Recap: The last two weeks

We've been busy the last 2 weeks and I've been trying to catch up on posting from our trip too.

After Mandi left we celebrated my birthday by having friends over for dinner and games. Andrew loved having Ethan come to his house to play!! They didn't go to bed until about 10:30 though. We turned on a movie and Ethan was glued to it, but Andrew will watch 30 seconds to a minute of it and then he hops down and goes out to play on the deck.

Andrew's cousin Sam also broke his leg that day so we went on Sunday afternoon to visit him and sign his cast. Andrew even drew a little bit. Sam is getting good at Nintendo Wii. :)

We took trips to the park.

Uncle Marc came and stayed with us last week while his parents house was being remodeled. Andrew thought that was a lot of fun. Uncle Marc baby-sat one night. I asked if he changed Andrew's diaper and he said, I kept checking. I said Marc, he doesn't just poop, he pees too. He said that he had asked Andrew if he peed and he said no. I said come on, he's two, and his favorite word is no!! I couldn't believe it, and Uncle Marc is going to be a nurse!!

Last Friday (7/18/08) we tried to go to the zoo. We even picked up 'grumpa' and took him with us. But we didn't realized the zoo was closed for a big black tie fundraising event. Bummer!! :( But we did still have our picnic lunch at Owen's Beach and threw lots of rocks in the water. And we went to McDonald's for ice cream sundaes afterwards. Yum! And grumpa brought over his bed that night, so all in all it was still a good day for a little boy.

We had a picnic

Andrew loved throwing rocks in the water

Silly 'grumpa'...chasing Andrew

He caught him! :)

My boys :)

I'm usually taking the pictures, but here is proof that yes, in fact, mommy WAS there. :)

Daddy and Andrew throwing rocks

Splash!!!

Monday (7/21/08)--We went swimming at Roger's High School pool, daddy came with too. They have a therapy pool that is warmer and shallow with a bench around the side so we spent most of our time in their. They have a big dive tank and Andrew thought it was hilariously funny to watch the kids dive in. He would stand on the bench and throw his ball at the wall and it would come rolling back to him which he thought was great fun! We'll have to come here more often.

Tuesday--he got to go have a playdate at Ethan's house. Which he absolutely LOVES!!! I wish I had some pictures. I even got a new camera for my birthday that I'm trying out.

The Saga of the Toddler Bed Continues......

**Friday (7/18/08) night--This was the first night Andrew was in his bed and he only stayed their until about 10:40 p.m. Grandpa brought over the bed and Andrew was really excited about it, only mommy couldn't find the bolts for the rails. I let him sleep in it anyway and put a big fluffy pillow by it so he wouldn't fall hard, only I didn't put one between the bed and the crib and that's where he fell. I was getting ready for bed and I heard a thunk, then crying, so I went in and rocked him and put him in his crib. So he didn't wake up in his new bed.

**Saturday (7/19/08)--Daddy had to really wake Andrew up at 9:00 to go to grandma and grandpa's house while daddy worked on building our shed. Of course it was on a day I was at work that he really slept in! And, he took a 3 hour nap at grandma's! He was really excited when he got home, he ran right upstairs and climbed in his bed. While daddy was in the bathroom, and he had told Andrew to stay in his bed, he climbed off and went to our room and brought back a BIG stack of books for storytime and climbed back in bed before daddy came back. :)
*Daddy checked on him at about 12:30 and he was curled up almost against the door with his blankets.
*He woke up about 4:00 in the morning and wantdered to the gate and wanted to go downstairs and get milk. Daddy went and got him water and then he didn't want it, but he did go back to bed. Then he got up about 6:15 right after mommy went to work. Daddy gave him a cup of milk, read a couple of stories and put him in his crib, so again he didn't really wake up there.

**Sunday (7/20/08)--He did, surprisingly enough take his very first nap there for about 2 hours. He goes to bed really easily at night. He insists on having storytime in his bed and he doesn't want to rock anymore. :( We used to read stories on mommy and daddy's bed, then brush his teeth, then I would rock him and then put him in his crib and say goodnight. I did sit by his bed for a few minutes for a couple of nights.

**Monday (7/21/08)--So this was the first morning he really had new found freedom to come out whenever he pleased. So now it's about 7:00, 7:30 if you're lucky. He used to sleep 8:00 to 8:00 and occasionally sleep in until 9:00 if he went to bed late. 7:00 is early for mommy who doesn't get enough sleep on a regular basis.
*Naptime was not fun at all!!! We told Andrew it was nap time and he grabbed the front door knob and was crying about going outside. He was difficult to calm down and didn't want to listen to stories. I must admit for being so upset about it he did pretty good. I told him to stay in his bed and he did for about 15 minutes before he came out. I led him back to his bed and told him he had to get back in which he was upset about, and I sat by his bed for a few minutes, and he stayed about another 15 minutes. I had tried to put him in his crib the second time and he SCREAMED!!! I told him if he wanted to be in his bed he needed to stay there. After the second time daddy put him in his crib for about 45 minutes, although I don't think he slept much.

**Monday night, daddy came to bed about 12:30 and Andrew was standing at the gate at the top of the stairs looking very sleepy. (Daddy thinks sometimes he's sleep-walking) He said, "Andrew what are you doing up? Go back to bed." So Andrew stumbled back and flopped on his bed.

**Tuesday morning he got up about 7:15, daddy gets up with him. And he slept about 1 1/2 hours at naptime. Then he runs out ready to go. I think he shouldn't get up until we come get him, but we're still working on that. ***Tonight was the first night he slept through the night without coming out!!! Yeah!!!

**Wednesday night--He got up again! He stumbled into our room whimpering and daddy cuddled him and put him back in bed. He keeps getting up anywhere from 6:45-7:30. Daddy thinks maybe he always got up then but would fall back asleep when we didn't come get him out of his crib.

**Thursday--while I was at work, he took almost a 2 hour nap, yeah Andrew!! We decided to put a baby gate across his door so he doesn't wander out. At nap time daddy heard him coming up to the door and he told him to get back in bed. When daddy opened the door he was pulling his blankets back up so he wouldn't get caught. :) He opened the door saw the gate, closed it and went back to bed, so maybe he'll get the idea that he has to stay in there.
*When he got up from naptime he just stood at the gate holding his sandals. Daddy I'm ready to go!!

**Friday morning--he got about 6:40 and the gate was across the dooorway to his room, so daddy just called to him and said Andrew go back to bed. Andrew responded with a cry/scream. Daddy put him in his crib with some books and toys.
**Friday night--He heard me say how much I missed our regular bedtime routine so he had stories on our bed and he let me rock him...for about 1 minute. He has started kicking mommy out after storytime. First it was that he didn't want me to rock him or sing to him anymore. :( (That was bad enough) Now after we turn off the light and daddy leaves he gives me a kiss, says 'I love you', and then 'night, night mommy' and points at the door. :(

Tonight (Saturday night)--Now he's pushing me out! He says 'night, night mommy' and pushes my arm away and points at the door. I know he loves me but it's a little hard for a sentimental mommy to take.

The end of our Spokane vacation

On Sunday we left Spokane and drove to Kennewick. My friend Mandi (from nursing school) lives there with her family now. Andrew did well on this car trip too, although again not much napping. He fell asleep 10 minutes before we got to her house! Of course then he woke up. We got to meet her new baby Caben (11 1/2 months), we hadn't met him yet. Andrew liked making friends all weekend.


Caben enjoying the grass at the park.


Andrew at the playground.

We went with Mandi and Terry to a church barbecue and Andrew had a lot of fun playing on the playground at the park. Mostly he ran around trying to follow the kids who were a little bit bigger than him. He really wanted to play with them but he couldn't quite keep up. Awww :( I wish I had gotten a picture of him going down the slide. The slide was really tall, probably 6 or 7 feet and he climbed all the way up by himself and went down. My baby is growing up. :( :) (bittersweet)


Caben is a climber and into everything. He's almost walking! Very precocious and very cute!


My handsome little guy :)

They had a remote control robot that had like 20 different buttons to make it do different things, including burping and farting, definitely a boy toy. Andrew was pushing the button to make it go forward but couldn't figure out how to get it to stop so he dropped the remote control and ran away because it was chasing him.


We stopped in North Bend and Andrew saw this Incredible Hulk ride and really wanted to get on it. I had a quarter in my pocket so we popped it in...

But he got scared when it started moving and shaking

We drove back on Monday (July 7th, 2008) and Andrew slept from Kennewick almost to Ellensburg. Finally a good nap! Mandi came with and stayed at our house for the week. She didn't bring the baby though because she had a class to take all week. Andrew thought it was pretty cool that Mandi stayed at our house. We got to do fun things in the evenings. She had to leave on mommy's birthday though.

Spokane in a Day (July 5th, 2008)

Andrew meets Kelsey (he did see her once before but it was last Thanksgiving) He is very excited to have someone his own size to play with. They even gave each other kisses :)

We visit our friends Bryan and Suzy every summer when we come. They now have a little girl named Kelsey, about 11 months. Andrew had a LOT of fun with Kelsey.


Andrew reading to Kelsey, how sweet!


I actually got them both to look at me, aren't they precious. :)

We did a whirlwind tour of all our hold Spokane haunts. We went to Green Bluff to pick strawberries, then we went to our favorite restaurant Tomato Street for Calzones, then we went back to the hotel to take the little ones swimming and we ended the night with a trip to Didier's for frozen yogurt. (Mommy used to go there every week in college)


A ride at Green Bluff (Andrew just sat in it for his picture)


Andrew and Kelsey loved the strawberry patch


Andrew helped him self to about a dozen berries while we were picking. I think they should have weighed him before and after. Who could blame him they were warm and juicy and just exploded in your mouth, yum!




He is thoroughly enjoying himself. He had strawberry juice dripping all down his chin, his shirt and his hands (don't worry grumpa, his basketball shirt did come clean)


Tomato Street is the perfect restaurant for Andrew, they put paper on the tablecloths for coloring and gave him orange play-dough.


Andrew and Kelsey


Kelsey after we went swimming

After we went to didier's and we both got in separate cars and Andrew kept yelling 'bye-bye Kelsey' and bye-bye Suzy. It was so cute! He had a lot of fun with his friends.

Fourth of July: Part II

We went out to my grandparents farm for our annual family reunion picnic. Andrew was shy at first, but he had a lot of fun when he warmed up to everybody and he had plenty to eat, and then some. He loves watermelon, and he even got to have an ice cream cone. Yum!

Andrew with 'auntie' Kara, daddy, Isaiah, and Katie (counterclockwise)


He loves his 'mah,' he clung to grandma a lot until he got used to people.


Andrew with great-grammy




mmmm....ice cream....yum :)



Andrew and Katie--Andrew had fun climbing on the tractors with the other kids




Andrew driving one of cousin Jeremy's tractors (with his cousins)



He only took a short nap this day because daddy drove him around in the car (otherwise he didn't nap much most of the trip)

Fourth of July: Part 1

SWIMMING!!!! This was Andrew's favorite activity at the hotel! :)

And since he liked to get up early he got to do this several times. Daddy took him to the pool in the morning after his early breakfast. He doesn't usually get to go swimming with mommy and daddy so this was a treat. (usually he goes with grandma and his cousin)


Andrew loved his pool float. He also learned to 'jump' off of the side




Being really cute with his ball, he was getting tired


but he wasn't cranky, he wanted to swim more

Our hotel room

Andrew's room...the closet

Now, lest you think I shut him a dark little closet let me tell you the whole story. We had one hotel room and we don't usually sleep in the same room as Andrew and didn't want him waking up and seeing us and thinking it was time to get up. The closet was actually just a little alcove across from the sink in the bathroom so we tucked his crib into that spot to make it a little more separate. There was even a night light in the bathroom when you turned the light off.




We did bring along his bedtime friends, so he wasn't in solitary confinement. :)

We'll have to see how many years of therapy it will take to undo. :) Just kidding!

The end of our first day...on the road (7/3/08)

We checked in to the hotel in Spokane and Andrew was very excited. He claimed this chair as his own. He has recently been into climbing a lot more but needs a stepstool to help him get up on our couch. As you can see he is quite proud of himself that he can climb up in this chair.



I asked him to say 'cheese.' :)

Then we went out to my grandparents farm to celebrate my aunt's birthday.

Andrew had fun running around taking pictures of everybody


After Andrew warmed up to everybody he thought it was cool to sit with the big boys.

Boys and video games (I shake my head)...they're entranced. The two younger ones (almost 8 yrs. old and 2) are watching my cousin play on his computer.