The Spirit of Re-Gifting

Andi being the spoiled little girl that she is, she has already got to try out some of her presents for her birthday and Christmas. Daddy took the pic below of his gift to her. She is enjoying her new pull out sofa bed while eating goldfish. Once I got home I put it up. It will be good for wallering.

She has gotten to test out her presents from Matt's mom and sister. She actually fell asleep in her new Tinker Bell sleeping bag.

Onto something new that she is doing....wearing her father's clothes.She will actually get his shirts over her head and wear them around as well as his boxers.

I had talked about how she is into copycatting us. I took this video. She has her daddy's shirt on as well.

She has gotten into a bad habit of feeding the dogs. She will give them a piece of what she is eating and then have herself some. She likes to share her food with them.

She is all about our phones to the point she throws a fit when we take them from her. She is constantly after them and has to have them. I found my old touch screen phone and I charge it for her. She carries it around and talks on it. She still likes to get ours as well but at least we don't have quite the meltdowns.

Last night we had a major milestone happen. She finally drank milk from her sippy. She pretty much weaned herself from the bottle. I have just started feeding her food every 2-3 hours cause she wouldn't take her milk and finally last night before she went to sleep she used her sippy. I have started her on vitamins that she takes really well. There is nothing she wont' eat.

Only 1 week until her birthday. I have her collage almost done, still waiting on some pictures to arrive. It is hard to believe the holidays are here and it is almost the end of the year. Every year seems to go by faster.

Andi's First Toy Box

I had posted before she was born about getting her a high chair made. I went to Wood You Furniture in Springfield around October of last year to put in my order. They said it would be done around January. Well January came and it wasn't finished due to government regulations so then they said May. May came and went and then they said September. When September came they said their manufacturer had discontinued making them. 

I had bought a strap-in booster seat for her in April when we started feeding her. Anyway, a year later and no high chair. I wasn't very happy and it wasn't cheap. I had been thinking that I needed to get Andi a toy box since I keep her toys in a diaper box. They gave me the biggest one they had which was $100 more than the high chair for the hassle it had been. I was THRILLED!!! They stained it and everything. I just got it this week and it looks great! Andi loves it too!

She has to make sure it is beatable!

The best thing is it will last forever and she will be able to pass it down to her children. That is my goal with each child we have to have something made for them that they can have as a keepsake and pass down.

As I posted before, she gets into everything! Here is a camera roll of what goes on ALL-THE-TIME.

She gets into my make-up and carries it around. She broke a BBQ sauce bottle and it went all over her and the floor then she thought she had to stomp it. Last night Matt put a drawer catch on our sofa table and she came by to pull it open and he said" Let's test it out" She pulled it right open, it was quite funny. She is strong but we also need better latches...lol
 

As for her milestones:  I think Andi is ready to start potty training. When she has just peed her diaper, she will bring us her wipes or a diaper. She has done it several times so I don't think it is a coincidence!

She has also been playing copycat a lot! She will watch what we are doing and mimic it. She also figured out how to call Matt on my phone. We were talking one day and she was roaming around and apparently got my phone which has a lock screen then a home page. The next thing we know, Matt's phone started ringing  and here she comes holding my phone. He said I was calling him which it was actually Andi. We still don't know how she did it.

11 Months: Snotty Nose, Mess Maker, and Two Bottom Teeth

Andi's two bottom teeth finally broke through on November 8th! Hallejuah! I didn't think she was ever going to get them but this past week she has been drooling A LOT and snotting everywhere. I don't have a picture of her yet with her teeth, she is very difficult to take pictures of. Her teeth are very sharp and she is a biter! Christie and I have both been victims.

 She has crazy hair when she wakes in the morning. She always has the same thing: fruit loops, scrambled egg with velveeta, and mandorin oranges. She loves orange juice too. She definitely has a good appetite!

As I mentioned before, Andi loves to dance! She will dance without music. She will dance to the sound of a drill, she dances to any kind of beat. She is constantly shaking her booty! What is funny she will be walking across the room and if a song on a commercial or show comes on she stops and starts dancing.
She is all about giving her baby kisses and she will say "mwah" everytime she kisses her. It looks like she is trying to eat her face, but she likes open mouth kisses especially towards the dogs.

One thing that has been less enjoyable is her snotty nose. She likes to wipe her nose on your legs or shoulder. I don't know how many times the past two weeks I have went to work with snot stains on my clothes. She would attack me when I was dressed and dropping her off. 

Well I started trying to wean her off the bottle and that has been very UNSUCCESSFUL! I have put her milk in all kinds of sippies and she won't drink it. She carries her sippy around everywhere and drinks from it all the time but will not drink her milk. She will go without her milk all day but she has to have it for bedtime, in a bottle. I know it takes time but I really don't think it is going to happen anytime soon. Maybe she will drink regular cows milk better, hopefully! I am afraid to see how the pacifier weaning is going to go. I probably won't try that until she is close to 1.5.

Another challenge has been her mess making. It is constant now. I can't keep up with her and our house looks like a tornado most of the time. She gets in all the drawers and cabinets. She loves getting in the fridge! The likes to get her diapers out of the drawer and throw them everywhere and she likes to play with her DIRTY diapers too. Usually when she gets really quiet, I know she is doing something she not suppose to. I have given her plenty of swats on the butt which causes a meltdown but within 5 seconds she is back doing the same thing. 

Another challenge has been the dog stairs. She likes to go up them onto the bed. I have moved them aside of the bed and she gets on the top step and dances. She has fell off a few times, hasn't hurt herself but immediately goes back up. 

She loves messes. She loves to throw her food at the dogs, which they love her for it. She is a handful but I wouldn't trade her for anything.

Andi has brought so much joy into our lives and I can't believe she will be a year in 4 WEEKS! It is unreal how fast time has flown. She has started showing stranger anxiety which is perfect timing since Santa is in town for pictures. She will kick her feet, push away, and reach for me when people other than family hold her.

She has been a wonderful baby but if there was one thing she could be better at would be sleeping. She is a very light sleeper and it takes FOREVER to get her to sleep. There are parents that drive their babies around to get them to fall asleep, yeah that would never work because as soon as you move her in or out of her car seat she is awake. I hate having to work nights that I close because I usually don't get home until 10pm. Now with the holiday season upon us we will be staying open later so make that 11pm or after and she will not go to sleep for Matt, she will stay awake saying Mama, Mama until I am home. Then it is usually 30 minutes until she falls asleep. As soon as she sees me, she starts crying and I can't even get changed therefore most nights I rock her to sleep in a suit that usually gets milk on it. I am not complaining, it just would be easier if she could fall asleep for her daddy as well.

My mom brought her to visit me at work last week and she did the cutest thing. A lady was pushing her little girl in an umbrella stroller, I'd say the girl was about two or three. Andi took off after her, about to attack her. She really liked the little girl. They went on and Andi was almost running after them. I got her back and we went on the other side of the store and the lady came around and Andi started squealing and pointing at the little girl. I will definitely say Andi needs some friends or better yet a sibling. All she has are adults and dogs to hang out with. As of right now, Sam is her best friend which there is nothing wrong with that!

I take A LOT of pictures of her, usually 300 in two months time. I have decided to do a collage of her from the time she was born until she is a year for her party. I have started going through her pictures and I guess I am just hormonal, but I can't look through them without crying! It is just so hard to believe she will be 1 and how much she has changed in a year and the milestones she has accomplished. People weren't lying when they said it goes by quick. I love this little girl more than I ever thought possible.

Bra Mishap

Little miss gets into everything! Mostly things she isn't suppose to. Times when I know she is doing something wrong is when she is quiet. I got a video of what I found her doing. You will see in the background the shredded magazines in the bathroom. She loves to attack Matt's tractor magazines, which is why I have requested a magazine rack for Christmas.

When I found her with my bra on her head, she wouldn't let me take it off. Finally when I got it off, I placed it back on our storage chest where I keep my work clothes that I am going to wear for the day. She went back over and grabbed it, looped it through her arm and on her head again. She is a funny girl!

Dancing Princess

Andi loves music and she loves to dance. Recently anytime she hears music she has to stop and do a little dance. It is the cutest thing when she shakes her booty. It is like she is baby twerking...lol.

We got her dancing to Joe Walsh from the Eagles. She dances to any kind of music, even when daddy and I are goofing around and singing.

Aunt Christie sent me these pics at work, and it is sad to say, but we no longer have a baby but a little girl.

We can't be thankful enough for this little girl. She has been such a blessing to us and a light in our lives. We can't even remember what life was like before her. She is deeply loved and she knows it!

10 Months: Walking, Falling, Bumps, and Skipped Heartbeats

10 Months started off with a bang with our little walker. She is everywhere and into EVERYTHING! The scariest thing is her falling all the time. The poor girl is so clumsy because she doesn't watch where she is going, which is expected since she is only 10 months. I feel so bad for her poor head because she constantly hits it. I am constantly hearing her yell or cry out mad because she falls, stubs her toe, trips over her feet, etc. She gasps a lot when she falls. She tries to run, which ends in falling. When she is getting tired she gets really clumsy and she speeds up. It is harder to put her to sleep now as well because she wants to go, go, go! I was very happy when she started walking but I had no idea how nerve-wracking it would be for me with all her falls. 

In the video below her feet look broken. The onezie is too big and her feet are outside of the footed end which makes her look pigeon toed. 

My heart skipped a few beats the other night when she fell off the bed. I was lying right by her and she was doing her wallering. All of a sudden she fell off backwards. I grabbed her by her leg but her pajamas were too slick and she went down. Luckily I slowed her fall but she landed on her head. She is a strong little girl, only cried for about a minute. Luckily she landed between the bed and base board heater. I am so thankful she didn't hit the heater.

These are the faces you get when you say, "Andi, please sit still!"

The weather has gotten colder which means, footed pajamas for her!! I love them!! They were my favorite as a kid too!!! She looks so cute in them!!

She went to her check-up and the pediatrician was really impressed with her. She was still 9 months at the time and couldn't believe she was walking. She said she is very advanced. She is considered at a 15-month old level for her talking, movements, etc. She is a smart, little girl, for sure! She is really big into pointing. we play a game when she points. We take where she is pointing and say what it is. As soon as we get there, she is pointing at something else. It can go on for a long time. She says 4 words and drinks from her sippy on her own. She LOVES water! My next project is to start weaning her from the bottle and pacifier. The pediatrician said she would like to see her off both of them by the time she is one. We shall see. The bottle I am not too worried about, it is the pacifier. She LOVES it so much!

Trying to get a picture of her that isn't blurry is incredibly difficult now.

I have started planning her first birthday! I can't believe it's two months away! It will be a puppy dog theme! I have found the perfect party supplies!

Hopefully I can get the images placed on her cake! I am going to get her a rocking horse for her birthday and I think for Christmas Matt is getting her a baby four-wheeler. A four-wheeler and bow is what he is looking forward to getting her the most. The bow starts next year, then it will get bigger and bigger until it is a legit shooting bow. He wants her to compete in tournaments like him. It will be there father-daughter time, as well as four-wheeling. She likes the four-wheeler, Matt and her papa take her out on it and she enjoys the ride. She is going to be an outdoors girl, for sure!

I have mentioned before how she loves the dishwasher! I finally remembered to get my camera. She likes to suck on the rinse aid spout and drink the water.

She did the cutest thing yesterday! I was cleaning her room and I had clothes strewn all in her floor getting them organized. She is clothes poor in 18 months. She was crawling all over the clothes and lying in the piles then would lay on me. She then crawled over to the door and just stared at me with a hurt look. Which I knew she was wanting some attention but I had a massive mess going. She walked out and came back with a book and crawled into my lap. So I read it to her! She has never done that before!! It was so cute! She has started bringing us different things that she takes off the table or gets elsewhere so we have started saying 'thank you' and 'your welcome' so she catches on. 

Her bangs have gotten so long,we are going to have to trim them. They are getting in her face. Her hair isn't thick enough to pull into a pony yet.

At her check-up she was right at 19 lbs and 28 in. She is in the 40th percentile across the board. She is very proportionate in all areas. She is petite and I think she will be petite as she gets older. Her legs have really lost a lot of the flab. They are getting muscular. She definitely has a strong foundation.

She looks like Matt in the pic above. She really is a combination of us both but there are days where she favors one us more.

 There's that finger! She likes to eat fruit  in her mesh bag so she can suck on it. She is eating a peach here.

I have finally put our living room back together like it was before we had a baby. I packed her walker, jumper, and swing away since she no longer uses them. It is hard to believe how fast time has gone by. Finding space to store her stuff until the next one comes along is a bit challenging in a small house! Hopefully we will upgrade when we have our second child!