Favorite Word

Drew was sitting quietly at the table reading his books when I heard him saying "guck". He was reading the "bee bo" book (i.e Sandra Boynton's Belly Button Book). I thought to myself ok, now everything is going to be a guck. I didn't remember any ducks in that book. Well, Drew showed me just where the duck was. He found that tiny little duck on every page! He is quite the little reader.

More Than Blabber

Drew has been chatting it up quite a bit lately. In addition to mama, dada, ga-gi (doggie), dat (that), he has added some words to his vocabulary. Guck (truck), and Gook (book) are used quite frequently. He starts most of his words with a "g". He also started saying Duck (again, guck) - this one confused me, because I knew that he knows what trucks are and I thought he was just starting to use "guck" for everything..but he held up a toy duck and proclaimed "GUCK" and then when we read his animal books and I point to a duck and ask him what it is he says it. He said Cat for the first time yesterday with some prompting from us. And he is desperately trying to say "light". He points to the pendant lights while eating and trys to repeat when we say "light" - but if you ask him where the light is he will point at it. He amazes me every day with the stuff he comes up with.

Drew's favorite toys are his books. Board books, because anything else would be destroyed in seconds. He used to just flip the pages and not want us to read them, but now he is giving them to me with and "eeeeh" (meaning read this..NOW), and I do; over and over. If it is a story book, he usually loses interest rather quickly, but if it is word book he will watch and listen intently. He likes "Baby Colors"; every page has a different color: "RED" with a boy in a red outfit, playing with red fire trucks. While these books are not very riveting, I love how he listens. We went to the library together and picked out more of these books so we can have hours filled with "tree", "horse", "spoon".

He is certainly shocking us this morning because it is 8:30AM and he is STILL in bed! This kid doesn't sleep past 6:00 - ever! He woke up at 5:30 and we heard a little grunting (pooping) and some blabber, but then he got quiet again. By 7:30 I was wide awake and starting to get a little worried - so Andy and I went in and checked on him..he was curled up like a bunny with his tush in the air fast asleep. We figured Lucy barreling down the stairs to get her breakfast would wake him up, but no he made a noise and went right back. I wonder what his naps will be like today?

I took some photos this week of him walking around in his diaper - I know 30 degrees isn't really diaper weather, but he just got up from his nap and while I was changing him he got upset because he wanted to get down and play..so I let him.

The Other Camera

I finally downloaded pictures from my small camera and saw that I am way behind on my blogging. This is the "diaper bag" camera. Most of the time the bag winds up in my car overnight because it is a pain to lug Drew out and the bag - but since I found a frozen brick of apple juice in it, I have been a little better about brining it in. So here are some pictures from the month:

1/4 Happy Birthday Daddy! I feel really bad that you didn't get your own birthday post, and even worse that your birthday was on the 4th and I am just now posting. But we love you so much! You are such a great daddy and husband!

1/12 Go Pats! Andy and I were able to go to the first playoff game and we had a blast. Grannie and Poppy babysat and we went and froze our buts off, but really enjoyed it. We are so happy to have a brother-in-law with season tickets! Thanks Dave!
1/20This past Sunday Andy and I took Drew to Belkins Lookout Farm to see the animals. They only have the small petting zoo open in the winter, but he still enjoyed watching them all. My favorite were the 2 baby goats. They were adorable!

These goats were scary - they were jumping up to get a closer look at us, and they were banging on the fence trying to escape. I was just happy they didn't figure out how to chew off the pad lock.

On Sunday we turned Drews carseat around. It is supposed to be over 20lbs AND one year, but his feet were crushed into the back of the seat so I thought that can't be safe, and it was driving him nuts. So I called the fire department and spoke with the firefighter that does the car seat installations (because he does have another 3 weeks and what if something happened?). Although I don't think he could really tell me to break the rules, he did say "I've got 4 kids and sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do..you won't get arrested or pulled over for it". So we made the decision to turn him around early. He is about 23 pounds now and his neck strength is probably better than mine, so I am pretty confident that he is safe. He seems pretty happy with the move.

Walking Shoes

When I took Drew to his 9 month check-up, his pediatrician said "now every mom runs out and buys a pair of Stride-Rites when their child starts walking...but they learn better on bare feet" with just a hint of condescension in his voice. I guess he knows me too well, because didn't I go out to Stride Rite today to get Drew his first walking shoes. However, I didn't get them so much for walking, but more for staying on his feet. He would rip of his soft-soled shoes all of the time. The other day I picked up shoe...sock...shoe...sock as they were launched out of the stroller FOUR times in one store; so that is 16 times bending over and hunting them down. Plus, if only I had a dime for every time someone would stop me and say "oops, you lost a shoe" to which at first I would reply "oh, thank you so much, I have it right here" but after hearing it for the 800th time, I would just hold up the abandoned shoe and keep on walking. Some people must have thought that I actually brought my child out in the snow without socks or shoes, because there were some nasty looks directed towards me. I guess it does draw a little attention when he pulls his pants over his knees like shorts and holds his 2 bare feet up in the air to show off what he had done.

So, I went and got some walking shoes and I put them on him while we ate lunch in the Food Court (because of course he had bare feet by the time we hit the 2nd store in the mall), and I almost cried when I looked down at his dangling feet with BIG BOY shoes on! I can't believe how much older a pair of shoes makes him look. So I have solved the bare feet problem (I think), but now I have to cope with the fact that my baby really is becoming a toddler.

Big boy shoes and a baseball? Maybe I should just put a beer in his hand..

Drew actually does look a little like he was in a bar room brawl. He got his first busted lip this week. I guess first blood at 11 months isn't bad..but he is fine, I think he was more annoyed with me opening up his mouth and putting ice on him than he was with the cut.

Seriously?

I can't believe what I did today! I convinced Andy to finally use the fireplace after months of complaining. He didn't want to because we just painted and he didn't want any soot stains. Well, the stains turn out to not be the worst thing that can happen.

The ashes needed to be cleaned from the fireplace and the house started to smell like a campfire, so I decided to tackle it this afternoon. How hard can that be right? Without the proper fireplace cleaning tools it turned out to be a disaster. I had been dilligently saving old coffee grinds because I saw that spreading them before shoveling out the ash will reduce dust..huh. Ok, so I shoveled it out into a garbage bag and decided to use the shop-vac to tackle the remains. (Drew was in the room as this was occuring). So I hooked up the vac, put the nozel in the fireplace and turned it on....(see photo above for descripton if what happened). Yup, I had the hose on the BLOW side of the vacuum.

So after stripping Drew down to his diaper and taking off my clothes I called:

This turns out to be even more of a mess. They soaked everything! The wood floors, Drews toys (which do need to be cleaned anyway), furniture. Plus, the hose they drag into the house was muddy and slushy..not to mention their boots! When he tried to sell me the "deodorizer" I passed (for once I said no to the in-home pressure sale) because I did go to college and can do some quick math in my head so "yeah it's like $.50 a sq foot for the rug and half the price of cleaning the furniture"..."um, yeah like $100, no thanks". But once they finished cleaning it stunk! They said it was the wool rug, I think it was the stinky hoses that they probably clean up dog excrement with. So it took them all of 3o seconds to come in with a fancy pump and spray some baby powder smelling crap all over the furniture...for about $100.

So I should proabably be disinfecting Drews toys and mopping the floors rather than blogging...but it feels good to rant!

I can't leave without a Drew update so on a lighter note, Drew is walking around like mad. He is letting go of things and taking unassisted steps...which is becoming even more hazardous than the "pulling up on own" phase of a few months ago...now I really need the helmet! He has been really gabby lately and now says "dada" (usually referring to both of us) "mama" (but mostly while eating so I think it is really "more" that he is trying to say, "gaga" not sure what this is but I am pretty sure "ga-ge" is doggy (lucy), "nanana" (no), "dat" (that..I think because he usually says it when he is pointing at something). Most of his blabber usually translates into something in my head, so I usually just go with that even if it is inconcievable that he could come up with some of these things. He is also getting pretty clever. Yesterday in the grocery store, he was in the cart and behind him was my pocket book (unzipped). He reached around and rooted through it and found my portable cheerios container, grabbed it out and handed it to me so I could give him some. Toddler here we come!

Aquarium

"Mommy lookit the shark!"

Andy, Drew and I went to the Aquarium on Sunday. We took Drew there once before, but he was a lot more interactive this time. Pointing at the fish and listening to the penguins squawk. He really enjoyed it! Afterwards, we went to Fanuiel Hall and ate lunch on a bench inside Quincy Market. Luckily for Drew, there was a Columbo stand and we treated him to some frozen yogurt on a 30 degree day! After lunch, we walked to the North End so I could go to a boutique owned by someone I used to work with: http://www.casadistile.com/ . Walking back to the car, we stopped by the water to look at the ducks. It was our last adventure of 2007 and we all had a great time!

Yelling his way through the North End

Drew and Dad watching the ducks

Merry Christmas!

Drew's first Christmas was so much fun. He, of course, was spoiled. Andy and I both enjoyed this Christmas more than any other we have ever celebrated..and I have had some good ones (Cabbage Patch Christmas or the 10 speed Christmas). But watching him tear into gifts and squeal with delight (or toss it aside) was precious.

We started the celebrating with Christmas Eve at Bill & Beths house for the traditional Lobster Bisque and some gift exchanging....

Christmas morning was perfect! We started with our usual routine of one of us getting Drew and the other putting on a pot of coffee then both join us in our bed and we play or watch some cartoons and snuggle for a little while. After a bit we headed down and Drew's eyes lit up when he saw all of the gifts under the tree. He smiled ear to ear and pointed towards the tree.

Opening up TMX Elmo..a big hit!

We are trying to teach him to be environmentally conscious...no buldozers here; we play with recycling trucks!

The boys
The girls...and boy

Auntie Laura and Uncle JR brought this rocking chair for Drew. He loved the chair...not so crazy about the big bow. It is so precious. We (Laura) had one just like it.

I cooked dinner and I have to say, I was really off my game. I had a beef tenderloin roast and it was raw..no I don't mean rare..RAW. $100 worth of beef and it was practically inedible. We ate around the edges and everyone pushed it around on their plates. I was very disappointed. And I only did 2 veggies and potatoes. When I looked for a roll to fill me up, I realized I forgot to make those! I tossed them in the oven and they eventually made it to the table. I have stopped obsessing over the incident (as you can tell) and now I am just figuring out who to blame..the cookbook that told me the temp and time? the cheapo roasting pan that I bought for $29 when I really wanted the All-Clad $200 roaster? the oven?..it is new so maybe it is not working properly..Roche Brothers supermarket? Those meat guys are really mean, they must have sabotaged the roast....I am just glad it wasn't my fault.

Ok, so aside from the dinner, we had a great time with Laura, JR and my mom. We lit the fire and watched some video from the morning. And of course the gifts..they spoiled all of us. Andy got Guitar Hero III for Wii and he has been in the basement for most of the day today playing it....thanks guys!

Later in the evening, we went to my Aunt's house to visit with my dad and his side of the family. Drew was pretty exhausted by the time we got there and refused to go to anyone else but me, Andy or Laura. He has never been so clingy..he had a death grip on my shirt whenever I brought him towards anyone else. He had to come out of his Christmas outfit as soon as we got there because he had a little accident on the car ride over, but luckily we brought his jammies so he put those on. Once the gifts came out he warmed up to the crowd and was having fun tearing apart even more presents.

We are so grateful to everyone for helping to make Drew's first Christmas so special. We hope everyone else had a wonderful Holiday as well! Merry Christmas!

Drew's Walking

Well, he did it. He started walking last night. He made it about 4-5 steps in a row.

We had a little editing trouble with the video posted below, I am not sure why it runs 2 minutes, but I am in a rush to put it up so you'll just have to pause it after it is over..sorry.

Walking!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Sledding

I had to back-date this post, because it was from last weekend, but in the middle of the snowstorm we decided to venture out and take the sled for a spin. Drew seemed to enjoy it. I certainly learned a valuable lesson; it is a lot of work to bundle up myself (fleece pants, snowpants, parka, hat, gloves, boots) then bundle up a 10 month old while wearing all of these things. So after we were all bundled up we spent maybe 10 minutes sledding up and down the driveway. Another lesson; don't buy the cheapo sled from Target because it is going to be impossible to pull through the snow.

Oh Christmas Tree..

On Saturday we went to get our Christmas tree. I insisted that it be a small one this year..but once again, we got it home and it was bigger than I thought it would be. It is still much smaller than our usual tree but I really wanted a tiny one this year. After decorating it, I am very happy with it. Of course, all Drew wants to do is grab at the ornaments. If I am standing all of the way across the room he puts his little hand out indicating that he wants me to go over to it. He knows what "gentle" means and usually listens when I tell him to be gentle. Here are some photos of the tree and decorations around the house. We also decorated outside, lighting up the two big dogwoods for the first time. I am so excited with how they came out. I wrapped the lights up the trunk and around the individual branches. It took a lot of time and effort, but we managed to get them up without killing ourselves.A special gift from Auntie Laura and Uncle JR: Drews first ornament..it says "Babys 1st Christmas 2007"

Fro Yo Lover!

Drew LOVES frozen yogurt. The first bite, as usual, was one of apprehension..but the second bite was another story. He couldn't get enough! I don't like him to have too much sugar, but a little taste after dinner once in a while is ok. He looks like a baby bird with his mouth wide open waiting for his treat.
Drew hitched a ride in the laundry basket and thought it was hilarious! He must have been quite comfortable,becasue when I put him down he laid there for a minute or two..which is MUCH longer than he ever stays still for.

Drew as an Elf

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1169524426

Grumpy Santa

Andy, Drew and I went to the Holiday parade in our town with our friends Nate, Carolyn and Logan yesterday. It was a small parade with the boy and girl scouts, fire trucks, ambulances and of course, Santa! We had to dodge the tootsie rolls that the kids were throwing into the crowds and the sirens were a little too loud, but Drew seemed very interested in what was happening. Afterwards, Santa went into the Library and posed for pictures with the kids. Drew had his first photo with him. Santa was a little cranky...he must have wanted to go back to the North Pole and watch football.

Yankee Swap

Last night we went to a Christmas party at our friends Michelle and Mikes house. There was a yankee swap and when I pulled my number I wound up with the worst one..2. I figured I would wind up with the moose that poops candy (yes, that was one of the gifts), but instead I was able to keep the gift I chose which was a mini crock pot. I don't have a crock pot so I thought it was great. We kept Drew up way past his bedtime and he did great. He was a little wound up with all of the excitement and from playing with his buddies Logan and Ryan but everything worked out great. Luckily we only had a 2 minute drive home and he was crashed in bed by 9:00. The boys were so cute together: