A little late, but our sweet, sweet Andrew turned 18 months old a couple of weeks ago. I just took him to the doctor and he is 27 pounds and 33 inches long (50-75th percentile for both categories). He continues to grow and grow. He has all but two of his teeth as well. He cut his bottom two second-year molars a few weeks back and you wouldn't have known it at all. He is such a happy boy and loves to play with all sorts of toys and books. His favorite word is "basketball" and he will let you know when you pass a basketball hoop, a basketball at the store, a basketball in a magazine...you get the drift! We bought the boys a new hoop for the hallway when Ryan was home last weekend and they LOVE playing hoops. Matthew is getting the hang of shooting the ball instead of throwing it towards the hoop. Matthew has also gotten the hang of riding his bike and has become quite fast in the process. Before when I ran with the jogging stroller I would have to run a few houses and then look back around to get slow-poke Matthew. Now I can sprint and he is still ahead of me. I love my new jogging stroller and love that I can still get out and exercise with the kids.
We had a wonderful visit with Ryan last weekend, too. Coming home to our 90 degree temperatures was a vacation for him. It has been much, much hotter and way more humid where he is working (heat indexes of 115 during the night) and to make matters worse with the heat he has to wear jeans, long sleeves and work with a hot welder! He came home late Thursday night until Sunday night. We spent a lot of time together playing, going for walks, errands, family movie night (Despicable Me was excellent by the way) and just hanging out. Ryan decided to stay and put the boys to bed before hitting the road based on the weekend's reaction when he would leave the house. Matthew is very, very aware of Ryan absence and didn't like when Ryan had to leave for a haircut or to run to the grocery store. When he would start crying Andrew would chime in too and they both would be crying full force. Monday morning was a little tough on Matthew, but a trip to my classroom cheered him right up. On the positive side, things here are looking up in the way of work and Ryan should be home by Labor Day or before! He may have to do some driving once he is home and possibly work on the Lakeshore, but a two hour daily commute would be a much easier sacrifice.
I have started to get back into my classroom in anticipation for the new school year. It's a little difficult bringing the boys with me because they make more of a mess with the toys and want to get into EVERYTHING! Luckily the prep work of getting my room ready is much, much less this year thanks to our gorgeous new school and not having to move :) I have a few more weeks of "vacation" (can I really call this summer a "vacation"?, I don't think so at all!) before officially having to report back. I am super excited for football to start and the school year to get underway!
