2nd Birthday - The Last Update (promise)

August was the month of Andrew around here - even more so than usual, I mean.

I don't know what on earth possessed me, probably the excitement of being able to celebrate his birthday with family and friends back home. That opportunity won't come around much, I'm sure. But not matter what the circumstances are, I will never, ever throw 2 birthday parties for one kid in the same year again. No matter how many times you say, "I won't go overboard. It won't be too expensive". You will and it WILL. Just me? Please tell me I'm not the only one incapable of throwing a simple party. Why can't I just go buy plates and a tablecloth, buy some pre-packaged food and be done with it? I'm afraid it's not possible, much to my husbands annoyance.

All of that said, we have some pretty darn good memories to last us! We had a great time at both parties and were shown, once again, how lucky we are to have the people we do in our lives.

The first party, in South Carolina, was construction themed.

Really that party was enough. We could of ended it there. But we HAD to celebrate with Daddy, right?! I did have it easier with this party. I ordered a decoration package through Etsy and really just had to print and cut! This party was train themed.

Adult Favors (I forgot to take a picture for the kids', but they got crayons, stickers, bubble bath, bubbles and fruit snacks)

First time that I've done an iron-on shirt. I was so nervous!

A big thank you to La Petite Party Shoppe for helping put the 2nd party together!! You guys rock :)

2 YEARS

Yesterday, Andrew turned 2 years old! I could ramble on about all of the cliches (time has flown, how is that possible, just yesterday he was my snuggly newborn), but I'll just leave you with this thought:

Days with a 2-year old can be long, hard and exhausting. You can find yourself wishing time away until they can just get over :this: stage. Or could just learn :that: behavior instead. But one of the biggest things I've learned over the past two years, is that whatever you are wishing ahead for, it will be here before you are ready for it. Every stage will go by in the blink of an eye. Your newborn will be 2 years old and you'll find yourself scratching your head, trying to remember all of the sweet details that were a part of your everyday life what seemed like just yesterday. (And you won't, btw.. you won't remember everything) Before I know it, my 2 year old is going to be a 5-year old that doesn't need me so much anymore. He won't be with me every second of the day and he's going to enjoy the fact that he doesn't have to spend an entire day with me (well, this happens with most kids anyways, I'm not so sure about Andrew.. ha!) I've had two years with him to myself so far and I'm going to continue to soak these moments up!

These have by a long shot been the best two years of my life. The joy that this one little person has brought into our lives is quite literally indescribable. I'm so incredibly thankful that this little boy made me into a mother and my husband into a darn good father. He forever changed our lives for the better... so much so that it still takes our breath away at times... and that is what we celebrate on his birthday! Happy 2nd birthday sweet boy!

Here are some stats to remember:
You are 29.4 pounds (66th percentile)
Exactly 3 feet tall (91st percentile)
You are still in diapers and wearing a size 6.
Size 7 shoes.
2T - 3T in shirts, depending on the brand.
2T in shorts.

You are still a great eater, but your favorites are pasta, mac 'n cheese, waffles, green beans, grapes, rice and beans, pizza and any kind of cereal. You do very well with your vegetables and fruits still (the only thing you won't eat is broccoli), but you are not a big meat eater at all. AT ALL.
You still want your warm milk every morning and night and still drink it cuddling in my lap. You can't drink out of a sippy cup forever though, and I'm dreading the time where we can't or you don't want to do that anymore!

You love to be outside whether it's at the park, taking a walk, or just in the backyard. You love throwing the balls around and will say, "Set hut" when playing with the football. It's adorable. You also love Big Al and say Roll Tide multiple times a day.

Your vocabulary took off over the last two months. You'll basically repeat anything your hear now and talk in 3-4 word sentences. You're definitely an Army Brat as you say things like, "artillery boom boom" and ask to go to the Commissary or PX.

Right now you love your numbers, letters, pressing any kind of button, coloring with crayons, taking bubble baths, reading your books and as always driving your cars around. You've known your letters for a while, but you also know your numbers up to 12 now. Oh, and your colors. You know all of those as well.  You really must be some kind of prodigy. It's amazing.

You can think back on your day now and talk about it. You often want to call people (Mizzy, Daddy or Mimi most often) and want to tell them about certain things. You'll say, "tell Mimi playground" and we'll see if we can call her. We'll sit after you have milk at night and you'll tell me all of your favorite things about the day. You will also thank God for those things in your prayers at night. It's not unusual for you to bring up Big Al, buttons, Mama's van or playground in your prayers. And it's the sweetest thing to hear you say, "Amen" at the end.

You're becoming more and more independent. Your new favorite phrase is, "by yourself". As in, you want to do it by yourself. You have to get in your car seat by yourself, you have almost mastered drinking out of a big boy cup, your getting ready to switch to a big bed, out of your crib. You have to help get your shirt on. You want to read by yourself more often instead of us reading to you, unless it's time for bed.

You are showing some of the signs of potty training, but I don't think you are quite there yet. It will be soon, but I want to be sure you are really ready before we make a go of it. You'll get there and I'll know when it's right.

That's about all I can think of for now! You have a big year ahead of you, Drewby! Lots of changes coming your way.. Daddy is deploying for a while, we're moving into Mizzy and Grampy's house while he's gone, and you have a sibling coming! I know you'll be a champ throughout it all though. We'll get through everything together.

Happy birthday Andrew! We love you to the moon and back!

Happy Happy Birthday To Me!

This is a birthday to go down in the books!

As tacky as this is going to sound, I am just filled with love right now. Even though my husband wasn't/isn't here to celebrate with me, he was able to call. And hearing how much he loves me in his voice and knowing how much he wants to be here.. kind of makes up for his actual lack of presence.

And my friends and family.. all I can say is that I'm a lucky, lucky girl.

My day started at 5:45am. Andrew was a little anxious to wish me a happy birthday and wanted to get the party started. So that's what we did! We had milk, ate breakfast (I made myself my favorite.. at the moment.. breakfast, Egg in a Hole) and played the morning away.

Then we met a group of my girlfriends for cupcakes at a new cupcake shop around here called, Dirty Mouth Cupcakes. Heaven. Plain and simple. The cupcakes are to die for and the owner is wonderful! Sweet, accommodating, and a great sense of humor.
I ordered two. A Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Buttercream frosting and the Celebration cupcake (it was my birthday afterall) which is Classic Vanilla Cake filled with Vanilla Buttercream topped with Vanilla Buttercream rimmed with confetti. I got two because:
1. I couldn't decide.
2. I knew I'd have to share with a certain someone.



The pics don't really do him justice. He was a mess.

 3. It's my birthday and I can.

It was such a fun morning filled with some pretty awesome girls (and silly kids).

I'm not really sure why these are all coming out so distorted!!



After cupcakes, me and two of the girls (and our children) went out for Mexican food. I know, I know. Lots of food, but it doesn't end there so bare with me. I never, ever turn down Taco Cabana! That went well. Great company of course, but I was a little worried about Andrew. We don't take him out to eat much anymore, but he did really well! Luckily, there were balloons, a guy singing, and pretty girls to look at!

He was READY for a nap when we got home. Put him down, came downstairs, and had a phone call about a delivery that was trying to find it's way to my house! I get real excited over deliveries! Love me some surprises. I thought for sure it was going to be from either my Husband or my Dad, but it wasn't! (and that's ok!)

My in-laws had these beautiful flowers sent to me! Daisies are my favorite, and you can never go wrong with yellow. I just thought that was the sweetest thing for them to think of me like that. And look at how cute that vase is! Definitely one of the highlights of my day :)

Later that night, my friend Ashley made dinner for me. She offered a few weeks back when she found out Trey wouldn't be home. She probably thought it was a simple little gesture. She most likely did NOT expect me to tear up at the thought! My mom ALWAYS, ever since I can remember, has made us our favorite dinners on our birthdays. Whatever we wanted.. she would make it for us. Even if it came along with a sigh and an eye-roll ;)
So when Ashley offered to do that for me, it really touched me. Gave me a little piece of home. Andrew and I went over tonight and ate her delicious Chicken Parm, Salad, and a Strawberry Shortcake type dessert. All so so very good! Sadly, I left my memory card at home so I wasn't able to take any pictures!

My night ended with a surprise phone call from Trey and a Skype session with my family!

Add in the 3.5 times I was serenaded with the Happy Birthday song from my niece, Addyson (so so sweet!), my friend Charla, my in-laws, and a line from my Dad, plus birthday cards in the mail, text messages galore, gifts from friends, and the time they all made for me in their own little ways?
Who needs Facebook for birthday love? Not this girl!

P.S.
Before Trey left he got me a Shark Mop (yes, I wanted an appliance for my birthday before anyone goes jumping down his throat) and a new Cricut Cartridge. I only mention this to express my love for the Shark. Who new mopping floors could be so satisfying???

Cuddles

I'm not sure what got into Andrew last week, but it was a tough few days around here (a different tough than all of the sickness, which is finally clearing up btw). The only thing I know to blame it on is teething. He was super whiny. Waking up before 5:30 every. single. morning. That alone is enough to make me want to commit myself. Needing to be around me constantly. Crying at every little thing.

YUCK.

Along with all that yuck though, my child turned into the cuddler I never had.

Random hugs throughout the day. Without exaggerating, around 20 unprompted hugs from my boy every day. Tackling me if I was on the floor to rest his head on my tummy or chest.

Best of all though? Was this...

He would nap for only about an hour every day. He'd wake up screaming like there was a murderer in his room, only to rest his head on my shoulder when I went to pick him up. So just about every day, we napped on the couch together after the real nap.

He hasn't slept in my arms since he was 3 months old! He was just never really into it.

While I'm now enjoying sleeping in later in the mornings.. and by that I mean between 6 and 6:15... and 2-3 hour naps, I do miss these cuddles! I have to say, there is just nothing quite like it!

P.S.
Tomorrow is my birthday... feel free to leave me some love. :) No shame here. It's a week-long celebration, so don't feel bad if you're late.

The day Andrew turned ONE

I didn't think I'd ever get around to posting about Andrew's birthday party!

We had so much fun! We did a Dr. Seuss theme (because I love Dr. Seuss and at this point, I can still control things like birthday themes) and I got LOTS of good ideas from other blogs and online in general. While I did the majority of these decorations myself, the ideas mostly came from quite a few months of Google searching!
Andrew had 20-something of our his closest friends over. We chatted, ate, did presents, and soaked up the cuteness of a special little one year old! I let the pictures do the talking. This will be a heavy picture post :)

The birthday boy:

The decorations:

The Cake Smashing (kind of):

Much to my surprise, he did too much enjoy the taste of cake. Not a sweet lover I guess. He does enjoy playing with frosting, though.

The love:

This is Jennifer. She made Andrew's outfit and her cake. So yeah.. she's awesome!

~ 1 Year Old ~

I'm surprised I still have followers! Things have been quite busy around here and as much as every ounce of me has wanted to sit down and blog at the end of the day.. I just haven't had it in me!

But, wow!! I have an official toddler. He's hit the big O-N-E. Crazy. His birthday party went perfectly. It was so nice to see everything that I had been planning and designing for a few months come together without a hitch... besides him not even remotely enjoying his first taste of cake. Yeah.. that was a little anti climatic.



But don't worry. It was slightly forced on him so we, as parents, could have the proper frosting-faced picture for memories.

And seriously.. it was worth the meltdown that followed shortly after this. Look at that face! A very tiny amount of cake or frosting ended up in his mouth. Mostly, he just liked the feel of it squishing between his fingers and piled it up in his highchair. It caused me quite a bit of anxiety.
I'll dedicate a whole post to his party later. Hang with me for just a little while longer. We'll get back into town (oh yeah.. we're flying outta here soon too) soon and things will get back to normal on my blog.

We took him to his 12-month appointment on Monday, and here are his stats:

Weight: 22.5 pounds (50th %)
Height: Just a little over 30 inches (85th %)
Head Circumference: 47.5 cm (know idea what percentile that is)

Diapers: Still in size 5. This is the longest he's even been in one size.
Clothes: Mostly 18 month clothing. Can still fit in a very few 12 month pieces. Pants and shorts are so awkward right now though. His little waist could still fit into 6-9 month, but length wise he needs 18 month.. soo.. yeah.. it's tricky.

He has 8 teeth, which I don't think has changed since last month. He's eating just about everything that we eat. Minus peanut butter. His new favorites are French Toast, NutriGrain Bars, and carrots are back on the fav list, much to my delight. He is back to eating just about everything. It's been really easy. *knock on wood* I believe I have completely weaned him off of formula as of today and just has a cup of milk in the morning and right before bed. He hates juice. Will have nothing to do with it even watered down.. he LOVES just plain water. I'm sure that will be great for our dental bill! And grocery bill for that matter.
So.. for the record.. favorite foods (I'll try to narrow this down, but I'm sure I'll want to remember this one day): Cheerios, Goldfish, yogurt, bananas, eggs, carrots, French Toast, NutriGrain Bars, apples, grapes, broccoli, and potatoes. He eats way more than that.. but those seem to be the faves.

First word was car. Yup. Car. Not mama. Not dada. Car. To him, a car is anything that has wheels. Our house is now filled with cars and trucks. He also "says" dog and outside. No one else would be able to tell he is saying those two, but I've put it together.

Other firsts this month -

He can climb. Very well.
He's scooting along furniture.
Clapping.
Playing "come and get me". It's really the cutest thing. He crawls just a little bit away from you then looks back and grins out you until you chase after him.
Hugs his stuffed animals.
Kisses everything.
Babbles even more constantly.
Starting to be able to show me what he wants without crying.

I'm sure there is more that I'm forgetting.
He wants to be outside all the time! Doesn't he realize it's over 100 degrees out there? He doesn't care. Not one iota. He just wants to play with rocks and dirt.

Andrew,

This has undoubtedly been the best year of your Daddy and my life. You make life worth living. You bring a smile to my face every single morning. No matter how tired I am in the morning, I find you playing in your crib, bouncing around and just so genuinely happy to see me, that my day can't help but be started on the right track. It's so exciting to see the changes in you lately. You are more fun then ever to interact with and you're just soaking up everything you see. You're growing so very fast! I have to say, I absolutely love this stage and I can't wait to see what's to come in the next year.
We are so glad that you are ours to keep and love forever. So very thankful! You are the reason for my smile. We love you to the moon and back! Happy 1st birthday!

Birthday Happenings

It's birthday week in Casa de Norton!! Decoration making is a full time job (along with nap changes - Drew, fatigue problems - me, and poop issues - Trey.. I kid, I kid.. that one is for Drew too) and the excitement is building!

We had his 1 year photos taken last week by our awesome photographer friend (who is sadly leaving us.. any other friends have any photography skills they want to work on???). A few samples below :)
One of his presents was purchased over the weekend. I love the B. collection from Target. We got him the B. Zany Zoo. It's pretty awesome! And umm.. let's just say he better enjoy it! I also want to get him one of those big foam puzzle piece mats to put in his room. Preferably one that has the pop out letters and numbers. I'm still on the search for that.

Now I just have ingredients to buy for the party food, make said food, pictures to print, finish the decor, hopefully will get around to making that slideshow (why is that such a daunting task for me??) and enjoy the party!!

Here are some of the pics that were taken last week :)

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to?

I'm such a big boy now!

We had to hide his cars throughout the pics to keep him from crying and ending the whole show



My favorite :)