October, November & December 2010

The month of October was quite busy. It brought Andrew's first trip to Florida! Andrew got to meet John's sister Kim and her family. He LOVED getting to meet more cousins (he had already meet Catherine when she came to our house for his baptism) as well as his Aunt Kim & Uncle John. We took Andrew to the beach (he got to swim in the Bay) and to hit golf balls for the first time. It was nice spending time at John's parent's house and we got our last fill of sunshine for the year 2010.

We also took Andrew to a pumpkin patch near our house. He got to pick out pumpkins, play on a wooden tractor, pet some animals and go on a hay ride - he loved it! His friends Ty & Reed were there too and he really had a lot of fun playing with them.

There were 2 trips to McConnells Mills State Park in October. A friend of Laurie's from high school is a photographer and we set it up for her to take family pictures outside with the beautiful leaves. The first day we were supposed to meet, it was raining so we rescheduled for later in the month. We had the opportunity to go there (the weekend before our rescheduled appointment) with Laurie's parents to get some pictures with them. This turned out to be a very good thing because the following weekend when we were meeting Laurie's friend, Andrew was sick. We still had her take our pictures, but because he wasn't feeling well Andrew didn't really cooperate and we didn't get many good ones that day.

Andrew's MRI (to check out his optic nerve) was scheduled for Monday October 25 but because he was sick the weekend prior (with a fever that reached 104 degrees), we had to reschedule. The new date was set for Wednesday December 1.

The month of October ended with...yep, Halloween!! Andrew dressed up as a tiger. We didn't think that he would enjoy being in his costume, but he actually didn't seem to mind it. Laurie's parents came over to our house and her dad stayed at our house to pass out candy while we went around the neighborhood to Trick or Treat. We walked around with Andrew's friends Ty, Reed and Lucas - what a crew of boys! We think they had a good time and while Andrew didn't really "get it", he was a trooper :)

November was a fairly uneventful month. It was around the second full week that Andrew's hands and feet started peeling...this led to two things: 1. We diagnosed what was most likely the cause of the mysterious fever/sickness during a weekend in late October - hand foot and mouth disease and 2. he stopped sucking his thumbs!! It took us about a week to realize that he wasn't doing it anymore! We figured it was going to be a habit that we struggled to get him to stop some day but he stopped all on his own at 22 1/2 months old!!

Andrew and Laurie continue going to gymnastics every Thursday morning. Although he has his moments, he is definitely doing a lot better. He enjoys climbing over things and swinging from the bars.

We took Andrew to our local holiday "light-up night". He got to help daddy make a gingerbread house and decorate a cookie inside. Then we went outside and Santa rode in on a firetruck! Laurie & Andrew got their picture taken with Santa and John took Andrew up in the firetruck :)

The month ended with a huge Thanksgiving dinner at Laurie's Aunt Deb & Uncle Tom's house. Andrew seemed to enjoy all of the food (although that should come as no surprise) and have a really good time.

December was in one word - BUSY! December 1 was the rescheduled date of Andrew's MRI. BUT, he had a runny nose (with colored mucous) so Laurie called to find out if that was something that we should reschedule for again. The answer was yes...and, the first available date was January 10 - fingers crossed that there is no illness then and that the 3rd time is a charm!

John had 3 1/2 vacation days left for the year so he took a day off on December 8 & we went out to cut down our Christmas tree! There was a lot of snow on the ground where we went and Andrew insisted on being carried - it was Laurie's workout for the week considering it was mostly up hill to look at the trees and he weighed an extra 5 pounds with his snow gear on :) Later that day we took him to get his Christmas/2nd Birthday pictures taken and he did really well even though the studio was a zoo!

The next big event was Andrew's 2nd birthday party on Saturday December 18th. John's parents flew in for the event on Friday. The party turned out great and thank goodness we borrowed the Maschak family's bouncy house for the 24 kids that were there! It was a very special day for Andrew and we know he felt the love of all the friends and family that were there to celebrate his 2nd birthday.

Sunday the 19th Andrew's sitter, Becky, and her family hosted a holiday party for the families of the children she watches. Becky had a play planned for the children to perform which didn't exactly happen, but they all put on their costumes for a couple of photos.

John took Monday the 20th off so that he could spend some more time with his parents. They were able to visit until Tuesday morning when they flew to Chicago for Christmas. John also took a 1/2 vacation day that Thursday and went to gymnastics with Andrew & Laurie. Andrew loved having daddy there to show all of his tricks to.

The next big day was Christmas and Andrew's second birthday - all wrapped up in one day! We went to Laurie's church in Butler for the 10:30pm Christmas Eve service. Andrew stayed awake the entire service and we were able to wish him Happy Birthday after midnight. He slept in until about 9am and we were able to distract him with breakfast until Laurie's parents arrived around 9:30. We gave him his stockings (he got one from Grammy & BupBup too) and gifts from us before we took him into the playroom to see his kitchen from Santa. It was a huge hit and he LOVES playing with it! We hosted Christmas with Laurie's family and everyone came over around 11:00. It was a really great day - Andrew got so many fun toys and lots of love :)

On Monday December 27, Laurie took Andrew to his 2 year appointment with the pediatrician. He weighed in at 27 pounds and measured 32.5 inches tall. He has gained 7 pounds since we brought him home (an average of 1 pound a month) and has grown 1.5 inches! The doctor said he seems to be doing great and there were (finally) no shots needed!

The month ended with a couple of play dates with his friend Addie (a neighbor down the street) and his friends Ty, Reed & Julia. Laurie was off work for the last two weeks of the year and John took Thursday December 30th off as his last vacation day. We went out to dinner with our friends Andrea & Jon on New Years Eve while Laurie's cousin, Courtney, babysat the 3 (2 year old) boys - Andrew, Ty & Reed. She survived, the kids had a great time playing with Andrew's kitchen and it was a nice adult evening out to end the wonderful year that was 2010!!