11 Months

I mentioned last month that Drew had just started pulling up on furniture.  There’s no stopping the kid now.  He pulls himself up on anything and everything.  He’s getting pretty good about getting himself down too and “cruises” around the furniture.  There’s speculation that our little guy just might be walking by his birthday.

These were taken on March 28th when he was just catching on to the idea…

(trying to get in on one of the many, many UNO games between J & K)

Drew is also crawling a lot more, but still army crawls quite a bit.

This newfound freedom to explore has led him to try venturing up our stairs.  Again another picture from March 28th.

Last weekend we were all downstairs hanging out when I suddenly wondered where Drew was.  Everyone went different directions looking for the little guy and where did we find him?  Upstairs standing against a wall!  It still blows me away (and frightens) me that he went all the way up the stairs without any of us knowing.  He has taken a tumble or two down a few stairs – I hope we don’t ever experience him falling from any higher.  He seems to know how to scoot down, but he’s much more interested in going up.

He’s a smart little guy and figured out how to get into my box of pens and markers.

We’ve been spending a lot of time in the bonus room lately.  There are so many toys to play with that he stays pretty content in there.  He probably plays most with the kitchen set – opening and closing doors and throwing around food and dishes.  Hey that sounds a little familiar.

Thankfully Drew is still content (in our real kitchen) exploring our Tupperware drawer and kids cupboard and hasn’t ventured into the pots and pans or cleaning supplies.

Drew is on a pretty regular sleeping/napping schedule.  This is wonderful; however, a drawback from this is that he isn’t going to fall asleep in our arms at church or when we are out during naptime.

Some days it seems like I hardly even see the kid because he sleeps so much.  He takes two naps each usually between 2-3 hours then a solid 12 hours at night.  There’s been several days lately that he’s still napping at 12:30 or 1pm and I have to wake him up so I can still get a second nap in later in the afternoon.  He doesn’t mind.   Bonus is that I get a peek of seeing him sleeping.  He is an awesome, albeit light, sleeper.  

Drew still prefers to bathe in the baby bathtub in the kitchen sink.  Ok, so I know he’s way too big for it, but he loves it.

Drew’s gotten a few new teeth this past month.  Is big front tooth on the right and the littler one next to it – a little odd that the other big tooth didn’t come first, but it’s on it’s way.  I’ve tried to get a picture of his new teeth, but he hasn’t been too cooperative.

He just wants to be close to his mama

The best I could get

Drew had his first sitter two weeks ago so I could go on a field trip to the planetarium with Carly’s high-c class.  Apparently he cried for a while when she put him down for a nap, but he survived and will again later this week when she returns to watch him for another day.

He loves his siblings and gets lots of love in return.  He’s started waving goodbye when Carly and Jason leave for school (we’re still sleeping when Abigail leaves).  Sometimes he’ll even whimper a bit when they walk out the door.

Drew eats a lot.  He’ll eat an entire grilled cheese sandwich (on wide, hearty bread) and still eat plenty of side items.

Drew doesn’t drink much.  I stopped nursing him a few weeks ago.  I still have lots of pumped milk in the freezer, but he only drinks about 4 oz a day.  He’ll drink water though and he LOVES my smoothies.  I’ve started pouring him his own cup since he was drinking so much out of mine.  They are chalk full of spinach, carrots, cucumbers, and fruit so I know he’s getting lots of healthy vitamins.

As I type this I’m getting ready to leave him for a few days and his seeing his cute little face just tugs at my heart.  I love this little guy so, so much and am so grateful he’s mine and that I get to love on him all I want.  

Having a little baby is so fun!

Easter 2014

Our Easter festivities started on Friday night with Abigail participating in the community teen hunt.  This was her first year being old enough to attend.  It was a one hour activity where the kids searched for eggs in the dark, ate free hot dogs and soda, played games, and hung out til their parents came and picked them up.  She went with a couple friends and had a great time even though they each only found a few eggs.  On Saturday the kids (minus Abigail who just watched since she’s past the age 11 age limit) participated in an Easter egg hunt with several other families in the ward. 

Each family contributes 10 eggs per child and the kids are limited to collecting 10 eggs.  It’s a fun activity cause we’re there with friends, but a bit anti-climatic cause you’ll get your 10 eggs regardless of speed and the eggs are basically just laid out in a grassy field so there’s no ‘hunt’ing involved.  Of course the kids enjoyed it, but it always makes me miss the Easter egg hunts in Lakeland.  What can I say?  I like sugar and I welcome a little competition.

musta been something he couldn’t eat :)

Carly and her friends checking out their loot

Drew didn’t participate this year, but he’ll be out there with the rest of them next year.  He could’ve hung out in the swing all day long.

The rest of the day was busy with basketball – Carly had practice in the early am, Abigail had two games in the afternoon, and Justin also had a game (our ward won the stake championship so they are playing in regionals).  The girls found time however to set up egg hunts in the house for Jason and Katie.  Most of the eggs were empty, but they would put a fruit snack in some for a little treat.   Jason and Katie loved it and I know Abigail and Carly had fun hiding them.

Church at 9am doesn’t give time to do much on Sunday mornings.  The kids were SUPER excited about the possibility of waking up to an Easter egg hunt of our own and we couldn’t let them down.  I had to block of the stairs though so nobody would wake up and get a head start.

The deal was that everyone needed to be dressed for church before the hunt could commence.

Then it was youngest to oldest

Everyone had a few special things hidden just for them – a container of tootsie rolls and a package of peeps, new outdoor balls for the girls, a small nerf gun for Jason, Easter playdoh for Katie, and bubbles for Drew.  

“it’s a K for Katie!”

Carly is going through a little camera shy phase

The kids had plenty of time to sort through their eggs after church.  

Justin decided we’d spend the afternoon at home – he cooked pork sandwiches and the kids caught up on the latest ‘Granite Flats’ episode.   The girls helped Drew enjoy his new bubbles.

We make A LOT of smoothies at our house – mine are full of veggies and fruit.  Justin adds a little extra sweetness when he make smoothies.  Whenever he gets out the big jug of honey he’ll squeeze a little into the kids mouths.  On Sunday he asked Carly to close her eyes while he did it.  Then we flipped things around and dared him to be so brave.

Not a bad shot Abigail

Overall I’d say we had a nice Easter weekend – the kids enjoyed it and I suppose that’s what matters most.