October - Happy Halloween - times 2?

Again - if just joining - lots of posts today that I back dated - hope you have time to catch up! So this month started off with John and I attending a wedding in Nashville for some friends here in OH. The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time out on 2nd street. John had never been there so it was great to get away for a weekend and enjoy time together while Laura and a few others split time with Drew. While it was great, I was unable to have some drinks because we found out we are expecting again :). The doctors told me my body would take a bit of time to get pregnant again.....not so much.... :) Needless to say, we are expecting around the middle of May. Drew and the little one will be 23 months apart - we are really excited and pictures coming over the next few months - the 6 wk picture is not even really readable so I will spare you.

Mom came in town for a weekend so we could go to the IA vs. Michigan game up in Ann Arbor. What a good time - we drove up to Finley OH to stay with the Haiglers and then got up at 6 am Saturday to drive up and tailgate all day long - game was at 3:30pm and IA did a wonderful job coming from behind to beat Michigan. It was Laura's first tailgating experience - I don't think she will ever forget it (or is it remember it? :) ).

I had to go to NY on business for the launch of one of the initiatives I was leading and decided to take Drew and Laura. Needless to say, interesting with a child.....Drew came down with his first ear infection prior to the trip and was placed on amoxicillin - well, only after 7 days on this, we found that he had a reaction - a very strange reaction. Drew was like a holy terror - I had never had this experience with him and hoped I never would again but word of advice to other mom's - if something isn't right, most likely something isn't right. Upon returning home, I called the doc - explained that I know it was weird and to please not laugh but I really did have an angel son and the devil had taken him over....was there anyway it was connected to the medicine? - she quickly told me I hadn't lost my mind and there had been other incidents with other children where this has happened - they would switch the medicine and we should be good. If only we had known that before we 'rained down on Abby's family' :(.

We got to visit with a college friend of mine, Abby, and her two girls - Drew is definitely all boy and very used a much larger living spaces with walls that don't reverberate the sound quite like those of NYC.

Abby lives in NJ a few blocks from the Cake Boss (for those that watch the show). There is a park kitty corner from her place and Drew found good times playing there.

After working, Laura and I took a stroll with Drew around NYC - of course to get there we rode the train, the subway and walked a ton. We were in Times Square where we saw Cookie Monster and Elmo, Drew was so excited but then what was very weird, every place we turned we say more of them...almost spooky :). We visited the Toys R Us Store on Times Square and rode the ferris wheel inside and Drew is pictured here with the King from Candyland.

Upon returning from our wild trip to NYC, Drew had another play date with his friend, Sophia. They went to a place called TotterOtterville - played dress up, played with trains and ran off some steam.

Drew is still very content with inexpensive toys and likes to try and destroy everything he can get his hands on - he is very strong for his age, lifting up large toys to move them in the house. Here he is playing with a large cardboard box - ahhhh, good times. Best part, when he climbs in and thinks it is just fun to sit there - ahhh, contained child.

We finished up this month with Drew's 1st big Halloween. Mom and Drew picked out a 'bear' costume and Drew looked adorable. He really didn't get the jist of trick or treating but John took him around to a few houses anyways. The ladies in the neighborhood and I (with Laura's leadership) - took on planning the neighborhood Halloween Party and we had a fire engine and ambulance come for all the kids to see - Drew climbed up in the Fire Truck (after about 4 determined tries) and once in, did NOT want to get out. He also had his first piece of pizza - again, with the mother of the year award - but he ate it right up.
My favorite video in a while - Drew dancing during a playdate at our house - he definitely got the Julie Jollay and Ronald Fowler musicality gene. Try and not laugh too hard. Headed to FL in November.

The beginning of a new time - 15 months!

Pls see all of the posts from today - I am playing catch up for the last 6 months - Mother of the Year Award - I know... So, Drew is 15 months this month and full of energy - he is laughing, entertaining, dare I say running? He knows what he wants and when he wants it but has NO idea how to communicate it - he can follow commands like, 'pick that up and bring it over here' - he is sitting better for book time but still loves to be outside each and every minute.

This month my Uncle Doug came to visit and took us to a red's game - he spent some time with his great - nephew? Is that correct? :) - Laura got her picture with the red's mascot guy thing - whatever his name is - we happen to sit next to the $1 dog stand so we had about 15 hotdogs between the 4 of us and lots of those not so $1 beers :).

Drew also loves his baths - Laura and I decided to try a bubble bath with the jacuzzi jets on - needless to say -we made more than enough bubbles :). Laura put on her bathing suite and dove in to help Drew with the deeper water....

We had some friends come down from Finley, OH - The Haiglers - we went to Kings Island for P&G day and then retired in the mancave for some good ole football watching. The kids played together and their girls helped with Drew. The Freed's joined us and next thing I knew, we had all bought tickets to the Michigan/IA football game in October - more to come on that game.

We took a few more visits to the zoo - on a nice cool morning - Wendy, Sophia, Sharon (Wendy's mom), Drew and I piled in the car with the wagon in the back and headed to the zoo - we got time to pet the animals and Drew decided he would rather ride the goats then feed them :).

We also rode the train around the zoo grounds - Drew had a magnificent time looking at everything from a spot on the train.

We took our picture on the brass gorilla and Drew as having a blast - they were so tired they both fell asleep before we even turned out of the parking lot.

I threw in this picture as well - he is wearing his Texas orange shirt - well, actually it was his onesie from last year but I just cut off the bottom and made a shirt out of it (classy). Drew rode the 'fire engine' at the check out of the Toys R Us - he is quite the community helper.


Drew has started play dates with a little girl we met in Gymboree. We actually ran into her parents on the way to Vegas - they were sitting across the aisle - small world - they actually said, 'do you have a son, named Drew?' - a bit odd from strangers on the plane - but hysterical because John and I always thought Drew would be rememebered by people when he is famous :) but at 15 months old? So here he is in his first play date clothes - all dressed up and ready to play. So big!!

Drew went for his 15 month check-up and he had made up for his decline in the % height charts - he is now 34" tall and almost 17 lbs - he is tall and skinny - he grew 2 inches in 3 months - now almost wearing full 2T clothing but still fitting in some 18 month old clothes. His height is back up to 110% of the charts :) He is growing up so fast!

The End of the Summer!! Good and Bad news!

If you are just joining - lots of updates today - trying to catch up for the year - pls read thru all of our exciting events - This was a month of ups and downs - we started off the month wanting to share big news of a new baby on the way but sadly this little one wasn't healthy enough to make the full pregnancy - with a few very supportive friends and co-workers - we looked at this situation with a chance to get focused on each other and our family for the upcoming fall season. We took a some time to go visit Brent & Heather at their 'vacation' home on Lake Michigan. This was Drew's first road trip for 5 hours and he did wonderful. Now, it certainly helped having Laura in the car with us, my driving and John working up front. We moved Drew's seat to the very back of the surburban and then folded the front seats down to give everyone a little bit more room. He snuggled up with his naptime blanket and binky for the trip.

We also got the opportunity to go to the zoo a few more times and up to the giant outdoor waterpark at King's Island since John had a work event there. Drew rode the merry-go-round and had a great time playing in the water. Drew has discovered he can 'touch' and pet the animals at the zoo in the 'farm' area and he was all about getting close.

We just spend lazy time as a family this month - a video below showing Drew hanging in his parent's bed on Saturday morning.

Drew also discovered he can hang on our luggage and we will run him around - the video isn't the best quality but it is quite hysterical running around upstairs on the landing with him holding on. Might not have been such a good thing as he gets bigger and thinks 'what fun!'

By far, the highlight of our month was our trip to Vegas for Brent's 40th Birthday - I met them back when I lived in New Orleans - in fact I had just moved into my house and they were in town with a mutual friend - we hit it off and they continued to visit NOLA regularly and over time they met John, we went to Octoberfest (AKA Drew's inception :)) with them in Munich, regular visits to Chicago and they visited last Fall. Well 15 of us headed to Vegas for quite a ride. Lived like I have never lived and just had such a great time. Here are a few pics from the private cabana, the exclusively private dinner and the private cabana at the night club. Good times - nice way to end a not so great month!!

July 2010

July didn't bring a ton of new experiences - but we did get to go to the zoo and try fingerpainting - Drew and Lala are regularly running errands and trying new things. He is a smily guy in the car - well for the time being :)....

We bought some finger paints to try out - thank goodness they are non-toxic and we have a bathtub near by....

There are lots of Church events in July and August to raise money so we ventured out to ride som rides, bid on some items and eat some crazy food. We tried Drew and Laura on the Dumbo ride, thought is was good idea, but he screamed and cried most of the time, while he has the size for these rides, he doesn't have the maturity yet :).

We still take Drew over to the neighbors alot to play with their little girls, Olivia and Sophia - they let him 'borrow' their pink wig to

wear - needless to say, John was not too thrilled with this idea.

Drew has been to the zoo a few times - he is really starting to catch on to the animals - you know, finally a live animal with a name and sounds versus his picture books and my oink and moo sounds :). It was soo hot at the zoo though, we need to wait till closer to Sept for it to cool down a bit. After a long day, Drew was plum tuckered out -

John and I traveled up to Pittsburgh - well, a resort outside of Pittsburgh for his work - I took my work with me and while laying by the pool, got quite a bit of work done - maybe I should ask my boss for this ability on-going?? Not so sure it will go over well. So besides some heat and some animals - On to August!!

ONE and DONE!! Woohoo - we made it a year!!

So we are bit late on the updates of the blog - think of this like scrapbooking - we (Laura & I) are going to take a stab at getting this updated to current and then Laura can take over regular updates with me :).

This month was Drew's One Year Old Birthday! Not sure how it happened so fast but we made a full year with lots of milestones and fun. He is our Prince and so the hat made it all seem appropriate. We also managed to get his professional pictures done for his birthday - I was a bit late but hey, they got done :).

We had a monkey cupcake cake and lots of friends over to play - of course they were all a bit bigger than drew but we managed to clear out the garage and turn on the sprinklers for them in the yard for good fun. Drew tore into his cupcake so needless to say, we too advantage of the weather and hosed him down right in his chair. Drew plays in the water alot right now as hot as it is, with his blow up pool that has a 'roof' over it to shield him from the sun. It only takes as long to get him ready for the pool as it does to play in it....swim pants....sunscreen....sunscreen....did I mention sunscreen?

Drew got his first 'riding' toy from our neighbors The Herringtons - I think by the time his motor skills catch up with his sheer size he might be too big for it :). Drew has taken quite a liking to books but his attention span isn't quite where it needs to be at this point.

We went to Drew's 1 yr doctor appt - he is still growing like a weed - his height came in around 32" coming down to around 97% on the charts with his weight around 25 pounds.

Still lots of trips to the park and Drew continues to maneuver around well. I am still traveling to Fayetteville but it is coming to close soon, wrapping up our project with Walmart. After my trip to Arkansas this month, I hopped a plane to Minneapolis to rendezvous with John for a friend's wedding - Laura and Tim were married in the Basilica and it was amazing - we had a great time and were so glad to see good friends even if for a very quick trip. I then hopped a plane to Dallas for one overnight visit - so quick, didn't even see the family - stayed at hotel, worked and headed back home.

The visit at home lasted for a day and then we headed out to Iowa for John's 20th High School Reunion. We got to enjoy a long visit with his family. Drew played like he has never played before with his cousins - they have a great set up for the kids - lots of toys, playset, water, bikes, trucks, horses, 4 wheelers - we went to nephew Hunter's baseball game as well. Lot of family and friends during the visit.

It was a busy month. But one for the record books! Here are a few videos of Drew making new noises regularly and his cousin driving him around in Iowa with the toy tractor. Enjoy!

May - Fun in the Sun!

So I will split this update into two months - I have really gotten behind but hope this finds you all enjoying your summer. This month was full of events - Drew got his first 'summertime' water toy - we got a water table at a garage sale for splashing around - $5 - yep, much cheaper than the $35 Toys R Us Value - we are all about kids toys from garage sales or Once Upon a Child - what a steal!

Lots of trips to the park - Auntie Lala takes Drew-bie-doo to the park quite often - he has learned how to get into everything, climbing up one side, thru the tunnels and down the other. Swinging is still a good time but coming to an end as he gets more and more mobile.

Trips to Gymboree are still quite exciting - as evidenced by his facial expression here. When not hitting the park or gymboree, the pool is the place to hang - he has no fear and as a result dives face first into the kiddie pool causing us to have to follow him every inch.

He has really mastered walking this month - clapping and walking - making raspberry sounds and walking (thanks Auntie Lala for teaching that moment) -

We gel'd up his hair a bit for his first mohawk -
Drew attended his first "White Trash Yard Party" - after a small nap in his pack-n-play up in the 2nd floor bathroom (hey, it was quiet in there) - we headed down for some fun with a pot of water and empty beer cans. His picture was selected as 'best dressed'! Already quite the life of the party....I can't find the picture - boo!!

Drew also attended his first sand volleyball game (only because they finally had one early enough at 6:15) - it was amazing how a bucket of beer can keep him busy for hours.

Drew is still eating lots of fruit, turkey hot dogs, sliced turkey, eggs, oatmeal, carrots, beans, mixed vegetables and an occasional lick of ice cream :). It's been a really uneventful month unless you count chasing Drew every second. He is happy, healthy and living life!

Nana and GG came in at the end of the month to help clear out Uncle Eddie's place in Dayton since it was sold - it was nice to visit and we got to attend the Taste of Cincinnati in a VIP area - Drew as quite the 'show' for everyone while we all got to try new and different beers. June holds a bday party, travels to IA and much more - until then.

March Showers bring, well, April Showers

Feels like it has been forever since I have provided an update....hard to do when you are chasing Drew around the house. We came back from Dallas at the end of March and have been quite busy watching the little man grow up fast while we juggle jobs, travel and lots and lots of yard work.

John's management job is going okay - he is finding out all about 'those' folks in management :) - because he is one of them now!! He starting to get his groove with his team and they are all rowing in the same direction now. We are still adjusting to a kid and the 'pulls' from work late in the evenings but John does a great job getting home on time for the nanny to help with Drew and dinner.

We decided to pull up our entire front yard - add dirt, dig up 4 areas for new mulching, install a lamp post, etc.....after cutting the cable wire to our house and the neighbors, damaging three sprinkler heads, cutting a sprinkler line and living with our yard looking like Arizona for two weeks - we finally laid SOD and the little man can play in the grass out front. It was a neighbor effort, everyone pitched in and we are so grateful to getting the work done. We now have lots of cute pics with Drew outside.

We spent Easter with The Herringtons - they came over to the house and we dined in the formal dining room for the first time - super nice to hang out as one big family and we hunted Easter

eggs for almost 3 hours outside while Drew slept in slumber land.

We actually have changed Nannies once again but this time.....LAURA moved up here to be our nanny!!!! We are so excited to have her up here taking care of her nephew. She and mom drove up here together to get her car and stuff moved to the great state of OHIO. We are adjusting to her living in the house but it is going good and over time we will try and help her find an apartment - she is making lots of friends and getting very engaged in social activities.

Drew is still sleeping almost 4 hrs with a two hour nap in the am and two in the pm. He is attending gymboree regularly and loving every minute of it - music class is a bit too slow for him but I'm not giving up - he sure loves the music he just doesn't want to sit still. Food is continuing to expand - with Laura here I have her test all sorts of foods at lunch so I don't 'feel the pain' at night :).....latest item - pad thai #5 spicy - that's my boy!! She sends me pictures while I am at work - here - he decided to climb in the drawer below the oven....nice

The big news about Drew involves......WALKING!!! He is fully walking - dare say, running if he wants to get someplace fast enough. He just decided about 1.5 wks ago to let go of the ottoman and start toward the chair...then the ottoman to the stairs, then the ottoman to the kitchen....and the rest is history.

Laura is taking him to the park a few days a week and he is a big fan of the 'swings' and looking cool - you have to love these pictures!

He also got a hold of the neighbors 'fireman' hat and work it all around the house - here he is smiling for the camera - look at those teeth!!

So we will sign off for now - more to come in the month of may as we get close to Drew's 1st Birthday!!