Andrew is 2!

We celebrated Andrew's 2nd birthday on Saturday rather than Monday since Nick would be out of town. Nick set up the train table for Andrew on Friday night so that we could surprise him with it on Saturday morning. He woke up at 6:30 am Saturday (no, we don't sleep in anymore) and we were standing by with camera in hand to watch him find the train table and accessories. He absolutely LOVES it! He played for hours and hours and we had to tear him away from it in the afternoon so we could take him to the movies. We saw Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. It seemed like a good movie although it was a bit complex for a 2 year old. We actually walked out 3/4 of the way through because Andrew was starting to get antsy and he was talking (loudly) at times. We didn't want to ruin the movie for the rest of the crowd and quietly snuck out. Andrew was probably just in a hurry to get back to his trains. I made a carrot birthday cake and attempted to put Thomas the train on it with cream cheese frosting. It came out delicious although my artistry left much to be desired. Yesterday I took Andrew & Lauren to Chuck E Cheese to meet his friend Ryan and his mom and we had a small little birthday celebration there as well.

This morning both kids had a routine doctor appointment and overall things went well. Lauren weighs 22.5 lbs and is 30 inches long. She's in the 95th percentile for height and weight! Andrew weighs 29.2 lbs and is 34.5 inches long. He's in the 50-75the percentile. The doctor would like Andrew to have a hearing and speech evaluation especially in regards to his history of ear infections and eardrum rupture. This may be why he is a little slower to talk although she wasn't terribly concerned over it. He should be saying at least 6 words with perfect clarity and although he is saying many more than 6, his words aren't 100% clear. Lauren started crawling on hands and knees today! Up until now she has been scooting around on her belly. Yesterday she also pulled herself up on her own to the train table for the first time. A little added incentive, I guess, to get to those trains. I've attached a little slideshow of birthday pictures below

It's Cold!

The weather has taken a change. It is now cold, cold, cold! It hasn't snowed yet but it seems close. Our morning walks have been put on hold and we're looking for more indoor activities to keep ourselves busy. Lauren has FINALLY popped out a tooth on the bottom and I think the 2nd tooth is coming soon. Unfortunately, along with the teething she has gotten quite congested and maybe has her first cold. (although by the time Andrew was her age he had already weathered through several colds, ear infections, and 2 ruptured eardrums) I guess that's another benefit to keeping her out of daycare. She hasn't quite grasped the crawling concept yet although she gets around quite well by scooting on her belly. She gets around all over the house like a little mermaid!
Andrew will be 2 on Monday! I can't believe how fast 2 years gave gone. But then again I remind myself how many changes we've made in just 2 years. We've lived in 3 states, lived on both east and west coasts, had 2 kids, and I've been both a working mom and a stay-at-home mom. That's more change for myself than all 10 years prior! Andrew's vocabulary has picked up more speed, thank goodness. The other night he got out of the bath and told me 'It's a cold!' He says 'tee-too' for thank you, 'kying' for crying (which he'll tell us when Lauren is crying, just in case we didn't know), 'Da-iss' for Thomas the Train. He's also saying 'uh-huh' and 'oh, gosh', then covers his mouth with his hand for added emphasis.

We'll be doing a small birthday celebration on Saturday instead of the 19th because Nick is going back to Knoxville. We're going to take Andrew to see a new kids movie called "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" then probably have some balloons and cake at home. We bought him a train table which is a long table about 15 inches high - just the right height for him to roll trains along a track. We also got a Thomas train set to go with it. I'm sure he will just love it.

We are looking forward to a trip to the Bay Area 12/25 - 12/31. We'll be staying at my Dad & Steve's house in Orinda. It will be fun to see friends and family that we haven't seen in awhile and also many of our friends have not met Lauren yet.

P.S. You can put away the sunglasses now....I've changed the neon template of the blog to something a little more subdued. What do you think?

Halloween

Another Halloween has come and gone. Last year we took an almost 1-year-old Andrew to a Boise church parking lot where they have what's called a "trunk-or-treat". People decorate their cars and trunks and give candy out right from their cars. He didn't really "get" the whole idea but it was fun dressing him up as a pumpkin and (ssssh!) we got to eat all his candy. This year was a little more fun since he understood that he was dressed up (as Tigger) but the concept of taking his little bag around for treats was still over his head. Lauren had no clue that she was a big orange pumpkin but she was darn cute in it. (Andrew's costume from last year ...probably the last time we'll get away with recycling his costume for her) We took the kids to the local mall which had a "mall-o-treat". Each of the stores had someone out front handing out candy and Andrew had fun collecting his loot. We couldn't get him to say "trick-or treat" though.

So, we thought we went overboard after we bought 4 big bags of candy to give out last night. We arrived home from the mall at 5 pm, it was still light out, and kids were already ringing the bell. About 5 groups came by before 6pm. A couple of the groups looked as old as 15-16 years old....and a few weren't even in costume! I was tempted to say something but figured maybe I shouldn't give them a hard time or I might wind up with paintballs or eggs on the side of my house. We did run out of candy and ended up giving out some of what Andrew had collected earlier. (of course after I pulled out all the good stuff ;-) Surprisingly, he's not really into sweets. He thinks of all of his little treats & candies that he collected as little possessions. He wants to carry them around with him but he doesn't care to open them or eat them. I'm sure next year will be different!