Halloween Sunday

Today was a very busy (but fun) day for our family. The morning started out with my two boys getting ready for church. One of my friends from work gave him this cute outfit.

Andrew stayed in the nursery at church for the first time this morning. I was really nervous about it, but he did great. I LOVE the people who work in the nursery at our church. I felt so comfortable leaving him with them. I did sneak out of Sunday School for a few minutes to check on him, and he seemed to be having a good time. I planned on taking him to the service with us, but he was sound asleep in a swing when I went to get him so I let him stay.

After church, we went out to lunch with a family in our Sunday School class and then went to Target. Andrew and I took long naps this afternoon, and Joey mowed the grass. Then, it was time to celebrate Halloween!

As always, Joey made us get WAY too much candy:

To get the candy this year, trick-or-treaters had to face a VERY SCARY shark!

We sat on the porch together and handed out candy.

Our neighbor, Charli, came over to visit with her sweet ladybug. Our babies were both born the same week.

Our neighborhood had a BBQ party. We loaded Andrew up in his stroller and walked over to get dinner.

Of course, he did what he does best. This baby sure does love to sleep!

He met a sweet lamb (Rylie Gray) at the BBQ.

We sure did love spending our first Halloween with our little man. I always tell people that Andrew is such a "daddy's boy." Besides being his identical twin, Andrew is completely in love with Joey. He rarely takes his eyes off of him. Look at him staring at his daddy in this picture.

Happy Halloween!

Daycare

Andrew and I went to his daycare today to turn in his paperwork and spend some time with his teachers. I go back to work on Friday, November 12th. He will start daycare on Monday, November 8th. He will just go for a couple of hours the first few days to let him make the transition. I will be able to get things prepared for my classroom so that I am ready to teach on Friday. The thing that I am the most concerned about is getting both of us dressed and out the door each morning. I will use the first part of the week to practice doing this.

Here is my little man before leaving the house. The pumpkins on his shirt spell out his name.
No Halloween outfit in complete without Frankenstein socks:) Here is Andrew with one of his teachers, Mrs. Jennifer. She is really the reason why we chose this daycare. I love her! I taught her son in kindergarten and third grade, and we just hit it off. It is so nice to know that Andrew will be loved on throughout the day. I never have to worry if he is being mistreated. It gives me such a peace to know that she will be taking care of him.

Andrew "helped" Mrs. Jennifer and Mrs. Melissa (another one of his teachers) feed the big kids. Melissa's children also attend my school, but I have never taught them. I loved watching her with the little babies while I was there today. She would talk to each of them about how much Jesus loved them:) Andrew has another teacher (Mrs. Kelly) and I taught her daughter as well. She is also a wonderful, loving person.

Andrew had his eye on this pretty little girl today. They are only 4 days apart in age.

It's hard work being at daycare!

Wetumpka and Paw Paw's House

Andrew made his first trip to Wetumpka this weekend. Joey had to work, so I took him by myself--BIG MISTAKE! Andrew does fine in the car as long as someone is sitting in the back to give him his pacifier if it falls out. Obviously, I could not do this while I was driving. He got so upset on the trip down that I cannot even count how many exits I took to comfort him. I know that many people believe in letting children "cry it out." I am not one of them. I believe in comforting my upset child and letting him know that I am there for him. The more I parent the less I care what others think of me. I may change my opinion on this one day, but I really don't think that I will ever know that he is in distress and not do everything in my power to help him. Anyway, I called my parents and they came to Prattville to meet us-thank goodness. My mom drove the rest of the way to Wetumpka and I was able to comfort him in the back seat. My sweet parents then drove us back to Tuscaloosa the next day so that he would not have to get so upset again. My mom rode with me and my dad followed us so that he could take my mom back home. I am not going to travel out of town with Andrew alone again until he is able to put his pacifier back in his mouth independently! It's just not worth it.

Other than our travel issues, Andrew did wonderfully in Wetumpka. On Saturday, we spent the day at my parents' house watching football, napping, and eating yummy food. On Sunday, Andrew went to the church where I grew up and Joey and I got married. Here he is in his cute fish outfit before church:
Our first stop at church was my kindergarten Sunday School class. When I was in this very classroom 23 years ago, Mrs. Tyler (sitting down in black) was my teacher. It's amazing that she is still teaching the very same class today!

After the service, Andrew met so many people!

Meeting Celestra and Susan: Last night, we went for our weekly visit to Paw Paw's house.

Paw Paw and Jan have started a gift basket tradition at their house. There is a basket in the kitchen that always has presents for the grandchildren. Every week, Cade and Cole rush to the basket to see their new surprises. Now, there is always a third present in the basket. Last night, Cade and Cole got a new shirt with 3D glasses and Andrew got the rattle that you see Jan holding in the next picture.

Joey and I rarely get to hold him when we visit:)

Andrew has really started smiling. He is so precious. He also tries to imitate our sounds and facial expressions--especially when I make my mouth into a big 0. He has started sleeping in a 6 hour stretch at night--WOO HOO! He is just really a fabulous, perfect baby! He was napping today, and I was watching Oprah. I really don't like Oprah that much, but I was captivated by this certain show. It was about parents who had lost all three of their children on the same day in a car crash. This type of show would have made me sad before being a mom, but now thinking of that is almost unbearable. I went and woke Andrew up from his nap (yes, I know that's crazy) and just loved on him. During the days after his birth, my prayers were consumed with gratitude to God for him. I believed that those feeling would subside after the "newness" of having a baby wore off. They have not, and I continue to be overwhelmed with love and pure gratitude for my precious baby boy.

2 month check-up

Andrew went for his 2 month check up on Monday. I was dreading the appointment so much because of all of the shots. All of my friends warned me that it was really bad. I know that Andrew will have pain in his life, and that I cannot stop it all. Some pain is good, even--not letting him have every toy that he wants, making him share, etc. My heart just aches so much whenever he isn't happy. If his bottom lip pokes out, it is almost more than I can take. So, I decided to research pain management for infant shots and thought that I would share what I found since most of my blog readers are moms or moms-to-be.

I read about two different types of numbing creams that have been proven effective in several studies. There is EMLA (prescription only) and LMX (over the counter) We decided to use the LMX based on our pediatrician's reccomendation. You must apply it to the thighs one hour before the shots. You will not find it at chain pharmacies, such as CVS or Walgreens. You must go to private, neighborhood pharmacies. Tuscaloosa friends: I called several places and could only find it at Northport Pharmacy.
I also read that it helps to give an infant sugar water right before the first shot and continue to dip the pacifier in it during the rest of the shots. The sugar mixture should be 1 tbs sugar and 3 tbs water. If you have a friend who works in a hospital, ask him/her to get you Sweet Ease from the nursery. It is the sugar mixture used to calm infants in the NICU.

I am so glad that we went to the trouble to help Andrew's pain. He barely cried at all and did not have any reactions after the shots. It was so much better than I expected. We will absolutely do it all again for his four month shots.

At his appointment, he got a great report! He is in the 90th percentile for both weight and height. I was concerned that he was too big, but Dr. Roberts assured us that he is just fine. His hematoma is almost completely gone, too.

I was looking through my camera today and saw some pictures that I meant to post. Last weekend, Joey and I went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. We love Cracker Barrel for the yummy food but also because we get to see Aunt Debbie. When we asked our waitress for the ticket, she told us that somebody had already paid for our meal. Hmm...I wonder who did that??

Here are a few more pictures from the last few days:

2 months

Our baby boy is 2 months old today! He is still a wonderful baby and the love of our lives! Andrew weighs 13.4 pounds now. I started working last week on getting him on a schedule. Our routine is simple: eat, play, sleep. We repeat this routine every three hours.

Andrew is beginning to sleep pretty well at night, too. He still goes to bed around 9:00, but wakes up for the first (and usually only) time at 2:00 instead of 12:00. At one month, he refused to go back to bed after 4:30, and now he will sleep until around 5:30. I told my mom the other day that I actually enjoy our time together during the night. He is just so stinking cute, and I love our snuggle time together. I was rocking him this morning at 6:03 (his birth time) and teared up a little bit just thinking about how much I love him and how thankful I am to be his mommy.

Here is Andrew's two month picture. I also put his one month underneath it for comparison.

Here is Joey's two month baby picture. It is hard for me to find any differences between my two boys. They really are identical:)

Last night, our family went to dinner at Outback with Randi and Keith. Andrew was so well behaved. He looked at people as they spoke and took a short nap. Afterwards, Randi and Keith played with Andrew.

Playmat Pictures

We have gotten into the routine of playmat time each night. Around 6:30, all three of us get on the playmat together for about 45 minutes. Andrew loves it! He is starting to actually "play" on the mat. He smacks his animals and smiles when Joey hits the animals with his feet. He still does not really like to do tummy time, but he gets better each day. Here are some pictures from our play time tonight:

He looks a little scared of me :(

First Time at Church

Our pediatrician advised us to keep Andrew out of public for the first 8 weeks. She said quick trips to places where he would not be around many people were fine, but church, daycare, anywhere where a lot of people would want to hold him were not good ideas. So, we followed that advice. He turned 8 weeks today, and we were so excited to get to take him to church!

Joey got him squeaky clean for his First Wesleyan debut:
Ready and waiting:

On the day that Joey and I found out that we were having a boy (2/25/10), we went to Target and bought two outfits. This is one of them, so I thought it would be special to wear on his first Sunday.

Here we are after the service. We sat in the "cry room" during the service. He was really good, though so we may try the sanctuary soon. He will eventually go to the nursery, but I am not quite ready for that.

There are some very special places in our church to our family. The first one is the student center stage where Joey proposed to me. On September 21, 2007, Joey decorated the entire student center with rose petals and candles. We went to the student center after dinner at my favorite restaurant (The Globe) to pick up chairs for tailgating--lie! When I walked in the student center, I saw the very first picture that we had ever taken together surrounded by candles, rose petals, and the first stanza of a poem that Joey had written. I had to follow a trail of candles and rose petals to get the next stanza, and continued the trail until I came to the stage. On the stage, there was a wedding cake with a G on it. Joey read the final stanza of the poem, got on one knee, and proposed! Then, we went back to my house and our family was there for a surprise party.

Here I am with my little man in the spot where his daddy proposed to his mommy! :)

The reason that Joey picked the student center for the proposal is because he is standing with Andrew in the spot where we met for the first time in the following picture.

Joey and I met in either April or May of 2005. I can't believe that I don't remember! I went on a mission trip with Andy in March 2005 to Mexico. I remember that Andy bought a HUGE sombrero (which now sits in our closet) for his roomate. I did not know who he was talking about, so I know that I did not know Joey at that point. My roomate (Amy Ridgeway) saw Joey at a softball practice, and we nicknamed him "Hot Guy #2."

Anyway, Joey denies the following story. I am POSITIVE :) that it is true!

After the "20 Something" service on a Monday night in either April or May of 2005, everyone was standing in front of the student center. Joey was with a group of boys on the sidewalk where he is in the picture, and I was talking with a group of girls. By this point, I knew who Joey was and that I wanted to meet him, but I was scared. I saw Andy walk up to the group with Joey and decided to go over to them because I felt comfortable knowing that Andy was there. When I walked up to the group of boys, Joey said..."Hey, you're a girl."
Of course, I laughed and said yes. He then said, "What would you think about seeing the movie Hitch for a date?" He was not asking in a way that made me think that he was asking ME out, but more so just asking for information. The guys in the group filled me in that he had a date with a beautiful girl and was trying to figure out what to do on the date. I told him that I thought that would be a good idea and introduced myself. After that, I didn't think much more about Joey...at least for several more months.

He ended up taking the other girl out, and I ended up dating someone else for a couple of months. Even during those months, I always thought that Joey was such a nice guy. We ended up going on our first date in August 2005.

Here is our family standing where we met: