Max and the Children's Museum

Earlier in the week, I had discussed with Belinda about a play date Saturday morning and suggested the Children's Museum as they haven't been to it since it's been revamped. She had thought about taking Evan to the zoo if the weather was nice. That was all right by me...wherever was fine as I figured that Andrew would have fun at either place. We also extended an invitation for Linda and Max to join us too.

Well, Thursday night after dinner, Andrew threw up. Then, he threw up once more Friday morning and then again Friday during dinner. I emailed the girls to let them now that we might have to bail on the play date if Andrew wasn't feeling well. It turned out that Evan could possibly be also house-ridden with pink eye.

Andrew did great Friday night with no more vomiting and woke up in happy spirits Saturday morning. He seemed back to normal. So, Daddy and I figured getting him out of the house might be good for him. Unfortunately, Evan wasn't well enough and wouldn't be able to meet us out.

It was rather chilly so Linda and I opted for the Children's Museum. We were disheartened that the museum didn't open until 10am as we both would have liked to head out earlier. Oh well, we made plans to meet up at 10am. It was funny because there were already a good number of people already waiting outside when we walked up at 10am! But it was good that we were there early because it got crowded fast. It was nice to walk around less encumbered than during the sneak peak. But by 11am, the TotSpot was pretty packed. We ventured outside for a bit and let the boys have fun on other toys. The weather was immaculate! It had warmed up and was perfect! We could have done the zoo after all. But the boys were still having lots of fun, so no worries. Then, we headed down to the lowest floor to check it out. It was more for older kids, but they had still some fun things for the boys to do.

It was nearing noon; and we decided it was time for lunch. Mommy had been craving the grilled chicken ranch sandwich from Ruggles; and Daddy was kind enough to oblige. Linda and Max were able to join us for lunch as well. The boys did so well behaving and eating their pizza dippers. It was cute too because they were being very sweet to each other side by side in their high chairs with touching and patting heads.

After lunch, Drew was so very tired as it was past his nap time. So, we headed home; and the three of us took a nice nap together. I so enjoy our family time!

Auntie Monica

Auntie Monica came over today to hang with us before we headed out to dinner for Girls Night Out. It started out as just the girls, but Steven, James, and Andrew ended coming along too to Little Bigs (my favorite is the chicken slider).

Anyhow, it was really sweet watching them play together. Andrew was really playful with Auntie Monica; and I managed to snap a picture of the pair.

Clean and Shine

As I have mentioned previously, Andrew seems to really like cleaning (or rather pretending to clean). When he does, sometimes James and I will sing "clean and shine" like Damon Wayans does his one of his comedic bits about his kids. Andrew really loves the broom and mop, but also enjoys wiping things with paper towels, tissue paper, or diaper wipes. Occasionally, Andrew will bring me his diaper wipes wanting one. Afterwards, he will typically proceed to wipe the floor or the rug. However, this morning, when I gave him a wipe, I told him to clean his barn. Lo and behold, he did.

I think it's funny that the kid likes to clean so much, but doesn't like for us to clean his face. I need to get him to wipe his face off with a diaper wipe or something! I just hope he loves to pick up his toys this much.

More Party Pictures

I wanted to share some more pictures from Andrew's 1st birthday party taken by my talented friend/photographer, Andrew. Thanks again, Dru, for spending your time and energy doing this. We are so in your debt!

Instead of uploading a ton of pictures to the blog, I again posted all the pictures onto shutterfly. Hope you enjoy!

But here are some of my favorites:

Happy 13th Month Birthday!

So, another month has come and gone. It's been another fun, but busy month for our little boy.

Andrew has learned the signs for drink and bathtub; and we finally made headway with him signing please when he wanted the broom out of the closet around two weeks ago. Now, if he wants something and you ask him to sign please, he will rub his stomach instead of his chest, but close enough. I love the rubbing of the belly. One time, he wanted a book and signed please without any initiation from me. Mommy was so proud!

As for talking, he hasn't learned to say any new words, but I think I forgot to mention last month that Andrew can say "Papa" for my dad and "ba" for ball and balloon. He also makes the "ba" sound for book too. We have been working on the other vowel sounds. Andrew must say "Dada" at least twice as much as he says "Mama". When I ask him to say "Mama", he says "Dada." Little punk! When he wants his Daddy, he will say "Dada", but when he wants me, he screams. Hopefully, he will learn new sounds and words quickly and will be able to verbalize more.

Sleep training has been going fairly well. He is able to sleep in the crib the whole night. Sometimes, we do let him off the hook and take him out early in the morning. We have good nights where he isn't taken out until 6am. But then there are bad nights where he is pretty pissed off at 3am; and Mommy and Andrew end up sleeping on the floor in his room. Sometimes, I know he is just so hungry and will let him nurse. We have had some great nights with him sleeping 6-7 hours consecutively. Our next step is to let him cry it out with little or no consoling from us. Oh, how I hope it goes well.

Drew loves to dance and still loves his toys and books. He has made good progress with his dexterity and ability to manipulate objects with his shape sorter toys. At first, he could only fit in the circle piece, but now, he is able to fit in the triangle and square pieces. Of course, we have to show him where the pieces go. He hasn't figured that out yet. Drew is really cute with pushing his cars around and makes motorboat noises to imitate car sounds. Andrew loves his Little People Barn that we got from the Armstrongs. The little tyrant likes to stuff the animals out of the window and allow them to fall onto the floor.

We moved Andrew into his new car seat for our trip to San Antonio; and he seems to like it much better. He spends most of the time looking out the window and checking out the scenery. It's funny because sometimes, he will motorboat like he does when he plays with his cars at home.

Here are some more pictures from Andrew's 1 year photo shoot if you haven't seen them on Facebook yet. I know they are a month old now, but still wanted to share them as I just picked up the files from Andrew. The rest can be seen at http://thelenzes.shutterfly.com/88 on our new shutterfly site.

Uncle Mike's Confirmation

The main reason we came to San Antonio this weekend was to attend Uncle Mike's confirmation. James was bestowed with the honor as serving as Mike's sponsor. We headed to Holy Spirit for 5:30pm mass and luckily for us, Andrew fell asleep moments before we got to the parking lot. He remained asleep for most of the mass; I think a little girl's cry nearby to us woke him up. But after that, he just looked around and played and ate snacks with Kathryn. Andrew did yell "Dada" once and screamed another time towards the end of mass, which Daddy said he heard (Daddy and Uncle Mike had to sit up front while we were sitting in the back).

After mass, we went to Cheesecake Factory. Unfortunately, Mommy got a terrible headache and didn't take much pictures. I am bummed I didn't even get a picture of the guest of honor that evening, but here are some that I did get.

The San Antonio Zoo

We decided to take Andrew to the San Antonio Zoo since Andrew has been loving the Houston Zoo and the weather was so nice. And it didn't hurt that we got 50% off tickets with our Houston Zoo membership. It was an extra special treat that Uncle Johnny, Peter, Kathryn, and Nonna went with us too. When we arrived to the zoo, we had second thoughts as there were lots of people in line to buy tickets. Luckily, the lines weren't that bad and went really fast.

I had been to the SA Zoo once before with Stephanie and Thomas when they were much younger, but didn't remember much at all. But I will definitely remember this visit! So many of the animals were out and easily visible--perfect for Andrew. But we were also graced with some shows by some of the animals. We got to see a bear walk right in front of us and some monkeys swinging and hanging from ropes. The highlight of the trip for me was a lion actually roaring. It was so awesome!

The kids did really well. Andrew just looked and took everything in. It was really nice spending the extra time with Peter and Kathryn too.

Some pictures from our excursion as well as the video of the lion:

The Baluseks

We had planned on driving into San Antonio this weekend for Uncle Mike's confirmation. Then, I found out that our friends, Jeff and Marta Balusek, were going to be in town with their children, Ripley and newborn Ender. We would only be able to see them Friday before Jeff left back for Wisconsin on Saturday. So, James took off work Friday; and we headed to San Antonio last night after the game. This afternoon, we met up with them; it was so good to see them again. And to see their kids and for them to meet Andrew, it was very special. Ripley is too cute and funny. She is totally a little Jeff. And Ender...what an absolute doll. Such a sweet baby. And then, there's Jeff and Marta, some of the most funnest people to hang out with!! I think the four of us could talk forever if we could. We so need to make a trip up north! Andrew really seemed to like Ender and kissed him. He really took to Marta too (confirming my theory about Andrew's affinity for pretty girls).

Some parting words: Jeff is still the bomb! A s#$thead, but still the bomb! Ha ha!

March Madness

Hmm, how I love March! Spring is upon us. The immaculate weather. Green plants. Flowers in bloom. Birds chirping. But what makes this time of year really great is two very simple yet electrifying words: March Madness. Two weeks and 64 teams (65 with the play-in game).

I will take some time now to reflect on my March Madness Past, Present, and Future.

March Madness Past:
As with most sports, it was Uncle Footon who introduced me to college basketball. He was a huge fan of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels; and it was no surprise that along with almost everything else, I wanted to emulate him. So, I easily became a Tar Heel fan too, especially Coach Dean Smith. But I was immediately sucked in. There is just this amazing excitement with the tournament--the high stakes of winning or going home, all those games being played simultaneously across the nation, CBS showing 4 games at one time on split screens, the Cinderella stories, the cutting of the nets, the frenzy of the college students, and those amazing stories that make players and/or teams great.

One of my most favorite tournaments actually doesn't really involve my beloved Horns or Heels. It was 1990; and I had learned about the tragic death of Hank Gathers, a player at Loyola Marymount. As with many people, I began to follow the team and watched them make their improbable run. I also thought one of the players was cute too, so that added to the appeal. Anyhow, I can still remember watching the team's interview on the Arsenio Hall show. Tell me that isn't a blast from the past!

James and I have had some great memories of the NCAA tournament together. One of my favorites was 2001. We got tickets for the South Regional in at the Super Dome. Road trip! This was particularly a great tournament for me because: (1) it was New Orleans; (2) Texas was in the region; (3) North Carolina was also in the region; and (4) it was just the two of us together in an awesome city for an awesome event. I especially remember going to Bourbon Street after the games and seeing lots of basketball players including some of my Heels!

Then, in 2003, we got tickets for the tourney in San Antonio. I do have a sore spot looking back on this tournament. I had pictures and videos of the game and the Horns cutting down the net on my digital camera, but lost the files. :( Boo hoo hoo. But it was still awesome because the Texas wins, our tickets were really sweet, and more importantly, the group of friends we went with.

March Madness Present:
Tonight was the Horns' first game of this year's tourney. James and I reflected how last year we left Andrew for the first time to go watch Texas play when he was a month old. This year, we invited Steven, Belinda, and Evan over to watch the game and a play date. It was great watching basketball and our boys. The boys played very well together. There was a lot less competition for toys compared to earlier play dates. Hooray! And the Horns won too. Double hooray!! Another great March Madness memory!

March Madness Future:
I don't watch nearly as many games as I like; and that goes double (or triple or quadruple) for Daddy. But hopefully, Andrew will enjoy watching college basketball; and the three of us can watch games together. I can't wait until we can take him to the games live. I hope that Andrew will love the excitement of the tournament as much as our family does. I just hope he's not a Dukie!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Since my cousins are on Spring Break, I suggested we go to a museum during the week. It turned out the main exhibit halls at the Natural Science museum are free after 2pm on Tuesdays. So, we planned to meet up then after we got out of Gymboree class.

Well, Andrew decided to take a nap from 11am - 1pm today. I didn't want to wake him, but when 12:20pm rolled around, I pretty much knew we wouldn't have enough time to eat lunch and get ready and had to nix the idea of Gymboree. Fortunately, we can make up the class later.

As we headed for the museum to meet the kids, traffic was crazy. There were cars everywhere. I know it was Spring Break for many, but I still don't know if that was the only thing causing the backup. We finally got into the museum a little before 3pm. It was pretty packed. Many of the cousins had not been to the museum before and seemed to enjoy themselves especially with the dinosaur fossils and gems and minerals exhibits. Andrew did very well behaving himself. There were some loud noises from him, but no crying. We did try to let him walk through some areas that weren't as crowded; and he did pretty good with that. He did choose to spend most of the afternoon with Uncle Anh Tuan (so easily tossed aside at times, I tell you).

After viewing the main exhibit halls, the kids were ready to go and get some ice cream. So, we headed to Marble Slab Creamery where Andrew enjoyed eating everyone's ice cream!! Afterwards, the kids wanted to come by the house to see it. They played with Andrew, watched a movie, and ate pizza.

Andrew was so worn out! He didn't have a second nap--he was too busy having too much fun. It's a good thing he took that 2 hour nap or else he might have been very grumpy.

It was a fun day; and I am so glad to have the extra time with the cousins. They are such a great group of kids and are so sweet to Andrew. He really had a good time playing with all of them.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!!

Note: Not that you can tell from looking at him, Andrew is 1/8th Irish. :)

Note #2: In the two last pictures, I kept thinking "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands."

Crawfish and Cousins

Tonight, we went to one of my uncle's house for crawfish. We have been anxiously awaiting crawfish season and are so happy it's finally upon us. The crawfish was so delicious!! I am already craving more. We also had another culinary treat, banh xeo, which is most easiest to describe as Vietnamese pizza. This is one of Mommy's favorite dishes!

And it's always fun to hang out with the cousins. Andrew was a little scared of all the strangers there, but warmed up to some (but not everyone) after a while. He did especially enjoy playing with my twin cousins, Anh and Nga, and even kissed them when we said goodbye. He was so tired that he fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep while being transferred from the car to the crib!