 degrees out there and he wouldn't stop running around. We waited until the last possible minute to put on his tie and jacket and such but he was still super hot. Then everyone lined up and waited for the bride. Daddy was with Andrew and I was at the front with the camera as planned. Andrew had other plans! He was hot, and hungry by this time so he was much more interested in throwing dirt at the dogs then staying in line with Daddy. He was crying and I went to get him to help Andy. We switched spots and I was going to send Andrew down the isle to Daddy. The flower girl was going at the same time. They had never met each other and so didn't have a good chance to buddy up or anything. The flower girl's mom and I both ended up pretty much carrying our little ones down the isle, they were both too afraid to go alone! It was still cute and I wish we had some pics or videos but it will live in our memories forever!

Once we got to the front, Andrew was very good about giving the pillow to the best man so it all ended well. The service was short and sweet so it wasn't too long Andrew had to sit still on my lap before we could run to the van for a snack.

There were a lot of pics taken by a pro photographer but I do not know if I'll be able to get copies of any of those. I need to call the bride's mother to see what the scoop is. Andrew was in several of them and he did really well posing for the pics!

We have 2 videos to share of the weekend. This first one is after the rehearsal dinner of Andrew wearing out his grandpa. They'd been playing this game for a while and though Andrew was far from done Grandpa didn't have anymore in him!


This is after the wedding at the reception. I guess after spending the evening in the heat in his suit, he had had it with being dressed! We left soon after this and took his shirt off in the van right away!


He was so tired by the time we left, and hungry! He wouldn't eat at the reception because there was just too much going on. He pigged out once we got home and slept very well that night! I think he overall had a good time and again, it was an experience we will never forget and I can't wait to tell him about when he is older. It was truly and honor to have our son in a family members wedding!

Water Fun

Hard to see him but he's in the middle with Daddy


Fun in the tub.

Fun Games

Balloons!


Hiding with Lucy


A chore for us (though a fun one) definitely a game for Andrew!

Just Some Fun Vids

Mommy's Big Helper!


At Rob and Tammy's Andrew just opened a part of furniture and found a treat!


This really was funny. Daddy thought it would go over better though!


OK, back to bubble fun!

Fireworks

Here's few of the videos of the lighting of fireworks.



This one gets bright!


And a fun little oops that didn't hurt anything.

Fourth of July Vids

All ready for the parade


He prefers the pool.


Bubbles


Snapper Poppers


I also have a ton of vids of the fireworks we set off but I may post only a few of those later.

More from June

Camera obsessed


Kicking the ball


Bubble stomping


Lookout Andrew has the hose!


Painting with water

June Videos

I'm playing catch up so here's a few videos left from June.


He's hiding in a new found hiding spot, he pulled all the shoes out to make it. And throwing the ball for the cat to chase.



Here we are coloring in the tub!



Just lounging and watching a movie (Cars) and 'reading' a card.


OK, now I will try and get more caught up with the ones that are a bit more recent!

So Much to Tell So Little Time

I don't have our external hard drive hooked up right now so no videos just yet. But believe me there's a ton to get caught up on! If you haven't checked out the online photo albums, we have pics in the 20 month and started the 21 month and there's over 100 total that have been added. I was way behind!

There are several reasons for me to be so far behind. I'd like to get into detail but I of course have limited time right now. Andrew is very good at playing by himself when he's not overly tired or hungry so I caught a good moment!

To sum up...

We've had some major sleep issues with Andrew. It's our fault really. Not only because we've let him decide when he wants to go to sleep with some encouragement from us and we do set him up a sleepy time environment, but also because we had a few nights and early mornings where we had to get up and then slept all day. We went from a pretty consistent 12am bedtime to 3am to 6am! There were nights where he'd fall asleep at 9, wake at 1am and then be up until the sun came up. And he'd be so sleepy!

Part of the problem has been that nursing no longer puts him back to sleep. It can relax him for the initial sleep and naps but once he wakes he nurses to wake up not to relax again. These last 2 nights Andy has taken over the one night waking he has and gotten him back to sleep in minutes! With me, I'd rock and nurse him for 2 hours only to end up letting him get up and play. And we're talking like 3 or 4am here!

Then we'd take maybe a short morning nap and a good afternoon nap and try to get him back to sleep by 11. We tried a lot of things really, from shorter naps to earlier bed times and found nothing stopped him from waking fully at night until Andy took over. It hasn't been too much stress for him to do it because he is usually just starting to come to bed when Andrew has his first night waking. And after that if he wakes even slightly all it takes is a hand on his back or belly and he relaxes back to sleep. At least so far, it's only been 2 nights. And if there's one thing I've learned about Andrew, it's that he changes constantly. All part of growing up.

Speaking of growing up, he is such a chatter box! He has a lot of words now he says, his latest of which is Mom-mom! I am thrilled, he just started calling me that on July 4th and it makes my day. Sometimes I think he slips up and still calls me Dada but when I correct him he says Momom. Not quite Mama or Mommy but Mom-mom. I love it! He also says Hello which is too cute. There's a lot more too. of course none I could catch on video or anything just yet but we'll keep working on it.

he also recently mastered jumping. This is something he's been practicing at for a long time and finally gets both feet off the ground and can jump off of things to the ground.

We bought him a big plastic slide today and have been having an absolute blast playing with him on it. And watching him play on it and exploring his own balance and learning to work his own body better. He can climb up so many more things at all the parks we frequent and can get onto so many more toys at the mall. he's just growing up so great and we love it! It's a joy to watch him explore and learn.

If you've already seen the new pics you saw that Andrew and his Daddy were in the Sanger 4th of July parade. I painted his body with face paint as best one can paint a busy toddler to resemble the flag. And he wore a cloth diaper made of an army print that had flags on it. The plan was for them to walk together and me to stay along the side to take pics but it didn't work out that way so fortunately I got pics of them before the parade started. Andrew was very distracted by all the candy being thrown and wanted to pick it up and rethrow it! SO I had to stay with him and help him keep going. Andy was holding a big sign with business name and phone number on it so he couldn't hold his hand. I think he was the hit of the parade! But next year we'll borrow someone's truck. It was very hot6 to be walking!

Andrew will be the ring bearer in Andy's sister's wedding this weekend so look out for a ton of pics of that. We tried him out in his little tux tonight and it is too adorable for words!

Also, please keep Andy's mom in your thoughts and prayers. She had a heart attack a week or so ago. It gave us all quite a fright. She got 3 stents put in and is recovering well.

That's all I can do for now. Videos will be up as soon as I can!