Red, White and Baby!

Andrew and I had a busy fourth of July day!  We started out the day by going to my parents house for a lunch BBQ.  My uncle, aunt and cousin's were up from Atlanta visiting for the week and wanted to meet Andrew.  Everyone had a great time visiting with one another.  My grandma, sister and Mark also came over.  We ate some really good food too! My sister made some awesome mac 'n cheese, my dad grilled some hot dogs, hamburgers and sausage.  The sausage was filled with fajita flavors: mozzarella cheese, bell peppers, jalapeno, and spices.  He got them at Sam's Club and they were very delicious!  After we ate lunch, we visited for a while.  The kids enjoyed playing and holding Andrew.  It was nice seeing them since we had not seen them since Thanksgiving.  Below are some pictures of everyone enjoying their time with each other.

Cute outfit Great Aunt Audrey got me!

Cousin time!

Andrew and Jaz

Jaz, Aunt Suzanna, Andrew and Lauren

Everyone enjoying family time!

Andrew and Meredith

Andrew checking out Grandpa's new hair cut!

Jaz showed me the cookie she made for Andrew and wanted me to take a picture of it for him!

Grandpa taking a picture of Andrew.

Andrew, Lauren and Jaz

Andrew and Adam

All the cousins

After my parents house, we went over to Mike and Steph's house for dinner.  Since Matt had to work that day, he met us over at their house.  Everything was delicious there also!  Mike grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and brats.  There was fruit, veggies, pasta salad and dessert! I was stuffed full of BBQ food from the day. We were going to go watch the fireworks at Olathe Medical after dinner, but Andrew was getting fussy from traveling the whole day and not getting a solid nap in for the day.  So Matt, Andrew and I just went home.  After we put Andrew down for bed, Matt and I watched the fireworks from our deck.  All together it was a great day of spending time with family! Hope everyone loves spending time with family just as much as I do!

On a couple of side notes, Andrew has now ate peas and we started on green beans last night!  He is doing great with figuring how to use his mouth and tongue.  He is really enjoying the eating part too lol.  Andrew also officially moved up to size 2 diapers!  This kid just won't stop growing!

The kitchen floor is in but we need to go pick it up hopefully today or tomorrow.  Well we need to pick it up by tomorrow because Jon is coming over tomorrow night to help start the first few rows! Then on Saturday my dad, Mike and Mitch are coming over to help Matt and I install the rest! I will post a new blog once the floor is complete.  So excited!!!!!

Four Months Old

Wow, can't believe Andrew is four months old! He has done so much this past month, I couldn't keep track of it all.  He is getting better at rolling from his stomach to his back.  Still doesn't like tummy time though. I try to do tummy time for at least 10 mins a day so he can get used to it. A big thing that has happened this month is the discovery of his toes.  He hasn't yet put them in his mouth but we can tell he wants to.  He usually grabs them while he is laying down in his crib or the floor.  He is going to get to the point where he grabs his feet and rolls over!

Another new thing is blowing bubbles/spitting/whatever you want to call it.  We call it blowing bubbles but sometimes he does it with such force, you think he is trying to spit!  It is very cute except when he does it while he's eating his cereal.  It's very hard for a 4 month old to understand STOP and NO! When I tell him know he just gets startled.  Hopefully it's sinking it not to do it while he is eating but I know it will take some time for him to learn that.

Speaking of cereal, we started giving him cereal about two weeks ago.  At first he didn't know what to do with his mouth and tongue which is normal. Now that he has done it a couple of times, I think he is getting the hang of it.  One night I mixed in some green beans with his cereal but he didn't like that.  So for right now I am sticking with just cereal.  Below is a video of when we gave him cereal for the first time.  It has been very funny watching him try to figure out his tongue and mouth.  I think that is where the "making bubbles" came from too.  He has figured out you can make many noises with your mouth.

Andrew is also getting so much stronger.  He is able to hold up his head while we hold him in our arms.  He also sits up in his bumbo seat.  There are pictures and a video below of him sitting in it if you don't know what a bumbo seat is.  On Friday he shared some banana with me, which he really liked!  I think I am going to have to start him on green vegetables first because Andrew has a sweet tooth like his dad.

Matt celebrated his first father's day with Andrew and I this month also.  You can read about it in the previous blog, if you haven't already.

Matt, Andrew and I went to Andrew's four month appointment on July 1st.  He weighs 15 lbs. 4 oz. and is in the 50%. Andrew is 25 in. tall and is in the 44%.  Matt thinks he is 26" long but we will go with the nurse on this one :) He also needed to get his four month shots, which he wasn't happy about.  After we got home, we just relaxed for the night. Andrew has accomplished a lot this past month.  Before I know it, Andrew will be crawling!!!

Getting ready to eat cereal!

Cool dude!!!

He thought this was funny!

On a side note, we FINALLY picked out hardwood flooring!!!! So excited, it will be in next week and we will install in the weekend of the 13th-15th.  Also the cabinet guy, Greg, came over yesterday and got the final measurements for the island!!! Are kitchen is coming along.  Are goal is to get the kitchen complete by Matt's birthday so we can celebrate in our new kitchen!!!!

First Father's Day

This past weekend, Matt celebrated his first Father's Day!  Being a parent is an amazing feeling. Watching Matt transition into a father has been one of the many joys in my life.  I have watched him take care of Andrew when he has "bubbles" aka has to burt, change some ok diapers and some not ok dirty, stinky diapers!  They talk to each other and have the greatest conversations.  Matt will ask Andrew how he's doing and Andrew will respond with an "Uuuu" or an "Aaahhh".  When Andrew and I talk, usually he will start the conversation and I will ask him "What else?" as if he is telling me about his day.  He definitely is "talking" more and more each day.

On Father's Day morning, I woke up at my usually time of 6:50 am.  Made Andrew a bottle, fed him and then we played from a little bit.  Around 8 am we went to wake daddy up to give him his gift.  Loved how his gift turned out!  We (Jean and I) placed some paint on Andrew's foot (left one of course) and printed it onto a canvas.  Thanks for the help Jean! Then I painted a rocket ship, a moon, and some stars around his footprint.  I always say "Love you to the moon and back" to both of them, so I thought it would be a cute saying to put on the canvas.

After daddy opened his gift, I made some waffles, sausage and eggs for breakfast because that's what daddy wanted.  We then headed to church.  I had to work the Kingdom Kids desk for the second service, so Matt took Andrew home for a nap.  They picked me up after second service and we headed to the new Chinese buffet over by the Great Mall for lunch.  That place was very good and I recommend trying it out!  It's where the Red Lobster used to be. After that, Matt needed to drop off his hours and handheld at the plant and then we headed to my parents house.

We went to my parents house to see my dad for Father's Day.  Andrew also made grandpa a gift.  We (Jean and I) once again painted Andrew's feet and placed them on a canvas.  Then I took some paint and painted a heart around his footprints.  Then I wrote 'The best DADS get promoted to GRANDPAS'. Grandpa Kreutzer liked it a lot.  The week before we celebrate Father's Day with Matt's family.  Andrew made Grandpa Butch something too! We (Jean and I) placed his hand print on a baseball.  Then wrote 'Happy Father's Day, Love, Andrew' on it.  Since Grandpa loves baseball so much, we thought that would be a great addition to his collection.

My sister and grandma came over to my parents house also.  We all chatted for awhile, then Matt, Andrew and I headed over to my Aunt's house to say hi and pick up some 4th of July clothes she bought him.  Caught up with my aunt and uncle, then headed home! Here are some pictures to enjoy of our time at my parents house.

Grandpa and Andrew

Happy Father's Day daddy!

My two guys!

Three of my favorite guys!!!

Great Grandma Hamm feeding Andrew

But we couldn't get home till we stopped at Hy-Vee for some dinner for daddy!  He wanted a steak and some apple crisp.  We picked up a couple more things at the grocery store then headed home.  I grilled and cooked up dinner for the both of us while Matt relaxed and watched TV. The steaks were delicious by the way! Before you knew it, it was Andrew's bed time. We put Andrew to bed and then Matt and I played some video games.  We topped the night off with some yummy apple crisp! Matt said it was a "Perfect ending to a perfect day!" :)

Remodeling the Kitchen!!!

Well we are finally doing it! We have finally saved up enough money to remodel the kitchen and let me tell you, I AM SO EXCITED!!!  There are a couple of phases to this project and we hope to have everything done in the next couple of months.  

Phases:

One - Knocking down the closet and mudding the area!!!

Two - Tearing up the old floor and installing hardwood floor in kitchen!!!

Three - Having a custom 4' x 8' island built and installed!!!

Four - Granite counter tops!!!

Five: Paint

Last Monday, Matt, his dad and Mike started on phase one, tearing all the Sheetrock off the closet that was eventually going to be knocked down.  Matt wanted to give Jon a head start! I never did understand why they put a closet right in the middle of the two rooms.  It separated the kitchen from the living room.  Matt and I never liked it there in the first place.  He told me when he bought this house, we weren't together at the time, that knocking down that closet was one of the projects he wanted to do.

After the guys tore off the Sheetrock, Jon and his brother Shawn came over to knock down the closet.  Jon is a very dear friend to us.  We met him at our church and got to know him and his family more through small group meetings.  They are a wonderful family and we feel very blessed to have met them.  Jon is a contractor and he owns his own business.  He has offered to help us with our many projects around the house.  Another project he is helping us with is new energy efficient windows going in all over the house.

Bye bye closet!!!

After Jon and Shawn knocked out the closet they needed to mud.  He will mud a couple more times and then sand the areas.  Once we are done with all the phases in the kitchen, we will paint the walls as needed.

Currently Jon is picking up some hardwood samples and in the next couple of weeks we will install the floor!!!  Can't wait till it's all done and then we will have everyone over for a BBQ!!!