18 months

Dear Andrew,

We have successfully survived the 1st year and a half of your life! Amazing how quickly the time goes by when we are watching, learning and loving you. The last few months have been such a whirlwind! As soon as you figured out how to run, you were gone. And fast! The language that you speak is far from English, more like Klingon, but the way you speak it is so much more advanced than I ever thought an 18 month old would be talking like.  You use so much inflection and emotion with your words it hardly seems real.  Your use of exclamation and question are so right on.  It is truly amazing to hear you talk.  Your "real" words are coming slowly.  You know where everything is and how it works.  Animal noises are a sinch for you.  Just the other day when I was about to talk your picture I just threw out there "Say Cheese"  and you said "Cheese"!  Amazing! 

Say Cheese!

Your favorite thing is the wagon at Mee-Maw and Paw-Paw's house.  You could sit in there and be pulled around all day ... well, with a little bit of swimming added in for good measure.  I swear sometimes we have a fish in our house.  Loves the water, this one. 

loving his wagon

You are so very tall now .. tall enough to reach the doorknobs but not yet wise enough to figure out what they are there for.  Thank goodnes!  You play with each and every one of your toys at least once when you get home from daycare, much to your daddy's and my chagrin.  And you figured out how to climb on and off of things, I mean everything.  Holy moly!  You are my heart attach waiting to happen ... thank goodnes for baby gates.

Everyday is a new adventure with you ... literally.  You make me so very happy little man!

Happy 18 months old!

I love you more than you know,

Momma


My sweet baby boy ... what difference 1 1/2 years makes!



  

Conquering the slide







Water baby



A Year ...

Dear Andrew,

One year ago we were on our way to the hospital to meet our sweet baby boy.  One year ago, we never realized what a change you would have on both of our lives.  One year ago, we never knew how much we could love another human being until we met you.  On January 26th, 2011, you came into our lives and into our hearts and we never looked back.  The love that your daddy and I share for you is not easily put into words.  Sometimes trying to put it into words causes us to cry, not from sadness or anger, but from pure love, joy and so much pride it is unexplainable. 

We have seen you open your eyes, smile, sit up, sleep throught the night, recognize our faces and voices, play with your fingers and toes, stand up with assistance and start to babble.  Your new adventure is eating table food.  You are very insistant in doing it all by yourself and get soo angry when we try to help.  So very independent.  Now you are on to milk, Almond milk that is.  Nothing gets you down.  You are the happiest baby I have ever met and that happiness is infectious.  I can't not look at you without smiling or laughing or having a converasation about your day. 

In planning your birthday celebration, your daddy and I went back and forth on either making you a big birthday bash or a low key family dinner.  True, you wouldn't know the difference if the party was for you or for Lexi but I was set on doing it big.  YOU ARE ONE!!!  What a major milestone for both you and us as your parents.  Such an accomplishment that you are happy, healthy and alive.  I had to shout it from the rooftops,  there was no other way.  We invited all your family and some friends to come and play with you, celebrate with you, sing to you and share with you your big day.

We are so incredibly blessed that you chose us to be your Mommy and Daddy!  We love you THIS big!  You have brought out the Mother, I didn't know I could be and have fulfilled every wish in a child I ever had and didn't know I had.

Thank you for being you!

All our love,

Mommy and Daddy

Goodbye 8 months, Hello 9 months!

Dear Andrew,

I am a little late in writing this but only because you are soo very active now and it leaves me little time to do anything!  You are amazing!  I love watching you with your independent personality and fearless ability to try new things.  I am on pins and needles everytime you try something new.  I wish I could just follow you around with a pillow so that you have something soft to land on when you fall but I know boys will be boys and I just have to let you learn. 

So let's see where we can start ... you started off 8 months with a bang!  During that time, you learned how to crawl (the for-real kind, not the army crawl), pull up to your knees and them pull up to your feet!  All that was done in between 5 days!  Even your Dr. couldn't believe it.   You also learned that you didn't need Momma to hold the bottle for you, that you could do it all on your own and decide whether you were hungry still or just take it out for a bit for a breather and then put it back in and you get soo mad when I try to help you in tilting it up.  That was and is amazing to see!  Very independent.  You can stand up and sit back down in your crib and you figured out that you can chase after the "girls" (Sophie and Lexi, our dogs). 

One drawback to your getting older is the temper-tantrum.  Oh my!  If you don't like what I am doing or if I take you from a certain spot, holy moly, you let us know about it.  You also got your second ear infection.  This one wasn't as bad as your first but you didn't get fever or congestion so we really didn't know what was going on.  The only sign that we had was that you were not eating like normal.  Very small amounts, especially your bottles.  We thought it was your teeth coming in or usually around this time (9 months) babies get bored with thier bottles/food and rebel.  That was what we were going off of but when we took you in for your 9 month followup, the Dr. said it was an ear infection and that it had been there for a while.   But a new prescription and new toys to play with you were rebounding right back to your normal little self and flying through those bottles. 

Earlier in the month we took you to your very 1st Pumpkin Patch in Medina, TX.  You loved to look at everything!  There was a petty zoo, a puppet show, pumpkins everywhere and even Indians! 

You are laughing at just about everything now and are learning how to make music.  You use anything to bang together.   Your interest in books is starting to grow and you can turn the pages now, a little faster than Momma can read, but I just love that you are interested.  You can never be away from your blankets, always sleeping with at least 2 of them.

More to follow ...

Month 7

Dear Andrew,

You turned 7 months and all of sudden you a learning faster than I could have imagined. There are many milestones that you have conquered this month and every one of them has left momma and dadda speachless. In month 6 you were preparing your little body to start sitting on your own. It was a slow process, one which we had to keep the Boppy behind your little body for fear you would lose balance and topple over, hitting your head on our not-so-comfy carpet. Once your confidence caught up with your balance, there was no stopping you from sitting for minutes on end surrounded by your colorful toys and animals. It was a step that I was hoping for but not yet ready because that meant you were growing up.









When we had taken you to your 6 month checkup, the Dr. told us that we could start you on a sippy cup. That was great to hear. As soon as we got you home, a sippy cup was filled with cool water and given to you to try out. At first you thought it was a bottle and lunged for it, mouth open and hands to the sides. When you clamped down on it, nothing came out and it wasn't tilted up in your favor so you gave up, grabbed the handle and threw it to the ground. What a personality! So we abandoned the issue for a couple of weeks.  We finally decided to try again when you were being fussy and no toy or cuddle could comfort you.  As soon as you saw the cup, you had to have it.  You didn't know what to do with it at first, sucking on the bottom of the cup instead of the sippy, and waving it about like a flag.  But I showed you how to hold it by me doing it and "viola" you did it yourself.  Talk about monkey-see monkey-do.





Month 7 also broughth on your first infection .. the dreaded ear infection.

It started off as a regular old cold that that is how it stayed for a weekend until the next week and it became a full-fledged infection. You were pretty comfortable until we started you on the anitbiotics. Holy moly, was that a new experience for your mommy and daddy. They don't tell you about these things whenever you are pregnant, so we strapped in for the long haul. The moment we gave you the antibiotics, your fever skyrocketed to 103.5! We were scared! We had given you a lukwarm bath, had cold compresses on your little head and on your body to try to cool you off (it barely made a dent) and gave you cold water and Pedialyte to drink to keep you at least hydrated.



You are growing up too fast, my baby.  I can barely keep up sometimes.  Your curiousity is amazing even if it means trying to play with the dogs toys.  You are starting to sleep through the night and your appetite is growing.  Sometimes you get mad that I am not fast enough feeding you your fruit/cereal or your favorite sweet potatoes and corn.  Everyday is a new adventure for you but just watching you go through that new adventure is the best feeling I could ever imagine. 






Your reflection is the best thing.  The way you look at yourself, trying to figure out who that is looking back .. I can almost see the wheels in your brain turningl, learning all about you.



I love you little boy!  More than you know!

Can't believe you will be 8 months on the 26th!  I am ready to see what that month holds for us!

Love,
Mom

Dear Andrew ...

Today you are 6 months!  Wow, the have just months flown by.  I remember like it was yesterday, the day you were born and the day that my life changed forever.  We had gone to the Dr's office a couple days before your due date and he gave us the option to either wait and see when you would make your appearance (on your own time) or to meet you right on your due date (on Mommy's time).  Well, I just couldn't wait anymore.  I needed to hold you and love you and feel you in my arms.  I just couldn't wait, so we decided that January 26th would be that day.  Both your daddy and I were nervous and excited the night before that we barely could sleep.  We woke up at 4:00am to get ready to go to the hospital.  All our bags were packed (a suitcase for mom and a little bitty bag for dad), your outfits were in their own bag that had your little blankets and hats and teeny tiny socks.  We couldn't believe we were finally going to meet you, Andrew!

The ride to the hospital was very calm, we were ready.  The nurses brought us into our room, showed me where to put all the things I would need, gave me a glamorous night gown to wear and showed where Daddy and our visitors could sit while we waited for you.  Soon after we got there, Mimi and Papa (mommy's parents) and Mamu arrived, then your Aunties arrived, then Meemaw and Grandpa (daddy's parents) arrived.  It was a full house and it was all for you.   We waited all day for you, very patiently.  It wasn't until late in the evening the Dr. told us that if you didn't show up soon, he would have to go and get you.  I think you heard that becuase not long after, you wanted to come out and see us.  It took a few minutes but at 10:09pm on January 26th, you were born.  It was amazing!  You came out and immediatly let us know you were alive with a great big cry!  Mommy and Daddy were crying also.  The Dr. put you quickly on my chest so that you could see and smell me and know who I was but don't think you had any trouble knowing who I was.  As soon as I held you, you look me right in the eyes and you just knew.  That was the best feeling.  I am your Mom, I told you, and I love you very much.  You squinched up your face and blinked your eyes.  Right then I knew you would be trouble.  Oh, how can you love something you just met.  I heard alot of other mommy's saying that and never quite understood what it meant but now I do.  I really do!  My heart just explodes everytime you smiled or looked at me or even when you slept.  It is unbelievable!  Alot of visitors came to see you.  You were just taking it in.  Seeing everyone and getting to know thier faces.  You are loved little boy ... you are very loved. 

From the time we brought you home to now, everyday has been an adventure.  You were growing in leaps and bounds and it was amazing to see.  From the first months of cooing and smiling to tummy time and starting daycare (that was harder on mommy and daddy than for you) you amazed us.  Then you were laughing!  I think it scared you a little bit becuase it was new and it came out of your mouth.  You didn't do it again for a couple days but when you did, you enjoyed it.  Now you laugh all the time and at anything.  It is wonderful!  You have your own little personality and it includes lots and lots of talking, blowing rasberrys at the dogs or mommy and rolling over, trying to sit up on your own and eating solid foods (you hate carrots and squash but love peas and green beans).  When you get bored, we got outside and look at all that God has blessed us with.  You love the feel of the breeze when we go on our evening walks, you love them so much you sometimes fall asleep. hee hee.  You are too cute.



yes ladies he is available, carrots and all!

 You are the light of my life, little boy and the joy of my heart!  I love you with every fiber of my being.  Everday with you is a gift and I cherish you every second, even when I am away. 

You were really telling me how much you love me and need me.
I need you too little boy, more than you know.

Happy 6 month birthday, Andrew!

Thank you for choosing us to be your parents!

Love,

Mommy xoxoxo