Dancing baby!

One thing that Drew has developed in the past week is an understanding of certain words. He used to only copy our actions, but now we just have to say certain words and he'll do stuff. The words he knows are:

* Cheese (he smiles and squints his eyes up)

* Kitty (he looks for the cat)

* Wave hi and wave bye (he'll start waving)

* Pretty tree (he'll look for the Christmas tree and wave at it)

* Dance (he'll bounce up and down)

I'm sure there's more, but those are the main ones that we've really noticed.

Also, his favorite activity is putting things inside something. He puts his blocks in their container and he puts his toys in the metal bowl that he plays with. My mom got him a school bus and Chad's mom got him a dump truck - and he puts things in both of those. Maybe he'll be neat and organized like me! :)

Christmas vacation

We had a super busy Christmas vacation! But it was also relaxing, fun and full of firsts for Drew. To start with, he got to fly on four airplanes! We had layovers on our way to Indiana and on our way back. On our way to Indiana, we left our house at 7:30am and had some delays and got on our first plane by 12pm - and Drew did so good during the waits (waving at everyone, crawling around, pushing his stroller around, etc), and then he slept on the plane. Then we had about 5 hours at the next airport due to delays! He did really well but was getting bored. He still played and acted silly (entertainging all the other people hanging out at our gate), but was TIRED by the time we boarded the plane. We finally met my parents at the airport around 7:30pm! That was a long day! We got to spend 4 full days with my family - the longest we've been there in a LONG time! Drew was so happy and silly during the day, but struggled at night to sleep. It could have been the foreign bed, too much excitement during the day, or the EIGHTH tooth he decided to grow while we were gone! Some other firsts that Drew experienced were a fire (don't put cardboard in the oven!), a remote control fart machine (thanks, Uncle Ben!), first snow (it flurried in Indiana and then we saw actual snow at the airport in Detroit), and some first attempts at words (bye, thank you, and pretty). We flew back to NC on Christmas day - and this day went much smoother! Our first flight left around 11:30am and we were in NC (after the layover in Detroit) by 4:30pm. Here's some pictures from our Christmas in Indiana.

Here's all the grandkids on Christmas Eve- Parker, Tim, Drew, Lyndsey, and Will.

Drew enjoyed Grandma's piano!

Here are the boys playing with toys from when me, Sarah and Ben were kids. (Tim, Parker and Drew)

Parker and Drew played really well together. Drew would get excited whenever Parker would come over!

We about lost Drew in all the wrapping paper, but he got out of there all my himself!

Drew is watching Indianapolis get smaller from the airplane.

We got back to NC on Christmas Day, unpacked, repacked and headed to Lenoir to see Chad's family. We stayed there Christmas night and then the whole next day. Drew and Olivia almost got lost in the mountain of toys but never seemed overwhelmed! I think they both loved all the action and paper and bows. We finally got to spend a little time at home on Saturday - but it was spent doing laundry, unpacking all our gifts, and tidying up the house (since we'd packed and left in a hurry the previous weekend). On Sunday we headed back to Lenoir to see Chad's extended family and celebrate Christmas with them.

Here's a family shot - Chad, Drew and Becca.

Drew and Olivia with some of their toys

And you've all seen Drew's "cheese" smile, but this one tops them all!! He loves to cheese for the camera!

Here's nana with her 3 sons, her 4 grandchildren (and their spouses), and her 6 great-grandchildren. Back row: John, Chad, Mike, Grant, Alan, Jason (with Karlee), Tyler (with Gracie). Front row: Becca (with Drew), Sherry (with Olivia), Nana, Sasha (with Triston), and Paula (with Sawyer).

Here's Drew checking out Sawyer's stylish outfit.

Charlie and Drew's tricks

We've always known our cat is different and quite special. But I don't think you all beleive us when we tell you things that he does. Well, I happened to capture one of his "tricks" on video today and thought you might like to see for yourselves how WEIRD he is! By the way, Drew tried to pull up on Charlie earlier today, and Charlie didn't really do anything. I think they're going to be buddies!

Drew is turning into a little trained monkey and loves to copy what we do! If you tilt your head to the side, shake your head "no," or squint your eyes he'll do it back. Here's his "tricks."

Drew meets Santa!

Drew finally met Santa Claus! He didn't cry, but he was very interested in his beard and wouldn't smile.

Then Drew got to sit in an old fire engine...but he was ready to go home! We'd been shopping all day and then went to a little Christmas festival put on by our town - a long day for a baby!

Here's Drew and I before we headed out to meet Santa.

And here's a little video of Drew's new favorite activity. He's really figured out his truck and pushes it all over the house!

What's Drew up to these days?

Drew is still changing so much every week! Some of the things he's doing that are fairly new include:

* He sometimes gets upset when I drop him off at Childwatch when I go work ("separation anxiety" is what the books call it) and as soon as he sees me when I come to pick him up he needs me to hold him NOW or he gets upset.

* He waves "bye bye" when we leave somewhere or if I say "bye bye" - and he also just waves a lot in general. He claps and gives high fives too!

* He bites his Cheerios before stuffing them in his mouth - he's figuring out what to do with those teeth!

* He follows me around saying "mum, mum, mum" and pulling on my pant leg.

* He will copy our actions if we lean our head to the side, squint our eyes, and shake our head no.

* He pushes his big truck around the house, walking behind it. He's even figuring out how to turn corners and go in different directions.

* He's moved on from chewing on plastic toys - he now enjoys gnawing on his bed and our window sills!

Here's Drew's first ride on a zebra at our friends' house yesterday.

Here's his 3 bottom teeth!

And the top 4 (well, you can see 3 of them). By the way, I wasn't torturing him - he thought it was funny when I scrunched his cheeks!

And our little brainiac's favorite toy...his big book! He LOVES this book! He turns the pages, sits on it, pushes it around the room, looks at the pictures.

Simon is very curious about bathtime. He started to reach for the floaty toys, but was getting wet from all the splashing Drew was doing and gave up.

Christmas parade

We took Drew to the Christmas parade today. Usually, I have to walk in it with our team gymnasts, but it was fun to be a spectator this time! I think Drew liked all the action, the music, and the flashing lights on the police cars and fire trucks.

Here's Drew and his Grinch patiently waiting for the action to start!

The parade is a perfect place to practice waving!
It was cold (for NC) - probably only 42 degrees or so!

Here's Drew's favorite float! A law firm had the Grinch all banged up like he'd been in an accident - too funny!

Then we took Drew to see his first snow!! At Birkdale Village, they had snow machines blowing snow around. Hopefully he'll see the real deal when we go to Indiana in two weeks!
I think the snow machine was starting to get out of hand!!

Pictures from the week

Drew's got his Christmas shirt on. It says, "Dear Santa: I've been good all year! (ask my mommy.)"
He's starting to figure out how to walk and push his truck. Notice how stylish he's looking in this picture? I'd just taken him to get professional pictures!

Here's his cheesy smile! If you squint your eyes at him, he'll do it back.


And here's the poor guy in his exersaucer...I think he got left in there too long, b/c he fell asleep! I was finishing up getting ready for work and he zonked out. I got his coat and hat on, put him in his carseat and got to work before he woke up!!

Here's Drew's first attempts at standing w/o holding on to something. They said he did it on his own at Childwatch at the Y, so I thought we'd try it at home. Not too bad! But I am relieved that I think we have awhile before we have a walker!

Thanksgiving in Lenoir

We went to Chad's parents' house on Saturday to celebrate Thanksgiving. Drew and his cousin, Olivia, had a great time together. They say babies don't necessarily interact with each other, but these two sure got a kick out of each other!

Drew's favorite thing to do is knock over towers. He'll crawl at record speed across the room if he sees you building a tower with his blocks! Chad kept tormenting the poor guy and building towers out of reach! That's what fathers are for!

Here's Drew and Olivia sharing Granddad's lap.

And then here's our little athlete who has mastered swimming (ha ha) and is now moving on to gymnastics. I think he's ready to try out for the team already.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's Drew with his moose antlers! He wore them while we shopped at Target w/o pulling them off, so we HAD to buy them!
Drew LOVES his new truck from Grandma and Grandpa. My mom brought it down with her when she visited over the weekend so we wouldn't have to fly with it at Christmas. So, he got to open his first present. Of course, the wrapping paper was pretty exciting! But once he figured out what he can do with the truck, he loved it!! Unfortunately, his favorite thing to do on the truck involves us having a sore back and feeling winded! Oh, and I read that nine month olds might cry when you take their favorite toy away...and he's right on schedule!

By the way, I better explain that the reason our baby doesn't have clothes on is because our house got really hot after making our Thanksgiving dinner! Plus, it was 60 degrees outside!

Grandma visited!

My mom came to visit us for the weekend and we had a great time! We ended up going to the Southern Christmas show down in Charlotte where there's all kinds of vendors, food, decorations and more. We came back home in the Christmas spirit...and put all the Christmas decorations up! I am so thankful to have had my mom there to help me with this - she's an extremely talented decorator and we had fun doing it. Our house feels so cozy and Christmasy now!

Here's Chad and Drew looking at the amazing train set at the Christmas show. Drew really liked watching it!

Here's Drew, the fire fighter, at the Christmas show.


And here's Drew with his Grandma. He misses her already!

9 month check up

Drew had his 9 month checkup today. I was surprised to see that his weight and height have leveled off quite a bit. The doctor said the height may just be how well they stretched him out, and could be a little off - either way, he's still growing just fine. All his activity with crawling, standing and cruising the past month and a half have caused his weight gain to slow down, which is typical. So, he's now 21 lbs 3 oz and 28.5 inches! He didn't get any vaccinations, but he did get a flu shot. His next appointment is at ONE YEAR OLD!! Oh my God - it's time to start thinking about a birthday party theme!!

Also, Drew has three teeth that are growing fast and show more as he talks, and he has 4 more that are just at the surface, almost broken through. So, about 2 weeks ago, he had no teeth! Now he's soon going to have 7 chompers!

Random pictures and a video of our 9 MONTH OLD BABY!

Drew's gotta cool NC State hat for the winter! (EARLY Christmas present!)
Drew takes baths in the big tub now...and loves it! He thinks he's swimming!


Here he is in camo just like Granddad.

Drew's getting smarter and smarter. He's figured out how to open cabinet doors now! Time to baby proof those now!

Drew's a party animal!

Drew is doing much better with his teething, and seems to be a pretty happy guy most of the time. His top two teeth are coming in fast, with the bottom one not far behind. He's now an expert crawler and starting to figure out cruising along the furniture. He's let go and stood by himself for maybe half a second before sitting down - but at least he's trying! :)

He went to Lenoir to go to his cousin Triston's third birthday party this weekend. There are four babies in the family that were all born this year, and they were all at the party! Here's a picture of all the cousins. On the couch, Paula is holding Gracie (2) and Sawyer (10 months), Sasha is holding Karlee (almost 3 months), Becca's holding Drew (9 months), Sherry is holding Olivia (5 months), and then Jason is standing with Triston (3).

Drew enjoyed crawling around with his cousin Sawyer, who's one month older than him. Here they are with Sawyer's mama, Paula.

He also got to hang out with his bald buddy, cousin Olivia! They'll grow hair soon...we hope!! :)

Drew was a little sleepy during breakfast earlier this week - it was cracking me up! So I had to tkae a quick video!

And here he is being naughty, getting into magazines!

Poor teething baby!

Well, Drew's teeth are continuing to grow. For the most part, he acts just fine. But at times, you can tell his mouth hurts. Last night he woke up around 4am crying. I tried to help him fall back asleep, but he threw both his pacifier and cold teething ring across the room. He was pulling his ears and was miserable. I gave him some Tylenol and rocked him for awhile...and then he ended up in bed with us for the rest of the night! Poor guy! But during the day, he has been just fine.

You can see his two top teeth (sort of) in this picture of him laughing. I think it's funny when I tell people that his teeth are coming in, and they say, "oh, let me see!" like Drew's going to hold his mouth open for them to check it out! You have to look quick when he's eating or laughing.

Drew's new favorite toys - a loud, clanging bowl and a rubber spoon!

Here's the happy guy in one of his favorite places.

I hadn't planned on signing Drew up for another session of swimming b/c they were only offering a twice a week class. But Monday I found out they changed it to just once a week - so we signed up and started on Tuesday. He, of course, loved it again! He squeals and splashes and gets so excited - I'm so glad we were able to get him in the class again!

We got to the Y early today, so I took him into the gymnastics center - he loves it in there. I've brought him in several times, and he just takes off crawling across the floor mat. I put some other mats on the floor and he was climbing on them and pulling up on them. He especially enjoys the huge ceiling fans!

Make that 3 teeth!

Well, Drew's bottom left tooth was making its grand appearance for sure... but then today I got Drew laughing really hard while he was lying down, and I noticed his top two teeth have also broken through the gums!! So he has three tooth stubs now!! I could also tell his spoon was hitting something hard on the top and bottom when I fed him today. I don't know why - but I am so excited about this!! I think it's because he will look so much different once there's teeth showing in his smile!

Drew is starting to learn the word "no" now. His first reaction when I say it is to stop and look at me - like in this picture, where he's standing at the tv. But I think his looks says, "no mom, I'm allowed."

Here's Daddy and Drew, enjoying their Sunday nap!

Who's that handsome guy in the mirror??

Too cute! They really do look alike!

Don't worry, our baby doesn't bite (yet!)...but he may growl at you! It's his new favorite sound!



Here's another video of Drew just playing in the living room. He gets around so easily - I think he'll be "cruising" around the room real soon! He will pull up on anything (even a pant leg)!