June 29 - July 11....The First 2 Weeks

Andrew has been growing like a weed since we got home. We can now no longer count each of his ribs as we hold him, which is a good thing. I also got a charger for my Kazak Kamara so now I can upload and take pictures again.

Here's Andrew as we touched down on American soil, and he became an American. Well, ok first we had to go through immigration. But it was a momentous landing because the screaming stopped, and oddly enough the entire plane clapped, for Andrew or the Pilot??? He literally came screaming into America with the birth canal being a Boeing 747. No word on his ApGar scores.




As soon as he saw Daddy he became a super happy kids again as Rob strapped him into his first car seat. Surprisingly he did not mind being buckled down. I think he was just so glad to be either on solid ground, or with Rob that he settled down quick and fell asleep as we went through the booths to pay for parking. The car ride included a trip to the American Super Market to buy baby food and he did really well in the store. Rob even had a couple young chicks in cars in the parking lot slow down to give him an 'awwwww isn't that cute".



The end of our first week home was his first birthday. Rob got him a cake, decorated it (well, he wrote Happy Birthday) and got him a Soccer Ball. Chip then proceeded to try to teach a one year old the soccer moves, but Andrew was not really listening. He was more interest in getting snuggled by Heather. We had to have the abbreviated 5 seconds Happy Birthday song because Andrew was making moves for the lit candle. I guess we should have put the cake out of arm's reach. Another lesson learned. It was a good thing we got this picture, because that was the last of the battery charge until the American charger arrived a week later.

For his Birthday the House Of Wasson got him his fishing gear. Now he just need to gain 8.9 more pounds to be able to wear it legally. Maybe by next summer he'll be on the River with Rob and John, drinking our of his sippy cup and eating his Biter Biscuits.







We have also been working on getting Andrew to PET Tigger instead of grabbing handfuls of hair and assiting Tigger with the shedding process. Fluffer has been bright enough to clear the area when Andrew is around....but I have caught her checking in on Andrew when he is asleep. She will just walk into his room, sniff the Diaper Genie, check out the crib to make sure he's still there then leave the room. Sorry Fluff, he's not going anywhere until college.





I have been doing my best to dress Andrew in total Boy clothes after Rob got concerned that I had some girlie clohtes for him. How's this for boy clothes?








Over the past couple weeks we have learned a lot of things as new parents.

Loose Cannons: Rob can not leave an undiapered boy standing while he empties the potty; He will hose the floor. Jen can not leave an undiapered boy laying on the changing table and talking sweet baby talk to him as she casually unfolds the diaper; He will hose me.

Green Beans: We can not use the orphanage style of rapid feeding when it comes to new foreign foods, like mashed green beans. This happened the first couple days we were home and we saw the sequel to the Exorcist.

Idle Hands: A child on the potty needs a toy to play with....if not his hands will find some 'presents' in the potty that were just deposited by himself. Note #2: The toy should be large enough to not fit between his legs and be dropped into his little potty.

Little Fingers: Baby fingers are very small and can fit into many of mommy's facial orifices. So far I have had my nose picked, ears explored, eyes poked and teeth examined. Luckily we baby proofed the electric outlets last year, so no damage was done to little Andrew.

The whole is more than the sum of its parts: The amount of food that goes into a baby gets magically transformed into massive quantities when processed by the intestinal system. And when it involves carrots, it stains baby butt.

Tasty? Not!: Most baby food smells better than it tastes, but it's our job to fake it to encourage him to eat things like Green Bean and Rice moosh, or Potatoes and Rabbit.

Cost Benefit: Kids like the paper and boxes more than the content.

Best Toy: Plastic Stacking cups and cloth blocks.

No-Mark floors: Don't exist....especially newly installed hardwood floors.