Drew = 2 Years + 11 Months

Well Drew, this is it -- your last month of being 2!

You are all boy and love all of the typical boy things -- being outside, riding on the 4-wheeler and lawn mower, trucks, trains, and dinosaurs. But of course you also love Dora, your kitchen, and playing with any of Aunt Whitney's old toys that you can dig out!


Speaking of being outside, you finally figured out that riding your battery powered 4-wheeler (that you got on your first birthday) and tractor (that you got on your second birthday) is pretty fun! Daddy had to lock you out of second gear on the tractor though, until you get a bit better at steering it! You also love your watering cans and love to water not only the flowers, but the bushes, grass, trees, and weeds!

We have seen some big improvements in your speech over the last couple of weeks. Before, we were really focusing on certain consonant sounds (mainly m, b, and p), but Jaci decided to start working on vowels and you have really responded well to it! She has also found that working on saying color words is working! You can do the "ewwww" sound, so you can say blue pretty good (no "L" yet though so it sounds like boo -- so cute!). You can also do purple (again, mainly the p and a vowel sound) and for green and pink you do the "eeee" sound. You will say "uh huh" and "uh oh." You still struggle with lip rounding so the "oh" is a bit more like an "ewww" sound, but that's ok! When I lay you down at night and tell you "night night" you respond with "i, i." You're also trying to sing songs, which is just so funny and cute!! The Wheels on the Bus is our fave!

Overall, you are just trying to imitate us so much more now. In the early stages, we were lucky to get one syllable out of you and then it was two syllables, but they sounded the same. Now you are getting really good at changing that second syllable and matching intonations as well! So even if you can't say the words, you try to match the sounds -- which is great and we are just so, so proud of you!!

Once you turn 3, you will no longer be seeing Jaci through Early Intervention, but we already have the next steps mapped out. After an hour and a half meeting last week, we found out that you are eligible for the Early Childhood program at our local elementary school. That will start at the end of August. You will go 4 days/week (for about 2 and a half hours a day) and get 25 minutes of speech 3x's per week, plus the class has a language group. I'm really excited to see the progress you'll make! You are also eligible for summer services, so after turning 3, you will get 45 minutes of speech therapy 2x's per week out at the school. That will go through the end of July. We may also seek some private speech therapy.

Eating is not going so swell right now. You have decided (probably with the help of grandma!) that it's much easier to let someone else feed you, so that is something we are working through. It's funny that if it's mac and cheese or something sweet, you have no problem digging in!! You are also getting even more picky, which I am working really hard on reversing!! I just don't want you to grow up to be a picky eater like I am :(


You are still a good sleeper and I'm hoping your new little brother gets that same sleep gene!! We've moved your bedtime to around 9:00 and you typically sleep until around 8 or 8:30. On the day you go to daycare and you have to get up at 7:15, so that is always kind of rough! That night is even rougher because I'm pretty sure you don't take a nap while there!

You still LOVE to be read to. You now pick the books that we read at night and I have to make sure there aren't any extras laying around or you'll want them read to you too. I think you would let me read to you for hours if my voice would hold up that long! You're really into the Little Golden Storybooks right now, which usually have lots of words and not many pictures. I bought you a Toy Story book and you loved it, so I bought you a stuffed Buzz Lightyear and he has been sleeping with you ever since. I guess I need to rent the movie for you!

What else??? We all still love you just as much as ever and I'm really trying to enjoy my time with you before your little brother comes along. I can't wait to see what you think about him!

Love you Drew!
mommy oxox

Boy or Girl???? The BIG Announcement!

May I have the envelope please...

How I Meet Your Father

Note: This was written yesterday, but I didn't have time to post it!

-----------------------------------

Today is mine and Jon’s 5 year anniversary! I’ve always wanted to do a post about how we meet and stuff so I would always have it to look back on, so I thought now would be a great time! But to fully understand our relationship, we have to rewind…way back to when I was in high school…

When I was a freshman in high school, I had kind of "dated" (i.e. we never went anywhere – just hung out a school) a guy, "M", but it was nothing serious so summer came and we went our separate ways. When school started back up, we reconnected and when M turned 16, we went on our first official date. He was a junior; I was a sophomore. The year was 1992 and we continued dating until 2000. I’m not really sure why we broke up. I think we had just became better at being friends and I had planned to move away to St. Louis to work and I think M decided that wasn’t the route he wanted his life to go. Whatever the reason was, when M initially broke up with me in April or May of 2000, I was completely devastated! I mean, I had never been broken up with before and this was the guy I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with.

So I remember one Friday or Saturday night being at my aunt and uncle’s house watching the NBA playoff’s when my best friend Daysha called and invited me out with her. I was reluctant to go, but figured I couldn’t mope around the house forever. So we went to a small bar called the E’town Tap – a place I was not a frequenter of!

When we got there, she ended up introducing me to a guy she had met the previous summer named Jon. He was from a neighboring town but apparently hung out in my little community quite a bit. I didn’t think much of anything about him at this point, but I could tell he was entertaining!

From my diary…

Saturday 6/24/00: "Last night I had a pretty good time for the first time since me and M have been broken up. I got ready and drove up to E’town to see if Jon’s truck was there, but it wasn’t and that is who I was wanting to talk to. When I got home, I called his truck phone and he was there. He was headed this way so I met him and we went up there together. Jon is super nice and even though I’ve only talked to him a few times, I feel like he’s looking out for me like a big brother."

So yes, I initially though of Jon like a big brother!

Jon and I continued to hang out just as friends that summer, and at some point, M and I got back together.

Sunday 9/10/00: "I’ve never felt so confused before. I do know that I love M and that I really care for him. But then there’s Jon, who I let myself get too attached to. I’m afraid I may have fallen for him and not realized it. It’s just that being around Jon is so different from being around M. Jon is truly glad to see me when I stop by his shop and I can tell when I call that he’s happy to hear from me. I’m sure M feels this way too but he sure doesn’t show it. Jon says that I make his day when I stop by and he leaves me these really sweet messages on my voicemail. There nothing much, just "good morning and have a wonderful day" most of the time but just that he would think of me and do that is what I appreciate about it. He’s said things to me that make me wonder if he could truly want to spend the rest of his life with me. He says I’m beautiful on the inside and out and that he hopes one day he’ll have a chance to make me happy for the rest of my life. He wanted me to promise him that if anything happened with M, in 6 months, even 2 years, that I would give him a chance. I didn’t give him an answer. Could Jon be who I’m suppose to be with?"

Yep, I think Jon was trying to sabotage my relationship with M – ha!

11/17/00: (Still with M at this point.) "Jon has continued to be wonderful to me and its obvious that he cares a lot about me. He jokes about stuff saying, "Oh, why don’t you just marry me." He’s so sweet. I’ve been sick with a cold and he called and told me to look out the front door because it was snowing. When I went to look, there were flowers with a box of Tylenol cold pills in them. He had put them there and left."

"Jon says he wants to show me the man he is, not the one that everyone says he is. Could it be possible that I’ve completely fallen in love with Jon and not realized it?"

When I look back on all of this, I think I was scared to let M go because he was my comfort zone, but I can tell that I was definitely falling for Jon and that he was falling for me…

I quit writing in my diary at this point, but I think we all know how the story ends!

M and I broke up for good in January of 2001, but continued to be friends. Shortly after that, Jon and I started officially dating. I graduated with my Master’s degree in May of 2001, but didn’t start working in St. Louis until September, so I had the whole summer off. We spent a lot of time together and even went on vacation to Mexico. I moved to St. Louis in September of 2001 and lived there until December 2004. I wasn’t sure what would happen to Jon and I, but for that entire time, he would either come see me on the weekends or I would come back home. We got engaged during the summer of 2004 and were married exactly 5 years ago today – May 21, 2005. I think I made the right choice don’t you ?

~5 Wonderful Years Together~


~One Beautiful Son~


~And Another Baby on the Way!~

I love my little family and my life :)

I Love Talkin' Baby Names!

Ever since I was a little girl, I have been obsessed with baby names -- I only wish I still had the lists that me and my best friend Daysha use to make!

A couple that stick with me are "Jordan Nathanial" for a boy and "Nicolette Danielle" for a girl. Jordan Nathanial was from, who else, but Jordan Knight of New Kids on the Block!


And Nicolette was for Nicolette Sheridan, who (at the time) played on a show called Knot’s Landing that my mom use to always watch. I can’t remember where Danielle came from, but I’m sure it had significant meaning too – ha!


Then I remember becoming obsessed with the 1996 Olympic gymnastics team and adding Dominique to my list (after Dominique Moceanu). Yes, modern day culture definitely influenced the names I liked!


Daysha and I were also obsessed with playing Barbie dolls – probably for longer that the average girl! I can remember naming my girl Barbie “Cheryl” and her baby “Thea” after the baby on the Molly Ringwald movie “For Keeps.” Daysha remembers her fave Barbie names being Felica, Alechia, and Cynthia!


Well, when it came time to name my firstborn, I never dreamt of how hard it would be. I mean this is something that they are going to have to deal with for the rest of their lives, so it had to be perfect! I also never realized how picky Jon would be. It seemed like everything I came up with, he shot down. So we decided pretty quickly that we wouldn’t even begin talking baby names until we could at least narrow it down between a boy name or girl name. Once we found out we were having a boy, it didn’t get much easier. At some point, I gave in and went with a name that Jon came up with – Jonah. He liked it mainly because it had J-O-N in it like his name. My concerns -- what if people thought it was actually pronounced Jon-A (like Ava). And what if people called him Joanie??? Everyone was so sure that Baby B was going to be named Jonah, that I even got the wooden letters that spelt Jonah for the nursery at my shower! For some reason, though, I was just never 100% set on it…

Fast forward to a month or so before my due date…I suddenly started really liking Taylor Swift’s song “Teardrops on My Guitar,” which is about a girl who is secretly in love with a boy named what else but Drew! Hmmm, I kind of liked that, but did it sound ok with our one syllable last name? Well, there is that football player named Drew Brees...so I was sold on it! Now to just see what Jon thought... He seemed to think it was OK, but I know he was still secretly pulling for Jonah.


So now fast forward to the morning that I am heading to the hospital to be induced. Jon and I are still talking names on the way there. Is it going to be Drew or Jonah???? We couldn’t decide!!! (His middle name was going to be the same either way so we at least had that part figured out!)

Then I remember going in for my c-section that night (since my induction was unsuccessful) and right after he was born the doctor asked what his name was and Jon said “His name is Drew!” I just remember being out of it but turning to Jon and saying, “Are you sure????”

And that is how Drew became Drew!

It should come as no surprise, then, that we are have no names picked out this time around. I definitely want there to be some kind of family connection. Some things I’m keeping in mind…I would really like to use the first name of William if we have another boy after my mom’s dad (my papa who was like a dad to me!) that passed away in August of 2006. We would probably call him by his middle name though.

As for girl names, the names Catherine or Kay are strong contenders. Catherine was both my maternal and paternal great-grandmas' name! My maternal grandma’s name is Mary Catherine (she goes by Mary Kay), my mom’s name is Rhonda Kay, and my sister’s name is Whitney Catherine. I might spice it up a bit and spell it Kathryn or even just use Kae. My middle name is Ann so I've also considered using Annette for a middle name.

That’s about all I have for now. It should be interesting to see how long we take to decide on a name this time around!!

Ultrasound!

Yesterday was a big day – it was ultrasound day! So without further ado, here is Baby B #2’s blog debut! (Look at that cute little nose!!)


There were many things on my mind yesterday morning. One of those being, “Would this baby also have a cleft lip and/or palate?” The chances of it happening for the “average” person are 1 in 700. If you have one child with a cleft, your chances of having a second child with a cleft become 1 in 25 (per Drew’s plastic surgeon).

We went back for the ultrasound and it was the same lady who had done my ultrasound when I was pregnant with Drew. We didn’t bring up our concerns, but after a bit she said, “Are you OK?” I guess she could sense my nervousness! Then she said, “Well, I’m sure you are both wondering about the lip, but I can see it now and it looks great!”

I started to cry. (And I’m pretty sure I saw Jon wiping his eyes too…)

I had prayed (and prayed and prayed), but not for the baby to not have a cleft, but just that God would help me accept whatever we found out and that I would be reminded that if we just continued to put our trust in Him, we could handle anything! Of course I’m glad that what we heard was that the lip, palate (the palate is a little tricky to see, but she was pretty sure she saw tissue there), heart, brain, spine, kidneys, etc. all looked great! (It’s funny that most people would say that there baby looked “perfect,” but that word has a whole new meaning to me now. To me, Drew was perfect – just like he was – and this baby was going to be perfect too, no matter what!)

It was a glorious day! But as strange as this may sound, I couldn’t help but think of Drew and if one day he would wonder why he was born with a cleft lip, but his brother or sister wasn’t. I just always want him to know that we would not change a single thing about him. Everything we have went through together has just made us stronger and I can’t wait to see how his future turns out! There is a song that I just love the chorus to and it always makes me think of Drew…

Be strong in the Lord and,
Never give up hope,
You’re going to do great things,
I already know,
God’s got His Hand on you so,
Don’t live life in fear,
Forgive and forget,
But don’t forget why you’re here,
Take your time and pray,
These are the words I would say.

(Sidewalk Prophets – The Words I Would Say)

Words we could all live by!

OK – back to the ultrasound! So is the baby a boy or girl? Well, we don’t know! We chose not to find out – not right now at least. It may sound strange, but at that moment, knowing that our baby was healthy was enough! What we did do was have the lady write down what it was a put in into a sealed envelope. I’m sure we’ll open it soon!

Wordless Wednesday!