Day Care Update and Pumpkin Patch

Andrew has been doing such a wonderful job with daycare, and he had his first full day on Monday of this week. I was so nervous about nap time, because he has never slept anywhere but his crib or his car seat. Well, 20 minutes after nap time started, she text me and said that he was sound asleep in his pack and play. Unbelievable! He ended up sleeping 3.5 hours. I was so happy that I almost jumped up and down. He has been loving the outdoor time there and what she calls "school time." On his first morning ever there, he brought home these projects. I was so excited that I took a picture and sent it to Mike at work. She said he helped glue all the noodles on his necklace.

Here is my favorite project from last week:

...and from this week:

They also had a day this week where they went over the differences between big and little things, and he brought home a couple of worksheets. On one he colored a mouse and an elephant. On the other one, they had to circle the larger of two objects for four different objects. Even if he doesn't understand some of these things, I think it's just great that he's interested in participating. She said when she announces "school time" each day, he and the two other kids run to the table (the fourth child is a baby). I'm just so happy and comfortable with him being over there. Plus, what could be easier than driving 60 seconds to drop him off? And I'm getting a lot more things done around the house.

Last weekend we also took a trip to the Pumpkin Patch. It was a nice cool day and it wasn't very crowded.

Fist bumping the pumpkin man....

These are hilarious....

I'm not messin' around. This is a pumpkin.

A few other favorites shots from last week. Look who took over Andrew's mickey couch...

She's not supposed to be on there, but who can get angry at this face?

She really puts up with a lot around here....

I also put up the fall decorations the last few weeks, which he has really been enjoying! I spend a good portion of the evening putting everything back each day.

Pain in My Neck

Well, the bum neck has been flaring up again the last couple of weeks. For about 12 days straight, I had trouble looking to the right or up and down. I had to turn my whole body to look at somebody (I call it robot moves). After almost 2 weeks of not being able to move it and taking a crazy amount of pain medication, I called the pain center and got some prednisone and an appointment to come back. They had a new doctor this time, and he was really, really nice. We went over some stretches and we will probably end up doing the botox again once the prednisone fades off. Things started to approve about 5 days after starting it, and I have been doing great since Sunday or so. When I took it back in March, I think it was about 2 weeks before the pain came back. The thing that worries me is that this was the worst flare up I have ever had (outside of after the car accident in March), so I'm really worried the car accident messed things up more. Usually a flare up will last a few days, not a few weeks! The doctor said he didn't think either of the disks were herniated based off my symptoms, but that it could have gotten worse. Lucky me. :) Soooo...we'll see how things go over the next few weeks. I'm a little scared!

Yesterday I took off work for my appointment, and Andrew went to daycare in the morning. He played outside over there, ate lunch there for the first time, and they made some paper squirrels (pics to come). He was so excited when he got home, that he would not fall asleep for his nap. I tried until 3:30, where I ended up giving up. He has never not taken a nap before. Well, Mike came home at 5:30 so we could take him to tumbling, and he fell asleep in the car before we got out of the neighborhood. We drove there anyway, because I needed to drop something off at the front desk. I tired to wake him when we got there, but he was out cold. We drove home, and I put him to bed. He didn't end up waking up until 7:30, so he slept 14 hours! All these changes are exciting and a little exhausting for him!

Apple Orchard

Last weekend, we took our first trip to the apple orchard, and it was a beautiful day! We made sure to hit the donuts first! :) This will be just one of many trips over the next two months, I'm sure!

This past Friday was Lauren's last day with Andrew, and it was a tough one! There were many tears, and I was still trying to pull myself together 30 minutes after she left. Having her here 40 hours a week for the past 13 months made her one of the family! It's also hard to imagine not having Andrew here all day, as well. Changes are coming. I know he will just love daycare, though!

What was I so worried about?

Well, Monday morning rolled around, and I took Andrew over to daycare, where he was was going to do 30 minutes on the first day. I stayed for about 10 minutes, and then I told him that I was going to go for a little bit, but I would be back to get him soon. He turned back to playing with a train set they were putting together, and I left with no problems at all. I came back 30 minutes later, and he was upset when we had to leave. Ha! Today he did an hour over there, and he ran up the stairs when we got there to go see the kids (and the toys, I'm sure!). I don't think we are going to be having any issues here. He loves it so much that we decided to remove the part-time nanny ad and send him there full time instead. It also saves a ton of money. It's a win-win for everybody. :)

Daycare...Can I handle it?

For the past few months or so, Mike and I have been talking about having Andrew around other kids a bit more often. I thought the perfect solution would be to try and get him in a daycare a couple of mornings a week. I didn’t really know what my chances would be of finding somebody with that kind of opening, but I found a really nice one in our neighborhood. She had one opening, and she said it would be fine if he just came a couple of mornings a week. I was really nervous about the whole thing until I brought Andrew over to her house this week to meet her and the other kids. Andrew didn’t want to leave and seemed to really enjoy the toys and the kids. There are 3 other kids besides him: a baby, a 16 month old, and a 2 year old. I think this whole thing will be harder on me than him. Next week, I leave him for the first time. I am going to just leave him in there for 30 minutes on the first day, so he knows I am coming back. Based off how he does on that first day, I will see how long I want to leave him the next time. I wanted to get him adjusted while Lauren is still taking care of him. Her last day is next Friday, and we are going to miss her so much. I’m sure there will be tears all around. We are going to be hiring somebody else to take care of him at the house during the times he is not at daycare during the week.

Labor weekend seemed to fly by last weekend. Believe it or not, I only got one or two pictures from the whole weekend. Mike went to the Illinois game on Saturday, so Andrew and I had a fun day out. I took him to soccer in the morning and then we went to the park for a while after that. That evening, we picked up Mexican food and hung out at Tammy’s for a few hours. It has been so nice that college football has started up again! Tammy and I watched NIU’s tough loss to Iowa. On Monday, we went the annual Oberheim Labor Day breakfast at the park. Mike’s mom slaved over a hot stove at and made yet another wonderfully delicious breakfast. Andrew had plenty of kisses to go around, as he has been puckering up his lips and giving me and Grandma kisses. He evens makes a "mmmm" sound when he kisses. I could have the worst day ever and be cheered up by his kisses. Last night, I told him I loved him while we watching TV, and he blew me a kiss and said "mmwah!" I thought I was going to cry.

Here are some pics from the last week or so. 

Graham crackers in his tent (by candlelight, of course)

At the park...he loves these things. He likes to blow them into the air.

Yep, drawing on his tummy.

Look at me!

Watching his new favorite show, Jungle Junction. How did he get so big?!

He has been obsessed with headstands since he started going to tumbling.