The many faces of Drew.....

Still little, but very mighty!

Drew went to the doctor today for his 9 month shots and check up.

Here are the stats:
18 pounds, 14 ounces and 29 and 1/4 inches long.

Of course he's in the low percentile of his age group, still, but he's right on track developmentally and really, at the end of the day, that's what I should be happy about.

Why crawl when you can stand?

I've been trying pretty hard to get a good video of Drew crawling, because in the last few weeks he's become a pro and he's really fast. The problem is that he no longer only wants to crawl. He's discovered the art of "pulling up" on everything and that's all he'll do now. He crawls only to get to something and then he's up. The video above is him playing with his talking teddy bear and then noticing his active table and realizing he can pull up on it. Don't pay any attention to the lady's voice in the background, she sounds like a fool.

The big news of the week is that Drew is getting his first tooth....finally. It's on the bottom in the front of his mouth and it's making him a nonstop water fountain of drool. He's been pretty happy (knock on wood) and other than the drool, the tooth hasn't bothered him much.

This weekend I started giving him some thing new: Yo Baby yogurt. He loves it. I've replaces his morning fruit with the yogert and he's been eating it up like crazy.

Another year....

So today is my birthday and I wasn't too excited about turning another year older. Once you leave your 20s, birthdays aren't as much fun. However it really was a great day! The day started off with donuts at work, then a free lunch and wonderful flowers delivered to me from Drew (thanks mom!) Then after work it was off to my aunt's for a birthday dinner which was great....until it happened...Drew said his first word or rambling of words and it was.....Da da da da da da!!!! Not ma ma ma ma ma. How depressing, I want him to speak so badly, but I want him to say mom, not dad. On my birthday Drew speaks and it happens to be da da...what a drag! But Mike is on cloud nine so I guess I'll just have to wait until Mike's birthday to hear Drew say ma ma! Just kidding, but either way, it's exciting and I'm really happy that my little man is starting to talk, I probably won't feel that way when he's a teenager, but right now it's pretty cool.

On your feet

This weekend Drew learned how to pull himself up in his pack n play.

bumps and television

Drew is crawling now and I think it's great that he can start to explore and discover new things, but with that comes bumps and bruises. My instinct is to protect him and not allow him to get hurt, which would then mean not allowing him to crawl around or learn to pull himself up to a sit position-things he is doing very well these days-but with that comes trial and error and in his case, falls and bumps. I know it's all part of allowing him to grow up and I guess that's the hard part, so fast has he become this little independent person and I still remember the little bitty baby who wanted me to hold him all the time.

I always said I didn't want to be one of those parents that puts their child in front of the television all the time. And I still don't, unless it is educational and even that needs to be in moderation. Since he was about three months old, Drew has watched Baby Einstein videos because they are educational, but lately he's become VERY interested in a new cartoon on the Nickelodeon Jr. channel called Noggin. The show is the Wonder Pets, he's crazy about it. When we turn it on, he screams with delight at the screen. He smiles and stares at the show as if he really is following the storyline, which is all about team work and helping others, and so I'm OK with him watching this, because at least while he's vegging out in front of the tube he's learning a few good qualities.

Like father, like son

Drew wouldn't be Mike's son if he didn't dress up to watch sports at home. Yes! It's true, Mike dress in full on jersey and hat to watch any baseball, football or hockey game. I think it might be an illness, but it's gone undiagnosed for many, many years. Anyway, in the same way that Drew had to dress up for the Cardinals' Opening Day, today he had to do the same for the Rams' first regular season game. Above are a few photos to mark that occasion.

Baby proofing and a little scare

Drew is becoming more aware of our dog Jordan. He laughs and giggles at her and wants to grab her all the time. Jordan is really good. She lets him hit on her and pull her ear and she's very gentle with him.

Drew is on the move now more than ever. Either with his version of crawling or in his walker. This weekend we decided it was time to baby proof the house, which meant a gate, outlet covers, cabinet hooks and putting away anything that little hands can grab. However that still doesn't stop me from pulling a stupid move and endangering Drew. My first big mommy scare since he left the NICU happened on Sunday. I was cleaning the hardwood floor in the livingroom, Mike was outside cutting the grass and Drew was in his walker. I put the cap to the cleaning stuff on the coffee table and started cleaning. Next thing I know I turned around and Drew had the cap in his mouth. My heart sank! I grabbed it, grabbed him and ran to the sink. I started washing his mouth out with water. I called his doctor's exchange and told the nurse what happened. She informed me that he would be fine and just give him a bottle of water and make him drink it. Well, he is fine, but his mom wasn't. I'm better now but I know to be more aware. Little hands can be every where and nothing is safe. Just think how many more times I'll screw up before he's old enough to take care of himself...pretty scary!