Has it already almost been a year? Here's a recap...

Dear Drew ~ A recap of your life so far...

Here I am on the morning you were born! I was so, so nervous and excited and I remember me and your daddy still trying to figure out what to name you on the way to the hospital -- would it be Drew or Jonah?

You were born at 8:37pm on June 25, 2007. You weighed 7lb. 15.5 oz. and were 20 3/4 inches long. When they asked what your name was, your daddy shouted out, "Drew" and I remember asking him if he was sure (since he had always liked Jonah better).

Because they whisked you off to the NICU after you were born and because I had a c-section, I didn't get to see you until the next morning. But here we are! I was so happy and felt so blessed to finally be holding you in my arms.


You were born with a unilateral, complete cleft lip and palate, which we found out about at my 20 week ultrasound. Look at those chubby cheeks!!


Because of some feeding issues, you had to stay in the NICU for a week. This is a picture of me and you when you first got out of the NICU! It was so nice to be able to snuggle you up without all of those wires!

A favorite picture from when we were still at the hospital:

We went straight from the hospital to Dr. Kane's office in St. Louis (your plastic surgeon). Nurse Joan Barzilai (love her!) showed us to apply the lovely lip tape, which would help prepare the area for your first surgery. I remember letting you go the next week "tapeless," but was pretty diligent about keeping it on after that. This is your first night at home in your little yellow duck gown!

You and daddy:

My, how far you have come! You can see your "first face" good in this shot.

Here you are on your 1 month birthday!!

When you were just 8 weeks old, you underwent your first surgery. Because of the width of your cleft, Dr. Kane wanted to do your lip repair in two stages. The first stage was called a lip adhesion and was meant to help bring your gums together. It wasn't really to make it "look" good; that is what the second repair was for. Here you are on your two month birthday, which was 3 days after surgery:

There's our happy boy!!

3 month birthday...working on holding that head up!

4 month birthday!

Your first Halloween!!!

Your 1st Thanksgiving!

5 month birthday!

Celebrating Your First Christmas!

Merry Christmas -- You're 6 months old!!

7 month birthday!!

Happy 1st Valentine's Day!!

8 month birthday (This one's for daddy!!!)

February 27, 2008 -- Day before 2nd lip surgery (one of my fav pics!!)

St. Patty's Day! (approximately 3 weeks post-lip repair)

All dressed up for Easter Sunday!!

9 month birthday!!!

10 month birthday!

11 month birthday -- see post below...

12 month birthday -- COMING SOON!!!