The Last Month of Andromeda's First Year

Andi's 12th month was, once again, super eventful!  We continued swim lessons, went to a book reading at a local bookstore, drove to Hill Country to celebrate Andromeda's first Thanksgiving with S's family, played outside in the leaves, taught Andi about Hanukkah, got to rip open presents, and finally my parents came into town for Andromeda's birthday weekend and we threw a party (more details in a later post).  Oh, and the big one - Andi started walking!  

Digging into the holiday books at the local bookstore.

Learning about tools with daddy while he fixes the chair.

Tools first and now driving practice - daddy couldn't be prouder!

Andi loves looking at leaves that have fallen from the tree, so this pile that we raked in the backyard was a big treat!

We try to get out and about with Andromeda as much as possible so she can learn about the grocery store, the library, the park, and basically any other place than just our home.  She loves to go for walks (especially once all of the houses in the neighborhood started putting up their holiday decorations!), swing on the swingset, go down slides, make friends at the local HEB, and explore new books and toys when out and about.  She's also become a little fishy at swim class!  She loves to get dunked, play with the water toys, watch all of the big kids in the pool and she can hold her breath for 8 seconds now!

Standing all by herself!

We're trying to teach Andi to kick, kick, kick!  It's a work in progress.

Holding her breath underwater while swimming to daddy.

For Thanksgiving we drove out to Hill Country to stay with S's parents and celebrate with his family.  Andi was a champ for the ride out there (we tried to time it with her morning nap) and then proceeded to devour her Thanksgiving dinner.  Andi is about 50/50 with food these days.  Sometimes she won't touch it and other times you're left wondering where she fit it all.  Her Thanksgiving favorite was the brown sugar sweet potatoes!  Andi had also been toying with small bouts of walking up until this point, but this weekend we got some solid 5-7 consecutive steps.  By the time her birthday came around she'd upped it to 10-12.

Andromeda posing with a bunch of turkeys at daycare

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Practicing walking to grandpa.

Mmmm, lasagna!  Another weekend favorite!

Reading with grandma.

While we were out there, I also got the opportunity to take a glass blowing class, which has been on my bucket list for some time.  It was fun, but not as involved as I'd like for it to be.  It was a good introductory class, and I did have fun, but I'm going to keep this one on my bucket list until I can try some more actually blowing of the glass on my own.

Getting to blow some waste glass just to see how hard the initial bubble is to make and how fast it can balloon out of control.

Shaping the colored glass that went inside the paperweight I made.

Once we got home we got the house promptly decorated for the holidays at Hanukkah started only about a week later.  Andromeda got to learn about the menorah and dreidel and open 1-2 small presents each day.  She had fun tearing open the paper and was actually quite appreciative of her new toys and books for a 1 year old.  Especially the books.  S and I are proud to say she's turning into quite the little bookworm!

Andromeda discovering her first dreidel!

Tearing open a puzzle and book for her first night of Hanukkah!

My parents were able to make it out for the end of Hanukkah and Andi's first birthday weekend.  They arrived on a Thursday night and so Andromeda and I played hooky from work/school on Friday to spend time with them and get ready for Saturday's birthday party.   I'll write up another post for the party, but Andi had a great time!  And with that a I leave you with a few funny photos from our little goofball!  I won't be posting monthly from here on out (it's a lot of effort!) but I'll try to post every now and then with the fun stuff!

Andi's new trick.  She loves to eat with forks and spoons now.  In fact, putting food on a utensil is the easiest way to get her to try something new!

And an outtake from this month's photo.  There were a lot of outtakes this time.  Getting her to stay still is a feat!

Andi's 11th Month

Andromeda had a very eventful 11th month!  In addition to all of the places we traveled and people we saw, Andi made some big strides in motor skills and verbal abilities!  There is a walker at the daycare that has become one of Andi's new favorite toys.  I showed up to pick her up one day and she proceeded to spend the next 15 minutes smiling and giggling and showing me how she can "walk walk walk" with it on her own!  And boy is she fast!  Not so great at turning yet, so it's actually quite a workout for us too because we have to follow her around and adjust her course so she doesn't slam into walls or furniture.  But the pure joy on her face as she zooms around on her own two feet is unreal!  There are also some small wood steps for the babies at daycare and Andromeda loves to climb up the steps.  She can't get down yet, but she's pretty happy chilling on the top for a while once she gets there.  We've taken to letting her climb the stairs at home (supervised of course) followed by some vigorous walking sessions on the walker we have to wear her out at night.  She adores it!

Andromeda can climb the stairs!

A little walking machine (and I'm referring to the baby, not the toy)

And Andi really does chant her version of "walk walk walk" when she walks either with the walker or by holding on to our hands.  It is one of her MANY new words!  She has actually been throwing out way more words than she commonly uses.  She upgraded "baba" to "bottle" for one day but has refused to say it properly since.  The teachers at daycare swear that she says "Brown Bear" but we can't get her to repeat it at home.  She's also said "apple" and numerous other words that are spot on, but apparently only a one-off attempt for now.  In addition to the words she learned last month, her standard vocabulary now includes "wa" for walk, "BUBA!" for bubbles, "dada" which is said with glee every time we get home from daycare and she sees S (it's so damn adorable.  still no Mama, though...), "ah du" for all done which she says with the accompanying hand motions that we've taught her, "bamba" for her beloved peanut butter Bamba snacks,  "bye bye" which she does while waving, "wawa" for her water cup, and "baby" because she is obsessed with all of the new babies that have joined her class at daycare. I'm probably missing a couple too, it's amazing how fast her language skills are picking up!

Andi loves throwing the ball for her puppies

Baby's first sushi restaurant!

Digging the swing at the local park!

Helping dada and uncle K work on the car

Now that Andromeda is crawling, walking, and communicating more she's become so much more interactive and so we've been having fun trying to introduce her to new things.  A new sushi/Asian fusion restaurant just opened up near our house so we went there for an early dinner and Andi tried her first sushi.  She was definitely a fan, especially of the sweet, sticky sushi rice!  The weather has been on and off nice and horrible, so we try to get outside as much as we can when it's nice.   S has been taking her out to the garage for a change of scenery and showing her all of his tools which she is a fan of as long as she can put them in her mouth...  We've also gone on a few fun outings.  One weekend we went into the city for brunch with a friend at a new brew pub followed by a walk in the botanical gardens.

Having fun playing with the kegs at the brew pub

A pagoda gifted by one of Houston's sister cities (I can't remember which one...)

We climbed to the top of what is pretty much the only hill in Houston at the garden and got some great views!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, so we had fun taking Andi to the pumpkin patch, her first pumpkin carving party, and trick or treating!  We decided to dress up in a family costume inspired by the original Jurassic Park!

Chilling in the pumpkin patch

I love this picture of her so much!

Feeling pumpkin guts for the first time

Andromeda's first Jack-o-Lantern!

Pumpkin Carving Partying with Daddy and Uncle K

Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler and an adorable little T-Rex at your service!

We also took Andromeda to her first air show!  There is a Boeing building that overlooks Ellington Field where the Wings Over Houston air show is held and so we took Andi over there for about an hour to hear/watch the planes fly overhead, see a few "explosions" in the distance, and "walk walk walk" in the big parking lot!

Andi's first air show

Walk Walk Walk!

We also went on a big day trip up to the Texas Renaissance Festival!  Andromeda was FASCINATED with all of the people, especially the ones in costumes.  She got to try her first giant turkey leg, see a joust, dance to an old-timey brass band, and people watch to her little heart's content.  We actually had to wind up leaving a bit early.  I was hoping that she would wear herself out with all of the fresh air and people watching and zonk out in her stroller for a nap in the afternoon.  But there was just too much to see.  So we headed out slightly early than planned and she passed out in the car for nearly the entire trip home.

Watching the parade of people in costumes

Mmmm, turkey leg!

So like I said, it was an eventful month!!!  This summary doesn't even include all of the usual stuff like swim class and laundry basket autocross.  We'll be back next month when Andromeda turns 1 YEAR OLD!!!  Can you believe it's nearly been a year?!?  In the meantime, I leave you with out takes from our monthly photo session, which was especially trying this month...

Andromeda - Month 10

We had a BUSY month!  We started off Andi's 10th month with a potluck brunch with a group of my girlfriends and their families.  We don't meet up often enough with our busy schedules, but it's always so great when we do! We're still doing swim classes and Andromeda is turning into a little fishy!  Oddly enough she doesn't love floating around the pool, but dunk her for a few seconds and she's all smiles.  Andi adores pulling herself up into a standing position, pointing at everything she wants to see, and talking.  She's getting better every day at communicating.  Her bottle (and any bottle for that matter) is baba, balls are ba, books are bu, the puppies are puh, and she smacks her lips together when she's hungry.  She also likes flipping through books, pulling apart building blocks, banging metal bowls, and throwing everything on the floor.

Standing in her crib all by herself!

Andi's favorite book makes animal noises!

New building blocks we picked up at a garage sale

The big news this month was our trip to NYC for my cousins J & S's wedding!  We took a long weekend trip, our first where we had to fly with a full contingent of baby supplies (car seat, stroller, high chair, pack and play, etc).  My parents and brothers chipped in and we all rented an Airbnb in Jersey City together, which was perfect.  We could all hang out downstairs while the babies were asleep instead of having to quietly tiptoe around a hotel room in the dark.  Andi did pretty good on the airplane, but the cab ride from the airport to the brownstone we were renting was brutal and the poor kiddo was not a happy camper.  It was tough weighing the pros and cons of flying into LaGuardia vs Newark and we had wound up choosing the most affordable non-stop flight we could find which unfortunately got us in to NYC during rush hour.  Lesson learned.

Andi's favorite inflight entertainment is gnawing on my empty Dramamine bottle...

 Once we got to the rental house, we got settled in, ordered some Chinese food (of course) and let the babies play together for a bit.  Andi got to spend another whole weekend with her cousin G and the two of them had a lot of fun "sharing" toys with each other, including Andromeda's introduction to bubbles!  The next morning a crew of coffee lovers made a run for some caffeine and also came back with some fresh donuts and bagels for breakfast - yum!

Bubbles!

Andi and daddy sporting some matching headgear courtesy of the local Krispy Kreme factory!

After the babies' morning nap on Saturday, we all headed out into NYC to check out the sights and a local Italian festival.  Andromeda wasn't a huge fan of the stroller, so I wound up carrying her all around the city in her Ergo carrier.  It was a great workout.  And she LOVED it.  She was all smiles and kicking her little legs with glee the entire time!  

Photo op at a fountain in the park - see her little leg kicking away!

The whole crew, ready for adventure!

Andromeda had her first subway ride experience!

 Saturday night there was a family gathering at a local brew pub where we finally got to meet up with the rest of the extended family who were in town for the wedding.   We talked a lot, ate good food, tasted some good beers, and also had a family photo op overlooking the NYC skyline.

The whole group!

The next day was the wedding.  My sister-in-law J's mother joined us on the trip so that she could stay at the house and watch the babies during the festivities, which was awesome!  The rest of us spent the afternoon celebrating my cousin J and now-cousin S's absolutely beautiful wedding overlooking the Manhattan skyline!

Such a gorgeous wedding - I'm so happy for these two!

Not the best photo, but this was the grandkid's traditional tequila shot with Grandma!

Me with my cousin C and her two awesome girls

The boys with some special cigars that we brought back from Cuba!

The next day we packed up all our stuff (and we had a lot), said goodbye to family, and then went out and explored Jersey City a bit more before our afternoon flight.  We discovered some really cool graffiti/wall murals, ate gourmet grilled cheese for lunch, and found a park where Andromeda got to try her first swing and play with leaves that had fallen from the trees (fall arrives a lot later here in TX!) And then we caught our flight home.

Making friends on the swing set

My little motion junkie was loving it!

Ready to go home

The next weekend S and I were heavy into party prep for our annual Oktoberfest party and the weekend after that it was party time!  Andromeda was a little intimidated by all of the people in her house, but once uncle K arrived and took her outside to watch all of the big kids play she was pretty happy.  There was a great turnout this year.  A lot more kids than we usually have, which was weird for us a first but obviously part of the natural progression of growing older, starting a family, and all of our friends also having families too.  Naturally I forgot to take pictures at the party.  And that is the end of Andi's 10 month update!  I leave you with a few out takes from our photo session...