Halloween is so close!!!!!!!

I can practically taste it! Well not really 'cuz that would be odd but wow! Has time gone fast or what?!?

I feel like I never really got a chance to gear up for this holiday... we had a lot going on at the beginning of the month, then visitors, then we all got sick and BOOM already my favorite Holiday is next week!!! I mean, we literally just put up our limited Halloween decorations this past Tuesday! WHAT?!? Totally unheard of in our household.

We JUST bought candy on Thursday. Last year we bought WAAAAYYYYYY too much so we separated it all into little baggies to take to the movies. With Andrew around we don't really go to many movies but anyhoo, hopefully we don't have so much leftover this time.

Oh my gosh, we don't even have costumes!!! Well, Jesse works that night so I suppose it's not the end of the world, but I will have to figure something out for handing out candy to the probably 3 kids that come around, haha!

Andrew will be army crawling around in his monkey costume and I cannot wait to see that hehehe :)

Oooooo also, THIS!! :-D I'm such a dorky anglophile lol

The weather down south here has been just wonderful lately! I love the heat and sunshine, don't get me wrong, but it was 71 degrees yesterday. 71. That is like a warm autumn day in MN so it was pure heaven for me! 

In the evenings after dark our patio balcony gets very cool so I can't wait to go out one of these nights wrapped in an oversize sweater, make a baby fire in the grill and have a beer or four. Stereotypical? Yes. But I don't care lol.

Today we did our weekly grocery run. We didn't get everything we originally were going to but got everything we need for the week ahead! We discover new things every time we go to our Whole Foods store, it rocks!

The munchkin is roaming all over the place so the baby proofing is in full swing! He really isn't bad, the three hardest things thus far are:

1. He pushes the movies in on the movie stand - easy enough fix we just need to put something behind them. **Which I have now done and it works great lol! :)
2. He likes scooting over to the lamp and rocking it or pulling on the base. I suppose we'll need to anchor it to the wall somehow. Hmmmm
3. The power strip under the desk is an endless source of curiosity. We today finally zip tied more cords back/ it to the desk, covered ALL the outlets and put painters tape over the red light because that is mostly what attracts him. Hopefully that helps!

Oh good Lord, I can't believe how freakishly fast time is going! It seems like literally yesterday Andrew turned 9 months and gosh in.... what... just over 2 weeks he is going to be 10 months old??? Yeesh that kid is growing up way too fast.  Before we know it we're going to be celebrating his 1st birthday! :-S 

Well, that's all for now. TTFN! <3

Our weekend and sick days....

Well. I have been MIA for a while because we have had a very busy week and we have all caught colds.

Yup, I've known this day was coming and I have been dreading it. I thought we might be okay but then the sniffles started.

Let's go back to the beginning....

Tuesday morning was Andrew's 9 month check-up. The doc wanted to give him a flu shot but neither Jesse nor I have ever thought they were a good idea and we ourselves never want to get one so we opted out.

Later that night, I was reading Parents Magazine and they had an article about the flu vaccine for children, and it actually put a lot of my fears at ease. Jesse's too. Here is what the article said.

So on Wednesday or Thursday of last week, we called the pediatrician to get a shot scheduled for the little man for Monday the 21st.

Friday is always our shopping day so we hit up Target, Old Navy, Babies R Us and Whole Foods to pick up things for the coming week. In retrospect, I usually wipe down the cart and sanitize our hands after getting in the car and this would be the one time I didn't. By Friday evening, Andrew had a runny nose.

Friday evening we went to our Church's Oktoberfest fundraiser. 

Bratwurst and sauerkraut 

Polka band

It was fun, but not sure we would ever go again. It was expensive and really dark and we don't really know anyone still after almost a year of attending the Church. We're all kind of sort of keep to ourselves haha...

Saturday morning we went to Wiregrass mall for a Breast Cancer walk...

...and it was SO much fun! Our friends told us about it so we showed up and registered. We walked behind the mall and around the hospital Andrew was born in and back. There were awesome costumes, neat booths AND the bimonthly farmers market was up by the time we got back, so we had a lot of fun seeing everything and will definitely be back to that again!

Click here to learn more about the PINK ARMY.

And here to learn about the awesome Florida Hospital group!!

Later that day we went to Westchase mall and attempted to go to a pumpkin patch but were running too late. Plus Andrew's nose was reeeeally runny.

Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch finally, yay! It looked like a lot of fun and if it hadn't been 483657 degrees out, I'm sure we would have enjoyed it a LOT more. BUT we saw some animals, Andrew got to experience new things, and we got a couple pumpkins/ found a neat horse riding place. So whatevs, worth it.

All tuckered out!

That evening we met up with some friends for lots and lots of sushi and then headed back to our place for some board games and drinks.

By the time we put Andrew down for the night, he was coughing and we had the sniffles.

Monday morning we called to cancel the flu shot since little man was sick and they made time to get him checked out that afternoon! We went in but the doc said he just seems to have a head cold. IF a fever shows up we are to report back immediately. OH and he gained a pound. We can officially stop trying to fatten him up now lol!

We (Jesse and I) were MISERABLE Monday. SO sick. We spent a lot of time in bed watching movies with Andrew and procrastinating.

Cuddled up between mommy and daddy

Today has been sooooo much better. We are feeling better, Andrew is gaining more energy and was giggling up a storm today and we got a lot of stuff done! Yay!

In the big bed!!

We are hopeful that by tomorrow we will be almost back to normal.

Well, off to do a gazillion dishes, make some baby carrots and put away the yummy soup I made tonight - courtesy of this awesome lady. You can see her recipes here.

TTFN! <3

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