Sudie's

Tonight, the three of us went out to dinner to Sudie's with Belinda, Steven, Evan, Monica, and my parents. We had been told about their all you can eat fried catfish, which was pretty tasty. We were all stuffed especially the men who all ordered the catfish. The boys were very well behaved. I got this cute shot of Evan at the table. And here's one of Andrew and Ngoai.

High Chair

The last time we went to storage, we got Drew's high chair out from storage; and tonight, we decided to give it a try. He did very well in it sitting nicely and eating pretty good. He seems to like trying to eat the straps and tray too. I guess, the tray will be saved for later until he's more ready. Here are some pictures of Andrew in his high chair.

Visit from Nonna

We had a visit from Nonna this weekend trying to help Daddy and Mommy find a house. We found some that we liked, but nothing that we felt we had to have. So, we will just to keep searching until hopefully, the right one comes along.

Drew marked the occasion by sleeping through the night again Friday night. It's definitely few and far between, but James and I aren't really pushing the matter. Generally speaking, he wakes up 1-2 times a night. But I am glad he was well rested so he wasn't too fussy in the car. He did really well considering we were in and out of the car for seven hours.

It was great having her here. Thanks for everything, Nonna! We love you so much! Here is a picture of Andrew and Nonna playing around.

Happy Five Month Birthday!

So, Andrew is now five months old!! Our little boy is growing up too fast!

Most of you have seen from the videos how well A.J. is developing with laughing, crawling, etc. Daddy thought Drew would be crawling by now, but Andrew seems content with scooching.

Andrew has also moved onto baby foods. We started him with some carrots, then squash, and sweet potatoes. The first bite of carrots, he proceeded to taste it and spit it out. But after that, he ate it pretty well. And he has done really well with the other veggies we have tried. We have also begun giving him water. A.J. didn't like it too much at first, but he is getting more agreeable to drinking it now. But one thing he loves about water, he loves drinking it from a cup. I think he likes it a lot because he sees us drink from cups all the time.

Today's clip is of the birthday boy in his new jumperoo. He loves to bounce on our laps and on the floor when we hold him up; thus, we thought that he might enjoy a jumper. Well, that is putting it mildly. We had to put the pillow underneath so he could reach the floor in order to push off.

Rainbow

Here is a clip from Andrew's day with Daddy. Our little soccer player in the making doing a "rainbow." Daddy is so proud!

9/80s

About a month ago, James's work offered employees to work 9/80s if they chose. Well, of course, James accepted; and so he gets every other Friday off now (his first Friday off was July 4th, but he already had that holiday off, so he got Thursday off instead). So, James had this Friday off and got to watch Andrew all day by himself. Daddy was sweet to give Mommy updates via email and the telephone. They went for a walk and to the grocery store with Ngoai who was off too. Daddy cooked some delicious gumbo for the family. I also had invited Jenny, Justin, and Baby Eric to come for a visit. It was so nice to catch up with them and see how both boys have grown. Drew seemed to like Eric and kept looking at this person who was like him--smaller than most people he sees.

Saturday got an early start as we headed to Mommy's eye doctor appointment for Mommy's contacts in the morning. Then, we went to the home of another friend, David, to see his seven week old newborn daughter, Selene. Again, Andrew seemed to look at the adorable little baby and also their two dogs. We also went to Toys R Us (twice) to get some stuff for Andrew.

Andrew went to bed early on Saturday (early for him being 8:30PM), but that also made for him waking up early too--around 6:30AM. After the three of us went for a short walk, we ate breakfast and played. Then, we all (Daddy, Mommy, A.J., Papa, and Ngoai) headed up to Houston for a few different reasons. First, we went to storage to retrieve some items that we wanted. Then, we met the inspector at a house we are looking to purchase. There were some issues with the house, so we will have to discuss it with the owners before we move forward with the purchase. James and I are a little down about it, but know it will all be for the best. After the inspection, we went to Belinda and Steven's house to visit them and their son, Evan. Drew spent a good deal of time checking out both Evan and their German Shepard, Scout. Belinda and Steven were kind enough to loan us Evan's Exersaucer. Well, our son just loves it. He is entralled with all the gadgets and was very good sitting in it while we ate a late lunch and dinner tonight. Thanks, Uncle Steven, Auntie Belinda, and Evan!

I am glad that A.J. seems to like kids and babies. I hope that will continue when we start play dates and of course, later on when #2 hopefully comes along. And he doesn't seem too scared by dogs either. He would even try to reach out to touch them and didn't cry when they got up close to him and tried to smell him.

He was great in the car on Saturday--barely causing too much of a stink and falling alseep fairly quickly two times. However, he was fussy on the way up to Houston this morning. My theory was that he was too overtired and mad at us to fall asleep in the car seat. But I feel that he is getting better in the car. Not great, but liveable.

Well, it was a good weekend; and here's to the beginning of another week. My how fast the weekends go by!!

Here are pictures of Selene enjoying a nap and Andrew enjoying his new toy.

Learning to Crawl

Andrew has made great progress learning to crawl. He was already pretty good at scooching and changing directions, but he will now get on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. He still doesn't have the concept of moving his arms back and forth alternatively with his legs. All in due time, I am sure...

Raspberries

I finally got some good raspberries on video. Be thankful you are not in the splash zone!

The Dimple

We noticed that A.J. had a dimple on his right cheek that wasn't there before. I guess because his cheeks weren't fat enough to show it!? It's hard to tell from the pictures, but you can see it better in the video clip. In the first picture, you can see it more so than in the second picture, which I just added because I thought he looked cute in it. I hope it sticks! FYI, Daddy has only one dimple in his right cheek too.

Giggles

Someone had the giggles with Dad while playing their own little version of Peek-a-boo.

Dad's Weekend Excursion

One of James's friends since elementary school was getting married in El Paso, so Daddy left Mommy and Andrew for a little weekend excursion to attend the wedding. Andrew and I didn't tag along because we thought it best to stay behind since it was going to be a short trip. Daddy's absence wasn't too unbearable. Daddy was gone for barely more than 24 hours, but long enough that Mommy and Son had some really nice quality time. Of course, Papa and Ngoai were there to help Mommy and play with Drew; and Miss Monica came over to hang over that night to keep us company too.

We are sorry to have missed what James said was a really nice wedding. But congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Matt Decock!! Daddy didn't take much pictures, but here is the one of the newlyweds.

Happy Birthday, America!

James and I both had Thursday and today off. Yesterday, we did some shopping, ran a bunch of errands, and just hung out. Today, we had lunch with one of my old friends from high school, Quincy and had a really nice time catching up. Then, we grilled out hamburgers and for dessert, served good ole American apple pie. We watched some fireworks shows on the television, since we thought the live version might be too loud for Andrew. But as we were putting him to sleep, we saw some from our window and let him watch for a bit. It worked out pretty well. I love fireworks, but no traffic, no mosquitos, and no loud noise is really nice too.

Today's pictures are: (1) Quincy and Andrew; and (2) a family photo with Andrew in his Independence Day outfit that he inherited from Cousin Brennan.

Happy 4th of July, everyone!! Hope you all had a great holiday!