Boo-boo, BBQs & Basement!

Poor Andersen made his first trip to the ER a week ago Saturday. The poor little guy took a header out of his Papasan chair off the bathroom counter. I felt a bit like a horrible mother since I was on a photo shoot and couldn't be with him at the hospital, but daddy was perfectly equipped to handle it.



He's just fine -- had a couple bumps on his head, but was otherwise just worn out from the experience.
He was back to playing with his favorite toy (Pop Star piano) in no time!

Sunday, we went to a family reunion picnic at Mahoney. Law LOVED the "pahk."

This past Friday we hung out at the B's house with Uncle RyRy, Auntie Sarah, Auntie Stacey, Oscar and, of course, Grandpa and Grandma.

Daddy & AJ

Andersen with his Godmother. :)

In honor of Andersen's ADORABLE new jammies and a ridiculously gorgeous night, I had to get him outside to take some new pics.

You'd never know from those photos that the child is miserable. He's still having allergy/digestive issues. He's now having trouble pooping and we've had to enlist the help of Holly with her nursing skills (thanks!) and put him on prunes, apple juice and milk of magnesia. We have an appointment with a GI specialist, but they can't see him until September 30th!

Andersen's latest trick (other than growling like a monster) is push-ups!

He's so hardcore (pfffffft!)

We went to see our lot tonight. They dug the basement yesterday and it was pretty cool to see where our house will be (and to finally see some progress). Law LOVED it!

Law was helping Andersen play in the dirt.

I plan to put up a few more pics and some videos this week, so check back.

Hope everyone's doing well!

Homeless & Hungry

After quite a bit of last-minute drama, we closed on the sale of our house almost two weeks ago. We're officially homeless. We're invading Nana & Papa's space until the new house is done and it's going remarkably well so far. Packing was a total pain in the butt and it's really weird that we won't see the majority of our stuff for four months, but the end result will be so worth it. We are SO excited for a fresh, new home with plenty of storage and living space!

Andersen had his allergist appointment yesterday. We scheduled it nearly two months ago and this was the first opening they had. We're so glad we took him. The specialist was awesome -- he laid everything out for us and even if half of it went over our heads, we appreciated his explanations. He decided to test him for a handful of potential allergens that we know he's exposed to based on my diet. We already knew he's intolerant/allergic to milk and soy and we now know he's allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, oats and eggs. We were able to rule out an allergy to wheat. So, my diet is that much more restricted. We're a bit bummed out for him and are crossing our fingers he outgrows at least some of the allergies, but we feel relieved to be armed with the knowledge and know what he can do to get our little guy feeling better. It's possible he also has other GI issues aside from the allergies based on his symptoms, but we're taking it one step at a time and managing my diet first to see if that leads to a significant improvement. The next step would be an outrageously expensive hypoallergenic formula and then seeing a GI specialist. Hopefully it won't come to that and cutting nuts, eggs and oats out of my diet will do the trick.

Despite his belly issues, Andersen is an incredibly happy little guy. Everyone comments on how sweet and mild mannered he is. He's a total pumpkin. Seriously. Look at him:

He started sitting up well this past week. He still randomly gives up -- usually just when one of us turns our head for a second -- and falls over or backward, but he's pretty good at sitting for quite awhile at a time.

I'll have to post a video of him in his Jumperoo. Cutest.thing.ever. We just bought it for him because he likes the one at Mo-Mo's house. He just bounces and squeals. So adorable!

We had a nice Fourth at Grandpa & Grandma's. Law changed his mind about fireworks. They'd scared the crap out of him the week before, but he liked them that night. Andersen wasn't bothered by them at all.

Law & Daddy with a choo choo firework:

Watching the choo choo:

Hope you all had a great holiday!

SIX months!?

Where has time gone?! It seems like just yesterday I was pregnant, willing AJ to get here before the end of the year. And now our little peanut is HALF A YEAR old!!



We celebrated his half-birthday by going to his well-baby visit (not so sure he thought it was a party, though...)

He's growing right on track and he's awesomely average and perfectly proportioned -- 50th percentile across the board! It does seem a bit crazy that he's only 10lbs less than his brother (he weighed in at 17lbs, 8oz), but we're happy that he's right on track for growth despite all his eating and my supply issues.

On the home front, we found out that the appraisal went fine and we're all set to close on the 30th. Um, holy crap! We also "locked in" our choices on our new house. It was fun/crazy/exciting/overwhelming all at the same time. The good news (for Mike and our Customer Service Rep) is that we (I) can't change our (my) mind anymore.

I'll leave you with this new photo of Law. He got a haircut (I know, I know -- about time!) and he looks so big...and so much like his daddy. Per usual, he wasn't real interested in having his photo taken and he reached a new milestone -- being completely exasperated by his mother:

There's LOTS to share this week. It seems like life is never dull these days.

Andersen's baptism was yesterday. The message Pastor Ken gave really tied in the baptism and it was a very nice ceremony. Uncle Ryan and Auntie Sarah are AJ's godparents.

Here's a photo of all of us. Our church doesn't typically look quite so, um, strange, but it's decorated for vacation bible school right now. You probably can't see it, but Andersen's totally cheesing. He was quite the performer during the whole ordeal.

We had a brunch at our house following church. It was nice to have our family together and it was a bit bittersweet to have everyone over to our house for what will probably be the last time. It's really hitting me that we're moving in just a couple short weeks. And while we're all very excited to have more space to spread out, it will be a bit sad to leave the home we've made so many memories in.

Here's AJ in his baptism outfit.

We spent Saturday night at Grandpa & Grandma's. Mike's uncle and cousin were in town, so we hung out and had yummy burgers. It was a gorgeous evening.

Auntie Sarah with Andersen:

AJ with Mommy:

Great Grandma making over Andersen's dimpled knees:
Law had a blast being entertained by Uncle Ryan and Auntie Stacey:

I found Law during nap the other day like this. Doesn't he look so sweet?!

Law was a trooper today -- he had to go with to an orthodontist appointment, a house selection appointment and shopping. It was only fair we play outside for a bit this afternoon. Being in the backyard may be his favorite place in the world:

Big boy!

Here's Andersen after his bath tonight. He's chewing on anything and everything his can get his hands..and mouth...on these days. For good reason! He cut his first tooth on Saturday!


A pic of Law and Daddy from a couple weeks ago. I just love how Lawrence is giving him the "side eye." (and now that I just typed that, I think I may have already posted it. But, I don't care. It's cute and I don't want to have to go back and re-post it a different time if I DIDN'T already).

Andersen will be SIX MONTHS OLD on Thurday. I'm having a really hard time with this milestone. It doesn't seem like he could possibly be half a year old already. He's such a sweet little guy -- full of smiles for everyone (he's a bit of a flirt). He's been rolling around like crazy lately and I don't think crawling will be too far in the future -- he's already scooted a bit by digging his toes into the carpet and pushing off.

Lawrence is as busy as ever. The kid has BOUNDLESS energy. I wish I could bottle it and sell it! He's been talking so much and it's really cute. He's been singing, too, and dancing and clapping (to the beat!) along to his favorite CD in the car (Choo Choo Soul). It's so fun to see him learn new things every day.

In house news, we ended up changing our floorplan at the last minute. We decided we'd rather go without a couple upgrades and have more room to grow. We gain a kitchen island, integrated desk, loft area (in addition to the four bedrooms -- we'll use it as a playroom) and a better-laid-out floorplan and we're very excited. Mike and I were having a hard time choosing the exterior color, so we let Lawrence make the final choice. It's kind-of fun that we'll be able to tell him he picked our house color out (by the way, he went with the non-upgraded color...he's cheap like his mom!)

Here's a picture of our elevation. Ours will be a medium gray with black shutters.

Hope you're all doing well! It may be awhile before I post again since we'll continue to be busy with trying to get packed up and moved out...so, to the two of you who may read this on a semi-regular basis -- I'll try to update soon.

Big News!!

That's right! We sold our house! Just seven days after listing it with an agent! We're very excited. Now we have to find somewhere to live (Mom, Dad - you reading this?) until our house is done in November.

Speaking of the new house...I drove by our lot on Saturday and was shocked to see several of the houses in our circle were up! It makes it all seem more real to see our neighbors' homes being nearly done.

We close on June 30th, so this month will be a busy one with packing. The builder was able to move our completion date up to November and we're thrilled we'll be in our new home for Christmas and both boys' birthdays. Looks like we'll be able to have the kids' birthday party at our own house for the first time!

Since it's been awhile, here are a bunch of recent photos:

Law & Daddy:

Our big boy!

He loves his fire truck (or, as he calls it, a "ree-err ree-err twuck):

This is the most enthusiastic look I can get when I try to get him to sit still to take his picture:

The ever-elusive toddler smile on film:

Andersen's been digging playing with his toes lately. I think it's so cute!

He's such a happy baby! He smiles so much! And he's a total chatterbox.

Not sure what Law's giving the side-eye about, but he seems to have perfected the look:

Little Man is teething already. His fingers are always in his mouth these days!

Some updates:

-In addition to being allergic to milk and soy, it appears Andersen is also sensitive to cereal (or something in it). We'll be seeing a specialist to see what the full spectrum of his allergies is in July.

-We enrolled Lawrence in preschool for the fall. Can't believe our big boy is going to SCHOOL! He'll have a blast!

-Law has been singing lately and it's so darn cute!

-Andersen is *this.close* to scooting. He can roll around already and he's been getting up on his knees. Today he was using his toes to scoot himself. I'm SO not ready for two mobile kids!

-LAWRENCE IS POTTY TRAINED!!! It took about a week and we're so proud of him!

Hope you're all doing well!!

Poor Andersen is sick today and I stayed home with him. I'm thinking maybe it's an ear infection, but we'll see at his appointment this afternoon. He was up most of the night and the poor little guy screamed inconsolably for about an hour.

Anyway, he pretty much won't let me set him down, so I thought I'd update the blog a bit.

Great Aunt Sandy sent this adorable pic of Law from Easter the other day. He looks like such a big boy!



And here's one of Andersen from Monday:

And here's a super-cute video of the little guy. I DARE you not to giggle along with him! The video's less than a minute and will totally make your day!

He giggled for the first time last week, but Monday was the first time he really let loose and belly-laughed. I was being a dork and I'm guessing he was laughing AT me, rather than with me, but it was completely worth it!