And baby makes... four

Alexander Nicholas was born very late Tuesday November 1 after a very long labor process.  The short version is that we went to the hospital at 2am Monday morning at an appropriate stage, especially considering that the doctors wanted to get two doses of antibiotics, 4 hours apart, before the delivery (long story).  Things progressed well towards that direction until about 6am when they came to a screeching halt... and then reversed a bit.  The kid started swimming laps (at 41 weeks!!) and got out of the perfect headstand he had been doing for the previous month.  We got kiddo flipped around and then had a couple interventions to help things along while he was still in that position.  Mom still had to do all the normal contracting and pushing and such, and she was absolutely amazing, and in the end we got a perfect little person.  It took nearly two full days, but we got him out eventually, which is all that matters in the end.
    Alexander is doing quite well (retaining weight, no jaundice, etc.) and literally gets more beautiful every day.  He started with a full head of dark hair like his mother, but there are already signs of it getting lighter (not surprising if you know my side of the family).  He has been observing every little thing since he first opened his eyes, and I swear he's already trying to figure out how to make a social smile.  On the downside, he fights sleep more than anyone I've ever encountered.  His brother is a master of fighting sleep, but I think Alexander could surpass him quickly.
    Mom is doing less well.  No major medical problems to worry about, but her legs haven't recovered from the stress as well as they did the first time, so she's having more trouble getting around.  But every day is better than the last, so I'm sure she will be almost back to full capacity, in terms of leg strength at least, by the time I go back to work.

First Haircut

After nearly 3 years, Andrew finally got his first haircut.  He was a little anxious about sitting in the chair and all, but once he got situated with lollypop in mouth and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the TV, the hairdresser could have done anything and he wouldn't have minded.  He definitely has his father's hair in terms of the back sticking up when it gets too short, so she put in some "product" to keep it down.  She also asked whether he wanted any color, and his response was predictable to anyone who has ever discussed colors with him in the past 6 months: blue.  He LOVES blue.  Coincidentally, his sucker was blue, so his tongue matched his hair.  He was a trooper, and he looks a lot cleaner cut, but I gotta admit I kinda miss my shaggy little boy.
   When we got home, we made some "ghost brownies" (it was a kit from Target, 70% off after Halloween), and Andrew was an excellent helper.  He measured spoonfuls of water, stirred very gently, and didn't get mad at Daddy for forgetting to grease the pan before pouring in the mix (Daddy remembered midway through and poured it all back into the bowl, greased the pan, and poured it again).  He also got himself and Mommy a brownie, without Daddy's knowledge, before we had a chance to add the marshmallow ghosts and frosting.  But it all worked out in the end, and we had a fun afternoon.  He is an amazing helper, and very good at sharing.  There are times that Daddy could learn some patience from his son.  Not a lot, but some for sure.

Still here

Sorry about the lack of updates, all you faithful fans of Andrew. It's been 2 months since our last post, and most of the summer has passed us by. We've traveled to Nana's house to see cousins (and Granddad run fast), had a week-long fever, and learned that "parents" means Mommy and Daddy. We've also felt the baby in Mommy's belly move a LOT, which makes me want to get back into the habit of blogging so we can keep everyone up to date as things progress in the coming months.

Andrew is super-excited about being a big boy, now that he has a big boy room and wears big boy underwear, so he is adamant that he is no longer a baby. He is, therefore, very willing to let someone else take that role. I think part of him wonders what will happen when the baby is outside of Mommy instead of inside, but most of his interactions suggest he will be a good big brother. When we ask him what we should call the baby, he invariably tells us "Andrew". It is a good name for a baby, but I think we'll go with something different this time.

Big Brother

While most people who read this are already aware, I thought I would make it "internet official" by posting it on the blog. Perhaps we need to change the name to the Bean and Monkey Blog now. Andrew is looking forward to being a brother, at least as far as we can tell. Then again he hasn't actually met the baby yet, so we'll see how long that lasts.

Welcome to winter!

Last weekend we made it through being very snowed in all day Saturday. When we did venture outside to shovel (yes shovel---a snowblower is now very high on our wish list!) Andrew was up to his waist in snow on our driveway. He didn't like anything about it, and decided to stand in the garage and watch Mommy and Daddy shovel. Some of our excellent new neighbors came over with a snowblower and two girls with shovels to help us. We were able to share some of the 10 dozen cookies we had just made with them to thank them.

Andrew's 2nd birthday went very well. We had a party with his two best friends (and one older brother and associated parents) at our house. Andrew danced with joy when his friends arrived. It was so much fun to see them all playing together.

Andrew can now identify Santa, reindeer and Frosty and we frequently hear about them if they are spotted anywhere--in a book, on television, card, catalog, billboard... Christmas is coming!

Fall catch up

Ok, time to play catch up since our last post :) Andrew again "ran" in a TC Marathon weekend family event. This year was the Toddler Trot and

you can see Mommy and Andrew in the middle (mommy in grey sweatshirt) making it through the course.

Andrew was a great Tigger for Halloween. We had a great time at Zoo Boo as Andrew walked the whole zoo gathering treats in his "punk" (his first use of the classic pumpkin pail). We were happy we went to Zoo Boo as the actually Halloween we were all recovering from the flu and didn't go too far!

Then Mommy had a conference in Orlando so everyone came so we could see Sea World. It was excellent as Mommy has been to EVERY Sea World and was thrilled to share this experience with her boys.

New House

Well, it's been a long time since our last post due almost entirely to the time-consuming nature of packing, moving, and unpacking all our stuff with a toddler running around. We have a new home that is bigger, younger than us, and has a couple more bedrooms and bathrooms, but it has a lot of stairs, which Andrew is very slowly getting used to. In the relative calm of the past few weeks, we went to the apple orchard twice, once with Grandma and Granddad and once with our friends the Moons, and Mommy hosted a party!! That last part was actually pretty exciting.

Our house-warming gift to Andrew has been two train sets: one Thomas, one Ikea. They are supposed to be compatible. They are not. So now he has blue (Thomas) choo choo in the family room and the other choo choos (Ikea) in his playroom in the basement. Yes, there is a dedicated room to Andrew's toys, to which we can close the door and never mention to guests.

Otherwise, we are all doing well. Thank you to all who read this and continue to care about Andrew and watch as he grows.

Andrew's Summer

This summer has been busy with activity, which creates few opportunities to post to the blog, but we wanted to update all Andrew's fans about what's been going on. Our biggest change from previous times is the amount of time spent "ah-sy". Andrew loves his Lil Tikes car and will spend hours (if allowed) getting in, getting out, getting in, moving forward a couple steps, getting out, getting in, getting stuck, screaming, figuring out he can get unstuck, getting out, getting in, etc. He is definitely building expertise and confidence with that car. The downside is that he now thinks he can drive our cars as well.
Andrew has also had a couple opportunities to go swimming in his little wading pool. Daddy has even joined him a couple times to encourage him to put his face underwater, to varying degrees of success. He had a pool party with his friend Russell as well, though Rusty seemed more interested in drinking the water than playing in it (it was hot that day, he was thirsty). We have also made it to Teddy Bear Park in Stillwater twice already. It's the perfect size for toddlers, though there are big kids running around too. Mommy will have to post those pictures.

Bean Dance

We finally got around to transferring photos off the camera, and we found this gem we had to upload. It's from our time in Florida (see a couple posts ago). Enjoy!

Quick Update

It's been too long, and we really need to get some pictures and videos up, but I thought I would take a couple minutes to post something for Andrew's adoring fans. All the standard stuff, like walking, teeth, etc., are all old news, so we're into the magical age of true cognitive development. He talks nonstop, though we can't imagine how he would have inherited that (ahem). He knows all the standard facial features and enjoys pointing them out on others, including removing glasses to get to those pokable orbs beneath. He is also starting to put things together and figure out relationships. For example, he was pointing at a picture in his Disney sticker book, and Mommy identified "Mickey Mouse". He looked at her puzzled for a second before pointing to his mouth and saying, "Mouf". Mommy explained, "Not mouth, mouse". He's smart like that.

As expected for a 17-month-old, he wants to do everything on his own, except when he prefers us to do things for him, though sometimes he's not sure which. We're also starting to enter the "movie" phase. He constantly wants to watch "Moo-moos", so we've seen Shrek, The Incredibles, and every Veggie-tale movie we own in the past 2 weeks. However, he gets upset when we walk away (which we do infrequently), so he really does see movies as a social opportunity.

And without further ado, a REALLY old video of him walking around (December, 2009). Once we find the cables for the camera and camcorder, we will post more.

More characters

We had such a great time at Disney World and met lots of characters. It took a while for Andrew to become comfortable with giant fuzzy creatures walking around. Here when we met Tigger and Pooh Bear he was still not so sure about these creatures, but we got a nice family photo anyway.

We have had a busy winter! Shortly after our Disney trip, we had a great visit with Grandma and Granddad and Great Uncle Dave. We went to the Science Museum and it just happened to be preschooler Monday! Andrew sat very well (on a carpet square!) and watched a presentation about bears. He loves listening to stories and pays attention so well. We also played with his baseball set with Granddad and Uncle Dave. I think Andrew learned the word for "baseball."

At home he loves his books and will pick out a book to read, bring it over to you then turn around and sit on your lap ready to go. Sometimes he realizes a few pages into the book that that is NOT the one he wanted, so he will close the book, slip off your lap and go get a different book.

The Davenports visit Mickey

Click below for our e-card.

Visit to Santa

Today (yes up to date news!) we visited Santa at a local mall. Daddy and Andrew met Uncle Pete and Mommy there. It was a long line for the middle of a workday but Andrew was a trooper and we had 3 adults jumping up and down to try to get him to smile. Though he wasn't too sure about Santa, there was no crying, just a little serious look at first, followed by some confusion, but once Santa had a book for them to look at together, Andrew was feeling okay about the situation. We of course bought photos and the rights and USB stick. Here's a sweet photo of Andrew reading with Santa.

We have a real white pine Christmas tree that Andrew helped us pick out at the university's forestry program tree lot (supports the students!). He helped pick out safe ornaments to put up and takes some off to carry them around the house.

Andrew is also nearly exclusively walking now that he is an official toddler. Both Nick and I had moments of "whoa" when Andrew first took our hand and walked next to us. He's a little boy now!

If we don't post again before Christmas---Merry Christmas to all!!

Walking when convenient

So honestly not much has gone on since the last post, or at least is seems so. Andrew is getting a little more confident about walking, but he's still very aware of how much faster crawling can be, so he never takes more than a couple steps at a time. He loves throwing his ball and then crawling after it, which we think he learned from the puppy. He also smiles nearly all the time, though he's had a couple periods of crankiness that we think are precursors of impending teeth.
For Halloween, Andrew was going to go as Daddy's Little Sidekick (a set of superhero pajamas), but at the last minute we got some adorable pumpkin-but PJs from Lynn's aunt, and we realized that he could be a superhero all winter but the PJs with pumpkins, bats, and black cats were more time-sensitive. We didn't go trick-or-treating because, frankly, we didn't think he would eat candy. Turns out we were wrong: Mommy opened up a Laffy Taffy, and Andrew reached up, grabbed it from her, and shoved it in his mouth ravenously. Good thing he's so good at brushing his teeth!!

Standing, clapping, laughing and even a step

Andrew has been a very busy boy lately. He is getting very good at standing up on his own and applauds himself. The first time he did it he looked at us like "are you getting this, yep I stand" then sat back down. We also had a great time with grandma and grandad in town the other weekend. Grandad ran a marathon (getting a new "PR"--personal record of 3:37!) so Andrew "ran" his own race that weekend--the Diaper Dash. As one of my co-workers commented when I was describing the race to them it's like a turtle race--put all the racers in the center of a circle and the first to the outer circle is the winner. Andrew from what we could determine was the first baby to crawl to the outer circle (a few bigger kids gave up on crawling and stood up and walked/ran, which disqualifies them in my book).

On Sunday, October 11, Andrew went for some fancy pictures and did very well. See this one of Andrew showing off his crawling moves. He also stood and clapped and played with his new red ball. It was fun. We are getting excited that we are less than 2 months from his first birthday.

Ok, so for everyone following, we hope you are well and sorry it has taken so long to get a posting!

Brothers

Looking through old photos and found these. I think they really are brothers.

He's Crawling

Well, he has been for a while, but I've been pretty bad about updating this thing. In fact, we've had a lot of fun all summer with no updates. Briefly, we went to Chautauqua at the end of June and saw Sesame Street Live, Andrew is up to 6 teeth, he's unstoppable with his mobility, and Aunt Emily came to visit for the summer. Comment if you want longer entries on any of those points, but otherwise I think I'll just endeavor to be better in the future rather than going back and trying to recapitulate past events.

Andy's Wedding

This past weekend, Andrew and his parents went the wedding of Nick's cousin Andy, who is the reason we always refer to Andrew by his full name. Even more important than the wedding, at least from Andrew's standpoint, was the opportunity for a string of firsts. It was his first time on an airplane, first time meeting his same-age (+/- 2 months) cousins, first time being passed around from stranger to stranger (all family, of course), and his first time in a swimming pool!

On the plane ride to North Carolina, Andrew was perfectly behaved the entire first couple hours and only became fussy for a couple minutes during the pressure change on the way down. The ride home was a little bit more eventful, but nothing compared to the 2-year-old a couple rows behind us. Other passengers complimented him on his behavior!

Sicky Baby

It's been a while since the last post, and yet much of the news on Andrew since then has been his being sick. He has been super-stuffy off and on for a couple weeks now, and he even got the eye crusting for a little while. For those unfamiliar with the phenomenon, apparently babies can get so stuffed up that the mucous starts coming out through their eyes and then crusts over. Aren't you glad you read this? Anyway, we were keeping that under control with an aspirator and saline drops, and all was well. That is until two days ago when we got a call (actually several calls and an email) telling us that Andrew had a temperature of 102.9! We picked him up immediately and have kept him at home yesterday and today. The diagnosis? Baby's first ear infection. Yeah!! He's actually handled it really well. He is a little more fussy and a little less happy than usual, but not by much. He's still an adorable, happy, smiley, mostly bald little boy.

In non-medical news, it seems that Andrew is growing by leaps and bounds. Since the last post, he has gained nearly two pounds! What used to be our skinny lanky little boy is now a chunky monkey. He has even grown out of clothes, a feat I never imagined was possible. I guess I just assumed he would be that tiny forever. He is also showing the very beginning signs of sitting and crawling. He can tripod-sit (or "gorilla sit" as Lynn calls it) for a few seconds at a time, before accelerating forward into a face plant (we try to catch him as often as possible). We're also giving him lots of tummy time, during which he has figured out how to push with him arms OR his legs, but he hasn't quite figured out how to do both at the same time. He does manage to pivot on his tummy a bit to get his toys. He likes toys. That's my boy!

Summary Statement

I was just looking over the blog all the way from the beginning. Hopefully the site won't shut down anytime soon so we can keep going back and seeing how much has happened in such a short amount of time (what have YOU done in the last 4 months?). I have come to two conclusions:

1. Andrew just gets cuter with time. If this trend continues, I don't know what we're going to do. We may never be able to put him down again.

2. I am grateful for such a wonderful wife with whom to share this adventure and for such caring friends and family who actually stop by every once in a while to check up on how Andrew is doing. He is lucky to have a small village already looking out for him.