Milestones
10/1/07: We are packing and working hard today. Only 2 days until our trip. Poor Andrea is watching a lot of Baby Einstein videos so that Mommy can stay busy.
10/3/07: We leave at 3am for the airport. Andrea does not go back to sleep until we are taking off in the plane. She sleeps through takeoff and does really well throughout the first flight to Atlanta. In Atlanta we eat and prepare for a long flight. Other than a little trouble with diaper rash, Andrea does really well and sleeps a lot on the international flight. Passengers comment on how well she does.
10/4/07: Arrive in Rome. We rent a car and drive to our hotel. Luckily we have decent directions but we still have to ask for help once we get to the general area. They have a nice playpen set up with a mattress for Andrea's bed. The hotel, Oly Hotel, is nice and quiet at night, but Andrea won't sleep so we have to take her to the lobby and spend a couple hours walking around. Finally, at 5am she sleeps for 5 hours (corresponds to her bedtime at home!)
10/5/07: Andrea's 4th tooth is now in. It is the other side tooth on top. We head out to see some of Rome. Andrea travels in the Bjorn carrier with Mommy and Daddy turns the backpack into her diaper bag. We walk to the Metro and happen upon a grocery store on the way, yeah! First stop - The Colusseum. Andrea takes a nap as we wait in line to get in. It is hot so we are both sweating by the time she wakes up. We take a break inside and Andrea gets to walk around in this ancient place. What a great place to see. Next we walk over the Pantheon, etc. We can't stay too long, it is just too hot. We travel back on the Metro. Mommy and baby are happy to unhook and relax in the hotel. We drive out on town and have McDonald's for dinner.
10/6/07: On our 2nd day we take the Metro to St Peter's. Wow, what a site! The piazza alone is amazing to be in. It is such a large place surrounded by columns and statues. We eat in the piazza and Andrea chases the pigeons before we go inside. When we come back outside, there is a storm complete with thunder and lightening. We duck into a cafe for pizza before returning on the Metro. Andrea sleeps a little better this night. Mommy lets her play in her playpen/crib - she crawls from one end to the other and stands up to bestow kisses on Mommy for about 2 hours before going to sleep in the wee hours of the morning.
10/7/07: For our last day in Rome, we actually leave Rome on a day trip to Pompeii. By now, Dave is getting to be a decent Italian driver. He kind of likes how they ignore some of the rules. :) Pompeii was amazing. Andrea slept on the drive down and most of the drive back. Andrea finally sleeps for most of the night this night.
10/8/07: Andrea's 5th tooth is now in. She is now just missing one of the top 4 teeth. The tooth missing is her front, left tooth. We leave Rome and drive west to Falcona Maritima on the east coast. Our hotel is Hotel Touring and our room is on the top floor so we have a beautiful view of the the Sea. We take a walk down to the beach and find a dock or breakwater that goes out a ways. This is Andrea's first time seeing salt water. We find a park with a playground. Mommy, Daddy and Andrea play on the teeter totter until Mommy is laughing so hard she has to stop. Daddy takes Andrea down the slide until he is worn out from running up to the top. Best of all, Andrea swings in Italy's version of a toddler swing. It is very similar to ours, but shaped like a square instead of the round, diaper looking shape of ours. Andrea does well in her new bed.
10/9/07: We drive northwest to Bologna. Our hotel is the Savoia Country House on the outskirts of the city. It is a pretty little place with two full length windows where Andrea can stand at the window holding on the the iron railing. We drive in to the city to a park and Andrea swings a little before retiring for the night.
10/10/07: We drive northeast to Venice! We drive all the way to the island and park in their parking garage. Our hotel is visible from the parking garage, something we did on purpose so we would not be hefting luggage and a baby around the city. The hotel goofs up and gives us a 3-person room thinking that Andrea can sleep in a bed. Of course we explain that she needs a crib but they leave us in the same room anyway. We spend a few hours walking through Venice then take a water bus around the entire city. It is peaceful in the late afternoon. In our room, Andrea finds the full length mirrors and spends lots of time smacking her reflection. :)
10/11/07: This is our one full day in Venice! We wander through the streets and eat lunch in a sidewalk cafe. We go out to a restaurant to have dinner and Andrea sits in her only high chair during the entire trip. Dave has alfredo and Stephanie has tortellini. Afterwards we stop and have gelato near our hotel.
10/12/07: We drive to Florence today. We are amazed to find our hotel relatively easily in a small hill town called Fiesole (north of city, overlooking). The hotel is nice with a swimming pool and only about 20 rooms but their cleaning could use a little work.
10/13/07: We drive down into Florence and walk around the center of the city. Dave forgot to wear pants so we can't go into the Duomo, but we climb the bell tower next door. It is 415 stone steps to the top. Mommy attempts to carry Andrea but has to pass her to Daddy halfway up. Others in the tower have fun laughing about how Andrea has the easy job :) The view from the tower is nice. In a piazza nearby, Andrea rides on a carousel for the first time. We have pizza in a bar to use the bathroom and discover that their pizza is yummy. We have fun seeing the statue of David and the surrounding statues (including human ones :) ).
10/14/07: We drive west for about an hour to see Pisa. Wow, we both thought the leaning tower was larger than it is. It is really cool to see it though. We choose not to climb the tower. We wander through a flea market on our walk. Just before crossing the river to go back to our car, we find the best gelato of our trip. Yummy!
10/15/07: We walk around Florence again. Dave manages to find a prime parking spot only a block from the Duomo. Way to go Daddy! We walk down to the bridge and back by the statue of David. Mostly we just wandered. Oh, and we finally entered the Duomo.
10/16/07: We drive down the coast on our way back to Rome. We avoid the toll roads and just take a highway. It is nice because we get to see the beach in some area. Dave is sick so he needs to use the restroom often and we make a lot of stops. Our final hotel is near the airport - Hilton Garden Hotel. It is a great hotel and Dave turns in the car early so we can just hop on the transporter in the morning
10/17/07: Flying home. All 3 of us are now sick. Ugh! What a very, very long day.
10/20/07: Andrea's birthday party! Thank you to all of you who came.
10/22/07: Andrea is now 1!!!!!
10/23/07: Andrea's 6th tooth is in!
10/25/07: Andrea pooped on the big toilet today.
10/28/07: We had to start getting tough with Andrea's sleeping schedule again. We have been really relaxed about it since we moved and she won't go to sleep on her own anymore. Thus, starting today, Mommy and Daddy have quit rocking her to sleep.
10/29/07: Andrea pointed at something deliberately for the first time today.
10/30/07: Andrea is such a gentle child. She is so gently she can't work some of her toys because she can't push the buttons hard enough. Mommy and Daddy have to work her potty book for her and she doesn't really bang toys around. No complaints from Mommy.
Andrea went to sleep well tonight. Daddy had to lay her down a few times, but then she just stared at him for a few moments and went to sleep. It is tough making her learn how to do this on her own again.
Tonight at dinner, Andrea ate pot roast, potatoes, vegetables and ice cream for dessert. She didn't seem excited about the pot roast. It may have been hard for her to eat. She is getting to be a pickier eater as well. Sometimes I have a hard time telling if she is not hungry anymore or if she doesn't want that particular food. It is not always obvious. For lunch today she had pureed beets and zuchini plus a cheese sandwich and some orange. For breakfast she had blueberries in natural yogurt. I think our little girl eats pretty good. :)
10/31/07: Andrea experienced her first real Halloween tonight. All 3 of us got dressed up and went to about 5 of our neighbors' houses. Then we drove to see our boss and coworkers. Andrea was a cute little ladybug. She didn't really know what to think of most of it. Mommy and Daddy get all of the candy.
11/3/07: Andrea is all ready for the time change. When we started getting her back on track with sleeping, we also started inching her schedule up a little each day so that she was gradually, throughout the week, falling back the 1 hour in time. It has worked great. Andrea is doing really well on her sleeping. She is back to sleeping almost 12 hours at night and she will play in her crib rather than cry if she is not quite ready for a nap yet. Yeah! The hardest part now is getting her used to using a blanket at night. It can get cold without one and she keeps ending up on top of it instead of under it.
11/5/07: Andrea had a friend over today. Well, maybe it was Mommy who had another Mommy over. Michelle was the mommy and Camryn was the new little girl in our play group. Camryn is 1 1/2 months older than Andrea. She is just barely walking. She did not want to share toys with Andrea and even pushed her a few times, but it was pretty gentle. Andrea didn't even realize what was going on, she just kept playing.
11/6/07: Mommy and Andrea went to a Children's Museum in Olympia today. It is really a big children's playplace, with lots of learning activities and toys. Andrea did a lot of people watching. She got the most out of the toys when Mommy took her aside and we played alone.
Recently, Andrea started signing "all done" to me when I sign it to her after meals. I'm not sure she gets the idea completely. In fact, tonight at dinner, I was trying to show Daddy and she would not do it anymore. Honestly, I think it is a lot like the potty situation. She does something a few times and gets bored with it.
11/7/07: Mommy and Andrea had a quiet day today. We went to the store, but otherwise it was just the two of us around the house until Daddy returned from work. Andrea had a lentil and brown rice mixture with spinach for lunch. For breakfast, she had hot cereal (oats, barely, brown rice & millet) with strawberries in it.
11/12/07: Andrea is so proud of herself. She is learning to communicate. She points at things she wants and can even sign a couple of words (although she still gets them confused). It is so fun having her learn all these new things.
11/13/07: Andrea now gets to go to work with Mommy. We go in with Daddy in the morning. We take her breakfast with us and her playpen for sleeping. So far, it is only half days.
11/14/07: Andrea drew blood for the first time today. She fell and hit her chin so her mouth was bleeding. I couldn't find the bite in her mouth, but there was a decent amount of blood at first. She recovered quickly. :)
11/15/07: Andrea is clapping! Also, she is pointing at everything now. If you hold her she will just point from one thing to another. She seems to delight in having you tell her what each thing is.
11/16/07: Andrea is so smart. We were reading a book today that we have read many times before. The book is about colors and Pooh is looking for something yellow. The first page talks about Rabbit having carrots. Usually, I point to the carrots then point to them again when it says they are orange then point out all the other items that are orange. Today, I asked her where the carrots were and she pointed right to them! :) It won't be long until she is pointing out all the orange things as well. On the red page, she actually pointed to the different red items. It was so neat!
Andrea and I went to work for a full day today. It is a little hard on Andrea because she won't take full naps. She took one 45-minute nap in the morning but keeps refusing the afternoon nap. At home, I would just leave her to play in her crib and she would eventually fall asleep, but I can't leave her like that at work. It is an unfamiliar place and would really upset her.
11/17/07: So it is not just Santa Claus that frightens Andrea; Clifford, the big red dog, frightens her as well. She just doesn't like the costumes!
11/18/07: She took her first steps today! She took two steps to Mommy. It was so exciting and she repeated it twice more so Daddy could see and get a picture. What a great day!
11/19/07: Andrea has a cold, mostly a runny nose, but she was feeling a little more tired than usual today. She took two 1 1/2 hour naps today.
11/20/07: Andrea and I are home today. The boss is sick and called to tell us not to come in. :) I tried to get Andrea to take some more steps today, but she thought it was hilarious to squat down instead. She kept laughing at me.
11/21/07: We traveled over the mountains today to go see the Grandparents over there. Andrea was excited to see Grandma Halvorsen's dogs. Unfortunately, Andrea is still very much allergic to them. She only gets hives, but they are worse now then they were a few months ago. I guess the allergy is getting worse not better.
11/22/07: Happy Thanksgiving! Andrea had lots of Thanksgiving food today: turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, beans, and pie. In fact, she stood next to Aunt Vickie to eat bites of her pie. Oh, and she really loved the pumpkin spice egg nog. Daddy put some in her sippy cup and she practically gulped it down.
11/23/07: Andrea is such a good girl. She ate turkey and stuffing today. Grandma and Grandpa Halvorsen have a really old high chair that she sits up to the table with. She took good naps in the portable crib that Grandma rented for us and she has been sleeping really well in the same room with Mommy and Daddy. It has been so pleasant.
11/24/07: Andrea does not get along with Great-Grandma Brown's dog. That is because the dog doesn't like her though. Stepper seems to think that Andrea is some little monster invading her territory.
11/25/07: We drove back across the mountains today. We took off early so it was a nice drive and sunny much of the time.
11/26/07: Andrea and Mommy got to stay home from work today. The boss's wife, Marlys, is now sick so he told us not to come in.
11/27/07: Coordination is a 1-year-old, who doesn't walk yet, standing on her own using her spoon to eat for the first time. Seriously, this morning I sat on the floor with Andrea to eat my oatmeal and she crawled over to me with a spoon in each hand. She stood up and stuck her spoon in my bowl then in her mouth. She didn't have the scooping method down so I showed her. Thus, while still standing on her own, she started scooping oatmeal out and eating it. It was fun to watch and pretty impressive for her.
Andrea had her first kiss from a boy today. We went to the movies with little Ronan (1-month younger) and at one point they leaned in and kissed - not once, but 3 times! A few minutes later, Ronan tried to kiss her again, but Andrea decided she would rather give him a hug. It was funny :)
11/28/07: This was Mommy and Andrea's third day off work because Marlys was still feeling sick. We will be going back tomorrow, but it is nice to have this time to decorate. Mommy even put up the outside Christmas lights.
11/29/07: We all went to dinner at Taco Del Mar last night. Andrea had a cheese quesadilla and tortilla chips. She seemed to like it. Mommy had a chicken quesadilla and Daddy had a big burrito like only they have.
11/30/07: Andrea had a spinach and cheese sandwich for lunch today. She ate all of it, plus her leftover quesadilla from last night and tortilla ships. She was a little "sassy" with me this afternoon. She seemed to have her own agenda. I think she was just fighting being tired because she went right to sleep for her afternoon nap.
12/1/07: It is snowing! Today is Ronan's birthday party so we buy him a sled and we already made him a hat. We buy Andrea a sled too, just in case it snows enough to use it today. :) Ronan's party is at Burger King so we enjoy so fattening food and play on the toys.
12/2/07: The snow is all being washed away by the rain. Oh well. We went to church this morning. Our new church is Life Center. Our neighbors go there and his dad (also live up the street) is the Associate Pastor. The youth pastor lives across the street. :) Anyway, Mommy stayed in the nursery with Andrea this time while Daddy enjoyed the service. We expect to stay at this church.
12/3/07: After all the snow and continued rain, this area is starting to flood. Going and coming from work today required driving through a foot of water near Graydon's house. Mommy didn't like it. Also, downtown is partially flooded so when we went to lunch with Daddy, Mommy got lost trying to find her way past all the blocked roads. We eventually made it to our favorite restaurant, Berry Fields Cafe, but Mommy and Andrea went home and stayed home afterwards.
12/4/07: We are living through our first major, natural disaster. Mommy refused to drive to work this morning because of all the water yesterday. Daddy got in the car and was back within a minute because Scammon Creek was flooded with water. We got in the 4-runner to take a look and found that we could get as far as the hospital and the highway by taking back roads and braving small amounts of water, but the highway is completely flooded. The rive has come up over the banks. Houses are half way underwater. It is scary and amazing to see. We are trapped in the Cook's Hill area, but we are so grateful to be warm and dry in our home.
12/5/07: The waters have receded. Daddy braved the roads and went back to work today. Mommy and Andrea are staying home.
12/6/07: Andrea and Mommy are back at work today. Andrea is quite a handful in the office this morning. There are a few drawers that have office stuff in them and she keeps insisting on opening the drawers and going through them, ugh!
12/8/07: Today we went to zoolights in Tacoma. It was so neat. There were lights and animated displays everywhere. We met some new friends (from Mommy group). Afterwards, we met Grandma Jan and GG for dinner. Andrea showed off by giving them lots of kisses.
12/9/07: Our church, Life Center, flooded and can no longer be used, so services were held at a 7th day church today. There were lots of people still there and they announced that services will be held in a new place next week and will stay there until we rebuild. It is sad that the building was ruined, but the church is moving forward and I believe God is blessing this group in their challenges. Andrea went to the nursery alone this morning. They said she was great, and she certainly seemed happy when I checked on her once and picked her up at the end.
12/10/07: Andrea's walking skills are improving. She will take several steps to get to me when I encourage her. She still won't walk on her own, but I think she is just a cautious child. The two of us went for a walk today and she held my finger while we walked. The kitty had fun walking around us as we went.
12/11/07: We had a playdate today. Ronan and Camryn came over and shared some books with us. They had a nice time. Camryn is shy but Ronan makes up for everyone else's shyness. :)
12/12/07: Andrea went with Mommy shopping today. The Capital Mall is kid-friendly with a family room to change diapers, feed, play, etc. We bought Daddy some Christmas gifts and played with some other kids. Andrea had fun wandering around the play area.
12/13/07: Andrea is pretty good at touching her nose or hair when you ask her where they are. She likes to try to brush her hair whenever she sees her comb or brush as well.
12/15/07: We went to our friends home today, Grewell's. It was a great day. Andrea's dog allergy continues to get stronger. Her poor little face gets all red and splotchy and she gets spots on her hands that last for days. Poor little girl. We are glad she doesn't have a worse allergy though.
12/17/07: Andrea and Mommy went to Ronan's house for the first time today. Ronan has lots of fun toys.
12/18/07: Andrea is sick. She has a nasty cold. Today, she can't even sleep from all the stuff running down her throat. I held her for her first nap this morning. This afternoon she went in her crib but woke up screaming and choking after a short time.
12/19/07: Andrea did not sleep well last night. She woke up with a croup cough and it was so sad. I held her for a few hours in the living room so she could sleep upright but eventually put her back in her bed and she made it through the rest of the night.
12/20/07: Andrea did not want to sleep in her own bed last night. She was very upset about it. She wanted to come back out in the living room like she did last night.
12/21/07: Andrea started really walking today. This was the first time where she actually walked away from someone. For a few weeks now she has been taking steps to where she would walk to someone or maybe a couple of steps between objects, but never long distances or away from someone. The first time was while chatting with our boss and his wife in their kitchen. She walked away from Mommy to get to the counter. Later that day we had a party and she was walking all over the place. It sure was fun to watch and of course I caught it on camera. We had a nice party with Lisa and Ronan (Andrea's boyfriend and his mom), Dawn and Aaron (friends), Tracy and Harry (across the street), Shirley (next door), and Grandma Sharon.
12/22/07: Andrea is 14 months today. We had a small Christmas with Grandma Sharon this morning. And Andrea received some great books and toys. Grandma Sharon went home, but now G.G. is here for a couple of days.
12/24/07: Today, we had Mommy's parents over for Christmas Eve. Andrea wore her pajamas to dinner but changed into her party dress for presents. She had fun collecting the bows off everyone's gifts and putting them in her new lunch pail.
12/25/07: We started the day with presents under the tree. Andrea still doesn't really understand opening presents, but she seemed to enjoy the "fun" with Mommy and Daddy and she definately liked her gifts (except the clothes).
12/26/07: Daddy went back to work today. Mommy stayed home because of ice. Andrea has made an almost full transition to walking. It is rare to see her crawl at all. Mommy dressed her up for the afternoon and we met our friends Jackie (in from Alaska) and Dawn to go bridesmaid dress shopping (Jackie is getting married). Andrea had fun in the dressing rooms walking around and laughing at herself in all the mirrors.
12/28/07: We drove over White Pass today. We stopped for dinner at a little restaurant on the east side of the pass. Andrea flirted with the people there and ate some fries and chicken. She did well on the trip despite its long time due to snow.
12/29/07: Mommy is giving Andrea loritadine (Claratine) each morning to combat her dog allergy. It seems to be working. She only gets about 1/5 of a piece, but also gets some of what Mommy takes through breastfeeding. It is funny to watch her interact with the dogs. Andrea likes being at Grandma's house. She doesn't want to go to sleep for naps, but that is normal when she is excited an having fun. She is also waking up at 6am, but that is more a problem for Mommy and Daddy than it is for Andrea. :)
12/30/07: Grandpa H and Great Grandma had fun with Andrea today. Andrea was well-behaved and found lots of "toys" to carry from one place to another. Great Grandma's dog still does not like Andrea.
12/31/07: We went out to have pizza with Grandpa H, Great Grandma, and Aunt Vicky today. It was a pizza buffet and Andrea ate more peas than she did pizza. At Grandpa's home, she ate lots of popcorn. She would wander back to Grandpa over and over to get more. We also opened stockings. Andrea got treats and a little ladybug rock that she carries around with her. Andrea went to bed on time for the New Year. Mommy and Daddy made it through a New Year's toast and our tradition of strawberry shortcake, but then headed straight to bed.