"A" for Effort!

The other night Andrew found his favorite jammies (Thomas, of course) in the clean-clothes-waiting-to-be-folded-pile and decided to take matters into his own hands. He got his jammies on all by himself, with just a few minor problems... I'm lovin' the mini-skirt look! He was pretty proud of himself. Almost the same thing happened a week or two before these pics, but that time he only found the shirt...

This one was just after breakfast and he wore it around like that for most of the morning. What a big boy!

He's Two!!!

Why so serious.....It's your BIRTHDAY!!! Saturday was Andrew's 2nd birthday. To start the day off, Andrew got to open the pile of presents that had come in the mail from G&G Lodge...it was like Christmas morning!
That night, we celebrated by having my family and some friends over for a BBQ and birthday cake. It was pretty low key but very fun.

Andrew, Stu, Sam and Millie at the kid table enjoying their oh-so-gourmet dinner of Mac n' Cheese and hot dogs!

Bernie and Ela (cousins) at the "overflow table".

Andrew opening presents from us...the truck is as big as he is!

Big boy underware from Gma Olson...hmmm, is this some sort of hint?
The Cookie Monster towel that Gma Olson made for him. He loves it wears around the house when ever we let him! (Sam got an Elmo towel just like it for his 2nd birthday and still uses it at every bath!)

My masterpiece...the birthday cake!

Andrew's face as we brought the cake out...wish I knew what was going on that head of his!

I thought this picture was funny because Sam was keeping his cake as far away from his brother as possible but yet was scoping out Andrew's plate...

Fun Facts about Andrew:

Favorite characters are Thomas the Train and Cookie Monster

Favorite Food is Chex Mix

Favorite phrase..."No Mama No!"

Favorite activity is playing with trucks in the sandbox

Loves to look at books especially if they have pictures of boats, trains or any kind of animal

My favorite things about Andrew are his sweet personality and how he loves to snuggle on the couch with me to read books.

Sam loves to play with Andrew and is glad that he is big enough now to play with him.

Joe loves it when Andrew tackles his brother, apparently he's got some natural talent!

WE love you Andrew!

Reminders...

It ocurred to me this morning that this the same point in the pregnancy when Sam and Ben were born....24 weeks 4 days. I'd already been on bedrest for four weeks and then I went into labor. That's a strange/scary thing to remember. This is when they were five days old...that's a preemie diaper that Sam's wearing!

As much as I'm tired of being pregnant (already), all I have to do is look at this picture and I have no complaints. This picture is a good reminder of why I'll do anything possible to avoid having another 1 lb baby. I'm so grateful that things are going well and that so far we haven't had troubles with this pregnancy (knock on wood!!!). So, here's to another 3+ months of being pregnant!

Legalized Torture

Today was the last day of a two week session of swim lessons for Sam. Let's just say that things didn't go exactly as I expected. He normally loves the water and isn't really afraid of it, so I thought that this would no big deal. Hmpf. We even signed him up at Mission pool, which is further from our house, just so that we could have Brooke (Sam's beloved sunbeam teacher) be his instructor. He was so excited to get started! Andrew, on the other hand, was pretty disgusted that he wasn't allowed in the water, he kept trying to take his clothes off. Here they are waiting before the first lesson starts...

Getting ready to start, a little nervous but still willing...

Finally in the water and with somewhat of a smile on his face...

Day Two: WHAT HAPPENED?? That was the beginning of the downhill spiral.

Things just got worse when I talked to the doctor that night and found out that he should be wearing earplugs. The trauma of the earplugs could not be acurately captured with a camera. Talk about screaming...torture...for both of us! Okay, I wasn't screaming, but I wanted to! I was mortified. All of the other moms whose kids were so well behaved watching me wrestle with my hysterical child. Finally, I got the earplugs in, tore his shirt off of him and literally dragged him to the pool and dumped him in to Brooke. As I turned to go back to my seat, seriously horrified at the scene that I had just caused, the moms who were sitting around me throughout the ordeal started clapping! I was a little confused but then they said that I'd handled it so well and started sharing their war stories about kids with tubes in their ears and other swim lesson nightmares. That made me feel a little better. For a little while. Until the next day, and the next, and the next when the scene was repeated (but never quite as bad as the first day).

Andrew found ways to amuse himself but still was pretty disappointed that I never let him in the water. Joe came a couple of days to watch. We were hoping that having daddy there to cheer him on would help Sam, but it didn't. At least he got a little escape from work!Final Day: It was about 70 degrees outside and overcast, I wished that I had brought a sweatshirt for myself, yet I was forcing my child into the pool. What a great mom I am! They put them in lifejackets and threw them (literally) into the deep end. Apparently, he got the hang of it and relaxed, but there were a lot of screaming and tears involved.

Well, we survived and I'll probably make him do it again next year...at least we won't have to deal with earplugs next year. I just hope that he's not too traumatized!

Two Boys in a Boat

The boys got to experience something new and exciting this week. They got to go on a boat for the first time! Now, when I say boat, I'm talking about an ancient little motor boat that my dad inherited from his dad...this thing is at least 30 years old, maybe closer to 40! But, the boys didn't care, it was a great adventure for them! We went after Joe got off work and just took a couple trips around the lake in the little boat. It was beautiful!

Sam couldn't talk about anything else for days leading up to the excursion, but when it came right down to it, he was pretty nervous! This is right after the boat was put in the water...

Here they are, life jackets on, ready to go...kind of! They wouldn't smile for anything! The first trip out was with just Grandma and Grandpa. Immediately after this picture, Andrew climbed in G'mas lap and didn't leave it the whole time!
After that, it was time to take a break for some dinner, then they were right back out!
This trip was with Daddy and G'pa. (I opted not to go out, due to the fumes, my tendency towards motion sickness and how easily I'm nauseated these days!) On this trip they were loosened up a bit more...
I love the expression on Sam's face in this picture, he's so intense!

And, of course, they loved just playing in the water after the boat rides were done. It was a hot day and the water was just the right temperature!

Thanks to my mom and dad for the fun experience! Dad's been talking about taking his grandkids out on the boat for the last three summers and we finally did it! While we were there, Sam saw some other people fishing, so now he's convinced that's what he wants to do next time. Hmmm, that will probably last about five minutes! Oh well, he'd probably be talking about those five minutes for days!