Andrew @ 18 Months Old

Andrew turned 18 months old on 2/17. Halfway to two already. It's hard to believe he's already 18 months old and at the same time it's hard to believe he's only 18 months old. Mostly, because it feels like he's been here forever. He feels firmly entrenched in our family now; a full-fledged member. For the first year or so he was still a n00b we were trying to get used to. Now he's in the club. ;)

Andrew at 18 months is often mistaken by people who don't know us for at least two years old, if not older. He had his well child visit on the seventeenth and he's right around 70th percentile for both height and weight (33 inches and 27.5 pounds, respectively). So while's he's bigger than his brother was at this age, he's by no means gigantic. He's pretty advanced physically (he's walking, running, climbing, wrestling... eep), and he's pretty coordinated. He can already throw and kick a ball. He's also talking a lot. The pediatrician asked us if he has at least a dozen words yet and I told her he was starting to put short sentences together ("I want juice," etc). Maybe these things in combination with his slightly larger than average size are what make people think he's older.

Speaking of his size, we just moved him into size 24 month tops. The 18 month tops were getting too short and tight on him as he has a rather prominent little belly. He has room to grow in 24 months. The length of his 18 month pants is good but they're getting tight in the thighs (thanks daddy) and starting to get a little snug in the waist (he's got the "Surber belly" for sure). They're way too long though. So he's already throwing me for a loop with the clothing. I think he's also in a size 6 shoe. Philip's in an 8. At this rate, I'm wondering if before long Philip will be wearing Andrew's hand me downs!

As far as his speech goes, that continues to develop more and more each day. Right now, he's enjoying saying "no" in response to everything, something big brother has been coaching him on. Nice.  His list of new/newish words include: book, dog, juice, buddy, brother, bear, coco (cookie), car, Buzz (as in Lightyear), Nana, and "tea" which is his word for "pick  me up or put me down."

He's got all four of his first molars. Not even sure when that happened! In the past month he's been teathing like crazy. I think his total tooth count is up to 12. Speaking of teething, that's been different. With Philip, you barely noticed he was teething. Andrew is a different story. His sleep is affected. He cheeks turn bright red. He drools. And, oh yeah, he bites. The biting is getting better, I guess, but also getting pretty old. He's not biting so much out of curiosity and teething anymore as much as he is biting out of retaliation and frustration. This hasn't been a good thing for his brother who often bears the brunt of it. We're trying to work with him on it but that's going about as well as trying to put a one year old in time out (which we've only had marginal success with at this point).

He's really taken an interest in books lately. I just recently started a bedtime routine with him where we read a couple of books and I sing him the songs we sing to Philip at bedtime and then say his prayers. He loves looking at the books and will grab them at bedtime and hop into the chair ready to read. We sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star at night and he has just recently started trying to sing it himself during the day. He can say twinkle and star. It's really cute.

He loves Finding Nemo and Toy Story. Disney Pixar continues to get more and more of our money. It's so cute hearing him say Nemo. It comes out "me-mo." The boys have DVD players in the car (Andrew's still not a happy traveler) and he always gets sad when Nemo turns off and cries out "No, Me-mo!"). He loves movies and television in general, as awful as that sounds. I know he watches more tv than he should, but I find that's really hard to avoid when you have an older child and, seriously, I need to get dinner made in the evening. The AAP can kiss it on that one; he has better verbal skills than some preschoolers I know. Alas, he also loves that wretched little brat Caillou just as much as his brother does so we hear a lot of his whining voice in our house these days.

He's very attached to mommy, although that's nothing new. I think it's a little late for the typical separation anxiety period, but he's definitely got a lot of that going on. It's at the point where I don't know if it's better to sneak away when I have to go out for work, or say goodbye and deal with the tears. I think either way he cries but it's even more sad now that he cries out "mommy" when he wants me. Especially at night.

He loves playing outside with his brother and he's absolutely fearless, tackling the big slide on the swing set and already trying to climb the rope ladder. So different from Philip, who's just starting to get really comfortable with those things himself. He's well on his way to full-blown dare devil status. And he's a runner. Where Philip would always stay close by at that age (and still does), Andrew likes to test his boundaries (and our speed). Thinking a fence is going to be a necessity and soon! He also loves bathtime and water in general. He did great in the pool last year and I'm excited for warm weather so he can get some more time in the water this year (another way in which he's so different from Philip, who still cries almost every time he has to have his hair washed).  He loves to splash and hardly flinches when he gets water in his face (even going so far as to blow bubbles in the tub--not something we're encouraging!).

He's also a total mess-maker. Philip was such a neat and tidy eater. I always marveled at how having a self-feeding toddler was nothing like the way it was portrayed on tv. With Philip, a crumb was rarely out of place. With Andrew, I'm pretty sure our high chair will be destined for the curb by the time he's through wreaking meal time havoc upon it. We've totally given up on putting the cushioned cover on it. It's just not worth it. He also loves to go into the playroom and pull out everything he can find and dump it onto the floor, just to watch it pile up. Good times.

He's still a helper though and will help put toys away and throw things in the garbage if we ask him to. One of his favorite things to do is throw away his dirty diapers. The downside to this is he's also thrown a lot of things away that weren't garbage! Some of them rescued in time, others we suspect not.

He still eats and sleep great. Most days he eats more (and faster) than Philip at meal time and he sleeps all night. He still doesn't nap as long as I'd like. Most days it's only an hour. How I miss Philip's two two hour naps at that age! The boys usually take their nap at the same time with Andrew waking up first so it's nice to get an hour of alone time with him before Philip wakes up.

He (along with Philip) are still rear-facing in the car. :) He had a brief period of not wanting to be strapped into the seat but that's not all that new with him. He seems like he might outgrow his seat sooner than Philip though (in height and weight) which means I'm sure I'll need to buy a new seat for him to stay rear-facing in eventually. Whoohoo! ;)

Less than six months until his second birthday. I've already begun setting aside ideas for both boys as their parties are two weeks apart. I have several ideas in mind for Andrew so I need to get busy narrowing them down. The big 2 will be here before I know it!

Tiny Talker

I wanted to take a few minutes and dedicate a post to Andrew's expanding vocabulary. I can't say he's talking yet, but he's saying so many new words, I can't even make a comprehensive list. He's even trying to say whole phrases which is so cute and hilarious at the same time. For example, he's been saying "juice" for a while. He always refers to milk as juice. When he wants milk he makes this mumbling sound that we swear has to be him trying to say "I want." It really does sound like it (to us anyway). So he'll kind of mumble/slur the "I want" sound and the pop "juice" at the end of it.

He always likes to ask for help. It took me forever to figure out what he was saying because one day he just started saying "hut" all the time. I thought he meant hit or hurt so I just kept asking him what he wanted and he in turn would get really frustrated. We had no clue for many days what he was getting at. Finally, one day I had a moment of genius and figured out he was trying to say "help." I felt really proud of myself for unlocking the code. Smooth sailing ever since.

Other words he's recently picked up include: dog, trying to say "Lola" (more like wah-wah), mommy (sweetest word ever), daddy, brother, ball, papa, no (he just figured this one out--with accompanying head shake, no less!), and more (he just added this to his repertoire today!).

It also sounds like he's trying to say "this is" but it comes out more like "dis." Like, when we were outside earlier playing, he went up to Lola and he says "Dis wah-wah," or he'll say "Dis daddy" when picking up the remote control or Phil's phone. lol.

Okay, so maybe he is talking, he's just not a fluent conversationalist yet. ;) I'm sure there are some other things he's saying now, I just can't think of them. I swear though it feels like every day he says something we've never heard. He makes learning to speak look so effortless! I'll have to post some video of one of our conversations soon.

ETA: He just got up from his nap and reminded me he can say "Pooh" and "stuck." :)

Andrew: 5 Months Old!

Milestones for this month:

• Teething! Oh boy, we're in for it now. What started out as a lot of slobber has escalated into a lot of gnawing on teething toys and general crankiness and discomfort. Here's hoping that tooth breaks through soon!
• Solids. We just started D out on some rice cereal and bananas. He's still not sure what to think but we have a feeling that will change soon. 
• Rolling. A couple of weeks ago Andrew decided he wanted a change of scenery and rolled himself from his back to his tummy. What an accomplishment! Now he's so into rolling you have to restrain him during a diaper change!
• Sitting up. He's thisclose to sitting unassisted now. He can tripod for a short amount of time before gravity takes over and he topples. 
• The beginnings of creeping? This evening he was on our bed on his tummy and he pushed his backside up in the air so he was almost in a pyramid shape. It won't be long before he figures out how to get those feet to do what he wants them to do and then there will be no stopping him!
• Finally starting to lose some of that baby hair! Not enough of it though... That hair is something else I tell you. Phil insists he's going to need a hair cut before his first birthday. I refuse to put him in the chair prior to one. Should look really interesting at his party. ;-)

Cereal and bananas, most of it worn on his shirt

Playing with Buzz

Impromptu teether

Bored with mommy's photo shoot after dinner

Tricked into smiling!

Playing with daddy

Loves his bouncer!

Andrew: 4 Months Old

Andrew is four months old! 

He's just too darn cute. And getting sooo big! He has his 4 month well baby appointment next week so we will find out for sure then, but I attempted to weigh him here at home and I think he is close to 18 pounds. Wow! Our 2 year old is only 26 pounds! Needless to say , Andrew is foiling my plans for getting extra use out of all of Philip's baby clothes. He's already in size six months. At 4 months of age, Philip was finally fitting comfortably into size 3 months clothing. What a contrast!

Andrew is such a joy. He's still a complete Mommy's Boy but he's becoming more and more comfortable with Daddy these days which is such a relief. He's still nursing every two hours hours, pretty much around the clock. Sleeping through the night appears to be a ways off at this point in time. It's okay though. This time around, I am soaking up every minute of my mommy and baby time as I know all too well how fast it goes! 

He hasn't rolled over yet but I think it's coming. When we lay him down he works really hard at trying to swing one leg over to the other side. He watches his big brother run around all day with such interest. You can tell he is just itching to get moving, too! He enjoys tummy time and is working hard at pushing himself up with his arms when he's laying on his belly. He's already a strong little boy.

He's also a very "oral" baby like Philip never was. I can already tell we are going to have to be more careful about what gets left out within his reach once he's a bit older. Everything he manages to get his hands on already goes right to the mouth!  He is also very talkative. I swear he just loves the sound of his own voice! In addition to cooing and babbling, he shrieks, squeals,  and laughs and is just a loud baby in general!

He loves to stand up. He isn't content with sitting down for long and prefers to be held standing up right so he can practice picking up his feet and moving his adorably chubby legs.

He still has blonde hair and bright blue eyes and he's just gorgeous. But I still marvel every day how two people can have two children who look so completely different. It's been discovered that, while Philip looks exactly like both his mommy and daddy smooshed together, Andrew looks remarkably like his grandpa! The resemblance to Phil's dad is just too funny: when Doug is holding Andrew it looks like he's holding his own son! 

Philip is a wonderful big brother to Andrew. He has yet to show any signs of jealousy and he loves to show Andrew his toys and give him hugs and kisses. Tonight we decided to make an attempt at giving them a bath at the same time and Philip was so excited to have his brother in the tub with him. He just adores him and you can tell Andrew is already in awe of his big brother. He thinks Philip is absoultely hilarious and will frequently smile at him and crack up laughing if Philip is also laughing. It warms my heart so much to see the two of them being to interact with each other. Truly, the best part of having two children is seeing their relationship with each other blossom. I hope they will always be best friends. I am so blessed to be the mother of two such wonderful little boys!

Andrew: Three Months Old!

Andrew turned three months old this past Wednesday. How the heck did that happen already?! What they say about it going even faster with the second baby is so true. These past three months have been a blur. I can't believe Andrew is already a quarter of a year old. He's so different from the newborn we brought home in August.

He is growing and changing by leaps and bounds! Our chunky monkey is such a contrast to our first baby, who was itty bitty at 6 lbs 3 oz and is still on the smaller side at just around 25 pounds at age 2. Andrew is already foiling my plans for lots of hand-me-downs by outgrowing his clothing far more rapidly than Philip ever did. Case in point: Philip was in newborn sizes until he was 2 months old. At 3 months old, Andrew is in 3-6 months sizes and steadily outgrowing those! He's not unusually large, by any means, but he has such a nice little baby heft to him . He's so cuddly and he has the best little cheeks for lots of kisses. He's just a beautiful baby, if I do say so myself. ;-) He's got silky blonde hair, and lots of it, and the prettiest blue eyes that absolutely light up when he smiles his big open-mouthed smile.

He's definitely attached to mommy. Oh my. Most of which probably has to do with the colic and stomach issues he's dealt with, and the fact that I am his food supply, of course. He's just now starting to come around to daddy if that is any indicator of the level of attachment we are dealing with here. I honestly don't mind it though. I know before long daddy will be the one in demand and he won't be so eager to cuddle with mama. I am treasuring our bonding time together. Little boys grow up fast.

Milestones from Andrew's 3rd month of life include:

• Improved hand-eye coordination. He loves to lay in his play mat and bat at the colorful toys dangling in front of him. He holds on to objects that find their way into his hands. He likes to hang onto mommy's necklace or hair (ouch) while he's nursing. He's got a super strong grip!
• Cooing and babbling. He's "talking" up a storm! He'll frequently let out these long sighs that turn into an exaggerated coo. So cute.
• Recognizing mommy. He gets so excited when he spies me. His arms fly out anda he starts smiling and cooing.
• Eating. He's still nursing every two hours and breastfeeding is still going well.
• Sleeping.. nothing great to report here. Lately, he's been waking up very frequently. He normally does okay until about 3 am and then he's up a couple of times per hour until morning. I think the change in the weather has caused him to become stuffed up over night and he has a hard time breathing through his nose. I've tried everything to help with this and to no avail. Such a bummer because I don't think his sleep is going to improve until we get this stuffy nose problem under control.
• The colic appears to be subsiding--Praise God!

Andrew celebrated his first holiday on Halloween. We didn't dress him up as he slept in the Ergo while we took Philip trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Thanksgiving is this Thursday and we'll be headed to Northern Virginia to spend the holiday with Phil's family. I return to work part-time the following Monday and then Christmas will be right around the corner! It's definitely a busy but wonderful time of year, made all the more wonderful by the addition of our sweet baby boy.