Christmas Eve

This year, we decided to switch things up a little bit, and went to the five o'clock service on Christmas Eve. It's the "family" service, so when your kids is misbehaving, it's no big deal. This meant we'd have to eat dinner with mine and Andy's parents as soon as we could after we all made it to our house from church. This posed a meat-making problem for me! Not like it was really an issue, but it meant I had to do something new :) I stuck a ham in the oven when we left the house, and it was perfectly done when we got home! Fun times. Service at my church is typically an hour long, at Andy's parent's it's 45 minutes. This time, ours was 45 minutes, and their's was an hour 15 minutes! We ended up sitting down for dinner at 7:30. Andrew behaved pretty well... always showing off for the grandparents! I made a buche de noel for dessert, I love that thing. Not my best, but still so tasty.

Andrew got to open one present before bed, and it was a pair of Elmo pajamas! He was so happy with them. He changed and modeled for his grandparents before they left, and he headed to bed. He went into bed, and Andy and I did some quick arranging before I ran back to church to play at the 11 o'clock service.
I was in the RCW Christmas play this year, and in my scene, we were unpacking Christmas things in the attic, and needed a nativity. I offered up my nativity set, since I wasn't planning to put it up with Andrew and his clumsy hands around. I offered it up as a prop, and the church thought the size of it was so great, the borrowed it to display in front of the pulpit all season. I hadn't noticed it during the Family Service, but when I was up in the balcony for the 11 o'clock, I could see how there was a spotlight on the stable the entire service, and the sanctuary lights dimmed most of the time. It was absolutely beautiful, and i felt so honored that it was my family's nativity!

and fun fact: My Granny bought that nativity in CA, before they moved back to MS after my grandfather died, so early-mid 1960's. She passed it on to my parents when they got married, and my mom passed it on to me after we got married and didn't have one! Third generation, isn't that cool?

Early pregnancy visits

I went to the dr for the first time on Dec 1. The nurse was suprised I hadn't had it confirmed in anyway other than the test at home, and I was that far. I said, I dunno, I just did what they told me on the phone! She made me pee in a cup, then dropped it on a test, and pretty much immediately exclaimed, yep, you're pregnant! I weighed in only 4lbs heavier than my regular weight on my home scale. And was wearing jeans, and a heavy sweater. totally haven't gained weight, right? I met with the dr in her office. Where I noticed she was wearing a pair of my favorite slacks. And in the corner, had an orange tote bag I also have. I like her :) She asked why I was switching practices, and responded appropriately when I told her the ways I was unhappy with my previous birth. And she played with Andrew. And she asked questions about my thryoid nodule, and was rather dismissive of it. Which, really, its not like it does anything. Then we went to get and exam. She checks my heart and breathing, then feels my neck. Oh, wow! You really do have a good size nodule! Lol, I told you so! My uterus was properly swollen, my boobies good. All normal, healthy, and apparently pregnant.

I scheduled the nuchal translucency ultrasound for Dec 23, and another appt for Dec 29. They called me this Tuesday morning, and asked if I could come in at 12:30. They hadn't done an acual intake appt, where they get history and such, and preferred to do it sooner, rather than wait until I was 14 weeks. In I went! My mom was able to meet me and corral Andrew. I gave a million vials of blood, incl some to test my TSH levels, which haven't been done since 2005. Seems weird with a growing nodule, right? Otherwise, I just talked to the NP, went over history, how I am doing, blahblah. I was declared the easiest patient ever.

I got a giant bag of "goodies," all stuff from Similac. A planner, and travel bag with a can of formula, and the bag the give in the hospital, with samples, and another formula sample. Ugh. Can maybe they wait to attempt to sabotage a mother's nursing relationship? And at a midwife too. She is supposed to be helping me have a natural birth, wouldn't she also advocate the natural way to feed babies? I want to complain, but um. really like the practice so far. I don't want to cause shit! Plus, there is a pretty handy toiletry bag, AND a sample of aquaphor, which I do keep meaning to buy for Mr. Chappy Cheeks.

Thanksgiving

Since Andy wasn't going to be around for Hoyt Thanksgiving 2.0 with all of his siblings, we decided to go to his parents the day of. It was just us, my MIL's sister, and FIL's dad. Andrew didn't get a nap, since dinner was right at naptime. He did ok for it though. We dressed him in his Christmas outfit and ran outside to get pics in front of the barn. He wanted nothing to do with that, and kept trying to go on the slide. So, his Christmas picture was taken on a slide, lol. Here is the only Thanksgiving related picture we took all day! It's four generation of Hoyt men! That's Great-Pop and my Father-in-law, Jeff, if you didn't know :)

Late afternoon, we headed to my parents. We like to go see them anyway, since they have no one else to spend a holiday with. We were just going to have dessert, but I was STARVING, so ate their leftovers. My mom made pumpkin creme brulee, which sounds like it would be awesome, right? NO NO NO. It was SO bad! We were really disappointed!

The next day, we realized no one had sent us home with leftovers, the horror! So we made greenbean casserole, stuffing, and got those premade mashed potatoes and jarred gravy. I was not a fan of any of it, sadly. I did get a good repeat on Sunday though!

Ok, so they had two huge tables set up at Steve and Tara's, one being the kids table. Andrew was sitting directly behind me, so I could keep an eye on him. He refused to eat his sweet potatoes, which he typically loves, pretty much only ate the bread I gave him, then started eating corn off of Anthony's plate! This child, I swear. I try to give it to him, he won't eat it. Another kid is eating it? Must be good! This is also how we got him to finally eat carrots... A friend's daughter offered some to him, and it turned into his new favorite food!

Andy had taken that week off, three days :) We didn't have music class, so we took Andrew to Jumpin Jakes, the bouncy castle place. I love that place. Andy enjoyed it fairly well, and of course Andrew was in heaven. Andy thinks I should take him there more often. Okay!
Tuesday, we checked out the storytime they have at our Barnes and Noble. Andy thought it was goofy, but Andrew was into the books. They sing, read, sing, read, maybe repeat one more time, then color. What's not to love?

We decorated our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Only one ornament broke, and it was Andy's ugly Jets ball. And he broke it :) It didn't take long for Andrew to learn no hands, but he still slips up when I am not looking! I also finally got him to stop pulling handfuls of tinsel off the tree. I am praying we can't find that crap next year, and our tinselling days are over.

Happy Halloween!

Here's hoping everyone had a safe and happy Halloween! And we've all recovered from our sugar comas!

We carved our pumpkin on Wednesday night. Last year, Andrew was all over the pumpkin guts; tasting them, squishing them with his hands, digging in the pumpkin for more, in and out of the bowl. This year, he would only touch the pumpkin withe a spoon!
We practiced really safe carving techniques.
Andrew and the finished Jack-o-Lantern Friday, we went on a visiting trip to see the grandparents. Up to Kingston to see Gramma, then to Clintondale to see Meme and Poppy. Andrew got to spend a little bit of time at their house on the slide, his favorite thing!

We stopped by his cousins' house, then headed home to Trick-or-Treat. We only planned to hit up a few of our neighbors we are friendly with. No need to take a 21 month old to get free candy! Andrew enjoyed ringing the doorbells, and taking something out of the basket, but he refused to say his lines, or thank you! He really was not impressed with the whole thing. Next year!

Here he is, dressed as a monkey! Since he refused to say trick or treat, I just told him to tell everyone what a monkey says! That night, as he was falling asleep in his bed, we heard him all of a sudden call out ooh ooh ah ah? it was the funniest thing ever!

There is nothing like the smell of an apple pie candle and garlic cooking on the stove, the sounds of the early Beatles playing, and your son and husband playing and laughing in the next room while the rain beats down outside the windows to know you are really home.

The only way to make a more perfect picture would be one of the cats licking their paws in the doorway. But, they are dirty, and don't do things like that, so, too bad.


Oh, and if the furniture magically repelled dust.

Happy 3rd Anniversary!

Yesterday, Andy and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary. Hard to believe its been that long already!

In August, I was in TJMaxx and saw a nice leather armchair for nice and cheap. Handily, the modern gift for a third wedding anniversary is leather! We bought this as our anniversary gift to ourselves to replace the horrid. vinyl recliner that has been passed along through Andy's family.

Now, this was our gift, that's it. Of course, Andy doesn't follow that rule. He never does. When will I learn, and get him a little gift?? He got me the Willow Tree Together figurine, and a cardigan from Old Navy.

We headed off to Woodbury Commons to buy Andrew's fall wardrobe. We hit up Children's Place, the Gap Outlet, and the Stride Rite outlet. I am most excited for the shoes, let me tell you. So cute. His nice brown shoes are little boots, though, so I needed to work with those to figure out how to quickly get them ON. hard!

Andrew slept the whole hour ride home, but woke up the moment we parked in the driveway. It didn't help that a strange man was in our driveway, left as we were driving up, then circled back and parked behind us. Freaky, yes? We were both wondering if it was a guy come to spy on our house, interested in looking. Yes, even Andy was thinking this.... except is was the florist delivery van with a dozen red roses for me! haha, idiot. But yeah! I tried to get Andrew to sleep more, but the cats ruined it. we were lying there on my bed, and I was sure his eyes were closed. Then carter jumps up behind me, and this little hand reaches across my belly towards him. I knew I was done for then!

We went to Hudson Ribs and Fish for dinner, and I had a delicious filet mignon. Then we headed to the mall to see Dark Knight, FINALLY. We had an hour to kill, so we went to look at the Gap. I was freezing, so we wanted to see if there was a sweater or anything there. Andy walked out with a new button down and sweatpants, and I got jeans and a sweater. Our theaters just expanded and redid everything. There are now 16 theaters all with stadium seating. Which is nice, except I think the chairs are too big for me. I left with a killer headache from aching neck and shoulder muscles. The movie was really good. But definitely could've ended at least 30 min sooner! Maybe its just cause it was late and I was tired and headachy? But dammit, catch the Joker already!

MY CHILD JUST PEED IN THE POTTY!!


I just started potty training today, and not so much potty training, as we bought one, he thinks its way cool, so I've sat him on it when I go to pee or changed his morning dipe.

We were sitting there, reading Barnyard Dance, and I said WHAT THE HELL am I doing?? He is 20 months old! he can't potty train!! Ok, Andrew, get up, let's change your pants.

AND THERE WAS PEE!!

my kid can't talk or count to 101 like everyone else's but he can pee in a potty (on accident...)!!

Happy Birthday, Eric!

I mentioned that we would be traveling to Atlanta with my parents to visit Eric and his family. I didn't elaborate on the We part, since Eric didn't know the true reason for our visit! Jo Ann wanted to really surprise him for his 40th birthday, and the first step to doing that was to throw a big party a year early! My mom and dad, Christian, Andy, Andrew, myself, and some other very special guests all descended on Atlanta to help celebrate!

First, our flight out... my parents had to go on a different airline than me, and were limited with flight times, so we took a 2:00 pm flight. Smack in the middle of Andrew's nap. I was afraid he would be so overtired and crazy, but unwilling to sleep due to cool new things. Then the plane broke, and we were an hour late taking off. He ended up passing out before we even left the gate!

Saturday, we did nothing but watch Cameron cheerleading, hang out and get ready for the party. Eric was definitely surprised! It was a challenge for my dad to keep him out of the house in the afternoon so we could get ready. Christian had spilled the beans about him and my aunt coming from Mississippi earlier in the week, then Cecilia called to "cancel" that morning. He was surprised to see them there. He had an even more surprised reaction to Andy being there though, I think! Poor Andy was holed up in the hotel all day working :(

Sunday, the other out of town guests were leaving, so we all had breakfast at Eric's in the am, then they left around noon. At this point, it was Andrew's naptime, so he and my dad napped in Genevieve's room. While he was asleep, and Andy worked in my brother's office, my mom and I went to the mall with Genevieve. My mom paid her Discover bill at Sears. On vacation. weirdo. I ran to Gap to get something long sleeve, since Eric's house is an ice box. The mall has an American Girl Store, so we went in there. I am not sure who was more excited, me or Genevieve. Probably me :) I told my mom how badly I still wanted to complete my dolls' collections, and she said I had to wait so my future daughter could experience the excitement. I said, she can get her own damn dolls. Hello! That is my plan for collecting them all! And yes. I am nearly 30 years old, and love my dollies.

We stopped at Starbucks on the way home (which was conveniently between the hotel and his house, bad for the wallet). Genevieve picked out a baseball cookie. Then after we paid, she says "I love you Aunt Katharine". MELT.

Sunday evening, they'd invited a few friends over for a BBQ.

Monday, I had to take Andy to catch the train to the airport at 5:30 in the morning. In the pouring rain. In the dark. It was so scary!
My mom and I were bound and determined to do something touristy, so we went to the Georgia Aquarium. I thought Andrew would love it, but only sometimes. He was tired and hungry, so was in a mood. He wanted to run around, then get picked up, then down, up down, up. He found it necessary to climb onto every bench. He most liked the aquariums that were floor to ceiling and chock full of fish. And the penguins. oh, and this sea lion that was swimming in circles underwater, with his eyes closed. he just kept going back and forth by the window, and Andrew loved it.

Our flight home was at 8:45. Well, mine was. my parents flew a different airline. So, we were supposed to be there at 6:45, return the car beforehand and drive there. The plan was to leave the hotel at 5:30. IN THE MORNING. Omg, it was hell. Andrew woke up, and only slept briefly in the car. Also, we didn't leave until closer to 6, because my mom takes forever to get ready. They landed at noon, and we were home around 1. Andrew napped over there, I layed around and read, then we headed home a bit after 4.

When we put our house on the market, I asked the realtor if we should maybe paint our kitchen. She said nah, leave it as is. On our feedback page, we've gotten several comments that the kitchen is very dark, and that wasn't JUST because there were merely two recessed lights on the ends, and a big hole from where the fan used to be (it fell out of the sky three years ago, when Tracey and I were baking cookies for the wedding). The room was literally a wooden box. the ceiling, the walls, the cabinets, were all the same color. you can see much better pictures at the fabulous www.1ambercourt.com

We finally bought a new light fixture to replace the ceiling fan, and my dad came to help install it. My mom stopped by on her way home from work, and decided to remove the wagon wheels from the doorways. They were a so hard to remove! She ended up leaving some nice gouges and splinters in the doorway. Alas, how to cover these up??

PAINT!! My mom thought we would be able to get it all done in one day. I would primer in the morning. Then we'd pick out paint at Home Depot and get to coats on. Ha! ha.ha.double ha. Because its allll beadboarding, you had to pay close attention to getting paint in the grooves to cover the wood. It took forevaaaah. We got the primer done Tuesday.. The ceiling on Wednesday. and the walls first coat done on Thursday. On Friday, and we were able to buy a new door and finish the second coat on the walls. I did the first coat of trim at 11:30 Saturday night, and finished it Sunday morning.
I am so in love with it. I used to have to turn the light on above the sink to wash dishes. Now I don't need to! and I can see into my cabinets! Yay!

FAIL!

I have been waiting to post until I had some good pictures of today's activity, but alas. I have nothing! But never fear! I do have a visual for you.

I don't know why I didn't post about this on Monday when I posted. Andrew woke up from his nap, and I had no diapers in his room. They were all out on the back patio drying in the sun. We went downstairs bare-bottomed (just him!), and i headed to the door to grab a diaper from outside. but lo! What was that on the table?! It was a wee bird, balancing on the very edge of our patio table. At first I thought it was just a small species, but then it hopped to the back rung of one of the chairs, and I knew by it's teetering that it was a baby bird, not quite learned in flying. I didn't know what to do, Andrew was running around with no diaper, but I didn't want to scare this little bird! I was able to go very quietly, grab the diaper pieces, get closer to check out his neat tail, then grab Andrew from the imminent escape.We ended up watching this bird for over an hour. He would flit from the patio set to the air conditioning unit to the hydrangea bush. Pretty much falling to the ground between each place. I saw him on the air conditioner, pulling a Marilyn Monroe. You know, wind blowing up from below, ruffling his dress. I ran and turned the a/c off, poor thing! The hydrangea doesn't have the most stable of branches, so he would wobble like mad before he fell to the ground. He did end up balancing on it, and sat about a foot away from our window for well over 30 minutes. Andrew kept trying to stand on our pleather recliner to look, so I grabbed his step stool and put it under the window. He was standing there banging his pointer on the finger and yelling "bee! bee!" Mama and Daddy bird came a couple of times to check on baby. We eventually went to play out front, and when we went back to the back, he was gone.
Yesterday morning, I made fingerpaints, planning to paint in the afternoon. I ended up running to Babies R Us with my mom instead, so finger painting was my big plan for today. I set up the kiddie table outside . Cleaned out the pool, and filled it with a bit of water. I made some shapes out of sponges. Stripped Andrew to a disposable diaper. Grabbed a towel, the camera, and a stack of paper.
You won't believe how much fun he had. No, really. You can't even begin to imagine the fun he had. You know why? Because you started out thinking about a baby with paint covered hands and belly. Then you started thinking about one also with a covered face, hair, feet, bottom. You are dead wrong. DEAD! He couldn't care less!! I poured a bit of paint out, he ran away. I brought him back, showed him how to smear. He smeared his pointers a grand total of 3.7 times before abandoning the table for the pool. For real, Andrew? You don't want to create, and smear, and get messy, and act like a normal toddler, and make all my hard efforts to cook paint WORTH IT??
What a stinkpot.

Time management

I feel like lately (ok, all my life) I waste a lot of time and can't get anywhere on time. I feel like we aren't doing enough constructive things each day. So, like a complete dork, I have created a daily schedule, and detailed out the exact order to prep breakfast, when to change diapers, all sorts of crazy.
I want to incorporate a little art each day. Need to cultivate that right brain! So far, all we do is color with crayons or pencils (and the occasional inkpen self tattoo), or play with play-dough. I need some more ideas of what an 18 month old can handle. I have a metric ton of stickers. If I can teach him to use a gluestick, i have a big bucket of foamie shapes. He's probably too young for scissors. But if I teach him young and get him used to them, can I avoid an Age 3 Uncle Christian Hair Disaster?

Any one have good suggestions for this age group?

Speaking of right brain, Andrew has started to sing! It's only taken a year of music classes. Oh, and language skills. We sing a song where you just sing one word - you, me, no, yes - for the entire tune. He likes to sing No no and Me me. Then in class and after a few songs on the cds, there is a rhythm pattern, ba ba baba, etc. He isn't copying the sounds in the correct rhythm, but attempting to join in the ba's. And sometimes, he just sits in the backseat singing his own little tune. It is all v.v. cute, and makes this musical mama V. Proud!


In August, we are headed to Atlanta with my parents to visit Eric, Jo Ann, and my little girls! I still have a Delta voucher to use, so will fly with them. My parents are using frequent flyer miles, so are on a different airline. Our flights are just about the same time, so they will be with me at the beginning and end, but I am still rather nervous to travel on my own with a little one at naptime! Hopefully we can win our seatmates over with his charm and good looks.

Ok, so I have this growth or something under on my finger! In my finger? Its my right middle finger, inside, lowest portion. Its like there is a pea under the skin. You can move it from side to side, up and down. It feels hard, and doesn't hurt. Unless I have just spent 20 mintues squishing it about, whoopsie. What could it be? Should I go to the doctor? Is it a toomah?!?!

Fly straight... or, not.

a couple of things, as nothing of note has happened in the last few days.

we have been making attempts for over a year to get Andrew to latch onto some sort of lovey, to help ease bedtime. Didn't work. The only comfort item that kid has accepted is his mama. When he had a terrible cough a couple of months ago, I let him have a cup of water at bed. Now he HAS to have this cup. He asks Daddy for it all through their story, immediately after the light is out, until he gets it. And then he hugs it while he sleeps! This makes me go, Oh dear. My child is just too weird.
BUT IT GETS WEIRDER. No, really. This is embarrassing, even.

The other day we had pulled almost every single toy out of the toybox. And there at the bottom lay a stuffed puppy. Andy bought me that puppy for some Valentine's Day several years ago, because he is so stinking soft. The puppy is white, with pink ears and pink hearts all over. A total girly item. Andrew now sleeps with this damn puppy! Now he is hugging a cup and a pink puppy. My kid is SO WEIRD.
as if it wasn't bad enough he has pink Little Mermaid swim diapers, now we add this to the list of Things the Hoyt Boys Use to Mock Andrew Jr.


Yesterday evening, we were sitting down to a super delicious dinner. Andy sits facing the sliding glass door, I sit with the door to my right. Half of the door has a sheer closed, obscuring the view. All of a sudden, there was this HUGE bonk into the house. Then we saw, well, I saw something dark and maybe wingish fall to the ground. Andy saw a giant bird fall, then fly up onto the open patio umbrella. Then watched it fly off. I ran to the open door, and looked and there was a hawk!! sitting on the divider fence of our backdoor neighbors. It sat there a moment, and then flew off into the woods. but. a HAWK flew into our house! Into one of our bedroom windows. I thought hawks were much smarter than that!
It also left one hell of a mark on the window. I don't understand. It didn't seem to have majorly injured itself. What is the goo on there? Did he cut himself and bird blood is clearish/brown? Was he wet from the rain and its a mixture of dust and water? He also dropped a whole bunch of what appears to be sunflower seeds or black teeth. i am guessing the seeds.
stupid hawk.

Andrew's documented first word was Shoes. (also on the list of (TTHBUTMAJ). Today he has been saying socks! But the absolute cutest new word, even better than Mama? Wawa. And he has gotten quite a lot of use out of these past couple of days, since its been raining all day!


Also, Meg, today I made chocolate covered Muesli bars!

My house hates me

Our pipes clogged up again this weekend. It happened for the first time in Dec '05. When Andy was taking a shower. This time? Andy was in the shower. First time he's used that particular shower since Thanksgiving. hmm... So, what happens is that the shower water backs up into the kitchen sink, directly below. This time, it also backed up into the dishwasher. The dishwasher happened to be open, letting the dishes air dry (see me save the environment?). I closed it, just to feel cleaner amidst the sink mess, not know it had backed up as well. Water began to pour all over the floor. Argh and grrr. Then we ran the garbage disposal to see if that would help. Water started shooting out of something in the laundry room!

I had to wash dishes in the bathtub!

Since it was Saturday, we decided to wait it out until Monday, to avoid weekend emergency rates. The guy came Monday, late afternoon. The problem? Sludge. I think my dad's theory (or maybe my FIL's) that the pipes weren't installed on the right angle is right. Bah. Well, hopefully it lasts quite a while after new people move in! Not that that will ever happen.

Andy left for Gaithersburg, MD Monday. He got home at 1:45 this morning. It's been nice not having to worry about my personal mess, and watch wonderful movies like The Other Boleyn Girl 102 Dalmatians instead of baseball. But I am definitely excited he's home. Its scary at night by myself!

They resealed our roads on Tuesday and Wednesday here. Firstly, I got trapped in my garage on Tuesday. But I busted through the cones and went to my mom's house. Then yesterday, we had to park on the outside road, because we weren't allowed to drive on the main neighborhood road at ALL. um. this is a community full of senior citizens and young families. That's just plain obnoxious.
Yesterday, we went blueberry picking with my friend Tracey and her 14 month old, Emma. It is crazy hot. No. it is wicked humid. After a bit, Andrew started whining for a drink, so we went back to our cars to get the kids their water. Then we were too lazy to go back out in the hot sun to get more! We both ended up with just over a pound of berries. I guess no jam this time, maybe a pie?!

The current tooth count is 9.5! We have had the second pair of bottom one, and his bottom right molar come in in the last two weeks. The top right molar is probably half out right now. I will be glad when the other two molars are out and we get a break. Except I am sure the canines will start right after! Its so weird that there are babies his age or even much younger who have all of their teeth already, and he just moved past 6!

We were playing outside this morning, and he saw a bird across the lawn. He yelled "bee bee" and did his version of the sign for bird. This is a first, and its so exciting to see him finally make a connection like that.

We have started to bath and lotion him up nightly in an attempt to stop his eczema outbreaks on his upper back. Twice this week, after I strip him of his diaper, he's squatted on the bathroom floor (right on the wool lion rug) and peed. I am wondering if perhaps we should be getting him a potty sooner, rather than later?


I want: a wii. a puppy. a baby. a new house in a new state. a housekeeper/nanny/cook. more money for baby classes. liposuction.
I will settle for the first four. but not in that order.

Peaches, blueberries...

I cannot begin to imagine what gave Andrew this idea *coughstarbuckscough* but when I go through a drive-thru, he starts signing please frantically and holding his hand out for a treat. I know, greedy little bugger, right?
Yesterday, we headed to the Arlington Farmers Market, across from Vassar College. I happened to run into two people I know, the chit chat made it a little more pleasant. I was also remarking to myself how it almost looked like a babywearing convention! This is a pretty mainstream place, so you don't see too many people moving beyond the baby Bjorn. I saw several lovely hippie carriers! I even talked to someone about my Beco Butterfly, which I can't speak highly enough of :)
There aren't a whole lot of stands there yet, but I did manage to get some zucchini and yellow squash for dinner, which was my plan! The stand with those vegetables also had tons of fruit. I am indecisive, and ended up with a sampling of everything! I bought cherries, peaches, and raspberries. When we got back to the car, I tossed it all on the front seat. Of course, the moment I sat down, I started rifling through the cherries. Andrew goes into his please, eh eh! Mode. He's never had cherries or raspberries, so I didnt know what to do. I ended up biting a raspberry in half and handing it back. He was in love! We headed to the grocery after, and he whined the entire ride, until I would pass the berry back.

When we got home, he snatched a cherry and enjoyed the bite he took before I freaked out!
Babyhoyt likes raspberries and cherries!!
Now to stop eating the cherries so I can turn them into jam.

Holiday weekend

If you want me to keep updating, you need to comment :P

I hope everyone had a fun holiday weekend! We headed up to Marathon, NY for the 2nd Annual Hoyt Family Golf Invitational. Andy headed up early Friday morning with his brother to start golfing at 12:30. Andrew and I made the 3.5 hour drive at nap time. This was his first "big" car trip since he's stopped sleeping a million hours in the day, and i was a bit nervous. We bought a portable dvd player and a Blue Clues dvd, and I set off. He ended up sleeping most of the way. When he woke up with 40 minutes to go, I popped on Blues Clues and he was happy as a clam for the remainder of the trip. phew!

Saturday was spent playing with all of the cousins, first, second, third...? The bigger kids have devised a water slide, and it was a big hit! We headed home around 7.

Sunday was an all day daddy day, as I went to NJ for a friend's bridal shower. I wonder if he got annoyed enough with the bad diapers to buy the new size yet?

Sunday, Andrew also turned 18 months old!

He had a dr appt yesterday. I was told he was continuing to grow well. Except, he was measured an inch shorter than in April, and weighs pretty much the same thing since January. um. this does not make sense! The weight I believe, this is a skinny boy. But he has most definitely outgrown pants since April, and he now fits on his motorcycle rocker (an awesome hand me down from cousins Cameron and Genevieve!) She is pleased with his developments and he is right on track.


As of Sunday, Andrew and I also celebrated 18 months of breastfeeding! I am 3/4 of the way to my goal, and have hit the point where I would like to start slowly weaning him. I have never worked so hard to achieve something. And yet, this is one of the easiest, simplest things I have ever done. I am very proud of myself for working through our first, very difficult month, and be able to come out on the other end as one of those weird extended nursers :)

Social Butterfly

It was a busy weekend! It started with a mad dash cleaning of the house on Friday, for a showing yesterday morning. Since we had to be out of the house, Andrew and I headed to BJ's and Andy to the office. We picked up my mom, and spent waaay too much time in there! Last night, we went to our friend Andy's birthday party. Andrew was a champ, and played nicely until nearly 10 pm! Whoops, that was great parenting :) but Meg and Andy just got Rock Band, we had to check it out!
We did pay for the late bedtime today. He woke up at normal time, 7am, and had a clingy morning. I think he could've fallen back asleep at 10! I went to take him to nap at 11:30, but forgot that I had neglected to put the valve in his bedtime sippy of water, and he woke up at 1 am with his jammies and sheets compleeeetely soaking wet, so I had to change the still wet sheets! oy vey.
We celebrated Andy's mom's 60th birthday today at Cosimo's in Newburgh. Conveniently two minutes away from Steve's house who coordinated dinner. I would've done that part and stayed by my house, instead of racking my brain for awesome gifts! We coordinated a photo shoot with my friend Melissa last month, and were able to give Jamie a portrait of all 9 of her grandchildren! It was quite the feat to capture, let me tell you. We also got a gift card to eat at Mohegan Sun, a voucher so my nice, devout, Catholic MIL can gamble :P and tickets to a WNBA game.
Happy Birthday Jamie!

So, we go to put Andrew to bed a little early tonight, and I scraped a diaper while Andy helped him brush his teeth. I noticed the cottonelle wipe didn't flush, so I flushed again. And then the water ROSE AND ROSE! And of course the plunger was downstairs, but I don't think it helped anyway. I broke something off the toilet that caused water to spray out of the tank. I'm not exactly sure what Andy did to finally make it stop, but it was about 5000 gallons of water too late. It took me 15 minutes of plopping the mop down and immediately squeezing the excess out in the tub. I think the little bit that leaked out onto Andrew's carpet wasn't a little bit, cause i nearly broke my toes when I slipped in a puddle in the doorway of the downstairs bathroom.
This house sure is doing a poor job of making us sorry to leave! Seriously now.
Of course, now I am terrified to use the bathroom, hehe.

Say what?

I am constantly surprised by Andrew's intelligence. We have been DVRing and watching SigningTime! on PBS since probably March. Before that, I only knew the signs for milk and all done. He has been signing milk since th fall, and really understood it starting in February. I learn about 15 signs each episode, and do my best to use them.
He can sign for milk, all done, more, please, thank you, ball, sleepy, and wash hands. Oh, and dog, but only when I say dog, not that he can recognize one :)
I have this containter of those Cottonelle wet wipes on the back of his toilet to scrape the diapers. Yesterday, he was sitting on the toilet to get his face washed and pointing to the animals. Like a good mom, i said Dog, can you say dog? He patted his leg, signing dog. Points to the bird, and I ask him to say bird. Then he put his hands to lips and attempted a little pinch! I asked about the flower, and he wiggled his fingers by his mouth!
I have been doing these things for months, and it seemed like he would never catch on! Just when you least expected it, your kid wows you with something you didn't eve know he knew :)

The Power of Jam

Last Wednesday, Andrew and I accompanied his Aunt Anita and cousins Anthony and Bryan to Secor Farms to pick fresh strawberries. I do not reccomend strawberry picking with a toddler! I had the hardest time keeping Andrew from taking the strawberries out of my box and eating them. When I was going through them later, I found waaay to many berries with giant bites out of them! He came out of the strawberry patch with drips all down the front of his shirt, and red face and hands. We walked away with just over four pounds of berries.

Friday, I made a strawberry pie. There was much trouble over the crust. Turns out they shrink when you bake them with nothing in the pie shell! I finally got the pie made, and Andy and I are enjoying it! Its kind of nice to still have a kid too young to share sweets with :)
Yesterday, I made my first attempt at making preserves. It was kind of time-consuming, cutting up all the berries, but that step isn't really necessary. It was a pretty easy process, except for when the cooking jam kept jumping out of the pot! That stuff can fly! I ended up with 10 little jars.
This was a really easy thing to do, but it made me feel so empowered. If I can make jam, I can do anything! I can't wait to pick blueberries, and maybe beans, and stock my pantry. After my tomatoes are ripe, I will make tons of sauce. I've already added a few books on canning to my next amazon order.

Andrew "helping" while I make jam

Jam!

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog! I know you would love to get an update on the very exciting Hoyt happenings, but not in this post! This stands as the inaugural, welcome to blogspot, fluffy nothing post :)

Yay, and welcome!