Hurricane Andrew

Things started our innocently enough this morning when Andrew and I took his flashlight in his house and read some books. Then the "beast" showed up and starting snooping around the house.

Things started to get more and more out of control as the beast got closer and closer. Andrew was so excited about keeping the beast out, that he just started going wild in the house, which is not ideal when you have only spent $28.

DOOMED.

Now that she is in the house with us, Andrew takes it into overdrive.

He is overjoyed that the whole house is crumbling down around us and continues his rampage...

Devastation...

Bum Neck

Most of my friends and family know that I have been battling some neck problems for a while now. I have had problems for about 10 years now, but I didn't know that I had 2 bulging disks until I got an MRI about 3 years ago. I have tried it all...massage therapy, chiropractors, physical therapy, muscle relaxers, steroid injections, and botox. The botox helped quite a bit, but it was one of the most painful things I have ever experienced. It really just helped me with managing the pain, but the pain never goes away completely. The only thing that has made the pain go away completely is the prednisone that I was on after the car accident. I went back to the pain center at the hospital last week and made mention of the prednisone, but he said it was not an ideal drug to be on long term, and I would probably gain a lot of weight. He gave me some pain medication that I tried on Thursday afternoon, and I ended up getting so nauseous that I will never take it again. He is also having me try some type of nerve repairing medication that I have to take 5 nights in a row and then twice a day after that. I guess it doesn't really start working until you are on it for a couple of weeks. The first night, (2 nights ago) I felt tired and really hot. Last night I didn't really feel anything, but I took quite a bit of food with it. Hopefully the side effects will wear off enough for me to take it in the day in 3 more days. So....we'll see how that goes. It the mean time I am taking a ton of over the counter pain medication, which is not all that ideal.

Not too much has been going on lately. Nice and boring is how I like it. I need a break from the chaos! I am teaching one class outside of my day job, so that takes up some of my evening about 6 days a week. I just wanted to bring in some extra money to buy Andrew some outdoor toys. We have a Little Tikes outdoor play set that we are thinking about getting him in the next week or so, because it is on sale at ToysRUS this week. I did buy him some Nikes last week, and it just so happened that Mike bought some new ones the week before. The little box that Andrew's came in was SO cute. I could not resist...

I also bought him a cardboard house, which came a few days ago. I was so excited to color it with markers when he went to bed Saturday night, but once I started, and I was over an hour in, I decided I would just be coloring the front. It was WAY more work than anticipated. He has been LOVING it, though. I put his Mickey couch in there, and he has been pulling it out into a bed and laying on it.

He has also started sitting in all the toy bins (including the dog's toy bin) in the house this weekend.

However, he became upset when he realized he could not get out...

He has also really been into his golf clubs and golfing with daddy. Mike helps him hold the club and they hit the ball together. He runs and gets the ball and then gets in "position" by backing up into Mike and holding his club. He can't wait for them to hit it together. Both Saturday and Sunday, he would not let me change his diaper in the morning, because he had to race to his clubs when he got out of his crib. This is him 60 seconds after getting up on Saturday:

...and eating breakfast with his clubs.

Some other favorites from this weekend:

Favorites from earlier in the week:

Trip to the Conservatory

On Saturday, I took Andrew up to the conservatory while Mike had to work. They were having a butterfly exhibit this past weekend, so I thought it would be neat to check it out. Besides the fact that it felt like it was 80 degrees in there, we had a good time.

They had a kids area with a big tree frog and some animal books.

Andrew's favorite part of the trip was pushing his stroller around the lobby afterwards. His least favorite part was getting in the car and me taking his dandelion, because I didn't want him to eat it.

Andrew's First Music Class

This week Andrew went to his first toddler music class, which is held at a church not too far from our house. The first of many classes to come (I'll try not to over do it and turn into one of those moms that make their kids attend a million activities a week)! I was really excited to see what he would think, and I was happy to have him get out of the house and socialize a bit. When we first arrived, and I put him down, he started crying. I think it was because he thought we were going to be outside, and I disappointed him by making him come inside the building. At the time, I thought he thought I was going to leave him or he was overwhelmed, but he did the same thing today when I took him to the conservatory. He loves his outdoors time!

The woman that teaches the class is really, really nice, and was very welcoming to me and Andrew. It turned out that we were the only new people, and most of the adults and kids were familiar with all the songs already. The class was way more regimented that I had in mind, but it works out for the best so things don't get too chaotic with so many little kids. I had this picture in my mind of a very casual atmosphere where we listen to music and play instruments. The first 15 minutes or so, the teacher sang songs and they have hand gestures or movements that go along with each song. We used the shakers for one song, and then all the kids got to choose one instrument at the end for a particular song. The teacher said that it is okay for the kids to move around, but she didn't want any running during class. If kids start running, act out, etc. she asks that you go in the hall to re-group. I was getting more nervous by the second, because expecting a toddler to act a certain way is like trying to train a cat or something. They have a mind of their own! Fortunately, Andrew was very shy this time around and sat quietly on my lap. I think every kid had a meltdown at some point in the 45 minute class, so it looks like it is pretty expected. At about the half-way point, the teacher brought out a parachute and let the kids run underneath it. This immediately brought Andrew out of his shell, and he ran underneath the parachute smiling and laughing. From that point forward, I could tell he felt more comfortable. He even did some of his infamous spin moves to one of the songs. The only other time he cried was when we had to put the shakers away after one of the songs was over.

We got to take home a CD of the 25 songs in the program, and Andrew and I have listened to all the songs every day since we have gone to class. I'm hoping that by the time we go to class next week, both of us will be much more familiar with the songs, which will make it more fun. This last time, I was about 3 seconds behind mumbling words, because I had no idea what was going on.

Below is a video of him playing his instruments and there are even a few pelvic thrusts in there. :) We have been watching the toddler music channel and playing his instruments. Everything is going well here until the TV takes a beating.

Easter 2012

Easter turned out to be a pretty good day, and Andrew just loved the goodies the bunny brought in his basket! The second he came out in the living room in the morning, he saw the basket on the table and starting pointing and smiling.

Both of the Great Grandmas sent a little something for him, so I put those out the night before, too.

He didn't want to part with his new toys at breakfast...

After the morning nap, he headed outside for the Easter Egg Hunt. I couldn't get him to look for one egg. He just wandered around and pushed his mower, but had no interest in his eggs!

My dad ended up coming over a few minutes later, and we all headed over to Mike's parents' house for the afternoon.

When we got there, he opened up a special Easter gift from Grandma Marcia. He got some sports balls to play with outside, a book about spring, and some bubbles.

When the kids got ready for the Easter Egg Hunt, Andrew was much more interested than he was at finding eggs at home!

Marcia blew us away again with her delicious cooking, and we all got food to take home, too. I think dad was in food heaven! He has mostly been eating canned chilli and frozen pizzas. :) My brother decided to stay up in Madison for the weekend with his girlfriend. It actually helped that we didn't have an Easter routine since we were small kids, so I didn't have to think about what I would usually be doing with mom that day. I know she would smile just seeing Andrew in his Easter clothes and how much fun he was having outside.