4 months!

So Andrew is 4 months old today! He had is check up yesterday and weighed in at 13 lbs 5 oz and 24.5 inches long. He was great at the doctor until they gave him his shots. We got real tears this time. Last visit it didn't phase him at all. The doctor tested him to see how well he keeping his head up and she was surprised how strong he is and that he is rolling already. She asked if he was showing interest in us eating. I described to her dinner from the previous night. He was sitting in his swing across the room, leaning forward in his seat, staring intently at us while we ate. He also puts everything in his mouth. So she said he was ready and we gave it a go tonight. Here's a little video. . .


Alison is getting to be very clever. She is speaking her mind and coming up with stuff on her own instead of just repeating what she hears. I wonder what goes on in her head half of the time.

Here's a conversation from the other day when I caught her post- digging through my purse.
Alison: (looking guilty) I ate them!
me: ate what?
AK: I ate them!
me: have you been in my purse?
AK: yes
me: you ate my tic tacs didn't you!
AK: I ate them!
me: get the box and throw it away - now they are all gone and we can't have any treats.
AK: well mom, you need to go to the store and buy some more!
me: what? no, you ate them they're all gone now.
AK: C'mon!!

she's getting a little sassy. She got sent to her room after that.... I had to - i was on the verge of laughing my head off! I can't get caught laughing when I'm trying to discipline her!

Welcome baby Ryan!

Congratulations to my brother Jason and his wife on their new baby! He is so cute and I love that he and Andrew are so close in age! What a cutie, I can't wait to meet him!

randomness

How cute are baby shoes? Andrew wore some for the first time on Sunday. It's official: I'm obsessed with baby feet.I got Nick to snap this tonight while we were have reading/singing time with Alison. She wanted to include Andrew and she actually got him to settle down. She was holding/hugging him and he stopped crying. We may have to wake her up at 10 pm to help him out when he's super cranky!

Photoshop tip: you can apply the diffuse glow filter and minimize the shiny forehead action!

Playtime with Andrew

Andrew is now getting big enough and is awake enough to have some fun with. He gives us lots of sloppy smiles and is on the verge of laughing. Don't get me wrong, he still loves to scream when he's tired and you lay him in bed.

He was taking a nap on our bed and Alison wanted to play with him - peekaboo is better when both parties are awake. . .

So she just pretended to sleep. I don't know who sleeps like that with a big smile on their face.Here I had put Andrew in her bed while I got her ready and read stories. She got really upset when I took him out. So I let them hang out for a minute. She is being her usually silly 2 year old self and Andrew's got a look on him that says, "what have you gotten me into?!!"Playing super-baby with Daddy

"Uh oh, what are they doing to me?!"

I made Andrew a hat like Alison's - he looks like a little snowboarding thug here, cheshire grin included.

He thinks he's funny too!

Someone commented that there weren't any pics of me with him on here. So my friend took this for me a couple of weeks ago. Please note, Andrew is asleep while I am holding him. This has only happened with Alison once, maybe twice. And that was just last year.

Happy Mother's Day

I feel like a total slacker today when it comes to accurately expressing my thanks to my own mother on Mother's day. I didn't send a card, I didn't find the perfect gift and our phone call was interrupted by a hungry and cranky 2 year old and hungry and cranky baby. I guess that's typical in the day of a mom. Besides, no gift or store bought card (read: cheesy card) would suffice in expressing my love for my mother. She is amazing and I was indebted to her the day I was born and have only grown deeper in debt every day since then. She is strong, loyal, loving, funny, a walking encyclopedia, and is the one person who can get Alison to sleep just by cuddling with her! She saved me after Alison was born and sacrificed some important time with my dad to be with me after Andrew joined us. I bug her daily with a phone call - often still catching her in bed ( I hate the 2 hour time difference!). I offer unsolicited (read: annoying) advice, and she loves me anyway. I'm proud to be her daughter and hope that I turn out half as good as she is. I love you, Mom!
P.S. When are you coming back!? I promise I'll make you a nice big mother's day brunch when you come.

Not-so-terrible-twos

I was talking to my friend Megan who also has a two-year old. She was remarking how 2 year olds take center stage of their family blogs. It's true - if there is a two year old in the house there is always something funny going on. So even though Alison drives me crazy some days - most of the time she is amazing me with her conversations, observations, antics and physical comedy. So, yes, I do get frustrated when she doesn't nap, or when she doesn't listen, or she shouts, "i do it!!" when I'm trying to help - but, she is sweet and funny and overall a good kid. Not too bad for a 2 year old.

She was so tired out from the weekend with Aunties and Uncles in town, she fell asleep on the couch at 10:30 Monday morning. She was in just a diaper because she had taken her pj's off so she could put on her shoes. She loves shoes (such a girl!). I left to change Andrew and got on the computer and then I realized it was really quiet, that eery- what-has-she-gotten-into kind of quiet. So I rushed into the other room and found her sound asleep. Heavenly. She's taken 4 naps this week - those of you who know how she's been about napping can only imagine how much happier we all are about this!!!


I was doing yoga the other morning and was in a pigeon pose (basically on my stomach with one leg bent under me - good hip stretch) and Alison came running in and hopped on my back like we were going to play horsie. Actually, her extra weight helped me get a deeper stretch. I couldn't quite snap a picture of that - so I got one of her resting on my knees while I was on my back.


Like I said, she loves shoes. She loves taking them on and off. It doesn't matter where we are.