My little Andrew!

I don't think I can come on and post anything without having to talk about my sweet little boy! He is growing up so fast! It seems like everytime I turn around he is doing something new! He started clapping the other day. We have been trying to get him to clap since he first gave high fives (it was a long time ago - I don't even remember when!). We are now working on blowing kisses. Hopefully he'll have that down by the Elburn Days parade. How cute would that be!? He's quite the little walker now. He does the cutest thing where while he's walking he'll stop and bend at the waist and put his head on the floor so he is looking through his legs (his butt is still in the air!) He thinks it's hilarious if you peek through to look at him while he's upside down. He has been cracking me up lately - he'll be in the back seat "talking" (I wonder when everything won't be dada!) then all of a sudden he will start laughing so hard. It is the funniest thing! He has also started dancing! His favorite songs to dance to are "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", Reggae & Prince. Yep, that's right - Reggae & Prince! We were coming out of Sam's the other day and someone had some Reggae playing and while I was putting the stuff in the car he totally turned to where the music was playing and danced the whole time! And Prince - well, we were at a car show last weekend, and someone started playing a Prince song, and the little guy was dancing so hard I thought he was going to fall over! My friend Katie's son Siven started dancing at around 11 months, so I knew he was in the age range to start, so I've been anxiously awating it! The last few mornings he has woken up very early (5-5:30ish). We have a 6:30 rule where he can't get out of bed until then unless he's really upset. So, he'll wake up early talking a little, then before we know it he's back to sleep, and yesterday he slept until 7:45. Today it's already 7:30 and I'm not hearing a sound out of him. Could it be that we'll actually be able to start getting a little more sleep? I'm taking bets that the little stinker is going to stop this when I'm actually home with him and not up early to get ready for work! Any takers? I haven't downloaded any pictures to my computer lately, so I have none to upload on the blog, but I will. Well, that's all for now. We're heading up to the lake this weekend, and hopefully will escape without any Chicken-Poxish rashes!

Mike's 30th Birthday Party!

Well, the old man will be turning the big 3-0 on August 5th, and to celebrate we will be having a party on the 11th. It sounds like it's going to be a blast! It's going to start at a Forest Preserve Pavillion down by the Fox River. There is an open pavillion there, and a lot of open space. We're going to have bbq beef & pulled pork sandwiches (tenatively on the menu!), and then some other sides. There is plenty of room there so we're going to take our bean bag game and possibly recruit another set! We've also got an outdoor game kit - bocce ball & badmitton that type of stuff that I think we'll take along too. There is no alcohol permitted on the property, but as I've always been told - it's not illegal unless you get caught!! I think we're going to have a cooler there & a bunch of koozies, and I think as long as people don't get out of control we'll be okay. This picnic is going to wrap up around 7:30, and then we are off to St. Charles to start a pub crawl. Once I get a better idea of how many people are going to join us I'm going to call the bars and see if we can get any specials or anything. The beauty of the plan is that people can come to one thing or both, so it can be tailored to whatever you want & it includes all families for part of the day anyway! I am really excited about it & hope everyone can make it!

The shed!

Well, Mike and I have undergone a bigger project than we anticipated! When we got new siding on the house, we decided to save some money by painting the shed rather than side it - and we decided to start the project last weekend! There were a lot more rotten boards than we anticipated, and with all our handy man skills we are stumped in one spot! It's a good learning experience!

We've got Mike's 30th birthday coming up & I am diligently planning a party for that which will be updated as soon as I have all the information together! Tenatively the plan is a picnic followed by a pub crawl in St Charles. It should be a great time! Invitations will be out soon!

I have a crying baby that needs tending to, so I'll post pics later!

Thanks Laurie for your video help! Here's the video of Andrew spraying himself. Of course, he was still in his jammies helping me get the pool setup for this one! I'm still trying to get the video of him walking to upload, but am having issues, so hopefully that will be up soon!

BTW...for some reason you have to hit play on that video twice to get it to work!

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Playing with water!

Who knew playing with water could be so fun! Since I've decided Andrew didn't have chicken pox (that and a couple other helpful reviews!) I decided we could play outside yesterday. While I was filling Andrew's pool with water he decided he wanted to play with the hose! He would grab it out of the pool and spray it around, and eventually spray himself in the face. Then he'd drop the hose and crawl to me to rescue him. He did it more than once - it was so funny! I have a video of it, but don't know how to upload it!


Andrew took his first steps a couple weeks ago, and over the past couple days since he's been feeling better is really taking off. Yesterday he took 10 unassisted steps! I would say he'll be walking in a week, but this child seems to be content getting almost to a point and then maintaining for a while! As long as he's happy!

One of Andrew's "I'm sorry you're sick" toys was a little red cozy coupe car. We can't keep him out of it! He refuses to use the door, and will only climb in and out on the side where the door doesn't open. He likes to pull it around so he can watch tv - he sits in it and puts his feet on the dash - it's so cute! We got the boys one of these cars at a garage sale for up at the lake, and they loved it so much I decided he had to have one!

Whenever I'm telling Andrew he can't do something he's trying to do (open the sliding glass door, play on the garbage can, get in the dog food, etc) I always give him a warning with an "eh, eh, eh!" This is apparently the warning that has been passed down for many generations as me, Laurie, Jean, my mom, Aunt Sandy & probably Grandma all do the same thing. The funny part of the story - Andrew will now go over to the door (or any other forbidden area) and give himself an "eh, eh, eh!" Too cute!

Jumping on the band wagon!

Well, I've been thinking about doing this for a while now...after all everyone else is doing it! I wouldn't jump off a bridge, but starting a blog - yeah, okay. It'll probably be easier to keep everyone up to date than the mass emails I've been doing for a year now!

So, we tried to take a nice vacation up to Wisconsin for 4th of July. Mike was going to be up for the weekend, and Andrew and I were going to stay up for the rest of the week. We were kind of forced into vacation since we didn't have a babysitter for the week anyway! I wasn't too upset about that! On Sunday after Andrew woke up from his morning nap Mike and I noticed some small bumps on the back of his leg. He has dry skin issues anyway, and we keep an eczema cream on him, so I didn't think it was all that big of a deal. We took him swimming at the pool over at the condos and had a great time. He went underwater for the first time - well, we dunked him for the first time. I wouldn't say he liked it, but he didn't cry, so I think all is good! He was starting to get sleepy, and Grandma & Grandpa were over at Shipwreck bar which is close to the condo, so we put the stop on swimming and decided to join them at the bar for a bit before having to go home to put Andrew down for his nap. By the time we got to the bar the little bumps on his legs were getting a little worse - possibly from the chlorine?! So we took him home to put him to bed. When he woke up those pesky little bumps were still there, but sure didn't bother him. We finished out our day with Laurie and Liam playing outside before Mike had to head home. Before bed Andrew got a bath and gooped up with his eczema cream. When he woke up Monday morning the bumps had spread up onto his back and belly. So after spending way too long on the phone with insurance to find out where I could take him, I made the executive decision to take him to a clinic in Mauston (since the doctors insurance told me to call don't exist and were an hour away). I took him to this clinic and they told me he had chicken pox, and that he needed to stay inside out of the sun (sun promotes sweating which encourages itching which spreads the bumps). He seems to have gotten the chicken pox from his 1 year vaccination. He got the shot, then soon after got an ear infection & a viral infection (he spiked a fever of 104 during this!). So, he went on Amoxicillian to fight the ear infection, and the combination of all this left him unable to fight the chicken pox which has a 21 day incubation period. So we got back to the cabin, packed up and hauled home. His outbreak got very bad, and I felt so sorry for him I went and bought him some new toys (like he needs them!). Well, on Tuesday night he got an oatmeal bath and then I loaded him up with calamine lotion and gold bond powder because he was so itchy and uncomfortable. Wednesday morning he woke up and most of his blisters were gone! It is the craziest thing! He still has some spots, but for the most part it's cleared up. It is the oddest thing which I do not for a second understand. The physician we saw in Wisconsin said it was absolutely not a heat rash or an allergy, and said it was more than likely chicken pox. He said it was possibly another virus but it would still have to run its course, and it would be a lot of money in tests to find out exactly what it was. I'm now wishing we ran the tests because I don't believe it was chicken pox!

Well, that's our exciting story! There's not a ton new stuff going on other than that. We are slowly getting grass in our backyard which is great. Holly will love to be able to run back there again! I'll try my best to keep this up to date, so check back!

Here's some pictures of the little man's "chicken pox"