Topping the charts!

Andrew had his 18-month check-up on October 14 and he is topping the charts!

Weight: 27 lbs (75th percentile)

Height: 35 inches (97th percentile)

Head: 48 ¾ cm (75th percentile)

The last few weeks he hasn’t been wanting to take his afternoon nap, so it may be time to loose the morning nap and just do afternoon. He is still really tired in the morning though, so I think we’re going to transition slowly. Luckily AZ winter is the perfect time to be outside playing and that wears him out!

In other big Andrew news ... he got his first haircut--finally! He was well overdue, but we finally went to Jeff's barbershop and Jeff's barber Toby (female), was very nice to cut Andrew's hair even though he was squirming all over my lap! He even got a spiffy "First Haircut" certificate.

We're really excited this weekend because Grandma May, Aunt Beth and Uncle Bryson arrived from IL yesterday for a visit! Andrew has been LOVING the extra attention. Our friends Sue and Keith are here too and they have grandkids his age so they of course eat him up as well :-) We all chilled out last night at their resort condo and had Rosati’s pizza while Andrew ran around opening every door, drawer and closet he could! When the pizza came, he wanted in on the fun and ran around yelling “pizza, pizza!” Another new word—that’s my boy!

Andrew’s a bit young for trick or treating, but Aunt Beth wants to take him out so maybe we’ll go--just a few houses for the fun of it :-) He’s already worn his costume to a party with us and he and Jeff also came to visit me at work on Friday.

Here are some photos of our fun October …

Vertuccio Farms in Mesa

First ice cream cone at DQ!

Before the haircut checking out the clippers.

A new boy! He looks so much older!

Uhhhhhhhmpf ... I can do it!

Love my sister!

With Uncle Bryson and Aunt Beth

The dragon tackles some stairs.

The whole family at my office.

18 Months!

Oops, I forgot to post on 10/10/10, Andrew's 1 1/2 year birthday! We don't have our doctor's appt. until Thursday, but the real news is that he's been getting into full-blown toddler stage complete with constant babbling mixed in with real words (probably 20-30 words I'm guessing), some foot-stomping, throw myself on the floor tantrums (luckily those haven't lasted very long) and some boo-boos from running around too fast, not watching where he's going and just being a lot more brave (see crib photo below!)

Climbing in

He's growing out of size 4-5 shoes and growing out of size 18 months some, too. Still in size 4 diaper and still sleeping very well. That's where I jinxed it...I have learned that every thing is a stage and doesn't always last long--which means bad stuff AND good stuff.

He is such a good eater and will pretty much eat whatever we give him. He has started eating whole apples--and I mean WHOLE...he eats the core and all. Crazy kid. He eats green beans well and loves hot dogs (of course!). He favorite foods are probably apples/applesauce, pasta and cinnamon graham crackers. Breakfast is still whole grain cereal, yogurt and maybe a taste of whatever Jeff is making. He usually eats Jeff's scrambled eggs. He had his first taste of pizza the other day and seemed to like the sausage OK. He's my kid after all!

First whole apple. He stole it from me at the pool and then I had to pry it away from him for the trip home!

Andrew is still at Daddy Daycare mostly when I'm working in the mornings, but he visits Tracy once in a while so Daddy can work. She misses him and the other kids miss him tons when he's gone. He's always been the baby of the group so he's still "baby Andrew". Love it.

I'll be back to post his 18-month stats from our doctor's appt, but we know he's tall he still has those cute chubby legs...my fave!

Taking it day by day

Already, another month has flown by and it’s almost October. Since Jeff returned in July our lives have been on somewhat on hold in more ways than one. We’re waiting to find out where his Army career will take us next (could be AZ for another 1-3 years, but we’re just not sure yet.) October should be the month when we find out, but I hate not knowing. Like my friend Lexie said to me the other day “and you’re such a planner so this is so hard, right?!” Yep! I constantly have to remind myself to calm down.

I’m still working part time at Gold Canyon and it’s sometimes stressful even as PT (“part time” = still produce full time work!), but again I try to remind myself I have a pretty decent arrangement with some days working from home, a good boss and work I *usually* enjoy. Depending on where Jeff’s job takes him, I could be a SAHM someday soon, but we’ll see! *Then* I will have time for more of these writing projects I mentioned.

Since I’m like any typical mom, I still feel guilty when I’m not with Andrew and then when I don’t get a break, I get crabby! BUT, I still count my blessings and realize I’ve got the best of both worlds right now—time in the adult world AND plenty of time with my favorite little man. I do get worried he’s not getting enough time with other kids though. He still goes to his in-home day care at least one day a week lately while Jeff is busy with Army/job-hunting responsibilities and I’m working….but we’ve also started attending some functions with a mommy group. Play dates, pool/splash pad and some moms only stuff, too! It’s nice to hang out with some other moms and see Andrew playing with kids his own age.

Andrew has been having lots of fun having Jeff home. When he goes back to work, he’s going to be surprised at how much he’s NOT here—since he’s here all the time now! They do so well together, but I think someone’s a bit over-protective! ;-) To be expected from Dad AND Jeff. :-)

Here’s some of what we’ve been up to…

Love that face.

Spotting the planes every time.

Buddies.

Does every kid do this? I swear they do.

New table and chairs from our IKEA trip.

Daddy bought him Perry from Phineas and Ferb, but it was really just for Daddy :-)

He says "CHEESE" now when we take a photo!

What a sweetheart.

You would have thought we were spinning, but no...

We better savor this quality time we're getting with Daddy while it lasts!

Time to Play Catch-Up

Time to play catch-up…I wanted to share with you all the blog I wrote that I mentioned last month. “Amazing Gifts – God’s Surprising Timing”

And also share photos from our trip to Illinois to see our friends and family. So much fun! More photos here.

At the zoo with my mom and sister.

PHX at 5 a.m. Still smiling!

Peoria Zoo

With my sister, Aunt Beth

Uncle Bryson is so fun!

With my friend Melissa's new baby Miles!

Who looks scared here?!

So Behind!

I just had to blog to everyone that I am sooooo behind and haven't been on Blogger in a LONG time. Since Jeff got home, I've been on FB a bit and that's it!

I am behind in reading a lot of your entries, so that's why you haven't seen responses from me lately :-) Can't wait to catch up later today...

It's time to get back to writing/blogging. I am trying to make time to write for another blog as well. I was asked to write for the Faith Deployed blog as well as Wives in Bloom so I really need to sit down and make some time for all this! I entered a writing contest for the Faith Deployed blog and won 3rd place so I have one entry on there already, so that's where the Wives in Bloom request came from. I'll blog more about this later!

It's Finally Over

This deployment is finally over and we're picking up Jeff at the airport tomorrow afternoon! I cannot believe it's FINALLY here. I can't believe it's been a month since I posted too. Probably because I have been so busy thinking about Jeff coming home and just trying to make the time go by faster. Also, my aunt (mom's sister) passed away a few weeks ago from cancer that had come back. She went into the hospital with pain and was gone within two weeks--so sudden and hard for my mom and her daughters to comprehend. Tomorrow is the visitation in Morton. At the same time tomorrow we'll be welcoming Jeff home in Arizona as my family says goodbye to Aunt Judy. Such is life with its many ups and downs and it's time for the next chapter in our lives. I am definitely ready to see what is to come!

 

Sea Life Arizona

Look! We're in a fish bowl!

Andrew had his first experience at an aquarium on Monday and he had a good time checking out all the fish and other fun stuff there. We met up with a few moms and kids from the mommy group I've gotten involved with and well, it wasn't Chicago's Shedd Aquarium or anything, but it was cute and pretty fun for both of us. The kids liked the light-up floor at the end the best!

Mommy accidentally blinded this fish with her flash.

Andrew and his new friend Hildon.