One Year Ago Today...

...Jon, Drew, my mom and me were headed to St. Louis. But it wasn't a pleasure trip. It was for Drew's second lip surgery, his "final lip repair." Tomorrow will mark one year since the surgery and since I didn't have a blog back then, I thought I would post a few pictures from it now.

Day before surgery... (this first one is still in a frame on our bedroom dresser!)



2 days after surgery...

3 days after...


8 days after...

And 2 weeks after. Finally no more blood or glue!

I didn't post any of the "right after surgery pics;" just looking at them brought tears to my ears. I am so glad that the next few years should be surgery free (well, except for maybe ear tubes).

We love our brave little boy!!

20 Months Old!

Today, Drew, you are 20 months old, which means you are only 4 short months away from being 2 years old -- is that really possible?

Let's see, this month has had it's share of bad moments -- you had bronchiolitis, strep throat, and a horrible cold. But it had new and exciting moments too -- you started day care one and a half days a week, you got to play in the snow for the first time, and we took a weekend trip to visit our friends the Robinson's.

What else???

• You still LOVE to be read to and we always finish the night with "Good Night Moon" and you kissing the moon on the last page.
  
• You have grown quite attached to two of your stuffed animals -- the fish that daddy got you for Christmas and the giraffe we got you for Valentine's day. You hold both of them while we read bedtime stories and then hold them tight while I carry you to bed. Then you have a little "play session" with them and "Skip It" before you drift off to sleep...
  
• You also really like your "Little People" farm and can play by yourself with it for quite some time. You actually like all of your figurines including the new Jungle Book ones you got for Valentine's Day.
  
• You are receiving speech therapy 2x's per week and are making good progress. Even though most of your sounds are still "m's" and "b's" you can tell that you are experimenting with different sounds and, as your speech therapist put it, "using other oral movements" (i.e. not just making lip sounds, but also using your jaw).
  
• You love bath time and I have found that it is a good time to do flash cards with you!
  
• You are a great eater, most of the time, and even like your veggies -- peas, carrots, green beans (just sometimes), sweet potatoes, and broccoli! Your favorite foods, though, are probably macaroni and cheese and any type of bread :o)

Well, I'm sure there's a million more things I could write, but I'll close by saying that I love you more than you'll ever know and I honestly can't imagine life without you -- my greatest little blessing!

xoxo-mommy

This is what your hair looks like after we wash it. I wonder if we put a little gel on it if it would curl???

My "I {Heart} Faces" Entry!

This is my first time participating in the very popular "I {heart} faces" contest! When I saw that this weeks theme was black and white, I immediately thought of this picture. I took it in December of 2007 right after I got my new Nikon camera. It is one of my fav pics of Drew and is still hanging on our refrigerator! I just remember Drew being completely fascinated with the Christmas tree lights and I was so thankful that I was able to catch that priceless face of wonder on film (er memory card...).

Check out the other great black and white photos over at the I {heart} faces blog at http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

Valentine's Day 2009 and 2-for-2

Let's start with the 2-for-2 comment... It is the second month of 2009. In January, Drew had bronchiolitis, and now in February he has strep throat and a horrible cold, which I'm hoping doesn't turn into bronchiolitis again. He is on an anti-biotic for his throat and we went ahead and starting giving him breathing treatments. He is in good spirits though and enjoyed his Valentine's Day gifts -- especially his Jungle Book figurines, even though he has never seen the movie!

We had planned on taking Drew out to dinner with us, but he ended up staying w/Nan and Pop instead. Pop got this cute family pic of us!!

And who doesn't like a good comparison pic??? Here's a family pic of us from last year on Valentine's Day!

And a cute one of just Drew from last year...

Drew At Day Care!

Today was Drew's 4th day at day care. When I picked him up today, they gave me this cute sheet of some pics they had taken of him since he started. (Please try to ignore the big yellow sticky -- I did that to cover up the name of the place he goes to...you can't be too careful!)

Looooooooooong Overdue Update!

Sorry Drew and blogging buddies for not posting in 12 (wow 12!!) days. And I am afraid things aren't going to get much better... As you may know, I am a CPA and this is my very busy time of year. This week was my first week back to working 5 days (instead of being off on Mondays) and staying "late." So, from now until April 15th, you may not be hearing from me much.

Last time we "talked" Drew had just been diagnosed with bronchiolitis, but he is doing much better now!!

1/25/09: Here we are skipping down the hall!!! How fun :o)


1/29/09: We got hit with lots of snow. We took Drew out for a quick tour of the snow since he was still kind of sick. He doesn't have any snow boots, so he had to wear his favorite rain boots and he got mad when he saw they were getting dirty!!


"Oh no, my boots are dirty!!!"


He wasn't too sure what to think about the "snow" thing, but I think overall he liked it.




1/30-2/1: We went to visit my best friend (since elementary school), her husband, and her adorable (and very talkative) 3-year old daughter Ava! Drew enjoyed all of her girlie things, like glittery shoes, ballerina skirts, and playing beauty shop...


Here are the two superheros!! Aren't they cute?!?!

And here is me and Daysha! Love you Daysh ;o)


2/3: The BIG day!! Drew's first day at daycare!



He did better than I ever expected. He could have cared less when I left him, which actually kind of made me sad... What's funny is he only stayed a half day and they said he feel asleep at 10:30 and they had to wake him for lunch! It's so funny b/c Drew doesn't take his nap until 1:30, but he did get up early that day. Today was his second day and it went just as good. And he even managed to stay awake all morning!!!

One last piece of cuteness...