Snuggle Buddy

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August Chair Pictures

Before I post the pictures from this month, I don't think that I ever posted last month's picture.  Joey, when you read this one day, I am very, very sorry for doing such a bad job with your monthly pictures.  Please forgive me.  I love Joey's 8 month picture.  His expression is so "him."

 Since that picture, he has learned that he is supposed to smile and the camera. Ha!

 A close up of that sweet smile:

 My plan has always been to do yearly pictures after the boys turn 1.  I thought that Andrew would be easy, but he was not in the mood.

 We tried again after his bath without any success.

 Here is the best shot that we got of him.  He won't look at the camera because he is smiling at his dada.

Joey at 9 months:
*Mama's boy-BIG TIME-You love me more than anything in this world.  You will just lay beside me, hold my hand, and stare at my face.  Whenever we get a chance, we will snuggle together for hours, normally while Andrew naps. 
*Still sleeping through the night, but will not nap during the day-my fault because you have been spoiled by our daily snuggle sessions
*Pulling to stand, cruising while holding on to something, able to stand without holding anything for about 2 seconds
*VERY fast crawler
*Babbling constantly
*Drinking both formula and breastmilk
*Still eating only homeade baby food--not interested in finger foods, yet
*Sweet potatoes are your favorite.
*You have started to cry when I drop you off at school.  I stand outside of your class until I know that you are okay, which normally takes less than a minute.
*You think Andrew is really funny.  Sometimes, when you are upset I will tell Andrew to make you laugh, and this works about 90% of the time.
*You LOVE television.  Andrew wasn't allowed to watch tv at your age, but you lucked out since Andrew watches it now.  You will sit like a statue and stare at the screen.
*You still only have 2 teeth.
*You are in size 4 diapers and 12 month clothes.

Andrew at 2 years:
*So many words-some of my favorites are "sauce-um" (awesome), "tector" (detector-still loves smoke detectors), "mah-man" (Aww, man when something bad happens), "oooollll tide" (roll tide-whenever you see an elephant or your houndstooth hat)
*Interested in the potty, used it once, but we are not potty training, yet
*Favorite foods (in no order)-lobster bisque, steak, watermelon, kale chips, oreos, salsa (you call it red soup), bbq, oatmeal, and all types of rice
*You love sweet tea.  I am a terrible mom for introducing it to you, but the damage has been done.
*You bounce from obsession to obsession.  One week you are really into something, and then it will change the next week.  Lately, you have been stuck on trucks and school buses.  I have to race to daycare to get you so that we can be in the car riding before the buses finish their routes.  Sometimes, we will follow them, and you can barely contain your excitement.
*You really, really love your brother. You give him a kiss each morning before he goes into his class.  If you hear him crying, you get very upset.  You will grab a pacifier and run to him.
*You are becoming so independent.  You don't want any help even when you really need it.  This morning, you were spilling oatmeal all over yourself, but wanted to feed yourself.
*You are very particular about what socks you wear.  I pick out your clothes, but you like to choose your socks.  I have just decided to not stress when you don't match-and you never do. 
*You love water.  You get excited when we go swimming, take baths, or even pass a lake/river.
*You know all of your colors and numbers up to 9.
*You are still in speech therapy because you are not putting words together with the frequency that you should be.  You are no longer in physical therapy because you do not need it.
*You are in size 5 diapers and 3T clothes.

We love you boys both so very much!

Krispy Kreme

After being destroyed in the tornado, KK is back! We were excited to get Andrew a hot doughnut, but he hated it. I really can't understand this!

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2 Years

Andrew turned 2 today! Sadly, it was just a normal day of work and daycare for our family. This was the only picture I took all day so I wanted to at least put a picture of him on here on the actual day. We already celebrated, but I did make his favorite dinner (stuffed pasta shells) and we all went to Chick-fil-a for ice-cream. We look forward to many more years with our sweet boy and praise God for him each day!

Andrew's 2nd Birthday Party

We celebrated Andrew's birthday last weekend with a Mickey Mouse themed party.  I love the fact that he is old enough to have interests, and Mickey Mouse sure is a big one!

In case you do not have a toddler, here are some things you need to know about the television show in order for this party to make sense.  Mickey opens every episode with, "Hi Ya, Everybody" and closes with, "See Ya Real Soon."  He also has a problem that he has to solve in each show.  To solve the problem, he calls on his friend named Toodles to bring him special tools.  When he calls for him, he says "Oh, Toodles!" We changed Toodles name to TWO-dles for the party.  Cheesy, I know! Mickey always says, "We've got ears, say cheers!" whenever he gets a tool that he needs. I'm not sure why.  At the end of the show, Mickey sings a song to celebrate solving the problem.  The song is the Hot Dog song, and any parent with a toddler can sing every word...

Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggity Dog

Hot Dog, Hot Dog, our problem's solved...

Here is our invitation. This copy is so blurry.  The real invitations were cute, but you can get an idea.  The top says, "Hi Ya, Everybody" and the bottom says, "See Ya Real Soon!"

On the day of the party, Andrew helped me make mini-hotdogs.  We called them "Hot Diggity Dogs."

 For the party, we rented out a daycare (not the one where our boys go) that had really cool indoor play equipment.  Here is Andrew in his Mickey birthday shirt.  He was really proud of it.

 When his friends entered, they put on Mickey Mouse ears.

 Party Favors:

We did cupcakes instead of cake, and I love how they turned out.  We had a variety of cute toppers.

 Here is Andrew's special cupcake.  Thankfully, Joey noticed that I only had one candle in it.  We added another one before he blew them out.

Hot Diggity Dogs:

 Pluto's Puffs:

 Goofy's Grapes:

The grown ups were good sports and wore Mickey ears, too.

Grandmommy, Grandaddy, and Joey:

 Aunt Susan and Cousin Amelia:

 Grandmommy and Amelia:

 Joey, Aunt Olivia and Uncle Steve:

 Paw Paw and Joey:

Grandaddy and Uncle Marshall:

Andrew was very excited to see all of his friends.  He welcomed each of them with a hug.  I tried to snap pictures quickly, but two year olds are pretty fast!  Here he is with ("sash-in") Ashlyn.

 Here is a hug for (yih-ye) Lily.

Lincoln is one of his big buddies from school.

 Here is his absolute best friend, Kurt.  He starts yelling for Kurt when we pull in the parking lot of daycare.  He calls him, "Cut."

All of Andrew's cousins also came to the party.  It is fun to watch all of them grow up together.  Here is John Marshall in the ballpit.

Cade, Ashlyn, and Andrew:

This may be my favorite picture from the day.  I love everything about this boy!

Wild cousins jumping in the moonwalk:

 Best Friends:

 Andrew with his buddies:

 Randi came to celebrate, too.

 Going up the stairs to the obstacle course:

 Andrew and Kurt:

 Here is Andrew's teacher, Amber. There are not enough words to describe how much I love this woman.  She is an answer to my prayers because she is so good to my baby!

Andrew tried to blow out his candles, but he needed a little help.

 He got some great presents.  Grandmommy and Grandaddy got him this awesome ("sauce-um") rocking chair.  We didn't open presents at the party because I thought it would be cruel to make the children get off of the fun play equipment to watch.  We brought them all home and let him open a couple each day for a few days. 

Andrew's actual birthday is Wednesday.  It is hard to believe that he is 2.  We love you so much, Buddy!