A Case of the Giggles

I'm not sure why this is so funny, but Andrew seems to be laughing at EVERYTHING this morning.

Christmas in Atlanta

We had Christmas at our house this year.  It was easier than packing Andrew and his half-of-a-car of supplies and driving across several states.  Sam's mom and step-father came for a couple of days, followed by Sam's dad, step-mother, and step brother.  Sam's sister, Noell, was around for the whole time.

We had two full Christmas dinners, lots of presents, and good family fun.  A few photos of the festivities are below.

Noell, Sam, Andrew, Emily, and Grandma

Noell and Andrew

Andrew tasting a present.

Grandma got a new phone case with a photo of Andrew on it.

Grandpa Bill and Grandma with Andrew

Andrew playing with his new Mega Bloks.

Just thought this picture was cute.

Apparently, Andrew wants to do his own dental work.

Checking out his new frog.

Loving his dog, which he can ride or hold onto and learn to walk.

Grandaddy, JaJa, Noell, Willem, Andrew, Emily, and Sam

Grandaddy and Jaja with Andrew

Eight-month photos below

Andrew's 8-month photos have been added.  Sam is nerdy and always dates the monthly photo posts to coincide with Andrew's actual birth time.  You can see them by scrolling down, or using this link.

Christmas Photos

We built a little impromptu photo booth on our first floor in order to take some Christmas-themed photos with Andrew.

Since some of the Christmas cards haven't been delivered yet, we're not going to show that photo yet, but we'll show some of the others that we took.

We also took Andrew to see Santa Claus a few weeks ago.  He loved meeting the big man, and didn't cry at all.

Andrew is a genius!

At eight months old, Andrew pooped in the potty!

 . . . . or he was straining while in the tub, so I held him over the potty so I wouldn't have to scrub the tub out.  Either way, I see a full Ivy League scholarship for this one.

Eight-month Photos

Andrew is now 8 months old already!  It's becoming harder and harder to take good pictures of him because he has become so mobile and wants to move around.  But, a few of the best ones are below.

The Evolution of Standing

Andrew is now fully standing.  He does need to hold onto things to balance, but he no longer requires us to help him stand up.  He does that all on his own.  In fact,  it's hard to keep him sitting down any more.  The evolution from first trying to pull himself up to being able to stand fully on his own was less than a month.

November 11: He's trying to pull himself up.  He's been doing that for a few days, but still hasn't managed to figure it out how to fully stand up.

November 24: He's now able to pull himself up to a standing position, although he's still very unsure of himself.  The end of this video evidences how unsure.  But don't worry, as with all of Andrew's falls, he cried for about 5 seconds, then wanted to play some more.

November 27: In just three days, he has become much more confident on his feet.  He's not shaking around as much, but he still has to work to steady himself.  Unfortunately, it doesn't last, but he's taking the falls better!
And yes, he's wearing the same jammies from the previous video.  I promise you they were washed in between the two days!

December 4: He's now a fully standing machine.  He will stand at his musical table for an hour at a time, going in circles around it and playing with all of the buttons.  Since this video was taken less than a week ago, he's gotten even better at it.  We put velcro on the bottom of the legs, which sticks very well to the playmat, so the the table can't slide out from under him.

He has also started standing in his crib when he decides that that's the right thing to do at the moment.  Emily went in to get him one morning, and found this:

That day, the crib was lowered down so he can't lift himself out or anything like that.

Periodically, Sam goes through the overnight videos.  The scene below has become much more common.

Who knows what this means?  Will he be freely standing on his own in a month?  Will he be walking?  Stay tuned!!

Andrew's Favorite Things

There are a few things that really make Andrew lose it in laughter.  Here are a few of those...

Rubbing his stomach with a rattle toy.

Bubble wrap.  If it weren't dangerous for babies, we'd be going and buying a roll of this stuff!

Bathtime.  Andrew has graduated to the big-boy bathtub and is loving it.  He loves to lay down and just splash.  And, as evidenced by the photo below, he really loves his bath toys.

The Teeth Keep Coming!

Andrew made a liar out of Sam, and now he's made a liar out of me.  He now has THREE teeth breaking through on top.  I can't wait for them to come in so I can get a decent picture of them.  In the meantime, he's working on standing.  He uses anything and everything to pull up on.  I had to lower his crib mattress today because he was a little too close to climbing out for my comfort level.

I took this video tonight to showcase Andrew's two favorite pastimes - standing and laughing at mommy.  Sorry it's so shaky. . . . . I was trying to film with one hand while giving him my other hand to steady himself with.

Baby Gate

We have finally installed a baby gate.  Andrew's not quite mobile enough to need it yet, but it's not a bad idea to have it ready and to get used to it.

Andrew wanted to check it out.

Tooth Correction

Last week, Sam posted that Andrew was cutting his third tooth.  Well, Sam was wrong.  Andrew wasn't cutting his third tooth . . . . he was cutting his third AND fourth.  Our sweet little angel has been a bit trying lately and now we know why.  I've tried to get a picture of his new chompers, but he has other ideas.

Apparently, growing teeth is really hard work.  Andrew was playing on the floor this morning and just fell asleep.  He RARELY falls asleep any place other than his crib and car seat these days, so Sam hurried to take a photo just in case it didn't last.

It lasted.  Andrew napped on the floor for almost ten minutes before Sam carried him upstairs and put him in his crib.  He continued to nap for another hour and half.  Sometimes it's hard work being a baby.

Another new tooth!

Andrew is getting his third tooth!  He already has the front bottom middle two teeth.  Now there is one coming in on the upper gum.

I'm standing on my own....

Andrew is now able to stand and hold himself up.  He can't stand himself up, but if we put him in place, he can hold himself there.  Things are moving along here!

Disney Cruise!

On November 15, we embarked on our first cruise along with Andrew.  We went with two friends of ours who have twins, so all in all, it was four adults and three babies.  Quite a handful!  Four adults and three babies in a single minivan from Atlanta to Florida and back!  The friend we went with works for Delta Airlines, and they get some ridiculous deals on travel.  This whole trip for the three of us cost a fraction off what it would normally cost for one of us to do it, and almost everything was included.  We even got an oceanview room with a balcony so we could sit outside.

We went on the Disney Dream, a fairly new cruise ship which is simply unreal.  It's amazing what they can do on boats nowadays, and how BIG they are.  This one had three swimming pools, a water-tube slide that went out over the side of the ship, numerous restaurants and clubs, a full-size theater with some incredible productions, and the best part: a nursery where you can drop the kids off for a few hours and they will feed them, change them, play with them, and put them down for naps.  This gives the adults a little free time.

We boarded on Thursday the 15th and spent the day checking out the ship, eating, and meeting characters as we sailed to Nassau.  On Friday morning, we were in Nassau.  We only got off the ship long enough to say that we got off the ship, walked around for about 30 minutes, then got back on.  We spent the day playing at the pool, and most importantly, the Nemo's Reef splash pad.  Andrew LOVED the splash pad, as you will see in some photos below.  It was constant smiles, laughter, and squeals. 

That night was pirate night, and everyone on the ship was dressed in pirate's attire, and there were pirate themed shows and even fireworks out in the ocean.  We thought Andrew would be terrified of the fireworks since loud noises tend to freak him out, but he seemed to enjoy them.

Andrew watching the fireworks.

Ready for Pirate Night.

That evening we sailed to Disney's private island, Castaway Cay, where we arrived Saturday morning. We all got off the boat to take the babies to the beach, but it rained all morning.  We were hoping to get Andrew into the ocean, but it was just cold and dreary.  By late morning, we had nursery time booked so that the adults could hit the beach for some relaxation.  

Andrew's first visit to the beach.

Relaxing in a hammock.

After a fun day at the beach, we started sailing again back to Florida.

Each night on the cruise, we went to a big show in the theater (it's amazing the kind of production they can do on a boat!) followed by dinner.  The kids usually went to the nursery for dinner time so that the adults could enjoy dinner two-handed.

Andrew fell asleep in the theater often
after long, fun days!

Dinners are pre-arranged, so they knew we
had children with us (even though we didn't
bring them to dinner).  Each kid had a
personalized cup waiting for them each night.

Andrew was popular in the nursery.
He even won an award!!

The balcony of our room was enclosed
so that Andrew could play out there safely.
This was taken at sunrise as we sailed into Nassau.