July 30: It was occurring to me this morning that most of my posts are about how fun and wonderful Andrew is. I put pictures of our trips and visits with friends, I happily announce Andrew’s developmental milestones, and for the last six months, I’ve had only positive things to say about Mom’s health. So as I was looking at the loads of laundry and the dirty kitchen floor and thinking about the weeds in my garden, I thought that maybe it was time to post a more mundane update.
We had a refreshing trip to Ann Arbor
July 24: We
just got back this afternoon from a great, four-day trip to Ann Arbor.
It’s been over a year since we last saw many of our dear friends from our days in Michigan, and it was so very nice to reconnect over a long weekend. In the four days we were in town, we saw eight sets of friends, and we’re feeling like our tanks have been refilled.
Andrew also used this weekend to make some new milestones. Here’s a few…
- He learned how to blow kisses. He especially likes to blow kisses bye bye to trucks “UKS!” when they go by.
- He can slide down a little slide unaided (sometimes) and can climb back up the ramp again
- He got his first bloody lip on the playground equipment, but he recovered quickly. You can see a bump on his lip in the photos from our weekend:(
- He said “Cup,” but even more fun, he’s been working on Cock-a-doodle-doo “cA cA…oooo”
- He seems to have figured out that he needs to back down steps, and at Heather and Michael’s deck, climbed down the two low steps rather handily and without help.
I put some of the photos from our trip up in the gallery.
We just love Ann Arbor. It was especially fun to stay with Heather and Michael just a month before their little baby is due and to see my friend Sheila, who is due in September. More baby friends!
Ahh…it was a great vacation. And now we’re back to work!
Andrew is cruising
July 17: Andrew is ever-adorable, and he’s such a fun baby today! On Friday, Andrew and Bryan took a trip to Madison’s new public pool for some splashing fun. We went to the pool once before with our baby friends, and Andrew was pretty uncertain about the whole idea. Bryan said that he clung very tightly to him, and it wasn’t until he sat in the shallows for a while before he started to have some fun.
New things that he’s up to these days:
- A new tooth, his seventh, has popped through on the upper left…associated with lots of drooling
- Andrew has started cruising on furniture, and he’ll sometimes take faltering steps when holding on to hands. What I find a bit more amazing, though, is how he’ll sometimes let go of a chair or table and balances standing for 5-10 seconds
- Andrew’s curly hair continues to curl and curl. I think it is SO CUTE!
- We’ve been doing some baby signs with Andrew, and he’s starting to pick up on a couple. In the last few days, I think he’s been doing the signs for diaper and for eat. Still only saying words like “duck” and “quack quack” and “mama” and “dada” and “bye bye.” Andrew’s sign for “all done” continues to be chucking all food and cups off his tray.
Mom’s recent test shows no cancer
July 16: On Friday, July 14, Mom had a cool-sounding procedure done to break up some kidney stones. While doctors were doing that procedure, they also scoped her bladder to look for cancer. And they didn’t find anything! Mom also met with a new oncologist at her clinic here in Madison last week, and he was really happy with her progress. He said that the main symptom they look for to indicate a re-occuerence of the cancer is weight loss. Mom’s been holding steady for quite some time, now, so that’s good news too. And her new doctor sounds happy to coordinate with her doctor down at Northwestern who is doing the vaccine clinical trial.
I think Mom’s about half-way through the trial. She continues to go down to Chicago every couple weeks for her vaccines. There hasn’t been much to report on Mom’s health recently, and I think of that as very good news.
Andrew’s gaining new skills
July 5: Now that he’s a year old, Andrew has taken on a few new activities. On Monday, June 26, Andrew had his 12-month doctor’s visit. He tipped the scales at 21 lbs, 3 oz and measured 30 inches. That’s 14 lbs and 11 inches bigger than he was when he joined the breathing world a year ago!
Among other questions, Dr. Harnish asked if Andrew was putting objects in boxes. Our answer was no…he’s great at taking things out of boxes, but nothing goes back in. On Friday, July 2, Bryan and Andrew spent some time playing with nesting boxes, and Andrew learned both how to put things in a box and how to stack boxes on top of each other. When he stacks them, he smiles and waves his hands about…waiting for applause.
Tonight he started saying “ba” in reference to a ball. A new word!
Photos are the gallery from Maretta’s 21st birthday, and a trip to the park with our friends Jessica and Eli. Andrew experienced his first playground slide. I think he’ll be coming back for more.
Having fun with our friends
July 3: The last few days have been so much fun! Our good friends Grace and Tim, and thier son (my godson!) John have been visiting from Washington DC. Andrew and John are having a splendid time taking on the world together. At least John is taking it on. Andrew’s mostly watching. John’s really enjoying getting to know about cats thanks to Bowser and Spooky. Today we braved the high humidity and heat and took a field trip to Olbrich gardens.
Many photos of their trip are in the gallery.
Birthday party and visit a blast!
June 25: I am sitting here on this beautiful, cool June afternoon with my mind full of images of the fun times we had this last weekend. Mom and Dad Dotzour and Melanie and Ben just left to fly home to Texas. I only wish we’d had more time together!
On Saturday, some of Andrew’s biggest fans gathered at a park in our neighborhood for his first birthday party. After a little bit, Andrew really seemed to get the hang of being the guest of honor. He especially liked it when everyone clapped together.
After the party, we all rested and then went to Olbrich park to enjoy some time on Lake Monona. Pictures of Andrew’s birthday party and our visit are in the gallery.
Andrew turned one today!
June 22: I can’t believe that my little guy is one year old! I shake my head in wonder that he’s grown so much from the little baby who came into our lives 12 months ago. I’ve had fun the last week or so pulling together pictures of Andrew’s first year into a photo album. What a journey it has been! Fun photos of Andrew’s first days on Earth are in our gallery back in the summer 2005 album.
We had a fun day together today. I took off work, and we played all day. New Andrewisms:
- He’s playing peekaboo by putting a blanket over his head. In the past, he’s pulled a blanket off when I put it on him, but now he’s doing it himself.
- He climbed up our porch stairs today for the first time. Didn’t even give it much thought. Just up, up, up!
- He’s been mimicking the work “yellow.” I don’t think he knows what it means, but when we say yellow, he repeats it recognizably.
- This boy loves cake! But then again, I’m not surprised.
Bryan and I biked down the street with Andrew tonight and got some gelato to celebrate his birthday. He’s a big fan of ice cream already:) Granny Lu, Grandad, Melanie, and Ben come to town tomorrow afternoon, and we’re all so excited to see them. The party will continue!
Photos of the last couple weeks including some great shots of Andrew enjoying cake are in the gallery.
Update on Andrew at 11 months
June 9: Little Andrew sure has grown some curly hair!
Thought I’d give an update on what our little guy is up to this week.
- While he still prefers the military crawl as his form of transportation, he’s getting his knees under himself a lot more and using them (when he’s on carpeting) to crawl
- We believe that Andrew just added the word “cat” into his vocabulary. It sounds kind of like the sound he makes for “duck,” but starting with a hard “ck” sound. Like “CKack.” Brilliant.
- We just felt tooth number six this morning. Bottom right. Now he has two on the top, four on the bottom.
- Andrew has learned how to stick out his tongue on command. When I ask where his tongue is, he sticks it out and smiles.
- Last weekend, we went to the farmer’s market, and he got to see some real-live cows. I hope to take him to the zoo soon. I think he’ll be much more impressed than he was last year.
Photos are in the gallery of us hanging out over the last couple weeks. Special events included Uncle Joe’s high school graduation and Heather and Michael’s baby shower.
Pictures from the last week are in the gallery.
Andrew’s baby friends turn One!
June 10: We just got back from a really fun birthday party! Last summer, I was lucky enough to meet some wonderful new moms through Happy Bambio’s infant play group. Happy Bambino is a terrific store. I love their staff and their products, but I am so thankful for the resource they gave me as a new mom…a forum to meet some wonderful friends.
A group of us started getting together outside of the weekly play group, and over the last year, we have had a lot of fun. Most of our babies are born between early May and late June, so today we had a combined birthday party to celebrate.
What fun it was to see all our little ones playing near each other, walking, signing, talking, and trying some of that tasty cupcake. Photos of the festivities are in the gallery. For the other mamas out there, I also posted the pics on Walgreens.com so you can download high resolution versions or get prints if you would like.
Happy Birthday babies!