Andrew @ 18 months

My little boy @ 1 1/2:


* Weighs 23 lb., 4 oz. (about the 15th%) and is 32.75" tall (50th%). We had his 18-month check-up today and he was declared just perfect! (And didn't even cry for his immunization!)


* Is finally making up for all that time he was a terrible sleeper. He now sleeps from about 7:30 or 8pm until about 7am. He naps about 2 hours in the afternoon. He is almost always very easy to get down to sleep and rarely wakes up in the middle of the night anymore.


* Is becoming a very picky eater. If it's not a French fry, yogurt, or a cookie, (or "can-y"-- don't know where he learned what candy is) he has to be forced to eat it. He does like most breakfast foods and can eat a bowl of cereal with milk on his own now. He does pretty well with a spoon. We moved him from his high chair to a booster at the table. He mostly likes it because now he can see the "big gucks (trucks)" out the window. He still only has the front 2 teeth on the bottom (with no sign of the others around it) but he does have about 5 on top and about 3 of his 1-year molars.

* He is finally bottle-free. I put them all away when we got back from Texas (he was really only having 1, maybe 2 per day) and he hasn't even missed them! He likes to drink milk much more than Leah does!

* Can now run pretty fast. He really doesn't like to sit still, but does still like to be held for short amounts of time. He likes books in theory, but really doesn't like to sit still for a whole one (except maybe at bedtime). His idea of sitting & coloring involves throwing the crayons all over. (He loves to throw things!) He loves to do whatever his big sister is doing, especially if it makes him feel like a big boy. He loves to examine things to figure out how they work. He loves to open & close things.








* Is starting to say a whole lot of words! He will repeat anything (and often very loudly-- he'll pick up on the last word of something someone said and yell it out over & over) but he also knows a lot of words on his own. He says "hold me", "all gone," "want more," "drink," "chair," "Hap Bir-day!" "Sissy" (his name for Leah now), "coat," "shoes", "vacuum," "diaper" and so many more I can't even think of! He even says whole phrases sometimes like "all gone want more..." or "big guck all gone," or "Bye bye, Daddy!"

* The only animal sound he really knows is a dog, and if you ask him what another animal says, it's usually "ruff." He does, however, know many of his body parts and can point to all his family members when you ask him where they are. (Ask him where is Andrew and he'll cover his eyes like peekaboo.)



* His favorite toys are anything he can push/ pull around (right now he is dragging the toilet plunger around the house), anything he can hammer or make noise with, and anything Leah is playing with.

* He is still so sweet and loving. He still likes to be rocked to sleep and wants to be held awhile when he first wakes up. He always wants me to "hold you" when he's tired or gets his feelings hurt. He runs to me every time he sees me when I've been gone and wants me to pick him up. He'll pretend to hit me, and when I say, "no, be gentle", he will lean his head in for a kiss. He loves to give out kisses and hugs. I wish I could keep him this little and sweet!

Texas Vacation, Part 2: Happy New Year!

Our vacation continues!

We left Mom & Dad's after 3 days to go back to Karen & Johnny's for New Years and a trip to see Brett's brother Brian. (More driving for us, but the kids spent the day with Nana, Karen & the boys.) We greeted the New Year with board games and watching the ball drop. (We couldn't actually use the noisemakers because Leah & Andrew were asleep, but they look cool!)

After only a day or two there, we went back down to south Texas again and spent more time with Mom & Dad. We relaxed some, we took a trip to the mall & to visit a college friend of Brett's, went out to eat for dinner almost every night, took a shopping trip, and spent time playing outside. It was great for Leah & Andrew to have a chance to bond with their grandparents. (We didn't get a lot of pictures, though!)

We drove back to Waco Thursday in order to catch our plane home on Friday. The weather was so pretty the whole time we were there, so we spent a lot of time playing outside. Leah loved Karen & Johnny's "playground" and the huge pile of leaves they raked up. Andrew spent most of the time outside "mowing" the yard. He loved that mower. And he mastered going up & down the little slide by himself.








Just before we headed to the airport, we took some more photos with Seth & Luke ("Sep" and "Yuke" as Andrew called them, or "Uncle Seth & Uncle Luke" as Leah called them-- she called everyone "Uncle," including Karen. We kept trying to remind her she was "Aunt Karen" but she kept saying "Uncle Karen" the whole time!)

And our trip ends with a sweet shot of Leah & Andrew with Daddy waiting to board the plane home. That flight was so much better than the one there, although it was of course sad to have to go. Leah slept probably 2 1/2 hours and Andrew slept the first hour and the last, without a fight. He talked the rest of the time.

It was a great trip. We got to spend great quality time with family we rarely see and the kids got to know some of their relatives. We ate lots of great food, got some rest (although there were lots of late nights), and just had a great chance to visit! It feels good to be home now and we're getting back into a routine. Thankfully Leah & Andrew have been sleeping in so we can eventually catch up on our rest.

Texas Vacation, Part 1

Thanks to several very generous friends and relatives, our family was able to go on a two week adventure to visit Brett's family in Texas. The last time we were able to go was when Leah was Andrew's age, and the last time anyone in the family saw us was when Andrew was born. So

Christmas Day, after church and a gourmet Christmas lunch from McDonalds, we headed to the airport.

I got Leah and Andrew both backpacks for Christmas to put toys & snacks in for the plane ride. They looked really cute, but it turned out they were too heavy for them to carry. When we put Andrew's on, he fell right over backwards. And while Leah was sleeping on the plane, I heard her mumble that her backpack was too heavy! But we still paused for a picture in the airport.

It was a five-hour plane ride, with 2 stops, but we weren't allowed off the plane at the stops-- people got on & off. Leah did great. She loved the adventure, and would even say "whee" when the plane was taking off. Andrew got a little restless, as we guessed he would, but finally fell asleep for an hour or so. On the way home, I ended up packing him more snacks and less things to do, because food is really all that could make him happy.

Brett's sister, Karen, paid for us to get a limo ride from the airport to her house in order to really surprise his parents. It was our first ride in a limo. It's a little sad we were so tired we could barely enjoy it. And poor Andrew had to face backward. We still thought it was a neat experience and loved being able to stretch out after the long plane ride.

We really surprised both Brett's mom & dad. His mom screamed about 5 minutes when she first saw us get out of the limo. Leah & Andrew didn't know what to think about Nana's reaction. They were genuinely surprised and so happy we could make the trip!

We didn't get to bed until very late, but we still got up early and the next day, we celebrated Christmas all over again. Karen really made it look like Santa had come all over again!

Leah & Andrew were excited when they first saw all the gifts!





There were several gifts under the tree (Princesses and other things obviously for Leah) that were unwrapped. Leah looked right past them and went for the wrapped gifts. It was so funny, because we kept trying to get her to notice the other gifts and she just wanted to unwrap, kept looking for "L-E-A-H," as she would say. So we would take bags as she emptied them and put the unwrapped gifts in them to give her. She would pull them out and exclaim over them as if she'd never seen them.







One of the big gifts was a little car that went down a ramp. Leah loved it, and her cousins Seth & Luke pushed her down over and over. Andrew didn't really care for riding down the ramp, although he loved the car itself and he loved watching Luke ride down and pretend to fall off and hurt himself. He also loved riding down the ramp on his tummy.



Andrew didn't really care about opening presents much at all. He found this stroller and was pretty content the whole time. We had to really work to get him interested in anything else!

We all really got some great stuff! Leah got basically a whole new wardrobe-- maybe 5 or 6 new outfits! Andrew got several, too. Leah also got a couple Princess dolls, a stroller, some Princess bath toys, pom poms, a Princess sleeping bag, and some other things. Andrew got some little cars with a ramp, a ball popper push toy, several other things I can't remember. Brett and I both got lots of clothes (including a new suit & 2 pairs of dress shoes for Brett and of course some Baylor attire). Brett got a gift card to get the new Smart Phone he's been wanting. We got some DVD's, an Olive Garden gift card, and plenty of goodies! Much of it is going to have to be shipped to us, so we'll have Christmas all over again in a few days!



Later that day we got dressed up and as another suprise to Nana & Papaw, we got all the grandkids together for professional photos. We went to a place where they print the pictures and you can get them within 20 minutes. We met Brett's other sister Brenda & her boys there, as well. When we went, however, it was right around dinner time, so Leah & Andrew both were done after about 30 minutes. The first few turned out really well but when we tried to get some good ones of the two of them together, they wanted no more of it. Still, I'm really pleased with how they turned out. Karen treated us to the whole package and even got a CD with the rights to all the pictures. Here's some of the best:





This one really shows Andrew's laid back personality. He just sat down in the chair and put his arm up and the photo caught it.


Leah let Nana put her hair up, even though she usually won't let anyone touch her hair. She looked so big!









We opened even more gifts that night with Brenda and her family. We were up late most of the nights we were there. The next day, Andrew discovered his love for foot massages. And his cousins tried teaching him how to shoot a gun.

And Leah fell in love with her Aunt Karen. They had so much fun playing games and watching movies.



Later we left to go to Brett's mom & dad's. They live about 5 hours from Karen's and we made the trip back & forth twice. It was a lot of traveling. Leah is perfectly content traveling as long as she has some snacks and coloring. Andrew, however, is not such a good traveler and several times got quite restless. Usually, he's made happy with snacks, though.

The first day we were there, Nana had to get her hands on Andrew's hair for his first haircut. He loved it-- someone got to touch his head, which is always comforting to him. (He cried when we tried to take the broom away he'd been playing with so he kept it during the haircut.)

Of course, no haircut is complete unless you clean up. And then take a spin in the magic chair.




To be continued....