The Sweaters

I needed to post a better picture of Andrew's adorable sweater vest that Sara made for him. She made it from the leftovers from a sweater she made for herself.

My first baby with my own baby...

Christmas, finally!

Sorry it has taken me so long to get these up. But here it is: our First Christmas as a family of 3.

The first place we opened presents was with Eric. He got Andrew a giant purple ball, which is easily his favorite gift from the whole event.

We opened stockings at our house before we left for Christmas rounds on Christmas Eve morning.

We spent the night at my parents on Christmas Eve. While I was packing, Josh called from the kitchen and said he was done. "Done already?" He said he had everything we needed:

What can I say? He was right. :)

Nana and Papa got a fish tank at their house. Andrew L-O-V-E-S it.

Christmas Morning!

Sweet baby face

We read the Christmas story before we open presents every year. This year we read it out of Andrew's Jesus Storybook Bible. I recommend it. It is my favorite children's Bible.

And then the presents! The biggest hit was the wrapping paper, but I didn't think you would want to watch 10 videos of that... :)

This present was actually Adam's:

"Mommy, I like your stationary. Can I have the box?"

Nana made an amazing scrapbook for me. It covers 3 months to 6 months. We take a lot of pictures.

These are actually blocking mats for my knitting, but Andrew thought they were for him. I guess I will share.

One of my favorite things that Andrew got was this adorable vest. Sara knitted it and it matches one she made for herself. So. Stinkin. Cute.

Christmas is sort of exhausting. 

After a nap and a car ride across town, we got started at Grandma and Grandpa's. The first thing he got was this wicked cape his Aunt Emily made for him. Super Andrew!

Oh yeah, and she made a matching one for Josh. :D

Andrew got a real drum from Grandpa. It's pretty exciting.

The conducting lessons are paying off.

Also a piano...

Ben made Scott an electric bass. Who is more excited about it?

Andrew paid close attention while Ben went over the details.

It was an amazing day. This guy makes our lives so much fun. Merry Christmas! And I promise, I'll update the blog more frequently. :) Countdown to the boy's first birthday begins!

I know, I know...

It has been forever since I blogged, and I haven't put up any pictures of Christmas. I'm sorry. I have two excuses: 1) I had some storage issues with my computer and I haven't been able to collect all the pictures from Christmas. 2) Andrew is suddenly much more difficult to photograph. He is ALWAYS moving, and therefore, so am I. I'm trying to get better at action photography. I am also working on a Christmas update. But in the meantime, and to appease the Aunts, here is some cuteness from the last couple of snow days around our house:

Christmas Cookies

In true Fleenor Form, we stamped and iced around 200 sugar cookies today.  Last year the only way Andrew got to participate in this most delightful tradition was by enduring the sugar coma I always experience after snacking and icing all day.  This year he was in on all the action.

First punch.

  

Wow...

This year all our cookies have little finger-sized holes in the middle where he helped Aunt Emily get the cookie out of the cutter.  Makes them even sweeter.

Of course, what he really wanted to do was wield the big rolling pin.

Christmas is SOOO fun with him around. :)

Doctor Update

Went to the doc today, and Andrew definitely has a virus, which I figured. His ears and throat look great, which is what I was mostly worried about. I'm still glad we went because when I took off his clothes for them to weigh him he was covered in a rash all over his torso. Apparently this is a sign that his fever broke, which seems to be true since it's 7:00 and we are fever free! Woohoo! He is still SUPER tired (he took 3 naps today AND went to bed 30 minutes early) but it looks like we are on the upswing. :) Thanks for the concern.

Since no post would be complete without pictures, here are some assorted ones from the last few weeks:

Pretending to play MarioKart. Notice Leela, only a foot away. She gets more attached to Andrew every day.

All time favorite toy. It shoots balls out of the tube and then they slide back in. It's magical.

"How'd you get way up there?" One of Andrew's many treks up the stairs at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Papa Robins is a great playmate.

Christmas Tree hunting

We go to the Christmas tree farm in Clyde with Scott and Lisa every year to get our Christmas tree. This year we took Quinton, Emily's boyfriend. The Fleenors are really fun to tree hunt with for 2 reasons: 1.) because of their giant house, we get to pick out a GIANT tree. 2.) they insist on looking at every tree on the mountain. Here are some pictures from the day.

On the way. So excited!

Is our tree over here?

Or over here?

Pretty!

Here it is!  It's perfect!

It was a great day. :)

This weekend we went to the Bartholomew Christmas Party, which was really great.  It is so good to visit with everyone.  Andrew had his first Christmas present experience.  As you might expect, it was more about the paper than the present.  I think he got a book, but it doesn't show up in the video. :)

For those concerned Great-Aunts and Aunts out there (Kathy, Jen, Terri, Lisa, Sara, Robin, etc), an update on Andrew's fever:  He has been running a fever between 4pm-12am every night since Friday night.  He doesn't really have any other symptoms besides general grouchiness/weepiness.  I called the doctor Monday morning and they said it sounds like a virus, but to bring him in if it persists.  Since it's still 100 degrees tonight, we are going to the doctor in the morning.  Before you get too concerned, take a look at what he has been doing over the last few days. :)

Of course in between learning to write Mommy love notes and roll balls, he looks like this:

We'll let you know what the Dr says. :)

Welcome, December

Andrew is making a lot of progress with walking. He does this cute little side step thing that I adore.  

Also, he has learned to dance. So cute!

He is loving getting ready for Christmas. He has always loved Christmas lights and he is very excited about their return.