Flying, Football and Fun!! - Sept 2009

So it has been quite a while since we have written. We have had a busy month with travels, tricks, and sports! We started off September with a trip to Iowa for the Iowa vs. Iowa State football game. John and I flew with Mr. Drew to the great city of Boone, IA to see family and friends. It was a bit touch and go there getting ready for the travels as my week was very hectic at work and between work, weaning, and preparing to leave - it was a wonder I made it to the airport. It was quite the celebration in IA for not only the game but a great annual tradition Boone holds on it's fairgrounds, PufferBilly Days.

John treated mommy to a massage to help with the recent stresses of getting back to work - one thing is for sure - just don't get a lot of sleep, don't eat a lot, don't drink enough water, be highly stressed and weaning from nursing is easy :0.....anyways, needless to say, we successfully moved Drew to 100% formula right around 14 wks old. We got a few photos of us out with the family - Barb took us all to dinner when Chris got back in town from work. It was a great treat to all be together! We can't wait till they visit at Thanksgiving.

Drew got to meet his Aunt Jenny, Uncle "Bones" (aka Chris), and cousins, Hunter and Gunnar. Gunnar was so enamored with Drew he kept saying 'my baby, my baby' - I think we finally convinced him it was 'mimi's' baby - sooooo cute!! Gunnar on the left, Hunter on the right!!

We stayed with Baba (John's mom) and she was great to babysit Drew while we went to the game - with a 5am start of tailgating it was quite an entertaining day. We rode over with Jen and Chris for a Jen's first tailgating experience....let's just say she held her own :). John's good friends from high school and college were out and about and we had great seats on the 40 yd line 20 rows up.

So when it was time to leave IA, I headed to Panama City, Panama for a global P&G meeting with Latin America. John flew back with Drew by himself - he was a real pro - no problems for him. I got to Panama and had no service on my phone - thank goodness for skype - I got to see Drew every morning when Maggie and I skyped and got to say goodnight to both Drew and Daddy each night via computer. Thank goodness for technology! We didn't get to see much of Panama but we did get to eat some wonderful food and we visited the Panama Canal - I forgot my camera but had a friend take a pic - just haven't gotten it. Maggie and John held down the fort - Maggie by day, John by night.......John and Drew really bonded that week - he turns and quiets down when he hears John's voice now - so cute!

After returning from Panama, we prepared for our Octoberfest visitors. Brent and Heather came in town from Chicago to celebrate Octoberfest Ohioian style - so it's not Munich but it works...we went to the Hoffbrau house and had a fabulous time. In fact, probably too good of a time :). Heather is holding Drew after a great weekend of friends and beers. The Haiglers also made in town for Friday night to see Mr. Drew and stay over before their trip to Kings Island on Saturday. It was a full house but we loved every minute of it. Lexi (Gary and Amy's youngest) was insistent on holding Drew.....I think he weighs as much as her :).

As the weekend came to a close and the craziness started to wind down, Drew really came on strong with showing off his moves.....from rolling over one way.....propping himself up when on his tummy........talking up a storm........laughing (almost a full belly laugh).......using his legs for big strength in his exersaucer and johnny jumper.......and STILL SLEEPING THRU THE NIGHT - WOOHOO!!! He is on 4 feedings a day - 8, 12, 4, and 8 - with two naps, a short morning nap and a long afternoon nap.

We wrapped up the last weekend in Sept with a visit from Drew's Uncle Brian and Aunt Charity. John got us tickets to the Bengals-Steelers game and with a brother that not only has a license plate that says 'Steelers' but a tattoo on his arm - we had to call them up for a visit. They were able to get the time and babysitters to drop everything and head up to Ohio for the day - we loved having them here and they were even able to get a quick picture with Drew. Next time they will have to make the drive with the kids and spend the weekend.

We look forward to a great bunch of events in October - a long week in Dallas, Daddy's new employees starting work, Mommy's conferences and training for work, the Texas-OU football game in Dallas, dressing up for Drew's first Halloween and maybe even a trip to Vegas (that of course is what I want, but we will see :)). I added on some video here of his 'tricks' - enjoy!!

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL??? Drew is...

So we had Drew's first football watching party yesterday - he had a blast (I guess he did, not like he can tell us:))....we had quite a few folks at our house - I think at one point there was about 25 adults and 11 children under the age of 6 in our basement. Thank the lord, Maggie came over for the afternoon and took the kids outside to play on the neighbors playset (made it easier for J to watch Iowa pull one out against Northern Iowa). After the 'family' crew left, we had the Texas Alumni to the house for the PPV Texas Game against Louisiana-Monroe - what a stomping and a great time by everyone. We floated a keg and grazed on food all day. Drew wore his Texas jersey, Iowa clothes will come as it gets colder, they are a little warm for now.

After a long day yesterday, we decided to hang close to home for my birthday. Drew and Daddy got me cards - and Mommy got to take a nap with Drew while Daddy drafted for Fantasy Football. I think we will head to dinner and call it a day - no Cincinnati fireworks for us tonight. We have a full week ahead of us - Tuesday is our anniversary (2 years already) and we leave Thursday for Iowa to watch some football :) and then I head to Panama for work for 3 days.

Drew is getting bigger by the day - last time we measured he was around 17 lbs and about 26 3/4 inches - he can finally sit in his Johnny Jumper - he loves it and so do the dogs with "Drive by Lickings" :). Here is a quick video of him - sideways but still cute :)....Promise not to make sideways next time....

Wk 10-12....The beginning of a beautiful relationship!

So this will be the last of the week updates I believe, I think we might move to 'moment' updates or perhaps month updates! Life is just passing too quickly and I can barely keep up :).

When we started Wk 10, Baba came to visit (J's mom) - she was here to help out while I got back started at work 3 days that week. They played, read books (lots and lots of books), went on walks and ate and ate and ate. His favorite board book is 'Freight Train' - he seems to really enjoy the colors although I think he just enjoys Baba reading to him the most. I don't have alot of pictures because Baba captured most of them on her camera and I have yet to get copies. Drew played so hard one day we couldn't keep him up for dinner :). He is still sleeping thru the night though about 11-12 hours - 8:30pm to about 8am....good times. What an angel! We are so spoiled!

We ran errands on the weekend and at Sam's club they had a 'mini shower' set up so John pretended he was showering in it.....he is so big he fits in his own shower :). Barb went antiquing while we hit a few other stores. It was back to work on Wk 11 and another exciting moment for Drew - OUR NANNY STARTED WORK - Maggie. She just loves Drew so much, they sing, dance and play at our house. She came over for the week during different parts of the day to learn about Drew's schedule.



While Maggie was here, Barb and I got a chance to run to the mall and do some shopping which was a nice change of pace since all Barb had seen in Cincinnati was the inside of our house :(. We went to the book store, with the expert Librarian I was sure to get the right books.

When Barb had finished making all of John's favorite dishes it was time for her to leave. Baba said goodbye but we will see her in a month when we go to Iowa for the Iowa/Iowa St. football game.

We are up and running on Skype now so we get on regularly to see family members (Nana, Auntie Lala, GG, Uncle Jeffy, Auntie Angie (I need to come up with names for them yet) and Cousin Madeline).

We started Drew on 1/3 formula in Wk 11 - I am starting to move him to the bottle and fazing out my pumps at work first. It really hasn't been bad trying to feed him and work but I would like some time to have my body back before we try for another kiddo and I am starting to travel more for work and family and we want a little bit of freedom. With the freezer stash we will keep him on some sort of formula mix for about another month we think and the pediatrician told us he will start solids by then as well.

We have now moved to 50/50 formula for Wk 12 - he hit his growth spurt this week and is eating us out of house and home - a couple of HUGE blowouts :) and staying awake more and more during the day. He has days were he sleeps all night and day and then days where he sleeps maybe 15 minutes :). I am back at work fulltime now - I decided to go for it with Maggie at home and this way I can save some vacation for the holidays. John traveled all week for work so it was just Maggie, Drew and I and my first full week at work.....a bit stressful......I made it, but barely :).

I had a friend over for wine by Thursday night and we sat out on the back porch with Drew - he enjoyed playing on his playmat - he is about to start rolling over - he goes but his arm gets stuck under him so a few more weeks and he will be there. Here is a cute video of him......he loves 'zurberts' on his belly.

This fall gets busy and we are on the move alot - stay tuned for the craziness!!!