Changes

Two weeks ago I quit my job.

It's been a bit of a crazy roller coaster around here since January.  Lance graduated at the end of December, and we were all keeping our fingers crossed that he would get a great job before too long.  I don't think either of us expected such a quick answer to our prayers- Lance had an interview lined up before we even left Grandma and Grandpa's house after Christmas and started his new job as an estimator the second week of January.

I always knew I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, but I admit I was shocked when it really came time to make that decision.  I have come to really enjoy my job and the people I work with.  I was hoping at first to just drastically cut back my hours, working once a week.  When my manager told me that wasn't possible, I realized there were only two decisions: work more than I want to, or not at all.

As soon as I made the decision to quit, I felt peace. It hasn't been easy, but I know it is the right decision.  At first I thought maybe I'm supposed to quit because something crazy will happen, like Lance will get some really heavy-duty calling or we'll have quadruplets (ok, maybe not quadruplets, but you get the idea).  But then I looked at Andy.  And I realized I don't need any other reason.  Andy is enough.  And he needs his mommy, even if he doesn't know it yet.

The last day of work was tough.  I will miss the part of my identity that is The Labor and Delivery Nurse.  And I will miss my friends.  But now, I have more time for things like this:

 Playing with my family

Preventing Andy from killing himself (this is after I found him eating a blue highlighter)

Going to church (Now I can go every Sunday!) 

Getting ready for the family reunion! (Quizzing Andy on who's who... he does well with Dada and even Grandma Fife, but still can't pick out Mama.  Go figure.)

Getting my hair cut.  Ok, maybe I don't expressly have more time for that, but I figured a change in lifestyle required a change in hairstyle, too. 

 I'm still getting used to this full-time at home thing, but I know it will be worth it.  Mom, here's to you for always being there for me.  I hope I can be as good a Mommy to Andy as you have been (and still are) to me.

Good to the Last Drop

 It feels like I take a lot of pictures of Andy while he's eating.  That's probably because it is the only time I can catch him sitting (relatively) still. His newest achievement is eating with a spoon.  Our first forays into self-feeding were, of course, not the cleanest. Yes, this is yogurt, not grease (my child does bathe regularly).

He loves to eat yogurt and applesauce- he'll even go to the fridge and try to tug it open saying, "sah, sah."  He tries to get every last bit he can, and when the spoon fails, well, isn't that what hands are for?

And just in case Andy thought Mom was getting too bored at home, he likes to keep things interesting. Instant potatoes for dinner, anyone?

Gotta love this little boy!

Aww, Croup!

 After several unsuccessful attempt to post a video of Andy from Christmas, I have decided to give up and just post some pictures.  I am hoping to get the video up someday, but I will need to call up some tech support! 

We've been lucky that Andy has been such a healthy boy.  However, Dr. Grandpa sure got a panicky call from us last Tuesday when Andy woke up coughing so hard he couldn't breathe. He finally calmed down and was able to sleep, but I was nervous the rest of the night. I took him to the doctor in the morning and found out his barking cough was a classic symptom of the croup. Isn't that what Minnie May almost died of?!  While there was no Anne Shirley with her handy ipecac to save the day, a steroid shot and a vaporizer seemed to help and our little boy is on the mend.

Here are some pictures taken the day before he got sick.  It's a good thing I took them then, because his nose has been so runny I've almost been afraid his brain is going to ooze out next. In other words, he hasn't been very photogenic lately.  Here's our cutie discovering how much he likes snow:

A Lot to be Thankful For

 This year for Thanksgiving we were blessed enough to have Grandma and Grandpa Fife come to visit us. We had such a good time! We had yummy food, shopped, saw the beautiful lights at Temple Square, and put up Christmas decorations. Thanks to Grandpa and his iPad, Andy has learned how to ask for music (he waves his arm like he is conducting), and Grandma finally got him to sign "more" (which he uses more like "I want"). Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures all together, so the following will have to suffice, but I think Andy's face says it all:  We certainly have a lot to be thankful for!

Happy Birthday, Andy!

It is hard to believe that a year has gone by already. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was waddling around taking care of laboring women and being totally jealous as we waited for our little boy's arrival.

Andy has grown so much! At one year old, he:

• Weighs 21.8 pounds
• Is 28.5 inches tall
• Has 13 teeth (and two more coming in)
• Crawls speedily
  
• Walks not so speedily (I think he would like to skip to running, though)
• Climbs on everything
  
• Eats anything he can grab (including hair and lint, if Mommy's not looking)
• Says Hi
  
• Waves
• Hugs toys, and sometimes Mom and Dad
• Is still the cutest boy in the world!

We decided to celebrate Andy's first birthday with a family party. Our little house was wonderfully crowded, but I think the birthday boy (and everyone else) had a good time.

Unwrapping presents with Daddy

Someone didn't want to let go of his new toys, even for cake!

Yum!

Andy lets us know he is full by throwing away his leftovers. How kind.

And just a refresher as to why Andy is still the cutest boy in the world:

We love our fall baby!

Before and After

Ok, last post for the evening and we'll finally be caught up! Lance did an awful lot of work on the house over the summer, but perhaps what we are most proud of so far are the doors. When we moved in, the only interior doors that were finished and hung were the bathroom and furnace room doors. All the exterior doors were still unpainted. It took Lance several weeks to prime, paint, and hang all the interior doors, but the exterior doors were a nightmare. Since of course, they were already framed and hung, we had to take them off the hinges and then put tape and plastic over the whole house. We were actually without doors on the house for about a week. We were very blessed that no one broke in!

I didn't get pictures of all the doors (I'm sure it would bore you anyway), which we painted dark green on the outside and a lighter green color for the inside, but here is the best of them all.

Before:
After:

Ooooh! Aahhhh! It really is a great improvement and I am very thankful for and proud of my sweet husband who has worked so hard to make our house a home.

In other news, Lance told me a few weeks ago that the time had come to cut Andy's hair. I have been putting it off. There is just something about that fluffy, curly baby hair that is just so sweet I couldn't bring myself to do it. I knew he would look so much older without it! However, Andy has started to carry my headbands around as toys and when he manages to put them on his head I realized how long his hair had really gotten and I gave Lance the green light.

Before:

...during...

After:

The day after we cut it we realized that we had left the top too long, so it was back to the bathtub with our little boy for an extra trim. I didn't take another "after" picture, so this snapshot will have to do:

Andy has figured out how to push around the stepstool to get to what he wants (although he has an amazingly long reach even without it). Here he is turning off the digital box, which hooked up to the TV so we could watch General Conference, for the millionth time during the Sunday Afternoon session (I'm afraid I didn't catch too much of Conference this year).

With a new haircut and some new clothes (thanks to his most recent growth spurt), our baby is really starting to look like a big boy! I can't believe his first birthday is almost here. Sometimes I miss the inert little bundle that would nap in my arms, but it has been an amazing journey so far to see him grow into the wonderful, wiggly little--or big-- boy that he is now.