Last Mommy and Me Class

Yesterday we had our last Mommy and Me Class. Luckily we will start the summer class in a month. The infant class is the only one she does in the summer.

Andrew has developed so much since we started this class in March. The first time we went he laid in my arms and fell asleep 30 minutes into it. Now he is awake, sitting up on his own, looking at the other kids, anticipating the songs, and shows me when he really likes a song.

Here are some pictures from yesterday...


All the mommies and babies


Look who is sitting up


Mommy and Andrew

The perfect article at the perfect time

I think our life is more on a schedule than I realize sometimes. I am reminded of this when Andrew doesn't go with the flow like he typically does. For the past few nights (maybe a week) he has been waking up between 3 and 4 am. He seems hungry, agitated (still think he is teething), and definitely needs a new diaper. But the hunger part is what I am having trouble reading. He is EXTREMELY hungry at night when I put him down. I think my milk supply is getting low b/c I am not able to nurse him as often during the day. When we get home in the afternoon we play, we eat rice cereal, take a bath and then I nurse him. Normally he falls asleep during the nursing part of our night. But for the past week he has been wide awake and looking for more food. I have been giving him a bottle too...and an hour or later he is falling asleep. I have noticed 7 pm his Andrew's bed time. I really don't need to start getting him ready until 6:30 or 7:00...anytime before that he isn't ready and any time after that he is too tired to soothe himself to sleep. This morning I got an email from What to Expect and this is the article they sent me. Perfect timing! The article is about growth spurts. In the back of mind I thought that this is probably what Andrew is going through...but it is nice to be reminded that in fact babies get hungrier when they are growing.
Here is the article:
http://www.whattoexpect.com/blogs/mylittlemonkeys/infant-growth-spurt-whoa-baby.aspx
It amazes me how things enter your life when you need them too. I thought I wasn't doing something right b/c I am having difficulty this week with reading Andrew, but then this article comes my way and I am reminded that Andrew will always confuse me and that is one of the joys of being a mommy!

PS: I tried to link the article so you would just have to click on it, but I could not get it to work.

Sleeping Boy

I thought these were cute pictures of Andrew. Owen took them the other morning when he went in to wake Andrew up. I just can't get enough of our sweet little boy.

A day with Dad

Saturday I went to Columbus for a meeting. So Andrew and dad had a day of fun without mom. As I was driving home, Owen sent me these pictures from his phone. They are blurry pictures, but priceless ones. The text message said, "Since Erin is gone, Andrew has been sporting the no shirt on Saturday look"


That is spit up on his pants...



Aww...boys! :)

It is good to know people

I could not figure out to wear today. I normally wear lounge/yoga outfits but today I was having lunch with my mom and aunt. So it took me a little longer to get dressed. Don't get me wrong...I didn't really "dress up", I just didn't wear yoga pants today. Owen commented on how he has seen me in 3 different outfits with in a matter of minutes. I explained to him I was actually seeing people today so wanted to look a little more put together. He told me that I was probably going to see more people than I expected. This comment confused me and when I asked him for more detail, he refused.

Fast forward to 2 pm...Owen calls me and tells me to make sure I don't leave work early. He said someone was coming to see me. I again..asked WHO??? I was thinking it was a college girlfriend who happened to be going through Hattiesburg (P.S. not sure who that would have been, but it was my only thought). Owen told me to call the ladies upstairs at work to tell them I am expecting someone. So I did. Ten minutes later I get a phone call that someone is here to see me. I told them to send her down. I waited by the stairs (we have a maize of a building so I meet everyone at the stairs so they know where to find us). When the lady came around the corner my thought was...I have no idea who this person is...then I saw her bag. She was from the restaurant we ate at yesterday for my birthday and she brought me a brownie ala mode dessert. I couldn't believe it.

Owen knows the owner of the restaurant and he sent him a light-hearted email about our lunch experience. Apparently the owner called Owen last night and the owner said he wanted to make it up to me. Of course Owen told him that was unnecessary b/c by the end of the day it was a fun story and honestly I wasn't that upset anymore. However, the owner insisted and I finally got my birthday brownie.

So I just finished my brownie and it was everything I wanted it to be and more! It is good to have friends and fun to have birthday celebrations.

My Master Piece

Last night I had a lot of fun at my art class. Here is a picture of our finished products.



This is a picture of me, Audrey and Jennifer. My painting is going to go in my kitchen. I had my kitchen in mind the whole time but when I got it home I think the colors are a little brighter than I probably needed. I am still hanging it up though.

We didn't get finished until 10:30 and I didn't get home until 11. It was a long night but a fun one. I missed my boys though. Owen said Andrew screamed for 2 hours and then finally fell asleep. I don't know if he missed me or if he was just not happy. I am going to Columbus tomorrow so Owen and Andrew will be all by themselves for the day. I think Owen is a little anxious about it, especially if Andrew cries the whole time. I think they will be both fine b/c it will be during the day and Andrew loves to play and hang out during the day.

My mom and aunt are driving through Hattiesburg today so I am meeting up with them for lunch. I will be able to give her the mother's day gift I got her. I went sentimental this year since it is her 1st mother's day as a grandmother. I hope she likes it.

I am so glad it is Friday. I have felt like this week went by so slowly. We are going to the beach for Memorial Day and I am so ready for sun and the ocean that I keep wishing the days would go quickly so we could be there now. Luckily it will be here soon enough.

Happy Friday!

I didn't need the calories anyway

It is no secret that I love sweets...actually I love chocolate. I get it honestly from my mother. My dad loves chocolate too and when he turned 40 he became allergic to it. I tell you if that happens to me...just kill me with a chocolate knife because life will not be worth living. With all of that said...today is my birthday. I am 31 years old. Owen actually said I am 29 because in his mind after you turn 30 the next year you turn 29 and then 30 and then 29 and then 30...so basically you never get any older than 30. I am going with that logic. I have plans tonight to meet up with some girlfriends and go to a painting class. We are going to paint a paisley cross on canvas. I have been wanting to take this class for a long time and can't wait for tonight. Since I have plans tonight, Owen took me to lunch. I wanted to go one place for their dessert only. They have the best brownie a la mode. My mouth is craving it as I write this post. At 11:00 I go pick Owen up and off we go to the restaurant. My plan is to order a salad so I will have room for dessert. This brownie dessert is the topic of conversation the whole time we are at the restaurant. Then I notice we have been sitting at the table for 30 minutes and then another 15 minutes before we could get the attention of our waitress. She must have forgotten us. I ordered a salad and Owen ordered a cheeseburger. These are not complicated meals and we ordered them immediately. Along with that we were the only 2 sets of people in the restaurant when we got there. So 45 minutes later the waitress tells us she has no idea why it is taking so long for our food. Then the management gets involved. Owen and I hate to complain but I had to get back to work and I had no time to eat my salad when I did get it much less the brownie I had been talking about for an hour! My only conclusion to this birthday lunch outing is that the calorie gods were trying to tell me something. I just wish those gods would tell my taste buds to get over it...b/c I still want my birthday brownie.

Weekend Fun

We had a nice relaxing weekend. It rained a little both Saturday and Sunday so we stayed in and didn't do too much. All of us are a little sick. I guess we caught a summer cold. I had it first, then Owen, and now Andrew. I really don't like it when he gets sick. His cough sounds like a man's. I called the pediatrician and am waiting for the nurse to call me back. I just don't know if I need to bring him in or if there is something I can give Andrew that is over the counter. He is coughing, sneezing, pulling his right ear (not the ear that was infected), and he has a runny nose. I think he is teething so maybe some of these symptoms are related to that.

We did have fun this weekend. We went to Target to get Andrew a new toy. Here are some pictures of us having family time. Even Ralphie was apart of the action.


Andrew rolling over and Ralphie "helping" him.


All smiles for the new toy...it is a workbench so he will be ready to help daddy out in the garage some day.


Hard at work :)

Rice Cereal has become a daily activity. I have been feeding him when we get home from day care. I thought adding one more thing to our already packed night time schedule would be overwhelming. But so far, it hasn't been too bad. I am still tweaking Andrew's bed time. Luckily once he is truly asleep, he is down for the night. I can't put him down while he is still awake, he has to be asleep and then I put him in his crib. I realize this is a "no-no" for bedtime routines, and I am reading a book to help me with this. It is a work in progress.

Here are a couple of pictures of Andrew enjoying his rice cereal.

Fun in the Sun

Andrew had is play date at our neighborhood pool yesterday. I think he was too sleepy to really enjoy it, but I did get a few smiles out of him. We were there an hour and the poor little tired fellow fell asleep as I was holding him right before we left. I was worried how I was going to pack up all of our things with a sleepy baby in my arms...but just as that thought crossed my mind, Owen walked through the gate. He came by after work to visit with us. Little did he know I needed him to pack the bag for me :)

I am really enjoying our play dates with Brantley and her mom, Amanda.

Here are a couple of pictures...





I had a uv protected shirt for Andrew to wear but it was too small. I bought it in March and was hoping I could get one wear out of it, but his head wouldn't fit through it...luckily I did bring sun screen.

Active Week

This week has been filled with fun activities and it is not even over yet! How lucky are we?

Saturday night we tried rice cereal with Andrew. He LOVED it...in fact he got so excited that he threw the bowl of cereal on the ground. This is the first of many messy dinners in our future. Here are a couple of pictures of him in his new high chair.





Monday I got to hang out with one of my closest friends, Melanie. She was on the MS coast visiting her family so Andrew and I drove down to visit with her and her son Luke for a couple of hours. I feel so blessed that our boys will be able to visit and hopefully become great friends. I can just see Luke spending a week with his friend Andrew in Hattiesburg and Andrew going to NJ for a week. What fun these little men will have and I know his mom and I are going to enjoy every minute of watching them grow up. Here is a picture of the future best friends.



While I was down on the coast I got to also visit with a friend from Hattiesburg. Her husband and I used to work together at USM and they just moved to Gulfport. She had a sweet little boy 3 weeks ago. It was fun meeting him and visiting with a new mom.

Tuesday was a fun day for me! I got my hair cut, colored, and eye brows waxed. I feel like a new person! HA..

Today was mommy and me. We had to miss last week b/c of Andrew's ear infection. But we were back today and having a blast. Andrew is starting to interact and recognize his name, so the songs we sing using his name are fun. He looks around at the other kids and smiles and coos. It is so fun to be able to take him to this class. It is a joy for me.

Tomorrow we are going swimming with our new friend Brantley. I can't wait to see the two of them in the water. Andrew likes bath time. He is kicking his feet and he stares at himself in the mirror. We are still in the infant tub b/c he can't sit up on his own for a long period of time. He is sitting up and knows how to do it, but his balance is a little wobbly right now. Since he likes bath time, I am anticipating him really liking the pool.

Then on Friday I have lunch with my girlfriends from Southern Miss. I still keep in touch with my old co-workers and we get together for lunch quite a bit. I can't wait to catch up with them.

So this has been one active week and I have loved every minute of it!

Swinging

Here is the picture of Andrew on his play date swinging. I love this picture, so I wanted to share it.



We have another play date this Thursday. We are going to go swimming!! Yippee...well not yippee about me getting into a bathing suit. I have reached an all time low when it comes to body image...but it is my own fault.

Play Date

Yesterday Andrew had a play date with Brantley (who he met in his mommy and me class). I got out of work as fast as I could, stopped by sonic to get Brantley's mom and me a cherry limeade, and then went to get Andrew from day care. We got Andrew's school pictures back (which are adorable) so I had to talk to the teachers about what a cute baby I have :) and then we met Brantley and her mom at the playground in our neighborhood. They swung in the infant swings and then we had tummy time on mat in the grass. It was a great play date. Brantley and Andrew are one month apart and they were so cute. Brantley wore her pink hat and Andrew had on a blue hat. I did take a picture of both of them in the swing, but it didn't download in my picture drop box. Here are a few pictures that I do have downloaded.





Monday, Andrew and I are going to the coast to see my college friend Melanie and my Godson Luke! I am taking a half day off so we can spend the afternoon together. I can't wait!!!

Have a great weekend!

5 months!

Andrew is 5 months old. Here are some pictures of our little man growing up way too fast. My mom made his shirt. I wanted to make sure I got a picture of him it before he out grew it. His clothes are not lasting very long. He gets a good couple of wears until the length is too short. He may have long legs like his momma :)






Some fun Andrew facts for this months are:

* He has his 2nd ear infection. This is #2 in 3 months. I am seeing ear tubes in our near future. He is such a little trooper when he is sick. We had another rough night on Monday night with him only being able to sleep with me holding him. I love being there to comfort him and it breaks my heart when he doesn't feel well.
* He is getting so strong. He can sit up with us supporting him a little. I will hold his hands and he balances himself.
* When he is on his tummy, he has the motions of crawling and gets so frustrated when he doesn't move himself
* He likes sleeping on his stomach. In fact, I think the days of sleeping on his back are over.
* He likes to wake up slowly but does it with a smile
* We gave him juice the other day and he liked it much better than he did when we first gave it to him. He didn't drink much of it, but definitely seemed interested.
* He got a high chair over the weekend
* His voice fluctuates now with quiet sounds to really loud sounds
* He has noticed Ralphie and laughs at him. It is great. Ralphie can just walk passed him and Andrew laughs
* He is starting to understand different textures so books with things he can feel are enjoyable now
* He is reaching and grabbing toys. We think he will reach for us when we pick him in the near future
* He typically sleeps 10 hours a night and has two good naps during the day
* He eats 8 ounces of breast milk/formula about 6 times a day
* He is currently 17 pounds



Here is our 17 lb baby with his "I'm bringing chubby back" shirt. :) He makes me smile every day.