More teeth

Seems like all we're doing these days is discovering new teeth! Andrew's FINALLY cut two more teeth on the top. I can't really tell which teeth they are; he's not a huge fan of me poking around in his mouth. Once I figure out which teeth have come in, I'll post an update.

6 year molars

Tonight, while brushing Austin's teeth, we discovered that his 6 year molars are coming in on the top. I was concerned because it looked pretty swollen in the back so I started feeling around back there. And there they were! I, of course, got teary eyed thinking about Austin growing up. All of his other teeth were right on time or a little early coming in so I shouldn't have been surprised. I was just surprised that he hadn't said anything about his teeth hurting or even told us that he had a new tooth.

Austin got a little upset over the whole thing. I explained to him that it's all part of growing up and then he was anxious to go downstairs to tell Gene about his new teeth! I'll really have a come apart once he starts losing his teeth!

More words

More words Andrew is saying...poo poo, bath, be be (for his blanket, a name created by Austin), bubbles, cheese.

On another note, Andrew pooped in the potty tonight. He was tooting in the tub, so I snatched him out of the tub and put him on the potty. He actually pooped in the potty and said bye to the poop.

Baron's game

This summer Austin's preschool has been having summer camp. Each week they talk about different topics and do different activities and crafts related to the week's topic. This week's topic was sports.

Since the Baron's had a home game this week, the teachers had the idea to get a block of tickets and the class go to the game. We all had a blast! Austin was barely interested in the game. He was more into running up and down the steps and sitting with one of his teachers than playing with his friends or sitting with us. He did stop briefly to have a hot dog, fries, a bag of chips, chocolate ice cream, and another hot dog. I think he ate that much because it was someplace different. Yeah, it was a lot of junk. But isn't that what you're supposed to do at a ball game, eat junk?

Two favorite things

The telephone...

And dancing...

Artichokes

I'm a huge fan of artichokes. I just love them. Gene, on the other hand, isn't too fond of them. He thinks they are a waste of time. You do all this work and don't get much "meat." He feels the same way about crawfish, but that's another story.

Anyway, Publix had artichokes on special so I picked up a couple. Austin was fascinated by how I was eating it. He decided that he should give it a try. It's so rare that he tries anything new and especially that looks so different. But he really liked it! I think I've finally got another artichoke lover in the house!

Dinner drama

Lately, we've been having dinner issues with Austin. I know every kid goes through this but I would love one meal where I didn't have to try to convince him to eat his dinner.

Tonight was no exception. I fixed roast, carrots, peas, rice, and cantaloupe (for the kids). Both ate their fruit first and then moved onto something else. Andrew ate most of his dinner without much prodding. Austin, on the other hand, painfully sat there, staring at his plate, probably wishing that it would just disappear.

After we'd all finished (and Austin was still sitting there), I separated a little bit of the dinner from the rest for him to eat. After I caught him moving some of the "eat pile" back to the "not eat pile," I scraped the stuff he had to eat onto a smaller plate. He sat there, tearing his napkin to shreds, talking to his food, just looking at it. After a hour at the dinner table, he finally finished. I explained to him that the sooner he finished dinner the sooner he'd be able to do what he wanted to do (watch TV, play, etc.).

I'm sure I was this way as a kid. In fact, I vividly remember a dinner at my Granny and Papaw's house. She fixed gumbo and I proceeded to fix myself a huge bowl of it, mostly because there was shrimp in it. I, of course, picked everything out except for the boiled okra. Granny made me sit there for a long time (can't remember exactly how long) and then I think I had the bowl of boiled okra for breakfast the next day.

Knowing that every kid is this way doesn't make meal times any easier for us. When will we be able to have a meal where we're not begging, pleading, convincing, fussing, whining, stalling? Probably not for years. And then it will be Andrew's turn to go through this.

Andrew updates

Today was the end of Andrew's first week in his new class. Overall, he's done well even though it was a pretty short week for him. He was out Monday and Wednesday so he really only had 3 full days in the new room. They said he did great and really had a good time playing with his new friends.

Andrew's saying all sorts of words these days. They kind of come and go depending on his mood. He's still saying mama, dada, daudin (for Austin), more, milk (he usually says mi), and eat. He loves to play peek-a-boo and says "boo!" when he pulls your hands/blanket away. He says hello and bye bye especially when we are on the phone and then hang up. And he's waving a lot more.

Speaking of the telephone, he's crazy over the phone. I'm sure he's called someone and we just don't know it. I think he's called 411 and I know he's 'talked' to the mechanical woman who tells you to hang up the phone.

He's discovered music and loves to dance. We have a word whammer on the fridge where you can put letters in and it will say the word. Of course, there's a music setting too. He plays that song over and over and bounces up and down to the music.

Andrew will go to his chair when it's time to eat and he's started 'helping' around the house. Not chores, of course, but he'll bring me his cup or his bowl when he's finished with them. He even helped me with the laundry; he grabbed a shirt, I picked him up, and he threw it in the washer.

T.V. influence

While we try to limit Austin's T.V. time, sometimes it's inevitable and he watches more than we'd like him to. He's picked up all sorts of things from the commericals, including desperately wanting Pixos which he will never receive as a gift or purchase with his own money. Too many tiny parts and they make it look way cooler on the commerical than I'm sure it is in real life.

On Sunday, when we on our way home from Williamsburg, we were looking for a place to eat for lunch. Austin said, "Daddy, I'm thinking Arbys. I want a roast beef sandwich." He's never been to Arbys nor has he ever had a roast beef sandwich and I know that he wouldn't like that anyway. So funny.

He's a busy little bee

Andrew started in a new class today. He's now a "Busy Bee." Translation: he's all over the place. His first day back at school was quite eventful.

This was his first day back since our big trip. I warned them that he'd been somewhat clingy and he was exhausted from the long car ride. I got three calls during the day. The first was around lunch to tell me he'd had a good day so far. Wonderful! The second was a hour or so later to say that Andrew was bitten by another child. Great, and so it begins. The third was to tell me he had 101.3 fever and that he needed to be picked up. Quite the traumatic first day, I'd say.

Big trip to Virginia

We left on Thursday for Williamsburg, VA to visit Gene's relatives. We'd been talking to Austin about where we were going, who we were going to see, and that it was going to be a long, long car ride. We got out our floor puzzle of the Unite States, put it together, and pointed to the states we'd be driving through. When it was time to put the puzzle away, he kept these states out for his reference. He also told his friends and teachers at school that he was going to Virginia. He has a teacher named Ms. Virginia and he thought it was so funny that her name was the name of the state we were going to.

We got the kids up and in the car at 3:00 a.m. Our plan was to have the kids sleep for a couple of hours in the car, hopefully to get us to Atlanta. No such luck. It took the kids 1 1/4 hours to go back to sleep only to sleep for a hour. We stopped at the Cracker Barrel for breakfast. After Austin threw up in the bathroom (probably from being car sick), we headed to Durham, NC. We got to Durham around 3:00 p.m. or so and checked into the first hotel (with a 2 room suite) that we could find. Austin spied the pool so he had to go swimming.

On Friday, we headed out to Williamsburg and got there around 2:00 or so. Again, the swimming pool was nearby and Austin had to take a dip. We ate dinner with Gene's relatives at the hotel that night.

On Saturday, we got up, ate breakfast, and drove into Colonial Williamsburg. We were only there for a couple of hours, but long enough for us to walk around and see some pretty old buildings. Austin thought the whole thing was neat, but we didn't get to spend as much time there as we would have liked.

Saturday night, we had dinner with the entire family. It was great to see everyone and for everyone to meet the kids.

Sunday morning, we headed back home and stopped just outside of Greenville, SC. We had dinner at the Cracker Barrel. It was nice to have a country, Sunday meal even if I didn't cook it. On the way back yesterday, we stopped at a Chinese buffet just past Atlanta. Austin insisted that I take a picture of him with the lion out front. We finally made it home yesterday afternoon around 2:00.

Austin had a great time staying in the hotels. I think that was his favorite part of the trip. It was pretty funny how everywhere we stayed we were overlooking the swimming pool and it wasn't something we'd asked for. The kids did surprisingly well considering they didn't sleep as much as they usually do. Needless to say, everyone went to bed early last night. Andrew slept from 6:30 p.m. until 7:20 a.m. I guess he was pooped!

4th of July weekend

With the 4th of July falling on a Saturday this year, we all had Friday off. We spent most of the weekend at Dede and Nea's pool. Austin's really into swimming now and wants to swim any chance he gets. He's very brave now, even jumping off the diving board!

Andrew had a good time lounging by the pool too! He's such a cool dude in his shades. (And, by the way, he doesn't have a nipple that big. It's a strategically placed cheerio!)

Austin finally has discovered the genius of Easy Cheese. He thought it was pretty cool that cheese came out of a can. He was making us cheese sandwiches.

New games

The kids have discovered two new games. The first one...chasing each other around the house.

The second one...Austin blowing raspberries on Andrew's tummy.

They find them both equally entertaining!

More teeth? Not quite...

For the last few days, Andrew just hasn't been himself. He's slowed down eating, sometimes only eating fruit for his meals and not touching anything else we offer him, things he'd normally wolf down. He's had a couple of nasty diapers so we thought that he was getting more teeth. Nothing yet, but we're watching closely.

In other news, Andrew's saying more things these days. He babbles a lot, but occasionally we pick up on words that he's saying. He says book ("bo") and he tries to say Austin's name (it comes out "Dadin"). Andrew still loves throwing balls and still has no interest in watching anything on TV which is both a good and bad thing.

He's a fish!

Austin's finally swimming!

Ever since Austin was a baby, he's hated getting his face and/or head wet. He would literally freak out, crying inconsolably begging for the towel so he could dry off. Two summers ago, we decided to get Austin some swimming lessons. After 6 weeks, we were really no closer to actually swimming than when we started and we'd had meltdowns like you wouldn't believe. Last summer, no swimming lessons; we had our hands full with just having Andrew. And this summer has just gotten away from us so no lessons this summer either.

We've been practicing every chance we get. It started this summer before we went to the beach. Austin's been begging to go to a water park and we've told him that he has to learn put his head under the water before we can go, that we can't wipe our face off when it gets wet. At the beach, he swam better, using floaties, but still not well enough for us to feel comfortable taking him to the water park.

Today, Austin went to Dede and Nea's house twice to swim. AND he swam with no floaties! Underwater! And was jumping in all over the place, getting his head wet, with no freak out over his face being wet. We are so proud of him!

Does underwear go down the toilet?

Gene and the UAB steel band had a gig at the Sandestin Hilton last night. It was free, overnight trip so I decided to go with him. And Nonna was gracious enough to come over and spend the night with the kids.

Austin was thrilled about his houseguest and has been talking about her spending the night and what they were going to do and eat while she was over. During her stay, Austin had a few accidents which he tried to hide. He threw away two pairs of underwear. The third time, Nonna caught him and made him clean himself up and clean his underwear. He was cleaning his underwear in the toilet and "accidentally" flushed. That's right...flushed the underwear down the toilet. I'm sure it's not the first time we'll have a foreign object flushed.

Walking and pee pee

Andrew's pretty much walking exclusively now. Occasionally, he'll drop to his knees and crawl. He and Austin love to chase each other from one room to another.

On another note, Andrew has discovered his pee pee. He found it a few weeks ago, but is more fascinated with it now. He wants to play with it every time we take his diaper off. He just laughs and laughs when he sees or touches it. And so the fascination with his member begins.

Words spoken (and other updates)

I've been kind of a slacker when it comes to this whole blogging thing in recent weeks. Anywho, Andrew's saying all sorts of words. At least, it sounds like he's saying things. To date, he's said ball ("ba"), more ("mo"), night night ("nigh nigh"), thank you ("da you"), and uh oh. We think he's started saying daddy and mommy instead of mama and dada because that's what Austin calls us. One day last week I swear he called the cat by her name, "babble" instead of Trouble.

Andrew's favorite things to do right now are play with balls (he loves to bounce them up and down and chase after them), read books, and chase the cats. He has no interest in watching any kind of program, which is a good and bad thing. We've tried letting him watch Elmo and he may watch for a minute and then he's off to do something else.

Andrew is already throwing fits when he doesn't get his way or his feelings are hurt. He throws himself in the floor, puts his head down, and cries like it's the end of the world. Yesterday at school, he banged his head on the floor when he got upset. How can this be happening and he's only 13 months old???

Andrew's still a little pig. He loves to eat almost anything. He does not like green beans. His favorite vegetable is carrots and he likes almost any fruit. The other night he ate 1 1/2 bananas and they were big ones. We went to eat Mexican the other night and he ate not only all of his cheese quesadilla, but 1/2 of Austin's, peas and carrots, and peaches I brought from home.

High fever (and new tooth)

On Sunday, we went over to Dede and Nea's house for the kids to swim. Andrew loved the pool at the beach so I was anxious to see how he did in the pool here at home. Well, he didn't like it at all, I think because the pool as a little too cool for him. He laid down for a nap and when he got up he had a 102 fever and snotty nose.

Needless to say, we stayed home on Monday with Andrew's fever going up and down all day. He was still in a great mood though. All day Monday and Tuesday, I kept feeling for a new tooth. Today, I finally felt a the new tooth. Finally! He's even! Andrew has 8 teeth, 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom.

Beach trip

We spent last week at the beach. We had some rough spots with the condo we stayed in and a place we ate. The weather was overcast for most of the trip, but it was nice to be away and have some family time.

On Monday, when we got there we went out to the beach for a little bit to let the boys play in the sand. This was Andrew's first trip to the beach and I wasn't sure how he'd react to the sand. He loved the sand! And Austin couldn't stand it; he just had to get in the water even if he didn't have his swimsuit on!

We went out to the beach on Tuesday morning and that afternoon we went to Souvenir City, our first of three trips. We would go there as kids and have our picture taken in front of the big shark. We do the same thing with the kids. At first I thought we were nuts for doing that, but then I saw other people taking pictures too.

On Wednesday, we went to the beach and the pool in the morning. Then, the clouds rolled in so we went to the outlets. We had lunch at Lambert's. Austin thought it was so funny how they throw rolls at you and play little jokes on the customers.

That afternoon we went to play putt putt golf at Adventure Island. Austin loved playing! Of course, he thought the more points you scored the better. We played two rounds, through the volcano. Gene and Austin rode in the go-carts and then we all played in the arcade. We won all kinds of tickets and other people kept giving us theirs so Austin had quite a few to buy prizes. He picked out Tootsie Rolls, Air Heads, Smarties, and Sweet Tarts.

On Thursday and Friday, we went to the beach and the pool in the morning. On Friday, we played putt putt again. But this time we played at Pirate Island. We played twice. Austin got a hole in one this time!

On Saturday, it was overcast and a little rainy in the morning so we went out to Fort Morgan to kill some time. Austin thought the cannons were really neat and he liked being able to walk through the tunnel. We also saw the rigs in the bay which were pretty cool too.

When we got back to the condo, we started eating lunch and the fire alarm went off so we had to evacuate the building. Luckily, it was a false alarm. Of course, Austin liked it because he got to see the fire trucks up close.

Sunday, we spent most of the day at the beach and pool because it was our last day and actually decent weather. Andrew crawled through the sand down to the water's edge and let the waves come over his legs and feet. He splashed in the wet sand; he had sand all in his hair, on his face, and in his shorts. Austin, of course, built a volcano.