All About Daddy

Andrew and Austin have the best Daddy in the world.  He is very involved, loving, he takes time to teach as opposed to simply discipline.  Andrew adores him.  It's obvious that Austin does as well.  Every morning when I walk into Andrew's room I expect "Hi, Mommy!!, but instead  I hear, "Where's Daddy?!"  Loren has tried to explain to Andrew what it is he does at work.  Andrew listens very carefully, but he continuously insists that Daddy watches Basketball and Football with Mitch and Rick when he goes to work.  It's hard to understand what exactly it is that Loren does all day.  He's very smart.  He does things that I can't comprehend, let alone Andrew and Austin.  People count on him at RR.  We count on him at home.  He works very hard and we appreciate all that he does, both at work and at home.  Being a Daddy is undoubtedly a tough job, but we couldn't ask for a better one!  

*Happy Father's Day, Loren!*

(Kick back and relax...you deserve it.)

The Slip 'n Slide

It has been so HOT and HUMID here this week!  So, what do you do when it's too gross to go to the park and Mommy is too lazy to take on the pool again?  Well, you break out the trusty slip 'n slide.  Andrew was really excited.  Austin was really fascinated.  I can't say the slip 'n slide was used as it was intended to be used, but the boys had fun.  Andrew even created his very own personal Water Park when he had the brilliant idea of putting the slide on the slip 'n slide.  I never would have thought to do that!  

Sidenote:  the multi-purpose slide (the basement, the pool, the backyard, the slip 'n slide?!) has turned out to be the best $10 I ever spent at a garage sale.

Swim Lessons

Andrew has come a long way since last Summer when he wouldn't let go of either Loren or myself in the pool.  Even with water wings, he clinched tightly to whoever was holding him and was very content watching everyone else splash around and have a good time.  I was fine with that.  I felt pretty comfortable myself knowing that he wouldn't run and jump in the pool.  Sometime last Fall/Winter he and Loren went to a parent participation swim class, which was intended to help Andrew's issues with the water and pool, and I think it did.  I signed him up for his first non-parent class a couple of months ago and it started yesterday.  So far, so good!  Before the swim lessons started, I managed to take him to the neighborhood pool a few times, and also to a pool playdate.  At the playdate, Andrew was hesitant, but eventually brave enough to jump into the pool from the side - several times.  I started off catching him and then began to pretend to catch him.  Andrew had his water wings on, but he went under water a bit and didn't seem to care.  

Swim lessons started this past Monday and he did a fabulous job.

As always, I am so proud!!!!

Bowling

The plan on Saturday was to take 2 vehicles, drop Loren's car off at the Toyota dealership for an oil change and then go next door to the bowling alley and after bowling (and possibly lunch), pick up Loren's car and head home. Well, we drove 2 vehicles to the Toyota dealership, only to find it closed for floor cleaning. We went bowling anyway. Getting an oil change was an excuse to go bowling, but there was no reason not to go bowling if we couldn't get the oil change. Andrew had a lot of fun. Everyone had a lot of fun. Austin very badly wanted to crawl down the lane to reach the pins. Hey guys! We have a baby stuck in the middle of the lane! Could you help us out here?! The scores aren't worth mentioning, but lets just say we are all better at Wii bowling than real life bowling. After bowling we treated ourselves to lunch at Scotty's (yum!) where Andrew had his first ever glass of chocolate milk.

funny dance

And another video! If you know Austin you will get a good laugh out of this, and if you don't know him you should still get a good laugh out of it. He was tired, sick, he was just given a dose of Motrin and Benadryl, he was listening to music on the radio, and he had a medicine dropper.

I give you Austin's funny dance...

Austin's First Steps

Austin took his first steps last Wednesday. We were at a playdate and out of the blue Austin took a couple of steps from a small picnic table to me. I got tears in my eyes, half from joy and half from Oh, my goodness...my life is about to change, and I can't call my baby a baby for much longer. I had just explained to a couple of other moms that I had no idea when Austin would start walking. Well, he certainly showed me! Since then he was taken a few steps here and there, but he definitely still prefers to crawl. Yesterday I was lucky enough to catch him on video (see below). He's getting more confident, or cocky. This morning I turned around and while in the midst of drinking from his sippy cup, he took several steps.

Enjoy! Andrew wasn't too impressed, but he will be once he can chase Austin around.