Andrew is one!

Three big events have happened in the last week. 

1) We had a major, blowout first birthday party for Andrew

2) I made it a whole year and three days feeding Andrew breastmilk (sorry, men).

3) Andrew had his last bottle.

As for #1, pictures will have to do.  I nearly crafted myself to death but it was super fun and I'm now officially over my party-hangover.  All decorations are down and we've moved on from the extravaganza.

 

Little Red Wagon was the theme for his party!  This Radio Flyer was mine when I was little.

 

Red wagon cookies and Radio Flyer drivers licenses' for the big kids:

 

And Wagon Wheels for the littles:

 

 

The food table, yummy cake and Andrew's first year in pictures!  We had Red Wagon rice crispy treats, wagon wheels (turkey roll-ups), marshmallow pops, wagon trail mix, popcorn, and twizzlers.  

 

Love that little finger digging in.

 



This is about as messy as he got.  COMPLETE contrast to Banks who had to have a bath after he got ahold of his smash cake.

 

Opening his bouncy house.  Because it is a completely normal, not over-the-top gift for a one year old.  Right?

Getting donuts on his actual birthday.  "Did y'all mean to give this to ME??"

 

 

I mention #2 because it is a hugungo deal for me.  With Banks, I planned to make it six months and then pushed myself to get to a year.  Those last few months were rough.  When I found out I was pregnant with Andrew I said I wouldn't be able to juggle it again with a toddler running around but I made it!  It was easier, this time, for me to pump and give bottles so I think that helped me out.  Which leads to #3.  I was fine the night he had his last bottle.  It had gotten to be a fight for him and he didn't even really seem to want more than a sip or two of it anyway. 

 

 

But the next morning when I cleaned off the bottle rack and pulled out all the bottle brushes, I nearly lost it.  My baby is not a baby anymore!!!  He is waving and clapping and standing and saying "bye-bye" and "ma-ma."  He's pushing cars and trucks, saying "raaaar", tormenting the dog, splashing in the toilet, and loving playing "chase" with his big brother.  He is such a sweet, happy one year old and I cannot wait to see what the next year has in store for him.  Happy Birthday Andrew!

I'm Back!!!

Thanks to Jeri Anne and my mother-in-law, I am back to blogging.  Thanks for the gentle nudge, girls.  Something crazy happened and it wouldn't let me upload any pictures.  So I gave up on the blog for a bit.  Every time I thought about coming back, the idea of playing catch-up seemed overwhelming so I'd give up again.  But now I'm back and I'm just going to start fresh.  Christmas happened and it was wonderful and there are tons and tons of pictures and lots of "Andrew's first Christmas" type things.  We were home, for the most part, for Christmas and it was soooooo nice!  I even hosted three Christmas dinners myself (we celebrate with a lot of folks around here).  I'm such a grown up.  Ok, shoot.  My 'momma guilt' won't just let me start fresh so here's just a few pictures from Christmas...

Christmas eve

 

My boys Christmas morning!

 

This look sums up Banks' Christmas.  He is at such a fun age and is so sweet and excited about EVERYTHING he gets. 

 

And this is what excited Andrew:

 

And since Christmas, we've just been doing regular ole stuff.  See, ya'll didn't miss much.

 

Using his tools to construct his car.

 

Looking like a homeless person playing in the snow!

 

Racing around the house:

Playing with trucks in his PJ's...

...and getting geared up for this little misters FIRST birthday.  Tear.

First birthday post coming up next!!!

Tis the season!

We have been soaking up every little bit of the Christmas season this year.  It is so fun with Banks being so into it!  He has only asked me 1,375,499 times when Santa is coming.

He was definitely a fan of the big guy this year.  Andrew, not so much.  Banks is asking for a Dodge Charger (matchbox car), a movie and boots.  We have seen Santa three times this year and he's asked for the same thing all three times UNTIL we saw the Santa yesterday and Banks pulled a fast one on us by asking for some different things.  Didn't realize how dangerous it was taking a kid to see Santa SO close to Christmas.  Hopefully he'll be happy with what he gets!

  We went to a cookie decorating party.  Please note the MOUND of sprinkles on his cookie.  Sheesh.

He had a ball decorating (mostly eating) his gingerbread house.

And perhaps my most favorite thing this season:  Banks' school Christmas program.  Just the cutest cow ever!

 

I have terrible writers block.  I'm sorry I've been so awful about updating the blog lately.  I'd like to say it's on my list of resolutions but it's not even on the bottom of the list.  Life is getting busy and I'm trying to keep up and blogging is taking a major backseat!!!  Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

I'm back!

Well, sure didn't mean to take a blogging break but I guess that's what happened.  We have been super busy soaking up every last minute of having Matt at home.  His most recent job finished up about three weeks ago and we've been loving having him home with us. 

 

 

 

We spent one week at the beach with our friends the Jones'.  We have never been to the beach in November and while we had a few chili days, we had an absolute blast.  It was so nice and relaxing (well, as relaxing as it can be with four kiddos); no pressure to hurry up and get to the beach.  We ate when we wanted, and ate a lot I might add.  Watched football, shopped and I RODE A BIKE for the second time in my adult life.  And, I didn't crash the thing.  No pictures to prove it, though.

 

It's bright out there for a baby...

 

Perhaps my most favorite picture of all times.  Nothing but love here but it sure looks like Maggie is about to get knifed!  There may be a smidge of fear in her eyes...

 

 

We spent one week gearing up for Thanksgiving.  Since we had just travelled to the beach, we didn't feel like loading up again to go to Jackson for Thanksgiving with my parents.  So, they came here instead!  We had a low key, great meal and thanks to Taylor Grocery, I didn't even have to worry over botching the turkey!  We did go over to Batesville for a quick trip and Banks had an absolute blast playing with his cousins!

Last week, we spent most of our time marking things off the to-do list.  Mainly, we got most of our Christmas shopping done.  And it's just December 2nd!!!  Love being ahead of the game this year.

 

Giving his seal of approval on the tree...

"These people are crazy.  Did ya'll know there is a real tree in our den?  And they don't expect me to touch it???  HA!"

So, Matt started his new job today.  It's the first time he's worked outside the home in four years.  It'll be the first time, since being a stay at home mom, that I'll be here all day with the kids by myself.  Crazy, right???  I am so, so very excited for him.  I know he'll love being away from us for a bit and getting more connected with some people in town.  Plus, it'll give us something to talk about when he comes home since we won't already know every minute detail of each others lives!  I am so proud of him and constantly reminded of God's timing and goodness in finding this job for Matt.  Yay Daddy!!!

All about Banks

An ode to my oldest little man...with a few random pictures interspersed.

 

Man oh man does this child give us a run for our money.  He is an energetic, fun-loving, non-stop little boy who loves to wrestle, pretend that monsters are around every corner and "fix it right" with his tool bench. 

He is fearless.  Halloween is proving to be his holiday.  The scarier the better.  Bugs...loves 'em.  Want to ride a camel at the zoo?  Of course he does.  Go down a two-story slide?  Absolutely.  And he'll do it on his stomach head first.  It's a miracle we've only been to the ER once for stitches *knocks on wood*.  It's so fun watching him soak up every minute of the things we do.  It is NEVER enough, though.  We could stay at the bounce house place for 12 hours and he'd still cry when we had to leave.  It's his Achilles heel.

He is very imaginative.  Always pretending there are ghosts, bears, wolves and other scary things after him.  I about died one day a few weeks ago when we had a girl friend over to play.  She came tearing into the house in hysterics that the Big Bad Wolf was after her.  She may never come back.  He is forever wanting to hear a story.  I'm telling you, my creative juices are running thin.  For a while there, his favorite story was some ridiculous one I made up about a roach eating birthday cake.  I'm sure he shared it with his teachers and they are certain our house needs to be condemned.

He is non-stop.  The only thing that slows him down is food and TV.  And those two aren't as reliable as they used to be.  He would play from sun up to sun down without ever stopping.  He wants to chase, hide, build forts, do art projects, go for a bike ride and that's all usually before 9:00.  It.  Is.  Exhausting.  Also exhausting is the fact that he rarely wants to play alone.  So all this chasing and hiding usually includes me. 

He is doing a little better with Andrew.  Not quite as rough and tumble but I still find him purposefully stomping on Andrew's fingers, taking away whatever toy Andrew has/is crawling for, or pushing him down when he's crawling.  There are moments when he's sweet...I overheard him telling Andrew yesterday that he couldn't play with something because it "had sharp edges."  Never mind that something was a ball with which Banks just wanted to play.

 He is both a great and terrible listener all at the same time.  I bet I've said 100 times not to take something from Andrew and he acts like it's the first time he's heard it every time.  But he can recite every word to almost every book he's ever read and remembers conversations that we've had verbatim.  He still loves to read book and will sit for a while to listen to books.  We're regulars at the Library!

All about Andrew

Andrew is 8 months old!  What???  Where has the time gone???  He is crawling machine, an eating machine and is now pulling up on things!  He is a chunky monkey, that is for sure.  And he's tough.  Has to be for all the rough-housing that Banks puts him through.  He is still a very happy and low maintenance baby although he does have his likes and dislikes.  He does not like for me to leave the room, nor does he like his exersaucer.  He does like Buford's water bowl, the bathroom garbage can (eww), and cheerios.  Well, any starch for that matter.  Big fan of the puffs and crackers as well.  Also fond of throwing his paci in between the crib and the wall.

 

Happy babe with his two little chompers

Serious face.  Andrew's first trip to the zoo!

 

First trip to the Grove!

On the move and in the Grove

Andrew is on the move.  It only took a few days after he mastered the crawl to be everywhere and into everything!  I'm moving breakables and putting in outlet covers pronto.

 

Playing with the Tupperware is SO much fun!  Banks loved having a new excuse to make a mess!!

 He's already trying to pull up some.  Oh boy...

 

Last weekend we took Banks to the Grove.  It was nice for about an hour before the rain came.  Mark my words...never again will I take a kid to the Grove in the rain.  Never.

 

Some of the boys in our tent...

 LOTS of wrestling between these two!