Catch Up

It has been a bit since I have posted, so I am going to just play a little catch up and give a sample of photos from the week. All of the Christmas preparations have kept me a little off of my blogging game, but hopefully I will get a little better at it after the holidays!

Drew and Graham waiting in line for Santa....this was just before each of them had horrifing photo ops with the big guy.
Our trip to see the "Millis Wonderland". We were quite impressed - by the lights and the fact that there was NO LINE! Drew's new line in the car is "I SEE MORE WIGHTS THAT WAY!"

There are 3 "reindeer" (as Drew likes to call them), that have been coming to our back yard on a daily basis. They have found my pumpkins and seem to be enjoying them. I am very tempted to toss some apples back there, but I am not sure if that is a great idea with the potential for all of the other crazy wildlife we have back there to come out.

Drew having fun with his "pay-do".

The stuff that comes out of Drews mouth on a daily basis is just hysterical. One afternoon, I turned on the tv and Barak Obama was giving a speech. I over heard him mimic the news a few nights prior saying "Barak Obama", so I pointed to him and asked who it was (now he was in the middle of his speech so no one said his name)...and he responded "Barak Obama". I almost fell over. No one has taught him that one.

We took one of our almost daily trips through Dunkin Donuts the other day and my order was $2.6o something, so I handed over $3 and started to drive off. As I was pulling away Drew yells from the back "keep the change!"

We have to be so careful what we say around the house because this kid picks up on everything! He also has an excellent memory and likes to tell stories to strangers. For example, we were doing some Christmas shopping a few days ago and he told the person helping us all about "Daddy up in attic" (when he was putting in insulation 4 days prior). So all this from a not-quite-2-year-old.....what can we look forward to in the next year or so? I am not sure I want to know.

"be bery bery careful"

This is Drew's new mantra around the Christmas tree. He is pretty good about only touching with one finger. I did make the huge mistake of buying glass car ornaments that he is now obsessed with. I don't think he has even noticed the rest of the tree yet.I almost died when I saw this at the store. Drew is a hot dog fanatic and this must have been made just for him.
I had been looking for a way to introduce Drew to the religious importance of Christmas, and when I pulled out the manger a lightbulb went off...perfect! We are going to do it the proper way this year and put baby Jesus in on Christmas Eve.

Santa Visit

not quite what I expected....but I think it is priceless!

Santa Parade

It took a lot of struggling with Drew to get him bundled up and out of the house, but we made it (sort of) to the Santa Parade that the town hosts every year. I say sort of because I guess we missed Santa who must have come first. I always thought santa came at the end? We didn't wait in line for pictures this year, but Drew had fun watching the high school band play Christmas carols on the "town hill".

Earlier in the day, Drew played with the snow in the driveway...
...and had a little snowball fight with Dad.

Tis the Season

...for Christmas parties!

We took Drew to a party at our friends Michelle and Mike's last night. Drew was a little wild, but overall a good boy. His dinner consited of a chocolate chip cookie and he stayed up until 9:00...but what are the holidays without a sugar overdose and being over tired?

The party was a blast, eventhough I can't enjoy the holiday beverages :). They had a Yankee Swap and I had retribution for my #2 position last year....#1 this year! I had my choice of anything and what did I pick? Beer and scratch tickets. Did I pick the gingerbread house kit for my kid? Nope. Did I pick the picnic basket for myself? Nope. I picked the beer for my husband...whom I felt guilty for because he was chasing Drew around while I took part in the swap. Ok, maybe the scratchies were for me...

Drew, Logan and Ryan

Same boys, same party last year

Carolyn reading Thomas to the kids by the fire

All of the Yankee Swap action

Thanksgiving

Last year, I was so excited to cook a Thanksgiving meal. This year, I was all too excited not to cook at all! We had our dinner at Andy's parents with a large group of family.

Prior to the meal, we went to the XBHS football game where Drew kept yelling "go hawks"....however instead of a fist pump in the air, he did a hand motion like he was shoving the dog away. I don't think he quite got the concept of cheering.

Dinner landed right around Drews naptime, and he was getting tough, so we gave him lunch and tried to get him down for a nap. He wasn't having it. He was exhausted, but he knew there were lots of people downstairs to play with. So after trying for a while we gave up and he sat at the table and joined us for turkey (with ketchup).

After dinner, Drew went outside with his cousins and ran, and ran, and ran.....
I have started talking to Drew about Christmas and he is soooo excited. He knows that Santa is coming, and that he is bringing him toys. He loves to see snowmen and Santa all over the place - and he has a good eye so he finds them everywear! I started thinking that I should probably discuss the religious meaning of Christmas and focus a little less on the commercial...but he just loves those blow-up yard decorations! Seriously though, I would like to teach him about Jesus, I just don't really know where to start with an almost 2 year old. Hopefully I will find a small way to get it in his head that it is not just about the toys and decorations and candy etc... But I do know that I am more excited about this Christmas than any other and it is going to be so, so hard not to spoil him rotten just to hear him say "OH WOW....WOOKIT THAT!!"

A Real Haircut

Drew has technically had his first haircut, but that was just a tiny little snip around his ears. Today, I took him for his first real haircut...at the Barber! I was a little nervous since I had never been inside a barber shop and I was worried they would buzz off all of his baby hair. Drew was a pretty good boy, and as long as he had his cup of Cheerios, he sat relatively still.

Some of our adventures from earlier in the week included a freezing cold trip to the playground:

And wearing Daddy's sunglasses while riding in the car:

It has been a while since I have bragged about how smart he is, so I thought I would do a little catch up. Last week, Drew said his ABC's from start to finish..3 times in a row! After only reading a Library book twice with me, he picked it up and started reciting some of it back. He knows a lot of his books by heart and you would think that he could read if you sat next to him while he went through it, but I was shocked when he recalled that information so quickly. I don't keep track of new words anymore, because it seems like he knows them all, but he is doing pretty well talking in sentences and has begun using tenses. For example, he pointed out a new french door that dad put in..."daddy painted da door....poppy helped". Or, even funnier tonight in the tub "I tooted" (rather than the typical "toot").

Andy and I are often dumbfounded and don't really know where he gets this stuff from. You will hear us saying "where did this kid come from" quite often around the house.

'Nastics

I finally took my camera with me to gymnastics and got some shots of Drew in action. This class is one of my favorites. I may sound lazy, but since all of the parents and kids know each other better, it has become much more comfortable (i.e. all of the parents stand on the side and chat while kiddos run around and jump all over each other). No more chasing Drew around making sure that he is being polite...mostly, the kids just work it out on their own now.

Tumbling

Bubble Time - Drew usually announces to the class when it is time for bubbles.

Out Numbered

Today, we had our ultrasound and found out that Drew is going to have a little brother! We couldn't be happier. I can't wait until the can play together..and cause all sorts of trouble. Oh Boy!!!

Feeling Better

I am happy to report that we had a pretty good week last week. We stayed in for the first part of the week, but by Wednesday, Drew was ready to get outside! We bundled up and did some playing in the yard and even made a few trips to the playground. I am sure this is not the end of the winter illnesses, but hopefully we won't have anymore that require doctors visits and prescription medicine.

Life in the Petri Dish

We have had a long, long week at our house. Drew had a cold for the better part of the week..which he then gave to me, and of course I can't take anything! I am sure that he got it from one of the multiple cups he snuck sips from at the playground. His nose seemed to be clearing up at the end of the week, but on Thursday night he had a fever. A little Tylenol and then to bed and he was fine. I kept him home from his art class on Friday as to not spread any possible germs. Turns out, this was a good move because on Friday afternoon he spiked to 102.5. It didn't really phase him much, but I called the doctor because he was scheduled for a flu shot on Saturday that he could no longer have due to the fever. They said just watch it, give him the Motrin, and if the fever didn't go away in a few days, call back.

Saturday was just awful with another high fever and one cranky boy! When he woke up on Sunday morning again at 102, I called the doctor who wanted us to come right in. Thank God the office is open on weekends....I would not have wanted to be with him waiting in the ER. One look in the ears and we got the diagnosis: "2 RAGING ear infections". We got our Amoxycillin and were on our way. Thank God for that stuff! It takes exactly 3.5 hours for it to kick in. This can be proven by the pictures below:

Drew got his medicine at 1:00, napped for 2.5 hours, then slept like this for another hour.....
...then he was back to his usual tricks! Thank God! I had never been so happy to see him jump off of furniture.

You've Been Tagged

I have been tagged by Jenn, so here goes:

10 Years Ago, in October 1998, I was:
1. In my freshman year of college
2. Broke
3. About to start dating Andy (10 years next week)
4. A long, long, long way away from 2 kids!

Five things on today's "To Do" List:
1. Swim lessons
2. Starbucks
3. Playground
4. Pick up waffles, diapers and milk
5. Laundry

Five things that I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Put it all under my mattress
2. Save for kids school, braces etc.
3. Build a house
4. Give to charity
5. Travel

Five places I have lived:
1. Millis, Ma
2. Durham, NH
3. Allston, MA
4. Newton, MA
5. Watertown, MA
(and I have the parking tickets to prove all of it)

Five jobs I have had:
1. Busperson
2. College library
3. Florist
4. Human Resources Assistant
5. Retail Planner

Okay the people I'm tagging are:
1.Carolyn
2.Lindsey
3.Sara
4. &5. Anyone else who would like to participate

Swim Lessons

Drew and Daddy started their swimming lessons this morning. Drew had a lot of fun for the first 1/3 of the class, but towards the end, he was hanging onto Andy for dear life. This is his first lesson, so I think he just needs to get used to it.

Hopefully he will be happy to go back to his next lesson. Now that we have swim lessons and dance class (yes, we do dance class and yes, he is the only boy!) they are both at the Y, so he no longer screams when we walk in because he doesn't want me to leave him at childcare while I work out. Now that I can get him in the front door, maybe we can work on getting him back into the childcare room.

Happy Ween!

Drew spent all day yesterday practicing Happy Halloween: "Happy Ween", and trick or treat; "tick-o-teat". He was also excited that it was Lucy's birthday and we heard a lot of "Happy Birthday, Ducy" as well as "Happy Birthday Gandma" (eventhough her birthday was 2 weeks ago).

Drew had 3 of his friends over for a little party before trick-or-treating. We had a pizza dinner, thanks to poor daddy who spent about an hour in Papa-Ginos waiting for it. We called it in at 4:00, they said 35mins, he went to pick it up at 4:30 and got it at 5:30. But the kiddos filled up on treats while they waited.

After the party we headed out for some trick-or-treating. Drew caught on really fast! He quickly figured out how to open up his hand for optimal candy grabbing. He would try and swipe as much as he could from each bowl. He was not hesitant to go to any doors.

Unfortunately, we had some camera malfunctions last night and I got no pictures of the party or trick-or-treating. We took some photos ahead of time in his costume, so at least we have those.