Andrew in the Morning

Here is one morning a little while ago playing behind the chair.

Andrew and Raven

I took this during the weekend that GrandpaLee was here. And it was supposed to be of Andrew standing up hardly holding on at all but as usual he plopped down right when the camera went on! But I got some cute footage of him playing with Raven anyway. Enjoy!

First Time Swimming!

We took Andrew to our friend's apartment pool where she manages a week ago. It was his first time in a big pool and it was perfect! Our friend, Tammy, had her family over too so there were other kids to watch play. The weather was great, not steady sun beating down, some overcast and warm. The pool itself was so warm it was like a bath! Tammy said she'd been getting complaints about how warm it was from residents. Whatever! We loved it! And as you'll see Andrew did too!

At first he was unsure about what was going on, but once he got it, he GOT it! He would splash and splash and splash! We couldn't quite get him going on kicks just yet but it was all so overwhelming. We took him to the pool at our complex two days later and he loved that too! We'd love to take him every day but once it rains we have to wait for it to be cleaned again and the rain lately seems never ending... :(

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GrandpaLee Videos

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Part 2


We were so glad to have Lee here and I miss his guitar playing!

Chatty Chatty Andrew

We have ourselves quite the little talker!! We still don’t know what he’s saying but he loves babbling. He will play and cruise around the living room just babbling along.

His first babbles, much to my joy, were ma ma ma ma. He did it mostly when upset and it sounded like he was calling for his Mommy. It worked, my heart would melt and he would always get picked up and cuddled or mommy milks or whatever he needs.

He still does it when he needs me. But now he has added a ba ba ba sound to his repertoire. He can even mix it up and do some ba ma ba and ma ba mas.

We talk back to him and repeat these noises as well as asking him what he is saying and trying to make words out of his mumbles. Sometimes it really sounds like he is saying something!

Yesterday a cat woke him from a nap before he was ready and he was cranky and whining and fussing and babbling no matter what. He wanted Mommy then he wanted Daddy. He wanted up then he wanted down. At one point he was babbling and whine-crying and Daddy says, “what’s the matter Andrew?” And we swear he babble-whined back, “I don’t know.”

Of course he isn’t really speaking and we know that, but he is baby talking up a storm and it is so adorable. Even when he’s upset we can’t help but laugh at the sounds he is making!

And I guess it isn’t fair to say he isn’t speaking because he IS speaking, just not in our language yet.

GrandpaLee, my father, came for a visit from California last weekend and wore us out! ;) It was a ton of fun. He got to see and hold his first grandchild and play with him and show him the guitar. Andy and I would be thrilled if Andrew picks up guitar playing. Any instrument really, music is so great for kids.

Their initial meeting was a little shaky. GrandpaLee was fresh off the plane and Andrew was worn out from waiting and hungry too. He is still a little unsure of new people too.

But he napped and ate on the ride home and when we got here he was good to go until 11 or so the first night and was completely comfortable with Lee by the time we all went to bed.

Here are the pictures, just click on it to take you there:


I have a few videos to upload from it too.

We also went to a friends’ on Sunday after taking GrandpaLee to the airport and got to take Andrew for his first dip in a pool. Pics and vids of that to come soon as well.

We’re going back out today too and will get even more pics and vids!! He loves it!

Older Vid of Andrew

Not too old I guess but a coupe of weeks ago I tried to get him to say Mama on cam. He didn't really do it but I think you can kind of hear it if you use your imagination! But he has been saying it. First word!! Even if he doesn't know it means me, we do! ;)

Zoo Trip

Andrew's first trip to the zoo was a great success! he loves animals and likes to try and touch them and laughs at them even if they aren't nice to him so I was hoping he'd really get into seeing some exotic ones. Though he is only 8 months old, birthday on the day we took the trip June 4th, he still saw most of the animals and was very interested in watching them. The ones that hid or didn't move much of course he missed but we'll catch those next year. We went to the zoo in Gainesville which is only $5 per person and free for babies so at that price and as close as it is we may go back again this summer to feed the giraffes which happens earlier than the time we arrived.

Grandmother, Meema and Grandma (that's Andy's mom and aunt and my mom) all joined us. We met up at our home around 1030 and headed out together. Gainesville is a pretty short car ride from our place.

As soon as we got there I was of course famished as always and insisted we needed to have lunch before I could even THINK about walking around even a small zoo! I had made a few salads and Grandmother brought sandwich fixins so we had a great spread. Couldn't fill up too much since I was slinging the baby though! But I believe we all ate to our hearts' content with some flies and mosquitoes as our guests. Not too many bites I don't think, not me at least, they don't bite me!

After lunch we headed in to the zoo. It is very cute. Small, kind of a perfect size really for us. We could really take our time and see everything. I wore Andrew in the sling and it was pretty hot so I was glad for every break we took, especially the ones in the shade! There was a nice breeze thankfully. I couldn't imagine being there on a hot afternoon in August.

We saw every animal there even if they were hiding from us! Andrew saw most of them. He didn't get his morning nap that day but was very alert and excited anyway. He didn't do much because he was tired but he was so interested in watching! It was adorable.

After the zoo, Grandma and us got some second lunch and came back to our place to hang. Andrew slept on the way home some so he was good to go when we got there for another couple of hours which was nice.

He ate his first peas that day too! Grandma brought some dried peas with no sugar or salt and he loved them! He's also enjoying apples and apricots in small amounts. Mostly he just likes mommy milk!

Andy was quite the photographer at the zoo. Here are all the videos plus a link to the new photo album I started for family trips.

Caterpillar


Feeding the Goats

I am actually trying to hold his arm so I can pull it away if the goat gets rambunctious, not pushing him towards it as it may appear. Andrew loves animals and just wanted to pet the goat, but I was afraid he'd grab a handful of it like he does with our cats! He didn't, he was very well behaved!

Kangaroos with Giraffes


Giraffes
One is eating the fence. The other comes out to join him.



Little Monkeys



Zebras - short clip of the zebras and some birds


Capybara - this guy is kinda cute. Looks like an ugly pig. He's the largest rodent on the planet!


My favorite by far. Put on your speakers! This little guy seemed to have lost his buddies and was hollering for them!


And be sure to check out the photo album! This is the first pic in the group,


We had a great time! Our next trip will hopefully be to the waterpark in Denton. I've been longing to walk Andrew around the lazy river! First I think we need to take him to our pool here at the complex to get him used tot he water and see if he has any reactions. Plus daddy needs to get some sun so we don't have a repeat of last year's sunburn! Now if only they'll get it cleaned after all this rain....

Playing Catch

Not so easy with a camera in your hands! But you can see him "catching" the ball.

Climb up Mommy

I'm really trying got get him to make a sound here he's been doing. It's like a raspberry you blow with your tongue but he does it inside his mouth. Of course he didn't do it but it's too cute how he climbs up my lap. he does this all the time!

Pulling Up High!

Andrew can get his toys darn near wherever they are!!

Eating Apple

Andrew shares an apple with his Mommy. Looks like he likes it!

Daddy's Whiskers

Daddy likes to tickles Andrew with his whiskers. Looks like Andrew likes it too! Sorry it is so dark.

Andrew is his Walker

We call it his race car!!

Playing in the Kitchen

Here Little Mister is playing with his Grandmother's belt int he kitchen. This is a little old. It is before he was pulling up and crawling really well.

Naked Baby Playin in Pool!

Who doesn't love a naked baby? Nobody! :D Here is Andrew doing two of his favorite things, playing outside and playing in the water!

Thank you Grandmother and Meema for the awesome present for Andrew!

Our Big Boy!

Our big boy is growing up a bit too fast but I couldn’t be prouder. I wouldn’t be surprised if he walks before 9 months! But I also wouldn’t be surprised if he isn’t. I don’t seem to be too good at predicting…

He is really close to cruising. It seems like he is trying to get the falling down thing first. He has been practicing! He falls and catches himself about 90% of the time with his hands. And even when he doesn’t and he hits his head, if we don’t react too much and he isn’t too tired, he takes it in stride and goes on. He often will go right back to it and try again right after falling. I love his determination!

He seems to be enjoying eating a bit more and his tummy is learning to handle it. I love to feed him but he isn’t so into being spoon fed. He likes to do it himself and will grab the spoon and put it into his mouth. I am going to stop making him purees in the blender. It just isn’t working. I will just cook the veggies and smash them a little and put them straight on his tray. We’re trying to do 2 meals a day. I use the term ‘meals’ loosely. He really just plays but it is teaching him about food. But he always grabs at our plates or bowls so it is better we sit him in his high chair and give him his own food to play with.

I also give him some carrot in the kitchen when I am cooking to “eat” while he plays in there with me. I always peel my carrots so after I peel it I just shave off an extra peeling of the inner part and give him that. He does actually eat some of it, I know because I see it in whole pieces later out the other end.

I gave him some raw red onion the other day to play with and he loved it.

I let him get into the cilantro at the store the other day and he loved it.

He isn’t really eating these things but more of chewing on them. But he definitely gets some of the flavor. I keep expecting him to make a face at such things, but he likes them.

He got some “bites” of mommy’s apple the other day and liked it. Kept asking for more. Well, whining for more.

Speaking of asking, we are still working on the sign language. He is still a bit young to quite repeat it back to us but I think he is learning that when I do X with my hands, X happens. He has got down the picking him up sign and milk sign. Now I am working on diaper, eat, drink and more. He may not be able to do the signs back until he is a year old or so but I wanted to start showing him early so we’d communicate to him how he can communicate back when his fingers are able to make the signs.

I’m reading him Charlotte’s Web. I think Andy and I are having more fun with it than Andrew. Andrew starts out sitting with me then gets bored and starts to go and play, but I still read until a chapter is finished following him around the room. And I am trying to get into the habit of reviewing what we just read about too.

We went to a story time at the Denton library and may go to one in Sanger too. The Denton one is targeted towards babies and starts back up next month. Andrew seems to really enjoy it. I liked learning some new songs for us to sing! The Sanger one is for kids of all ages but I know he’d like that too, he loves to watch kids!

Still sleeping a lot. He’s a growing busy boy for sure! It must be exhausting to pull your whole body weight up! I know I find it exhausting pulling his whole body weight up. ;)

My first Mother’s Day was awesome! Andy took great care of me, cleaning and fixing things and keeping Andrew long enough for me to have an extra long shower. And I got a special card from Andrew that I will keep! I love my family I am so blessed and lucky!

Andrew Laughs at Manfred

Turn up your speakers for this one folks. Andrew is giggling away! He loves cats for sure.

We Have a Crawler and MORE!

Andrew has been officially crawling for almost a week. Last Wednesday he crawled 5 full crawls in a row and did it a few times a day before falling on his belly to scoot for the rest of the week. As of yesterday, he scoots no more. We may see it occasionally I am sure but I doubt we’ll see it much again. Our Scooter is a Crawler!
And you know Mommy loves that for so many reasons! Sure he’s getting places faster and we have to stop him from trying to get under our desks more, but he is no longer cleaning the floor with his tummy! He’s now topless at home on nice days and how cute is that! A diaper only baby crawling around on the floor is truly a sight to behold.
But that is not all folks…
He is also pulling himself up. He’s been pulling up on low things like 6 inches or lower for a couple of weeks, but he is now pulling up on everything. Yesterday he was getting to his knees and now today he is standing. Still hasn’t mastered it but by the end of the day I bet he will. Next stop cruising and then walking! He could very well be an 8th month walker like his Mommy!
He has always loved standing. We used to stand him up when he was upset to stop him from crying! Now he can do it himself.
Oh sure there will be falls and spills. He has already fallen – in fact right after this video was taken he fell. But he is a tough guy and can handle it well. Usually with a little cuddling from Mommy or Daddy.
We caught on video the second time he ever pulled up all the way on something:



There will be another video to come soon from when we went to Grandma’s house and he was laughing at her cat, Manfred. That one is adorable too, he has the sweetest laugh!

Andrew Reads the Paper

Andrew and Daddy playing with the newspaper! This was only about a week ago.

Andrew Eating Carrots + Bouncy Seat Woes

His second food was carrots. Not a big fan of those either.



Since then he's had banana, brown rice, and pears. He seemed to like the brown rice best I think because he could feed himself. But it didn't like him very much and gave him tummy aches so we're breaking from that for a while. The pears were yesterday and I thought he'd like them more than he did. And then he seemed to have a tummy ache all day from that too, though maybe it was the leaf I found in his diaper this morning...

Next we'll try sweet potatoes. I thought this kid would love food. Seems he only loves mommy milk. Which is all he needs, I am just surprised he isn't liking eating more.

Bouncy Seat Woes
Our "little" man has outgrown his bouncy seat so much, it broke! I was sadder than I thought I'd be. Not just because I could sit here and do things and bounce him and he loved it, but also because that was his favorite place to hang for so long and now it is in the trash. It broke completely in half. Thankfully Andrew was not in it at the time!

He's been weighing it down a lot lately and Daddy would stretch it back up so when Andrew laid in it his bottom wouldn't hit the floor. Well, he stretched it up a bit too much the other day and it broke.

We went to Target to get him a new one and they all said up to 35 pounds, which Andrew almost is. So we got him a rocker that is supposed to be from infant to toddler. He doesn't like it! And neither do we. Waste of $30. At least it gives us a secure place to lay him for naps for right now that is easy to get him in and out of. But we cannot rock him in it. It slides around on our floor and it sits him too far upright for rocking.

We do have some awesome pics of him sleeping in it in its unrocking position. And maybe when he gets older he can use it for another rocking chair of his own like it is intended. And maybe our next child will be able to use it from infancy and like it. But Andrew does not like it, it just isn't enough like his good old bouncy seat.

I still miss it too.

But Andrew is letting me rock him to sleep in my arms with little fights but it still works. And it's what we will do from now on I suppose.

Good-bye bouncy seat. We all loved you and we'll all miss you very much!