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)!

Drew's cutting his first tooth!

Well, Drew had his last swim class today and he got a Waterbaby certificate! At the last three classes, he went under the water - and loved it! He had also learned how to reach and pull with his arms and kick his legs - and he even did them together while I held his belly today. He was doing the doggy paddle - it was quite impressive! He also floated on his back while I just held him under his neck. I'm thinking of signing him up for another session since he liked it so much!

Some more Drew News: His bottom left tooth has broken through the gums! It looks like the right one won't be too far behind.

Every time I turn my back for a second, Drew's standing somewhere! He loves this magazine basket! He's sort of taking steps and moving around while standing too. And he will let go and stand w/o holding on for a second before he sits down. It's amazing how a few weeks ago all he could do was sit!

Here's the big guy outside playing in the leaves. After I took this picture he reached for the ground and ended up almost doing a roll. He just laid there on the ground smiling with dirt and leaves all over - haha!

Here's Drew pulling off his socks. He likes to be barefoot so he doesn't slide around!

Look at the big boy standing again! He looks a little upset.

Drew says HI to his family in Indiana!! He can't wait to fly there for Christmas!

Drew went down a slide! And he is pulling up now!

Drew went to a park in Lenoir, since the weather was so nice for November 1st - in the 70s!

Here he is with Dad - he didn't want to touch the motorcycle for some weird reason.

Here's Drew on the slide for the first time!

And here he is clapping at the bottom.

And Drew got to see his first cow near the park!

Drew can now pull up to a stand. He's been doing it randomly for a week or two, but this weekend he really figured it out and did it on everything. With supervision, he crawled up several stairs too! We might need to get that baby gate that we were putting off...

The cats can show off their "pulling up" skills too :) If only they'd stay like that and let Drew join them - how cute would that be?! They are getting better about letting Drew get close enough to touch them - and they'll even get near him to see what he's doing.

And here's one last video of Drew - super tired - but still giggling and being silly before a nap.