Andrew & Leah

We had a very nice Christmas. We had lots of different get togethers. Of course the kids were spoiled (mom and dad, too.)

Papa dressed up as Santa as he does every year to bring presents to all the little kids at our gathering Sunday. I had warned Andrew in advance, but he was still scared when he saw him. He warmed up a little more after he heard his voice, but still wouldn't get too close.

Leah has two bottom teeth now. She had her 6 month check up. She is doing well. She started more foods now. She was doing well with baby cereals, so we added some baby foods. So far, she is liking the new flavors. She's sitting up on her own for long periods now. She still loves being held the best though...that way she can be in the middle of everything -- such a social bug.

Andrew has been showing his independence. He is very strong willed and has his own ideas about bedtime. Often he says I am not tired and will say things like “I don’t want to go to bed ever in my life!” We know he is tired, but it is challenging to get him to go to sleep. Unfortunately, he is very tired the next day and that’s when we see the behavior we don’t particularly like or a meltdown might happen. What he wears is also very important to him. He only wants to wear his “uniform” which is a basketball jersey with matching pants. Another popular choice is his Vikings jersey or Bison jersey. He prefers to wear his Bison shorts, but if he must wear pants, he will have to have them rolled up when he gets inside to make them more like shorts. This is all very frustrating for Ryan and I that he won’t go along with what we tell him to do, but we know it’s part of growing up and he is just trying to take control of what he can. This too shall pass! (We hope!)

Other than that, Andrew is a chatterbox and loves to sing songs. He will often make up different words for the songs, too. For example, Ba Ba Black Sheep have you any “lawnmowers?” He loves going to Bison games and especially enjoys the marching band. Andrew loves flags. He has an American flag and a Bison flag will march around with them. Of course, mom and dad usually have to provide the music by singing the songs the band plays at the games, but he is getting pretty good at singing the melodies and knows almost all of the words of “The Star Spangled Banner.” We are working on potty training. He will only go #2 on the potty chair – nice not to have those poopy diapers anymore. It’s a totally a different story on pee though. He won’t go at school and will never tell us when he has to go pee only. Someday!

We are amazed with his memory. Just the other day, Ryan and Andrew picked up some pizzas at Sammy’s and he turned and saw the round table up front. We usually don’t sit up front, but we did for his birthday party last year. He goes, “Remember singing Happy Birthday right there?” This was about nine months ago and we really haven’t talked about it since! Wow! He went on to say that Nana brought cupcakes with a basketball on top and that Nana, Papa, Grandma Teresa and Papa Pete sang Happy Birthday. It is amazing the amount of details he can remember.

Leah popped out a tooth! It made its appearance November 20th. The second one is coming soon as we can see it under the gums. She is also enjoying the upright world now – she’s sitting up on her own since Thanksgiving weekend. We like to put the Boppy around her just in case, but she really doesn’t need it much. She will also like to sit in her exersauser and play, but only if someone is in the room with her. Luckily Andrew is usually in the playroom shooting hoops or singing a song while waving a flag. She is eating rice and oatmeal baby cereal now and doing well with that. She really likes the oatmeal. We have her 6 month check up on the 14th, so I’m sure we will get the go ahead to add in some fruits and veggies, too. Leah doesn’t like to stay up late though like Andrew did as a baby. This is a little more difficult to go to basketball games. Don’t even think about leaving early though – that’s out of the question for Andrew. :)

We had a nice Thanksgiving in Champlin at Auntie Allison’s house. Andrew, Leah and I went to the NDSU-Gopher basketball game the Wednesday before (and Ryan, too but he was working so didn’t sit with us.) They were very good at the game and we were lucky to sit by our friend Owen and his family. Andrew thought Goldie the Gopher was pretty funny especially when he used a cheerleader’s megaphone for a tee and hit a homer. Ha! We came home in time for the 1st ever Bison Football playoff game at the Fargodome. We got our Christmas tree and decorated that weekend also. Andrew is much more into it this year and the little tree that was in his playroom had to go in his bedroom this year. He doesn’t really care for Santa though and the whole “you better be good so Santa comes to our house” doesn’t work. His excuse is Santa is “too big.”

Have a great Christmas season!

Whoa, time flies with two little ones at home!! Leah has changed a lot since our last update. She is in daycare now. She is doing well there. She did have about a 3 week long cold – that actually turned out to be more than a cold since it didn’t clear up without antibiotics. Now she is doing much better. Finally she started getting back into her sleeping pattern with long stretches at night. She had her 4 month check up. She is right on track with things and got an A+ from the doctor. She gets her feet into the air when she’s on her back and rolls to one side, but not completely over. She doesn’t mind being on her tummy, so not in a big hurry to roll on to her back either from the tummy position. She is very vocal and social. She loves being talked to and it almost always brings a smile.

Andrew is doing well. He is starting to go on the potty chair now. We will see how it goes…it seems like it will be a slow process. He is becoming more independent and seems to have his own opinion on what he should or shouldn’t do… especially when it comes to going to bed or getting dressed in the morning. He is getting really good at coming up with reasons to stall… “Just one more picture, I need a Kleenex, I need a drink of water, etc.” He loves going to Bison games… volleyball being his favorite of the moment.

The kids are so well behaved at the games. I often get comments from strangers on how well behaved they are – thankfully as we will be attending many, many games in their lifetimes. Busy basketball season is just around the corner… This should be interesting as I am used to and comfortable with the one-on-one bedtime and morning routines. I’m going to have to find a new routine when Ryan is out of town or working late after the games, but it can be done as many other moms have done it in the past.

We had Leah in for her 2 month checkup. She is doing well. She was 12 pounds 2 ounces (88% percentile) and 23 inches long (81% percentile). She is doing well otherwise. She had the dreaded first shots. Poor baby girl -- she took a while to calm down from those and has been a little bit fussy this afternoon, but hopefully will be back to her even keeled self soon.

What else is new with Leah? She can smile now and sometime does it when she sees a face she knows. She is very active with her arms and legs always going. She can move around on the floor...I laid her in the middle of a blanket while I was doing something in the kitchen, and when I checked in on her a few minutes later she had her head off the blanket and was perpendicular to way I laid her. Another example is when she is in the pack and play -- she will end up closer to one end when she was put in the middle. She is very strong, especially with her head and neck. She doesn't mind tummy time because she can hold it up for quite a while. She also loves to look at a toy hanging above her or the fish and lights on her bouncy chair. She will even bat at a dangling toy to see what happens. Grandma Teresa calls her a studier as she seems like she is memorizing the faces she looks at. She will even furrow her eyebrows a bit as to say, I am really concentrating now. She has been sleeping very well lately and mom appreciates not getting up every night many times. Her sleep patterns are still a little unpredictable, but the longer stretches at night are awesome.

Andrew loves the summer and his chances to be outside. He likes going on bike rides, playing t-ball or golf, playing in the sandbox and shooting hoops. He loves the Toy Story movies and has his own stuffed Buzz and Woody. He will sing songs. The current favorites are "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." We are talking about potty training and going on the big potty, but he doesn't have much patience for it yet.

We are doing well at the Perreault Household. Andrew is loving “Baby Leah.” He loves to watch her get changed, take a bath and is always telling mom “Leah eat” when she cries. He likes to try and put her pacifier in her mouth, too, but she won’t ever take it from him, so he just always decides, “no want that.” The challenging part with Andrew has been bedtime when Ryan isn’t home at bedtime. He still needs someone to lay by him or sit in the room at bedtime and Leah has not allowed it. It’s like she knows it’s Andrew’s bedtime or something – she will be quite all evening, but as soon as I have to attend to Andrew, she is fussy or wants to eat or something else that requires my undivided attention. So I will tell Andrew to stay in bed while I check on Leah, and sure enough, Andrew will come out of his room a million times. It is actually quite funny to see him “sneak” out. He thinks he is so tricky, but yet he is so noisy as he does it, I know he is coming right away. After a few times, the funniness wears off and the whole situation becomes very frustrating. I hope and pray that he will get better or Leah will be a good sleeper by the time basketball season and the long roadtrips roll around this winter. I should mention that if both parents are home, bedtime is much smoother. I guess our little toddler just knows how to push mom’s buttons.

We had Leah into to have a rash checked out on her face and chest. The doctor said it was just baby acne and it will run its course, but could take several weeks. It’s getting so dried out now and there isn’t any medication to help with it. They did weigh her at the visit and she was 11 lbs. She is getting chubby cheeks and rolls on her legs now. She’s on a pretty manageable schedule now, too. She sleeps 3-4 hours at night and then wakes to eat. Generally, she will go right back to sleep, but there were a couple nights in a row where she was wide awake in the middle of the night for almost 2 hours. Silly girl. Mom and Leah are pretty lazy in the mornings, but we try to get out and do something in the afternoons. We’re going to have her try to transition to her crib in her room. She is getting a little bit cramped in the bassinet, so maybe she will enjoy having a little more wiggle room.

Andrew, Leah and I went to Union Lake in mid-July to meet up with some of my high school classmates. They came from all over with their kids to meet… Washington DC, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota and two in Minnesota. How awesome that we could arrange our schedules to meet. Loved seeing all of you!

We also took a trip to the Chicago area to visit Ryan’s mom. We toured Wrigley Field while we were there. It was fun hearing the history of the field and some of the stories that go along with it. Discovery Toys was having the annual convention there, too, so I went to some of the events. Leah joined me. Luckily, being a toy company, they are very family friendly and happy to let you bring your newborn. I must say that I got tons of comments from everyone and people were so helpful. She was great, too – no fussing. Andrew, Ryan and Grandma Connie went to Lincoln Park Zoo during one of the sessions. It was really hot and humid, so that was too bad because I think it would have been more fun if they weren’t melting. There are so many cool museums, the Shedd Aquarium, Navy Pier, Lake Michigan and the Zoo, I really think that we will enjoy visiting as the kids get older and able to have fun in the Windy City… not to mention the SHOPPING. It will be fun when Leah is old enough to take to the American Girl store and when the whole family can see the Twins beat up on the White Sox and take in a Cubs game and get there via the “L.”

On the way home, we took a tour of Target Field in Minneapolis, too. All I can say is AMAZING!! We got to see the visitors’ clubhouse, dugout, the field, rooftop deck, the club and champion level areas. We are already planning Leah’s first birthday party up in one of the suites. (In our dreams!) We can’t wait to go to a game there sometime.

Overall, the traveling went pretty well. We thought we would be stopping for Leah and Andrew would be entertained by movies, music and books, but it was the opposite and Andrew wanted to get out, sit on Dad’s lap and told Ryan to stop driving a couple of times. He did really well though – we changed his schedule up so much with naps being later or shorter and nights being late, so a few meltdowns should be expected.

We had Leah baptized on Sunday. Jason and Angela are her Godparents. Pastor Kris Gorden baptized her – he was the same pastor that married Ryan and I and baptized Andrew, so that was pretty neat. We have outdoor church in the summer, so it was cool to have the baptism outside. The weather was picture perfect. We had a nice group at our house afterwards to help us celebrate.

We hope the summer slows down now! It’s going way to fast. I think Ryan only has two more baseball tournaments to umpire, so that means the end of summer is coming and he will be revving up with the fall sports starting at NDSU.

A couple quotes from Andrew -- he slips and falls and says "Oopsie daisy." Then he found something amusing and goes "Oh, dear." He is quite the chatterbox and will get mad if you don't listen to him with your undivided attention. "Mommy, listen me!"

Thanks for checking in.

Leah is 1 month old! Time flies. She is doing great. Generally, she is a happy baby. She will only cry when she is hungry or has a burp that needs to come up. She is very active and strong. She can lift up her head when she’s on her tummy or lying on my shoulder. I weighed her here at home and she is already almost 10 pounds. She is getting better at sleeping longer stretches during the night…but not on a consistent basis yet.

Andrew’s imagination is evolving. He will say things like, “Dinosaurs are coming, watch out! Ahhhhh!” He loves to pack things away – you will see a good example in the pictures – he puts all sorts of thing in the storage seat of his fire truck. He will also take all of the magnets from the fridge and put them in a Ziploc bag. We also found the tape measure in the kitchen cupboard with all of the Tupperware. He also loves to go to the grocery store. The main reason is because they give away free balloons. He loves balloons and flags. He has a couple of American flags. He always wants to know where they are. We are big fans of Toy Story at our house. We have the first two DVDs and they are watched often. Andrew and Ryan went to Toy Story 3 in the movie theater. Then they went again – this time Leah and I went, too. By the way, Leah was a champ during the movie – she didn’t make a peep! I recommend the movies if you haven’t seen them. Andrew loves Leah. He is really interested in what she is doing all the time. He will include her when he talking about things we are going to do.

Andrew is quite the talker. Here are some of his phrases:
Peee-you! (Leah’s diapers or his socks)
Watch me, look at me!
Love you, too (Mommy, Daddy, Leah, Nana, etc)
That’s silly!
Watch a movie please.
Leah eat (whenever Leah cries.)
Chase me.
Stop! No like that!
I’m chasing you.
No Mommy! No!
Daddy, where are you?
What’s that sound? (And puts his hand up to his ear)
Eat waffles?
It’s light outside… time to wake up. Eat waffles.
Where Leah?
“Go to grocery store?” Mom or dad say, “No, not right now” Andrew says, “Go to grocery store NOW!”
Little bit?
Why do that?
Why? Why? Why? Why?
Daddy at baseball game?
There’s mom’s work. (as we drive by MeritCare)
Lay by me. (at naptime or bedtime)
Daddy pick me up from school?
Mmmm…I love watermelon (…or fill in the blank with any food.)
Ride in mom’s car?
Carry me.
Swingset?
Hey people, fireworks all done… go home now! Bye!(in traffic after the fireworks)

Leah had her 2 week appointment today. She got a good report. She is back up to her birth weight and more, so she is doing well with nursing.

She also had her first smile today. Both Ryan and I saw it while we were waiting for the doctor.

Happy Birthday Ryan tomorrow (June 24th). I won't say how old, but it's a big one!

Well, our baby girl is 1 week old today! Last week, I had a repeat c-section scheduled on Thursday. I was to call in Wednesday night for the time. Well, the family birth center was super busy, so the canceled me for Thursday and I was moved to Friday. We still weren’t given a time for sure – we were to call Thursday night for a time. Well, Leah apparently didn’t like getting bumped off the schedule for Thursday. I started having contractions on Thursday morning at 1 a.m. It kept me up all night staying about 8 minutes apart. I finally called into the hospital at 5:30 a.m. and they told me to stay home until they were 5 minutes apart and too strong to talk through. So I finally was able to get some rest. I decided to go to work in the morning. I only made it about an hour before I decided to head up to the family birth center. The triage nurse put me on the monitor and my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart. They called my doctor and he said we would do the c-section that day – in fact it would be in 45 minutes. I called Ryan and he came down to the hospital. I had been packing my bag and bringing it each day, so he grabbed everything out of my car and was there in plenty of time. I think I had four or five nurses working on me to get me prepped for the c-section. Everything with the repeat c-section went very well -- a much better experience than with an emergent c-section. We hadn’t told anyone our plans as we didn’t really know the definite plan either. It was great to call everyone with the news – everyone was surprised, so that made it fun. It actually worked out very well as we didn’t have to worry about Andrew since he was at daycare.

My mom has been here to help with Leah and Andrew as well as chauffeur me around. Leah has been a good baby. She likes to eat and pretty much on the every two hour schedule, even during the night, so that is tiring, but she is pretty efficient, so we are back to sleep pretty quickly. We were in to see the lactation nurse on Tuesday. She had lost 10% of her weight upon discharge from the hospital, so it was nice to see a gain of 3 ounces since we had been home. While we were out, we met Ryan for lunch and made a trip to Target. It felt really nice to be out!

Andrew went to spend a few days in Crookston with Nana and Papa. Allison and her kids stopped by on their way to Crookston, too. Andrew has had fun celebrating cousin Marcus’ 1st birthday and enjoying playing with his cousins. They also had a garage sale today. I heard he found some things to bring home. It was nice to have some quiet time with Leah, but we are anxious to have Andrew back home again, too. Andrew is getting used to the idea of Leah. He thinks it is okay when I hold her, not as sure when Ryan holds her, and definitely not okay with Nana holding her yet. I guess her lap is still his territory. He wanted me to lift him out of his highchair the other day and I can’t lift him yet… I told him that, so he told me I was too little to lift him and I would have to wait until I was bigger. I guess he’s heard that one a lot. My mom and I did get a chance to watch him at swimming lessons. It was a hoot to see him doing all of the things that he has explained. He could see us in the observation booth and he was pretty proud to have us watching him.

Holy smokes, where does the time go? I’m already 36 weeks and still cooking Baby #2. It is really tiring me out and I’ve been trying to get rest as much as I can. The worst part has been that I don’t sleep well and my feet and ankles are swollen up pretty early in the day. Luckily, Ryan’s schedule has slowed a bit, so he’s been a huge help with Andrew and the house work.

Last Saturday was the Fargo Marathon in town. My sisters ran the ½ marathon for the 3rd time and did great. My dad got in on the action this year and ran the 1st leg of the 4 person full marathon relay. He did very well, too. We have a great place to watch the marathon, so we had lots of people over to cheer on the runners and had a fun potluck in the afternoon.

Andrew is doing great and learning so much. It's amazing what he retains. His favorite thing to do it go to the grocery store. The best part is our grocery store gives away balloons to the kids and he likes to pick one out to bring home. He is having a little bit of tummy trouble and constipation lately, but we put him on some medication and that seems to be helping. I hope that resolves itself soon as potty training is right around the corner. He doesn’t have any interest in that for now, which I’m okay with since he will have some big adjustments coming up with the new baby coming soon. In June he will be moving into the bigger nap room at daycare where he will be sleeping on a cot instead of crib there. He’s been in his bed at home for a while, so I hope that is an easy transition for him. He will have another session of swimming lessons in June. He started really liking them by the end last time where he got to jump in.

We’ll keep you posted on Baby #2!

Things have been going fast over the last few weeks. I had my 28 week appointment with the OB doctor. Everything is fine and dandy there. I have my next appointment coming up next week. It’s pretty much the waiting phase now although the waiting phase is not taking nearly as long this time. We are pretty much set with the baby stuff from last time. I have to dig out the gender-neutral newborn clothes from storage and buy some newborn diapers.

Our friends Emily and Will had their little boy Easter weekend. We went and visited Liam and we think he looks just like his older brother, Owen. It was fun to hold him and think that will be us soon. We went over to their house the other night, too. Andrew really liked baby Liam and wanted to check him out. Not so sure what he will think once he has to share HIS Mom and Daddy.

He really likes to point out “my mom” and “my Daddy.” He likes to follow up that with hugs – so sweet. He has been telling us that he loves us, too, especially to Daddy unprompted and to Mom sometimes and even occasionally to his stuffed animals.

Andrew did catch a case of croup. He had the barking cough and scary sounding breathing during the middle of the night. He stayed home from daycare two days recovering and had a few nights of bad sleeping. Not to mention that he gave it to mom. I was totally knocked out for pretty much the whole weekend, but we are all on the mend now and getting back to better appetites and more regular schedules.

Andrew has been a mama’s boy lately. Whether it be carrying him somewhere, comforting him during the middle of the night or helping with anything else. Always saying “mom do it.” It gets a little frustrating because some of those things are not as easy any more with my growing tummy. There are those things that require “Andy do it” or “mine do it.” That can be anything from trying to put on his shoes or turn on the nighttime music… but some of his favorite things to do himself now are to climb up into his car seat and stroller all by himself and do the buckles, too. Then he always proclaims that he is a “big boy.” It is hard to not smile at him being so proud. We have found that it is best to let him try things on his own or he is probably going to have a tantrum for not getting to try. If he can’t do it on his own, he’s pretty good at asking for help. He’s very inquisitive, too always asking “doing?” and “going?”

Ryan has been busy umpiring all over the place. The weather has been unseasonable BEAUTIFUL helping out the cause at getting most of the games in and finally getting to use some of his comp time that he built up over the busy seasons at work with all of the traveling he did.

Andrew has been enjoying his time outside – they go outside usually twice a day at daycare. By the time we get home and have supper, there usually isn’t much more time to play outside, but he does like to be in the yard if daddy is working out there. He will play t-ball and he really likes to go on the swing. We have a lot of rabbits in our yard and they are easy to see now that the grass has turned green, so he likes to point those out along with birds.

We were down to the cities to visit Andrew’s cousins over Easter. We stayed at a hotel. The highlight was the glass elevators and being able to “push the button.” Ryan also took him swimming, which is something he hasn’t had a lot of exposure to. He liked it ok when his cousins were around swimming, too and he could throw the ball to mom up on the deck. It was sort of a test run for swimming lessons that started this week. The lessons are parent-child, so he went with dad. It was a bit challenging as Andrew was scared during the lessons and really doesn’t like to have his head underwater. The funny thing was is that after the fact, if anyone asked him about swimming lessons, he always said they were fun. He was able to give me the whole play by play of the lesson including the songs they sung and that they had to swim after some plastic pumpkins.

Andrew is TWO!! We had a low key birthday for Andrew. He was able to bring a treat for school. He requested to bring fruit snacks for all of his friends at school. The teachers made a crown for him for the day, too. We went to Sammy’s for supper and had cupcakes for dessert. He just loved when we lit the candle and sang Happy Birthday. He would say “More Happy” and we had to sing it a few times and he got to blow out the candle a few different times.

Things are going pretty well in his big boy bed. He is good at sleeping through the night for the most part, but lying down and going to sleep on his own is hard. Bedtime can get pretty late sometimes. Despite that, he hasn’t seemed to be overtired the following day. He has taken ownership of his new room and doesn’t even really think of the old room with the crib unless we want to use the rocking chair once and a while for a bad dream or a really challenging night going to sleep. We moved over all of his clothes Andrew’s room, too. Empty drawers await pink or blue in the baby’s room now.

Andrew has tried the potty a few times at school, but nothing has happened. I’m not quite sure that he gets the concept yet, but good that he is interested in the process. We did get a potty for at home, but I haven’t set it up yet.

We had Andrew’s 2 year check up. All is well and the doctor gave him a good report. Just one shot and we sang the ABC’s during it. He had a little pause when nurse poked him, but continued afterward to finish up the song. No tears…only an “Ouch.” That was forgotten seconds later when he got to choose from the wall of stickers. He picked out some with Lightning McQueen.

Andrew loves to sing songs and dance to them. He is always asking to turn the music on in his room. He likes to press the play button. He also likes to "scoop snow." That is probably going to be over soon though because all of the snow is pretty much melted. He has been very concerned about where the snow is going. We are happy to see our grass again, and would like it to be a little less muddy in the backyard so we can play outside.

Speaking of melting snow, the river was up again this year, but a much more low key flood than last year's record breaker. Some sandbagging was done is some of the neighborhoods and dikes were put up, but the crest was pretty uneventful this year. Thank goodness.

Baby #2 is doing fine. I’m at 27 weeks now. They started a baby pool at work for the 3 expectant mothers. Points will be given for correct guesses of the gender of each baby and for closeness to actual arrival date. Should be fun to see how it all turns out. I haven’t had a doctor’s appointment since my last update, but have one coming up next week.

We moved Andrew into his new room. He moved next door to the former office. We put up a double bed and decorated it in a sports theme. We kept him in his crib for a while and just read books on his new bed. On Monday night, he made the decision to sleep in there and has been sleeping in there every night and nap since. He’s been sleeping really well for the most part. He moves around a lot and we have found him with his head where his feet should be, sideways and at the foot of the bed. One night he did roll off the foot of the bed, but went right back to sleep. We have that problem remedied with a few extra pillows at the foot of the bed. Thank you so much to both Nana and Papa Lindsay as well as Grandpa “Pizza” for helping us move the office to its new location downstairs and getting Andrew’s new room set up. Andrew turns 2 on Wednesday! We don’t have a big party planned this year, but he did request to bring fruit snacks to school for all of his friends.

MeritCare got new OB ultrasound machines, so they were looking for pregnant volunteers to have an ultrasound in order to train the staff. We were lucky enough to get and see baby #2 again. The new machines are awesome and it was neat to see the detail. I also had my 24 week appointment this week with the doctor. Everything looked good with the baby. I also had my glucose tolerance test and passed with a glucose level of 122.

It’s basketball playoff time. Gotta love this time of year!

We had the ultrasound for baby #2 on February 1st. Everything looks good and last week marked the halfway point of the pregnancy. The baby is measuring pretty close to the due date, so the doctor didn’t change it. We didn’t find out the gender. The plan is to keep the current gender neutral nursery for the new baby with the bugs, and Andrew will move into the room next door that is currently the office. We have a sports theme picked out for that, so we hope that will help to ease the transition a bit. He will be out of the crib and into a bed, so we hope to make the transition happen before the new brother/sister comes along.

Andrew is doing great. His favorite thing to do is go to NDSU basketball games. He is so good during the games. He doesn’t even really go to into his bag of toys for the game because he is so into the game. He loves to listen and dance to the band and cheer for all made baskets, even the other team. When he isn’t at the games, he likes to shoot baskets in his little hoop in his play room. He likes to draw pictures, read books and play with his train as well.

His favorite thing to drink is chocolate milk. He thinks of it often and asks for it. We were even looking a book the other day with a picture of a brown dump truck. That was chocolate. He likes oranges, too. He likes to eat them for bedtime snack with Daddy in particular. He is learning his colors. Blue, red, yellow, orange are all in the mix. Green isn’t green. It’s Bison. The teachers at school must really wonder. He gets notes from the teacher at school every day and last week one of the notes said, Andrew noticed the yellow and green jello for lunch and said “Bison.” I think we have brainwashed him well. :) We are working on putting two and three word phrases together. “Bison Basketball, shoot the ball, and chocolate milk” are a few. He is also finding things that are the same. For example, we had a pink balloon and grandma was wearing a pink vest. He noticed they were the “same.”

The company that hosts this website is going to be going out of business this summer. I’m so bummed, because I haven’t found an alternative that I like even though I have tried out a few different companies. Maybe I’ll figure out how to build one from scratch with all my free time I’ll be sure to have once baby #2 arrives. Ha!

We had a very nice Christmas weekend in the Crookston area. We left early to avoid the snowstorm. Everyone made it in time for Christmas Eve church service. Christmas Day we had planned to go to Andrew’s great aunt Marilyn’s house, but it was too stormy for everyone to make it, so we postponed the celebration until Sunday. We had a nice Christmas Day stormed in with the Lindsay cousins and aunts and uncles. Saturday was still pretty stormy, but it was nice enough by Sunday to travel. We had a nice time with the extended family and Santa even visited. Andrew’s daycare was closed the week after Christmas, so we decided to leave Andrew at Grandma and Grandpa’s house in Crookston. The cousins were still there, so it was lots of fun for him. We want to say thank so much to Ryan’s dad for snow blowing our driveway while we were away! How nice to just drive right into the garage Sunday night!

We went to church on the Sunday after Christmas, and Andy starting getting all snuggly like he was going to fall asleep about the middle of the service. This was very out of character for him, so we thought something might be wrong – well we found out by the end of the service when he started throwing up. Unfortunately for me, most of ended up on the front of my shirt. Luckily for Andrew, it made him feel a lot better and was good to go for the rest of day. We think that the illness trickled down to us though because Monday night, Ryan and I were both sick! Both of us were awake throwing up several times throughout the night. We both hadn’t been sick like that for many years. We were very thankful that Andrew was not home.

I made my OB appointment on Tuesday afternoon. Baby #2 is doing well and we got to hear the heart beat. I lost some weight from the last appointment. I attributed it to the previous night causing some dehydration. Next up is the ultrasound in February. Right now we are leaning towards not finding out the gender of the baby this time either. It was fun to hear “It’s a boy” with Andrew’s birth, so we are looking forward to that surprise again.

We got Andrew back on Thursday! We missed him while he was gone. The house was so quiet, so it’s great to have him back. I think he has been playing basketball with his little hoop whenever he gets the chance. He has had a bit of an attitude since he’s been home. Mainly not wanting to ever take his shoes off or change his clothes or diaper. Putting on his jacket, hat and mittens to go somewhere is also a chore. He wants to come with, but he would rather go without the warm clothes. That’s not going to work so well around here. It’s been so cold! It was -35°F on Saturday night. That’s without the wind chill factor. The highs are supposed to be much above zero if at all the rest of week. Brrrrrr.

We are back to the grind tomorrow. Thanks for checking in.