A haircut for a little man

Ok, so I broke down and did it. He was just starting to look too ridiculous. So today we took him to Ihop, filled him with pancakes to aid in the sitting still-ness, and then took him across the parking lot to Great Clips.

Here's some befores:


Preparatory combing:

The first cut!

Doing so well! He just sat there like a little statue. No tears, no squirming, no need for a parent to hold him.

All done! With the hairy sucker.



Some afters once we got home.

It's fall at our house

Pumpkin bread baking...

Sherpa-lined hoodie buying...

And jack o lantern carving...

Fall is here! And I couldn't be happier.

Hole in the wall

We have a hole in our wall that just calls to our kids. It must be so irresistible. It's the intake vent in the hallway. Its big, and kid height, and has lots of slots.

I never considered, however, that they would actually be putting things all the way into the hole. Until last week, when I discovered my wallet- completely empty. I asked Carly where all my cards went. She said, "Umm, in the hole in the wall."

Oh no!

A socket wrench and an hour later, I was looking inside the hole in the wall for the first time. It was amazing the treasures it held! (aside from the furry dust....I don't even want to think about that...)

Probably the best find was our Up DVD. We rented up from Redbox like a year ago. And it mysteriously vanished before we could ever return it. Marshall has since blamed me, repeatedly bringing up how I lost a DVD into thin air.

And there it was. Carly had shoved it into the wall.

So from now on, whenever something is missing, we may just look in the wall first!

Halloween Dress Rehearsal

We had our ward Halloween party on Saturday night, so we got to get out the costumes and do the first full dress rehearsal. It was a little hectic getting out of the house because we discovered that Wes' costume was much to big. So he went to the party sans costume while I scramble to find a better fitting replacement before the real deal this weekend.

Other than that, our monkey whose costume did fit, and our giant banana both looked great.

At the party, Marshall assumed his usual role of free child entertainer. The rest of the adults sit back, eat some appetizers, and chat while Marshall runs wild. He's like the Pied Piper. The kids flock to him and he rough houses, chases, and keeps them busy. Within an hour he was drenched in sweat.

Then we had the typical eat-a-donut-off-a-string-without-using-your-hands contest. Carly loves donuts and really wanted to play.

But she had a very hard time actually eating the donut, and ended up near tears.

Until we told her just to use her hands.

When we got home, Marshall had a very special performance for us.

I hope all of your Halloween preparations are coming along!

Conversation with Wes

Of course as soon as I was posting this, he came over and watched, and did all the signs. Ugh!

15 months

So once Wes hit one year, I thought I'd tone these posts down to quarterly. And so here we are at 15 months, and I don't even know where to begin, because he is just so dang cool. Kids accelerate exponentially in their coolness once they hit 1 year.

It's no secret babies are hard. If your newborn makes it to 4 months old in one piece, fed, and unshaken, you've done pretty well as a parent (and this coming from a social worker whose main job is to assess parents' interactions and bonding with babies this age). Newborns are tough!

Toddlers are hard too. Attitude. Talking back. Potty training. Once it starts, all that adorable bliss of babyhood ends.

But 1 year olds! Be still my heart! They are just heaven, wrapped in delight, tied with a giggle.

My parents used to say they wanted to put me in a box and keep me small forever. I must have been 5 or 6 because I remember them saying it. But honestly, the box is only a tempting idea with a 1 year old. Who'd want a perpetual 3 year old? :::shudders:::

And it's not that Wes is a particularly astounding 1 year old. I just think 1 is the height of everyone's cuteness. Carly was perfection at 1. Kalen is at her peak right now. I'm sure my mom liked me best at that cute rolly polly age of adorableness.

So without further ado: my delightful little man.


At his 15 month appointment, his stats were as follows:

Weight: 21lbs 12ozs - 13th percentile
Height: 31 inches - 47th percentile
Head circumference: 18.4 inches - 39th percentile
Diapers: Size 4
Clothes: 12-18 months

- Wes is a curly mess. As previously discussed. I'm still pretty sure we'll cut his hair at 18 months on his way into nursery. And according to my poll, most of you agree.

- Speaking of nursery, church is hard in those months between 12 and 18 months. These little kids are just starting to exercise their autonomy, and DON'T want to be held for 3 hours. They want to "go, go, go" (in Wes' own words). I spend a lot of time and creativity getting to church early to claim a row of chairs in RS to make a chair holding pen. Weeks I am late, I walk the halls. I can't WAIT for nursery.

- Did I mention that we have 1pm church? The. Worst. Assigned. Time. Ever. Wes naps at 1pm daily. For 2-3 hours. I love his nap schedule, aside from Sundays.

- Wes is still a sleeping champ. 12+ hours a night. Heaven.

- Wes signs! He wasn't interested much in Signing Time until just recently. Carly was all interested by about a year, but Wes didn't seem to care until just a month ago. Now he sings the baby signing time song throughout the day, and knows most of the signs in the first video.

- Wes talks! He has 30 words now. (I counted today) Mama, Dada, more, milk, eat, hi, bye, uh oh, uh uh (no...said while shaking his head), no, mine, bounce, wook! (look), light, eye, nose, dog, ish (fish), bird, woof, up, nigh night, please, di deu (thank you), baby, shoe, pop, yay, dance, and go. He'll repeat anything, but he says these words spontaneously and in context.

- His favorite words are Milk and Wook! I am followed around by a chorus of these words all day. My favorite word he says is Please. He is so deliberate in making the 'pl' sound. He sticks his tongue out. He also can't say please without signing it, which is just too cute.

- Wes climbs on everything. Coffee table, chairs, dining table, ottoman, bar stools, toilet. Which means he also falls off of everything.

- With his amazing climbing skills, Wes can also get out of his crib if he is determined enough. He needs something to pile into the corner to stand on, but if he has a blanket or two for height, he can pull himself up onto the changing table. From there, he can fall gracefully to the floor, and play freely until mommy lets him out of his room.

- Wes runs! It's too cute. His little legs pumping so fast that one barely hits the floor before the other is off.

- Wes decided to show off at his 15 month appointment and take off walking backwards for the first time in front of the pediatrician. The doctor was impressed, and I just acted like "yeah, my amazing kid does that all the time."

- Wes loves to jump. He chants "bounce bounce bounce" while trying to get some air. He mostly just pops up really quickly, and either maintains his balance with glee and pride, or falls over. Repeat. All day long.

- Wes is a cuddler. Carly is a really empathic little girl. She can describe other people's emotions and can make assumptions based on her own actions about how other's might feel. It's an amazing characteristic in a toddler! Wes is on his way to share this really cool attribute. He often will stop his playing to walk over an rest his head on my chest or to give me a big hug and pat my back. What sweet children I have!

- Wes is somewhat crazy! It's that 2nd child syndrome where he has to outshine Carly to get the attention. Or maybe it's just that he's a boy. But he will just run in circles while screaming, and loves to shake his head as wildly as possible. When he can get an audience- or even better, someone mimics him- he just ups the energy and pitch until he is falling over in hysterics.

- One of my favorite Wes tricks is "shake it off." If he falls down or bonks his head, and I can tell he's not really hurt, I'll say "shake it off, shake it off." He lights up and starts shaking his whole body. Often he'll chant "dance dance dance."

- Wes now has more teeth than I have accurately counted. Hold on, okay, just counted. He has 10 that are at least poking through. For the longest time he just had the 4. Until about a month ago. While we were in Yellowstone, we noticed that he had the 4, plus 2 molars on top. No sign of the 2 teeth on either side between the front teeth and the molars. We just skipped those, apparently. Now he has one set of missing top ones, and the bottom molars too. So we are still missing 3 sets, but we now have 10.

- Wes loves singing. If I sing "Old McDonald had a farm...." he'll chime in with the 'EIEIO' without fail. If I sign Popcorn, or Wise Man, or ItsyBitsySpider, he'll provide the hand movements. He sings Baby Signing time all day on his own while signing baby.

- Wes loves to imitate faces and to play peek-a-boo (which in our house is more like peek-a-ROAR!) He and Marshall love to get into growling matches. He's pretty fearsome.

- I love watching him try to imitate Carly and do things independently. He loves to try to feed himself with a fork. He loves to try to put on his shoes. He can often be found reading a book.

- Wes is now drinking out of the same sippies as Carly. With Carly we did the whole slow transition off the bottle to a soft spout sippy, and on and on to the cups we use now. This time, we threw out the bottles one day, and just went to the plastic sippies, like it or not. It was the same day we went from formula to rice milk. Just cold turkey. The kid did great! I'm not sure he even noticed!


Wes is such a good natured kid. I love this age, and I love him. I'm not even slightly baby hungry yet, and the idea of a third one is enough to give me nightmares. But I am so glad we felt that anxiousness to have him as quickly as we did. I can't imagine our family without him. I'm sure we have more kids coming our way. Not for a while though. I want to enjoy these two, and don't want to do that hard work of keeping a newborn alive while still in the midst of potty training and teaching manners to these two. But we sure are lucky to have perfection in the little family we have right now!

Some things are better left unsaid.

Carly, as a 'superhero.' Every once in a while, she insists she's a 'supervillain' instead.

Carly is currently sitting in timeout.

I told her she could come out once she can explain what she did, and can say she won't do it again. (I put her in timeout because she had gotten into a box of photos that is off limits for the second time in an hour. The first time, she got a warning.)

So she is sitting over in timeout calling out all the bad things she did today, trying to absolve herself so I'll let her out. She has yet to mention the photos. The crime obviously is having a hard time sticking with her as an important concern. So I'll let her sit there a little longer.

Plus, this is pretty informative.

"I colored on the TV with marker!"
"I pushed Wes down!"
"I took the milk out of the fridge!"
"I pushed Wes into the door!"
"I hit Wes with the sword!"
"I ate all of Wes' pretzels!"
"I pushed Wes off the chair!"
"I kicked Wes in back!"
"I hit Wes with a shoe!"
"I broke the baby gate!"
"I stole your weminems (m&m's)!"
"I threw your phone at Wes!"
"I put all your necklaces on the floor!"
"I hit Wes with the remote!"

Apparently there is a lot going on around here I am missing! Also, Carly cracks under pressure.

Also, Wes is a rockstar. He hasn't cried at all today. It never ceases to amaze me he has survived this long.

Cell phone tango

So Marshall and I have been with Verizon for most of our marriage. Him for all. Me, I started out keeping my cell from single days with AT&T.

But during the first summer of our marriage, AT&T gave my number away. That's right. For a whole week other people were getting my calls and I was getting calls for a "Tori." If Marshall dialed my number he got someone else, and my phone didn't ring at all. And I had no clue what Tori's number was, so it's not like I could give her number to people as my new contact info. Anyway, AT&T was super less than helpful, refused to credit me during that whole mess, and told me I was just being whiny and difficult. Uh, yeah! I haven't had use of my phone for a week, and a stranger has been receiving my personal calls! I'd say I'll be as whiny and difficult as I want!

So I dropped them and joined Marshall on Verizon, getting a family plan. Awww! Cute newlyweds with a family plan!

Since being on Verizon we have consistently felt we were paying too much and have always talked about riding our contract out so we can switch to a more economical service. I mean, we are on Verizon's 700 minute plan and we don't go over our minutes, so we must not talk much! 700 minute plans with other carriers are pretty cheap. But Verizon keeps sucking us back in with those dang free phones. You get a new phone after 10 months, but then your contract extends by 14. It's a never ending cycle.

Well, we finally just rode it out with our existing phones. We've resisted the urge to get new cute free phones, and have ebayed when they have died. We finally made it to the end of our contract this week! Freedom!

There are so many options. I looked at plans from Tmobile, AT&T (I'm forgiving), Sprint, Cricket, Alltel, etc. The last step in securing our freedom from Verizon was to review my bill to see the breakdown of minutes/texting/charges etc, so that I could see how much the same package would cost elsewhere.

What I discovered humbled me a bit. Yes, we use less than our 700 minutes. However we REALLY talk about 2500 minutes a month, but most of this is with other Verizon customers. Which isn't counted. Which are free. With that factored in, we can't afford any of the other carriers. Some have numbers you can add to talk for free, but not at the dinky 700 minute plan level.

2 things:
- I talk to Kiernan waaaaay too much! (Is there really a too much, Kier?)

- I could have had a new cool phone long ago.

We adjusted our attitudes, renewed with Verizon, and anxiously await our new cool phones arriving tomorrow. All of you with Verizon should be happy. Because apparently I talk to you a lot, and had I switched it would have hit your pocket book too.

Easy A

So Marshall took me on a date this week to see Easy A.

I was way excited about seeing this movie! Not because I'm a fan of any of the actors, or because I see all high school comedies in the theater, or because I thought it was going to be particularly good.

I couldn't wait to see Easy A because it was filmed in Ojai!!

The movie itself was your typical high school comedy. It tried to do a take on Scarlet Letter. It was like Mean Girls meets Saved meets 10 Things I Hate About You. And Emma Stone is Lindsey Lohan before she went crazy.

The idea is that a girl makes up a story about a date to get out of an obligation, and ends up pretending to have lost her virginity. This is somehow scandalous and the rumor makes its way around the school. Ultimately she starts trading sexual lies for gift cards. Etc, etc, etc. There is more to it, but this girl is pegged as a "trollop" in a conservative high school for pretending to be a skank.

The unique thing about movie is that, unlike other high schools shot in random locations, Easy A embraces the town it's shot in. Ojai wasn't a nameless backdrop, and the film didn't claim to be shot in "Anytown, USA." Ojai is plastered everywhere!

The high school in the movie, Ojai North, uses the same school colors, the same large 'N' school logo, and the same PE uniforms. The only change was from Nordhoff to Ojai North. (Oh, and we don't have a woodchuck for a mascot).

The film was entirely shot in Ojai, and it is like a travel brochure for the town. Highlighted among Ojai's charms are Bart's Books, the trolley, the Ojai Playhouse, the bell tower, Libby Park, the orange orchards, the arcade including Rains and Ojai Ice Cream, and the beautiful lookouts above the valley.

Also tying the Ojai connection was the use of large number of Ojai teens as extras. It was really hard to watch in the theater because the high school crowd scenes were too much to take in. "Oh, there's _____! Is that _____? I know ______ is supposed to be in here somewhere, watch for him!" I can't wait to watch this at home with the power of pause and rewind. There were so many times Marshall and I lamented that we couldn't rewind to see if that guy who walked past in the background was one of my little brothers.

For as much as this film was "life in Ojai," there was one thing I couldn't get past. Losing virginity being a big deal at Nordhoff? Really?? I don't think so. Her clothing scandalous? Um, not as bad as what I saw actually worn on campus most days. And a profanity getting you sent to Principal's office with the threat of expulsion? Hahaha! Have you met Mr. Mohney??

Easy A kept much of Ojai's backdrop, but definitely not the culture.

Crop the mop?

The latest debate in our home has been when to cut Wes' hair. It has been getting a bit shaggy.

I think it's cute and that you can really only get away with this hair on a baby. Plus, it keeps him my baby.

Marshall, on the other hand, really wants me to cut his hair. He thinks it's girly and "ridiculous" and looks like Einstein. It probably doesn't help that I like to occasionally put clips and bows in it. Only around the house. Don't judge me; Carly was bald till 2.

My current plan is to hold off cutting it until he's 18 months, and then crop it up like a little man the day before he goes to nursery. tears. That's 3.5 months away.

So it goes to poll. But not really, because Marshall always cheats and rigs them. So I'll do what I want. But I'd like to gather opinions. Thanks! Voting on the right.

Hello, my name is...

So this morning, Marshall was home with the kiddos while I was at work. It was 8 or 9 am, and they were just starting to wake up. Marsh was enjoying his last moments of rest, watching the kids play in their room on our super-duper cool video monitor. Once the kids are ready to come out, they'll usually start banging on the child-proofed door and will yell to be let out.

As Marshall was watching the screen, the picture began to move. Suddenly the camera was aimed up the nostril of a toddler who announced in her best authoritative-monotone voice, "Hello. My name is Carly Andrews. It is daytime. I am awake now. This is my brother. His name is Wesley Andrews. He is awake, too. You come open the door. We are ready to come out now."

Much more effective than banging on the door! ;)

Yellowstone 2010

We went to Yellowstone September 9th - 12th. It was one of the best vacations we've had as a family!

Star graciously invited us to stay at her family's gorgeous cabin in Island Park, Idaho. Cabin is not the right word. It's a beautiful dream home in the woods. Kiernan and I kept saying how much prettier nature is, and how much easier it is to appreciate its beauty when you are not camping in it! It was so nice to be able to wander around in nature all day, then go home to cozy beds, roaring fires, and warm baths.

We bought the girls some matching pajamas, which ironically enough said "One of a Kind." Whatever, they were cute!

Before leaving Salt Lake, we of course ran into our obligatory car trouble. Have we ever planned a road trip and not had to visit my favorite friends at AutoZone on the way out? Usually it's a battery, so no surprise when the battery proved to be a problem this time. After lots of jump starts, elbow grease, reading manuals, and visits to AutoZone, we got the car working before we left town. The first morning in Idaho, we awoke to a flat tire. Of course! What kind of trip would we go on that only has ONE car problem? We got it all fixed (when I say we, I mean Russ and Marshall), and took off to the park. But you know what they say about 3's, right? By that evening we had discovered our third- the heater went out. Good thing we brought blankets.

The first day in Yellowstone, we had grand plans to tally every animal we saw and try to see all the ones on our wish list. Unfortunately, we never did see a wolf, bear, or moose. And by the time we topped 40 in our count of elk, we just stopped the tally.

The first day, we were also very cautious of our proximity to the bison.

We took pictures at nice, safe distances.

By the last day, we were less cautious. Okay, not really. This one just walked up to our car, and we were so scared, we rolled up the window!

While at the park we visited Old Faithful, of course. While at Old Faithful, I actually got the privilege of calling and announcing to one of my couples that they had been chosen for a placement. What a fun memory! Hopefully nothing else urgent happened that weekend, because Old Faithful was about the only part of the park where I had any reception.

We also walked over to Castle Geyser. This was an awesome geyser! We waited around for it to erupt, and I hurriedly snapped a bunch of pics of people before it stopped. Yeah. It kept erupting for more than a half hour.

Wes was anxiously waiting for the geyser to start.

He wasn't disappointed.

Kalen was incredibly cute while waiting for castle geyser.

But even when she's a gremlin, she's incredibly cute!

Star and Russ like each other.

These 2 pics of Russ bring endless entertainment when flipped back and forth. It's animated!

Carly was really impressed with how smelly everything was. She and Marshall kept quoting Labyrinth, "Smell Bad!" as we were walking, and then dissolve into fits of hysterical giggles. Those two were their own little team this trip.

We rounded out the first day with a visit to Yellowstone Lodge to sit in the rocking chairs and admire the gigantic fireplace.

The second day we some sights other than geysers. We saw some mud pots, some rainbow pools, and a waterfall. The waterfall was Lower Falls, and the hike down was totally worth it! What an amazing sight! It was breathtaking. The kids didn't seem too scared of the immense height. But the adults couldn't get over how numb our arms felt if we leaned over the fence to take a picture.

One of the places we visited was the Mud Volcano and Dragon's Mouth. Talk about stinky! We parked and before we even opened the doors we were all smacking our lips at the pungent taste of sulphur. We thought we would acclimate, but it just kept getting stronger. Once out of the car and walking around, the smell seemed to dissipate- or we got used to it. But once back in the car, it was again overwhelming. Then we noticed we were parked over the large grated drain. Where all the stagnant sulphur was running off and pooling. Geniuses, I tell you.

Carly did great with letting us know when she had to use the potty. And even did well holding it for a while. But sometimes we were just too far from an actual toilet and had to practice some of our outdoorsmen skills. She did a lot of pottying sitting on logs. Side note- Similarly, we used a lot of port-a-potties. This gave opportunity for me to disclose a phobia of mine to Star and Kier: Biffyman. Ever since girl scout camp when I was like 9, I have been terrified of men hiding in port-a-potties, because that was the big spooky tale I heard at camp. Star and Kier both minimized my fear, and suggested I snopes it so I'd never have to be weird and phobic again. So I'll link my findings here, and set the record straight that men have been arrested for hiding in potties, and I'm not crazy. That is all.

This is the first Andrews' Family trip we've done without Steve and Londa. We were unsure how it would all workout without built in authority to make all the decisions. Not to mention to buy us lunch! Luckily everyone got along really well, and decisions were made as a cohesive group. I think everyone got to see what they wanted to see, and I don't think anyone felt their voice wasn't heard. So now we know, Steve and Londa make for a fantastic vacation. But in a bind, the new generation doesn't do half bad!