Two parents, four children, and our adventures in food, music and travel.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Bookworm
Today, for the very first time, Andrew sat with me through an entire book. Admittedly, it was the short little baby-board-book that the Stilwells gave him, but still, it's a new thing. Not only did he sit through it once, but he wanted me to read it to him 2 more times, and then he "read" it to me ("ha-ga-ga, ha-da-da, da-ta-ta-ta-ta", etc.) I look forward to reading to him adventure books as he gets older, just like my mom did with my siblings and me.
Ah-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya
Andrew talking to me about wanting more crackers, eating the crackers, and happily discussing his sippy-cup of water.
Monday, September 13, 2004
The Party
I had sworn to myself that I wouldn't be like most new moms and have this crazy huge party for their poor, exausted little guy who just wants his mommy, but somewhere in the planning it kind of got away from us. Mostly, the problem is, we love people, we love parties, and any excuse to celebrate is a good one. Also, my parents are such gracious hosts, and on top of that I needed a way to be able to eat some of Lisa and Joycee's chicken curry. (Apparently they make it for everyone else all the time, but somehow I'm never around at the right moment.) (Not that I hold this against them or anything. *wink*)
Andrew won't remember the party anyway, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. (Well, except for after he opened all the gifts and was in sore need of a nap -- check out the last few shots in the birthday photo album on the funtigo site).
The little guy loves his new clothes and toys. Of course, while opening presents, he found the tape and paper the most interesting -- that is, until he opened his dinnerware set from Jane. After that he wouldn't put down the bowl for anything, and evedently it was super fun to turn it over and over, put it on his head, play peek-a-boo with it, bang in on stuff, etc. Babies are funny creatures, I tell ya.
As a suprise to most, Sarah Stilwell and her mom, Ruth Ann, showed up for church and the party afterwards. It was so great to have them there, not in the least because we've never had to throw a big party without Sarah yet. =) (Sarah was our cheif organizer for such events before she graduated from BU this Summer and left us for greener pastures.) Seriously though, we've missed her...I've missed her, and I'm so glad she was able to come.
An even bigger suprise came when some of my friends from New Jersey pulled into the driveway! Kristy, Matt and Katie Tobias have been our friends since...probably since I was about 2 or 3, and they drove all the way from NJ just for Andrew's party! So cool! Kristy also brought her two babies, Eliana and Gabrial, who are super cute.
Thank you so much to everyone who showed up and made Andrew's first party a great success. We were honored that so many of you were able to be with us as we celebrated Andrew's first birthday and dedicated him to God.
Andrew won't remember the party anyway, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. (Well, except for after he opened all the gifts and was in sore need of a nap -- check out the last few shots in the birthday photo album on the funtigo site).
The little guy loves his new clothes and toys. Of course, while opening presents, he found the tape and paper the most interesting -- that is, until he opened his dinnerware set from Jane. After that he wouldn't put down the bowl for anything, and evedently it was super fun to turn it over and over, put it on his head, play peek-a-boo with it, bang in on stuff, etc. Babies are funny creatures, I tell ya.
As a suprise to most, Sarah Stilwell and her mom, Ruth Ann, showed up for church and the party afterwards. It was so great to have them there, not in the least because we've never had to throw a big party without Sarah yet. =) (Sarah was our cheif organizer for such events before she graduated from BU this Summer and left us for greener pastures.) Seriously though, we've missed her...I've missed her, and I'm so glad she was able to come.
An even bigger suprise came when some of my friends from New Jersey pulled into the driveway! Kristy, Matt and Katie Tobias have been our friends since...probably since I was about 2 or 3, and they drove all the way from NJ just for Andrew's party! So cool! Kristy also brought her two babies, Eliana and Gabrial, who are super cute.
Thank you so much to everyone who showed up and made Andrew's first party a great success. We were honored that so many of you were able to be with us as we celebrated Andrew's first birthday and dedicated him to God.
Saturday, September 11, 2004
A birthday hope
Well, tomorrow is Andrew's party. I believe everything is in order and set to go, but of course there's always something at the last moment. I really really hope that Andrew has a good time as well as everyone else. First birthday parties have a way of going awry. Ah well. We shall hope for the best.
Bathtime 2
Listen for Andrew saying "uh-oh" numerous times as he drops his toy over the side of the bathtub.
Question?
The sound Andrew makes at the beginning of this clip is the "question" sound that I hear ALL the time...ALL day...OVER and OVER and OVER...
Thursday, September 09, 2004
The Darling men
This was taken on Andrew's birthday at the Make Believe Ballroom Orchestra show that we saw.
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
Birthday Moments
Andrew just had his first birthday. Why is that so hard for me to believe? Well first of all, the past two years has flown by faster than ever. I got pregnant in November of 2002, Greg deployed to Afganistan in May of 2003, Andrew was born 4 short months later, on September 3rd. From there, it's been sleep deprivation (for me), hours and hours of nursing (in the first few months, it was 1/2 hour feedings about 8 times a day -- that's 4 hours a day!), thousands of diapers, more learning (the wild ride of motherhood), and tons of communication (the stuff having a baby does to your marriage!). No wonder I can hardly remember any of it! From what I can remember though, it's been good. Hard but good. And its' such a great feeling to look at Andrew and be able to say, "I really like this person. He's very cool." I'll be spending the next 17 or 18 years of my life with him, so that's a good thing to realize.
Andrew is almost walking. Sometimes when he's not paying attention, he'll stand by himself while studying something in his hands. Today he squatted down to pick up a football, then stood up. When we all cheered for him, he looked kind of surprised, but then just went for it and clapped for himself as well.
He says "Uh-oh!", "Hi-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya!" (hello), "Da-g-g-g-g" (dog). He loves to play with my cell phone (he's only allowed to when it's off -- radiation!). He'll flip it open and say "Hi-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya!", looking all pleased. However, if I put him on the phone with a real live person, he shrieks at me and pushes the phone away. Oh well. No performances here, it's the real deal or nothing at all!
For his birthday on Friday, Greg, Jill (Greg's mom), Joycee, Jom and Sebastian went to downtown Binghamton to see this swingin' big band play called George Gee and the Make Believe Ballroom Orchestra (georgegee.com). A section of the main drag was closed off for it, and before the show there was a swing dance lesson, so there was all kinds of dancing going on during the show, and it was great fun. Unfortunately, Joycee had just given blood that day, so that was her excuse for not dancing, and Sebastian was scared, but besides that we all jumped in with both feet. Afterwards, we went to J. Michaels, a restaurant Hannah works at, where she served us tasty desserts. To finish off the night, we went to The Olde Tea House, a Japanese tea house chain that serves something called Bubble Tea, among other things, which is a tea slushy with tapioca balls in the bottom. Super good. We ended up getting home at around 12:30am, and Andrew almost made it through the whole night (he fell asleep in the car on the way back).
Andrew is almost walking. Sometimes when he's not paying attention, he'll stand by himself while studying something in his hands. Today he squatted down to pick up a football, then stood up. When we all cheered for him, he looked kind of surprised, but then just went for it and clapped for himself as well.
He says "Uh-oh!", "Hi-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya!" (hello), "Da-g-g-g-g" (dog). He loves to play with my cell phone (he's only allowed to when it's off -- radiation!). He'll flip it open and say "Hi-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya!", looking all pleased. However, if I put him on the phone with a real live person, he shrieks at me and pushes the phone away. Oh well. No performances here, it's the real deal or nothing at all!
For his birthday on Friday, Greg, Jill (Greg's mom), Joycee, Jom and Sebastian went to downtown Binghamton to see this swingin' big band play called George Gee and the Make Believe Ballroom Orchestra (georgegee.com). A section of the main drag was closed off for it, and before the show there was a swing dance lesson, so there was all kinds of dancing going on during the show, and it was great fun. Unfortunately, Joycee had just given blood that day, so that was her excuse for not dancing, and Sebastian was scared, but besides that we all jumped in with both feet. Afterwards, we went to J. Michaels, a restaurant Hannah works at, where she served us tasty desserts. To finish off the night, we went to The Olde Tea House, a Japanese tea house chain that serves something called Bubble Tea, among other things, which is a tea slushy with tapioca balls in the bottom. Super good. We ended up getting home at around 12:30am, and Andrew almost made it through the whole night (he fell asleep in the car on the way back).
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