St. Patrick's Day

Rachel and Scott hosted all of us for St. Patrick's day feast.  Andrew was a bit cranky (we now know it was the start of bronchitis and double ear infections) so we didn't get a good smile out of him all night.  He did, however, enjoy jello (his first experience with it), corn beef, carrots, and potatoes. 

With eight adults and eight kids, the night was interesting to say the least.

 Brendan taught Andrew how to rock.

 Jordan played with Andrew (only real smiles and laughs from the night).

 Our lovely host and Caleb!

 All 8 kids were nearly impossible to photograph, but here is the best of the 42 that I look.  Caleb wasn't having any of it.  Obviously Andrew is the youngest, but you'd never guess that Nathan (on the far right) is only 4.5 months older than him! 

 I know this is blurry, but again, Jordan got Andrew to smile and clap!

Yummy mint ice cream brownie desserts!

It is hard to believe, but this is Andrew's last first holiday!  I bought this bib last year when I was hoping that he'd come just a tad early (instead of on-time or heaven-forbid late) and get to wear it; instead, I have an almost one year old wearing it!

Grandma and Grandpa Pfeffer visit

On March 10th we drove down to Lakeside for the day. 

Andrew had a great time playing outside, meeting and touching the big dogs, talking (ohhh,ohhh,ohhh) to the cat, the trees, the dirt, the flowers, etc.  When Grandpa and Daddy went outside and left Andrew inside, he spent a lot of time at the sliding glass door looking out waiting for them to come back in.

 Andrew opened his first, first birthday presents too!

 We had a few snacks (including a homemade peanut butter cookie--yummy) at the table.

 And we showed off our never ending energy!

Spaghetti

 Spaghetti was a hit at the Pfeffer house. 

I made it with curly noodles to help keep the mess smaller (it worked).  Andrew was very, very into mushing them around his plate and figuring out what was going on.  He ate a ton of noddles with sauce and left all the chunks of ground turkey on the tray.

 Afterwards we went directly to the bath--which is Andrew's favorite thing in the world.  Daddy couldn't get the water ready fast enough for this water baby!

Play Date with the Bumpies!

Xavier (April 8), Andrew (April 9), Katlyn (April 5), Jaycob (April 15)

 I am part of this fantastic group of moms who all have April babies.  We've been together since we were pregnant on the Bump (thus, I refer to them as Bumpie friends).  On Saturday, March 24th, we were able to get together with a few Southern California moms and babies.

 We met at the Irvine Regional Park. 

The kids had a chance to socialize while the moms talked IRL (in real life). 

Hannah and I have always talked about how Xavier and Andrew are very, very similar in their habits. It was fun to see them together.  Xavier is a far better walker than Andrew and smiled a ton.

 We rode the train around the park. 

The kids seemed to enjoy it--everyone except Andrew sat still and watched.  Andrew stood up, tried to climb out, and really wanted to touch the roof.

 They had a bunch of Easter stuff set up around the center gathering area (mostly for bigger kids). 

We took advantage of the chicks in the Easter basket!

 The day wouldn't have been complete without my little monkey showing off his skills.  Not only did he climb into everyone's stroller, but he also decided he wanted to climb onto the picnic bench.  Of course, given five minutes to figure it out, he succeeded.

Riverside Raincross 5K

I realize that I'm really behind with some posts, but without further ado, we'll attempt to get caught up.  February 24th was the Riverside Raincross 5K (my second of five for the year).  The week before I was in Sacramento for a conference and pulled/pinched something in my hip and I was unsure if I could even slowly walk this 5K, but with I did it SLOWLY. 

We were joined by 2,000 other locals, including the Recendez, Aunt Melissa, Andrew, Dave, Wendy, and Jeannie.  Andrew "rolled" the whole 3.1 miles without falling asleep (despite the fact that it was nap time).

 Wendy was nursing an injury too, so along with Jeannie, Melissa, and Andrew we went a very comfortable sleep.  We finished in just under an hour (offically 58 minutes and 57 seconds).

 We enjoyed some bananas and oranges afterwards and headed to Denny's for a real breakfast/lunch.

The next one schedules in the April 22nd Color Run in Irvine.

Wordless Wednesday

Moving on up?

It is hard to believe, but Andrew will be one in less than a month.  With the loss of his babyhood into toddler hood, he also has to make some other pretty big changes.  The bottle should be replaced 100% with a sippy cup, his formula replaced by whole milk, his naps changed from two to one... I'm sure that if I was a stay-at-home mom, these things wouldn't stress me out all that much.  We could improvise and see how it goes.  If he didn't adapt to something or another, we could wait and do it differently.  But as much as I wish I was a SAHM, I'm not. Andrew goes to daycare. 

He's spent the last 6.5 months in the infant room at "school."  He's LOVED every second of it.  Not only does he get the attention of several teachers a day, but he has kids all pretty close to his age.  He plays, climbs, and interacts constantly with adults and kids.  His teachers report he is socially-emotionally advanced along with physically advanced.  However, as the youngest of the older bunch (does that make sense?), he's watched over the past few weeks his friends leave for the next room.  Now, there is just Andrew and Owen of the big kids and a whole bunch of babies who aren't crawling/walking/interacting. 

The director and lead teacher have started talking about Andrew's transition to the next room.  The rules?  One years old, walking, sippys only, self-feed only, one nap at 11:30.  I'm not sure why this stresses me out, but it does.  It is mainly the nap issue.  He's a great eater and starting to love the sippy, but my goodness, the child needs to nap and does well for over 3-4 hours a day.

They tell me he's ready both physically and emotionally.
They tell me he's bored and needs to get his energy out.
They tell me it will be the greatest thing ever for him to interact with all bigger kids (the room is one year olds only, they move to room three when they turn two). 
They tell me that he'll get to play outside for at least an hour and half a day.

Yesterday they gave me the "move" date.  April 16th.

11 Month Sticker Pictures

 We'll just call Month Eleven the month of different faces.  It's hard enough to get the child to stay in the same general area to take his pictures, let alone to get him to smile.  His full personality decided to shine today :)

 The doggie is sitting next to me mom!

 Oh, no!  She is trying to get away!  If I hold on to her fur, she'll stay, right?!

 Yes, I know how to stand up.  Why is this such a big deal mom?

 Oh my goodness, Reese is back in the room!!  I need here!

Just doing my squats mom, trying to keep my legs strong and my butt cute.

Eleven Months

New Developmental Milestones this Month: Andrew walks 5-6 steps in a row all day long, but he still isn't "walking" around.  His biggest accomplishment developementally is probably his ability to stand up in the middle of the room without pulling up on anything.  While he could do it before, it took him several tries to get it right.  He now does it over and over again.

• Here are the new age-appropriate developmental things that he can do: clap on command when he hears "yeahh," stand alone pretty well, throw small toys, drink from his sippy (woo hoo!), and shares objects with others.
• Verbally, Andrew loves to be LOUD!  He yells, grumbles, and talks a bunch these days.  Mamamama and Dadadada come out constantly, along with a bunch of other sounds.  He has a gremlin voice which is really funny and it sounds like he's speaking some made up language ("immature jardoning" according to What to Expect).  I've actually heard him say 'dog' several times.
• No new teeth.

Physical Growth this Month: On February 10th, he weighed exact 21 pounds when we took him to the doctors for roseloa.  We're still in the dark because we have a WELL baby (I thought I was never going to get to say that)!  Other than the three days of fever and three days of rash from roseloa, we have no germies at this house.  I'm assuming he's about the same size because he hasn't changed sizes.

Things Andrew likes (wow, everything is the same as month ten): Person: Aunt Melissa, Mommy, Daddy, Ms. Cindy at school, Places: the bathroom!, Activities: taking a bath/shower, swinging, being thrown in the air by dad, climbing up on anything and everything, Toys: his camera and books!

Things Andrew doesn't like: when Daddy stops playing with Andrew (he whines for more), when Mommy sets him down when he's tired (full crying fit), when he can't be in the shower/bath (he bangs on the door if someone is in there) and when something he is "into" is taken away (crying with crocodile tears).

Sleeping: Bedtime has gotten earlier this month because we've dropped the third nap completely.  He usually sleeps about 1-2 hours of naps at school and is bed by 7:30.  He sleeps through the night most of time time (up between 6-6:30 am). We also switched to nighttime diapers to stop the soaking clothes issue.

Eating: I thought I'd give you a full day in his life of eating so you could appreciate the sheer amount of food this little person consumes and then proceeds to burn off (because frankly, it isn't causing him to gain weight).

6:15 am, 7 oz bottle

7:15 am, Breakfast, 5 oz jar fruit/granola

8:15 am, cheerios, "breakfast" at school

10:30 am, 7 oz bottle or cup

12 noon, Lunch, 4 oz jar veggies, 1 c oatmeal w/formula, "lunch" from the school menu

2:30 pm, 7 oz bottle or sippy

4:00 pm, yogurt or apple sauce, puffs or cheerios

5:45-6 pm, Dinner, 6 oz jar meats, fruit cup, veggies, chicken hot dog, little crunchies

7:30 pm, 7-8 oz bottle (that would be a grand total of 28-29 oz a day)

Diapers: Still in size 3s--we've used another 256 diapers (1665 total in size 3).  He's wearing size 3 Huggies Overnights now too.

Clothing: No change from month eight, nine, or ten, Andrew is wearing all 6-9 month clothing with the exception of a few 12 month sleepers. I'm really over these clothes after five months, but the 9-12 month stuff looks so big on him.

Sticker pictures to follow this weekend :)

Wordless Wednesday: Sneak Peak into Birthday Planning

Temper tantrums

Andrew has perfected the "I don't get my way so I'm going to fake cry" in the past week or so.  It doesn't really matter what it is that he wants (Kleenex, to be in the bathroom, the spoon, to bang on the wall, etc), but when you take it away or make him stop, he cries with full tears, whines, and sometimes screams.  If you're trying to hold him, he throws back his head and goes straight (impossible to hold).

Thankfully he is easily distracted and these "temper tantrums" only last about 1 minute.  He didn't want me to take away his play toy at this point to take a picture so he totally faked it.

A few seconds later, I gave back his play toy (pj's) and he continued on with peek-a-boo!

Ten Month Sticker Pics (WAY late)

 "Ok Mom, let's make this quick.  I'll smile my normal smile for you."

 "And I'll show off my teeth with a giggle smile."

 "Are we almost done?"

 "Just thought you should know that I'm planning my escape."

 "And I'm out of here!"

"My car is WAY more fun that taking pictures!"

Better late than never! Technically he is still in his tenth month for another six days :)

Thankfully he cooperated and our photo shoot went fast!