buddy boy is 9 months!

A blog post is long overdue and we have so many updates to post. These pictures look so old to me though they were taken in the month or so. Baby boy is 9 months. Time flies. Absolutely flies. Andrew's 9 month stats:

• Weight: 18 lb 12 oz (22nd%)
• Length: 28 and 3/4 inches (68th%)
• Head circumference: 17.5 inches (26th%)

As of Andrew being 9 months (things have changed!) - he was not yet crawling. He was a pro at army crawling backwards and pivoting to such a degree that he could basically get wherever he wanted to go. Including cabinets.

And toy boxes. He is not actually pulling up. He tries to - but he is not very patient to see the process through. He will try once or twice, not be able to haul that 18 pounds off the ground and plop back into place. If you stand him up he will stand for a little bit while holding on to something. And he is eating - as of 9 months he said bye-bye to baby food. He still wishes I would feed it to him of course (I mean - all the satisfaction and none of the work - he would take it any day). But we decided he was done and just before he turned 9 months transitioned him to all real person food. Including this spaghetti... Now we just give him whatever we eat (including one instance of spicy black and kidney beans out of a chicken taco soup I had made... that didn't go over to well judging by his bright red face, excessive salivation, and abundant thirst). Wow... what else was the boy doing at 9 months? Seriously 6-9 months is my favorite baby age ever - they are so sweet and cuddly and holdable but also able to sit and entertain themselves for quite some time. I love it.

Oh - also at 9 months Andrew still sleeps from 6 pm until 7:30 am with no interruptions. He was nursing 4 times a day and I was pumping at night before bed. Starting the week after he turned 9 months I began the process of weaning him. He naps twice a day still - from 9-10:15 (we have had to start waking him up at 10:15 in order to protect and preserve the second nap) and then again from 1 until 3ish (sometimes 3:30).

Andrew is babbling all the time - mama, dada, baba - not specifically knowing the meaning behind them but babbling away.

And he is great at fine motor skills - his pincer grasp is working in overtime these days to find any smidgen of dirt or trash anywhere on the floor to put immediately into his mouth.

Our boy is such a blessing from the Lord - he is a delight to all of us!

funny exchange

Caleigh and I had this exchange yesterday while Caleigh was sitting in the rocking chair reading a book to herself.

Caleigh: "Another book?"

me: "If you want another book you need to climb down and get another book."

Caleigh: "Mama get another book?"

me: "Mama is busy right now Caleigh, if you want another book you can climb down and get another book."

Caleigh: "Dada get another book?"

me: "No Caleigh, Dada is busy right now, if you want another book you can get it by yourself."

Thankfully that was the end of it but it is just funny to me. She has been doing this lately when she asks for silky we will tell her it is on her bed, she can go get it and she will ask, Mama get it, Dada get it, etc.

sweet little girl (27.5-ish month update)

It is amazing to me how kids really do pick up so much stuff and say SO many things. Caleigh is at a really fun age right now - her language is exploding and every day she says so many new things. It seems like there is nothing she doesn't know. We sang the ABCs maybe once or twice and I caught her singing it while painting the other day -

Here are some of the fun things she has been saying a lot lately:

• "I want Ya-ya" - Ya-ya is how she pronounces her name Caleigh. If you repeat it back to her as Ya-ya she has no clue what you are talking about because she thinks of it in her mind as Caleigh. We hear this phrase several several times a day, often in a slightly pre-tantrum voice. It is her way of voicing her independence (which we are seeing a lot of) and telling us that she can do it herself.
• "Adam" instead of Dada or Daddy - and she says it in a way that she probably hears a lot from me - like she is calling from the other room to get this attention. It is hilarious.
• "Mom" instead of Mommy (which I love) or Mama - she thinks Mom is my other name just like Daddy's other name is Adam - she must think that all my friends call me Mom... so glad they don't. But I mean "Mom" - what is she like 14 already?
• "Mama, I wanna watch Elbo's world when we get home." I have to applaud her for good sentence structure on this one. The first time she said it (was because she heard me tell her we could watch it when we get home) I died laughing - it sounded so funny coming from a tiny little 2 year old. Now she says it basically every time we get in the car. And also in keeping with the Elmo's World theme - she also loves to sing the song, "Duh-duh, duh-duh, Elbo's world" in an adorable little sing song voice.
• Monkey = Curious George = "Oh oh ah ah" Because this is obviously what they say.
• "Too hot" as in the bath water or her food.
• "Too loud" as in her noise machine when she turns it on herself and accidentally turns the knob all the way, or recently in getting in the car and hearing the music (which really made me laugh out loud), or when she is helping me grind the coffee in the morning.
• "Andrew's stuck" because Andrew really is stuck. All the time. Because he can only make himself crawl backwards and is therefore often wedged under her bed or the crib or a chair.
• "Tummy hurts (sounds like tummy huks)" usually when she needs to potty or when she is full.
• "Ya-ya all done night-night" when she is getting tired and knows she is about to go to bed but doesn't really want to. Or when she wakes up (pre-time change) super early. Not something you want to hear at 6 am from your 2 year old... especially because she says it in such a cute chipper voice.
• And this is an exchange that we have multiple multiple times a day: Caleigh will say "silky (or apple juice or crackers or something else in an extremely grouchy demanding tone)" and I will say, "Caleigh, how do you ask?" and immediately in a very sweet and sing song tone she will say, "May I please have apple juice Mama?" but I almost never get that first without the one word demand preceding it.

Other fun things Caleigh is doing now:

• Sometime in February one day Caleigh started pretending really well - not just pretending her doll was a baby but pretending to feed her doll pretend food with a pretend spoon, etc. It is adorable to see her imagination start to develop.
• Is really starting to verbally understand cause and effect - for example when we say, "Caleigh, Bampa and Gammy are going to be here when you wake up tomorrow." Caleigh will then say, "Where Mama go?" Knowing that if they are going to be there then that means I am going to be gone. And also if I say, "Caleigh, let's put on your shirt" she will take her bow out and say, "Take off bow, Mama" because it has to come out before the shirt goes on.
• She is beginning the phase of asking many many many questions, ie, "Mama, where Bampa go?" and I tell her, "Mama, where Gammy go?", "Where Daddy go?", "Where Gigi go?", "Where Poppop go?", "Where KK (Aunt KK) go?" and once I get done answer all of those she will start over. It is exhausting!
• She is so excited about going to school - after praying much about this and doing a bunch of research we decided that Caleigh is going to go to preschool next year - she will go 2 days a week on Tuesday and Thursdays from 930-1. She talks about it all the time and I know she will really love it.
• She thinks all boys are Daddy's and all girls are Mommy's. So when we read a story she will say, "Look Mom, another Mommy."
• She loves to read. To herself. To Andrew. And for us to read to her.
• She has a normal voice that she talks in and then she has a sweet really high affectionate voice that she uses when she is saying "I love you" or "Thank you" or talking baby talk to Andrew.

We are really enjoying our sweet girl right now!

at the park

Any day the temperature is 50 or more we head over to the park to play - thankfully those days are increasing and temps have been in the high 50s for the past week or two. We love the park. Look at the smile on that little boy!!! I could just eat him up!

My baby boy is SO big! Caleigh loves when Andrew can do what she is doing and today she talked over and over about how Andrew was swinging with her. We are looking forward to the warmer days ahead!

let me help you brother...

Caleigh really loves her brother and it is so sweet to see her interact with him. She is a huge helper and loves to assist us in doing any and all things for Andrew. Recently see loves to 'help' him when we are trying to get him to crawl - we will put Cheerios on the floor just out of his reach to try to convince him to crawl to get them and Andrew will fuss and fuss because he just can't do it (and he is easily frustrated and not very patient) and so Caleigh (always seeing the problem and looking for a solution) will take the Cheerios and move them within his reach. Such a sweet little helper...

rejuvenation weekend

The weekend after we came back from Ohio Adam and I left the following Friday morning and headed to Fairhaven - some cabins in the mountains about 30 minutes west of Blowing Rock, NC. We love to go there at least once or twice a year and this time we had the privilege of going without our kids. It was a great weekend for us to get away and reconnect as a couple (and our kids had a blast with the grandparents). On Friday we went skiing for the afternoon at Sugar Mountain. We had a blast and I was reminded that I really do love to ski.

Saturday we spend the day in Blowing Rock and Boone and really had a great time. Unfortunately on Saturday night I was struck with a 24 hour stomach bug that has been going around in Charlotte so that was pretty terrible, but otherwise we really did have a great time! Thanks grandparents for making this possible!

dinner with friends

Several weeks ago we had the Dirks over for dinner. Somehow we acquired this odd tradition where we always have random cookie cake for dessert and that night was no different -

It has a funny quote on it from one of our favorite TV shows - The Office... I'm glad I wasn't there when Tyler told them what to put on it. Caleigh and Maggie enjoyed playing in Caleigh's princess tent, dressing up, and loving on each other -

weekend trip to Ohio!

Last weekend we took a quick trip to Ohio to celebrate (Adam's) Grandma Dips' 80th birthday. It was a surprise party and we actually surprised her - who would have thought that was possible with an 80 year old lady? We left on Friday morning and spent 9 hours in the car. Wow. Caleigh kept saying, "Yaya ride in the car all day" and "Yaya watch Elmo's world in the car all day." Yes that is true. Caleigh did watch Elmo's world in the car all day long on the way up there. Adam's parents rented a van and rode with us which was super helpful with the kids. The ride up to Ohio was pretty bad - we stopped 5 times in the first 3.5 hours - none of which was for the kids! Andrew (who usually sleeps about 3 hours worth of naps during the day) slept only 30 minutes out of the entire 9 hours on the way up there but otherwise he was actually pretty happy - I would pump when it was time to feed him and Gammy would give him his bottle in his car seat - pretty efficient! Caleigh was going berserk by the time 5 o'clock rolled around (after 8.5 hours in the car) - I can't blame her because I was too - she was banging her head from side to side in her car seat and just screaming/moaning/crying. The poor thing who didn't sleep at all fell asleep when we were getting off the exit for our hotel. I decided that the song, "Ironic" could have been written about this trip. When we got to Ohio we were greeted with this...

Over 13 inches of snow! Yikes. It was FREEZING up there - I kept telling Adam I was so glad it wasn't that cold in Charlotte. After letting Caleigh sleep for about 20 minutes while we unloaded the car we got right back in the car and headed over to an Ohio favorite - Marion's Pizza to surprise Grandma Dips. She really was so surprised and started crying when she saw us (absolutely precious and the highlight of the trip). This was her first time in seeing Andrew. This is the only picture I got of her (taken at her house)...

After the kids finally went to sleep that night (after 8 pm) - we got up and hit the road bright and early Saturday morning to see the rest of the family. We headed about 20 minutes south to see Adam's Grandpa Dyer and Grandma Mabel (his grandparents were divorced and Grandma Mabel I guess is actually his step-grandma). The kids actually did so great on this trip - we asked so much of them - riding forever in the car, sleeping in unfamiliar places, staying up late, sitting in people's laps' that they had never met... This was the first time Grandpa Dyer and Grandma Mabel met either of the kids (though their house was a shrine of pictures to them - so sweet!). Caleigh was bribed with peanut M&Ms for this picture - and Andrew is just trying to make a quick getaway...

I love how Mabel looks so smitten with Caleigh. Adam and his brother... Bampa and Grandpa Dyer... 4 generations of Dyer men! And all the girls... Later on Saturday at Grandma Dips' Caleigh played in the snow briefly. with Bampa... A sweet video that we took with Caleigh (I didn't know it was being filmed!) - you can hear Grandma Dips giving some commentary - On Sunday morning we woke up bright and early and did the 9 hours again - the kids did so so good on the way back - they both slept - Andrew for about 30 min in AM and 30 min in afternoon and Caleigh for about 1 hr and 15 min in the afternoon. We were exhausted after a long weekend at a hectic pace but it was so fun to see the extended family and to spend time with the Dyers'. We really appreciated all of their help! It really was so much better than I thought it was going to be and the kids really did do well.

cheerios

Mom - there is something on my lip.

And something keeps piling up under my chin... Our sweet boy loves his Cheerios!

watercolor!

After seeing on a friend's blog that they tried watercolors with their 2 year old (that's you Katie Carrington!) I decided we would give it a go with Caleigh.

She did really well with it! She loves painting and for the most part figured out the dip it in water, dip it in colors, then paint rhythm but sometimes she just put the brush in the water and then the color and then right back in the water again. I found it much less stressful than actual paint so that was a bonus. Fun fun fun.

super bowl pics (finally)

I have been meaning to post these pictures for quite some time since the super bowl was several weeks ago. Every year we choose a team to cheer for in the super bowl and we make decals to add to our clothing to support our team. This year we cheered for the Saints (and they won!). Yay! Adam (as usual) is too cool for this tradition but Caleigh, Andrew, and I happily wore our emblems of pride.

Love this family pic... Beautiful BIG boy... Oh - there's the camera...

snow!!!

This weekend we got our second snow of the season! During the first snow both of our kids were sick with ear infections and fevers so we didn't brave the outdoors. But we were all healthy for this fun and fluffy snow which started on Friday night and snowed into Saturday morning. I was working on Friday night when it started but thankfully it didn't stick to the roads until the wee morning hours. While Andrew was taking his morning nap on Saturday we wandered out onto our porch to see the snow.

And Adam walked Bailey who was super hyper when she saw the snow. After Andrew woke up and we ate a quick lunch we bundled everyone up to go outside. By the time we got outside the snow in the sun was already melting! Andrew attempted to make his first snow angel - but wasn't a big fan. He was much happier when he was being held. Caleigh LOVED the snow. We were surprised because she is such a girly girl - she hates to be dirty, cold, wet, etc and snow is most of those things - wet, cold... But shockingly she actually loved it. This snow was perfect - about 3 inches of very fluffy, dry, perfect snow for playing and perfect snow for not sticking to the roads. After this pose Caleigh freaked out because there was snow on her face and when she tried to wipe it with her other hand she got more snow on her face. Gosh - love these big blue eyes... Sweet face... Leave me alone Mom, I'm trying to play. Thank you, Lord for a beautiful and fun snow - what a great way to enjoy God's creation!