Party Time!

After some fairly constant nagging (Hi, Mom!  Hi, Rob!), I'm back to give you a (mostly) photo journey through Drew's birthday party.

We just used a fall theme- browns, yellows and burnt orange.  This was a nod to Rob's original request for a birthday party theme- Bevo.  We did the party on Sunday afternoon, which worked out well because a lot of out of town friends and family were in for the football game the day before and many stopped by before they headed home.  Uncle T even "swung by" Austin on the way back to Houston from Dallas where he had been Saturday for a wedding.  That's dedication.

Please ignore the fact that I look rather large in these pictures- apparently I "popped" the Friday before his birthday. :(

Love this chalkboard!

Yes, I had to make the birthday banner.

Beer that almost no one drank (see note about many people driving back to their hometowns). 

GIANT Costco Cupcakes

Favors!  Goldfish and play dough for the little ones, iced cookies for the grown ups.

Despite the fact that Drew's hand is down my dress, I think this is the best family picture we got that day.

Drew's friend Sloane.  She sat there like a lady-- he tried to poker her and/or pull out her bow.

Before.

He needed some encouragement.

But just a little.

"It's good!" he declared.

"Try some, mom"

Since I banned face/cake smashing at our wedding, Rob took this opportunity to seize the day.

I had to find out what he thought about vanilla.

Hard to tell which he enjoyed more.

Obviously all birthday parties involve a mid-party bath.

And then present unwrapping in his skivvies.

It was a GREAT day.  We are so lucky that our friends and family could come share the day with us.  More later on his actual birth-day!

One Year!

Andrew Edward Callegari, you made it.  WE made it.  A whole year!  Our lives changed dramatically a year ago, but at the same time it feels like you have been here all the time.  Your goofy personality fits RIGHT in with our family.  We are having a blast watching you grow up.

You were born at 4:12 on October 18th 2011.  Ironically, at 4:12 on October 18th, 2011 I was getting a sneak peak at your brother-or-sister-to-come.  My two kids.  That just amazes me.  (Note: the doc said Peanut was really opening and closing their mouth a lot..... please prepare yourself for a sibling who is a talker).

I will recap your birthday party and birthday day in different posts, but let's talk about the changes in the last month.

The biggest thing (and hardest for mama to swallow) was you had your very last bottle on October 17th.  We were running out of formula and I thought there was no reason to buy more, so when you woke up on your birthday you drank whole milk.  Which you LOVE.  No problems transitioning at all.  You have also finally figured out how to hold/tilt your sippy cup, so you can give yourself the milk.  I thought that day would never come.  Now if we can just teach you to use a straw!

You do 100% solid food, and are still a pretty good eater.  Your favorites are fruits and breads.  You don't seem to love meat, and your veggie preferences have gotten more specific.  On occasion I will sit you down in your chair and just give you veggies for the first part of your dinner.... once you have other options, you pretty much ignore the vegetables.  I'm not sure how the milk is going to work into all of this.  You seem to like it so much that you would be willing to sit and drink an entire cup full before you eat anything.  We will have to watch that.

You've been battling a lot of "yuck" this month.  Not really sick, but not 100% well, either.  I have been taking you to MOPS at Grace Covenant Church, and I think you tend to get sick a couple of days after you spend time in the nursery.  Nothing terrible, but goopy eyes and a snotty nose.  But I would prefer you to get sick now and get those immunities before you head off to school.

You are still on the same sleep schedule- 7PM- 6:30AM at night, then a nap around 9 or 9:30 and a nap around 1:30 or 2.  Today (October 19th) you tried to drop that morning nap.  I hope that isn't going to become your new normal!

You are an absolute monkey these days.  You are walking everywhere- your days of crawling are gone.  You open every door or drawer you can.  I keep finding our remote control in your dad's bathroom drawer.  You get into the smallest spaces.  You are a handful, but a constant source of FUN.

We love you, Drew.  This last year has been a blast.  Can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Celeb sighting!

Not the best picture of Drew and I, but we weren't the point of this picture.  Check out the man right about my head.  Yessiree, it's Mr. Mack Brown.

There was a baby at his table, too, and Drew was completely obsessed.  Which gave a good excuse to chat with Mack himself!  He even called my baby "adorable."  Yes, it was a good day.

11 Months!

Drew, you are 11 months (ok, at this point 11.5 months) old! And you are a man on the MOVE, which  means when your mama has a break from chasing you around the house, she lays down and takes a nap.  :)

The biggest thing that happened between 10 and 11 months were your first steps, which quickly turned into walking all over the place.  It's funny, I definitely see a difference in your ability to walk depending on the time of day.  You have much more control the earlier in the day and/or if you just woke up from a nap.  Generally you start off walking wherever you want to go.  When and if you fall, you just crawl the rest of the way.

You suddenly also have the memory of an elephant.  If you do something once and enjoy it, you want to do it over and over again.  I made the mistake of letting you pull on the cord and turn the light on the fan earlier this month.  We cannot pass under a fan without you trying to climb me now.

You seem to be developing a neat-nick gene.  You spend hours taking blocks out of your tub and putting them back in.  You have also determined that your wood blocks make a satisfying "clang" going into the metal trashcan, so you enjoy that greatly.

Your "elephant memory" also now extends to food.  You used to eat everything.  It was great.  Now you remember that some foods are better than others, and show your displeasure at certain foods by tossing them over your tray and/or trying to hide them in your lap (which your dog truly enjoys).  I am now getting you kids meals with more and more frequency when we go out, which is hard to imagine.  You really do eat quite a bit and (quite frankly) I got tired of ordering only foods that I could share with you.  Sometimes mama needs her own food!

You watch PBS in the morning while you have breakfast.  Usually we hit the 8:00 Curious George and 8:30 Cat in the Hat.  I'll tell you a secret- I think your dad likes Curious George more than you do.  I've caught him watching it in the bedroom when we aren't even in there.  You love the theme song for the Cat in the Hat and will dance along with it.  Your dad and I die laughing every time you do it.

Oh, you now have a "lovie."  It was a gift when you were born, but you have recently decided it is the greatest thing.  If I leave it in your crib after your nap you will reach through the slats for it.  You have also been known to carry it around in your teeth.

Your sleep schedule is generally the same- you wake up about 6:30, nap around 9:30 and 2, and head to bed between 6:30 and 7.  I would still love to push your bedtime back 30 minutes or so, on the off chance your morning wake up time would shift back about 30 minutes, but you are a pistol at 6:30 and I can't bring myself to try to keep you up.

Ok, now for some stats:
- you have 7 teeth
- you can wear 9 month clothes if they are shorts, but pants are too short.  I suspect you still fall in the "stringbean" category on the growth chart- tall and skinny
- you get bathed every day, thanks to your new found mobility.  You like the bath.  You do not like getting dressed after your bath
- You have a bottle in the morning, followed by "second breakfast" (usually a waffle and some fruit) and sometimes "third breakfast" (cheerios while we go on a walk).  After you nap we usually have lunch around 11 (turkey, goldfish, fruit), then a snack (cheese) and dinner around 5.  Your favorite dinners are leftovers from what mom and dad have- you enjoy flavor and are not at all deterred by spice.  Then another bottle before you hit the sack.

Love you bub!

Houston, we have a walker.

I think I have mentioned this before, but it has been close to impossible to tell when a "first" happens for Drew.  Do you count the time he moved one hand and one knee before he fell on his stomach as a "crawl?" Do you count it as "sleeping through the night" if he woke up at 5:30, or does "night" end at 6am?

But on Saturday, September 3rd, Drew walked.  The kid didn't start with one or two steps, which might have made it hard to tell.  He took 6.  He was just standing in the hall holding some non-toy (cell phone? remote? wireless mouse? I can't remember) and I encouraged him to come to me, and he did.  Granted he only moved about 2 feet in those six steps.  But they were legitimate steps.

So then I decided to bribe him with food.  I brought him downstairs, put a goldfish on the ottoman at the end of our bed, plopped him down on his feet, and watched him take 4-6 steps to get it.  Several times.  The problem with the bribery method is he was so excited about the goldfish that he would try to move faster than his legs could take him, fall on his hands, and crawl to the goldfish. 

The good news is he continued the trick on Sunday when Rob was home to see it, so I have backup on my claims.  Sunday we watched him cruise around the furniture in the living room, let go, take a couple of steps to another piece, and continue on.  No coaxing or goldfish necessary.

I think my life has just change dramatically yet again, but I'm too excited to care. :)

10 Months!

Time is still flying- and now, Drew, you are 10 months old!  So hard to imagine that in two short months you will be a year old!

You are still a champion eater.  One memorable lunch this month had you eating an entire hot dog, and entire string cheese and 15 blueberries.  And I think you would have eaten more if I would have given it to you, but I was afraid you might pop.  You very rarely eat baby food anymore- you much prefer to feed yourself.  Your favorites depend on what you have for options at each meal.  You definitely eat your "favorite" first, your second favorite next, and then dabble at whatever else you have to eat.  I can't tell if you don't like carbs, or you just prefer the sweetness of fruit, but I'm sort of baffled that you prefer your blueberries to your waffle in the morning.  You still take two bottles- on first thing in the morning, and one right before bed.  We will be moving you away from those slowly over the next couple of months.

Eating is usually a naked activity these days!

Can't remember what this food was, but you were really enjoying throwing it on the floor.

You still sleep pretty good- about 11.5 hours at night (from 7PM to 6:30AM).  Recently you have been taking a LONG (2+ hour) morning nap, and then a really short (30 minute) afternoon nap.  I wish we could switch that- you become a bear as it gets closer to bedtime.

You are standing up on everything and cruising a lot more this month.  I watch you walk to the end of a piece of furniture or a wall and I can see in your eyes that you are considering just letting go.  You haven't done it yet, but you are certainly thinking about it.  Your balance has gotten SO MUCH better this month. You will stand and balance for about 10 seconds now, but as soon as I start making a fuss you fall over.  You also crawl into the strangest places now.

You got in and out of this one!

Cali said if you were going to get into the cabinets, I need to teach you to use Lysol.  I agree!

We spent some time in Houston earlier this month while your dad was in Taiwan, and you had a great time with your grandparents and great-grandmother.  You impressed everyone with your mad appetite! :)

Matching bellies?

You now recognize family in pictures, which is quite funny.  Whenever you see the home screen of my iphone (this picture), you laugh at yourself.  And you will sit in the middle of my bed and wave at the bridal portrait.  Cracks me up every time.

You LOVE you some animals.  Sophie continues to be your BFF, but really, any animal will work.

Sophie looks a little scary here....

"Hi Duck!"

Drew, you are a doll.  We love you so much!