This week

Well my Mom left on Thursday this past week so it's now back to just us here. It was super fun to have my family here for the Christmas break. And my mom got Andrew to start sleeping a little better at night, so that has been really nice! Now he wakes up around 4 to eat instead of 2. So that gives me a longer stretch of sleep which is awesome! Yesterday we went to the pet store so Andrew could look at the animals. He loved it! The birds were his favorite to look at, but he also thought the fish were pretty fun. The weather has been really cold the past couple of days. It has been around 55-60 degrees with a really chilly wind. So I hope things start warming up again fast.

New Years, heat game

     Brandon got home from the Dominican Republic on Friday. He was gone for 5 days. It felt so long! It is the longest we have ever been apart. He really loved it there though. He went down there to educate the people there on hypertension or high blood pressure. He went with just a couple of other medical students. He got to go for free because they needed someone to go who spoke Spanish. So that was super awesome that he got a free trip. Brandon said he was really impressed by how poor the people live and yet how grateful they are and how happy they are. He said they had pictures in their schools of the poor kids in Africa how blessed they are in comparison. Brandon said the people really needed the help learning about blood pressure. He said some of the blood pressures they took were somewhere around 220/180; just super high and the blood pressure readers stopped working because hey were so high. He had a really good time there and tried lots of different food. Monfongo is one of the famous dishes from there. It is a fried plantain with pork inside of it. He said it was pretty tasty. I am sure glad to have him back though; it was so long to be without him! I'm glad I at least had my family here to keep me company and help with the baby.       
       For New Years Eve Brandon and I went to a free concert down at Bayside Park. It was Ludacris and Mike Posner doing some sort of music battle. They weren't very good at all, but it was still fun, haha. Lots of people went and it was a super nice night for being out. We made it till 12 which was pretty good. I almost fell asleep during the fireworks, but I made it!
      On Monday we went to see our first Miami Heat game. It was super fun! The stadium is about a 10 minute walk from our house which is awesome :) The Heat played the Hawks. They lost in the end, but it was still a fun game to go to. Everybody loves Lebron James and Wade and a new guy named Cole.
      Andrew is doing great and getting bigger every day. His new thing of the week is that he can kiss you now. It is so cute! He sticks out his hands to grab your face and pulls you in for a kiss, haha. He thinks it is really funny too; he laughs when he gives slobbery kisses. My mom has been super helpful with they baby and it has been a nice break for me. She gets up with him all night so I can get some sleep. Although he always seems to sleep better when someone else is here, haha. But it has been really great. She goes home on Thursday so it will be back to no sleep for me again, yeah!

Christmas

We just had our first Christmas with Andrew. We went up to Hollywood where my family is staying right on the beach. Andrew really liked opening the presents my family brought and getting toys out of his stocking that Mish brought when she came. He was so cute :) We tried to get a good family picture but Andrew was not cooperating very well this year, haha. It has been really nice to have my family here to watch Andrew. He has been really cranky since getting his shots so it has been nice to have some help. Except he is always so nice for other people and then gets cranky the minute he hears my voice. Brandon leaves for the Dominican Republic today and I am going to go stay up with my family in Hollywood. It will be the longest time Brandon and I will be apart for, so I am going to miss him like crazy! It will be a great opportunity for him though; he is excited. The weather has been so perfect this past week. It hardly feels like Christmas! But we had a great Christmas this year :)

Andrew 4 months old

 
     I can't believe Andrew is 4 months old now! He is getting so big. We went to the doctor yesterday and he weighs 15 lbs now and is 25inches long. He is in the 75th percentile for his height; so he is a pretty tall little guy. Andrew is also the funniest little guy around the girl doctors. He just smiles and laughs and acts all cute for them, haha. What a little ladies man already. He also had to get his second round of shots; so that wasn't very fun. He did really well though. He was a little bit cranky yesterday but not as bad as the first time he got his shots. Brandon is finally out for Christmas break and it is so nice to have him home! We went to our ward Christmas party last night with the little guy. It was actually really fun. Andrew was really good. He usually goes to bed at 7 but the music was so loud at the party that he stayed awake the whole time, but was really good. It was fun to get out and dress up a little and hang out with other families in the ward. It's the first night we have been out till 10, haha, we are usually in bed by 8.
        I am getting excited for Christmas. It doesn't really feel like Christmas here because it is still 80 degrees and sunny most days. I went out and got a tiny Christmas tree and some stockings becuase it just didn't feel like Christmas here. It feels a little better with a tree. But I do miss the cold a little and having family around and making cookies and treats together and things. But I am getting excited for my family to come visit next week for Christmas. It will be really nice to have them here :)

Andrew playing Indian game

Brandon taught Andrew how to play the Indian game the other day and he caught right on. He loves it! It is so cute. Here is the video.

Birthday, Tough Mudder, Siesta Key

          This weekend we went up to Tampa for Brandon to do his Tough Mudder event. It was about a 4 hour drive up there from our house. Andrew did really well in the car. He just slept most of the way and the other parts he liked having me back there with him playing with toys. I was really impressed he did so well. We got to the event around 11:30 in the morning. It was out on a ranch so it was all grassy. It was hard to push the stroller around but there were lots of moms there with strollers too so I didn't feel so weird dragging the stroller around. The race started at 1 and Brandon finished around 4 so it was a really long one. Brandon finished the whole thing though; I am proud of him! It was a really tough race. The race was 12 miles long and every half mile there was an obstacle he had to overcome. I only got to watch him do a couple obstacles because I couldn't push the stroller around for 12 miles, but it was fun to see him do them. There were obstacles such as climbing walls, going through multiple mud pits, climbing up hay bales, cargo nets, and the last one he had to run through electrical wires! It looked pretty fun though I would like to do it with him sometime. The race was a pretty long day for Andrew and I because there wasn't anywhere for us to really hang out and me to feed him so we just had to find little secluded spots out on the field. Andrew was pretty pleasant though and I got him to laugh out loud a couple times.
      After the Tough Mudder we spent the night up near Tampa and then in the morning we drove to the Siesta Key. It's beach is rated #1 in the country so we went to go see it. It was a really pretty beach. The sand was like powder and really white. It was super cool. It was hard to enjoy it much though because Brandon and I were both sick. Brandon got really sick after his event. It was just too tough of an event for his body. So now we are both still sick and trying to recover.
      It was also my Birthday last Friday. I can't believe I am 22 now! I still feel so little. We went and got a bike for my birthday present. I am really excited to start riding it around here. Florida is the perfect place for a bike. Brandon also got me flowers and made me birthday spaghetti which was super nice :) I also found a mouse in the house! Yikes! I woke up and turned the light on in the kitchen and a mouse ran squealing out. It was so gross! I hope we can catch it soon because it really is nasty to have a mouse running around the house.

New pics from Hendriksen visit :)