My Auntie Can Really Paint

As it is with most second children, they get the hand-me downs and leftovers from their older siblings.  Andrew is no exception.  We did try to get rid of some of the pink and incorporate a few "boy" things into his room.  My favorite being the cute little painting that Kate did that ties in the other animal paintings in the room!

Trip to Como Park

We decided to take Addie to Como Zoo on a very HOT Saturday morning, but by the time we got the car packed up and drove out to St. Paul, the parking lots were full and we forgot to bring a stroller for Addie.  Actually she said that she didn't need one, and I was naive enough to think that a 2.5 year old could walk around a Zoo - not so much!  So by the time we walked the distance to the entrance, we decided that riding a few rides at Como Town would suffice.

Addie started off a little apprehensive, so Mike rode the Teacup with her - so cute!  She loved it and was set to start taking on the rides by herself.

All I can think about when I look at this picture is how sweet and innocent she looks right now and in 13 short years she will be sitting behind a REAL steering wheel.  Scary.

Graduated to driving her own horse and buggy!

By the end of the morning, she was basically fearless and riding the swings all by herself and loving it!

When Daddy Watches Me.........

So Andrew has spent the first few months of his life not really lovin Daddy all that much.  He much prefers to spend his time with Mommy and who can really blame him?

 Classic example of Andrew's temperment when left to hang out with Mike.  Oh well, Addie still loves him.

"I am just going to go to sleep and pretend this isn't happening!"

"Give me another Miller if you expect me to hang with the old man much longer."

Mommy is still in charge..........

Now Daddy........

There is a bit of a theme in these pictures, if Andrew is not bawling his head off, he is completely passed out.  This is what happens when Daddy "babysits" me!

Oh How She Loves Him

While I was pregnant, we of course spent a fair amount of time talking to Addie about her new baby brother that was coming, and emphasizing that she is going to be a "Big Sister" and how wonderful that is going to be. There are so many stories about older siblings being jelous or regressing when the baby arrives, so we wanted to try to do what we could do get her excited about the big change! Well, we need not fear. Addie thinks that Andrew is the best thing ever. Seriously. Every single day that she gets home from daycare, the very first question that she asks is "Where is Andrew?" She usually asks this while her hand is still on the doorknob and before she is even completely in the house. She then spends the next several minutes in his face (approx) 1 inch from his face, laying on him, talking to him, pretty much anything that she can do until he starts to cry from being smothered - at which point we then pull her away to give him some breathing room.

 Check out the look on Andrew's face and his amazing hair - gotta love it!

 Addie a little annoyed that Andrew is not cooperating and loving her hugs......

 Night night kiss for baby brudder.

Addie is always requesting to hold Andrew, although she usually only ends up wanting to do it for a couple of minutes until her attention gets redirected elsewhere, but we go through this several times a day!

Growing SO Fast!

It amazes me how quickly Andrew is growing! He looks completely different after just one month! I guess babies do that, but it is a reminder of how fast things can change, and how important it is to enjoy every day!


Chillin with my sissy, both haning out in our undies.  One of my all-time favorite pictures, doesn't get much better than this!

Passed out on the way over to Sarah's house to visit with Olivia while they were home on Maternity leave.

Wide awake and so alert, just hanging out in the bouncy chair, get a little rest before the next round of eating, pooping, and crying happens!

Andrew Makes His Appearance......Finally!

So I decided that my last day of work would be Friday June 4th in anticipation of Andrew's Friday June 11th due date.  I was sure that since he was measuring big, I was having a number of contractions, and was very uncomfortable, he would cooperate and show up a little early for me.  Not so much.  I had a Dr. Appt on Wednesday June 9th in which my Dr. said that I was 2-3 cm dilated and could go at any time, but the earliest that she could induce me was on Sunday.  Okay, I can wait a few more days, and hopefully he will decide to come on his own before then.  Not so much.  At 5:30am on Sunday my Dr. called and said that there was no way she could induce me, she currently had 4 active labors and all of the beds were filled up.  Very disappointing, we were all set to have a baby that day - bag packed, my Mom on her way to take care of Addie, Katie was ready to coach me through it.  Oh well, I am nothing if not totally flexible........

So on Monday I called the Dr. office to find out when the next induction could be scheduled, and we set the date for Wednesday June 16th at 7:30am.  On Tuesday night at about 7pm I started having contractions that lasted throughout the night - painful enough to keep me up for several hours.  So Mike and I took Addie to McDonald's prior to dropping her off at daycare (apparently my contractions were not reason enough for Mike to skip out on his egg mcmuffin.)  When I arrived at the hospital, there were able to get me checked in right away and hooked up to a fetal monitor, and baby was being very active (thanks to my sugary yogurt parfait).  The nurse checked me and said that I was about 5 cm's dilated at that point and having contractions about every 5 minutes.  So regardless of induction we were having a baby that day for sure!  The nurse contacted my Dr. to find out if it was even necessary to start the pitocin, which they decided to do, and she said that we would have a baby by lunch time.  This seemed very quick, considering the fact that I was in labor with Addie for 20 hours!  Soon after the pitocin was administered, I also received an epidural, which did not take on the first attempt, so they administered again, and this time I could feel my legs go numb.  I am pretty sure the contractions were more uncomfortable than the the effects of the epidural, but it still was not a pleasant experience.  By 11:15am I was dilated to 10 cm's and ready to start pushing, and we actually started a bit before the Dr. arrived, and at 11:30am Andrew made his appearance into the world!

We could not believe how big he was, he was huge, seemed more like a 2 month old rather than a newborn!  He spent the first 5 minutes of his life pooping all over the place (he pooed 3 times before the nurse was even able to weigh him.)  Really not much has changed since then!

The next couple of hours were rough, I had a lot of bleeding and had a horrible case of the shakes from the epidural wearing off - my teeth were chattering and my body was shaking uncontrollably for about an hour - it was exhausting. 

After awhile we were moved to another room to try and get some rest.  Mike went to pick up Addie and some Potbelly subs for dinner.  Addie was so excited to meet her little brother - at this point we still had not decided on his name, so he was still being referred to as "little brudder."

After 30 hours in the hospital, I decided enough was enough and we were ready to take out little package home.  Well, I was ready to go home, and they make you take the baby with you, so off we were to start our new life as a family of 4!!

Gymnastics

We decided to enroll Addie in gymnastics for the summer to give her and Daddy a fun activity to do together, and she has absolutely loved it!  It has been 9 weeks of trampolines, balance beams, mats, bars and more!

The first week started off a little rough, it took Addie awhile to realize that she had to follow directions and stick with what the class was doing and could not just run from one fun apparatus to the next. We spent the week talking about "listening to your teacher Miss Erica" and "FREEZE! Hands on your knees" and the second week was much smoother!

Practicing on her trampoline at home, she loves going out on the porch to show off her flips!  "Look at me, I did it!" is her favorite phrase right now.

She seems to be pretty coordinated and does really well crossing the "noodle beam."

Besides the big trampoline, Addie most likes the bars that she can swing on and flip upside down.  Overall gymnastics was a great learning experience and a great bargaining tool for us, "You better eat a good dinner if you want to go to gymnastics!"  Now will have to think of something new!

Hanging Out

Nana visiting for a day and hanging out with Miss Addie.

Addie is over 2 years old, and still loves to jump in her jumper, while sporting her butterfly shaped sunglasses and wearing her stilettos!

Baby Sling

In preparation for Baby #2, I purchased a new baby sling at Little Bare Bottoms http://www.littlebarebottoms.com/index.html, in hopes that the new one will like the sling more than Addie did as a baby.

So as a test run, Mike read the instructions and I used Addie as my guinea pig.  It actually worked really well, and didn't feel like I was carrying a 25lb toddler.

Addie then of course had to try out the sling as well, it worked beautifully for her 8oz doll!  Even better without a shirt on!

Cold Weekend at Nana's

What to do with a 2 year old when visiting Nana on a cold weekend after we have run out of treats?  Visit the playland at the Mall!  Total germ fest, but Addie seemed to have fun.  Great way to burn up energy, that sometimes seemed never ending.......

 

Nana sat and watched Addie run around while I waddled around the mall looking in a few different stores. 

The best part about all these rides is that preferred to just sit in them, she did not want to actually have them in operation - whoo hoo, especially since each ride costs $1.00.  She must have sat on each ride 15 times, and loved jumping off and running to the next one. 

  "Mommy look at me!" Favorite expression of the afternoon.

Sesame Street Live

Since Addie had such an obsession with Elmo (it is already passed), we decided that she would really enjoy going to Sesame Street Live and seeing all of the characters in action.  We tried not to talk about it too much ahead of time, since she really has no concept of time, so we started hyping it up a couple of days ahead of time, and she was pretty excited!

.

Addie and Mike walking through the dowtown skyway to get to the Target Center - this was quite a slow walk as Addie was very intersted in observing all of the "intersting" people that we passed.

Stopping for a photo next to Elmo to do a height comparision - she was pretty overwhelmed at this point by all the people and activity.

Two of Addie's favorite things: the MN Vikings (because Mike has brainwahsed her) and Elmo.  She loves to point out the Viking's logo and shout "Go Vikings" it is beyond annoying, but Mike just loves every minute of it!

Addie did a great job paying attention and really seemed to enjoy the show until about the last 15 minutes when she started getting antsy, just a little bit too long for a 2 year old.  My favorite part about the show was during intermission when they promptly brought out about 100 huge balloons of Elmo, and of course every kid in the place just has to have one, and at a whopping $10 piece, they made quite a profit.  Way to go Target Center.  Luckily for us, Addie was too busy making me treck up and down the 12 flights of stairs so that she could go "poopy."  Good times!

Potty Training

Well, I can finally report that something with Addie was actually easy, and surprisingling enough it was our experience with potty training!  The three days that we spend trapped at home over New Year's Eve weekend was not so awesome, but the fact that she has been totally potty trained since then is absolutely amazing!  Thanks to Sarah who introduced us to the 3 Day Potty Training Method, which involves spending 3 straight days at home doing nothing but plugging your child with liquids and hoping that they make it to the toilet at some point.

We took the advice from the book I read (I tried to make Mike read it too, but that was a failed attempt) and threw away all diapers, really talked up "big girl underwear."  We kept her pants off for the 3 days, which she loved, as she got to wear her leggings for 3 days straight.  For some reason she thinks those things are fabulous and would wear them every day of the week if we let her.

Taking a little break from drinking and us constantly saying to her, "Okay Addie, remember to tell us if you have to go potty."  This was the key phrase of the weekend.  We started to get a little panicked on Sunday night when it seemed like she was regressing and having more accidents than at the begining of the process and I was starting to think the whole 3 day thing was going to be a total bust.  Surprisingly, she went to daycare on Monday, and no accidents, and no accidents the rest of the week either!

Notice the towel that we strategically placed on the couch (we didn't have much confidence).  Addie again showing off her outfit and plugging away at another cup of milk!  Another milestone down, so many more to go......looking forward to it!