Easter and playing catch-up

Wow, the past month has been way too busy! So we got home from Minnesota the week of Easter and since I had stomach flu (see previous post) I was really in no mood for celebration/ barely aware of the holiday/ had been on a liquid diet for 4 days so just toast made my stomach hurt I was so full..... SOOOOOO Easter was pretty 'whatever' here. We got up, went to church, had an Easter PILE in the afternoon since mama was too sick to search the closet for his basket, and had family time. Really dropped the ball.

The next morning, however, we all packed up and hit the after-holiday deals at Target. I give myself $50 each holiday to stock up on half price goodies and it's working quite nicely. We realized early this year that little man still has no idea what a holiday is so this year until Thanksgiving we will just kinda half-ass it and gear up for big, fun holidays beginning next year.

This past weekend we did a lot of the norm, grocery shopping, hanging out, etc. but we also shopped for flip flops at Old Navy-- $2 per pair! Though I got too small of a size so I need to exchange a pair.... but drove my mom to and from the car fixer and ran a few other errands.

We also made it to the zoo and spent two days at the pool where Andrew had a blast running all over with daddy trailing him and then throwing himself head-first into the pool (where I was swimming along with them to catch him). We had a blast!

Today I felt so accomplished. We found a missing bag of Andrew's things from the trip, cleaned out his drawers and pulled out the next size up clothes, started my chili at 10am, pre-made a bunch of waffles to take out and toast for quick breakfasts, and we even got to go play! We went to PetCo to see some animals and Andrew ended up loving the cats and -- get this -- no allergic reaction, yay! He stuck his finger in a kitten's mouth and poked an adult cat in the eye but they were very calm and good. We are thinking we may have to invest in a cat one of these days ;)

Also, we went to the park purely to let Andrew run around in the grass but on our way to the slide we met a nice family, his mother and their son who is only weeks older than Andrew! We ended up staying for a while talking with them and letting the boys play and it was wonderful. As we left they told us they are at that park pretty much every day and the first thought in my mind was "we have to come here every day." LOL being a parent is so strange. I am a total loner but I want Andrew to interact with kids his age so the though of this kid and little man getting along got me soooo excited, haha! We'll see, maybe we'll see them again and maybe we won't. It's so freaking hard though to meet other parents. The ones at music class were super cliquey and I haven't gone to stroller strides more than the one playdate so no idea if anything will come of that. We're hoping to go to a few more events of theirs in the next few months here though.

Date Night! Home state team TWINS vs. Rays :)

It's been wonderful having our routine back! Little man is so much happier and I am so much more relaxed. And I am finally feeling like I'm getting out of my funk!! 

Last but not least, here's our dinner menu for the week! TTFN! <3

Monday: Roasted Garlic Mushroom Lentil Soup and Salads

Tuesday: Crockpot White Chicken Chili

Wednesday: Creamed Peas on Toast

Thursday: BBQ Chicken legs (got these pre-made from Whole Foods!) and salad

Friday: Breakfast-for-Dinner

Saturday: Dinner Out

Sunday: Homemade Fettuccini Alfredo

Andrew at 9 months

**I wrote this last week but due to things I will discuss in the next blog post (writing it now) it's posting got delayed until now...

"Listen up, Mom, and you'll start to hear emerging baby speech patterns -- and get ready to be very impressed as your genius-in-training is soon able to follow a simple command (e.g., Give Mommy the cup).  He's also become quite the mimic, mirroring your facial expressions and echoing your sounds. Your little smarty-pants may now be able to roll a ball back to you and drink independently from a cup. Now's a good time to reassess your feeding routines to ensure you're establishing healthy eating habits, such as minimizing sweets and salt and maximizing veggies, fruits, and whole grains. Don't be surprised if your formerly easy eater becomes a choosy customer; remember, there are plenty of tactics to tempt picky eaters, so stay patient and keep trying. Another potential pitfall at the nine-month mark is a change in baby sleeping patterns, as some babies are ready to ditch at least one of their daily naps while others decide they're ready for playtime instead of bedtime at night. Stranger anxiety may emerge, as well as a firm attachment to a (desperately-needs-to-be laundered) transitional object. As for you, this could be a perfect time to join (or start) a playgroup. Your little one is quite the social animal now and you could probably use an empathetic ear (attached to a mom who knows exactly what you're going through)."
-whattoexpect.com

"I'm NINE months old?!?"

"AWESOME!"

...Well, he is doing a lot of the mimicking and understanding things! He hasn't had sugar yet so no sweets to monitor. We are really trying to wait at least until 2 years to introduce sugary things. So far his only real food aversion is chicken but I think it may be a bit dry so he can't swallow it as well. If you mix it into his potatoes he is fine.
No change in sleeping patterns, he is already over his stranger anxiety (it ended days before our trip home in August). No object attachment, still loves his naps...........

He is doing quite well learning to share - if you ask for something he will give it to you pretty quickly and though he does looks concerned for a few moments he soon gets bored waiting and finds something else to do. He definitely does get a big smile when he gets it back though haha!
He is getting to be a fussy man when you aren't feeding him anymore but I think that's the biggest thing we need to work on right now.

Andrew had his follow-up from his circumcision this week... he is healing great and our pediatrician says it looks perfect so nothing to worry about there! Also the pediatrician says our little man is doing great ALTHOUGH he has now dropped below the 25th percentile for weight and MAY have lost 4 ounces in the last 3 months (records showing he was 19.6 at 6 months.... in September he was 19, and at this appointment he was around 19.2) so we have been instructed to "fatten him up" haha! We now have to put butter into his chicken and formula into his morning oatmeal to give him some more calories. We have another check-up next month to see how that is working.
Unbeknownst to us, he already cut his two bottom teeth!!!! We thought MAYBE he was teething because he was slightly more fussy than usual (but his sleep schedule was a bit off as well) but nope I guess he was gettin' some chompers in! What a trooper. Looks like his top two teeth are about to pop out as well.

Jesse's mother came to stay for a few days before a conference down south here and we had lots of fun! Saturday evening she arrived, Sunday we had some additional relatives over for a visit and lunch, Monday we had an appointment and went out for wine tasting and trying out a new restaurant, Tuesday was an appointment and signing up for some music classes and Arabian Nights- kind of like Medieval Times but maybe a little cheesier. It was a lot of fun though, Andrew seemed to enjoy it too!

• Andrew is eating more just steamed vegetables than always pureed foods. 
• He is getting good at chewing/ biting off pieces of food
• He is drinking with a straw
• He has drunk out of a water bottle and glass
• He is ALMOST crawling, still doing the army crawl full force though
• Has officially outgrown the walker. He now puts his feet against the side and leans way over so he almost falls out :(
• Has tried yogurt, bread, pork, mango, kiwi, puffs and cheese now.
• Staying awake closer to 2 1/2 hours at a time and napping is getting the same way.
• Is not feeding himself yet unless it is a teething biscuit or his milk but will grab your hand and pull it to his mouth to be fed.

P.S. did you know the age for forward-facing infants has raised to 2 years!?!? We just learned this!

In other news, We are doing some shopping this weekend - household items and food tomorrow and then clothing on Saturday (big huge sale days at Macy's and Old Navy!!) and then we are going to go check out a pumpkin patch/ family fall fest! Sunday we will finally be returning to Church and may be having friends over. 

"helping" with the laundry ;)

Always on his tippy toes

Have a great weekend!!

TTFN! <3