Next stop: Chopsticks!

For the past couple of weeks, we've been giving Andrew eating utensils to hold and play around with.  He usually uses them as musical instruments.  Even when he doesn't use them as a drumstick, he knows that you are supposed to eat with them and will often put food on fork or spoon, but never brings it to his mouth. 

Well, tonight after a bit of coaxing and encouragement, Andrew figured out how to feed himself with his fork.  Granted, we put his food on his fork for him, he did learn how to bring it to his mouth.

He gave the biggest smile after he fed himself.  Mommy and Daddy were cheering him on with every bite!  I think he loved the attention.

Once he figured out that Mommy and Daddy would say words of encouragement and clap their hands for him after each bite, he started to join in with the clapping.

Notice the big toe with tiny bits of food particles on it?  Andrew has reverted to sucking on his toes again and thought that his after dinner snack should be his little piggies.

Choices

It never fails that Andrew finds some way to climb onto the couch so he can mess around with everything within reach on the side table.

Push buttons on remote: check

Knock over pacifier: check

Not caught on camera:

Andrew attempting to push the lamp to the floor

Grab the chapstick, eye drops, and nail clipper all with the intention of putting into one's mouth

Dragging the candy bowl across the table into hopeful arms

But, alas, there is another reason Andrew wanted up on the couch. 

Would it be the Backyardigans cup filled with milk...?

...or the Sesame Street cup filled with apple juice?

Or will it be both?

Nope!  Juice Won!

The journey ends...

For any parents of young babies or toddlers, I will have to say that the Graco Pack 'n' Play was a life saver!  Not only was it easy to set up and take down, but Andrew took his nap and slept at night with no problem! 

While Andrew thoroughly enjoyed walking around outdoors, he is a very mischevious little boy.  So, having his little play pen available made it easy to put him in his "prison" so that he could safely play without running (or crawling) away and/or getting into something he shouldn't while Mommy and Daddy were cooking or packing up the vehicle.  So, for all you avid nature lovers with kids, this play pen is a must.

Andrew's first camping trip was a huge success!  Our main priority was how he would sleep being away from his crib and home, but that seemed to not be a problem at all.  We are eagerly anticipating the next time we can get out and explore with our little one.

We are also going to remember that if you invite one raccoon into your tent, he/she will want to invite their friends.  Happy Summer everyone!  :)

Hiking, Pt. 2

Mommy and me time.  You can see that this boy is obsessed with his blanket. 

Just trying to help Daddy with his sunglasses.

We found an old family cemetary on our hike.  It belonged to the Payne Family.

Can you identify the White Oak?

Unfortunately, our hiking was cut short when we encountered this on our trail.

With the bridge washed out and no obvious way around it, what to do?

We backtrack and head back to camp!  Thus, ending our hiking excursion.

Hiking, Pt. 1

To continue Andrew's first camping experience, we headed to one of the trails for a little bit of hiking.  With a happy baby and BOB stroller in tow, we were ready!

The trail itself was not difficult...unless you are manuevering with a baby in a stroller.  Dustin was such a good sport and did all of the hard work.  Here's a picture of us going down a set of stairs right off the bat.

How cruel...what goes down, must come up? 

It was easier for Dustin to pull the stroller backwards when climbing the stairs.  Here you can see Andrew clinging for dear life to his stroller.  What you don't see is that just a few moments earlier he was checking his harness to make sure he was strapped in properly.  :)

I would not describe his expression as excited...Andrew or Dustin's.

Stopping to take a creative picture through a fallen tree trunk.

Stairs, again?!

I'm so sad...

...but, what do you do?

Breakfast time!

Andrew was a very happy baby when he woke up from his first overnight camping trip.  He is way past eating "baby" food and only wants to eat what you eat.  So, his breakfast consisted of an everything bagel with cream cheese, ham and yogurt.  Andrew enjoys eating utensils and loves to use them as drumsticks.  Here he is rock 'n' rolling with a spoon.

Andrew's first camping adventure!

Last night we decided to head over to Raccoon State Rec. Area in Rockville, IN to go enjoy the outdoors, break in the new vehicle, and have Andrew experience his first overnight camping adventure.  We met a couple of our friends out there who were able to get there a couple of hours before we did.  We almost didn't stay because there was a huge thunderstorm moving in and when we pulled into our spot at the camp site, torrential rainpour decided to greet us.  We had to wait a bit before it let up enough to allow us to pitch a tent, but we were able to and therefore we stayed the night.

We took our first official family camping picture.  You can see that Andrew has his blanket that he NEVER leaves home without.  That kid has a constant ninja, kung-fu grip on it 24/7.

When we got there, we just ate sandwiches instead of trying to light a grill for hamburgers.  Andrew played in his Pack 'n' Play and had no problem sleeping that night. 

After Andrew went to bed, Dustin was getting something out of the tent and instead of zipping the flap, left it open as to not disturb baby with the noise.  We kept an eye on the tent to make sure no random vagabonds decided to sleep in our tent, but I guess we were not so observant.

When I went to enter the tent, I looked down at my feet and saw these footprints!

A raccoon had entered the tent, without us knowing, AND with Andrew sleeping away!  Thank God that the raccoon was no longer in the tent and nothing unfortunate happened to Andrew.  The worst case scenario would have been finding the raccoon in the Pack 'n' Play with Andrew eating Cheetos.

Well, Dustin learned his lesson, but as it happens, the rest of the night we were under constant attack from other raccoons.  At one point, one of the raccoons had actually unzipped our tent about 6 inches!  I've never encountered raccoons quite like that, but maybe that's how the Rec. Area got its name?

In any case, Andrew slept great that night and did not have any problem adjusting to his new environment.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to one special dad!  Dustin is a wonderful father and Andrew is very lucky to have him around.

Typically, Dustin works on Sundays, but he decided to take off to spend the day with us.  His iPhone 4 has been acting up for a very long time, so we spent the afternoon driving up to Keystone to "fix" his phone at the Apple Store and they ended up giving him a new one!  Yay!  Hopefully, this one will not act up like the one before.

Since Dustin got his new phone, he decided he wanted to protect it.  So, we got him an Otter Box case for his iPhone.  Apparently, you can run over it with a tank and it will protect your phone.  At least we now know that Andrew can't do anything to hurt it.  :)

We also had a late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and Andrew enjoyed lots of good food, but his stomach decided not to agree with him and then he proceeded to throw up said good food on the table.  :)

You might be thinking, "What? No card or cake for Dustin on his special day?"  Well, Andrew and I bought Daddy a card and cupcakes from Vanilla Bean, but we were so excited that we couldn't wait until Father's Day.  So, we celebrated a little bit early. 

For those of you who don't know, I have a tendency to exchange and give gifts early because I simply can't wait.  This also makes Christmas very difficult because Dustin and I tend to exchange gifts 1-2 weeks before Christmas.  :)

Anyway, Dustin had a great Father's Day celebrating it with his family.

Newest family member

Say "Hello!" to our family's newest member.  On July 16, 2011, we purchased a new 2011 Toyota 4Runner equipped with navigation, heated seats and windshield wipers, 3rd row seating, 15 speakers, and I think they even threw in a free cheesecake!  :)  This vehicle has everything I want knowing that we plan to expand our family in the near future.  Next stop - camping! ... and then possibly another baby.  :)

Little Drummer Boy

Andrew has recently learned how to reuse his toys in another way, thus relieving mommy and daddy from buying him more toys. 

This once was a drum, but turned upside down and placed upon the cranium becomes a very nice hat.  He does this multiple times a day and laughs every time he puts it on his head.

At least we know his noggin will be somewhat protected if we ever experience an earthquake here.

Static cling

We have yet to cut Andrew's hair because we think it's just too darn cute, but the truth is that his hair is starting to creep down into his eyes.  When his hair used to stick up like he had put his finger in an electrical outlet, now it is so long that is usually lays flat. 

Well, when Andrew woke up from his nap, he must have slept in a way that gave his hair much volume.  :)  This still doesn't excuse the fact that he still needs a haircut.  It's almost to the point where I can tie the back of his hair into a tiny ponytail. 

All in a week's work

While Aunt Khanh was visiting over Memorial Day Weekend, I would like to say we spent our time shopping, soaking up rays, and enjoying a few well-deserved mojitos (that last one did happen), she was so great to volunteer her time and vacation to help us beautify our home.  During many windless, sunny days (and while Andrew was taking a nap), we bleached our very aged deck and then proceeded to stain and waterproof it to improve not only its looks, but also to extend its life.

This is our finished product!  If you look at the beam in the background, that piece we did not get around to staining, so you can see what color the deck was before we made it look gorgeous!  :)

We also got a new dining set and seating area to bring together the deck.  We're hoping that this minor act of staining and waterproofing the deck will be a huge selling point on this house when we are ready to move.  So, thank you to my sister, Khanh, for all of the hard work and time she gave up to help us with our house.  Believe me, it would have taken much more than a week to do it if she wasn't around.

Tea time!

Lately, Andrew has been wanting to skip a few steps in his development and go from baby/toddler straight to big boy!  Instead of using his straw sippy cup, he sees us drinking out of glasses and feels left out and wants to do the same.  So, Aunt Khanh decided to let him drink a little bit of her iced tea from her glass...I think he liked it a bit too much.

After about 30 seconds of Andrew gulping down tea, Aunt Khanh tried to get him to stop - either because he was drinking too much or back-washing...I'm not sure which.

He was very adamant about NOT releasing his death grip on the glass.  You can see the determination on his face to keep drinking.  Eventually, we were able to get him to release his kung fu grip, but he was not a happy camper.