A New Bed and a New Plate

We took an exciting trip out to Petsmart yesterday to get Jez a new dog bed. She has been sleeping in her crate (with the door open) for the past 7 years, and we decided this thing was just too noisy in the night! After careful consideration, we picked out a square bed with edges for our little princess. Andrew even picked out 2 dog balls for himself while we were there. We weren't sure how the first night without the crate would go, but she was in doggy heaven!

A few nights ago, I was looking for Jez, and Mike suggested she might be in the guest bedroom. I said I didn't think she would be in there, because there were no sheets on the bed. I had just thrown the clean ones on there earlier in the day. Sure enough, there she was peeking out from around the covers!

Last night, I also tried using Andrew's Mickey plate that he got for Christmas. I wanted to see if he would eat off of it or dump it. Luckily he didn't dump it until almost all the food was gone. He was happy to see Mickey smiling back at him.

All in all, the plate was a success and made for less clean up on the high chair. I think I might try the silverware soon just to see what he thinks.

Saturday morning, I went with my parents to see the snow sculpture competition while Mike stayed home with Andrew. I'm not sure how people make these things out of snow, but they are really neat to look at. Here is a picture of one of my favorites that one of the high schools sculpted. I had to take a quick pic with the car window down, as there were cars behind us.

My parents then came over to the house for a little while afterwards. Andrew ended up sleeping most of the time, but the little guy did not want to go down for his morning nap. He has been a little stinker again lately. Starting Friday night, he won't let anybody change his diaper again. He jumps up and runs away. It used to be just me, but this morning, he did it with Lauren, too. Well, we had a small scare yesterday, because he almost choked on a sticker that I gave him while changing his diaper. I found that if I give him a sticker, he will sit still for a second. Well, I forgot about the sticker and we went in to eat lunch. The sticker was clear and hard, because they are the ones that are supposed to go on the wall, but I didn't use them, because they didn't stick. Anyway, he kept making choking noises when he was eating, and that's when I realized the sticker was missing, and I forgot to take it away. I'm such an idiot sometimes. After a few moments of panic, because he was making gagging noises like he was going to throw up, I see the sticker stuck to the roof of his mouth. He threw back his head and started crying, and that is when I saw it.  Close call! Outside of his own mother giving him things to choke on, it's amazing what he finds to put in his mouth. If he's not taking the caps off of the door jams, he has been taking the caps off the knobs on the vents. Just when you think your house is baby proofed! Here he is hanging out with his favorite door jam (which has the knob removed):

As you can see, he also has his castle that Tammy gave him for Christmas by his side. This is his new favorite toy. It's like he just discovered it for the first time a week or two ago. His favorite part is the canon ball. If it's not in there when you open up the castle, he starts yelling.

Here he is with the canon ball that I mentioned above:

Here are a few other shots I took that afternoon:

The Discovery Center

On Saturday, Andrew had so much fun at the discovery center! I decided it was time to get out of the house, as I have been getting that cabin fever feeling after so much snow. We got hit again on Friday with another 6 inches or so. Our mailbox was almost covered up.

Andrew got to ride in his new big boy car seat for the first time, and he was happily babbling all the way there. At first it was a little overwhelming, because I had never been there, but I then noticed they had an area for kids 18 months and under, which was PERFECT for him! I came home and looked up the season pass fees, because I definitely want to come back a lot! The rates were very reasonable, so I think I'm going to go for it. Below are some pics of him playing. He was making the adults laugh, because he kept screaming at the top of his lungs, because he was so happy. Hilarious! I think he even made a couple of friends. :)

That evening, Mike and I had a nice evening out, as we went to another holiday party for his work. This was one for the financial advisors and their spouses, as we met some really, really nice people. I didn't get to bed until midnight, but it was well worth it!

...and just like that. The heat wave is gone.

Well, the snow hit as expected, and Andrew and Jez went out on Saturday to check out the white stuff. The sled didn't really work out as planned, as poor Andrew just kept sliding downwards. I ended up just taking him out into the snow, which I think he really liked.

The snow started falling at about 7:30 Thursday morning, and we probably got about 5 or 6 inches, so not toooo bad.

Friday morning was a little more exciting than Thursday morning, as that is garbage day.

So what do you do with a cold and snowy weekend (besides dream of warm places)? All sorts of fun stuff! We certainly got quite a bit of use out of Andrew's musical instruments. Man, does he loves these drum sticks. You can also just play them as sticks. Notice him holding them to look out the window. Right now we are missing one of them, which has got be down, because I love to play the sticks, too. It reminds me of elementary school. Even though the uncool kids always got the sticks (that would be me), I still loved to play them. I currently play a mean version of ABC's on them, which Andrew sometimes bounces up and down to.

The instrument set also came with 2 shakers shaped like eggs.

On Sunday, we broke out the tent and tunnel that Grandma and Grandpa bought him for Christmas.

 

That same day, he had a small incident with his cardboard Elmo. There is picture of Elmo on his mac and cheese that I cut out for him, and he has been carrying it around for the past week. He even takes it in his car with him. Well, I hear him choking on something, and it turns out that he took a big bite out of Elmo and swallowed it. He made it through, but there will be no more cardboard Elmo. I bought him a stuffed one for Valentine's Day. :)

Yesterday he made me laugh, because he looked so tired, but wouldn't nap. He had his morning nap, but after being in his crib for 45 minutes in the afternoon, I took him out when he started screeching. Do you think he is tired? :)

Nonetheless, here is where I find him when I step away to go to the bathroom for 30 seconds. He STILL loves this plant.

So, all in all, a very relaxing and peaceful weekend. I started teaching two classes last week, so my evenings got a little busier, but nothing too bad. Mike and I have been a little Dexter obsessed lately, but that always gives me something to forward to in the evenings. So addicting! On a positive note, we probably only have less than 2 months left of winter, because we got a late start. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons. Not too much longer!