Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Matt went as a robot. You may recognize part of this costume from several months back. Matt and Jon tweaked it for Halloween.

Andy was Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat (I was the Cat, with a striped hat and black shirt and pants).

We had a busy few days of Halloween festivities.

Our Halloween celebrations kicked off on Thursday, with a special story time at the library.

Matt listening to the stories.

On Friday my moms' club held our annual Halloween party.

Coloring and putting on stickers

Enjoying an orange snack

Saturday we went to the haunted house and trick or treating tour held by our local police station.

Examining the spooky ATVs and motorcycles

That evening Matt and Jon carved one of our pumpkins into a jack o' lantern.

Cleaning out the insides of the pumpkin (not Matt's favorite task)

The finished product (not visible, the ears, added at Matt's request)

Sunday we attended another trick or treating event put on by a local retirement community. We stopped at a local shopping center to finish off the morning, only once Matt saw the trains at the toy store he chose play time over more candy, which was fine by me.

 

The boys looking at the miniature horse

Matt decorating a pumpkin

Andy watching everyone dance the Hokey Pokey

Matt dancing the Hokey Pokey

Matt enjoying a spider cupcake

Matt enjoying a lollipop from his loot

Today, of course, was Halloween. Matt had sports class in the morning, during which they were invited to wear their costume. Matt had to try out for himself if his costume might work for baseball. (It wasn't really going to work.) Then this evening Jon took him trick or treating in a local neighborhood, where Matt stopped by a friend's house and scored a giant sized Hershey bar, among quite a few other goodies.

Doing the zombie walk at sports class

Wearing his bat shirt

Watching a Halloween special

Andrew's Week 14

Andy's fourteenth week has been very busy with Halloween preparations (and this week will be busy with Matt's birthday celebrations), but it has definitely marked his transition from newborn. His face has definitely changed to more of the chubby Gerber baby type. He is working harder and harder on his gross and fine motor control, especially grabbing things. And he is definitely more alert and more demanding of as much attention as he can manage to get. It's getting harder to get him to nap during the day because he's more easily distracted and a lot more interested in what's going on around him.

Hello!

Posing with Mama

Smiling at big brother

On his tummy

Some other photos from this past week:

Just hanging out 

A look during tummy time

Sucking his thumb, or maybe his thumb and a couple of fingers

Hanging out in his rocker seat in overalls

Engaging in some one on one time

Happy 3-Month Birthday, Andrew!

Today Andy is 3 months old. Last week he weighed in around 16.4 lbs. and measured just over 25 inches. He is pretty much wearing just 6-9 month clothes now, especially after yesterday's late little growth spurt, and I'm preparing to put the 9-month sizes in his drawer soon.

Andy has shown a lot of development this past month. He spends more time alert, and he is very alert. He can see better and farther now. His favorite thing to watch - after us - is the ceiling fan in our main family room. A couple of weeks ago he noticed the cat for the first time. (She still keeps her distance from him.)

Andy is currently working on grabbing things voluntarily. He had started to show more ability to touch things he wanted to explore, but now he is trying to reach out and grab the things he wants. (His efforts to will them toward him have not yet been successful.) He has been bringing his hands to his mouth a lot lately. He is already trying to bring other things to his mouth, too, to explore them with his tongue.

Andy has rolled over twice, from his stomach to his back. He did that for the first time on Thursday. He hasn't quite repeated that for us at home. He is still working hard on rolling from his back to his front. He can make it almost 2/3 of the way, but he hasn't been able to will himself all the way over just yet. He needs to figure out that he needs to use his muscles to do that.

Andy is a very social and happy guy. He continues to smile a lot. He loves interacting one on one with anyone when he can get that undivided attention. Diaper changes are actually one of his favorite things because of the focused attention from mom or dad. He is also quite vocal, and I do think he has gotten even louder as he has had to compete to be heard. I'm not too fond of the shrieking he has started to do, especially since he and his brother feed off of each other once that starts. But Andy is showing a pretty good range of sounds and noises.

Andrew's Week 13

Yesterday marked Andy's 13th week. Here he is yesterday:

Asleep

Working hard on trying to grasp things

We had another busy week. Tuesday Matt had soccer on a foggy, misty day, after which we stayed to play on the playground. Wednesday I had a board meeting, and then we went to library story time. Thursday Andy participated in a study on infant nutrition. Friday we had baby playgroup in the morning, and I've already posted about our adventures on Friday afternoon. We ran a little errand on the rainy Saturday. And then Sunday we had a birthday party outdoors on a cool, breezy fall day. Monday Andy was awake for much of Matt's mini athletes sports class for the first time; usually he sleeps through it. Both he and Matt were pretty tired after, as you can see in the top photo!

As much as I'd like to keep posting weekly updates on Andy, it's hard keeping up, especially with a bunch of birthdays and holidays approaching. I'll see what I can do, but don't be surprised if these come less frequently or less regularly.

Here are some photos from the past week:

Working on his muscles while brother practices soccer

One of Andy's serious faces 

Making silly faces in a silly outfit (I have no idea where that one came from!)

Andy taking a nap in the middle of the study

Pushing up more and more on his belly

Naptime

Andy definitely has been bringing his hands to his mouth more often

Enjoying his bath

A happy, relaxed baby after bath

A Friday with Dinosaurs and Thomas the Train

On Friday afternoon we ventured to a children's amusement park that had a very special limited offer of free admission. I'm glad it only cost us the time and gas to go, as Matt wasn't able to go on most of the rides due to his age and/or height and since I had the baby with us. But that's fine because Matt was most interested in seeing the dinosaurs, which we did twice, and Thomas Land anyway. I have to add that the fall foliage, which was about at the peak for leaf peeping, looked about as good as it's going to look after this year's drought. That made for an enjoyable drive (although on the way back Andy was not happy about being strapped in his car seat, which canceled out the pretty scenery).

The dinosaurs had jack o' lanterns and Halloween decorations plus spooky mists and sounds, but Matt was pretty much just interested in the animatronic dinosaurs. He made a point of telling me which ones were nice (which seemed to be primarily the herbivores and smaller omnivores) and which ones were not (the carnivores). I'll label the ones I remember off the top of my head.

Stegosaurus

Pteranodon

Triceratops

Allosaurus

Carnotaurus

Baby allosaurus

T Rex

Another pteranodon

Ankylosaurus

Cetiosaurus

Brachiosaurus

The big Tyrannosaurus Rex

Here is Matt on the one ride he went on, which he was not too sure about in the end:

We did go on the big train ride around the cranberry bogs. Since the engine has been done up to look like Thomas, Matt was more excited about that.

Andy and me on the train (Can you tell it was a warmer, muggier day than I anticipated?)

Matt on the train

Here we are at Thomas Land:

Greeting Percy

Operating Percy

With Gordon and James

And here is Matt having a pre-departure snack with a view of the swan pond, with Thomas pulling the main train around the far side.