Andrew's Adventures

Three things are currently important to Andrew and not much else: TV, Standing, and Sitting Up

He doesn't really have any desire to do the rolling over from his back to front thing unless he is placed facing away from the TV on his back... he will then roll onto his side and crane his neck to see whatever is on (usually ESPN). He is also pretty content with watching the television upside down and skipping the rolling onto his side part. Other than that, no toy, mirror, or anything else is motivating enough to get the kid to attempt to roll. (This makes me very happy and I hope it continues :) No rolling from back to front means less movement= less work for me!)

We make exceptions to our no TV policy for few things... one of them is Yankees vs Red Sox baseball. Here are father and son watching the game together over the weekend. Notice that Andrew didn't have to watch this upside-down from his playmat on the floor. He still hasn't made up his mind yet about who to cheer for.


Andrew also had some fun playdates this week. On Tuesday we started our day at Cuesta Park w/ a former student, her mom Rachel, and her little brother. Andrew liked sliding down the slide with Rachel and swinging on the swings with me, but his favorite thing to do was stand up on the play structure like one of the big kids. Anytime I tried to sit him down, put him back in his stroller, etc. he protested. It was pretty funny.



Later in the afternoon we headed up to a park in Pleasant Hill (East Bay) to visit my cousin Jenny and her daughter Kate. Andrew mostly just watched Kate play and wanted to stand up some more.

This was Andrew's facial expression right as he started to have a meltdown.
Fortunately Kate wasn't phased by it.

Hanging out with Jenny

I loved this picture- Kate zoning out and Andrew looking like he's asking her "What should we do now?" Couldn't get any pics with them both looking at the camera or smiling... so we'll have to keep trying next time :)


Our adventures together continue to get more interesting as Andrew's personality develops and he starts actually having an opinion. Currently he loves to silently and not so silently protest about doing certain things... sitting in his carseat, lying down, sitting in his swing, sitting in his rocker, etc. He wants to be sitting up by himself and he wants to be standing, so I spend a good portion of the day helping him with these things. Today he actually sat all by himself for a few seconds (long enough for me to snap these pictures). Notice that my foot didn't have to sneak in and hold him up. A few seconds after I took the pictures, he started to lean sideways and slowly move towards the floor. He wanted to keep practicing though. Sitting by himself is a skill that I am excited about (I could care less if he crawls, scoots, or does any of that sort of movement anytime soon :))... unfortunately there are several more things he needs to be able to do before this will be consistent. Little successes are so fun though!

Crrrrazy Cousins!

I scanned this picture tonight and just had to post it because I knew Jenny and Allison (and my siblings) would appreciate it. :) I think this was the fun summer in Michigan when we drove out to visit you guys just before we left to move to Japan. Elise got her first perm while we were there (I think)... I copied her a few months later and still regret that decision. I looked like a very ugly Annie. This picture brings back some great memories!

Super Saturday!

On Friday night, Kevin decided to be a super dad and wake up with Andrew... and let me sleep ALL NIGHT. He pumped up our air mattress and slept on the floor in the living room to make sure that he didn't sleep through Andrew waking up. I hopped into bed and had a blissful 8 1/2 hours of sleep. Andrew, sensing the change in nighttime leadership, unfortunately had an awful night... so once I woke up, Kev promptly jumped into bed and took a 3 1/2 hour nap.

Andrew was pretty tired from the night too.

After a few good naps, everyone was feeling great and ready to enjoy the day. During one of Andrew's naps, I jetted off and finally got my hair trimmed. It'd been over 4 months and my hair was looking pretty straggly.

Andrew doesn't like to look at the camera much unless I'm behind it making faces... so after a few tries, this was our best picture. He's wearing a darling little summer outfit with the most awesome shorts (Thanks McOmbers!)

Being silly with dad- he loved grabbing Kevin's face

The highlight of the day was spending some time with Bryant, Candice, and Olivia. Livvy and Andrew LOVED looking at each other. Andrew thought she was so cool! They both enjoyed sucking on their hands while the moms and dads made dinner.

What a fabulous day!... and the part that made it even better was that Kevin took the Saturday night shift too and I got 8 more wonderful uninterrupted hours of sleep! (Andrew was kinder to his dad last night and let him get 5 1/2 hours of sleep... which was an improvement from the night before :)). What a super husband and dad!

Happy 5 Months!

We spent Thursday and Friday celebrating and having fun! Grandpa Kim came to do some business in the Bay area, so of course he came to visit us and hang out with Andrew. We also enjoyed out usual trip to the Cheesecake Factory-mmm!

Goofing around before bed

Heading out on a walk with Grandpa Kim- a favorite morning ritual.

Tickle Time

Talking with Grandma Julie on the phone

Testing out his new super cool stroller- Thanks Etta, Jared, and Olive!

Another look at the stroller- it is awesome because it weighs so little and is so comfy and cute!

Reading! Andrew loves looking at books and pretending to turn the pages

We cannot believe how fast the last 5 months have flown by!

All Dressed Up With Nowhere to Go

Here are some pictures I took of Andrew modeling a darling little outfit that some of our New Jersey friends sent him. I just LOVE the cute white pants with the navy stitching.

This was a new attempt at a smile- I thought it was pretty funny

Andrew loves sitting in this leather chair in our bedroom while I make our bed or clean up. He especially loves to look at the lamp right next to the chair.

Such a cute little poser... now we just need to work on the smile

Having fun playing on the floor with mom after all our cleaning was done!

Thanks Hornes for such a darling outfit!

Driving and Driving and Driving...

This week Andrew & I had fun driving up to Lafayette in the East Bay to visit Cat (Scott's fiance and Andrew's soon-to-be "Aunt Cat"- he is VERY excited!). The drive is a bit over an hour both ways (or more if you get lost :)). Andrew was a great sport on the drive up and just hung out and played with his toys, sang along in his own special screeching way with my CD of Primary songs, and took a few naps. On the drive back he was a little less excited about sitting in his car seat, so at every stop we took a few pictures. Fortunately that put him in a better mood.

Zoning out

Putting it in, taking it out, putting it back in (so fun!)

What a tasty hand!

Maybe if I hit the seatbelt hard enough I can get it to come off?

Smiling for the camera

We loved hanging out with Cat and her mom in Lafayette. They loved playing with Andrew! We also had some time before traffic hit to roam around Walnut Creek a little bit. I love the cute shops downtown at the Broadway Plaza Mall. It's like an outdoor version of the Valley Fair Mall. We got a delicious Auntie Anne's pretzel while wandering around town and then started the trek back to the South Bay.


It was a gorgeous day! Perfect for exploring!

Cutie Me

My very talented friend Nat just started up a business selling beautiful jewelry and cute Thai handbags. When she went home to Thailand earlier this year she learned how to make the jewelry. She uses Swarovski Crystals and does an exceptional job creating bracelets, rings and necklaces. The handbags are handmade by Thai artisans and are also exquisite! Everything is very unique and fun. Check out her products on her website, Cutie Me.

The Cuddle Book

My friend Gayle gave me the most darling book, called The Cuddle Book by Guido Van Genechten. We've started reading it at bedtime because it is so cute, super short, and has huge simple pictures that Andrew likes looking at and touching. Does anyone have any other favorite bedtime stories that they read to their little ones that are simple, short, and very visual? I'm always looking for new books to buy... despite our lack of bookshelf space :)

More from the World of Andrew

We've had a busy week full of fun! Here are some of the highlights... along with other random pictures we've taken.

Bedtime with dad
(Andrew is modeling the lovely new muslin swaddle blanket we got him... it is cool and cozy)

Crazy kid~Breakin out of his miracle blanket

Andrew's new trick that he performs every night is spitting up on his dad. It doesn't matter if he hasn't eaten in several hours... he always finds a way to ruin at least one of Kevin's shirts each night. This particular one Kev is wearing has been a victim several times (including it's morning debut a few weeks ago when Kev got to change again before going to work).

Kevin was very excited to get home on Wednesday night and discover that I had finally let Andrew wear the little Boston Red Sox onesie that Shari & Allen bought for him. A photo shoot therefore followed (don't worry... there will be a Yankee gear photo shoot sometime soon as well). Andrew proceeded to spit up several times all over his lovely Red Sox outfit... maybe this is his way of communicating that the Smith Yankees brainwashing has been working? :)

Playing with his cute teething toy Grandma Shari gave him. He loves it!

Sticking his tongue out at mom

One of our other fun activities this week was moving boxes out of my classroom down to our apartment. It is definitely entertaining trying to move boxes up several flights of stairs while hanging out with Andrew. I strapped him to me in the Baby Bjorn and then we unloaded boxes of books into his Snap n Go stroller. I then held a box, pushed the stroller, and Andrew happily watched while drooling all over the Bjorn. I looked pretty ridiculous, but got the job done.


I didn't realize how many books I had until I brought them all home... and I still have 6 more boxes at school that I haven't made it down yet. I am so excited! We've been trying to read at least 2 big books each day, in addition to all of Andrew's baby books that we read. We also took a trip to Costco so that we could stock up on our chocolate chip food storage (hence the big Nestle bag in the photo).


We have also spent A LOT of time singing this week. Andrew loves watching me doing little fingerplays and actions to different songs. He loves the different voices or animal sounds that I make too. I found my WeeSing songbook and tape in my classroom boxes, so we've been going through and singing all the songs I remember. It is hysterical and we both end up giggling. Andrew's favorite songs are "Skidamarink," "The eentsy weentsy spider," "Old MacDonald" (loves the donkey sound!), The ABC song, "If You're Happy and you know it," "This Old Man," and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." I found a version of "Twist and Shout" on YouTube the other day with a baby dancing and so we danced to that too and it was so funny! I love his reactions!


The other fun thing I got to do this week (without Andrew & Kev) was go see the musical, "The Wizard of Oz" at Santa Clara High School. Two of my little Activity Days girls went with me to watch another one of the girls perform. She was a munchkin and the melting witch. She did an incredible job and it was so fun to see her shine!

It's been a great week!

Blast from the Past

This week I've been working on scanning photos for the video I'm making for my brother's wedding. I'm scanning his photos this week and it has been fun to look through them and reminisce a bit. Last night Kevin helped me realize that I'd scanned the first 60 pictures at the wrong resolution... so I'm left with a bunch of small photos on my computer. Fortunately I only used 2 nap times working on this so far. These were a few of my favorites :) See if you can guess which twin is which.

I love this one! How cool is the side ponytail ;) This pic was with our
favorite friends, the Borens, when we went up to the cabin in Idaho.
Isn't the look on Scott's face hysterical?

Aren't Scott and Jess so darling?! I guess since Scott never wore his
shirt when he was little, Jessie didn't want to either :)

Elise & I used to make Scott & Jess play dress-up with us...
usually related to Little House on the Praire or some other old fashioned theme

This pic is a little more recent... so it shouldn't be hard to tell us apart in this one.