Andrew's Birthday Party

On April 7, we had Andrew's barnyard birthday party!

  Thanks to Brenda, we have over 300 pictures of the day (which is great because I didn't take a single picture during the actual party).

 Dave found a gentleman who would rent us these adorable baby chicks for the kids to pet.

 We had 11 kids come to celebrate Andrew--as you can tell from the pictures,

they are one good looking group!

The older group (3-4 year olds) consisted of Brendan, Brandon, Sammy, Anna, and Shawn. 

The younger group (1 years olds) was Brook, Ivy, Caleb, Nathan, and Andrew (as the youngest).

 Racing horses was pretty darn funny!

 All the the food had its own barnyard name, but the desserts were my favorite. 

 The kids participated in a chicken egg hunt in the chicken coup that Dave built.  The kids then turned in their eggs at the General Store for prizes!

 Thirty adults overwhelmed us with love for Andrew. 

Andrew's great grandparents were able to come which was a very special treat. 

 Although there was no major smashing and very little eating going on,

Andrew had fun with his very own HUGE cupcake!

It was SO hot that we moved both of the pop-ups to the front yard and put them right next to the front porch.  With shade we were able to open presents and eat cupcakes!  Andrew was spoiled by his friends and family!

I had originally worried about it raining and had a back-up plan in case the forecast called for rain. I did not expect it to be 93 degrees (the hotest day of the year so far), but we made the best of it and still had a great time. The kids had rosy cheeks and sunscreen made an appearance early on. A few of the games I had planned were put on the back burner because it was so stinkin' hot!

Special Birthday Dinner

On Andrew's actual birthday he went to daycare (see the pictures from yesterday) and then we came home and had a special dinner with some friends and family.

 He is super into his new birthday toys.

 Aunt Melissa, Desiree, Larissa, and Audrey came over to share fajitas.  Andrew's current favorite food is beans, so he had a dinner of black beans, corn, cheese, and peaches.

 Audrey wasn't able to come to Andrew's birthday party on Saturday, so we played some of the barnyard games and made a barn frame.

 Andrew had another stab at eating a cupcake.  He was pretty interested in the piggy nose and ears. After poking at it for awhile, he picked up the entire thing and started licking it.

 Although we had high hopes that he's actually smash it into his face, it didn't last long.  Pretty quickly, Andrew started giving away his cupcake and feeding it to Aunt Melissa and Reese.

 Giving Audrey a kiss!

Andrew's Promotion

 Andrew's birthday was his last day in room one at The Growing Place.  As I have talked about before, it is bittersweet.  The room one teachers have been amazing and we love them.  Andrew is clearly attached and Mommy is totally impressed with everything about them.  I teared up when I picked him up on Monday because he moves to a new room.

 Ms. Laura

 Ms. Jennifer

 Ms. LeeAnn

 Ms. Cindy

I didn't get a picture of everyone with Andrew, but he also had Ms. Simone, Ms. Nancy, Ms. Stephanie, and Ms. Denise as his room one teachers.

Easter, Part III

 Grandma made spaghetti for dinner and Andrew had a GREAT time eating and playing with it!

His egg also enjoyed a spaghetti bath!

 Oh, mom!  This is so good!

 After a quick bath, we put on our Easter PJs.  I wanted this outfit for Andrew's first Easter, but I couldn't find one small enough, so I'm mighty glad he got to wear is for his second Easter (it says, "Somebunny Loves Me").

...and, of course, the egg didn't leave his hand. 

It took a bath with him as well.

 bunny butt!

Wordless Wednesday: Can you believe it?

I am...

Easter, Part II

 After lunch, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Bennett's house for an egg hunt. 

Grandma hid 75 eggs all over the house and backyard for Andrew and the "big kids" to find.  Andrew started us out and Dave, Melissa, and Grandpa finished!

 After we finished the hunt, Andrew played and took a nice afternoon nap. 

He had an egg in his hand at all times!

Easter, Part I

We had an amazingly busy weekend with Andrew's birthday party (Saturday), Easter Sunday, and Andrew's actual birthday (Monday).  I have over 500 pictures from the three days and that doesn't include the photos of his party from Brenda.  I figured I better start somewhere, so we'll start with Easter church!

On Sunday morning, Andrew opened his Easter basket (Little Lamb Bible, bunny sippy and plate, and a bunch of empty eggs).

 We headed to La Palma for church at Faith Fellowship. 

He is risen... he is risen indeed!

After church we headed to Soup Plantation for lunch and over to Grandma and Grandpa's for an Easter Egg hunt (more pictures to come tomorrow)!

Twelve Months

New Developmental Milestones this Month: Almost two months after taking his first unassisted steps, Andrew is officially walking.  It took me awhile to admit this, but he is definitely walking more than he crawls now.

• Here are the new age-appropriate developmental things that he can do: waves bye-bye with both his hand and/or arm, uses pincer grasp, self-feeds small food objects, self feeds with bottle and sippy, reacts to his name, walk while carrying something, and picks up objects while standing unassisted.
• Vocabulary: Mama, Dada, Dog, Duck.  All animals are dogs (even his bunnies).  When he wants something he says, "uh uh uh" and when he's excited he says, "ooh, ooh, ooh." Aunt Melissa thinks she heard his say Aunt and bath, but he hasn't repeated it. 
• No new teeth, but he's been teething pretty much all month. We had a few days of a slight fever, weeks of clear snot...

Physical Growth this Month: Andrew has had a bit of a growth spurt this month that has affected his length.  We did have two trips to Kaiser (3/18 and 3/20) because of a cold, turned cough, turned respiratory issue, turned double ear infections.  Thankfully, because of his history the doctors were proactive and we were able to start the correct antibiotic quickly and the sickie germs only lasted a 10 days in this house!

• March 18: 21 lbs, 8 oz
• March 20: 21 lbs, 9.6 oz
• April 4 (Weight Watchers weigh-in): 21 lbs, 9 oz and 30 inches
• April 24: Official one year appointment

Things Andrew likes: Person: Aunt Melissa, Mommy, Daddy, Ms. Cindy at school, Places: outside and the bathroom!, Activities: taking a bath/shower, swinging, being thrown in the air by dad, climbing up on anything and everything, Toys: his ball popper, Little People animals, specifically the lamb, and books

Things Andrew doesn't like: he does not like being told no and stopped from doing whatever he has decided is his mission

Sleeping: We are all over the place with sleep.  At school, he has transitioned to one nap from 11:30-1:30-2ish.  He hasn't really put himself on a routine with that new nap time.  He sleeps sometimes when we come home from school, sometimes not.  He is pretty cranky starting at 6:45ish, so we're working on getting bedtime to 7ish.  He sleeps through the night.

  

Eating: Piglet eats like a madman.  His favorites are beans, cheese, fruit of any kind, and cruchies.  He also eats pretty much everything that we eat--he can polish off an entire piece of pizza! We're in the process of switching to whole milk.  We started at 2 oz of WM to 6 oz of formula and we're not up to 6 oz of WM and 2-3 oz of formula.  By next week, he'll be on all whole milk.  At school, they provide milk, breakfast, lunch, and two snacks which he greedily eats all of it (I get reports of a very healthy eater).

Diapers: Still in size 3s--we've used another 256 diapers (1921 total in size 3). He's wearing size 3 Huggies Overnights still.

Clothing: His growth spurt has finally made it possible to move to 12 month clothes (I packed up everything April 2)!! The onesies are still huge and the pants are still a bit too long, but they fit!

This is also our last monthly update!  See in at 18 months!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

As of 11:47 am today, Andrew is officially one year old!

Wordless Wednesday

Just for Kristen :)