November

We celebrated Andrew's 2nd birthday at out local Gymboree. It was perfect! 

My mom and I made the little backdrop, since they don't really let you decorate. Got the inspiration from Amy, who also had a party there. I made the chocolate cupcakes from scratch all by myself.  

My generous mother in law helped me by making pulled pork for mini sandwiches and cole slaw. Another friend made me these popcorn balls... so good! Oh, and I got the personalized t-shirt from LilChachkas on Etsy. 

I think everyone had a great time! The birthday boy decided to not take a nap that day, so he fell asleep while eating, he didn't get to blow his candle :( Oh well, I hope all his wishes are coming true anyway :)

Happy birthday my sweet little man!

October

I turned the big three oh in October. I went to The Cheesecake Factory and drinks afterwards with some close friends on my actual birthday. On the weekend we went to dinner at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge with the family. It was very yummy!

We went to the pumpkin patch...

Then my mom was able to come for a visit and made it just in time for Halloween and stayed until his birthday...which is a whole other post, so I'll be back soon :)

Surgery and catching up

After we came back from our vacation in TN, Andrew had his orchiopexy surgery because his testicles never descended. And tubes put in his ears because he had constant fluid, it was affecting his hearing. I think this will be the last surgery he goes through though. He's been under anesthesia 4 times in less than 2 years.

When we went back for his urologist post op, they looked the same. The Dr think it will work itself out, we go back in about a month. And we go to the ENT this week because one of his ear tubes is clogged, so it's still affecting his hearing :/ 

(At a Gymboree party September 1st)

In other areas, he still receives his 3 therapies. He's still a horrible eater, which is so frustrating! He's crawling way more, still prefers to be on his back though, oh that child! He does also love standing now, which is great! He's finally starting to sleep better for the most part, still drinks 1 bottle in the middle of the night. He has 5 teeth and 2 more that barely are poking out. 

We won the Ruth D. Anderson Scholarship with Kindermusik International. Which means tuition and materials are covered for Fall and Spring :) We are currently taking a Sign and Sing class. Andrew has finally signed a few times, it's working! 

Other than that, everything is good. We did have to re pipe our whole condo, but at least that's taken care of, no more leaks! I love my Kindle and have been reading more now. I also recently upgraded my phone and love it! That's all I have for now. I'll be thinking about what to do for my 30th birthday, coming soon and planning Andrew's party as well, I'm so excited :) 

(My two loves. Found the Kindle case for less than $9 on clearance at Target)

Tennessee

At the end of July, we went on our first family trip, Andrew's first plane ride. He did so good on the plane and throughout the whole trip. He was such a happy baby the whole time, he even slept good.

We stayed in a cabin in Pigeon Forge, TN with Mike's dad, his wife, aunt and uncle. And since it was the Dunn's annual family reunion. we saw other family members as well. Last year Andrew was in the spica cast so we couldn't make it. I wish we could see them more often.

I think what I'll remember the most is playing boardgames, it was so much fun! We played Aggravation and Sequel, fun easy games. We also went to the Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg and ate lots of southern food.

We had such a great time, it really was a vacation. I've heard so many horror stories of babies and vacations, but Andrew was great and we were able to relax for a few days. We would have stayed longer, but Mike had to fly to Oregon for work and I had to fly back with Andrew for his surgery.

June-July

Back in June, a few fellow crunchy moms and I started a preschool co-op. It's been really great! We rotate houses each week. We are all great friends and our kids play very nice together. I'm very happy to be part of that :) 

The weekend of Mike's birthday (July 7th), we had a leak in our house. We had to go to Polk City for the weekend. Well, while we were there, Andrew hurt his hip. He had his first trip to the ER :(

I've never seen him in so much pain, we spent all day there and they couldn't find anything wrong. They think it was Toxic Synovitis. When we got back to Orlando on Monday, his orthopedic saw him and came to the same conclusion. It was very scary!

The weekend of the leak and ER, we had originally planned to get Andrew's first haircut. So the following weekend, we finally went and cut it! Good bye crazy curls. He was 20 months  (and 1 day) old when we got it cut. He did really well too.