Andrew-isms (21 months)

I don’t have a lot of new updates on the Little Guy, but I he says so much these days and he is becoming such a little comedian, I just have to record some of his moments.
A recent conversation:
Me: Andrew, how do you spell your name? A….N…
A: Blue!
Me: No, blue’s not a letter! Silly! [Tickling him] How do you spell Andrew?
A: A…D…R… Blue!


He is learning to sing along to songs now, and in fact I can’t even sing him to sleep anymore because he sings along with me. My favorite is “Jesus Loves Me.”
When we sing Patty-Cake, he thinks it’s so funny to close his hands together like two little “o’s” (think “more” in sign language, although that’s not what he’s doing), and we tell him, “Silly, that’s not how you pat a cake!” He came up with this all on his own!
Note in this picture Nakey Boy put on his sister’s shoes, by himself.

In the bath he likes to put his little squirt toys on the edge of the tub. Then I’m supposed to get mad at the toy for getting out of the water, scold it, and toss it back in. He immediately puts it back up and looks at me to do it again.

His new favorite hiding place—in my kitchen cabinet. He loves to play peekaboo, and he’s actually much better than his sister—he can keep quiet so I really can’t find him!

He and Leah recently earned the nicknames “Pete” and “Repeat” at church because he will literally repeat the last word of every single thing she says. (I only took a picture of him brushing his teeth because he’s so cute when he’s fresh out of the tub & he tries to do big boy things like brush his own teeth.)


And now, the Andrew & Leah Show:

Here we go again…

As of October 31st, our children will officially outnumber us.

We found out March 12th. It wasn’t really a surprise, as I had stopped taking birth control only a month or so prior. It actually took me quite awhile to get to the store to actually get a test, seeing as how we live in a small town and I didn’t want to be seen purchasing one in a local store, and I don’t believe in spending an outrageous $15 for one test. So when we finally got the chance to get to a Dollar Store, I really wasn’t surprised at the test’s results. I was already starting to feel some of the usual first-few weeks- symptoms. I had the usual all-day queasiness, although I wouldn’t really call it nausea, so much as just a loss of appetite.

My first doctor’s appointment was Monday, the 16th. I was a little farther along than I thought—I am 12 weeks today. I had originally thought I was only 9 weeks and I would be due sometime around Brett’s birthday, Nov. 9th, but the ultrasound put my due date closer to the end of October. We will see if I make it all the way! It’s a whole different experience this time, since I’ve had 2 summer babies and this will be a winter baby—I have tons and tons of baby clothes in storage and yet I’ll probably end up having to buy some for the appropriate season!

I also have a new doctor and will deliver at a new hospital this time. It’s a little sad, since I loved my old dr. so much, but I really do like this new one, and I think it will still be a great experience. I’m not as nervous this time about the labor and delivery, or even the newborn part, really. My fears are mainly financial at this point, and how in the world we’re going to fit 3 into my little car! God has always worked things out for us and I know He will continue to do so.

We announced the pregnancy at church Sunday after Andrew’s baby dedication and everyone seemed genuinely excited for us. I know this will be a spoiled little baby, and I’m excited to see him/ her raised in this church and this area. We waited until after Sunday to talk with Leah and Andrew about the baby. Of course, Andrew has no thoughts yet; however, Leah's reaction was priceless. When we asked if she wanted a baby brother or baby sister, her response was, "But we don't need another baby, we already have one..." After my appt. she asked if she could see the baby. So I'm hoping as time passes she will start to understand a little better.

Andrew’s Baby Dedication

 

Yes, our little Andrew is only about 4 months away from being 2 years old but we had yet to get him dedicated in our church service. So this morning my dad was able to come to our church to perform the special ceremony for our little boy and also preach the sermon. We are blessed to have family come to see the service. Andrew did great, although he was a little squirmy, it was exactly how he usually acts in church.

     

Resurrection Day

What a beautiful Easter day we had! We got up bright & early to have breakfast at church. Between breakfast & the service, we got a chance to take some pictures in the little courtyard outside our church. Of course, Leah & Andrew were true to form and we didn’t get a single picture of both of them looking at the camera—although the whole family shot turned out great!

Aunt Karen provided everyone’s Easter attire this year (including mine & Brett’s). And apparently she and her mother have the same taste—she picked out the same outfit for Andrew that Brett’s mom got him last year. At least it’s cute!

Then we got a chance to go home and see what the Easter Bunny brought! They were both so excited! And then they were so excited and hyped up on candy the rest of the day!

Andrew wasted no time opening his candy-filled eggs and ate a pound of jellybeans before we even knew what happened.

Andrew loved his new bus & car.

Leah got a princess crown & wand. I cannot express how excited she was about getting presents!

Our neighbors came & brought them each a basket filled with toys & candy, too, so they were both so spoiled! What a great surprise and such a good day we had!

Easter Eggs & Cupcakes

Easter is such a fun time of year and we’ve had a lot of festivities going on! Last year we made Easter sugar cookies the same day we did the egg dying. This year I split it up—Thursday I made cupcakes and the kids got to decorate them with frosting, sprinkles, and colored gel. They were so tasty!

Then Friday we did the annual dying of the eggs. I found a great tip on Pinterest that made our whole experience so much easier: use a wire whisk to hold the eggs instead of a spoon. So we ended up just doing all of them solid colors and then I let Leah and Andrew use a paintbrush on them—believe it or not, their painting did show up a little.

Andrew got a little frustrated because we wouldn’t let him just drop the eggs in the dye, and we wouldn’t let him drink it or do whatever else he wanted. So then he entertained himself with a single egg and the empty carton.

And Leah wanted to play around with mixing the colors together, like we did in a science experiment once. Except when she mixed it made all brown.

The finished product:

Easter Egg Hunt 2012

 

Saturday was our church’s annual Easter Egg Hunt & Party. It’s much more than just hunting eggs & the kids had a great time!

They each made a little craft—a cross with the Jellybean Prayer.

Then they went outside and played a couple games. This is just the preschoolers. They did an egg & spoon “race” and a sack hop. At their age, it ended up being not so much of a race as a mass chaos where they each got a turn. Andrew was hilarious- he just kinda ran around, getting in everyone’s way.

 

 

Brett used the Resurrection Eggs to tell the kids the true meaning of Easter.

Then it was time to hunt! Andrew got the concept, but he wasn’t real aggressive. Leah wanted to stop & see what she had inside each egg. They both only ended up with 5 or 6 eggs, even though everyone else got way more. I really had to encourage them to go after those ones! Most of the eggs just had gum or chocolate candy bars. But they ended up with plenty of candy!

  

Andrew was more interested in playing on the playground but I could not get him to give up his bucket!

  

 

 

New Church Playground

Since we got to this church, there have been plans in the works to build a new playground. I don’t have any “before” shots of what we had on our grounds, but let’s just say it was lacking. (Of course, the kids always made the most of it and had fun anyway.) So I got to be a small part in the Playground Committee that designed and got our new playground up and running. We raised over $14,000 in 2 or 3 fundraisers over the course of a year and put forth a lot of teamwork, and we are so pleased with the final result! The kids got a chance to “break it in” yesterday. The young families in our church are certainly growing closer to each other through the whole experience of working together on a project and we’re excited about the opportunities for growth this playground will provide.

We designed it all to be about 6 feet off the ground, so as to appeal to the older children, and thankfully, both Leah and Andrew loved it as well. They had no problem with most of the equipment and it was so safe I didn’t feel like I constantly had to be by their side. Andrew can go down all the slides on his own. The only parts Leah will not try are the fire pole and the climbing ladder you see behind the foremost slide in the top picture. All her friends tried it, however, but Leah is not the type to try things that look a little scary.

We saved some of the equipment we used to have, and for right now it’s sitting just outside the fence. Wouldn’t you know, that’s just where Andrew wanted to be—on the equipment we had all along. And Leah said her favorite part was building a “sandcastle” from the mulch. Now remind me why we spent all that money?