Trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will

I've been slow to respond and trying to choose my words carefully.  I have been grieving the actions on the state of NY.  Sick to my stomach kind of appalled.  I know I'll not do this as eloquently as others, but it's heavy on my heart.  Friends, we cannot remain quiet any longer.  There is literally life at stake.  

I've had this article pop up on my news feed countless times the past couple of days and I want to take a moment to address the key points:

Title:  It is possible to be morally pro-life and politically pro-choice at the same time. <<<< I disagree, there are only two options-- you are either it for it or against it.  One or the other.  This is like saying, I'm not personally in favor of murder, but I won't interfere with anyone's right to kill a [insert person - my neighbor, the homeless, the disabled, a democrat, a republican].  Should we also remove the endangered species list while we're at it?  I'm not in favor of killing bald eagles, but I won't interfer with anyone's right to kill a bald eagle.  Or, I'm not personally in favor of breaking into a house, but I won't interfere with anyone's right to do so.  And, quite frankly, if it's someone's right to enter this country illegally, then I don't see why they can't just come into our houses?

Point:  There's far too much gray area to legislate.   That's just an excuse.  Like me saying, this accounting standard is too hard to implement, so I guess I won't [yeah, I'm an accountant].  My house is so dirty, so I think I'll just live in filth for the rest of my life.  If we just gave up when things were hard, where would we be?  My job is too hard, I'm not going to try.

Point: Abortion bans hurt some mothers who desperately want their babies to live, and I'm not okay with that.  I've heard too many stories of families who desperately wanted a baby, who ended up having to make the rock-and-a-hard place choice to abort because the alternative would have been a short, pain-filled life for their child. Too many stories of mothers having to endure long, drawn out, potentially dangerous miscarriages and being forced to carry a dead baby inside of them because abortion restrictions gave them no other choice.  <<<< The bill signed into law by NY literally requires you to kill a full-term baby and then deliver it.  You are forced to carry a dead baby inside of you no matter what with abortion.  We can't make the baby disappear.  Gosh, I can't imagine giving birth to a child that's only going to live a pain-filled life.  Can't even imagine.  All I know, is that I pray to God every night: 

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one  moment at a time; accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;  trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will; so that I may be reasonable happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Point:  I am not willing to serve as judge and jury on a woman's medical decisions, and I don't think the government should either. <<<< Did we just eliminate the argument for government funded healthcare?  Also,  I guess we're OK acting as the judge and jury to high school students wearing MAGA hats?  Are we implying that pregnancy is a disease and abortion is the cure?  Please tell me, if so. 

Point:  Most importantly, if the goal is to prevent abortion, research shows that outlawing it isn't the way to go.<<<<< Using that logic, I guess we didn't need to outlaw segregation.  Or, I guess we don't need to outlaw murder or rape?  Why do we even have laws?  Further, we could move to the gun control argument here-- we're so focused on outlawing guns, but by this logic, I guess we shouldn't?

There's so many problems with these arguments-- when it all boils down to us scraping together excuses to make murder OK so we can all sleep at night.   And I'm sorry, it's not OK.  It's time to get vocal and put actions behind our words.  It is a matter of life or death and there's nothing in between.

Much love friends,

Jessica

Goodnight Treebark Lane

Goodnight Treebark Lane
Goodnight cul-de-sac street
Goodnight my home of three years
And where I brought Andrew home for the first time
Goodnight 1960's bathroom and closets
Goodnight living room where we played crashtacular
Goodnight fun-filled backyard
And goodnight tree swing
Goodnight big island where Parker has run circles
And goodnight red rocking chairs on the front porch
Goodnight new, sweat equity front door
And goodnight creaky old floor
Goodnight big old deck for entertaining
And goodnight outdooor lights which were such a pain to get hanging
Goodnight to the house that experienced my first lesson at potty-training
And goodnight to the room where I rocked my kids to sleep
Goodnight neighbors
Goodnight replaced & upgraded underslab plumbing that was a big pain
And goodnight to all of the memories we had at Treebark Lane.

Today we said good-bye to a really great home.  We have so many fun-filled memories here, so much laughter, wrestling and love.  I know we're sending her off to a great couple, but it's still hard to say good-bye.  It was such a treasure we found in Oak Forest-- I'll always remember you house on Treebark Lane.

With Love,

Jessica

Andrew's 18-Month Update!

Oh, Andrew.  You’re a pistol.  You keep us on our toes!  It’s hard to believe you’re on the downhill to two.  How can it be?!  You have really grown these past six months—really turned into a toddler with a capital T.  Your personality is really starting to come out and you’re becoming a lot more vocal.  Watching and doing whatever Parker is doing is your jam.  You follow him around most everywhere.  If he’s on a scooter, you want to be on a scooter.  If he’s jumping on the trampoline, you want to be on a trampoline.  If he’s playing trucks, you’re right there with them.

You definitely seem to be more fearless—we play pretty rough and do lots of tackling and you’re not afraid to just dive off the furniture and tackle someone.  You trust that someone is always going to catch you.  That being said, you crash A LOT.  You are always tripping on something because our house is never clean and when you run, your head gets in front of you and you end up going down.  You’ve had a full on black eye and too many bruises and scrapes to count.  Most of them on your head and/or face it seems.  You go down hard.

Also, your temper.  We have to talk about that.  When you don’t get your way, you just will flat-line yourself out on the ground and slam your head down over and over.  It doesn’t matter if it’s concrete, wood floors, carpet, tile, etc.  You just slam yourself down and go to town with your head.  Mom’s a bit frightful of you becoming concussed, but we try to ignore it because I think you do it b/c we immediately pick you up and cuddle you.  So, basically, it works.  But, it looks like it hurts!  You also aren’t afraid to hit your brother back or take a swipe at him if he gets in your space (you go kid!).  That being said, throwing things is a problem for you.  You think its hilarious to throw anything and you’ll sit in the car and just throw goldfish around with a giant smile on your face.  I’ve had a few hit me while driving, no lie.  Future baseball player perhaps??

You give the best hugs—you run and launch yourself into the person.  I love this stage of the hugs.  You mean every bit of it.  You can also make kissing sounds with your lips, but don’t understand to kiss someone.  You also say mama, dada, vroom vroom (truck), woof woof (dog), wa wa (drink), and yeah.  So far, “no,” hasn’t entered into your vocabulary and it’s so cute because you nod your head yes and say “yeah” like everything is so exciting!  However, if you don’t like something, you’ll push it away, spit it out or flat out flail your arms around.  We get it.

You can wave “bye bye,” too.  Every night, we play in Parker’s room for a while after bath.  I will say, “Andrew, it’s time to go read and go night, night.”  And you’ll nod your head, say “yeah,” and then wave bye bye.  I’ll say, “give hugs Andrew” and you launch yourself into my arms for the best hug.  Then you grab hold of your dad’s hand and walk with him to your room where he reads you one to two books before dropping you off in your crib.  You cuddle up with about 6 animals like brother does and sleep soundly until about 8:30 on weekends (have I mentioned how lucky I am?!).

Brother keeps asking when you can sleep with him, so I know he’s excited to sleep with you one day.  Overall, you and brother have really started developing a relationship these past few months.  He loves you so much and you two can get into lots of trouble together.  But, I can tell the way he looks at you and says, “Come on, Andrew” that he loves you something fierce.  You guys coexist a lot better and play together more these days.  Pushing trucks around and playing chase are some of your favorites.  You have figured out how to do ready, set, go and you and brother will line up and race.  You also love the playground at the park and you guys race down the slide.  Fearless you are.

January and February were rough months around here—you were sick ALL THE TIME.  And you are a GRUMP when you are sick.  We have gotten you well and you’ve been such a joy these fast few months.  Your nose isn’t as runny and you’re a lot happier.  I’m hoping this summer season will be a healthy one! January/February almost killed me!

You also love to read books.  The “My First 100 Words” is probably your favorite.  You like to point to each picture and have one of us tell you what it is.  You also make animal sounds at the animals.  You will just grab a book and come plop yourself down in our lap for us to read to you.  It’s super cute.  You are also super into mom right now.  You want me to hold you a lot and I think some of it stems from that this is my busy season at work right now and sometimes I have to work late.  That seems to really bother you and make you cling to me more when I’m at home.  We try to make our weekends super fun and all about spending quality time together to help with this. 

We did a beach trip to Galveston a few weeks ago in March and it was just what we needed.  It really was the best weekend.  At first, you weren’t so impressed with the beach—wouldn’t take off your shoes and just wanted to be held.  But, you eventually got the hang of it and slowly started inching your way towards the waves.  And then, once you realized the water was a fun place to be, we couldn’t keep you out of it.  You and brother would run up and down the beach hopping in and out of the waves.  You also loved to push trucks around the sand.  Parker taught you to fill up a bucket with water and then climb into it which you thought was hilarious.  So, we did that a lot at the beach.  It was a great weekend, I hope I can remember it for a long, long time.  There was a lot of yes time and both you kids really, really enjoyed it. 

Easter also came and went and you did so great!  You were old enough to understand how to hunt Easter eggs and put them in your basket.  It was a great story of slow and steady win the race.  You also realized the yumminess of jelly beans.  You were obsessed with tracking down the jelly beans.  You also almost choked on a jelly bean.  You loved the cascarones (confetti eggs) and enjoyed smashing them with your feet (monkey see, monkey do with brother)

So, let’s see… At 18 months you:

•          You weigh just over 26lbs
•          Almost have all of your teeth—your four incisors have all broken the gums, but are not full size just yet.  They are taking their sweet time.  Then we have the two year molars which will come later.
•          Wear a size 6.5 to 7 shoe (W)
•          Wearing 12-18 month clothes, with 12-18 month pants becoming high waters on you.
•          Wear size 4 diapers (P.S.  You also think it’s hilarious to watch brother pee on trees outside.)
•          Love riding in your toy car from Christmas (thanks DD Nana!) and you press the button for the “radio” which cycles through 3 different tunes and you move side to side as though you’re dancing.
•          Sleep 8-8:30 on the weekends (6:45 on the weekdays) with a 2 to 2.5 hour nap in the afternoon.
•          Drink 2-3 cups of milk a day with water in between.
•          Favorite foods are definitely rice and beans, but you also really like oranges, spaghetti, chick-fil-a (who doesn’t?!) and yogurt.
•          Have the best smile, but absolutely hate taking your picture.  If I put the camera in your face, you will not look at it.  There is very little bribery that will convince you otherwise.
•          Very good at pushing trucks around and saying “vroom, vroom.”
•          Are very sweet to cousin Beckett and are itching for him to be bigger so you can be a “big brother” to him.
•          Have blonde, curly-ish hair.  It’s very curly in the humidity and pretty crazy.  I’m not sure how to ‘style’ it honestly.  You also were not good at the last haircutting session—cried the whole time.  Eek!
•          Still suck your thumb--- no idea how to kill this habit.

Mom and dad love you baby boy, always and forever.

I love you.

So handsome.

This is what you did when you saw the camera in my hands. haha!

Boys and their trucks!

Parker's 3.5 Year Update!

Dear Parker,

My, oh my, how is it that you are 3.5 years old?  I look at you and all I see is boy.  You aren’t a baby anymore and seem to be growing like a weed.  You’re tall enough to look over counters and table tops and 3T pants are almost too short (though I have no idea how we’d get anything bigger to stay up on your waist).  My first born… I love watching you grow up.

You are so stinkin’ cute and logical.  It cracks me up.  “Mom—it’s not cold out!  That means, when it’s not cold out, we can wear shorts!”  Yep- buddy, we can wear shorts (Hello Houston!).  You can spell P-A-R-K-E-R and know all of your ABCs.  You can write PAR ER.  The K is still giving you some trouble which I’m told is totally normal (A, K, V, etc are hard letters b/c you have to make your line go diagonal).  You can count to twenty and are starting to recognize some words by sight.  Watching you write your letters is so fun.  You’ll say “long line down, circle at top” for P.  What’s also funny is that you don’t know when to stop drawing your lines so your letters are always the full page of the paper b/c you stop your line when you reach the end of the paper.  It’s so cute. 

Each night we look up at a canvas mom made before you were born that has various vehicle sounds (Beep Beep, Choo Choo, etc) painted on it.  We’ll lay on your bed and you’ll show me all the letters and then ask me to tell you things that start with the letters.  Of course your favorite letter is P.  You like it when I pretend I don’t know what words starts with P.  You also know your numbers and can do them on your hands, too.  You can count at least to 20 and when we were doing our Advent calendar you always knew where to put the star.  Mom was very impressed.

You still do gymnastics once a night and you crack me up.  You’ll walk out there all on your own and give be a big smile and wave.  You crinkle your eyes and just smile real big.  You are super cautious still and like to observe before you do anything.  You’re not the first one to volunteer to go first and you really need someone to show you what to do before you do it.  I totally get it baby boy.  It’s so cute when you salute, too.  You don’t quite hold your arm up high and instead just bend it over your head (drives your coaches crazy—who am I kidding—it drives me a little bit crazy, too.  Not that I love you any less).  I’m hoping you’ll get the hang of doing a cartwheel.

You have mastered your balance bike and then also this really cool scooter that requires balance.  You have definitely become comfortable on a bike or a scooter and are starting to get a little fearless.  You’ll go up to people’s driveway with bigger hills and go full speed down.  You like playing at the park and just generally being outside.  You, daddy and Andrew will play “crash-tacular” in the living room where most anything goes and you guys jump, wrestle and just, in general, act like wild boys.  You all have so much fun wresting around and being wild.

You absolutely, hands down, love the trampoline best.  Still want to jump with daddy all the time.  You have recently realized that Andrew also likes the trampoline and we can put you two in there by yourselves and you guys will just run around and Andrew thinks its hilarious.  You still prefer to jump just with daddy b/c Andrew can’t do “big” jumps, tho.  You are also very good at soccer.  You follow directions well and love to run.  I’m excited to see where soccer will take you—I think you’re pretty swell at it for the age of 3.

Puzzles are your jam and I’m pretty sure you’re better at them then me.  You also like k’nex and legos and just building things in general.  I heard you saying the world “propulsion” the other day and I knew that you were just like your daddy.  You like playing with trains and building tracks.  You’ve started having the attention span to watch a TV show and we’re definitely still into the Twenty Trucks YouTube channel.  You sing along to the songs and correct all of your friends when they don’t use the proper names for a truck.  You’ll watch a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and then also rocket ship videos we find on YouTube (thank you NASA for recording all of your rocket launches).

You’re still a great sleeper—go to bed at 8:15 and will sleep to around 8 or 8:30.  You still take about a 1.5 to 2 hour nap each day as well.  You like to sleep without pajamas and with all of your stuffed animals.  Sometimes when I go to wake you up in the morning I can’t find you amongst all of your animals!  Little E is still a thing around here as well as Big E.  Though, what’s really taken off in the past six months has been Mickey Mouse. 

You aren’t as big into Thomas the Train anymore—you’re love is Mickey Mouse.  And I have no idea where it came from.  But, you love him nonetheless.  We have 4 little Mickey Mouse stuffed animals and then 2 GIANT (3.5 ft tall) Mickey and Minnie.  You love ALL OF THEM.  They all sleep with you and come downstairs every morning.  It’s so sweet.  When I got you big Mickey and Minnie I had them sitting downstairs one morning before work/school and you came down the stairs and saw them.  So, with a look of pure joy you said “Mom!  Mickey is looking at me!!!!”  You slowly walked up to them and gave them a hug and were just so excited.  You give them a hug and kiss each morning before we leave for school.  You were also Mickey for Halloween and you sometimes where your Mickey costume just for fun at home.

When we go for walks in the evening you call me Minnie and insist on being called Mickey.  You’ll yell down the road, “Come on Minnie!!” and I’ll say “I’m coming Mickey!!”  Parker, I will always be your Minnie.  I know one day that you’ll find a whole new Minnie to love.  I know you will dazzle a future Minnie with your big cheese face and sweet heart.  But, for now, I’m going to cherish being your Minnie. 

You have some good friends at school and I like hearing you talk about your friends.  You’re learning that you have to share with Andrew more and more as well as with your friends at school.  It’s sweet to hear you talk to your friends and Andrew.  We’ve had friends over so you can play with them and, well, what it boils down to, is you’re just growing up!  You will play with Andrew more and more each day and you love following him around mimicking everything he does and Andrew thinks it’s really fun.

You still eat yogurt every morning as well as some pancakes or a waffle.  You also love yellow bars (nature valley soft baked peanut butter bars), goldfish, oatmeal bars, and applesauce for snacks.  Otherwise, your eating habits are about the same--- sometimes you eat great and other times you don’t.  You love spaghetti, steak, chicken, oranges, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries.  Fajitas with rice and beans is your jam.

You talk about the beach a lot—could be because we went to the beach 3x last year.  I’m already planning our next trip in late March (hopefully!).  You really, really love the beach.  You can just be free and we don’t have to tell you “no” a lot which is why I think you like it so much.  You are always talking about, “When we go to the beach….”  You also experienced two snows since turning 3!  You were fascinated by it and thought it was so cool.  Can you believe it snowed in Houston (and I didn’t even get to experience it b/c I was in NY!). Then, it also snowed when were back in Arkansas where you got to more legit play in the snow.

Me and you had one of the best days the morning we put up the kids' Christmas tree.  You helped me every step of the way and were such a good helper.  I had bought you some special Mickey ornaments and glass displays and you were just floored.  We wore light up Mickey mouse ears just for fun and I hope its something I can remember for forever.  True mommy/son time.  You also really helped me put lights on the columns when we were doing the outdoor lights at Christmas.  I believe your words were "You can just call me the helper!" And boy did we.  You were all over the place helping us with lights (Andrew preferred to just put the lights in his mouth).

Our evenings are filled with reading books, pushing trucks around, and just overall being silly with brother.  We still refer to it as “giggle time.”  You and brother play best while in the bathtub each evening.  I’ll be honest in that the bathroom is a wet mess every evening but I try not to get onto you guys too much so that you’ll play together.  You both love splashing and just being silly in the bathtub.  Bubbles are a hit in the bath as well. 

You also went to the dentist for the first time!  (I know, I’m late in doing this, but I didn’t think you’d handle it very well until recently).  And boy oh boy you did so awesome.  We checked in at the front and were surprised to find your classmate Zeeland there, too!  I think this helped immensely.  But, they called your name back and you grabbed the nice lady’s hand and walked back without me!  I felt like I was watching you go off to college.  SO BIG.  I stayed in the waiting room while they cleaned your teeth.  I came back to find you playing quietly with toys while the dentist explained everything to me.  Then, she asked you to hop in the chair for her to do one more quick exam.  You shimmied up into the chair laid back and followed her directions to a T.  It was awesome.  I was so proud.

Parker, these last few months have been so much fun.  There have been moments for sure where I’m convinced that you can’t be my child, but every evening when you give me a hug and wave to me from your bed, I know that all is right in the world.  Mom and dad love you sweet boy, always and forever.

First time fishing

The beach!

Bath time giggles

My own little Mickey!

*Mickey and Minnie*

Silly boys on Christmas Eve!

Playing in leaves!

Snow day in Arkansas!

Mickey helping me add ornaments to the kids' tree!

We all love everything Mickey around here!

Andrew's ONE YEAR Update!

Dear Andrew,

YOU ARE ONE!  We made it!  I really can’t believe it… time has just flown by.  You are becoming your own little person more and more each day.  For your birthday we had a small gathering of family and few of mom’s friends from work.  It was a WILD ONE theme with chick-fil-a as lunch and of course you had your own smash cake!  The rest of us had cupcakes that were delicious.  You didn’t seem to like eating the cake, but once dad put your hands in the cake you quite liked smashing it and throwing it on the floor.

This past month we went to the beach with Uncle Ryan, Aunt Stacy and cousin Asher!  We rented a house on the beach and stayed there for 3 nights.  We had so much fun.  You loved the beach!  The sand didn’t phase you one bit and you also liked splashing in the water.  You HATED wearing a hat so you had really, really crazy [and somewhat nasty] hair because of all the sunscreen we had to use on your head.  We had to watch out for the seashells with you because you very much loved putting them all in your mouth.  And there were A LOT of seashells.  You even cut your tongue on one.  But, you didn’t let seashells, sand or salty water rain on your parade.  You did great.  A real trooper and super easy at the beach.  We’ll be returning since we all had so much fun!

You also ended up with a double ear infection in September…  Which explains a lot of your behavior in early September; I wish I would have taken you to the doctor sooner.  You were super grumpy and it was because your ears were hurting!  Something also started messing with your tummy and gave you a really, really bad diaper rash.  We’d been lucky on the diaper rash front this first year, but you almost made up for it two weeks ago.  You were in so much pain and even woke up while sleeping because your bottom was burning.  We’re all better now, though!

You are enjoying being in the toddler classroom at school—not napping super great at school--- but really like being able to play outside and do fun stuff in the class.  You can clap your hands and sign more, which is sometimes a clap, and also sign all done, which can turn into just waving your arms above your head.  You are a good eater--- eat everything we put in front of you as long as we cut it small enough to your liking.  The only thing you don’t like is drinking whole milk.  Going to have to figure that out bubba.

So, let’s see my sweet baby boy.  At ONE YEAR, you:

•         Weigh 21.3 lbs (47^th percentile) and are 31.5 inches tall (96^th percentile).  Your head is still small, at 17.52 inches (10^th percentile).
•  Wear 12-18 month clothes and size 4 shoes although you’re really close to growing out of the size 4 shoe.
• I’ve heard you say mama, dada, gaga and recently I really thought I could hear some form of all done come out of your mouth.
• Enjoy knocking over towers we build you and doing whatever big brother is doing.  You’re never far behind from big brother.
• You love playing chase with Parker and giggle time in his room before bed.  You also love bath time with brother and climbing the stairs with him.  You just cackle and laugh with brother whenever you’re doing those things.
• You like playing outside and pushing different scooters around while brother also does the same.
• You really like the cozy coupe and you can get yourself inside and close the door all by yourself.  Getting out is a little bit harder for ya.
• Still drink 4 bottles of 6oz of formula--- but the day is coming soon with no bottles!  Will probably be a rough few days from that standpoint.  Hehe!
• Nap 1-2 hours at school, but still need 2 naps a day when you’re at home for about an hour in the morning at 2-2.25 hours in the afternoon.
• Sucking your thumb and rubbing your ear is still something that you do to soothe yourself.
• Sleep from 8-8 on the weekends and we wake you up around 6:45 AM in the morning.
• Busted your lips several times over the past month because you run around with things in your hands or your mouth and then you trip over something and fall with those items.
• Have 8 teeth with FOUR MORE on the way.  Your gums are all swollen and I can tell your are very irritated by them.

You are so much fun at this age and starting to show when you’re upset when things don’t go your way.  You’ll be giving your brother a run for his money very soon!  Mom and dad love you baby boy.  Always and forever.

Andrew's 11-Month Update!

Oh my goodness, baby boy!  You’re one month away from being ONE!  How can that be?!  Time has just flown by in the blink of an eye.  You are still a great baby… a mobile, walking baby!  You learned to walk this past month!  You’re my little part-time walker.  You haven’t figured out how to get from your bottom to standing without holding onto something, so you still crawl a lot once you plop down.  It’s pretty stinkin’ cute.

Everyone always compliments how great a baby you are.  You’re always having a good day, it seems.  And you really are… you’re always great.  As long as you are full and not tired, you’re great!  But, you definitely still need to nap about every 2.5 to 3 hours.  You get cranky for sure.  This is going to be a problem for a while since you are starting the toddler classroom this very week where you will only have one nap a day.  So, you’ll be napping a lot in the car on the way home.

This month you have really figured out that you prefer table food.  No more baby food for you… and you eat just about anything.  You love yourself some creamed spinach and spaghetti.  Not necessarily together. Hehe.  You eat 3 meals a day plus a couple of snacks.  So, you’re well fed.  You weigh probably around 23 lbs and have 7.5 teeth!  The .5 tooth just popped through the gums in the last couple of days!

You and your brother have been playing a little bit more together and I love watching you two laugh at each other.  It mostly involves your brother chasing you around the house and you just cackle.  Parker calls it “playing giggle time with Andrew.”  It’s super sweet. 

You’re little personality is really starting to come through.  I’ve seen you walk up to your brother, grab his toy (which, to be fair, was yours not his) and scream bloody murder.  You wouldn’t tolerate him taking your stuff.  Good for you.  It’s OK to give brother a hard time about this—he needs the lesson.

I’ve discovered you seem to have “tall” feet!  I had to buy 4 different shoes to find some that fit you!  I think this means maybe you have a high instep?  It’s more than your foot being wide—it’s like you can’t get the shoe to open up enough to put your foot in.  But, Nordstrom’s for the win!  I found some shoes that fit your feet and you look super adorable in them.

You traveled to San Antonio for a family reunion (Mema’s 80^th birthday) and did really well with the car ride.  You also went on your first car ride to Arkansas!  You did amazingly well—hardly cried at all and were super patient about the whole thing.  Mom was impressed.  Houston got hit with a crazy amount of rain during hurricane Harvey and we decided to head to Arkansas to escape all of the rain and floods.  Turns out that was a wise decision… we’re having way more fun in Arkansas.  But, we know there has been severe devastation back home and our thoughts and prayers are with everyone.  Lots of clean up headed our way.

So, baby boy, let’s see… at 11 months you:

•    Eat 4, 6 oz bottles a day and 3 meals a day
•   Wear size 3 diapers and poop 1-2x/day
•   Wear 12 month clothes and size 4 shoes
•   Take two naps a day with one nap lasting around 1.5 hours and the other 2 to 2.5 hours
•   Sleep from 8-8:30 on weekends and 8-6:45 on weekdays
•   Love all foods… seriously; I’ve found nothing that you don’t like.  You particularly love eggs and sausage, spaghetti and yogurt.
•  Have curly hair still in little ringlets at the back of your head.  I hope you keep these for forever.
•  Walk!  But, you can’t get from sitting to standing without crawling onto something to pull yourself up.
•   Love climbing on everything and then also putting everything in your mouth!
•   Realize when things are taken away and make it known that it made you mad
•  Love “playing giggle time” with big brother.  I gave you guys a big box and you two just played for a long time going in and out of the box.
•  Still suck your thumb and rub your ear at the same time when you’re sleeping or need to calm yourself down.  It instantly soothes you.

 We love you baby boy, always and forever.

All of those curls!

Andrew's 10-Month Update!

Dear Andrew,

Hey there baby boy.  I can't believe it's only two months until you turn one!  How can that be?  Your personality shines brighter each and every day.  You're full of big smiles, big laughs and, of course, mischief.  You're very favorite thing to do is climb the stairs at home.  You race over to them when we aren't watching and climb them as fast as you can go.  You'll give us this sly look and just head out on this race with a big laugh.

You love to climb-- you climb in boxes, up the stairs, over and under anything you can find.  You also really like to stand and have taken a couple of steps!   You're not ready to walk yet, but the desire is definitely there.  It will be this month, I think!  It's so fun to watch you try and figure it out.  You'll just let go of what you're holding on to and stick your hands high up in the air with a big grin on your face.  You'll take 1-4 steps and then plop back down on your bottom.

You've pretty much given up eating baby food-- only table food for you.  This makes it better and harder on mom and dad.  Better in that you'll eat whatever we're having for dinner.  Worse in that I have to scrounge up something to feed you for lunch b/c you can't have a catered meal yet at school.  One day soon!  You totally dig this creamed spinach that comes out of the freezer section.  Like, totally love it.  It's 100% your favorite.. except for maybe spaghetti.  That may rival your attention, too.  You love it.

We haven't gone any fancy places this month-- just more of the usual.  You enjoy splashing in the pool and are an overall easy baby... except you're on the move.  If I blink, you'll be gone.  We had to install a legitimate gate on the stairs because there was no deterring you from them.  You do really well at school and will be moving up to the next class next month (aah!!!).  Since you've really taken to eating table foods I feel like you have really put on the lbs.  You are definitely chunky and have pretty much outgrown the infant car seat.

You love taking big brother's toys and you always want to be doing what big brother is doing.  At night time, you and Parker have "giggle time" in Parker's bed.   Parker loves making you giggle in his bed and watching you laugh.  He'll hug you (which you think is hilarious) and you'll hug him back.  You love exploring Parker's bed and all of his stuffed animals and Parker even lets you put your mouth on them.  It's a pretty special moment watching you two play together for a short amount of time.

You love sucking your thumb still and rubbing your ear.  I recently gave you a lovey in your crib and cuddle up with it each night.  It's pretty stinkin' sweet.  You're still a great sleeper and milk drinker.  You're often cranky on weekdays since the school day is so long, but you're a real trooper on the weekends.  You definitely still need two naps (switching to the new class in a month is going to be really rough in that regard) each day and drink four bottles.  You have three solid meals a day in addition to the bottles with some snacks as well.

This month we did have something exciting happen... you got a new cousin!  Baby Beckett was born on July 28th!  You're pretty fascinated with him and we're very excited that you are going to have a new play mate, soon!

So, let's see, at 10 months you...

• Weigh about 20lbs and are 30 inches tall.  You wear 9-12 month clothing for the most part.
• Drink 4, 6 oz bottles a day and have three table food meals a day.
• Sleep from 8-8:30 on weekends with two naps (one for about 45 minutes in the morning and the other around 2 to 2.5 hours in the afternoon)
• Have four teeth!  I can see an additional two teeth on the top growing in and an additional bottom two also are coming in.  The ones at the top are closing to appearing than he bottoms.  So, you're well on your way to having six teeth!  You handle getting the teeth really well... you chew like crazy, but you're not overly cranky (and, most importantly, you still sleep).
• Use your mouth like this insane sensory tool.  Anything you find you put your mouth on--including the floor.  You just test it out--you're not necessarily looking to chew and swallow it.
• Have 1-2 poopy diapers a day
• Love your big brother
• Enjoy pushing trucks with your hands and chewing on everything else.
• You're really good at pushing the walker and have just recently discovered how to make it turn (thank goodness-- otherwise, we had to follow you around all the time).
• Are definitely a little explorer-- going everywhere.  We have to keep all the doors shut around here and the stair gate locked.  Before we had the gate, we put up two chairs to block it off.  We turn around and then find you halfway up the stairs!  You  had climbed under the chairs and over the wood to get yourself to the step.  Very clever!

You are so much fun to be around and are my cool little dude.  I can tell you're going to be a wild one, but that you have a big heart.  I can't wait to watch you grow more and more each day!  Mom and dad love you baby boy, always and forever.

Your face, all.the.time.

I can do this, guys.

Learning how to walk!