Dearest Andrew,
Mommy is a bit late on getting your monthly update in. About two weeks late. I’ll tell you a little secret…a lot of times I
am, but I change the date to look like it was on time. Hehe. Shhhh, don’t tell. But this time I am
late for a reason. The day before you
turned 25 months I found out I was pregnant.
So that means when I wrote your last update, I knew I was pregnant, but
we weren't telling anyone just yet. I
wanted to scream on your blog, “ANDREW IS GOING TO BE A BIG BROTHER!!!” but waited. The next few weeks I managed to get part of
your cute little happenings down (I can never write all you do or I would never stop writing), but the day before you
turned 26 months, my world turned upside down.
I went to the doctor and found out that the baby I was carrying was not
developing the way it should and that the heart rate was too low. I was devastated. The doctor told me I would probably lose the
baby and sadly enough, a week later I did.
At this time in your life, you have no idea what is going on as far as
Mommy having another baby. I tried
explaining at one point that I had a baby in my tummy and pointed at it. You said “baby” and patted my tummy. “Wow!”, I thought, “He gets it!” But then you turned around seconds later,
patted your knee, and said “baby". Hehe. After
all that ended up happening, I am glad you didn't understand what was going
on. I am glad I didn't have to explain
to you at such a young age what was going on.
All you knew was that Mommy wasn't feeling well. You asked me so many times through the next
couple of weeks, “What’s wrong Mama?”
You, my dear child, have a heart of gold! Having you was such a big part of what helped
me get through all of this.
The best part is that as soon as I found out what could happen, God immediately gave me such peace. There were still lots of tears cried, but I always knew God was with me, holding me when I cried. The day we found out we might lose the baby
God spoke to me through you. We were
getting in the car to go home from the doctor and I was in a state of
shock. I just sat there crying and I
turned on the radio and started praying silently. You were in the back in your car seat and I
heard your little voice pipe up. “Trust
Me. Trust Me. Trust Me…”
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Mainly because those are words you had never spoken together before. I knew right then God wanted me to put this in His hands and so I
did. I was so amazed how God chose to
speak to me; it was a sad and amazing moment all in one. I cannot thank God enough for being with us
through this entire ordeal. And Daddy…Daddy
was AMAZING! He took care of you, me, and the house, on top of all of the many other things he has to do. As a family, with God’s help, we got through
one of the biggest trials we have ever faced and now that I am starting to see
the light at the end of the tunnel, I feel nothing but gratitude. There will always be a little sadness when I
think of the sweet little baby we didn't get to meet, but I know someday we
will get to meet them in Heaven and I can’t wait!
Okay, so now let’s get on to what Y-O-U did the past month
(July 16-Aug 15th). So, what is so special about that period of
time? Birthdays, birthdays,
birthdays! Mommy kicks the birthday
frenzy with my birthday in July and then we have a TON of birthdays in August
and even into September. We always joke
we have more gifts to buy in August than we do in December for Christmas! Hehe! :) Okay, here we go:
- Swimming. Seriously, it's one of your favorite things to do. Whether you are in a kiddie pool or Mimi and Pop's pool, you are just so happy. We haven't been to Mimi's pool near enough this year, but I think next summer we will be there a lot! You just love water period. If you see water, you splash in it. This is one of the reasons you are not allowed in the bathroom without Mommy or Daddy if you get my drift. :)
- This past month you have really started playing with your toys. You really get into it and for the most part, you play very quietly at church now.
- We took a trip to Ardmore and you had SO much fun playing with GiGi and Papa. They loved having you there of course, and you played your heart out! Papa got the pool out for you and you spent almost two hours splashing, playing and laughing! He put it in the shade so you were able to really stay out for a while.
- GiGI made Mommy a delicious birthday meal and we have Lemon Icebox Tarts for dessert (one of Mommy’s favorites) and you LOVED them!
- I think I wrote this last month, but you can count to twenty! :)
- Grandma got you a potty and you think that it is the coolest thing! You have gone potty in it a few times now, but you don’t understand yet that you need to do that every time you need to potty, not just when you happen to see it. You aren't ready yet, but at least you are getting familiar with the concept. I guess this is the kind of thing you might want to kill me for writing about when you get older. Oops. Hehe. :) I’ll make it even better! The first time you went in your potty I was SO proud and before I could exclaim just how proud I was, you stuck your hands in it and started splashing! So that pride quickly turned to horror which almost immediately turned to laughter. Haha, nothing a good hand-washing can’t fix! :)
- We went to the Campgrounds (your first time) for Camp Work Day and watched Daddy clean while we ate a snow cone. Hehe. Mommy was supposed to clean too, but there was a mix-up and the cleaning I was to do was already done when we got there. We had dinner with Daddy’s boss, who lives near the campgrounds, after and we had so much fun! They were the nicest people and Mrs. Donna had presents for both you and me! After dinner she gave us big bowls of strawberries, angel food cake, and ice cream. You were in Heaven! :)
- For my birthday celebration with Mimi and Pop, you and Mimi made me a HUGE banner that you got to finger-paint on! It was so very wonderful! I couldn't believe it when I saw it! Best birthday present ever! Mimi made a yummy dinner and we had so much fun. And your month long celebration of cake (a-hem…icing) began.
- We had another play date at a nearby splash pad and had ice cream afterwards. You got to spend time with Olivia, Isaiah, Chloe, and Dylan. You had such a great time! Olivia was feeding you ice cream and it was the CUTEST thing ever! We tried so hard to get a good picture, but of course you little boogers wouldn't give us one! :)
- Just like I talked about last month, you have continued to sing even more. You sing most of your bedtime songs with me (Jesus Loves Me, You Are My Sunshine, and Dream a Little Dream) and we have started singing some of the songs we sing at church and you are doing such an amazing job! You can sing along with some of the cartoons you watch, and most of the songs that are on your apps on your iPhone. I am constantly amazed at your vocabulary!
- Speaking of your vocabulary, it grows by leaps and bounds every day. You are always saying something new and are a little parrot for sure! You repeat just about everything you hear! :)
- We have started reading our bedtime story in Mommy and Daddy’s room. Now instead of just Mommy and Andrew, it’s all three of us. We all pile in the bed, read a book, sing, and pray together. It is such a special time I look forward to every night! Oh, and you and Daddy always manage to act like total goobers at some point. Hehe. I love it! :)
- We celebrated Daddy’s birthday with just the three of us (and you helped decorate Daddy’s cake) and with Mimi and Pop. We will celebrate with Daddy’s side of the family this coming Sunday and do all of the August birthdays together. We also celebrated Mommy’s birthday with just the three of us and with Daddy’s side of the family. What did I tell you? Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays! And that’s just the beginning! :) We will also meet Papa and GiGi halfway to celebrate Papa's birthday tomorrow. Phew! :)
- You have started saying, “Uh what?” when asked a question you don’t want to answer or hear something you don’t want to hear. It’s hilarious! It’s like you are pretending you didn't hear whatever was said to you.
- We drove to the town where Grandma, and Grandpa, and Amy, Keith, and Marcus live, but didn't go to either house. We were going to a party and had to leave as soon as it was over to get you home for your nap. As soon as we got into town, you said, “Grandma? Grandpa? Amy? Keith?” You are one smart cookie. You knew we were close to where they lived.
- I FINALLY got you singing your ABC’s on film! :)
- We celebrated Mimi and Pop’s birthday and had them over for dinner. We had so much fun and you had more cake…oh let’s just be honest, icing. Hehe. :) And even though we aren't technically celebrating the birthdays that fall in August/September on Daddy’s side of the family until Sunday (Daddy, Eric, Grandpa, and Missy), Aunt Amy made cake each week for them and you had lots of “cake” those weeks too. I’ll be glad when birthday season is over! Hehe!
- We watched a bunch of old videos of you the other night as a family and you would wave to the TV and say, “Hi Andrew!” Haha, so cute!
- Daddy usually has teeth brushing duty with you and he always says, “We did it! Go tell Mama we did it!” after you are done. And usually Daddy or I will tell you we are proud of you. One night you looked at Daddy after you got done brushing your teeth and said, “I’m so proud of you Dada!” Hahahaha!
